Some of Nothing: stuff I'd pay to find out

Showing posts with label stuff I'd pay to find out. Show all posts

In Honor of Memorial Day, John McCain Defends a Position on the New GI Bill That He Failed to Take
Monday, May 26, 2008

ALBUQUERQUE — In a Memorial Day speech to veterans and their families here, Senator John McCain kept alive a debate about a new G.I. bill making its way through Congress, which he opposes, arguing that his own counter-proposal would be better for the military.

Mr. McCain faced criticism from Senator Barack Obama for opposing the measure to expand veterans’ benefits, but the Arizona senator declined to take on Mr. Obama directly in defending his position, as he did so forcefully last week. Mr. McCain has expressed concern the bill might lead to reduced enlistments.

Question: When a senator strongly opposes a bill, is it not a custom in the senate to vote against said bill?

From the Boston Globe:

The Democratic National Committee accused John McCain of being AWOL from the Senate vote yesterday for a new GI Bill to provide better education benefits for returning veterans. McCain was in California on a campaign and fund-raising trip, while both Democratic contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, left the campaign trail to vote for the bill, which passed by a veto-proof 75-to-22 majority.

Question: In missing the vote on the new GI Bill, is McCain demonstrating a loss of short-term memory or of moral courage?

So many questions, so little media interest in the real John McCain.

Add to del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Reddit | Stumble This | Add to Technorati Faves

Nothing New byslag at 4:15 PM 0 dispense karmic justice! (or just comment here)

McCain Republican Talking Points Comments
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Mr. and I have been talking lately about comments he's been seeing on blogs and news sites. Having recently joined the Some of Nothing Karmic Justice League in earnest, he's been going online and fighting the good fight in comments sections across the land. I try to keep him from getting all extracurricular about it since he's generally wasting his time, but he's sometimes more optimistic about people than I am. And he's good at talking to people on their own individual levels. I have no such skill.

Interestingly, the Mr. has said multiple times now that there must be some sort of concerted effort to get Republicans to post comments on these sites. He's been struck by the consistency of the misinformation found in them and by the overall lack of spelling ability. Having discussed it several times, I told him I'd post on it if I ever found any facts to support it. Well, facts are found on the John McCain website, apparently:

John McCain to unleash 101st Fighting Keyboarders - Concern Troll Division:
John McCain's campaign is using their campaign website to encourage supporters to post supportive comments on political blogs, including the most well-known liberal site in the blogosphere. And to make things easier, they're including talking points with which sympathizers can use to get out the McCain message.

If I were a gambling person, I would bet a lot on the notion that McCain's fighting keyboarders are just the beginning of seriously organized Republican infiltration of comments sections everywhere. I strongly suspect that either the RNC or some 527s are employing the same strategery using a much more negative message. The words "socialist," "Marxist," and "Muslim" are coming up far too often in both general news and liberal blogs sections everywhere to be just a bunch of average morons mindlessly repeating talking points. It seems too concerted and intentional. And if I were a conspiracy theorist, I would suggest that some comments coming from people supposedly supporting Clinton or those supposedly supporting Obama are actually part of the program. Since Republicans recognize that they have absolutely nothing at all to say in favor of themselves, their only recourse is character assassination. And what better way for Repubchickens--unable to abandon their fetal blogging positions--to go about it than to hide behind a hillaryis44 alias?

I'd pay to find out more about this.

Add to del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Reddit | Stumble This | Add to Technorati Faves

Nothing New byslag at 2:27 PM 2 dispense karmic justice! (or just comment here)

John McCain Accidentally Tells the Truth about Iraq
Friday, May 2, 2008

According to John McCain, our war over ~~WMD~~ ~~terrorists~~ Iraqi Freedom is actually a war for oil:

(via Crooks and Liars)

My friends, I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from Middle East that will then prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East. [emphasis mine]

More stuff I'd pay to find out: How do the Iraqis feel about this (now that we have successfully won their hearts and minds, that is)? Would this mean that we'll be giving up on our plans to bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran as well? Is American Imperialism going by way of the dinosaur (to eventually be turned into oil, also)?

Add to del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Reddit | Stumble This | Add to Technorati Faves

Nothing New byslag at 5:16 PM 0 dispense karmic justice! (or just comment here)

CNN: The Most Trusted Name in Hate Speech

From Media Matters (via atrios):

On Glenn Beck's CNN Headline News program, Ann Coulter asked of Sen. Barack Obama: "Is Obama a Manchurian candidate to normal Americans who love their country? ... Or is he being the Manchurian candidate to the traitor wing of the Democratic Party?"

[...]

Coulter has previously referred to Obama as "B. Hussein Obama" in the past and called him "President Hussein." She has also compared Obama to Adolf Hitler, calling Obama's book, Dreams from My Father, a "dimestore Mein Kampf."

From the "Stuff I'd Pay to Find Out" file: Why is it that mainstream establishment media outlets regularly allow Republican hate speech on their networks? And shouldn't something be done about it? Is anyone else getting tired of being called a traitor? Does CNN need to denounce and reject Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck?

I guess slander and defamation are just a couple of the weapons used in the Republican culture war.

Add to del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Reddit | Stumble This | Add to Technorati Faves

Nothing New byslag at 12:33 PM 0 dispense karmic justice! (or just comment here)

Stuff I'd Pay to Find Out
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The US press has no shortage of complaints about how people aren't supporting the news media with their dollars anymore. Well, Some of Nothing is here to help with our new series titled "Stuff I'd Pay to Find Out", the goal of which is to help out news media market researchers by telling them exactly the types of "Stuff I'd Pay to Find Out". And we'll do so in a language they can (like totally) understand:

* Word on the street is that there's been some wicked Executive Branch overreach, torturing, lying, and other stuff going on. And that there are even people trying to like stop it and whatever. Even though the George Bush presidency is all just a total bummer, I'd still pay to find out more about that stuff.

* I hear that John McCain, who is apparently some sort of candidate for something, is like wanting American taxpayers to pay for his campaign and that Barack Obama's like a total loser and whathaveyou for not. But didn't McCain break some kind of...what do you call it?....law (duh! I'm such an airhead!) by spending major ducats on his campaign already? Even though breaking laws is like waaaaaay boring, I'd still pay to find out more about that.

* That guy, what's-his-name-Joe-Lieberman, who luuuuuuuuvs John McCain and goes with him everywhere said this about Barack Obama: "he’s got some positions that are far to the left of me and I think mainstream America". I really luuuuuuuuv gossip (especially if it's about some extreme "positions"), so I'd be curious to find out exactly which positions Obama is into that get Joe so excited.

Looking forward to paying to find this stuff out soon!