Bill Clinton Thinks Hillary Will Unite the Country. I Think He's Losing it.

Bill Clinton, Flying Spaghetti Monster bless him, really annoyed me today while stumping for his wife (like he has a choice).

Anyway, he said that Hitlery would bring the country together and end partisanship by working on a big project together. Yeah, like all of us uniting together and speaking with one voice that we can't stand her.

Bill what is she doing to you?!! I think she's brainwashing you with her crazy eyes (see below):

UPDATE: I just heard that Chillary said in an interview with Katie Couric that she has never thought about the possibility of her not being the parties nominee. How can we trust someone who wants us to honestly think that she has never, ever thought about the possibility of not being the nominee even in those moments when she's all alone? And if that is indeed the truth then she is one arrogant bitch which is another problem she faces in trying to win voters over.

Do we really want another arrogant asshole president after Bush? Haven't we learned our lesson, and if not, can someone please hand me some drugs?

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Hillary Clinton, the Face of America?

To hear Hillary Clinton speak you would think that she was the entire Clinton administration rolled up into one as she is saying she was the "face of America" abroad during the Clinton presidency. Oh really?? If she was so important during the Clinton presidency then why didn't other world leaders meet with her instead of Bill or his Secretary of State? Her visits as the First Lady were not on the same level as those of the president. So what if she went all over the world? That doesn't make her an expert on foreign policy, it just makes her a world traveler like millions of other people.

While I do not think that Barack Obama has any better experience, I thought he had a great comment on Hillary's laughable exaggeration:

I think the fact of the matter is that Sen. Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own. Except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it...There is no doubt that Bill Clinton had faith in her and consulted with her on issues in the same way that I would consult with Michelle, If there issues. On the other hand, I don't think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a United States Senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I've done.

GOI: Obama, however, is still more electable then Shrillary Clinton according to a new poll. It shows that just about any candidate in the GOP field could beat her:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton trails five top Republican presidential contenders in general election match-ups, a drop in support from this summer, according to a poll released on Monday. Clinton's top Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, still lead Republicans in hypothetical match-ups ahead of the November 4, 2008, presidential election, the survey by Zogby Interactive showed.

GOI: Yet she still claims that she is the best candidate to beat the Republicans and so Democrats, if you want to lose yet another presidential election then by all means, it appears that you should vote for Hillary Clinton.

And yes, although Obama doesn't have the most experience, a long resume as he stated does not mean a person automatically has good judgment. He cited Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying "they led us into the worst foreign policy disaster in a generation," meaning the Iraq war. He also reminded us that while JFK had to somewhat "learn on the job," he turned out to one of this countries best presidents. Obama doesn't have insider experience but perhaps that is just what we need, someone with experience from outside the beltway. He's not my first choice but I'd rather go with him then Chillary Clinton.

Great Atheist Quotes

"Our Bible reveals to us the character of our god with minute and remorseless exactness... It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that exists in print anywhere. It makes Nero an angel of light … by contrast. -Mark Twain

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." -Mark Twain, [Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823]

I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose. -Clarence Darrow

If God kills, lies, cheats, discriminates, and otherwise behaves in a manner that puts the Mafia to shame, that's okay, he's God. He can do whatever he wants. Anyone who adheres to this philosophy has had his sense of morality, decency, justice and humaneness warped beyond recognition by the very book that is supposedly preaching the opposite. -Dennis McKinsey, newsletter Biblical Errancy

"I want you to know, when it comes to believing in god- I really tried. I really really tried. I tried to believe that there is a god who created each one of us in his own image and likeness, loves us very much and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize...something is FUCKED-UP. Something is WRONG here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is NOT good work. If this is the best god can do, I am NOT impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a supreme being. This is the kind of shit you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently run universe, this guy would have been out on his all-powerful-ass a long time ago." -George Clarin

"Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived." -Isaac Asimov

"I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay their hands on everything they can get." -Napolean Bonaparte

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. -Stephen Roberts

And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence. -Betrand Russel

I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence. -Doug McLeaod

We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes. -Gene Roddenberry

Which is it, is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's? -Friedrich Nietzsche

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." -Benjamin Franklin

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Here We Go Again. The So-Called, "War on Christmas"

Even though Colorado is becoming more liberal and is becoming very purple and quite independent (a third Democrat, a third Republican and a third Independent), the area of the state that I live in is quite Red/Republican. I live near the college town of Fort Collins which has traditionally been more open-minded and left leaning. Now it is very left leaning and it usually swings the county that I live in to the Democrats.

I don't live more then 20 minutes from Fort Collins but my city couldn't be further from the politics of Fort Collins. We are a retirement community who seem to all be curmudgeon right wingers. We have a forum in the local paper for people to call into and sound off on current events, gripes and suggestions. Usually the extent of these peoples' "problems" and stress amounts to complaining about people who don't keep their lawn green enough. However, this time of year they ramp up their war machine to fight for their time honored tradition of discriminating against anyone who isn't Christian.

So here's the deal. The city of Fort Collins has decided to have a holiday celebration instead of one centered only upon the Christian holiday of Christmas. They have decided to put up a tree and decorate it but leave the angel off the top of the tree and because of that decision you'd think the city was admitting to literally crucifying Christians. Everyone in our city is up in arms that the secularists are destroying Christmas and some have even declared their efforts to be inclusive is threatening our sovereignty as a country!!! (Huh?). The guy who claimed that also implied that since he was a veteran then he can demand whatever he wants and that his opinion is more important to that of others. He asks what the secular progressives have ever done for this country. Yeah, because there couldn't have possibly been any secularists and/or Atheists in the military. And so those of us who haven't been in war don't have the same rights as those who have?? I see. As many of you know there is no rationalizing with these people. I've tried many, many times.

I've tried to explain to them what it is like being a minority and the feeling of constantly having your beliefs, rights and view trampled upon. I tell them, "How would you feel if you lived in a predominately Muslim country that didn't celebrate Christmas and instead put up Islamic symbols during Islamic holidays on government property. And wouldn't that make you feel discriminated against and hurt?" Usually the response I get is something like this, "Well I don't live in that kind of theoretical country, I live in America and goddamn proud of it!! And if you don't like that America is Christian then maybe you should leave." Well, after many abrasions to my head from slamming it into the nearest wall after such statements I've ceased asking the question to them altogether.

So anyway, back to the situation at hand in Fort Collins. Well, yesterday the Sheriff of the city announced that he is going to basically flip off the city and anyone who isn't Christian by putting up a Christmas tree topped with a huge angel on the front lawn of the Sheriff's office. So I guess now he's only the Sheriff for Christians. The sheriff stated:

“I just wanted to show that there are people with some common sense in our community, and that we do celebrate our heritage (GOI: You mean your heritage Sheriff),” Alderden said Wednesday, an hour after sending out an e-mail newsletter that lambasts the ACLU and political liberals for trying to secularize holiday displays.

“While the secular progressives have tried to take Christ out of Christmas, (GOI: I don't want to take Christ out of Christmas, I want to take Christ out of my government!! Two very different things but I guess asking these wackos to understand nuance is too much) supported and bolstered by the ACLU, which is waging its own Jihad against Christianity, (GOI: So now we secularists are now being compared to radical Islamic Jihadists?)” Alderden wrote in his Bulls-eye newsletter, “the majority of Americans living in Larimer County and Fort Collins recognize and value our Christian heritage.”

(GOI: I guess it would be asking too much to value the other heritages that have developed around here for decades such as the the Japanese Buddhist community who's ancestors came here at the turn of the last century to work the fields around here and build the railroad. The Sheriff says that he'd be willing to include a Jewish Menorah but I doubt he'd allow Pagans to display their Winter Solstice symbols and Buddha statues for Bodhi Day which merely celebrates the impact that the Buddha had upon philosophy and the world in general. Imagine though if you will what would happen if I came forward to say that I want to include a Buddha statue in the mix. There would probably be riots including images of me being beaten with a flood of crosses or maybe more apropos, stoned. See this is the problem. When you start allowing religion into the public arena then you have to include symbols of allll beliefs that have holidays around this time of year, which means a crowded government building lawn. Just like prayer in school, which religious traditions prayer do we use and if it's Christian then which Christian prayer? Would the Evangelicals be o.k. with a Mormon or Catholic prayer?

What he (the sheriff) is doing could be illegal and so who is going to arrest the Sheriff? I use to think these people were clueless but now I know better, they know exactly what they are doing.

That concept, the separation of church and state, is fairly new, Alderden wrote in his newsletter. It was created by the U.S. Supreme Court and wasn’t the intention of those who crafted the Constitution, he wrote (GOI: I see. Despite a large group of them being Deists which is not Christian, AND despite American being founded upon the idea of religious freedom because of leaving a country that forced one religion down everyones' throats!!!!!!!!).

“Why in America, a country founded on Judaic Christian values, would we exclude symbols of faith from the public square?” Alderden wrote. “Why not display a Nativity scene?”

GOI: I thought that I would include some of the comments from people regarding this issue that have been printed in the local paper over the last few days:

"Good for the Sheriff, who is going to take a stand with his Christmas trees on the spineless leaders in Fort Collins who want to diminish Christmas (GOI: No, that's not what most of us secularists want. We want to rid the government and public square with it. No one is saying that you can't put up a living nativity scene on your front yard if you want. You can even have an actor playing Jesus stand up on your roof 24 hours a day and wave at the passing cars if you want. Just keep your fucking religion out of the government!!!). Fort Collins is being taken over by the politically correct crowd of leaders who embrace the ACLU (GOI: The horror!! An organization standing up for equal rights of all citizens!!!).

Bravo. Thanks Sheriff Alderden for standing up for what 90 percent or more of us feel about religion and Christmas. The remaining 10% of you who are non-believers, you have a very small minority, but free to retain your feelings. Let the rest of us have what we've always had, freedom for our beliefs in God and Christmas. (GOI: Oh, so I see. YOU have the right to freedom of religion but not the rest of us. Thank-you for so graciously allowing me to have different feelings as long as they don't upset you).

And let's not forget Festivus!!

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Hillary Clinton's Planted Questions Controversy

UPDATE TO MY PREVIOUS POST: My Case for Why Senator Hillary Clinton Shouldn't be the Democratic Party Nominee.

Now there is controversy over Hillary Clinton's campaign planting questions at campaign events. One specific planted question was "asked" in Newton, Iowa by a student who in the MSNBC video I saw on Hardball tonight winked after asking the question. Here is the only video I could find on the matter, unfortunately from FOX News (yuck):

And apparently this isn't the first time:

This is just like Bush who is all about planted questions to try and make himself look favorable, why do we want a lighter version of Bush as the Democratic nominee in Hillary Clinton?? Senator Barack Obama for what it's worth has come out after this and said his campaign never relies on planted questions.

People of Iowa, New Hampshire and everywhere, I plead with you to not support Senator Clinton. She is clearly not who she says she is and her campaign shroud is finally being pulled back to reveal the true Hillary.

P.S.~I have finally updated comments to previous posts.

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My Case for Why Senator Hillary Clinton Shouldn't be the Democratic Party Nominee

I would be thrilled to vote for a woman to be president and make history but because of her baggage, murky experience, caginess and electability challenges I do not believe she is the best candidate for the Democratic Party. There is this drumbeat in the national media that women are all flawking to her because she is a woman which I find offensive to women that somehow they don't think about the issues but rather blindly follow another female. In fact, most women haven't made up their mind on who to support. Seventy-seven percent of women have not yet made up their minds. This election is critical as we do not want to surrender the White House to another 4 to 8 years of the Neo-Conservative dismantling of the country, government and most importantly--the Constitution.

Looking first at the baggage she brings to the race and perhaps the general election as the possible nominee, do we really want to fight the President Clinton fiasco again? Because that is exactly what the GOP will make the general about should the Dems be so foolish as to nominate Mrs. Clinton. The Whitewater affair will pop up as well (whether fair or not) to distract voters from the real issues which will put Senator Clinton on the defensive from the minute she would get the nod from the Democratic primary process. It would be difficult for her to make in-roads with the all important swing voters who will go into the general already knowing this baggage that she brings. She has some of the highest unfavorable numbers within the presidential field, Democrat or Republican. People feel that they already know her and do not like her or what she represents, more of the same old politics.

Senator Clinton voters say she has experience but most of her experience is questionable at best. She failed with her health care overhaul plan and as for the White House experience she didn't actually run the White House being first lady. As great as Bill Clinton was as a president, you better believe a dominating political persona as he wouldn't have allowed Hillary to "do" much decision making, which is as it should be. We vote for one president, not two. So she has never explained to the electorate what positive experience she gained as first lady other then perhaps already knowing how to get around the White House without a tour. She may have known some of the issues being discussed while her husband was president but she wasn't the president and we aren't voting for a first lady here, rather a president. She seems to be piggy-backing on Bill's experience and that doesn't fly with me, I want a president who can stand on their own. As for her time as a senator she hasn't been too stellar. She voted for the war and has been quite hawkish on Iran which makes me think that she is more hawkish then we might think.

Something else to consider is her caginess. She seems to be very scripted in her answers that appear to be poll tested to death and she seems unable to speak off script and on the fly as we saw in the last debate. She was caught flat-footed because she "wasn't adequately prepared enough by her staff." Then the excuse was that she was being picked on for being a woman all the while saying up to that point that she is strong enough to fight for herself. It couldn't possibly be because she was the front runner, no, now this supposedly strong woman is playing the victim card. If she can't handle the scrutiny of difficult questions then do we really want her as our leader?? Honestly. The presidential process is meant to be difficult, arduous and tough, after all we're talking about deciding who is the leader of America, not shift manager at the local Dairy Queen. When was the last time you could play the victim card in a tough job interview and still be taken seriously enough to get the job?? This is the same person who claims to be a proud, strong, independent woman who has said she isn't running as a woman. Well, again the wishy-washy Hillary emerges, which one is the real her? I doubt that we will ever know.

I want a president who doesn't need a staff to spoon feed the candidate what they should believe and stand for and that seems what Senator Clinton is all about, a robot that will say anything that is programmed into her by her bloated team of advisers. Her flip flopping at the last debate regarding the drivers licenses issue for illegal aliens in New York screams a red flag warning to me that we have another John Kerry on our hands. She refuses to answer the big questions choosing rather to slip her way through the test. She's just as triangulating as her husband but worse at it. I just don't trust her because she seems too wishy-washy and calculating. She's a politicians politician. You know, the stereotypical politician in every way and not in any good ways. She represents everything that we despise about politicians.

And that includes taking money from anyone and everybody. The most troubling donations accepted by the health insurance lobby. The one time supposed health care advocate who was looking to protect vulnerable Americans from the all powerful health insurance lobbyists is now the recipient of more health-care industry donations then any other presidential candidate, democrat or republican. Now knowing that do you still feel that she will represent your best interests? I feel like she has a lot to hide and I do not like the way that she shouts at people which gives off the feeling of bossiness, arrogance and flat out rudeness. I'm tired of Bush whining and shouting at everyone and the last thing we need is another politician who talks down to us as our president. Do we really want her to be our representative to the world with her cold demeanor and rude, pushy conversation style? I know I don't.

This brings us to electability. The Republicans would love to run against Hillary Clinton because they know that she is such a polarizing figure to many Americans and they feel that they can divide and conquer the voters for and against her to slip into the White House. The last thing we need is another president who squarely divides the country. We need someone new other then a Bush or a Clinton who can bring new, fresh ideas and progressive policies to move our country forward, bring our country together and not fight the battles of old. She represents the entrenched politics of party over people. Where Bush was the president of the Republican elite, I believe Hillary would be the president of the Democratic elite. The Republicans do not want to run against any other Democratic candidate in the top tier. John Edwards is the populist candidate that appeals to a lot of Americans as the middle-class continues to be squeezed of out jobs going over-seas, pensions and pay raises while CEO bonuses and salaries swell to obscene numbers. And Senator Barack Obama represents new ideas and a new generation of politics that the GOP is terrified of. They would have to come up with a whole new play book in an election versus Obama. Whereas with Clinton they would just dust off the old Clinton play book which is well used and practically memorized by the GOP faithful. Let us not play into their hands in nominating their dream opponent, let's turn them up on their heads by nominating someone other then the GOP's favorite punching bag. If the Democrats nominate Hillary then we might as well be handing the White House back to the Republicans.

I hope that this post has convinced you to reconsider supporting Senator Hillary Clinton in her bid to be the Democratic Party nominee.

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A Big Thank-you to all Our Veterans

I'd like to thank all veterans today for your service whether in peacetime or wartime. You are all special to us and we can never repay your sacrifice. I always think of my grandfather (especially looking at that picture above) on this day and his service during the first world war. He never came back the same and It took a great toll on his body from inhaling mustard gas. I can not thank him enough and I wish I could have known him.
Veterans we salute you as you salute the flag and our constitution. I am so appreciative that you sacrificed that I might have the right to disagree with our current war (amongst all my other cherished rights--those that haven't been diluted or outright denied by the Bush administration).

May we always care for you in the manner deserving of your sacrifice.

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Protection Bill for GLBT Workers Passed

The bill, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, is the latest version of legislation that Democrats have pursued since 1974. “On this proud day of the 110th Congress, we will chart a new direction for civil rights,” said Representative Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat and a gay rights advocate, in a speech before the vote. “On this proud day, the Congress will act to ensure that all Americans are granted equal rights in the work place.”

GOI: President George W. Bush (doesn't that sound like a porn star pseudonym? George W. Bush stars in, "Screw America" also starring Dick Cheney) had threatened to veto an earlier version of the bill.

Representative Doc Hastings of Washington said, “I do not think it is the place of the federal government to legislate how each and every place of business operates,” Mr. Hastings said.

GOI: O.k. then, put your money where your mouth is "Doc" and yank support for religious orientation too. Do that and watch the nashing of teeth begin amongst the biased and bigoted religious fundies. As usual they want everything for themselves and screw anyone else who even looks or acts different or "unusual" then they do. I'm sure Jesus would be proud.

I find it amusing and breath-takingly hypocritical that the religious right is completely against this bill yet their religious beliefs are already protected in the workplace. So even if you believe that homosexuality is a "choice" then you can not deny gays the same protection for their "choice" that people receive for their choice of religion!! I say that if gays can not receive the same protection for their orientation then the religious shouldn't have protections either.

If "God" doesn't make mistakes then why are we discriminating against those born with both male and female genitalia?!! How dare you question the All Powerful Omniscient "God of Gods!!!." What part of "All Men are Equal" do these idiots not understand??

“It would be impossible for employers to operate a business without having to worry about being accused of discriminating against someone based on their ‘perceived’ sexual orientation,” said Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, Republican of Florida, who raised two fingers on each hand to flash quotation marks over her head as she said “perceived.”

GOI: I wonder what Larry Craig has to say about all this? Hmm??

This "perceived" Representative, Ginny Brown-Waite is clueless. Yeah I'm sure businesses would collapse if we had to actually recognize people with a different sexual proclivity. All hell would break loose and before long it would be anarchy!!!!!!! We'd have gays running around the office, infecting non-gays and we'd have to watch them strip down and dance naked on the desks. These fundies should be for gay rights since isn't that the kind of behavior that will hasten the end times that they want so badly???

What's even worse is the lack of a hate crimes bill that includes the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered community. So basically it's fair game on the GBLT community as we are saying, go ahead and beat the shit out of them. I'd say to ask Matthew Shepard whether a hate crimes bill for homosexuals is needed but he's dead because of the very hate this bill would seek to outlaw and severely punish.

And here I thought Christians were supposed to hate the sin but not the sinner. Somehow I can not see Jesus beating someone of an alternative lifestyle within an inch of their life as well as firing them for their sexual orientation. Then again, I have actually read the New Testament, three times but maybe I missed something between "love thy neighbor" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I guess I missed the Book of Fred Phelps section about, "God hates fags."

It is sad that our trans-gendered brothers and sisters were excluded from this bill but over-all the bill is a step in the right direction.

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A Different Angle on a Universal Health Care System

(Click to enlarge cartoon)

I listen to a lot of talk radio and have come to really like Thom Hartmann. He is passionate yet usually even handed with those callers who disagree with him and rather calmly counters them with well thought out arguments. I also like that he gives them a chance to talk and doesn't just shout them down. He is also a student of history like myself and especially the history surrounding the beginnings of America, which is my favorite period of American history. I am currently reading one of his books (I read several books at once), What Would Jefferson Do? A Return to Democracy and it is fantastic.

Well anyway, the other day I heard him give an excellent reason why national health care is better then our current situation, it isn't an angle that I've heard before and it is very convincing.

Here is the gist of his argument:

Right now Americans have little to no power of recourse when dealing with private health insurance companies, we are at their mercy. We all know the frustration of trying to deal with them. Well, Hartmann argues that having the government in charge of a national, universal system means we have more control over the process then now. This is because if we do not like how they are running the health care program then we can vote them out in the next election and put new people in charge to do what we want.

I would rather deal with the government where I have some recourse and way of holding them responsible then be at the whim of private companies where the only people who have control are the share holders and the board of directors.

Anyway, it's an interesting argument and one that is rational unlike a lot of what I'm hearing from the reich-wing.

By the way: Rudy Giuliani just picked up the endorsement of Pat Robertson which shows that the reich-wing really isn't that concerned about outlawing abortion, they just want to win--at all costs. If they over-turned abortion then they would lose their biggest political wedge issue.

And finally: The Bush regime is still reading my blog and they are so bold about it that they don't even try to hide their tracks. I was checking my stats and saw that it's the Pentagon reading this time. It showed up as, "Army Information Systems Command-pentagon" in Alexandria, Virginia. They found my blog via the search, "daniel levin justice." I've apparently been reported to some "Nazi outback law-enforcement agency," and will be soon be, "hunted down like a dog" as the infamous Hunter S. Thompson once stated.

See my previous post about Daniel Lavin (who worked for the Department of Justice) and his undergoing water boarding which led him to state that water boarding is indeed torture. So I'd like to welcome the Pentagon and suggest to whomever is reading my blog to refuse to follow illegal orders and by doing so support torture.

So If I disappear abruptly then you will know that I was dragged off to Gitmo and am being tortured via water boarding. If you think that our government isn't spying on us after reading this then think again.

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Waterboarding is Torture no Matter How you Try to Dress it Up

By JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG and ARIANE de VOGUE

Nov. 2, 2007

A senior Justice Department official, charged with reworking the administration's legal position on torture in 2004 became so concerned about the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding that he decided to experience it firsthand, sources told ABC News.

Daniel Levin, then acting assistant attorney general, went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure to inform his analysis of different interrogation techniques.

After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn't die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning.

"Waterboarding is torture," Daniel Levin was to write. Daniel Levin was no theorist and no protester. He was no troublemaking politician. He was no table-pounding commentator. Daniel Levin was an astonishingly patriotic American and a brave man.

Sources said he was forced out of the Justice Department when Gonzales became attorney general.

While I was researching and typing this post, I heard that Judge Michael Mukasey's nomination for Attorney General has moved out of committee to be voted on before the full Senate. All despite Mukasey refusing to acknowledge waterboarding as torture. He claims that since he isn't privy to classified information yet, he can not make such a decision. Well, I'd suggest that all he has to do is refer to Mr. Levin, himself a former Justice Department member. That's if Mukasey is interested in the truth and we all know he isn't. Surely no one is allowed to be a Bush nominee unless they swear an oath to him, rather then the Constitution.

All that being said, however, the aspect of this nomination process that angers me most are the "Democrats" who are going to vote for this guy. I'm tired of the "Democrats" wanting to be our leaders and then when we vote them in they run for the hills at the slightest sign of opposition. As much as I can't stand the Neo-cons, at least they stand for what they believe in and fight for it.

Check out Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on this issue:


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Who Needs Enemies with Allies Like These?

You know things are going badly in your "War on Terror" when two of your biggest allies in the Islamic world are either turning on you or embroiled in internal chaos.

As we already know, Turkey is about to go to war with the Kurds inside Iraq which threatens to destabilize a region that is one of the only regions within Iraq to have been relatively safe and calm throughout the war in Iraq. The tension has caused U.S./Turkey relations to become strained which is a blow to the American occupation of Iraq because much of our equipment and supplies go through the former Ottoman Empire.

However, now a bigger problem has arisen in regards to our ally, Pakistan. Over the weekend the leader of the South Asian country, General Prevez Musharraf has declared a state of emergency, dissolved the Constitution, deployed soldiers into the streets, arrested thousands of people (including many lawyers) and sacked/fired the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Sound like a certain dictator that America recently over-threw?

Opponents said the Pakistani leader was trying to avoid an upcoming Supreme Court decision that could have ruled he was ineligible for another presidential term.

GOI: Ah, so in other words he is pulling a George W. Bush circa 2000.

So much for the success of the "Bush doctrine" of promoting Democracy around the world and especially throughout the Islamic world. How ironic that we are trying to establish democracy in Iraq and yet at the same time one of our biggest allies is run by a dictator who has now dissolved the constitution (twice) and paralyzed democracy in his country. We are over a barrel and Musharraf knows it. We need him more then he needs us because Pakistan plays an integral part in the al-Qaeda fight. As well as the fact that they have nuclear weapons. So, we are basically forced to look the other way.

Bush is talking right now about the situation in Iraq and said that Musharraf has had a strong record on fighting extremists. Hmm but since the general is acting like an extremist himself, doesn't that mean he should declare war on himself?

Perhaps we wouldn't be in this predicament if we hadn't invaded Iraq and kept our troops in Afghanistan going after al-Qaeda more forcefully and thus not having to rely on Pakistan so much.

Here is a list of rights curtailed in the state of emergency:

• Protection of life and liberty.

• The right to free movement.

• The right of detainees to be informed of their offense and given access to lawyers.

• Protection of property rights.

• The right to assemble in public.

• The right to free speech.

• Equal rights for all citizens before law and equal legal protection.

• Media coverage of suicide bombings and militant activity is curtailed by new rules. Broadcasters also face a three-year jail term if they "ridicule" members of the government or armed forces.

The only difference between Musharraf and Bush is that Musharraf is doing this overtly whereas Bush is doing his own whittling away of rights covertly. Watch this closely because this could very well be America in 2 years if we don't make a drastic change.

Bush isn't against dictators, just ones who don't do what he wants.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out that Cheney is right now feverishly drawing up plans to invade Pakistan. They will be disappointed that they have to put their invasion plans of Iran on hold I'm sure.

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Halloween, Hunter Style

Johnny Depp as author Hunter S. Thompson in the cult classic movie, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" based on the book of the same title written by Thompson.

Hunter S. Thompson was revived last night, well sort of. This is the second Halloween that I have dressed up as the counterculture icon. He is one of my favorite writers and inspirations for my own writing. He was a touch crazy, a lot brilliant, fantastically weird, wild as they come and too bright for this world. So when he took his own life in 2005 I was deeply saddened to have lost one of my heroes but not the least bit surprised. It seems that no other death would be more fitting for his hell bent, balls to the wall life then suicide. Somehow poetically fitting for the original, "Dr. Gonzo" of journalism.

Well, today I am still marinating in his energy from channeling the pill popping, pot smoking, psycho-active indulging maverick genius, AKA Raoul Duke. Thus with coffee ripping through by blood stream at the speed of light I would like to honor the man, the myth and the legend by posting some of my favorite Hunter S. Thompson quotes:

Of course my favorite of his quotes can be found in my sidebar profile:

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.

America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up. You better take care of me Lord, if you don't you're gonna have me on your hands. Some may never live, but the crazy never die. Freedom is something that dies unless it's used.

We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we have entrusted to enforce those laws. Get out of control, but appear under control. It's not bad to alarm other people, though - it's good for them.

There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

P.S.~Bush is stoking the fires of the age old American tradition of fear again in a press conference as I type. Yep, it must be campaign season again. We have a two headed monster on our hands now by the name of Rudolph Giuliani Bush.

Now he's babbling incoherently that the Demcoratic controlled Congress needs to "reign in spending" yet he never once said that about the Congress when it was controlled by the Republicans. He never once vetoed any spending bill passed by those Republicans spending like drunken sailors. Yet now he's somehow found his veto pen but still can't seem to find the WMD.

How anyone can believe that this guy isn't a total asshole that is full of shit has their head too far up their own asshole to have any real perspective.

Whoever said that we have no where to go but up clearly didn't envision the baby Bush. No, there is somewhere to go but up and that is down, down, down the rabbit hole of Neo-Conservatism and our president is the Mad Hatter. We have now gone so far down that hole that the only where to go now is sideways and we have been spinning in circles for the last 7 years. And I don't know about you but I have been throwing up from the dizzying bullshit for so long that I don't think I (or America and the world for that matter) will stop spinning for at least a decade.

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