Thinking Right

By Luckoduh

February 16, 2008 8:04 AM | Link to this

{{{{Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki proclaimed on Friday that Al-Qaeda had been routed in Baghdad thanks to a security plan launched a year ago, and would soon be defeated throughout the country. }}}}

{{{{“Thank God, we destroyed the cells of Al-Qaeda. They have been chased out of Baghdad and this has opened the way for their defeat throughout Iraq,” Maliki said at a ceremony marking the launch on February 14 last year of the Baghdad security plan, known as Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (Imposing Law).}}}}

The United States may have acted “unilaterately” in Iraq but al Qaeda damn sure didn’t; scumbag terrorists from all over came crawling in, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemeni, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Palestine, you name it, they came from there, and we kicked their as-ses right into the loving arms of allah, where they belong.

Bwa.

~~~~~

{{{{Although Mughniyeh inflicted more carnage against America than he did against Israel, the Israelis have never forgotten his involvement in the Buenos Aires bombings and, just as they hunted down the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics massacre, they were never going to allow Mughniyeh to die peacefully of old age in his bed.}}}}

{{{{So far as the Israelis are concerned, he who lives by the car bomb, dies by the car bomb.}}}}

No groveling for the “rights” of terrorists here, like you find in the gutless wonder United States Congress, just simple justice brought to those who deserve it when they least expect it.

So which one of these POS is next?

~~~~~

{{{{True, there are countervailing factors. Wisconsin is a wide-open primary, and with John McCain now the presumptive nominee, independent and Republican crossovers may weigh in on the Democratic side of the ticket. (They made up nearly 30 percent of the 2004 primary vote.) Obama has the support of Gov. Jim Doyle and—perhaps more significant—the support of longtime Rep. David Obey, originally a John Edwards backer. Obey has been one of the strongest voices against the free-trade policies that so anger the unions.}}}}

Hehehehe.

Another large “democrat” turnout on tap.

~~~~~

Kalifornia is the most goofball state in the Union, home to San Franfreako, millions moving the hell out everyday, massive budget deficits, ever wonder why?:

{{{{The measure, by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, also would mandate that future science textbooks approved for California public schools include climate change.}}}}

Earth worship, junk science, wimpering cowards, transvestites r us, the land of fruits and nuts.

I thought an earthquake was supposed to break this hovel free from the U.S. and set it adrift in the Pacific, isn’t that what you pinkos claimed?

When will this happen?

What are we waiting for?

~~~~~

So what excuse do you sorry liberals have for this one:

{{{{After years of resisting the newsroom cuts that have hit most of the industry, The New York Times will bow to growing financial strain and eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs this year, the executive editor said Thursday.}}}}

{{{{The cuts will be achieved “by not filling jobs that go vacant, by offering buyouts, and if necessary by layoffs,” the executive editor, Bill Keller, said. The more people who accept buyouts, he said, “the smaller the prospect of layoffs, but we should brace ourselves for the likelihood that there will be some layoffs.”}}}}

I thought your websites were growing?

Keep on with your anti American, treasonous, partisan political BS, see where it gets you.

Like I said it would.

We aren’t as stupid as your voters are.

~~~~~

{{{{MIDEAST DEVELOPMENTS- A powerful blast went off at the house of senior Islamic Jihad activist Ayman Atallah Fayed in Gaza on Friday, killing him and five others. At least 40 people were wounded, including nine who were in critical condition. Islamic Jihad claimed Israeli warplanes blasted the house and threatened reprisal attacks against Israel.-Urinal}}}}

OOooohhh, we really p** of Islamic Jihad this time, didn’t we, Urinal?

How much you want to bet that the wormy reporter for this story didn’t even talk to Islamic Jihad, they just added their own little hate message against the Jews; We’re gonna get you this time, na-na-na-na.

Just STFU and report the news, you stupid spineless cowards.

Maybe soon enough you will be able to report the follow up story the proper way; Islamic Jihad launched a rocket today that came hurtling back to Earth and harmlessly crashed into the Ocean in retaliation for Israel blowing up a whole house full of high ranking ragheads. Take that, Infidels

~~~~~

{{{{Urinal Iraq “Developments:” The U.S. said six insurgents, including two women, died, but local Iraqi officials said those killed included two female civilians and four U.S.-allied fighters.}}}}

Notice how there are no “alleged” or “suspected” used in this filthy blurb, like there would be if the Urinal was reporting on al Qaeda atrocity that was captured on video tape, but instead it’s the word of the anonymous Iraqi “official” against the brave soldiers of the United States.

Pretty shi-tty, isn’t it?

~~~~~

Rehashing old news to propagandize against America:

{{{{Study: Slow decisions hurt help for Marines- Tougher truck may have saved troops, Urinal}}}}

If we had bombed Iran back to the stone age that would have saved quite a few American troops too but I distinctly remember a bunch of pinkos whining about it.

How about all that talk about cutting and running that gave the terrorists so much aid and comfort?

What about all the “news” paper stories accusing Americans of being oil mongering rapists in search of women and children to kill? That probably didn’t upset any Iraqis and make them vengeful, huh?

~~~~~

{{{{The lights will go out in Atlanta for one hour on Saturday, March 29, as part of a symbolic effort to combat global warming. The World Wildlife Fund is organizing the event, called Earth Hour 2008…Georgia Power plans to measure the drop in electricity use during the event. Most of Georgia’s electricity is produced by coal-fired power plants, a major contributor to greenhouse gases, which scientists say cause global warming.}}}}

Idiocy in action:

{{{{WWF strongly opposes this view. Solutions to energy-related problems such as global warming can only deliver long-term benefits if they reduce instead of merely displace humanity’s damaging impacts on the environment. Nuclear energy is still unsafe - for both humans and nature. The argument that the world should re-embrace nuclear power is seriously flawed.}}}}

No form of energy production will ever meet the requirements of the junk science global warming scare mongers, only reducing humans will appease these terrorists.

There is absolutely no good argument against nuclear energy, see France, 80% energy production.

If these whiny feminists sissies have no solutions, then why are we letting them coerce us?

This is how reservoirs get emptied. This is why coal miners get killed. This is why smog gets belched from smokestacks.

Where have the intelligent people gone, Long time passing

Where have all the thinkers gone, When will we ever learn?

When will we ever learn?

Ignorance kills.

By Political Foreskin

February 16, 2008 8:32 AM | Link to this

No wonder you wander, Mr. Wooten. When you’re the only one who’s Right, and everyone else is big government or liberal, or unpatriotic, then you’re what’s wrong with the picture, sir..

The country evolved into something you despise, Mr. Wooten.

I wonder what part of the bible the navy will use when they calculate the interception trajectory for that missile they’ll fire to knock down that spy satellite. Tell the navy to also knock down the satellite which relayed the Grammy broadcast.

By Ron

February 16, 2008 8:48 AM | Link to this

Good Morning Jim,I don’t know a lot about charter schools,but it seems to me that there must be a tipping point where education expenses go up dramatically because of them.Surely ,once enough of them are established,they will want their own oversight board instead of being governed by the public school board.Charter schools now are supposedly underfunded,so costs are going to go up.If there is enough improvement over the public system for charter students this is money well spent,But is the improvement enough to warrant addtional expense?There is little doubt that the public system is broken,but is abandoning it the correct way to fix it?

By @@

February 16, 2008 8:48 AM | Link to this

Clayton County could on Sept. 1 become the first district in Georgia to lose accreditation.

You forgot to mention that it will be the second time within the last five years.

You can forget about the advocacy of parents down our way because they don’t seem to care enough to attend school board or PTA meetings. Their own kids are left to the mercy of the B.O.E. members they elected to replace the first incompetent bunch.

I’ll go with State Rep. David Casas bill. Heck, I’m ready to say let local business and U.S. corporations build and fund private schools where they can educate America’s future workforce. Who better motivated to invest than them? Let them set up the curriculum that serves their interest and the interests of the kids.

This problem has become old and stale. Kids don’t go for stale.

By Glenn

February 16, 2008 8:58 AM | Link to this

At long last, new blood, fresh thinking in our admiralty! A new generation of leaders to speed that day when all America can salute its sparkling new Great White Fleet!

Admiral “Maverick” Jones, “The Pride of the Naval Academy”, charts a new course for the Service with her innovative plan to permit each state to build its own battleship according to its styling choices and specifications. Think of the money to be saved when not every nut and bolt need be crafted to military spec!

And as long as we name battleships in honor of the states, why shouldn’t states have the honor of styling them? Moreover, with this single initiative the brilliant Adm. Jones puts us one-twelfth of the way to our 600-ship goal.

Admiral “Gavel” Johnson, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is an interesting example of a crusty commander who will never take “No” for an answer. He says he’s damned if he’ll ask the Commandant to order Marines aboard leaky, obsolete “deathtraps”.

His characteristically incisive solution? Permit every Marine, under standing order, to book passage on any vessel of his choosing if the Navy’s Inspector General rates the officially assigned vessel “a danger to all who board her”.

And then there’s the interesting case of Admiral Casas; interesting in that he actually came up through the ranks to earn his admiral’s stars, all the while braving the hazing he took for the ridiculous tattoo he received on his first, youthful shore leave.

All the more interesting, then, that Admiral Casas should be the officer to propose a tax credit for civilians who contribute to their state’s new battleship program.

Together these officers uphold the finest traditions of the Navy. What’s more, they not incidentally make civilian critics of the Navy look all wet.

The Academy’s Professor Graham, for example, is one of a growing number of “experts” who, despite never having served, take it upon themselves to suggest that costly battleships are themselves somehow “obsolete”. Prof. Graham last week took this folly to new heights when she told this reporter: “The trouble with a 600-ship Navy is that we probably don’t need 600 ships. We might need only 60. On the other hand, we might need 6,006. And they might not all need to be ships, or even all Naval vessels. More importantly, they must not be battleships.”

With armchair admirals like that, who needs navies at all?

By WFC

February 16, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

Luckoduh defines verbosity. First flame ever for me.

By Craig also

February 16, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

And a worthy first flame it was, Mr. WFC.

By W

February 16, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this

Make America a better place. Deport the right wing.

By WTH? wfc

February 16, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this

who or what is stopping you from saying what you want in as many or as few words as you choose?

Ignorance and envy is my best guess.

By catlady

February 16, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this

Give the right wing their own country. I vote to let them have North Dakota. Heck, if there are enough of them, they can have South Dakota, too.

By Luckoduh

February 16, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this

{{{{By catlady February 16, 2008 10:00 AM Give the right wing their own country. I vote to let them have North Dakota.}}}}

catlady: How about Wisconsin?

That way we could really give Obama a fat victory this Tuesday against the Klan Hag.

We have no one else to vote for.

Bwa.

By W

February 16, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

Great idea catlady! When the rest of us got tired of their cross border cross burnings we could invade them, round them all up, and deport them to Guantanamo and waterboard the hell out of them. Now that would be justice. Give them the treatment that they advocate for others.

By OneForTheRoad

February 16, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

Captain, UFO approaching at Mach 5 off port bow, Sir. We are awaiting your orders, Sir. Shall we commence evasive maneuvers, Sir.

Sirens blaring.

Abandon Ship! It’s not your fault, Sir. She was a lost cause, Sir. You’ll command a newer and better ship some day, Sir.

By Prof. Graham

February 16, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this

Now that’s not fair in the least. You imply that I care nothing for this country’s defense, when the truth is that I care as much as anyone does. I simply think we’ve been doing a deadly dangerous job of it for far too long. We ought to think about how to do it better. Especially since other nations already have done it better—-and far less expensively.

But for us to reason together about a better defense, I’d ask that you first hold in abeyance your notions of how a battleship should be. However foreign or daunting it may seem to you, the era of the glorious teak-bedecked dreadnought has passed.

To understand warships, you must be sure that you’re clear on this: they are weapons platforms, and projections of power. Admiral Mahan taught us that more than a century ago.

We now have the benefit of many other, far more effective, naval weapons platforms. Not all of them are even surface ships, or seagoing vessels at all.

A modern navy is not composed of a surface fleet. Today’s navies are three-dimensional entities. By thinking only in terms of scho—-excuse me—-battleships, we are missing an entire dimension.

Moreover, by assigning our able naval architects to design nothing but battle wagons, we are depriving our nation of its best opportunity to dream up new defenses. If the architects are not doing the dreaming, then, why don’t we do it?

I say let’s go!

Just please leave your battleship in its berth. We are going where battleships cannot go.

By Idiots move"O"n

February 16, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

MoveOn.org opposes a sensible plan for Iraq

It’s time Iraq’s leaders began to shoulder more responsibility. So why are those who have been making this case longest and strongest standing in their way?

Here’s the situation: American forces in Iraq today operate under the authority of a Chapter 7 U.N. mandate. As long as that mandate is in place, Iraq has “diminished sovereignty,” a status the country’s elected leaders find demeaning - as well they should.

The mandate expires at the end of the year. At that point, Iraq’s leaders want normal relations with the United States: “Bilateral arrangements agreed to by two sovereign nations,” as Iraq’s ambassador to the U.S., Samir Sumaidaie, recently phrased it.

With that in mind, American diplomats plan to begin talks on a Strategic Framework Agreement to shape the two nations’ security, diplomatic, and economic relationship. Negotiations in pursuit of cooperation: Who could oppose that?

The answer is MoveOn.org - the group that infamously called Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, “General Betray Us” - as well as MoveOn’s followers and fans in Congress.

*Their arguments range from the specious to the slanderous. In the latter category, MoveOn charges that the Bush’ administration’s goal is to provide a “huge windfall” for “U.S. investors” from Iraq’s oil wealth. Baseless as that obviously is, it helps stir anti-American anger in the Middle East which, for MoveOn, is no doubt a plus.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senators Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama haven’t gone that far - but neither have they criticized MoveOn for doing so. Instead they have been railing against what they say are President Bush’s plans to establish “permanent” American bases in Iraq.

*MoveOn’s hyper-partisans - deeply invested in seeing Bush (and America) defeated in Iraq - may prefer such a scenario to diplomacy, cooperation and increased Iraqi freedom and independence. But no politician who is either savvy or principled - of either party - should stand with them.

By AmVet

February 16, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this

catlady, there would need to be a fence around Mt. Rushmore though. (Preferably thirty feet high with towers and remote sensors periodically manned by “minutemen”!) Some of the more “faithful”, Taliban style, would blow up the four faces and replace them with one gigantic Reagan!

As for those initial demented diatribes here and at Luckovich,s, it merely gives my scroll button some extra use.

Looks more and more like McCain and Obama doesn’t it?

Not AT ALL a bad thing for America I suppose.

A dramatically clear choice between two decent men and more significantly NO neo-cons and no one with either a last name of Bush or Clinton.

Some of the talking heads and pundits keep referring to CHANGE as the item of the day in our national politics.

And that is true, as far as it goes.

But I think a better mantra would be INTEGRITY. It speaks more accurately to the lack of it in our national government for a long while now.

And with the fallout, especially with this incredible large-scale repudiation of the more immoral and irrational elements of the GOP, that seems to be the soup de jour.

By TW

February 16, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this

Glenn - great post. Almost scrolled right by it, breezing by liberal troll Luckoduh’s ten-page tease. Anyhow - with regards to the topic today - would you say ‘drop-out rate’ is an education issue? If so, to what extent? If not, who do we hang it on? If anyone? Maybe just natural selection running its course? Very much appreciate your thoughts on this. Have a great day.

By OneForTheRoad

February 16, 2008 11:00 AM | Link to this

Knock. Knock.

Enter. Sir, Are you enjoying another of those classics from the 20th Century Collection?

Sometimes I cannot help myself. I yearn for a simpler time at times. Sometimes I think back to events such as the dis-mantling of Ma Bell. Breaking up was hard to do. There are some even to this day that long to re-construct the beast. I keep trying to tell them that land lines simply have no meaning in this day and age. Do they listen to me? Sir, excuse me Sir. You asked to see me Sir.

Yes, I did. Plot a course for Earth will you? I think it’s time we gave the old hulk a fly-by for old time’s sake. Yes Sir! The crew will be delighted, Sir!

By Glenn

February 16, 2008 11:07 AM | Link to this

Oh HAY-yell yeah it is, TW! And it’s uh, “huger” (quoth McC) than anyone who wants to remain employed in the field can admit. Roughly 50% in the big urban school systems, spiking upward from there for blacks and Latinos. The lid that keeps this batch of worms canned is definitional control by the power that must not be. Who controls the definition of “dropout” or “school leaver” controls the issue.

This issue is itself an ideological smokescreen. I use that oxymoronic term to imply that it is not deliberate, but ethereal: it’s in the water in which educational fishies swim, that fully one-third of the clientele of the system (taken macro-statistically) must be expunged from the system, and some of them stigmatized. There is simply no other way. And besides, that’s the way it was done when Jim Wooten was in school, and just look where he is now.

To keep my borrowed naval metaphor, that’s like accepting that one-third of the personnel aboard the battleship will never reach the ship’s (not necessarily their) destination. So what if a lot of them fell or were tossed overboard, or stripped of rank and branded and set adrift in the boats? That very fact is what distinguishes the brave souls still aboard, and what keeps them in line in the first place.

Besides, there weren’t enough rations for all of them.

By getalife

February 16, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this

The RW should be deported to Gitmo so they can waterboard each other for not being Christian enough.

Saw Charles Barkley say they are fake Christians with fake values on CNN. Welcome to the reality based community Chuck.

Anyhoo, w is spewing we will all die id he does not get his corporate amnesty for telco law suits. McConnell agrees it is all about corporate amnesty but you have ask yourself how many times has w played the fear card and has it all been bs?

Why anybody still supports this lying loser and his party is beyond me.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this

HOUSTON CHRONICLE ENDORSES OBAMA (Largest circulating paper in Texas).

“For Obama”

The presidency of the United States is a powerful bully pulpit. The occupant of the White House must not only issue orders, but also inspire and advocate for all Americans.

Of the two finalists for the Democratic presidential nomination, the Chronicle believes Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is best-qualified by life experience, skill and temperament to be the standard bearer for his party. In a conference call, Obama told the Chronicle editorial board that “more than any other candidate, I can bridge some of the partisan as well as racial and religious divides that have developed in this country that prevent us from getting things done.”

Those who have viewed the numerous campaign debates know there’s not much to separate Obama from his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Either could ably represent the Democratic Party. Both candidates favor ending the war in Iraq by withdrawing combat troops and initiating regional negotiations to stabilize the country. Both would press for dramatic strides toward providing all Americans with health insurance.

Both support a cap and trade system to begin reducing America’s carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. Each promises to initiate multibillion-dollar efforts to promote conversion of the economy to clean energy technologies. They favor securing our borders, initiating comprehensive immigration reform and creating a path to earned legal status for those already here who are working and contributing to their communities.

However, there is a decisive difference. Obama vows to reach out to independents and Republicans with a message of inclusion and cooperation. He offers a historic opportunity to elevate national political dialogue to a higher ground. Those who insist on vitriol and obstructionism would be marginalized.

On several issues vital to Houstonians, Obama’s positions need elaboration. He recognizes the need to maintain U.S. pre-eminence in space but said he wanted to study the costs and benefits of human space exploration — an exercise that should convince him of the space program’s long history of indispensable contributions.

Obama said he did not expect the leaders of the energy sector to vote for him. He needs to realize that the energy sector must be a large part of a cooperative effort to develop alternative fuels and avoid an energy crunch.

The 46-year-old Obama has expanded his base of support, winning new legions of supporters. The more people see and hear him, the more they like him. As the Hawaiian-born son of a Muslim Kenyan father and an Anglo Midwesterner, the devoutly Christian Obama transcends race and religion. His life has been one of involvement with disadvantaged Chicago residents, excellence at Harvard Law School and eight years as an Illinois state senator. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, only the third African-American to serve there since Reconstruction.

Obama is both the epitome of the American Dream and well-positioned to reach out to an international community alienated by recent U.S. go-it-alone policies.

The passion and excitement that Obama has brought to the race can only stimulate more citizens to participate in the electoral process. The Chronicle urges Texas Democrats to cast what could be decisive ballots for his presidential nomination.

By Glenn

February 16, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

Actually it is Jim who is ridiculously verbose. We don’t need to be told how highly to think of these legislators’ programs by virtue of their irrelevant virtues. The programs alone are what matters.

If Jim wants to draw a profile of one of these godsends, then he should do so. Readers like human interest stories, and Jim is more than qualified to give us good feature writing.

Meanwhile, I don’t care if one of these people holds five doctorates and taught Mother Theresa a thing or two. Charles Lindberg was one of this nation’s greatest and most legitimate heroes. He also was a dangerous arse for a time.

By Luckoduh

February 16, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this

Ahhh, yes, waterboarding, the new favorite mewl from the moonbat weak sisters:

{{{{The relevant Democratic congressional leadership for intelligence — including current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, and former Sen. Bob Graham — were briefed on CIA operations more than once. “Among those being briefed, there was a pretty full understanding of what the CIA was doing,” Porter Goss, who chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 1997 to 2004 before becoming CIA director, told the Washington Post. “And the reaction in the room was not just approval, but encouragement.”}}}}

The libs got to enjoying it so much, now they are waterboarding America.

{{{{Less than five minutes.}}}}

{{{{That’s the total amount of time the United States has waterboarded terrorist detainees. How many detainees? Three. Who were these detainees?}}}}

{{{{One was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, “the principle architect of the 9/11 attacks” according to the 9/11 Report, and the head of al-Qaeda’s “military committee.” Linked to numerous terror plots, he is believed to have financed the first World Trade Center bombing, helped set up the courier system that resulted in the infamous Bali bombing, and cut off Danny Pearl’s head.}}}}

I know three prisoners that would have rather been waterboarded:

Al Qaeda’s latest display of terror has made its way onto the Internet, showing horrifying images of what appear to be prisoners in Iraq being doused with an inflammatory liquid and then burned alive.

And who is it the “brave” and “courageous” “patriots” on the left would rather fight against?

Their own country?

Sick.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

We firmly believe that the candidate who has won the most pledged delegates — the result of having more voters in more places supporting your campaign — will be the Democratic nominee.

But to be safe, we are working to attract the support of “superdelegates” — party officials and Democratic officeholders from across the country — who also have a vote at the Democratic National Convention.

You may already know some superdelegates — they include senators, governors, and even former presidents and vice presidents. But many others are ordinary people who hold positions in the state and local party operations.

These nearly 800 superdelegates will vote alongside the more than 3,000 pledged delegates who are chosen in the various state primaries and caucuses. The candidate that gets a majority of all delegates (superdelegates and pledged delegates combined) will be the Democratic nominee for president.

Right now, Barack is ahead in the contest for pledged delegates. We’ve won 23 contests out of the 35 that have been held so far — including the last 8 in a row. And with our decisive victories in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC on Tuesday, we now lead by more than 135 pledged delegates in the race for the Democratic nomination.

While we intend to continue winning states and expanding our lead among the pledged delegates, and believe that will likely ensure that Barack is the Democratic nominee, we’re also doing the work of reaching out to superdelegates and making sure as many as possible support Barack Obama.

Here’s where you can play a key role.

Our work so far has taught us one important lesson: that your personal story about why you support Barack Obama is often the most powerful persuasion tool for someone who’s undecided. That’s true whether that undecided voter is your neighbor or a superdelegate.

The story of where you’re from, what brought you into the political process, the issues that matter to you, and why you became part of this movement has the potential to inspire someone who could cast a deciding vote in this contest.

Our staff will compile stories from supporters like you and make them a key part of the conversation with superdelegates as Barack asks for their support.

Share your story to help persuade superdelegates now:

http://my.barackobama.com/superdelegates

I’ve received a lot of email from folks asking how best to help with the superdelegate effort, and this is it.

Your note, combined with those of other Obama supporters, will tell the story of an extraordinary movement of ordinary people — a story with a common thread of hope that becomes all the more powerful when it brings together the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our supporters.

Together we’re building something historic, and your story can help make someone else a part of it.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,

David

David Plouffe Campaign Manager Obama for America

By RW-(the original)

February 16, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

Don’t you just love that this election is all about change?

Has there ever been a free election that wasn’t?

By Truthful

February 16, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this

QBE - Quality Basic Education was the last pos to come out of the golden toilet: It was nothing more than a transfer of wealth from Metro Atlanta home owning taxpayers to rural Georgia deadbeat landowners. Here in Metro Atlanta, half the money we pay in property taxes for schools gets sent off to rural Ga. We pay 19 to 20 plus mils, while rural Georgia pays the minimum 6 mils, and claims poverty! Time to Flush the Golden Toilet…..

By AmVet

February 16, 2008 11:26 AM | Link to this

Apocalypse, thanks for that op ed from the Houston Chronicle.

Damn fine stuff.

Personally, I am in a bit of a quandary, if he and McCain are the finalists.

Both have tremendous assets and both have significant drawbacks.

But either way, it is going to be the most refreshing and exciting presidential election perhaps, no, certainly, in my entire lifetime.

Especially given the nightmarish debacle of this current administration.

By Ace Mulholland

February 16, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this

Congratulations, Plouffe. We’ll be sure to recommend to Hillary that she appoint you Cheer King in the new administration.

Ra-Ra, Pom-Pom Boy!

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this

Amvet,

You said it bud.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

RW,

Deliverance is still available to you too my friend.

Obama welcomes you.

By Prin. Margie

February 16, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

Dear Mr. Plouffe:

While you are here, please tell us how Senator Obama’s education proposals compare to the compelling reforms Mr. Wooten describes.

Thank you in advance for your help.

I am an educator and I vote!

By Truthful

February 16, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this

People who committed fraud on their mortgage application should be hunted down and made to pay, pay, pay or go to prison. If they lied about the property being owner occuppied when in truth it was a spec purchase, the otherwise non recourse loan must be repaid in full, with all penalties and interest, or the liar goes to prison for fraud. It is that simple, now get a back bone you lazy, cowardly prosecuters…

By RW-(the original)

February 16, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this

Apocalypse,

Will he even let me be one of the people that pretend to faint at every campaign speech so he can part the crowd and then throw me a bottle of water?

Are we electing a President or anointing a Messiah?

By Truthful

February 16, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this

Nurse, Time To Change RW’s Diaper….

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

Prin. Margie,

Unfortunately Mr. Plouffe is not here. I am an Obama supporter and I am not sure if David even knows Wooten.

I do not pretend to be an expert on all the issues, including yours which is an important one, to say the least.

I merely deliver info and rally Obama’s cause. To attempt to engage you with an explanation or debate would not be fair to me or you because I am not fully abreast on your profession.

Continue to do the great job you’re doing and have a great weekend.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

RW,

Based on reading the link you provided, there is no evidence of any pretending to faint. Similar occurences take place at any typical concert.

I for one am not a fainter, I prefer to stay conscience to hear what the speaker is saying.

The fact that others faint is not germane as it relates to the ability and competence that Obama has to be president of the United States.

By AmVet

February 16, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this

An interesting look into the lunatic fringe’s complete despair. If you recognize the last name, it is the deity of radio Dufusdom’s brother.

http://newsmax.com/limbaugh/mccaingrassroots/2008/02/15/72927.html

By Dennis

February 16, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten understands the problems of public education just like he understands liberal thinking.

I would like to see his success in a Clayton County classroom, for example.

He’ll continue to criticize those who are in those classrooms, but you can bet your sweet a.. he’s not going to try it.

Maybe if he would stop supporting tax breaks for corporations and the already rich, we could give that money to have the kind of public education he would support.

And while I will admit, from personal experience, that money does not solve all of the problems, it does help.

The setup for financing public education is a BIG part of the problem; those who control the purse strings set aside an amount for public education, divide it by the numbers of students, and then want all students to come out equally prepared. That never has worked, but those who are critics of public education either can’t see it, or refuse to admit it and make the adjustments necessary for public education to work.

The battle for adequate funding for public education and the criticism of it, has been going on for years and years, but the percentages for financing public education have changed very little.

Is the advent of charter schools intended to improve public education? Because, if so, it will not.

Your failing schools will continue to be failing schools. And then, who will Mr. Wooten and his fellow critics blame?

I’ll go back into the classroom if you will, Mr. Wooten. Ready when you are.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By Prin. Margie

February 16, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this

Dear “Apocalypse”: (?)

Thank you for your reply and encouragement. I will try to contact Sen. Obama’s campaign. Perhaps I will be able to write back when I find their answers to my questions.

Maybe Mr. Wooten can find out?

By Dusty

February 16, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

Awww could I make a request for some of you bloggers?

Write what you want to say and nevermind the editorials. Jim Wooten is the one to do that.

Make it clear what you are talking about. LuckoDuh makes his sources and his opinions quite clear and concise on each subject. You may not like what he says but you know exactly what he is talking about.

In all fairness, would someone please post several LONG political pieces about McCain saying how wonderful it would be if he were president. That he supports the war and the country, etc. etc. etc. Apocolypse should not be the only one to use this blog for political promotion.

Since President Bush is not running for election, refrain from making remarks that sound like the “ugly American”. If you want to promote terrorism, tell the terrorists what they want to hear. That is: George W. Bush is a failure because he fights the terrorists who want to kill us. And that is another CHANGE that Obama will make. He won’t fight.

I leave the school issues discussion to @@. She knows more about the present systems than I do. The better our educational systems, the better our future in America will be.

Bye now….

By Glenn

February 16, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this

Truthful,

The details of QBE were hideous enough, but all my friends and fellow taxpayers, here and in my home state, who bought into it ought to hang their empty heads. Even on its face it’s a ridiculous play for control: Who’s notion of “Qality”? Who’s idea of what’s “basic”? Who’s definition of “education”?

For Whom? How and why?

You ask these kinds of questions as a journalist, you ain’t got nothing to build a column around. Might as well tell the editor to run blank newsprint with the cutline, “This sucking vacuum brought to you by the ed. industry.”

By Glenn

February 16, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

GO DENNIS!

Post o’ da Day goes to you, no matter what happens from here on out…

By John

February 16, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this

Please look at this video. Obama supporters are welcome.

[http://therightperspectivepodcastblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/larry-sinclair-interview-excerpt.html]

Obama has some explaining to do.

By Glenn

February 16, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this

Bye, Dusty!

By Ron

February 16, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

Dear Sweet Dusty,How nice of you to impose rules.I’ll try to follow them.

By John

February 16, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this

This is a good website. Obama needs to explain.

(http://therightperspectivepodcastblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/larry-sinclair-interview-excerpt.html)

By Truthful

February 16, 2008 1:43 PM | Link to this

A golden opportunity has arisen for the ajc to take a quantum leap forward in quality: The New York Times is laying off hundreds of reporters: We need a petition to Cox Enterprises to replace the poor writting uga graduates with a couple dozen of these former ny times reporters: cindy tucker will not be missed much, she can go work for President Obama as press secretary: woodenhead will be missed even less, he can retire on social security: Mike King is a nobody, hence he can go teach journalism at uga: Angela Tuck can go with cindy as an a*-istent: Bookman can stay on as a copyboy: LUCKOVICH can start drawing ObamaDocks in syndication. Sign those petitions people.

By who cares?

February 16, 2008 1:45 PM | Link to this

The agency’s report praised Clayton County’s teachers and administrators, but had few kind words for the county’s school board, whose members it said frequently acted in their own best interest or on behalf of special interest groups.

“As a result, the board operates in a constant of confusion and conflict,” it said.

The 25-page report accused school board members of hurling insults and derogatory comments at school administrators. And it alleged a pattern of possible conflicts of interest among its members.

In one case, it said a school board member who also serves as executive director of the teachers union pushed the board to abandon a curriculum program two-thirds through a contract because it wasn’t endorsed by the union.

The move cost more than $1 million and left students and teachers without a clear curriculum, the report said.

nobody that’s supposed to.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this

Barack Obama holds a significant delegate lead after 35 contests — but the race for the nomination is far from decided.

Important upcoming primaries in Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — along with more than a dozen smaller contests — will demand resources on an unprecedented scale.

Millions of supporters been generous with this campaign in the past, and now I’d like to ask you to take the next step by encouraging other Obama supporters you know to own a piece of our movement.

We’ve established a personal fundraising program that allows you to set a goal, reach out to friends and family, and get credit for the money you raise. Learn more and get started right now:

http://my.barackobama.com/fundraising

You know that our movement is driven by hundreds of thousands of people like you donating whatever they can afford.

By creating a personal fundraising page, you’ll be taking the financial future of this campaign into your hands. You set your own goal, do your own outreach, track your progress on a real-time fundraising thermometer, and then get credit for the results.

You don’t need to have any political or fundraising experience. You just need to be willing to reach out to your friends and family to help grow our grassroots movement.

Start your personal fundraising page now:

http://my.barackobama.com/fundraising

By Craig

February 16, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this

Dusty I know I’m wasting my breath here, but Dubya is a failure because he chose NOT to go after the terrorists who attacked us. Instead he bogged us down in a war with someone who was no threat to us.

Obama will go after the terrorists. Bush didn’t. Simple as that.

By getalife

February 16, 2008 2:10 PM | Link to this

“Maryland Delegate Robert MccKee (R) resigned yesterday after police confirmed he is being investigated for possessing child pornography. Sadly, he was also the Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County - a post he also resigned from yesterday. Police raided his home on Jan.31 based on a phone tip earlier the same day. Computers, videotapes, and printed materials were found.”

What is wrong with these people?

Damn.

By OneForTheRoad

February 16, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this

Perdue for VP followed by 8 years of Perdue for President. Won’t that be fun. We can have National Pray for Rain Day and Go Fish Day and Perdue can buy a National Forest and not pay taxes on it and Perdue can come out of the closet and announce that he’s really a Democrat and Perdue can get caught in the Lincoln Bedroom working on his SonnyDo list.

By swOOOOOOOOn

February 16, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this

Obama’s recycling.

Obama has put forth a plan that would give college students a $4,000 tax credit if they volunteer for community service.

Growing Number of Colleges Provide Tuition Aid to AmeriCorps Alums

Washington, DC - A growing number of colleges and universities are providing tuition breaks, academic credit, and other assistance to students who have served their communities and country through the AmeriCorps national service program.

A breath of fresh air my arse.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this

getalife,

Can Obama count on you for a contribution?

By catlady

February 16, 2008 2:18 PM | Link to this

Can someone tell me WHO is the lunatic fringe? I mean, is it to the right, or to the left? Or does it depend on where YOU sit?

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this

sw000000n,

A $4000 tax credit isn’t the same as tuition breaks or academic credit.

Obama is adding to already existing benefits.

By James

February 16, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this

Is this true about Obama.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this

Obama currently leads the pledged delegate count by 136 delegates - 1139 for Obama – 1003 for Clinton…

After sweeping the past eight contests by large margins, it now appears that Senator Obama has an insurmountable lead in pledged delegates. Senator Clinton would have to get 56% of all the remaining delegates in all contests in order to take a pledged delegate lead. This appears extraordinarily unlikely given the history of contests so far. From February 5th through today, there have been 30 primaries and caucuses and the results are clear. Barack Obama has won 21 of those elections while Senator Clinton has won 8 with New Mexico still undetermined. In total, there have been 34 elections and Senator Obama has won 23, winning more than two out of every three contests. Obama is also ahead in the popular vote by 52-48%. Senator Obama has won landslide victories from Maine to Washington State, and from Maryland to Nebraska. In Virginia, Kansas, and North Dakota, Senator Obama won more votes than all the Republicans on the ballot combined, demonstrating the grassroots excitement of his candidacy and his ability to appeal to Republicans and Independents. Barack Obama continues to dominate among Independent voters. Continuing a trend, Senator Obama won 2-1 among Independents in Virginia (66-33%) and Maryland (68-24%), which is driving his lead over John McCain in general election polls. Senator Clinton’s weakness among Independents is her critical weakness versus Senator McCain in the general election. Senator Obama has won big states and small states, red states, blue states, and swing states. Senator Obama has won 12 primaries, while Senator Clinton has won 9. Senator Obama has won 11 caucuses to Senator Clinton’s 2. Senator Obama has won states across this country by appealing to Americans of all races, religions, and education and income levels. He has won the Hispanic vote in 5 states (CT, VA, MD, IL IA). Senator Obama has also won the women’s vote in 16 contests (IA, SC, AL, DE, GA, IL, MO, UT, LA, MD, VA, KS, AK, ID, Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia), while Senator Clinton has won the women’s vote in 11. On Monday, two polls confirmed what a Time poll recently showed – Senator Obama is the candidate best suited to win Independents, play well in Red States, and beat John McCain in November. A USA Today/Gallup poll showed Senator Obama defeating Senator McCain, and Senator Clinton losing to Senator McCain; and an AP/IPSOS poll showed Senator Obama beating Senator McCain by a wide margin and Senator Clinton edging out Senator McCain by a razor-thin margin.

By getalife

February 16, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this

lips,

No. I donate to charity.

Omama screwed up agreeing with McInsane on general campaign funding.

He will not be the nominee and McMaverick has Freedom Watch.

Another rookie politician mistake that the corporate media will attack him on.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:27 PM | Link to this

James,

That is a load of crap. Please do not circulate this any furthur.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this

getalie,

I think you need to refer to my 2:22.

It will bring you back to this planet.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:31 PM | Link to this

Barack Obama’s Plan Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief Obama will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.

Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees. Trade Obama believes that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs. He will stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security.

Fight for Fair Trade: Obama will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement that fail to live up to those important benchmarks. Obama will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports. Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement: Obama believes that NAFTA and its potential were oversold to the American people. Obama will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers. Improve Transition Assistance: To help all workers adapt to a rapidly changing economy, Obama would update the existing system of Trade Adjustment Assistance by extending it to service industries, creating flexible education accounts to help workers retrain, and providing retraining assistance for workers in sectors of the economy vulnerable to dislocation before they lose their jobs.

By catlady

February 16, 2008 2:31 PM | Link to this

Glenn, you are right about QBE. I live in one of those rural counties, and until we tax ourselves the max (The Reverse Golden Rule: do unto yourself as you would do unto others) we should not get any money from Affluent East Cobb County or anywhere else in Georgia. Until we are willing to do so (and quit giving these lovely tax breaks to large landowners also) we deserve the mess we have with lack of money for the schools. If our kids deserve better, WE should do everything we can to provide for them, instead of looking to others to do sol Any good Republican—which my county is—would tell you so.

I have real property, and I pay full taxes on them (less the homestead exemption). No special breaks, so special zoning or designations. I don’t relish paying more taxes for schools, but until we do we should not go begging or suing for more of the pie. Period. That should be a requirement. Of course, those in power at the county level are frequently the large landowners, and there is NO WAY they will do the right thing unless they are required to.

Maybe raising the school tax would keep out some of those Atlanta refugees we keep getting! : ) Right now we are being overrun with them because in part they love our lower taxes, but then they complain about lack of services!

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this

Technology, Innovation and Creating Jobs Obama will encourage the deployment of the most modern communications infrastructure to reduce the costs of health care, help solve our energy crisis, create new jobs, and fuel our economic growth.

Support Job Creation: Barack Obama believes we need to double federal funding for basic research and make the research and development tax credit permanent to help create high-paying, secure jobs. Obama will also make long-term investments in education, training, and workforce development so that Americans can leverage our strengths - our ingenuity and entrepreneurialism - to create new high-wage jobs and prosper in a world economy.

Invest in U.S. Manufacturing: The Obama comprehensive energy independence and climate change plan will invest in America’s highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and manufacturing centers to ensure that American workers have the skills and tools they need to pioneer the first wave of green technologies that will be in high demand throughout the world. Obama will also provide assistance to the domestic auto industry to ensure that new fuel-efficient vehicles are built by American workers.

Create New Job Training Programs for Clean Technologies: The Obama plan will increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, into their efforts to help Americans find and retain stable, high-paying jobs. Obama will also create an energy-focused youth jobs program to invest in disconnected and disadvantaged youth.

Boost the Renewable Energy Sector and Create New Jobs: The Obama plan will create new federal policies, and expand existing ones, that have been proven to create new American jobs. Obama will create a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that will require 25 percent of American electricity be derived from renewable sources by 2025, which has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs on its own. Obama will also extend the Production Tax Credit, a credit used successfully by American farmers and investors to increase renewable energy production and create new local jobs.

Deploy Next-Generation Broadband: Obama believes we can get broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives.

Protect the Openness of the Internet: Obama supports the basic principle that network providers should not be allowed to charge fees to privilege the content or applications of some web sites and Internet applications over others. This principle will ensure that the new competitors, especially small or nonprofit speakers, have the same opportunity as big companies to innovate and reach large audiences. Invest in Rural Areas: Obama will invest in rural small businesses and fight to expand high-speed Internet access. He will improve rural schools and attract more doctors to rural areas.

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this

Prin. Margie,

Early Childhood Education

Zero to Five Plan: Obama’s comprehensive “Zero to Five” plan will provide critical support to young children and their parents. Unlike other early childhood education plans, Obama’s plan places key emphasis at early care and education for infants, which is essential for children to be ready to enter kindergarten. Obama will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state “zero to five” efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.

Expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both.

Affordable, High-Quality Child Care: Obama will also provide affordable and high-quality child care to ease the burden on working families. K-12

Reform No Child Left Behind: Obama will reform NCLB, which starts by funding the law. Obama believes teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests. He will improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama will also improve NCLB’s accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.

Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. He will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.

Address the Dropout Crisis: Obama will address the dropout crisis by passing his legislation to provide funding to school districts to invest in intervention strategies in middle school - strategies such as personal academic plans, teaching teams, parent involvement, mentoring, intensive reading and math instruction, and extended learning time.

Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children.

Expand Summer Learning Opportunities: Obama’s “STEP UP” plan addresses the achievement gap by supporting summer learning opportunities for disadvantaged children through partnerships between local schools and community organizations.

Support College Outreach Programs: Obama supports outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound to encourage more young people from low-income families to consider and prepare for college. Support English Language Learners: Obama supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students get ahead by holding schools accountable for making sure these students complete school.

Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America’s Teachers Recruit Teachers: Obama will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.

Prepare Teachers: Obama will require all schools of education to be accredited. He will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively. Obama will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.

Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, Obama’s plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. He will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.

Reward Teachers: Obama will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase. Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.

Higher Education Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit: Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year’s tax data to deliver the credit when tuition is due. Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid: Obama will streamline the financial aid process by eliminating the current federal financial aid application and enabling families to apply simply by checking a box on their tax form, authorizing their tax information to be used, and eliminating the need for a separate application. Barack Obama’s Record Record of Advocacy: Obama has been a leader on educational issues throughout his career. In the Illinois State Senate, Obama was a leader on early childhood education, helping create the state’s Early Learning Council. In the U.S. Senate, Obama has been a leader in working to make college more affordable. His very first bill sought to increase the maximum Pell Grant award to $5,100. As a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, Obama helped pass legislation to achieve that goal in the recent improvements to the Higher Education Act. Obama has also introduced legislation to create Teacher Residency Programs and to increase federal support for summer learning opportunities.

For More Information about Barack’s Plan Read the Pre-K to 12 Plan Read the College Affordability Plan Speech on Pre-K to 12 Education Speech on College Affordability

By Apocalypse

February 16, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this

Attention:

Due to the low volume of traffic on this blog today,Obama’s specific positions on key issues will also be posted on Luckovich’s on Monday.

Glad to be of service to all of you.

Obama in’08

By Van

February 16, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

yawn

By James

February 16, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

http://therightperspectivepodcastblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/larry-sinclair-interview-excerpt.html

I just wat to know if this is true Apocalypse. Mybe Obama could explain.

By Page Down

February 16, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this

Apocalypse you are actually worse than Luckoduh. You must be proud.

Post all you like. Just like Luckoduh, nobody reads it.

By Dusty

February 16, 2008 3:26 PM | Link to this

Oh good ! Apocalypse has gone! Now I won’t have to skip over so much. I refuse to be force fed.

Craig @2:05

Here’s a new word for you! A-F-G-H-A-N-I-S-T-A-N!! Shhhh.. Don’t tell anybody but we’ve been there. Still help! The shock for libs will be too much. They think an Afghan is something their grandmother made out of wool thread. Afghan-i-stan??????

By Craig

February 16, 2008 3:42 PM | Link to this

Dusty as Afghanistan sinks slowly back under the control of the Taliban, it might not be a topic that you want to bring up as an example of a shining success for your President.

By Political Foreskin

February 16, 2008 3:50 PM | Link to this

I think I understand Dusty’s last post. She spelled afghanistan with all caps cause she was sayin’ that she wants to pop a cap in duhng’s ashcan. A fiendish manuever. (dont worry, duhng, I’ve got your back, now)

Then, (and this is where her genius comes in), she correctly calculated that by juxtaposing the words “wool” and “grandma”, she’d make half of us male libs call our pharmacists for more viagra, after all, it’s saturday night, and we’re not taking any chances after a clever kockblock like that.

Dusty, I’ve underestimated you. I wont make that mistake again. enguarde, you minx. (if only I had an umlaut key….oh what could have been)

By getalife

February 16, 2008 4:07 PM | Link to this

The dementia express

By getalife

February 16, 2008 4:14 PM | Link to this

AS-SHOLE OF THE MONTH: Barack Obama

By Dusty

February 16, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this

Craig @ 3:42

Dear pessimistic liberal,

Afghanistan is a free country which is fighting the efforts of the banished Taliban with the help of NATO.

Taliban is just another form of terrorism. You know. The same kind of people we are fighting. Well, most of us.

Kosovo is still trying to be “free” of Serbia. Is that a failed Clinton endeavor that we should not mention?

PoFo@3:50

Enguarde, leopard lad, I am ready. But I told you to talk plainly and coherently and you slipped up AGAIN! Ashcan?? What can, you can,spaceman??

But I and your grandma are not responsible for your dreams of Saturday night, Romeo. Get your walking stick and get going. You’re on your own, Casanova, you perpetual umlaut lackey.

By Truthful

February 16, 2008 4:31 PM | Link to this

Attention Gitadyke: Under President Obama, the Department of Homoland Security will dedicate all of its resources to hunting you down and bringing you to justice for your disrespectful comments about our soon to be great leader. All records at the ajc will be siezed by the homoland boys and girls….

By Jack of 24 is Back

February 16, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this

Alert, Alert: Dusty is actually an Al Cutie under-der-covers agent…sent to support the biggest mole in American history: George the Chimp Bushie. The real genius of the Dusty idenity is that she is really a MAN, a former luver of the But Boy of Yale, and of ARAB descent. ALERT, ALERT ~Jack Out

By Gene Simmons

February 16, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this

Obama or Morrison?

The Miami Incident:

“It was mass hypnosis. He told them he was going to show it to them, and by God, they believed he did. He was holding his shirt in front of him, pulling it quickly back and forth, back and forth, like a bullfighter, and saying, ‘Did you see it? Did you see it? I showed it to you! It came out. I’m not gonna just let it hang out there. Now watch, I’ll do it again.’ And he’d go whip, whip back and forth with the shirt. It was hot and there were too many people in the place, and people were going crazy, screaming swirling and pushing at this temporary rickety stage. We thought the stage was going to collapse - eventually a side of it did fall over. It was total insanity.”

By Dusty

February 16, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this

Jack of 24 is Back @ 4:36

Golly, poor Jack. He can’t even tell the difference between a man and a woman. I hope he doesn’t make that mistake too often.

My folks in South Carolina don’t like your remarks about our family tree. Arabs don’t like grits so that takes care of that rumor.

But my family has a name for you. I believe it was something like “Jackleg”. Not complimentary I assure you.

By Jack of 24 is Back

February 16, 2008 4:58 PM | Link to this

That dirty stinking arab Dusty has just insulted Jack…Oh, the shame of it all…time to waterboard the dirt ball, wash it clean

By Luckoduh

February 16, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this

{{{{By Page Down February 16, 2008 3:19 PM Post all you like. Just like Luckoduh, nobody reads it.}}}}

Isn’t it sort of amazing that the people who “don’t read my posts” always seem to know exactly what they say?

~~~~~

{{{{By getalife February 16, 2008 2:25 PM Omama screwed up agreeing with McInsane on general campaign funding. He will not be the nominee.}}}}

I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree with al-Gitmo on this one, Obama has served his purpose to the demokrat White Powers, they can forever more say that they let a black man run for president.

I doubt if they expected all of this, it scared the bejeezus out of you klanners, didn’t it?

But now it is time for the Imperial Wizards to dole out super delegates, nary a minority in the whole bunch, and shazam, the uppity black man will be put back in his proper place.

Has it ever mattered when the Ku Klux Klintons cheated?

Remember all those multitude of times that you pinkos looked the other way?

GFY, now these klanners think they are above the law, invincible, what’s a fresh new scandal thrown in the pile of a thousand scandals?

Just another reason for the Cons to chose Condi for veep.

Bwa.

By Dusty

February 16, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this

Err Jack out back, you’ve been sacked. You can’t pitch or catch. Off to the minors for you, kid.

By obama's idiot savantes

February 16, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this

We Shall Be Overcome

Follow the internal links on this one. Only idiots can overlook the coincidence. Obama’s response is the same every time.

For Rupe, the true test is in the marketplace. After waiting a few months, he releases “Peace in the Valley” with “Jesus Gave Me Water” on the flip side.

Something fishy going on at Obama rallies and it stinks to high heaven.

By WTF?

February 16, 2008 5:28 PM | Link to this

ApOcalypse says “Obama is adding to already existing benefits.”

Well DUHHHHHHH! No wonder you’re a rOll One fOr bama fan.

POthead!

By Who is obama?

February 16, 2008 5:42 PM | Link to this

Friend or foe to Israel?

Friend or foe to Palestine?

Friend or foe to America?

If the Iraq debate has indeed emerged as the most significant in coming months, the chances are Obama will have the upper hand. But Obama’s anti-war stance has become a source of concern to Israel, whose “pro-Israel” camp in the US remains too significant to overlook. Justin Elliot, writing for Mother Jones, discussed Obama’s challenges in putting that group at ease. After all the man is black, his middle name is “Hussein” and has a few “slips” of a tongue on his record — notwithstanding his statement last March that “no one has suffered more than the Palestinian people,” which he grossly reinterpreted later.

MJ Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum, a dovish advocacy group, told Elliot, “the more right-wing segments of the Jewish community are the least likely to be comfortable with an African-American president.”

To prove them wrong, Obama sent a letter to the US ambassador at the Security Council demanding that the council “should clearly and unequivocally condemn the rocket attacks against Israel… If it cannot… I urge you to ensure that it does not speak at all.” He also claimed to understand why Israel was “forced” to impose a siege on Gaza, a siege that human rights organisations have held responsible for causing mass starvation and unparalleled catastrophe.

What’s important about Obama’s dramatic shift is that he has proven to be just as self-serving and easily manipulated as the rest. If he can so readily support the starvation of 1.5 million people, who is to guarantee that he will not renounce his moral stances on issues pertaining to Iraq, Iran, and indeed America itself?

He’s a bullsh-!t artist.

By Glenn

February 16, 2008 5:47 PM | Link to this

• Day 15: No Child Left Unsold

Hi catlady,

I appreciate your willingness to fund public schooling, but it is not education you’d be funding further and you’d be throwing good money after bad.

The QEM model, which I happened to have helped to develop for the Getty Trust (my job was counterfoil research; I distrusted and disliked the model), is the crux of QBE and of what Jim has called and is today calling the “input” model. It’s not designed by those I happened to consider educators—-that’s a nasty and pompous way to put it, but a succinct way. It presupposes a production analog wholly inappropriate to the education of young members of a democracy. In short, you’re right to hold off.

The economists—-not pedagogues—-who developed the model ducked their duty to build a construct with which to do more (or at least the same) with less. Instead they opted for the “more” model (the NEA agenda), without having any strictly educational notion of where or even how to set the fiscal baseline. Hence the “more” you are facing.

It’s a disgrace, really. A true disgrace. I was sorry to see this empty-suit Governor buy into the people who brought it here from Oregon via California, which is, in the world of K-12, a very useful model all its own: a model of what not to do.

From Luckovich’s place:

February 13, 2008 5:29 PM

I believe one of the Kosmuffins here had the poor judgment earlier to insist that conservatives read Mr. Obama’s slapdash issue statements and policy proposals. It would take approximately forty bloggers to give a synopsis in half a day of all the policy Noamenklatura slapped together by the idiot savants who made that gorgeously vapid site, but here’s a start.

On early childhood education: More, and earlier.

On K-12 education: The system is broken, therefore we need much more of the system, at a cost of much more money.

On the teaching force: It sucks, of course. Therefore we need more teachers, more good teachers, more highly paid teachers.

On Higher Education: It ain’t broke, so fix it as expensively as possible.

Hope. Change. Unity. More. More. More.

By Jack of 24 is Back

February 16, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this

Ah yes, the filter thru which all things in america must pass “MJ Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum, a dovish advocacy group, told Elliot, “the more right-wing segments of the Jewish community are the least likely to be comfortable with an African-American president.”

Let me see, there are only some six million american jews, so why exactly do they get a veto on american foreign policy for the remaining 294 million of us? Me thinks there is a conspiricy, AIPAC controlled. Jack is on the case, and will report back as soon as he flushes the dust ball down the toilet….jack out

By Political Foreskin

February 16, 2008 6:24 PM | Link to this

I hate it when I get out-marooned.

By who is jack?

February 16, 2008 6:25 PM | Link to this

An anti-semite perhaps?

As recently as August 2006 during the conflict between Israel and the Islamic group Hezbollah, Americans supporting Israel was at 52%, jewish or not.

It is the right thing to do but Osama Obama can’t make up his mind.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 8:31 AM | Link to this

But it’s the notion that only Barack Obama can save our souls that is the most offensive part of the speech, by far. Government doesn’t exist to save souls; it exists to ensure domestic tranquility and provide for the common defense. If I feel my soul needs saving, the very last place I’d look (in the US) for a savior would be Washington DC or Capitol Hill. I’ll trust God and Jesus Christ with my soul, and I’m not going to mistake Barack Obama for either one.

When Republicans talk about broken souls in the context of civil society, the nutroots start screaming about the obliteration of the church-state line.

When the Obama campaign uses the same rhetoric to get him elected to the White House, everyone swoons.

By Luckoduh

February 17, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this

Yes!!

{{{{Recently, other names have been mentioned as could-be (vice presidential) candidates. CBS News and the Wall Street Journal said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is possible.}}}}

Bwa.

~~~~~

Hate radio? I guess this is what libs mean by “change,” getting rid of 50% of the people in the U.S:

{{{{What’ll the hate-radio jocks do now, with Romney gone? I’m worried about hate radio. It could be losing its influence. If hate radio loses its influence, it will lose its audience. If it loses its audience, it will lose its sponsors. If it loses its sponsors, well, I’m not sure I want to live in a country where people can disagree without hating. I mean, debate without hate is so, I don’t know, so lily-livered, so PBS.-Urinal}}}}

Yeah, I know, PBS doesn’t have to worry about losing sponsors for it’s spewing Bill Moyer’s act because TAXPAYERS are picking up that tab.

I worry about hate “news” papers, like the Atlanta Journal Constitution, when Ku Klux Rodham is gone and the World Of Hope takes charge, will it be against the new rules to whine?

~~~~~

{{{{Horowitz observes that there is an “inexhaustible fertile market of Clinton hostility,” but that “the search for a unifying theory of what drives Hillary’s most fanatical opponents is a futile one.” The reason is that nothing drives it; it is that most sought-after thing, a self-replenishing, perpetual-energy machine. The closest analogy is to anti-Semitism.-Urinal}}}}

SIUYA, AJC.

Don’t put me in the same class of filth that you belong to, race hating POS scumbags, Jew Hating degenerate lowlife.

I have legitimate reasons to passionately not want the Klan back in the White House and that’s because of the damage it will do to the country and to the world.

I am not a depraved hate filled cry baby like you Jew Hating libs are.

~~~~~

I guess it must be demonize your political opponents day at the Atlanta Urinal:

{{{{GOP may be worth leaving- I find it frustrating and patronizing that the same state GOP leaders who demanded “let the citizens vote!” on an issue most Georgians could care less about, such as gay marriage, stubbornly continue to block letting us vote on an issue we actually support, such as local Sunday alcohol sales. If the lieutenant governor and Senate leadership want a shining example of why moderate, young, previously Republican voters like me are fed up and leaving the party in droves, this is it.}}}}

Yeah, O.K.

Anybody want to bet this numbnuts was never in the Republican party to begin with?

{{{{Look more closely (at Hickabee.) He is even scarier than Dick Cheney…..Cheney has merely subverted the U.S. Constitution; he hasn’t actually tried to rewrite the founding document to restrict human rights or civil liberties. (While Cheney’s record includes stated support for an amendment banning abortions, the Bush White House never pushed for it.) When Karl Rove plotted to keep the enthusiasm of ultraconservative Christians by scapegoating gays and lesbians, Cheney —- whose lesbian daughter, Mary, lives openly with her partner, Heather, and their baby boy —- refused to support a marriage amendment.-Queen Pinko, Urinal}}}}

This is “subverting” the Constitution?

Political disagreements?

Do much thumb sucking, Cynthia?

~~~~~

Behold the White Powers as they seek to put the uppity black man back where he “belongs:”

{{{{Harold Ickes, a top adviser to Sen. Ku Klux Rodham’s campaign who voted for demokratic Party rules that stripped Michigan and Florida of their delegates, now is arguing against the very penalty he helped pass.}}}}

{{{{Top KKKlinton Adviser Says Superdelegates Will Decide Election, Obama’s Victories ‘Irrelevant’}}}} Irrelevant, eh?

{{{{In essence, he argued the party’s 795 superdelegates (Connecticut Independent-Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman recently was stripped of his superdelegate status) were in a better position to assess electability and suitability for the presidency than party regulars who will attend the national convention in late August as pledged delegates.}}}}

Well, of course, a black man isn’t “suitable” enough for the demokkkrats.

Shall we be seeing burning churches soon?

{{{{Barack Obama’s primary-night results were strikingly under recorded in several congressional districts around the city - in some cases leaving him with zero votes when, in fact, he had pulled in hundreds, the Board of Elections said today}}}}

{{{{Unofficial primary results gave Obama no votes in nearly 80 districts, including Harlem’s 94th and other historically black areas - but many of those initial tallies proved to be wildly off the mark, the Board of Elections confirmed.}}}}

Geez.

~~~~~

{{{{Poor mean, vengeful Hillary, heading for a one-way ticket on the Oblivion Express, has a point. Barack Obama is an elevator Muzak dinner-theater reduction of all the glibbest hand-me-down myths in liberal iconography – which is probably why he’s a shoo-in. The problems facing America – unsustainable entitlements, broken borders, nuclearizing enemies – require tough solutions, not gaseous Sesame Street platitudes. But, unlike the whose-turn-is-it? GOP, Mrs. Clinton’s crowd generally picks the new kid on the block: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama. I wonder if Hillary Rodham, Goldwater Girl of 1964, ever wishes she’d stuck with her original party.}}}}

~~~~~

{{{{If the Democrats nominate Hillary, both parties will have chosen candidates who are intensely loathed by more than a few of their own members. But the parallel stops there. McCain is widely admired among Democrats, and many Democratic Hillary haters will be happy to vote for him. By contrast, there is no constituency for Hillary among Republicans who can’t stand McCain. Nor, for that matter, will many of them vote for Barack Obama.}}}}

~~~~~

How about this from the “news” paper that whines 24/7 because it thinks government is spying on it’s citizens:

{{{{ Occasionally, when a divorce is contested, the file reads like a Greek tragedy with a case number. In either instance, the files are almost always open for public inspection. That is not the case, however, in the matter of Susan Richardson v. Glenn Richardson.-Urinal}}}}

Sniff, sniff.

Right to privacy, no?

~~~~~

{{{{Meanwhile, the top Iraqi commander for Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar, said the number of bullet-riddled bodies found daily in the capital has dropped from at least 43 to about four under a year-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown.-Urinal}}}}

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this

Talk radio found itself in the middle of yet another anti- troops controversy this week, as Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner capped off a week of unhinged antics by dropping the F-bomb during an interview on a major Detroit station.

Doesn’t that always happen to you when you’re on live radio and you meant to say fuss and ruckus?

Seems to me that would come out somewhat different than f’ing ruckus if you really accidentally merged the two words. Which word did the “ing” come from?

By Gimme an F, gimme a U

February 17, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this

I think White House staffers made another big mistake.

It seems they scheduled his Africa trip at the wrong time.

I’m sure President Bush is very upset about this. He is missing the Cheerleading Championships being held in Atlanta this week.

Boy is he going to be pizzed.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 9:20 AM | Link to this

It’s not easy, the remix

Starring Michelle swoon Mailkin as Hillary.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

I’m not sure you can really blame this guy.

He probably figured that since we don’t enforce our immigration laws we don’t have enough police officers.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this

Minus 30 degrees Celsius. That’s how cold it’s been in large parts of western Greenland where the population has been bundling up in hats and scarves. At the same time, Denmark’s Meteorological Institute states that the ice between Canada and southwest Greenland right now has reached its greatest extent in 15 years.

Don’t worry though, Gorebots, they say global warming is probably still right around the corner.

They’re right too. Summer will be here before you know it.

By Redneck Convert

February 17, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

Well, I missed out on all the fun yesterday on account of going to play golf at Countryland Golf Club with Jim Earl and Joe Bill. Its the only course that will allow you to wear jeans and T-shirts on the course.

Anyway, I’ll let Sister Dusty speak for me. She knows alot about everything and is a expert. So just think of me saying amen every time she writes. I just wish I was that smart. And she makes it look easy. All you got to do is say My President is the greatest and we are at war so just shut up or you are a Trader.

Have a good Sunday everybody and I hope you laid in your stock of booze because you won’t be violating my Sabbath by trying to buy any here in GA. And I don’t care how many want to vote on it, because you won’t be able to. Old Sonny says no and that’s all there is to it. I’m mighty thankful this is a godly state where the Bible is more important than voting.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the antique media love this guy right up until they got him the Republican nomination?

By Craig

February 17, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this

“they got him”? Come on RW, you surely don’t think your fellow Repubs are led around that easily by the media do you?

By @@

February 17, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this

This is a rather odd way to describe the dem candidates. I’m thinking “9 1/2 Weeks” here:

(((We are willing to vote for fresh inexperience over familiar experience because we are a nation of people who increasingly rely on constant —->stimulation.<—- Call it —->titillation:<—- that which makes the eyes widen and the heart pound.)))

Those supporters at his rallies are fainting from “The Big O”. Now we know.

(((Now, feeling safer, we are back —->prowling the streets for fresh flesh.<—- We want to be surprised by our new president, as we want to be surprised by new TV seasons, by new —->breakfast burritos<—- at McDonalds, by new videos every day on YouTube.)))

(((She is —->fleshy and juicy and !?!baldly!?!<—- honest, and who can predict what she might do with the power of the first spouse?)))

Ride it?

(((Alas, we know exactly what Hillary’s spouse would do. He is still fascinating but no longer fresh, —->like an artichoke<—- that has sat too long in the fridge’s vegetable bin.)))

Well, with Hillary’s overbite she’d have no trouble getting to the meat of her problem.

(((Hillary impresses me because of the sturdy self she has built from years of insight into the political process. But Barack and his people call her ways —->stale,<—- and promise a new process. I worry that in politics, as in sex, there isn’t much new under the sun.)))

(((But remember this principle: The appeal of —->fresh flesh is the fantasy, not the delivery.<—-)))

So if Barack and his wife, Michelle are “fresh meat” and Bill is an “artichoke”….

What is Hillary? Remember—she’s “sturdy” so I’m thinking starchy “potato” or “parsnip”.

We already know that McCain is a “prune”.

By Tobacco is King, Again

February 17, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this

Them Clayton County brats don’t need no education to pull the plows on mah tobacca plantation…Ah guarantee’s em all jobs, at minimum wage, with no benefits…Mah tobacco is grown and processed exclusively for the export market to China, for hard currency, the Chinese Yaun, not those worthless toilet paper green things….Gitti up, plow boys and plow girls…Reading and writting are forbidden on mah plantation, except in the BIG HOUSE where ah lives with mah family…Ah yes, the cat of nine tails, keeps them labor lawyers in line…

By disillusioned or misleading?

February 17, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

Obama touts his electability Says he can get Clinton’s voters if he is nominee

The closer John McCain has come to winning the Republican presidential nomination, the more Senator Barack Obama has trumpeted his own electability, arguing that his broad appeal would allow him to challenge the Arizona senator in a way Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could not.

“I’m confident I will get her voters if I’m the nominee,” Obama told reporters this month. “It’s not clear that she would get the voters I got if she were the nominee.”

But a review of exit polling data from states that have held primaries suggests that Obama may be overstating his case.

“I’m wondering if he’s even consulting polls to make that claim, or just kind of trying to make that become a reality at the moment because he has the momentum,” said Diana Owen, an associate professor of political science at Georgetown University and chairwoman of the school’s American Studies program.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

Craig,

How many states has McCain won the Republican vote? Better yet how many states has he won the conservative vote?

By getalife

February 17, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this

Kosovo Declares Independence, Seeks U.S., EU Backing.

They should build a monument of President Clinton on Bill Clinton Blvd.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this

Aww, come on, @@

McCain may get things moving but he’s no prune. I’m thinking more of an apple dumplin’, an all time favorite. Tops off anything on the menu.

By Craig

February 17, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this

Ahh you got me RW - you saying that Republicans aren’t conservative?

Who woulda thought?

All I really care about is that Obama, or Obama and Hillary combined, generally whip the pants off him.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this

As confirmed by the amazingly quick and unceremonious dismissal of ALL of the far right wing candidates, the “conservatives” in the GOP continue to get pummeled almost daily. This fact is indisputable. Yet the Republican “base” desperately avoids providing intellectually honest answers to the most obvious of questions, why?

Why is this brand of “conservatism” taking such an large scale American beating now? From so many camps and so many locales? And even from within their own disgruntled ranks?

And to that end, I again implore anyone here who, fraudulently or otherwise, claims to be an adherent, what is a conservative?

And to that end, what is a neo-conservative?

A non-sloganistic discussion on this topic, lacking the usual vacuous mantras and red-herring epithets, is long overdue. And even our esteemed columnist himself is apparently loathe to go down this most slippery of slopes, probably knowing full well that at it’s end lies ruinous exposure.

Yet this odd reticence has never surprised me, or others here I suppose. It is VERY easy, and convenient, to call oneself something/anything if it sounds good, especially given the media-dominated context and catchiness of time, isn’t it? But it is MUCH more difficult to detail what conservatism is, and just as significantly, what it is NOT. As in how so many of the major components of the Bush-Cheney/Rove/Kristol/Pohoretz/Wolfowitz/Perle/Feith/Libby/Bolton agenda are in reality, at complete odds with actual historical American conservatism.

So it goes. This avoidance of answering the question (attributable to the pernicious lack of intellectual honesty and acumen I noted above) along with an inability, or unwillingness, to articulate a concise, explicable and clear understanding of that ideology, exposes how the silence is deafening and the ignorance overwhelming.

Is it any wonder that the claim itself is now roundly viewed as gainsay by (most?) Americans? Or how sadly humorous that the “faithful” refuse to realize they have been duped?

By @@

February 17, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this

(((By Tobacco is King, Again February 17, 2008 11:29 AM)))

(((Them Clayton County brats don’t need no education to pull the plows on mah tobacca plantation)))

I can only assume that Tobacco King is addressing ^^^ that post to me since I’ve mentioned that I reside in Clayton County.

Could you please scroll down and find a plantation owner in the faces of our Board of Education members.

They’re the ones who have plowed the infertile fields down my way. Not once, but twice.

They are all democrats, so you may be right. Squandering our kids education in their pursuit of personal power. It’s what democrats do.

By getalife

February 17, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this

This election will go on until June and Clinton will nail down the nomination.

Like President Clinton said, it will be a long tough fight to win the nomination but she will win the general easily.

By @@

February 17, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this

McCain may get things moving but he’s no prune.

I agree Dusty, but his personality is just a wee bit shriveled. It’s a good thing I don’t vote based on personality.

If I did I’d be “rooting” for Huck-a-fee.

I saw a funny political cartoon—three frames. It addressed limitations on what cartoonists can do.

Obama on the left with the caption “Don’t emphasize his lips cause that’s racist.”

Hillary in the middle with the caption “Don’t draw her thighs big cause that’s sexist.”

McCain on the right with the caption “You can draw the old white guy’s neck however you like.”

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

Good For You, Craig!

By @@

February 17, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this

Hey AmVet, next time you want to espouse your musical prowess (which noone here is interested in BTW), may I suggest you go here.

Poor guy never gets any responses, but he’s proud to call himself a dissident AND socialist.

You’ll fit right in.

By TW

February 17, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this

I suppose the closest to an apology we’ll ever get from the right for George Bush will be its offering up McCain as a Bob Dole. Poor John McCain - bent over by Bush in 2000, bent over again by Bush in ‘08. For such a wholesome bunch of white men, they sure do spend alot of time bending each other over (when they’re not doing the ‘wide stance’).

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

AmVet 11:46

As usual, you are posting from your dark pit of misery. You ask the same rhetorical questions over and over just because you feel like it. If you don’t know what a “conservative” is by now, nobody will waste time trying to tell you again.

Talk about being “duped”? Why don’t you go swoon at an Obama oration and get an autographed water bottle thrown to you, one of the fainting masses? Maybe that would make you happy.

Perhaps you didn’t notice, but Bush, Cheney, Rove and others are not running for any election. If you want to talk about real losers, start harping on this crowd: Pelosi, Reid, Waxman and the dragging Democrats of doldrum.

In the meantime, Republicans are getting things all lined up for a grand celebration in 2008. You meditate with the swami and we’ll take care of the country. Now smile!!

By getalife

February 17, 2008 12:15 PM | Link to this

“BAGHDAD — An anti-al-Qaida Sunni group announced Saturday it was temporarily withdrawing from its alliance with the American military in protest of an airstrike that it said killed three of its members.”

And

“The Other War: 80 Killed In Afghan Suicide Attack”

Looks like President Clinton’s victory will remain the last military victory.

Geez.

By Luckoduh

February 17, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this

{{{{By RW-(the original) February 17, 2008 9:55 AM Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the antique media love this guy right up until they got him the Republican nomination?}}}}

RW: Could it be because he flip flopped back and is now too Conservative for their liking?

Not many pinkos want to hear about war without end, like we Conservatives do.

McBushie isn’t that stupid, the libs won’t be voting for him in November and he will not win without the wingnuts.

You know what is even more amazing, is watching the pinko hit media focus their beady little eyes on their own front runner, is it freaking inbred in these libs to always root for the loser?:

{{{{First and foremost, just how is Obama going to bring the country together and find common ground on the substantive issues that have so divided it for almost three decades? Just saying you want to bring people together isn’t sufficient. Where is the common ground on giving women the right to choose versus embracing the right-to-life argument? How do you pull troops out of Iraq without re-energizing al-Qaida or compromising the gains from the surge? How will you reduce the cost of health care to make it more affordable, when the medical inflation rate has been at least twice that of the general inflation rate? And how do you convince Americans that some taxes might have to be raised to pay for universal access to health care or to make Social Security and Medicare solvent for the next generation?}}}}

We here in New York have been scarred by the experience of Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He came into office as the great, new hope, vowing to change the way things were done in Albany, and he’s run into a stone wall. His surprising lack of political finesse has been a huge disappointment. Remember the crushed promise of Jimmy Carter? Good intentions aren’t enough. And, by the way, the comparison of Obama to John F. Kennedy makes me uncomfortable. JFK’s record was poor in his approximately 1,000 days.- James Klurfeld, “News”Day

Heh, the World Of Hate will trash even their own party to keep the black man down.

What is truly astounding is to see all the same libs that were moony eyed when Obama was just a flash in the pan, but now that he is “serious” about it all, all these former butt kissers have pulled out the long knives for him.

Why?

I know what al-Gitmo’s problem is, he’s longing for that fat 500 dollar a month government “assistance” check from KKKlintoon that he can stick up his nose as soon as he gets it.

But the rest of these libs, it’s sort of creepy they way they turned on him as soon as he started challenging their Power.

It’s almost……racist.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this

So who are these now discredited neo-cons?

The first generation were ex-liberals, socialists, and refugees from the McGovern revolution who shifted over to the GOP at the end of conservatism’s long march to power with Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Almost none came out of the business world or served in the US military (pre-chickenhawks?), and few if any came out of the Goldwater campaign. The heroes they invoke are Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Harry Truman, Martin Luther King, and Democratic Senators Henry “Scoop” Jackson (Wash.) and Pat Moynihan (N.Y.).

All are interventionists who regard unquestioning support of Israel, right or wrong, as a defining characteristic. And they include Jeane Kirkpatrick, Bill Bennett, Michael Novak, and James Q. Wilson.

Their publications include the Weekly Standard, Commentary, the New Republic, National Review, and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Though few in number, they wield disproportionate power through control of the conservative foundations and magazines, through their syndicated columns, and by being sycophants to men of power.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 12:34 PM | Link to this

What are the roots of neo-con beliefs?

The original neocons were a small group of mostly Jewish liberal intellectuals who, in the 1960s and 70s, grew disenchanted with what they saw as the American left’s social excesses and reluctance to spend adequately on defense. Many of these neocons worked in the 1970s for Democratic Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a staunch anti-communist.

By the 1980s, most neocons had become Republicans, finding in President Ronald Reagan a champion in their aggressive approach of legislating morality wholesale, a reprehensible idea to historical American conservatives, and confronting the Soviet Union with bold rhetoric and steep hikes in military spending.

After the USSR’s fall, the neocons decried what they saw as American complacency. In the 1990s, they warned of the dangers of reducing both America’s defense spending and its interventionist role in the world.

Unlike their predecessors, most of the younger and more irrational neocons never experienced being left of center. They’ve always been drunk with the KoolAid of Reaganism.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 12:44 PM | Link to this

So really, what is the difference between a neo-con and a conservative?

Liberals first applied the “neo” prefix to their comrades who broke ranks to become more conservative in the 1960s and 70s. The defectors initially remained more liberal on some domestic policy issues.

But foreign policy stands have always defined todays neo-cons. Where true conservatives favored détente and containment of the Soviet Union, neocons pushed for direct confrontation, which became their raison d’etre during the 1970s and 80s.

Today, both conservatives and neocons favor a robust US military.

But most conservatives express grave reservations about poorly managed military intervention and so-called nation building. Especially in light of the disastrous results in Iraq.

Shamefully, neocons share no such reluctance.

The post 9/11-campaigns against regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrate that the neocons zealous to force “regime change” and and inanely try to reshape hostile states in the American image.

Neocons believe the US must do to whatever it takes to end state-supported terrorism. For most, this means an aggressive “war” for democracy in the Middle East.

Even after 9/11, many other conservatives view this as an overzealous dream with nightmarish consequences.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this

AmVet12:24

What are you trying to say? That you are an anti-semite? That conservatives find Israel a strong ally and you don’t like that?

You also seem to think that Republicans are solely guided by certain newspapers and journals. What prejudicial thinking!!

Poor Amvet. He cannot believe that Americans are quite able to think and decide by themselves. Maybe he can’t. But most Americans value their independence in thinking and in their actions. Many of them are Republicans and even Democrats.

Too bad that all Amvet can do is moan and groan, day in and day out.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 1:07 PM | Link to this

Finding a kindred spirit in Ronald Reagan, neocons have greatly, many say unduly, influenced US foreign policy since the 1980s.

But in the 1990s, neo-con screeds failed to spur much action. Outside of Reaganite think tanks and Israel’s right-wing Likud Party, their calls for regime change in Iraq were deemed provocative and extremist by the political mainstream.

With a few notable exceptions, such as President Clinton’s decision to launch isolated strikes at suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, their talk of preemptive military action was largely dismissed as poorly thought out overkill.

Despite being muted by a president who called for restraint and humility in foreign affairs, neo-cons used the 1990s to hone their message and craft their blueprint for the takeover of American power. Unfortunately, their long-time ties to Republican circles helped many neocons win key posts in the Bush administration.

With the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the Bush administration moved closer than ever to neo-con foreign policy. Only days after 9/11, one of the top neo-con think tanks in Washington, the Project for a New American Century, wrote an open letter to President Bush calling for regime change in Iraq.

Before long, Bush, who campaigned in 2000 against nation building and excessive military intervention overseas, also began calling for regime change in Iraq. In a highly significant nod to neo-con influence, Bush chose the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) as the venue for a key February 2003 speech in which he declared that a US victory in Iraq “could begin a new stage for Middle Eastern peace.” AEI – the de facto headquarters for neo-con policy – had been calling for democratization of the Arab world for more than a decade.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 1:19 PM | Link to this

Amvet, in addition..

You are so tiresome. Because we vote, it is a “regime change”?

Why don’t you join hands with getalife? He’s celebrating the Independence of Kosovo which took nine years to get started. This he calls the greatest and only recent victory, a Clinton victory, of course.

Meanwhile Iraq has a constitutional government and a selection of government official by vote in less than five years. And yes there are still troops in both places.

You and getalife think alike, pure liberal bias.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this

How have neo-cons influenced US domestic policy?

Unlike traditional American conservatives, the worst of the neo-cons have demonstrated an unhealthy enmity for knowledge and education based upon science and reasoning. Further they view American academia as a liability. (More later on how their very close relationship with the overzealous and power hungry in the Christian religion plays into this.)

This is confirmed with the, some say ostrich-like, view that the mountains of ever-growing evidence that support the theory of man-induced global warming is in fact a liberal myth designed to destroy the American economy.

Yet MANY of the more strident decrier’s of the theory, including the Bush administration itself, have finally switched sides on the debate.

It is now nearly universally recognized that only the most politically intransigent and scientifically uninformed still cling desperately to their repudiated, dangerous and irrational notion.

This position dovetails nicely with another peculiar hallmark of neo-cons - their utter disregard for the health of planet earth. As willing enablers of the most egregious, careless and polluting industries, neo-cons see the good stewardship of the planet as a somewhat outdated idea relevant in Theodore Roosevelt’s time but not in the modern industrial world.

The examples are much to numerous to cite, but suffice it to say, they are not invested, even remotely, in protecting the world from massive habitat destruction, rampant species extinction, irreparable pollution and the obvious threat posed by excessive greenhouse gases.

By getalife

February 17, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this

CIA’s ambitious post-9/11 spy plan crumbles ‘Fox News Sunday’ ADAPTATION: Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., says: “I don’t believe the intelligence community has made the fundamental shift in how it operates to adapt to the different targets that are out there.” The agency spent millions setting up front companies overseas to snag terrorists. Officials now say the bogus firms were ill-conceived and not close enough to Muslim enclaves.

I keep waiting for the day the radical right like crusty the clown to show some patriotism and post some accountabilty for the destruction of our country caused by her failed party.

Failure after failure, disaster after disaster, crime after crime commited by w and nothing. Not a peep from the radical right do the right thing and unite with the left to say enough is enough.

Do these folks even care about their country or just their party?

I have to question their patriotism and consider them unpatriotic and the enemy cheering on the destruction of our country.

I hope one day, they will prove me wrong.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this

Oh well,

We finally got rid of Apocalypse yesterday and now we have Amvet trying to write a book today. zzzzzz

See you later, folks. Maybe I will play golf at the TiddlyWinks Links with RedNeck. Nawwww…I’ve got my standards.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this

How else have neo-cons influenced US domestic policy?

As referenced earlier, one of the many things that shows how the modern Republican Party is distinctively NOT conservative is their very, very close relationship with the Christian far-right.

Not only an anathema to historical American conservatism, this quasi-theocracy has been viewed by many as outright unhealthy, even dangerous, to our government as well as our religions themselves.

NEVER before in American conservatism has using the leaders of a religion as a powerful vehicle for intolerant and self-serving political policy been tolerated.

Worse, yet these people who have supposedly championed “family values” have been convicted time after time after time as some of the very worst poster boys and girls for the movement.

Untold important political and religious leaders from this far-right alliance, have been brought down by disgusting scandals of sex, pedophilia and avarice.

Newt Gingrich to this day, remains one of the prime neo-con examples of one who arrogantly professed the high road while wallowing in the gutter.

Hence the perception that many are just TV frauds and charlatans who have elbowed their way into the halls of power. To the detriment of the nation.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this

When do you suppose Scamvet is going to get around to acknowledging the source he’s plagiarizing from?

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this

What does a neo-con (wet?) dream world look like?

Neo-cons envision a world in which the USA is the unchallenged superpower, immune to threats.

They believe that the US has a responsibility to act as a “benevolent global hegemon.” In this capacity, the US would maintain its empire by helping to create democratic, economically liberal governments in place of “failed states” or oppressive regimes they deem threatening to the US or its interests.

In this neo-con dream world the entire Middle East would be democratized in the belief that this would eliminate a prime breeding ground for terrorists. This approach, they claim, is not only best for the US; it is best for the world. In their view, the world can only achieve peace through strong US leadership backed with credible force, not weak treaties to be disrespected by tyrants.

Any regime that is outwardly hostile to the US and could pose a threat would be confronted aggressively/militarily. The US military would be reconfigured around the world to allow for greater flexibility and quicker deployment to hot spots in the Middle East, as well as Central and Southeast Asia.

The US would spend even more on defense, particularly for high-tech, precision weaponry that could be used in preemptive strikes. It would be loathe to work through multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, and must never be constrained from acting in its best interests whenever necessary.

Without any pragmatic regard to realities or results.

By Political Foreskin

February 17, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this

Writer’s block is not pretty. Not even getting drunk helps. This is the Winter Doldrums at it’s very worst. At it’s very worst? See?

You’re better off writing nuthin, than bilge like that.

I have to work anyway.

By getalife

February 17, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this

The Leader isn’t protecting us and keeping us safe

If your scared, say your scared.

Funny, how our friends on the radical right are the only ones saying they are scared.

I have to call them sniviling cowards.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this

When do you suppose the “conservative” rectal wipe will make a relevant rejoinder?

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 2:17 PM | Link to this

Looks like the plagiarist really doesn’t like it when it’s exposed that all he’s capable of is a google search and some copy and paste.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 2:24 PM | Link to this

So Ricky the Evader, which parts of the neo-con definition best fit YOU personally?

Or in contrast, which of the numerous conservative principles listed, best show how you aren’t?

Don’t be afraid, lil’ rick. Here’s your chance to show what a great American conservative you are!

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this

Reading, writing and … global warming?

This is how the libs mainstream their junk science just like they did with Darwiniism. I can’t wait until Orange County tries to put a sticker on the book saying global warming is a theory.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 2:31 PM | Link to this

BTW Rong Winger, why the faux indignation at 2:17?

You have not the nads to have once chastised your “mental” mentor Andy for doing that very thing every single day of his life, do you?

Of course, not. Consistency and non-hypocrisy are not exactly characteristics of the lunatic fringe are they?

So what is a conservative rickshaw?

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this

Blowhard,

Maybe you’re just too slow to figure out I’m not playing your silly label game. I look at every issue independently and make up my own mind how I feel about it once I see some factual data. When you sheeple jump immediately to a conclusion about something it’s a pretty safe bet the facts aren’t on your side. Every once in a great while you guys get one right, but they’re so few and far between I can’t recall one at the moment.

By the way, Andy clearly delineates, with the only tools that are allowed on the scribbler’s blog, when he’s quoting and when he’s using his own words and he excerpts the columns and articles. What you did was plagiarism plain and simple, but then again simple is your forte.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

Since the environmental expert ricky brought it up, and in tribute to my Cobb County friends (you know the homo-haters who were banned from hosting any of the Olympic events in 1996):

“This Bible contains material on God. God is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.”

By getalife

February 17, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this

For the sniveling cowards on the radical right

Bwhahahahahaha!

Losers.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 2:58 PM | Link to this

Blowhard,

If the bible was taught in government schools I would be all for your sticker idea although I would say not necessarily a fact, because if you can prove something isn’t a fact then it’s no longer a theory.

By BS detector

February 17, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this

By the way, Andy clearly delineates, with the only tools that are allowed on the scribbler’s blog, when he’s quoting and when he’s using his own words and he excerpts the columns and articles.

What a load of cr@p.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 3:02 PM | Link to this

Sooooo… AmVet’s “book” was taken word for word from the Empire Builders column of the Christian Science Monitor.

AmVet is a plagiarist. He forgot to tell us!! Oh yes!!

Thanks, RW, for setting this straight.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 3:05 PM | Link to this

I’m not playing your silly label game.

Yet YOU yourself, inanely insist on calling yourself that silly label - conservative!

(What a burn!)

OK, rong wingski, I KNEW you wouldn’t address the topic in any relevant way. You neo-cons have NEVER shown one lick of courage in disputing the points themselves.

Or even to make any pertinent counter claims as to why your proudly self-imposed silly label is anything more than a charade.

You know my numerous points are absolutely accurate and reflect VERY poorly on you as a fraud, don’t you?

And though I don’t believe you remaining dupes are at all representative of most Republicans now, I do believe you very well represent the dwindling, laughed at elements of a failed ideology that is getting pracrically exterminated in today’s American political environment.

Good luck with that!

Cluck, cluck, cluck.

Or is it chirp, chirp, chirp?

Let the bloodbath continue…

By Oh The Humanity

February 17, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this

Preference in vote for Congress, Gallup 2 day ago:

55% support Dems vs 41% support for Republicans.

The week before the ‘06 election….51% for Dems vs 44% for Republican candidates.

Looks like its getting much worse for the Republicans. WOW

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 3:16 PM | Link to this

Blowhard,

Your points??? Were you the author of that spam?

Plus you aren’t very observant, maybe that comes with being a plagiarist rather than a thinker.

By FYI.....

February 17, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

Actually what Luckoduh does IS considered plagiarism and I’m surprised the ajc allows it.

By getalife

February 17, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

BS RW,

You don’t even bother to link it anymore.

Funny how you call the Obama supporters a cult but what would you call the w supporters who support w not matter what he does to destroy your country?

I think that it the definition of a cult.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this

AmVet is a plagiarist.

Definition of plagiarism from The American College Dictionary:copying or imitating the language, ideas and thoughts of another author and passing off the same as one’s original work.

AmVet is a plagiarist.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

Ding, ding, ding!

Dustbag wins today’s dildo prize in sleuthdom! (Even for an ill-read, in-bred, poorly spoken, untraveled traitor like her, it couldn’t have taken more than a couple of minutes ricky!)

That left-wing rag, the Christian Science Monitor! Oh the irony!

Now Filthy, more germane to the discussion, explain which of the numerous neo-con attributes best show YOU to be a non-conservative? Or contrastingly, which of your many missing conservative traits best show you to be a neo-con Bushbot.

(Your BMOC Ricky did his best Harriet Myers and declined.)

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 3:26 PM | Link to this

getalife,

Look up ^^^ there and see if I link or not.

Obama supporters were calling it a cult, not me, by the way.

By getalife

February 17, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this

The is how you deal with the culture of corruption.

“Govt: Throw Away the Key Federal:

Prosecutors ask judge to sentence Duke Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes to 25 years in prison.”

25 to life or use China’s punishment should make them stop.

They write the freaking laws.

By oops

February 17, 2008 3:34 PM | Link to this

Hey Luckoduh, why don’t you google Ahmed Bouchiki sometime. I wonder how many more like him there are out there.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this

getalife,3:17

Silly boy. You worship the indicted and impeached hero of the Clinton Lib Cult. Conservatives don’t have any indicted and impeached heroes, even though libs tried their best to cook up one.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this

Ding ding ding

AmVet is plagiarist!!

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 3:51 PM | Link to this

Dusty,

Maybe it’s because when he tries to use his own words all that comes out is filth and assorted name calling. If I had a mind that weak I might be tempted to be a plagiarist too.

By Luckoduh

February 17, 2008 3:55 PM | Link to this

{{{{By FYI…..February 17, 2008 3:17 PM Actually what Luckoduh does IS considered plagiarism and I’m surprised the ajc allows it.}}}}

IN THE NEWS: The AJC did away with honesty and integrity many, many moons ago, what would be the point in following the rules?

By the way wanker, if you take the average of 55% and 41% you hardly come out with Congress’s 19% approval rating. You’ve referenced the wrong fake poll.

O.K. mouth breather, you can go back to whining about me.

~~~~~

Dear Class: Since today is lecture day, open subject matter, no expertise required, allow me to give a quick study on the various formatting used by the Duh Report:

1) {{{{}}}} This is used to clearly identify text that is not my own.

I wouldn’t want to be accused of plagiarism after all.

2) Blue text is used when the entire article is relevant to my commentary and it is used to offer the reader a short cut to the excerpted material

This is done because most people look upon posting an entire book to the blog, covering just one single subject, to be rather, uh, boring.

3) GFY- I’ll let you decide what that means.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 3:59 PM | Link to this

RW@3:51

You will never be a plagiarist. Too bright and too honest!

By CEASE AND DESIST

February 17, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this

Luckoduh is NOT plagiarist.

He is violating American copyright laws by referencing the works of others without permission or proper credit.

He is breaking the law.

By Political Foreskin

February 17, 2008 4:05 PM | Link to this

Hey, dusteroo, you dont seem to have any trouble with writers block. You and RW are just writing and writing and writing. You’ll both be quite popular soon. Hey Dusty! Hey RW!

You both write stuff all day long and keep writing even after hours when it’s like so illegal but you both got so much to say it’s not fair to have off hours when you both cant blog and talk and stuff, so you both save up your comment boxes and just blog away you do cause you needs to be talkin’ the walk and walkin’ the talk and everything.

Cause your uber-pudwits and vunder- pundits. RW is especially deep today and erudite, and very smart too. ANd Dusty is so pesty and spurious. oooh, it’s so much fun none of us can stand it.

Hello, Daytona 500!

By getalife

February 17, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this

Yes crusty,

They are waving the American flag in Kosovo today thanks to the war you did not support.

President Clinton is a hero today so lets hear you admit it loser.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 4:16 PM | Link to this

So two of the biggest charlatans to ever blog at the AJC tacitly agree they cannot and will not defend their use of the self-imposed label - conservative.

Don’t be too ashamed mademoiselle Ricky and monsieur Filthy, none of your four or five other gutless, never served comrades will do anything but the same, I’m sure.

Not to worry, imposters, though it is going to take quite awhile, I am confident that ultimately there will come a new breed of conservative leaders who are not afraid to discredit this moronic neo-con agenda. They will be REAL conservatives, many battle tested, who will return some aspects of American governance to her best traditional and true conservative values.

You neo-cons have had nearly thirty years to demonstrate some basic competency and honor but instead have wasted untold chances and dollars by first seeking revenge and then saddling the nation with such lunacy as interfering excessively in Americans private lives, unending corruption, scandals and payoffs, using religion as a political weapon, trying to pollute the planet into a coma and most gutlessly of all, of putting the cost of this incompetence on the backs and shoulders of our children and grand children.

This is your legacy, you Reagan, Gingrich and Bush apologists.

And though Hagel and McCain have exposed you as the non-valorous and bumbling posers you really are, we who are not vested in yet more of your failures, will continue to pour written lead into those who are clearly a danger to America’s future.

And so it is indisputable, that you neo-conicus cretins are becoming more impotent and marginalized with each passing day.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 4:23 PM | Link to this

PoFo. 4:05

I thought you were going to work. What kind of bartender are you, soused saucy one? ..And you used to be so much fun…..

Bye..gone to tend to the tornado…

By getalife

February 17, 2008 4:30 PM | Link to this

“thousands of revelers unfurled giant American flags, carried posters of former President Bill Clinton and chanted “Thank you U.S.A.” and “God bless America.”

Come on crusty, show patriotism.

You just can’t do it, can you?

Freaking fraud.

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this

getalife,

Bush has been President for seven years. Has Clinton been over in Kosovo secretly fighting the war or did President Bush clean that mess up for him too? Oh and when do our troops come home?

By jm

February 17, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this

cease and desist@4:02 - look up the fair use doctrine sometime. While I rarely agree with Luckoduh, I do find him to be entertaining.

By Political Foreskin

February 17, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this

I did work. I put in a couple of hours, had complications, I dont seem to have the talent I once did at work, but I fake it good enough I guess.

Tornado? If you’re in the path of a tornado and you’d take the time and risk of blogging to me, then something tells me you aint in Kansas anymore. I would tell you to click your heels three times and say there’s no place like home, but I’m afraid a GOP senator would try to molest you.

Obama: Hold on America. We’re right around the corner. It’s America’s turn.

gadzooks i’ve got writers block. nothing works everything stinks i cant stand this. Do I seem to get more than my share of writer’s block, somethings wrong. Maybe I’m having a stroke, or I’m constipated or I’ve got the flu.

HELP!!

By Luckoduh

February 17, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this

{{{{The friends of Bill Klux or “white boys”, as Penn and Terry McAu-liffe, the campaign chairman, are known, have long viewed “Hillaryland” – the closed circle of female friends – with suspicion.}}}}

Geez, these POS hate each other too.

{{{{Time that should be spent courting voters is now being devoted to fundraising after staff blew through a mind-boggling $130m and still ended up out-organised by Obama. In Wisconsin, a largely white working-class state that KKKlinton should be able to win on Tuesday, precious resources are being spent on a blast of negative advertisements challenging Obama’s refusal to debate with KKKlinton.}}}}

Must have been all that free health care she gave the staff.

{{{{Ku Klux Rodham’s camp has been circulating stories criticising the “cult” of Obama in the hope of portraying “Obamania” as a mass delusion. Media Matters, a watchdog organisation sympathetic to Clinton, compiled a report headlined, “Media figures call Obama supporters’ behaviour ‘creepy’, compare them to Hare Krishna and Charles Manson followers”.}}}}

So Media Matters really is “bipartisan,” they’re attacking democrats now too.

{{{{In Ohio, KKKlinton has the backing of Ted Strickland, the governor and a superdelegate who is often mentioned as a possible vice-presidential running mate.}}}}

Gee, I wonder how many super delegates have been promised the “vice presidency?”

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete poured praise on Bush in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, the second day of his five-nation African tour, each compliment applauded warmly by members of the east African country’s cabinet.

You still have to pour through Reuters trying to tell you that the entire rest of the world hates him blah yadda blah, but the people of Africa are giving our President a tremendous welcome.

By getalife

February 17, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this

Well RW could not do it.

“thousands of revelers unfurled giant American flags, carried posters of former President Bill Clinton and chanted “Thank you U.S.A.” and “God bless America.”

So stop attacking him and start showing him the respect he deserves.

Admit it, he is a hero.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this

Is Filthy, rounding up her flying monkeys?

I can just hear her screaming, “Now fly, fly, fly! I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too!”

“O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!.”

By getalife

February 17, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this

And now you know why w went to Africa. They do love him there because he will give them more millions of your money but today is President Clinton’s hero day. He gave them a country.

By Phyllis Sweet

February 17, 2008 4:54 PM | Link to this

Obama is hot. He’s new. He gives me hope. I want change. I have hope and change with Obama. Everyone I know will vote Obama, Obama, Obama.

It’s everywhere. Obamamania. People are realizing that they can make change and provide hope by voting for Obama. People are realizing that they can provide hope and change. Hope. and Change. by the American People hoping and changing.

Hope and Change for a better new world of brave hope and better change, and everything.

I love Obama, and I love the America that will be under Obama. I love the America that is that wants the America that will be under Obama.

Obama is going to be the next POTUS. A potus of hopus and changus.

Change Us, POTUS.

By Luckoduh

February 17, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this

{{{{Russia claimed the declaration violates the U.N. Charter ensuring the territorial integrity of member nations and threatens “the escalation of tension and ethnic violence in the region, a new conflict in the Balkans.”}}}}

I’m with getalife on this one, KKKlintoon has started World War V.

Shouldn’t we be cutting and running?

At least Bushie has got his enemies down to 1200 foreign criminals after five years, It took KKKlintoon 19 years to increase his up to the whole freaking Rooskie Empire.

Great.

By getalife

February 17, 2008 5:13 PM | Link to this

Nice patriotism.

Hate America much?

Geez.

By Phyllis Sweet

February 17, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this

Wooten keeps conjuring the spirit of Reagan, like MacBeth’s rueful contemplations in his castle. It’s starting to arouse concern in my soul that maybe Wooten has slipped into an irreversible funk. As the truth of Iraq coldcocks him, and the reality of America scolds his conscience into a self-evaluation, it may trip him into a mid-life crisis.

Mr. Wooten, when your whole life is flashed in front of your imagination and when you do have those rare moments of unbiased admission of the lie you’ve been living, you may be in a position to change with us. Dont panic. most people panic.

Join the Obama movement Jim. Take our hands, we are the father of your future. Join us, Mr. Wooten. Let go of the past. You too can have hope and change.

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 5:30 PM | Link to this

Phyllis, the morale of the “faithful” is certainly plummeting these days, isn’t it?

Only the more delusional (self medicated?), like the dwindling handful of usual suspects, useful idiots and “conservative” posers here keep hoping beyond hope that they can stay relevant, if unread.

And I too have noted that some of the more irrational “conservatives” constantly keep invoking that most sacred name of the Ghost of Reagan past as if in some Dickensian nightmare.

When they ultimately awake, a few may actually realize it was Ronnie’s and Ed Meese’s less than stellar ideas that got them in this gigantic mess in the first place!

And there’s no sheriff in town who is going to get them out of it!

By Susie C

February 17, 2008 5:37 PM | Link to this

This AmVet jerk needs a nice rubber room and some writers.

By Dusty

February 17, 2008 5:46 PM | Link to this

Oh PoFo So Slo,

Don’t fret no mo. You’ll get IT back. You’ve been drinking too much Dr.o’Bama’s Charismatic Colonic. That stuff makes people lose their minds, not to mention what else.

If U R not better soon, try generic * Plagiarism. *AmVet likes it. Uses it frequently.

Tornado came by. Not much damage but I do miss the windows and roof.(That’s only a small lie about damage, not 2 b confused with plagiarism.)

By Phyllis Sweet

February 17, 2008 5:47 PM | Link to this

No, Amvet, we wont gloat. We wont punish the old ways or the diehards. Let them come to their senses and join us in their own time.

We shall not become that which we most despise.

Everybody is welcome in Obamerica!

OBAMERICA! It’s for change. It’s for hope. It’s for real.

Paid for by the committee to elect Obama and not reprimand former adminstration but keep the eyes on the future prize….

But blog on, Amvet, my fine friend.

By Glenn

February 17, 2008 5:54 PM | Link to this

• DAY 16: No Child Left Unsold

Maureen Downey, amanuensis for the DNC-AJC Editorial Board, could not possibly be more in the bag for the National Education Association (NEA). She’s so deep in the bag for NEA that she’s beyond being their bagwoman. She is The Bag.

Today The Bag effectively says:

It’s too damn bad that your dog’s never been the same since you dropped him off at the county animal shelter for the required vaccinations and licensing. Sure, lots of dogs have had problems with their shots, and a lot of them went missing while at the shelter. But that’s your fault, fool, because you didn’t pay high enough license fees for them to run a safe shelter.

How dare Jim and his Fischer-Price Veterinarian friends in the Statehouse try to find safer havens for our dogs. Were those play actors successful, what then would the public shelters for pay raises, when the shelter staff already aren’t paid enough to ensure that your dog, the one you know and love, will be recognizable, or even present, when you come to pick it up?

How can you fail to see the logic? You cannot in good conscience take your dog elsewhere next time until you’ve given all the folks down at the county shelter the cash they require to run a “quality” shelter.

“Who determines “what” they require?” you ask.

Bag says the people they designate do.

“And how is anyone supposed to determine how much cash is needed to make the shelters safe?”

Bag says they’ll determine it by figuring out how much it will take to run a “quality” shelter.

“Well then who determines what ‘quality’ is?”

The same people for whom The Bag is THE Bag. The same people who screwed up your dog, if indeed it is your dog.

Bag says, Just be glad you got your dog back at all, you selfish suburban breeder. Shut the hell up and pay the price of doing business. Give us your money. Or else. Or else we get your dog AND your money, and you don’t get any guarantees—-know what I’m saying? Things can have a way of going wrong, if you know what I mean.

—- ### —-

OK. So it’s not your dog that’s at issue this weekend in the DNC-AJC. It’s your children.

Here’s a direct quote from The Bag:

“This [just coincidentally Republican] Legislature’s approach to education reform can be distilled to a single premise—-abandon traditional public schools.”

I kid you not.

This newspaper’s approach to education reform can be distilled to a single premise—-gold-plate obsolete delivery systems and reward the nation’s most corrupting labor organization, a trade union distinguished only for it’s excellence in eating other people’s children for breakfast and belching pay raises.

Thank you, Bag. Thank you, DNC. Thank you, ludicrously named “Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), NEA.” Thank you, Atlanta Journal Constitution, EM-OH-YOO-ESS-EEE. Go straight out of business, all of you. And straight onto the streets filled with stray dogs.

—- ### —-

When will the people of this state get serious enough to stop paying the wrong people to build an obsolete 600-ship navy around leaking teak-bedecked dreadnoughts?

When will Georgians start thinking for themselves about how to build the best navy the world’s ever seen, for less than the cost of a barely floating fleet of deathtraps?

By AmVet

February 17, 2008 5:58 PM | Link to this

Susie Q, are you related to Filthy or Andy?

Perhaps you’re the missing link!

Maybe the holes in the fossil record? (Ask rong winger!)

Or just the Vapid Witch of the South?

By Phyllis Sweet

February 17, 2008 6:08 PM | Link to this

Glen, how many variations of no child left behind are you going to torture us with. Let it go, We get it: Johnny cant read because (fill in the blank)

Well, throw in “Glenn cant write”. Blow Child left behind.

When god was handing out pencils, he put yours where your dingdong is, sir. Try writing your name in the snow, you’ll do great with that, but otherwise, go soak your head

interesting daytona

By Glenn

February 17, 2008 6:28 PM | Link to this

Go to hell you f%#&!ng perfect example of why a third of Georgians are illiterate.

This has nothing to do with NCLB, you f*** idiot. What do you think this is, a lab report for you to grade?

It has to do with the QEM/QBE/Oregon model vs. privatization schemes at issue NOW in the statehouse and in today’s leader, Jim’s column and the POS guest op-ed by the dangerously pleasant dilletante Jan Jones.

The header on NCLB is a running mockery of Jim’s running mockery of GA public schools while meanwhile he falls for one stupid liberal pseudo-fix after another, never ever bothering to look at the writing on the f@#%&ng wall.

Six months ago was the last time he paid any attention to state educ. policy. Six months ago. He was high on the Quality (“input”) model. I wrote to him, blasting it.

This weekend he says that the “input” model’s yesterday’s news, and gives us these puff pieces on citizen legislators instead of rational thought about education being a service the governments of Georgia fail to deliver competently, and what we’re going to have to do about that.

What did you contribute, fool, to Jim’s topic of yesterday and today? What did you do other than indulge your Onabamism and your rather conspicuous stylistic gifts?

WhoTF cares how I write this thing—-which I scrawled out as quickly as possible upon returning, so as to beat the clock—-compared to the bloody great importance of the subject ABOUT WHICH Jones, the Board, Jim and I write?

Go play your pi$$ing matches all you want with political targets. This time you’re playing with children.

You are playing with children, PoFo. You, an erudite person, a fine stylist, an educator child of educators. This weekend YOU are the problem.

Enjoy the race.

Hail victory!

By RW-(the original)

February 17, 2008 6:40 PM | Link to this

Polly Prepuce,

What’s with your obsession with late posts? At least I got this one in before 7:00 so you won’t be whining about it tomorrow.

14 laps to go!

By Phyllis Sweet

February 17, 2008 6:47 PM | Link to this

That was easy. (Glenn, try the salve).

These restarts are saving Earnhart jr I like him to win this

Latest posts explained: I’ve got writers block. nothing works everything stinks. okay?

hitler

By Bayard Moon

February 17, 2008 7:38 PM | Link to this

Used to have it bad. Everyone said only cure is daily dust off. This is it. Works great. Somewhat paradoxically increases output even though copy’s almost never related to work. It’s like going to the gym. Plus it helps get rid of academical starch and celluloid collars from too many years as mental mortician. That, and some of you have devices worth cribbing. “Why should the Devil have all the tricks?”

Luther

By Tony Roberts

February 18, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this

Thanks, Mr. Wooten, for your thoughtful analysis and comments on the current educational debates now going on in the Georgia Legislature. I concur that Rep. Jones and other forward-thinking leaders in our State have correctly identified some root causes of problems with education in our state and are courageously advocating for much-needed paradigm shifts which put the local control back to its most basic level—the parents themselves. We are hopeful that other legislators will also take an objective view of the State’s current education data, be willing to challenge the status quo, and join Rep. Jones and others who advocate for the expansion of viable options for parents and their children such as charter schools. We owe this to our parents and their children and the majority of citizens (according a recent survey) in Georgia think it is long overdue.

By GaLiberal

February 18, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

Moron Jim says: “It is a unique opportunity,” Jones says of her bill establishing a state commission to grant charters, along with a fairer funding model. “This enhances local control by letting the consumer decide. To narrowly define local control [as] government monopoly control does a disservice to Georgia.” And to children who either drop out or struggle through bad schools that show no promise of improving.

Why is it that these Rethuglicons think that the ‘consumer’ should drive everything? What this basically does is provide a way to ‘privatize’ education in Georgia. More religious indoctrination, more anti-science, more redneck hick backward thinking. Of course they hide behind ‘the children’ like they do with everything else. Education is not a consumer good available only to those that can afford to pay. The haves and the have nots. Fine as long as you’re one of the haves. That’s a recipe for a caste society which eventually leads to revolution and radical change. That’s why education is available to everyone. But, go ahead. Just remember as you sow, so shall you reap.

Poor performing schools are usually due to UNDERFUNDING by the state and local governments; not due to bad teachers or burdensome administration. No, it’s due to stupid voters that believe the anti-tax mantra of Rethuglicons. The history of this state has been segregation. This effort will just be more of the same. Charter schools that only teach women, or whites, or Christians, or white Christians. All others need not apply. Or go to the poor underfunded public schools.

When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And Jan Jones bill to privatize education is living proof.

By Jackie

February 19, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this

For those who still believe that Dubya and his band of criminals are “supporting the troops,” here is a link from Military Times showing how the VA has promised to reduce the time of care for returning vets from 160 days.

Education in America has become big business. Notice where most of those that are complaining about “failed schools” are quantifying those failures with dollars. Study out last weeks shows that charter schools are doing no better than public schools in the education of children, regardless of the area, size, ethnic makeup, etc., etc., etc. The corporations have convinced lots of folks that the only way to solve this “problem” is by privatization and deregulation. If there is no profit, there is no education for ALL. How many of us are aware of what family owns the National Testing Service(SAT exams)? Give you 3 guesses.