No recordings leaking from White House yet

I find it completely amazing that no recordings, videos, or even pictures have leaked out of the White House yet.  The last seven years have brought amazing developments in the technology of small electronic consumer devices from cell phones, to handheld recorders, and you can even find recorders built into a digital camera off the shelf.

It doesn't surprise me that the tape recorders have been removed or turned off in the White House since the days of Nixon.  It does surprise me though that no one has used the power of handheld technology to capture some key conversations and turn them over to the public.

I'd like to bet that a number of key people in the White House administration have probably been banking personal recordings for several years now so they could CYA when the time came. Maybe that's how Scooter Libby really got his quasi pardon.

Maybe Mr. Libby captured a recording of Vice President Cheney issuing an order to destroy Valerie Plame and her husband and expose her as being a CIA agent.  We have all seen the legal shenanigans that Cheney is pulled in relation to this event just recently as he's claimed that he is not a member of the executive nor the legislative branches of government.  It's obvious that they didn't think of that logic loop until recently otherwise they could have used in the very early days and they would have never needed a scapegoat like Libby.

That suggests to me that they've known the problem existed for a long time and they just them looking for a way to talk your way out of it.

The Real Reason why The Surge Was Doomed

I with like to share with you the real reason why the surge was doomed before it began in Iraq.

Before explained this however, let me emphasize that I do feel the surge was the right thing that needed to be done to fix the problem.  There was however something that sabotage the efforts of the surge from day one.  Many people could see this problem sabotaging the surge from day one and that's why many people are against it, in addition to the people that were against the surge primarily on the basis that they wanted the troops in Iraq to leave immediately regardless of the consequences to the Middle East or the people that live there.

You see the thing that doomed the surge and sabotaged it at the same time was bad leadership.  This is the same thing that is doomed the entire Iraq war, which I was also in favor of.  The Iraq war has been plagued with bad leadership over and over and over again.

Al Qaeda and terrorist insurgents have all taken their toll in a very real and physical way, however their success was largely possible due to the very poor leadership emanating first and foremost from the White House and working its way down through the Pentagon and possibly even seeping into the joint Chiefs and some of the commanders at high levels in Iraq.  When you lead by example with bad leadership, eventually that bad leadership example starts to permeate through the culture and take its toll on the troops.

We would have been better off if our commander in chief today have remained commander in chief of the bar stools instead of commander-in-chief of the military.

SackVick.net

I am extremely disgusted by the Michael Vick thing.  I am also disappointed to see the Falcons, the NFL and the corporate sponsors take so long to suspend Vick (although the sponsors are making some initial moves finally).

One of Vick's co defendants will be entering a plea on Monday an will likely turn against Michael Vick.

I do believe very firmly that Vick is innocent until proven guilty.

I also believe very firmly that regardless of his legal culpability, he had a moral responsibility to manage his affairs and property better.  If he had been spending just a fraction of his money to insure that no one was abusing dogs on his property or using his property for deviant behavior 60-70 dogs would not have been put to sleep and countless others would not have died on his property or soon after.

So I organized a site to protest Vicks suspension without pay.

What I am doing about it

1. The site is SackVick.net.  I've collected almost a dozen petitions from around the web where you can take action and make your own thoughts known on the subject.
2. I've established a blog carnival to collect other bloggers perspective on Vick.
3. I have collected close to 40 different groups that have hundreds of members each that are working to sack vick.
4. I've also collected dozens of video clips from news, to protest videos and a couple parody videos.  Plus, sponsor commercials of Vick including one with Vick and his Pitbulls in what looks like a dog fighting ring, the commercial is for Nike.

There is lots that you can do

• Please stop by and sign one of the petitions or
• blog about the situation and submit your article to the blog carnival. 
• You can also link to the site and we will include you in the blogroll of bloggers supporting the sacking of Michael Vick.

Fiscally Ir-Responsible Administration Mad about Fiscally Ir-Responsible Farm bill from House

The White House is upset with members of Congress in the US House of Representatives, which pushed out a $284 billion Farm bill filled with pork for all.  The Administration had promised to veto the bill if it passed, but the House voted it up any way.

The bill now goes to the Senate.  The Senate is expected to slice and dice the bill a bit, but the White House is worried that this bill will harm international trade negotiations and might bring WTO penalties as well.

Unfortunately the Fiscally Ir-Responsible Bush Administration has no moral ground to stand on as it bemoans the expensive Farm bill.  Its hard to complain that the House is eating too much ham, when the President has a mouth full of Pork Roast.

Odds are you can probably catch any of these politicians breakfasting on ham and eggs at a Pennsylvania bed and breakfast sometime soon. They say one thing in public, but that won't stop them from eating off the same plate outside of Washington.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Inter-Racial Romance

There was a time in the United States not so long ago when the concept of Inter-Racial Romance was entirely taboo.  That taboo was based largely in prejudiced or racists beliefs and to some extent a reliance on the status quo of not rocking the boat.

Now anyone that has read this blog probably has started to grasp the notion that I am a firm believer in rocking the boat for the boat's sake in part and in part because the status quo is too often converted into dogma and then turned into something much uglier and dangerous. 

Now, I have been married for almost 14 years now and so I am no where near being active in the dating scene.  That said, I find the concept that there is a site dedicated towards promoting interacial romance fantastic.

I'm not suggesting that people should get together just because they are from a different race.  But I do think that people should come together without a concern for the race of their potential partners.  I completely buy into the concept that America, all the Americas for that matter, have been strengthened significantly by the melting pot effect.  Our culture, our history, even our gene pool is much richer for the diversity that we have shared and the diversity that we can share in the future.

Furthermore, I think its very healthy for young people today to be open minded to the concept of interracial dating.  Again it helps us as a people get to know each other better.  When we date we are learning something about a potential partner, their family, their history, their culture, background, race and more.  Plus, we are sharing that same information with them.  We are in effect each ambassadors and bridge builders to the world and each of these romances and relationships are opportunities to help bring the world together a little closer.

Final Point

In this article I am specifically referring to the concepts of interracial dating and romance in part because I wanted to hold up the example of the website that I had found on the topic.  Personally, I just view it as dating or romance.  To put the word 'interracial' in front of those terms is kind of like putting the word 'blue' in front of sky or 'wet' before water.  I suspect there will come a day when races cease to exist in large part due the combining of races from around the world. 

The Sack Michael Vick Campaign

I do not normally find common cause with PETA.  I love to eat steak and do not have a problem wearing leather shoes or coats. 

I do not subscribe to believing in animal torture or dog fighting.

So I have found common cause with PETA attempts to have Michael Vick Sacked.  I enjoyed watching him play football.  I cheered him and the Falcons on (I live outside Atlanta, but am originally a Bears fan from Illinois.)

His involvement in allowing dog fights to take place on his property is a perfect example at a minimum of someone allowing something bad to happen while possibly maintaining the ability to say, I didn't know so I'm not responsible.

That doesn't work for Vick, it doesn't work for Bush and if Hitler were trying to hide behind that type of excuse, it wouldn't work for Hitler either.  All three have allowed bad things to happen in areas of their responsibility and at worst ordered or promoted those bad things to happen.

That's why Vick needs to be sacked by the NFL.

That's not enough though.  Vick needs to be sacked by Nike as well.  So PETA has just offered up a link where you can make your voice heard at Nike headquarters and let them know that you do not support a company that supports a dog killer.

Send in your Petition to Nike today.

Hillary Tattles on Big Daddy Pentagon

There was a big breuhaha today over the fact that an underling at the Pentagon attempted to dish out some Bush like propaganda to Senator Hillary Clinton.  Telling her that her request for the Pentagon to build out an exit strategy and plan from Iraq, played into the hands of terrorists.

So she published the letter that the Pentagon underling has used to try and put the Senator in her place.  She effectively tattled on Big Daddy Pentagon, showing the stooges at the Pentagon that she may not know much about war but she is battled tested in the art of political warfare.

The Pentagon now knows that they have been in a fight, but the fight has not furthered the cause of actually building an exit plan.  That should probably not come as a surprise as there is no way in the world that the Pentagon is going to cede hard fought territory in Iraq.  They won it in battle and do not want to let it go regardless of what the politicians want.  The reality is that through Iraq the pentagon now has its fingers on the pulse of America and that pulse is powered by oil.

The last thing they are going to do is open up the tonneau cover on their bullet proof gas powered duelly and start handing out freebies to politicans like Clinton. Clinton knows the power of politics, but the Pentagon knows the power of the gun and the power of oil. Gun and oil will typically when a real dog fight every day of the week.

Some of Todays video Highlights

It has been a strange week for news from nuclear reactor leaks during an earthquake to a volcano like explosion in New York City to the tales of dog torture by NFL super start Michael Vick and lets not forget about that time when the Senate decided to pull an all nighter at work as opposed to in the house of the Rising Sun.

All that crazy news will just want to make you want to hole up for an extra week in a Orlando rental home somewhere with the family before the world finishes its trip in a hand basket to a place a lot less fun than Walt Disney.

Log Cabin Republicans Present Romney Boy? - Presidential Campaign Turns Vampy

So none of the Presidential candidates are supposedly behind this but now Obama, Giuliani and Hillary Clinton all have sexy girls singing about them. 

Yes even Hillary, do not pretend to be surprised, its 2007, she's a Democrat, and her husband is a repeat cheater, what would you do?

Now Sex and Politics have always been very closely related but now the world of sexy music videos is apparently here to change the political landscape once again. 

Just like GoDaddy.com learned or proved during the superbowl a sexy girl sells and lets face it all these politicians are looking to sell themselves completely.  If sex will help them do it, I doubt that any of them will forego the turnout because of a scantily clad vampy girl singing and shaking to the sexiness of their preferred candidate.

Now the only thing missing from the campaign is a scantily clad male dancer from the Log Cabin Republicans strutting down a cat walk in short shorts with a T-Shirt that Says "Don't Take your Mitt's off Me Romney" facing off against Hillary Girl singing in a string bikini for that other Clinton.

The Video's So far

The Original - I got a crush on Obama - by Obama Girl

The face off - Obama Girl v Giuliani Girl

Hot 4 Hill - That's the real title and it is sexual (I'm not inserting over tones.)

Its not all love, here is an attack ad against Obama.

Boobs for Obama - Is it just me or does this anime remind you of Ann Coulter with a shorter hair cut?

Sara Taylor's Oath to the President

So this was probably a freudian slip on Sara Taylors part, but the reality is that the views expressed by the Bush administration begat this slip.  Politicos can only double talk so long before the truth starts to slip out.

Its been a long time since we had a President that could double talk for 8 years straight with out exposing his lies (ergo Clinton's Is is really is or is it not is double talk).

King George 'Pinochio' Bush Photo Contest on NoMoreIncumbents.org

I am running a  King George 'Pinochio' Bush Photo Contest on my blog at NoMoreIncumbents.org.

Here is what you can win!

The winner of this contest will receive a free 16' x 16' photo on an enlarged canvas featuring King George 'Pincohio' Bush.

The rules are simple!

1. Subscribe to No More Incumbents via our Email Newsletter (see sidebar in left or Subscribe to No More Incumbents here)
2. The Contest is open to anyone living in the United States
3. A random drawing will be held on July 31st.  The winner will be contacted via the email they provide for their delivery subscription.  If they do not respond within 5 calendar days, we will hold a follow up drawing repetitively until we have a winner.
4. The winner will need to provide a shipping address in the United States and we will deliver the Canvas Free!

Our sponsors  CanvasOnDemand supplied the excellent craftsman ship on this enlarged photo.  We mashed together some images to come up with the King George Pinochio Bush concept.  Many people have spoofed King George and Pinochio Bush, as far as we know we might be the first to mash it together, and I'm sure that we are the first to blow it up and put it on a big canvas that you could hang on your wall at home or in the office.

 This type of enlarged photo will work great for our contest, but would also make a great birthday present or anniversary gift.

So if you are interested in signing up for the contest head over to NoMoreIncumbents.org/blog/ and Subscribe via email to enter!

Technorati tags: King George Pinochio Bush

Contest Moving Along King Pinochio George

I mentioned last week that I was trying out a new service and was looking into running a contest to offer up a free large canvas of a picture.

Well I was able to get the picture submitted successfully today and soon hope to have a 16 x 16 inch canvas of this picture.

I haven't figured out how I will run the contest yet, but will settle on that after the 4th of July holiday.  I'll let you more as this moves along.  If you have any contest suggestions, I would be glad to accept your comments or emails.

Note the contest is going to be run in conjunction with a contest on my site NoMoreIncumbents.org as well.