Speaking the Unthinkable
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| Lincoln, 1865 |
Jack Kennedy, 11/22/63
Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were fatalistic about their personal safeties. Both took the view that if anyone brave enough - and crazy enough - were to take a shot at them, there was not much that anyone (including the Secret Service) could do to alter that grim reality. Ironically, Kennedy made note of this fact on the morning of November 22, 1963 while he was getting dressed in his hotel room in Houston, Texas, anticipating all the fun events that the day had in store for him. Both FDR and JFK would be targets of assassins. Only Oswald would be successful. A funny thing, fate, You know what I'm talking about?
Anyone with a decent sense of history (and that number would include about one percent of the American people) should be alarmed at the recent incidences involving the Secret Service. Reports of these guys drunkenly cavorting with hookers during a state visit to Columbia a couple of years ago; an unauthorized person gaining backstage access to the president a couple of weeks ago; and, most amusing of all, it was just revealed that during the campaign of 2012, a drunken SS man, trying to impress a Romney staffer, revealed the president's itinerary for the coming week - at a time it was still classified. Nice!
NEW RULE: For the sake of the safety of the chief-executive, can we at least agree that from now on, like airline pilots, the president's Secret Service detail shall not drink any intoxicating beverages for a period of at least twenty-four hours before going on duty. This is what is called "a no-braner".
We need to come face-to-face with some nasty facts, boys and girls: No president since Abraham Lincoln has been as passionately hated by so many Americans than the first African American to call the White House "home". Only this week, some right wing Facebook page was able to raise $100,000 award money for anyone who would oblige them by "removing" Barack Obama from the presidency. Now everybody put on your thinking caps!
QUESTION: Just how in the hell does one person "remove" a sitting president from the job?
ANSWER: The same way John Wilkes Booth "removed" Abraham Lincoln; the same way Charles Guiteau "removed" James A. Garfield; the same way Leon Czolgosz "removed" William McKinley; the same way Lee Harvey Oswald "removed" Jack Kennedy.
This ain't rocket science, folks. The treacherous asshole who put up that Facebook page ought to be arrested and put on trial for conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States. A lot of these freaks have been making ominous statements in the last six years with regard to the mortality of Barack Obama, have you noticed that? Vile, horrible utterances. Do you remember this dandy little chestnut a couple of years ago from uber-twit Ted Nugent?
"If the coyote's in your living room, pissing on your couch, it's not the coyote's fault. It's your fault for not shooting him.
The "coyote" in his warped mind was supposed to represent Barack Obama. Another gem for the ages from Rock's Village Idiot.
FOR THE RECORD: As much as I despised the administration of George W. Bush, I never once - publicly or privately - wished for the hideous little freak's demise. In fact I used to pray that he be kept safe. The last thing the loony right wing in this country needs is the body of a martyr to rally around by torchlight. Spare us.
I must say that it was quite touching to watch the hearings on Capital Hill this week inquiring into the Secret Service's latest, inexcusable blunder. The very sight of the most extremely right-wing of politicians (Darrell Issa for example) expressing profound outrage over the fact that a mentally ill veteran was able to walk right in to the Executive Mansion and come too close for comfort to entering the family living quarters was something to behold. Were they really genuinely concerned with the safety of the president and his family? Or was it merely reflexive bitchiness on their part. You just never know with these jackasses.
"Assassination is the extreme form of censorship."
George Bernard Shaw
Not that I enjoy breaking such bad news to you (I really don't - Honest!) but it's been over a half century since Dallas. We're almost overdue. I'm just barely old enough to remember that hideous day in American history. This country never really recovered from the assassination of President Kennedy fifty-one years ago next month. Were any harm to come to this president (of all presidents) I fear that the nation would be shattered to pieces, and that it would take many decades to heal itself - if it ever healed at all.
It is laughably obvious (although I'm not laughing - trust me) that the Secret Service, in their present condition anyway, is not up to the job of protecting the commander-and-chief. A major upgrading and house cleaning is in order and overdue.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
SUGGESTED READING:
Here are a couple of pieces I've written in the last two years related to this uncomfortable topic:
Ted Nugent: Rock's Village Idiot
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2012/04/ted-nugent-rocks-village-idiot.html
In the Shadow of November 22, 1963
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-remember-being-dropped-off-at-bus.html
AFTERTHOUGHT, 10/5/14, 4:24 AM:
I just had an interesting thought. The only American president of the twentieth century who was not alive to see the assassination of another president was John F. Kennedy. How weird is that?
Anyone with a decent sense of history (and that number would include about one percent of the American people) should be alarmed at the recent incidences involving the Secret Service. Reports of these guys drunkenly cavorting with hookers during a state visit to Columbia a couple of years ago; an unauthorized person gaining backstage access to the president a couple of weeks ago; and, most amusing of all, it was just revealed that during the campaign of 2012, a drunken SS man, trying to impress a Romney staffer, revealed the president's itinerary for the coming week - at a time it was still classified. Nice!
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| Garfield, 1881 |
We need to come face-to-face with some nasty facts, boys and girls: No president since Abraham Lincoln has been as passionately hated by so many Americans than the first African American to call the White House "home". Only this week, some right wing Facebook page was able to raise $100,000 award money for anyone who would oblige them by "removing" Barack Obama from the presidency. Now everybody put on your thinking caps!
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| McKinley, 1901 |
ANSWER: The same way John Wilkes Booth "removed" Abraham Lincoln; the same way Charles Guiteau "removed" James A. Garfield; the same way Leon Czolgosz "removed" William McKinley; the same way Lee Harvey Oswald "removed" Jack Kennedy.
This ain't rocket science, folks. The treacherous asshole who put up that Facebook page ought to be arrested and put on trial for conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States. A lot of these freaks have been making ominous statements in the last six years with regard to the mortality of Barack Obama, have you noticed that? Vile, horrible utterances. Do you remember this dandy little chestnut a couple of years ago from uber-twit Ted Nugent?
"If the coyote's in your living room, pissing on your couch, it's not the coyote's fault. It's your fault for not shooting him.
The "coyote" in his warped mind was supposed to represent Barack Obama. Another gem for the ages from Rock's Village Idiot.
FOR THE RECORD: As much as I despised the administration of George W. Bush, I never once - publicly or privately - wished for the hideous little freak's demise. In fact I used to pray that he be kept safe. The last thing the loony right wing in this country needs is the body of a martyr to rally around by torchlight. Spare us.
I must say that it was quite touching to watch the hearings on Capital Hill this week inquiring into the Secret Service's latest, inexcusable blunder. The very sight of the most extremely right-wing of politicians (Darrell Issa for example) expressing profound outrage over the fact that a mentally ill veteran was able to walk right in to the Executive Mansion and come too close for comfort to entering the family living quarters was something to behold. Were they really genuinely concerned with the safety of the president and his family? Or was it merely reflexive bitchiness on their part. You just never know with these jackasses.
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| Kennedy, 1963 |
George Bernard Shaw
Not that I enjoy breaking such bad news to you (I really don't - Honest!) but it's been over a half century since Dallas. We're almost overdue. I'm just barely old enough to remember that hideous day in American history. This country never really recovered from the assassination of President Kennedy fifty-one years ago next month. Were any harm to come to this president (of all presidents) I fear that the nation would be shattered to pieces, and that it would take many decades to heal itself - if it ever healed at all.
It is laughably obvious (although I'm not laughing - trust me) that the Secret Service, in their present condition anyway, is not up to the job of protecting the commander-and-chief. A major upgrading and house cleaning is in order and overdue.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
SUGGESTED READING:
Here are a couple of pieces I've written in the last two years related to this uncomfortable topic:
Ted Nugent: Rock's Village Idiot
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2012/04/ted-nugent-rocks-village-idiot.html
In the Shadow of November 22, 1963
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-remember-being-dropped-off-at-bus.html
AFTERTHOUGHT, 10/5/14, 4:24 AM:
I just had an interesting thought. The only American president of the twentieth century who was not alive to see the assassination of another president was John F. Kennedy. How weird is that?
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Whenever I hear someone say that Norman Rockwell was not a great artist (and I hear it more often than you might think) I want to give them such a slap!
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Ruby: A precious gem - Bridges: Structures that connect people
posted by Tom Degan @ 4:55 AM
94 comments
94 Comments:
Do we REALLY think the Secret Service is as serious about protecting Obama and his family as they would have been for Dubya? And you don't REALLY think Oswald killed Kennedy do you? Come on now. Sirhan Sirhan couldn't have killed Bobby either. Those were assasination planned specifically so certain factions could take control of our government. JFK killed because he wanted to kill the Vietnam war before it really got going, and Bobby because he planned to end it as soon as he was elected.
"Beware the Militarty industrial complex".
Obama does NOT want to get involved in another fullscale war in the middle east. Hmmm...
"Only Oswald would be successful."
Oswald was as much of a target that day as JFK. His only "success" was knowing, after the fact, that he was the patsy. He even mentioned this.
Just like with 9/11, the media, with help from government sources, were quick to pin the blame on Oswald, as they did with their almost instantaneous placing of blame on al-Qaeda.
Oswald never fired a shot. The real killers got away, and possibly we'll never find out who they were.
(Not coincidentally, there never was a grand jury, or a trial, held in either the state of Texas where JFK was gunned-down, or in New York where the crime of the millennium occurred just thirteen years ago. In both crimes, the true perpetrators got away. Again, not coincidentally.)
"revealed the president's itinerary for the coming week - at a time it was still classified."
You mean the agent revealed the President's tee off times?
"Only this week some right wing Facebook page was able to raise $100,000 award money for anyone who would oblige them by "removing" Barack Obama from the presidency. Now everybody put on your thinking caps!"
Do you think if Facebook was around in the 60s, Lee Harvey Oswald would have had a similar page? Last I heard Oswald was a left wing marxist like so many on this blog. Of course the liberal revisionists will say Lee Harvey is a right winger, just like the National Socialist German Workers' Party has been revised to be right wing.
Just Say'n.
And Mozart you should just say no to posting while on crack.
There he goes again with the BIG LIE of fascism. "Liberals are commies!"
So Chuckie Chalky is saying the Leftist Oswald Killed Kennedy because Kennedy was too liberal, or too conservative? Chuckie won't say.
Unbelievable nonsense.
Ditto with Nazis. There's the real "revision". ONLY the Radical Right Bubble Cult propaganda paints them as liberal socialists.
They were not. They were as Right as can be. Very big on patriotism, flags, parades, nationalism, militarism and racism.
All the troops were "heroes" to be venerated. They needed scapegoats, required loyalty oaths, and persecuted Jews, gays, minorities, educators, and yes, socialists. They also suppressed democracy.
Let's not forget their wrappings in religion and family:
"The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life."
-- Adolph Hitler, "My New World Order," Proclamation to the German Nation - Berlin, February 1, 1933
This is all quite characteristics of the far Right.
Fascism n. A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of belligerent nationalism. -American Heritage Dictionary
Any sane and informed person would say this is very much more in line with Chalky "Liberals are commies!" Chuckie than with liberals.
His is the hate and ignorance that fuels fascism.
If only Chuckie could just say no to posting under the influence of hate and ignorance.
This was a very good article. The only inaccuracy I saw in it was, President Kennedy made the comments about the possibility of his Assassination in Fort Worth, not Houston, the morning of November 22nd on his Fatal Texas Trip.
CHalky White
I noticed you provided no evidence I was wrong, just like there was no evidence Owald or Sirhan were guilty.
Oswald could nopt have mede the three shots in the time allotted, and besides, he was BEHIND JFK who was clearly shot from the FRONT.
Forensic evidence in the RFK Case proved the fatal shot canme from no more than two inches BEHIND and Sirhan never got that close and was always in FRONT.
But then conservatives never have had much use for FACTS.
"I noticed you provided no evidence I was wrong, just like there was no evidence Owald or Sirhan were guilty."
Good point. Do you also agree there is no evidence that the Northern Polar Cap will soon disappear?
Do you also believe in Area 51 and are you a 9/11 truther?
"Very big on patriotism, flags, parades, nationalism, militarism and racism."
Sounds like you're talking about Mayday celebration in frontpropel of the Kremlin
Anonymous, there IS evidence that the polar caps ARE shrinking. You just won't see it on Fox news.
"Area51" is a cute name for the "Groom Lake testing facility" where most of our newest military aircraft are developed and tested. I suspect the military promotes the "UFO" angle because it keeps people from exposing to our enemies what we are REALLY doing there.
As for 9-11, I think that while our government didn't cause or plan 9-11, they DID allow it to happen AND they lied about who really did it and why. For one thing it was NOT a commercial jet that hit the Pentagon, and why did they confiscate and classify over 80 security camera vids (some from private businesses) that pointed at the flight path and would have shown definitavely what struck the building. LIke the Kennedy assasinations, too many "explainations" that don't fit the evidence.
Conspiricies happen every day, but it's become common to ridicule anyone who suggests they do.
"I think that while our government didn't cause or plan 9-11, they DID allow it to happen "
Like FDR and Pearl Harbor!
Tom,
I think they're are a couple of other things to consider. Firstly, I don't think the GOP gives a rat's ass about an intrusion into the White House. Their "outrage" is stage craft and will eventually be pivoted to try and paint some "lack of control" on the part of Obama. Human life means very little to these lunatics. If they were concerned with the President's safety or others doing harm to him, I think they might want to have a talk with some of the more radical elements of their party. Until then, they can stow their "outrage."
You once described this President as "timid" and it is an excellent adjective for him. That characteristic works well for today's GOP, who are little more than petulant children screaming from their bedrooms tantrumming. They've lead a masterful campaign convincing morons that the President is some sort of evil tyrant. Lies, distortions, and innuendo have been their tools.
That being said, it seems this administration has gone out of its way to avoid the perception and avoid validating the idea that they are the imagined Gestapo the Right has manufactured. And boy are they lucky! Because I believe if any other non-conservative were in office, this horseshit would not be allowed.
Open calls for revolution? Marches on Washington to "remove the leaders?" Are you kidding me? Conservatives, you're lucky I'm not in office, I'd give you something to *really* bitch about. There are too many of these "patriots" who confuse free speech with calls to violence and expect to be immune from their own idiocy.
Can anyone cite where someone has suffered a consequence for threatening this President? How about just for threatening us with Civil War?
Tom, you were right! This President is timid, far too timid. I would bring a war to these lunatic's doorstep they couldn't fathom. Don't worry about Isus or Islam--worry about the conservatives, they are just as bad and there isn't much light between the two these days.
Jay
https://loraxlog.blogspot.com
Jeez, you must not have watched the recent doc on the Roosevelts. You know nothing of history other than what Fox news tells you.
You think that because YOUR guys love war, the Dems do as well.
Not true at all. Stop projecting.
Jay, it's a tempting thought, but you would be playing right into their hands, just like Bush played right into Al Queda's hands when he went off to invade Iraq.
Now with the beheadings, which they KNOW will cause our conservatives to freak completely out, they are practically daring us to commit our entire economy to another war.
Like Bin Laden said before 9-11, "We can't beat America militarily, but if we let them, they will beat themselves economically"
"Very big on patriotism, flags, parades, nationalism, militarism and racism."
Sounds like you're talking about Mayday celebration in front of the Kremlin
Or the St. Pat's Day parade in NYC
It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life."
-- Adolph Hitler, "My New World Order,"
Sounds exactly like a Republican.
"Ditto with Nazis. There's the real "revision". ONLY the Radical Right Bubble Cult propaganda paints them as liberal socialists.
They were not. They were as Right as can be. Very big on patriotism, flags, parades, nationalism, militarism and racism."
"We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions."
- Adolf Hitler
Adolf, you sound just like AmeriKa's progressives of today whose never ending quest to centralize power remains amazingly persistent.
AmeriKa's progressives seek total government control. Working their way toward total government power are the Communists, socialists, fascists, and modern liberals who advocate government solutions for every real or imagined problem.
"Unfair salaries" coming from the man who provided slave labor for capitalists like Krupp and Siemans?
So Chuckie can't figure out Hitler was not a liberal, just a liar out to deceive the German working class?
Probably not. After all, like every fascist, Chuckie takes Hitler at his word. Jews, liberals, educators and socialists, as opposed to "National Socialists", were sent to the camps.
And Chuckie also gets a tingle up his leg from this far Right propaganda:
Working their way toward total government power are the Communists, socialists, fascists, and modern liberals who advocate government solutions for every real or imagined problem.
The fascist BIG LIE is alive and well in Chuckie's narrow hateful mind.
All he left out were the Jews. (The GOP reveres AIPAC in order to hold the religious Right in their clutches.)
His is the hate and ignorance that fuels fascism.
Speaking of Chuckie and his "socialist" radical Right mentor.
How is the concept of the "Master race" that much different from "American exceptionalism" that doesn't include black or brown people?
I would note that Hitler and Chuckie share the desire to suppress democracy too.
Adolph had the "final solution" for "voter fraud" as well. No voting period. A one party dictatorship is also their common ideal.
It boils down to this. Fascism and American Republicanism are both antagonistic towards democracy.
Liberals are pro-democracy. Con-servatives see it as a threat to their power. Who are the totalitarians here?
Bottom line, folks.
Speaking of the GOP radical Right's war on democracy:
College Republican shuts down campus voter registration drive
Chairwoman Leigh Thomas of the High Point University College Republicans:
“I just do not want to have people being registered to vote, whatsoever…I don’t approve of it whatsoever—on a campus like High Point University,” she said. ”I don’t want to have any voting registration happening on this campus, with students.”
Why did Thomas Eric Duncan pick the USA for treatment of his Ebola virus instead of one of the countries that have single payer health care?
Thomas Eric Duncan, the Dallas Ebola patient, came to the U.S. to marry his girlfriend, a local pastor said
For necessity much of what the SS does is not made public. So it's hard for the public to know what's going on inside that organization, but the reports which you mention are scary.
I watched the 3 hours of the public hearings with the SS director. Issa was typically partisan, but this director needed to quit, or be fired. I'll bet that was the choice given to her. She had been with the SS for almost 30 years and Chief of Staff for years. I'm convinced she is the part of SS management that has led the SS astray. Good riddance.
I wasn't impressed by Obama's choice for interim SS director.
Since America doesn't have single payer health care, how can Thomas Eric Duncan pay for the treatment he is getting for his Ebola?
Who picked this head of the Secret Service and what in her background indicated she would do a good job?
how can Thomas Eric Duncan pay for the treatment he is getting for his Ebola?
Yeah, no pay, no treatment.
Maybe it would be best he's booted out of treatment?
Smart.
Anonymous, had he come to a state that cares about it's middle class he could have gotten Obamacare. Since he went to TEXAS however...
You mean you dont have to be a citizen to be covered by Obamacare?
If Thomas Eric Duncan, a non citizen can get medical treatment and not pay for it, then who needs Obamacare?
Would it be better to do the con-servative thing and discharge him out into the public, infect others, and "Let em die!"?
They need to stand up for their principles, right?
With a name like "Eric Duncan" I assumed he was a citizen. But in Hawaii ANYONE can get healthcare, as it should be. In Texas, even citizens are barred. Unles they are rich apparantly.
On the actual subjest, isn't it onteresting that only liberal presidents are left unprotected by the Secret Service?
"Ditto with Nazis. There's the real "revision". ONLY the Radical Right Bubble Cult propaganda paints them as liberal socialists.
They were not. They were as Right as can be. Very big on patriotism, flags, parades, nationalism, militarism and racism."
Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria.
The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
- Robert A. Heinlein
The underachievers in society, e.g. people who work in prisons, will want to be controlled. They yearn for a feeling of security similar to suckling on their mama'a tit in infancy and want as big a nanny state as possible to nurture them.
"People who WORK in prisons" Gracie? Who would you suggest we have guarding the prisoners?
"isn't it onteresting that only liberal presidents are left unprotected by the Secret Service?"
Mozart
Like Reagen and J. Ford were liberal Presidents that the Secret service left unprotected?
Who promoted the former head of the Secret Service in that position in the first place? Who was that rocket scientist?
Next thing you know Mozart, you'll tell us 9-11 was an inside job, that HIV was created by white's to kill Gays, that Ebola was created by whites to remove the world of blacks, that GHWB flew to Paris on a Blackbird jet to work out a deal with Iran to release our prisoners, that big oil, and the CIA, murdered Kennedy, that Ebola has not come to America, that the majority of those polled favor socialism, and that Obama is a great golfer.
Can anyone cite where someone has suffered a consequence for threatening GWB?
"Who would you suggest we have guarding the prisoners?"
I vote for Dave Dubya!!
9/11 was certainly an inside job, who benefited from it? The Neocons!
9/11 was certainly an inside job, who benefited from it? The Neocons!
More from the tin foil hat crowd!
Who benefited from Pearl Harbor? The USSR!
"isn't it onteresting that only liberal presidents are left unprotected by the Secret Service?"
Mozart
Oh, I forgot, President McKinley, he was murdered and he was a Republican.
That darn Mozart, he knows presidential history like the palm of Dave Duyba's hand!
"Recognizing McKinley’s potential, the Democrats, whenever they controlled the Ohio legislature, sought to gerrymander or redistrict him out of office." I thought only the GOP did this?
And did you know that his killer, Czolgosz, after hearing a speech by anarchist Emma Goldman decided to kill the President? Emma Goldman wrote and gave speeches about prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality. She was an anarchist, whose stance would dovetail quite with the positions of today's liberal humanist.
Just saying!
McKinly...hmmm...WHEN was that again? Oh yeah, a hundred years ago. Haven't we explained to you about 50 times that the two parties are not the same now as they were then?
Reagan wasn't actually killed and he was a LIBERAL compared to todays GOP, and Ford wasn't REALLY President was he?
But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given that you didn't even know that the Senate is part of Congress, and are too STUPID to find out who your congressmen even are.
BTW, I never said any of the nonsense YOU brought up.(Most of which is just childish BS) Typical conservative tactic of inventing a false argument because you can't win the actual one.
I WILL say this. Oswald didn't kill Kennedy, that much is CERTAIN, and people in power that opposed the Vietnam war didn't do very well.
And who SERIOUSLY threatened GWB? Names? Oh there was a stupid movie that no one saw based on assasinating Bush, but that hardly qualifies seeing as it was a work of fiction.
Oh, and it's "G" Ford not "J" Ford
LOL.
President Ford's frie3nds called him Jerry.
Tom makes note of McKinley in his rant.
Ford took oath of office, he was President.
Any other lame excuses?
Was there a point to this piece?
I read it twice and still never arrived at a point.
The Republicans aren't worried about Obama's Secret Service enough?
The man is responsible for his own Praetorian Guard. It would require leadership beyond his ability to run the place. The man was a "COMMUNITY ORGANIZER" in the most corrupt place on the continent north of the Rio Grande. What did you folks expect? Mind-boggling...
What should scare the devil out of you is that he cannot achieve his own security - yet he is in the driver's seat...
Lincoln/Roosevelt/Kennedy echelon? Uh, no. Should not even be in the same conversation.
What should scare the devil out of you is that he cannot achieve his own security - yet he is in the driver's seat...
Like Reagan? He was shot, remember? Shit happens.
There's no such thing as absolute security. Even for sainted former Screen Actor Guild presidents.
And let's be honest, the "most corrupt place on the continent north of the Rio Grande" would be the place on the Potomac, and their owners on Wall Street.
Community organizers, no matter how much you demonize or hate them, never have that much power to corrupt.
The Right has always hated Obama more for what he did before winning the White House than after, it seems.
Never mind the crashed economy and erosion of jobs are slowly improving from what He-who-must-not-be-blamed left us in 2008. No, blame the black guy for the consequences of Bush's war crime in Iraq and financial collapse.
Now the far Right doesn't know whether to fault him for too much, or too little, military action. Just be sure whatever he does will be wrong. After all, he committed the original sin of being a community organizer, the sure sign of evil and incompetence.
One thing liberals can do that Cons can't is blame Obama for something real, like being just another corporatist manager of a corrupt military/police state.
Again, never mind that, his crime was first and foremost a community organizer, helping poor non-whites in cities.
And they wonder why they look and sound like racists.
Not thinking he was fit for the job isn't "hating" him. I don't hate him. I just am unimpressed with him as regards the Presidency. Community organizing is fine - so is being a 4th grade teacher like my wife - doesn't mean she's ready to be President.
As for his corruption, I think you're turning your back on the smoke that was there regarding the circles he ran in. And, I'm not so sure about DC as more corrupt than Chicago. In scope perhaps.
I just am unimpressed with him as regards the Presidency.
I agree, probably for different reasons as indicated.
Isn't it odd that those who are raking in the most cash are also complaining the most?
This guy may as well be the president of the club of economic elites and corporate/banking/military/industrial complex.
The economy happens to be churning on quite abundantly if you're rich. Their fortunes are swelling so large they have more than ever to spend on opposing the same president. Why? Capitalism has no conscience and greed is limitless, of course.
Every president has told us there is no such thing as being "ready" for the presidency. We can only hope for intelligence, wisdom, and the desire to serve the best interests of the American people. Yeah, we won't see any more of that. That kind of presidency has long faded into history.
However, the lapses were not due to the race of the President, but due to the rotten leadership that he appointed.
Thank you. This clear reasoning must be why Reagan was shot.
Dave, that reminds me of something Jack Kennedy once said. When asked at a press conference what surprised him most about entering the White House he said, "To find out that things were really as bad as we had been saying they were."
Every president has told us there is no such thing as being "ready" for the presidency.
Yep, and those are likely the best ones.
I don't know for sure, but I don't sense that same humility from the current White House resident.
I will say this, his CO experience did him a great service - he essentially organized/orchestrated his campaign successfully in '08. What he did is very akin to a CO effort. I'll give him kudos for that.
I'm sure what some find when they ascend to the presidency is not only what Kennedy pointed out - but that it is much bigger than me and I'd better get in line.
Apparently, the President has missed more than 50% of his intel briefings…is that so no one can ask for guidance and he can blame the intel services for failures directly? Or is he too busy to attend the Intel briefs?
Can we blame thy Black Guy or Bush?
This clear reasoning must be why Reagan was shot.
Dittos Kennedy? Although the CBC is and Mr. Van Jones are claiming current events are racial motivated.
The s.s. agents state otherwise.
Somebody wants a "Briefing Gate" scandal where there is none, as usual.
Obama may not physically get briefed by intelligence officials every day but he does receive and read the PDBs.
While his predecessor might have preferred an oral daily briefing, Obama reads a written version of the same prepared material, often on a secure iPad.
Since Bush didn’t like to read, he needed oral briefings.
Blame Bush for ignoring the PDB titled “Bin-Laden Determined to strike in US”.
“Your ass is covered” was his response to the person delivering it.
Dittos Kennedy?
Better ask the "expert". LOL!
Harley, I think it's funny how people think Obama being a "community organizer" was somehow a bad job. Is that not what a President does on a larger level? He is also a lawyer and a professor. Tell me , what did George W. Bush ever do that made HOM qualified for the White House? Every job he ever had including Go. of Texas AND POTUS he got because daddy handed it to him and he FAILED at them ALL.
Obama is doing a great job in spite of unprecidented obstrucion from the right. You guys ran the car into the ditch, sabatoged the tow truck, and then complain Obama can't drive you to work. Pathetic.
Harley, there is nothing in being a 4th grade teacher that makes one unfit for being president. The ONLY thing I can think of is if she is as stupid as you are. I seriously doubt she is. She's probably the only reason you survive in the world.
Anonymous, let us know when you fugure out who your congresmen are, and don't worry, there is no reason for me to "come looking" for you. Life for you must be punishment enough.
"You guys"
Us guys? Mozart, what are you talking about? I'm not a member of modern American right-wing "groupthink". I think for myself and I'm not beholden to any of the two "sides". I can get both left and right mad at me equally. Because neither is pointing in the right direction in my estimation.
And when have I ever said Dubya was a good President? I wasn't a fan of his and I'm not a fan of Obama.
And, no, being President is not a big "community organization" project - although, at times, he certainly does seem to revert to that mode. I think he's in over his head internationally and naïve domestically. You think differently - fine. More power.
You need to take a deep breath and reel in some of that vitriol, bro. You've got issues.
Harley, trying to soubd "reasonable" after some of your posts only makes you look like more of a hypocrite than usual. Youleft out the part where he is a law professor,in addition to being a brilliant thoughtful man, which I consider to be a GREAT qualification for being POTUS. You are just ticked off that a Democrat (Not to mention a BLACK man, be honest)actually had the nerve to think he could lead the nation.
You are CLEARLY a conservative, just own it.
Anonymous, are YOU one of Ford's friends?
He's gennerally known to the public as GERALD Ford, and even if he did take the oath, Nixon was still running the show and you well know it. Ford had no thoughts of his own, as proven by the way he want "robot" whenever he was asked about the Kennedy assasination (He was on the Warren Commission in case you didn't know)
Obama took the oath of office too, and unlike Ford he was actually elected by the voters. (Ford wasn't even elected as VICE President)
Yet many of the people you clearly admire still think Obama was born in Kenya or someplace and do not think he legally is the President. Tell your buddy Donald Trump about the oath of office. Tell your GOP obstructionist heroes in the HOuse of Reos (which is part of Congress along with the Senate, just saying)
"Obama may not physically get briefed by intelligence officials every day but he does receive and read the PDBs."
And you know this to be correct because you read it on the internet and we all know what you read on the internet HAS to be true!
"community organizer" was somehow a bad job." Take a look at the want ads in you newspaper and see how many ads there are for community organizer. What are the qualifications one needs to have to be a community organizer?
"what did George W. Bush ever do that made HOM qualified for the White House?"
He was a Governor of a State like Clinton was. You claim that his daddy gave GWB stuff, how do you support that claim? He was defeated in his run for Congress, didn't his daddy help him then?
If one of your kids wanted to run for office, you wouldn't help them?
"Ford had no thoughts of his own", you know that because you knew Jerry personally or because of Chevy Chase on SNL?
Harley, you need to"stop trying to soubd "reasonable". You need to sound unreasonable like Mozart so he can identify with you.
Harley said it best with this, "You need to take a deep breath and reel in some of that vitriol, bro. You've got issues."
Daddy bought Dubya Harken oil which FAILED. He bought him the Texas Rangers which he ran into the ground, and it's common knowledge, especially it Texas, that Daddy was instrumental in getting him the Texas Gov job, which most Texans, even conservatives think he was HORRIBLE at. Plus the way he got "selected" President in 2000 and the way the voting machines were built by Diabold in 2004 it's obvious he coouldn't reach the White House without help.
When you learn the basics about how our government works (Ahh Mozart, Mitch McConnell is in the Senate, not the Congress.) Let us know.
Until then maybe you should go back to sitting at the kids table and let the adults talk.
I guess anyone who thought GW Bush was a good president would think Gerald Ford ahd a brain too. Compared to Bush Ford was a genius.
Hey Confused
The same morons that complain about having to get an ID to vote are the same imbeciles that figure out quickly how to get an ID for food stamps, and welfare, and Obama phones, and mortgage bailouts, and all the other stupid democratic party ways of life. If you are too stupid to get a picture of yourself you are too stupid to vote.
Mozart,
Did you see Bill Maher bitch slap Ben Aaaaflack about how uncivilized the mooselems are?
Mozart, you need to take a deep breath and reel in some of that vitriol, bro. You've got issues.
Anonymous, have you EVER had an original thought? Seriously.
Mozart,
Texas allows the following forms of ID
•Texas driver license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
•Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
•Texas personal identification card issued by DPS
•Texas concealed handgun license issued by DPS
•United States military identification card containing the person’s photograph
•United States citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph
•United States passport
Your "NRA card" isn't on the list. I think you meant the concealed-carry license - which in my state (like TX) is issue by the DPS and is a verifiable form of ID issued by the government. A student ID is issued by any state or private school (including fly-by-night ones) in the state. Not easy to oversee.
You can debate the need, validity or appropriateness of the laws, but lying and coloring the issue with "hot button" words to try to forward your agenda is not OK. It is propaganda.
And, from now on, don't post your opinion of me or my views. Especially do not insinuate that I am racially biased against Obama. I've had it up to here with that nonsense. You don't know me and you don't speak for me. And, frankly, I don't care what you think - so keep that to yourself. Own that.
Harley, I will post what I like, when I like for whatever reason I like. Again, you prove my point. An GUN card is valid ID, but a student ID is not. BS from Texas, BS from YOU.
There is NO REASON for all thie exra ID crap because there are nearly no cases of individual voter fraud in the last 150 years. However your GOP DID steal the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections are HAVE gerrymandered house districts nationwide to make it nearly impossible for Dems to reclaim the house, even though nationwide, Dems got many many more votes than Repubs. In other words, REPUBLICANS KNOW THEY CAN'T WIN ON THE ISSUES SO THEY CHEAT.
Disenfranchising poor and minority voters is just another way to STEAL elections.
Own THAT.
And don't tell me where I can and can't post again.
I think it's hilarious. Bush can't open his mouth without something stupid falling out so, naturally Obama MUST rely on a teleprompter (even though every president since Kennedy has used one) Bush had 9-11 on his watch so you neocons are desparate to pin ANY scandal on Obama (Benghazi doesn't even come CLOSE to the 3,000 american civillians killed and the 5,000 soldierr killed in TWO useless wars, besides, it turns out Benghazi was more the fault of GOP obstructionism than anything else) and then you stole the 2000 and 2004 elections so you HAVE to find a cover for THAT. Besides, there is NO WAY Obama actually beats the GOP is a fair fight right? It MUST be "voter fraud".
There is an old saying, "If you want to know what a Republican is up to, look at what they accuse everyone else of doing"
STeal two presidential elections, disenfranchise democratic voters, Gerrymander house districts. It's pretty clear you KNOW you can't win without CHEATING. The vast majority of the PEOPLE do not agree with you.
Slight correction there, Mozart:
Every president since Eisenhower.
I'm just sayin'.
Cheers!
Tom
Mozart,
Enjoy talking to yourself.
Apparantly not since you replied. But you guys could not copmprehend the simple facts I present anyway.
Did you figure out who your congressmen are yet?
moZart, my menTally challenged friend
Things aren't looKing good for DemocRATS next month.
People running for reelection are avoiding oBama like eBola.
Now Democrat Leon Panetta has biTch slapped the President for talking a big game but folding like a cheap suitcase and being spineless with the uncivilized mooselems in the Middle East.
So many are crapping on our first affirmative action President who has turned out to be a real big dud.
I am just surprised that you or Dave Dubya have not blamed the Ebola outbreak in ameriKa on Bush or the Koch Brothers.
"Liberals have really failed on the topic of theocracy. They'll criticize ... Christians; they'll still get agitated over the abortion clinic bombing that happened in 1984, but when you talk about the treatment of women and homosexuals and free thinkers and public intellectuals in the Muslim world, I would argue that liberals have failed us. And the crucial point of confusion is that we have been sold this meme of 'Islamophobia,' where every criticism of the doctrine of Islam gets conflated with bigotry toward Muslims as people. That's intellectually ridiculous. Its like equating criticism of Obama with calling him a nigger!"
I am just surprised that you or Dave Dubya have not blamed the Ebola outbreak in ameriKa on Bush or the Koch Brothers.
(He's not really surprised.)
Yeah, Chuckie's already blamed Obama for the "Ebola outbreak in ameriKa".
"Ebola outbreak in ameriKa".
What kind of fool, or fear mongering asshole, would say such a thing?
As per usual, accusing Obama of what doesn't exist, or never happened. This along with blaming the black guy for the Bush economic collapse and the debacle in Iraq. All Obama'a fault.
So now, really, how could Chuckie be surprised by his fantasy accusation not coming true?
Because he's too busy with all his other blaming and fantasy accusations maybe?
Yeah, Obama is a dud. So what does that make the guy who left us a collapsed economy and an unfinished war, and a civil war in Iraq?
"Dud" can't quite cover the legacy and bitter consequences of our leader of great economic failure and sower of eternal war.
Nope. Dubya was no mere dud. He was a DUDYA!
(If the Right can invent words, so can I.)
Tough day at the Prison Dave? You still a Bill Maher fan?
Still a Bill Maher fan? Watch his show. Wouldn't pay to see him in person.
He seems to share some of your Islamophobia though. Seeing as you respect his opinion on religion, want to know what he thinks of yours?
Dave Dubya will start foaming at the mouth for saying anything negative about the mooselems even when they force women to have their clits removed!"
Still classy, Chuckie?
Well Anonymous, I guess your meds are kicking in, but were it not for disenfranchisiing voters and gerrymandering the GOP would be a footnote. You misquote people as always, and as usual, you look like an idiot. Have you figured out who your congressmen are yet?
BTW, I thought you weren't talking?
"Confused Progressive" you are clearly a conservative if you asked that question. Not that there was ever any question of your political affiliation.
Oh and I am still a Bill Maher fan.
Bill Maher:
"We hear a lot about the Republican War on Women. It's not cool, Rush Limbaugh called somebody a slut. OK. But Saudi women can't vote, or drive, or hold a job, or leave the house without a man. Overwhelming majorities in every Muslim country say a wife is always obliged to obey her husband. That all seems like a bigger issue than evangelical Christian bakeries refusing to make gay wedding cakes. (audience applause)
91% of Egyptian women have had their clitorises forcibly removed. 98% of Somalian women have. Ayaan Hirsi Ali grew up in Somalia, and is one of them. She was scheduled to speak at Yale last week, but the school's atheist organization — my people — complained that she "did not represent the totality of the ex-Muslim experience". Meaning what? The women who like mutilation? You're atheists! You should be attacking religion, not siding with the people who hold women down and violate them, which apparently you will defend in the name of multiculturalism, and then lose your shit when someone refers to Chaz Bono by the wrong pronoun. (audience applause)"
So Dave Dubya, Bill Maher has no class by using the word clitoris?
I guess in today's 1984 Thought Police its politically incorrect to say clit or clitoris. Female genital mutilation is the politically correct phrase.
By the way Dave I drive an 18 wheeler. I say truck drivers have more class than thick skulled prison guards. Just Say'n.
Dave Dubya will start foaming at the mouth for saying anything negative about the mooselems even when they force women to have their clits removed!"
Still classy, Chuckie?
What kind of person says "Mooselems"? Besides Chuckie's buddies at Klan meetings.
It's called female genital mutilation. What kind of person would say, "their clits"? Besides ghouls and Chuckie's porn sites?
Despite your hateful accusation, all liberals consider female genital mutilation horrific, brutal and cruel.
You seem to take delight in falsely attaching others to such cruelty.
Also classy.
On a positive note, let me say I appreciate your using an identifiable handle.
You know, I have family who have been prison guards. I have also met TONS of truck drivers on my journeys around the country.
I'll put the prison guards above MANY (not all)of the truckers I've met any day. Reason being, prison guards have to deal with the dregs of society on a daily basis. Truckers are usually ALONE most of the time, but when not are free to associate with whom they please.
One wonders where Chucky's personal experience with prison guards comes from in the first place.
Anything you want to tell us Chuck?
Oh, and what does Chaz Bono have to do with ANYTHING?
Sing along!
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then Obama will guide the planets
And his love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of Obama!
The Age of Obama!
Obama! Obama!
Harmony and understanding
Obama's knowledge is unbounded
No more falsehoods or derisions
He has Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the minds true liberation
Obama, Obama
When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then Obama will guide the planets
And his love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Obama
The age of Obama, Obama, Obama
He will stop the ocean from rising, the ocean from rising, the ocean from rising
He will stop the ocean from rising, the ocean from rising, the ocean from rising
He will stop the ocean from rising, the ocean from rising, the ocean from rising
Obama! Obama!
Obama! Obama!
Middle Eastern Muslims don't share western ideals of individual liberties, the freedom to either believe or not to believe. They want to be who they are, rooted in social, political and theologian values which are antithetical to the spirit of humanism since the Enlightenment.
When countries routinely encourage the beheading of people for apostasy, who routinely encourage the stoning of women for adultery, who routinely police their people to ensure virtuous behavior as defined by the theocrats, ... the list is too long to even enumerate.
Basically, Middle Eastern Islam is an anethema to civilization and has contributed nothing of value to the civilized world for the past 1000 years. Nothing. Nada.
And excuse me for being politically incorrect, but I don't really give a shit if Dave Dubya is just another fucked up muslim believer in Michigan.
Modern day Christians don't share western ideals of individual liberties, the freedom to either believe or not to believe. They want to be who they are, rooted in social, political and theologian values which are antithetical to the spirit of humanism since the Enlightenment.
There, fixed it for ya.
Hey James Hanson, you think we would give a flying fandango if those "radical Muslims" shot their prisinors?
Guess what WE WOULDN'T Because we don't care when our own people shoot up schools full of children.
They beghead people because they know that people like you will FREAK OUT and overreact, which is exactly what they want.
We know those people do that, so if you don't want them to cut off your head...DON'T GO THERE.
Very simple.
Tom,
Was a time when your blog has some credible conversation going on.
You have lost control.
I'll come back when the idiot show moves on... if ever.
First of all, I don't have the time to monitor every comment that goes on this site. My way of dealing with right wing trolls is to ignore them.
When you say I've "lost control" I have to reply that I never had control to begin with. I'm a First Amendment purist. Democracy, by it's very nature, is ideological chaos.
Surviving "Left-Nazis" or Strasserites remain an influence among European thinkers and are described as a Third Position, sometimes called National Bolshevism.
That is the basic difference between fascism and communism: the former is National Socialism (Socialism dressed up for a particular ethnic group; which is why if you remove the many references to "German" and "Germany" in the Nazi Party Platform, it sounds like the Democrat Party Platform) and the latter is International Socialism (workers of the world unite!).
The only ground where the modern left thinks the federal government should not tread are abortion clinics (I used to include the bedroom, but check out California's affirmative consent law)...there is no sphere of life that the government does not have an interest and thus no realm exempt from the political. The natural endpoint of progressivism is dictatorship.
good bye harley, a man of the Plato like ideal of the perception of perfect black and white absolute morality.
long may you ride.
The natural endpoint of progressivism is dictatorship.
No. This is called a lie.
This is the Radical Right Bubble Cult propaganda, intended to demonize and scapegoat liberals.
The natural endpoint of progressives is civil liberties, equal rights, voting, representation of the people, and democracy. It is a humane and civil society with government of, by, and for, the people.
This is far better than the corporatocracy being bought and paid for by corporate "free speech" cash. They will not care what the people need. Corporatocracy is dictatorship by inverted totalitarianism. Corporate "persons" will write our laws. They already do.
A dictatorship is telling a woman she must bear the child of her rapist. And forced to undergo medical procedures when none are required.
A dictatorship is police shooting unarmed kids dead in the street and letting them lie in their blood for four hours. Then blame the victim.
A dictatorship is an authoritarian regime that suppresses voting and dissent.
A dictatorship is recruiting its stormtroopers in the Radical Right Bubble Cult. They are ramping up the indoctrination and elevating the scapegoating and hate.
A dictatorship must create scapegoats and target them for hate.
Theirs is the hate that fuels fascism.
Period.
Harley is leaving? Well, he got his wish, at least PART of the "idiot show" has moved on.
But he'll still post under his alter ego "Anonymous".
I highly doubt Harley ever posted anything as Anonymous and I believe he is probably the most intelligent person on the Rant. If he leaves, this place will be the worst for it.
Haley's comments are always excellent. I would not wish to see him go either. Can we agree on a new rule?
Ignore the trolls. When you respond to them you're merely playing into their hands.
Harley the "most intelligent"?
LOL...maybe YOU are Harley, cause no one else thinks he's too bright.
Consider this blog. Harley is obsessed with Obama being a "community organizer" (like that's a BAD thing) yet neglects to mention he's also a law professor.
Typical conservative.
I hate to break it to you Mozart but you are not the sharpest pencil in the box.
If not for your "who are" comments you would have nothing to say. Harley is vastly more interesting to read than you, even if he is not a Liberal.
Gee, Thank you James, that means a lot coming from you.
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