From Raw Story

Update at bottom: RNC fundraiser hoping to raise $60,000 will take place at Blackwater compound“What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate?” asks a Republican National Committee PowerPoint presentation.

Answer: “Save the country from trending toward Socialism!”

That — along with a heavy dose of fear-mongering about President Barack Obama, sums up the Republican Party’s strategy heading into the 2010 mid-term elections, according to documents obtained by Politico.

In a presentation delivered to donors and fundraisers in Florida on Feb. 18, RNC Finance Director Rob Bickhart made it clear what the 2010 race was going to be about for the GOP: Creating a caricature of President Obama and the Democrats meant to help the Republicans recoup their losses from the last two election cycles.

One PowerPoint slide, entitled “Evil Empire,” shows the famous (or infamous) sketch of Obama painted up to look like the Joker from The Dark Knight. Underneath are cartoons of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, with the title “Cruella DeVille and Scooby-Doo.”
The whole presentation can be found here.

And Politico notes that the presentation displayed “an air of disdain for the party’s donors that is usually confined to the barroom conversations of political operatives.”
The strategy was detailed in a confidential party fundraising presentation, obtained by POLITICO, which also outlines how “ego-driven” wealthy donors can be tapped with offers of access and “tchochkes.”

Manipulating donors with crude caricatures and playing on their fears is hardly unique to Republicans or to the RNC – Democrats raised millions off George W. Bush in similar terms – but rarely is it practiced in such cartoonish terms.
Politico says it obtained the PowerPoint presentation from “a Democrat who said a hard copy had been left in the hotel hosting the … retreat.”

Faced with financial shortfalls and general discontent with the leadership of RNC Chairman Michael Steele, the GOP has been experimenting with some novel fundraising ideas of late. One, which drew some sharp criticism, involved mailing out fundraising letters disguised as a US census form.

GOP fundraiser hoping to raise $60,000 will take place at Blackwater compound

On Thursday, Politico’s Ben Smith noted an additional finding in the leaked documents.

“The Republican National Committee is planning to raise $60,000 at a fundraiser next month at the North Carolina compound owned by the company formerly known as Blackwater,” Smith writes, adding that the “the committee will hold a gathering of its ‘Young Eagles’ — major donors under 40 — at the U.S. Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina April 16, an astute reader points out.”

William Fisher reported for TruthOut earlier this week, “Blackwater changed its name to Xe – pronounced ‘zee’ – early last year in an effort to shed the negative baggage acquired because of its frequent run-ins with Iraqi, Afghan, US and NATO forces. Blackwater Lodge & Training Center – the subsidiary that conducts much of the company’s overseas operations and domestic training – has been renamed US Training Center Inc.”

CNN recently reported, “Despite revelations in a congressional investigation of a subsidiary’s mismanagement and questionable vetting of employees, the company formerly known as Blackwater could soon win millions of dollars in new job orders for work in Afghanistan.”

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The things that she is saying do not make a bit of sense. First she wants, or tries to intimidate that she wants Pres. Obama to go to war with Iran to protect Israel. I certainly hope that that’s part of her campaign which he runs for office because it’s apparent that she doesn’t realize that a war platform is not the right platform in these times. The United States supports Israel and Obama has sworn to protect them. Why she is saying the things she is saying is just totally not understandable.

In a time when she is talking about smaller government and less taxes, she is now stating she wants war. Simply to protect Israel. She wants to spend another trillion taking over the Iranian government yet she will not spend that same amount of money for Americans. Nor does she seem to understand that going to war with Iran is going to cost a great deal of money which means taxes will have to be raised. This is the Republican Party for you.

There will never be a time again in our history when we will see smaller government. And no matter which party is in office they will continue to spend in order to please the people. And they will continue to raise taxes no matter what platform they run on. We have to pay for the spending of the Republicans during the Bush term and we will be spending for the Democrats and the Obama term in our future. Someone seems to have forgotten that with the amount of people out of work all revenues are considerably smaller. And that is why it is so funny that the tea party people and Sarah Palin are pandering about talking about less taxes.

What got the Dems elected?  War and the total lack of truth.  She has about as much chance of getting elected as I do.

In other news from the tea party, former Sen. Tom Tancredo called for the return of a civics test to prove that you are good enough to vote in the United States elections. This is the same type of test that Like people from voting for over 70 years, in the same type of thing that Lyndon Johnson tried to do away with. It’s bad enough that Tancredo came up with that subject, even worse than you receive a warm welcome from the tea party audience. Proving to me that this is more of a racist organization that it is political.

The tea partiers talk about less government and less taxes, but during the upcoming elections when they are asked how the war and TARP bailouts will be paid for they will have no answer other than the fact that we should not elect a Pres. Obama because people voted who shouldn’t have been voting. They will have no answers other than to stand on the stage and say we should have less government and less taxes.

Comments

• February 24, 2010, Shivabeach writes: Sarah Palin... Sarah Palin is the Dems best friend? Who would have guessed it? The things that she is saying do not make a bit of sense. First she wants, or tries to intimidate that she wants Pres. Obama to go to war with Iran to protect Israel. I certainly hope that...

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Hello, I’d like to take a moment to address the millions and millions of you all across America who are currently stuck in an abusive relationship.

Now I know what some of you are thinking: Who is Bill Maher to give me relationship advice?

But that doesn’t mean I don’t know a dysfunctional relationship when I see one. Especially when it’s staring me right in the face.

You know who you are. Those of you staying in a relationship long after it’s turned bad. Sticking around despite the abuse — even as it’s gotten worse and worse over the years. Sticking around only because it seems easier than breaking up — and besides, where else are you going to go?

That’s right, I’m talking to all of you that keep doing your banking at the giant, too big to fail, Wall Street banks that brought our economy to the brink of disaster, were rescued by trillions of dollars of our taxpayer money, then paid us back by using that money to hire lobbyists to convince our lawmakers in Washington to kill financial reform.

They took our money… but cut back on lending.

They took our money… and made record profits — and paid themselves record bonuses.

They took our money… then returned to the risky behavior that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, with record unemployment, bankruptcies, and foreclosures.

They took our money… but kept on with all the greedy, abusive, ruthless, and cold-blooded practices that have earned them untold billions of dollars a year — year after year after year. Things like charging you outrageous fees for anything and everything, jacking up your credit card interest rate to 30 percent for being late on one payment (it’s a good thing sodomy is legal!), and refusing to renegotiate your mortgage after the housing bubble they helped create burst.

These big banks, deemed “Too Big To Fail” by our Wall Street-friendly leaders in Washington, are convinced that they can get away with anything — because they always have.

But here’s the thing. You don’t have to put up with this nonsense. You don’t have to stay in a loveless, abusive relationship with your Big Bank.

In fact, it’s easy to get out — and into something much, much better.

My friend Arianna Huffington has started a campaign designed to convince people to move their money out of these big banks and put them into smaller, local, community banks and credit unions that are more likely to see you as a person, not as an account number… and also to reinvest in the community where they are.

It’s a pretty simple idea: If enough people who have money in one of the Big Six banks — that is, JP Morgan/Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs — move it into a local community bank or credit union, then collectively we, the people, will have taken a big step toward fixing our broken financial system.

It’s easy, and painless, and will send a powerful message to Wall Street and to our leaders in Washington.

Face it: Real change is not going to come from Congress. It’s not going to come from the White House. And it’s certainly not going to come from the lobbyists Wall Street hires to make sure their special interests keep beating out the public interest.

We’ve got to do it ourselves. And moving your money is a great way to start.

This is not a conservative idea or a liberal idea. It’s not left or right. It’s populism at it’s best — and it’s already attracted people from all walks of life who are sick and tired of the Big Banks and are ready to do something about it.

So it’s time to go break up with your banker and get the hell out. Go to MoveYourMoney.info and see just how easy it is to end your abusive relationship and find true banking love. Or, at least hot, sweaty, monkey, banking sex.

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If you cant make a version that works, stop making versions!  Holy Fook!  Every day its another update!

That is not to take away from the fact that Wordpress is probably the best blogging tool out there, but hey, its a tool NOT a life giving entity!  Stop treating it like a temple!

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I am following quite a few people now. And I would have to say that probably 90% of them are in the programming design areas. I have found several new sources for programming information, and it is interesting to watch the interaction between some of the ones that I do read.

It’s good to see competing organizations such as NETTUTS and perishable press sharing a good laugh. Which tells me the what type of people that are in these organizations are the type of people I want to follow. At least they are not concerned only with themselves. I’ll certainly they are here to make money, but I think in many cases their prime objective is to help people. And some of them are fully into doing just that.

I never realized there were so many helpful people. Especially knowledgeable people who want to help. To that degree would like to send a big shout out to Jeff Starr at Perishable Press .

Jeff not only writes timely interesting articles,that appears to be deeply interested in publishing what he discovers that may help other people.I think he is extremely knowledgeable in many areas of programming. I’m somewhat jealous of people like that, here I am trying to get to the vagaries of PHP and codeignitor, and he could do that kind of stuff in his sleep.

Well lets face it there are many people like that out there. I think the vast majority of people who are into programming and who choose to enter the arena of the Internet are helpful people. There are some people who only wish to help people who are at their level of programming because it is easier for them, but most will stoop to helping us perennial newbies as the occasions arise.

Jeffrey Way over at NETTUTS has been a godsend in getting me through codeigniter. Jeffrey is another person who freely helps people with the work he does. And he does it on a extreme schedule.I am not sure how he manages to complete all the work that he does and still do clear and concise tutorials and screen casts.

So, this is my thanks to those people and too many others like Chris Croyer, Eric Meyer and so many others who give so much

“As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of Sept. 11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.”

Despite the fact that he was not equal to the task as he waited most of his life for, he really has no right to slam Pres. Obama. Especially given the fact that Obama did not immediately attack someone as Cheney and McCain would’ve done.

Pres. Obama has increased the number of troops in Afghanistan and proven that he knows we are at war. President Cheney is just upset over the fact that he totally lost the Afghanistan war. By walking away from it he thinks he is now an expert on who we are at war with.Pres. Obama has vowed to get to the bottom of whoever planned this and get them. That is pretty much an indication in my mind that Obama knows we are at war.

I wish there was a way to get into Pres. Cheney’s face and let him know what fool he is. He wholeheartedly supported Rumsfeld as he murdered thousands of our own troops and now he seems to want to be an expert on warfare. He might want to consider he is pretty lucky that he is not in prison, the same way that his English counterpart Tony Blair might soon be.

Dick Cheney constantly shows us how weak and ineffective he really was. The only thing he was effective at was creating more terrorists and more terrorism.how long before he is screaming about how we should be attacking Yemen as John McCain has already done.

But Dick Cheney method was to attack Al Qaeda where they were and then follow them around and knee-jerk actions as they move from place to place when he could have stopped them in their spot to begin with. All he had to do was execute the war he started in Afghanistan properly and completely. The man is a failure.

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If anyone doubted the greed of the corporations of the United States it is there for everyone to see. These benefits do not end if your relationship with your company ends. If you die 20 years after leaving the company and they have a life insurance policy on you, they get the benefits. This is just wrong. This is just one more thing that we as consumers pay for every time we go to the cash register.

Wal-Mart is one of the biggest users of this policy. Please be assured that they are off my Christmas list this year. This just makes me sick.

Dear Sir

I am writing you today on the issue of the Dead Peasant Life Insurance that corporations purchase on their employees. the insurance is not purchased for the employee but on the employee, betting that employee will die.

I am shocked to the quick to learn of this practice. It is an affront to the American citizens that work for and purchase the goods of these company that pursue this activity.

Life insurance is a personal issue meant to be used for the benefit of the surviving family. Not to be used as just another way that corporations take advantage of and use the Americans who support these company’s.

I plead with you to end this practice. If you cannot end it, pass laws that allow the real beneficiaries to assume the majority share of the death benefits derived from the insurance.

This is just more indication to me that the banks and insurance company’s never should have been bailed out. It is my opinion that from now on, all Corporations, Banks and banking systems leaving the US in international trade, and all Insurance company’s must be strictly regulated. The American public can see what they are doing to our country and our lives, and in your position you must see it even clearer than we do.

I again urge you to end the Dead Peasant Insurance scheme. Thank you for your time and service..

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We will be finding out for decades exactly what the Bush Cheney train wreck did to the United States. Probably the most impotent and secretive administration of United States history, the Bush administration will never be known as the administration for the people, but will be known as almost completely parallel to the president Nixon administration.

In some situations The state security situation was used by Bush to protect corporations who went along with what Bush wanted them to do.in some cases those actions were illegal.

This is the article on Atty. Gen. Holder’s actions:

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s administration on Wednesday made it more difficult for the government to suppress information on security grounds, amid allegations the power was used to cover up Bush-era excess.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced that from today he would personally review claims to state secrecy privilege, and vowed tougher standards would be put in place.

“Under the new policy, the department will now defend the assertion of the privilege only to the extent necessary to protect against the risk of significant harm to national security,” a Justice Department statement said.

“The policy requires the approval of the Attorney General prior to the invocation of the states secret privilege, except when the Attorney General is recused or unavailable.”

The administration of president George W. Bush was accused of overusing the power, invoking it to suppress information in cases dealing with controversial wiretapping and interrogation methods.

The privilege was also invoked “to stymie legitimate cases against government misconduct,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union, a rights group, citing a case against a Boeing subsidiary for alleged involvement in renditions.

In the case Boeing was accused of aiding the kidnap of five men who were secretly transferred overseas where they were “interrogated under torture” according the ACLU.

The Bush administration blocked the case by invoking state secrets on the grounds that national security was at risk.

The Justice Department committed “not to invoke the privilege for the purpose of concealing government wrongdoing or avoiding embarrassment to government agencies or officials.”

Holder described the new policy as “an important step toward rebuilding the public’s trust in the government’s use of this privilege while recognizing the imperative need to protect national security.”

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who chairs the influential Senate Judiciary Committee, welcomed the move, which he said included key elements of legislation being discussed in Congress.

“When properly invoked, the state secrets privilege serves important goals. History shows that where it is abused, there are serious consequences,” he said.

The Bush administration did everything it could to hide everything it did. Along the way it brought nothing but just trust the government to new levels. Even the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter who were as we should say “suspect”, didn’t bring this level of anti-Americanism from their office to the population.

I am still waiting for Pres. Cheney to be imprisoned for the murder of thousands of Americans and Iraqis

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President Obama challenged the world to take a more active role in solving the world’s problems in a blunt address Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly.

“If we are honest with ourselves, we need to admit that we are not living up to that responsibility,” Obama said in his first speech to the world body.

Obama reminded U.N. members that his administration has sought “a new era of engagement with the world” after the more unilateral foreign policy of the Bush era.

Obama stressed that means that other nations must step up to the plate.

“Those who used to chastise American for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world’s problems alone,” he said.

Obama outlined some of the world’s problems and the work facing the U.N.

“Extremists sowing terror in pockets of the world,” Obama said. “Protracted conflicts that grind on and on. Genocide and mass atrocities. More and more nations with nuclear weapons. Melting ice caps and ravaged populations. Persistent poverty and pandemic disease.”

Obama added, “I say this not to sow fear, but to state a fact: the magnitude of our challenges has yet to be met by the measure of our actions.”

But the president has already had a taste of just how difficult it can be to resolve problems, even with countries where the U.S. has great influence.

On Tuesday, he brought together Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the hope that a high-profile meeting might move them toward resuming peace talks. Although they shook hands, neither Netanyahu nor Abbas would yield on their key disputes, but the two sides did agree to enter another period of brief but intense negotiations.

Obama also addressed climate change on Tuesday, another issue where the U.S. needs the cooperation of both industrialized and developing countries. He offered no new proposals, but told delegates at the climate change summit that the U.S. is determined to make upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen in December a success.

His speech to the General Assembly seemed aimed at a problem of the U.N. environment — the pervasive atmosphere of inertia in a body that has been widely criticized as a diplomatic talking shop with endless discussion but little action.

“Just as no nation can wall itself off from the world, no one nation — no matter how large, no matter how powerful — can meet these challenges alone,” Obama said.

Obama held a separate meeting Wednesday with the new Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama. He meets later in the day with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

this is a turnaround from the Bush administration’s view of the world. Bush went from saying the UN was irrelevant to begging for its assistance. I think that Pres. Obama is going to have a much better relationship with the world at large. Whether or not that works out for the world’s benefit remains to be seen, but it is obvious that the Bush administration’s outlook did little for the world.

Comparisons between Bush and Obama may seem irrelevant at this time, but let’s face it our relationships with the world are not the best. We certainly have enough people who no longer trust us. I see even Omar Qaddafi is on the stage at this moment telling the UN that it sucks and is pretty much irrelevant in the fact that nothing gets done. “People make speeches and disappear” Qaddafi said. To that degree he is right. He also stated that 65 wars have broken out since the inception of the UN. Wars are not supposed to happen unless they are to the benefit of the world according to the UN charter. But I think we know that a solid joke.

Don’t get the idea that I am siding with Omar Qaddafi, but let’s face it he had a couple good points. The UN does suck and it is absolutely worthless

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For gods sake STOP RUTTING!

I find this article from the Raw Story very revealing and quite frankly, hilarious.

It was very obvious that the media had picked John McCain to be the front runner for the Republican party. To find out the George W. Bush was uncomfortable about that is surprising. The picture of John McCain hugging George W. Bush and looking like a little piggy still burns in my memory.

According to a new book — excerpts of which are to be published in the next issue of GQ Magazine and detailed Tuesday — former President George W. Bush was incredulous upon learning that Sen. John McCain was having trouble drawing a crowd and called his campaign a “five-spiral crash.”

RAW STORY got a copy of the excerpts Tuesday. The excerpts are from Matt Latimer’s soon-to-be-published book “Speech-Less.”

Bush seemed to feel considerable unease with the choice of McCain as well. I think he liked Romney best. (The rumor was that so did Karl Rove.) My guess was the president hadn’t so easily forgotten the endless slights he’d suffered, but there was little he could do. To him, McCain’s defeat would be a repudiation of the Bush administration, so McCain had to win… I was once in the Oval Office when the president was told a campaign event in Phoenix he was to attend with McCain suddenly had to be closed to the press…

“If he doesn’t want me to go, fine,” the president said. “I’ve got better things to do.”

Eventually, someone informed the president that the reason the event was closed was that McCain was having trouble getting a crowd. Bush was incredulous—and to the point. “He can’t get 500 people to show up for an event in his hometown?” he asked. No one said anything, and we went on to another topic. But the president couldn’t let the matter drop. “He couldn’t get 500 people? I could get that many people to turn out in Crawford.” He shook his head. “This is a five-spiral crash, boys.”

Bush also is quoted as saying Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was “being put into a position she is not even remotely prepared for” after McCain announced her as his vice presidential running mate.

“I’m trying to remember if I’ve met her before. I’m sure I must have.” His eyes twinkled, then he asked, “What is she, the governor of Guam?”

Everyone in the room seemed to look at him in horror, their mouths agape. When Ed told him that conservatives were greeting the choice enthusiastically, he replied, “Look, I’m a team player, I’m on board.” He thought about it for a minute. “She’s interesting,” he said again. “You know, just wait a few days until the bloom is off the rose.” Then he made a very smart assessment.

“This woman is being put into a position she is not even remotely prepared for,” he said. “She hasn’t spent one day on the national level. Neither has her family. Let’s wait and see how she looks five days out.” It was a rare dose of reality in a White House that liked to believe every decision was great, every Republican was a genius, and McCain was the hope of the world because, well, because he chose to be a member of our party.

-John Byrne

I still feel sorry for John McCain. I feel that he is a great man who has served his country with his conscience and his heart which is much different from many of the representatives that have been elected to the Congress of the United States. I believe that he is an American hero in the greatest sense of the word, who was made a hero by the unfortunate decisions of the government who could not stay out of other peoples problems. And we have not learned that lesson today. Iraq is another example of us not knowing our place in the world.

But I digress. I find the Bush reactions in this article somewhat surprising. I myself thought that Romney would be a better candidate even though he had less chance of being elected. I think that Romney would’ve bought a business sense to the White House that had been lacking.

But what I find more important, is that George W. Bush waited till the end of his tenure to make one right assessment of all the assessments he made in eight years.in those eight years for a truly pathetic era in American politics and in American history.

Comments

• September 17, 2009, Mic writes: Great blogging!

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