Shuh-ZAYM!

Gomer for President

Have you ever noticed that the people who comment on blogs are often funnier or more insightful than the bloggers themselves? Case in point: today a NY Times blog discussed the Rev. (and presidential hopeful) Mike Huckabee's claim yesterday that President Obama "grew up in Kenya." The comments, as you can imagine, rightfully mocked the good reverend's feigned ignorance of Obama's biography. I picked 3 I thought were especially good. I couldn't stop laughing after I read the last one - and still can't! Enjoy!

nmetro

Longmont, Colorado

March 1st, 2011

4:11 pm

Let's see, President Obama has been in office for 25 months. He ran through a 12 months campaign, and there was three months between the 2008 election and when he took office. So, there was at least 15 months for the various authorities who guide elections to determine President Obama's place of birth; which was Honolulu, Hawaii. His birth announcement was published in two Honolulu newspapers at the time. And according to at least teh 14th Amendment to the US Constitution makes him a citizen by birth. Regardless of the fact, that both his parents were citizens of the United States at the time.

So, now 40 months after President Obama started seeking office of president of the United States, we have Mike Huckabee questioning the birth location of President Obama seems to show the ignorance of Mr. Huckebee. Ignorance in the Us Constitution foremost and ignorance of the facts that have already been proven many months ago.

As far as where President Obama was raised, well how about Kansas and Indonesia. Not Kenya, though Mr. Huckabee gets points for getting the "K" right, just that he is off by about 4000 miles.

In the end, why would anyone elect such an ignorant person to elected office; let alone governor of a state or even to the office of president of the United States? The problem with all of this is about 25% of the US population actually believes that a sitting President was not born in the United States. Even though he was properly vetted to make sure of his citizen status nearly four years ago. It goes to show that the dumbing down of America continues in its full fury.

Bob

Portland, OR

March 1st, 2011

7:41 pm

This is the result of a 'faith-based' world that has been imposed on America since Raygun. Facts don't matter. Proof isn't need. Data is irrelevant. What you believe is all that counts. Birthers believe that Obama isn't a valid president so, in their minds he never will be. Evangelicals believe in the literal Bible, and so it is Truth. Never mind scientific reality, Evolution isn't real, Global warming isn't real. Obama grew up in Kenya (even though he didn't visit until he was in hi 20's) is just another delusion they cling to.

decker

WA

March 1st, 2011

10:52 pm

Until I read this, this character was just another abysmal political hack among many who made his share of background noise,

Now, huckleberry has been promoted to dunce, and that is the status that will remain until his Christian burial.

[See original NY Times blog post at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/huckabee-questions-obama-birth-certificate-claims-he-was-raised-in-kenya/?scp=2&sq=huckabee&st=cse]



When Life Imitates Art

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110301/ap_on_re_us/us_hummingbird_drone

SAN DIEGO – You'll never look at hummingbirds the same again.

The Pentagon has poured millions of dollars into the development of tiny drones inspired by biology, each equipped with video and audio equipment that can record sights and sounds.

They could be used to spy, but also to locate people inside earthquake-crumpled buildings and detect hazardous chemical leaks.

The smaller, the better.

Besides the hummingbird, engineers in the growing unmanned aircraft industry are working on drones that look like insects and the helicopter-like maple leaf seed.

Question: does this make anyone feel safer? It definitely does not make me feel safer. The room for abuse is huge, and I'm afraid the temptation to abuse this technology would be too great for states - or even individuals possessing the means - to resist. Anyone remember the spider robots from Minority Report (2002)?

http://movieclips.com/Vpwa-minority-report-movie-spider-robots/

I think that Americans are being conditioned to equate "security" with the very absence of security. They are - we are - spending tens of billions dollars more (rather than less) every year on "defense." So much that in fact the US spends more on its military than the military expenditures of the entire rest of the world combined: around a trillion dollars if you include our nuclear budget. Stuff like these hummingbird robots. Not cheap. Not necessary (particularly in a time of economic need). But the money for such programs is always abundant. No matter how the rest of America is doing economically. So - to paraphrase MLK - every time a bomb drops in Afghanistan, it explodes in our cities, leaving a great many of our citizens destitute, unemployed, desperate. Without hope.

That's the real crime here.

And how do you even begin to fight that?