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Blogs Eric Reads
Archive for February, 2008
AT&T Works in More Places
Oh yes, it’s real. The Billboard Liberation Front took it upon themselves to execute a brand-new ad campaign for AT&T and the National Spying Security Agency. The BLF has a press release regarding the campaign available.
(h/t: Gizmodo)
Oh, So Now It’s About the Issues
At Tuesday’s debate, Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama over anti-Semitic comments made by Obama supporter Louis Farrakhan–comments which Obama has repeatedly repudiated. Of course, Obama’s denouncing of Farrakhan wasn’t nearly strong enough for Clinton.
“There’s a difference between denouncing and rejecting,” Clinton said. “And I think when it comes to this sort of, you know, inflammatory — I have no doubt that everything that Barack just said is absolutely sincere. But I just think, we’ve got to be even stronger. We cannot let anyone in any way say these things because of the implications that they have, which can be so far reaching.”
So Obama said fine, I denounce and reject. Rather than have the debate focus on the issues, Hillary Clinton took the opportunity to snipe at Obama using ridiculous political talking points.
But now, the tables have turned, and it’s a Clinton supporter who is making racist comments:
“Obama simply has the problem that he happens to be Black,” Adelfa Callejo said when asked if it was smart for Sen. Obama to reach out to Latino voters.
The 84-year-old is a prominent leader in the North Texas Latino community and has a history of fighting for Latinos’ rights.
But in a recent interview with CBS 11, Callejo, a strong supporter of Senator Hillary Clinton, acknowledged she still felt the deep division in Dallas between many Latinos and African Americans.
“When Blacks had the numbers, they didn’t do anything to support us,” said Callejo. “They always used our numbers to fulfill their goals and objectives, but they never really supported us, and there’s a lot of hard feelings about that. I don’t think we’re going to get over it anytime soon.”
Wow, so according to a Hillary supporter, Blacks have never done anything to help Latinos. Is Hillary going to denounce and reject these comments?
Clinton was equivocal. “People have every reason to express their opinions,” she said.
“You know, this is a free country,” Clinton said, laughing, when asked whether she still wanted Callejo’s support. She went on to say that she did not know the facts of the situation.
“People get to express their opinions. A lot of folks have said really unpleasant things about me over the course of this campaign. You can’t take any of that as anything other than an individual opinion,” Clinton told an interviewer from KTVT, who pressed her to explain the difference between Callejo and Farrakahn.
“I would urge all of my supporters and Sen. Obama’s supporters to stay focused on the two of us. Don’t vote on race, don’t vote on gender — vote on the qualifications each of us present for the presidency.”
Um…but isn’t this the exact same thing that you slammed Obama about two days ago?
Asked again about the two cases, Clinton said: “I don’t see any comparison at all with what you’re referring to and I don’t know the facts of what you’re telling me over the TV. So I’m just going to repeat that I want people to judge us on the merits.”
Oh, okay, so now it’s about the issues. Now it’s about judging the candidate on their merits. When it’s the Clinton campaign trying to score political points with cheap potshots, it’s okay, but when it’s Hillary under fire, let’s focus on the bigger issues. And by the way, this isn’t the Obama campaign calling on Clinton to denounce Callejo. This is just journalists doing their jobs by asking Clinton is she’s subject to the same guidelines that she holds Obama to.
If Hillary Clinton is going to insist on holding Barack Obama to a higher standard than that to which she holds herself, well, then I think that’s yet another reason to support him.
The Sound of Torture
If torturing detainees had a soundtrack, what would it be? MotherJones has the answer:
Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, “prolong capture shock,” disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams. Based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, here are some of the songs that guards and interrogators chose.
I can’t even imagine what some of these artists might think about their music being used this way. Rage Against the Machine? Metallica? And what would the Boss say?
Hate Radio Host Turns on McCain
“Hate radio” host Bill Cunningham supported John McCain yesterday. In fact, he supported McCain so much that McCain’s campaign asked him to fire up the crowd before McCain spoke at a rally in Ohio.
Mr. Cunningham lambasted the national news media, drawing cheers from the audience, as being soft in their coverage of Mr. Obama compared to the Republican presidential candidates, declaring they should “peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama.”
He went on to say, “At one point, the media will quit taking sides in this thing and start covering Barack Hussein Obama.”
Apparently, disparaging McCain’s opponent with the repeated use of the name “Hussein” wasn’t on the program, since it prompted an apology from McCain the same day:
“Whatever suggestion that was made that was any way disparaging to the integrity, character, honesty of either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton was wrong,” Mr. McCain said. “I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility, and I apologize for it.”
Mr. McCain called Mr. Obama a “man of integrity” and said he was someone he had come to know “pretty well and I admire.”
He also said that it was not appropriate to invoke Mr. Obama’s middle name.
“I absolutely repudiate such comments,” Mr. McCain said. “It will never happen again.”
Well, Mr. Cunningham didn’t seem to appreciate being “repudiated” by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee–after all, loyal Republicans are hate radio’s bread-and-butter listeners–so Cunnigham went on the offensive (albeit without being nearly as offensive) against McCain.
“John McCain threw me under a bus — under the ‘Straight Talk Express,’ ” Bill Cunningham told CNN on Tuesday, referring to McCain’s campaign bus.
…
Cunningham said McCain “ought to attack Democrats and quit attacking conservatives like me.”“I, for one, regret that John McCain is the nominee of the conservative party,” he said.
…
Cunningham also disputed McCain’s contention that the two had never met, saying he has met the senator twice.“But I’m not going to meet him again. I’ve had it up to here with John McCain. I’m joining Ann Coulter in supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton,” he said.
I, for one, am happy to see McCain repudiate hatemongers like Cunningham, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, and company. Let’s just hope that once he has the nomination wrapped up, McCain continues to reject the politics of fear and hate. Maybe I’m too cynical, but I doubt he will.
Update: Even Karl Rove thinks the GOP’s obsession with Obama’s middle name is a bad idea.
“No intention of trying to restore the missing White House e-mails.”
So sayeth the RNC to Rep. Henry Waxman and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:
The RNC had previously told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that it was attempting to restore e-mails from 2001 to 2003, when the RNC had a policy of purging all e-mails, including those to and from White House officials, after 30 days. But Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) disclosed during a hearing yesterday that the RNC has now said it “has no intention of trying to restore the missing White House e-mails.”
“The result is a potentially enormous gap in the historical record,” Waxman said, including the buildup to the Iraq war.
Spokesman Danny Diaz said in a statement that the RNC “is fully compliant with the spirit and letter of the law.” He declined further comment.
Except, of course, for the law that requires such emails to be archived and preserved. Oh, and that silly “checks and balances” thing that mandates Congressional oversight of the Executive Branch.
The “lost” emails contain those sent by Karl Rove, and may be connected to the U.S. attorney firings, political presentations at the GSA that violated the Hatch Act, and maybe even Rove’s political imprisonment of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. But these emails are going to stay “lost” because the RNC doesn’t feel like looking for them anymore.
Hillary Clinton: A Retrospective
Then:
“If you want to talk about tactical political maneuvering, it’s about one Democrat comparing another Democrat to George Bush,” [Clinton spokesman Howard] Wolfson told the AP. “That’s the worst kind of tactical political maneuvering.”
Now:
Warning of the foreign policy challenges facing the next president, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that it is not a time to pick someone who would need “a foreign policy instruction manual” and likened Sen. Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic nomination, to President Bush.
I guess anything goes in the race to win the states that matter.
Update: Well, apparently Texas doesn’t matter anymore, so who knows why the Clinton campaign is doing what it’s doing. Maybe for funsies?
Barack Obama is an Evil, Evil Muslim Who Hates America
Update: It has become painfully clear to me that not enough people know snark when they see it, so I guess I better be a little more blunt: this is not serious! Go to the most recent blog posts and read through them. Click on some of the links in this post. You’ll get it if you really think about it.
It’s true! Practically every real American with a microphone agrees that Barack Obama hates America–there’s Fox and Friends’ Steve Doocy, hate radio host Mark Williams, Swift Boat consultant Keith Appell, and Roger Stone, founder of a group called C.U.N.T. whose purpose is to “Educate the Public About What Hillary Clinton Really Is” (hint: he thinks she’s a cunt).
Then there’s the fact that he dressed like a Muslim while visiting a Muslim area of northern Kenya. No real American would ever put on another people’s traditional garb out of respect for that culture. I mean, look at the man:
Scary, right? He’s even wearing a turban! You know who else wears a turban? This guy. So clearly Obama is a Muslim who will hand over America to the Taliban the minute he takes the oath of office with one hand on the Koran and the other hand not over his heart.
I mean, the man doesn’t even wear an American flag pin, unlike these pinned patriots, so he must hate America. Speaking about important issues and telling “the American people what I believe will make this country great” is patriotism, you think? No, patriotism is proudly displaying the red, white, and blue on your jacket. That’s why every single one of Obama’s critics wears a pin–because they love America. Even CNN is so unsure about Obama’s patriotism that they had to ask their viewers if they thought Osama–oh, oops–Obama was patriotic enough to be president. Speaking of Osama, did you know that he wants Obama to be president? I mean, nobody asked him, but FOX News did include the question in their most recent presidential poll. And if FOX News reports it, it must be the truth. I wasn’t really sure, though, until I got the unsourced email that was forwarded to me by two of my friends, explaining how Obama is a Muslim who wants to kill all the Jews and blow up Israel. Now I’m certain.
So when you go to polls in upcoming primaries or in November, remember that Barack Obama is an evil, evil Muslim who hates America, unlike John McCain, who is an American hero who never had sex with that woman or broke campaign finance laws. In fact, I think I’m going to start calling him by his real Muslim name, given to him by his Muslim father Obama X, which is Supreme Ayatollah Barack Hussein Ahmadinejad Obama bin Laden. Would you want that guy to be president?
How Much Do You Know About Joe?
The fine journalists over at 23/6 (”Some of the news/Most of the time”) have created a quick quiz to test your knowledge about America’s favorite Independent Democrat, Senator Holy Joe Lieberman (ID-RNC). How much do you know about Joe?
Mitt Romney: Comeback King?
Yeah, you read the title right. According to one of his sons, Mitt Romney might be down but not quite out:
Josh Romney, one of former Gov. Mitt Romney’s five sons, says it’s “possible” his father may rejoin the race for the White House, as a vice presidential candidate or as the Republican Party’s standard-bearer if the campaign of Sen. John McCain falters.
The 60-year-old Romney, who “suspended” his campaign for the GOP nomination after a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday and a week later endorsed McCain, was taking a break from politics this weekend on a skiing vacation in Utah with his wife, Ann, according to his 32-year-old son.
…
Apparently, that whole business with the lobbyist Ms. Iseman is part of what could motivate Willard to jump back into the race. He still has those 286 delegates, and I’d love to see him put them to good use. Re-run, Mittens, re-run!
Afghan Women Worse Than Ever Before
Grinding poverty and the escalating war is driving an increasing number of Afghan families to sell their daughters into forced marriages.
Girls as young as six are being married into a life of slavery and rape, often by multiple members of their new relatives. Banned from seeing their own parents or siblings, they are also prohibited from going to school. With little recognition of the illegality of the situation or any effective recourse, many of the victims are driven to self-immolation – burning themselves to death – or severe self-harm.
Six years after the US and Britain “freed” Afghan women from the oppressive Taliban regime, a new report proves that life is just as bad for most, and worse in some cases.
It makes me proud to see that our decisive victory over the Taliban in August 2004, and then two years later in September ‘06, and then again in August of 2007, and then once more last December helped to liberate women from the oppressive rule of the Taliban.