Ten Post Round-Up: Wednesday, September 10

Whoops!  Got a little chatty with the ol’ ball n’ chain the ol’ man SSG Dizzy, today, then got caught up in a lot of necessary real life stuff.  Who knew growing a rock could be so much work (true story)?  Except for that time of month, “better late than never”, I always say.

Today’s Ten Post Round-Up includes everybody’s favorite VP candidate (almost wet my pants writing that one), drugs and even swinging (I’m referring to golf.  What did you think I was referring to?).  Since I’m in a good mood, I found this great McCain debate that I just thought you had to see.

• She gave up on the bridge, built a useless road instead…

• The latest in spy technology: MySpace

• Taking a swing at a good idea.

• The economy is in the crapper and your party looks bad.  What do you do?  Try to eliminate all voters who are likely a little peeved at you.

• For all you gadget lovers: a doo-hickey that measures your steps and your sleep.

• Dude!  It’s like totally good for ya!

• Do you know where your hot dogs were made?

• Former Republican presidential candidate pushes Americans to vote for a third-party candidate instead.

• Sad: Young woman commits suicide in anticipation of the end of the world.

• Not so fast on that Palin vs the Librarian story!  This story appears to have real (and scary) legs…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFVU9u97yzg]

(originally posted at: The Sirens Chronicles)

Sphere: Related Content

This is how McCain supports our soldiers?

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and I plan to run a piece by a veteran of the Iraq War. Today however, we take Weathervane McCain to task for his lies and bullshit he spews about supporting our soldiers. I hate this man like I hate Bush…perhaps even more so because he IS a veteran. May he suffer as our soldiers do..a thousand times worse for all eternity.

From Think Progress:

McCain’s record on supporting veterans is one of the worst in Congress. IAVA has given him a grade of a “D” for voting against veterans’ priorities so often between 2000 and 2006. A scorecard of roll call votes compiled by the Disabled American Veterans found that McCain has voted for veterans funding bills only 20 percent of the time. For example, in May 2006, he voted against an amendment providing $20 billion to the Department of Veteran Affairs’s (VA) medical facilities. In April 2006, he was one of just 13 senators to vote against providing $430 million to the VA for outpatient care “and treatment for veterans.” McCain has railed against comprehensive universal health care and wants to give veterans the “freedom to choose to carry their V.A. dollars to a provider that gives them the timely care at high quality and in the best location.” But as New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes, “[T]he Veterans Health Administration is one of the few clear American success stories in the struggle to contain health care costs. … [I]t’s an integrated system — a system that takes long-term responsibility for its clients’ health — to deliver an impressive combination of high-quality care and low costs.” McCain’s plan, however, would “privatize and, in effect, dismantle the V.A.” In his narrow-sighted focus on eliminating earmarks, McCain may also cut funding for military housing.

Sphere: Related Content

DESTROYED LIVES AND FAMILIES. Epilogue

NO REAL SACRIFICE: LIES, EXPLOITATION, AND MANIPULATION
By PraetorOne

Obviously I am too young to have experienced World War II directly, but I am well read on the topic and I have forged friendships with older people who did experience that war first hand.

One of the things I learned was that the American people were willing to make sacrifices in those days. As well they should have. In the summer of 1942 Adolf Hitler appeared to be at the height of his powers. German Armies had penetrated deep into Western Russia; German and Italian Armies had conquered vast areas of territory ranging from Northern Africa to Western Europe to Scandinavia. In the East, Japan had taken out the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, leaving America’s Western Coast vulnerable to attack. Moreover, the Pacific Ocean and Eastern Asia were little more than a Japanese play ground.

With that in mind the American people, though they may have grumbled from time to time, decided to make personal sacrifices for the war effort. The rationed everything from eggs, meat, and fat, to tires and nylons. They paid higher taxes and went without new refrigerators, wash machines, and cars to save metal for th war effort. Moreover the government levied higher taxes to pay for the war effort; and by taxes I mean taxes on everyone, rich and poor alike, not just on the middle and lower classes, but on the wealthy as well. Franklin Roosevelt went on the radio and explained why we needed to make personal sacrifices in our every day lives, and once we understood exactly how grim the situation was we got into line and did our best –albeit with a little pissing and moaing–to support the War Against Fascism.

Now flash forward to the year 2001. On 911 of that memorable year we were attacked by right wing religious religious fanatics from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, initiating what George W. Bush referred to as a War Against Terror(ism). Presumably this war against terrorism is a Third World War, but unlike Franklin Roosevelt, George W.Bush did not call for shared sacrifice. Instead, he fought hard to keep tax cuts for the very wealthy and told us to go shopping. In effect asking us to pull out our credit cards to buy worthless junk that we don’t really need while openly encouraging his “Ownership Society,” which is just a fancy way of saying: “Get yourself a variable mortgage and buy yourself a home that you can’t afford to pay for.” Translated into modern English, George W. Bush told the lower and middle classes to buy things they didn’t need or couldn’t afford to keep his consumer driven economy afloat. Translated into modern English, George W. Bush asked the American people, the lower and middle classes, to pull his economic chestnuts out of the fire by going deeper into debt. After telling us that the War Against Terror(ism) was the greatest threat this country had faced since World War II George W. Bush called for no common sacrifice and decided to fight his wars on the cheap.

Read more

Sphere: Related Content