RE: things that don't age well

if'n could find it (was on YouTube), David Letterman interviewed Colin Powell, & Colin told a story about Ronald Reagan [after the announcement of R.R. diagnosis]. David interpreted the story as a cruel remembrance; evidence of Reagan's advancing Alzheimer's - but Colin meant it as a tribute to Ron's ability to put things into perspective. involved Reagan ignoring Powell's briefing to feed the W.H. lawn squirrels. the story was met w/a v e r y silent audience. & it made me question Colin's ability to see the trees in the forest.

note: Even before the announcement, 2nd year of 2nd term, Reagan's infirmity was evident.

sometimes the truth reveals itself at the most unexpected moments.

but it wasn't wholly one man that launch the [redacted] war against Saddam. it was the work of many.

SIDEBAR: recall during those times, the administration tried five 'slogans' to sell the war. wasn't until WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (WMDs) that they found a 'winner'.

Colin Powell forever gave up his chance at the US Presidency when he tried to sell the UN on the idea. Remember it well. Watch it live, at work, with w/boss. We saw nothing to warrant a war.

Remember it well, indeed. Hunter S. Thompson was a guest on Letterman the following night and said something to the effect of "you couldn't get a search warrant for a known mobster's house w/that kind of evidence". (have looked on YouTube for it but can't find it)

Also, remember Angela Merkel saying she couldn't ask her people to go war w/info given. A comedian remarked later that when you can't Germany to agree to invade a country - there has to be something terribly wrong w/the idea.

Sadly, this was the moment the Republicans must have believed they could sell any lie, anytime, anywhere, about anything.

They might be correct.

yes, that is all too true. can be very successful yet be oblivious to the realities around them.

- remember an interview w/Ted Turner, while he was on top in the cable world (CNN was king). when speaking about business matters; very insightful. But when the questions about current affairs came around; he gave his opinion then changed it or said IDK anytime the interview offered a counterpoint.

- in an interview w/Colin Powell, as Sec of State, when the interviewer tried to corner him on how, looking at his GPA in HS and college, he ever made it to a 4-star general? all Colin would do was smile and say (something like) "It's good to be American. It offers many great opportunities to many people." That line of questioning ending in both parties smiling and chuckling.

- had to show our valedictorian how to put air into a tire. watching them struggle was hilarious but made one empathic.

also the belief anyone can become the president of the U.S.A. is both inspiring and terrifying. (as we all know now)

****

seeing this video, and the truth of the above sentence is a reason why education should become one of the top three, if not top, priorities, and quests of this nation. paired w/a universal form of national service* should provide all citizens will the skills to perceive wtf is actually going on.

*a former military serviceman, back from Iraq, noticed that Congress has far fewer former service members in their ranks since the early '80s. he noted in the military there are many ilks of service personnel, but they all work toward one goal. they have to - or they fail. reading this, have to believe - like Bush, Sr and Clinton both agreed on - that all Americans should put in some form of national service . since it'd foster a better understanding of other Americans: how they lived, how they were raised, their beliefs, the challenges they must face...i.e. see more than what's outside your 'bubble'.

this idea and a couple of other GREAT bipartisan ideas have waned since 9/11 but it'd be a hell of a fix.

* * * * realizing have wandered off the trail * * * *

or more concisely; to your point...

a body might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but any tool can become useful.

confirming Colin Powell: see 01:27 - 02:24 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJTWSHtak3w

Colin Powell I think

jimmy dore is from the young turks.

while you may disagree with his delivery,you cannot deny that historically the intelligence community has been used as a battering ram to perpetrate some fucked up,and sometimes,illegal shit.

multiple intelligence agencies also swore that saddam hussein had WMD's and was collaborating with al qeada.

multiple intelligence agencies swore that the conflict in vietnam needed to be expanded,and use sect of defense robert mcnamara to sell it to president johnson.

mcnamara later recanted and displayed deep regret for the lies he sold not only the president,but the american people.colin powell ended up doing the very same thing,for the EXACT same reasons.

in my opinion,CNN has slowly become a propaganda arm for the state.so it is NO surprise that they reference these "multiple intelligence sources" as a means to increase tensions between US and russia.

and while i am positive that russia,along with the US and pretty much every advanced nation on this planet engages in cyber spying,until i see actual PROOF that putin directed russian intelligence to actively hack our elections in order to put trump in power...i am going to remain skeptical.

because i have seen "multiple intelligence sources' as an excuse to engage in some pretty despicable activities by my government.

i live by a very simple axiom:
governments lie.

Not too sure. There is a recent report that covered more than Clinton and took quite a few people including Colin Powell to task because of their practices. Both sides spun the report to their liking. I haven't read it so I can't comment directly.

"Can [They] be so insanely sheltered that they think her 'answers' help her?"

If you piece together all of her statements on a plethora of different topics, it is inescapably obvious that they (!) truly have no connection to anyone or anything outside their bubble. Surrounded by sycophants as the Clintons are, people have wondered, and justifiably so, whether she cares or even knows that she's lying on a regular basis. One might make the case that the entire concept of an objective "truth", connected to reality, has no meaning for them.

Additionally, she really does suck at campaigning. But that's not punishable by extended prison sentences, unlike, I don't know, sending Special Access Program (SAP) info through your own bloody email server.

Lastly, Joe mentions Powell (6:16 onwards). When Colin Powell was SoS, his office was connected to the internal system, but had no connection to the internet or the outside world in general. You can't get shit done that way, not in this day and age. That's why he had additional gear set up to at least send and receive emails. This was done separate from the internal network and, if I remember correctly, his entire staff was not only open about it every step of the way, they applied for and received special permissions before they touched anything.

Clinton didn't give a jar of cold piss about the rules that are meant to safeguard access to sensitive information. It was inconvenient to her, and since the rules and laws only apply to plebs, she and her posse set up their own system.

A whole lot of people have to adhere to tedious rules and procedures, with severe punishment looming just around the corner. One guy was in the press for receiving three years of prison after he placed a document on the wrong desk. So, if the FBI drags out the investigation or even buries it, you can bet your ass that a lot of people at different agencies are going to be fuming. And between the FBI, the NSA and CIA, a lot of people have access to the remaining emails from Clinton's server. That opens Clinton up to blackmail, a lot of it. Can't have a compromised president. Not to mention that someone's going to take the data and just drop it over at WikiLeaks or the Intercept.

I found Colbert's question about "unknown knowns" the most interesting, but here's the thing:

Bush was the Commander in Chief. He didn't present their "intelligence evidence" of Iraq's WMDs to the American people because he *had* to. He tells the military what to do, they do it; the people don't get "veto rights". The only reason he presented it to the American people (I still remember watching Colin Powell show satellite photos etc.) was to shore up votes for his re-election. Which is exactly what any politician would do in that situation -- make a decision, and present that decision in the best possible light to the voters.

In other words, when Bush et al. were presenting that stuff to us, they weren't selling the actual invasion itself to us. They were selling us an image of their own legitimacy and competence. Viewed like that, of course they aren't going to inform us of those "unknown knowns"; it would shatter the image of them confidently and capably doing what they knew they had to do -- which was the actual point of it (selling that image to us, I mean).


I was sold, at the time. As were most (but not all) Americans, including many many people much older and wiser than I was (and am). I now agree that the invasion was a colossal mistake and that Bush's presidency in general was rather disastrous. BUT, that being said, I think it is problematic to hold these kinds of decisions against a president beyond a certain point.

FDR decided to drop two atom bombs on Japan rather than continuing with conventional warfare and risking many more American (and Japanese) lives with an invasion. Many people have questioned (and continue to question) that decision. But FDR was there. He was the Commander in Chief, he had some facts and plenty of unverifiable information and suggestions from his cabinet and intelligence sources of the time, and he made the decision.

I don't envy people in power who have to make weighty decisions like that based on incomplete information, only to have people question those decisions by citing information that they didn't have at the time. For the rest of their lives.

If you want to know what true poverty is, Genji, you might want to read something like Maximum City, a book about Mumbai, or even watch something like Slumbdog Millionaire...you'll find out that you have quite a few advantages living in this country.

How the hell did someone like Dr. Ben Carson, or Colin Powell, or Condoleeza Rice make it, being black and all?

Because this is a great country where you can create your own life.

But go ahead and believe whatever you want, everyone hates you because of your color etc and cry into your beer until you're 101.

@eric3579, here is a transcript. So you can get the info without the annoying delivery:


And finally, New Rule: there are scandals, and then there are scandals. And perspective is important. Yes, to explain Benghazi, Susan Rice used talking points. But at least she didn't have to read them off her hand! [graphic of Palin looking into her palm]

Now this week, someone was taken off a cross-country flight in handcuffs for singing "I Will Always Love You" for three straight hours. And that's still fewer times has said "Benghazi". I've seen this woman [Megyn Kelly] say Benghazi on my TV so many times, I don't know if it's a problem with the set, or I'm in an Asian horror movie, and there's a monster named Benghazi.

Congressman and friend of Real Time Darrell Issa is the Chairman of the Oversight Committee, and as most Californians know, he made his fortune in car alarms. And now, ironically, has become a loud, repetitive, but ultimately pointless device that you wish to God someone would shut off so you could get some sleep. (audience applause)

But here's the difference between Darrell Issa and a car alarm. Sometimes when a car alarm goes off, there's an actual crime. I keep looking for the crime here, I feel like Reese Witherspoon arguing with the cop. Why are you arresting me? Susan Rice said "mob" instead of "al-Qaeda"? Obama said "act of terror" instead of "terrorist act"?

Republicans are constantly coming up with these never before stated secret rules, that they only tell you about once you've broken them.

"You don't make important speeches from a teleprompter!"

OK.

"No golfing until we have a budget!"

All right.

"Thou shalt not criticize the President when he's on foreign soil, unless he's a Democrat, of course, then it's OK."

Congressman Peter King thundered that the President was almost four minutes into his first Benghazi statement before he mentioned an act of terror! Ah yes, the four-minute rule. Fuck, how could I forget?!

'Scuse me, Nixon ran a burglary ring out of the Oval Office. Reagan traded arms with terrorists. Bush ginned up a war where thousands died by sending Colin Powell to lie to the UN with props, remember that? He turned an American hero into General Carrot Top! But I let it go. I said this is the business we've chosen.

But please, don't tell me that freedom died because Susan Rice broke the scared bond between citizens and talk shows. In a poll this week, 4 in 10 Republicans said Benghazi is the worst scandal in American history. Second worst? Kanye West snatching the mic from Taylor Swift.

If you think Benghazi is worse than slavery, the Trail of Tears, Japanese internment, Tuskegee, purposefully injecting Guatemalan mental patients with syphilis, lying about WMDs, and the fact that banks today are still foreclosing on mortgages they don't own, then your hard-on for Obama has lasted more than four hours, and you need to call a doctor. (wild audience cheering and applause)

And while the press has been occupied with scandal, the biggest scandal, and the most important story of the century so far, happened last week. Scientists reported that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has passed the long-feared milestone of 400 parts per million. And unless you're a chimney sweep, that's bad news. Because humans have never lived through it.

You think Susan Rice gave bogus talking points about Benghazi? What about the bullshit talking points the entire Republican Party has been spewing on climate change since the 90s? (audience applause)

I wanna see the e-mails to find out who came up with the talking points that global warming is just a theory, and that it needs more study, and climate change is a hoax. The Obama administration isn't dirty, the air is.

Then, unsurprisingly, you go on to call Colin Powell a 'nigger' in your next paragraph"

No sir, I did not. Go look up the term "house nigger" and "uncle Tom" and re-read my short rant in the context in which it was written and stop making "racism" the center of what you imagine my motivation. Colin Powell's skin color has very little to do with his track record and his actions in service to his handlers read like a character out of Stowe's fiction.

@chingalera

I was reflecting on your response in the car, when I had a small epiphany. You state in your comment that you believe racism isn't real, but rather "pretentious, insincere, or empty verbiage" designed to evoke a 'gut reaction' in 'easily distracted peeps'. I imagine Colin Powell would disagree, yet you see his words as part of some large conspiracy. Then, unsurprisingly, you go on to call Colin Powell a 'nigger' in your next paragraph.

You are not able to experience racism as Colin Powell experiences racism (at least not on the receiving end); therefore your can't comprehend it; therefore, in your eyes, it must not be real. It would seem that you, like many conservatives, are unable to understand anything that you can't experience first hand.

So, I did a google search for 'empathy' and 'racism' and found an article that confirms my hypothesis.

Check it out: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/7771834/We-are-less-likely-to-feel-the-pain-of-people-from-other-races-a-study-suggests.html

No sir, empathy and tolerance go hand-in-hand, I'm not a fucking out-of-touch dinosaur- I ALSO recognize that racism is an issue that garners that gut-reaction simply from seeing the word typed or written on a page with certain types of peeps too distracted by ancillary clap-trap (pretentious, insincere, or empty verbiage) to have any effect whatsoever on the world of the "real", whatever one perceives that to be.

I see Colin Powell's talk of racism in the republican party as a complete non-issue as in, "Why should I give a fuck about this Uncle Tom, proverbial, "house-nigger" who acted anything like a general or statesman when he addressed the U.N. in a rambling justification for bankrupting the country into the Gulf War(s)-He should regret his actions under Bush and go fuck himself into obscurity and stay the fuck out of politics forever, kinna like Nixon when he bellied-up and bailed-out before impeachment, and was subsequently pardoned by that OTHER ineffectual tool, Gerald Ford.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/13/colin-powell-regrets-u-n-speech-justifying-the-iraq-invasion/

The fantasy world I speak of you refuse to consider though under your nose where it rests and obfuscates world view.

The New World Order is happening, it's the mechanism of disinformation, obfuscation, world economic manipulation, etc, that has you right where you don't want to be, a willing slave, complicit in the breakdown of human societies worldwide. Welcome to the Matrix Wendy, enjoy your preoccupation with guns, racism, and voting booths


Oh, and for the record once again, I am apolitical and believe the parties democrat and republican interchangeable, and the equally meaningless terminology of political discourse in light of the fistfuck being perpetrated on all nations of the world, a complete and pathetic distraction.
The goddamn whore of Babylon wants your mind, money, and muscle and you're standing in line to be first on the train, in my , "fantastic" world of illusion.

What fantasy world are ya selling?? More importantly, why does what Colin Powell says about another illusory world have to do with the price of tea in the hood?