Disqus - Latest Comments for bigassbelle

Re: Where Were You?

bigassbelle — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:59:00 -0000

this was magnificent. i got goosebumps and my hair stood on end. i was rooting for edwards, but this was so exciting and it will be a lifetime memory and now i'm an obama girl. that speech . . . the fact that white iowa went for obama. i am thrilled.

Re: Hillary: You Negroes Better Thank The White Man For Your Rights

bigassbelle — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:42:00 -0000

i have listened to her statement twice. try as i might, i could not hear that the entire movement was for nothing. she did not diminish the efforts of the activists or of MLK or of those who were injured and died in the struggle for equal rights.

short of overthrowing a government and starting from scratch ~ not a bad idea, but it didn't happen ~ the movement had to have legislative support to make lasting change.

it is typical of the media as a whole that the recounting of her speech leaves out the portions that actually support her point. there's nothing in the speech that would indicate anything but the greatest admiration of MLK and the movement in general.

as a veteran of the effort to pass the ERA, the one which failed in the '80s due to lack of presidential support and lack of congressional support, what she said is true.

that being said, this is how we're going to do it, us democrats. in an election year when we're turning out in droves to vote for a new (god save us from the present) president, we'll manage to shoot ourselves in the foot and let the bastards win again.

Re: Hillary: You Negroes Better Thank The White Man For Your Rights

bigassbelle — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:43:00 -0000

ANY president would have had to listen to the movement of mlk. first, because the politicians are supposed to represent the people. second, because human rights demanded it.

sooner or later, with lbj or anyone thereafter, human rights had to be installed in the us. and political power had to be truely representative.

that is why i see absolutely no special place for the president who finally behaved as a democrat, and who finally brought justice. he only executed what democratically and legally was required.

i see your point to a point ;-) marc. but i fear you are very optimistic. but let's consider first the fact that the president ~ nor any other individual with sufficient power to legislate ~ did not listen to the people on the ERA. that was significant movement as well and one which was, in the end, refused.

but i don't want to compare movements, not at all, and i don't want to diminish in any way the struggle for civil rights which has been the pinnacle of all movements, my opinion only. but they are rights, not gifts, and shouldn't require laws to make change, you're right. and yet this country is a nation of laws and given human nature and the history of racism and prejudice in this country, without law, without legislating those rights, i don't think things would have changed. just my opinion.

but then again . . . imagine this president, this administration, this congress faced with the same outrage of the people, the same demands of the people, the same voices raised over injustice, demanding change. they represent us too. supposedly.

but if you think change would happpen now, you're far more optimistic than i am. the kind of dissent and activism that was a regular thing in the '60s would land folks in guantanimo these days. just my opinion, again, and it all just makes me so tired that i'm going to shut up now.

except for this: i love obama. love him. i cried listening to his speech post-NH. my heart lifted, i felt the most extravagant rush of hope and excitement and joy. it was incredible. i think having him as president of this country would be a magnificent thing. and i also love hillary clinton. i am deeply disturbed by what i've been hearing and i mistrust the messenger ~ the right wing -controlled media in this country ~ and will wait to see what happens.

Re: Hillary: You Negroes Better Thank The White Man For Your Rights

bigassbelle — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:19:00 -0000

got it, marc. and i regret to say that i never thought about it that way.

though i have to say, too, that until this whole public blowup i never thought of the legislative aspect of the changes. it was the movement itself that changed my life, changed my view of the world. i wasn't thinking for a minute about what was going on in washington. it was people in the streets and the power of that.

with the exception of his insistent drive for bipartisanship (puke), that's what i get from obama: that excitement, we can change the world, we can make this a better place, come together, be better together than we ever will be alone.

i just want him to drop the bipartisanship. no. bipartisan means dems bend over and the rethugs give us a swift kick in the ass. or an ass fu**in dry. it's ugly. bipartisan doesn't work with these people. they've seized control of this country and we must ~ MUST ~ seize it back. i don't know how we can do that by being bipartisan when we're so far dangling over the right wing cliff we're just about done for.

he is brilliant, not blind, nobody's fool. in his position, he can ill afford to express the justified, righteous anger that is the only proper response to what bush & co. has done to us.

i hope president obama finds his pissed off voice. i need to hear that from him.

thanks for the enlightenment. i do appreciate it.

Re: Black Voters in Michigan Prefer Uncommitted over Clinton

bigassbelle — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:48:00 -0000

i would love to read something here about obama's economic policies in comparison to the other two frontrunners. i think he's recently come out with a stimulus package for this wretched, failing economy. how does that stack up against clinton? edwards? i've been on the road the last couple of days, suffering news deprivation. any news coming up here on that front? thx!!

Re: Attacks on Obama Wiki Update

bigassbelle — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:48:00 -0000

what on earth is Obama doing holding Ronald Reagan up as a progressive model???? does he have a plan with this? what is he doing????

Re: Hungry, Hungry Huckabee

bigassbelle — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:35:00 -0000

huckabee is a chameleon and, though his motives are transparent and obvious to anyone willing to dig deeper than the aw shucks dimpled big eyed grinning country boy affect, that is, tragically, not the vast majority of americans.

this shit works. that's why he terrifies me. witness his recent blather about amending the constitution to come into line with God's laws . . . one would think that would wake people up, but no, he moves up in the SC polls.

i believe this country clown is as devious and underhanded and backstabbing and dishonest as any politician ever to seek public office. what makes him so dangerous is that he wraps it all up in an inoffensive, almost sweet, populist exterior.

i'm sure no one here has forgotten the down home country boy appeal of george bush. folks could imagine having a beer with him and thus assumed he would be a great president. i choke as i write that shit, given the disaster of the last 7 years.

lord save us from this squirrel eating soft voiced grinning fool. he terrifies me.

___

Re: John Conyers Moves To Block Vote Caging

bigassbelle — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:09:00 -0000

more than any other single factor, i fear that the rethugs have this election in the bag because they've spent the last four years refining and honing their dirty trick skills.

witness the state of kansas GOP chair, who bragged in an email to rethugs in that state how successful had been the efforts of the GOP to "identify and cage" more voters in the most recent 11 months than in the entire two years. so proud of it too.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/12/26/kansas-gop-chair-sends-email-boasting-of-voter-caging/

scared they're going to steal it again.

Re: Making Obama The Angry Black Man

bigassbelle — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:25:00 -0000

i hate the fucking media. it is virtually impossible for any democrat to win with them. there is SO much fodder for their propaganda machine on the other side of the race, but the rethugs aren't hounded or confronted and their behavior isn't exaggerated to make a point.

i have been afraid since Obama became a frontrunner that there would be an effort to paint him as the (ever frightening, oh my!) Angry Black Man. it's outrageous, because this clip, for anyone who watches it, makes it apparent he is being dogged by the media and is simply responding. quite gracefully, i might add.

the same thing happened when Clinton got choked up. she was far from weeping and wailing boo hoo crying, but you'd never know that listening to the various talking heads. unless you actually saw the clip, you'd think she lost it and was gnashing teeth, rending garments, weeping and wailing.

which is what i am prone to do these days looking at the obstacle course before us on the road to november. the democrats have so refined the art of screwing up, i just wonder if we can hold it together and win the oval office AS WE MUST in november, come hell or high water, or we will lose the courts at every level.

bush's primary damage has not been on the supreme court, though that's bad enough. but at every level of the court system he has installed right wing zealots who are, and will continue to, control what makes it to the supreme court.

kiss equal rights good. goodbye roe v. wade. check ya later civil rights. no luck in reviving habeus corpus. we will be well and truly fucked. we MUST have a democratic president.

Re: My Boy Derrick Ashong Holds It DOWN For Obama and Intelligence

bigassbelle — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:24:00 -0000

who is that hostile jackass interview him? what a tool. arrogant, presumptive, condescending twit.

unfortunately, ALL of the candidates have it wrong on health care. and the interviewer has got to be a right wing shill, suggesting that healthcare costs $119 a month from blue cross. what an idiot. off topic, but my premium's $768 a month for two.

NONE of the candidates have it right on this issue. until the insurance companies are OUT of the health care business, until the profit factor is removed, we are going to be dealing with this issue and the proposed solutions are not, i fear, going to be effective.

the thing i am most distressed about is the rethugs are tagging the insurance-for-all efforts of the dems as socialized medicine and welfare for healthcare. because i don't think these methods CAN succeed, this will be taken as proof that healthcare for all CAN'T succeed.

remember that the rethugs don't want us to have anything. ever.

bill kristol, right wing fuckhead tool and an architect of the iraq debacle and half of the bush disasters, insisted that the rethugs should KILL healthcare reform. KILL it. no compromise. kill it dead.

his theory was this: The success of the Clinton proposal, he warned, would “re-legitimize middle-class dependence for ‘security’ on government spending and regulation”, and “revive ... the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests.”

sweet Jesus, i hate these right wing bastards. hate them.

Re: My Boy Derrick Ashong Holds It DOWN For Obama and Intelligence

bigassbelle — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:03:00 -0000

i do hope Derrick will rethink his comment about voting for john mccain if obama doesn't make the nomination. mccain will bush x 10, a complete disaster on every front. mccain is not a viable alternative to obama.

obama '08. all the way.

Re: An Important Reminder Of Why I Support Obama - Empowerment

bigassbelle — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:47:00 -0000

healthcare is my only sticking point with wholehearted all or nothing support of obama. he's still my candidate, but my personal experience with the corrupt, broken healthcare "system" in this country likely contributes to the hopeless feeling i get when folks talk about optional healthcare.

the problem with healthcare in this country is that it is a profitmaking enterprise for insurance and drug companies. that's the free market for you. free market principles simply do not work when it comes to this very basic issue: that everyone should be able to have access to health care, no matter what.

we already have socialized medicine in this country. we simply need to expand and improve it. in the last seven years, since my husband became ill, we have spent more than $200,000 out of pocket on health care and we have the best health insurance available through my former employer. premiums of $768 a month, copays of $50-100 for each prescription, doctor's office visits, deductibles and on and on and ON it goes.

i recognize and am grateful for the fact that we managed to get through this. medical bills are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy for most people. no one expects to become ill. it can't be predicted. but no one should have to deal with the disaster that is chronic illness for even the insured in this country.

i will never forget a recent ER visit late one night with my husband. we were waiting for the doctor to come and listening to the man one curtained room over. i'd gotten a look at him earlier, a black man about my age, looking pretty rough, hacking and coughing and retching.

the sounds of it were making me kind of sick, the roiling, liquidy, phlegmy sound of all of that coughing. i am ashamed to admit that i was becoming a little annoyed with him. you know, that selfish, impatient, can't you quit coughing and hush, i have important stuff to attend to. and i can't help but cry as i write this because i remember what happened shortly after my irritation began.

the doctor came in to see him. apparently this man had been there quite a bit longer than we had, long enough to get chest x-rays and a CT.

the doctor told him that he had metastatic lung cancer, that he had spots on his liver, in his brain, that there was an immense mass at the base of his esophagus. and then he said "where have you been getting treatment, i see you had surgery here for removal of that lung two years ago."

the answer: "i didn't get treatment. i didn't have any insurance, i didn't have a doctor. when the surgeon released me, i didn't see anyone again. i didn't have any money and i hadn't been able to work."

i'm paraphrasing, but the essence is that this man had surgery, but none of the usual follow-up of chemotherapy or radiation because he was poor, had no insurance and no money.

i'm sure he's dead by now. the doctor told him he had a few weeks, that they could try to keep him comfortable as the cancer ate up his esophagus and into his lungs. he was hacking and coughing and spitting up so much because he couldn't breathe around the growths.

this is what happens when people are given the option of purchasing health care. people who can't afford it won't get it and they then face the potential of ending up like this man and so many others who lose their lives every day for lack of care.

the corporate ownership of our government has simply gone too far. i love barack obama. i am fond of hillary clinton. i will cast my vote for obama if i get the chance, if the big people, the grownups, don't take that opportunity away from me.

and i have to tell you, as marc pointed out above, if that happens, if the party officials and the super delegates go against the will of the people of this party and those who vote with us for change, i will dust off those canadian immigration papers and get the hell out of this country. i fear it is too late for us in george bush's america.

Re: An Important Reminder Of Why I Support Obama - Empowerment

bigassbelle — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:32:00 -0000

Even in Barack's stump speechs, he makes it clear that he will raise Warren Buffet's taxes despite Warren Buffet giving him a fundraiser.

Warren Buffett is in the vanguard of a movement urging his fellow billion-billion-billion-billion-aires and their lesser million-million-million-aire brothers and sisters to pay more taxes. He wants his taxes raised, believes it's necessary, has given away billions and billions of dollars to the Gates Foundation, who use the $$ to address childrens' health issues in 3d world countries and other overlooked needs in this cruel world.

Buffett asserts that it is outrageous that he, as the 2d richest man in america (the world? can't recall) pays an effective tax rate less than his secretary. I agree. It's outrageous.

Buffet is one of the good guys who opposes the misnamed "death tax" and recognizes that those who have benefited from society, from good fortune of birth and advantage, owe something to those not so well positioned.

That's a humane view of people and it contrasts directly with the view of the average republican, which can be boiled down to "i got mine, to hell with you."

Just a bit of info on one of my heroes, Mr. Warren B, who drives an ordinary car and has lived in the same house for years and years.

He's a good guy who has given money to Obama and to Clinton because he believes the democratic approach is good for all people and he's in favor of their views on healthcare and education.

Re: Obama Wins Maine Caucus

bigassbelle — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:11:00 -0000

and don't think I'm not cracking up at NBC finding one of the 10 Black people that live in Maine...LOL

i love that image. but i have no doubt NBC chose it just to plant the idea in (white) folks' minds that it is only the black folk who are voting for obama.

that is what i fear most about the general election if obama wins the nomination: that it will turn into black against white, fueled by fuckheads like pat buchanan.

i initially had some reservations about obama because i was not confident that he had enough fight in him to beat back these republican bastards who have ruined our country.

and then it occurred to me that, as a black man, he is not allowed to show ANY anger, bitterness, resentment. he is walking a thin line here in that he must be perceived as NOT jesse and NOT al in order to avoid being painted as a throwback to the 60s and the civil rights fight.

i just finished The Audacity of Hope and i am more convinced that he's got the fight, that he absolutely gets it and that he can go all the way.

still not happy with the health care issue. not happy that he went campaigning with donnie mcclurkin. oh well. i don't have to have a perfect candidate, but i want one who recognizes that i'm alive in the us of a.

by the way, white, not jewish, red state. obama's my guy. i was heartened by the fact that my bible thumpin' baptist country girl mother-in-law cast her primary vote for edwards, because he was her candidate all along, but her next choice was obama.

the audacity of hope.

Re: Obama Wins Maine Caucus

bigassbelle — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:18:00 -0000

this is fantastic . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs

so many things going for barack, but being opposed to the war from the beginning will probably win more converts than anything.

Re: My Goodness, Paul Krugman Is So Full Of Hate

bigassbelle — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:49:00 -0000

Obama's health care policy is very disappointing. I go whole heartedly for him and then I reread that and I back off. I hope he can take another look before November.

Re: Derrick Ashong’s Powerful EMOTIONAL Response To His Obama Interview (video)

bigassbelle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:10:00 -0000

oh my goodness, i am just horrified by the people who say "it's obama or i'll vote for mccain."

please, please people, if obama fails to win the nomination (which i don't think will happen), INVESTIGATE MCCAIN. the man is an angry warmonger with no knowledge of economics (after how many years in the senate?) and nothing on his mind but more tax cuts for the rich.

MCCAIN IS NOT AN ALTERNATIVE TO OBAMA. never never never. please don't even joke about it.

that being said, i love this young man's passion. that inspires me as much as anything.

Re: Derrick Ashong’s Powerful EMOTIONAL Response To His Obama Interview (video)

bigassbelle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:13:00 -0000

just one more thing. it is amazing to me that throughout the reign of terror of ronnie raygun and four years of GHW bush and now almost 8 long and horrifying years of GW bush, i have heard nothing ~ NOTHING ~ about bipartisanship.

it is only when the democrats appear to be ascendant, only when it looks as if the power may be wrested away from the rethugs for a brief period of time, that everyone begins yapping about bipartisanship.

here's what bipartisanship means:

democrats bend over

republicans give us a lubeless fuck in the ass

bipartianship. fuck bipartisanship.

Re: Derrick Ashong’s Powerful EMOTIONAL Response To His Obama Interview (video)

bigassbelle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:27:00 -0000

and one more thing (just one more, promise) ~ all of these cries for bipartisanship from the republicans??? give me a break.

they have persistently voted as a bloc to prevent any significant legislation passing in congress. they ALWAYS vote together and then shriek about bipartisanship when we do, and their scare tactics are sufficient invariably to convince a few weak willed pussies in democrat clothes to come to their side.

this is the fact of politics in this country: conservatism as a theory of government has failed. repeatedly. we don't need to bipartisanly join with those people. it has not worked. period. end of story. new story, new theory, please.

Re: Derrick Ashong’s Powerful EMOTIONAL Response To His Obama Interview (video)

bigassbelle — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:28:00 -0000

anonymous, on which issues is he not in the center?

Re: Barack’s Rock: Michelle Obama on the cover of Newsweek

bigassbelle — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:46:00 -0000

traditionally, it seems that our first ladies are always at the top of the list of most admired women for years while at the white house and after.

i could not be more thrilled to see millions of women at last, finally, thank you God have someone like her to look up to.

women like me. she is fabulous. love her.

Re: File this under the ‘ Y’all think I’m paranoid, BUT..’

bigassbelle — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 23:53:00 -0000

it would seem that there were districts that also recorded zero votes for clinton, according to Kos.

this is the tip of the iceberg, a disaster we'll be facing in november and likely the reason the rethugs are so complacent and so smug.

after stealing two elections, they have simply refined and honed their techniques. there's no real need to get a candidate they like or to campaign seriously. their intention is to disenfranchise voters and to steal the election once again.

every registered democrat and independent should regularly check his/her voter registration up to the date. they are purging the roles through caging and other illegal practices and it will continue. by far the vast majority of voters disenfranchised are democrats.

do not trust these people, they will fuck us every time.

Re: John McCain - Playa?

bigassbelle — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:56:00 -0000

the mccain we hear about from his mouth and from the mouths of the adoring media asshats is a myth.

the real mccain sways like wheat in the winds of public opinion and political expediency. he changes positions faster than mitt romney, yet they never call him on this.

my understanding is that this story has been on hold now for months and it has been under assault from mccain's very powerful attorneys.

that being the case, since the NYT printed it anyway, i imagine there's a whole lot more to this than we're reading.

ironic that this comes up just in time to take the heat off of bill o'reilly's despicable, shameful, worth-of-firing comments about michelle obama and lynching.

and as for being a cheat and a manipulator and a con and one who is obligated to corporate interests, he is as spotted as any leopard in the jungle.

he's just another pandering, flip-flopping, power-hungry, entitled, old man seduced by youth and beauty, without a true moral center of any kind.

that, i hope, is what the rethugs who think mccain is a saint will see.

and somewhere . . . maybe in arkansas, maybe in texas, a dimpled Bible thumpin' half educated Baptist preacher is sinking his teeth into a hunk of fried squirrel and smacking his lips, thinking deeeeeeelicious.

Re: Smears Working? 13 Percent Of Voters Believe Obama Is A Muslim (Updated)

bigassbelle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:12:00 -0000

I hear this all the time. "He's a muslim." Makes me crazy.

The change in people who don't know is frightening. I suspect a bunch of those folks thought he is Christian, have been hearing the Muslim bullshit, and now are uncertain.

More disturbing though is the recent appearance of Obama's minister's rants on youtube and elsewhere.

That is going to devastate his campaign; it will be the end. It won't take many plays of "God damn America" to rile up the right, presently a little despondent over their candidate, and turn off a lot of those independents who've been supporting Obama.

The minister from Chicago is going to be the end of Barack. What a heartbreak. And I have to wonder what on earth he was thinking, as a politician, to affiliate with this man for 15-20 years?

Everything that lunatic shrieks from the pulpit supports all of the subtext of the attacks on Obama: Michelle Obama is not proud of her country; Barack Obama won't say the pledge of allegiance, won't wear a flag on his lapel; Barack's a Muslim, he's antisemitic.

I knew it was too good to be true, that we could truly have a change in this country. There is really no hope for any democratic candidate against the right wing machine.

Re: Trying to Attack Obama Through His Church

bigassbelle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:25:00 -0000

this pastor is going to kill obama's campaign. kill it.

the difference between the hideous rod parsley and that fucking lunatic hagee is that mccain didn't sit in church with those fools for 15-20 years.

the difference, too, is that they rant and rave on gays, a prejudice deeply shared by many on the right and the left, and one which is still socially acceptable in most circles.

this clown ranting God damn America is going to kill this campaign. i am so fucking heartbroken i can hardly stand it.

and with regard to the pastor from chicago, who i am sure has done an incredible amount of good, i am white and i have attended mt. zion baptist church off and on for years. i was married by the african american pastor of that church and he has been a spiritual guide for me forever.

i have never, not once, ever ever ever heard anything from him like the shit that flows from the mouth of this guy who has destroyed the obama campaign.

i just give up. there is no hope for my country. the only solution is to get out.

Re: Smears Working? 13 Percent Of Voters Believe Obama Is A Muslim (Updated)

bigassbelle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:01:00 -0000

Rhonda, I hope you're right, but I'm afraid this thing with the minister has barely begun.

Maybe 8 years of Karl Rove have left me gunshy, but I don't even have to put on my little tinfoil to see this as the plan all along.

They let him build up momentum, look like he's going to take it, then start rolling this shit out, one video at a time.

The first I saw of this man was watching Jon Stewart this morning ~ last night's show. It was absolutely shocking and it is going to go viral on the internet. Lord, I hope not, but I am so afraid this is it, this is the end because hardly anyone's really aware of it now. It's take months for the Muslim thing to really take hold and now pastor shut the fuck up . . . i am so fucking depressed.

Re: Trying to Attack Obama Through His Church

bigassbelle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:32:00 -0000

"People need to not buy into what the media is telling you and go read...find out for yourself.

That is patently true. However, if the general public were willing to do that, we wouldn't have been lied into a disastrous war in Iraq, Bush wouldn't be able to pass of telecom/Bush crony immunity as being in the interest of security and on and on and on.

Soundbytes make or break a campaign. It happened to Kerry. It happened to Gore. By the time both of those men were at the point of the vote, they'd been trivialized and demonized in the media to the point that folks STILL believe Gore said he singlehandedly invented the internet and folks STILL believe Kerry's medals were bogus and based on lies.

This is one horrendous soundbyte because it is 180 degrees from Obama's beliefs. I'm going to say it's 180 degrees from his beliefs but I am deathly afraid that an enormous number of folks are going to assume that it's 180 from his professed beliefs and that is a distinct and devastating difference.

And here I'll tell you something else, from the white point of view, from the point of view of someone who has fought long and hard for equality for all people for more than 30 years:

When I hear that coming from Wright's mouth I hear it and I understand it and then there's a big piece of me that rises up and says it is hopeless, I, we, my people, cannot ever win, we cannot ever undo**, we cannot make it better, there is no hope.

Fast on the heels of no hope comes fuck it, why try.

**my people not here until 1893. just for the record.

Re: Barack Obama: On My Faith And My Church

bigassbelle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:00:00 -0000

excellent. my first deep breath since i first saw a clip of that crazy preacher.

Re: Barack Obama: On My Faith And My Church

bigassbelle — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:56:00 -0000

Anonymous . . .

Where wa the out rage and indignation when John Hagee said New Orleans was hit by Katrina because of a gay pride parade? Or his knocking of Jews?? Or, the vile homophobic Rod parsley? they are endorsing McCain. What about the lies and bigotry of pat Robertson and spinning in the underworld Jerry Falwell, or is it because its a "black" preacher its news?

The difference is that Obama has been a member of that church for years and years.

Rod Parsley is a complete hatemongering nutbag fool, but McCain's not a member of his church. Neither is he a member of that jackass Hagee's church in Texas.

Re: Smears Working? 13 Percent Of Voters Believe Obama Is A Muslim (Updated)

bigassbelle — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 09:39:00 -0000

In a general election, the media will do a better job at getting the public to know Obama; right now they are influenced way too much by Hillary to do their job properly.

Anonymous, you have lost your mind. The media??? Are you crazy?? The same media that destroyed Kerry will try to destroy Barack Obama or Clinton. It doesn't matter which democratic candidate runs, the media will join forces with corporate power and their ass sucking rethug friends to destroy the candidate.

If you're relying on the media to straighten this out, you are delusional. They will only make it worse.

Re: Big Up Andrew Sullivan on Pastor Wright

bigassbelle — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:04:00 -0000

. . . and the hard work of saving their undeserving asses.

They should be on bended knee begging him to save them.

you have got to be kidding. do you think he's a saint? good grief. he's a man and a politician. he's not going to save anybody. if there's any saving to be done it's going to come from a (finally, at long last, thank you Jesus) interested and active dumbass america.

if people had long ago shut off the damn tv and turned away from the stupid video games and all of the ridiculously commercial pop culture crap that obsesses people in this country, it would have become clear that we are in deep shit.

the next president is going to have a hell of an uphill battle to recover from what bush has done to us. he or she needs to be a hardass and a kickass fighter and it's not going to be a single handed save.

without a solid seriously democratic congress ~ none of these bush dogs asses who have been standing in the way of progress since 2006 ~ his or her hands will be tied too.

it's a shitty job to take. the country is facing disaster on every front and the populace is splintered.

sometimes i come here and read these posts and i don't even think you're hearing the man. unity? seriously? are you hearing that??

that ridiculous statement above makes me think not.

Re: Trinity UCC’s Palm Sunday Statement

bigassbelle — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:05:00 -0000

Just as I had feared, this is snowballing into a disaster. WHAT WRIGHT MEANT DOESN'T MATTER!! Much of what he says I agree with, and it doesn't matter.

It seems that everyone here is missing the point: elections are won or lost on soundbytes.

The soundbytes relating to Pastor Wright are, taken out of context, without any understanding of history, inflammatory and shocking and deeply troubling to many Americans.

You can debate the why of it all day long. The fact is that this is a campaign, an election process, and these soundbytes from Wright are going to kill Obama's candidacy.

He cannot get past this, there isn't any way. He can go on the cable news networks and write all of the explanations he wants to, he cannot combat the power of those words from Wright's mouth.

I AM NOT SAYING IT'S RIGHT. It's just a fact. There was no truth to the bullshit that killed Kerry. There was no truth to the crap they spun about Al Gore.

They'll pull these statements out and make a 30 second commercial of this and Obama's "just words" and get a picture of him with Wright and that will be that.

The message won't be hitting people like you or me come October. It will be hitting people who are casually interested in politics, who vote, certainly, who are proud Americans, and who will be HORRIFIED and OUTRAGED and ANGRY about Wright's statements.

It's the end of Obama. It is a tragedy. And frankly, I'm pretty pissed about it in part because Obama should have known better. He knew this shit was out there and he did nothing. Now he's all we've got in the Democratic party, and not only that, this awakens those old complaints about Democrats, that we're radicals and left wing commie zealots and all of that.

Welcome President John Fucking McCain. God help us.

Re: Another Scary Aspect To the Bigoted Attacks On Obama: Kids Fighting In School

bigassbelle — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:10:00 -0000

It is a big mistake, however, to assume that anyone who supports Clinton is doing so because they're racist. Big mistake and false assumption.

If I'm excited about my candidate and think he or she's all that, it's easy to imagine that there's some overriding reason why the others don't get my candidate's fabulosity.

For Clinton supporters, it's because people are misogynistic. Unfortunately, it seems for Obama supporters, it's often assumed that those who don't support are racist.

In both cases that's true for some, but certainly not all. Pays to remember that, I think.

Re: Transcript Of Obama Speech: A More Perfect Union (Now With Video) - Update 2

bigassbelle — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:55:00 -0000

anonymous, you brave thing. He was drawing a comparison between Pastor Wright's "incendiary" speech and his grandmother's use racial epithets which make him cringe, just as Wright's language has made many white folks cringe.

Message: It comes from both sides

Answer: Honest, painful, open discussion and unity.

That being said. Magnificent.

Do you hear him?

Re: Transcript Of Obama Speech: A More Perfect Union (Now With Video) - Update 2

bigassbelle — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:41:00 -0000

AND ANOTHER THING:

The entire speech is an indictment of our pathetic political process which has devolved into a game of gotcha!

Witness the gleam in Tim Russert's eye as he asks the democratic candidates questions: At 3:13 p.m. on October 19, 2003, you said . . . . and last week you said . . .

Our present system of campaigning and media games prohibits any nuance, any transformation, any evolution of ideas.

More than anything it appears that the nitwits who pass for reporters are simply trying to pin a candidate down in order to trick them up at some point in the future.

It is that, I am convinced, that makes most folks feel so hopeless and disgusted with our political process.

The magnificence of this speech is that it is absolutely nuanced and elegant and true. Except for those who frequent the freepers site (and those people have lost their minds, truly, obsessing over Ronald Reagan, may he rest in peace without these people constantly invoking him as if he's the second coming), I believe that will resonate with voters.

Magnificent speech. I expect it will make us all want to be better than we are.

Re: Iraq 5 Years Later: I Am Ashamed (I Beg You. Read, Watch and Act)

bigassbelle — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:17:00 -0000

just as in the country at large, this eloquent post about the tragedy of iraq draws little interest.

7 comments above my own, while the latest clinton v. obama outrage has dozens.

george bush's campaign to make this war invisible has been almost wholly effective. what a fucking travesty.

dick cheney, when told 2/3 of the american people want the war to end:

"So?"

the american people, when told of the ongoing tragedy of iraq:

"So?"

Re: Open Thread: Iraq — Five Years Later

bigassbelle — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:20:00 -0000

and another iraq post with a single comment. tragic.

that 71% of Americans are making a connection between the ballooning war spending and the sinking economy re-assures me that as a nation, we are ready to act like grown people instead of bullies flailing their fists indiscriminately.

it is heartbreaking that only when we can see it affecting us personally, in this country, does ending the war draw some interest.

sometimes i hate my people.

Re: Senator McCain, do you believe abortion is genocidal plot against black Americans?

bigassbelle — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:27:00 -0000

and here's another point:

a number of GOP tools, including tom delay, have made the connection between abortion and illegal immigration.

Tom DeLay: " "If we had those 40 million children that were killed over the last 30 years, we wouldn't need the illegal immigrants to fill the jobs that they are doing today. Think about it."

Democratic traitor Zell Miller connects abortion with a lack of soldiers. This country needs more bodies to sacrifice on the altar of corporatism and greed.

it's only a tiny leap in my mind from their view of abortion (as black genocide) to providing workers (slaves?) we now get from Mexico.

and when it comes down to Reverend Wright's allegedly most wretched comments God damn America, never forget that the republican suckass tools Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell said this after 9/11:

JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters -- the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats -- what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact -- if, in fact -- God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well yes.

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system..

JERRY FALWELL: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged". In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time - calling upon God. ~~~

PAT ROBERTSON: > Amen

This is what we're fighting, these insane religious zealots. God ~ the real one ~ help us all.

Re: Senator McCain, do you believe abortion is genocidal plot against black Americans?

bigassbelle — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:29:00 -0000

I can't help but put that out again:

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

two of the most respected men in the right wing machine, falwell and robertson, saying people like me ~ feminist, abortion-having, pagan in my time ~ caused 9/11.

madness. fuck these people.

Re: Iraq 5 Years Later: Obama’s Perspective

bigassbelle — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:52:00 -0000

I don't know how people can hear him speak and not be moved by his insight, intellect, vision.

Greenwood, Arkansas, late last night. I'm at an auction, chatting with an auction buddy, someone I see there regularly.

We discuss the campaign. He didn't vote in the primary. Likes none of them, says Obama's a Muslim. Went to a madrassa. Once a Muslim, always a Muslim and all Muslims, everywhere, want to kill Christians. All of them.

Sometimes I feel so fucking hopeless I can hardly stand it. He has to win this thing. Has to.

Re: The Amazing Racism of Pat Buchanan. Be Not Surprised

bigassbelle — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:19:00 -0000

i can't continue to the full post because this racist jackass makes me feel physically ill.

damn, all this blather about the anger of reverend wright, and i don't think you'll find an angrier man than pat buchanan.

scratch this little combover motherfucker and there's a screeching bigoted lunatic inside.

he scares the shit out of me and i'm white. what a pathetic creature he is, and how outrageous that he's given a prominent platform at msnbc.

Re: Go On Brush Ya Shoulders Off

bigassbelle — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:22:00 -0000

Rachel Maddow is a rug muncher and I'm not down with the lesbian poliitcal agenda to destroy men and the traditional family. Political lesbians are toxic to the healthy development of society through the effort to neutralize traditional positive and masculine male roles in exchange for effiminated psuedo men.

Oh hahahahaha!!! that is so funny! I'm wiping tears from my eyes, my sides are hurting and you are just . . .

wait. what the fuck? you're not joking? then you are a jackass.

as to my candidate, Barack Obama, i have listened to this clip about eight times because he is magnificent.

and as for the highly educated rhodes scholar rachel maddow, she would be a superb in any position at all. she is brilliant, astute, funny as hell, and gorgeous to boot.

Re: Daily Open Thread- Greetings to a New Week

bigassbelle — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:28:00 -0000

i am reading naomi klein's "shock doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism."

it should be mandatory reading for every american citizen. it explains everything. everything.

i am still in a state of shock (and horror and rage) over it. it is stunning. and it is a call to action.

please read it, people. we will never get anywhere until we overcome corporate control of our governments world wide.

Re: Rev. Michael Pfleger Holds It Down In Fox Interview On Wright, Farrakhan and "Hate"

bigassbelle — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:04:00 -0000

that was just excellent. it reminds me of how weary i am of being talked down to by politicians and religious people and all of the "grown ups" in this country.

this man speaks the truth and points out the idiocy of those who seek to spread lies.

he's just like obama. obama speaks the truth and he treats us like adults. how utterly refreshing.

so jack! where are you? how's it looking?? what's going on in PA????

Re: CNN: Terrible For Democracy?

bigassbelle — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:03:00 -0000

i am so sick of this shit. these demographics mean NOTHING. it's a dem v dem campaign, so wtf?

folks are making their choices now, who cares? they'll vote for the candidate in november. no matter the demographic. because most of america just wants to stop george bush from a 3d term.

this is idiocy. i despise cnn. msnbc. all of these fuckheads.

Re: How Does Obama Do It?

bigassbelle — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:05:00 -0000

don't despair, jack. it's going to be okay. when obama has the chance to speak without all of these distractions, people cannot help but be moved and changed by it.

this will happen. i know it will. don't give up.

Re: Sean Bell’s Killers ACQUITTED

bigassbelle — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:29:00 -0000

50? and the white one stopped and reloaded and shot more? that's insanity.

i did hear that there were still federal charges pending. hopefully some justice there.

Re: Even Obama Snowed By McCain "Cred"

bigassbelle — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:33:00 -0000

mccain is utterly without ethics. it's evident in his entire history, even predating his service in congress.

i have no doubt that he's reveling in the fact of this ad being out there, while officially taking the high road.

and this is precisely his plan for now. he's out of money, so he's on every talk show, making little news items, helped along by his ass sucking fawning toadies in the press.

this is perfect for him. he gets to look like the good guy ~ because no one could imagine that St. John McCain could do what was done to him in 2000 ~ while benefiting from the fact of the ad.

it's even better, because now he publicly denounces it and looks like such an ethical candidate, but i am 100% certain that he's thrilled.

john mccain is scum. he's dangerous. god help us if he wins.

Re: Monday Open Thread - How was the weekend?

bigassbelle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:35:00 -0000

Bill Moyers did an interview with Rev. Wright that absolutely rocked my world. And CNN ran his address at the NAACP gathering in Detroit and it was fantastic. I feel like I've taken a deep breath for the first time in ages because I am convinced this will help.

I wish Obama had been more confrontational with Fox and I hate that Fox was legitimized by him going there. BUT I can see why he did it AND I understand the fine line he has to walk with the anger thing.

I am encouraged that his blogger is a socialist. Yay.

And this registration drive is pretty kickass:

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/04/obama_launches_3.html

Re: Jeremiah Wright On BIll Moyers

bigassbelle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:12:00 -0000

oh evita, do you think so? i didn't see it all ~ had to record for later, but caught some of the Q&A; and it seemed to me that he is just a brilliant, thoughtful, highly educated man pointing out the hypocrisy and stupidity in so much of what passes for news and our public discourse.

i absolutely LOVED his answer to the question about whether God loves everyone. it was perfect. fight that, conservative judgmental fuckheads. it's God's word.

oh but of course they will fight it, just as they condemn gays because God says so, and ignore God's word on adultery as they frolic with their hookers and 2d and 3d wives.

Re: Monday Open Thread - How was the weekend?

bigassbelle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:17:00 -0000

I wish he would have had the LOVE for Obama to abstain from self-defense until the nomination is wrapped up. To me, his self-defense tour is ego based.

to me, his get to know me not the bullshit tour is precisely what needs to happen now. he's making a clear separation between who he is, as former pastor of the biggest black church in chicago, and barack obama's candidacy.

two separate things. separate. that's critical.

Re: Jeremiah Wright On BIll Moyers

bigassbelle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:00:00 -0000

i heard a grownup talking to other grownups, just like obama does.

i'm guardedly optimistic that the american people will respond to that.

on my good days, i believe there are more people of good sense in this country than there are right wing zealots and lunatics. we shall see.

meanwhile, 1 million new democrats registered and obama launching a new voter registration campaign.

waking up this nation of sheep to recognize that it's no democracy if you don't participate, that we are losing this country and any hope of getting it right if we don't stand up and fight and we cannot afford another republican administration.

Re: Jeremiah Wright On BIll Moyers

bigassbelle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:45:00 -0000

Craig Hickman said...
I must've missed something.

When did Wright make fun of Democratic presidents?

Mon Apr 28, 12:18:00 PM 2008

He didn't make fun of democratic presidents. He pointed out that when Jack Kennedy and LBJ pronounced words with their distinctly regional inflection, they weren't criticized as less than or stupid or too dumb to learn English.

All he was saying is that blacks have been treated unfairly in part because there is an expectation in this country that white and european is the standard of measure.

Different is not deficient, it's just different. Good lord, it would be a better world if we could beat that into every head in this country.

Re: Jeremiah Wright On BIll Moyers

bigassbelle — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:52:00 -0000

i've just watched most of the evening news shows and the developing meme seems to be this:

wright is an egomaniac who could not be dissuaded from going on this little publicity tour, which tour is solely for the purpose of developing more material and marketing his upcoming book.

more: obama is not that close to wright, never has been. it appears that wright is envious of obama nd his rise into the public eye and so he is subconsciously trying to sabotage obama's candidacy.

and now this is me: i agree with 99% of what wright says. i don't know what his motivation could be. i had just assumed that it was guided by the wish to set the record straight and had nothing to do with obama. if it is ego, if it is envy, or whatever, that's motivating this public display, shame on him.

that being said, everyone makes mistakes. and though i'd hate to see it played out this way, the idea that obama has been sabotaged by his "crazy preacher" could be helpful for obama's campaign.

i would like to see obama directly address wright's remarks that obama's doing what he's doing because he's a politician. those aren't the proper words, but the implication is that obama is not who he says he is, does not believe what he is saying, is only doing and saying what he is because he wants to win and after that, he'll change.

i don't believe that. it would be a good point for obama to confront in this whole wright thing. then put it to rest.

Re: "Obama Can’t Do Sh*t For Me"

bigassbelle — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:00:00 -0000

we just need to overthrow the whole fucking government and start over. the corruption is so deep that it has afflicted both parties. and we have lost our democracy when the media is working hand in glove with those in power. it's pretty much hopeless.

a reformer will never even get the chance to be president. those who are elected have to water down their beliefs to the point that they lose their souls.

Re: Tuesday Open Thread: Hi Everybody

bigassbelle — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:07:00 -0000

despair is on my mind. that and leaving the country while i've still got a dollar to my name and can find some cheap lot in some reasonable fucking country and throw up a shack to live in.

i hate what is happening here and i am so fucking angry i can hardly bear it. i'm in tears half the time because of it all. we are destroying the world, we are destroying ourselves, we are barely hanging on in the 8th year of the most disastrous administration ever, and still people don't get it. none of it. it just seems so hopeless.

Re: Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club

bigassbelle — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:09:00 -0000

reverend wright speaks the truth and that isn't changed by obama's disassociation from him.

obama's my candidate, but i have always known that my personal politics are far to the left of his.

that's okay. we're not going to get a social democracy in this country, so i'll live with what we have.

what i hate hate hate hate is that we have continually moved further to the right since reagan, such that today's "liberal" (he's so liberal! the most liberal member of congress!!!!!) is not much different from the republicans of the '50s and '60s except on race relations.

we've let the right wing zealots and corporate shills define the agenda for too long.

i wish we had an active, outrageous, screeching in your face, BIG movement of true lefties in this country taking up the evening news, grabbing headlines everywhere.

a "shockingly" aggressive leftist movement would have the effect of moving our country out of the right wing and back toward the middle. an aggressive left makes progressives look like the softer, gentler, more reasonable way. in the absence of radicals on the left, the right just sweeps us along and drowns out the message of progress with their for-the-rich political agenda.

Re: NYT Editorial On Wright And Hagee

bigassbelle — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:06:00 -0000

yay. that's pretty kickass.

and while we're looking at john mccain's associates, this is his "spiritual guide," a complete fucking tool, rod parsley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tViqufbk7I8

that clip is good for a laugh. the quiver in his voice as he utters the word sssoooooddddoommmmmyyyyy is hysterical. and when he starts wagging that finger? i'm on the floor.

i am happy. i think my candidate's going to get past this.

Re: Through The Looking Glass…….

bigassbelle — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:07:00 -0000

ugh. i hate to see that right wing tool peggy noonan's name even show up in this place.

nevertheless, it's over and he's got it and i'm thrilled. yay!

but please, no more peggy noonan. there is no worse example of the inside-the-beltway kewl kidz sneering at the ignorant animals in the rest of the country.

Re: Is This The Best The GOP Can Do? Attack Michelle’s American "Pride"?

bigassbelle — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:17:00 -0000

i don't know about anyone else here, but those "proud americans" kind of give me the oh shit shivers. i'll take mrs. obama any day over those nutcases. this is just stupid.

Re: Oh Hell No.

bigassbelle — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:23:00 -0000

i remember when i was growing up in a small town in northern oklahoma, a town where the railroad station still had a "colored" waiting room and the drinking fountains in front of city hall were separated for whites, "colored" and dogs (really).

there was an obsession in that little town with proving ones roots back to the mayflower, with being a member of the DAR (daughters of the american revolution), all of that rah rah bullshit that seems to consume people from even the very northeastern tip of the south and, again, eastern seaboard.

i am 3d generation in this country, my people got here in 1893, run out of russia by the same violent assholes who originally lured them there.

could i ever fit into this country? never. i don't have the "blood" for it. and maybe that sense of being an outsider in that heritage-obsessed snotty little town gave me an itch to shoot holes in this kind of stupidity.

that this kind of racist tripe could be published in the year 2008 is absolutely unbelievable. what the fuck are we coming to in this country?

Re: Obama Draws Crowd of 75,000 in Oregon

bigassbelle — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:20:00 -0000

wow. fantastic. i got a little teary-eyed just reading about it.

although i am purely a socialist and still want to move the fuck out of this disaster of a country, obama gives me hope and i love him for it.

Re: Obama’s backers see ‘dream ticket’ as nightmare

bigassbelle — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:38:00 -0000

i'm not sure she wouldn't bring anything to the ticket, if there are actually hordes of women who feel she's been horribly mistreated by the media. . . . perhaps she would bring those folks.

but she would likely alienate as many as she brings, if any at all.

and i never thought i would say this, ever, because until this race, bill clinton was my hero: i am tired of the clintons. tired of them. i want them to go away.

i was stunned to hear her quoting karl rove last night on all of the news programs. KARL FUCKING ROVE? she may as well be channeling satan. and to quote him as if he has some authority?

that along with terry mccauliffe's complete ass suck with fox news, that "Fox news! fair and balanced! you called it!" reaction after one of her wins, somewhere. . . .

i don't want ANY candidate who doesn't recognize the danger inherent in what has happened with the media in this country.

the single greatest danger to our way of life right this minute is the wholly biased, corporate owned media.

if we are not informed, we cannot fight these motherfuckers, and we are not informed.

fox news is the worst offender, blatantly operating as the propaganda vehicle of the republican party. but the others aren't much better.

no to fox news

no to republican "advisors"

no to hillary clinton.

Re: Obama Set to Reach Pledged Delegate Milestone

bigassbelle — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:40:00 -0000

please let it end. please.

i want that feisty little spat between obama and bush last week to continue. it's only the beginning and the fact of this primary continuing just gets in the way.

mccain and bush are ripe ~ RIPE!!! ~ for crushing and obama's the one to do it.

let's. get. on. with. it.

hike up your skirts and britches and let's crush these bastards.

Re: Tuesday Open Thread: Hi Everybody

bigassbelle — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:42:00 -0000

what the hell? there are Indians in america? native people? who knew?

thank you, barack obama, for taking it to the res.

Re: Tuesday Open Thread: Hi Everybody

bigassbelle — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:43:00 -0000

and you have a peaceful day, but is it possible? i'm not feeling very fucking peaceful. i am angry and getting more so every day.

met at the doors of my warehouse this morning with the Barack Obama joke of the day: He may not be able to fix American, but he sure will be able to ni**er rig it.

god help us all. i want to hurt someone.

Re: New Poll: Democrats Supporting Democratic Nominee. Duh.

bigassbelle — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:39:00 -0000

it is racism, pure and simple.

it's a fact. i work around these "hard working white folks." i have truck drivers and packers and freight people coming to my warehouse all day.

they are white. they are "working class" (and i hate that "class" thing), but they are the people described as Obama's problem and Clinton's strength.

i can tell you that in northeastern oklahoma, they are racist and bigoted and that is that.

when a man stands in my office and tells me a goddamned ni**er joke without fear of retribution or condemnation, then people like that are just fucking lost.

it makes me so fucking angry i can hardly stand it. i hate these racist bastards. hate them. they cannot hear the message for the black. fuckem.

Re: Ted Kennedy Diagnosed With Brain Tumor

bigassbelle — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:42:00 -0000

teddy kennedy is a fighter for the american people. those who cannot understand that, fuck them too.

there's a video here, one that was taken of him while fighting for an increase in the minimum wage. he is magnificent and i am heartbroken.

http://bigassbelle.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-i-love-teddy-kennedy.html

Re: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS?

bigassbelle — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:05:00 -0000

with that nitwit andrea mitchell on there all wide-eyed and innocent, asking how on earth kentucky voters would think to say that the repetition of HUSSEIN! HUSSEIN! HUSSEIN! was a problem. and where could they possibly have gotten that from? must have been from those terrible internet sites.

they spread this shit and then wash their hands of their work.

Re: McCain Hits Obama For Lack Of Military Service

bigassbelle — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:23:00 -0000

A great portion of today's Volunteer Armed Services come from the lower socio-economic classes in America.

Exactly. It's a poverty draft and that's the way they like it.

The G.I. Bill was one of the best government programs America ever did - it created the modern Middle-Class.

Along with unions and the New Deal and corporations held to account for their employees.

And, the New G.I. Bill just wanted to give those opportunities to the present generation of veterans.

And the reason Bush, Cheney, McCain, et al do not support the bill?

They say it's because of the cause, but that is bullshit.

They don't support it because they want those who serve (see poverty draft, above) to have LIMITED opportunities elsewhere, thus less likely to discharge and go to college.

Re: McCain Hits Obama For Lack Of Military Service

bigassbelle — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:24:00 -0000

pardon, late nite:

They say it's because of the cost and that is bullshit indeed.

Re: Racist Rush Limbaugh Attacks Obama as Affirmative Action Candidate

bigassbelle — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:27:00 -0000

new president's first task:

fairness doctrine, back in force

there aren't words to describe how much i despise these right wing gasbags.

Re: "This is Barack Obama’s party now."

bigassbelle — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:11:00 -0000

one day i'd like it to be the american people's party.

stupid me.

maybe barack obama's party can get us there.

Re: Documentary Series Feat. Carl Pope and Van Jones

bigassbelle — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:24:00 -0000

armed revolution is the only real answer.

Re: Documentary Series Feat. Carl Pope and Van Jones

bigassbelle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:28:00 -0000

it's changing the guard that's the problem. we HAVE to change the guard. we don't seem to be able to do that.

Re: Clinton Supporter Gets Her Ferraro On After The Rules Meeting

bigassbelle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:29:00 -0000

this woman's got some issues going on in her psyche that have nothing to do with this election. i recommend a professional to help her work thru this shit before she has to sell her soul to vote for mccain.

Re: Now That Obama Has Closed the Deal…

bigassbelle — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:56:00 -0000

lots of housecleaning to do in congress and the senate. we have to get rid of the blue dog democrats so we'll have the push behind our future president to change this fucking country.

we are witnessing and living a repeat of the gilded age, the rampant financial disaster of the late '20s and '30s and we need another roosevelt to turn the economic disaster of more than 20 years of republican rule around.

i believe obama's the one. it can be done and we all have to stand strong and refuse to listen to the naysayers. it's our country. we can do anything we set our minds to (and have the voting bodies to make happen).

Re: The Democratic Nominee for President of the United States of America

bigassbelle — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:59:00 -0000

omg, that pumpkin-headed tim russert blathering on about how "we need to hear about the issues! not all of this silly stuff that everyone jumps on and makes a big deal of."

everyone? good lord. these people.

president obama: first task? restore the fairness doctrine, disband the media monopolies.

Re: The "Whitey" Video

bigassbelle — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:24:00 -0000

oh, that was so NOT funny. you fucking scared the shit out of me.

and then it was funny. cute. and i love that song too.

Re: Hillary " Deranged Narcissist" Clinton Concession Speech Open Thread

bigassbelle — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:29:00 -0000

i thought the speech was a good one.

but please, lefties, liberals, democrats, socialists, ALL OF US: please let's not quote the right wing tools to make our case?

clinton did it when she was quoting Fox, when she threw out Karl Rove's analysis of her chances. i've seen peggy "i licked reagan's boots and loved it" noonan quoted on virtually every leftie blog out there.

why?? screw peggy noonan. she never met a democrat she liked, ever. if she's saying seemingly appropriate things now, just wait.

we need to shut these people out, all of these right wing mouthpieces, all of these liars who carry water for the people who don't care if their policies destroy the rest of us.

peggy noonan is scrambling. in her pathetic little mind, she has been on the side of the winners since 1980 and before. for us to have come to the state we're in politically (and in every other way) in this country means that she and her right wing gasbag pals will be LEFT OUT.

let's start now. LEAVE THEM OUT. they have nothing of value to contribute to ANY discussion of what needs to happen in this country. people like her and the politicians she kowtows to have nearly destroyed us. we can't lock them all up, but we certainly don't need to validate them as they now seek to curry favor with the democratic party they have reviled for decades.

before anyone says forgive and forget, get over it: no. no thank you. these people have worked hard to destroy the nation i love and they have nearly wrecked the world. they have blood on their hands and if they had any conscience at all they'd be volunteering to stand before a war crimes tribunal. please don't legitimize their twisted world view by quoting them.

okay. thanks for letting me rant.

Re: The Crabby McCrab Show, Starring Juan Williams

bigassbelle — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:33:00 -0000

i used to hear juan williams on NPR long before there was a Faux News network and i thought he was brilliant. what on earth happened to this man to make him sell his soul?

Re: The Clinton Legacy with Black Voters

bigassbelle — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:09:00 -0000

on to the white house indeed. i can't wait.

Re: How Obama Won: That $10,000/year job pays dividends

bigassbelle — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:53:00 -0000

his organizing is key. we'll have to fight the RNC and people like that fucking tool pat buchanan to keep them from making him into some communist. the RNC has already called his "community" organizing "street" organizing, with everything scary that word "street" entails for the fools who are the base of the republican party.

i love it that he worked with alinsky. alinsky's a radical from way back; of course that's another reason obama is going to have to skirt the communist/marxist meme. and it's interesting that hillary clinton wrote her senior thesis on alinsky and then the thesis was suppressed lest she be associated with him in the white house.

i am so happy about my candidate. he impresses me more every day. yay.

Re: Obama Campaign Will Launch ‘Joshua Generation Project’

bigassbelle — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:53:00 -0000

i want to live in a world where politics is about government and religion is personal and private. i am heartily sick of right wing religious zealots driving policy in this country.

Re: Being Joe Lieberman…

bigassbelle — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:55:00 -0000

the dems need to give the boot to lieberman and fast. he's mccain's bootlicker and he worships at the altar of george bush. the only "flaw" in rethug eyes is that he's prochoice. that hardly makes him a democrat. in every other ways he's hard core right wing rethug. out with him.

Re: Fresh Off The Media Reform Conference

bigassbelle — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:58:00 -0000

Let us stop asking what's wrong with our Government. We KNOW what's wrong with it. It is run and operated by individuals who were given their positions out of loyalty, being able to rig or steal elections, or all of the above. But, never, ever think it is because they were competent and possessed the required knowledge, skills and abilities.

that's all true, but what's REALLY WRONG with republicans and government is that they do not believe in it, they are opposed to it, they do not want it, they want to get rid of it.

it's part of who they are: anti-government. to then put them in charge of it is absurd.

my hope is that with the bush disaster that will finally become clear to the american people.

Re: Introducing The JJP Awards

bigassbelle — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0000

can't we please have a barbara jordan award? she has been my hero forever. . . . first black woman in congress and lesbian, a brilliant woman and an incredible orator. we lost her too, too early.

Re: This Is Not Journalism

bigassbelle — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:59:00 -0000

as a cautionary tale, it's helpful to read vanity fair's dissection of how this worked in al gore's campaign, much of which dropped from the mouth of that insane maureen dowd:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/gore200710

this is a serious danger, folks. in the absence of a media that cares anything about truth and justice, simply saying something is sufficient. it is not necessary to have facts to back it up. and since our media "elites" tend to act like 6th graders, once something is said, is said and that is that. it makes the rounds like wildfire and they begin to quote one another as the source rather than looking to the original to see whether the reporting was valid.

i can't stress this enough: this is dangerous, terribly so. what happened with gore happened with kerry four years later. i have no doubt that the right wing smear machine is just winding up.

all of this information that we know needs to be tidied up into one of those around-the-world viral emails and disseminated now. we can't afford to let this get out there unchecked. that's been the problem with democrats, we always expect people will do the right thing, see through the silliest shit, and they never do. never fucking do.

Re: This Is Not Journalism

bigassbelle — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:33:00 -0000

dowd is cracked on the subject of the clintons:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/maureendowd/index.html

she also has a constant habit of turning male democrats into "sissies" and effeminate candy ass men who she'll then compare to the big dicked hard assed republican of the moment. dowd is a lunatic. she has serious, serious problem. now she will turn all of her vitriole and her twisted sexual obsessions on the obamas.

she's already started with referring to barack obama as "obambi" and painting him as an elete, effete half man.

Re: John McCain — Not Too Important for Troops to Come Home

bigassbelle — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:35:00 -0000

fox news refers to michele obama as "barack obama's baby mama." just another step in the ongoing effort to "ghettoize" the obamas.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/06/11/fox_obama/index.html?source=rss

Re: Obama’s "Baby Mama"

bigassbelle — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:17:00 -0000

the anonymouses (anonymi? ;-) ) are everywhere today . . i got this one on my blog from an anonymous after posting about this faux news outrage:

This seems like a knee-jerk reaction to me. I had no idea the phrase even ever had any racial connotations to it. Language evolves. Phrases and their meanings change. It's pretty clear from pop culture that that's the case here. Fox was dumb to use it, of course, but overreaction is just as bad considering:

-Michelle Obama herself who referred to Barack as her “baby’s daddy” and has used the phrase “baby daddy” to describe Barack while on the stump this year. (Senate victory speech, Nov. 2, 2004)

-The Oxford English Dictionary defines baby-daddy as “the father of a woman’s child, who is not her husband or (in most cases) her current or exclusive partner.” The baby-mama entry follows the same template with the genders reversed.

-Online, you can buy “Jesus is my baby-daddy” magnets, tote bags, and beer steins. Scott Hoffman, the bassist for the glam rock band the Scissors Sisters, goes by the stage name “Babydaddy.” Baby-mama has even made inroads in Japan, where it’s being used on a Web site that appears to sell strollers. (Michelle Malkin, "We're going to hell")

I think the first one is what confuses me the most. If Michelle Obama uses the phrase herself to refer to her own family, how can it be offensive?

THAT'S NOT ME. it's just the prevailing attitude out in the world, i fear.

Re: Joint Crabby McCrab And Flava Flav Awards

bigassbelle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:16:00 -0000

well if that's all true, with the exception of #8 ;-) , i have me some new role models. good for black women.

seriously, this is just more sexist bullshit in list form, another way to keep women down, to keep us questioning ourselves and feeling that there's something wrong with us and not a thing wrong about the society in which we live or the entrenched attitudes toward women that simply do. not. change.

bullshit. what man on earth would want to buy into this victimy crap? boo hoo hoo.

oh wait. was that aggressive and unappreciative?

Re: On First Ladies Named Michelle…..and Diane

bigassbelle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:18:00 -0000

those images bring tears to my eyes. it's all i can say. it is so far past time for this.

Re: Noted Without Comment

bigassbelle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:20:00 -0000

jim inhofe is a lying, racist, sexist, homophobic bully who has his head stuck so far up the ass of big oil he can't see the world crumbling around him. that he purports to represent my state is shameful.

Re: Children, Today’s Term Is "Birth Certificate"

bigassbelle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:21:00 -0000

it is only june and it is this crazy. good god.

Re: Tim Russert Dead At 58

bigassbelle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:09:00 -0000

y'all pick up the pieces of your broken hearts. this is a tragedy for tim russert's family and for those who worked with him, were his friends and loved him.

this man helped bush & cheney take us to war in iraq, dispense with the constitution, suspend habeas corpus and torture detainees.

dick cheney called him one of his best means of disseminating the false information the white house wanted us to hear to make us believe their lies.

he's no loss to liberals or progressives. i'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the tool chris matthews doesn't replace him. god forbid.

more on russert and his right wing bias:

http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/tags/meet_the_press?f=h_hot

Re: Tim Russert Dead At 58

bigassbelle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:10:00 -0000

do you all not remember him as recently as the democratic debates? all of those stupid, vicious, "gotcha" questions while the american people are starving for real information about the candidates?

go ahead and feel sad about the loss of a human life, but seriously, this man was a tool of the right wing, no loss to those of us who believe the system needs to change.

Re: Tim Russert Dead At 58

bigassbelle — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:40:00 -0000

rhondacoca ~

as i said, it's a sad thing for those who loved him, his family and friends.

as an american citizen, i have respect for the constitution of the united states. tim russert did not have that same respect.

telling me to hush up is about the same as bush & co. demonizing those who questioned their actions post-9/11.

it's sad for people who actually had a relationship with him and i will always be moved by the loss of a human life. tim russert's. 4,000+ young american soldiers. possibly 1 million iraqis.

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:03:00 -0000

webb's only been a democrat for two years. that scares me.

joe biden has tremendous foreign policy experience and he's feisty and smart and capable. i'm kind of liking him. they'll bring up the old plagiarism thing, but i think that can be dealt with.

Obama's army on the move . . . hallelujah.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061203658.html

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:05:00 -0000

and the other thing, not chuck hagel. the media's promoting chuck hagel because he's an anti-war republican. but no, not him, please.

hagel may be a fine man but he's a republican. the vice president is supposed to serve as understudy to the president. no way do i want a republican waiting in the wings if the unthinkable happens. no. i know obama's smarter than that.

Re: Barack Obama’s Speech on Father’s Day

bigassbelle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:30:00 -0000

there is definitely a problem with parents in this world. the first totally irresponsible parent i knew of was the father of my sister's three kids. after they divorced, he never even saw the kids again until they were adults, and his child support payments of $150 a month just vanished after a year.

my stepdaughter's two boys have different fathers. one is in prison, the other died in a motorcycle wreck with the cops chasing him. the one in prison never once showed an interest in his son until he got locked up and bored. aaron's 10 now. he needs a daddy.

the longest lasting relationship they had with a man ended because that man, much as the boys loved him, simply refused to work. and he did ~ he just wouldn't do it. the refusal to participate in that mandatory activity ~ supporting oneself ~ was stunning. i gave him a job at a good wage with remarkable flexibility and he just went home one day and never came back. i got a friend to give him a job where he could ultimately end up making $28 an hour. he went home after two days. never worked again.

when hannah filed for survivor benefits on her younger boy after his dad died, the small social security benefit ~ small because he'd barely worked in his 26 years ~ was divided by 7. seven kids that man had, that no working, no child supporting man. seven. that's insanity.

it isn't just men. my sister's youngest adopted daughter's mother had nothing to do with her kids, nothing.

i like this speech and one of the things i like the most about it is that he calls people on some of the standard parenting crap that goes on now in households everywhere.

the addiction to television is a tragedy and it truly impacts the relationship between parent and child and it isolates people within the home. i'm afraid it's part of what's behind the skyrocketing diagnosis of ADD in kids. too much stimulus, too young, too constant.

we've had a pretty active propaganda campaign from this government to get us to support the war, hate muslims, etc.

i'd think that an active, everywhere you turn campaign to encourage strong parents, proper parenting behavior, all of that, would have some effect. make a turn-off-the-TV day, a read-a-book-to-your-kid day. education young people who havent' any idea how to be a parent as to exactly what it really takes for a child to thrive.

our kids can't make it without a proper foundation. there's a lot of research which shows that a kid's got to get what he/she needs before the age of 5 or it's really too late, that the intellect and the capacity for success in education is pretty much established by then. a solid foundation, security, enriched environment, attention, love in action, not just words.

in this country, kids ~ kids of 20, 25, 30 ~ are having babies for a lot of reasons other than building a family. my stepdaughter wanted love, she got two beautiful little boys, zero help from their fathers, and an enormous amount of work, like nothing she ever imagined. i wish she were a good mom. she's not. she says she loves them a lot, but her actions . . . not so much. it's a tragedy, a heartbreak.

i appreciate obama talking about fatherhood. it's important.

Re: Senator Straight Talk Didn’t Catch The Michelle Obama Slam

bigassbelle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:34:00 -0000

it's lovely that mccain's on record now as saying ~ seriously, he was not joking ~ that it's sometimes difficult to be proud of america. that we need to be "more humble, more inclusive."

it's true. and he said it. yippee!

Re: Hell…to the Naw!

bigassbelle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:41:00 -0000

just about everyone listed above is a right wing toady. tom brokaw can maintain a semblance of balance and he's an old time newsperson.

david gregory has been mythologized as being tough with the white house but it's really mostly a myth. every now and then he'd ask a tough question, but for the most part, he'd then accept whatever bullshit the WH put out there with no follow up.

rachel maddow is probably the only one not dug in so deeply with the washington establishment that she could be an objective, honest interviewer. but that's precisely why she won't get it. that and that she's female and lesbian. never happen on a sunday morning ~ read establishment ~ mainstream news program.

as for joe scarborough, he's openly partisan to the republican party. i wouldn't be surprised if they chose him and that would be an awful mistake. though sometimes i think if they're open partisans, it's easier to deal with them. these alleged liberal journalists who are actually sucking up to bush & co. are the dangerous ones.

but as for scarborough's intern problem? he wasn't even in the state when she died. there's some evidence she may have fallen and hit her head on her desk, but he wasn't there and as much as i despise him, it's best to be fair.

Re: Hell…to the Naw!

bigassbelle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:46:00 -0000

the issue of follow up is mostly what's wrong with all of these people. with the iraq war, with all of the bush disasters, they've refused to probe the issues and instead simply take the white house propaganda line at its face.

that's a disaster for a supposed newsperson. their purpose is to inform the public, and if all of us can be sitting in our living rooms screaming the questions that they can't be bothered to ask, we're in big trouble with the media in this country.

we are. everyone knows it. and it's not the supposed liberal bias of the media, it's the fact that they've been coopted to act as a propaganda arm of the government.

notice that NONE of the major news networks has given any time to the NYT's (surprising) disclosure of the fact that they were using military experts who were corrupt.

these past generals and ex military men were being fed talking points and propaganda by the pentagon, which they disseminated on various news programs.

the effect was to make it look as if ALL military people of any seriousness supported iraq, supported bush, all of that. the fact was that the military people who DID NOT suport bush were forced out and/or fired.

but what the american people get is old soldiers ~ who we automatically believe ~ telling us lies and the news people never questioning it.

so many outrages in these desperate times. i hope we all survive long enough for someone to write the definitive history of the bush years 20 years down the road. it will be a shocker to see it all put together.

Re: Barack Obama’s Speech on Father’s Day

bigassbelle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:51:00 -0000

ms. martin, i understand what you're saying, but i just wanted to add that my comments above had everything to do with fathers and families in general and not black fathers and black families in particular.

i would hate to think that obama made this speech because he thinks it's what white america wants to hear. i can tell you that certain white americans of pat buchanan leanings will be thrilled with this speech.

Re: John McCain: What is this ‘Iraq war’ charge on my bill?

bigassbelle — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:41:00 -0000

i. love. that.

is john mccain starting to have some kind of a meltdown? crimifuckinitly, it seems like every time i turn around he's backtracking on this or changing his position on that or denouncing this person or sucking up to that one.

is there anything ~ one single thing ~ that the man stands for? so much for mr. ethics, mr. straight talk.

there's something really really wrong there. it's as if he doesn't even really care about what it means to be president. he just wants the title, the office. it's almost as if he feels entitled, maybe by virtue of his service? but jiminy christmas, the man needs to educate himself! he's plum ignorant on half the shit he stands up and talks about.

Re: Al Gore To Endorse Obama Tonight

bigassbelle — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:42:00 -0000

watching gore talk was just about unbearable.

to think what might have been, where we could have been as a nation absent george bush.

heartbreaking.

Re: Tuesday Open Thread: Hi Everybody

bigassbelle — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:38:00 -0000

must we, must we demand fucking recipes from our female public figures? what next, "best techniques for removing ring around the collar!"

please. this obsession with recipes from the candidates' wives is starting to piss me off.

and then there's "recipegate," wherein those dutiful little cookie bakin' wives who don't come up with their own personal recipes are demeaned as cookie thieves. it's ridiculous, absurd.

Re: Tuesday Open Thread: Hi Everybody

bigassbelle — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:34:00 -0000

oh craig hickman, i am so envious! i want to raise goats and chickens in my city backyard. as it stands now, i have to settle for tomatoes, squash, corn, lettuce, carrots, cukes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, green beans. . . . but a goat! a little milk goat, so i could make cheese :-) divine.

Re: Wednesday Open Thread - Speak your mind

bigassbelle — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:42:00 -0000

meet Michelle Obama, courtesy of the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/us/politics/18michelle.html?_r=1&oref;=slogin

Re: Wednesday Open Thread - Speak your mind

bigassbelle — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:52:00 -0000

obama's position weak?

like so many of his positions, it is nuanced and intelligent. 7.5 years of go-go kick the terrorists's ass republican rule have left us far more vulnerable than we were pre-9/11.

i think america's ready to hear that message. the problem is going to be the media.

disseminating any intelligent message in this country is virtually impossible. if it doesn't fit in a 30 second soundbite on the evening news folks will never hear it. if the talking heads aren't clutching their pearls and waving their hankies over a misstatement by a candidate, it won't make cable news.

folks don't read anymore, so no one's going to pick it up in the newspaper and the chances are the newspapers, in a desperate bid to stay alive, are covering only local news.

so how does obama disseminate his intelligent, nuanced message? we have to say it, send it out, promote it, educate ourselves on every single one of his policies. we have to do it. we can do it.

with his intelligent and thoughtful approach to foreign policy, senator obama makes me feel far safer than i've felt in years.

Re: Battle of the Spouses: Latest Poll Results

bigassbelle — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:41:00 -0000

the shallowness of our political process is cause for despair.

Re: Why We Must Challenge Fake Noise

bigassbelle — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:59:00 -0000

there was an enormous amount of applause from the audience when he made some of his most pointed remarks. . . . ? they must have hit home with some people.

as an outside observer, i thought it was balanced and he had much good to say about fathers and he called out some dads who need to get it together.

my only problem was that it didn't seem to be directed at all fathers, because there are lots and lots and lots of dads (and moms) who need to step up and take care of their kids hard core.

in general, parenting has suffered in the last 15-20 years. or how ever long. i just know it's a serious problem in this country and children are suffering for it and you can see the evidence of it in our schools. kids out of control from kindergarten on, no supervision, no attention, no efforts to enrich the lives of the kids.

that's that. and then there's this: "I know many men who want to be with their children, but they are dealing with an overbearing, hyper-dominant custodial parent" (read "woman") and that makes me think this guy's kind of a jackass.

Re: Thursday Open Thread- Let it all hang out

bigassbelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:41:00 -0000

rikyrah, that seems a little harsh given the political climate in this country.

the sole motivator for the vast majority of average joes and josephines taking cover under the right wing is fear of muslims. it is the thing, i expect, that could take down obama's campaign, this muslim association they're pushing at every turn, in every mass email, on faux noise channel every chance they get.

for two veiled women to sit directly behind the podium? seriously, you don't think that would be national "news" in the manner that all of this trivial bullshit becomes news in this country?

that image would NEVER go away. it would find its way onto websites, into emails, folks would be printing it up on posters, handing it out door to door.

rock, meet hard place. it was a fucked up thing. a shame, but whatever the fallout over moving the women, the disaster that would befall obama's campaign as a result of those images is worse.

john kerry was ahead in the polls, he kicked bush's ass in the debates. he lost because of the kind of bullshit rumors and innuendo*, the thing that the right wing zealots do so well.

(*and some messed up voting machines and voter disenfranchisement in ohio, but the swiftboating of john mccain was the main thing)

Re: Thursday Open Thread- Let it all hang out

bigassbelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:17:00 -0000

obama has to work within the system we have in order to get to a position where he can have some impact on changing it.

that means that he has to confront a wholly biased entertainment-oriented "news" media on a daily basis.

they're not reporting news, they're reporting the titillating factoids and rumors, anything that creates a fuss and gets them attention. THEM attention.

the news media in this country is one of the biggest barriers to a true democracy at this point. having abandoned all pretense at objectively reporting the news under bush rule, they're now stuck in the habit of going for nothing more than talking points and trivial bullshit.

he could not afford this shot. he couldn't.

but if we're talking about sellouts, i'm more concerned about obama's sudden cozying up to the neoliberal economic kooks at the university of chicago. and why he is not interested in regulating hedge funds or adjusting the tax rate paid by hedge fund managers? that's way more concerning to me than this. that truly indicates he may not be who he says he is.

Re: Obama Opts Out of Public Financing System

bigassbelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:04:00 -0000

the GOP's always had an enormous financial advantage, but i think obama's fundraising has pretty much broken all records.

on the other hand, the wrong side's 527s are well funded and the dems don't seem to have any.

i agree. this is good. if nothing else, obama can drown the right wingers in dollar bills :-)

Re: Battle of the Spouses: Latest Poll Results

bigassbelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:14:00 -0000

i hear ya nita (and that was me ~ misslynette) ~ i'm not defending her, but in the relationship between the two, his was the bigger sin.

his wife was horribly injured, got short and chubby and disabled as a result. he wanted a fast car so he bought one with his flyboy charm. i don't think he even bothered with anything but heiresses at the time.

she hooked up with a married man, but at least she wasn't married herself.

it's really surprising to me, given the whole mess with her charity getting in trouble with the DEA for dispensing too many narcotics, that she couldn't, with all that money, just find one of those script-writing doctors somewhere. that was kind of crazy.

still, whether i hooked up with my man while he was otherwise engaged, calling me a cunt? end of story, end of relationship, it's over, no forgiveness. that is outrageous. but maybe that's just a word that gets under my skin.

Re: Thursday Open Thread- Let it all hang out

bigassbelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:38:00 -0000

she said empathetic. whoopi even clarified it. empathetic.

Re: Thursday Open Thread- Let it all hang out

bigassbelle — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:08:00 -0000

http://tinyurl.com/3kpq9p

Sepia ~ if i did it right, and I've never done that tiny url thing ~ technophobe here ~ that should link you up to an article by Naomi Klein, who has done some thorough investigation of the alleged benefits of unbridled free market economies, all of the devastation wrought by US foreign policy by way of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, etc.

If you aren't familiar with the havoc wrought by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School economists beginning in the '70s in Chile and continuing today, it's worthwhile to read Naomi's book "Shock Doctrine" or to find some other books on neoliberal economic theories, the World Bank, IMF, etc.

Those institutions have devastated countries around the world with thuggish practices that benefit the largest of the global corporate enterprises, while impoverishing millions.

I hate it ~ HATE IT ~ that Obama is moving to the right on economic issues. We need a NEW new deal and a resurgence of the middle class in order to fight the ever increasing hegemony of the ultra rich. That is anathema to right wingers and those last remaining diehard Chicago school fans.

Bill Clinton sold us out with NAFTA. That free trade agreement has been devastating to Mexico, displacing hundreds of thousands of small farmers and, again, impoverishing millions while a few very rich benefit. It hasn't been any good for us either.

In South American, Brazil's president Lula and Venezuala's Hugo Chavez are spearheading a move to complete independence from US attempts at domination of their economies. The South American nations were among the first "beneficiaries" of Friedman's disastrous economic theories.

Re: Black People Just Don’t Say Whitey…Ever

bigassbelle — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:06:00 -0000

"peckerwood" is the term of choice in my neck of the (redneck) woods.

Re: Black People Just Don’t Say Whitey…Ever

bigassbelle — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:17:00 -0000

i do hear cracker fairly regularly, just as a general term encompassing stupid white folks.

Re: Black People Just Don’t Say Whitey…Ever

bigassbelle — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:24:00 -0000

i do remember, though, that i first started hearing "whitey" ~ from white folks, true ~ back in the late 60s, early 70s. maybe it started around the time of the riots, and i think the fear of the black panthers, though no more frightening, and probably less dangerous as a group, than the weathermen or the more violent offshoots of the SDS, was huge.

"get whitey" sticks in my mind as some statement attributed to the panthers. one of those urban legends, i expect, that the panthers were meeting and planning to "get whitey."

childhood memories. the '60s were pretty scary for little kids who read a lot.

Re: Friday Open Thread…..yeah, it’s Friday

bigassbelle — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:54:00 -0000

unbelievable. i am done with obama. i'll just vote green or whatever, but never never never for another democrat.

i am so fed up with these sellout bastards. they're just republicans in democrats' clothing. the constitution means nothing to them, none of them. they're corporate owned, corporate operated and fuck the american people.

well fuck all of them. and screw obama too. that pathetic excuse he gave for supporting the FISA bill makes me physically ill.

Re: Friday Open Thread…..yeah, it’s Friday

bigassbelle — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:21:00 -0000

i can't quit crying. i am just sitting here not believing it. i feel so betrayed. it's all of us, betrayed by these fuckheads who are supposed to WORK for us. every one of them is in bed with corporate america. it just seems so fucking hopeless i can hardly bear it.

you all tell me there's some reason to hope. i'm going to bed. i can't take any more of this bullshit.

all week mcclatchy has been telling the truth about the United States of Torture and there's been NOTHING about it on the news.

now the democrats AND the man who had me so inspired sell us out to the sorry piece of shit who has the worst approval rating in history. i just can't believe it. i can't.

i have been arguing all year as to why people should vote democrat, no matter what. if you don't get hillary, vote democrat anyway. if you don't get obama, vote democrat.

but i tell you folks, this just makes me want to give up. this is the last straw. i give up.

Re: Friday Open Thread…..yeah, it’s Friday

bigassbelle — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:18:00 -0000

Michelle . . .

I hear what you're saying. Yes, it's supposed to operate "for the people," that's what we were founded on. The reality, of course, is different. Back in the day, it was "the people," meaning white men. That changed over time and now we're at a point where the blatant attempts to disenfranchise voters will at least draw protest, mostly.

And yes, this country was founded on theft and violence and blood and the stolen lives and efforts of the enslaved and subjugated. Yes. And what we're seeing since 1980 is a slow process of moving back to the same kind of thing. A kingdom, of sorts, with barons and counts and princes and kings, and with the vast majority of us toiling away to serve our masters, ultimately not achieving anything for ourselves because the system is broken and set up against us, all of us, except the ultra rich.

I don't know that the relationship between the people and power was ever expected to be benign. There are provisions in our founding documents for overthrowing a government that's out of bounds. The Bush administration perfectly fits that description, with the excessive grab for executive power making Bush essentially our king.

This FISA legislation that has me so fucked up is another example of that: Bush broke the law. He got caught. He then sought to have legislation put into place that would absolve him and any others who participated in his illegal acts retroactively. The giant telecommunications companies who participated in unlawful wiretapping and eavesdropping on American citizens without permission and in violation of the law could be sued. But King George will now be the sole arbiter of who gets wiretapped and who does not. If the King says it's okay, then it's okay.

They used that defense at the Nuremberg trials. If the great Hitler said it was legal, then it was legal. Only it wasn't. The excuse didn't work then, it doesn't hold water now. Except among our bought and paid for "representatives" in congress. How I despise them.

Except: This nation is wreaking horror and havoc around the globe in the name of democracy.

I agree with you 100% ~ only democracy is the cover story. Global corporate enrichment is the purpose for it all. Our efforts to prevent the advance of communism all around the globe, our unwarranted attacks on other countries for no reason other than that we don't like their governments, our deposing of presidents and prime ministers not to our liking (read opposed to US intervention, not free marketers, usually leaning toward socialism) and the installation of puppet governments that will allow us to steal the riches of countries all around the world . . . all of these efforts are directed to benefit business.

And that is tragically what has become of us. We have become a government for the global corporation. What serves the corporatist agenda will win approval of congress. What does not ~ such as telecom companies getting their asses sued off ~ will never survive.

By virtue of our trade agreements, we allow the enslavement of working people in other countries. Those biased trade agreements impoverish millions, all in the interest of improving the corporate bottom line.

But, people will say, isn't that last one the GOP's fault -- Bush, Cheney?

It's the fault of every president and congress since Reagan. It started with Reagan, this dangerous rightward shift, and it has continued without ceasing, including Bill Clinton and now, I am certain, Barack Obama.

Obama talks about ideals too. But he seems to have a much real-er sense of what he is part of and dealing with.

Indeed he does and I had whispers of it before this FISA statement, my concern about his associating with the Milton Friedmanites out of the Chicago School of economics, taking one of those discredited fools as one of his economic advisors. I was aware that he saw no problem with hedge fund managers paying a tax rate of 15% on incomes in the billions per year.

I saw much of this and I didn't want to believe it because more than anything, I want ~ I need ~ to hope that things can get better. So I shut my eyes to all of this and here we are, only a few weeks since he won the nomination and it is apparent that my initial fears were true.

At this point, I hope and pray that this country goes to hell and fast. Right now we're like live frogs in hot water, the fire's burning, we're going to die, but we don't know it because it just gets a little toastier, a little warmer, just a bit, every day.

I want the fire on high. I want 50% unemployment in this country, $12/gallon gas, 50 million people to lose their homes. Bring it on, wake up this sleeping nation of sheep.

I feel like I'm in the back seat of a fast car. We're headed down a winding mountain road and the fuckhead at the wheel is sound asleep. I'm screaming my head off, trying to get the hell out of this thing and my fellow passengers are sightseeing, one shouts "stop at the mall!" and the cliff and destruction looms ahead.

Hopeless. Even after a nap. Not much feels worse than betrayal.

Re: Friday Open Thread…..yeah, it’s Friday

bigassbelle — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:14:00 -0000

Obama endorsed a warmongering, racist, torture-loving, Bush-enabling white Blue Dog and Bush enabler over a legitimate and credible black challenger. On the merits of the two candidates, it does not look good. Put all the makeup on that pig you want. It still oinks.

tell it, honey. it's a nasty stinking thing and further evidence of the heartbreaking truth about obama.

Re: Friday Open Thread…..yeah, it’s Friday

bigassbelle — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:46:00 -0000

Rikyrah:

About Barrow again:

Politics ain't pretty a lot of times, but should he throw over someone who supported him, ' back when' for someone else.

So, the bottom line here is, someone supported him, when he needed supporting. And now, because you like the politics of his opponent, he's supposed to just ditch this person?

No, not if you're the same old crappy politician we've always had. If you're running on a platform of change, then you stand up and tell this guy ~ in private, in public ~ why you cannot support him. This fool in Georgia is a republican ~ a far right republican ~ running on the democratic platform. The challenger is a progressive.

Either you stand for something or you don't. Supporting someone because they did something for you is the worst kind of cronyism. It is politics without values. We've got that already.

_______

heartsandflowers:

I understand people are upset about FISA, but Obama never supported blanket immunity.

A few weeks ago, Obama made a principled stand in defense of the constitution and against the bullshit FISA bill the republicans were trying to pass. He was roundly applauded for not buying into the Bush admin bullshit that we've been manipulated with for the last eight years.

Yesterday, he just reversed that stand and made a statement which reiterated all of the same old tired Bush crap. "Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people.

Oooooh, once again, we're being frightened with terrorist threats, and it's coming from, of all people, Obama.

The whole issue of FISA makes folks' eyes cross, I know it. It's not a marketable issue, but it is profoundly important to this nation because it is a constitutional issue, and we've had an administration running roughshod over the constitution for eight years.

Here's what the republicans are saying about this cave in:

The proposal — particularly the immunity provision — represents a major victory for the White House after months of dispute. "I think the White House got a better deal than they even they had hoped to get," said Senator Christopher Bond, the Missouri Republican who led the negotiations.

That makes me feel like throwing up. With only 17% of the people thinking we're on the right track in this country, a president with approval ratings in the mid-20s, we have a wildly popular candidate for president who jumps on the republican bus and sells us out. The one man most people listen to right now because of his thoughtful and measured way of examining issues.

There's a whole crowd of folks waking up today saying "well if Barack says it's a good thing, it must be."

Bullshit. He sold us out. I am still just not believing it. An coupled with the support of that Georgia asshat and his economic policies, it's just too much.

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 09:46:00 -0000

barack obama is the second coming of bill clinton.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080630/klein

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:04:00 -0000

chaz, Naomi Klein is a thoughtful, thorough, investigative reporter.

perhaps you were thinking of joe or ezra klein.

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:43:00 -0000

I suspect he is as liberal as this country will vote for. He may be conservative on other issues. That makes him a complex human being - like most of us are.

oh garbage. if you poll people on the issues without assigning "liberal" or "conservative" to them, the american people are liberal as hell.

the right wingers have demonized the word liberal in this country, tainting it with weakness and socialism and all manner of unamerican crap. it's all lies.

the american people are liberal. we have a government which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the richest of the multinational corporations.

that is the problem. it isn't even about all of our petty little concerns, it's about enriching big business. every one of them, democrat, republican, doesn't matter which side they're on, that's all window dressing for us.

every one of them are beholden to corporate interests. the american people don't have a government. our government is a corporatocracy. end of story.

ergo my suggestion that things need to go to hell and fast in order to wake people up.

doesn't matter to me, i'm out of here in the next 2-3 years, depending upon how far my sweet papa lasts. i cannot bear living in this wretched country any longer than i have to.

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:54:00 -0000

d: you're a complete nitwit if you think there's a liberal media in this country. quit drinking the right wing koolaid.

s: hahahaha!! obama a "hard left liberal"? please. he's a center right politician.

michelle: what people aren't getting about FISA is this:

George Bush swore on a Bible to uphold and defend the Constitution. Then he wiped his ass with it.

The FISA betrayal is not about drama or emotion or any of that, it's about the foundation of this country, the Constitution of the United States. The one the Republicans have run roughshod over for the last eight years.

It's not a political issue, it's not a talking point, it's the fucking foundation of this country. To blow it off ~ especially while parroting the worst of the right wing terrorist talking points ~ is a fucking outrage.

Tell me how a constitutional law professor could even think of doing that?

Here, I'll tell you: corporatocracy. End of democracy.

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:56:00 -0000

As a centrist ~ and now, apparently, center right ~ candidate, Obama is nowhere near liberal enough for me.

But I have supported him in large part because of his stand on foreign policy ~ that we must do things differently, that democrats are the better party to "keep us safe" (so fucking tired of that phrase).

With his support of FISA, he did a 180 degree turn back to the tired old destructive republican narrative that we can only be strong on security if we trash the Constitution.

As ptcruiser said: "Obama either believes the government can act unlawfully against American citizens or he does not."

which is it? and one of the most disappointing results of his statement is the sudden appeasement being promulgated by former staunch advocates of the defeat of this bill. it seems that the thing is just to elect Obama, no matter what, no matter what he does, says, anything. just elect him!!

bullshit. if we don't hold our candidates' feet to the fire ~ all of our candidates ~ we have nothing.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:36:00 -0000

and what of the heroic presidential candidate who's supporting the evisceration of the constitution? do we turn away from him as well?

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:40:00 -0000

the democrats want this fisa bill, they want it primarily for the telecom companies.

they are enormous donors to political campaigns, the telecoms.

the fisa bill has been fought back by activist democratic citizens several times now.

the democratic sellouts in congress keep allowing it to come up. over and over.

they want this bill to pass. want it.

the democrats could, if they wanted to, do precisely on this bill what the republicans do over and over:

play obstructionist politics and filibuster the motherfucker. but no, that would require some bit of spine and there doesn't seem to be a fucking backbone in the whole lot of them (feingold, dodd and a few others excluded).

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:41:00 -0000

and that last paragraph would be predicated on their not wanting to pass this bill, so it's moot.

they want it. they want it for their "people" ~ the corporations.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:53:00 -0000

After that, we can hold congressional hearings to air all the dirty laundry of the Bush administration.

no we can't. the bill prevents that.

this is pure politics and sucking up to his constituency: his corporate supporters.

that's what makes me feel so hopeless. all this hope and change crap is just more lies.

he is supporting the evisceration of the Constitution.

if that doesn't bother you, think about search and seizure laws, probable cause. will that not affect the black community? to castrate the 4th amendment? can you imagine how law enforcement will ultimately take this and run with it?

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:56:00 -0000

and equally horrible, is his parroting the right wing talking points on protecting us from the terrorists while destroying the constitution.

Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. . . .

that's REPUBLICAN bullshit. they've used it since 9/11 to eviscerate the founding documents of this country. this isn't some campaign silliness, it is the fabric of our nation.

Re: Saturday Open Thread - Come on in!

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:57:00 -0000

michelle.

go read the constitution and the bill of rights. it's apparent you have no idea what those documents mean or what went into the making of them.

then you'll know what i'm so "personally" upset about. good grief, you're making this into some kind of personal psychological issue?

there's a term for that: projection.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:59:00 -0000

I've always been of the opinion that if you're a law-abiding citizen, you don't have anything to be concerned about with FISA.

d. that is so utterly stupid it defies my ability to even put together a cogent response.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:52:00 -0000

with the exception of Bruce, and a few others, apparently no one here, Ms. Martin.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:54:00 -0000

One of the fears I have is that if we were to dig deeper into these whole Wiretapping thing we'll find a lot of malfeance done by Bush-Cheney-Rove-Gonzalez axis of evil. . .

and that is another outrage with this bill. it prevents us EVER knowing what they have done. ever.

it's bad enough that these war criminals aren't already impeached and incarcerated. this bill will ensure that their crimes are never known.

simply: it's legal if the president says so.

does that sound like america to all of you unconcerned people? it sounds like a fucking monarchy to me. or a dictatorship. but then he is the one who said he'd love to live in a dictatorship, as long as he's the dictator.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:49:00 -0000

Most liberals would rather see us fight the War on Terror with warrants and handcuffs. We tried fighting terrorism as a law enforcement problem...and got 9/11.

and the right wing lunatics would rather us pretend that the "war on terror" has nothing to do with US policy, with our single minded support of anything israel does, with our depradations around the globe, with our looting of the riches of 3d world countries, with our active promotion of puppet governments in nations around the world.

that's what we want to sweep under the rug: that we brought 9/11 on ourselves and it is only by changing our policies, changing the way we do business, by making this a democracy once again instead of a subsidiary of global corporations, that we'll be safe. ever.

fact: by invading the sovereign nation of iraq for no other reason than that we wanted their oil, we have created terrorists where there were none.

fact: by dipping out greedy fingers into the governments of virtually every middle eastern government at one time or another, we have enraged a populace previously unconcerned with us.

fact: by continuing our reliance on foreign oil to meet our energy needs, our vulnerability increases every damn day.

fact: because we continue to serve the needs of big oil, we will never, as a nation, officially act on energy independence or on climate change issues.

fact: our groveling before the forces of globalization keeps every one of us in danger.

fact: global corporations are enemies of the people.

fact: most americans can't be bothered to care, to educate themselves on these issues, or even to read the most superficial analyses of what we're really facing in this country, in the world.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:04:00 -0000

pt cruiser joins bruce dixon as my hero of the day. thank you for saying it far better than i could.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:34:00 -0000

What were his real options? Endorse the compromise, or say nothing and vote no/"present" and be seen as soft on terror. Dhimmicrats make a lot of noise, but when its time to put up or shut up, they get right back in line.

d. for an alleged conservative, you're just not very educated on matters of the founders' intent, eh?

Obama's response is not optional. It should be to defend the Constitution of this land. If he does not do that, then he is no better than Bush et al and we can be assured that an Obama presidency will be more of the same.

As CPL said above, the Reagan thing got my attention and yes, I remember discussing that very thing right here and getting flamed for it.

(And yes, CPL, thank you, thank you, I did not mean to leave you out.)

d., you refer to democrats as "getting in line," but it seems there are vast numbers of people in these times willing to submit to this authoritarian administration and to give up their freedom in exchange for the promise (not the actuality) of protection from . . . what. Protection from what, that which we have brought upon ourselves?

I'm not going to debate Republican v. Democrat because there are as many republicans and libertarians wrought up about this assault on our constitution as there are democrats.

This is profoundly important. It is not a political issue, it is not something you can just blow off and be uninterested in, it is not something you can, as a citizen of this country, ignore.

The Constitution of this country is what hundreds of thousands have fought and died for. It is this country; without it, we are nothing. And increasingly, I fear, that is the case.

Last fall Obama promised to filibuster this bill. We'll see if he does it. MoveOn has a campaign to educate him ~ to remind him of his obligation to defend the constitution.

ptcruiser has it right. This is police state bullshit. Earlier, you said "if you act right, why worry," or words to that effect.

I don't know if you're being intentionally obtuse, if you are just ignorant of this country's history, or if you are out of touch with reality, but if you can't envision this increasingly authoritarian administration acting to eavesdrop on you, to surveil you and your associates, to swooop up every bit of electronic information about you, to spy on your home, your business, to pick you up on bogus charges, to search you without cause, then you just need to start paying attention.

You cannot ~ cannot ~ be paying attention to what has happened here since 9/11 and feel safe with this kind of power being vested in the executive. It is NOT safe. The founders knew that. They put in place safeguards to ensure that what has happened, is happening, would not be tolerated and could be stopped.

Barack Obama standing up on this issue, just as he has done on other issues, is critically important.

He needs to give the same thought, reasoned speech on the Constitution and why we must protect it that he did on race.

Reagan, the AIPAC pandering episode, his alliance with neoliberal economic theorists, his defense of hedge fund managers . . . all of that bodes ill, in my mind, for an Obama who will speak truth to power. We'll see what he does this week, but if he does not truly try to stop this bill, I am done with him and I will do everything in my power to educate everyone I know on how he sold out the last vestiges of this democracy.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:02:00 -0000

If at some point there is concrete evidence that the government overstepped their bounds with FISA, I'll cry foul.

But I'm not going to give up on a valuable tool for preventing terrorism just because it makes people uncomfortable.

you'll never get that evidence if this law passes. that's what it's about.

the government's power to wiretap WILL NOT VANISH IF THIS BILL FAILS!! that's what they want you to believe, but that's not the case.

the only thing that will happen is that it will not be solely the decision of the executive (remember? we have Three branches of government???) as to when wiretapping or surveillance occurs.

you are not safe. and that stupid ignorant fool george bush could have prevented 9/11 if he hadn't been so arrogant and defiant of those who tried to tell him about the attack. that's a fact.

now that he attacked FOR NO REASON a sovereign nation, there are millions of people who couldn't be bothered with us who now hate us. you are endangered by the policies of this administration. if you can rest easier at night with these incompetent jackasses in charge, then you're blissfully unaware of the truth.

Re: Sunday Open Thread

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:09:00 -0000

craig hickman, that link . . . it's a pretty ridiculous argument. "he's a constitutional law professor!" exactly. "he will do the right thing when president!" so said george bush.

it's ironic, really, that half of the folks who were vigorously pushing congress to stand up on fisa in february, are now willing to turn a blind eye just because barack obama has had a big gulp of republican kool-aid and has bought into the old, old rethug meme that dems are weak on terror. it's ridiculous. and he had it going on when he was confronting this bullshit, not selling out to it.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:38:00 -0000

d. . . . when is it okay with you to dissent? or is it not okay?

i can't criticize george bush? isn't that another guarantee of our constitution?

i am baffled by your blind loyalty to these people.

was torture acceptable when you were an active marine? did you practice techniques? discuss methods? my father is a WWII veteran and he is OUTRAGED by what has happened in iraq. and he is a republican.

and you speak of democrats blindly falling in lockstep????

i think i'm wasting my breath. you're just arguing to be arguing because you are making. no. sense.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:29:00 -0000

I, d., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (So help me God.)

apologies for the misstatement about your branch of service.

about that oath . . . what do you do when the two are in conflict?

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:40:00 -0000

by the way, my nephew's in the navy now. does NOT support this administration because he knows they have been desperately, fatally wrong.

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:01:00 -0000

hearts . . . Would we be having this conversation with Clinton as the nominee right now - and with such vigor? yes.

d. . . . I've never not seen the relation between Iraq and the War on Terror as a whole. . . . i am honestly interested to know what that is?

Re: Find the CBC Member…

bigassbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:09:00 -0000

and this, d. . . . from the Baltimore Herald (and many other sources)

This shocking, perhaps unprecedented declaration by a senior military officer was just one of many instances during the week when Establishment figures – not just retired officials like Wilkerson and Taguba, but serving officers as well – confirmed and condemned the injustice and criminality of the Bush gulag system. Even corporate media types began openly using the "T" word, after years of ridiculing or marginalizing those who dare call the Administration's "harsh interrogation techniques" what they plainly are.

This nascent coventional wisdom line was perfectly illustrated in a new piece by Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times. Rutten is a lifelong newsman, a liberal of the old school, whose columns have been scathing in their criticism of Bush and all his works. In his latest outing, Rutten doesn't flinch from telling it like it is on Bush's torture regime. Drawing on the Congressional hearings and other sources, Rutten gives chapter and verse on "how the White House forced the adoption of torture as state policy of the United States."

He notes also the highly significant fact that one major impetus behind the construction of the torture system was the Bush Faction's extremist "unitary executive" theory: the crank belief that a president can exercise unbridled, unaccountable authoritarian power in his role as "commander-in-chief." This includes the power to break the law -- and order others to break the law -- as he sees fit.

that "extremist unitary executive theory" is the same one at issue with FISA.

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2008/062008Floyd.shtml

You might take the time to read that entire article. It goes into some depth about Obama's view of all of this, which I find terribly disheartening.

Re: FISA and Wiretapping: COINTELPRO Back in Fashion

bigassbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:22:00 -0000

i predict this will not be a popular thread ;-)

Re: FISA and Wiretapping: COINTELPRO Back in Fashion

bigassbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:05:00 -0000

d. . . . your naivete is breathtaking and kind of sweet, even if utterly misguided.

Re: Monday Open Thread - It’s a New Week!

bigassbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:07:00 -0000

michelle, since you're so into psychoanalysis, do tell "what he is about" in your view?

Re: FISA and Wiretapping: COINTELPRO Back in Fashion

bigassbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:52:00 -0000

junglecat, you're correct. D is being deliberately obtuse, likely a bored government employee feeding at the public trough, while decrying liberal political values.

that last comment does it for me: "when you show me some evidence . . . "

so utterly absurd and, as i said, deliberately obtuse. that is what the whole fucking fight is about. they will NEVER have to show evidence if this bill passes. that is the point.

goodbye y'all. it's been real. take care of yourselves.

Re: Monday Open Thread - It’s a New Week!

bigassbelle — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:54:00 -0000

hearts and flowers . . .

We all have our opinions and the right to express them but isn't there a point where we need to disengage instead of continually raising the stakes?

yes. there is. so i'll not be back here again. y'all have fun with your great new president come fall.

Re: Obama as the Next Roosevelt

bigassbelle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:23:57 -0000

Though he was never much interested in projects to redistribute wealth, he firmly believed government welfare policies could be used to give every American a fair chance