Wow. Just... wow.

Well, McCain is either the stupidest smart person, or the smartest dumb person... or however it is that goes.

Usually you know this person, but I think it works here.

First off, if you haven't already heard, he has chosen the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate.

Sarah Palin, who has been in office, in total, one year, as a politician in a almost any capacity.

Sarah Palin, who is governor of a state that is younger than her running mate.

Sarah Palin, who allegedly, after getting into office, tried to get a state police trooper in good standing fired because he was his sister's ex-husband.

Sarah Palin, who has absolutely no experience and, by being chosen, in one fell swoop, completely destroyed the McCain camps ability to stand on the one platform they had.

Obama's 'inexperience' to become President of the United States.

What the fuck.

Ok, here goes.

Here's a video from FOX News, who continues to pay reporters, commentators and investigators, even though they spew things like this.



Here's a great video of McCain's choice putting down the job of Vice President one month before being chosen, because she has no idea what the VP does.



Here's the entire article.

It is impossible to listen to what she is saying and not hear the chalk board screeching of inexperience.

Truly unbelievable.

an open letter to the Denver Mayor and City Council

And anyone else who'd like to read it. I mailed this off to them this evening, after reading about an incident at the DNC.

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Mr. Mayor, and the Denver City Council,

I wanted to write to express my disappointment in the city of this year's Democratic National Convention.

Being a realist, I understand that, wherever there are protests, there will always be police involvement. Officers who do their jobs. Officers who are concerned about the safety and well being of the people they are sworn to protect.

And officers who are only interested in maintaining their definition of order.

As a realist, I also know there are officers who enjoy inflicting pain, as well. Officers who feel superior to ordinary citizens. And officers who believe that their badge gives them a wide threshold for violent behavior that will not result in a loss of their job.

It's individuals like this who get the '10-paid day' vacations of suspension, as a way of appeasing the local government that some action has been taken. It's a band-aid, unfortunately, and in this day and age, those bad apples have no place in what is quickly becoming a police state, rather than a free country.

I've decided to give you a record of numerous instances of some of your officers doing more than protecting and serving. I think it's important that someone share these with you (if they haven't done so already), and demand that more than the norm is done to make sure these officers don't think they can get away with violent behavior against protestors.

It would be easy for me to sight police brutality cases outside of protesting situations, but let's stick to the topic at hand.

Here is an article that details officers surrounding groups of protestors and shooting them with pepper spray, hitting them with batons and also with paint-ball like weapons.

Here's an article on Alicia Forrest, along with the youtube clip, on her getting pushed to the ground by a police officer, and then subsequently arrested for 'interfering with an arrest' which basically means, she pissed off an officer.



Here's an article and video about an ABC news investigator/producer that was, in the end, choked, cuffed, arrested and physically threatened by one of your city's police officers.

Here's a fantastic article about the ACLU that details how Denver's police have violated people's rights in their arresting procedures.

And this is just the surface. I'm sure if you went to youtube, you'd find dozens upon dozens of videos of commentaries and on-the-scene footage of Denver's police doing some pretty terrible things.

Of course, they also don't show the police officers who are just doing their job. That's not news worthy.

As I said, I am a realist, and I know it's not them all. But those officers who went out of their way to cause pain, to arrest people, trumping up charges so that it was 'legal', those officers who weren't concerned with people's safety, as much as they were concerned with having a good story to tell about how they busted some heads... You have got to do something about them.

I do not live in Denver. I was unable to afford the trip to the DNC this year, unfortunately. But had I been there, it's quite possible that I could have been one of those people who were hurt, arrested, or both. And that thought frightens me, because the idea of protesting, especially in this country, is, the majority of the time, a peaceful process, filled with passion and vehemence for corporations and politicians who are not the police.

I'm sorry this had to happen. I'm a Democrat, and I was happy to see the convention in Denver. But everything I've seen and read makes me think that the Denver Police Department decided to either not brief its officers on making sure that safety was the main concern, or these officers didn't care to listen to their superiors.

In this day and age, when every single protestor has a device that can record video, for these officers to just forgo rules of conduct outside on the streets of Denver and act only for themselves, well, that's more than a shame.

That's criminal.

John Painz

articles #4

Few things today...

A 'plot' to kill Obama was foiled. The Secret Service said that the threat wasn't creditable.

I found this quite interesting. The man in question was stopped by police after driving erratically. He had some meth on him and a high powered rifle.

From what I gathered, the only place they could have shot the man was from on top of a McDonalds roof, and only during the hours of 11:00am and 11:30am, just after they stop serving breakfast (they're very strict at that McDonalds) and just before the big lunch rush.

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Hey, moving on. Some Joe Biden info.

Article #1, this one against Joe Biden.

Article #2, this one about Biden's Amtrak fantasies stories.

Haven't made up my mind about the guy.

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Videos! Hey, what fun.

First we have a terrible interviewer calling Pelosi out on her double standard of minimum wage, and her use of non-payed interns.



In my opinion, interns have been around since god knows how long. People understand what they're going to receive as an intern. Either experience for a future job, or school credit.

I doubt there is a political office in this country, let alone at any large corporation or practice, without an intern of some kind. I'm sure most are paid lower than their counterparts with experience. But the majority are volunteers or inexperienced workers who are looking for a future wedge.

Whew.

I made it through that entire thing without one Clinton joke.

Here's John McCain offering people $50 an hour to pick lettuce.



Here's Kucinich placing blame for 9/11 and the failure of the government before, during and after Katrina on the Bush Administration.



Here we have Clinton supporters for McCain, with a huge amount of subterfuge when it comes to their sources of information.



And finally, Kucinich's speech during the DNC.

Bush Admin tries to solidify McCain presidency

with bullshit.

Completely reminds me of this part in Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill:

But in America, it was different.

They said, "This is where our God has brought us to. We can practice our religion, raise a family.

"There's nobody here.

"Excuse me.

"Nobody here. Yes, a land empty of human existence.

"Who the fuck are these guys?

"What's all this, please?

"No, we don't want any of your food, thank you very much.

"Just put some clothes on."

Meanwhile, that winter...

"Excuse me, do you have any food?

"I love all this, lovely idea."

(Laughs nervously)

"I'm sorry we were a bit brusque when we first arrived. We didn't realize you owned the entire country. But you have no system
of ownership? Mm. lnteresting. That'll be useful later. Food, thank you very much. There's more of us coming but we'll keep our promises."

So the government lied to the Native Americans for many years.

Then President Clinton lied about a lover and everyone was surprised.

A little naive, I feel.

Sure, under a Republican Administration, we'll be out in 2011.

Hey, look over there at that big gorilla climbing that big building.

Fox news, VP, hookers and more

We'll start with FOX news.



-----

Biden.

People are polarized about his being chosen. I'm not impressed.

Here's an article on his past exploits that amount to "Ummm... there was no one better?"

Someone, somewhere, had mentioned that Biden was the appeasement choice for the Clinton's, due to his age. Meaning, that he would be too old in 2012 or 2016 to run against Hillary. Sigh.

The mediocre of politics. Not eve the 'joke' of politics, which could have been a funny little whatever.

-----

Here's a fun article on Senator David Vitter from Louisiana who was caught in the DC Madam scandal.

The man who committed a "very serious sin."

Is this any way to talk about having sex? While you're married? Using tax payers money?

Now he wants to use campaign funds to offset the cost of his legal fees, and 3 of his compatriots in Louisiana don't have a problem with that. And one of them is a woman.

Unreal.

Here's the About Dave page on his government web site. I guess if Hillary could get over a blowjob, Dave's wife Wendy, who he's had four kids with and lectures at St. Francis Xavier Church with, could get over him fucking hookers.

I suppose God will see them through this.

-----

Here's a video mishmash from Olbermann on... well, a few things.



------

And, finally, I prostate myself to you all...

Oh, I kill me.

... with this.

Next, boils and pus.

articles #3

More stuff for you kiddies, to see how our politicians, reporters and the general public are either making asses of themselves, using the veneer to hide their true selves, or being just a plain nuisance.

First up, we have in our comical section, an op-ed piece by Maureen Dowd that is pretty much an insult to everyone who reads it.

So, read it here!

Sigh. People give this woman too much credit, too much money, and too much space in a paper that used to stand for something.

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Here's something. While corporate America deals with budding technology, firewalls, anti-spam stuff, and more things that I really don't care about... blech... The White House, with all of the resources of the free world at their disposal, has seemingly lost 225 days of email.

It's frightening how convenient this is, and how Americans are probably like "Well, Jebus, that's the kind of thing that happens to me on AOL."

Sorry. No. You don't lose email on AOL.

I have my own server, and I have never once lost an email. And I am not the US Government.

So, fuck them. This bullshit Administration has got to end.

--------

Here's an...

Wait, wait. Ok. The next few articles are going to be on the stupidity of McCain. I seriously can't help it. There is way too much material out there against the guy, to ignore.

Article 1 on how McCain wanted to go to war before Bush did.

Article 2 deals with McCain pissing off the entire state of Colorado. Well done.

Here's a phenomenal video of McCain agreeing that if we don't re-enact the draft, we'll never catch Osama Bin Laden.



And finally, Article 3, that gives details on torture during the Vietnam war that do not match the Bush Administrations definitions of torture during the Iraq War.

Fun stuff.

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Finally, two things on Obama.

First, here's a page where he called his 2,000,000 donor. Pretty neat.

Second, an early video of Obama, worth watching.

Anyone have any factual anti-Obama stuff out there? It's not for lack of trying, but I'm not going to post Coulter and Limbaugh crap every time they say something anti-Democrat. It's just recycled bullshit.

J

can't make this stuff up

articles #3

Moving, have all these windows open on articles, so I'll do this quick.

First is Ann Coulter sticking her foot in her mouth, chewing off her foot, spitting the toes on the floor, looking at them, shrugging, then eating them cause she's got nothing better to do than attack... Canada?



And then this...



She's fucking stupid. It's amazing though. We live in this free country where people who say the most outlandishing things, where a handful (only a handful) of people agree with her, and she gets notoriety.

Nancy Allen. Is she just the dumbest thing on television, or what? I have to post this because just the look on Amy Smart's face says it all.



Here's an article from the Phoenix New Times on McCain. A very interesting read.

And if you haven't been living under a rock, there is news that a top CIA official has confessed that there is a forged letter connecting Iraq to 9/11, so the Bush Administration could make their friends money and kill American soldiers and Iraqi and American civilians.

When I say 'living under a rock', this is assuming you get your news from online, and not the mainstream media, who not only didn't report on this, but also did not report on the 100,000 signatures that Congressman Kucinich gave to Pelosi.

Three more things.

One. David Duke, ex-Louisiana House of Representatives member and former leader of the KKK, believes that if Obama is elected, there will be a surge of membership for white supremacist groups.

This opinion is quite shocking, really*.

Two. Ohio is suing Diebold for losing votes in 11 of the 44 counties.

And finally, author Orson Scott Card, who wrote, most notably Ender's Game, has stated that equality for gays is the end of democracy in America.

See you in a few days!

*This opinion is not shocking. It was pretty predictable, actually.

anti-Bush, anti-war website

I was reading this article at After Downing Street on an Anti-War website, and how the administrator has been threatened numerous times by armed individuals who do or do not work for the government.

Check out Information Clearing House.

I hope that Tom Feeley doesn't give in to these people.

No one in this administration (if they are responsible) can convince any educated person that what they're doing is for the best interest of the country.

When you do something like that, when you put yourself out there and are anti-Government, I really think you have to take into consideration (at least with this Administration) that not only is there going to be trouble, but that you can't back down, at all.

I feel terrible for Mr. Freeley's wife and child, and grandchildren. It's an awful situation he's in. And it's a lot to ask, to not have him give up. But it's what these kinds of people want. To scare and intimidate people. To whitewash this whole situation the US is in.

Tom Freeley is now bigger than that.

Problem with Maryland SWAT team

I read an article on this many weeks ago, but I was perusing CNN (don't ask) and saw it, so I figured I'd link to it.

I'm not sure how many of you (christ, I think I'm only speaking Crotchety these days) are movie fans, but if you ever watch any cop dramas, you'll be able to recall plenty of plot lines where agencies did not share information with local police, and ended up doing something stupid/bad/wrong/deadly.

I don't have enough fingers (I have twelve*) to count how many movies have this plot line. There are that many.

More than twelve.

So I find it ridiculous when I see these kinds of stories, and how even now, today, police agencies are still this stubborn.

A simple phone call would have cleared up this entire situation. But the Prince Charles police department decided the bust was more important than courtesy.

These officers who go in after the door comes off its hinges are more interested in shooting then they are in justice. At least, that's the way it seems.

You'd have to have that kind of mentality to take that kind of job, I would suspect.

I hope that the Mayor will be able to take this as far as it will suit him to get over this situation. I think the last sentence ties up the entire article very succinctly.

* I do not have twelve fingers.

Colbert's take on tire gauges

witness the breakdown

So sad.

Here's an article on Obama's talking about inflating tires, and how conservatives and the right are making fun of it.

One.

And a video...



I wonder if a group of people went from red state to red state and showed them the facts... if they would still vote republican this year.

I really wanted The Joke to be an agenda free site. But every time I go and try to find a stupid thing that Obama has done, I keep finding these little gems. I'll keep plugging away. Thanks for visiting.

J

two posts, one day

Sorry, but I had to show you people these.



This second video was commented on at The Jed Report.



McCain and company seem to be scraping the barrel...

so much to talk about

I don't even know where to begin.

Ok, let's start with the last article I read, about the Department of Homeland Security. In this article you'll read about a document that found its way onto the internet in early July, about how the DHS has, and has had for some time, the authority to take your laptop, ipod, iphone, flash drive, and any other computer hardware you have, whilst entering the country.

And hold said items indefinitely.

I hope to have a post, at some point, where I discuss the United States becoming more and more like a police state. The truth is, it's already here. Simmering.

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The only black reporter at a McCain news conference was kicked out, along with a white woman who questioned the Secret Service (you know how hard it is to not write SS?).

I love the back peddling of the McCain camp on this one.

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Here's an interesting video on the limits of Executive Power, by Vincent Bugliosi, who recently wrote the book: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.



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Here's an interesting article that was posted online at the Wall Street Journal about how it's possible Obama is too skinny to be President.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL?

I know, I know. For a second, I completely forgot that it's a Rupert Murdoch rag.

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Walmart (AKA the fall of modern civilization) has briefed its US managers on the perils of a democratic president.

It seems that Walmart does not want its workers to unionize.

This might be because they hire workers who are illegal and get paid minimum wage or less, if that's possible.

But, of course, they're not telling anyone how to vote.

"Psst. You know, McCain doesn't support that bill."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm a Democrat, and I hate the -"

"Do you like pudding?"

"I, umm..."

(laughs) "Everyone likes pudding, right?"

"Sure, I guess..."

"Well, imagine with me, if you will, a world where pudding costs more than what, you know, what we sell it for."

"Yeah..."

"Or Cheesy Poofs."

"Oh, I like those."

"You see? Today, we enjoy what we have. Tomorrow?" (shakes head) "I worry about tomorrow."

"There won't be Cheesy Poofs tomorrow?"

(whisper) "Not if you vote Democrat."

I was there, I heard it all.*

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Here's another gem from the Wall Street Journal that states that... no, seriously, just go read it. I don't want to spoil it for you.

Here's a nice take on the article.

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Kucinich is moving forward with the impeachment of George Bush. He's got a video out there on Make Your Call.org, a site dedicated to ending the war, impeaching the president and Dick Cheney, restoring the Bill of Rights, and making sure that when Obama is in the White House, that pudding and Cheesy Poofs will still be affordable.

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Finally, Obama opposes reparations for slavery.

I refuse to get involved in this topic, but it's news.



*I was not there, I heard nothing.

Early McCain video and anthrax

Linking Iraq to the anthrax attacks and deaths from 2001/2002.

This ties in to the suicide of Bruce E. Ivins.

I wonder if he did do it.

This story, the one on Ivins, reminds me of Arlington Road. I'm not sure why.

I find it interesting that no proof of Ivins involvement is in the article. Only speculation. It would be very interesting if they close this "Amerithrax" (eyeroll) case, without divulging any evidence that Ivins was, in fact, the perpetrator.

I find it interesting that it took the FBI 7 years to make this connection. It took 6 years to clear Steven Hatfill... it's an election year.

Doesn't add up to me. I'll reserve further judgement when more details are released.