Things That Just Piss Me Off

In every election there is always one demographic politicians can count on. The stupid demographic. There are enough stupid voters in that group to sway a close election and politicians know they will believe anything.

Examples;

There are still stupid people who believe Bush found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

There is a whole group of stupid people beyond those who believe it doesn’t matter whether or not he found them or if he lied about the reasons for starting the Iraq war in the first place.

There are still stupid people who believe it is ok to give up our rights as US citizens if the government says it is because they want to protect us.

There are still stupid people who believe that Obama is a muslim.

There are still stupid people who believe the lack of offshore drilling is the reason that gas prices are high and that just by starting offshore drilling again, gas will immediately start costing less.

I suppose even I’m stupid for believing that people will wake up and see our government officials for what they are. Greedy. Plain and simple. Everything they tell us is carefully planned in such a way as to make us believe it is for our safety, for our children, or for our own good, when in reality, it’s about them making more money and staying in power.

This is a consumer alert, but the fact these people are out there trying to scam everyone really does piss me off. People need to learn more about how to recognize spam and scams in their email. It’s 2008 and people are still opening attachments in their email. It’s sad really.

From Internet Scam Busters
A Widespread Convincing and Dangerous UPS Scam

A UPS scam, where victims are lured into clicking a download link, is sweeping through inboxes. It’s happening right now but the lesson it teaches us is good for all time.

If you’ve ever received a package via the parcel company — and most of us have — you might be tempted to take seriously an email that seems to come from them, saying they have a package for you.

But what if that email also asks you to open an attachment, that appears to be a Microsoft Word document? Would you be suspicious? Would you click on it?

Hopefully not . . .

The Rest of The UPS Email Trojan Story here

Have you received these emails? Make a comment . . .

Republicans are playing it up big when it comes to offshore drilling as a solution to current gas prices even though they know it’s completely political and will not solve anything or drive gas prices down. It looks good to the gullible american public though.

Writer Steve Benen has graciously compiled a comprehensive tally of John McCain’s flip-flops on issues ranging from national security to energy. The following is Benen’s list of 61 clear 180-degree switches by McCain on the biggest issues of the day.

AND YOU WONDER WHY WE’RE NOT VOTING FOR JOHN McCAIN? HERE’S 61 REASON WHY.

1. McCain thought Bush’s warrantless wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.

2. McCain insisted that everyone, even “terrible killers,” “the worst kind of scum of humanity,” and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, “deserve to have some adjudication of their cases,” even if that means “releasing some of them.” McCain now believes the opposite.

3. He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”

4. In February, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.

5. McCain favored closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay before he was against it.

6. When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in Pakistani mountains with Predators, McCain criticized him for it. He’s since come to the opposite conclusion.

Foreign Policy

7. McCain was for kicking Russia out of the G8 before he was against it.

8. McCain supported moving “toward normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.

9. McCain believed the United States should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.

10. McCain believed the United States should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.

11. McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.

12. McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.

13. McCain was against divestment from South Africa before he was for it.

Military Policy

14. McCain recently claimed that he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as “a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.” In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”

15. McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions, concluding, on multiple occasions, that a Korea-like presence is both a good idea and a bad idea.

16. McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”

17. McCain has repeatedly said it’s a dangerous mistake to tell the “enemy” when U.S. troops would be out of Iraq. In May, McCain announced that most American troops would be home from Iraq by 2013.

18. McCain was against expanding the GI Bill before he was for it.

Domestic Policy

19. McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)

20. McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.

21. McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.

22. He argued that the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s policy making. Now he believes the opposite.

23. In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.

24. McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.

25. McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting “irresponsibly.” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.

26. McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.

27. McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. before he supported it.

28. McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.

29. McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.

30. In 2005, McCain endorsed intelligent design creationism, a year later he said the opposite, and a few months after that, he was both for and against creationism at the same time.

Economic Policy

31. McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy before he was for them.

32. John McCain initially argued that economics is not an area of expertise for him, saying, “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues; I still need to be educated,” and “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” He now falsely denies ever having made these remarks and insists that he has a “very strong” understanding of economics.

33. McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal. And soon after that, McCain abandoned his second position and went back to his first.

34. McCain said in 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and falsely argued that he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.

35. McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.

36. McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a “‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded. Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”

37. McCain has changed his entire economic worldview on multiple occasions.

38. McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off economically than they were before Bush took office.

Energy Policy

39. McCain supported the moratorium on coastal drilling; now he’s against it.

40. McCain recently announced his strong opposition to a windfall tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.

41. McCain endorsed a cap-and-trade policy with a mandatory emissions cap. In mid-June, McCain announced he wants the caps to be voluntary.

42. McCain explained his belief that a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax would provide an immediate economic stimulus. Shortly thereafter, he argued the exact opposite.

43. McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn’t.

Immigration Policy

44. McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. Now he’s against it.

45. On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own bill.

46. In April, McCain promised voters that he would secure the borders “before proceeding to other reform measures.” Two months later, he abandoned his public pledge, pretended that he’d never made the promise in the first place, and vowed that a comprehensive immigration reform policy has always been, and would always be, his “top priority.”

Judicial Policy and the Rule of Law

47. McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.

48. McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.

49. McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.

Campaign, Ethics, and Lobbying Reform

50. McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn’t.

51. In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.

52. McCain supported a campaign-finance bill, which bore his name, on strengthening the public-financing system. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.

Politics and Associations

53. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist John Hagee. Now he doesn’t.

54. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.

55. McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004.

56. McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.

57. McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.

58. In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.

59. McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.

60. McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the honorary co-chair for his presidential campaign in New York.

61. McCain believed powerful right-wing activist/lobbyist Grover Norquist was “corrupt, a shill for dictators, and (with just a dose of sarcasm) Jack Abramoff’s gay lover.” McCain now considers Norquist a key political ally.

FOR MORE IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ABOUT EACH FLIP-FLOP WITH LINKS TO THE PROOF OF THOSE FLIP FLOPS, CLICK HERE

It amazes me how Bush fooled everyone with a little slight of hand and that there are still people who believe him. 911 was planned and carried out by terrorists in Afghanistan. Usama Bin Laden claimed responsibility.

So Bush attacked Afghanistan and I supported it 100%. We needed to respond to an attack on American Citizens inside our borders and we needed to do it effectively.

However, in the 90s, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others tried to get the US to attack Iraq. They wrote letters to Clinton urging him to finish what George Bush Sr. started.

When Bush was elected, they already planned to attack Iraq because they had wanted to all along. Then 911 happened. Bush responded, as he should have, but then he pulled a fast one. He used the 911 attacks to further the agenda he and Cheney had been pushing in the 90s. He told everyone that invading Iraq had something to do with 911. It was a lie. They had wanted to invade Iraq long before 911 ever happened.

George Bush Sr. went to war with Iraq. He never finished it. George Bush Jr. went to war with Afghanistan. He never finished it. George Bush Jr. went to war with Iraq. He never finished that either even though we can all find pictures of him in a borrowed military uniform under a banner that said Mission Accomplished.

The mission it referred to must have been the mission to fool the American Public into thinking he was going to war with Iraq because of 911. Had he focused on Bin Laden and Afghanistan, the war on terrorism would be won, Bin Laden would be dead or captured, and we would not be trillions of dollars in debt.

Bush’s presidency will be remembered for not being able to finish anything, for trampling the constitution, and for taking a surplus and turning it into a deficit. Oh, and for giving more tax breaks to corporations and the rich than any president in history.

John McCain and George W. Bush want you to believe that more drilling will lower the cost of gas. The oil companies already have leases they are not using, wells they are not drilling, oil they are sitting on and not putting on the market.

They control prices this way. The only way that new drilling leases will lower the cost of gas is if the oil companies made a deal with Bush that if he gave them their new leases they would lower the cost of gas. Did that happen?

From CNN MoneyExxon posts record $11.68 billion profit
World’s largest publicly traded oil firm makes $1,485.55 a second in the quarter, but misses forecasts.

Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter.

That profit works out to $1,485.55 a second. That barely beat the previous corporate record of $11.66 billion, also set by Exxon in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company returned $10.1 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, 12% more than last year.

Do you think the people that received these dividends care what you pay at the pump?

Bush has invoked Executive Privilege over and over again because he believes that he and his administration are above the law. Not since Nixon has a president been so secretive. It isn’t about terrorism or your safety. It’s about a president who believes he is above the law.

after years of White House stonewalling, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to the Bush administration for documents related to the warrantless domestic surveillance program.

Today, during a background discussion with reporters, senior Bush administration officials indicated that they would invoke executive privilege in order to deny the NSA documents to Congress, just as they did this morning concerning subpoenas related to the U.S. attorney scandal. “Our response to [the NSA] subpoenas will be the same as our response was before,” said an anonymous official.

Even if we gave him this one that supposedly is only being used against potential terrorists, there’s more . . .

With a contempt of Congress vote looming by Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) House Oversight Committee, President Bush asserted executive privilege this morning to block the committee’s subpoenas for documents relating to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to reject California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to override scientific recommendations on ozone standards.

Waxman’s committee had scheduled the 10 am business meeting to hold contempt votes for EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and White House Office of Management and Budget regulatory administrator Susan Dudley. On May 20, Johnson appeared before the committee, without the subpoenaed documents and evading questions about Bush’s involvement.

I wonder how this ties in with the whole executive privilege deal where Bush says he only does it on issues of national security. There’s more . . .

President Bush has blocked the release of Vice President Dick Cheney’s interview with investigators probing the leak of a CIA agent’s identity, invoking executive privilege Wednesday to keep that document and others under wraps.

Bush asserted the privilege claim at the request of Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who has been under pressure from a congressional committee to turn over the transcript of Cheney’s interview, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The records stem from the investigation into the 2003 exposure of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, whose husband had accused the Bush administration of twisting the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was convicted of obstructing justice and perjury in connection with the disclosure, but was not charged with leaking her name.

I guess this is national security too. But I bet he didn’t like this too much . . .

The Bush administration and its radical theories of executive power suffered yet another blow today from the judiciary, as a Federal District Judge, John D. Bates of the District of Columbia District Court — a Bush 43-appointed (and generally very pro-Bush-administration) Judge as well as the former Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigations — held in a 93-page ruling (.pdf) that Bush aides Harriet Miers (former White House counsel) and Josh Bolten (White House Chief of Staff) are not entitled to absolute immunity from Congressional subpoenas. The dispute arose out of the investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys who, in many cases, had either aggressively prosecuted GOP officials or had refused to prosecute Democrats or otherwise advance the GOP’s political interests.

Now, Bush’s lawyers will appeal the decision of course. They won’t be testifying before Bush is no longer in office due to legal maneuvering. Then no one will do anything about it because bush has left office.

Everytime anyone brings up how bad Bush has messed up the economy, his supporters point to low unemployment as proof he is not doing a bad job. But let’s see how that unemployment rate is calculated.

Years ago they did not count people in the military when figuring the unemployment rate. That changed in the Reagan years to make the numbers look better. I agree they should count as employed. They are receiving a paycheck. I’m just pointing out how numbers can be manipulated to make the public believe there has been a change.

Here is another way that Bush and his supporters make it seem that unemployment is down.

From the NyTimes - The number of Americans who have seen their full-time jobs chopped to part time because of weak business has swelled to more than 3.7 million — the largest figure since the government began tracking such data more than half a century ago.

The loss of pay has become a primary source of pain for millions of American families, reinforcing the downturn gripping the economy. Paychecks are shrinking just as home prices plunge and gas prices soar, furthering the austerity across the nation.

On the surface, the job market is weak but hardly desperate. Layoffs remain less frequent than in many economic downturns, and the unemployment rate is a relatively modest 5.5 percent. But that figure masks the strains of those who are losing hours or working part time because they cannot find full-time work — a stealth force that is eroding American spending power.

All told, people the government classifies as working part time involuntarily — predominantly those who have lost hours or cannot find full-time work — swelled to 5.3 million last month, a jump of greater than 1 million over the last year.

These workers now amount to 3.7 percent of all those employed, up from 3 percent a year ago, and the highest level since 1995.

So, when you hear Bush and his supporters say that unemployment is just 5.5%, remember to raise that to 9.2% of American Citizens that cannot get a full-time job and support their families. Almost 1 out of 10 Americans cannot make a decent living due to Bush’s failed economic policies.

Bush also helped big business in more ways than just giving them more tax breaks. Bush appointees also allowed rules to get passed that allow companies to deny benefits to part-time workers that full-time workers would get under federal law.

So the companies changed to a strategy of making more part time jobs available and less full time jobs available, saving them money while making the unemployment figures seem low for Bush. A win-win for Bush and his big business buddies. A loss to Americans nationwide.

When we first started deploying troops into Iraq, Bush said none of them would have to serve more than 12 months. It was a lie.

At the beginning of the surge, Bush said they would be able to start bring troops home by July of this year and none of the troops would be there more than 12 months. It was a lie.

Now;

From the NYTimes

Bush gave the clearest indication yet that conditions in Iraq would allow him to begin reducing the number of American troops there before he leaves office in less than six months.

The administration propelled those negotiations after Mr. Bush agreed to a “general time horizon,” which many Iraqis like to view as a timetable for withdrawing American and other foreign troops and turning over security to Iraqi forces.

Funny stuff. When Bush agrees to a time table, it’s a time horizon, and perfectly accesptable. When Obama talks about a timetable, it’s defeatist. Obama, the Prime Minister of Iraq, and Bush all agree that troops can be brought home over the next 2 years. McCain is the only one thinking that it’s impossible and that we may be there for 100 years.