Keystone XL Pipeline — The “Drill, Baby, Drill” of 2012!

Our “liberal media” at work!

The Republican Party is picking up where they left off in the last election and helping to define themselves as the party “of and for” corporations – especially big oil.

In 2008, they had “Drill, Baby, Drill” and all the money that came along with that. This election year, they’ve chosen the Keystone XL pipeline to show how they plant their lips on the ass of big oil.

Once again, they have the media on their side in this endeavor. Media Matters for America did a study of media coverage from August 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 on the Keystone XL pipeline.  The results aren’t a surprise to anyone who pays attention to reality. This chart tells the story pretty clearly.

The GOP has been tremendously successful at getting the media to play along with them since August of 2011 on this issue and the above chart shows us the results. The red bars show how “job creation potential” was mentioned in the coverage from major media outlets with the green bar representing the “environmental concerns.” If you’ve been following the topic recently, it is obvious that Republicans are trying to make this into their jobs program, or at least an attempt to show how the Obama administration is preventing job creation. Go read the whole article at Media Matters, it was very thorough.

When you drill down into the numbers (I couldn’t resist), it turns out that reality is much different than the propaganda that has been sold to the American people. In a different post, Media Matters has some interesting information that gets to the real job numbers associated with the pipeline. Here are some snippets that show a progression that begins with Fox News…

Fox Anchor Martha MacCallum: 20,000 Jobs Is “The Low-End Estimate.” [snip]

TransCanada Said In 2010 That Keystone XL Pipeline “Is Expected To Create Over … 13,000 New Jobs For American Workers.” [snip]

Wash. Post: Based On TransCanada’s Numbers, “The Number Of People Employed” Would Actually Be 6,500. A November 5 article in The Washington Post reported that TransCanada CEO Russ Girling “said Friday that the 13,000 figure was actually not a true job number, but actually accounted for ‘one person, one year.’” The Post added that “if the construction jobs lasted two years, the number of people employed in each of the two years would be 6,500.” [snip]

Cornell University Global Labor Institute: Based On TransCanada’s Numbers, “The Project Will Create No More Than 2,500-4,600 Temporary Direct Construction Jobs.” [snip]

Cornell University Global Labor Institute: “Based On The Figures Provided By TransCanada For The Canadian Section Of The Pipeline, The New Permanent US Pipeline Jobs In The US Number As Few As 50.” (emphasis mine)

The estimate by the independent group at Cornell University puts the number of temporary jobs at 2,500 – 4,600 and the number of permanent jobs at 50. Those jobs would certainly matter to the people lucky enough to get them, but it ain’t no 20,000 jobs for sure. And considering all the risks to the states that this pipeline would travel through, not worth it at all.

Republicans are either stupid or crazy, take your pick!

In November of 2011, the Republicans decided to embrace the issue in their negotiations for extending the payroll tax cut that President Obama was fighting for. The pipeline became their bargaining chip in those negotiations, even after being warned by the State Department that trying to force the issue would result in it being killed for sure. That didn’t seem to bother the GOP, from a State Department briefing on December 12, 2011…

The State Department has led a rigorous, thorough, and transparent process that must run its course to obtain the necessary information to make an informed decision on behalf of the national interest. Should Congress impose an arbitrary deadline for the permit decision, its actions would not only compromise the process, it would prohibit the Department from acting consistently with National Environmental Policy Act requirements by not allowing sufficient time for the development of this information. In the absence of properly completing the process, the Department would be unable to make a determination to issue a permit for this project. (emphasis mine)

But like the flat footed, clumsy party that they are, the GOP kept right on pushing it. So during the holidays, we were treated to the White House fighting for tax cuts for every American while the Republicans were blocking those tax cuts and supporting big oil. Coming off the BP oil spill in 2010, I’m not sure that is the group you want to wrap your arms around.

Just over a week ago on January 18, 2012, President Obama officially rejected the Keystone XL pipeline bid.

But the president said today in a statement that the congressionally imposed deadline did not provide adequate time for the State Department to finish a customary review of the pipeline’s route through six states.

“The rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment,” Obama said.

“As a result, the secretary of state has recommended that the application be denied. And after reviewing the State Department’s report, I agree.”

What is so astounding to me is that they don’t seem to really want the pipeline to go through, they just want it as a campaign issue. Steve Benen summed it up very well…

I’d argue that this is the outcome Republicans wanted all along. The GOP didn’t really want the pipeline; they wanted the ability to whine about the absence of the pipeline. This wasn’t, in other words, about energy production; this was about creating an issue for the 2012 campaign.

There were signs that the Republicans might abandon that tactic, but the other day, Boehner hinted that he may double down on that strategy.

 Besides the stupidity of pitting tax cuts for all Americans against the interests of big oil, Republicans also touted those outrageous claims of how many jobs it would create. Going into an election year that everyone says will be all about jobs, you would think they might pick an issue that would actually create some jobs. But instead, they’ve inflated and exaggerated numbers that even the company building the pipeline doesn’t agree with.

I’m seeing a new slogan, “Lay Pipe, Baby, Lay Pipe.” Now get your minds out of the gutter.

Cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles

H/T to The Washington Monthly and Media Matters for America

Why 2012 Will Be a “Close” Election

Guest Post: By Joan Ruaiz

I so wish I could tell you that the upcoming general election will be close, and that it will be due to the life-and-death seriousness of the issues as they relate to our economy, the environment and our foreign policy — but I cannot honestly say this.  I do believe that the 2012 election will be close, but for the wrong reasons; one being that it is how media conglomerates generate large sums for themselves during an election year.  So when the media crows again how this will not only be close, but the most expensive ever, don’t think they aren’t at the same time counting on the millions they will earn throughout.

We must understand that the protracted Obama-Hillary primary wars of 2008 were a boon to media coffers!  Couple that with the birth of the limitless Super PACs (thanks to our Republican-dominated SCOTUS), and you can easily see what I see: media mavens relying on  their potential earnings after facing lean advertising years. If you hadn’t thought about it before, think about it now, while closely observing how desperately reporters are handling the Republican primaries. It may seem quite entertaining at the moment (to some of us), but I would respectfully suggest that we ought to be preparing for what is to come in the general.

Speaking of the current sorry-ass Republican primaries, it is mighty strange that although there is only one halfway electable Republican left standing, we are now witnessing a media-termed “horse race” as we head toward Super PAC-spending Tuesday. It’s not because the alternative candidates to Romney are actually worth anything (because they aren’t); it is because the faster the Republican Primaries end, the less money the Super PAC will spend, and that would greatly reduce the media’s anticipated advertising windfall.

Look, it’s no accident that the media has been all over candidate Romney since his big win in New Hampshire.  At the exact time the announcement was made that Mitt held an insurmountable double-digit lead in South Carolina polls, the corporate media got hella serious!   To add to the media’s trouble, GOP candidates were dropping like flies, Mitt Romney reeked of the inevitable stench, and the primary season was ending before it had started.  But by golly, all was not lost, as we witnessed the re-resurrection of the twice-fallen Newt in just 7 days!  I will add that this wasn’t an easy get by any means. Just ask Ginger Chuckie on MSNBC; he seemed quite exhausted with that renewed Newt surge!

Yes, truth be told, our poor corporate media has had the hardest time coming up with a plausible scenario to get that primary GOP Super PAC money bomb coming their way, considering what they were given to work with! It isn’t typical of our media to get so resourceful as to report on the manner in which a GOP millionaire candidate built his fortune, or to just allow GOP candidates to be dumb enough to literally destroy each other, after all that St. Reagan preached on that subject!  The media corporations, after all, are not left-leaning, nor have they been for quite some time.  No, the media corporations lean green with greed, and we shouldn’t allow ourselves to forget that.

Photos Of My Brilliant And Kind Of Cute Granddaughter

Little Extreme Liberal

President Obama Sings Al Green at the Apollo Theater!

Too freakin awesome for words!

Is Candy Crowley Getting Paid For The Work She’s Doing For Romney?

Steve Benen put up a post the other day about an exchange between Candy Crowley and David Axelrod that is a perfect illustration of how the media has morphed into stenographers for politicians, mostly Republicans. Many in the media have abandoned critical thinking and analysis in lieu of the easy routes – polls, talking points and false equivalency nonsense.

Here is the exchange that has Candy Crowley doing the heavy lifting for the Romney campaign.

CROWLEY: But couldn’t that huge gap, which is a pretty big gap between those who think you could handle the economy as opposed to Mitt Romney — couldn’t it also be that, from the day — from the month the president took office, we still have 1.7 million fewer jobs in the marketplace?

AXLEROD: Candy, let’s have — you know what, I’m happy to have that discussion. Do you know that, when he was campaigning for president in 2007 and 2008, Governor Romney had nothing but praise for the economic policies that were in place at that time, as America was sliding into the worst recession since the Great Depression, after eight years in which we…

CROWLEY: But this isn’t Romney. This is a fact.

Steve Benen goes on to point out that in the first 6 months of the Obama presidency, the country lost 3.89 million jobs. And yes, President Obama was president at the time of those job losses, but if anyone thinks that a single thing that President Obama did in that first 6 months had ANYTHING to do with the job losses, they are seriously deluded.

Here is a chart that shows the number of job losses/gains over the last 10 years or so.

Courtesy of Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly

Noam Chomsky On Ron Paul – “His policies are off the wall”

Noam Chomsky has endorsed President Obama in 2012, albeit a lukewarm endorsement. This clip has Noam pointing out what is obvious to anyone with any sense, that Ron Paul is not a friend of liberals or progressives. Chomsky says of libertarianism,  “It might sound nice on the surface, but if you think it through, it’s just a call for corporate tyranny.”

A Wise Man Takes On Progressives Flirting With Ron Paul!

I’m still in editing mode on a project, but just had to share this post that my friend and fellow blogger Angry Black Lady wrote about a piece by Tim Wise, one of the leading experts on racism in the country. It takes on those on the left flirting with Ron Paul and is a must read for liberals. Go check out ABL’s post and really, go read Tim Wise’s entire piece, it is long but well worth it. Here is ABL’s lead in to an excerpt that gets to the heart of the post.

But people are starting to get it. The Greenwald sweater of polemical deceit is unraveling, and I like it. I like it because I find his sort of polemical discourse and rhetorical bomb-throwing to be a reckless distraction from the serious problems that confront us.

I especially like this, from Tim Wise — “Of Broken Clocks, Presidential Candidates, and the Confusion of Certain White Liberals.”  It’s a thing of beauty. You should read the whole thing, but I’m going to excerpt what I see as the most salient bit:

I want those of you who are seriously singing Paul’s praises, while calling yourself progressive or left to ask what it signifies — not about Ron Paul, but about you — that you can look the rest of us in the eye, your political colleagues and allies, and say, in effect, “Well, he might be a little racist, but…

How do you think that sounds to black people, without whom no remotely progressive candidate stands a chance of winning shit in this country at a national level? How does it sound to them — a group that has been more loyal to progressive and left politics than any group in this country — when you praise a man who opposes probably the single most important piece of legislation ever passed in this country, and whose position on the right of businesses to discriminate, places him on the side of the segregated lunchcounter owners? And how do you think they take it that you praise this man, or possibly even support him for president, all so as to teach the black guy currently in the office a lesson for failing to live up to your expectations?

How do you think it sounds to them, right now, this week, as we prepare to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, that you claim to be progressive, and yet you are praising or even encouraging support for a man who voted against that holiday, who opposes almost every aspect of King’s public policy agenda, and the crowning achievements of the movement he helped lead?

My guess is that you don’t think about this at all. Because you don’t have to. One guess as to why not.

It’s the same reason you don’t have to think about how it sounds to most women — and damned near all progressive women — when you praise Paul openly despite his views on reproductive freedom, and even sexual harassment, which Paul has said should not even be an issue for the courts. He thinks women who are harassed on the job should just quit. In other words, “Yeah, he might be a little bit sexist, but…”

It’s the same reason you don’t have to really sweat the fact that he would love to cut important social programs for poor people. And you don’t have to worry about how it sounds to them that you would claim to be progressive, while encouraging support for a guy who would pull what minimal safety net still exists from under them, and leave it to private charities to fill the gap. And we all know why you don’t have to worry about it. Because you aren’t them. You aren’t the ones who would be affected. You’ll never be them. I doubt you even know anyone like that. People who are that poor don’t follow you on Twitter.

~snip~

And please, Glenn Greenwald, spare me the tired shtick about how Paul “raises important issues” that no one on the left is raising, and so even though you’re not endorsing him, it is still helpful to a progressive narrative that his voice be heard. Bullshit. The stronger Paul gets the stronger Paul gets, period. And the stronger Paul gets, the stronger libertarianism gets, and thus, the Libertarian Party as a potential third party: not the Greens, mind you, but the Libertarians. And the stronger Paul gets, the stronger become those voices who worship the free market as though it were an invisible fairy godparent, capable of dispensing all good things to all comers — people like Paul Ryan, for instance, or Scott Walker. In a nation where the dominant narrative has long been anti-tax, anti-regulation, poor-people-bashing and God-bless-capitalism, it would be precisely those aspects of Paul’s ideological grab bag that would become more prominent. And if you don’t know that, you are a fool of such Herculean proportions as to suggest that Salon might wish to consider administering some kind of political-movement-related-cognitive skills test for its columnists, and the setting of a minimum cutoff score, below which you would, for this one stroke of asininity alone, most assuredly fall.

I mean, seriously, if “raising important issues” is all it takes to get some kind words from liberal authors, bloggers and activists, and maybe even votes from some progressives, just so as to “shake things up,” then why not support David Duke? With the exception of his views on the drug war, David shares every single view of Paul’s that can be considered progressive or left in orientation. Every single one. So where do you draw the line? Must one have actually donned a Klan hood and lit a cross before his handful of liberal stands prove to be insufficient? Must one actually, as Duke has been known to do, light candles on a birthday cake for Hitler on April 20, before it no longer proves adequate to want to limit the overzealous reach of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms? Exactly when does one become too much of an evil fuck even for you? Inquiring minds seriously want to know.

And here is another chunk from ABL’s post which is a preface to a book authored by Glenn Greenwald that I’ve been wanting to write about since I was turned onto it. It made me say out loud, “Whaaaaaaaaa?”…

During the lead-up to the invasion, I was concerned that the hell-bent focus on invading Iraq was being driven by agendas and strategic objectives that had nothing to do with terrorism or the 9/11 attacks. The overt rationale for the invasion was exceedingly weak, particularly given that it would lead to an open-ended, incalculably costly, and intensely risky preemptive war. Around the same time, it was revealed that an invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein had been high on the agenda of various senior administration officials long before September 11. Despite these doubts, concerns, and grounds for ambivalence, I had not abandoned my trust in the Bush administration. Between the president’s performance in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the swift removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the fact that I wanted the president to succeed, because my loyalty is to my country and he was the leader of my country, I still gave the administration the benefit of the doubt. I believed then that the president was entitled to have his national security judgment deferred to, and to the extent that I was able to develop a definitive view, I accepted his judgment that American security really would be enhanced by the invasion of this sovereign country.

And this is the guy going around calling anyone who supports President Obama “baby-killers”. People call this guy smart?

The Truth About ObamaCare!

There has been so much misinformation, outright lies and mischaracterizations of the Affordable Care Act that I don’t know where to start.

It has become known as “ObamaCare”, thanks to the media, including those on the left and of course, Republican politicians.

I remember the battle for health care reform during the early 90′s when the Clinton’s took on the issue and failed miserably. It sucked all the oxygen out of Washington, along with the wonderful compromise that President Clinton made that brought us Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. (sarcasm)

When President Obama announced that he was going to pass a health care law early on in his presidency, I thought it was a bad idea. I couldn’t help but picture a similar outcome as the Clinton’s produced. NADA!

Since I lived through the other attempt at health care reform and followed it closely, when the Obama administration was successful at passing the Affordable Care Act, I was elated. Even with all of it’s imperfections, the fact that President Obama set the standard that America cares about the health of ALL of its citizens was incredible. It was a monumental achievement, one that will go down as one of the most amazing political wins in the history of our country.

Given the opposition from both sides of the aisle and the huge amount of misinformation that was and still is being spread about it, I thought I’d take a minute to share with you some truth about what “ObamaCare” has accomplished so far. There is much more to come in the years ahead.

The provision that covers adult dependent children between the ages of 19 – 25 was already working in 2010.

More than 2.5 million young Americans under 26 now have health insurance who would otherwise not be covered thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday morning.

Previously, the department had reported that 1 million young people were covered under the provision in the act, which also helps recent college graduates without a job but not on a parent’s plan stay insured.

I work at a university and supervise over 15 student workers. To them, the Affordable Care Act is kick-ass.

My Two Year Anniversary At Extreme Liberal’s Blog!

It is the 2 year anniversary of Extreme Liberal’s Blog and it’s been a fun ride. I’m generally not a mushy person about anniversaries and most anything ritualistic to be honest, but I do want to at least acknowledge the fact that I’ve been up to this for a couple years. I appreciate all you fine people who stop by regularly and those who come by once in a while. My apologies for not posting that much lately, I’m busy with a couple of projects and I need to direct my energy into making them the best that I can. It is frustrating at times to observe what is going on in the political world without having the time to add my two cents to the mix. I’m hoping in about 3 weeks to get back to more regular posting. This next year will certainly be the best yet — as far as my filmmaking goes, all sorts of exciting options and possibilities lay ahead for me.

My gift to you is a very recent picture of my beautiful, smart, talented granddaughter. She was hanging with us for the last two days. I had to go elsewhere yesterday to work on a script. If I’m in the house, she seeks me out. “Grandpa, grandpa…where’s grandpa?”. With all the crap going on in the political and real world, the things that are really important — when my sweet little granddaughter spontaneously says “I love you, grandpa”.

Anyone who wonders why I am so passionate about the future of our country and electing Democrats (the best we got at this point), it is because I don’t want this little girl to live through 8 years of a “Bush-like” presidency or worse. Elections matter, damn it!

And a huge thanks to all the fine people at Angry Black Lady Chronicles, that is one awesome group of people. We plan on having an impact on politics in 2012.

Ron Paul’s Missing Radio Interview – The White Supremacist One

I’ve heard Ron Paul described as “plain-spoken” way too many times. I guess if you define “plain spoken” as simplistic and with few words — then yes, he surely fits that definition. Personally, I’ve never been impressed with that type of person or politician. I often wonder what they are hiding with their simplification. Is it ignorance, bias or just a desire to appeal to the populist crowd?

It is clear that many years ago, Ron Paul either authored or allowed his name to be signed on a newsletter that spewed some of the worst of the racist and anti-Semitic propaganda that was prevalent in the late 80′s and 90′s. To get caught up on that Ron Paul newsletter story, check out Joy Reid’s writing at The Reid Report.

But this story caught my eye and adds some context to Ron Paul’s denials on the newsletters. In 2006, Ron Paul was scheduled to appear and may have appeared on a White Supremacist radio show called The Political Cesspool. Charles Johnson describes it for us…

The story so far: apparently Ron Paul was scheduled to appear on the notorious radio show “The Political Cesspool,” a talk show in Tennessee connected to the white separatist Council of Conservative Citizens and the Holocaust denial group Institute for Historical Review.

The announcement of Ron Paul’s appearance was posted on the blog of Political Cesspool co-founder Austin Farley: Congressman Ron Paul TONIGHT On The Cesspool.

Friday, August 18, 2006
Congressman Ron Paul TONIGHT On The Cesspool
One of the only truly conservative Congressmen in office today, Ron Paul, will be doing a live interview on The Political Cesspool www.thepoliticalcesspool.org tonight. The show is from 7-8 PM Central time and can be heard locally (Memphis) on 1380 AM WLRM or the live stream or archives if you miss it live will be at www.thepoliticalcesspool.org. No matter what your opinion of the Cesspool is you will not want to miss this interview. I have heard that No Child Left Behind and possible Bush impeachment will be discussed, but I am not 100% sure on that. Tune in to find out.

Austin
posted by Austin Farley Your Hero @ 5:27 AM

If true, this would be the most direct connection yet between Ron Paul and the kind of people who cheer for David Duke. But as Adam Holland and I both discovered, the archives of The Political Cesspool radio show have apparently been scrubbed of this episode.

Here’s the archive page with the missing day.

It’s very curious that the show Ron Paul was scheduled to appear on is conveniently missing from the archives of The Political Cesspool. Maybe it never happened, last minute cancellations happen all the time. But what if it did happen as scheduled, wouldn’t it be great to hear some of Ron Paul’s wisdom on this station with connections to white supremacist and holocaust deniers? I bet he was plain-spoken as hell and just told them good ole’ boys how it is, ya know?

Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs is all over this story, let’s hope he gets to the bottom of it. I’m awfully curious what Ron Paul had to say in that interview.

Cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles

The Obama Justice Department Proves That Elections Matter!

Whether you are conservative or liberal, the actions of many states to keep people from voting should send a chill down your spine.

In a country where voter participation is abysmal, we should all be working to get more people involved in the political process – not less. In a move that should remind everyone on the left how important elections are, the Obama Justice department has rejected South Carolina’s new law requiring a photo ID at the polls.

We don’t have to look back very far to see what a Republican Justice department would do.

This is also, by the way, another one of those “parties matter” moments, of which there have been many lately. Remember, in 2005, career staffers in the Justice Department’s Voting Section found that Georgia’s voter-ID law was discriminatory and should be rejected — only to see Bush/Cheney officials override their own experts’ judgment and approve the proposal.

There has been a lot of progress in voting rights since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but in recent years, the Republican Party, which is now dominated by the Tea Party wing, is trying to roll back that progress and disenfranchise voters who just happen to be in predominantly minority populations. And we all know it is because minorities understand clearly that the Democratic Party represents all people, regardless of skin color or ethnic background and these people tend to vote in their own self interests – for Democrats.

For Republicans, it’s a game of percentages. If they can lower the turnout of minorities and make it harder for groups who support Democratic candidates to have their votes counted, they can continue their quest to….well, it seems like their only goal is to put more money in the pockets of the rich. They really haven’t tried to hide that fact in the last few years. It’s all about protecting the rich and consequently, hurting the poor. And I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic.

Elections matter, vote Democratic.

Mitt Romney – Either Naive Or A Panderer Be!

“I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals.” – Mitt Romney

The problem with a candidate like Mitt Romney, who will say anything at anytime with no regard for what came before, is that it catches up with you. Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly shows us a great example of this.

…Here’s a gem from Iowa earlier today:

“Medicaid. You wonder what Medicaid is; those who aren’t into all this government stuff. You know, I have to admit, I didn’t know the differences between all these things until I got into government. Then I got into it and I understood that Medicaid is the health care program for the poor, by and large.”

I see. So, Mitt Romney, despite two degrees from Harvard, learned what Medicaid is when he became governor in 2002. He was 55 years old at the time.

Before he “got into government” and discovered what Medicaid is, Romney helped run a health company, which relied heavily on funding from — you guessed it — Medicare and Medicaid. What’s more, in his book, Romney boasts about having been a health care consultant, where he developed an expertise in how to deal with entitlements.

So he either really didn’t know about Medicaid, even after running a health company, or he’s just making shit up for whatever audience he’s talking to. More from Steve Benen…

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. “Romney didn’t mean what he said this morning,” you’re going to tell me. “He was only saying he didn’t understand Medicaid so that he could pretend to relate to the people in the audience. This wasn’t ignorance; it was pandering.”

Perhaps. I can’t say with certainty what Romney is ignorant of, and what he only pretends to be ignorant of.

This is going to be a fun year.

The Pro Left Lies About The Defense Authorization Bill – Gives Cover To Republicans

There’s No Such Thing as an “Indefinite Detention Bill” and Other Pro Left Lies

by Milt Shook

One of the most galling things about the professional left is the number of times they lie to make a point. You can’t be a progressive and also lie to the people who read your stuff. As this blog notes time and time again, the truth has a liberal bias; Fox News needs to lie; we do not.

Case in point; the hysteria over what many pro and emo lefties refer to as the “Indefinite Detention Bill.” Even people I often admire are buying into the hysteria, and it’s become depressing.

First thing you should know is, there is NO SUCH THING as an “Indefinite Detention Bill.” The actual bill Obama first threatened to veto and has now agreed to sign is called the “National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012.” The part about the “indefinite detention” is actually a poison pill amendment Republicans inserted into the bill to portray any Democrat who votes against it or President Obama if he vetoes it as being “against our troops.” Republicans put it there, not Democrats or Obama.

Yet, who the hell do these supposed “liberals” go after? Not the people who put that crap into the bill in the first place, of course. They go after President Obama, who has command the military (which includes my son, who’s working hard trying to rebuild Afghanistan, by the way) and have little choice but to put up with such Amendments. How incredibly stupid is this? Did so many progressive really learn NOTHING from the 2010 elections?

Obama doesn’t have a line-item veto, so he can’t veto the “Indefinite Detention Bill” without vetoing the entire NDAA. Now, you may think that would be a good thing, but would it? It’s not just about the troops. What about all of those civilians who might lose their jobs for at least a month or two, while Obama and Congress, including teabaggers, who have declared defeating Obama as their main goal, worked out a new NDAA without that little amendment, assuming they could do so? What do you think canceling all those defense contracts for a month or two would do to the unemployment rate? How about six months? What would happen to all of those small towns that depend on the military bases and contractors to support their small businesses? Do you imagine the GOP might be a bit energized after the unemployment rate suddenly rises to 10%?

Those of you who claim “principle” when you discuss this need to stop. Many pros and emos claim Obama’s showing a “lack of principle” by signing this “Indefinite Detention Bill.” Forget the fact that you’re claiming a lack of principle when you’re lying to the public about a bill that doesn’t exist. You’re actually advocating for an action that could put millions of people out of work for a few months, and forcing our troops to lose their meager pay for a few months for… what, exactly? What are your “principles” when you advocate for that, in order to kill an amendment that will probably ultimately have zero effect on anyone, and might even die in the courts?

I don’t like this amendment any more than you do. But you know what? If he vetoes this bill to kill that amendment, and then causes the Republicans to win in 2012, they’re just going to pass the same bill, and allow President Gingrich/Romney/Perry to detain people at will, anyway, right?

President Obama Schools Republicans On How To End A War!

Welcome Home Troops And Happy Holidays!

I remember very well how during the Bush administration, the mere mention of pulling our troops out of Iraq made people like Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Vice President Cheney and his minions go nuts and start ranting about how leaving Iraq would be admitting defeat, as if just staying there for the rest of time would somehow turn it into winning. Their reasoning has never made any sense, but neither was their reasoning for getting us in there in the first place.

The Iraq war will go down in history as the most stupid venture our country ever entered into and the most costly by every measure. The evolving justifications for the war just got crazier as time went on. It was, of course, just one of the giant messes that was handed to President Obama when he was sworn in and one that he vowed to bring to an end and yesterday, it officially happened.

THE US flag was lowered in Baghdad today in a ceremony to mark the end of the Iraq war after almost nine years.

American military operations have been wound up and Barack Obama marked the milestone with a speech to troops in the US yesterday.

The president applauded the soldiers who served, the 4,500 who died and the thousands wounded.

Speaking at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he said: “Iraq’s future will be in the hands of its people. America’s war in Iraq is over.

“On behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words: Welcome home.”

President Obama did an amazing job at winding down the operation and making it possible for us to exit the country as he promised. It is one of the reasons why I voted for him and I am extremely glad that I did.

I’m going to just ignore the idiots like Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill who will surely try to distract people from this monumental day; they were out on the Twitterz this week completely ignoring the President’s accomplishment and obsessing about the NDAA, which roadkillrefugee covered the other day. For all the digital ink that people like Greenwald spilled on the mistake that was the Iraq War, you would think he would be singing the Presidents praises from high atop his perch at Salon.com — now that the war is over. I don’t visit that site anymore, but I can say with confidence that GG isn’t doing that.

There will be a lot of “yeah but what about…” coming from this camp in the near future. Some of the articles I scanned on this monumental event had “yeah buts” in the very first sentence of the article. They can’t even write one goddamn sentence of fact without qualifying it with negativity. Here is the first sentence from a story at the New York Times on the end of the Iraq War…

BAGHDAD — The United States military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday even as violence continues to plague the country and the Muslim world remains distrustful of American power.

Anyone remember Judith Miller and her role in selling the war back in early days of Bush/Cheney? I do. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that the line the NYT’s takes fits right in with the hawks like McCain and Graham who seem to love them some endless wars and apparently think the only good war is the one that never ends.

My feelings on both wars that were handed to President Obama has been that much of the violence in both countries stems from us simply being there and occupying and destroying their land. It’s one of those vicious cycles the Republicans got themselves into. It’s like painting a giant target on your back and then wondering why people are shooting at you.

It’s over, done, finished….we’re out of there. And I think we should all stop and take a minute to be thankful that President Obama fulfilled his promise to get us the hell out of Iraq.

Now, let’s get the hell out of Afghanistan too.

Photos Of President Obama — Not Through A Media Filter

President Barack Obama tours the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., Oct. 14, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama makes Thanksgiving Day phone calls to U.S. troops from the Oval Office, Nov. 24, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama waves to people gathered along the motorcade route from Osawatomie High School to Osawatomie-Paola Municipal Airport in Osawatomie, Kan., Dec. 6, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama talks to Secret Service Uniformed Division officers as he walks through the magnetometer in the Northwest Gatehouse at the White House, following his visit to Blair House, Dec. 9, 2011. The President told a reporter as he exited the gatehouse, "I just wanted to see what it was like getting in here." (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

First Lady Michelle Obama and White House chefs join children from Bancroft and Tubman Elementary Schools to harvest vegetables during the third annual White House Kitchen Garden fall harvest on the South Lawn, Oct. 5, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

President Barack Obama visits a wounded warrior for a Purple Heart presentation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Oct. 10, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Vice President Joe Biden greets Lance Powlis, a trumpet player in Janelle Monáe's band, following their State Dinner performance in the State Dining Room of the White House, Oct. 13, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton listen as Gary Le Francois, Senior Vice President and Director of Engineering, leads them on a tour of the Transwestern Building in Washington, D.C., Dec. 2, 2011. The 240,000 square foot office building is undergoing renovations to the façade and internal systems that are expected to raise their ENERGY STAR rating to 95 (out of 100). (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)