Seething on the Third Rock

2008-09-17 Carly Fiorina on Sarah Palin's Experience

ppearing on the McGraw Milhaven Show on St. Louis KTRS Radio, Carly Fiorina, a John McCain surrogate and ex-CEO of Hewlett Packard, a major American computer company, said that Sarah Palin couldn't run HP. Of course Carly did a pretty good job of running HP into the ground all by herself.

Question:  Carly, I have a minute.  I want to ask you a question about experience--someone who has worked her way up from a secretary to run Hewlett Packard.  Does Sarah Palin--John McCain obviously believes she has the experience to become President of the United States.  Do you think she has the experience to run a major company like Hewlett Packard?

Carly Fiorina: No.  I don't.  But you know what?  That's not what she is running for.  [chuckles]

Listen on YouTube --> here.

2008-09-17 John McCain is Still Pouring the Banking Deregulation Koolaid

In financial institutions, there is no substitute for adequate capital to serve as a buffer against losses. Our financial market approach should include encouraging increased capital in financial institutions by removing regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital. [1]

    -- John McCain, March 25, 2008

2008-05-24 "Renegade" Assassinated by Election Day?

have long predicted that Barack Obama will be elected and then assassinated.  Ever since Obama gained the dubious distinction of getting his own Federal security detail earlier in an election cycle than any prior presidential candidate he has been known to the Secret Service merely by the codeword "Renegade" [1].  I am beginning to wonder if he will even make it to Election Day.  As could be anticipated, FOX, it's pundits and politicians continue their violent rhetoric about Sen. Obama.

Here is Liz Trotta making her case for an Osama and Obama linkage and her desire for both of their assassinations:

When asked her opinion of the recent scandal surrounding some comments made by Sen. Hillary Clinton, which Trotta described by saying that, "some are reading [it] as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama." Bill Hemmer corrected Trotta, asking if she meant "Obama" and not "Osama". At this point, Trotta said, "Obama. Well...both if we could!" Trotta then laughed. [2]  See the video here --> [YouTube]

Apparently Mike Huckabee thinks this is funny too:

"That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He was getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him, and he dove for the floor." -- Mike Huckabee apparently joking in reference to a disturbance at the NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky, May 16, 2008. [3]

2008-05-06 Election '08 Quote of the Week

Here's the problem for the Clinton campaign. They want to come back in and change all this at the end of the game, at the end of the day. So, they want to say, well, if Michigan counts and if Florida counts.  Well, you know what? If my aunt had a male appendage, she would be my uncle.

Jamal Simmons, Democratic Strategist, CNN Live Event, Obama Takes North Carolina, May 6, 2008.

2008-04-14 John McCain a Centrist Independent?

"I am pro-life and an advocate for the rights of man everywhere in the world, because to be denied liberty is an offense to nature and nature's Creator." --John McCain speaks on abortion at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.  McCain promises to appoint judges who are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

"I'm proud to have led an effort in my home state to change our state constitution and to protect the sanctity of marriage as between a man and woman.  I will continue to advocate for those fundamental principals of our party and our faith."--John McCain speaks on gay rights on CNN.  McCain worked to ban gay marriage in Arizona. He also supports the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and he opposed legislation to protect gay people from job discrimination or hate crimes.

"[This] is a landmark case for all Americans who believe, as I do, that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms." -- John McCain speaks on the Supreme Court hearing arguments last month on the Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban.  McCain voted against a ban on assault-style weapons and for shielding gun-makers and dealers from civil suits. 

2007-06-15 Talk Radio in America

Talk radio is running America.We have to deal with that problem.

— Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), who supports comprehensive immigration reform, explaining why right-wing conservatives were able to torpedo the legislation last week.

2007-04-16 Bush on Virginia Tech

The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed.

- Dana Perino on Bush's initial reaction to the gun rampage at Virginia Tech.

International Homicide Rate Table
(Death rates are per 100,000)

(Click on the chart to enlarge.) 

*Total homicide rate and firearm homicide rates are for the US are from FBI Uniform Crime Report(1999).  Please also see International Violent Death Rates.

2007-01-02 JFK Redux

We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent or omniscient--that we are only 6 percent of the world’s population; that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind; that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity; and therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.

John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963

2006-06-30 Warren Buffet on the Absolutism of Market Forces

A market system has not worked in terms of poor people.

Warren Buffet, with an estimated current net worth of around US$42 billion is the second-richest person in the world, behind only Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. In June 2006, he made the commitment to give away 85% of his fortune, most of which would be going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is the largest act ever of charitable giving in United States history.

2006-06-29 Apocalypse Now

Voices trembling,
As we're speaking of the war.
Will it ever end?

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Operation Iraqi Freedom: 2,507
Operation Enduring Freedom: 307
Total Fatalities: 2,814

A wounded soldier on a stretcher was among those saluting Sgt. Terry Michael Lisk, who died in Ramadi.  (picture by Joao Silva for The New York Times)

I don't know if this war is worth the life of Terry Lisk, or 10 soldiers, or 2,500 soldiers like him. What I do know is that he did not die alone. He was surrounded by friends."

Col. Sean MacFarland of the U.S. Army

Listen to the NYT audio report on Terry Lisk --> here.