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(via What’s new by Bob Park - Friday, September 5, 2008)
2. DEBATE: DID “SCIENCE” GET A MENTION IN ST. PAUL?
Last week we did a word search for “science” in Barack Obama’s acceptance speech in Denver. We thought it unfortunate that Obama made only a single reference to science. As you have surely noticed, WN is firmly non- partisan, so we ran the same search on a transcript of McCain’s acceptance speech last night in St. Paul. “Text not found” popped up. Could this be? Our nation is roiled by controversies over evolution, nuclear power, climate change, energy shortage, stem cells, Plan B, all of which must turn to science for their resolution. Indeed, is there an issue the nation faces that doesn’t turn on science? “Perhaps the search technology failed,” I thought, “try another word.” I typed in “fight.” There were 25 hits. Hmmm.
McCain was speaking to his base, who all think science is some sort of elitist pursuit.
How many of those Republicans chanting “Country First” honestly believe their country comes first? How many would put the U.S.A. before God, for example…
(stolen from Blast Off!)
22 August, 1920 - A Report on Mesopotamia by T.E. Lawrence
Ex.-Lieut.-Col. T.E. Lawrence,
The Sunday Times, 22 August 1920
[Mr. Lawrence, whose organization and direction of the Hedjaz against the Turks was one of the outstanding romances of the war, has written this article at our request in order that the public may be fully informed of our Mesopotamian commitments.]
The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration more bloody and inefficient than the public knows. It is a disgrace to our imperial record, and may soon be too inflamed for any ordinary cure. We are to-day not far from a disaster.
The sins of commission are those of the British civil authorities in Mesopotamia (especially of three ‘colonels’) who were given a free hand by London. They are controlled from no Department of State, but from the empty space which divides the Foreign Office from the India Office. They availed themselves of the necessary discretion of war-time to carry over their dangerous independence into times of peace. They contest every suggestion of real self- government sent them from home. A recent proclamation about autonomy circulated with unction from Baghdad was drafted and published out there in a hurry, to forestall a more liberal statement in preparation in London, ‘Self-determination papers’ favourable to England were extorted in Mesopotamia in 1919 by official pressure, by aeroplane demonstrations, by deportations to India.
The Cabinet cannot disclaim all responsibility. They receive little more news than the public: they should have insisted on more, and better. they have sent draft after draft of reinforcements, without enquiry. When conditions became too bad to endure longer, they decided to send out as High commissioner the original author of the present system, with a conciliatory message to the Arabs that his heart and policy have completely changed.*
Yet our published policy has not changed, and does not need changing. It is that there has been a deplorable contrast between our profession and our practice. We said we went to Mesopotamia to defeat Turkey. We said we stayed to deliver the Arabs from the oppression of the Turkish Government, and to make available for the world its resources of corn and oil. We spent nearly a million men and nearly a thousand million of money to these ends. This year we are spending ninety-two thousand men and fifty millions of money on the same objects.
Our government is worse than the old Turkish system. They kept fourteen thousand local conscripts embodied, and killed a yearly average of two hundred Arabs in maintaining peace. We keep ninety thousand men, with aeroplanes, armoured cars, gunboats, and armoured trains. We have killed about ten thousand Arabs in this rising this summer. We cannot hope to maintain such an average: it is a poor country, sparsely peopled; but Abd el Hamid would applaud his masters, if he saw us working. We are told the object of the rising was political, we are not told what the local people want. It may be what the Cabinet has promised them. A Minister in the House of Lords said that we must have so many troops because the local people will not enlist. On Friday the Government announce the death of some local levies defending their British officers, and say that the services of these men have not yet been sufficiently recognized because they are too few (adding the characteristic Baghdad touch that they are men of bad character). There are seven thousand of them, just half the old Turkish force of occupation. Properly officered and distributed, they would relieve half our army there. Cromer controlled Egypt’s six million people with five thousand British troops; Colonel Wilson fails to control Mesopotamia’s three million people with ninety thousand troops.
We have not reached the limit of our military commitments. Four weeks ago the staff in Mesopotamia drew up a memorandum asking for four more divisions. I believe it was forwarded to the War Office, which has now sent three brigades from India. If the North-West Frontier cannot be further denuded, where is the balance to come from? Meanwhile, our unfortunate troops, Indian and British, under hard conditions of climate and supply, are policing an immense area, paying dearly every day in lives for the wilfully wrong policy of the civil administration in Baghdad. General Dyer was relieved of his command in India for a much smaller error, but the responsibility in this case is not on the Army, which has acted only at the request of the civil authorities. The War Office has made every effort to reduce our forces, but the decisions of the Cabinet have been against them.
The Government in Baghdad have been hanging Arabs in that town for political offences, which they call rebellion. The Arabs are not at war with us. Are these illegal executions to provoke the Arabs to reprisals on the three hundred British prisoners they hold? And, if so, is it that their punishment may be more severe, or is it to persuade our other troops to fight to the last?
We say we are in Mesopotamia to develop it for the benefit of the world. All experts say that the labour supply is the ruling factor in its development. How far will the killing of ten thousand villagers and townspeople this summer hinder the production of wheat, cotton, and oil? How long will we permit millions of pounds, thousands of Imperial troops, and tens of thousands of Arabs to be sacrificed on behalf of colonial administration which can benefit nobody but its administrators?
*Sir Percy Cox was to return as High Commissioner in October, 1920 to form a provisional Government.
(more…)
The McCain campaign thinks sending spam is a good idea…
From: “Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager” <ecampaign@gop.com>
To: <ME>
Subject: Did you watch Saturday’s forum with Rick Warren?
Why would I waste my time watching a snake oil salesman?
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:47:26 -0400 (EDT)
Dear Supporter,
Supporter? WTF makes you think I’m a supporter?
The reviews are in from Saturday’s Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, moderated by Pastor Rick Warren. The critics agree - John McCain’s straight talk emerged as the big winner of the night.
The critics agree - which critics? Keep in mind, the mainstream media will consider any appearance where John McCain doesn’t crap himself (metaphorically or literally) a success.
After watching both candidates answer the same set of questions, it’s become clear why Senator Barack Obama has run away from debating John McCain and refused joint town hall meetings. Senator Obama dodged answering the toughest questions. But John McCain gave straight and direct answers to Rick Warren and the entire audience about issues like national security, personal faith and values, education, taxes, energy, and the Supreme Court.
Oddly enough, it was Obama who faced a potentially hostile audience at Warren’s civil forum.
McCain, the so called maverick, pretty much told the audience what they wanted to hear. And how about that cone of silence?
The bottom line is that John McCain will put our country before his own self interest. He has done so his entire life. And that is why it is so important we do everything we can right now to elect John McCain as the next President of the United States.
The bottom line is that John McCain will put our country before his own self interest. - He will? Would he, for example, give up one of his nine houses for his country. Would he give up traveling by private jet?
Will you join our campaign today by following this link to make an immediate contribution before our fundraising deadline on August 31st? Your financial support is needed now more than ever.
If McCain needs money, maybe he should dip into his wife’s fortune…
I won’t mince words. Senator Obama has a financial edge over our campaign right now. He raised $51 million in July alone. And Sunday, he raised $7.8 million from Nancy Pelosi and her friends in San Francisco. This is money he will use to spread misinformation and distortions of John McCain’s record.
Senator Obama has a financial edge over our campaign right now — Rick it’s called the free market, being a good Republican you should be familiar with how it works.
he raised $7.8 million from Nancy Pelosi and her friends in San Francisco — Rick, are you saying San Franciscans aren’t real Americans and should not have a say in who the next President should be?
This is money he will use to spread misinformation and distortions of John McCain’s record — <sarcasm>And your campaign will not distort Obama’s record or resort to negative campaigning.</sarcasm>
We must raise money today to fight back against these distortions. We must have the financial ability to spread the messages and ideas John McCain shared at the Saddleback forum. Will you help elect John McCain as our next president by making an immediate donation of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000 or $2,300? As always, your support is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I have a policy of never doing business with spammers.
Sincerely,
Rick Davis
Campaign Manager
We must raise money today to fight back against these distortions. We must have the financial ability to spread the messages and ideas John McCain shared at the Saddleback forum. Will you help elect John McCain as our next president by making an immediate donation of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000 or $2,300? As always, your support is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Please do your part to elect John McCain by making a donation right away - before our August 31st deadline. Thank you.
Paid for by John McCain 2008
Apparently, McCain is so desperate for money, he’s resorting to using spam to raise money.
Original Message
(via Eschaton)
Rep. Sali: There ‘Could Be Up To Forty Barrels Of Oil In A Single Tree’
Rep. Bill Sali (R-ID), who is participating in the GOP’s ongoing “Drill Now” energy stunt, has a unique idea about how to bring down gas prices: extracting oil from trees. In a meeting in his Capitol Hill office, Sali reportedly told a candidate for Idaho’s House of Representatives, Byron Yankey, that there “‘could be up to 40 barrels of oil‘ in a single tree.” Yankey wrote on his campaign blog:
Congressman Sali informed us that a solution to the high price of gasoline was to make petroleum from “all those trees in our forests.” … He continued by saying there “could be up to 40 barrels of oil” in a single tree.
Sali made a similar comment in 2006:
“Forty percent of the mass of every tree in the forest is crude oil,” he said. Going after that, he said, “could put Idaho in the oil business for the first time.”
Sali is apparently confusing cellulosic ethanol with oil, so let’s review the differences for the representative:
– Cellulosic ethanol is a renewable fuel “derived from the stalks and stems of plants.” Sali voted against cellulosic ethanol tax credits.
– Oil is a nonrenewable fuel found in the ground. Sali received $35,000 in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies since January 2007.
Sali is prone to making outlandish statements. Last summer, he claimed that religious diversity in Congress was not “envisioned by the Founding Fathers.”
Sali probably also probably thinks trees cause more pollution than automobiles do just like Ronald Reagan.
GOP Rep. To Environmentalists: Jesus Already Saved The Planet
“[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet,” Bachmann told the right-wing news site OneNewsNow. “We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that.”
– Michele Bachmann
Oh my…
Akin thinks sending spam is a good way to keep his constituents informed…
Subject: Congressman Akin Fights High Gas Prices; More
From: Congressman Todd Akin <todd.akin@houseenews.net>
Reply-To: 1999884940.12611.142@houseenews.net
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 16:48:30 -0700 (PDT)
Dear Friends,
[self serving crapola deleted]
I can’t believe this empty suit is essentially running unopposed…
Hello, GORRY-O!! I'm a GENIUS from HARVARD!!
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