Motley Moose – Archive

(cross-posted at kickin it with cg)

Amidst a climate of war, global warming, skyrocketing deficits, whopping trade imbalances, gas gouging, corporate corruption, a burst housing market bubble, illegal government spying, rampant corruption, torture, war atrocities, racism, marriage inequality a crumbling infrastructure, Bin Laden, failing schools, loss of competitiveness, war profiteering, a shrinking middle class, health care crisis and more… some Republicans have more than lost their way. They have gone so far astray that it may too late to turn back.

Cross-posted at River Twice Research.

President Obama’s speech in Cairo last week as well as the candid and heated debates in Iran during its contentious presidential election provide yet another opportunity to revisit the sterile images of Islam that dominate the discussion both in the West and throughout the Muslim world as well. That discussion is framed by Muslim terrorists or extremists on the one hand squaring off against secular but resentful populations on the other. That is one facet of a kaleidoscope, a potent one but in no way the only one.

If there’s any doubt on that score, a new documentary focusing on the career of Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour should dispel it utterly. “I Bring What I Love” is an elegiac, beautiful film, years in the making, and it will start playing in New York this week and then in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Like all documentaries, it will be dwarfed by the summer blockbusters that surround it, but this film deserves an audience.

Every year, millions of tiny turtles crawl forth from their sandy birthing holes along beaches around the world.  In a scene to set fear into the heart of the most hardened marine they storm their beaches in reverse, working against odds higher than Normandy to reach the safety of the sea.

Every year, after decades of surfing the deep currents of the world’s oceans, hardy veterans of the cycle of life and death return to the exact same beaches they stormed in their youth.  Landing craft for a new generation, they plant their biological claymores and leave them to explode into the world in their own time.

For all the trials and travails we perceive in our dry world, we suffer no more and reap no less than the leathery warriors who storm the beaches age upon age.  We can take a lesson and face our beaches with as much grace.

Consider this an open thread.

{First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate Guru.}

While 2010 will be chock-full of exciting races at all levels of government.  In 2009, though, there will be two marquee races across the country: the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.  Republicans are favored in both races, but both races should come down to the wire, and Democrats can hold both seats – with your help.

In Virginia, Democratic State Senator Creigh Deeds won an impressive, come-from-behind victory for the nomination this past Tuesday, demonstrating a strong ground game.  The Republican nominee will be far-right-winger Bob McDonnell.  The best description for McDonnell’s brand of Republicanism is that he is a Pat Robertson disciple.  You can learn more about McDonnell at TheRealBobMcDonnell.com.  Deeds and McDonnell have tangled before, in the 2005 Virginia Attorney General race, where McDonnell barely edged Deeds by 323 votes (yes, just 323 votes – that’s not a typo with zeroes missing) out of over 1.94 million votes counted.  This race will be exceptionally close, so every single dollar contributed and every single hour spent volunteering will make a real difference.  A bit of good news is that the first poll taken after Tuesday’s primary, by Rasmussen Reports, shows Deeds with a 47-41 lead over McDonnell, but this could just be due to a primary bump.  Rasmussen’s last poll showed McDonnell leading Deeds 45-30.  Your support will help Deeds sustain his new lead.

In New Jersey, Democratic incumbent Governor Jon Corzine will square off against Republican former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.  Christie is very much at home in the Republican Culture of Corruption.  Republican Christie has faced scandals involving no-bid contracts, abuse of the state pension system, pay-to-play, and even allegedly cutting a deal to get his younger brother’s sentence reduced after being implicated for fraudulent trading practices on Wall Street.  Despite Christie’s mountain of scandal, New Jersey’s lagging economy has hurt Governor Corzine’s poll numbers.  Recent polling gives Christie a 7 to 13 point lead over Corzine.  Research 2000, May 25-27: Christie 46, Corzine 39; Rasmussen Reports, June 4: Christie 51, Corzine 38; and, Quinnipiac, June 10: Christie 50, Corzine 40.  In other words, Christie has an edge, but the fundamentals of the race moving forward favor Governor Corzine.  As the economy gradually picks up over the coming months and voters learn more about Christie’s corrupt background, New Jersey’s blue state status will shine through and Governor Corzine should tighten the race back up.  Your support will help Governor Corzine tighten the race up even faster.

Below are the links to how you can connect with the gubernatorial campaigns (and – please – contribute anything you can to these campaigns, and spread the word!).  Republicans are expecting (and expected) to win both of these races.  However, after being upset in the NY-20 special U.S. House election and losing a U.S. Senator to a Party switch, the GOP is reeling.  Losing either (or both!) VA-Gov or/and NJ-Gov would be a major body blow and simply crush Republicans heading into the 2010 calendar year.  If Democrats across the country are able to support these Democratic campaigns, we can flush the conventional wisdom down the toilet and deliver two more embarrassments to the Rush-Newt-Cheney Republican Party and two more losses to the Michael Steele RNC.

Perhaps transparency isn’t always morally superior to keeping some things private.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan has just  ruled that the U.S. government can keep pictures of detainee abuse secret while it asks the Supreme Court to permanently block release of the photographs on the grounds they could incite violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. The one-paragraph ruling by the came after the Obama administration asked the court to keep the pictures secret so it could appeal to the nation’s highest court.

The ACLU and others whose moral compass is almost always pointed in the right direction, continues to call for the release of the photos of torture at Guantanamo because, says Anthony Romero, ACLU Director,

   “– as painful as it is — confronting the evidence of what was done is essential if we are to live by the law…. And, no matter how hard some might try to turn us away from the facts, we also have no right to ignore the rule of law. We have to call to account those who did this and follow the evidence wherever it leads.”

But it is not necessary for the public to view photographic evidence of US personnel engaged in torture in order for the government to identify the participants, find out precisely what was going on in these “enhanced interrogations,” and to bring criminal charges against these individuals and their commanders, if it is warranted. And should there be criminal prosecutions, these photographs will no doubt be introduced as evidence.

Still, I believe that President Obama is once again demonstrating a level of wisdom that transcends politics. In declining to release these images, he is simultaneously declining to reduce them to a level of “sensationalism” perhaps lower than that we see practiced by The Enquirer and similar unsavory publications. Considering that there are reports of sexual abuse involving both men and women within the documentation, the President’s insistence on keeping much of it from the eyes of the public appears even wiser than may have first appeared.

The behavior of interrogators at Guantanamo surely degrades American principles and law.  But our President apparently realizes that releasing images of the physical and psychological violence perpetrated on these prisoners, some of whom were guilty of nothing whatsoever, is also degrading. It further degrades the prisoners, which serves no useful service, it degrades US personnel (many of whom were no doubt repulsed by what they were being commanded to do); and it degrades the human spirit of each of us.

Romero concluded a recent letter to ACLU supporters, with this:

   “But, the real heartbreak — the real betrayal of our values and principles — would come if we denied our moral and legal responsibility to bring to account those who involved our country in torture so horrid that we hesitate to even look it in the eye.”

No one is suggesting that we should “compromise our values and principles,” Perhaps Mr. Romero and others who are so eager to criticize our President might recognize that when torture is so horrid that we hesitate to “look it in the eye,” photographs of it should not be seen –  on moral principle alone.

(Crossposted to robertamorris.wordpress.com)

Watch our Secretary of State enunciate President Obama and his administration’s new approach to tackle global hunger. Thank you President Obama and Madame Secretary.

The pending election in Iran, far more than just a personality quest between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, is a sign of potentially serious ructions in the ruling oligarchy:

Mr Ahmadinejad suddenly looks vulnerable. He is being widely criticised, even ridiculed in public, in a manner the regime would normally not tolerate. Yesterday he even accused his opponents of behaving like Hitler’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels — quite an allegation from a man who denies that the Holocaust happened.

Opposition to him is growing among the ruling clergy after he publicly maligned Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful head of the Expediency Council. Hojatoleslam Rafsanjani has demanded an apology. His case has received support in an open letter from 50 clerics in the holy city of Qom.

Richard Beeston – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad goes from favourite to shaky contender The Times 11 Jun 09

Things started to go wrong for Ahmadinejad in his debate with Moussavi recently when he stepped all over his privates by accusing the past two presidents, and their cliques, of corruption.  Interestingly these included current and powerful members of Iran’s ruling oligarchy.  It would seem that there is more going on than meets the eye in an otherwise largely ceremonial election for Iran’s presidency.

I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon flipping the television channels to hear more report about this 88 year old monster who killed a guard in his attempt to kill even more people at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.

This was a guy that the authorities KNEW ABOUT. He ran a web site which attacked Jews, Blacks and Catholics. He self-published a book that he gave the first six chapters of away for free on line (then advertising the last six chapters for money).

(Proudly cross-posted at My Silver State and OC Progressive)

Fortunately, advocates for a high-speed maglev rail line from Las Vegas to Orange County are still moving forward. Good on them. Unfortunately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D?-NV) is being lured (aka paid off) to support a not-so-high speed rail line from Vegas to Victorville.

So why should we be furious? I’ll explain after the flip.

(cross-posted at kickin it with cg)

The gunman that murdered Stephen Tyrone Johns at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC was a right-wing extremist and Freeper.  As ThinkProgress notes:

A white supremacist born in 1920. Brunn has been approvingly cited on Stormfront, a national white supremacist website. He is apparently the author of a tract called, “Kill the Best Gentiles,” which his website describes as “a new, hard-hitting exposé of the JEW CONSPIRACY to destroy the White gene-pool.” Brunn, a WWII veteran, also wrote a screed on President Obama’s citizenship that was re-posted to popular right-wing message board Free Republic:

Obama is missing!

DN.no (Nowegian Forum) ^ | December 2, 2008 | James W. von Brunn

Posted on December 2, 2008 3:40:03 PM GMT-05:00 by wannabegeek

Obama is missing!

The American People Demand to Know:

WHO SENT YOU???

Obama has lived for 48 years without leaving any footprints — none! There is no Obama documentation — no records — no paper trail — none — this is no accident. It is being done on purpose with Media help – but to serve whom & why???

MISSING-HIDDEN DOCUMENTS:

Original, vault copy of Certificate of Live Birth in the USA — Not Released (1 version hidden in Hawaii, Original found in Kenya)

Certificate of Live Birth — Released – Proven Counterfeit (www.ObamaFiles.com)

Obama/Dunham marriage license — Not released

Soetoro/Dunham marriage license — Not released

Soetoro adoption records — Not released

Fransiskus Assisi School School application — Not Released

Punahou School records — Not released

Selective Service Registration — Released – Proven Counterfeit

Occidental College records — Not released

Passport (Pakistan) — Not released

Columbia College records — Not released

Columbia thesis — Not released

Harvard College records — Not released

Harvard Law Review articles — None (maybe 1, Not Signed)

Baptism certificate — None

Medical records — Not released

Illinois State Senate records — None (Locked up to prohibit public view

Illinois State Senate schedule — Lost (All other Illinois state senators’ records are intact)

Law practice client list — Not released

University of Chicago scholarly articles — None

WHY DON’T WE SEE ONE WORD OF THIS IN ANY OF THE MEDIA?

Love him or hate him, we all remember how the press went to great lengths to find out every move that President Bush made … finally unable to come up with anything factual, so they created it! When their accusations were proven empty, they refused to retract one word of the fraud they perpetrated on the American people.

Dan Rather lost his job over fraudulent documents, because common people like you & me reached out and ripped CBS to pieces. They couldn’t stand the loss of sponsors OR viewers!

The same Media went to great lengths to scandalize & destroy Sarah Palin. She maintains a 91% approval rating among voters from all parties, thanks to the Internet and investigative journalists who don’t work for the mainstream media.

NOW ——- The Supreme Court has scheduled a Conference for Dec 5th about Obama’s

U. S. Citizenship. STILL, not a word about any of this from the Media. If it were not for the Internet and talk radio, American citizens would become the servants of a dishonest & conspiratorial Media.

THINK ABOUT IT. IT DIDN’T USED TO BE THIS WAY! How much longer are we going to sit on our hands & say not a word?

AND DON’T THINK THE MEDIA SIMPLY DOESN’T KNOW – THEY ARE GETTING POUNDED WITH EMAILS ABOUT IT!!!

Obama could not get a simple security clearance with the information the government has on him —- NOBODY COULD!

NOW he is privy to every top secret America has!

What is going on??? WHERE ARE THE GOOD PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY – ARE YOU OUT THERE???

Submitted by: James W. von Brunn

The above post was scrubbed from the Free Republic site and then mysteriously reappeared shortly ago.