Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[ATV]

Vote early, vote often, vote Brock Olivio. Another competent Republican for Congress....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwC6rfB96Pk&feature=related

[Cerevant]

My Hillary bash du-jour:

Sen. Hillary Clinton's mailing attacking Sen. Barack Obama's record on guns appears to include a striking visual gaffe: The image of the gun pictured on the face of the mailing is reversed, making it a nonexistent left-handed model of the Mauser 66 rifle.

To make matters worse, a prominent gun dealer said, it's an expensive German gun with customized features that make it clearly European.

"The gun in the photo does not exist," said Val Forgett III, president of Navy Arms in Martinsburg, W.Va. Forgett's company was Mauser's agent in the United States when the gun was released, and it sold Mauser guns here again in the 1990s. "The bolt is facing to the left side of the receiver, making it a left-handed bolt action rifle, indicating whoever constructed and approved the mailer did not recognize the image has been reversed."

Forgett said the error would be obvious to sportsmen.

"I find it laughable on its face," he said. "It's like a picture of Babe Ruth hitting right-handed."

The gun's image in Clinton's mailing is above; a correct image of the gun is below.

Other rifle enthusiasts e-mailed Politico after an image of Clinton's mailing was posted to this blog.

"I bet the Clinton folks did a mirror flip on the stock image to make it look more 'aesthetic,'" wrote one, David Phillips. "What a latte-sipping, Gucci-wearing thing to do."

The Mauser 66, released in 1966 and no longer manufactured, is a high-end hunting rifle that found military use as a sniper rifle. In Clinton's mailing, it's pictured with a double-set trigger, a customization that's popular in Europe but "almost unheard of in the United States," Forgett said.

"It's a $2,200 German import — it's hardly typical of what the average workingman in Indiana uses," he said.

[Seabiscuit36]

that completely wasted my time. 

[ice grillin you]

great tom friedman piece


Who Will Tell the People?
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: May 4, 2008

Traveling the country these past five months while writing a book, I've had my own opportunity to take the pulse, far from the campaign crowds. My own totally unscientific polling has left me feeling that if there is one overwhelming hunger in our country today it's this: People want to do nation-building. They really do. But they want to do nation-building in America. They are not only tired of nation-building in Iraq and in Afghanistan, with so little to show for it. They sense something deeper — that we're just not that strong anymore.

We're borrowing money to shore up our banks from city-states called Dubai and Singapore. Our generals regularly tell us that Iran is subverting our efforts in Iraq, but they do nothing about it because we have no leverage — as long as our forces are pinned down in Baghdad and our economy is pinned to Middle East oil. Our president's latest energy initiative was to go to Saudi Arabia and beg King Abdullah to give us a little relief on gasoline prices. I guess there was some justice in that.

When you, the president, after 9/11, tell the country to go shopping instead of buckling down to break our addiction to oil, it ends with you, the president, shopping the world for discount gasoline. We are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three decades, the Asian values of our parents' generation — work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means — have given way to subprime values: "You can have the American dream — a house — with no money down and no payments for two years."

That's why Donald Rumsfeld's infamous defense of why he did not originally send more troops to Iraq is the mantra of our times: "You go to war with the army you have." Hey, you march into the future with the country you have — not the one that you need, not the one you want, not the best you could have.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I flew from New York's Kennedy Airport to Singapore. In J.F.K.'s waiting lounge we could barely find a place to sit. Eighteen hours later, we landed at Singapore's ultramodern airport, with free Internet portals and children's play zones throughout. We felt, as we have before, like we had just flown from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. If all Americans could compare Berlin's luxurious central train station today with the grimy, decrepit Penn Station in New York City, they would swear we were the ones who lost World War II.

How could this be? We are a great power. How could we be borrowing money from Singapore? Maybe it's because Singapore is investing billions of dollars, from its own savings , into infrastructure and scientific research to attract the world's best talent — including Americans. And us? Harvard's president, Drew Faust, just told a Senate hearing that cutbacks in government research funds were resulting in "downsized labs, layoffs of post docs, slipping morale and more conservative science that shies away from the big research questions."

Today, she added, "China, India, Singapore ... have adopted biomedical research and the building of biotechnology clusters as national goals. Suddenly, those who train in America have significant options elsewhere." Much nonsense has been written about how Hillary Clinton is "toughening up" Barack Obama so he'll be tough enough to withstand Republican attacks. Sorry, we don't need a president who is tough enough to withstand the lies of his opponents. We need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people.

Any one of the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I'm voting for the one who can talk straight to the American people on national TV — at 8 p.m. — from the White House East Room. Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.

I don't know if Barack Obama can lead that, but the notion that the idealism he has inspired in so many young people doesn't matter is dead wrong. "Of course, hope alone is not enough," says Tim Shriver, chairman of Special Olympics, "but it's not trivial. It's not trivial to inspire people to want to get up and do something with someone else." It is especially not trivial now, because millions of Americans are dying to be enlisted — enlisted to fix education, enlisted to research renewable energy, enlisted to repair our infrastructure, enlisted to help others. Look at the kids lining up to join Teach for America. They want our country to matter again. They want it to be about building wealth and dignity — big profits and big purposes. When we just do one, we are less than the sum of our parts. When we do both, said Shriver, "no one can touch us."

[ice grillin you]

this is awesome


"the empire strikes barrack"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY&eurl=http://mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/

[Cerevant]

Two excellent posts in a row.  I bow my head in shame.

[Father Demon]

IGY - that was a great article.  The question, I think, is have our political leaders led us in this direction, the business leaders and their greed for quarter to quarter growth (fueled by short-term sighted investors), or the public's thirst for convenience, instant gratification, and their own greed?  I hear Obama's speeches calling for change, but I don't know if it's top-down or bottom-up change that's needed, and who should be leading it.  We've also built a population that expects something for nothing, and personal achievements at the expense of others.  We are a population of "Me first / who cares."

It took us 30 years to get here, it will take 20 to get us back - and that's only with the dedication of government, business, and the population to do it.

[ice grillin you]

We are a population of "Me first / who cares."

exactly...its all about go for self...thats why i really like obama he seems to care less about himself and more about the people who have less than him....hes anti lobby and special interests and so far hasnt appeared to have been corrupted by the system...can and will he be able to change things?...that answer can range from who knows to absolutely not but at least he gives the mere appearance of being different and gives you hope...and as freidman noted in his column hope cannot be underesitmated and its something that hillary and especially mccain dont offer...

i really hope barry wins if for no other reason than it would really be shame to see the huge amounts of people who are going to go back to being disinfranchised or straight up apathetic when it comes to politics if he doesnt get the nomination...because we need a new generation of people who actually care about the country and get involved in matters of such great importance

It took us 30 years to get here, it will take 20 to get us back - and that's only with the dedication of government, business, and the population to do it.

the country is too shortsighted to work for 20 years on anything.....we want the immediate fix to the sydrome instead of the long term treatment...


we need to invest in this countrys own infrastructure....children....and economy to keep pace with the rest of the world

[Seabiscuit36]

Money needs to be invested in schools, and at the same time, the current school system needs to be scrapped and rebuilt.   

[General_Failure]

the country is too shortsighted to work for 20 years on anything.....we want the immediate fix to the sydrome instead of the long term treatment...

I think we've got a couple of generations that are cynical enough to know that there are no immediate fixes. The people who are now interested in politics for no reason other than Obama, they've needed a leader, someone to stand up and say that hey, things are broken. A leader that isn't going to tell them that shopping is their patriotic duty.

Now if Obama becomes the next President and we get four years of him leading nowhere, we're all farged until the next generation of hopeful suckers are old enough to vote. There will be a parade of more of the same than ever before for years to come.

[Phanatic]

I wonder if the short sightedness of it all comes from the fact that the guys making decisions (elected officials) can only do things that think ahead to the next election in 2 - 4 years. Sometimes a 20 - 50 year fix won't get you reelected. In today's hyper media environment that can be accentuated and used against you. Mob Rules these days.

[Cerevant]

This is why the campaign finance reform is so critical - it is the type of short term move that can have tremendous long term consequences.

[fansince61]

Mob Rules these days.

Exactly.  Thats why we are supposed to be protected by the "Constitution".  Seems like we have three classes in this country. (1) The super rich - hollywood, Bill gates, (2) The aristocracy - government/elected officials who get benifits and retirement plans illegal for the "rest of us" to have. In Allentown PA some cops retire after 13 years at 100% pay -  based on the best 30 days in their last 3 years!* (3) the rest of us "the masses" are the ones who pay for the first two groups.   I'm in group 3 and wouldn't want to be anywhere else, I just think we should have one set of rules for all the citizens and none of this 13 year retirement, free car/limo schtein.

* the city is bankrupt and was bankrupt when they passed this police contract.  I hear state bailout not far away

[ATV]

Two excellent posts in a row.

Agreed.

[rjs246]

Mob Rules these days.

Exactly.  Thats why we are supposed to be protected by the "Constitution".  Seems like we have three classes in this country. (1) The super rich - hollywood, Bill gates, (2) The aristocracy - government/elected officials who get benifits and retirement plans illegal for the "rest of us" to have. In Allentown PA some cops retire after 13 years at 100% pay -  based on the best 30 days in their last 3 years!* (3) the rest of us "the masses" are the ones who pay for the first two groups.   I'm in group 3 and wouldn't want to be anywhere else, I just think we should have one set of rules for all the citizens and none of this 13 year retirement, free car/limo schtein.

* the city is bankrupt and was bankrupt when they passed this police contract.  I hear state bailout not far away

The variance of wealth/power within the "(3) the rest of us "the masses"" is huge and can't be lumped into one category like that...