H.R. 104 has an outside chance of providing many Americans, including this author, with a forum for addressing the damage that the Bush Admin. has done to our country (http://maxwellshammer.blogspot.com/2009/01/bush-league.html). Some may say to let history be the judge, but precedents have been set which must be negated. Executive orders were never meant to be used in direct contradiction to domestic and international laws, as they have been since 9/11. Warrantless wiretapping, torture, extraordinary rendition; these things are unacceptable to everyone who is aware of his human and Constitutional rights, and I personally want those people who are responsible for violating my rights to be officially condemned.
Read more about the H.R. 104 here: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/sleeper_bill_of_the_month.php
Showing posts with label lies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lies. Show all posts
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Robo-calls
John McCain's fear mongering hit a new depressing low with his sadistic new program of robo-calling undecided voters. The frightening voice on the other line tells those unfortunate enough to answer that Obama works with terrorists to undermine the American government through violent means. John McCain, not his campaign, should be roasted over flames of shame for this assault on our national conscience. Joe Biden is livid, Chris Matthew is beside himself, and people full of Mc-hatred, prejudices and anger are lapping it up. Watch the videos below and let me know what you think. For me, acts of transparent fear-mongering can not be tolerated in our country. It is time for concerned Americans to vocalize their concerns with this development, which can only distract us from our numerous crises and spread unfounded suspicion of our fellow Americans.
Joe Biden:
The Straight-Talk Express:
Chris Matthews:
Joe Biden:
The Straight-Talk Express:
Chris Matthews:
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Pursuit of Power
In this election we have two candidates who are pursing different policies and visions for our country, but we also have two individuals who are employing contrasting methods in their pursuit of power.
Every human being seeks to both understand and influence the world he lives in, whether through politics or another medium. Obama and McCain are no different. But if we associate, as writer George Sotos has, the pursuit of knowledge with the cognitive function of the mind and the pursuit of influence with the manipulative function, we can detect a valid and crucial distinction between the campaigns and the candidates running them.
Obama’s campaign has been guilty of subtle “untruths”, such as using quotes out of context, but in my opinion, which is all this entry is, Obama has conducted a campaign which reflects a dedicated pursuit of knowledge and a desire to inform the American people about the issues they face. He seems to me to be genuinely interested in educating the public so that we may be able to steer our government and our lives in a positive direction. He has aspirations to shape America and world events, as each President and Presidential hopeful must, but he is a cognitive thinker first and works within the bounds of logical connections between facts and events.
McCain, on the other hand, has engaged in a form of electoral politics dominated by the manipulative function. He has identified, time and time again, the desires of the electorate, and then has sought to shape the facts so that they correspond to those desires. Outcome first, facts second.
This technique was on display most recently this past week as he attempted to position himself as the Maverick crusader who saved the economy. He identified the desire of the American people for economic stability (in this case via a 700 billion dollar injection from the Treasury), and then suspended his campaign and launched a media blitz in an attempt to contort the facts regarding how the bill was passed. His objective was to make it seem as though he led Congress through the process of getting the bill passed, when in fact his position on the legislation was ambiguous throughout.
The technique backfired badly. In the House, his own party rejected the proposal and in the process, made a mockery of McCain surrogates who appeared on talk shows before the vote to proclaim another victory in vision and leadership for the 72 year old.
So, will this latest failure of Carl Rove style, “do anything to win” politics persuade McCain and future Republican nominees to focus on the facts first and the potential influence second? Not a chance! But at the very least it gives Obama more ammunition on the economy while basically wiping out McCain’s illusory, “pro-regulation” arsenal. Perceptive voters may also see in the episode an example of McCain’s erratic governing style and of Obama’s calm under pressure.
Also, not to be overlooked, we now know that McCain, in his old age, is completely incapable of multi-tasking.
Every human being seeks to both understand and influence the world he lives in, whether through politics or another medium. Obama and McCain are no different. But if we associate, as writer George Sotos has, the pursuit of knowledge with the cognitive function of the mind and the pursuit of influence with the manipulative function, we can detect a valid and crucial distinction between the campaigns and the candidates running them.
Obama’s campaign has been guilty of subtle “untruths”, such as using quotes out of context, but in my opinion, which is all this entry is, Obama has conducted a campaign which reflects a dedicated pursuit of knowledge and a desire to inform the American people about the issues they face. He seems to me to be genuinely interested in educating the public so that we may be able to steer our government and our lives in a positive direction. He has aspirations to shape America and world events, as each President and Presidential hopeful must, but he is a cognitive thinker first and works within the bounds of logical connections between facts and events.
McCain, on the other hand, has engaged in a form of electoral politics dominated by the manipulative function. He has identified, time and time again, the desires of the electorate, and then has sought to shape the facts so that they correspond to those desires. Outcome first, facts second.
This technique was on display most recently this past week as he attempted to position himself as the Maverick crusader who saved the economy. He identified the desire of the American people for economic stability (in this case via a 700 billion dollar injection from the Treasury), and then suspended his campaign and launched a media blitz in an attempt to contort the facts regarding how the bill was passed. His objective was to make it seem as though he led Congress through the process of getting the bill passed, when in fact his position on the legislation was ambiguous throughout.
The technique backfired badly. In the House, his own party rejected the proposal and in the process, made a mockery of McCain surrogates who appeared on talk shows before the vote to proclaim another victory in vision and leadership for the 72 year old.
So, will this latest failure of Carl Rove style, “do anything to win” politics persuade McCain and future Republican nominees to focus on the facts first and the potential influence second? Not a chance! But at the very least it gives Obama more ammunition on the economy while basically wiping out McCain’s illusory, “pro-regulation” arsenal. Perceptive voters may also see in the episode an example of McCain’s erratic governing style and of Obama’s calm under pressure.
Also, not to be overlooked, we now know that McCain, in his old age, is completely incapable of multi-tasking.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Update: Palin's Trooper-Gate Troubles
Sarah Palin's original claim that Walt Monegan was ultimately fired for taking an unauthorized trip to Washington, D.C. is false. Documents recently obtained by ABC include a Travel Authorization form which was filed and approved prior to Monegan's trip to the nation's capitol. The former Public Safety Commissioner was also said to have been "egregiously insubordinate" and a "rogue" actor within Alaska's public sphere. Those claims are yet to be supported by any tangible evidence.
It's obvious now that this scandal in not so clear-cut after all. Palin initially welcomed a full investigation but has now been stonewalling for the better part of 2 months. She's apparently caught in a bold-face lie here with this "unauthorized trip" nonsense, and who knows what other revelations will be revealed before the official report is published on October 10th. The one thing that is certain is that Palin has the capacity for duplicity.
She jumped on the Straight-Talk Express after the engine had quit and tried to fix it with some good ole folksy- hockey mom- abortion hating-gun toting-creationist tools, and some lies of her own. Now she's in a muddled mess that could derail the Express for good.
It's obvious now that this scandal in not so clear-cut after all. Palin initially welcomed a full investigation but has now been stonewalling for the better part of 2 months. She's apparently caught in a bold-face lie here with this "unauthorized trip" nonsense, and who knows what other revelations will be revealed before the official report is published on October 10th. The one thing that is certain is that Palin has the capacity for duplicity.
She jumped on the Straight-Talk Express after the engine had quit and tried to fix it with some good ole folksy- hockey mom- abortion hating-gun toting-creationist tools, and some lies of her own. Now she's in a muddled mess that could derail the Express for good.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I'm a Fundamental and So Are You?
John McCain has once again found within himself the ability to morph into an entirely different candidate. Just when you think he might settle on one identity, he slips your grasp, only to pop-up minutes later wearing a new mask and touting a new slogan. First he was the experienced candidate. Then he was the Maverick. Then he was the candidate for change. This time he came out of the phone booth as the barrel-chested, pro-regulation, greed fighting machine; an image he obviously believes appeals to some part of his delusional base.
After 26 years of being consistently and at time even painstakingly anti-regulation, John woke up this morning, looked himself in the mirror and said, "What the heck. What could one day of sane economic principles really do to hurt my chances?" And the answer of course is nothing. This obvious populist pandering will do nothing to harm his chances unless voters start to care about characteristics like honesty, consistency and reliability in their leaders. Most people who do care about those traits are now either firmly in Obama's camp or making the long trek from the outer reaches of the far Right.
And while Barack was making speeches outlining, in detail, his plan for getting our economy back on track, what was McCain doing? Two things: burying his head in the sand by calling for the establishment of a committee and spewing bullshit about Fundamentals.
The former is less insulting to our intelligence as voters than the latter. He should be embarrassed by his inability to offer clear and substantive recommendations to stem this recession. Calling for a commission to be established instead of standing up and leading is a perfect example of what we could expect from a President McCain who is out of touch with reality and therefore unable to address it effectively. The man can't use a computer and can't text, how can we expect him to guide us to safe ground in the 21st century?
Regarding the second activity that John's been dabbling in - spewing bullshit to cover his ass - he's been repeating this line about how "the fundamentals of our economy are still strong" since his campaign began. Barack cited an independent study in his last speech in Colorado which found 16 instances in what McCain has used the line. And now that it has become painfully obvious to any breathing organism on the planet that our economy's core is crumbling, what does McCain do? The only thing he can do; twist his rhetoric. Reality, the son-of-a-gun, had reared its ugly head and stuck its tongue out at him as if to say "You'll never escape me, no matter how hard you try."
So we've now learned from John that the "fundamentals" of the economy are not to be judged by looking at the performance of Wall St. or the international markets or our national debt. Nope. According to John, to see how strong the fundamentals of our economy are all the American worker needs is a mirror. Because we, the employed American citizens, are the fundamentals that John's been talking about this whole time!
How stupid are we?! All this time we've been worrying about Freddie and Fannie and Merrill and Lehman when all we needed to do was hit the bench press, do some squats and then flex. We are strong! We are the economy! The economy is strong! Screw work, I'm going to the gym to get my country back on track!
It's truly a shame that it's come to this. One candidate is out there offering solutions to our worst economic crisis in 70 years while the other is flattering the collective ego of delusional citizens with nonsensical, two-faced remarks.
And they're dead even in the polls. Simply terrifying.
After 26 years of being consistently and at time even painstakingly anti-regulation, John woke up this morning, looked himself in the mirror and said, "What the heck. What could one day of sane economic principles really do to hurt my chances?" And the answer of course is nothing. This obvious populist pandering will do nothing to harm his chances unless voters start to care about characteristics like honesty, consistency and reliability in their leaders. Most people who do care about those traits are now either firmly in Obama's camp or making the long trek from the outer reaches of the far Right.
And while Barack was making speeches outlining, in detail, his plan for getting our economy back on track, what was McCain doing? Two things: burying his head in the sand by calling for the establishment of a committee and spewing bullshit about Fundamentals.
The former is less insulting to our intelligence as voters than the latter. He should be embarrassed by his inability to offer clear and substantive recommendations to stem this recession. Calling for a commission to be established instead of standing up and leading is a perfect example of what we could expect from a President McCain who is out of touch with reality and therefore unable to address it effectively. The man can't use a computer and can't text, how can we expect him to guide us to safe ground in the 21st century?
Regarding the second activity that John's been dabbling in - spewing bullshit to cover his ass - he's been repeating this line about how "the fundamentals of our economy are still strong" since his campaign began. Barack cited an independent study in his last speech in Colorado which found 16 instances in what McCain has used the line. And now that it has become painfully obvious to any breathing organism on the planet that our economy's core is crumbling, what does McCain do? The only thing he can do; twist his rhetoric. Reality, the son-of-a-gun, had reared its ugly head and stuck its tongue out at him as if to say "You'll never escape me, no matter how hard you try."
So we've now learned from John that the "fundamentals" of the economy are not to be judged by looking at the performance of Wall St. or the international markets or our national debt. Nope. According to John, to see how strong the fundamentals of our economy are all the American worker needs is a mirror. Because we, the employed American citizens, are the fundamentals that John's been talking about this whole time!
How stupid are we?! All this time we've been worrying about Freddie and Fannie and Merrill and Lehman when all we needed to do was hit the bench press, do some squats and then flex. We are strong! We are the economy! The economy is strong! Screw work, I'm going to the gym to get my country back on track!
It's truly a shame that it's come to this. One candidate is out there offering solutions to our worst economic crisis in 70 years while the other is flattering the collective ego of delusional citizens with nonsensical, two-faced remarks.
And they're dead even in the polls. Simply terrifying.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Drill Baby Drill! - What for?
The debate over drilling for oil offshore and in Alaska has become increasingly visible since McCain selected Palin as his running mate. In her year as Governor she's persistently advocated for drilling both in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore. "Drill now to make these United States safer and more energy independent" is something we've heard her say nearly as often as "I told the Congress thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere". Both statements are of course misleading, if not patently false.
While it is true that Alaska's oil and natural gas reserves are significant, the argument that authorizing drilling in those areas now will make gas cheaper and us safer anytime in the near future is simply off-base. George Bush's own energy department's official position regarding offshore drilling is that we would not see a drop of oil from it until 2017. So, were drilling to begin today, we would not see any additional oil supplies for at least 9 years. The amazing thing is that Palin has admitted this point in the past but continues to speak of drilling as a legitimate energy alternative that will lower prices at the pump for Americans who are hurting now. She speaks of "feeding our hungry markets" when she knows that precisely zero sustenance is to be found in AK and offshore for perhaps a generation.
So whether Palin's statements are misleading or manipulative or just false, I think I can speak for most Americans and say, please stop. Please stop lying to us. Please stop leading us in the wrong direction. It's so obvious that we need to be moving away from oil dependence altogether, not towards it. Talk to us about alternative energies and how we can create clean energies that don't destroy the global environment. And if you decided one day that human activity is contributing to global warming, talk to us about how we can address that too. Just please, for now, stop lying.
Obama's stance on the issue is that offshore drilling is not a legitimate option for the reasons noted above. Instead, he would tax the record profits of oil companies and redistribute that tax money back to middle class families (95% of US families would qualify). In a populist pitch, he is also ready to issue a second round of tax rebates to ease the hurt that people are feeling at the pumps. Lastly, he would investigate possible fraud and market manipulation in the oil and gas industries. Those seem to be three logical steps that could actually give Americans some immediate relief.
Thomas Friedman's Op-ed from 9/13:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Accompanying Video:
Drill Baby Drill!
Palin Lying in LaLaLand:
Barack on Drilling:
While it is true that Alaska's oil and natural gas reserves are significant, the argument that authorizing drilling in those areas now will make gas cheaper and us safer anytime in the near future is simply off-base. George Bush's own energy department's official position regarding offshore drilling is that we would not see a drop of oil from it until 2017. So, were drilling to begin today, we would not see any additional oil supplies for at least 9 years. The amazing thing is that Palin has admitted this point in the past but continues to speak of drilling as a legitimate energy alternative that will lower prices at the pump for Americans who are hurting now. She speaks of "feeding our hungry markets" when she knows that precisely zero sustenance is to be found in AK and offshore for perhaps a generation.
So whether Palin's statements are misleading or manipulative or just false, I think I can speak for most Americans and say, please stop. Please stop lying to us. Please stop leading us in the wrong direction. It's so obvious that we need to be moving away from oil dependence altogether, not towards it. Talk to us about alternative energies and how we can create clean energies that don't destroy the global environment. And if you decided one day that human activity is contributing to global warming, talk to us about how we can address that too. Just please, for now, stop lying.
Obama's stance on the issue is that offshore drilling is not a legitimate option for the reasons noted above. Instead, he would tax the record profits of oil companies and redistribute that tax money back to middle class families (95% of US families would qualify). In a populist pitch, he is also ready to issue a second round of tax rebates to ease the hurt that people are feeling at the pumps. Lastly, he would investigate possible fraud and market manipulation in the oil and gas industries. Those seem to be three logical steps that could actually give Americans some immediate relief.
Thomas Friedman's Op-ed from 9/13:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Accompanying Video:
Drill Baby Drill!
Palin Lying in LaLaLand:
Barack on Drilling:
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Voter Protection
Playing political hardball and lying are different acts. One is legitimate while the other is morally reprehensible. They need to be treated differently.
We tolerate attack ads that offer claims which are supported by historically documented facts. If McCain puts out an ad that calls attention to the fact that Obama's opposition to the War in Iraq began before Obama was voting on national security issues, we voters should and would accept it as a legitimate political maneuver. Some may call such an ad "negative" and encourage McCain to offer reasons why we should vote for him rather than reasons not to vote for his opponent, but most voters would simply appreciate being made aware of the facts.
What reasonable citizens will never accept is being lied to. Whether its a quote taken out of context, the manipulation of historical information, or just a flat out lie with no factual basis, reasonable Americans will not tolerate it (See: Reactions of many Republicans and Independents to the revelations that at least two of McCain's recent ads propagate false information).
Unfortunately, it is difficult for the average American to discriminate between the truthful statements and the lies he is fed by our media. This is why I would support the creation of an independent agency which would hold veto power over the content of proposed political advertisements. The agency could also impose monetary penalties on the campaign which attempted to spread false claims. We don't let corporations propagate falsehoods over the radio or television, why do we let politicians? A system of voter protection is desperately needed.
The agency would function like a front-end FactCheck.org. The content of the ad would be reviewed for factual accuracy and if it passed scrutiny, would be aired at the time chosen by its creators. If the ad contained content which was not supported by historical documentation, it would not be aired and the submitting campaign could be subjected to monetary penalties.
Lincoln Chafee and others in the Senate have become increasingly vocal about the 'truth deficit' in our federal politics. In my opinion, as long as Carl Rove's proteges are running the campaigns of Presidential candidates we will not see real reform in this area. An independent body must be created to hold campaigns accountable for the messages they spread.
Candidates simply can't be given carte blanche during election time. They must act within the bounds of history and a version of reality that is based on hard facts. No candidate should have to decide between running an ethical campaign and running a winning campaign that costs him his integrity.
McCain on TheView defending his manipulation of Obama's use of the common phrase "lipstick on a pig" for political gain:
-
"Pro-truth" Youtube montage showing a plethora of false claims used by the McCain camp in 2008:
We tolerate attack ads that offer claims which are supported by historically documented facts. If McCain puts out an ad that calls attention to the fact that Obama's opposition to the War in Iraq began before Obama was voting on national security issues, we voters should and would accept it as a legitimate political maneuver. Some may call such an ad "negative" and encourage McCain to offer reasons why we should vote for him rather than reasons not to vote for his opponent, but most voters would simply appreciate being made aware of the facts.
What reasonable citizens will never accept is being lied to. Whether its a quote taken out of context, the manipulation of historical information, or just a flat out lie with no factual basis, reasonable Americans will not tolerate it (See: Reactions of many Republicans and Independents to the revelations that at least two of McCain's recent ads propagate false information).
Unfortunately, it is difficult for the average American to discriminate between the truthful statements and the lies he is fed by our media. This is why I would support the creation of an independent agency which would hold veto power over the content of proposed political advertisements. The agency could also impose monetary penalties on the campaign which attempted to spread false claims. We don't let corporations propagate falsehoods over the radio or television, why do we let politicians? A system of voter protection is desperately needed.
The agency would function like a front-end FactCheck.org. The content of the ad would be reviewed for factual accuracy and if it passed scrutiny, would be aired at the time chosen by its creators. If the ad contained content which was not supported by historical documentation, it would not be aired and the submitting campaign could be subjected to monetary penalties.
Lincoln Chafee and others in the Senate have become increasingly vocal about the 'truth deficit' in our federal politics. In my opinion, as long as Carl Rove's proteges are running the campaigns of Presidential candidates we will not see real reform in this area. An independent body must be created to hold campaigns accountable for the messages they spread.
Candidates simply can't be given carte blanche during election time. They must act within the bounds of history and a version of reality that is based on hard facts. No candidate should have to decide between running an ethical campaign and running a winning campaign that costs him his integrity.
McCain on TheView defending his manipulation of Obama's use of the common phrase "lipstick on a pig" for political gain:
-
"Pro-truth" Youtube montage showing a plethora of false claims used by the McCain camp in 2008:
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