Reading this article got me freaking fired up, hence the title before the dots. But after some consideration.. “or don’t?” Story first. Lots of (parentheses) follow.

From this WaPo article entitled “Lieberman Contributed to GOP Senate, House Candidates”

..Having ridden the wave of support for President-elect Barack Obama, (new democratic senators) Udall and Merkley spoke out in favor of the spirit of reconciliation and moving on from the campaign, in which Lieberman was one of the highest profile supporters of the Republican presidential ticket.

But no one in the room knew, as Merkley spoke, that Lieberman had supported Merkley’s opponent, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). Lieberman, through his Reuniting Our Country PAC, gave Smith’s reelection bid $5,000 on Oct. 10, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Lieberman’s support of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for the presidency was well known, punctuated by his nationally televised speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul criticizing Obama as not prepared to be president. His endorsement of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has served as the top Republican beside him at the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also was well known in Democratic circles.

But not even Merkley knew of Lieberman’s backing of Smith in their critical Senate race, until Capitol Briefing alerted his staff today.

“We were surprised to hear this news, but it’s time to put the election behind us. Jeff Merkley is looking forward to working with all his new colleagues on an agenda that will put our nation back on track,” said Julie Edwards, spokeswoman for Merkley.

Lieberman’s support of Smith came the same weekend he wrote an op-ed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press defending Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) for his work as chairman of an investigative subcommittee on Lieberman’s homeland security committee. The same day he wrote a check to Smith, Lieberman’s ROC PAC gave $5,000 to Rep. Peter King, the Long Island Republican. In radio and TV appearances the final days of the campaign, Lieberman also frequently said that a Democratic majority of 60 votes, a filibuster-proof level, would be a bad thing.

Lieberman’s $5,000 check was clearly not a difference maker for Smith, as Merkley still won by more than 50,000 votes. And Coleman is clinging to a razor-thin lead during a recount of his race against Democrat Al Franken.

But the internal Democratic caucus debate over Lieberman’s fate almost always focused on Lieberman’s criticism of Obama, not on his support of Republicans in Senate races. Edwards, Merkley’s spokeswoman, has said that Merkley also expressed how much Lieberman’s actions in the presidential race angered him. He did not encourage other Democrats to vote one way or the other, but did talk about moving on from the bitter fights of the campaign.

Then, on a 42-13 vote, Democrats supported keeping Lieberman as chairman of the committee with broad oversight of the Obama administration and removing him from the Environment and Public Works Committee…

The formatting above is mine, for emphasis.

So, let me get this straight. This former VP candidate for the Democratic party contributed AT LEAST $10,000 cash dollars to help GOP Senators and Representatives, and priceless endorsements of John McCain and other GOP members, and the Dems (Obama) want to keep him.

My first reaction is “Yeah fucking right! Kick this dipshit to the curb!”

This guy is basically a god damn turncoat. HE SPOKE AT THE RNC! Jesus Christ!

It takes a lot of chutzpah for Dems (Obama) to let bygones be bygones and welcome ol’ Joe back. Or are they (hopefully) being crafty?

Consider: Connecticut went overwhelmingly for Obama. Lieberman’s approval ratings in his state are not what they used to be. Sleeping with the enemy doesn’t help.Could part of this also be a decision to not fight this battle now, but to hang in there until Lieberman is up for re-election in 2010 and let Connecticut voters bury Joe on election day?

This guy is scum, and I HOPE that Dems (Obama) are just planning to let the voters of the fine state of Connecticut do their dirty work for them. Joe has no place in this party. He’s now put his money where his mouth has been, and shown his true colors.

Basically: Joe’s ass better be on the curb by 2010.
The Dems (Obama) have punted. Your ball Connecticut.

YEAH YOU THOUGHT THIS BLOG WOULDN’T BE POLITICAL AFTER NOV 4
THINK AGAIN

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation’s broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, “It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.”

Via.. guess who

From Ben Smith’s Blog:

“But now suddenly, John McCain says he is about change, too. He even started using some of my lines. Suddenly he says he wants ‘to turn the page.’ He had an ad today that he started running that he and Gov. Palin would bring the change that we need. He had this in an advertisement. Sound familiar? Let me tell you something, instead of borrowing my lines he needs to borrow our ideas,” Obama said.

He followed up with a dig at lobbyists, saying “..if you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well, then, I’ve got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska.”

Put it on the board - YES!

I’ve been a big fan of Debs and this speech in particular for awhile. An excerpt:

Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be seen along the Rhine concluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth they declared war upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war any more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to war.

The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another’s throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose–especially their lives.

They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.

And here let me emphasize the fact–and it cannot be repeated too often–that the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace. Yours not to reason why; Yours but to do and die. That is their motto and we object on the part of the awakening workers of this nation. If war is right let it be declared by the people. You who have your lives to lose, you certainly above all others have the right to decide the momentous issue of war or peace..

You need at this time especially to know that you are fit for something better than slavery and cannon fodder. You need to know that you were not created to work and produce and impoverish yourself to enrich an idle exploiter. You need to know that you have a mind to improve, a soul to develop, and a manhood to sustain..

They are continually talking about your patriotic duty. It is not their but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. There is a decided difference. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches. And now among other things they are urging you to “cultivate” war gardens, while at the same time a government war report just issued shows that practically 52 percent of the arable, tillable soil is held out of use by the landlords, speculators and profiteers. They themselves do not cultivate the soil. Nor do they allow others to cultivate it. They keep it idle to enrich themselves, to pocket the millions of dollars of unearned increment..

And now for all of us to do our duty! The clarion call is ringing in our ears and we cannot falter without being convicted of treason to ourselves and to our great cause.
Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.

On June 16, 1918, Debs made this speech in Canton, Ohio in opposition to World War I urging resistance to the military drafts of World War I. During the Palmer Raids, part of the First Red Scare in which people who were suspected of being radical leftists were arrested under fear that they would cause anarchism, Debs was arrested for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. The period was characterized by supporters of communism and socialism being arrested and detained under suspicion of sedition. Debs was convicted and sentenced to serve ten years in prison. He was also disenfranchised for life.

Debs presented what has been called his best-remembered statement at his sentencing hearing:

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

via via

The top three things you do not want to say to John McCain:

• “High five!”
• “Are you hungry? I know of a great Vietnamese place.”
• “I’ll send you a copy of the article via email.”

That might have been a little below the belt but hey. Let the mud fly. via reddit comments.

Also, some friends and me are have a Wii-Olympics bracket style Wii championship competition. I made some medals and a promo and stuff for it. It’s neat stuff. If you’d like to check it out they’re behind the cut: Read more »

The hilarious cartooners at JibJab have done it again. Their newest feat, entitled “Time for Some Campaignin’” is set to Bob Dylan’s classic “The Times They Are A Changin’”. It blasts everyone equally, and is a breath of fresh political-humor-air after all that New Yorker cover hullabaloo. Watch here or below:

Also, I’m in the process of moving and things so updates might be scant here for a few days. Maggie’s art of the week is in the tubes and should be up soon as well.

I had this amazing post on how I finally had proof that people that vote Republican are stupid. It had numbers and everything. It was a hoax. Apparently, a lot of people fell for this, which means somehow I have more journalistic integrity than The Economist. Details here and here (snopes)

In other news, I have a job interview Monday at a local newspaper doing ad design/prepress. Wish me luck! I’ll also be moving, quitting my current job, and going to NJ in the next week or two as well, so updates might become scant. I apologize, people that don’t read this.

Since my IQ Voter Fuzzy Math Scandal turned out to be false, here’s an lolcat: