Robert S. McNamara, the former secretary of defense whose record as a leading executive of industry and a chieftain of foreign financial aid was all but erased from public memory by his reputation as the primary architect of U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam, died early this morning at age 93.
Diana McNamara said her husband died at his home in Northwest Washington. She did not give a cause of death.
McNamara was secretary of defense during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. In that capacity he directed a U.S. military buildup in Southeast Asia during the critical early years of a Vietnamese conflict that escalated into one of the most divisive and bitter wars in U.S. history. When the war was over, 58,000 Americans were dead and the national social fabric had been torn asunder.
Before taking office as secretary of defense in 1961, McNamara was president of Ford Motor Co. For 13 years after he left the Pentagon in 1968, he was president of the World Bank. He was a brilliant student, a compulsive worker and a skillful planner and organizer, whose manifest talents carried him from modest circumstances in California to the highest levels of the Washington power structure. He was said to have built a record of achievement and dedication in business, government and public service that few of his generation could match.
After his retirement from the bank in 1981, he maintained an exhausting schedule as director or consultant to scores of public and private organizations and was a virtual one-man think tank on nuclear arms issues.
But more than 40 years after the fact, he was remembered almost exclusively for his orchestration of U.S. prosecution of the war in Vietnam, a failed effort by the world’s greatest superpower to prevent a communist takeover of a weak and corrupt ally. For his role in the war, McNamara was vilified by harsh and unforgiving critics, and his entire record was unalterably clouded. For the rest of his life, he would be haunted by the Vietnam ghosts.
No matter one’s opinion of the war. It is no doubt that this man carried the burden of that war with him. He later admitted that he was wrong. But by then, it was too late. He wrote a memoir, that only enraged his critics the more.
I was raised in the tradition that one does not speak evil of the dead. Just bury ‘em and remember the good about them. Mr. McNamara. rest in peace sir. May you find it in death.
His Book:
Update: Taki’s Magazine has an excellent entry on this subject.
This is a video of David Wood and Nabeel Qureshi asking questions at Arabfest, Dearborn. The date is June 21st, 2009. There was a booth at the festival which had a banner titled “Islam: Got Questions? Get Answers.” From their table, we picked up a pamphlet claiming that Islam promotes peace. We noticed that it was full of poor logic and errors, so we decided to make a video refuting it. We went to the booth that gave us the pamphlet to give them the opportunity to defend their claims. Security, however, stepped in and forced us to turn off our camera.
We left the booth, received advice from police, and found out that the actions of the security guards were illegal. We went back to the booth to record a potential answer again. Realizing that the Muslims present had no answer, we left.
When we came outside, we were asked some questions by two young men, who had been sent by security to entrap us. While we responded to them, festival security started assaulting us, as you will see in this video. The conclusion of this video is a mob of festival security attacking our cameras, pushing us back, kicking our legs, and lying to the police.
We ask you, is it a coincidence that the city with the highest percentage of Muslims in the United States is the city where Christianity is not allowed to be represented (let alone preached) on a public sidewalk? Is it coincidence that in this city, people will say “No way!” when we say “This is the United States of America”?
Is this what will happen when Islam takes over the United States?
You see Ladies and Gents, THIS is what celebrating diversity does to you. It gets you attacked by Islamic terrorist THUGS! Rick Warren and his purpose driven life, “Let’s love everyone and not judge”, kind of Christianity is just that; it celebrates diversity. Islam, a religion of peace….. What a lie! 😡 This is why, if I ever was going to film, I would go armed. Any security person who approached me and tried to hurt me, would be killed.
Ratcheting up her offensive against the news media, Gov. Sarah Palin’s attorney threatened Saturday to sue mainstream news organizations if they publish “defamatory” stories relating to whether Palin is under federal investigation.
In an extraordinary four-page letter, Alaska-based attorney Thomas Van Flein warns of severe consequences should speculation that until now has largely been confined to blogs about whether Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena find its way into print.
“This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law,” Van Flein warned, citing Alaska liberal blogger Shannyn Moore.
I hate to say this, But Palin, as far as I am concerned; is history. She put herself into the spotlight, by being involved in public politics and now, wants to be treated special because she is a woman. This is nothing more than some threat of a frivolous lawsuit. Further more, it is an attempt to suppress freedom of speech. I do not know any judge, that is worth two dimes; that would even give a lawsuit of this nature a second look. My issue with this lawsuit threat, and her in general is not because she is a woman. It is because she embraces the whole notion of Female entitlement. The woman wants to be treated differently, because she is a woman. That is the antithesis of Conservatism.
Andrew Sullivan does not buy it either, and as much as I hate to admit it, he is correct here:
I don’t quite buy that this is a brilliant scheme to win everything back by running from the base as a martyr of librul-media meanies. Why? First off, she lies about almost everything, so one’s immediate response should be: if she said it, it’s probably not true. Besides, if she really thinks she could do more for Alaska by leaving it (a rare display of insight on her point), she could at least do the minimum and finish up her term of office. I mean: I know the endless photo-shoots and Greta interviews can take time, but it’s not like she seems to do very much. Her ratings my be sinking like a stone, but they have not incapacitated her. And as every Republican hack has pointed out, quitting a governorship before your first term is over is not exactly a good advertisement for being president of the United States. If she can’t handle a few Alaskan bloggers and Steve Schmidt emails, how is she going to handle Khamenei and al Qaeda? Maybe her base is so ga-ga they don’t care. But again the whole diva quitting-fit is totally at odds with the core image that turns them on – of a tough-girl, Thatcher-style, play-with-the-big-boys Alaskan Evita. You can’t do that and then throw a sixteen-year-old fit and slam your bedroom door when the press gets too tough.
[….]
Okay: she’s joining the Beck-Limbaugh-Hannity circus. It sure is more lucrative and far more fun than governing a state. Her main goals in life so far have been money and fame (and photo-shoots); and she doesn’t handle power, understand policy or manage people well. So why not earn money from being a celebrity rather than from that excruciatingly arduous thing called governing?But here’s why I can’t quite buy this either.
This was obviously an incredibly hasty decision, with no prepared speech, delivered almost to minimize its publicity impact on the Friday of a federal holiday before the Fourth of July. If she were really re-launching her career in a new media-driven, Fox-News, Huckabee-Limbaugh vehicle, she would surely have set up the launch a little better. She can do speeches. She could have done a great one – a rallying cry, a “You won’t have Palin to kick around any more” piece of bravado – and launched a big fundraising drive to get her on her way. But no: we get this desperate, unrehearsed, “I’m-not-a-quitter-because-I’m-quitting” stream-of-consciousness. Again, anything is possible, since she’s ga-ga, but this really felt to me like a very swift withdrawal to avoid what might be an almighty shoe about to fall to earth.
What could that shoe be? Some unknown ethics inquiry? Some big official scandal about to break? The free house-construction no-one quite resolved? Trooper Wooten’s revenge? Bristol can’t take the bullshit any more and has sold a tell-all? Levi just got a lot of money from the Enquirer? Sherri Johnston has implicated a Palin in her drug-bust? Did Track get in trouble again? Is there another unplanned pregnancy somewhere? Someone took a hike on the Appalachian trail? Has Lyda Green finally gone nuclear? Has Mercedes got a book contract? Or has she pushed Levi one step too far? Is Trig really Tina Fey’s child?
The number of potential enemies and victims with an ax to grind and a lucrative story to tell is endless. Who can say? But the abruptness of the withdrawal is so weird one has to wonder. I mean: she managed to face down a pregnant unwed daughter, an arrested relative, a delinquent son, a secessionist husband, 32 absurd lies (and counting), a completely loopy pregnancy story and carried on regardless, winking and posing away. I mean: those Runners World photos don’t look like a a politician in clinical depression, ground down by exposure. So what possible scandal could be big enough to force her to quit this suddenly, without a prepared statement, and shocking her entire staff? What could be so big that this extremely ambitious woman would do something that all but ends her potential credibility as a national politician? No one can elect a president who couldn’t even finish one term of office as governor because of press pressure. Right?
All I know is that if a shoe drops, we probably won’t hear about it first from the mainstream media. So stay tuned.
While all of the above might be a wee bit mean spirited, Andrew does have a point. I have to say, that I do agree. She has been caught some rather nasty lies. Something was brought to her attention, perhaps not a federal investigation; but perhaps a state one and they had dirt on her and she got the heck out of dodge before they went public.
The plain fact is, that she is out and the Liberal media won’t have her to bash any longer. But if she thinks that the media will stop talking about her; she is crazy. Because the Liberal media is on this mission and that is to destroy Conservatism and the Republican Party. Some Paleo-Conservatives would love to see this; I am not one of them. I think that there should be a counter to the Big Government idiocy of the Democratic Party.
The problem is, that party has no spokesman; Buckley is dead, Sanford is discredited, Ann Coulter is an idiot, Michelle Malkin is…. well, Michelle Malkin; there is just no one of great articulation. It is a tragic thing, but these things tend to happen; when the Party elects a President based upon family pedigree and then he proceeds to embark on a Wilsonian, Neo-Conservative guided mission of Global dominance in the middle east.
The burning question, which is in the back of everyone’s mind is this; will the Republican Party be able to pull out of this funk and find someone who can articulate properly the values of the party; Without coming off like sounding like some rich pompous ass? That is the problem with the party. The image is that of a “Rich Man’s Party.” and John McCain with his eight houses did nothing to help that image. Of course, I know that it is not a “Rich Man’s Party.” While I personally might not be in that Party, I know many middle class people who are.
As I said before, and have in many blog postings. It is going to be a long four to eight years in America.
Now this is a very interesting twist to this story:
An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.
A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult.
“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”
This puts Khamenei in a corner. He has repeatedly claimed that the election results were divinely authored, putting his religious credibility on the line to silence opposition. Khamenei has, through surrogates, accused Mousavi and other protesters of being foreign agents, enemies of the Islamic Republic that he claims authority from Allah to run. If the religious clerics that support that divine authority suddenly switch sides and accuse Khamenei and his Guardian Council of imposing illegitimate results on the nation, what does that do to his authority?
I would assume that the Government of Iran will do, what they’ve been doing ever since this story broke. Continue to kill those who rise up against them. Although, I highly doubt; at this point, that the Government will be able to quell the whole entire situation.
Andrew Sullivan, who provided, I felt, the best coverage of the entire Iran election says this:
Unlike some liberal Blogs, I actually do report follow ups to rumors:
Reporting from Washington — A day after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resigned, a federal official in her home state dismissed one potential explanation for her sudden and unexpected resignation: a rumored FBI investigation into the former Wasilla mayor on public corruption charges.
Despite rumors of a looming controversy after the Republican governor’s surprise announcement Friday that she would leave office this month, some of them published in the blogosphere, the FBI’s Alaska spokesman said the bureau had no investigation into Palin for her activities as governor, as mayor or in any other capacity.
“There is absolutely no truth to those rumors that we’re investigating her or getting ready to indict her,” Special Agent Eric Gonzalez said in a phone interview Saturday. “It’s just not true.” He added that there was “no wiggle room” in his comments for any kind of inquiry.
So, ends that rumor about Palin. As Taylor Marsh and many other liberal Bloggers have said; it would be best if the Liberal just left this woman alone and let her get back to her private life. Further more, this could come back to haunt the Democratic Party in 2012. So, If I were the bloggers I would let this drop.
Anyone that has read this Blog, for more than a week; knows that I criticize that which I feel needs to be criticized. However, I also very much praise that which I feel deserves to be praised.
This posting may cause some on the right to think, that I am not a true blue Conservative. To which I offer a very plain and quite blunt response:
I don’t give a damn. 😡
After some Liberal idiot over at the Huffington Post decided that it would be cute to joke about mental retardation; which resulted in this idiot getting a butt load of hate mail, not only from the right, but also from left. This moron, a Erik Sean Nelson; pulled the article and left this non-apology apology:
I wrote a piece making fun of the fact that a Trig Palin joke was given as the reason that Sarah Palin left office. I wrote jokes that were offensive but my intent was for them to be ironic and therefore not offensive. I was wrong. Within ten minutes of my post I received some emails from the loved ones of the retarded and I saw that my piece was hurtful. Therefore, I removed the post right after receiving the first 2 emails.
I removed it immediately because I saw that it did not come across as I intended. I apologize to all of those who were offended.
Like I said; quite the non-apology apology. Well, it seems someone on the left, is thinking along the same lines as me. A Blog, that I have known about for quite a long time; agrees with me. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo writes:
ah, the “offensive stuff written ironically so it’s not offensive any more” defense, eh?
and we are aghast that nelson would actually write that some “loved ones of the retarded” sent emails.
it’s rather like saying, “i heard from some jungle bunnies, and they were upset. i apologize.”
look, folks, we know the left has had an amazing amount of good luck lately, w/ensign, sanford, and palin’s troubles, not to mention franken getting seated, but that’s no excuse to be rude. nothing is less appealing than an ungracious winner.
firstly, as someone related to a differently-abled american, skippy is incensed that the perjorative “retarded” is being used in a top blog like huffpo.
but secondly, if the idiot who used the offensive word continues to use it in his apology, he obviously hasn’t learned a damned thing about human beings.
we call upon arianna, whose house we have been in and whose shrimp we have eaten, to never, ever, publish mr. nelson’s garbage again.
Mr. Kangaroo, (Boy, does it ever feel strange typing that!) as the nephew of a developmentally disabled or as it once was called; mentally retarded aunt, I thank you for standing up and calling this what it is. I thank you for going against the grain in your own party. Not for the sake of Sarah Palin, but for those who are born with conditions that they have absolutely no control over. This shows class sir; and I thank you for being the one to say what I was feeling when I saw that awful piece written.
……Now if we could just work on the rest of that damned Party……..
This is my first attempt at a real podcast. At the beginning of this, I was hearing myself back through the headset; so, If I sound a little off, that is why. I fixed it, about 5 minutes into the recording.
I didn’t have a script; so, if I sound like I am rambling in the beginning, that is why.
Anyhow, here’s my reading the Declaration of Independence.
BEAUMONT — Relatives of a slain sailor are calling the 29-year-old’s death a hate crime.
Rose Roy of Beaumont said her nephew, Navy Seaman August Provost III, had complained a year before about being harassed for being gay.
Roy said she advised Provost to report and document the incidents, but she said the military did little to help.
“He went to the Navy to serve and protect,” she said in an interview with Beaumont’s KFDM News, “he didn’t get protected at all.”
Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help.
“That phrase is just stupid because it tells them they have no one to speak to,” she said.
The 29-year-old Houston native was found dead Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Roy said the family was told that Provost was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned.
The family plans to hold funeral services July 10 in Houston.
Democratic Rep. Bob Filner of San Diego said Thursday he wants a Defense Department investigation into the death, after leaders of the city’s gay community asked him to intervene.
Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality and have taken a “person of interest” into custody. No charges have been filed.
Roy said Provost joined the Navy in March 2008 to pay off college debt.
Had he not been in the Navy; he would still be alive. The Armed Forces is not a place for Homosexuals. It is a tragic thing; but it his own fault. Gay blades do not belong in the Armed Forces; it is just that simple. This is why this person is dead. Most likely he came onto some officer and they did not like it and they killed him. Do I think it was right, that he was killed? No, I do not. But, if he had not been in the Navy and most likely not shot his mouth off, he would still be alive.
I saw this on facebook; and I thought it to be the appropriate day to post this.
—-
Signing of Declaration of Independence
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over his home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The Redcoats jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: “For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” They gave you and me a free and independent America.
The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn’t fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn’t. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid.
With the news of Michael Jackson and the news of Sarah Palin this story is being ignored by the American Media. This causes a part of me to wonder; was it done intentionally?
North Korea fired three short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Saturday.
Quoting a South Korean government official, the agency said the missiles were apparently Scud-type missiles, estimated to have a range of about 500 km (310 miles). South Korean intelligence estimates that North Korea has about 700 such missiles in its arsenal.
Pyongyang test-fired four such missiles off the east coast on Thursday, Yonhap reported.
North Korea had issued a warning to mariners to avoid an area in the Sea of Japan at certain times between June 24 and July 9 because of a "military firing exercise," according to a U.S. military communication about the warning provided to CNN.
The recent firings come amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea conducted a nuclear test in May, fired test rockets and threatened U.S. and South Korean ships near its territorial waters.
Earlier this week analyst Daniel Pinkston said the reported test might be training for a future test but it could also just be a routine military exercise.
"It is worrisome to some degree, but it is different from a ballistic missile launch," said Pinkston, of the International Crisis Group in Seoul, South Korea.
It’s part of military training, but there seem to be no movements of troops or anything that would suggest preparations for military operations.
"So yes, people are watching it, the military is watching it here, but I don’t think it’s related to any plans or operations to attack anyone."
Russia had a low-key reaction to the tests. Russian military experts are carefully studying the reports but the launches will not change the political situation, a spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
This should be a clear cut message to the Obama Administration that the sort of “Carrot and Stick” approach to North Korea is not working. It is time for action President Obama, what will you do? Of course, seeing what we are dealing with for President; I do not expect much of a change.
One day, Obama is going to have to decide whether he wishes to be the darling of the international left or the unapologetic leader of the nation that is most resented and reviled by the international left.
I have been looking at my logs and I noticed that some have searched my blog and have read this here.
A few things to remember; First that posting was written right after the election. I will be honest, I was not pleased with John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin, I felt it was a disaster, I still do. While Palin might have been a good thing for the Republican Party and possibly for the State of Alaska; however, I felt she just did not have the experience to be involved in Federal Government. Perhaps if she had been Governor for like 2 terms, I could accept that. But not for as long as she was.
Secondly, I felt that Palin was whining about her coverage in the media. The way I see it, you put yourself in the public spotlight, then be prepared to get raked over the coals. Politics is a contact sport, it is no place for people who are soft touch. Palin was, and still is, in my opinion, a very soft touch. It seems to me, that she expects people to treat her special because she is a woman, that is entitlement; if you cannot take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. It’s just that simple.
However, I will say this and hopefully everyone understands; I would never, in million years; would have wanted Sarah Palin out of politics entirely. Perhaps the Liberals would love to see that, but no I. I think she had a place and could have earned a seat in the White House. Hopefully she does something productive, like run for a seat in the Senate or House in Washington D.C.; Then in 2012 runs for President. Further more, I certainly hope she does not give up on politics totally.
The United States is opposed to enacting a new set of financial sanctions against Iran that are due to be discussed in the G8 summit next week, diplomatic officials in New York reported Friday.
According to officials, sanctions against Iran are expected to top the G8’s agenda. Sources are also predicting a pointed debate between the heads of the industrialized nations over an appropriate response to Iranian authorities’ suppression of reformist demonstrations in Iran led by Mir Hossein Mousavi and other Iranian opposition leaders.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hinted in a newspaper interview earlier in the week that the G8 is due to decide on new financial sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Berlusconi disclosed that he had spoken with the heads of the G8 nations and has discussed such steps with them.
According to the Italian prime minister, “the general leaning [among G8 leaders] is toward sanctions.”
However, diplomatic sources in New York reported that American officials are working behind the scenes to prevent new sanctions from being imposed against Iran.
Ordinarily, I would take things written by this news source with a grain of salt; but, seeing this idiotic administration has been on the damned wrong side of everything else, I find this story to be totally believable. Honduras and now Iran. What further proof do we need, that America elected an enemy to freedom?
Unbelievable. Just damn unbelievable.
It is going to be a long four to eight years in this country.
Honestly, I can say, that I did not see this coming, at all.
The Video, with the Governor giving her announcement:
The Story:
WASILLA, Alaska — In a stunning announcement, Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday morning she will resign her office in a few weeks.
Speculation has swirled for weeks, perhaps months that Palin would not seek re-election in 2010 as she pursues a political career on the national stage. The former vice presidential candidate has long been rumored to be considering a run at the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
Palin did not address those rumors at the press conference at her Wasilla home, during which she did not take questions from reporters.
She implied that her real decision was not to seek re-election, and that the resignation was a natural step after that in order to avoid a lame-duck final 18 months of her term.
“With this announcement that I’m not seeking re-election, I’ve determined it’s best to transfer the authority of governor to Lieutenant Governor (Sean) Parnell,” Palin said. “I’m determined to take the right path for Alaska, even though it is unconventional and is not so comfortable.
“And I am willing to do this so this administration, with its positive agenda and its accomplishments and its successful road to an incredible future for Alaska, so that it can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.”
Parnell will be inaugurated as Palin’s successor at the Governor’s Picnic at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks on Sunday, July 26. Parnell said he will seek election to the governor’s office in 2010. He ran for Congress unsuccessfully against Rep. Don Young in the Republican primary last year.
The reaction from the Blogosphere basically on both sides, has been a collective “WTF?!?!” Some are saying she is running for President, some are saying she is essentially history. Time will tell, I suppose. I think she might just be ready to quit. I mean, the woman has been drug through the mud and her family might just be tired of it all. The again, she might just be the one for 2012. The scenarios are mind boggling; her against Obama in 2012, her against Hillary in 2012, it is a bit much to think about. Hell, I’m just getting used to Obama at the moment.
Needless to say the story will be interesting to follow!
Update: Some idiot Liberal retard writer at the Huffington Post calls Sarah Palin a Schmuck. Stay classy Liberals! 🙄
Update #4 07/04/09: Speaking of classy, Doug Ross notes how a progressive blogger, by the name of TBogg; did a horrible photo shop of the Palin family and her son trig. Now where are all the outraged Liberals who came after me, back during the election? Strangely silent they are. Bastards; all of them, and zero class.
Update 2: BradBlog says there is a scandal that is about to break in Alaska. If this were any other liberal site; I would ignore it. But Brad Friedman is pretty reliable. Stay tuned. Update #5: Rumor unfounded and false, so says Alaska FBI spokesman.
Update #3 07/04/09: AmSpec Blog Says, “She Cut and Run, ‘Nuff Said”. Ouch.
This is no big surprise; however it is news worthy:
A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration’s public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson’s employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations.
The administration’s discussion of Wilson’s link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial.
A list of at least seven related conversations involving Cheney appears in a new court filing approved by Obama appointees at the Justice Department. In the filing, the officials argue that the substance of what Cheney told special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in 2004 must remain secret.
I would suppose that there are those will be shocked to the learn this or excuse it saying that we were at war. This writer is not among them. I have long argued on this Blog and in my previous incarnation as a “Left of center” Blogger the following; that the Bush Administration knew that they were over their hands, that there were no weapons of mass destruction.
My political criticism is not limited by party lines nor by any sort of partisanship. Just as much as I criticize President Barack Obama for his socialist polices and lefty liberal nonsense; I also criticized George W. Bush’s Wilsonian, Neo-Conservative and quite frankly, Christian Theocratic Foreign Policy. Unlike other bloggers in the Conservative Blogsophere; my criticism is not limited by party loyalty or blinded by partisanship. That is a different between a Independent Conservative, like myself and the Republican establishment Bloggers and those taking their talking points from Irving Kristol and John Podhoretz.
The real knee slapper is this here:
The Obama administration has since agreed that the material should not be disclosed. A Justice Department lawyer at one point last month argued that vice presidents and other White House officials will decline to be interviewed in the future if they know their remarks might “get on ‘The Daily Show’ ” or be used as fodder for political enemies.
Ha! Forget National Security, we cannot let John Stewart get ahold of the stuff; Them Liberals might laugh at us! 😆 Now that is funny. 😀
(Update: Corrected rather silly grammar error… “We might laugh at us?” Good Lord; Must learn to not blog until I’ve drank my lot of coffee.)
That is what Octavio Sánchez is saying, and he should know; he’s there:
Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d’état.
That is nonsense.
In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law.
[….]
Under our Constitution, what happened in Honduras this past Sunday? Soldiers arrested and sent out of the country a Honduran citizen who, the day before, through his own actions had stripped himself of the presidency.
These are the facts: On June 26, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the “Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly.” In doing so, Zelaya triggered a constitutional provision that automatically removed him from office.
Constitutional assemblies are convened to write new constitutions. When Zelaya published that decree to initiate an “opinion poll” about the possibility of convening a national assembly, he contravened the unchangeable articles of the Constitution that deal with the prohibition of reelecting a president and of extending his term. His actions showed intent.
Our Constitution takes such intent seriously. According to Article 239: “No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.”
Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says “immediately” – as in “instant,” as in “no trial required,” as in “no impeachment needed.”
Continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – has been the lifeblood of Latin America’s authoritarian tradition. The Constitution’s provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents. In Latin America, chiefs of state have often been above the law. The instant sanction of the supreme law has successfully prevented the possibility of a new Honduran continuismo.
The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya’s arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day.
Don’t believe the coup myth. The Honduran military acted entirely within the bounds of the Constitution. The military gained nothing but the respect of the nation by its actions.
But yet you have idiot douche bag Communist Liberals, like Hillary Clinton, Like President Obama and the U.N. trying to tell the people in Honduras; that this man was right for doing this. I guess Senator McCarthy was right after all. The Democratic Party has been taken over by the Socialists, who are basically Communist light. So, to this writer; is no big surprise that President Obama and his right hand lady Hillary Clinton took sides with the Communists.
For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to “those powerful few”: Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”
With the newsroom in an uproar after POLITICO reported the solicitation, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said this morning that he was “appalled” by the plan and said the newsroom will not participate.
“It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase,” Brauchli told The Post’s media reporter, Howard Kurtz. The proposal “promises we would suspend our usual skeptical questioning because it appears to offer, in exchange for sponsorships, the good name of The Washington Post.”
Earlier this morning, Brauchili said in a staffwide e-mail that the newsroom would not participate in the first of the planned events — a dinner scheduled July 21 at the home of Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Katharine Weymouth. Brauchli,was named on the flier as one of the “Hosts and Discussion Leaders.”
Um…. Cue the Music!
Notice how when the Newsroom found out about this; they were all like, “We are not involved!” Uh-huh, sure you all aren’t. Gives a whole new meaning to the word, “In the tank.” More like over the tank hank, if you know what I mean here.
Now as for Ed Morrissey; He is still trying to figure out what to call it:
A facilitator! That’s certainly more pleasant than “pimp”. I prefer the Night Shift term “love broker,” which reasonably applies between lobbyists and the White House — and for that matter, between the press and the White House, too.
Poor Ed. Someone could be selling crack outside his front door; and he still would never stop smiling and being kind to them. It’s that whole Catholic upbringing thing, and no, I do not mean that as an insult either. The man makes makes my sorry protestant self, look quite bad at times. 😳 Every Catholic I know, is just like that too. Scares the living bejeezes out of me. I mean, the world could be on the brink of nuclear annihilation; and Ed would still be there, holding his balloon and smiling. I can’t say I have not heard Ed get aggressive, I did once; Ed was on Mitch Berg’s Show once, and some idiot tried calling in to argue with Ed over something; and basically tried to call Ed a liar over something. Ed turned on the man, I had never seen him like that. It was quite amazing to behold. 😮
Anyhow, Ta-nehisi Coates is quite surprised, but gives the news guys the benefit of the doubt:
I genuinely believe that the newsroom staff could not have known that the marketing department was out promising lobbyists access to them in exchange for cash. I also have no idea why any White House officials would allow themselves to be used for such a purpose. If there aren’t already laws forbidding high-ranking officials from taking part in something like this, there should be.
But even though it’s not exactly surprising, that doesn’t make their latest attempt at cashing in on their pro-Obama bias any less distasteful. Hell, for that matter, the liberal McClatchy news outlet been working hard at making money on Obama’s election for months now via selling a book full of Obama glossies and articles taken and written on the campaign trail, as well as a DVD commemorating his “historic run.” Gee – no wonder they gave him such fawning coverage last year. Liberal bias + the need to raise $$=a complete loss of critical objectivity. Follow the money.
Quite true and if anyone’s looked at the New York Times as of late; they know that this is perfectly true. Talk about over the tank hank! 😮
Damn, even the DailyKos folks are not to impressed with this either!:
This comes at remarkable time for the Post, really, with columnist Dana Milbank just having whispered to the Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney that he was “such a d*ck” during their televised battle over newspaper versus blogger ethics.
Perhaps, for an extra ten grand, they’ll bring Milbank into the salon, to whisper to you that, “you’re such a rich d*ck.”
That’s the critical difference between blogs as media watchers and major media itself – as much as big media might like it, bloggers have neither the ability nor the desire to engage in the sort of ethical lapses that are available to outlets like the Washington Post every day. We may sit in our mothers’ basements watching torrented Thundercats episodes, but we do it honestly.
Uh, I haven’t watched Thundercats since I was like, uh, 14 years old? Also, Liberal Bloggers, Honest? Since when? Tell that to Sarah Palin, Please. 🙄
Even Reason Magazine is not amused. When the Capitalist Libertarians cry fowl, you know you are, uh, Screwed. 😛
Anyhow, the “Off the Record Solon’s” are now canceled. Seeing that the story was exposed. Paraphrasing a common line from the “Scooby Doo” show; “and I would have gotten away with it, if it were not for those meddling bloggers!”
his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.