ch.annel2-i.s-n.ow-a.ngry

Metaphorically speaking, anyway.  Rhetorically speaking, however, we’ve lost none of that. But like some old dude, that some guy I know on the internet once knew, said, “Don’t judge a man by his words, judge a man by the way he treats his animals,” or in this case, one’s presidential duty. All we’ve got is people beating their chests about how tough they’re going to be on some vague ‘threats’ to our once-proud nation, and some also beating their chests at how much more diplomatic they will be than the other motherfucker is. The are much more polite about it, to be sure, but the message is there all the same. I personally don’t read more than one or two stories a week because they are all bullshit, posturing, manipulating their data in a subtle spin of edited truth and carefully selected nonmeaning.

George Bush is a war-hungry president, was a death-penalty hungry governor, was an incompetent businessman. I’m sure just about anybody could be a better president than him, and I’m sure there are some very good candidates out there. I’m equally sure that a very good candidate wont get elected, because they’re too good to have popular appeal and they are probably not a democrat or a republican. Unfortunately nowdays we have media whores and no third party chances at all. The old black and white dichotomy of US politics and foreign policy. But the general populace doesn’t wake the fuck up, ever it seems. Everyone loves the good vs. bad fairytail, the Christian and Islamic dichotomy of good vs. evil. We spend more time trashing the other guy than building our own selves up. Which would be better for all?

If I’m terrified of what George Bush might get to do this last year of his presidency, does that make George Bush a terrorist? No matter what, the Democratic opposition will not stand up for the voices roaring out of American polls. They are so afraid.

But models for reform are out there. Hospitals that don’t use the fee-for-service model, like those run by the Veterans Health Administration, are already getting better results for less money. They closely track their performance — that is, the health of their patients — and motivate employees to improve it.

As I’ve written before, there is nothing wrong with devoting a large chunk of our economy to medical care. Since the 1950s, doctors have made incredible progress against diseases that were once inevitably fatal. That progress is probably the finest human achievement of the last half century.

If we weren’t wasting so much money on overtreatment, it would be a lot easier to repeat the achievement over the next half century.

On a completely unrelated note, I have no idea why Reuters has it in their “terms of use” that you are not allowed to link to or quote their news stories (which is actually illegal but whatever), considering the more eyeballs that see their website the more ad money they get.

“Are you about worn out of all the television commercials you’ve been seeing, mostly about politics? I don’t blame you. At this time of year, sometimes it’s nice to pull aside from all that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ, and being with our family and our friends,” Huckabee said in the ad.

The spot has drawn attention from some because in the background as the camera pans across, the edges of what look to be a bookshelf in the background form a Christian cross.

Found this laughable bit of news in an article about how Hillary “feels the momentum building” (i.e. isn’t ahead in the polls). So, this ad is in question because the bookshelf may or may not be symbolic of the Christian cross. Not because he said “what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ.” That apparently isn’t Christian at all. However a bookshelf sporting 4 right angles, as many bookshelves do, especially the wall-to-wall kinds of fancy politicos, is a horribly subtle symbol that Mike Huckabee is indeed *gasp* Christian. After this Bush administration, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people aren’t paying attention to what anyone says.

AP Video Headline: Clinton Says Obama Drug Use Not an Issue 

Democrat Hillary Rhodium Clinton said suggestions of youthful drug use by rival Barack Obama are not an issue their heated campaign and distanced herself from a backer in New Hampshire who had raised the issue and has left her campaign. (Dec. 14)

The headline says that Clinton says Obama’s drug use is not an issue, implying that Obama has or has had drug taking experiences. The actual video clip is Hillary not apologizing for rumors one of her campaign staff started that Obama used drugs during his youth, and that the actual scandal is her mudslinging efforts. If someone didn’t read or view the video, they would think that Hillary was saying it was okay that Obama used drugs, or at least that his drug use is a non-issue.  That, kids, is why you don’t trust the media.

Also, the AP says in that blurb that Hillary’s middle name is Rhodium, not Rodham. That’s incredible.

Bucholtz argued that the tapes were not covered by Kennedy’s court order because Zubaydah and al-Nashiri were not at the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba. The men were being held overseas in a network of secret CIA prisons. By the time President Bush acknowledged the existence of those prisons and the prisoners were transferred to Guantanamo, the tapes had been destroyed.

Translation: we tortured them in another country and aren’t required to document that. And they ‘confessed’ so the torture was justified.

“It’s hard to know on the surface whether this is obstruction or an advancement of a legitimate inquiry.”

Translation: It could be that they are totally trying to hide evidence and the attourney general by telling us to mind our own business and not snoop could either mean he’s totally covering up for them, or he’s totally trying to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. We’ll just have to take his word on it for now.

“We’re going to find out if the trust Congress put in Attorney General Mukasey was well placed.”

Translation: This guy wouldn’t say whether he thought torture was torture or not, and it didn’t matter because he said it would only be a crime if our law said it was a crime.

The administration argued it was not obligated to preserve the videotapes and told U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy that demanding information about them “could potentially complicate the ongoing efforts to arrive at a full factual understanding of the matter.”

Translation: If you investigate this, it will stop us from telling you what we think you should think the truth ought to be. You might find some evidence that will get in the way of our reiteration of the facts.

MITT ROMNEY: I don’t believe it’s appropriate for me, as a presidential candidate, to lay out all of the issues one by one—

I don’t believe it’s appropriate for me, as a presidential candidate, to let you know everything I think. I do think it’s appropriate for me, as a presidential candidate, to say warm and fuzzy sounding things that don’t actually mean anything at all.

LOU DOBBS: This is a very difficult thing for ideologues like you two to contend with—that is, balancing two concepts at the same time.

Doublethink is the act of simultaneously and fervently holding two mutually contradictory beliefs.

That is Lou Dobbs responding to a question about why his private newsletter was recommending investment in the companies he would lambaste on his  show for destroying America through outsourcing.