Obama Rejects McCain’s Iraq Offer

John McCain extended an invitation to Barack Obama, asking the Democratic candidate to join him on a visit to Iraq.  The Obama campaign has called it “a political stunt” and declined the invitation.  Senantor Obama said “I think that if I’m going to Iraq, then I’m there to talk to troops and talk to commanders.  I’m not there to try to score political points or perform. The work they’re doing there is too important.”

McCain shot back that he was “glad to hear that Senator Obama is now, quote, considering a trip to Iraq.” H told reporters that “It’s long overdue.  It’s been 871 days since he was there.”(NY Times)

Broken Toilet on Space Station

The crew aboard the International Space Station face a new problem, going to the bathroom:

Four words you don’t want to hear in space:

“The toilet is broken.”

The crew aboard the International Space Station is working on a problem with the system for collecting solid and liquid waste, which is a trickier proposition without gravity than it is on the Earth. Space toilets use jets of fan-propelled air to guide waste into the proper container.

A NASA status report noted that last week, while using the toilet system in the Russian-built service module, “the crew heard a loud noise and the fan stopped working.” The solid waste collector is functioning properly, but the system for collecting liquid waste was not.

PTSD Rises, Bush Tells Cadets “We’re Learning as We Go”

AP reports that at least 40,000 soldiers have been diagnosed with the disorder, an increase of cases by 50% in 2007. Officials believe that many more are not revealing that they have PTSD. The dramatic increase has been attributed by Army Surgeon General Eric Shoomaker to a better system that collects more information. Another factor is the troop surge in 2007, as well as soldiers serving repeated tours of combat.

In a hardly unrelated story, President Bush has told cadets graduating from the Air Force Academy “Today we’re helping emerging democracies rebuild under fire from terrorist networks and state sponsors of terror. This is a difficult and unprecedented task, and we’re learning as we go.”

Mentally and physically wounded veterans are not unprecedented and should have been expected.

John McCain Is Dropping Bombs

Yesterday, John McCain deviated from the Bush Administration, by favoring disarmament. He vowed to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty and expressed his desire to eliminate tactical weapons in Europe. McCain specifically mentioned talking more openly with Russia saying, “Russia and the United States are no longer mortal enemies.” He favors a dramatic reduction in both nations’ arms through a stronger treaty to replace the current Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expires next year. Although McCain advocates for closer relations with Russia, earlier this year he advocated for removing Russia from the G8. Two months ago, he spoke in Los Angeles adopting a harsh cold war rhetoric:

We should start by ensuring that the G-8, the group of eight highly industrialized states, becomes again a club of leading market democracies: it should include Brazil and India but exclude Russia. Rather than tolerate Russia’s nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks, Western nations should make clear that the solidarity of NATO, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, is indivisible and that the organization’s doors remain open to all democracies committed to the defense of freedom.

This tone is clearly rougher toward Russia back then compared with his new welcoming stance in yesterday’s speech. It seems that it is not only the Bush Administration that he has separated himself from, but also himself. I suppose two months is a long time in politics.

Fox News Commentator That Joked of Killing Obama Apologizes

I have tried to avoid monitoring Fox News for offensive remarks, frankly because it’s sadly too easy. However, this clip from Illseed is atrocious and dangerous:

Assassination is a very real threat to Senator Obama, evident by his receiving Secret Service protection earlier than any other candidate. Liz Trotta’s “joke” may have been, as she explains, a sad attempt at humor, but it is more than that. It expresses a (hopefully small) minority that wishes for Obama to be taken out of the race violently. Truly frightening, and even scarier is that she still has a job, even after this weak apology:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Blog

First a confession: I had to look up how to spell Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the last post. In typing (and re-typing) his name I found his blog. I guess I missed this by a couple years. Wow.

Bush Appeases Sudan, By His Own Logic

Earlier this month, President Bush compared some Democrats’ (presumably Obama) strategy toward foreign diplomacy to those who appeased Hitler. His favored approach, it would seem, is to shun opposing leaders (such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and he staunchly objects to any open diplomacy that recognizes organizations (like Hamas) as legitimate. However, an article today suggests that President Bush’s stance is not as stead-fast as he projects, specifically over Sudan.

I object to the labeling of such open diplomacy, even with criminal organizations and ruthless dictators, as “appeasement” but under such logic, Bush has appeased Sudan. I think his appeasement has had much more dire consequences than opening talks with Hamas. Maybe ol’ Jimmy Carter is on to something…

Clinton’s Final Faux Pas

Senator Clinton may have finally sealed her campaign’s fate by reasoning that she should stay in the race because Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in June. Taken at face value, this statement appears to be not only careless, but offensive and dangerous. The media has portrayed her blunder as a sinister plea for Obama’s demise. Instead, it was simply a terrible choice of words that will likely lead to a quicker death for her campaign.

It was a long ride from Portland to Seattle without internet, so I had to wait until this evening to hear all of what Senator Clinton had said. Her unfortunate comparison to RFK was merely a gross error in judgment, nothing like the hateful jab at Obama that I first understood it to be. Kennedy was campaigning in June, like Bill Clinton did, like Hillary Clinton may do (although yesterday’s comment makes her future a little dimmer). That is the correct, tactful way of phrasing that, but she inattentively reminisced “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.” Dumb, yes. Criminal, far from it.

Senator Obama has wisely distanced himself from his supporters who eagerly ceased the chance to obliterate Clinton for this comment. Today he said “Senator Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it, and I will take her at her word on that.” His statement is similar to Clinton’s unenthusiastic denial that Obama is a Muslim, saying “No. No, there is nothing to base that on. As far as I know.” She also said that she would take him on his word, but both candidates have appeared reluctant to really offer any support for the other. Instead, they left it up to the voters to decide if Obama is a secret Muslim and if Clinton is banking Obama dying conveniently before the National election. Both ideas are ludicrous, and the candidates know this, but they also know that some voters will believe the rumors and misrepresentations (proven by some West Virginians that voted based on the Muslim-Obama lie).

Senator Clinton offered a flat apology in response to the outrage that seems to foreshadow her campaigning in the next few weeks, tired and unenthusiastic.

Ellen DeGeneres Confronts McCain on Gay Marriage

Today John McCain appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and was forced to address the “big elephant in the room,” gay marriage.

He respectfully disagreed with Ellen, who expressed her personal desire to have gay marriage a national reality. She compared the issue to the civil rights movement, calling today’s thinking “backward”. McCain shirked the question and the debate ended with Ellen joking that he would walk her down the aisle.

McCain Finally Rejects Hagee Endorsement

John McCain has finally rejected Pastor John Hagee’s endorsement, after the recent publication of a video showing Hagee argue that Hitler was fulfilling God’s will by exterminating the Jews in World War II.

John McCain said this of Hagee:

“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,” McCain said in a statement to CNN Thursday

I don’t buy that he was not aware of the numerous controversial statements that Hagee has made; but he has learned from Obama that rejecting as soon as the media jumps on it is better than trying to ‘wait it out’.

The most recent controversial statement by Hagee: