Irony, Anyone?

Today's news is all about the freeing of Ingrid Betancourt in Columbia, along with several American hostages, all of whom have been held for years by the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, a terrorist group. This is great news. Betancourt was a candidate for president in Columbia when she was abducted six year ago. For me, the most poignant moment was the mother of two embracing her 19 year old son and 22 year old daughter. Just think, these young adults were 13 and 16 when their mother was kidnapped, still children.

Anyway, apparently McCain is big buddies with the president of Columbia. And while this daring rescue attempt has been in the works for a long while—the Columbian defense department had people infiltrating the terrorist group to pull this off for years now—it seems singularly ironic that McCain, and his lapdogs Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, were on hand in Columbia the day the rescue was completed. Fox News, of course, tried to spin it like McCain had some hand in freeing these people, which makes the network seem like an even bigger farce than they usually appear to be.

Meanwhile, McCain has shaken up his campaign staff and seems to be leaning even more in the direction of Bush-land by having Karl Rove's top disciple, Steve Schmidt, leading the campaign and two of Rove's other former advisors have also been named as a part of McCain's camp. WTF? If McCain doesn't want to come off as the second coming of Dubya, this is SO not the way to go. Any idiot can see that. But what puzzles me even more is why Mac would think that Bush still has the winning ticket for the presidency. His approval ratings continue to inch southward and today the latest figures came out on jobs and we have lost even more jobs than they initially believed for the months of April and May. So far this year, the country has lost 438,000 jobs, an average of 73,000 a month. DAMN. The Mac camp's response? We need to stick with the economic agenda of the last eight years. Why you may ask? Because "The American people cannot afford an economic agenda that will take our country in the wrong direction and cost jobs." Hello! Are they even paying attention???

The Green Post

Happy St. Patrick's Day Ya'll!

Well, now that I have that out of my system . . . In case you weren't properly enjoying your Monday I have two tidbits of news that will be sure to bring a spring to your step!

First, Clinton and Obama have agreed to another debate on April 16, in Philadelphia prior to the Pennsylvania primary. Oh joy! Oh rapture! Whatever will they talk about? Probably what they have been talking about for the previous 20 debates. I really don't know if I have the energy for another debate. Speaking of which, Obama has agreed to another possible debate, three days later in my home state of North Carolina. See, and you thought our primary wouldn't matter! Shame on you.

Second, does it send a shiver down anyone else's spine to know that Dick Cheney (and family) along with Republican nominee John McCain and two of his lap dogs, SC senator Lindsey Graham and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman have been kicking up their heels together in Iraq?

And what did Darth Evil have to say about the past five years in Iraq? "If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor . . . and it has been well worth the effort."

Wonder if the almost 4,000 U.S. dead and the estimated 600,000 Iraqi dead (definitely more now, since the linked article is six months old) feel the same way as ole Dick?