President Obama and the birthers

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Rachel Maddow calls out the crazy of Senate... Democrats...

Rachel Maddow calls out the seeming about-face on whether or not to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Everyone was for it during the election, now the funding to actually close Gitmo went down 90 to 6. Thank you Senators Durbin (D-IL), Harkin (D-IA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Reed (D-RI), Whitehouse (D-RI) for being the 6 standing your ground against the 90. So, are we scared about having guys from Gitmo popping up and serving us Big Mac's in the drivethru? Because American's know how to lock poeple up. We do it well. But yes, I understand that we want to know where they are going before we send them there. But the fear mongering doesn't help that. Allowing money to be spent closing and relocating does help, you know, close Gitmo. Which I thought we all were on board for. Well, Jeff Sessions (R-AL) wasn't on board, but he's crazy!

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Rachel Maddow & Elliot Spitzer talk about how we are still screwed.

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'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is Bullshit!

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By Lt. Daniel Choi

Open Letter to President Obama and Every Member of Congress:

I have learned many lessons in the ten years since I first raised my right hand at the United States Military Academy at West Point and committed to fighting for my country. The lessons of courage, integrity, honesty and selfless service are some of the most important.

At West Point, I recited the Cadet Prayer every Sunday. It taught us to “choose the harder right over the easier wrong” and to “never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.” The Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort.

Following the Honor Code never bowed to comfortable timing or popularity. Honor and integrity are 24-hour values. That is why I refuse to lie about my identity.

I have personally served for a decade under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: an immoral law and policy that forces American soldiers to deceive and lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception and lying. These values are completely opposed to anything I learned at West Point. Deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.

As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates. I demand honesty and courage from my soldiers. They should demand the same from me.

I am committed to applying the leadership lessons I learned at West Point. With 60 other LGBT West Point graduates, I helped form our organization, Knights Out, to fight for the repeal of this discriminatory law and educate cadets and soldiers after the repeal occurs. When I receive emails from deployed soldiers and veterans who feel isolated, alone, and even suicidal because the torment of rejection and discrimination, I remember my leadership training: soldiers cannot feel alone, especially in combat. Leaders must reach out. They can never diminish the fighting spirit of a soldier by tolerating discrimination and isolation. Leaders respect the honor of service. Respecting each soldier’s service is my personal promise.

The Department of the Army sent a letter discharging me on April 23rd. I will not lie to you; the letter is a slap in the face. It is a slap in the face to me. It is a slap in the face to my soldiers, peers and leaders who have demonstrated that an infantry unit can be professional enough to accept diversity, to accept capable leaders, to accept skilled soldiers.

My subordinates know I’m gay. They don’t care. They are professional.

Further, they are respectable infantrymen who work as a team. Many told me that they respect me even more because I trusted them enough to let them know the truth. Trust is the foundation of unit cohesion.

After I publicly announced that I am gay, I reported for training and led rifle marksmanship. I ordered hundreds of soldiers to fire live rounds and qualify on their weapons. I qualified on my own weapon. I showered after training and slept in an open bay with 40 other infantrymen. I cannot understand the claim that I “negatively affected good order and discipline in the New York Army National Guard.” I refuse to accept this statement as true.

As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you today: Do not fire me. Do not fire me because my soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force – we are a family and we support each other. We should not learn that honesty and courage leads to punishment and insult. Their professionalism should not be rewarded with losing their leader. I understand if you must fire me, but please do not discredit and insult my soldiers for their professionalism.

When I was commissioned I was told that I serve at the pleasure of the President. I hope I have not displeased anyone by my honesty. I love my job. I want to deploy and continue to serve with the unit I respect and admire. I want to continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.

Please do not wait to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Please do not fire me.

Very Respectfully,

Daniel W. Choi
1LT, IN
New York Army National Guard

Ron Reagan also talked about this on his radio show.

Rachel Maddow & Larry Wilkerson

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Rick Warren, third time's a charm

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After thinking it through, after giving everyone a chance to speak, I am still pissed. I will not forgive, I will not forget, but we will move on because we must. I am not going to pull my support for Obama, yet.

Now it is time for Obama to prove me wrong. Come on Obama, be smarter than me and pull of this crazy hat trick.

I want someone who is smarter than a 3rd grader

So Mrs. Sarah "never a dull moment" Palin actually did an interview. I'm starting to see why she was better off not talking.

Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”

PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me! … [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.

Really?! Are you telling me that I got it wrong for the last 25 years I have been learning about government? My senior year of American Government in high school was wrong? My poly sci classes I took in college (including one on the Presidency) was wrong? Damn!

Article One, section three: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided."

Once again, I bow to the greatness of Keith Olbermann:



And Rachel Maddow:



I'm sorry to burst your bubble Governor, but I would like someone running for vice president that has an idea, based in reality and fact, of what their job might just be. Not to mention some depth and a real relationship with their running mate. Normally I would just post a passing hyperlink to this story, but I think it is TOO good not to really point out.

Go and read Jonathan Alter's piece where he talked to Biden. Biden’s Unified Theory of Biden. And not only does it touch on how Obama and Biden talked through what their professional relationship would be like, it was this that really caught my eye:

Biden says Obama reminds him of Bill Clinton in his "confidence, cognitive ability, judgment" and intellectual security—that he can listen and absorb advice without having to prove he's the smartest person in the room, a critical leadership skill. He says he experienced an "epiphany" during a recent conference call on the bailout bill with Bob Rubin, Paul Volcker, Warren Buffett, Paul O'Neill, Joseph Stiglitz, Larry Summers and Laura Tyson. "He [Obama] comes on the call and says, 'Well, folks, sorry I'm late. I've got four questions.' He was in total frigging command! Here's a 47-year-old guy in one of the most complicated economic dilemmas anyone has had to face since 1929 to '33. And it was like, 'Bang! Bang! Bang!' I called him afterward and said, 'You sold me, sucker!' "

I long for smart people to lead, but for those people also not to need to show off just how smart they are. I'm looking at you Al Gore.

So, Biden or Palin. Barack Obama or John McCain.

Lord, it's like asking a kid if he wants ice cream or liver and onions. You tell me what he's going to pick.

Sometimes, I have no words

I would love write up a great blog on this topic, but it has already been done.

First, the video (and another reason I LOVE Rachel Maddow):



Now, the blog I wish I would have written. Well, all I can do it say I thought most of the same stuff, so you should read and enjoy.

Blog link

Crazy liberals! No really! Crazy!

Bill O'Reilly singlehandedly has more viewers than CNN, MSNBC and Air America radio combined on ANY given night. The radical liberal left can only hope for the "Fairness Doctrine" to be rammed through an Obama / democratic congress. They can't win with logic....as usual....and will revert to their normal underhanded, illegal and reprehensible behavior to force their warped logic upon the masses.

Rachel Maddow is a nobody....being pushed by MSM in hopes of making the slightest dent in the ratings charts. It will NEVER happen.

Liberalism truly is a mental disorder.

- "Brainy Maddow holds her own in TV commentary arena" comment

This is a comment from a story (link above) about Rachel Maddow and her new show. It was a average story, well written and even some new facts even for me, but it is the last line in that comment that drove me to make this post.

Liberalism is a mental disorder? Really?

So start with the basics. What is a mental disorder? According to Wikipedia, Mental disorder (or mental illness) "is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture." And Wikipedia calls liberalism "a broad array of related ideas and theories of government that consider individual liberty to be the most important political goal." And it gives modern liberalism its roots in the Age of Enlightenment. Funny for a mental disorder to have roots in enlightenment. Ha!

So I care about making sure people have individual liberty and have the best interest of the whole group in mind when granting that liberty, and that makes me mentally unstable? I may be mentally unstable, but I don't think me being a liberal or progressive is the cause of that. Maybe only crazy people care about other people, so that would make liberalism a sign of mental illness, not a cause. Maybe. Crazy people can be smart.

Yes, conservatives like O'Reilly get good ratings. So there are more people who dislike change than those wanting to challenge the status quo? More people calling liberals insane than people calling conservatives stupid? More middle-school educated, average-joe six-pack conservatives than those Ivy-League educated, uppity elite liberals?

Yeah, I can buy that. But what do I know.

Now on to the topic of the "fairness doctrine" that it would seem, if you listen the the commenter's rant, Obama and those crazy liberals want to shoved down our throat. Well since it is the crazy liberal media run amok, you would think conservatives would like the idea.

But that is really here nor there. I have always been against the idea of a fairness doctrine, so label this liberal just a little less crazy. I have issue with many things the FCC is doing to push their values onto me telling me what I can or cannot hear on radio and TV. Funny how 'conservatives' rail against big government, but then love when the FCC fines a network millions over a fraction of a second of Janet Jackson's breast.

I have only heard the idea of liberals pushing the fairness doctrine on America from those who have a deep passion against seeing liberals in power. Not one news source, not one comment on the topic. Just crazies on the Internet trying to confuse, mislead and scare people into voting against what is in their hearts and minds. I don't think it will work.

But again, what do I know. People are crazy. And it seems so am I.

My name is David, and I have a mental disorder: liberalism.