While depicting the drunken GOP’s drink(s) of choice and their hypocrisy certainly is valid, what they are slurring is worth more than cursory dismissal.
Without venturing too deep into the Sean Hannity landfill, the spying on reporters, secret wars and possible IRS politicization made me pause - and wonder. Could Obama be racing Richard Nixon on his home race track? Few here are old enough to remember that no politician, NONE, could match ‘Tricky Dick’ for obsession with leaks, secret wars or his creation of enemies’ lists. Or could they?
Let’s consider the evidence so far.
Leaks & Secrets:
So far, Obama’s penchant for secrecy has allowed only snippets of his deadly (extralegal?) policies to be revealed. On the other hand, the fervor for tracking down leaked information, Richard Nixon was legend. He organized secret break-ins by created his own ‘special investigations unit’, a secret group of top aides to combat the leaking. They became known as ‘The Plumbers’. That came with the arrest of burglars at the Watergate offices in Washington. I think we all know how that story ended.
Obama’s record is a work in progress, but is showing great potential. Not only does he punish leakers with zeal, but also targets legitimate whistleblowers to a greater extent than any President that I can remember. One glaring example being John Kiriakou (told reporters about waterboarding techniques); and another is the effort to determine who leaked classified information to the Press about terrorist plots in Yemen by having the DOJ dig through the phone records of the AP.
As the Obama administration’s actions are still largely hidden, it’s hard to top Nixon. So I give this round to the Dick.
Ahh you say: ”Since it not seem to work, we bring all home NOW and make strong defense? That make great sense to me, instead send many many ambassadors over globe”
OHH I see, vely nice sentiment white haired eagle. One with which Limric agree. BUT. What they do? I mean, somebody give farm away for Magic Beans of ‘Free Trade'.
Quite the conundrum? Isn't it?
Oh well, there’s always Iran.
LET’S SING!!
From my era, I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag by Country Joe & the Fish
Well, come on all of you, big strong men,
The Banks & the FED need your help again.
They’ve got themselves in a terrible jam
Way out in a desert they call Iran
So put down your Macbook and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
refrain
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is ancient Iran;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Come on Wall Street, don't be slow,
This is easy war is a made for TV show
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of its trade,
But when they said it was just gonna be drones,
Let’s prey that it’s not on our homes.
refrain
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is ancient Iran.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
(except for the chickenhawks)
I'm going against my promise of not denigrating other posters on this site this one last time.
Maximus, there are counterfeiters, buffoons, contemptible fools; and then there are ass holes. You are a professional at all four, but of the latter - you are industrial strength.
Any and all CIA components and State Dept. personnel working the Middle East and North Africa have a high probability of being the target of militant and terrorist organizations. Ooh why’s that Mr. Peaboby? Because of the Agency’s past roles in the Bush administration’s war on terror, black sites, GITMO and the Obama administration’s widespread use of drone aircraft and Special Ops across the Middles East & Africa.
While the never ending incompetence and politicization of our so called intelligence agency(s) gives me pause, what really really worries me is the DOJ’s arbitrary tapping of the telephone records of reporters and editors of the AP. And their associated ”Trust me” response. I fear this only the tip of the iceberg of what is happening and actually there is a war on the press hidden in plain sight. Really you ask? Is not this administration running roughshod over civil liberties and here freedom of the press?
I hope you all like reading stories about police & surveillance states – cause you’re living in one.
This Benghazi circus tent fire and its attendant ‘[*right wing outrageorama]’ is a tempest in a teapot. Republicans are having their own ‘Gotcha’ moment, practicing the exact same thing they whined excessively about for the last ten years. There’s a word for that - but it escapes me at the moment.
[*thanks MickeyRat]
”Sherman. Let’s go to the Wayback machine.”
”Ok Mr. Peabody!”
The unbelievable politicization (con job) of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War may be the worst intelligence scandal in the CIA’s history. And I’d venture to say worse than the intelligence abuses during the Vietnam War; with the resulting of hearings in the 1970’s disrupting the cozy relationship with all administrations (until Dick Cheney appeared) and they then had to answer and report to both the White House and the Congress. Were there any penalties for those who supported CIA’s authoring (directed by Dick Cheney) of phony intelligence to produce a ‘slam dunk’ briefing to the Smirking Chimp? The CIA’s production of ’ unclassified’ white paper for the Congress right before the vote to authorize Shock & Awe in October 2002 marked a ‘politically motivated’ misuse of classified information used to influence congressional opinion, but there were no consequences!
Dateline 2009!! - the CIA was duped by a Taliban double agent and nine CIA operatives were killed by a suicide bomber at a CIA base in the ‘Stan’, to which Panetta proclaimed that the bombing involved 'no operational failures’ and allowed the operational bureau responsible for the program to investigate itself. No, I’m not making this up. Even when the OIG(Office of the Inspector General) documented Agency lies to Congress concerning a secret drug program in Peru (documented as a secret drug interdiction program that was responsible for the death of an American missionary and her infant daughter in 2001), no significant disciplinary action was taken.
Let’s also not forget destruction of the torture tapes, a clear case of gross obstruction of justice in view of White House orders (nudge, nudge, wink wink) to protect the tapes, led to no consequences at the CIA. The CIA along with the former and present administrations controversy over the wholly illegal use of drone aircraft; the intelligence failure that accompanied the Arab Spring in 2011; and the inadequate security presence in Libya in the wake of the killing of Muammar Gaddafi have not received the anything like what we’re seeing today.
Quote: ”What a gracious and humble man, that Rush Limbaugh.”
Umm…What?
Yea; About as gracious and humble as the toilets at the Helena County fairgrounds that quit working after hundreds had eaten at the chili cook-off. Though and Rush the toilets are full of the same substance, one of the two has an unstoppable flapper valve.
And the fatter one is also a bio hazard.
Can anyone honestly believe that the Tea Party type organizations that sprung up right after Obama's inauguration in 2009, or Crossroads GPS who have been able to spend unlimited money on political campaigns thanks to the Citizens United decision, are primarily interested in social welfare and deserving of a tax exempt status?
Not me!
These people have a first amendment right to engage in whatever political activities they wish. They should have no right however to claim tax preferences based on bogus claims that they are primarily engaged in social welfare activities. Thus I can understand and tolerate (albeit reluctantly) how an inundated IRS might seek shortcuts to identify and properly screen such ‘social welfare’ claims.
Isn’t the real issue (as always) the abuse of money (and its corrupting influence) in political campaigns, and not an ‘independent’ government agency struggling to do its job?
In reference to the DOJ grabbing telephone records of reporters and editors of the AP. Question: Did any judge or any grand jury signed off on the subpoenas? And - What was the ‘probable cause’?
Mr. Holder. For conduct unbecoming (need I say criminal?) by promoting an egregious breach of the 4th amendment. You’re fired!
Every so often, there is an issue that the Right and the Left can agree upon. Is this one of those times?
I too appreciate Fairmon’s wonderful maze. I find it less of a ”snark to leaven the futility,” than the unleavened coating of the ‘babblefish’ dropped into a deep fryers hot oil; Food of the wide eyed and dim.
This hackneyed Benghazi frenzy illustrates (to me anyway) the underlying shallowness & desperation that is the Republican Party today. If you cut through the green haze of prosecutorial self-congratulatory encouragement, those self-righteous inquisitors railing about the embassy incident are obviously angrier with Obama than they are with those that actually killed the Americans.
Why is that?
While at the same time, the very same neo-con chickenhawks are pushing for supplying arms (or direct involvement if they can finagle it) with the very people we’ve been fighting for nigh on 20 years.
Why is that?
Republicans: Motives as transparent as a picture window; A superficial and banal organization of incompetent criminals that spends all of its time calling everyone else - incompetent criminals. Ie.The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight!
Those itching to toot the whistle of insignificance might want to reconsider. The exit hole looks to blow their own hot air and foul spit right back up their noses.
Nice hidden message Clay. Well done.
P.S. Before y'all start whining and stereotyping; I'm not a Democrat nor a Obama supporter.
The Critic
Great cartoon today Mr. Bennett.
While depicting the drunken GOP’s drink(s) of choice and their hypocrisy certainly is valid, what they are slurring is worth more than cursory dismissal.
Without venturing too deep into the Sean Hannity landfill, the spying on reporters, secret wars and possible IRS politicization made me pause - and wonder. Could Obama be racing Richard Nixon on his home race track? Few here are old enough to remember that no politician, NONE, could match ‘Tricky Dick’ for obsession with leaks, secret wars or his creation of enemies’ lists. Or could they?
Let’s consider the evidence so far.
Leaks & Secrets:
So far, Obama’s penchant for secrecy has allowed only snippets of his deadly (extralegal?) policies to be revealed. On the other hand, the fervor for tracking down leaked information, Richard Nixon was legend. He organized secret break-ins by created his own ‘special investigations unit’, a secret group of top aides to combat the leaking. They became known as ‘The Plumbers’. That came with the arrest of burglars at the Watergate offices in Washington. I think we all know how that story ended.
Obama’s record is a work in progress, but is showing great potential. Not only does he punish leakers with zeal, but also targets legitimate whistleblowers to a greater extent than any President that I can remember. One glaring example being John Kiriakou (told reporters about waterboarding techniques); and another is the effort to determine who leaked classified information to the Press about terrorist plots in Yemen by having the DOJ dig through the phone records of the AP.
As the Obama administration’s actions are still largely hidden, it’s hard to top Nixon. So I give this round to the Dick.
Cont.
The Cover-Up
BRP,
Ahh you say: ”Since it not seem to work, we bring all home NOW and make strong defense? That make great sense to me, instead send many many ambassadors over globe”
OHH I see, vely nice sentiment white haired eagle. One with which Limric agree. BUT. What they do? I mean, somebody give farm away for Magic Beans of ‘Free Trade'.
Quite the conundrum? Isn't it?
Oh well, there’s always Iran.
LET’S SING!!
From my era, I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag by Country Joe & the Fish
Well, come on all of you, big strong men,
The Banks & the FED need your help again.
They’ve got themselves in a terrible jam
Way out in a desert they call Iran
So put down your Macbook and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
refrain
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is ancient Iran;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Come on Wall Street, don't be slow,
This is easy war is a made for TV show
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of its trade,
But when they said it was just gonna be drones,
Let’s prey that it’s not on our homes.
refrain
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is ancient Iran.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die. (except for the chickenhawks)
The Cover-Up
I'm going against my promise of not denigrating other posters on this site this one last time.
Maximus, there are counterfeiters, buffoons, contemptible fools; and then there are ass holes. You are a professional at all four, but of the latter - you are industrial strength.
The Cover-Up
Continued from my 13:19 post
Any and all CIA components and State Dept. personnel working the Middle East and North Africa have a high probability of being the target of militant and terrorist organizations. Ooh why’s that Mr. Peaboby? Because of the Agency’s past roles in the Bush administration’s war on terror, black sites, GITMO and the Obama administration’s widespread use of drone aircraft and Special Ops across the Middles East & Africa.
While the never ending incompetence and politicization of our so called intelligence agency(s) gives me pause, what really really worries me is the DOJ’s arbitrary tapping of the telephone records of reporters and editors of the AP. And their associated ”Trust me” response. I fear this only the tip of the iceberg of what is happening and actually there is a war on the press hidden in plain sight. Really you ask? Is not this administration running roughshod over civil liberties and here freedom of the press?
I hope you all like reading stories about police & surveillance states – cause you’re living in one.
The Cover-Up
This Benghazi circus tent fire and its attendant ‘[*right wing outrageorama]’ is a tempest in a teapot. Republicans are having their own ‘Gotcha’ moment, practicing the exact same thing they whined excessively about for the last ten years. There’s a word for that - but it escapes me at the moment.
[*thanks MickeyRat]
”Sherman. Let’s go to the Wayback machine.”
”Ok Mr. Peabody!”
The unbelievable politicization (con job) of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War may be the worst intelligence scandal in the CIA’s history. And I’d venture to say worse than the intelligence abuses during the Vietnam War; with the resulting of hearings in the 1970’s disrupting the cozy relationship with all administrations (until Dick Cheney appeared) and they then had to answer and report to both the White House and the Congress. Were there any penalties for those who supported CIA’s authoring (directed by Dick Cheney) of phony intelligence to produce a ‘slam dunk’ briefing to the Smirking Chimp? The CIA’s production of ’ unclassified’ white paper for the Congress right before the vote to authorize Shock & Awe in October 2002 marked a ‘politically motivated’ misuse of classified information used to influence congressional opinion, but there were no consequences!
Dateline 2009!! - the CIA was duped by a Taliban double agent and nine CIA operatives were killed by a suicide bomber at a CIA base in the ‘Stan’, to which Panetta proclaimed that the bombing involved 'no operational failures’ and allowed the operational bureau responsible for the program to investigate itself. No, I’m not making this up. Even when the OIG(Office of the Inspector General) documented Agency lies to Congress concerning a secret drug program in Peru (documented as a secret drug interdiction program that was responsible for the death of an American missionary and her infant daughter in 2001), no significant disciplinary action was taken.
Let’s also not forget destruction of the torture tapes, a clear case of gross obstruction of justice in view of White House orders (nudge, nudge, wink wink) to protect the tapes, led to no consequences at the CIA. The CIA along with the former and present administrations controversy over the wholly illegal use of drone aircraft; the intelligence failure that accompanied the Arab Spring in 2011; and the inadequate security presence in Libya in the wake of the killing of Muammar Gaddafi have not received the anything like what we’re seeing today.
Cont.
Treading
Aww rats, you beat me to it. Sneazy.
From 1892 or thereabouts:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Treading
Quote: ”What a gracious and humble man, that Rush Limbaugh.”
Umm…What?
Yea; About as gracious and humble as the toilets at the Helena County fairgrounds that quit working after hundreds had eaten at the chili cook-off. Though and Rush the toilets are full of the same substance, one of the two has an unstoppable flapper valve. And the fatter one is also a bio hazard.
Treading
Can anyone honestly believe that the Tea Party type organizations that sprung up right after Obama's inauguration in 2009, or Crossroads GPS who have been able to spend unlimited money on political campaigns thanks to the Citizens United decision, are primarily interested in social welfare and deserving of a tax exempt status?
Not me!
These people have a first amendment right to engage in whatever political activities they wish. They should have no right however to claim tax preferences based on bogus claims that they are primarily engaged in social welfare activities. Thus I can understand and tolerate (albeit reluctantly) how an inundated IRS might seek shortcuts to identify and properly screen such ‘social welfare’ claims.
Isn’t the real issue (as always) the abuse of money (and its corrupting influence) in political campaigns, and not an ‘independent’ government agency struggling to do its job?
In reference to the DOJ grabbing telephone records of reporters and editors of the AP. Question: Did any judge or any grand jury signed off on the subpoenas? And - What was the ‘probable cause’?
Mr. Holder. For conduct unbecoming (need I say criminal?) by promoting an egregious breach of the 4th amendment. You’re fired!
Every so often, there is an issue that the Right and the Left can agree upon. Is this one of those times?
The Whistle
Leaf,
I too appreciate Fairmon’s wonderful maze. I find it less of a ”snark to leaven the futility,” than the unleavened coating of the ‘babblefish’ dropped into a deep fryers hot oil; Food of the wide eyed and dim.
Nicely done Fairmon.
The Whistle
If I may make an observation:
This hackneyed Benghazi frenzy illustrates (to me anyway) the underlying shallowness & desperation that is the Republican Party today. If you cut through the green haze of prosecutorial self-congratulatory encouragement, those self-righteous inquisitors railing about the embassy incident are obviously angrier with Obama than they are with those that actually killed the Americans.
Why is that?
While at the same time, the very same neo-con chickenhawks are pushing for supplying arms (or direct involvement if they can finagle it) with the very people we’ve been fighting for nigh on 20 years.
Why is that?
Republicans: Motives as transparent as a picture window; A superficial and banal organization of incompetent criminals that spends all of its time calling everyone else - incompetent criminals. Ie.The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight!
Those itching to toot the whistle of insignificance might want to reconsider. The exit hole looks to blow their own hot air and foul spit right back up their noses.
Nice hidden message Clay. Well done.
P.S. Before y'all start whining and stereotyping; I'm not a Democrat nor a Obama supporter.