Aziz Disses O, O Letters to Ali, Pat Boone Robocalls In Colorado

Paul Krugman
Dana Milbank
Robert Shrum

"One depressing aspect of American politics is the susceptibility of the political and media establishment to charlatans. You might have thought, given past experience, that D.C. insiders would be on their guard against conservatives with grandiose plans." - Paul Krugman

"President Obama's foes often claim to revere the Constitution, but the reverence is selective" - Dana Milbank

"In today’s GOP, the few with loose morals vie to lead the many with loose marbles." - Robert Shrum

On the world stage, politics often seems like a performance of ancient tribal rituals, like call and response. Saddam Hussein's former deputy prime minister, Tarq Aziz just criticized Obama's announcement that american troops would withdraw from Iraq according to plan despite the current upswing of bombings that nobody can seem to stop: "We are all victims of America and Britain, they killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death. "For 30 years Saddam built Iraq and now it is destroyed. There are more sick than before, more hungry," said Aziz. The people don't have services. People are being killed every day in the tens, if not hundreds. I was encouraged when [U.S. President Barack Obama] was elected president, because I thought he was going to correct some of the mistakes of Bush. But Obama is a hypocrite. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves." And this, despite a recent federal judge's ruling that puts wolves under protection of the Endangered Species Act in Montana and Idaho... But, he may be right. But, we will have 50,000 troops in Iraq, and we may get away of having more stationed in the country by donating them to NATO, which voted to extend its mission in Iraq for another year. It's all just semantics...

Obama responded by sending a letter to the Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, asking him to encourage all sides to stop squabbling and form a government. Al-Sistani is Iraq's most revered Ayatollah, but believes that the religious leaders should stay out of politics, which is the major difference of beliefs between Iraqi Ayatollahs and their Iranian counterparts. This was reported in Foreign Policy magazine, that a Shiite Iraqi member of parliament delivered the letter to al-Sistani. The Obama administration is hoping that he could succeed where US Vice President failed to resolve the issue when he visited Baghdad last month. One US reader of al-Arabiya responded to the announcement like this, which maybe the best advice yet regarding the Middle East:

"You must be joking. Is this the same Biden that could not urge his Israelis allies to halt settlements and the same Biden that could not make his allies in Iraq to form a government? What can he do? Not much from what I can see. Can we please stop sending Biden to do our chores?" - Mustafa El Majnoun

Obama's popularity has also fallen among the Arab nations. Many were hyped up after Obama's Cairo speech, when he promised to seek new and better relationships, but since he never followed it up with much action, his numbers have been slipping in the polls outside the US. He hasn't made the trip to Indonesia yet, and he could do wonders by going to Kenya and showing support for their newly elected constitution. Hint: don't send Joe Biden... Also, if he showed more public consultation with Arab leaders he would gain brownie points. Now, the scales are tipping in Iran's favor, most people asked see no reason why Iran shouldn't have nuclear technology, even a nuclear weapon. Of course, many asked were Pakastani's, who see no reason why they can't continue to have a nuclear bomb... Also, most countries in the Middle East are trying to get contracts with South Korea and Russia to get their own nuclear reactors built, and buy up all of the uranium that was discovered in Jordan... So the future may be a nuclear future. They may not have any groundwater left, and crops, livestock, and people may soon be dying from the droughts, but at least they will provide electricity for their laptops and DVD players, because their really isn't anything called clean coal technology...

Bob Shrum's opinion piece, linked above, talks about the recent Republican assault on the 14th Amendment: "... which was passed after Lincoln’s death, ratified his life’s work. Republicans propose to repeal its guarantee of citizenship as a birthright, and while the impetus for this assault on constitutional principle comes from the GOP’s tea-intoxicated fringe, it has been seconded by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Lindsey Graham." This is essentially aimed at Mexican immigrants, designed to get the support of those who are in favor of Arizona's immigration law. But, it could also be in solidarity of the old-guard Jewish lobby, who supports Israel's recent ruling to deport the children of foreign workers, most whom are Filipino. Israel is about to deport at least 400 children initially, and has sparked a lot of debate.

Like most countries in this region, Israel imports a lot of foreign workers, who do the menial tasks that nobody else wants to do. Many stay afterwards, and the Israeli council recently voted to integrate the children of some as Israeli citizens, while deporting the Asian children whose families will not convert to Judaism. Benjamin Netanyahu calls this a Zionist consideration: "On the other hand, we don't want to create an incentive that will lead to hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant workers flooding the country." Other countries, like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, are infamous for confiscation their foreign worker's passports, not paying them for work, and often raping and abusing the women. It is a time-honored tradition, one of the dirty secrets of living life behind the veil, and, unfortunately, a behavior that is reinforced by families who make so much money from oil...



As Colorado's primary elections devolve into invective and character assassination, I've decided to not vote at all. All of the Republican candidates are shallow and craven individuals lacking in morals and ethics, so I've decided to sit this one out. I was going to send in my ballot with only a vote for sheriff, but I decided that I don't like him either.

One candidate for state senator, Jane Norton, has gotten that tired old singer Pat Boone to make robocalls to anyone who will stay on the phone long enough to listen to him, which may be difficult as he aims towards the Alzheimer's crowd. As reported in Politico: "A BOONE TO NORTON: Former Colorado Lt. Gov. Jane Norton is getting a late assist over the telephone lines from country music legend Pat Boone, in the form of a robo-call touting her conservative and senior-friendly credentials. “Hello, my friend, this is Pat Boone,” the recorded message begins. “Yeah, that Pat Boone, the ‘Love Letters in the Sand’ guy.” The familiar voice of the singer-turned 60 Plus Association spokesman continues: “I’m still singing in concerts, but today ... I’m singing the praises of Jane Norton. We need strong leaders in the U.S. Senate like Jane Norton, who will fight for lower taxes, a return to the Constitution and an end to the runaway spending that’s bankrupting our country. ... Jane Norton understands that Obamacare severely hurts seniors by cutting $500 billion out of Medicare.” I can't believe that they are still trying to frighten people by using the Obamacare arguments, which are not true, anyway. Hey, bring back death panels, oh, wait, we can't do that because Sarah Palin is endorsing Jane's opponent... Pat has also joined the "birther" crowd, and writes columns for Worldnetnews. Pat also has an incredible kinky side to him, if you can believe the gossipers in Hollywood. He makes Louisiana's David Vitter, who likes to dress in diapers and be spanked by prostitutes look like a choirboy, while Pat still tries to sing to the choir... OK, I made that up after staring at the weird Pat picture above. Pat is actually a super-Christian, and has previously made homophobic robocalls for the Kentucky governor's race, equating gay marriage to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. His bad taste in metaphors led me to believe that there must be prescription drugs or something involved to inspire his taste in wardrobe and mental lapses in decency...