Country Singer Toby Keith Supports Obama

Who the hell is he and why does he?

Apparently he wrote a song after 9/11/01 called "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" and he now says:

"There's a big part of America that really believes that there is a war on terrorism, and that we need to finish up. So I thought it was beautiful the other day when Obama went to Afghanistan and got educated about Afghanistan and Iraq. He came back and said some really nice things. So as far as leadership and patriotism goes, I think it's really important that those things have to take place. And I think he's the best Democratic candidate we've had since Bill Clinton. And that's coming from a Democrat."

Wow.
Tobykeith

Obama's Secret Weapon

Barackbeach

(from Wonkette who only showed the top half, unless you clicked)

Did Cindy McCain Lie About Meeting Mother Teresa?


Cindymccaintrench

This DailyKos diarist thinks so, although others are claiming the Snopes debunkery site is not up to date on this. I was able to use the "Election + Political Lies + Religion" Categories all together and this does lend an interesting twist to the "First Ladies" stories. Mere speculation about Michelle Obama ends up in the corporate media but if it has to do with Cindy McCain (drugs, cheating relatives out of inheritances and then denying their existence, etc.) it pretty much ends up on the blogs. I doubt I will be able to find a picture of Cindy and Mother Teresa together, for what that's worth. "Cindy McCain in church" and "Cindy McCain praying" drew blanks too, but I did find this picture where she looks like a Secret Agent!


Rape as Sport: Open Season on Women

After a rape victim used a cell phone to call for help, KBR banned use of personal phones by its employees in Iraq, citing no specific reason. Jamie Leigh Jones, rape victim, was gang-raped by coworkers and held in a shipping container for days, until she convinced a sympathetic guard to loan her a cell phone so she could call her father in Texas.

Women military in Iraq are more likely to be raped than killed and 41% of women vets in one VA hospital had been raped. Congressman Jane Harman calls it an epidemic and only 8% of the alleged rapists go to courts martial in the military system, compared with 40% in the civil system. Congressman Gene Green reminds us that the military needs women in combat zones because it's so short-staffed now.

Is Rape Tourism in the US a Real Phenomenon? Amnesty International reports that some non-native men seek out women on reservations because they can rape without consequences. Women living there are 2.5x more likely than other women in the US and 86% are raped by white perpetrators. In one case investigated by AI, the perpetrators wore condoms, blindfolded the victims and made them bathe, suggesting premeditation. Since the women were blindfolded, they could not say where the rapes took place, so jurisdiction was in question. When this is the case, there may be no investigation at all, and the perps know it. One case was on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. My family has lived there.

Checks to support Pretty Bird House (safe house for Native women which had to be rebuilt after arson) can go to: Mita Maske Ti Ki (My Sister Friends' House) PO Box 2141 Sioux Falls, SD 57101100_0094

McCaingels Will Stop Gay Marriage

<a href="http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/mccaingels_101/" target="_blank">McCaingels, Episode 1</a>

It's by Michael Addis, who directed "Poor White Trash" and it's not work safe.

"I Am Sick & Tired of the President of the United States Embarrassing Me"

This is inspired by Alan, who turned me on to Jack Cafferty File , a CNN blog but he's rather good. He wrote 'It's Getting Ugly Out There: The Frauds, Bunglers, Liars, and Losers Who Are Hurting America ' and provides commentary on CNN's 'The Situation Room.' Since I'm a TV boycotter since 1991 and certainly didn't watch the Brokeback Church or whatever, I do appreciate being sent things like this. Slugbug

Excerpts from Cafferty (yes I am taking them out of context) -

Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation. His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.

Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.(snip) It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. 'It means I'm saved and forgiven.' (snip) He was asked 'if evil exists.' His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to 'the gates of hell.' That was it. He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich. (snip)John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. (snip) He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the 'Straight Talk Express' for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul. George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself. He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.


(The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer. But couldn't any of us have written this?!)05mccain3600

Olympic Gymnast Wore Peace Sign Earrings

Nice touch (don't show up in the picture - I'm taking a friend's word for it that saw it on the telly)
UPDATE: AJ sent the picture - thanks! (see below - it was at Lew Rockwell blog)

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UK Dancing Street Sweeper - YouTube Cult Hero

His name is Ziggy Dust and he's a 47 year old street sweeper originally from Poland. (Over there, he's called a "bin man.") He does it to make himself and others happy and to make the time pass at work. & he's quite good.

"I have always had my own free-style steps. I just improvise on the street, watching my shadow on the pavement and my reflection in the shop windows.”

New "Yes We Can" Art

Nice photo submitted by reader Bryann, who took it! The painting was done by P. Skroggs of Seattle and adorns the Obama/Gregoire HQ on Mercer in Seattle and is adapted from Shepard Fairey's classic. I'll also post these also at BarackLikeMe, the really positive Obama blog of Nyc's. We don't slam McCain there - we do that here. See also Jed Report - once he got past the primaries, he converted his fire from Hillary to McCain. I also want to plug Five Thirty Eight , for the most interesting poll-related analysis and commentary around.

Slugbug, just home from work and ready for Change

P.S. If McCain had two terms, he would be almost 80!

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Rachel Maddow to Get Her Own Show

DailyKos - Thanks, Kayakbiker! & for letting us know she is a Rhodes scholar, just like Bill!


Maddow