How is it possible?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized Russia yesterday for relying on its “military power” to accomplish its goals, saying; “But I just want to emphasize again, Russia is a state that is unfortunately using the one tool that it has always used, that will make it – that – when it wishes to deliver a message, and that’s its military power. That’s not the way to deal in the 21st century.”

Um… okay…

Perhaps she needs reminding…here’s Salon’s Glenn Greenwald to do just that; “Just during the time Rice has served in the Bush administration, we bombed, invaded and occupied Afghanistan; did the same to Iraq; repeatedly bombed Somalia, killing all sorts of civilians; fed bombs to Israel as they invaded and bombed Lebanon; top political officials (led by John McCain and Joe Lieberman) have repeatedly threatened, and advocated, that the same be done to a whole host of other countries, including Iran and Syria.”

And yet she has the impudence to say that military power is “not the way to deal in the 21st century”… how is it possible that these people in Bush’s administration can’t see the shit they’re shoveling?

You can't make up this kind of stupid

I’m sure the more enlightened of you have already heard about this, but…not being someone that can help himself when it comes to pointing out conservative’s foibles… I thought I had to write about it myself.

One of the plethora of republicans participating in their party’s sad and pathetic “Drill Now” energy stunt is Bill Sali (r-ID) who has come up with a solution to our energy crisis all by himself.

Per Sali, our national forests are overflowing with petroleum… no, not under the forest ground… but inside the trees.

That’s right, you heard me… Inside… the trees.

I’ll pause for a moment so you can regain your composure.

It seems Sali informed a candidate for Idaho’s House of Representatives that a solution to the high price of gasoline was to make petroleum from “all those trees in our forests” and then said that there “could be up to 40 barrels of oil in a single tree.”

And if you think it was a one-time lapse of judgment, you’d be wrong as he made a similar comment in 2006, saying; “Forty percent of the mass of every tree in the forest is crude oil.”

So Sali truly believes that you can get oil from a tree… what a sap.

Drilling for answers

I mentioned this morning about the amazing “coincidence” that a day after republican presidential candidate John McCain said the US should lift the federal ban on offshore oil drilling, “President” Bush held a presser this morning in the Rose Garden where he called on Congress to “pass good legislation as soon as possible” that would lift that ban and open up exploring the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) while also allowing states to permit offshore oil drilling.

While Bush said that, in order to relieve the “painful level” of gas prices, “our nation must produce more oil”, he also restated his insipid demand that Congress allow drilling for oil in the Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) because it will “bring enormous benefits to the American people.”

The problem with that statement is the fact that members of his own administration disagree… in fact, an entire Bush(whacked) department disagrees with him as a Department of Energy report that was released last month found that drilling in ANWR would do little to reduce the price of oil. And that’s not all… back in 2005 the Energy Department estimated that there are nearly 18 billion barrels of oil available in the OCS, which is roughly double the reserves in the Arctic Refuge.
Thus, by 2025, drilling in Alaska and the OCS would shave around $2.25 off the cost of a barrel of oil meaning “little to no impact on the price at the pump, today or tomorrow.”
It's painfully obvious that republicans see opportunity in high gas prices to roll back environmental policies, such as the offshore ban, that have been in place for years… but for what gain?

Drilling in ANWR would take years and years to deliver oil to American pumps and still would only meet about 4-6 months of US domestic demand.

Offshore drilling, like McCain’s widely ridiculed (even by VP Cheney) gas tax holiday, is nothing more than a gimmick to not only avoid the necessary fixes, but also an appeasement to those people that can’t use their own brains and continually follow the lemmings over the cliff.

Not to shock you, but republicans don't have a solution to high oil prices. Drilling in ANWR and off our coast would not ameliorate prices now, and wouldn't do so for many years to come. As Americans we need to understand that it’s entirely possible gas prices will never come back down, and that cheap oil is a thing of the past.

Now the question is, what to do.

I’ll talk about that tomorrow...

conservative lie #43,219

“This is a defining moment for the Senate, for the Republicans, and this war. I can tell you if we leave the generals alone and support our troops, they will win this war. And to my Republican colleagues, if we’ll stand firm for a fair procedure and a sensible solution to the veterans’ problems, we will get rewarded in the next election, not punished. If we give into this, we don’t deserve to be here.”

That’s a quote from Sen. Lindsey Graham (r-SC) before the Senate voted, 75-22, to overwhelmingly approve Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) 21st Century GI Bill, which would expand educational benefits for veterans who joined the service after Sept. 11, 2001.

Graham, who introduced his own version of the GI bill recently (stripped of anything that matters) urged “President” Bush to wield his veto crayon again and, not surprisingly, Bush has already indicated he will.

Graham’s insistence that his republican colleagues would “get rewarded in the next election” if they vote against GI benefits is staggeringly stupid. Recent polling shows that more than 8 of 10 support the 21st Century GI Bill, 83% believe the new bill will benefit the US and 81% of Americans believe that that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are not getting enough support in transitioning back to civilian life… something this bill will help decrease drastically.

And apparently Graham hadn’t heard that 9 of the 15 republican senators that are running for reelection this November voted for the bill… which proves they must have actually listened to their constituents… how dare they use their own brain.

Yes Virginia, that was sarcasm.

As if Graham didn’t sound dense enough, the “If we just leave the generals alone and support the troops, they will win this war” line is bizarre. What does allowing the generals to do their job have to do with a bill aimed at helping GI's after they leave the service?

The republican party’s lack of empathy for our military is showing, brazenly, once again… and they need to be called on it every chance we get by reminding people that the party that supposedly cares more about the military (lie #43,219) is the one preventing them from not only getting the medical attention they need and deserve, but improving their prospects after their tours are up as well.

Let’s make them pay and vote them OUT in November. It’s the right thing to do.

Sometimes the snark writes itself

Saturday, Georgia republican party chairwoman Sue Everhart said;

“John McCain is kind of like Jesus Christ on the cross. […] He never denounced God, either.”

Stay classy Mike

Reverend or not, Mike Huckabee is a fuc**** moron…

Speaking in front of the NRA today, he said; “That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak. […] Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

Classless… tasteless… stupid… insulting… offensive…

Thy name is republican.