I have to laugh at anyone who sees this government shut-down as a battle between the good guys (Democrats) who want to give us better health care and bad guys (Republicans) who want to shut the government down. Now we get to see which entitlements (Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, veterans benefits, etc) are cut so that the government can continue to function. The democrats will be "forced" to cut them even though they don't want to. Both parties want to cut entitlements. Both parties bend over backwards to satisfy the corporations and war machine that put them in power. Neither party wants to focus on what everyone in every party claims we need yet neither has gotten done: job creation. They'll focus on abortion, Syria, anything but what the people need most. So if our elected representatives can't deliver what the people who elected us need (JOBS!) the government might as well shut down because it wasn't working before the shutdown. Time to ditch the two parties which don't offer solutions to our problems.
SUMOFUS.ORG: Union-busting, fighting Obamacare, backing the Stand Your Ground laws that led to Trayvon Martin’s death, denying the proof of climate change… there’s nothing the American Legislative Exchange Council won’t stoop to.
The public outcry against ALEC has caused nearly fifty corporations to drop out over the past several months. But now Facebook, Google and Yelp are looking to reverse that trend. The companies recently joined the group responsible for some of the most egregious anti-labor, anti-environment, anti-poor, and anti-minority legislation in the past decade. Now, we need to raise an outcry to show them that getting in bed with ALEC is unacceptable, before all the hard work over the past year is undone.
Demand Facebook, Google and Yelp drop their ALEC membership now.
We can’t afford to have three major tech companies help finance a monstrosity like this right-wing lobbying group, and they can’t afford the bad press that comes with an ALEC membership. ALEC has become a toxic brand that image-conscious companies don’t want to be associated with.
ALEC worked in close conjunction with the NRA to push the controversial Stand Your Ground law onto dozens of states. ALEC helped private prison companies enact Arizona’s “papers please” law in order to fill up cells with Latinos. It has sponsored a host of horrific laws that are tearing down personal rights and handing over money to corporations. We simply cannot allow such practices to be condoned by major companies.
Our voices already shamed over fifty companies and nonprofits, including the likes of Amazon, Walmart, and Coca-Cola, into dropping out of the American Legislative Executive Council. Just recently, after months of pressure by students, Sallie Mae left the group. But if we don’t speak out now, Google, Facebook, and Yelp could start back the movement of corporate funding into ALEC.
Sign on to tell Google, Facebook, and Yelp to stop associating with ALEC immediately.
SIGN: SUMUFUS.ORG
Do you remember the "shellacking", as he called it, that Obama and democrats got in the 2010 elections? It was in that election that the tea party got a toe-hold in US politics. I hate many things about the tea party and find it particularly moronic that their movement was born largely from a desire to protest health care reform. Our health care system is so pitiful that astronomical costs are the #1 cause of bankruptcy and they don't want to reform that system? Cuckoo! Anyhoo, the tea party elements of the republican party are now successfully shutting down the government to try and prevent Obamacare from happening. And I do believe that while there are some legitimate ideological differences that tea partiers have, many are racist gun owners who've been spurred by insurance lobbyists grass roots-looking websites into acting against their best interests from fear of death panels and pulling the plug on grandma. Many fall into line with what republicans view as their only winning strategy: Oppose Obama no matter what, even if it's actually good for the country. (Like the jobs bills that the GOP votes down constantly in favor of outlawing abortions.)
Here's what I don't get. Obama explained his 2010 "shellacking" by saying that he hadn't fully explained his health care plan to people. Now, 51% of Americans polled still don't understand it and Obama is making the rounds as explainer-in-chief. But why would he not explain it earlier? Arrogance? Fear that we might not like what we heard about the plan? I totally don't get it. I'll freely admit that my current insurance plan is impossible for me to understand, so I'm one of those 51% and will rely heavily on my mom (a former nurse) to break it down for me. I'm hearing reports that we're all going to be pleasantly surprised by how low the premiums are once October hits. Wonderful! It's great that we are already experiencing the benefits of being not denied access to health care due to preexisting conditions like pregnancy or AIDS--since I currently have both of these conditions. But not what can most of us who already have health insurance actually expect after October 1st? I wish Obama had pushed harder for single-payer, but understand from most that Obamacare is a step in the right direction. What exactly does that step entail for most of us who already have insurance?
I once saw a tabloid pic of stunning 1960s transsexual model April Ashley partying with Omar Sharif and was mesmerized. She went on to live quite a glamorous life, appearing with Bob Hope and even marrying into the English nobility until her husband had it annulled claiming not to know about her history as male. This goddess can at times resemble another flawless english rose: Vivien Leigh. Would love to see this exhibit on her life in Liverpool!
Announcing Lady Bunny in THAT AIN'T NO LADY! in Los Angeles 10/11-13 at The Cavern Club. First the bad news: This intimate venue will sell out so get yer (cheap) tickets now. Now the good news: The venue isn't so intimate that you can catch the performer's scabies. I mean, if the performer were to have scabies, that is.
The raunchy, demented drag diva of Wigstock fame presents her first ever full-length one wo-man show in Los Angeles at the Cavern Club underneath Casita Del Campo October 11, 12 & 13. The price of admission is as cheap as her humor: $14.99 in advance and $19.99 at the door in cash only. Fast-paced and action-packed with glitzy costumes and Bunny's trademark gravity-defying bouffant wig, THAT AIN'T NO LADY! is a cabaret designed for a night club crowd--no lengthy monologues or sappy show tunes here. For mature audiences who enjoy irreverent humor!
Unlike her position on RUPAUL'S DRAG U on LOGO as the Dean Of Drag giving contestants "Lady Lessons", Bunny's deliciously bawdy brand humor is far from ladylike. Bunny re-works pop songs into hysterical parodies, using recent smashes and sprinkles in zany Laugh-In style joke routines for added politically incorrect fun.
THAT AIN'T NO LADY! provides over an hour of laughs for a decidedly affordable price. However, since Bunny's singing has been known to drive audiences to drink, there is a strictly-enforced 25 drink maximum. Please join this wacky "lady" in her LA cabaret debut--but get tickets early as this limited engagement will sell out at these prices!
She's Cheap! Only $14.99
Friday & Saturday Oct 11 & 12 at 9pm
TICKETS/MORE INFO HERE: BROWNPAPERTICKETS
Gaga sounds great in this live version of I Wanna Be With You. She can have a powerful, emotive voice and I always think she's best when singing at a piano--few of today's pop divas can play or sing. She doesn't need the meat dress or the Koons references. I guess we might not have paid attention to her without them initially, but she doesn't need them here. It's a pretty song that she wrote herself and she sounds fab. No gimmicks necessary.
THEY JUST GAVE ME THE DIRTIEST LOOK IN STARBUCKS. ALL I DID WAS ORDER A DOUBLE SHOT OF KENYAN.
Foiled on Syria, US war-mongers see a new chance for military intervention Kenya. The military-industrial complex has gotta get paid somehow, right? So it's time to start ramping up the threat to a war-weary people to sell us on it. Here's the supposedly liberal and intelligent NY Times claiming that a shooting in Kenya is "a direct threat" to the US. LOL! Are you ready to get acquainted with internal Kenyan politics faster than you can say Bashir-Al-Assad? Oh, and like Assad and Saddam Hussein, the unnamed Kenyan leader is a bad man. Here's proof: "relations between the United States and Kenya had grown frosty before the attack because Kenya’s president has been indicted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. American officials here were trying to keep their distance from him, but now the two sides must work closely together." Oooh! SNAP! "Frosty" relations is a battle cry if I ever heard one! We might as well go ahead an take him out before he uses sarin. You know, one of our famous pre-emptive strikes where we kill and ask questions later. See: Iraq.
Here's more "damning evidence from the Times: “You never know when a terrorist attack in a faraway place could be a harbinger of something that could strike at the United States,” said Daniel Benjamin, a former Obama administration counterterrorism official. On Kenya, he said, “It’s a country that has a long history of being attacked by terrorists that are of real concern to the United States.” HOGWASH! "You never know", "faraway place" and "could strike" are really a stretch. And Kenya's got a history of being attacked by terrorists? Awful! But let's focus on the terrorists attacking the US, which Americans just overwhelming said they prefer to focus on.
And we'd better get to the bottom of this Kenyan situation quick or we may jeopardize this crucial international priortiy: "Tens of thousands of other Americans visit the nation’s game parks, beaches and other tourist attractions every year, according to the Kenyan government." REALLY REACHING ON THIS ONE. If a country is and has been imploding for years with treacherous terrorist factions, the Americans should avoid go to their f#cking amusement parks! Duh! And no one, including the NY Times, should be listing theme parks in Africa as an excuse for US involvement!
The Times concludes with this weak call for concern: “One of the misconceptions is that we can let Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups stay abroad and not fight them there, and that we would be safe at home,” said Katherine Zimmerman, senior analyst at the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute. “That’s really proven not to be the case.” EXCEPT THAT WE JUST PROVED THAT DIPLOMACY CAN WORK AS IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING WITH SYRIA. Whether the president is a democrat or republican, we'v always got money to address non-existent threats from people in faraway places who NEVER attacked the US. They say it's our national interests, which often means Israel. How about concentrating on the nation itself and not so much on the imagined national interests. We've always got money for war, but never enough for job creation, schools, or our crumbling infrastructure. Or even for the deteriorating health care for the soldiers we'd have sent into Syria, Kenya or anywhere else. THE US IS WAR AND MURDER. IT'S OUR PRIMARY EXPORT. CONCERNED ABOUT GUN DEATHS IN THE US? THEN MAYBE WE SHOULD STOP ACTING LIKE WRECKLESS COWBOYS OVERSEAS.
The FBI agents we sent to investigate the tragedy in Kenya are "hoping to glean every piece of information possible to help prevent such a devastating attack from happening again, possibly even on American soil." POSSIBLY ON AMERICAN SOIL? HOW WOULD THAT WORK, EXACTLY? DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL THAT THE US MEDIA, EVEN THE "GOLD STANDARD" OF "LIBERAL" NEWS LIKE THE NY TIMES WANTS TO HELP THE GOVERNMENT FIND EXCUSES FOR MORE WARS THAT AMERICANS DO NOT WANT?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/world/africa/us-sees-direct-threat-in-attack-at-kenya-mall.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
As you may know by now, Princess Janae Banks recently lost her battle with cancer and is with us no more. Her wish was to be cremated, but unless you get the express permission of a family member, your remains must be buried regardless of your wishes. Janae's family is no longer with us or even reachable, leaving the entire burial cost of around $7,000 to her friends. That's why we are having a benefit for her at XL this Sunday at 6PM. Many of you have offered testimonials of how she touched your lives and that's wonderful. But she needs your help now if she is to have a decent burial. So whether you had a chance to know this unique individual personally or were just a fan of her amazing, heart-felt performances, this is your chance to show how much she meant to you. That concludes the sad financial details of the evening. While raising money, we will also celebrate the life and talents of a shining star among us with a rousing tribute by a star-studded cast. HARMONICA SUNBEAM, Sugga Pie Koko, Dwayne Milan, Bianca Del Rio, Jessica Foxx, Karen Covergirl and Daesha Richards will be there to wow you in this diva's honor. I hope all Janae friends and fans can be there--I don't know all of Janae's friends so if you would be kind enough to forward this to help get the word out. All proceeds from the door go to Janae's burial costs. There's a tiny $5 suggested donation but hopefully you can give more because you know that gurl is not going to fit into any small casket! Doors open at 6PM and showtime is 7PM-9PM. Bring a handkerchief!
We’ve been eagerly anticipating the release of INEQUALITY FOR ALL, and we are thrilled to announce that this powerful documentary is opening in theaters nationally this Friday, September 27.
INEQUALITY FOR ALL follows Robert Reich – professor, best-selling author, and Clinton cabinet member - as he demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.
The Sundance award-winning film explores a passionate argument on behalf of the middle class. Reich helps to explain how the massive consolidation of wealth by a precious few threatens the viability of the American workforce and the foundation of democracy itself.
Please watch and share the trailer below to help spread to word.
RARE RABBIT SIGHTING IN SAN FRANCISCO OCT 4TH AND 5TH AT REBEL! SHOULD SELL OUT SO GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! IN LA AT CASITA DEL CAMPO'S CAVERN THEATER THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND ON OCTOBER 11TH AND 12TH.
So I was watching Lawrence O'Donnell's attempt to link the Pope's new softer stance on gays, abortion and contraception to his own catholic teacher in Boston. I hate it when newscasters get all local on ya, like Chris Matthews' constant harping on Philadelphia. But I did like hearing the Pope speak for the church which he feels should relax several unpopular positions. It's so refreshing for out of touch catholics to even think about actually updating anything. But when you think about what he said, it's still infuriating because it refutes nothing. Francis merely suggests not to focus on homosexuality, abortion, contraception and other things that people in this day and age are softening their attitudes to. If they haven't already softened them long ago. He's really just putting a friendly face on a church that has disgusted many of it's own vanishing and therefore no longer paying followers and bankrupted itself with rampant, institutionalized child abuse. Not that the church's position has changed in any way--homos, abortions and contraception are still considered sinful--just don't focus on it right now. It's kind of like being ok with your gay kid as long as you don't have to talk about it or Don't Ask, Don't Tell for abortion/contraception." But putting a friendly face on antiquated hogwash doesn't change the fact that it's still hogwash.
"MILDRED FIERCE" STARRING VARLA JEAN MERMAN OPENS OCT. 5TH AT THEATRE 80 ST. MARKS!!! ... PLAYING ALL SATURDAYS and SUNDAYS in OCTOBER! ... SAT. SHOWS AT 8:30 and 10:30 PM - SUNDAY MATINEE SHOWS AT 3:30 PM! ...
YOU CAN GET YOUR TICKETS HERE: BROWNPAPERTICKETS
"Our days as a fat, dumb, complacent democracy were over.
Within months we’d gone to war in retaliation for the attack, even though the ghostly nature of our attackers made a coherent war — one in which you were absolutely sure who your enemy was — impossible. That was followed by another war, that one absolutely incomprehensible to many of us.
In the meantime we subjected ourselves to an ever-increasing level of surveillance redolent of East Germany and a surrender of privacy more Orwellian than Jeffersonian. We became aware that modern warfare now includes the torture of prisoners and that the murder of civilians was part of its “collateral damage.”
And while there were protests, we as a nation accepted all of it. Which is where we sit right now, 12 years on, no safer than we were but more of a police state.
I had been very much against the presidency of George W. Bush. He was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was happy when, at long last, the public picked Barack Obama, a much smarter fellow, to replace him.
Obama, alas, has been a disappointment. Rather than reverse the bellicose foreign policies of Bush-Cheney he has adopted a course I call “Bush Lite.”
He’s a master of the half-measure. He repudiates wars but lets them go on a while because they are difficult to unwind. He tries to help friendly forces in the Middle East in their battles with oppressive regimes but not too much because, after all, who knows how friendly they really are?
Most of all, he refuses to make his case. Take his health care plan, for example. You have heard 100 times more from the Republicans about what a bad idea it is than you have from Obama about its virtues. Most of what the Republicans are saying about it is nonsense but he doesn’t take the trouble to point that out.
So now he finds himself out on a limb, virtually alone, trying to sell his plan to punish Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad for using poison gas — except that I don’t know what the plan is. So far as I know, no one does.
He’s reduced to reaching for a rescuing hand from that loathsome slug, Vladimir Putin. Such is the legacy of 9/11"
FULL ARTICLE: NATIONOFCHANGE
By some crazy coincidence, yesterday I had a shoot involving a funeral and then popped out in mourning to Lauren Brown's memorial at UN Plaza. Since I got to know her working for Michael Alig at the Limelight, I knew her mainly as Baby Ru before she transitioned and settled at Lucky Cheng's. I've never seen so many queens and t-gurls in a church before! I didn't think it was appropriate to snap pics in a memorial, but let me tell you, in attendance there was a who's who of NYC club folk. Princess Diandra was speaking when I walked in and had us all in stitches with her tales. A slide show accompanied the service and Diandra quipped that Lauren always looked like she needed a compact with some powder--"two hours ago!" The laughter quickly gave way to torrents of tears as everyone fondly remembered this fun-loving, sweet party-girl who clearly touched so many. And gave them crabs. KIDDING! Lailah Lancing spoke, Tobell Von Cartier read a poem, Codie Leone emceed, along with some family members who were moved to witness all the devotion of Lauren's adopted sisters of the cloth. Putting the "fun" back in funeral, so many of my favorite people were present that I half-wished we could get together more often under cheerier circumstances. Though I got a head start cuz I'm older, Baby Ru and I came up in the same way and were alike in many ways. We both hit the scene young, got hired by clubs to do our thing, loved to drink and party as well as fool with all them mens. She really was from a more carefree time in NYC before characters like us had to hustle too hard. I wasn't nearly as close as many of her friends there yesterday who worked, played and even lived with her, but am very sad to bid her this final farewell. She truly was lovely!
Last night President Obama conceded that his proposal to bomb Syria is unpopular and can’t get through Congress. That was your doing. Members of the House and Senate heard our message loud and clear.
Yet again last night Obama argued for attacking Syria. The threat is still very real -- which is why it’s so important that we tell Congress and the President not to attack Syria.
Now, along with affirming your “No Attack on Syria” message, please:
* Forward this email to friends and ask them to do the same.
* Click here to strengthen RootsAction’s work to prevent an attack on Syria with a donation of $5.
The U.S. public has seen through the illogic of claiming to uphold “international norms” by bombing another country. But top officials in Washington haven’t given up on launching some version of “shock and awe” at Damascus and other parts of Syria.
If this continuing threat is going to be held off, in the face of ongoing advocacy by the president, we are going to have to advance an alternative agenda. Please click this message to send it to Washington right away:
"As a constituent, I am writing to let you know that I oppose a military attack on Syria. Creative diplomacy is the best way to respond to the alleged use of chemical weapons. I urge you to work for a ceasefire, to pressure Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, and Turkey, to halt the flow of weapons, and to pressure Russia and Iran to do the same."
SIGN PETITION TO YOUR REPS: ROOTSACTION
After three frenetic weeks, during which time Team Grayson was burning the midnight oil every night, it's time to take stock of what we've accomplished.
Here were the headlines in late August, just before we started our campaign against U.S. military intervention in Syria.
"Syria crisis: UK and US finalise plans for military strikes" - The Guardian, August 27.
"Syria strike due in days, West tells opposition - sources" - Reuters, August 27.
"Strike Against Syria is Imminent" - Reuters, August 27.
"Obama Will Bomb Syria" - Politico, August 26.
"U.S. military 'ready' to attack Syria, Hagel says" - CBS News, August 27.
And here are the headlines, now:
"Obama to explore diplomatic route on Syria," - Reuters, September 10.
"U.S. to Work Through U.N. on Syria Arms Proposal" - The New York Times, September 10.
"Obama Agrees To U.N. Discussion Of Putting Syria Chemical Weapons Under International Control" - Associated Press, September 10.
"Syria Will Sign Chemical Weapons Convention, Declare Arsenal, Foreign Ministry Says" - Reuters, September 10.
Let's go behind the headlines, to the numbers in Congress. Bloomberg News just came out with its own count of how every single member of the U.S. House and Senate would vote on war with Syria. In the U.S. Senate, which is institutionally designed to favor war and bailouts, the war vote is losing 34-22. That's shocking - the Senate is voting for peace?! In the U.S. House of Representatives, it's even better. House members oppose war by a 10-to-one margin. The Washington Post has it at 26 in favor, 251 against.
In other words, we are winning. Peace is winning.
How did this miracle happen?
To answer that question, look in the mirror.
You did this. Your calls and e-mails. Your pressure. The military industrial complex, the neoconservatives like Dick Cheney, the foreign policy corporate-funded think tanks in D.C., the warmongers at the State Department - they wanted war, but you wouldn't let them. We stood up for peace.
Now, what's interesting is not just that we averted military action (so far). It's also what has happened, because we averted military action. We showed that successful diplomacy, shunted aside just a week ago as irrelevant, is actually possible.
Think about this. We are on the verge of a solution that:
Removes chemical weapons from Syria, preventing another attack and putting them out of the reach of both the Assad regime and Al Qaeda,
Does not require the use of dangerous military force by the United States,
Compels Syria to become a signer to the Chemical Weapons Convention,
Restores the role of Congress in matters of war and peace, and
Rejuvenates the United Nations as a platform for peace.
This happened only because of our work. To his credit, President Obama listened. He listened to Congress, to the voices of allies around the world asking us to pause, and most importantly, to We the People of These United States. But you spoke, President Obama listened, and now peace may bloom.
Of course, we may still go to war - the war lobby is fierce and relentless. Even as we speak, warmongers in Congress are writing new war resolution language, thinking that if they tweak this word or that word, making it an itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy war, it can pass. To that, we say, "a big, fat NO."
We have shown that Peace can be more powerful than War.
And hopefully, one day soon, we will not be arguing about where to direct our bombs. If you and I keep working together, we will be trying to figure out what to do with the fruits of peace - the Peace Dividend.
Courage,
Rep. Alan Grayson
"Should we vote for her because she is gay? If Quinn represents your political convictions, she's your choice. If she doesn't, then although she may represent your identity, she's not the right woman for the job."
MORE: HUFFPO
What a day! Shooting a cameo (ie glorified extra) with Pepperica Swirl with Joan Rivers and Melissa for their show at (GAG!) 10AM, attend a memorial service for Lauren Brown, the sweet Lucky Chengs girl who was also known for years as "Baby Ru." I'll vote for Bill Deblasio, and then see The Blond's fashion show later on with parties to follow. Who doesn't love NYC in the fall? This is the weather we wait all year! Sadly, my incessant Syria coverage will have to be on hold briefly while I enjoy myself!
I think many will agree--especially gays--that Putin is an asshole. Perhaps even a crazy @sshole. So if this crazy asshole is able to quickly craft a diplomatic solution to the US's problems with Syria, what does make make Kerry and Obama? More belligerent and less diplomatic/clever/creative than a crazy asshole? They've been lying to us that bombing Syria is the only answer. War should not be the USA's default position when even a crazy @sshole can craft a solution. Peace should never be something we stumble towards, as this depressing headline suggests.
NYC Mayor Bloomberg has accused surging mayoral candidate Bill Deblasio of playing the race card by using his 1/2 black son in his campaign ads. Politicians often use their families in ads, don't they? Deblasio had sex with his black wife who gave birth. Big deal. Quinn screwed the whole city and Weiner sexted the rest.
George Zimmerman has been in trouble with the law twice since the Trayvon Martin case. Now he's being investigated for domestic violence with his wife involving a gun? And he thought Trayvon seemed like a scary criminal? Hmmmmm.
MORE: CHICAGOTRIBUNE
FLASHBACK: (CNN) -- The 10th anniversary this month of the invasion of Iraq will remind most people of a divisive and dubious war that toppled Saddam Hussein but claimed the lives of nearly 4,500 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians.
What it conjures up for me is the media's greatest failure in modern times.
Major news organizations aided and abetted the Bush administration's march to war on what turned out to be faulty premises. All too often, skepticism was checked at the door, and the shaky claims of top officials and unnamed sources were trumpeted as fact.
By the time U.S. soldiers discovered there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the media establishment was left with apologies and explanations. The Bush-Cheney administration helped whip up an atmosphere in the wake of 9/11 in which media criticism of national security efforts seemed almost unpatriotic.
As the war, once sold as a cakewalk, went sour in 2004, the New York Times said in an editor's note that its editors were "perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper," some of them erroneous stories by Judith Miller. The paper said its reporting on what turned out to be nonexistent WMDs was "not as rigorous as it should have been" and that the Times overplayed stories with "dire claims about Iraq."
MORE: CNN.COM
Russia is urging that Syria, it's ally, give up it's chemical weapons to avoid US military strikes. I hope that works and Kerry says it could prevent bombing. Syria seems interested in this proposal. Hillary has signaled it could work as well. And since chemical weapons are such bad news that they create a "red line" which forces the US to attack any country which uses them, the US should also give up it's own chemical weapons which it used in Iraq. Or be forced to attack itself.
I agree with this article that Obama is not stupid, but this attempt to spin Syria as his cunning foreign policy victory lap is insane. It hurts to realize that this nice guy with his beautiful family represents what every US president represents: perpetual war. And to realize that neither party represents us and that no one is taking care of us and we must always question the government. Or never get what we want. Plenty of lying, plenty of spying. No peace, no decent jobs. Record CEO profits. And defense stocks soaring in anticipation of more war. In related news, the tooth fairy's your mom.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS ON SYRIA SO FAR:
We're attacking Syria.
Wait! I'm going to Congress for approval first.
The US's red line has been crossed.
Well, actually it's the world's red line even though hardly anyone else in the world seems to know that their red line has been crossed or feel the need to act.
We're striking Syria regardless of how Congress votes.
We now admit to not even have the concrete proof we claimed was building.
THIS MAN IS DESPERATE FOR WAR. And he'll risk his entire reputation gunning for it and use up his political capital that might have been used to achieve the reasons you voted him in and then back in to do.
"Against the advice of all his advisors, he put any US participation in the hands of our do-nothing Congress with no chance they would give him the approval he needed. Not because it isn’t the right thing to do but because Obama was asking for it. The outcome is a given if you just take a step back and look at the situation rationally. And there is no way Obama is going to launch this attack once Congress says no. It would be political suicide. Bush may have gotten away with it but America is not going to let it happen again. The fallout would signal the end of any and all effectiveness the Obama administration for the remaining years of his presidency. And history would place him with the likes of war criminals like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Let me repeat this. Obama is not that stupid!
So why then does our president appear to be beating the drums of war? The simple answer is he is now regarded as a hawkish leader before the US and the world. And he does so without having to fire a shot."
MORE: FREAKOUTNATION
IF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAD PROOF OF ANY REASON TO ATTACK, WOULDN'T NOW BE A GOOD TIME TO SHOW IT? Kerry claimed the evidence was building. This is monstrous. Democrat hawks and now Republicans have the sense to vote against war?
But Obama's top aide says the administration lacks "irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt evidence" that skeptical Americans, including lawmakers who will start voting on military action this week, are seeking.
"This is not a court of law. And intelligence does not work that way," White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said during his five-network public relations blitz Sunday to build support for limited strikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
MORE: HUFFPO
I agree with this article that Obama is not stupid, but this attempt to spin Syria as his cunning foreign policy victory lap is insane. It hurts to realize that this nice guy with his beautiful family represents what every US president represents: perpetual war. And to realize that neither party represents us and that no one is taking care of us and we must always question the government. Or never get what we want. Plenty of lying, plenty of spying. No peace, no decent jobs. Record CEO profits. And defense stocks soaring in anticipation of more war. In related news, the tooth fairy's your mom.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS ON SYRIA SO FAR:
We're attacking Syria.
Wait! I'm going to Congress for approval first.
The US's red line has been crossed.
Well, actually it's the world's red line even though hardly anyone else in the world seems to know that their red line has been crossed or feel the need to act.
We're striking Syria regardless of how Congress votes.
We now admit to not even have the concrete proof we claimed was building.
THIS MAN IS DESPERATE FOR WAR. And he'll risk his entire reputation gunning for it and use up his political capital that might have been used to achieve the reasons you voted him in and then back in to do.
"Against the advice of all his advisors, he put any US participation in the hands of our do-nothing Congress with no chance they would give him the approval he needed. Not because it isn’t the right thing to do but because Obama was asking for it. The outcome is a given if you just take a step back and look at the situation rationally. And there is no way Obama is going to launch this attack once Congress says no. It would be political suicide. Bush may have gotten away with it but America is not going to let it happen again. The fallout would signal the end of any and all effectiveness the Obama administration for the remaining years of his presidency. And history would place him with the likes of war criminals like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Let me repeat this. Obama is not that stupid!
So why then does our president appear to be beating the drums of war? The simple answer is he is now regarded as a hawkish leader before the US and the world. And he does so without having to fire a shot."
MORE: FREAKOUTNATION
I campaigned for this man and donated money to him during his first election. I even wore a Martin Luther King/Obama t-shirt and cried with joy while glued to the TV watching his inauguration in Atlanta, a civil rights capital. I'd thought that his Senate NO vote for war in Iraq meant that he'd make a much-needed change from George W. Bush's disastrous foreign policy errors. We were going to trade the ignorant, poorly spoken Texas cowboy for this handsome, eloquent, mixed race winner who saw through the lies presented to Congress about Iraq having WMD. And who valued peace. Never did I dream that Obama would turn around and do almost the exact same thing, proving that he serves the same dark forces which yanked George W. Bush's puppet strings. And proving that corrupt, soulless good ol' boys come in all colors.
While I'm happy that his proposed attacks on Syria seem as if they're being thwarted by people's common sense and that we're finally finding our voices to successfully speak up against government charades, I get no joy from this victory. Because you don't win when winning is realizing that your president will try to willfully mislead you just as George W. Bush did. And to see Democrats I once respected like Nancy Pelosi tow the party line and uncharacteristically bang the drums of war like Republicans makes me realize that I can no longer support such a morally bankrupt party. Are the Dems still better than the GOP? Of course! But when "better" is still this bad, who f#ckin' cares? I never knew this man, I never knew this party. The lesser of two evils is still evil. And he may still attack Syria with or without congressional approval. That he said he kinda needed but didn't actually need. It's a dark day for the USA.
Super-glam night out at Odeon for the launch of MAC's new line for famed disco era fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez to kick off Fashion Week. Joey Arias performed a thrilling short set for an eclectic audience of Kelly Osborne, Kabuki Starshine, Mao and Roger Padhilha, Iam FeralisKinky, Susanne Bartsch, Tinsley Mortimer, Paper's Mickey Boardman, fashionista Patrick McDonald, Visionaire's editrix Cecilia Dean, Jenny Shimizu, Mugler muse Stella Ellis and more. MAC creative director James Gager introduced the campaign's models Marisa Berenson and Pat Cleveland who were on hand looking ravishing, noting that the third model (Jerry Hall) could not be there this evening. "No, I'm right here!" yelled an obnoxious, portly drag queen in a giant blonde coiffure and crooked eyelashes. Who proceeded to lose it's camera so you'll get no pics from her. MAC COSMETICS ANTONIO LOPEZ FALL 2013 MAKEUP COLLECTION IN STORES NOW.
Tomorrow, Obama plans interviews on Syria with six major news outlets. "Major" translates to the channels which never ask hard questions of politicians. Sadly, major also means stations with the widest viewership as well. Not only do these news outlets stay in business through ad dollars from huge companies tied to defense industries, but they also fear being denied access to the president so they soft-pedal tough issues. Hard-hitting journalism literally died with Helen Thomas. And if you really want to get cynical, many claim that the news channels will make a fortune if we do go to war.
But here are a few arguments that the Obama administration is claiming make it essential to go to war which are easily debunked. Sadly, I don't think we'll hear much debunking tomorrow.
1) Video and photos of sick and dying children make us feel bad. But there is no conclusive evidence that Assad used sarin gas. Initial reports claim that the rebels used it. Congressmen Alan Grayson, Bernie Sanders and presumably many who are already committed to opposing against strikes in Syria have seen it and dismissed it as inconclusive. Many are asking to wait for UN inspectors' findings.
2) Even if there was conclusive evidence that Assad used sarin, that should not force Obama to attack any country which used it. So we need to stop with the moral high ground posture that's making the US an internationally despised laughing stock. We ourselves have used chemical weapons many times--Napalm and Agent Orange in Vietnam, white phosphorus, mustard gas and nerve gas in Iraq are just a few examples. While non-lethal, technically tear gas is also chemical weapon. The US used that against it's own citizens just recently at an Occupy Wall Street protest in Oakland and there's video on youtube to prove it. But I hate to ask you to take the time to search for a video on youtube which could help discredit our government's nonsensical claims when it's so much easier to regurgitate the government's propaganda for war. You know, a war that we can't afford, that will create generations of terrorists to come back and attack us here and that quite possibly will balloon into WW3. Don't trouble yourself. It'll pass.
And the US routinely ignores genocide around the world. Funny how we find it much harder to ignore when it happens in the Middle East to people with tan skin and a different religion.
3) We just lost France after losing the UK. Our two biggest allies are already gone before the strikes have even started? If what Assad's done is so horrible, why won't other nations join us in attacking him? Do you think the US spends more on defense than every country combined so that the weapons can just sit there collecting dust? But who needs allies? Ain't the US #1?
The press will feel comfortable asking Obama if his "surgical strikes" could turn into a wider conflict which lasts longer. It'll be interesting to see what he says on this. I strongly doubt if any reporters will mention that his own Joint Chief of Staff, Patrick Dempsey, advised just this past summer that military action in Syria would lead to broader conflict. And that there was no guarantee that the rebels we help-who are partially Al Qaeda forces--will agree with the US after we intervene on their behalf.
Not only will Obama not answer these concerns, he won't even be asked about several of the most damning, perplexing issues. Interviews with six networks airing Monday and a national address on Tuesday? Funny how the president's willing to invest so much of his political capital to make a bigger push for war in Syria than anything that you and I know this country actually needs here at home.
The Psychiatrist and the Proctologist
Best friends graduating from medical school at the same time decided that in spite of two different specialties, they would open a practice together to share office space and personnel.
Dr. Smith was the psychiatrist and Dr. Jones was the proctologist; they put up a sign reading: Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Hysterias and Posteriors. The town council was livid and insisted they change it.
The docs changed it to read: Schizoids and Hemorrhoids. This was also not acceptable so they again changed the sign to read Catatonics and High Colonics - no go. Next they tried Manic Depressives and Anal Retentives - thumbs down again.
Then came Minds and Behinds - still no good. Another attempt resulted in Lost Souls and Butt Holes - unacceptable again! So they tried Nuts and Butts - no way. Freaks and Cheeks - still no good. Loons and Moons - forget it.
Almost at their wit's end, the docs finally came up with: Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones - Specializing in Odds and Ends.
Everybody loved it.
Finally saw The Butler and loved it. Bring a handkerchief and have it ready right from the beginning! I thought everyone's performance was great. Maybe Oprah's accent came and went a few times but it didn't diminish the power of her performance--especially when she popped her son in the mouf. I don't see many new movies and this moving tale definitely didn't disappoint!
"You can't come into the club honey. Your wig's too small." Lyrics from a song playing on the homepage of a wig-themed festival in Queens this Saturday with appearances by Penny Arcade, Jiggly Caliente, Thorgy Thor and more. Sounds like a riot!
Because of his muslim-sounding name (Hussein) and the fact that he's a person of color, Obama has been slammed by small-minded Republicans since he first ran for president as a candidate with terrorist sympathies. Some right-wingers like Donald Trump still can't admit that the president was born in this country. It's so absurd--how little faith do they have to have in this country to think that a terrorist is going to get elected president? It's right up there with the nuts who believe that there is a war on Christmas and the more than one state which has passed legislation to prevent their area from falling under the rule of sharia law, as if ANYONE has ever even suggested that we adopt sharia law. Their paranoia is unwarranted and like many, I dismissed these right-wing fears as prejudice.
Not only is Obama not in any way a muslim terrorist due to his name or background or the madrassa he attended, he's is currently proving that he has no affinity whatsoever with muslim people when the US is in the mood to bully a country like Syria. It's drastically different from what right-wingers feared him to be. He's actually a lot more right-wing than they gave him credit to be, especially after he got into office.
In a bizarre twist, Obama's eagerness to attack Syria have united both the far left and the the far right against military action. Never in my life did I imagine that I'd be agreeing with tea party Senator Rand Paul on anything. But this president has turned the traditionally peace-loving Democratic party into hawks with Republicans leaving their traditional role as warmongers to advocate peace! As a life-long democrat from a long line of democrats, his stance is forcing me to leave my party since that party now represents war without UN approval based on trumped up charges against a country which never attacked us. Third party candidates, step right up because the only presidential leadership democrats have to look forward to is Hillary, who lost to Obama precisely because she was more hawkish and voted for the Iraq war. Voting against that war was how Senator Obama distinguished himself and got my vote. Now he's reversed who he his and what his party stands for.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now tasked with getting House Democrats to fall behind the party line and support Obama's attack on Syria, even though she herself is a liberal democrat from San Francisco who will take immense heat from her constituents for supporting any war. How soul-destroying for her! Lawrence O'Donnell notes that Nancy's staff must be "pulling their hair out." She must be pulling out her own hair, too, since the normally well-put together politician appeared to publicly support war with her hair parted exactly where she seems to be balding. Struggling to lie, the normally forceful Pelosi rambles and quotes a conversation with her 5 year old grandson.
NANCY: “My five-year-old grandson, as I was leaving San Francisco yesterday, he said to me, ‘Mimi (that’s my name) Mimi–war with Syria. Are you yes war with Syria, no war with Syria?’ I said, ‘Well what do you think?’ He said, ‘I think no war!’ I said, ‘Well, I generally agree with that but you know they’ve killed hundreds of children there, they’ve killed hundreds of children.’ And he said (five years old), ‘Were these children in the United States? And I said, ‘Well, no–but they’re children wherever they are. So I don’t know what news he’s listening to, but…’”
The kid seems to be listening to the right news and asks a very pertinent question: "Were these children in the United States?"
Exactly! The wisdom of a child leads to the emancipation of Mimi.
Here's a li'l interview from firedownbelow.com:
I read in a previous interview that you never really thought you addressed political issues in your shows or that drag is inherently political. Being a part of the New York gay scene in the 80′s & 90′s, have you noticed any differences in awareness from the 1980’s to today? Is there any advice you can offer to this generation?
I was young in the 80s and was not interested in politics. However, AIDS had just hit big and ACT UP formed as a response to the crisis. Gays were scared to death (literally) and angry as hell that the government was doing little about it. Reagan was refusing to say the word “AIDS” and NYC Mayor Ed Koch shied away from the subject because (it’s believed) he was a closet case. ACT UP’s message was very radical and included die-ins, where people laid out in the streets, protests outside St. Patrick’s cathedral to force the catholic church to admit that condoms do prevent HIV infection and much more. The gay agenda was much more far-reaching than it is today and slogans like “AIDS doesn’t kill straight white men” and gay men fighting for women’s rights to abortions and fighting against big pharmaceutical companies’ corrupt practices were common.
Today, we’ve lost that anger and enthusiasm. I see few leaders among gay youth. Maybe they see the battle as having been won now that they can fight in the military and get married in a few states. But new HIV infections among youth are way up and bare-backing is common. This is a slap in the face to the activists from ACT UP who got every AIDS medicine on the market today approved. The medicines are not a cure for AIDS, even though HIV infection may no longer always be a death sentence. That doesn’t mean you should throw your legs up and welcome it because there’s new drugs on the market. If kids have no one to tell them how irresponsible that is, I will gladly do it!
MORE: FIREDOWNBELOW
FRAN LEIBOWITZ ON A RECENT BOOK TOUR:
On NYU’s Student Body:
“The worst thing about being around these people, about these students, is overhearing their conversation. For that alone, I walk around my neighborhood in a constant rage, thinking I want to say to them: No, no you’re not. NYU should move out of New York. A campus is a suburban entity.“
On Michael Bloomberg:
“I said actually to Michael Bloomberg, ‘I never thought I’d have the chance to vote against you three times.’”
On New York’s Lack of Affordability:
“Whenever people say ‘I can’t really afford to live in New York,’ I say ‘No one can afford to live in New York! You just stay here and as long as you’re not in jail, you’re living in New York. You have no idea how you paid all this rent. If you add up all your rent from 1968, you realize you can be like, a prince from Dubai. How did you pay this? You don’t know. The entire time I lived here, I lived inside. It’s an amazing feat! I don’t know how I did it. I don’t. I don’t know how you do it. Neither do you.”
OBSERVER.COM
Great to see MSNBC's Chris Hayes having the nerve to speak out against US attacks in Syria. He has the courage that few in the mainstream media possess. I hope that you care enough about your country to check out this informative piece. Far from being a left-wing crackpot, Chris actually represents the majority of Americans polled who do not want war in Syria or any other war. Sadly, what we want matters very little to the politicians who are supposed to represent us. Maybe if we inform ourselves we can one day take our country back from the corrupt politicians who now run it. I'm pretty sure that US soldiers would be very grateful if you'd think a little before sending them into what could be a much longer mission than surgical strikes which many agree will not work. Unless "SUPPORT THE TROOPS!" is just something you chant mindlessly and your "support" would never extend to of taking the time to examine the danger zone our government is hell-bent on sending them to.
Every time Rachel Maddow, Rhodes scholar, refers to Assad's sarin attacks, she uses the word "alleged" to describe them. If she isn't sure sarin was used, how are you so sure? She's pretty damn smart and she doesn't want to be on the wrong side of history. Or one of those shamed journalists who didn't ask hard enough questions of the Bush administration in the lead-up to the massive mistake to attack Iraq.
We're all horrified by the 1,429 people that Assad killed using sarin gas. Except that no one knows if sarin gas was used, if Assad and not the rebels we seek to help used it or even the number of people dead from the gas. We say 1,429 but the french have come it with 281 dead. They are our only ally. Can't we get our story straight? Would you no longer support attacking Syria is the number of that country's gas victims was closer to 281? Think fast, cuz Obama is eager to attack with or without congressional approval. Democracynow.org is news without any commercials. Unlike most of our news whose coverage is slanted towards war because they get ad $ from defense-linked industries.
I can't believe that some people are saying that my hatred Obama is getting "tired." Listen, I don't hate Obama any more than I hate any other warmonger. I voted for him twice because I thought he stood for ending the wars we were in. What I hate is the direction my country is going in and he happens to be the president who is leading us into war. If someone who doesn't want us to repeat the foreign policy mistakes we made in Iraq which cost us a fortune and will create generations of terrorists to come is tired, then I am not just tired, I'm f#cking exhausted! Maybe those terrorists won't attack the area you live in, but they've already attacked mine on 9/11. What's truly tired is your apathy and refusal to learn from our past mistakes. Not questioning the government when they want to go to war has worked out so well in the past, hasn't it? So believe the garbage on the news. I'll thank you for your non-existent efforts when "surgical strikes" Syria develop into WW3. I guess peace has gone out of style for sheeple and the war-loving bastards who lead them. Peace is now "tired" and dissent is now frowned upon in a country which was founded on it. But you're wrong: peace is not a trend which grows tired. It never goes out of style.
WISH SOMEONE HAD THE COURAGE TO WAGE A HUMANITARIAN RESCUE OF THOSE DYING FOR HEALTH CARE by Donna Smith
"Is it because the deaths aren't seen as being so gruesome as a drone strike or chemical weapons launch? Is it because the deaths happen slowly, painfully, but often quietly at home or on the streets of America where we accept death will come to the poor and those who didn't have enough money to save themselves? Is it because we really don't believe 123 people are dying every day because they lack the public or private coverage or the cash or credit it would take to purchase that access?
What is it about us that makes allowing these people to die every die after much illness and pain and still turn our attention to other things that seem more pressing? Must it actually happen directly in each of our own families or to our own bank accounts before we have the capacity to care enough to act?
Do we really believe that reforming the insurance purchase markets will end the killing and the driving of people to bankruptcy? Why are we so willing to test that out?"
MORE: MICHAELMOORE
SO THIS IS WHY WE DON'T WANT TO WAIT FOR THE UN TO CONFIRM ASSAD'S SARIN USE: IT MAY NOT EVEN EXIST! THE REASON WE ARE PREPARING TO ATTACK SYRIA DOES NOT EXIST. MUCH LIKE THE WMDS WHICH NEVER EXISTED IN IRAQ THAT FORMED THE BASIS OF THAT LONG WAR. I hope you'll read them all, but here is some analysis from US and international chemical weapons experts. But of course it's much easier to believe the Obama administration's experts who want to go to war, even though they admit to having no "slam-dunk" evidence.
AFP reports:
“At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators,” said Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
“In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms.”
John Hart, head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use.
“Of the videos that I’ve seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils… this would indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents,” he said.
Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles.
“We’re not seeing reports that doctors and nurses… are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that the toxicity of it isn’t what we would consider military sarin. It may well be that it is a lower-grade,” Winfield told AFP.
Haaretz reports:
Western experts on chemical warfare who have examined at least part of the footage are skeptical that weapons-grade chemical substances were used, although they all emphasize that serious conclusions cannot be reached without thorough on-site examination.
Dan Kaszeta, a former officer of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps and a leading private consultant, pointed out a number of details absent from the footage so far: “None of the people treating the casualties or photographing them are wearing any sort of chemical-warfare protective gear,” he says, “and despite that, none of them seem to be harmed.” This would seem to rule out most types of military-grade chemical weapons, including the vast majority of nerve gases, since these substances would not evaporate immediately, especially if they were used in sufficient quantities to kill hundreds of people, but rather leave a level of contamination on clothes and bodies which would harm anyone coming in unprotected contact with them in the hours after an attack. In addition, he says that “there are none of the other signs you would expect to see in the aftermath of a chemical attack, such as intermediate levels of casualties, severe visual problems, vomiting and loss of bowel control.”
Steve Johnson, a leading researcher on the effects of hazardous material exposure at England’s Cranfield University who has worked with Britain’s Ministry of Defense on chemical warfare issues, agrees that “from the details we have seen so far, a large number of casualties over a wide area would mean quite a pervasive dispersal. With that level of chemical agent, you would expect to see a lot of contamination on the casualties coming in, and it would affect those treating them who are not properly protected. We are not seeing that here.”
MORE: WASHINGTONBLOG
Obama hasn't done a lot for this country. I know he staved off a full-scale depression and we settled for a deep recession instead. We got insurance reform which many see as a gift to the insurance companies. But few things domestically have actually improved. I know he inherited a mess from George W. Bush, but at what point does Bush's mess become Obama's mess if in his second term we are seeing little improvement for the average worker? Even many staunch Obama supporters are dismayed by his heavy use of drones and the alarming extent of the NSA spying on average people.
Obama's strong suit was alway foreign policy. He ended (sort of) the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and killed Osama Bin Laden. Now he's going to blow it on his one strength and start a war which most of us don't want to get involved in. At what point do you stop supporting a failure of a president? Do you wait until Assad has been toppled in Syria and the ensuing chaos forces the US into a decade-long conflict because our principled country could never dare "cut and run"? You learned nothing from a strikingly similar situation in Iraq which was widely regarded as a huge, costly foreign policy mistake which let the world know that the people of the US could easily be tricked into attacking and occupying a country which never attacked us? Or do you rise up against Obama in the name of peace before we drop our "humanitarian" bombs on another muslim nation? Are you, like Obama, so desperate for more war that you don't even want to wait for UN inspectors to determine who used how much sarin in Syria? (Clear evidence has yet to be provided by the US, possibly because it doesn't exist as Iraq's WMD never did.) Obama just got voted back into office selling a platform of peace to a war-weary America. Suddenly you're gung ho about war a several months after the election? I just don't get it. Could it be that you're too manipulated by the rubbish known as our news media to even see what's really going on? That "news" is owned and receives ad revenue from the same giant corporations who profit from war. It isn't in their economic interests to sell you the truth about Syria.
Overnight, the Senate has already drafted their to support more war. Seriously? Did they even wait for the classified briefing they're receiving today? So it's official: neither your elected representatives in the Senate or president represent the wishes of most Americans. Funny how Congress has been a laughing stock which can't get anything done for years now. But dangle war in front of them and they'll even cut their vacations short to rush into approving military strikes. I sure wish they were that effective on job creation, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, higher taxes on the rich, eliminating corporate tax loopholes, stricter gun control laws--you know, the stuff most Americans actually do want legislation on.
But look on the bright side. Gays now can openly serve in the military conflict that over half of us don't understand and don't even want to start. And to be fair, the military does create jobs. They're just dangerous jobs which can end in injuries, PTSD or death. Did I forget to mention the record number of military suicides which just keeps rising despite aggressive prevention efforts? We see a lot of horrific pictures of injured Syrian children on the news. We see no images of wounded and killed American soldiers because if we saw the horrors of war, we'd be less likely to support it. "Out of sight, out of mind" doesn't jive very well with "support the troops."
You have a voice. If you're one of the Americans who does not support war, wants to wait on more concrete evidence of sarin use or just feel no threat from Syria and prefer to do as Obama himself claimed he'd do in the last campaign and focus on this country's troubles at home, now is the time to contact your representatives to say however you feel. They've plainly forgotten who the very people they're supposed to be representing. We don't have bribes to offer them like the defense contractors but we still have a voice and a vote. Please use yours to contact them now before it's too late.
Did you hear what the protesters who were ordered out of the Syria hearing today were screaming? The first yelled that Americans don't want this war. And she's right: the polls claim that between 50-59% do not want to bomb Syria. So why do our elected officials want what the people don't?
The second protester was screaming about the US using white phosphorus in Iraq. You see, John Kerry's central argument hinges on Assad's use of sarin gas on his own people. The use of this chemical weapon, he and Obama claim, is the red line which "forces" Obama to attack Syria. Obama feels his hands are tied. Once Assad crosses that line and gases his own people, forget it. Purportedly, the US cannot maintain it's position as a moral authority by sitting back and allowing such atrocities occur without acting in defense of the victims. Kerry was claiming that since chemical weapons were outlawed 100 years ago, only two other tyrants had dared to use this type of cruel attack. (He later changed that to three, didn't he?) BULLSHIT! He conveniently forgot to mention that the US has used white phosphorus, depleted uranium, nerve gas and mustard gas in Iraq. Not the kind of mustard gas you got after eating that bad hot dog on Labor Day. The bio-chemical weapon in the same category as sarin.
Have a look at the effects of US attacks on Fallujah, Iraq. US forces first lied and claimed that the white phosphorus was used to light up the night. They later came clean. As a result of US chemical warfare, more kids in that area have developed leukemia than in Vietnam. And local young women are afraid to get pregnant because of the many freakish birth defects: kids born with intestines outside their bodies, multiple eyes and brains outside of their heads. So I guess it just depends on which tragic pictures of children pictures you see. Syrian kids gassed by sarin (we think) or Iraqi kids sickened and deformed by US chemical weapons. But regardless Kerry/Obama's central reason to bomb Syria is a lie: the US not only tolerates the chemical weapons, it uses them. The idea that the US could or should have the moral authority to police the world and punish any nation using chemical weapons is as ludicrous as the US dictating which countries can have nuclear weapons. We're the only country that's after fired nukes!
I watched most evening coverage on our "liberal" news MSNBC and there was hardly any mention of the protesters. Peace is a very dangerous notion to warmongers who even program our "liberal" news.
