A friend of a friend just concluded a successful humanitarian mission while on tour in Afghanistan. In appreciation, the Afghans gave an 11-year-old boy for the American military to have sex with.
(Yep, you read that right.)
Afghans look at young children as sexually ideal and, therefore, a lofty gift – I guess.
When the Americans refused, the Afghans were insulted.
My friend added, “Who’s who to set the rules?”
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Categories: Uncategorized
The year Sarah Palin got her first passport. But despite her obvious lack of foreign affairs experience, she tells Charlie Gibson that see is ready to be president, if need be.
Understanding comes through experience. If you have no experience – regardless of a quick trip to Kuwaitt — you have no understanding, and that is the utmost requirement to be lead this country.
The number of interviews (1) Palin has given in days as the Republican Veep candidate (13).
If you are applying for a job, you need to go through the interview process. Palin believed she was above this vetting. Unacceptable.
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Categories: Politics
Tagged: lack of interviews, passport, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin, the self-described “hockey mom,” slashes, high-sticks and checks from behind when she says she supports working-class folk.
The Alaskan governor worked up the GOP base with her convention speech Wednesday in St. Paul, but her record resembles another acronym for GOP — Gouging Ordinary People.
She vetoed a state program that would assist teenage mothers, something that is uniquely relevant given her 17-year-old daughter’s current pregnancy. (1)
On Wednesday, Palin said she would be an advocate for mothers of special need children, of which she is a member, but she cut state funding for those children by over 60 percent while she was governor. (2)
The self-described “reformer” said she was against the “Bridge to Nowhere,” but she was originally for taking taxpayer money, and she took the federal earmark money for other causes anyway. (3)
As mayor of a tiny town, she even hired a lobbyist tied to indited Sen. Ted Stevens to help gather federal money. The city received $27 million. (4)
While in the pocket of oil, she vetoed money for new energy initiatives. (5)
On Wednesday, Palin said she would be an advocate for education, but she cut education programs that involved classroom technology upgrades. (6)
Palin can say she is a “hockey mom” and a “reformer,” but her short history proves otherwise.
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1 — Washington Post; 2 — CNN; 3, 4 — Truth Dig; 5 — Juneau Empire; 6 — Fairbanks News Miner.
Categories: Politics
Tagged: hockey mom, hypocrite, Sarah Palin
ST. PAUL — More than 280 people were arrested Monday only a few blocks from the peace march I participated in on the street surrounding the Republican National Convention.
Code Pink had baby boomers waving paper mache doves on the march. Other groups chanted half-assed, anti-war slogans, with banners backing up their statements, but there were no signs of civil unrest.
Brigades of riot cops lined the streets, looking you in the eye because they knew they were the most outrageous people present. They wore baseball catcher shin pads and chest pads, football shoulder pads, with helmets, visors. They carried wooden clubs and teargas at the ready.
At the time, the most I knew about the arrests was the inconvenience it later provided me.
At the Take Back Labor Day music show on Harriett Island, the scene was like an offshore experience from the from the black-bandana-wearing rioters took on the regular-clothed cops.
I watched the show — where Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine was the most poignant anti-war, socialist speaker/performer — in a semi-buzzed, casual summer daze.
On our walk back from the show, a closed bridge prolonged our walk another mile. (Damn that inconvenience.)
A friend’s sister was disappointed in the show because of its ignorant/bliss feel – mainly from performers Atmosphere and Mos Def.
Knowing what I know now about 280-plus arrests, I have to agree. I wasn’t going to join that aggressive throng of protesters, but I wish I would have witnessed it. I wish I would have spoken with the passionate, the anarchists. Seen their message, passion.
Without experiencing, reading about it made it a lonely, detached story. As a result, it felt as relevant as the current protests in Thailand.
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(Editor’s note: The Tank is back full-time after a prolonged summer break. Summer provided plenty of Seagrams, Camel Lights, relaxing and sunshine, but like the seasons, the Tank will now resume its crisp, current, cutting agenda-based feel.)
Categories: Uncategorized
