The "Terrorist" Bill Ayers Speaks

The William Ayers "controversy" cooked up by Sarah Palin, John McCain, and their little group of rabid, seemingly aimless robots points again at a divide amongst Americans that seems will never heal: Vietnam. Just as we were split about Iraq we continue to be split on the subject of Vietnam. Vietnam was also a colossal mistake and was mishandled to a greater extent than even Iraq, but there are still a large number of Americans that believe "America right or wrong" for some unfathomable reason. William Ayers's "terrorist" actions were meant as a direct assault on the war machine and were done not to terrorize or kill but to make a political point that was being all but ignored by those in power and the media at the time. The same people that so vehemently oppose Ayers's stance and tactics during the 60's and early 70's mostly agree with the tactics of the Nat'l Guard at Kent State or the FBI spying on peace activists (as continues to this day). For these people "peace" is equal to surrender as it's the only way they can fit the concept into their simple minded black & white worldview. This Fresh Air interview is his first since the right wing froth machine picked up on his name during the campaign. I would hope that most people would come away at least doubting the truthfulness and tone of the attacks against Ayers and Obama for his extremely loose association with him. Personally I feel there are far worse criminals from that era still walking the earth like Henry Kissinger, people who genuinely ordered the murder tens of thousands of innocents, the destruction of other countries, and the assassination of foreign political opponents in our name. Comparing Ayers to these people is like comparing a jaywalker to a serial killer.

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

Quotes from BBC Friday Comedy News Quiz

"If we could be allowed to drop our tone of cynicism for a moment, it's bloody marvelous Obama's been elected, isn't it?"

"When Obama said that John McCain had endured things that most of us could not begin to imagine I immediately thought of brunch with the Palins."

"Every president has had an idiot brother, except for Bush who turned out to be the idiot brother."

"No one dared to believe that Americans would put aside their prejudices and elect a president with a brain."

Palin and Witchcraft

Considering this may very well be the most important election of our lifetime I'm going to pile on Sarah Palin a little bit more because, well, because she's a loony right wing fundamentalist wacko. She apparently has been very upset that McCain refuses to go after Obama for his connection to the Reverend Wright. I think McCain may be more intelligent than he often appears given his own controversial religious supporters from the far right (John Hagee being the best example of the worst). But wouldn't you think Palin would have the same sense of shame considering her close association with the insane witchhunter Thomas Muthee? She doesn't. Despite this man being responsible for the murder of many people he declared "witches" she has never said a word against the man. She's part of that weird Christian cult that believes they are literally at war with Satan on earth and there there are witches and demons lurking in the bodies of other people. Here's an example of what Muthee's condemnation caused in Kenya:



Here is a link to a concise page about Sarah Palin's association with this cult.

Thomas Muthee has one of his many churches in the Kisii region, just 125 miles from Kiambu. Kisii has been the scene of many murders of people accused of witchcraft. In the latest of these incidents, in May 2008, at least eleven elderly people were killed, some of them burned alive, by a mob of hundreds that accused the victims of being witches.

...

The children are beaten, starved, tied to trees and left to die, buried alive, and if they survive, are abandoned. They're treated this way because they're suspected of witchcraft, submitted to the same accusation that Thomas Muthee has used to gain power himself.

...

The USA is not apart from the rest of the world. There are many people here in the United States who believe in evil witches casting satanic spells. They are trying to get leaders like Sarah Palin to "infiltrate" the government on their behalf. They are attempting to use the power of government to spread their paranoid ideas.

via

Un American Activities

Twit of the Year Show

via Harper's

I have this image in my head of what it's like to be inside the Republican campaign. It's like the great "Twit of the Year" skit by Monty Python's Flying Circus. Except that these twits are kind of mean and angry and they're throwing poop at the people watching them. And occasionally clubbing one of their own to death in retribution. Did you notice how Goldfarb went to "pals around with" instinctively? "Palling around with terrorists" was a big hit for Sarah Palin but this guy is just grasping for straws. The "Straight Talk Express" has become the "Say Anything That Pops Into Your Mind Express." They act like fucking third graders. They do something wrong that you see yourself and they stand there and say straight to your face, "I didn't do anything." They'll make a mistake or get carried away and they can't quite bring themselves to just admitting it and continuing on. "Say Whatever Express" fits better on the bus marquee. All the same, they're a particularly nasty bunch of twits.

Cindy McCain Claims She’s ‘Just Like Any Other Female Human’

Cindy McCain Claims She's "Just Like Any Other Female Human"

Vote McCain, He's Just Like W Except Older With a Worse Temper

See more Hayden Panettiere videos at Funny or Die

Insane & Failin'

McCain's Robocall About Ayers

According to sources these robocalls began today, the day after the debate. It is just staggeringly pathetic that they keep beating this dead horse especially considering that McCain's transition chief lobbied* for Saddam Hussein, there's McCain's direct involvement with the Keating 5,** and McCain's friendship with traitor and felon G. Gordon Liddy. In my opinion people like Liddy have done far more to damage this nation than Bill Ayers ever would have wished.

*two of his associates were jailed for this
**who arguably cost the citizens of the US far more than the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers combined

McCain Comics

Some really funny stuff here.

Art Cars For Democracy!

The Debate(s) in a Minute

For some reason this site's videos won't embed here so just click on this sentence.

Something I'd Like to Say to John McCain

I'm not your friend, buddy.

"That One"

So last night's debate wasn't anything special. If you've been paying attention to the Presidential race at all you learned nothing new. At different points (and sometimes on the same question) the candidates did not answer the question asked, surprise surprise. I was most disappointed with Obama's lack of an answer to the question whether or not health insurance should be treated as a commodity. I personally think we should have a national health care system that takes care of everyone. The current system only takes care of those that can afford it and those that can afford it are becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. Obama did mention several times that health care is bankrupting many of us but did not go on to explain how these bankruptcies are destroying the legacy of the middle class (and any chance of the poor passing on anything to their children) while enriching the wealthy.

Do you think McCain referring to Obama as "that one" might be a cleverly masked racist comment (by using a pronoun meant for non-humans)? Another way to paint hims as "the other?"

A Quick Note

I have this funny suspicion that some really big things are being done quietly or secretly at the moment and we won't hear about them until after the election. The "loans" to Detroit auto makers for instance, negotiations and actions in the Middle East that may run counter to civilized behavior (Bob Woodward intimated on Real Time with Bill Maher that we were assassinating a lot of people in Iraq), Secret Service involvement in rights violations (kidnapping and brutality at the RNC), and on and on and more than we can see right now. Is the gamble by our shadowy overlords (OSO) that by distracting us with the Palin/McCain implosion we won't see them ripping the last shreds of our ability to remain human from us? We've been so trained to view the world as if what celebrities do is the most important thing going on. So who are the biggest celebrities of the moment? Obama and Palin. Coincidence? Do you think only Palin is a pawn of OSO? Goshes.

By the way, I'm still bummed that Lieberman wasn't named as McCain's VP. They made such a cute couple.

Great Line(s) for Monday

Daniel Chun: The contrast between Obama and McCain could not be greater. This is like choosing between an orgasm and a punch in the throat. The fact this is a close race is a terrifying outrage...

Ehhhh?

What do you say? I can't hear you because I'm too fucking old to be able to hear you because I'M FUCKING OLD!!!

My First Impression of Tonights Debate

Obama: Confident, calm yet passionate, organized, informed, thoughtful, patient, full formed.

McCain: Stilted, rambling, repetitive, vapid, confused, wandering, empty.

Palin Perpetuates 9/11 Lies

I should've posted this a while back but forgot to. Just to drive home the fact the Republican Presidential campaign keeps telling bald faced lies because they know their followers will believe them despite all the proof to the contrary. Proof like President Bush saying Iraq was not involved in the 9/11 attacks and that they did not have WMD.

An Inflated Sense of Importance?

John McCain has "suspended" his campaign for the Presidency (the quotes are because he's been constantly appearing on news programs since the "suspension") because of the current financial crisis. Who does he think he is? He's not on any of the committees that will write the law that will probably fuck all the non-wealthy Americans that could be fucked and he's not a member of the Senate leadership that will call the legislation to the floor.

Is it just a ploy to keep the vapid former beauty queen Sarah Palin from having to debate Biden? McCain's plan to make up this Presidential debate is to replace next week's Vice-presidential debate with McCain v. Obama. There are 39 days left until we elect the next President and we have yet to see them head to head and the Vice-presidential candidate on the Republican ticket has yet to hold anything even vaguely resembling a press conference, much less participate in a debate.

Don't these people have computers, cel phones, video conferencing, etc.? Oh, I forgot. McCain doesn't understand all that new fangled technology. If he did he wouldn't need to go to Washington in person until he actually needed to vote on a bill.

And a little note about the debate McCain wishes to cancel: it will likely lose $5.5 million for Ole Miss. As we all know, public universities are awash in cash so they'll just be able to shrug this off, right? Fire a few more professors, hire some more marketing personell...