In a move that can only be described as glaring vanity, I'm going to post something I'd originally posted as a response to a thread on Obama's squandering of political capital - mostly because I want it in my Journal.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Let me say first that I stand with our President.

I think, in the final analysis, getting the 60th vote when Specter defected was a curse, not a blessing.

Political capital issue #1 is mostly falsely attributed to the President. He is blamed for the bailouts - which were started in the waning Bush days. However, he probably would have been better off opposing the TARK and urging fellow Dems to do the same, and simply had the Treasury take over the failed banks upon taking power. He was getting a lot of what I now consider bad advice not to do that.

Political capital issue #2 was the stimulus. At a time when many Americans lives were being ruined by mortgage debt, medical debt, and credit card debt, what does the President say is the answer? More debt. It was counterintuitive for a lot of people. These people thought they'd elected a really smart guy, and now he seemed really dumb.


Political capital issue #3 was HCR. Many of us voted for the President because of health care. However, we all had different ideas what that looked like. The President's opponents hated the idea of government intervention into health care, and showed no fear about calling it communism, socialism, anti-Americanism, isn't he really Kenyanism, and whatever other damn nonsense they could think up. They were funded and egged on by the rabid talkers and the health insurers. But we had 60 votes, didn't we? We had a chance to solve a 110 year old problem, yes? Well, sort of. By the time public option was done away with, the Cornhusker kickback was exposed, and the right started screaming about the cuts to Medicare (a socialist program they apparently embrace), what we came up with was, essentially, Romneycare. To make matters worse, it doesn't go into effect until 2013. The GOP will have this as a rallying cry to get everyone to vote out every Democrat for the next 2 1/2 years to ensure this bastard is stillborn.

Political capital issue #4 is and was the wars. We are ostensibly leaving Iraq, albeit very, very, slowly. We're doing something in Afghanistan which looks more like a police action without clear cut goals and less like a war with a clearly desired outcome. Conservatives were probably correct - he probably should have turned down the peace prize.

Political capital issue #5 I won't label because whatever I call it, I get attacked for being politically incorrect. On the day when President Obama was elected, marriage equality went down to defeat in California. People, many of whom worked hard to elect Obama and get marriage equality, got really, really pissed off. They got more pissed off when a new President, eager not to immediately alienate the military establishment the way Bill Clinton did, failed to act on DADT or take a clearly defined stand on this issue.

However, it is always darkest before the dawn. Clinton was at a similar low point at this time in his administration. There are several things the President can do now, while he still has a congress backing him, and several things he can do with a hostile congress.

He could immediately end DADT. It will piss off the right. So what?

He could offer Tim Kaine a new gig where he does less harm and bring back Howard Dean as DNC chair, or bring in Alan Grayson.

He could replace Robert Gibbs and Rahm Emanuel and begin setting a new tone between now and November.

He could give Petraus a clear goal and a clear deadline (like the end of October). After that, we go. It will piss off the right. So what?

He could start having DOL rigidly enforce overtime laws. Lots of companies (especially call centers and others with entry level "professional" employments) regularly skate these laws and force workers to work 50+ hours per week. Force these employers to hire on some more.

He could take the foreign policy stance with Mexico that if they can't keep the drug war on their side of the border, we're going to pull out of NAFTA.

He could immediately fire Arne Duncan and being in someone friendly to public schools and the NEA.

I'm sure there's more, but you get the idea.

Everybody, it's time to alert Michelle Obama.

I was watching a show on Food Network hosted by Giada DeLaurentis called "Let Them Eat Cake"

http://www.foodnetwork.com/giada-at-home/l...

She made a "kid friendly" recipe, which I'll admit sounds yummy. It is one of those "hide the veggies" recipes. It's a panini sandwich with chopped spinach hidden in a mixture of two kinds of cheeses with salt and butter served on country white bread. Maybe it's just me, but by the time you figure the fat from the cheese, the sodium from the cheese and the panchetta, and the carbs on this recipe, I can see why our kids are all overweight.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-d...

I'm overweight, and even I was apalled.

For even more nutritional shock, you can check out the berry punch recipe she proposes. Again, maybe it's just me, but I think straight fruit juice might be a better call here.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-d...

Today, the family went to the Strategic Air Command Museum, because daddy loves to look at planes. They had a CD of Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the USA", and a number of other patriotic songs. I even like some of the songs on the CD (like "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "This Land is Your Land"). However, somehow every time I hear Mr. Greenwood sing, I feel as if I've been forced to sith through a Bush/Cheney rally.

Thanks. Rant over.

After 9-11, we invaded Afghanistan. The rationale was that the Taliban, as government in charge, harbored Al Quaida and allowed them a refuge to plan terror attacks. Osama Bin Laden was hiding out there, and we wanted to get him. I think it's fair to say that most of America wanted someone's butt to kick after the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor.

At this point:

- The Taliban is out of power, but will likely return to power if we leave Afghanistan, and I'm not sure chasing them around the hills for a century will change that.

- We missed our chance to get Bin Laden at Tora Bora. There's a good shot he's dead at this point.

- The Karzai regime will last maybe a year after we leave (likely less)

So:

- What is winning at this point? A friendly government in power? No more Taliban?

- If we pull out, how do we prevent the Taliban from launching or sponsoring groups who would launch terror attacks against us?

- In more general terms, how do we deal with non-state attackers like Al Quaida? Do we invade every country with terrorist training camps? Do we use Special Forces for a more surgical approach (take out the training facilities; assassinate would-be plotters)? Do we strengthen our intelligence capabilities? Does diplomacy enter into this process?

Stanley McChrystal is certainly not Douglas MacArthur, and I doubt that the administration will be dumb enough to allow him a venue in front of congress to give an "Old soldiers never die..." speech. Nevertheless, in my estimation, General McChrystal may have just become the front runner for the 2012 GOP nomination.

- McChrystal will have an instant platorm for speaking and fundraising

Certainly, he won't be able to discuss classified material, but McChrystal could quickly become a fixture at American Legion and VFW halls. The theme of his speech? "Our smart troops could win this war, but we have this dumb congress and this weak-kneed President...."

- His career has been in Special Forces

No, McChrystal is not a Medal-of-Honor winner, but I bet he's done a lot of really exciting stuff. However, most of it involved special forces and intelligence, so it's really exciting stuff he'd love to tell us about... but just can't. We are, however, free to use our imagination.

We're the land of the free, because of the brave...and he won't let us forget that for a minute

- He's a Political Outsider

He's not a public official... he's just a brave defender of freedom. To hear most conservatives solutions to our problems, what we need in Washington right now is more people with no meaningful experience in government.

- He'll be a return to the short, declarative statements of the Bush years.

Things are simple. Conservatives know this simple truth. We don't need all of that fancy, long-winded, book learning we get from the professor in the White House. We need this kind of thinking to address the issues that really matter:

Gays in the military? BAD
Islam? BAD
Jesus? AWESOME
Abortion? VERY BAD
Health Care Reform? BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD... VERY BAD
Income Taxes? AS BAD AS ISLAM, GAYS IN THE MILITARY, HEALTH CARE REFORM, AND ABORTION, PUT TOGETHER
"Under God" in the pledge? GOOD
Distribute Christian Bibles in Afghanistan? YES (note: this is a huge issue to many fundies)
North Korea? MORE TROOPS
Illegal immigration? MORE TROOPS
Oil Prices? WAR IN IRAN
Unemployment? SEE "OIL PRICES"
The deficit? CUT ALL OF THE CRADLE-TO-GRAVE ENTITLEMENTS TO PAY FOR MORE TROOPS

- He's a victim ... just like you!

Is your business overtaxed? Did you not get the bail-out you deserved? Are you afraid of losing your gun collection to the socialists? Well here is the candidate for you! A brave soldier, fighting for freedom, who lost his livelihood because of (wait for it)....... Barack Obama!


So...it will not shock me at all to see McChrystal emerge as the lightning rod for administration opposition, and a McChrystal/Ron Paul 2012 ticket would not surprise me one bit.

You may have heard this already. In a soccer game between Lincoln (NE) East High School (largely Anglo) and Omaha South High (high percentage of Latinos), several East High students thought it would be funny as Hell to throw fake "green cards" onto the field after the game.

The story is here:

http://www.ketv.com/news/23610720/detail.h...

Take a moment to read the story, and then take a moment to read the comments. I'll readily grant that many on anonymous message boards are not on their best behavior. And to be sure, some supported the actions of the school to suspend students. That said, I've quoted some of the more interesting bigotry:

"Politically correct cr#p. The white kids are always at fault. How about the 5 white kids who wore american flag shirts to school on STINKO DE MAYO and got suspended. Time to move to arizone."

"I guess freedom of speech is out the door? Everyone pissing and moaning about how bad this is should get to spend a month in south O, and see how many mexicans can speak English, deal with the same kind of racism and see how many of these poor whining cry babies showed up here and are not legal. Sorry, but if this happened to the white students, no one would say a word."

"Because illegals will come in and do those jobs for a fourth of the pay. Skilled tradesmen have to apprentice, have been to trade school, and are licensed by the city and/or state to do what they do. Illegals are doing these jobs without a license, they are illiterate, have alcohol and drug problems, and guess what?, they don't follow safety rules or building codes, they do shoddy work and then they get hurt. Then they go to our hospitals, with no insurance, and rack up millions in medical bills every year that the hospital ends up having to eat and then the hospital charges all of us Americans with insurance more. They get welfare for the kids they have here. They don't pay taxes but those kids get to go to our schools. They don't speak the language of the country they live in. And then there's all the illegals driving around without insurance. How many stories do you have to read about an illegal hit and run driver, no insurance, who knows if he's even using his real name, smashing into somebody, killing or seriously injuring them. These people are a drain on society and of no benefit to anyone except a few greedy contractors and packing houses. "

"Illegal immigrants might take away my social security and all the free government money they can on healthcare, education, foodstamps, and take jobs away from citizens and not pay taxes but they cant take this away from the american citizens.......Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I have no interesting or eloquent conclusions to offer here. The story and quotes speak for themselves.

Sorry if this was posted already:

http://www.ktiv.com/global/story.asp?s=122...

"SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) - A longtime Sioux City employer starts its goodbyes earlier than expected. Thursday, night shift employees at John Morrell reported to work for the last time.

In all, 1,450 people will be out of the job, when Morrell closes for good on Saturday. Friday, day shift workers will finish up. And, on Saturday, maintenance workers will report to the plant for their final shifts.

Thursday was a day that's come sooner than expected for the workers as the company originally said it would shut down on April 20th"