Middle East Conflict Intensifies As Blah Blah Blah, Etc. Etc.

MIDDLE EAST - With the Iraq war in its fifth year, the war in Afgahnistan in its sixth, and conflict between Israel and the rest of the region continuing unabated for more than half a century, intelligence sources are warning that a new wave of violence in the Middle East may soon blah blah blah, etc. etc., you know the rest.

"Tensions in the region are extremely high," said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who added the same old same old while answering reporters' questions. "We're disappointed by the events of the last few months, but we're confident that we're about to [yakety yakety yak]."

The U.N. has issued a strongly worded whatever denouncing someone or something presumably having to do with the vicious explosive things that raged across this, or shattered the predawn calm of that, or ripped suddenly through the other, killing umpteen innocent civilians in a Jerusalem bus or Beirut discotheque or Fallujah mosque or whatever it was this time.

In the aftermath of a whole series of incidents, there have also been troubling reports of just fill in the blanks. Middle East experts say the still somehow worsening situation has inflamed age-old sectarian tensions between the Sunnis, Shiites, Semites, Kurds, Turks, Saudis, Persians, Wahhabis, radicals, extremists, Baathists, mullahs, clerics, et al, which is likely to lead to more gurgle-gurgle over the coming weeks and months.

A certain number of U.S. troops were also killed somewhere in a tragic fashion, while a much greater number were wounded. Meanwhile, impoverished or oppressed supporters of whichever faction carried out the attack or ambush probably celebrated, angering an angry U.S. public that is already angry. Locals are calling for an investigation into excessive force or outright corruption by the military or political officials on one of the 15 sides of the various conflicts, although the implicated party has categorically denied any wrongdoing, just like they always do, without fail, every time this happens, which is daily, it seems.

And in Afghanistan, the Taliban.

In Israel, Palestinians and Israelis escalated tensions and so on and so on ad infinitum, ad eternum, and some say, ad absurdum, and although Hamas released a statement condemning Israeli forces for the resulting civilian deaths, Israeli officials say the teens were armed with rocket launchers, though it doesn't really matter.

Also, Ahmadinejad, Iran's nuclear program, bin Laden at large, Moqtada al-Sadr, Moqtada al-Sadr's militia, Fallujah, renegade mullahs, embedded and/or beheaded journalists, oil revenues, stockpiles of former Soviet armaments, freedom, racism, Halliburton, women's role in Islamic society, the Quran, withdrawing troops, economic disparities, Sikhs, Pakistanis, oil, rebuilding, stories of hope, the Saudi royal family, the Holy Land, insurgents, and the tragedy of Sept. 11th.

In an attempt to increase public support of whatever the fuck it is he thinks he's doing, President Bush trotted out the same old whoop-dedo you've heard over and over at a solemn-yet-resolute speech attended by soldiers, or religious leaders, or firemen, or some mix of ethnic looking people from one of those countries.

"We have to give this plan time to wop bop a loo bop, a wop bam boom, ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang," President Bush may as well have said. "May God [help/bless/save] the United States of America."
---Onion Middle East Bureau

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I used to think my mom was crazy when she laughed and cried at the same time. Sorry mom. (and sorry for swearing on here........ again)

Bill O'Reilly Is Right!

(click on the pic if you can't read it)

There is a left wing conspiracy in this country, and Billo knows who to blame. It's one guy, George Soros! He alone, with his dirty money (billions of dollars of charity to aids organizations, education, democratic development and transparency in government) he has taken over the minds of democratic leaders and american citizens alike. It's mind control!!!.... huh?

Watch O'Reilly bitch and whine about Soros last night on his show here

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CrooksandLiars:

It's all Soros all the time for O'Reilly. Didn't Soros push Bush to invade Iraq? Wasn't it Soros that funded Gitmo? And I believe Soros coached Alberto Gonzales before he testified last week…George wants to buy AMERICA! Poor Joe Lieberman…

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Could Bill O'Reilly be any more insane, any more disconnected from reality, any more shameless? I'm not positive, but I know for damn sure that he couldn't be any more STUPID. He fills up his program with vicious attacks on people whenever they expose his lying liar ways, that's The O'Reilly Factor in a nutshell.

Soros funds Moveon.... guess what? I FUND MoveOn (and if I had a billion dollars to giveaway I'd give them that too)! Soros funds Media Matters... Media Matters simply repeats the maniacal things that Billo says on a daily basis and posts video of his show, using his own words and the most credible sources to discredit the vile propaganda that he spews.

You see Bill, the thing that you're talking into everyday is called a VIDEO CAMERA... Video camera's record things that you say and broadcast your opinions to millions of people nightly in primetime television. Your stupid opinions (really, they're stupid) form in your head, come out of your mouth, and are picked up by MICROPHONES that record them on video tapes that can than be played back. Get it?

If your looking for people with too much influence, the first man on your hit list ought to be your own boss. Rupert Murdoch controls and owns one of the biggest media empires in the world, News Corp. News Corp owns 37 newspapers and 35 magazines around the world, 14 of your basic cable channels on your tv here in the US, 13 major websites including MySpace, 13 broadcast channels globally, and 20th Century Fox, including over 15 different film studios and of course, Fox News... Bill O'Reilly's employer. Hmmm, I wonder who has more influence.... The conservative with half the media in his pocket, or the liberal who funds (and does not control) the media watchdog website?

America: Look In the Mirror!

I, like everyone else am beyond shocked and saddened by the horrible tragedy that happened yesterday. The worst massacre in American history, unbelievable... and yet in a way not surprising? There's so much violence in the world today, on every level of society, I feel like my generation is becoming increasingly desensitized by it all. It's not Marilyn Manson this time... so who's to blame? Who can we point the finger at?

The gun debate is drawn out, and boring. It's not even worth bringing up. The bigger, underlying issues are the real root of the problem, and are rarely discussed. Maybe I'm getting lazy on here, but here's another Bob Cesca post. He lays it all out perfectly, just the way I'd word it if I were a talented writer like him. It's ballsy, witty, and of course insightful, so read ALL of it.
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It's Not About the Firearms

A firearm in the hands of the wrong person can be deadly. The presidency in the hands of the wrong person can also be deadly. Air travel safety regulations have convinced some of us that a finger-nail clipper in the hands of the wrong person can precipitate a terrorist attack. From these examples, it doesn't make sense to ban either the presidency or manicure devices.

What makes much more sense is to focus on the issues that prompt a maniac to use a firearm to kill innocent people; a president to kill innocent people; or a terrorist to kill people. When it comes to the latter, those of us on the progressive side of the nation haven't spent much time blaming the explosive devices or the box cutters, but rather the policies which have fostered so much resentment against the United States. We all know the list and it has nothing to do with hating us for our freedom.

So what causes a maniac to murder 30 people in cold blood? It can't possibly be about the 9mm handguns, in the same way terrorism isn't about access to beverage containers.

Yeah, I'm one of those progressives who has long since conceded the gun debate. It's not because of the gun lobby's simplistic talking points, it's not because of the hunters who think it's most excellent to kill innocent animals, and it's definitely not due to a lack of thought about the issue.

It's primarily about focus. Who or what is really to blame for the shameful level of gun violence in America?

The focus has to be aimed point-blank at the cold, brutal reality that there exists a serious inability to cope with American pop, economic and social pressures; a criminal lack of understanding of mental and physical health issues; and the problem solving examples instilled upon us by our elected leaders in a time when visual and printed access to information is at an all time high. These are just some of the elements at play, and they each carry a significant amount of blame. Not the guns.

President Bush himself has told us that shooting without negotiation is the only answer. The generation of kids in my daughter's demographic has to struggle in order to recall a time without this preemptive war. The only evidence they possess that indicates reasoning and negotiating with an enemy actually works is what they read about in history books. Their president and vice president have told them that the Speaker of the House shouldn't talk to our enemies because open dialogue is somehow a reward, rather than a rational responsibility.

And irresponsible behavior doesn't end at the front gate of the White House or at the steps of Capitol Hill.

Every day we're bombarded from all sides by marketing that tells us that our bodies aren't ripped enough. Our credit score is too low, but that a Visa card is priceless. We need a bigger car. We need more chemically polluted foods, then the diet pills to interdict with the chemicals, then more medications to interdict with the diet pills, then additional meds to give us boners and free-flowing piss when our organs stop functioning from all of the above. We need plastic surgery to feel accepted. We need acceptance in order to be popular on MySpace. We have to redecorate our homes, buy a souped up chopper, eat brick oven pizza with five varieties of cheese and we need to display bumper magnets that prove to the dickhead behind us in traffic that we unequivocally support the troops.

Meanwhile, the divide between the people who can easily purchase all of these items and the people who can barely afford to keep their city water turned on is growing larger and larger, while the middle class is disappearing. It used to be that a guy could work 40 hours a week in a blue collar job and still be able to own a home, send his children to college and take his family on vacation every summer, with a pension waiting for him on the other side.

In every city, as well as a staggering number of suburbs, crime is becoming the only way to keep up with the 21st Century version of the American Dream (now with easier pissing power!).

Besides, aren't our kids supposed to shoot before they talk?

Who should we really be afraid of, anyway? The black kid with the oversized NFL parka or the white man in the suit rationalizing that it's okay if he pollutes the air or pumps our kids with mercury-contaminated vaccinations and high fructose corn syrup until they're fat, diabetic, cancerous globules lumbering diligently from the drive-thru to the waiting list for gastric bypass surgery? Obviously the black kid in the NFL parka is the one to fear because, let's face it, even though it's going to be a painful torturous death, the white man will kill you with snack foods that come in "fun" shapes -- AND he offers a fully stocked biggie-sized menu. (The non-snark answer is that the white man in the suit selling high fructose corn syrup is the one to fear, given the choice.)

Despite all of it -- coupled with gun ownership -- most of us don't run around killing people. The answer, they say, is to ignore these societal factors if you choose to. Be your own person! An individual! You know, like they teach in schools where everyone is forced to dress the same and where the creative arts are being downsized.

Yet in an era when we're being marketed to and categorized without even knowing it, how can we possibly avoid the perils of the modern American Dream (now featuring Crazy Bread!)? Combine this with record foreclosures, record bankruptcies and a health care system that, if you can afford it in the first place, will provide you with something for your Restless Leg Syndrome while refusing to cover your psyche meds and therapy sessions.

Millions of American citizens with an array of mental illnesses are walking around without the means to be diagnosed in the first place, much less to be treated properly -- and a growing number of those Americans are Iraq veterans. Health insurance carriers won't insure you if you have a prior history of anything from basic depression to full blown schizophrenia (2 million diagnosed Americans with schizophrenic disorders and counting), even though many mental illnesses erase the ability to discern between a first-person-shooter video game and a group of students on a college campus. Mental illness is the difference between keeping a handgun for self defense and using it to liberate human beings from their oppressive world.

Give a person with an untreated and severe mental illness a handgun and a target, and another Virginia Tech massacre waits in the wings. Take away the handgun, and it'd be homemade explosives. Take those away and it'd be poison in the cafeteria food (beyond the legal poisons already mixed in). What else can be taken away? Basic freedoms and liberties, maybe? Video games?

The key, as best I see it, is to leave most of the guns alone (and the video games, Senator Clinton) and provide real health insurance for everyone, then to begin the slow process of rebuilding a viable middle class in America.

If the NRA, among others, truly wants to win this debate, it should dedicate a large percentage of its lobbying resources to promoting guaranteed affordable (free is better), comprehensive health care coverage for every American. Additionally, if you want to keep your firearm, tell your elected representatives that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans should be rolled back in favor of serious tax breaks for the middle class. This will begin to close the divide between crime and earning an honest living. Proper health care will begin to tackle the rate of untreated mental illnesses which, at the very least, will reduce the numbers of gun crimes by those of us who aren't able to handle or fully process the torque of modern American reality.
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Please excuse my french but, HELL YEA! I wholeheartedly believe in stricter gun control laws... or at least letting people other than the NRA lobbyists write them. But that's such a tiny, itty bitty part of the larger problem. Stricter laws would discourage the use of guns, but it wouldn't do anything to prevent this type of thing from happening again.

While People Are Being Fired For Racist Remarks...

By Bob Cesca

How can we forget this knee-slapper from Bill O'Reilly on the February 6, 2003 edition of The Factor?

"We'd save lives because Mexican wetbacks, whatever you want to call them, the coyotes--they're not going to do what they're doing now, all right, so people aren't going to die in the desert."

Whatever you want to call them, Bill. Fair.org reports:

"the Allentown, Pa. Morning Call (1/5/03) had O'Reilly using the same racist term in a speech earlier in the year: "O'Reilly criticized the Immigration and Naturalization Service for not doing its job and not keeping out 'the wetbacks.'"

And two months later Bill O'Reilly was hosting a charity event for urban school children. An African-American singing group called "The Best Men" were schedule to perform, but were late. O'Reilly said to the audience:

"Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."

So while television executives are busy firing people, well, you know... It's only fair.

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How 'bout these gems:

Limbaugh: Limbaugh once told a black caller: 'Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.' " In the early 1990s, "after becoming nationally syndicated, he mused on the air: 'Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?' " According to FAIR, "[w]hen Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) was in the U.S. Senate, the first black woman ever elected to that body, Limbaugh would play the 'Movin' On Up' theme song from TV's 'Jeffersons' when he mentioned her. Limbaugh sometimes still uses mock dialect -- substituting 'ax' for 'ask'-- when discussing black leaders." -June 7th, 2000 (FAIR)

Neal Boortz: "at its core," Islam is a "violent, violent religion... [T]his Muhammad guy is just a phony rag-picker." Boortz asserted that "[i]t is perfectly legitimate, perhaps even praiseworthy, to recognize Islam as a religion of vicious, violent, bloodthirsty cretins." -July 19, 2006
-saying of then-Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA): "she looks like a ghetto slut." -March 31, 2006

Michael Savage: (my personal favorite) On the January 15 edition of his radio show, in a monologue about Martin Luther King Day, Savage called "civil rights" a "con" and asserted: "It's a racket that is used to exploit primarily heterosexual, Christian, white males' birthright and steal from them what is their birthright(?) and give it to people who didn't qualify for it." Savage then said, "Take a guess out of whose hide all of these rights are coming. ... [T]here is only one group that is targeted, and that group are white, heterosexual males." He added: "They are the new witches being hunted by the illiberal left using the guise of civil rights and fairness to women and whatnot."
--On his May 11 and May 12, 2004, radio shows, Savage called Arabs "non-humans" and "racist, fascist bigots" (how ironic); asserted that Americans would like to "drop a nuclear weapon" on any Arab country; and that "these people" in the Middle East "need to be forcibly converted to Christianity" in order to "turn them into human beings."

I'm so glad I'm on the side of reason and rationality.