Palin Fund deemed unlawful

It's a very good day to be me!

I got some great news from the University I attend (University of Minnesota), the US is still in the World Cup, TCU is still in the College World Series... there's gas in my car!!! And the woman I love to hate had a little bad news. in fact, I think I hate her more than Ann Coulter. At least with Ann there's some intelligence even if its warped with Fascist overtones.

Supporters of Sarah Palin have 90 days to return nearly $400,000 in donations raised by her legal defense trust after an investigator ruled the fund ran afoul of state ethics laws.

Ok, it really wasn't bad and in some ways, I'm not sure shutting the supposed illegal fund down was legal itself. The fund folded and was then relaunched with this to say:

Now, Sarah Palin's enemies have scored a limited victory in their vicious campaign to smear, bankrupt, and force this dedicated public servant and conservative leader out of politics. They have successfully questioned her prior legal defense fund--a fund that mirrored John Kerry's fund and Bill Clinton's fund. So a new fund was necessary to make sure Sarah Palin can continue to speak the truth to Americans.

I find that somewhere in the middle there is some truth. And saying something mirrors something else leaves a lot out there. Mirrors can be cracked, flawed or distorted and not necissarily reflect an identical image. In other words, your metaphor may reveal that the fund is not altogether like what the supporters allude.

I have to wonder what may have been the truth. And everything with Palin makes me wonder. Like how she has the brain capacity to use words in a sentence.

Chocolate and melting ice will kill ya

Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Environmental awareness worldwide. Yeah, he shares it with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change but its Gore's. He has pledged to donate his portion of the $1.5M prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection. He reiterated his comments about his position about climate change by saying”The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity.” He also cited an African proverb to relate the challenge of environmental concern: “If you want to quickly, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together.”

There was, of course, no mention by Gore that he would seek the Democratic Nomination for President. To be honest, Bill Clinton has proved that to effect real change you need to step outside the state agencies and offices such as the President of the United States. Clinton's Initiative has jump started lots of things like removing junk food from schools. Gore has found his cause and it is not a political one. These two men, regardless of what their politics are great leaders and able to inspire others to change conditions throughout the world.

In other news, Turkey is weighing its options on invading Northern Iraq. This is no doubt a retaliatory remark considering the resolution that will likely go before the House of Representatives. There have been rallies in Istanbul protesting the move in the US. So, does Turkey really mean they will invade the unofficial Kurdistan in retaliation for our legislature's decision to condemn a heinous 92-year-old massacre? Should we call their bluff? Is this the beginning of Congress growing a spin e in essence testing how much effect they have in foreign affairs? What does the Israel Lobby think of all this? Do they even care?

I can only say that this is poorly timed. Congress may be thinking that if they start issues with Turkey which may seriously restrict our ability to wage war in Iraq, they may be able to expedite our withdrawal. However, I think this only lays us prone to a far deeper international quagmire.

Moving on, the “Butcher of Depayin“, General Soe Win of Myanmar is dead at 59 after a long illness believed to be Leukemia. The General was also the Prime Minister in the Militarily governed and beleaguered state of Myanmar, also known as Burma. He is most known for his attack on Democratic opposition and its leader most notably, its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003. This may create some interesting changes in the Junta's grasp of power in the Asian country.

Lastly, it appears that people may crave chocolate according to the types of microbes and the amount in their intestines. Scientists think they may be able to manipulate the bacteria in someone's gut to get people to lose weight. Anyways...

On this day, in 1492, Christopher Columbus made landfall, just like a hurricane, in the Bahamas. He was entirely convinced he reached East Asia. He believed to the his death.

Still this day does not exist in 1582 for Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. Stupid Julian Calendar!!!

In 1692, the Salem Witch Trials were finally concluded. There was no one left to burn, hang or drown.

In 1792, we started celebrating Columbus day in New York. There was no ticker tape parade.

In 1810, the Bavarian royalty invited the residents of Munich to celebrate a royal wedding betwixt Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. It is the first Oktoberfest.

In 1901, then President Theodore Roosevelt (yes the other one) renamed the executive mansion the White House. There was even an executive order about this. Why would this be so important? Because Executive Mansion sounds elitist and far above and outside the realm of the common working man whom were much more common then they are now. The White House sounds far more common and less aggrandizing.

In 1915, English Nurse Edith Cavell was executed by German firing squad for helping hundreds of Allied soldiers escape German-occupied Belgium to the Netherlands which was neutral. She was working for the Red Cross and this supposedly violated Military Law. The UK felt it was powerless to help her cause and actually believed they would hurt it. She was reburied in Life's Green in England where a memorial service is held every year on this date. Her name became popular to in France and Belgium after her death. Édith Piaf, who was born two months after the execution, is one very famous example.

In 1941, on this day as well as the next, the Germans, now the Nazis, massacred 11,000 Jews in Dnipropetrovsk (Дніпропетровськ ), Ukraine. They marched them to a ravine and then shot them there. Of the city's 80,000 Jews before the war, only 15 survived to the end of the war.

In 1960, Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the USSR, delivers his shoe banging speech at the United Nations General Assembly and declares “We will bury you”. This meant that the USSR would outlast the US. Their government would be there to bury ours.

In 1962, there was a Columbus Day storm in the Northwest that killed 48. It was known for its ferocious winds.

In 1972, there was a racial brawl of more than 100 sailors aboard the the carrier the USS Kitty Hawk as it sailed for the Gulf Tionkin.

In 1979, Typhoon Tip records the lowest atmospheric pressure not related to tornadic activity in the Pacific.

In 2000, due to two terrorist bombers in Aden, Yemen, a hole was rent in the hull of the USS Cole (I believe it was the larboard or port side) and 17 sailors died, one of whom was a friend of mine and fellow basic trainee. Thirty nine others were wounded. The evidence supports that al-Qaeda was responsible.

And finally, France passed a law on this day a year ago making denial of the Armenian Genocide a crime. Ho ho ho [the French “Ho ho ho”].

Good Night and Good Luck.

Perverts! Liars! Terrorists! Oh My!

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The Reaction to Bill Clinton: Retorts and...Socks?

Let me preface this post with a comment: I rant at times. Sometimes for great length. I did not go too long in this post. I started out nice and calm but as I wrote more and more, I began to seethe till finally, I exploded in a torrent of anger and insanity focused on the actions of my government. I do not apologize because I'm exercising my first amendment right to free speech. I honestly don't think its that bad but... whatever.

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I did say I'd find the links to the video of the interview. They are in fact on YouTube. Its in three parts and can be found at these links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Onwards to the reaction to Clinton.

I know my appreciation for CNN knows no bounds. I can't help it. It was ingrained in me as a child because my parents loved the news and it was the only 24 hour news network there was. They invented the damned thing. I also loved that James Earl Jones ident that you never hear anymore. The only other channel we watched as much was the Weather Channel! Well, in the last 24 hours or so (except for some of 360 last night), I've watched the "others". I wanted to see how Fox and not to mention MSNBC, ABC, and CBS would cover the Clinton interview. I know what Coop said about it last night and that was good enough for me as far as CNN was concerned. I loved it on 360 last night when they revealed this regarding Clinton: "Spokesman Tony Snow, a former FOX News commentator quipped, 'He retorts, you decide.'" Excellant! A "Rush" transcript of 360 can be read here. To Anderson Cooper's credit, he reported the news with nothing in the way of opinion and interviewed numerous people from different schools of thought. That's why I love Anderson!

Earlier in the day, I watched Good Morning America. Diane Sawyer had Bill O'Reilly on to discuss the recently broadcast Bill Clinton interview we all love to analyze to death. He was milder than he normally is. I can only guess it was because it wasn't his show, he wasn't in charge and its Dame Diane Sawyer, a real Lady of Journalism. He said that Clinton as well as many in the current administration such as the hated 4: Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld. Not to bring me back to Cooper but it reminded me of the spinning going on a year ago about Katrina. Mary Landrieu said people were frustrated. People aren't frustrated! People are dying!!! Those people are our servicmen and women! Whatever...

I watched Keith Olbermann and his Countdown over on MSNBC. I like Olbermann and I wish he wasn't on MSNBC which I forget about half the time because its on channel 70 and all the other news channels are clustered together in the 30's. "The Dirty Thirties!" ...Anyway. Olbermann devoted quite a large chunk of his show to an editorial. He pointed out that Clinton's "tear" during the interivew on Fox opened up a lot of doors, not to mention windows, doggie doors, escape hatches and bunker seals to run around and scream at the current administration for their ineptitude and inane stupidity. He also claimed that it was a wake-up call to the media as a whole. That they need no longer swig from the bottle of booze known as Stooge. They could now start ripping down the sets that Bush and his administration built. Olbermann went for quite some time on his own "tear" toward Bush and his administration. So much so I almost jumped up and applauded. I didn't but I shed a tear or ten. Its nice to see the press finally get a spine back. His editorial can (and should) be read here.

This morning on MSNBC, they were still going on about this interview but now they were splitting hairs. An anchorwoman on MSNBC was discussing with two men about Clinton showing a little leg. Apparently, his socks were too low and his pants were too high. Couldn't someone tell him "to pull down his pants?" Oh yeah, that was brilliant! I was astounded that they would devote any more time than 10 seconds mentioning Clinton's wardrobe malfunction.

Ok... things are getting absurd. Maybe they were to begin with. Now, there is talk of pre-planning (isn't planning already pre-whatever? That's like pre-early. "I wanted to beat you here so I got here pre-early") on both sides. Did Wallace plan on brow-beating Clinton to deflect criticsm of Murdoch getting cozy with Clinton and his initiatives? Did Clinton plan on ripping Wallace a new asshole on the GOP leaning Fox news? One may believe that both are correct statements. Fox did need to make an effort to offset the potentially troubling coupling. Dems need help for the election in 5-6 weeks. Leaking parts of the National Intelligence Estimate isn't enough. (Which if you don't know about that, lord, help you!)

Was Wallace even smirking? His colleagues all jokingly told him "just don't smirk!" And Clinton's finger wagging... well, the last time he did that was in fact when he told us he didn't have sexual relations with Monica.

Take this how you want to. There's spinning on either side. Case in point: Condalezza Rice has come out today to talk about Clinton's claims that the Bush administration was asleep at the wheel its first 8 months. "The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false - and I think the 9/11 commission understood that," she said in interview with many staff members of the New York Post. She also mentioned "we were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al-Qaida" contradictory to Clinton's assertion that he did. The same article ends with Hillary, always defending her husband, saying "I just think that my husband did a great job in demonstrating that Democrats are not going to take this." And, in fact, it is likely they won't take any of this anymore.

But before I declare the Democrats awake and out of torpor, I must briefly mention that many of these people went along with every brazen and emboldened thing Bush could think up to ruin this country. Why? Fear be damned, its politics! The Politics of Fear, in fact, a strategy most usefully employed by lords and kings in the feudal era. That was when "Might makes Right" was the slogan of the day. The Bush administration continues to use fear as a political tool to keep the left doing their bidding, the media reporting what he says they can and the American people as a whole sweating and re-electing. He keeps us scared for his own ends. And we are turning into the country we swore we never would, that we wouldn't be terrorized by terrorists. But we are! We are scared because of our privacy isn't, our rights are infringed, we can't bring liquids on airplanes, there's anthrax in the air and e. coli on our spinach (Ok, the last one isn't related but whatever...). They keep asking if Americans feel safer now and the answer is no!!! How could we be? And how can we feel safer with a government that reveals nothing? Even if al-Quada didn't exist, I'd still be scared becuase my government is frightening!!!

So, our government still runs on the medieval idea of whomever has the ability to kill more must be the best. In a WWE smackdown, sure! But this is Global Politics and we are a democracy. Conflict should never be settled with bombs and bullets but debate and discourse. I'm hoping Bill Clinton opened the flood gates for the Democratic Party. I hope they launch into scathing attacks of not only the failings of the current administration but also the lies, the deception and the stupid strategies employed by nitwits who can't win either war we're in. I hope...

And if I sounded crazed and Clinton looked crazed its because we are. Fox did itself a disservice by advertising the crazed Clinton. Anyone would be crazed at this day and year for all the shit we see happening. I feel as though I'm living in Nazi Germany before the war: I'm watching the beacon on the hill become the cesspool in the sewer. And I just can't take it anymore!!!!!

There are too many things to bitch about. I'm done. There is nothing else to say. Whatever...

Conservative hit job?!?!?!

Former president William Jefferson Clinton was inteviewed by Chris Wallace for Fox News' Sunday show. the 42nd President seemed to lose it and go on a "tear". He accused Wallace of being unfair. Not to quote him or anything but he told Wallace "you did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me". Clinton was asked specifically Why he didn't put Bin laden and al-Qaeda "out of business". He immediately became aggressive in his reply. He claims that he was obsessed with finding and killing Bin Laden, that he planned strikes on Afghanistan but scrubbed them because of backlash. He also planned an invasion to get Bin laden but was denied basing abilities in Uzbekistan.

The entire transcript should be read but it doesn't do it justice. Can't wait to find the whole thing on YouTube.

On a completely different train of thought, The 12 signs of fascism. Must be seen!

Night!