QOTD: Rendition, schmendition

“Look, we could go into a whole debate about renditions, and so on. I think you’ll find that the Obama government is going to continue [with them] in certain circumstances anyway. It’s only ever journalists who ask me questions about issues like that. It’s not an issue [with people] out there.” – Tony Blair on rendition, torture and whatever other nonsensical trivialities journalists bug him about.

–WKW

John McCain suspends campaign to focus on economic crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 8, 2009) — John McCain suspended his White House bid over the world economist crisis today, but his Democratic opponent, President Barack Obama, refused to follow suit.

As a high-stakes political standoff erupted, McCain said he would head back to Washington on Tuesday and called on President Obama to call a summit including themselves and congressional leaders to solve the crisis.

“Tomorrow morning I’ll suspend my campaign and return to Washington,” the Republican told reporters, adding he had spoken with Obama to inform him of his decision.

Sources in the McCain campaign say that their candidates’ decision to put “nation ahead of politics” could help him turn around the massive electoral loss he suffered in November.

“People have been writing us off since November,” said the McCain official. “But right now, Americans care about the economy. And while we admit it was an absolute failure last time we tried this, we feel there’s still hope for the Maverick to turn this thing around.”

While most experts believe that McCain’s gamble will have little effect on election that is already over and verified, others seem to believe that McCain has played his hand perfectly.

“John is a crafty politician,” said Karl Rove of Fox News. “If anyone can come back from a shattering defeat and somehow win the presidency in a way no one can envision, it’s the Maverick.”

For his part, Obama has yet to take the bait, and many of his surrogates have pointed out that McCain admittedly knows very little about the economy and has done nothing whatsoever to improve the current economic situation in the U.S. Nonetheless, his campaign manager David Plouffe said they still take McCain seriously as a challenger.

“Now, more than ever, we need our grassroots squad to make sure they got out the vote last November,” said Plouffe. “Because after McCain again goes to Washington and accomplishes nothing to help the economy, he could gain momentum. So we can never be too safe.”

Regardless of the fact that many have used the term “politically impossible” to define McCain’s latest campaign ploy, the McCain campaign feels that Obama’s polarizing nature could open the door for their candidate.

“We know there are bylaws and loopholes in election law,” said an anonymous McCain official. “If we can show our stuff on economic issues, it’s still John’s to win. And even if the result remains the same, you really can put most the blame at Sarah’s feet.”

–WKW

Now when I say Grassroots, you say grassroots … Grassroots!

A couple weeks ago, the White House let us know that they were starting a “grassroots” effort on health care:

Remember this date: Saturday, June 6th, 2009. We will look back on that day as the moment when the fight for real health care reform began in your neighborhood — perhaps even in your own living room.

On June 6th, in thousands of homes across the country, we’ll gather to launch our grassroots campaign for health care. We’ll watch a special message from the President. We’ll build the teams and draw up the plans for winning health care reform the same way we won the election: Building support one block, one neighbor, one conversation at a time. And we’ll put those plans into action.

Now, when I noticed this, my first thought was: Gosh, it seems really stupid that anyone would call directions directly from the White House to be even the slightest bit “grassrooty.” But, the media has apparently decided to not recognize this and gone ahead with supporting the grassroots goodness:

Reuters:

KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 8 (Reuters) – From a living room in Kansas to a bagel shop in New York to an Alabama church, Democrats have started mobilizing support for President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plans.

Suburban housewives and social workers mixed with Baptist ministers, college students, retirees and many others at grassroots gatherings over the weekend. Spurred by the Democratic National Committee’s burgeoning political machine dubbed “Organizing for America,” thousands of such meetings had been planned for Friday through Monday.

Those attending the scripted two-hour events viewed a videotaped message from Obama, shared personal stories and made local battle plans to counter the expected stiff opposition.

Bloomberg:

The aim is take the same grassroots strategy that helped Obama, 47, win the White House and apply it to the challenge of getting Congress to approve a bill that meets the Democratic president’s three main priorities: reduce health costs, retain consumers’ choice of medical care, and guarantee affordable treatment for all Americans.

Associated Press:

A long-planned grassroots effort is meant to illustrate power and, at the same time, to intimidate opposition. It is coming with Obama’s explicit blessing, according to officials, who spoke anonymously to discuss private conversations.

So, all of you out there organizing for improved health-care, stand by and await word from the White House so you can continue grassrooting. Just be aware that the term “public option” will likely be disallowed in this grassroots effort.

–WKW

Microsoft: “Thanks for the American dream, and no, we won’t pay our fair share of taxes”

Make no mistake about it, Microsoft is a great American corporation. Bill Gates’ determination and work ethic has helped make the software giant the most important name in computers, which is truly saying something.

Of course, aside from showcasing the ingenuity of Americans, Microsoft also showcases the greed that comes with being an American success story:

June 3 (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steven Ballmer said the world’s largest software company would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits.

“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said in an interview. “We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.”

Obama on May 4 proposed outlawing or restricting about $190 billion in tax breaks for offshore companies over the next decade. Such business groups as the National Foreign Trade Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable have denounced the proposed overhaul.

U.S. tax rules let companies defer paying corporate rates as high as 35 percent on most types of foreign profits as long as that money remains invested overseas. Obama says he wants to end such incentives to keep foreign profits tax-deferred so that companies would invest them in the U.S.

Microsoft reported an overall effective tax rate of 26 percent for 2008 in its last annual report. “Our effective tax rates are less than the statutory tax rate due to foreign earnings taxed at lower rates,” the report said.

Barry Bosworth, an economist in Washington at the Brookings Institution research center, said many software companies such as Microsoft have exploited tax and trade rules in the U.S. and other countries to achieve a low overall tax rate.

Of course, what Microsoft is doing and wants to continue to do are nothing new amongst American corporations. That is what American is all about these days – it’s a place to achieve the American Dream and all its spoils. And its a place to move away from when taxes threaten the bottom line. And there’s obviously nothing un-American about it. After all, if the hyper-patriotic Dick Cheney can watch Halliburton move to Dubai to avoid paying taxes, then who’s to say Microsoft shouldn’t?

–WKW

Blogger not using pseudonym calls Ed Whelan a “douchebag”

There is a new trend going on amongst politicians and right-wing government types lately that bodes poorly for bloggers – you see, when certain people like Mike Doogan get upset by an anonymous blogger, they then figure the best way to show the anonymous blogger up is by “outting” them.

The National Review’s Ed Whelan is the latest to use this strategy. Whelan, who believes the best way to focus on the judicial career of Supreme Court Nominee is to take a long-ago comment she made and extrapolate on it ad nauseum, was upset that the Eugene Volokh made his strategy look silly. Worse than that to Whelan, Publius of Obsidian Wings linked to Volokh’s takedown.

Tired of spending so much time getting obliterated on the facts, Whelan did the only thing he could think of – he published the name of Pluribus, thus ending his anonymity.

Here’s how Pluribus put it:

As I told Ed (to no avail), I have blogged under a pseudonym largely for private and professional reasons. Professionally, I’ve heard that pre-tenure blogging (particularly on politics) can cause problems. And before that, I was a lawyer with real clients. I also believe that the classroom should be as nonpolitical as possible – and I don’t want conservative students to feel uncomfortable before they take a single class based on my posts. So I don’t tell them about this blog. Also, I write and research on telecom policy – and I consider blogging and academic research separate endeavors. This, frankly, is a hobby.

Privately, I don’t write under my own name for family reasons. I’m from a conservative Southern family – and there are certain family members who I’d prefer not to know about this blog (thanks Ed). Also, I have family members who are well known in my home state who have had political jobs with Republicans, and I don’t want my posts to jeopardize anything for them (thanks again).

All of these things I would have told Ed, if he had asked. Instead, I told him that I have family and professional reasons for not publishing under my own name, and he wrote back and called me an “idiot” and a “coward.” (I’ve posted the email exchange below).

Truly a class move by the obviously manly and macho Whelan. And while I still hold strong to the belief that people should be able to blog anonymously if that’s what they need, I do occasionally like to flaunt the fact that I blog under my own name. So, I can’t imagine Whelan would have any ability to comeback whatsoever when I call him a disinformation-spreading douchebag.

Update: Simon over at Bloggasm spoke to both Whelan and Publius about the situation in a post you can read here.

–WKW

Happy National Doughnut Day to Liz Sidoti

Happy Doughnut Day to All. And special congratulations to Associated Press Reporter Liz Sidoti, who forever defined her career as one big donut just over a year ago.

–WKW

Did AOL fire Tommy Christopher for criticizing Playboy?

It went a little something like this: Writer Guy Cimbalo submitted a rape-fantasy wrapped inside a humor column about Conservative women he’d like to “Hate F***.”

Playboy then showed it’s support for rape-fantasies by posting the piece.

Tommy Christopher, who wrote at the Daily Politics blog on AOL, called out Playboy on the horrifyingly sexist article. Led by Conservative bloggers, the reaction was loud and swift, spreading over social network sites like Twitter.

Playboy pulled the piece of its site.

AOL then showed it’s support for rape-fantasies by firing Christopher for writing about the issue.

AOL, which has surprised many for years by continuing to exist, is under the umbrella of Time Warner. And Time Warner also has a business relationship with Playboy. And while Christopher hasn’t come out and said he was fired implicitly for the Playboy fiasco, he hasn’t denied it, either. Here’s a little of what he’s said so far, via his site:

“I am grateful to AOL for the opportunities they’ve given me, but I disagree strongly with their decision to fire me. Considering the amount of external traffic I drive to the site, it seems like a poor business decision. Given the strength of content like my Playboy article, it seems like a poor editorial decision, as well.”

Christopher loudly touts himself as a liberal, but thus far this story has made him a cause célèbre on right-wing blogs with Hot Air, Newsbusters and many others keeping track of the story.

Christopher has written that he will explain the situation more today. At this point, he’s deserving of the respect and support of political bloggers from both sides of the table. Because blogging gigs aren’t easy to find, and to see Christopher get dropped so easily and wrongly should set off some alarm bells.

Regardless, AOL has some explaining to do. Because the AOL homepage is a sexist tundra, and when you add this to it, they truly appear to be an organization that profoundly hates women.

See more from Tommy Christopher here.

–WKW

Jesus leads L.A. authorities on three-hour car chase, shoots self

For more than three hours, the driver of a luxury Bentley sedan led police on a low-speed car chase along some of Los Angeles’ most popular streets before shooting himself to death, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

The driver of the $100,000-plus Bentley with Palestinian plates was identified as Jesus H. Christ, a well-known deity, the newspaper reported. Witnesses said that Christ, 37, was repeatedly screaming the word “repent” at stunned crowds of people he passed.

The shooting occurred about an hour and a half after Christ had finally crashed the car near a crowd of anti-abortion protesters, the Times says. Christ shot himself as police surrounded the car and later died at a hospital, the newspaper says. Pinned to him was a note stating “why have you forsaken me?”

No charges will be filed, and no more information will be released regarding Christ until his next-of-kin is contacted.

–WKW

A Bill O’Reilly punching bag no more

Mary Alice Carr, the vice president of communications for NARAL Pro-Choice New York and oft-guest on the Bill O’Reilly show, says she’s not going to be giving O’Reilly the time of say anymore, due to his aggressive stance on the murder of Dr. George Tiller:

O’Reilly is being incredibly disingenuous when he claims that he bears no responsibility for others’ actions in the killing of Dr. George Tiller on Sunday. When you tell an audience of millions over and over again that someone is an executioner, you cannot feign surprise when someone executes that person.

You cannot claim to hold no responsibility for what other people do when you call for people to besiege Tiller’s clinic, as O’Reilly did in January 2008. And this was after Tiller had been shot in both arms and after his clinic had been bombed.

O’Reilly knew that people wanted Tiller dead, and he knew full well that many of those people were avid viewers of his show. Still, he fanned the flames. Every time I appeared on his show, I received vitriolic and hate-filled e-mails. And if I received those messages directly, I can only imagine what type of feedback O’Reilly receives. He knows that his words incite violence.

That is why I made a personal pledge to no longer sit across from him after he called for people to converge on Tiller’s clinic. I realized that appearing on the show with him would only legitimize his speech and that no good would come of my efforts.

One wonders why anyone with any sense whatsoever would go on O’Reilly’s show. Going on a show to have your words spun while being yelled at by a narcissistic bully. Plus, you always take a chance at being considered an accomplice to O’Reilly’s death threats. O’Reilly has his own stuttering submissives in Juan Williams and Alan Colmes. There’s really no reason for anyone else who doesn’t completely share all of O’Reilly’s views to even bother. It’s not like his audience will buy their books or support their causes unless BillO does.

–WKW

One-Liner: Obama’s rivals

Why is it that whenever Barack Obama speaks these days, a “rival” steps up to give a rebuttal designed to terrify American citizens? First Dick Cheney, and now Osama bin Laden. Can’t we go back to letting Bobby Jindal give rebuttals to Obama?

–WKW

Random Soccer News: Will Cruzeiro striker Kleber go to Liverpool?

A rumor has floated that Cruzeiro striker Kleber will be heading to Liverpool. The Belo Horizonte team has denied it. From ESPN.com’s Soccernet:

Brazilian outfit Cruzeiro insist they have received no approach for star striker Kleber.

The player had announced on Monday that he was the subject of a €7m (£6m) offer from Liverpool.

However, his current employers have reported that no such bid has been lodged, and claim they would not be prepared to do business for anything less than €15m (£13m).

I’ve seen Kleber play several times recently, and he’s a strong presence up from with a deftness for putting the ball in the net. Still, while he could fill the role left by Ryan Babel on the Liverpool squad, it should be noted that Kleber has at times played too emotionally this year, having picked up several yellow cards.

For Cruzeiro, it would be a tough loss, as Kleber looks to be the best striker the Roposa’s have had since Fred left the team for Lyon (and then returned to Brazil this year to play for Fluminese.) Still, after recently selling star attacking midfielder Ramires to Benfica, the team is surely rolling in cash at the moment.

–WKW

Portrait of the artist as a generic suburban kid

I shouldn’t be too difficult to spot. Surprisingly enough, 35 years later, I still wear that outfit.

–WKW

No one expects a blogaround – Here, there, everywhere

There’s lots to be said these days, and these folks have their own ways to say it:

Slacktivist: The murder of Dr. George Tiller can be traced back 30 years ago to those who forever changed the debate.

Oliver Willis: Sean Hannity’s pal, the white supremacist Hal Turner, has some trouble with the law.

Jesus’ General: Tim Harlow and Jill Stanek are quick to put a bulls-eye on another target for their pro-life supporters.

The Golf Chick: Fun and frolic at the Mesquite Amateur.

Afro-Netizen: The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is like Jim Crow laws for white guys, says comic Pat Buchanan.

Alex Villanueva: President Barack Obama can say some words in Arabic. EVERYBODY PANIC!!

Drinking Liberally in New Milford: A look at the Canadian health care system – from someone who knows.

Paul Oberjuerge: What went wrong in Costa Rica for the U.S. National Soccer Team.

Litbrit: O’Reilly and FOX created the climate for Dr. Tiller’s Murder, says Keith Olbermann.

Mechanical bull riding is torture, insists attention-seeking blogger

I’d heard about the “mechanical bull riding torture” controversy, and laughed off any suggestion that it was torture. So when I was challenged to ride a mechanical bull*, I was excited to show that their case was bull …

… Torture. Absolutely. I had ridden a mechanical bull as a child and this was far worse than that. It’s torture. That’s really all I can say.

*Taken in Belo Horizonte. The bride in the video is my sister-in-law Laura Arantes. The video was shot by independent filmmaker Emilia Arantes Wolfrum.

–WKW

Statement from William K. Wolfrum: “Both sides must stop killing each other”

William K. Wolfrum made this statement to his supporters at 3 p.m.

“My friends, during these tough political times, we have seen acts that must be condemned. From the murder of Dr. George Tiller to things that the far left has done, it is time for Americans of all persuasions to stop these horrible acts of violence and to focus on the things that we can agree upon.

As President Barack Obama so sagely noted ‘However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence.’

Of course, Obama himself is often a lightning rod for controversy and bad feelings. But in regard to our president, it’s vital both sides avoid concocting plans to murder him. Because now is the time for both sides to put down their weapons and meet in an atmosphere of constructive dialogue.

This is why on issues like abortion, both sides of the aisle must resolve their issues peacefully and intellectually. And both sides must avoid murdering anyone.

We must come together as one and calmly accept that ours is a culture than constantly evolves. And both sides must resist murdering partygoers because they feel the culture has gotten out of control.

We must come together when it comes to discussing political ideologies, and do so in a mature manner. And both sides must avoid murdering entire families to prove their points.

Also, with the issue of gay marriage gaining traction, both sides must commit to not acting out violently against, or murdering gays, lesbians and transvestites.

This same line of thinking must be used when discussing the always polarizing issue of race. We find ourselves in a time where discussion can bridge the gap between races in the U.S. But these issues cannot be discussed validly unless both sides come together and promise to stop tying black men to the back of their truck and dragging him to death.

We also must not be afraid that our right to bear arms will not be taken away. There is room for discussion on this volatile issue, but that discussion cannot be held if both sides insist on murdering police officers.

My friends, we are living in a dangerous time. A time when competing ideologies threatens us all. We must all take responsibility, including those that speak out as pundits for their ideologies. It is time that pundits both left and right agreed that stoking controversy can lead to bloodshed.

More than anything, both left and right must accept their culpability. Because both sides have recklessly advocated violent behavior. And this must end. Because, in the end, both left and right could be responsible for the largest murder in U.S. history.

In the end, we Americans are in far more danger of dying at the hands of another American, rather than an anti-American terrorist. This is why both sides of the political spectrum must stop killing each other, however profound our differences.

Thank you for your time, and I have retained counsel on this matter.”

–WKW

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