Oh Please No

No No No No No:

The greatest saga in the history of mankind that is Late Night Shots continues, as they strike a deal with a “reality TV” production company to film rich, stupid, racist, white, Republican Georgetown douchebags in their semi-natural habitat of one of three bars in the District they all attend to perform their horrid, horrid mating rituals. Also, I did the illustration, but seriously- I read it for the articles.

Damn it all!

Hillary’s Fear Ad and Obama’s Response

Hillary’s latest ad is badass. The essential equation is “Won’t somebody think of the children” + fear. The straight up honesty involved in such a tact is refreshing. Hillary Clinton is going to manipulate the shit out of you running for office, and if elected, will continue to do so. How very McCain “liberal conservative” of her. Via Pam at Pandagon(text quoted from ABC) :

“It’s 3:00am and your children are asleep,” the voice over says. “There’s a phone in the White House, and it’s ringing. Something is happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call.”

“Whether someone knows the world’s leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead. It’s 3am and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?”

Obama’s response video provides an alternative appeal. The strange idea that more than having any experience, it is having the correct experience that counts:

“It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone ringing in the White House.  Something’s happening in the world. When that call gets answered, shouldn’t the president be the one – the only one – who had judgment and courage to oppose the Iraq war from the start… Who understood the REAL threat to America was al-Qaeda, in Afghanistan, not Iraq. Who led the effort to secure loose nuclear weapons around the globe… In a dangerous world, it’s judgment that matters. I’m Barack Obama and I approved this message..”

Experience is a liability if you’ve made the wrong decisions. Barack Obama’s ad makes that a central point in this campaign, and one that will be of equal use when he faces off against McCain in November.

Republicans Support the Troops

This striking image is from Harper’s (via Ruins of Empire):

It really is worth a thousand words.  Despite literally drowning in their blood, they just keep mindlessly repeating “support the troops” without budging even an inch to actually save them and end this war.

Obama: The White Supremacist Backlash

UPDATE: See my post over at Revolutionary Act on Assassination Plots.

Extremist groups are ratcheting up the racism aimed at Obama:

With the selection of Barack Obama as the first black Democratic nominee for president seeming more possible by the day, racists and white supremacists are posting increasingly ugly and even threatening remarks on the Internet.

“OBAMA WILL DIE, KKK FOREVER,” concludes a Feb. 15 post by “Rodney” to a blog run by a person identified only as Strider333. Above that signoff, Rodney wrote: “The KKK or someone WILL assassinate Obama! If we get a NIGGER President all you NIGGER’s [sic] will think you’ve won and that the WHITE people will have to bow to you[.] FUCK THAT.”

On traditional white supremacist and neo-Nazi sites (for instance, here and here), there are lengthy discussion threads about what would happen if Obama were elected president. Dozens of those posts are derogatory and employ all kinds of racist slurs. Others speculate that such an Obama victory would kick off a race war between whites and blacks. And some even raise the possibility that he could be assassinated. But talk like that is rare and extremely careful — probable evidence that the “white nationalists” who inhabit these sites are deeply concerned that their comments are being monitored by law enforcement for any criminal threat relating to the presidential race.

Even in the mainstream media we are seeing some disturbingly violent language, as Bill O’Reilly’s vile remarks made clear:

discussing allegedly anti-American remarks made by Michelle Obama:

“I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that’s how she really feels — that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever — then that’s legit. We’ll track it down.”

O’Reilly so far is refusing to back down or apologize, because, as his apologists insist, he was making remarks ostensibly in her defense. His producer put it thus:

“What Bill said was an obvious repudiation of anyone attacking Michelle Obama,” he said, via email. “As he has said more than ten times, he is giving her the benefit of the doubt.”

Yes — and doing so by clearly suggesting that if evidence of her alleged anti-American further emerges, he in fact would lead a “lynching party” to get her.

As Dave points out, this is part of a rising tide of bile and hatred coming from the worst humanity has to offer:

Nevermind that the Klan has vowed to see her husband assassinated.

Nevermind that right now, the white-power haters are coming totally unhinged at the prospect of an Obama presidency.

Nevermind that all this outpouring of hate has played a significant role in the heightened level of security around him.

Meanwhile the secret service is handling Obama’s security in a frighteningly incompetent way.

So what can we do?

Be a visible presence representing love, understanding, and humanity:

The benign-sounding American Renaissance Conference begins this week (Feb. 22-Feb. 24), located at the Crowne Plaza Dulles Airport Hotel. It will be a gathering of “racial-realist thought” attendees, convening to discuss the fate of the white world.

In all parts of the world, whites are afraid to speak out in their own interests. Racial differences in IQ, the costs of “diversity,” the challenges of non-white immigration-politicians and the media dare not discuss what these things mean for whites and their civilization.We are different. We believe these are vital questions.

This conference will be an opportunity to hear some of the most courageous academics, journalists, political figures, and scientists of our time discuss the forces that will determine our future. This will be a remarkable group of speakers and guests-undeceived, outspoken, and committed to the defense of Western Civilization.

These AmRen folks don’t like to be lumped in with the Neo-nazis and skinheads. They are too civilized for those lower-class folks. But you can be sure that the topic of a possible black president will be in the air in that hotel. Resistance and Solidarity, a DC-based collective, plans to show up at the conference.

Here’s some more info:

Resistance and Solidarity, a DC-based collective opposing racism,
fascism and the cruelties perpetrated by the capitalist system, is
calling on Mid-Atlantic anti-fascists to join us, Saturday February
23 at 9am for a day full of actions (in many forms) to protest the
racist hate spouted by the AmRen National Conference. In the spirit
of the anti-fascists that came before us, let’s shut these racists
down by any means necessary.

We can continue to shine light on hate speech like that currently being lobbed at Barack and Michelle Obama, because bullshit like this and the awful people who behind it always shrivel in the lights of reason and publicity.

The most heated anti-Obama talk appears to be on Internet sites that allow people to post messages anonymously. One such site, JD Underground, is a list ostensibly devoted to lawyers, although further details were not available. It has carried a particularly venomous thread, entitled “Nigger President,” that has stretched from January into this month.

“I’m hoping someone will do his public duty of putting a bullet through Obama’s head,” said a poster identified as “Kill Da Nigga.” Another poster suggests “bring[ing] back lynchings” and concludes with a warning: “LOOK OUT NIGGER. THE KLAN IS GETTING BIGGER!!!!!!” And a third, using the screen name “amerikkkan,” says only, “The deep south is making plans.”

These people are cowards, and there is no way we’ll let them steer this country into a blood filled gutter.  Fuck That.  We’ll Fight.

Stormfront Users: Hate and Intelligence Don’t Mix (Who Knew?)

John Ubele (who was too cowardly to allow any of my comments on his post to show up on his site), decided to post a link to this blog on Stormfront (a gathering place for white supremacists, neo-nazis, and other people who like to blame their problems on minorities). Users there added their take on my criticism of John Ubele and his blog.

To start with, if you are going to throw a false charge at someone, its generally a good idea to make sure it isn’t too easy for them to disprove your statement. Daniel von der ss writes (about me):

Hey John, that guy is a huge nutter, he is sort of a cyber stalker as well. I remember one post about Bloomberg and the U.S. becoming a third world country you made on your blog and at the end of it that guy started to write strange comments unrelated to the article.

Well, here is that post about Bloomberg and the U.S. becoming a third world country on John’s blog. Notice there are no comments. Oops.

Some of the haters were brave enough to step on up over here and drop their rhetorical leavings in the comments section. incogman writes eloquently:

When will you people figure it out?

I mean, how much more math do you have to do, anymore?

Wasn’t 9/11 and the lies of Iraq enough? All this business about anti-Semitism and anti-Racism has been nothing but a big mind f–k on the American public to keep us divided and in the dark about these people from day-one!

Think about the USS Liberty and all the other perfidies against America since. We are being snowed big-time and accusing White people of being “White Supremacists” is part and parcel of the whole game. Reject it people!

I list out many of these Zionist’s perfidies here: http://incogman.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/you-cant-handle-the-truth/

Read it if you have a spine or brain left.

Yeah, how much more math do we have to do, anymore? Can’t we see that the Jews really are out to get us? (This guy really likes the word anymore, apparently, judging from his blog’s slogan (I shit you not): “INCOG MAN: Sick of all the BS, anymore…”).

There is a subtle genius in attacks like these. Reasonable people can get truly stuck trying to respond. How do you respond to a frothing little statement like “The Jews run this country and are also behind 9/11 oh and own the media”? There’s no facts, no substance, nothing to respond to. Its like arguing with a violently Schizophrenic hobo. The impulse is to back away and hope you don’t get drenched in spit or stabbed.

But we ought to take a closer look, because these are ideas we are going to see a lot more of my dear friends and allies. Not just from people like John Ubele, who is a white supremacist running for public office in Florida (currently unopposed by a Democrat). For the curious, he’s running under the Constitution Party. Yeah, that Constitution Party:

Critics contend the Party uses its name in an Orwellian and disingenuous fashion in order to mask a theocratic agenda. Political Research Associates links the Constitution Party to the dominionism movement.^[28] The liberal civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center has voiced similar concerns and views the party’s “cult-like” rhetoric as an invitation to commit violent acts to achieve a society not unlike that envisioned by the Iranian Revolution.

Nore just from commentors like “ms mel”, who writes without qualification:

bigots like PA are this country’s saving grace —- thank goodness for him as well as others like him!

But from those on the right side of our national discourse who adopt the language and many of the goals of the hate wing of the Republican party and bring it into the mainstream. We need to watch the extremes to know what we’ll need to deal with when those same vile positions and arguments slither into Fox News broadcasts and political speeches. We’ll also need to fight hard to ensure no bigot wins office on our watch.

Keep informed and stay united, we’ll win this one.

If You Lie, Lie Boldly

Conservatives can’t take a straight argument without twisting their facts to try and avoid a loss.

GMH writes (in a subtly titled post over at BoldColorConservative):

An individual with the web moniker of Dan (Fitness) has been engaged in some anti-American, intolerant and bigoted hate speech in the comments section of our blog (see below).

What anti-American, intolerant and bigoted hate speech is he on about? My comment here (just the section he quoted):

Removing Sadam from power? Good. Going there based on lies, and sacrificing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, thousands of our soldiers, billions of dollars, and the stability of Iraq and potentially the region? Not so good. Plus it severely damaged our ability to respond to Afghanistan’s changing security situation.

I have mixed feelings about the volunteering for military service, especially with a service that accepts people who join with imperialist or racist goals.

I don’t think you met the bar I set:

Not something I approve of, but something that makes me feel intensely proud to be an American.

The war in Iraq was a huge mistake, not something to be proud of as an American.

It looks like GMH has two problems. One, with my statement about the military, and two with my statement about the war in Iraq. On the military:

The United States military is the most ethnically diverse organization on the planet.

That’s not what I was saying. I was responding to GMH’s assertion that we should be proud of:

Being a country where hundreds of thousands of American soldiers (like myself) volunteer to fight global Jihad and spread democracy abroad.

My point was that my feelings were mixed. On the one hand, the number of people volunteering to serve their country is something to be proud of. On the other, some of those people are volunteering for decidedly wrong reasons. This includes hate groups joining up, and the military’s standards have lowered, allowing felons and gang members in. One wonders if GMH is simply denying this is happening, or is happy it is. Either way, not something to be proud of. Plus, there’s those who volunteer to fight because they hate “those Muslims”. Again, this is a source of shame, and why I can both feel pride for those who serve to protect, and shame for those who server for their own hateful ends.

On Iraq, GMH writes:

Your ridiculous assertions and outright lies above (going to war based on lies, etc. ad naseum) are old and tiresome for those of us who have “moved on” passed the 9/11 commission, a bi-partisan committee which refuted your accusations outright.

What is this guy on? Is he forgetting the 900+ Lies that led into this war? We went in because Saddam supposedly posed a deadly threat to our country. That was a lie. And no, we have not moved on. We are still stuck in that damnable war, and we’ve lost far too much as a result. Lives. Credibility as a nation. Economic stability. And above all else our morality, since out of Iraq has come torture and a “strike-first” philosophy of war that renders the US aggressors.

That is nothing to be proud of.

Also, GMH has no understanding of hate speech:

Frankly, your un-American, intolerant, and bigoted hate speech has no place on this site.

Hopefully you are prosecuted to the fullest extent of hate-speech law (assuming of course, that liberals and secular-progressives have their way and are able to pass such laws).

Hate Speech:

Bigoted speech attacking or disparaging a social or ethnic group or a member of such a group.

Criticizing an organization for recruiting members of far right hate groups and felons hardly applies.

I’ll give GMH one thing. When he lies, he does so boldly.

The Deft White Supremacist

The inaptly named “Patritoic Activist” put up a post on Obama’s economic stimulus package.  He titled it “Obama bribes voters”.  The actual post was mostly innocuous:

Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries, as he tried to win over economically struggling voters.

Obama’s investment would be over 10 years as part of two programs. The larger is $150 billion to create 5 million so-called “green collar” jobs to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources.

Sixty billion would go to a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild highways, bridges, airports and other public projects. Obama estimated that could generate nearly 2 million jobs, many of them in the construction industry that’s been hit by the housing crisis.

No big deal.  One can easily point out that all candidates do the same by proposing, oh say, massive tax cuts our economy cannot support, as Republicans are wont to do.

So the post itself, objectivity (far) aside, appears harmless, save for a graphic (AIPAC for Obama) that links to a white nationalist website.  The Rational Psychic was first out the door taking PA to task for this:

 What are you trying to prove by having this white nationalist link on your page?

PA’s response?

I’m sorry but don’t I understand your question.

Take care,
John

Yeah, right.  But this guys blog makes for really good reading.  He’s pretty overtly anti-semitic.  But his bigotry towards immigrants is something special:

Originally from the Mexican state of Zacatecas, he’s lived north, in the US, for more than 40 years. He is currently president of the Federation of Zacatecan Associations.

The migrants’ influence comes with the massive amounts of money they send back home.

Despite the relative stagnation of the US economy, this flow of money keeps growing, according to recent data. In 2003 it increased by 35% – the total amount sent that year to Mexico was more than $13bn.

In other words, his point is that the migrants are bleeding an already wounded America dry.  This is a point you might see in the mainstream media.  Its always nice to know your source.

Bigots like PA use a particularly familiar rhetorical strategy.  Pick your target (non white christian males), pick your audience (christian white males), and connect the two via a vulnerability.  As much as possible, scrape the language clean of overt racism and stick to the meat of the issue, using it as a wedge to push your audience away from your target socially, economically, and politically.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

Extra bonus, this guy is running for office in Florida.  Seems he has a political plan for bigots across the nation (St. Petersberg Times, emphasis mine):

“We’re sitting down and we’re waiting to die,” said John Ubele, a 28-year-old Shady Hills resident who calls himself a white separatist and has ties to two groups with similar views, the National Alliance and the National Vanguard. “We’re waiting to be wiped out.”

A stranger who ran into Ubele at a party might never discover his extremism. He is clean-cut and soft-spoken with no visible piercings or tattoos. He repairs windows for a living and likes his pancakes with butter-pecan syrup.

While he may not fit the profile of a political firebrand, Ubele has grand ambitions and a nationwide strategy.

If he can win a seat on the three-member Mosquito Control Board in the Nov. 7 general election – and the competition is stiff, partly because board members get $400 a month for attending just one meeting – Ubele wants to ride his political capital to the County Commission and perhaps the Governor’s Mansion after that.

There’s more. Ubele is using the Internet to mobilize other white separatists to run for office around the United States.

“Let’s make 2006 the year we explode onto the political scene,” he wrote on the Web site of the National Vanguard’s Tampa chapter. “Every other race has politicians in office which represent their interests. It’s time we have politicians to represent ours.”

The trouble for people like Ubele is that their bigotry and hatred comes seething out in the end no matter how skillfully they hide their ethical and intellectual failure, and its never pretty to watch.

Democrats vs Republicans: A Helpful Guide

This struck me as an accurate assesment (August Pollack, emphasis mine):

Begrudgingly, I have to give credit to the Republicans for being much more open in the primary process. The Democrats engage in this merry dance of triangulating, backtracking on their previous votes, refusing to actually take a definitive stand on anything, and generally just talking about platforms and policies that are worded like the closing statements of lawyers defending serial killers. Republicans just come out and say they’re fucking nuts and want to destroy you.

Be sure to check out the comic.

Iraq: More Lies and Damn Statistics

JLG is getting kinda goofy with the numbers game:

Just so you know what we’re dealing with here, I thought I might share a reader’s comment with me about Baghdad’s per capita murder rate being less than Detroit, Michigan.  “mdking” writes:

JLG, you are manipulating facts to suit your ideology! Just muster the humility for one brief moment to think that you might be wrong. You say, “That’s a murder rate that is comparable to some major American cities.”

That’s a murder rate comparable to NO American city. 5 dead a day times one year equals 1825.

New York had less than 500 murders in 2007. The LAPD reported 379 people had been killed in Los Angeles as of December 15, 2007.

You are either making your numbers up or quoting Fox News (which has said what you say). In either scenario, your powers of reason have no place in responsible debate.

“mdking” is obviously having trouble with the “PER CAPITA” part

The “5 bodies a day” stat is from Iraq.  That is not a per capita number.  As mdking notes, and JLG refuses to acknowledge:

Just because you say (or misspell) PER CAPITA a half dozen times after the fact, doesn’t clear you of being full of shit out of the gate.

mdking is right on here.  5 deaths per day is horrible, and incomparable to any US city.  But let’s say we were arguing per capita:

Per capita refers to the number of murders per person living in a city.  Baghdad has a population of about 7,000,000 people.  Detroit has 900,000.  So of course, Detroit has lower absolute crime rates.  That’s like saying there is less crime in Boise, Idaho than in New York City.  Thank you Captain Obvious!

Actually, Badhdad has about 6 million.  New York City has over 8 million.  To my knowledge, and as mdking points out, New York does not suffer 5 murders a day.  New York also does not suffer from roadside bombs and suicide bombers exploding weekly.

The point still stands in the face of every hawkish Republican denial.  Acknowledging reality is a necessary first step in truly supporting our troops, and living up to our responsibility as a nation.

Iraq: Just 5 Bodies a Day!

Sometimes the definitions we work with really do matter.  “What do you mean when you say ‘Livable’?” is a question worth answering.  In the discussion surrounding a posted response to JLG’s bar for success in Iraq, I stated:

No JLG, the country is not livable again. Its come under a repression incarnation of sharia law. There are bombings and murders daily. The government is still sharply divided, and the police force is still under trained and corrupt.

He responded with an update and comment pointing to a New York Times article.  His overriding assertion is that Iraq is in fact livable:

Here another, more recent refutation of the claim by “Dan (fitness)” that “Iraq is not livable again,” and his accusation that I’m merely viewing the world through the “conservative black and white lens.”

Let’s look at that NYTimes article, shall we?  (Emphasis mine)

The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real. Days now pass without a car bomb, after a high of 44 in the city in February. The number of bodies appearing on Baghdad’s streets has plummeted to about 5 a day, from as many as 35 eight months ago, and suicide bombings across Iraq fell to 16 in October, half the number of last summer and down sharply from a recent peak of 59 in March, the American military says.

Don’t get me wrong, the math speaks for itself.  Finding less bodies on the street is a good thing.  But in what twisted world is that livable?

My reference to a “black and white lens” referred to the idea that we can either surrender or keep fighting forever.  There are other options.  And frankly, JLG had no response to this:

My facts are rock solid. Further, those answers I do have are not driven by idealogical blindness and an inability to acknowledge reality.

That seems like a worse option than cleaning up our mess with the surge.

Did you forget the surge was to clean up our mess with the invasion? That it is actually the second surge, cleaning up the first? Do you suggest another surge, ad nauseum?

When will Republican acknowledge the reality on the ground, and stop cheerleading the bloodletting?

In choosing a path for America to take on Iraq, we shouldn’t be letting a psychopathic need to prove the invasion (or the first corner, the victory, the surge, or the second surge) a success drive our decision making or our assessment of the reality on the ground.

Republicans for Hillary?

National Review (via HuffPost):

Two More Democratic Votes in the VA Primary   [David Freddoso]

From a reader:

My wife and I have never voted for anything left of Republican, frequently voting on the Conservative party line when available.  Yet today, we both voted for Hillary in the VA primary.  Why?  Because it seems McCain has it wrapped up, so why waste our vote on the Republican side; she is a lot less scary than Obama in many ways (better the Devil you know), and I think she is more easily beaten with her high negatives and lack of charisma.  So we were part of the high Dem turn out today which I am sure you will hear about.  And there is no way we will ever vote Dem in November.

We live in a highly conservative precinct (Eric Cantor is our Congressman).  I saw many folks today picking up the Democratic ballot also.  I think my wife and I were far from alone in our thinking.

There is a lot of spin here.  I highly doubt that high Democratic turnout is largely Republican.  I’m sure, especially with a McCain vs Obama race, we’ll see a similar rush of energized Democrat voters against a backwash of reluctant Republicans.  I also would take this quote with just a grain of salt.  Weren’t Republicans voting for Obama in NH, because they couldn’t stand Mrs. Clinton?

One thing we can see, clearly, is that conservative opinion-makers aren’t exactly enchanted with their front runner.

Another?  Obama consistently polls ahead of McCain, whereas Clinton polls behind.  So there is a strategic explanation for such votes.

Obama Taking Early Lead in Northern Virginia

With polls yet to close, Obama is commanding double digit leads at polls in Northern Virginia.

We’re also seeing Democratic turnout beating Republican turnout by a factor of 7 to 1 at some polling locations.

McCain: No You Can’t

Hot on the heals of discovering one McCain satire music video, I find another one at WriteChic Press:

Barely Political put this parody together today with the help of the extraordinary Lee Stranahan and Alan Bernhoft. It’s edgier than the parody put out by the LA comics.

It makes its point with a lot more power:

This will be something to refer back to in the general election.

• Can I get affordable health care?
• Can I use medical marijuana if I’m in pain?
• Can I pay my mortgage?
• Can I get married if I’m Gay?
• Can I come home from Iraq?

With John McCain as President you know the answer, if not the reason why: “No You Can’t“.

The Conservative Bar for Iraq

Is sure set low (BoldColorConservative)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) has again called the Iraq surge “a failure.” Pelosi needs to read a letter written by an al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu-Tariq to top terror leaders proclaiming the organization to be in “extraordinary crisis,” and how the the defection of Sunnis to fight with the U.S. military has “created panic, fear, and the unwillingness to fight.”How is that not, as Pelosi claims, “the desired effect?”

Perhaps in 10 years when our soldiers are still in Iraq fighting insurgents, and the civil war is still raging with people being murdered every day, it will occur to conservatives that maybe the “desired effect” is peace and security for the Iraqi people. Perhaps in 10 years conservatives will learn to read the articles they link to:

“The purpose of the surge was to create a secure time for the government of Iraq to make the political change to bring reconciliation to Iraq,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “They have not done that.”

How low the bar has been set! Apparently the point of the surge was to get insurgent leaders to feel insecure about their organizations. If only Pelosi had read the letter!

McCain and Rove

Ok, not one to link to Fox, but holy shit:

John McCain says that Karl Rove’s help and advice is welcome aboard the Straight Talk Express.

We’ll be hard pressed to find a more powerful condemnation and ironic statement this entire campaign season.