First Door on the Left

Even money says that you did not watch Bill Moyers Journal on PBS last night. Did you? Thought not. I did.

I found his commentary very interesting and extremely relevant. He equated President Lyndon Johnson’s march to war in Vietnam to the pressure President Obama is now under (mostly from the chicken hawks on the right) to escalate the war in Afghanistan. I’m going to post Mr. Moyers’ closing remarks here and follow them with the video (in two parts) from last night’s broadcast. I recommend you watch. I guarantee you’ll find it interesting, especially if you were alive and aware during the Johnson administration. You may even if you weren’t.

Now in a different world, at a different time, and with a different president, we face the prospect of enlarging a different war. But once again we’re fighting in remote provinces against an enemy who can bleed us slowly and wait us out, because he will still be there when we are gone.

Once again, we are caught between warring factions in a country where other foreign powers failed before us. Once again, every setback brings a call for more troops, although no one can say how long they will be there or what it means to win. Once again, the government we are trying to help is hopelessly corrupt and incompetent.

And once again, a President pushing for critical change at home is being pressured to stop dithering, be tough, show he’s got the guts, by sending young people seven thousand miles from home to fight and die, while their own country is coming apart.

And once again, the loudest case for enlarging the war is being made by those who will not have to fight it, who will be safely in their beds while the war grinds on. And once again, a small circle of advisers debates the course of action, but one man will make the decision.

We will never know what would have happened if Lyndon Johnson had said no to more war. We know what happened because he said yes.

LBJ’s Path to War, Part I:

LBJ’s Path to War, Part II:

I guess it is true what they say: Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I hope we learned.
 

From the White House weblog:

In an address recorded in Seoul, South Korea, the President discusses his trip to Asia. He talks about his push to stop nuclear proliferation in North Korea, Iran, and around the world. He talks about promoting America’s principles for an open society in China while making progress on joint efforts to combat climate change. And talks in-depth about the primary objective of his trip: engaging in new markets that hold tremendous potential to spur job creation here at home.

Watch the video of the President’s address below or read the full text, as prepared for delivery, after the break.

Click below to listen to the audio only:

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A little something we do around here every Friday evening just about this time. Click on a thumbnail to make it appear full size or to start a slide show. Enjoy.

P.S. The following program time has not been purchased and probably does reflect the views of management.

As always, our thanks go to the talented and observant cartoonists who, each week, help us smile through the pain.

Bonus video:

Saturday additions:

This stuff went way beyond a joke a long time ago.

This video is from MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast November 17, 2009…

If you have spent any time reading the right wing blogs or hanging around with right wingers these days, you know exactly whereof Mr. Schaeffer speaks. If there are any real leaders left in the Republican party (and I have my doubts that there are), it is past time for them to step up and start trying to talk some sense to their people. This is a runaway train that will soon pass the point of no return if it has not already.

UPDATE: Zazzle.com (linked to at the beginning of this post) removed their Psalm 109 merchandise (advocating the assassination of our President) yesterday. As far as I can determine, it remains unavailable. However, CafePress.com, after having removed the offensive material yesterday, has reinstated it today. Needless to say, I highly discourage shopping at CafePress.com. Freedom of expression is one thing. This is another entirely.
 

Playgirl has released the first teaser photo from Levi Johnston’s (Bristol Palin’s babydaddy) upcoming nude, but not full-frontal, photo shoot.

Who knew, huh?

Seems McSteamy was already taken. Levi will have to settle for McSultry. WTG, Sarah!

P.S. Speaking of Sarah, looks like she’s just gonna have to settle for McYucky…

Have you heard of young Will Phillips? You should know about this kid. He’s one brave, intelligent and principled kid. It’s hard to believe that he’s only ten years old.

A columnist for the Arkansas News has stood up for Will and his right to refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance until there truly is liberty and justice for all. America needs more kids people like Will Phillips.

“With all due respect, ma’am, you can go jump off a bridge.” Wow. Just… wow.

(h/t Huffington Post)

P.S. In the event that the YouTube video disappears, as YouTube videos sometimes do, the original CNN video is here.
 

The following image appeared in a post on a right wing blog yesterday:

I’ll not link to the blog in which that image was posted, nor will I mention the name of the blog or the blogger.

Here, for your edification, is Psalm 109, verse 8 (followed by verses 9 through 13), taken from the King James Version of the Bible:

Let his days be few, and let another take his office.

Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him; neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.

Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

Wow. And to think that during the Bush years, they accused of us of being hateful. One of the things that constantly amazes me as I visit some (most) of the right wing blogs these days is the amount of hatred they harbor toward our current President. Sometimes it gets downright frightening.

P.S. One of this particular blogger’s defenders, in the comments attached to his post, claims that he is not wishing death upon the President; just that he be forced out of office somehow. What part of “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow” do they not understand?
 

Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Khalid Sheik Mohammed (the man who allegedly planned the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001) and several of his cohorts will be standing trial in a federal civilian court in New York City, just blocks away from where the World Trade Center towers used to stand. This, of course, brought much screaming and gnashing of teeth from the conservative Republicans. (But let’s face it, anything the Democrats do is going to bring much screaming of gnashing of teeth from the conservative Republicans.)

In today’s Washington Post, Andrew Cohen (the chief legal analyst for CBS News) addresses six myths about Mohammed and his trial that ought to be destroyed. Read his article here:

-> A terrorism trial’s myths <-

Recommended. It may save some wear and tear on your vocal chords. Not to mention your teeth. (It will also help my friends on the left refute most of the talking points being distributed to/by their crazy friends on the right.)
 

From the White House weblog:

With the investigation into the tragedy at Fort Hood ongoing, President Barack Obama used his weekly address to call for a careful and complete review of what happened before the tragedy.

Watch the video of the President’s address below or read the full text, as prepared for delivery, after the break.

Click below to listen to the audio only:

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Note to Carrie Prejean: When you storm off an interview set, you are supposed to storm off an interview set, not sit there staring prettily (she thinks) and blankly into the camera.

Palin/Prejean 2012! (Perfect match up and every conservative’s wet dream.)

They are both jokes and the country is diminished by having them in it.

UPDATE: Borrowing once again from Balloon Juice:

Palin/Prejean

I haven’t seen many comments about the similarities in the behavior of these two beauty queens.

Both expect to be treated with deference by journalists, and accuse the most milquetoast of old, male interviewers of bias.

They’re both conservative fundamentalist megachurch attendees.

Much of what they say is later proven to be a lie.

Both quit their day job to cash in.

Both have big skeletons in their closets, if you believe Levi Johnston.

Both have a gay blogger nemesis.

I think if you try to understand Palin as a beauty queen, it really explains her behavior as AK Gov—it was just a title to her, and she loved the ceremonial aspects while she dodged the real work. That’s also why I don’t really take her seriously as a candidate. She’s never going to do the work to win enough primaries to get the GOP nomination. Her campaign will look a lot like Rudy Guiliani’s—well financed, based on a few minutes of fame, and ultimately unable to engage with primary voters.