Okay……………………….WHO GIVES A SHIT?

For Chrissakes people, as much as I prefer Obama over Clinton, if anyone is in an uproar over what one of Hilary’s advisers said behind closed doors, they’re simply trying too hard. Really, people? Apparently, while gloating over returns in 1992, Bill Clinton Adviser Mickey Kantor referred to Indiana voters as “Shit,” and made a reference to themas being “worthless white niggers.” Oh wow, what a shock: salty political discussion not meant for public consumption. Who knew? Indiana wasn’t that important, so I imagine the round table discussion was over how much resources they should have spent in the state of lesser importance. Now Kantor is on Hilary’s team, and, in an attempt to divert flack from Rev Wright’s recent comments, the Obama camp is using the same hare-brained tactics against their opponents. Guilt by association? C’mon!
First of all, anyone who lives in Indiana is Shit, or else they would have moved to Portland by now*. Second of all, this happened 16 years ago - is this the best you can come up with Obama minions? Hilary is a career-politician with her hand fisting the pork barrel piggy bank for decades and this is the dirt you spread? ODB, say what’s on my mind:

Thanks, Dirty. Plus, that may even be doctored footage, according to director D.A. Pennebaker, who claims the footage comes from his 1993 film “The War Room.” Whatever. People, this is dumb. Save the dirty politics for talk radio.

* Just playing with you Indiana. You know I love you, boo.

The organizers of Coachella are offering a $10,000 reward and four lifetime passes to Coachella to anyone who knows where Roger Waters’ giant inflatable pig, released during his set Sunday, fucked off to:

Did a school bus-sized inflatable pig land on your backyard? Did you happen to pick up a giant pink pig with graffiti? Coachella organizers are offering $10,000 and four lifetime passes to anyone who returns their pig. The pig balloon was released during Roger Water’s performance on Sunday at the Coachella festival. The pig was covered with graffiti from famous street artist, Slick. The graffiti had slogans that read: “Don’t be led to the slaughter,” “No Blood for Oil”, and even included Obama’s name with check box next to it. To collect the bounty, please contact lostpig@coachella.com.

Yesterday’s misleadingly-titled “100 Mayors For Hillary” event went off without a hitch! … Except  only 19 mayors actually showed up to the Rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capital. What do you do when less than 20% of your guests show up?

Step 1: Throw their names on a plaque. Tell the public:

“Rally organizers never expected all 100 mayors to attend and that some were participating in Clinton events in their home cities,” said Kathleen Strand of the Clinton campaign.

Step 2:  Take the focus off yourself. Begin Obama-bashing…

Obama’s comments at an SF fundraiser: some voters in small towns in Pennsylvania cling to guns or religion because of their frustration over their economic circumstances.

Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed: “Obama’s comments are divisive and condescending… Small-town values are the bedrock of American values.”

Step 3: Cloud it with confusion.

At a later rally yesterday, supportive mayor, Easton’s Sal Panto, claimed, “Earlier today I was in our Capitol in Harrisburg, in the Rotunda, where I was joined by 100 other mayors across our state, in a coalition that this state has never seen, in support of Sen. Clinton.”

I tried to throw my boyfriend a surprise party once. Only 3 of his friends showed up. I felt kinda bad so I invited 3 of my girlfriends. Everyone went home with a smile on their face. I should be a party planner.

My boss will think this is funny. I just think people have too much time on their hands.

In the increasingly likely event that the Democratic nomination still isn’t decided by August’s Democratic Convention, one Florida Congressman, Rep. Mark Tomasik says that Al Gore could be the X-factor needed to sway the votes needed for the nomination:

“If (the nomination process) goes into the convention, don’t be surprised if someone different is at the top of the ticket,” Mahoney said.

A compromise candidate could be someone such as former vice president Al Gore, Mahoney said last week during a meeting with this news organization’s editorial board.If either Clinton or Obama suggested to a deadlocked convention a ticket of Gore-Clinton or Gore-Obama, the Democratic Party would accept it, Mahoney said.

Talk about a convenient truth for old Al, letting Clinton and Obama wear their asses out on the campaign trail, then coming in at the last second to pwn the nomination, and serve John McCain some green defeat. Shit would be epic.

Though this post is under my name, I did not write it. I wish I had. This is written by Synthesis Weekly Contributer Bob Howard, to be published on Monday. I think your ear (or eyes) deserve to be bent for a second.
– S

Winter Soldier
By Bob Howard

War on Truth: In totalitarian countries, what people can say is controlled by the government. Here we have the flag-waving nationalistic “patriotic” mob and a complacent media casually conspiring to censor unpopular speech.

I am frustrated by the backlash levied against Senator Barack Obama’s pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright for speaking truth. America is a country that was founded on racism. We came to this country, slaughtered and imprisoned the native population, then kidnapped people from Africa in order to do the dirty work. In this manner we accumulated more wealth and power than any nation in the world. It’s ugly but it is truth. We are still practicing imperialism under the code name “globalism.” We still pay dark-skinned people pennies per day to do the work Americans refuse.
Reverend Wright says we bought the events of 911 on ourselves. There is accuracy in that statement. Our foreign policy has serious flaws. Things are being done in our names of which we have only vague awareness. This is the crux of democracy. Unlike a monarchy or a dictatorship, America is meant to work as a “bottom-up” system of representation. We can’t shrug off the decisions of our leaders and claim we have nothing to do with them. We are the ones who put those people into a position of power and gave them the authority to represent us. So when our foreign policy is flawed it is valid for people to hold the American population accountable. Like it or not, that’s the responsibility that comes with a democratic system of power. As such our duty does not stop at the voting box. We need to carefully follow the actions of our leaders and take them to task when they act irresponsibly in our names.
I’m not ashamed of America – but there are shameful episodes throughout our history. If we ignore them or deny them we will never be able to reconcile them.

Winter Soldier: A phenomenal conference was recently held called “Winter Soldier.” The first winter soldier took place during the Vietnam War when soldiers came forward to tell of what they did and witnessed while serving. Atrocities were exposed. Now we have a similar coming out with hundreds of veterans of the Iraq War coming forward to describe their experiences. I’ve been following some of the testimony and it is horrifying. The most disturbing thing is the callousness of our military command. As in any war the enemy is framed as sub-human, and similar to Vietnam the drag-net term “enemy” is essentially expanded to include anyone we capture or kill. Soldiers testified of unloading hundreds of rounds into cars on the roads, being given order to take out any and all taxi cabs, and detaining Iraqi men even when they knew they were not the suspects they were looking for. It’s brutal, awful stuff. We can use all the clinical sounding terms we like: “enhanced interrogation,” “non-lawful combatant,” “counter-insurgency.” Terms obscure the bloody truth on the ground — the truth that we have invaded a country, killed hundreds of thousands of its citizens, and driven anyone with means out of the country. The truth is blood and body parts litter the streets and our soldiers are going to come back from this conflict all screwed up in their heads from killing civilians in a half-baked conflict dreamed up by ideologues in Washington DC.
How many times do we have to enter into the same follies before we rise up as a people and say “ENOUGH?” Obviously someone is benefiting from these impossible conflicts but it isn’t you and I. There is an oligarchy in place, a small powerful group of incredibly wealthy people who are cynically using nationalism, religion and racism to pit regular working people against one another. They are using fear to keep us complacent. Fear of war, fear of economic woe, fear of the other, the alien, the end. They keep our heads spinning so fast from one crisis to another that we never have the ability to unify and rise.

The Rising of the Moon: On Saint Patrick’s Day I sat on a barstool and drank Guinness with a woman from Northern Ireland. She talked about growing up in the sights of British guns. The Irish know how it feels to be on the receiving end of imperialism all too well. The Irish rose up.
It won’t happen of its own accord. If change is going to come about in this entrenched system that favors those who set it up, it is going to take activism on the part of the many. It is going to take awareness and a conscious spirit of social revolution.

Here’s to the rebels.

Revolutionary ideas? E-mail me at madbob@madbob.com.

[ed note: I added the pictures to Bob's piece without his consent. I take the Iraqi Rebel flag to mean rebellion against the occupation of Iraq, not in any way as an excuse or encouragement for Iraqi insurgents to harm our American soldiers fighting abroad. Also, the confederate design ties in well with the racism earlier mentioned in the piece. See, I'm kinda deep like that...man. It's a thin red line, I know... Either way, we need to GTFO of Iraq and begin to feed and then lead the world to harmony and unity so that we can unite as one human race and explore the universe in peace together, FOREVER. Special thanks as always to Bill Hicks.]