What is that Aroma ? ? ? ?

Two separate incidents - one in the US and one in Canada - occurred yesterday that got me thinking about politics and the media. Mind you, these were not isolated incidents by any means.

Check out incident #1, via The Politico:

Palin press may boycott UN conference
By: Kenneth P. Vogel
September 23, 2008 01:30 PM EST

NEW YORK – Journalists, displeased with Sarah Palin’s efforts to restrict their access to her, are threatening not to cover her events surrounding the United Nations conference here unless they're allowed more access.

The unfolding boycott is the latest development in a rocky relationship between Palin’s handlers and the press, in which the campaign has sought to tightly control her interactions with the media.

The campaign had originally indicated that the print reporters following her campaign would be among the small group of journalists allowed to attend the so-called “pool sprays” before Palin’s meetings with dignitaries on the sidelines of the U.N. meetings.

The sprays are basically glorified photo opportunities during which journalists can snap photos and film footage and – if they’re lucky – shout a question or two at Palin and her company before she adjourns for private meetings. On Tuesday, those meetings were to include Afghan President Karzai and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

But the imbroglio began developing Tuesday morning when Palin’s handlers informed the small print press contingent covering her campaign that the print reporter designated to cover the events, Elizabeth Holmes of the Wall Street Journal, would not be allowed to cover the sprays.

_______________


The campaign also at first moved to bar CNN, the television network designated for pool duty, from sending its editorial producer – basically a hybrid print/video journalist – though the campaign budged when the network threatened to withhold its cameras as well.

Incident #2 occurred right here in Metro Vancouver last evening. Via the Vancouver Sun:

Tories keep candidate Cadman away from media

Andrew Mayeda - Canwest News Service
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Conservatives refused a request by the media to interview the woman at the centre of the so-called Cadman affair at a campaign stop in Surrey Tuesday.

Media travelling with Prime Minister Stephen Harper requested an interview with Dona Cadman, the Conservative candidate for Surrey North and widow of late MP Chuck Cadman, after Harper addressed a rally here.

_______________


However, the Conservatives ushered her and the other candidates out the back door of the conference hall before the media could speak with her.

Dona Cadman has alleged that Tory operatives offered to buy her husband a $1-million life-insurance policy so he would vote with the Conservatives to topple the government in the summer of 2005. Cadman died of cancer weeks after the confidence vote, which the Liberal government survived.

"Local candidates' priority is campaigning in their local ridings, and not talking to the national media," said Harper's chief spokesman, Kory Teneycke.

Teneycke suggested Cadman did not want to speak with the media, but would not confirm if the party actually relayed the interview request to her.

Sound like quite similar incidents, don't you think?

One may be tempted to jump to the conclusion that the muzzling of the press may very well be orchestrated by someone?

Perhaps a political "guru" or expert at controlling the message.

Excuse me for a moment, I've got to go close the windows. It seems there is one of Stanley Park's famed furry black and white creatures in the 'hood spreading his or her perfume around.





(walk, walk. peer out windows. scratch head in confusion. walk, walk.)




Well, I'll be damned.

That wasn't what it was at all.





Apparently, the infamous karl rove was in the area and the stench of his "craft" has just now made it's way to The West End from downtown Calgary.





Sorry for the confusion . . . .


(It's not bad enough the life-form has a beach house in the same county that we live in Florida, he's got to follow us here, too?!?!)

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Bridge Done. Send in the Clowns . . . .

Sorry.

Couldn't resist . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Flip Flop... and we're not talking about his sandals (Updated)

The fundamentals of our economy are strong...

Senator John McCain
candidate for President of the United States
15 September, 2008

So much of the loss and damage to our economy could have been avoided if these practices had been exposed to the light of day. People have a right to know when their jobs, pensions, investments and our whole economy are being put at risk by the recklessness of Wall Street.

Senator John McCain
candidate for President of the United States
16 September, 2008

My own belief is if we were going to have some kind of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now, a year into the crisis.

Stephen Harper
Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
15 September, 2008

And what posting of this nature would be complete with out this famous quote:

The fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.

Herbert Hoover
President of the United States
30 October, 1929
(The day after the stock market crash which brought about the Great Depression)

The six month share price graph of American International Group (AIG), the largest insurance company in the US and a global insurer of mammoth proportions. At market time of 4 pm EDT AIG had seen a volume of over 1,165,000 shares change hands and a share price drop from a high of $70.13 to $4.00 today. This is a good take on what could happen everywhere, if AIG fails.

Wrong again, Harper. Just like McCain. (And Hoover)

It's not about Palin; It's about McCain.

I agree with Digby, it doesn't matter what comes out about Sarah Palin.

Did she fire her Public Safety commissioner over a personal issue? So what? That's pretty much the Republican norm these days. It fits the authoritarian view of their position.

Did her 17-year old daughter get knocked-up? So what? That simply means the abstinence-only education didn't take.

The truth is, the morals espoused by the politically active Christian Right don't apply to them. Look at the stream of hypocrisy flowing out of the Christian Right and behaviour which they would wag fingers over if it was anybody else and you can see where they stand. The Christian Right isn't going to drop an axe through Sarah Palin's nomination over any particular failure because she's one of them. The Christian Right forgives their own, no matter what they do.

Anyway, the only people who make a fetish of other people's reproductive choices are social conservatives and they will forgive her anything because she's a right wing Christian. There are, of course, many many other things about Palin and her selection that are very damaging, but in my view this Jerry Springer, Jamie Spears stuff may even help her more than hurt her.

Later on Digby makes the real point. This is not about Palin; it's about McCain. And while we can all question his judgement, something else, far more terrifying is on display.

Many have observed that all this is a reflection of McCain's bad judgment, but I think it's more than that. It's a reflection of his reckless temperament, which is not something you want in a president, particularly one who has spent most of his life as a warrior and has a violent temper. (Just think about the Cuban missile crisis for a minute and consider what would have happened if an erratic, impulsive president had been in charge.) This, to me, is the central problem with McCain, and his VP choice reflects that. It's as if he woke up and said "fuck it --- let's do it!" and didn't think through the consequences. After all, he is far more likely to die in office than most because of his advanced age --- to choose someone with a gargantuan learning curve, along with all the baggage of being an unknown "first," is an act of extreme recklessness. It's almost as if he did it to defy his own mortality. (He can't die and leave the country in the hands of this neophyte.) You can't get more arrogant than that. Or less patriotic.

And the Cuban missile crisis is a perfect example of what would have happened if someone who didn't weigh the consequences of every possible action. The whole thing lasted thirteen days. If Kennedy had listened to the likes of Curtis LeMay it would have been a whole lot shorter and there is a good likelihood that nobody would be around to hold elections in 2008. It was only because the president's ExComm team developed a list of options and ground through the consequences of each that the Cuban missile crisis didn't end in an intercontinental nuclear exchange.

Do you really think someone like McCain could have or would have pulled it off?

Acceptable losses

That's the term a military or naval planner uses to excuse the cost in lost troops and material to achieve an objective.

Tony Clement, in suggesting that the government response to the listeriosis outbreak at Maple Leaf foods is in any way a success, is telling you that he subscribes to the idea that four dead are acceptable losses. Further, his language indicates that he doesn't give a red rat's ass about it. (Emphasis mine)

Health Minister Tony Clement says Ottawa's response to a deadly listeriosis outbreak shows the health system is working the way it's supposed to -- even though it appears to have taken a month from the time the first suspicions arose until a recall order was issued for tainted meat from Maple Leaf Foods. [...]

Clement acknowledged, when pressed, that there's always room for improvement. But he maintained that once Ottawa was notified of the problem it acted as quickly as possible.

"In those terms, certainly, I think this was a success," he said of the federal response.

"When there's a loss of life involved it is always tragic . . . It should force us to review our protocols, review how we deal with things and see if there are better ways we can do things.

"But once we were aware of the situation (federal officials) acted very quickly."

Catch that last line?

It's not that Clement is minimizing the deaths of four people - he's dismissing them to pump life into his "success story".

Old adage about the word "but". When and where the word "but" appears in language is an indication of what in a sentence or paragraph is actually relevant to the speaker. Whatever is spoken before the word "but" is meaningless to the speaker; whatever is spoken after the word "but" is what the speaker really means.

By way of an example, I'll reorder a sentence and you decide what information is relevant to both the speaker and the listener.

a. I think you're good looking but you dress funny.

b. I think you dress funny but you're good looking.

What part in each sentence has the speaker dismissed as irrelevant? And what part in each sentence do you, the listener, take away as having the greatest meaning.

Clement did that and made it clear that four dead is acceptable losses in his attempt to make himself look like the leader of a "success".

Impolitical puts it a different way although the meaning is the same:

Good to know that the automatons of the federal government are noting the deaths and chalking them up like canaries in the coal mine that help to illustrate how the system is working.

Precisely, and this is the same mob that will feed you a line on the free market system being better able to regulate itself in consumer food than be subjected to government inspection. The premise being that since the corporation wants desperately to hang on to you as a customer they will go to extensive lengths to prevent things like the listeriosis outbreak from happening, and if it does happen, they will quickly resolve the problem.

Really? That doesn't jive with the fact that Maple Leaf McCain only expanded the recall of their products after government testing of the Toronto plant identified that production facility as the problem.

Four dead, many more ill and the cases are expected to grow. The "wish we were unregulated" free market response? Sorry.

Here's an idea for Tony "I'm not in the pocket of Big Food" Clement. When the Maple Leaf Foods, Toronto plant is up and running again, let's have Tony Clement become the official food taster. A different sandwich every day, perhaps with some spinach and some imported tomatoes. Later on, a hamburger or two. If he dies... oh well. At least we'll know the stuff was bad and we'll chalk his corpse up as an acceptable loss.

Friday Night Humour . . . .

Nothing hides incompetency like a war

There are a few people who use it with skill while others fumble about trying to locate the formula used by so-called Great Leaders in history.

George W. Bush, essentially a useful idiot for a much larger force, continually tried to shift the focus of Americans from his repeated acts of incompetency by deflecting their gaze in the general direction of war. He declared himself a "war president", even after he told Americans the best thing they could do was to "go shopping".

Surprisingly, the current US antagonist isn't in much better shape. In fact he could be worse. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran, has made an incredible mess of the place and despite public sabre-rattling, may be more unpopular with his electorate than Bush is with his.

Thomas P.M. Barnett illuminates the conditions which make war for two people in particular very appealing.

One is US presidential hopeful John McCain who, without an elevated level of fear among Americans, doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of actually winning.

The other is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who, without a war with the US or Israel, is almost certainly going to find himself on the unemployment roles and trying to survive in an economy which he is personally responsible for wrecking.

Looming behind the most crucial dynamics is the possible presidency of Barack Obama, suggesting that war may become inevitable due to the fear of peace. [...]

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency has been a disaster for the Iranian people. Despite all the oil wealth, inflation is raging and the economy goes nowhere. Add in a stunning birth dearth, the world's worst brain drain, plus Iranian prostitutes headlining European brothels, and this is clearly a society in a death spiral. With restless students chanting in public for Ahmadinejad's death, little wonder the man pines for a splendid little war.

Ahmadinejad's one popular success has been to champion Iran's brazen reach for nuclear capacity, an effort cleverly designed to emphasize the strategic dangers of attempted regime change by outsiders. [...] But Ahmadinejad's time grows short. A bevy of candidates seeks to oust him next year, and his opponents now head the parliament, the crucial Assembly of Experts and Tehran's city hall. With Obama currently leading decisively polls for the U.S. presidency, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, faces the prospect of losing his most useful -- for internal politics, that is -- external enemy, reducing Ahmadinejad's utility as frontman.

You really do need to read the whole column. For even more though, Barnett provide even more clarification on his blog.

That too, is something you need to read.

Problem right now is how many sides would welcome war. "U.S. Plays Down Military Showdown" is a couple of quotes from Gates and an Undersecretary of State, meaning two counties heard from but hardly the "U.S." that matters right now on this subject (Bush-Cheney). Both, in my mind, have no problem with an Israeli strike on their watch that could easily suck us into combat. Time is short.

Of course, you'll want a bottle of something after all of that. 151 over-proof should work for a short time.

Now, There's a Great Idea ! ! ! !

So this is the kind of quality advisers we could expect from a mccain administration?

Education Week
Published Online: April 3, 2008
AP interview: McCain will seek Jeb Bus's help on education
(Ed. note: This headline is re-printed exactly as the original, miss-spelling of jeb's last name inclusive. Pretty good for a site named "Education Week", eh?)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday he has turned to former Gov. Jeb Bush for advice on education policy and will continue to do so if he wins the November election.

McCain said he's had meetings with Bush for "a couple of years" on education policy and enthusiastically said he would seek his help if elected. The Arizona senator made the remarks after being asked how Bush will help the campaign.

"He has offered to do whatever he says he can and I appreciate it. On the education issue he is already helping out," McCain said. "He's very well respected on many issues, but education is probably one where I think he has a nationwide reputation."

Bush's first priority when taking office in 1999 was a massive overhaul of the state's school system which included using standardized testing to grade schools. Schools were then rewarded or punished based on their grades.

He also put in place the first statewide voucher program, which allowed children to go to private schools with taxpayer money instead of remaining in schools that repeatedly failed. That program, however, was later ruled unconstitutional. Bush also expanded reading and mentoring programs.

Whether schools improved under Bush is a continuing debate. Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores would indicate schools improved, and the gap between white students' scores and minorities' scores narrowed. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, the most widely recognized national assessment tool, also showed progress in reading and math scores, particularly among younger students.

But critics, including Democrats and teachers unions, point to other indicators, such as graduation rates and money spent per student, that show Florida schools among the worst in the country. They also said the emphasis on the FCAT means schools now teach to the test.

Thank goodness we'll soon be vacating both the US and Florida.

Now, as additional proof of what a wonderful education system jeb hath wrought in Florida, check out Dave's post below.

You can't make this stuff up . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moving to Vancouver)

Positioning Politicians . . . .

Via McClatchy today:

Is Lindsey Graham auditioning for VP?
James Rosen | McClatchy Newspapers - March 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — John McCain's trip to Europe and the Middle East was intended to make him look presidential. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., went with him.

Was he auditioning for a prominent post in a McCain administration?

Perish the thought, Graham said before leaving the country. "This will be the 19th (foreign) trip I've taken with Senator McCain since (2003)," said Graham, who has represented S.C. in the U.S. Senate since 2002.

"He's one of my closest friends in the Senate. I think I am someone who is a sounding board for him.

"I've been intricately involved in his campaign — a confidant, if you will. I very much admire him. He's got a lot of courage. My relationship with John is not dependent on a position."

Top.

Bottom.

Missionary.

Doggie-style.

Lindsey's OK with any position.

Good thing.

Hanging around in that repuglican crowd, versatility has to be a plus . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moving to Vancouver)

Romney only "suspended" his campaign

Right. Mitt Romney didn't really quit the campaign for the GOP nomination for president. He only suspended it... kinda sorta.

Oh, where does one begin? Let's do McCain.

It seems McCain has run afoul of campaign finance legislation. When his campaign was on the ropes during the summer of 2007, he opted into a publicly-funded financing system. Once he had developed enough traction and there were enough campaign donations coming in, he wanted out. The primary reason for that is that it limits the cost of his campaign to $60 million and imposes strict fund-raising limitations.

There's no problem with opting out... as long as the candidate didn't take any of the public money, or take a loan based on the guarantee of public money. But it appears McCain did take out a $4 million loan using the public-funding guarantee. Lindsay has details, here and here. The most delicious part of the whole thing is that McCain was one of the authors of campaign finance reform legislation and now finds himself unable to live with it.

He's spent about $46 million already. If the US Federal Election Commission nails McCain he will be running a relative pauper's campaign against privately-funded juggernauts and will not be able to spend money until September.

Not to mention the fact that McCain is now dealing with something of a scandal.

So back to Romney. As Jeff explains, McCain's nearest competitor, Mike Huckabee has a problem with the split personality of the Republican party and doesn't stand much of a chance taking the nomination away from McCain with his over 900 delegates. Ron Paul is deeply despised within his own party and the "also rans" are busy rotating on their thumbs.

... the only candidates still in the race challenging St. John are Mike Huckabee, whose refusal to state that taxes are a tool of Satan and refusal to state that women aren't tools of Satan makes him a less-than-attractive candidate; Ron Paul, who's so deeply unpopular among rank-and-file Republicans that he could well lose his seat in the House in next Tuesday's Texas primary; and Alan Keyes, who is Alan Keyes.

That leaves... Mitt! The ASPCA's dog delivery guru.

Josh Romney, one of former Gov. Mitt Romney's five sons, says it's "possible" his father may rejoin the race for the White House, as a vice presidential candidate or as the Republican Party's standard-bearer if the campaign of Sen. John McCain falters.

Josh, being none other than one of the five brothers Romney who rushed down to the recruiting office to find a new way to serve their country and "support the war"moped about trying to develop a new strategy for avoiding military service after their father pulled the plug on his campaign.

So, Romney now appears poised to pull the tarp off the Mittmobile, put his sons back into kevlar boxer shorts and wait for the Republican party to gore itself from the inside out.

Honest Mitt. We want you back. Political death-watch on your own party becomes you... and there's no telling how much laughter we would get from this guy.

And slowly... the smear begins

This post by The Rev. provided the harbinger of what could be expected from the astroturf operators of the Republican election machinery. And, as sure as green apples will irritate your bowels, it's already started.

The word is out and Clif picked up on one moron who couldn't resist running Grover Norquist's message without checking a single fact.

What is more interesting however, is what is going on in Wikipedia. Last week there was no mention of Barack Obama in Bill Ayers' entry.

By Saturday, the 16th a line appeared, without citation, that said:

Ayers is a strong supporter of Barack Hussein Obama.

Today, obviously after some of the Wikipedia editors got to it, the line now appears:

Ayers is a strong supporter of Barack Obama. [citation needed]

So, the editors of Wikipedia did two things: 1) They removed the reference to Obama's middle name, and, 2) They indicated that there is no reference to suggest that the line may actually be true.

The actual truth is somewhat different. Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's 2001 campaign for the Illinois state Senate. That's it. Beyond that, Ayers has said diddly-squat.

In fact, the editors of Wikipedia, either unintentionally or with calculation, are perpetuating a disingenuous lie.

The thing to watch for now is the activity of two of the Republican party's real scumballs: Ralph Reed and Tom Synhorst.

We've already heard from Grover Norquist, who is a mean-spirited, humorless, dishonest little creep. An embarrassing anomaly, the leering, drunken uncle everyone else wishes would stay home. Norquist is repulsive.

My words? Hardly. They come from a member of the Republican noise-machine. None other than Tucker Carlson.

As John Cole points out, the front-runner in the Republican race has a giant millstone around his neck, (which Karl Rove helped put there). Maybe Wikipedia could pick up on that.

Kathryn Jean Lopez gets something right!

Oh, this is cool. The National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez, still crying in her beer over the whooping Mitt Romney took in New Hampshireprimary, explains something about John McCain.

But on a whole host of issues — including water boarding, tax cuts, and the freedom of speech — he’s not one of us. Rush Limbaugh has emphatically stated that McCain is not a conservative — and he has more than a few listeners with similar instincts.

Water boarding and Rush Limbaugh? Riiiight. There are, after all, tribal traditions to be maintained.

Let's see, McCain actually served in the US Navy, fought in combat, was a prisoner of war, was tortured....

You're absolutely right, K-Lo!! He's not one of you!

Powertools does heroes. (And leaves out a few details)

Shorter Ass-Rocket: If I had been captured... well, if I had actually ever been in combat... well, if I had actually ever been anywhere near a real war zone... well, if I had actually ever been a member of any armed services, I would have dispatched myself with heroism. But I've never actually done any of those things which makes me fully qualified to pass judgment on those who, you know, join the service, go to war and get captured.

McCain rarely talks about his own Vietnam era heroism, and he would be the last person to criticize the British hostages for their less than inspiring performance over the last couple of weeks. But that story can only remind us of the extraordinary courage and integrity that McCain showed under the most trying conditions possible.

Really?!

Well, Hindraker, I don't doubt McCain limits his discussions when it comes to his "heroism" in Vietnam. And he should be the last person to criticize the behaviour of the Royal Navy personnel taken captive by Iran. Unlike McCain's situation, where the US was a belligerent in a war with North Vietnam, Britain is not at war with Iran.

Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate my medical treatment if I [McCain] did not cooperate. Eventually, I gave them my ship's name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant.

Faith of My Fathers
Page 193
John McCain

Reds Say PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral . . . Hanoi has aired a broadcast in which the pilot son of United States Commander in the Pacific, Adm. John McCain, purportedly admits to having bombed civilian targets in North Vietnam and praises medical treatment he has received since being taken prisoner.

United Press International
June 4, 1969

McCain lost five planes in his naval flying career. Bush just quit showing up for training with the Air National Guard.

But hey! At least they seem to have set aside the inter-service rivalry.

Wasted. McCain had it right.

Rez Dog speaks the truth to power in a consuming post that tells it like it is.

John McCain was right. Iraq is a waste. He claims that those lives will only be sacrificed–not wasted–if we are not defeated. No, John, they are wasted no matter what the outcome because Iraq never threatened the United States in a manner that called for an unilateral invasion. None of the brave Americans who have been killed and wounded need have given their lives, limbs and peace of mind to protect America from any danger that could not have been addressed diplomatically and with international cooperation. That, John, is my definition of waste. An even greater waste is to send more lives into the meat grinder in the vain hope of creating a result that will any way benefit America. Much of the world, our neighbors on this small planet, probably don’t think we are have earned the right to expect a favorable outcome. We have squandered American lives and treasure and will reap only more animosity and terror from a world that only five years ago stood with us against Al-Qaeda.

Give yourself the opportunity to read the whole post. It's worth every word.