It’s Over Hillary, Please Don’t Make a Scene

A politician… so shameleslly and overtly a politician… I could have told you this about Hillary since before this whole debacle. I called her a whore of Babylon before Obama ever spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention. That woman irked me in so many ways, she only dealt with the gays when others weren’t watching. Ben Smith at Politico said it better:

Hillary just gave a speech to a luncheon of the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, before an audience of about 400, HRC spokesman Brad Luna confirms.

It was a pretty closely held secret, this speech: Not on the public schedule, and Human Rights Campaign hasn’t been responding to calls or e-mails about it over the last couple of days.

Clinton, for her part, is on pretty solid ground with the gay political establishment but faces some pressure from Obama, who has said he opposed the Defense of Marriage Act back in 1996 and who talks about gays in public speeches, unprompted.

I waited for 2 hours in 17-degree weather to hear Obama speak, I had never felt so energized and excited about any political candidate. I won’t say he’s perfect, the last month has certainly taken some of the shine out of him.  He’s still a completely different kind of politician, I actually believe him. And I thought I was a jaded old thing.

Still, the most unbelievably stupid thing she’s ever said:

” ‘I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,’ she said in an interview with USA Today. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article ‘that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states (those voting in Tuesday’s Indiana and North Carolina primaries) who had not completed college were supporting me.’ “

“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.

Yes there is…

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Why Do I Read Redstate?!

I suppose I do it to give me heartburn. But seriously, I read it to see if they have any good arguments, I like a good rational argument. Of course there would be a post about that incestuous couple from Australia. And of course they’d be saying that the matter of incestuous marriages will soon come up. Martin A. Knight says “from a legal standpoint, they’re going to win in any jurisdiction that grants recognition to same sex pairs on the basis of rights.”

I’m not a lawyer but isn’t there some interest to keep inbred children from being born? I can see the state making a compelling interest in not diluting the IQs. But what does my union with another man do to the state? We both pay taxes, we don’t bring into the world inbred children. Sigh.

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How We Lost Our Moral Authority

An absolutely vital story from Vanity Fair titled The Green Light: Politics and Power. I’m so often amazed that these horrible actions in the government come to light. God bless the USA and the Freedom of information Act. Besides the usual monsters that we know of, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Addington, Haynes, etc. You also get apparent heroes like Alberto Mora:

On the morning of Wednesday, January 15, Mora awoke determined to act. He would put his concerns in writing in a draft memorandum for Haynes and Dalton. He made three simple points. One: the majority of the Category II and III techniques violated domestic and international law and constituted, at a minimum, cruel and unusual treatment and, at worst, torture. Two: the legal analysis by Diane Beaver had to be rejected. Three: he “strongly non-concurred” with these interrogation techniques. He delivered the draft memo to Haynes’s office. Two hours later, at about five p.m. on January 15, Haynes called Mora. “I’m pleased to tell you the secretary has rescinded the authorization,” he said.

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John Yoo’s Memo

march14memopart1.pdf

march14memopart2.pdf

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Monica Goodling Doesn’t Like Red Lesbians

Remember Monica Goodling? She was an integral player in the shaping the DoJ in the image of our Lord and Savior. She’s a bitch. Leslie Hagen was apparently “fired” (her contract was not renewed) because Monica Goodling thought she was a lesbian. Hagen was, by all accounts, an outstanding employee. The NPR’s story says:

Justice Department e-mails obtained by NPR show that Gonzales’s senior counsel Monica Goodling had a particular interest in Hagen’s duties. A few months before Hagen was let go, according to one e-mail, Goodling removed part of Hagen’s job portfolio — the part dealing with child exploitation and abuse.

I guess Goodling thought that Hagen was going to exploit and abuse children. Through all this, according to NPR, Hagen was a GOP loyalist (that’ll teach her). Cria cuervos y te sacaran los ojos. People like Monica Goodling and Rachel Paulose are just horrible human beings. A few weeks ago I think I saw Ms. Paulose in the metro, I wasn’t quite sure it was her but my stomach turned anyway.

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Spilling the Beans

It’s always amazing to me that important figures are willing to talk openly about issues that can get them in trouble. First, Bill Richardson talked candidly about the displeasure of the Clintons over his Obama endorsement. I mean, this can’t be patching things up with the Clinton’s. The Clinton’s come across as petty, as if they’re entitled to his support. Now, a top Chilean diplomat is spilling the frijoles over the run up to the Iraq war and how the US tried to intimidate countries into supporting it. I can’t wait for the book to come out. Cynics would expect all these deliberations that occur behind closed doors to stay there. I’m always heartened when someone decides to speak up. Heraldo Munoz is either a hero or he got a great book deal!

In the days after the invasion, the National Security Council’s top Latin American expert, John Maistos, invited Muñoz to the White House to convey the message to Lagos, that his country’s position at the United Nations had jeopardized prospects for the speedy Senate ratification of a free-trade pact. “Chile has lost some influence,” he said. “President Bush is truly disappointed with Lagos, but he is furious with Fox. With Mexico, the president feels betrayed; with Chile, frustrated and let down.”

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Obama on Race

I’m eagerly awaiting his response to this flap over his former Pastor Jeremiah Wright. I’ve not had my hand on the pulse of this story because I’ve been pretty busy. I do get the sense that this Wright thing has hurt him quite a bit.

Even though I’m still excited about Obama, I think his halo is beginning to fade. That whole deal with NAFTA and the double-talk really left a bad taste in my mouth. I won’t even get into the Tony Rezko deal.

I’m still for you Barry but be careful…

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Ingrid Betancourt

I remember running into her name as a freshman in college. If I’m not mistaken it was from a book she had written in Colombia. I then remember hearing a couple of years later that she had been captured by the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia). The FARC has an official website although I dread to link to them.

El Pais has an article about a call from Hugo Chavez to Manuel Marulanda, the leader of the FARC, to release Ms. Betancourt. It’s been six years since her kidnapping! There is evidence she is still alive but “not well” according to some of hostages who have recently been released. As much as I despise Chavez, I really hope he can help broker a deal to release the hostages, including M. Betancourt.

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Clinton-McCain 2008?

Andrew Sullivan linked to this interview of Terry McAuliffe on Bill Maher’s show:

Bill Maher is one tough cookie, G-d bless him.

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Hillary is a “wee bit silly”

From the Telegraph’s story: Nobel winner: Hillary Clinton’s ‘silly’ Irish peace claims

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a “wee bit silly” for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province.

I should start working on a t-shirt that has Hillary’s face and the phrase “a wee bit silly” right under it. Also, I need to inject “wee bit” into my daily vocabulary.

A helpful commenter alerted me to a CNN article titled “A fact check on Clinton’s foreign policy claims” and it looks like her claim for playing an role in the peace process is backed up. Of course, how important that role was is up to debate.

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