John McCain Is Not Ready To Lead

Thursday, August 7, 2008
This is a great article on why John McCain is NOT ready to lead this country, Or his own state for that matter...


Why McCain would be a mediocre president

Commentary: It's not a given that Republican candidate has the right stuff

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 3:53 PM ET Aug 7, 2008

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- In his frivolous Paris and Britney ad, Sen. John McCain has asked the right question: Is Barack Obama ready to lead this country?

Since last January, Sen. Obama's fitness for the presidency has been the only question that matters in American politics. The pollsters and pundits agree that if Obama can show the voters that he's up to the job, he'll win. If not, he won't.

But that begs another question: Is McCain fit to lead America?

That question hasn't been asked, nor has it been answered.

The assumption seems to be that McCain's years of experience in the military and in Congress of course give him the background and tools he'd need in the White House. As Britney might say, "Duh! For sure he's qualified!!! He's Mac!!!"

But is that true? Does McCain have the right stuff?

A careful look at McCain's biography shows that he isn't prepared for the job. His resume is much thinner than most people think.

Here are some reasons why McCain would be a mediocre president.

Lack of accomplishments

Like the current occupant of the White House, McCain got his first career breaks from the connections and money of his family, not from hard work.

The son and grandson of Navy admirals, he attended Annapolis where he did poorly. Nevertheless, he was commissioned as a pilot, where he performed poorly, crashing three planes before he failed to evade a North Vietnamese missile that destroyed his plane. McCain spent more than five years in a prison camp.

After his release, McCain knew his weak military record meant he'd never make admiral, so he turned his sights to a career in politics. With the help of his new wife's wealth, his new father-in-law's business connections and some powerful friends had made as a lobbyist for the Navy, he was elected in 1982 to a Congress in a district that he didn't reside in until the day the seat opened up. A few years later, he succeeded Barry Goldwater as a senator.

McCain hasn't accomplished much in the Senate. Even his own campaign doesn't trumpet his successes, probably because the few victories he's had still rankle Republicans.

His campaign finance law failed to significantly reduce the role of money in politics. He failed to get a big tobacco bill through the Senate. He's failed to change the way Congress spends money; his bill to give the president a line-item veto was declared unconstitutional, and the system of pork and earmarks continues unabated. He failed to reform the immigration system.

Every senator who runs for president misses votes back in Washington, so it's no surprise that McCain and all the others who ran in the primaries have missed a lot of votes in the past year. But between the beginning of 2005 and mid-2007, no senator missed more roll-call votes than McCain did, except Tim Johnson, who was recovering from a near-fatal brain aneurysm.

Shallow

McCain says he doesn't understand the economy. He's demonstrated that he doesn't understand the workings of Social Security, or the political history of the Middle East. He doesn't know who our enemies are. He says he wants to reduce global warming, but then proposes ideas that would stimulate -- not reduce -- demand for fossil fuels.

McCain has done one thing well -- self promotion. Instead of working on legislation or boning up on the issues, he's been on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" more than any other guest. He's been on the Sunday talk shows more than any other guest in the past 10 years. He's hosted "Saturday Night Live" and even announced his candidacy in 2007 on "The Late Show with David Letterman."

McCain has not articulated any lofty goals. So far, his campaign theme has mostly been "McCain: He's None of the Above."

In the primaries, he campaigned on "I'm not that robotic businessman, I'm not that sanctimonious hick, I'm not that crazy libertarian, I'm not that washed-up actor, I'm not that delusional 9/11 guy." In the general election, he's emphasized that he's not that treasonous dreamer.

No leadership

McCain has frequently taken on near-impossible missions that go against the grain of his party. It's the basis of his reputation as a maverick. But McCain has never been able to bring more than a handful of Republicans along with him on issues such as campaign finance reform or immigration. Democrats on the Hill have accepted McCain's help on some issues, but except for a few exceptions (John Kerry and Joe Lieberman), they've never warmed to him.

To achieve anything as president, McCain would have to win over two hostile parties: The Democrats and the Republicans.

Living in the Sixties

McCain is still fighting the Vietnam War. But he's not fighting the real historic war, which taught us the folly of injecting ourselves into a civil war that was none of our business. We learned that, in a world where even peasants have guns, explosives and radios, a determined and popular guerrilla force can defeat a modern army equipped with the mightiest technology if that army has no vital national interest to protect.

Instead, McCain is fighting an imaginary Vietnam War, where a sure victory could have been achieved with just a little more bombing, just a little more "pacification," just a little more will to win at home. This fantasy clouds McCain's judgment on foreign policy.

Most of the other high-profile politicians who fought in Vietnam -- Colin Powell, Chuck Hegel, John Kerry, and Jim Webb -- aren't stuck in the past, and they don't view the Iraq War as a chance to get Vietnam right.

No principles

After years of honing a reputation as a guy who'll say the truth regardless of the political consequences, McCain has crashed the Straight Talk Express. On almost every issue where he took a principled stand against the Republican line -- taxes, immigration, oil drilling, the Religious Right -- he's changed his views.

We ought to like politicians who change their mind when the facts change; it shows maturity, judgment and flexibility. But politicians who change their mind to suit the prevailing winds show the opposite.

The bottom line

Successful presidents come from two molds: visionaries, or mechanics. The visionaries -- think Reagan or FDR -- see what others can't and say 'Why not?" to inspire the country. The mechanics -- think LBJ or Eisenhower -- know the ins and outs of government and are able to harness the power of millions of humans to accomplish great things, or at least keep the wheels from coming off.

McCain fits neither style. He's neither a dreamer, nor a detail guy. His major accomplishment, in Vietnam and in the Senate, has been merely to survive.

Just surviving doesn't make you're a hero, or a decent president. America needs to do more than survive the next four years.

Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.

Video : Katie Couric On Larry King "Tube Steaks Every Tuesday"

Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Picture Unrelated


With Brian Williams and Charles Gibson no less. Ok she was talking about them getting hot dogs together on Tuesdays, But it was funny to hear her say Tube-Steaks on National TV. Not to mention the look and swivel that Brian Williams did when she said it. Great TV. If I can find video I will post it, but I have found nothing so far. It was on Larry King by the way if you didn't catch the title.

Update : Still no video but i have found a transcript...

GIBSON: By the way, but...

KING: All right, the Beijing Olympics.

Go ahead.

GIBSON: By the way, Larry...

KING: Yes?

GIBSON: You mentioned at the beginning it takes something exceptional to get us together.

KING: Yes.

GIBSON: We get together for hot dogs, you know, on a Tuesday afternoon.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Where, on the streets?

GIBSON: It's nothing exceptional.

KING: On the streets? Sabretts? On the corner?

GIBSON: Sure.

COURIC: Yes.

GIBSON: Gray's Papaya in the (INAUDIBLE).

WILLIAMS: 79th and The Park.

COURIC: Tube steaks (ph) (INAUDIBLE).

KING: The Beijing Olympics, who's going?

What do the anchors think of the president going?

We'll ask right after this.

Update 2 : Now I have Video. Watch Brian Williams after she says it, Classic...



Video from dailyweirdthing.com

Big Oil Gives Big To McCain For Supporting Drilling

$1.5 million reported thus far.

John McCain Offers Wife Up For Topless Contest Involving Bananas

Does John McCain even know what he is talking about? Just more proof that what he says he knows nothing about, and is only said to get a vote. So here he is offering up Cindy McCain for the Buffalo Chip Contest in Sturgis...

McCain Rants And Bumbles In Sturgis

Are you tired of paying $4 a deck or box of gas too???

Paris Hilton Calls John McCain "Wrinkly White-Haired Dude"

Ha Ha Ha



Damn you McCain for making it so I had to post about Paris Hilton...

The original video is on Funnyordie

Ron Suskind : How The White House Lied To Invade Iraq

Remember Ron Suskind is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He also has tapes of all the interviews of his sources.





The White house of course denies any of this...

How Your Prescription Drug Info Could Keep You From Medical Insurance

Does this surprise anyone?


t r u t h o u t | Prescription Data Used to Assess Consumers

Monday 04 August 2008

by: Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post

Health and life insurance companies have access to a powerful new tool for evaluating whether to cover individual consumers: a health 'credit report' drawn from databases containing prescription drug records on more than 200 million Americans.

Collecting and analyzing personal health information in commercial databases is a fledgling industry, but one poised to take off as the nation enters the age of electronic medical records. While lawmakers debate how best to oversee the shift to computerized records, some insurers have already begun testing systems that tap into not only prescription drug information, but also data about patients held by clinical and pathological laboratories.

Traditionally, insurance companies have judged an applicant's risk by gathering medical records from physicians' offices. But the new tools offer the advantage of being "electronic, fast and cheap," said Mark Franzen, managing director of Milliman IntelliScript, which provides consumers' personal drug profiles to insurers.

The trend holds promise for improved health care and cost savings, but privacy and consumer advocates fear it is taking place largely outside the scrutiny of federal health regulators and lawmakers.

Ingenix, a Minnesota-based health information services company that had $1.3 billion in sales last year - and Wisconsin-based rival Milliman - say the drug profiles are an accurate, less expensive alternative to seeking physician records, which can take months and hundreds of dollars to obtain. They note that consumers authorize the data release and that the services can save insurance companies millions of dollars and benefit consumers anxious for a decision.

"Some insurers can make a decision in the same day, or right on the spot," Franzen said. "That's the real 'value-add.' "

But the practice also illustrates how electronic data gathered for one purpose can be used and marketed for another - often without consumers' knowledge, privacy advocates say. And they argue that although consumers sign consent forms, they effectively have to authorize the data release if they want insurance.

"As health care moves into the digital age, there are more and more companies holding vast amounts of patients' health information," said Joy Pritts, research professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute. "Most people don't even know these organizations exist. Unfortunately the federal health privacy rule does not cover many of them. . . . The lack of transparency with how all of this works is disturbing."

More

The Bush Adminstrations War on Charity

Some more crimes against humanity by Bush & Co...


t r u t h o u t | The PATRIOT Act's War on Charity:

"The PATRIOT Act's War on Charity

Tuesday 05 August 2008

by: Maya Schenwar, t r u t h o u t | Report

Since the PATRIOT Act's passage almost seven years ago, many of its adverse effects on activist organizations and peace groups have become plain. The law grants the government broad new surveillance privileges and access to private property, and protests and demonstrations have been heavily monitored and contained in the wake of 9/11. But according to a new report, the worst effects on nonprofit organizations have garnered little attention. New powers granted to the Treasury Department currently allow the government to shut down charities based on unfounded claims; to bar nonprofits from operating in some international disaster zones, and to freeze the assets of 'designated' charities, leaving large sums of money intended for humanitarian causes to fester indefinitely in Treasury vaults."

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George W. Bush: Comic-Book Villain?

I love this drawing, It fits him.


Vanity Fair: vanityfair.com:

"George W. Bush: Comic-Book Villain?
by Vanity Fair
July 29, 2008, 11:22 AM




Drew Friedman, the author of The Fun Never Stops, Old Jewish Comedians, and More Old Jewish Comedians, sent us the following visual comment. It is entitled 'No Joke.'

Read Frank DiGiacomo on More Old Jewish Comedians

Fugitive (Secretary) Rice Makes Narrow Escape in Auckland

Too bad they didn't catch up to her. I would love to see her behind bars in a foreign Country for War Crimes. Karma

Disinfo.com - Fugitive (Secretary) Rice Makes Narrow Escape in Auckland:




"Fugitive (Secretary) Rice Makes Narrow Escape in Auckland

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a narrow escape from justice, with the assistance of the New Zealand Police, in Auckland on Saturday 26 July. The police can now consider themselves accessories to war crimes. Rice met with government leaders in Auckland but was chased by 150 protesters spurred on by a bounty of $10,000. They called for her arrest, under the Geneva Convention, for war crimes and for her role in authorising the use of torture.


GO TO FULL STORY

McDonalds To Get Rid Of $1 Double Cheesebugers

ABC News: No More $1 Double Cheeseburgers?

Oh man, this is my old standby when I'm poor. Two double cheeseburgers and two apple pies for $3. Now I'll have to find a new poor meal of choice. Carl's Spicy Chicken is always good...

McCain Campaign Kicks Out Black Reporter

John McCain the humanitarian...




Apple Users Urged Not To Use Safari




Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

I do like the focus indicator, fonts and font rendering of Safari, But that is about it.