Jim (Con't): First off, Kylie e-mails regarding Mike's "Israel isn't my pressing issue" and C.I.'s "Israel isn't my pressing issue" and I'm quoting from "As do people who will scream if Palestinian civilians are killed in Israel but will remain silent on the killing of civilians by a government in Iraq." Kylie feels that Mike and C.I. have not given enough attention to the plight of the Palestinians. Mike, your response?
Mike: The plight of the Palestinians never ends. It also never fails to get non-stop attention. Iraq got a tiny bit of attention, for example, two weeks ago. Then another attack by the Israeli government and Iraq is dropped and forgotten completely. I'm tired of it. This has happened over and over. I can remember it happening in 2006, for example. I'm tired of it. There's a whole platoon of lefty writers who do nothing but cover Israel. I don't see them accomplishing anything but distracting from every other issue -- including Iraq -- that we should be focusing on. I have no animosity towards the Palestinians. I don't even argue attacks on them shouldn't be covered. But my point is the lack of focus on Iraq.
Jim: C.I.?
C.I.: The focus of The Common Ills is Iraq. With that focus, we can cover events in Iraq, investigations into the war taking place in other countries, peace activities, veterans issues, etc. I've never done the Palestinian snapshot. I'll evaluate any criticism that's valid in terms of my missing something that's within our scope. But we don't cover Palestine, we've never pretended to so I honestly think Kylie's question has no validity for The Common Ills. She could try aiming it at Third which has a wider scope but it's not pertinent for The Common Ills.
Jim: Okay, let's talk Fake Ass. Isaiah, you've done several comics on this theme, so why don't you go over the Fake Ass.
Isaiah: Sure. A Fake Ass is any number of people. I created "Fake Ass Jeans" for a series of comics where people get called out. Like then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki in "Limited Hangout."
Isaiah: A fake ass is someone who says one thing to try to look good but really doesn't mean it. They're just pretending -- fake assing.
Jim: So, Elaine, a fake ass?
Elaine: Tom Hayden. Oh, he cares about Iraq, he cares. What's he writing about this week? Oh, fake ass moved on to a different topic. That's what a fake ass does. Repeatedly. They have no ethics and they can't focus for longer than 15 seconds.
Jim: That's another way of summing up a fake ass and certainly Tom Hayden's earned his place on that list. Trina, you just wrote "The fake" at your site. Talk about that.
Trina: Sure. Elizabeth Warren is the left's great savior? I'm not buying it. Not only is she comfortable calling for attacking Iran, not only was she a Republican until recently, but what does she have to show for anything. TARP? She told us money went missing. Uh, okay. Wasn't she supposed to be providing the oversight? If I leave my cat with you to watch and I come back and you tell me my cat is dead, I guess you watched it but I'm not sure you did a good job of watching it. Elizabeth Warren needs to demonstrate a few actual accomplishments.
Stan: Amen! And what the hell? Another one term senator is going to be pimped for the presidency? Barack is like the ultimate fake ass and clearly he was not up for the job. At the time of the 2016 election, she will have served three years in the Senate. This qualifies for experience?
Marcia: I think Trina said it all in her post when she wrote, "I wish we had someone who could fill us with hope. Even more, I wish we would stop looking for heroes and stop deluding ourselves." That really does say it all and put the blame where it belongs -- as much on the fake ass as on ourselves for repeatedly falling for this crap.
Mike: Yes but don't forget the media's role in this as well. I mean, my pick would be Robert Parry. Barack wouldn't be a successful fake ass without the likes of Robert Parry -- an elderly fool willing to act like a teenage groupie over Barack. He disgraces himself repeatedly.
Cedric: Right. And I mean Robert Parry is awful but he's just one. There are so damn many who have whored themselves and better grasp that when Barack is out of the White House, that doesn't mean all is forgiven. All is certainly not forgotten and certain people better grasp that they need to shut their mouths because we know that they're whores now, we know that they called out Bully Boy Bush for, for example, illegal spying but made a point to look the other way for Barack. That crap is not forgotten and it will not be forgiven so those who whored their good names for Barack better grasp that they have no clout anymore.
Jess: And include the Green Party on the list of whores. My party, I'm a Green, should have been objecting to every move Barack made. None of it was about helping the people. It was all about selling out to corporations. The Green Party should have been screaming for job programs, demanding an end to The Drone War and just going out of their way to provide real opposition to these programs and actions that embrace greed and destroy the people.
Ann: Jess is 100% correct on this. And I'd toss in Ralph Nader. I'm a Green. I voted for Ralph in 2000, in 2004 and in 2008. So it pains me to see him become a little whore for Barack Obama. Where's big brave Ralph? No where to be found. He lacks the spine and the ethics to denounce Barack. That's what's required. Ralph is just not up to it.
Ruth: And that is what really stands out for me about the last years -- how many people we have lost, people we thought we could trust who revealed themselves to be Democratic Party operatives and not independent agents of truth. Robert Parry has been a disappointment, so has Danny Schechter. And, of course, Medea Benjamin and CodePink. We thought certain people had ethics but instead we discover there is the so-called standard and then there is the exception that is made for President Obama.
Dona: I'll jump in because Ruth just noted "the exception" which should remind us all of fake ass Amy Goodman who hectored and lectured the press in cut and paste 'book' after cut and paste book but has there been a bigger whore than Amy Goodman? Hell, the Goody Whore was even auctioning off inaugural party tickets in 2009 to put a little more green into her dirty g-string.
Betty: While there is much to call out, it's also true that there's a sense building of: Enough. We're doing this roundtable because readers of this site are part of that sense of no-more with regards to the fake ass. That's building every week. Then you have, for example, Cindy Sheehan calling out the hypocrisy of Bill Maher. There is real and genuine repulsion over the fake assing of the last years and that's something to see as a good thing. My opinion.
Wally: I would agree with Betty and note that it's genie out of the bottle time, it's not vanishing or disappearing. All the fake asses who thought they could use this time to whore and to come out strong later on and be believed? It's not happening.
Jim: Wally, "come out strong later on and be believed"? Explain that.
Wally: These cheap whores think that, for example, they can attack Hillary Clinton and have us applaud them. No. I supported Hillary in 2008. I don't support her today. But I'll offer a real critique of her and not just a screed of hate.
Kat: I don't know. I think they really count on us being stupid -- these so-called 'leaders' of the left -- because if we're sheep that can be led, they've got a job, they have power.
Rebecca: So the best way to hurt the whores is to take away their power. Stop listening to them, expose them and their fake assery.
Jim: Okay. On that point, we'll need to wrap up because we're out of time. This is a rush transcript.
Trina: Sure. Elizabeth Warren is the left's great savior? I'm not buying it. Not only is she comfortable calling for attacking Iran, not only was she a Republican until recently, but what does she have to show for anything. TARP? She told us money went missing. Uh, okay. Wasn't she supposed to be providing the oversight? If I leave my cat with you to watch and I come back and you tell me my cat is dead, I guess you watched it but I'm not sure you did a good job of watching it. Elizabeth Warren needs to demonstrate a few actual accomplishments.
Stan: Amen! And what the hell? Another one term senator is going to be pimped for the presidency? Barack is like the ultimate fake ass and clearly he was not up for the job. At the time of the 2016 election, she will have served three years in the Senate. This qualifies for experience?
Marcia: I think Trina said it all in her post when she wrote, "I wish we had someone who could fill us with hope. Even more, I wish we would stop looking for heroes and stop deluding ourselves." That really does say it all and put the blame where it belongs -- as much on the fake ass as on ourselves for repeatedly falling for this crap.
Mike: Yes but don't forget the media's role in this as well. I mean, my pick would be Robert Parry. Barack wouldn't be a successful fake ass without the likes of Robert Parry -- an elderly fool willing to act like a teenage groupie over Barack. He disgraces himself repeatedly.
Cedric: Right. And I mean Robert Parry is awful but he's just one. There are so damn many who have whored themselves and better grasp that when Barack is out of the White House, that doesn't mean all is forgiven. All is certainly not forgotten and certain people better grasp that they need to shut their mouths because we know that they're whores now, we know that they called out Bully Boy Bush for, for example, illegal spying but made a point to look the other way for Barack. That crap is not forgotten and it will not be forgiven so those who whored their good names for Barack better grasp that they have no clout anymore.
Jess: And include the Green Party on the list of whores. My party, I'm a Green, should have been objecting to every move Barack made. None of it was about helping the people. It was all about selling out to corporations. The Green Party should have been screaming for job programs, demanding an end to The Drone War and just going out of their way to provide real opposition to these programs and actions that embrace greed and destroy the people.
Ann: Jess is 100% correct on this. And I'd toss in Ralph Nader. I'm a Green. I voted for Ralph in 2000, in 2004 and in 2008. So it pains me to see him become a little whore for Barack Obama. Where's big brave Ralph? No where to be found. He lacks the spine and the ethics to denounce Barack. That's what's required. Ralph is just not up to it.
Ruth: And that is what really stands out for me about the last years -- how many people we have lost, people we thought we could trust who revealed themselves to be Democratic Party operatives and not independent agents of truth. Robert Parry has been a disappointment, so has Danny Schechter. And, of course, Medea Benjamin and CodePink. We thought certain people had ethics but instead we discover there is the so-called standard and then there is the exception that is made for President Obama.
Dona: I'll jump in because Ruth just noted "the exception" which should remind us all of fake ass Amy Goodman who hectored and lectured the press in cut and paste 'book' after cut and paste book but has there been a bigger whore than Amy Goodman? Hell, the Goody Whore was even auctioning off inaugural party tickets in 2009 to put a little more green into her dirty g-string.
Betty: While there is much to call out, it's also true that there's a sense building of: Enough. We're doing this roundtable because readers of this site are part of that sense of no-more with regards to the fake ass. That's building every week. Then you have, for example, Cindy Sheehan calling out the hypocrisy of Bill Maher. There is real and genuine repulsion over the fake assing of the last years and that's something to see as a good thing. My opinion.
Wally: I would agree with Betty and note that it's genie out of the bottle time, it's not vanishing or disappearing. All the fake asses who thought they could use this time to whore and to come out strong later on and be believed? It's not happening.
Jim: Wally, "come out strong later on and be believed"? Explain that.
Wally: These cheap whores think that, for example, they can attack Hillary Clinton and have us applaud them. No. I supported Hillary in 2008. I don't support her today. But I'll offer a real critique of her and not just a screed of hate.
Kat: I don't know. I think they really count on us being stupid -- these so-called 'leaders' of the left -- because if we're sheep that can be led, they've got a job, they have power.
Rebecca: So the best way to hurt the whores is to take away their power. Stop listening to them, expose them and their fake assery.
Jim: Okay. On that point, we'll need to wrap up because we're out of time. This is a rush transcript.