Obama Doesn't Fool Around with Al Queda

A lot of days I read about another NATO or U.S. drone strike that has killed Al-Qu-ida operatives.

I've not yet found a complete list, but some names follow.

Some of the killings were done by U.S. forces and some by NATO, but the NATO strikes were U.S. led, so I've attributed them to U.S. forces.

This is a VERY PARTIAL List of Terrorists Killed or Apprehended by U.S. and Joint U.S./Other National Forces During the Administration of President Barack Obama.

Yes, a lot of innocents have been killed by drone strikes. That's horrible, but war has always been horrible. I'm just sayin' that contrary to claims by certain Republicans that he is not protecting America, Obama is on the job.

June, 2009

Baitullah Mahsud

Leader, Tehrik e-Taliban Pakistan
Killed by U.S. Forces

September, 2009

Noordin Muhammad Top

Operational Planner, Jemayah Islamiya

Killed by U.S. Forces

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan

Planner, Al-Qa-ida in East Africa

Killed by U.S. Forces

December, 2009

Saleh al-Somali

Operational Commander, Al-Qa'ida

Killed by U.S. Forces

Abdallah Sa’id

Operational Commander, AL-Qa'ida

Killed by U.S. Forces

February, 2010

Abdul Ghani Beradar
Deputy and Military Commander, Taliban
Apprehended

Muhammad Haqqani
Haqqani Network Commander
Killed by U.S. Forces

Qari Zafar
Leader, Lashkar-e Jhangvi
Killed by U.S. Forces

March, 2010

Hussein al-Yemeni
Operative, Al-Qa-ida
Killed by U.S. Forces

Dulmatin
Senior Operative, Jamahay Islamiya
(Believed to be the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombings)
Killed by U.S. Forces

April, 2010

Abu Ayyub al-Masri 

Leader, Al-Qu'ida in Iraq

Killed by U.S. Forces

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi

Leader, Al-Qu'ida in Iraq
Killed by U.S. Forces

May, 2010

Sheik Saeed al-Masri 

Al-Qu-ida No. 3

June, 2010

Hamza al-Jawfi
Commander, Al-Qu-ida
Killed

May, 2011

Osama Bin Laden
Founder of Al-Qa'ida
Killed by U.S. Forces

June, 2011

Ilyas Kashmiri

Commander, Al-Qa'ida

Killed by U.S. Forces

Ammar al-Wa’ili

Senior Operative, Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula

Killed by U.S. Forces

Abu Ali al-Harithi

Senior Operative, Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula

Killed by U.S. Forces

Ali Saleh Farhan

Senior Operative, Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula

Killed by U.S. Forces

Harun Fazul

Senior Leader, Al-Qa'ida in East Africa

Killed by U.S. Forces

August, 2011

Atihay Abd al-Rahman
Al-Qa'ida No. 2
Killed by U.S. Forces

September 2011

Anwar al Awlaki,
Leader, Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula
Killed by U.S. Forces

Younis al-Mauritani
Senior Leader, Al-Qa'ida

Apprehended by U.S. and Pakistani Forces
Abu Hafs-al-Shahra
Chief of Pakistani Operations, Al-Qa'ida
Killed by U.S. Forces

May, 2012

Sakhr al-Taifi, also known as Mushtaq and Nasim

No. 2 Al-Qu-ida in Afghanistan

Killed by U.S. Forces

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

"I stand by what I said, whatever it was."

I absolutely cannot believe Mitt Romney actually said that!

Romney said those immortal words while criticizing planned attack ads linking President Barack Obama with controversial preacher Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

SuperPACs are not under the control of political candidates-- and in fact under threat of law there can be no linkage (wink, wink).

I'd like to think Romney did the right thing (as did Senator John McCain in 2008 when he wouldn't play up Obama's past link with Wright, but a more likely motivation was the realization that it would put his own religious views on the table. Romney is a Mormon, and a high muck-a-muck Mormon at that.

Sources

Crugnale, James. (2012, 17 May). NYT digs up SuperPac proposal calling Obama "A metrosexual Black Abe Lincoln. Mediaite.

Vamburker, Meenal. (2012, 17 May). Romney on past remarks invoking Reverent Wright: "Not sure what I said, but I stand by it, whatever it was. Mediaite.

Beast of Cranbrook

Forty years on, when afar and asunderParted are those who are singing today,When you look back, and forgetfully wonderWhat you were like in your work and your play,Then, it may be, there will often come o’er you,Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song –Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along

 -- Cranbrook school song

In my last post I talked about Mitt Romney's lack of character-- of backbone, if you will.

Now we know he's a bully of the worst sort-- and showing his usual lack of character by calling the horrible things he did "pranks" and claiming to not remember them.

Today's Washington Post carries an article by Jason Horowitz that visits Romney's days at Michigan's prestigious Cranbook prep school. The picture isn't pretty.

Multiple classmates remember Romney leading a gang of classmates to assault fellow student John Lauber. When they found him, the classmates held Lauber down while Romney cut off his blond hair with a pair of scissors.

John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.
“He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” an incensed Romney told Matthew Friedemann, his close friend in the Stevens Hall dorm, according to Friedemann’s recollection. Mitt, the teenaged son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, kept complaining about Lauber’s look, Friedemann recalled.

In another equally mean incident, Romney deliberately led his blind professor into a glass door.

Pranks? Hardly. Let's call it what it is: brutish.

Romney is denying he knew John Lauber was gay-- which clearly isn't true. 

The idea that this is something that was known by me ... is obviously absurd. I had no idea that this person might have been gay.

Romney claimed he didn't remember the hair-cutting incident and made a half-assed, insincere apology:

I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some might have gone too far and for that, I apologize.

The fact is Romney was a mean little ass in high school. He still is a mean little ass, he's just learned to channel it into doing things like firing people and making up absurd lies about President Obama.

Ask yourself. Did you ever hold someone down and forcibly cut their hair? Did you ever deliberately walk your blind professor into a plate-glass door? Of course you didn't. Romney did. He was a sociopathic fuck when he was at Cranbrook, and he's a sociopathic fuck now.

Sources

Horowitz, Jason. (2012, 10 May). Mitt Romney's prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents. Washington Post.

Stein, Sam. (2012, 10 May). Romney apologizes for bulling in prep school, says he didn't know the victim was gay. Huffington Post.

p.s. Love this comment from Yellerkitty on the Washington Post site:

You bet I remember things I did over 60 years ago! I remember swiping two little packages of plastic lacing (pink and blue) from the F.W. Woolworths when I was about 5 years old. People with a conscience DO remember. Only those who are so amoral that they do not view their actions as egregious or those who repeat them so often they begin to blend into each other do not remember. TerpfanMA is right ... that's pretty much the definition of, if not an out-and-out sociopath, then certainly someone with ethics issues.

Character

Character. You either have it or you don't.

When an audience member at a town hall meeting called Obama an Arab during the run-up to the 2008 Presidential election, John McCain told her he was not, He said:

No, ma'am. He's a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign's all about. He's not [an Arab].

McCain's response (which was met with boos from the crowd) showed his character.

Today Mitt Romney, in the same situation, showed his.

He said nothing.

At a town hall meeting a woman said:

We have a president right now that is operating outside the structure of our Constitution. And I want to know -- yeah, I do agree he should be tried for treason-- but I want to know what you would be able to do to restore balance between the three branches of government and what you are going to be able to do to restore the Constitution in our country.

Romney ignored the accusation, replying:

Well, as I'm sure you do, I happen to believe the Constitution was not just brilliant but probably inspired. I happen to believe the same thing about the Declaration of Independence. I would respect the different branches of government if I am fortunate enough to become president.

C'mon, Mitt. Probably inspired? It was fucking brilliant!

Mitt passed up a chance to be honorable, saving his response to the handshaking after his time on the podium. 

The man is weak. Weak!

Sources

Martin, Johanan, and Parnes, Amie. (2008, 10 October). McCain: Obama not an Arab, crowd boos. Politico.

Stein, Sam. (2012, 7 May). Barack Obama accused of treason at Mitt Romney town hall. Huffington Post.

George! Hutchins! FOR! cOnGreSS!

Long ago Bob Cesca pointed me toward the web page of George Hutchins, a congressional candidate from the great state of North Carolina.

Click the link above to assault your senses, insult your common sense, and feed your paranoia.

Birthers

My Kenyan Birth Certificate

Birthers-- those who claim against all evidence that President Barack Obama are just frigging loonies. Even a preemptory look at birther queen Orly Taitz and The Donald proves that beyond all doubt. I mean Orly believes Obama has dozens of social security numbers and is a secret homosexual. Donald believes his comb-over isn't noticeable.

Obama has made his long-form Hawaii birth certificate available, and two Honolulu newspapers from 1960 announce his birth-- so unless his parents concocted an amazing plot to fake his birth and plant newspaper notices just in case their new multiracial baby boy might one day grow up to be President of the United States, birthers are just flat-out nuts.

What motivates them, of course, is flat-out racism. Unlike Obama, who was born in the United States, Senator John McCain was born in the Canal Zone, which was a U.S. territory and not part of the United States proper, was never seriously questioned about his eligibility (he was in fact eligible to run for President; the founding fathers saw to that). Why do you think that is?

The answer is simple. Think about it.

The Republicans who have and continue to jump on the Birther bandwagon should be ashamed. Way ashamed.

Most recent to queue up are Richard Hudson, Dr. John Wheatly, and Jim Pendergraph of North Carolina. All three are Congressional candidates. All three are Republicans.

They join the likes of Tate, Trump, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Joe Arpaio, Michelle Bachman, and other low-lifes.

Sources

Ordonez, Franco. (2012, 4 May). More NC G.O. P. candidates doubt Obama's birthplace. Charlotte Observer. 

Rudin, Ken. (1998, 9 July). John McCain's Panama problem? Washington Post.

Let's Just Beat Those Gay Children Into Heterosexuality!

That's Bryan Fischer in the video above, urging people all over the world to discriminate against GLBT people. He considers them to have questionable character. Fischer is with the AFA (which some people think is an acronym for American Family Association; I suspect it might actually be Against Fags Always).

I think Bryan needs to buy a mirror.

Times are still tough for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans Americans. Take, for case in point, the words of Fayetteville, NC preacher Sean Harris. He wants parents to go all Rambo on their children:

So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, 'Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,' you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed. 

Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male. And when your daughter starts acting too butch, you reign [sic] her in. And you say, 'Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up.'

Doesn't matter that you can't beat the gay away. Doesn't matter that gender nonconformity can't be "cured." Beat the shit out of them anyway. Harris gives you special dispensation.

Way to go, supposed man of God.

Harris is now kinda, sorta saying he "misspoke."

The idiots roasted above aren't politicians-- just supposed Christians who are engaging in politics-- but in political news, recently hired gay aide Richard Grennell was forced to resign from Mitt Romney's campaign because of venom from anti-gay right-wing homophobes.

Sources


(2012, 2 May). NC pastor Sean Harris suggests parents beat the gay out of their children. On Top Magazine.

Forbes, Tricia. (2012, 2 May). Pastor says he "misspoke" when he told parents to punch children who seem gay. 48 News.

Rubin, Jennifer. (2012, 1 May). Richard Grennell hounded from Romney campaign by anti-gay conservatives. Washington Post.

I Can't Keep Up!

Republicans are misbehaving so badly and so often I can't keep up with breaking news!

On Saturday, April 28 Senate candidate John Raese (R- W. VA) said:

Barack wants to stop all children from working on the farm. ... Can you imagine this? I just, I can't fathom that," Raese, campaigning against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, said at a Saturday event. "Did you ever think we'd grow up in America and see something like that? Let me take it one step further. He wants to disallow the 4-H from training children to work on a farm. Jawohl.

This is of course an utter fabrication-- and witness the veiled Nazi reference.

President Obama of course has no plans to wrestle farm children away from their lambs and piglets and corn plants. Raese was referring to a rule that would have prevented children from being paid for farm work deemed to be dangerous-- and the White House withdrew it, meaning children can now stick their arms into baling machines if their employers ask them to.

Raese also stood up for psycho rocker Ted Nugent for his recent remark that if Obama is re-elected he will either be dead or in prison. Raese called it a figure of speech.

Not long ago Raese compared smoking bans to the treatment of Jews by the Nazis.

Raese favors abolishing the IRS, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, and the Federal minimum wage, opposes abortion and stem cell research, and supports drilling in pristine Arctic environments, the controversial Arizona immigration law, and Obamacare-- and oh, yes, he wants the U.S. to put 1000 lasers in the sky because somehow they will protect us.

Two words: Whack job.

Sources

Foley, Elise. (2012, 1 May). John Raese alludes to Hitler, claims Obama wants to kill 4-H programs. Huffington Post.

Jarman, David.  (2012, 26 April). John Raese defends Ted Nugent from the thought police. Daily Kos.

Kleefeld, Eric. (2010, 12 October). Meet John Raese. TPM.

Lying Lies from a Lying Liar: Romney Deliberately Misquotes President Obama

Remember when Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's ad claimed President Barack Obama said this?

If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.

Romney defended the use of the deliberate misquote.

Here's what Obama actually said:

Senator McCain's campaign actually said, and I quote, "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose."

Here are Obama's words both in and out of context:

What does it mean when a Presidential candidate deliberate engages in lies and deception in his speeches and campaign literature and then squeals like a pig when his opponent strikes back.

Lack of backbone? Maybe. Since of privilege? Certainly. Asshat credentials? You betcha.

Source

Mehta, Seema, and Memoli, Michael A. (2011, 23 November). Mitt Romney defense use of Obama quote in campaign ad. Los Angeles Times.

Republicans Can't Handle the Truth About Bin Laden

Republicans continuously get it wrong about terrorism and national security issues. 

Wait. Correction.

 They get it wrong about everything, actually. The environment, the economy, women’s issues, race, government regulation, comedy (as I’ve written here lately) — you name it, they’re wildly off base about it.

Read Bob Cesca's full blogpost here...

Obama, Osama, and Mitt

I do not concur in the words of Barack Obama in a plan to enter an ally of ours... I don't think those kinds of comments help in this effort to draw more friends to our effort," Romney told reporters on the campaign trail...

That's what Mitt Romey had to say back in 2007 in response to these words by Barack Obama:

If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will.

Romney called Obama's words ill-timed and ill-advised.

And of course Obama put his money where his mouth had been; one year ago he sent a Navy Seal team into Pakistan and they took Bin Laden out.

Now, on the anniversary of Bin Laden's death,  Republicans are crying about it, calling it political theater.

No, political theater was George W. Bush flying onto an aircraft carrier and claiming the mission was accomplished when it clearly wasn't.

I do get a kick out of how the Republicans are all upset that the President is taking credit for the Obama kill. And they should be upset. It was one hell of a victory, and something George Bush failed to accomplish in eight years in office (not to mention, Bush actually let Osama get away at Tora Bora). So it's understandable, and typical, that the GOP would freak out over Obama even mentioning Osama. It's what they do - go after you on your strengths so you're afraid to mention them. Remember who the Republican party demonized John Kerry for being a war hero? That was his strength, so they had to take it down. Same goes for Obama taking out Osama.

 Romney didn't even want to go after Osama in the first place, he said he wouldn't go into Pakistan to get him, and that's exactly what Obama did, go into Pakistan and kill him

-- Aravois, 2012

So Osama is dead. Obama did just what he said he would do. And Mitt?

Mitt is pathetic.


Source

Aravosis, John. (2012, 30 April). Obama calls out Romney for chickening out in going after Osama Bin Laden.  AmericaBlog.

Boehner Misdirects on Women's Health

Speaker of the House John Boehner had this to say about a House bill that would lower student loan rates by slashing funds on a preventative health care program that provides breast cancer screening for women.

Here's what Boehner had to say on CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley:

This is just nonsense. There's no women's health issue here.

Mr. Boehner, with all due respect. Get your head out of your ass.

Source

Sacks, Mike. (2012, 29 April). John Boehner: Student loan fight raises "No women's health issues." Huffington Post.

Maddow: Men Get Paid More

That's It, I'm Closing My Swiss Bank Account!

The Romney campaign is up in arms about this ad from Obama's team:

With the worst job creation record in modern history and the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression, President Obama is trying to distract Americans from the real issues with a series of sideshows," said Romney spokesperson Amanda Henneberg. "Unable to defend his failed record of 23 million Americans struggling for work, wasteful boondoggles like Solyndra, skyrocketing national debt, and unacceptably high energy prices, President Obama has once again resorted to attacking Mitt Romney.

Notwithstanding the facts that George W. Bush has the worst record for job creation (due to the many jobs that were lost during the financial collapse in his second term and Romney's ongoing outrageous lies about Obama's record, the Obama ad was just tit-for-tat. It was a response to ads questioning his energy responses. And if the last line about Romney's Swiss bank account was gratuitous (and it was), there IS the issue of Romney's dodginess about his finances.

These ads say it pretty well:

Sources

Stein, Sam. (2012, 1 May). Obama team strikes squarely at Romney's Swiss bank account. Huffington Post.

Alex Castellanos is a Condescension Machine

On Meet the Press this week Republican spokesperson Alex Castellanos responded to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's assertion that women make just 77 cents on the dollar compared to men by denying it.

You can watch the give-and-take between Madow and Castellanos in this video...

... or click here to view from the beginning of the show.

Castellanos is wrong, of course. Women in America do in fact make less than equal pay for equal work. If you don't believe it, just Google "Gender pay disparity studies;" you'll find dozens of studies that come to that conclusion. Prepare to be overwhelmed.

Here's just one example. When Bloomberg News recently analyzed census data, it indeed found women make just 77 cents on the dollar, compared to men:

Nationwide, across all occupations, women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar that men make. And in the 265 major job categories measured by the Census, there's only one -- personal care and service workers -- where women collect a higher salary than men. Those jobs include positions like butler, valet, house sitter and shoe shiner, Bloomberg reports. 

-- Eichler, 2012

Bloomberg found the pay disparity greatest on Wall Street, where women make between 55 and 62 cents for every dollar made by their male co-workers.

Click here to read the Bloomberg report.

Costellanos not only was disingenuous (read wrong) in his assertation that women make as much as men, he was rude and condescending toward Maddow, as men often are to women. During their exchange he not only interrupted her repeatedly, he said (and can you believe it?):

I love how passionate you are. I wish  you were as right about what you're saying as you're passionate about it. I really do.

(View the above video from about 2:20 to hear him).

Maddow, who is no fool, called Castellanos on his condescension. "My passion on this issue is actually me making a factual argument."

The substance of Maddow's statements was this: Republicands and Democrats have a difference of policy about women's issues.

Of course there is. And no progress will ever be made if Republicans continue to make up their own realities and maintain sexist ways of thinking about women.

And of course they will.

--

Sources

Bass, Frank. (2012, 16 March). Shining shoes best way Wall Street women outearn men. Bloomberg News.

Eichler, Alexander. (2012, 19 March). Gender gap is higher on Wall Street than anywhere else. Huffington Post.

Horowitz, Alana. (2012, 29 April). Alex Castellanos denies women make less than men. Huffington Post.