Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I Wish I Were in Berlin Today
(AFP/DDP/Volker Hartmann)
BBC: Electric atmosphere grips Berlin
Coach Mom & I met many kind Turkish immigrants during our sojurn through Germany at the 2006 World Cup. We also got to be in Berlin while Germany played its first game after the group stages and watched the city explode in joy and revelry after Germany won. I'd love to be there today!
A Little Light Reading
This should have led every national news program: NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen testified to Congress on Monday that we have one year -- one year -- to deal with climate change. One year, or it will be irreversible and too late for the planet. One year. In 2006 he gave us 20 years, but things have gotten much worse so quickly. Here's a pdf of his testimony;
The Boston Globe reports that military contractor KBR exposed Americans in Iraq to a form of chromium -- the stuff in the wells in the movie Erin Brockovich -- and now they're getting sick. The only small justice here is that KBR has been playing games & claiming their employees were employed by a shell corporation in the Caymans so they didn't have to pay unemployment & social security taxes. As a result, these employees may be able to sue KBR directly rather than being limited to worker's compensation.
The networks are spending two minutes a week covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A near total news blackout.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge (and John McCain top adviser) lobbied for the government of Albania for two years without registering as a lobbyist. Laura Rozen asks, "curious if Ridge knows something about the strange DOD-US embassy-Albanian government-AEY-mothballed $300 million Chinese ammo weapons deal[?]" You can read all about that bizarre $300 million dollar contract being awarded to a bunch of 20-something losers here at TPM.
Surprise, surprise: The Bushies have loaded the Justice Dept. with unqualified Republican hacks, by illegally hiring on political grounds. Wingnuts in, liberals out. Dday at Hullabaloo points out that there will be a host of landmines awaiting Barack Obama when he gets to the Oval Office, crazed Regent University lawyers waiting to sabotage any Democrat.
Steny Hoyer is the Democratic sellout of the year, sez Digby. Farewell to the Fourth Amendment thanks to hack Steny.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
In 2008, 30 Pieces of Silver Equals $8,359
$8,359.
That's how much the average Congresscritter who changed his/her vote on FISA got from the telecoms.
$8,359 to sell out the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Pretty good deal for the telecoms: about 165 customers' monthly cell bills to purchase blanket immunity.
I Am A Bad Consumer
Here's I've been feeling so pleased with myself for buying an environmentally-friendly, non-gas-guzzling Toyota Prius. Turns out Toyota is a labor-exploiting employer that uses contract workers who get paid no benefits to pad its enormous corporate profits. Should have known better. Maybe my next car should be a horse.
The National Labor Committee: The Toyota You Don’t Know
The Race to the Bottom in the Auto Industry
How would [] celebrities—and the many Prius devotees across America—respond if they knew that a full one-third of Prius assembly line workers in Japan are hired as “temps,” with few rights, earning just 60 percent of what full time workers do, and even less when benefits are taken into account? Most Americans have never heard of Kenichi Uchino, who at 30 years of age died of overwork at the Prius plant, routinely working 14-hour shifts and putting in anywhere between 107 and 155 hours of overtime a month—at least 61 1/2 hours of which was unpaid. The Toyota Company said the 61 ½ hours were “voluntary” and therefore unpaid. Mr. Uchino left behind a young wife and two children—a one-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. Neither Toyota management nor the “company” union at Toyota lifted a finger to help his family survive. The Japanese people even have a word for being overworked to death—“Karoshi.” Toyota’s parts supply chain is also riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the human trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers—mostly from China and Vietnam—to Japan, where they are stripped of their passports and forced to work grueling hours seven days a week, often earning less than half of the legal minimum wage. Sixteen-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to midnight, would not be uncommon. Most people have no idea that Toyota—through the Toyota Tsusho Corporation which is a part of the Toyota Group—is involved in a joint venture with the ruthless military dictators in Burma, where nearly 50 million people live in fear and want. The United Nations/International Labor Organization points to Toyota’s repression of freedom of association at its plant in the Philippines as “an illustration of how a multinational company, apparently with little regard for corporate responsibility, has done everything in its power to prevent recognition and certification of the Toyota Motor Company Workers Association” (ILO Workers Group, December 2003). Once again, the “company” union at Toyota has refused to challenge Toyota management for its ties with the Burmese dictators or its repression of freedom of association with respect for worker rights in the Philippines.
This is not to say that Toyota is another Wal-Mart. If Toyota were not in some ways a decent and very effectively run company, it would not be the largest auto company in the world. A full-time assembly line worker at Toyota has a good paying middle class job, allowing them to raise their families in decency. (Still, Toyota wages in Japan are only about 50 percent of union wages and benefits in the U.S.) And if a full time worker stays “clean,” and does not get injured on the job or fall ill, they will have a job for life at Toyota. By “clean” the workers mean not doing anything to oppose Toyota management or the company union.
[]
[W]hat do [] celebrities and the rest of us know about the labor practices and working conditions under which the Prius and other Toyota cars are made in Japan? Really nothing. Why is the commitment to protect our environment so often divorced from a similar concern to protect human and worker rights?
* Low wage temps: a full one-third, or 10,000 Toyota assembly line workers, are low wage temp and subcontract workers who earn less than 60 percent of what full time workers do. Temps have few rights and are hired under contracts as short as four months.
* Overworked to death: Mr Kenichi Uchino died of overwork at Toyota’s Prius plant when he was just 30. He was routinely working 14-hour shifts and putting in anywhere from 107 to 155 hours of overtime a month—at least 61 ½ hours of which were unpaid. Toyota said the hours were “voluntary” and therefore not paid. Mr. Uchino left behind his young wife, a one-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. The Japanese people even have a word for being overworked to death: “karoshi.” An estimated 200 to 300 workers a year suffer serious illness, depression and death due to overwork.
* Sweatshops and human trafficking: Toyota’s parts supply chain is riddled with sweatshop abuse, including the human trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers—mostly from China and Vietnam—to Japan, where they are stripped of their passports and forced to work grueling hours seven days a week, often earning less than half the legal minimum wage. Sixteen-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight are common.
* Linked to Burmese Dictators: Toyota—through the Toyota Tsusho Corporation which is part of the Toyota Group—is involved in several joint business ventures with the ruthless military dictators of Burma, which put revenues into the pockets of the dictators who use it to repress Burma’s 50 million people.
* Toyota criticized by the ILO: The UN/International Labor Organization points to Toyota’s suppression of freedom of association at its plant in the Philippines as “an illustration of how a multinational company, apparently with little regard for corporate responsibility, has done everything in its power to prevent recognition and certification of the Toyota Motor Company Workers Association.” (ILO Working Group, December 2003.)
* Toyota leads the Race to the Bottom: Toyota, now the largest auto company in the world, is using its size and success to impose its two-tier, low-wage model at its non-union plants across America, which will result in a race to the bottom with wages and benefits being slashed throughout the entire auto industry.Toyota’s Profit Reaches $16.7 Billion
The American People Purchase
56,923 Toyota Vehicles Each Week
Toyota reached record profits of $16.7 billion in its fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. Toyota is earning $45.8 million a day, every day of the year.
Toyota sells more vehicles in the U.S. (2.92 million cars, vans and trucks) than in Japan (2.19 million) where its sales are falling.
One third of Toyota’s worldwide sales are in the U.S. The American people purchase 56,923 Toyota vehicles each week.
Hat tip to Laura Flanders of firedoglake.
Manny Being Manny
Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez chatted with Aidan Flaherty, 8, on Thursday.
Boston Herald: Manny Ramirez scores with young Red Sox fan
Nut allergies keep boy out of Fenway
Flaherty [the boy's mother] said she, Aidan and 3-year-old son Liam spotted the Dominican-born Ramirez, 36, about 7 p.m. Thursday after they’d been strolling the city since 8 a.m.
“We were not the most attractive people,” she said, laughing.
Flaherty said Ramirez waved off her repeated apologies for the intrusion and spent about 20 minutes with her family, even taking two baseball cards out of his wallet and signing them for her boys.
Boston Herald Inside Track
Manny Ramirez will turn over his 500th home run ball to the Franciscan Hospital for Children later this week.....The hospital likely will auction the historic ball as part of a fund-raiser.
Monday, June 23, 2008
RIP George Carlin
NYTimes: George Carlin, 71, Irreverent Standup Comedian
Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say On Television
Read On
Another light posting day on the blog today as I work in the studio on the first non-Euro-2008 day in weeks.
The Observer (uk) profiles the dark side of John McCain.
There's a new website leading the charge to attack global warming: 350.org, which stands for 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the air. "Prior to the industrial era, the atmosphere was at about 280 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Now, we are about 387 and growing at nearly 2 ppm per year."
And we need to address global warming because, as everyone who doesn't live in the White House has noticed, weather extremes have become more pronounced in the past decade or so. This post from the LeftCoaster links to a U.S. Climate Change Science Program (part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) report which contains these specific projections:
* Abnormally hot days and nights, along with heat waves, are very likely to become more common. Cold nights are very likely to become less common.
* Sea ice extent is expected to continue to decrease and may even disappear in the Arctic Ocean in summer in coming decades.
* Precipitation, on average, is likely to be less frequent but more intense.
* Droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in some regions.
* Hurricanes will likely have increased precipitation and wind.
* The strongest cold-season storms in the Atlantic and Pacific are likely to produce stronger winds and higher extreme wave heights.
The next time you find yourself seated next to a climate change denier telling you that it's not happening for x, y, or z reason, you will be happy that you read this handy guide from Gristmill: How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic
And now for something completely different: The Boston Globe has a great new photography blog, The Big Picture, which as its name suggests, contains BIG PICTURES. Really big, really beautiful images.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Vive la France!
U. S. National Team captain Carlos Bocanegra, released by Fulham after their season ended, has been signed by French Ligue 1 club Rennes. Good luck in France, Boca!
SportingLife: BOCANEGRA JOINS RENNES
Reading List
Whatever happened to Jimmy Carter's solar panels?
Retired 24-year military veteran has to beg for cancer treatments. Sicko.
Read about the media's slobbering affair with John McBush: Loving John McCain
Newsweek sez Obama has a 15 point lead over McCain. Don't get excited; it's still June.
Profiles of Michelle Obama, from high-brow to low: New York Times, Guardian (uk), Telegraph (uk), US Weekly, Wall Street Journal (I put this next to US Weekly for a reason).
And now for something completely different: A 5-minute interview with English striker Kelly Smith.
Rain Delay
Check out this 'Milli Vanilli' video played during the rain delay at the Red Sox game last night;
Friday, June 20, 2008
Scandal!
This headline just makes me laugh:
Daily Mail (uk): Great tackle, Becks - but have the Armani airbrushers pumped up your lunchbox?
Click it and check out Beckham's lunchbox (now that's new word for that part of the anatomy). I say it was airbrushed. Either that, or a sock.
Daily Mail (uk): Great tackle, Becks - but have the Armani airbrushers pumped up your lunchbox?
Click it and check out Beckham's lunchbox (now that's new word for that part of the anatomy). I say it was airbrushed. Either that, or a sock.
I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: June 20, 2008
Photograph by George Steinmetz/CORBIS
A tiny group of Pacific coral islands, the Republic of Kirabati, with a population of less than a hundred thousand, will be submerged under the ocean in 50 to 100 years as a result of rising ocean waters. Bangladesh, the most crowded nation on earth, population 150,000,000 -- One Hundred and Fifty Million Human Beings -- will be completely underwater by the end of this century, according to NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen.
And those estimates may be accelerated, as data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than it did last year. An example of the chaos that this will bring is in Iceland, where two polar bears were shot in the past two weeks when they showed up hundreds of miles from their habitat.
And what are the Bush Administration and their rubber stamps in Congress doing to address global warming? Nothing. No, take that back, less than nothing. Republicans in the Senate blocked a bill to cut greenhouse emissions last week. The United States taxpayers are being forced to pay to build permanent bases in Iraq, which are surely to provide security for the oil companies (Exxon, Total, BP and Shell) which have just been awarded no-bid contracts to exploit the Iraqi oil fields. The Oilman-In-Chief sent thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to their deaths for the bottom line of Exxon.
Which of his crimes will Bush pay for? The torture he personally authorized? (though he is now trying to blame it on the soldiers, we know that it was the Bush Administration's official policy, memorialized in legal memos and West Wing meetings.) Maj. General Antonio Taguba writes this week that the Bush Administration committed war crimes, and recommends prosection. The
By failing to prosecute the war criminals who perpetrated Iran-Contra, we populated the Project for a New American Century and all the other right wing "think tanks" with all those unindicted co-conspirators, who spent years conspiring on their next nefarious plan: to get us to attack Iraq. As Digby says: When you let Republicans get away with murder, they will do it again.
Some days reading the news is nihilistic. I'm going to take the weekend off from political blogging & regain my equilibrium.
Farewell to Mr. Bloody Sock
Boston Globe: Schilling to have season-ending surgery
Curt Schilling revealed this morning that he will have season-ending surgery on his right shoulder on Monday, saying there was a "pretty decent chance that I've thrown my last pitch forever."
The 41-year-old Red Sox righthander made the disclosure during his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI's Dennis and Callahan show, sounding very much like a player whose career could be over.
"I don't want it to end this way, but if this is the way it has to end, I'm OK with that," Schilling said. "If it's over and my last pitch was in the 2007 World Series, I'm OK with that. I just can't stress enough where I am mentally with this. I have not a regret in the world. ... None of this makes me bitter or angry or pissed. It is what it is. In that sense, honestly, it's very, very easy for me because of what I've been able to experience compared to what I wanted when I first started my career, but if I have some say in how this is gonna end, I want it to be different than what it is right now."
Thanks for the memories, Curt. We'll always have 2004.
Enjoy yourself out there stumping for John McBush this summer.
Why'd I Waste All That Time in Law School?
Why did I bother studying the Fourth Amendment anyway? It's just about gone. The House just voted 293-129 for a new FISA bill eliminating my Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure from the Constitution. I mean, you can hem and haw around it, but when the President has unlimited power to let major telecoms spy on you & shovel the info to the government, and then Congress ratifies the spying, lets everyone involved off the hook, and gives the President even more power to spy, what else can you call it? Farewell, Fourth Amendment, I knew you well.
Hello, Verizon, enjoy listening in on all my telephone calls and reading my emails, and transmitting them to the government. Who needs the Stasi? We've got the telecoms, who will help Big Brother invade every aspect of our lives.
Maybe I need to buy a printing press, because the Interwebs ain't free any more.
Why did the Democrats cave yet again? (I am so goddamn sick of seeing Democrat and cave in the same sentence. I expect to see it next week when the Senate caves to Preznit Chimpy McSmirk on this very bill.) I saw an interesting theory somewhere on the blogs last night, that this is to protect the Democrats who got clued in to the illegal wiretapping program by the President (Pelosi, Reid, Steny Hoyer), who would have been liable if the telecoms were allowed to stand trial for their crimes. So they're really just protecting their multimillionaire asses. God forbid a member of Congress actually has to follow the law.
I mean, it's just the fucking Constitution, right, "It's just a goddamned piece of paper" as President Fuckwit once said.
So they all took an oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution. So what? They don't want to have to pay for violating their oaths. It's all about their precious Benjamins.
At least my Congressman, the estimable James P. McGovern, voted no.
One would hope that the law school professor who taught Constitutional law who happens to be running for President would stand up and oppose this in the Senate; I'm not holding my breath. One would think that my junior Senator would pull his head out of his ass long enough to do what Senator Kennedy would do if he wasn't in the middle of major cancer treatments, filibuster this abomination. But again, I'm not holding my breath waiting for Kerry to fight. Remember how he was going to fight for every vote in 2004? Right.
I will end with a comment from the firedoglake post announcing the vote:
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Hoyer and Pelosi will get their just desserts in due time. They spit on the graves of those who fought and died for the Constitution including the 4th Amendment. They would sell their country out and the honor and memory of those lying in hallowed and unhallowed ground around the world for a bag of silver.
That's about right. Selling the Constitution for 30 pieces of silver. Shame.
Thank god for sports so I can escape the fury I feel. Euro 2008, here I come.
A Few More Celtics Videos
LA: You just got Rondo'd
Kevin Garnett & Ray Allen on Letterman:
Big Baby is GOING TO DISNEYLAND:
hat tip to my favorite Celtics blog, I*Heart*Celtics
Kevin Garnett & Ray Allen on Letterman:
Big Baby is GOING TO DISNEYLAND:
hat tip to my favorite Celtics blog, I*Heart*Celtics
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Celtics Get Their Own Rolling Rally
The "rolling rally", now a Boston fixture, took place this morning. The entire team was aboard duck boats and a huge crowd lined the parade route. A TV announcer said the most common sign was "Marry Me Rondo"! The players smoked cigars in a tribute to Red Auerbach's famous victory cigar.
I guess I'm getting old. I never even seriously considered going. I hate the crowds, and I had to be in front of the TV for Portugal-Germany, the best semifinal of Euro 2008.
Boston Herald Photo Gallery
Boston Globe: Crowds cheer as Celtics roll through Boston
Boston Globe Photo Gallery
Boston Globe: Sox to honor Celtics on Friday
Paul Ince To Become Premier League's First British Black Manager
Hurray! The English papers are reporting that Paul Ince is to be named Blackburn manager to succeed Mark Hughes.
Any white player with Ince's credentials (as a player: 2 Premier Leagues titles, 2 FA Cups, 1 Cup-Winners' Cup, 1 League Cup, 53 caps for his country) would have been offered a position when he hung up his boots, like Alan Shearer who is mentioned as a serious candidate for just about every Premier League opening. And check out the comparison at the end of this article between Roy Keane and Gareth Southgate's experience before being named directly as Premier League managers, to Ince who had to work his way up to the job.
Paul Ince started at the bottom , managing Swindon Town, Macclesfield Town, and MK Dons in Leagues One and Two, successfully keeping Macclesfield from being relegated, and taking MK Dons to promotion to League One. So it's about time he got the big job. Good luck Paul Ince!
BBC Sport: Ince set to become Blackburn boss
Telegraph (uk): Paul Ince set to become new Blackburn Rovers manager as replacement for Mark Hughes
Times (uk): Paul Ince expected to be named Blackburn Rovers manager
Daily Mail (uk): Blackburn to make Ince their Guv'nor as Dons prepare to name their price
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Veepstakes: Jack Reed
Senator Jack Reed helped broker a plan to widen access to federally insured mortgages without tapping into taxpayer money.
NYTimes: A Quiet Dealmaker Works for Pained Homeowners
I like Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) a lot. He's a lawyer, a West Point graduate, and was an Army Ranger for 12 years. He's one of the few members of Congress who can ask a question (most of them just give long rambling speeches and annoy me no end!). He opposed the war from the start (like I said, he's smart.) He's a pretty standard New England liberal; here are his positions & votes on some key issues.
Drawbacks as a candidate: Rhode Island would probably vote Democratic anyway, as will the rest of New England. And he's not the most charismatic guy in the world. For evidence of this, watch him deliver a Democratic response to a Bush speech last September:
Senator Jack Reed delivered the Democratic response to President Bush's address to the nation on Iraq.
Most Valuable Press Conference
Brian Scalabrine, who didn't play a minute in the playoffs, calls out the media for predicting a Lakers win:
In The News
Flickr: Powerhouse Museum Collection
Just as the DFHs said, the Bush Administration is building permanent military bases in Iraq. Bush wants to stay in Iraq 4-eva, no matter what platitudes he mouths.
Not only did Bush and Cheney authorize torture, McClatchy reports that the United States hid tortured prisoners from the International Red Cross. Prosecutors will call that "consciousness of guilt" when these murdering psychopaths are finally put on trial for war crimes at the Hague.
You won't hear this on gasbag TV, but polls show Obama leading in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Haven't they been telling us all year that Obama was doomed in Florida because the Dem primary there didn't count? Not. Even pundits who acknowledge Obama's lead see danger up ahead for Obama. Or maybe that song was playing in the background while Jake Tapper was
Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson (another groundbreaking white male addition to the white-male-dominated WaPo opinion pages) calls Al Franken "vulgar" in his column today. You heard that right, the man who dressed up the Psychopath-in-Chief in pretty words, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents around the world, that man calls Al Franken vulgar. Atrios knocks Gerson's phony argument out with two photos.
Speaking of the Psychopath-In-Chief, that MF who hasn't ever gone to the funeral of one of the men and women he sent to their deaths by lying us into Iraq, he went to the funeral of Saint Timmeh of Punditry. Some deaths count, and some are shoved under the rug.
How old is John McCain? He's older than carbon dating.
The will.i.am video putting Obama's New Hampshire primary speech to music, "Yes We Can", won an Emmy. (Watch it here)
Celtics Crush Fakers, Win 17th NBA Championship
Paul Pierce is the Motherfucking Truth.
(apologies to Shaq who originated the phrase)
Don't talk to me about that rapist from LaLaLand. Paul Pierce is the MVP of the series, and Kevin Garnett was the MVP of the league. And if you had one guy to pick to take the shot with the game on the line, that man is Ray Allen.
Red Auerbach is smiling down on the Celtics tonight.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Totally Not Safe For Work
You will remember that John McCain called his wife Cindy a cunt in front of a group of reporters while running for Arizona Senate in 1992. This video discusses how this incident would be treated if McCain were, oh, I don't know, maybe a ... Democrat? Don't watch with kids in the room!
Viral Video
This video, of a baby laughing in slow motion, is hilarious. The slo-mo makes the laugh very low-pitched and vaguely creepy.
Slow Motion Baby Laugh
hat tip to Boing Boing
Slow Motion Baby Laugh
hat tip to Boing Boing
Republican Racists
Disgraceful.
DallasNews: Stick a Pin in It
Veepstakes: Wes Clark
Here's Clark on Morning McCain yesterday, doing a creditable job of attacking McCain's supposed national security credentials:
Wes Clark was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Kosovo. He's smart (finished first in his class at West Point, a decided contrast to McCain, 5th from the bottom at the Naval Academy), articulate, and was an early supporter of Hillary Clinton. What's not to like?
Wes Clark was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in Kosovo. He's smart (finished first in his class at West Point, a decided contrast to McCain, 5th from the bottom at the Naval Academy), articulate, and was an early supporter of Hillary Clinton. What's not to like?
Today's News
Greek Religion--sculptor, Daniel Chester French
McCain's national security adviser, John Lehman, told the New York Times that he offered to make John McCain a one-star admiral in 1980, but McCain declined. The New York Times put the claim on the front page. Problem? It's probably not true, as McCain never mentioned it before, and the story of his leaving the Navy has been told many times. Hard to check up on McCain's military service, tho, as he has never released his full military records. Read this extensive article by Jeffrey Klein for the details.
The torture regime came from the top of the Bush Administration. We already knew that, but there is proof now.
The senior civilian managing the contract of Halliburton subsidiary KBR in 2004 was fired when he refused to pay bogus billing records for Dick Cheney's favorite special interest. The amount in question that taxpayers ponied up for despite shoddy record-keeping and questionable bills? $1,000,000,000. That's one billion dollars to CheneyFraud. Heckuva job, Dickhead.
Gay marriage is now legal in California as of yesterday. The march of progress continues. It hasn't changed life here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts one iota, except for allowing some of our fellow citizens legal rights, joy and peace of mind. All good things.
Gas prices have sent Prius sales soaring. Even in Billings, Montana, home of the pickup truck. Honda is now making a hydrogen-fuel-cell car. I want one:
The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the noxious fumes believed to induce global warming. It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered car, the company says.
Honda expects to lease a few dozen cars this year and 200 within three years. In California, a three-year lease will run $600 a month, which includes maintenance and collision coverage.
The Mets fire Willie Randolph in the middle of the night. Disgraceful end to a class act. The Mets are finding that stocking a team with mid-30s free agents may have worked in the steroid era, but now they're just injury prone. Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast sez, hire Ron Darling.
More Stolen Recipes
Cindy McCain caught cribbing recipes from the internet a second time. Well, John McCain says she is the one in the family who uses the computer. Too bad she hasn't mastered "The Google" yet.
Now, as a feminist I think it is beyond absurd for us to pretend that the wife (or in Bill Clinton's case, the husband) of a presidential candidate has favorite cookie recipes. Like most of us, when they want cookies they go to the grocery store, or the bakery. At most when they make cookies they take down the cookbook, or call Mom, or call the maid or the cook (in Cindy McCain's case, this is the most likely). But since Cindy McCain is participating in this little charade with nary a protest, trying to win the hearts of the Family Circle readers who pay $1.99 at the checkout counter for the magazine with her Oatmeal-Butterscotch Cookie recipe (which they could have taken for free from the Hersheys.com site, just as Mrs. McCain did) she is perpetrating a fraud on more than one level.
Some funny posts on the subject:
TBogg: Nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ that’s been stolen
attaturk, firedoglake: And furthermore, her husband copied “the Wheel”
Rep Gillibrand in the News
Albany Times-Union: Gillibrand priority: 'Constituent service'
Congresswoman finds best way to prepare for tough election contest is being attentive to voters
She's running for re-election against Sandy Treadwell, a millionaire who's trying the buy the seat so will need every edge she can get.
Why would a millionaire be trying to buy a seat in Congress? To get on the gravy train of lobbyist cash, of course. Gillibrand's last opponent, former Congressman John Sweeney, got plenty of money into his family's coffers by getting earmarks for clients who had hired his wife's firm. Public money to clients, paid back to wife's lobby shop. That little gambit was the subject of an FBI raid earlier this month as it involved uber-lobbyist/thief Jack Abramoff. Boy, I'd love to see John Sweeney hauled off to jail.
Baby Heads Are Staying
Boston Globe: Permanent Baby Head Situation
Good news for fans of giant baby heads. Gail and Ernst von Metzsch have donated the money to allow the Museum of Fine Arts to acquire the bronze sculptures created by Antonio Lopez Garcia. The heads, which are 8 feet tall and weigh 1.6 tons each, have been moved to the Fenway side of the museum in anticipation of this week's opening of the State Street Corporation doors.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Name the Missing Phrase
Welcome to Corporate Media Jeopardy!
Here's an article from today's Wichita Eagle. For $200, can you name the missing phrase?
'08 Kansas tornadoes triple average
Go read the whole article to make sure you make an educated guess.
If you guessed "global warming", you are correct. (We'd also accept climate change.)
Do we have to have 10 times the usual number of tornadoes before the media start mentioning global warming and climate change? Won't it be too late at that point?
Here's an article from today's Wichita Eagle. For $200, can you name the missing phrase?
'08 Kansas tornadoes triple average
Preliminary statistics from the National Weather Service show that 172 tornadoes have been reported in Kansas this year -- the most in the nation.
Iowa is next at 134, and Missouri is third at 127.
As of Friday, 1,577 tornadoes had been reported in the U.S. this year. Last year saw 1,093.
While final statistics are typically lower because some preliminary reports are multiple views of the same tornadoes, officials say the numbers are still eye-opening.
Kansas' total is triple the state's annual average, for example.
Go read the whole article to make sure you make an educated guess.
If you guessed "global warming", you are correct. (We'd also accept climate change.)
Do we have to have 10 times the usual number of tornadoes before the media start mentioning global warming and climate change? Won't it be too late at that point?
Happy Father's Day, David Ortiz, Citizen
Or as Jonathan Papelbon calls him, "The Large Father". As of last week, he is "Citizen Papi".
Boston Globe Photo Gallery: David Ortiz becomes a US citizen
ProJo: David Ortiz a new U.S. citizen
It's Not Your Fault
WaPo: Weight Gain May Not Be Based Just on What You Eat
THURSDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- "You are what you eat" is a frustrating truism familiar to the diet-conscious choosing between carrots and carrot cake. But new research suggests that weight control isn't just a matter of what you put in your mouth, but also how the nervous system is genetically predisposed to process fat.
The theory is based on research with worms that suggests that the brain chemical serotonin -- long known for its appetite control properties -- relies on independent but coordinated nerve pathways to drive not only hunger, but also fat metabolism.
"I want to be clear that there is absolutely nothing in our study that says that good nutrition and activity is not important or not good for you," said study lead author Kaveh Ashrafi, an assistant professor in the department of physiology and the Diabetes Center at the University of California, San Francisco. "But that said, I think that it is important to realize that there is a major contributing factor to body weight that is genetic."
Torture Widespread
We have been ruled by a monster for 7 1/2 years, and he has encouraged our soldiers to become monsters:
McClatchy: U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases
KABUL, Afghanistan — American soldiers herded the detainees into holding pens of razor-sharp concertina wire, the kind that's used to corral livestock.
The guards kicked, kneed and punched many of the men until they collapsed in pain. U.S. troops shackled and dragged other detainees to small isolation rooms, then hung them by their wrists from chains dangling from the wire mesh ceiling.
Former guards and detainees whom McClatchy interviewed said Bagram was a center of systematic brutality for at least 20 months, starting in late 2001. Yet the soldiers responsible have escaped serious punishment.
[]
The brutality at Bagram peaked in December 2002, when U.S. soldiers beat two Afghan detainees, Habibullah and Dilawar, to death as they hung by their wrists.
Dilawar died on Dec. 10, seven days after Habibullah died. He'd been hit in his leg so many times that the tissue was "falling apart" and had "basically been pulpified," said then-Lt. Col. Elizabeth Rouse, the Air Force medical examiner who performed the autopsy on him.
Had Dilawar lived, Rouse said in sworn testimony, "I believe the injury to the legs are so extensive that it would have required amputation."
Media Farewell to Saint Timmeh of Punditry
It's sad that Tim Russert died at the young age of 58. The hagiographical coverage, though, has gone a bit too far:
Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel: Lessons of the Tim Russert coverage
Eschaton: Worst Russert Related Commentary
Roger (The Good) Ailes: And When They Rolled Away The Stone, Tim Was Gone
John Cole: Let's Get Something Straight
Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel: Lessons of the Tim Russert coverage
Here's one thing you can say about journalists: Surely no one loves us as much as we love ourselves.
Eschaton: Worst Russert Related Commentary
I've been trying to hold back, but this is absurd:
It's surely no consolation to his family if we note that Russert dedicated himself to the pursuit of a noble cause: journalism, the free flow of information, the First Amendment, the need (more than ever) to hold politicians accountable for their words and actions. That, in fact, is more than a noble cause. It is patriotism. And his passing is sad proof that a patriot can sacrifice himself for the country he loves without dying in battle.
Even leaving aside the sharp contradiction between "free flow of information" and the Russert standard of "everything is presumed to be off the record," what sacrifice has Russert made? It's estimated that his annual salary was $5 million plus.
Comparing the "sacrifice" of celebrity journalists, even one who happens to die young, to people who get sent off to die in war isn't just absurd, it's obscene.
Roger (The Good) Ailes: And When They Rolled Away The Stone, Tim Was Gone
[SALLY] QUINN: I don't know any single person who ever thought that Tim was unfair.
...
QUINN: Yes, but, you know, the thing that is so interesting about it was that everybody believed Tim. There was never -- I never heard anybody say, "Do you think Tim is telling the truth?"
John Cole: Let's Get Something Straight
Tim Russert was a newsman. He was not the Pope. This is not the JFK assassination, or Reagan’s death, or the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. A newsman died. We know you miss him, but please shut up and get back to work.
In The News
Electric phosphate smelting furnace used to make elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the vicinity of Muscle Shoals, Alabama
1942 June
This was done in your name: The United States illegally used white phosphorus and chemical weapons in Fallujah in 2004; now babies are being born with birth defects.
Many of the supposed "terrorists" tortured by the Bush Administration at Guantanamo were actually innocent. Again, this was done in your name. Chilling.
The Taliban -- remember them? -- attacked a prison in Kandahar, Afgahanistan from within and without, and 1100 prisoners escaped. The resurgence of the Taliban is another complete failure for the Bush Administration.
John McCain has a former Texas gubernatorial candidate organizing a $300,000 fundraiser -- a guy who joked rape is like the weather, when it is inevitable you should just lie back and enjoy it, in 1990. At first, McCain announced the fundraiser was cancelled. But there was money for the taking, so they're rescheduling it, with all the same donors -- except now the rape joker is not invited. Just his money and his moneyed friends. Any Hillary Clinton supporter who votes for McCain is a fool.
John McCain doesn't use a computer. Who doesn't use a computer anymore? My 80-year-old friend is on her third. McCain: Too old, too out of touch with modern life.
The odious Rudy Giuliani is back. He's trying to retire his campaign debt -- by selling his appearances at fundraisers to other Republicans. Hey Rudy -- there's no "I" in "Team". But it was always about Rudy.
Read this article on the Bush/Rove response to Katrina. You want to cry, but you have to laugh -- bitterly -- at this:
[Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco] gave Bush a two-page letter detailing everything the state needed to cope with the disaster -- troops, buses, supplies, money, and more. It would not be until several days later, when Blanco's aides released the letter to the press and got frantic phone calls from Rove's aide Maggie Grant, that it became clear that Bush had taken the letter Blanco had personally handed to him -- and lost it.
President Dumber-Than-A-Box-of-Hammers Lost. The. Letter. Heckuva job, Bushie.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
People Are Really Hurting
And the millionaire media pundits keep talking about themselves.
Bob Hebert, NYTimes: Letters From Vermont
Bob Hebert, NYTimes: Letters From Vermont
Despite the focus on the housing crisis, gasoline prices and the economy in general, the press has not done a good job capturing the intense economic anxiety — and even dread, in some cases — that has gripped tens of millions of working Americans, including many who consider themselves solidly middle class.
Working families are not just changing their travel plans and tightening up on purchases at the mall. There is real fear and a great deal of suffering out there.
A man who described himself as a conscientious worker who has always pinched his pennies wrote the following to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont:
“This winter, after keeping the heat just high enough to keep my pipes from bursting (the bedrooms are not heated and never got above 30 degrees) I began selling off my woodworking tools, snowblower, (pennies on the dollar) and furniture that had been handed down in my family from the early 1800s, just to keep the heat on.
“Today I am sad, broken, and very discouraged. I am thankful that the winter cold is behind us for a while, but now gas prices are rising yet again. I just can’t keep up.”
[]
A 55-year-old man who said his economic condition was “very scary,” wrote: “I don’t live from paycheck to paycheck. I live day to day.” He has no savings, he said. His gas tank is never more than a quarter full, and he can’t afford to buy the “food items” he would like.
His sense of his own mortality was evident in every sentence, and he wondered how long he could continue. “I am concerned as gas prices climb daily,” he said. “I am just tired. The harder that I work, the harder it gets. I work 12 to 14 hours daily, and it just doesn’t help.”
A working mother with two young children wrote: “Some nights we eat cereal and toast for dinner because that’s all I have.”
Another woman said she and her husband, both 65, “only eat two meals a day to conserve.”
Disgraceful Treatment of Veterans By Bush Administration
Bush's Veterans Administration is banning voter registration at federally run nursing homes, Veterans Administration hospitals, shelters, and rehab hospitals. This is the ultimate insult, to those who served their country to ensure democracy and are now disabled as a result, to be deprived of the franchise. A complete disgrace, but what can you expect from a bunch of constitution-hating chickenhawks?
NYTimes: V.A. Ban on Voter Drives Is Criticized
NYTimes: V.A. Ban on Voter Drives Is Criticized
Two Can Play This Game
CBSNews: Michelle Obama Becomes GOP Target
Politico: Both Parties Are Trying To Define Democratic Candidate's Wife For The General Election
So, does that mean Cindy McCain was proud of her country while she was getting high taking the drugs she stole from a medical charity? I bet she was proud of her country when she got special treatment from the justice system, which didn't throw her in jail. I can just imagine her thinking, I'm proud to be a rich American, from a country where only the poor go to jail for fraud, forgery and theft!
Politico: Both Parties Are Trying To Define Democratic Candidate's Wife For The General Election
It’s less than a week into the general election campaign, but already Michelle Obama is a Republican target.
Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger leveled the first blow, introducing Republican John McCain’s wife at a fundraiser this week as someone who is “proud of her country, not just once but always.” Obama wasn’t mentioned by name, but the audience got it.
So, does that mean Cindy McCain was proud of her country while she was getting high taking the drugs she stole from a medical charity? I bet she was proud of her country when she got special treatment from the justice system, which didn't throw her in jail. I can just imagine her thinking, I'm proud to be a rich American, from a country where only the poor go to jail for fraud, forgery and theft!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Global Warming Ignored By Corporate Media
Excellent post pointing out what the corporate media ignores: our "weird" weather is actually a direct consequence of climate change.
Kirk James Murphy, M.D., firedoglake: Another Gift From Global Climate Change: That Ugly Weather
Tonight Coach Mom called to tell me that a wind shear event this afternoon dropped a huge old pine tree on her neighbor's house; another neighbor can't get into their house because a piece of roof blocks the door; and half the town is without power. This is in the same tiny community that had a $30 million storm wash out several major roads June 19th of last year. That was their fourth major flood in two years.
MSNBC is in their second day of non-stop coverage of the untimely death of Tim Russert. It is sad that a man that young who was a great friend to all of them died, but it is not earth-shaking news. Tens of thousands are now dying every year in global-warming fueled natural disasters. Hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, and heat waves are covered as though this was just the weather, but it is actually earth-shattering news of climate change. Maybe if Tim Russert had drowned in a 500-year-flood, the media would cover global warming.
Global Warming Comes To Iowa
(Ron Mayland/Reuters)
While the news commentators never mention global warming, how many cities and states can have 500 year floods before the media tell us the truth? If you google < iowa flooding > you get 13, 785 news results; if you google < iowa flooding global warming > you get 13, and half of those are global warming deniers.
LATimes: Tens of thousands flee Iowa flooding
Chicago Sun-Times: Iowa's Katrina
DemocraticOz at dailykos: "Unprecedented." Iowa Flooding - w/ photos
Friday, June 13, 2008
Summer Museum Trip
Adelbert John, a member of the Allegheny Reservation baseball team near Salamanca in New York’s Southern Tier, poses for the camera.
I'm going to make plans to see this show while I'm visiting Coach Mom in New York this summer.
NYTimes: The American Indians of America’s Pastime
Jacoby Ellsbury is beloved by Red Sox Nation.
He is also a member of Navajo Nation.
Ellsbury, whose mother is Navajo, is the first person from that tribe to reach the major leagues. He is among 47 American Indian baseball players whose contributions to the game, from its earliest innings, are chronicled in “Baseball’s League of Nations: A Tribute to Native Americans in Baseball,” an exhibit that opened April 1 and runs through Dec. 31 at the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, N.Y.
“Since this exhibit opened, we have had some of our largest crowds in recent years,” said Erynne Ansel-McCabe, the director of the 27-year-old museum. “People have been staying for hours, looking at artifacts and reading all about these players, many of whom suffered from the same kind of racial discrimination as American Negro league players.”
Pitchers Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees (Winnebago) and Kyle Lohse of the St. Louis Cardinals (Nomlaki) are the only other American Indians in the majors.
“I think it’s wonderful to have a place where people can go to see all the accomplishments made by these great players,” Chamberlain said Thursday while sitting at his locker at Yankee Stadium before a game against Toronto. “I can tell you that the three of us playing in the majors are all proud to be carrying on this great tradition.”
The exhibit’s roster includes Jim Thorpe (Sac/Fox), an outfielder for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves (1913 to 1919); Ben Tincup (Cherokee), a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies (1914 to 1918) and the Chicago Cubs (1928); and Jim Bluejacket (Cherokee), who pitched for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League (1914-15) and the Cincinnati Reds (1916).
Moses Yellowhorse, a Pawnee, is considered by many historians to be the first full-blooded American Indian to play professional baseball. Yellowhorse, who was not-so-affectionately known as Chief, broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1921. The next season, he hit Ty Cobb with a pitch between the eyes.
“This was probably as much a result of Cobb’s crowding the plate as it was a retaliation for his racist remarks,” is the explanation the museum provides from a Yellowhorse biography, “60 Feet Six Inches and Other Distances from Home” by Todd Fuller.
Voice of America News: American Indians' Untold Baseball Stories
IROQUOIS INDIAN MUSEUM: Calendar of Events for 2008
North Country Public Radio: Native Americans in baseball's past & present (audio)
Obama Was Wrong
He said Kevin Garnett was his favorite player, but he thought the Lakers would beat the Celtics in six because they had the better team.
Obama was wrong, and now he knows it.
Was there anything more satisfying than coming back from a 24-point deficit to beat the hated Lakers last night? Well, yeah, nothing beats the Sawx coming back from down 3-0 to beat the Yankees, the MFYs, in the 2004 American League Championship series. I'm not as invested in these Celtics as I am in the Red Sox, or as I was with the 1980s Celtics, a team that was assembled by Red, not purchased by Danny Ainge.
But this Celtics team is compelling, starting with Kevin Garnett, one of the most inspirational leaders I've ever seen, a man who came in and transformed an entire team. It's amazing to watch 12 players playing with Garnett's flaming intensity at both ends of the court, playing every professional game like college kids, filled with enthusiasm, every player on the bench jumping up and down on every possession.
Last night's highlights, for me, were: Ray Allen/Jesus Shuttlesworth , age 32, plays 48 minutes; Paul Pierce asks to guard Kobe Bryant at halftime; Paul Pierce blocks Kobe Bryant's fallaway jumper (almost impossible, watch the video here)!; James Posey rains in another outside shot in the 4th quarter, then pops out that goofy green & white mouthguard to grin; Pierce dancing around in the backcourt after Allen's layup sealed the win with 16 seconds left; the total silence of the "fans" at the Staples Center.
This morning I heard some radio gasbags call the Lakers "a bunch of softies and Euro-weenies". I think you could apply that description to the silent fans, too. Can you imagine the Garden (which should be renamed the AUERBACH ARENA, hello!) silent if the Celtics were in a close game? Never.
I think we can go back to what we used to call the Lakers: The Fakers.
While it would be nice to win the trophy in front of the Garden faithful, I would not be surprised to see the Lakers, their backs broken last night, fold like a cheap suit on Sunday night.
Suldog: Ubuntu
I*Heart*Celtics: I Love The Boston Celtics
Boston Herald: Game 4 Photo Gallery
Boston Globe, Game 4 Photo Gallery
Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: Seeing this was believing
John McCain and His Campaign of Lies, Damn Lies, and More Lies
Remember the old Saturday Night Live debates where Dan Ackroyd played Bob Dole, growling at George H.W. Bush, "Stop lying about my record, George Bush!"
John McCain should be growling at himself, "Stop lying about my record, John McBush!"
John McCain lies about his position on Social Security privatization, today:
That's not what he said in March:
And it's not what he said in November of 2004:
That's lie #1.
Here's lie #2. In the famous "green screen" speech on the day Obama clinched the nomination, John McCain said these lies:
But that's not what he said in June of 2005 on Meet the Press:
Watch John McCain 2005 versus John McCain 2008 on this video:
John McCain, stop lying about your record! (Grrrr.)
John McCain should be growling at himself, "Stop lying about my record, John McBush!"
John McCain lies about his position on Social Security privatization, today:
"I am not for privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be."
That's not what he said in March:
"As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it – along the lines of what President Bush proposed." [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/2008]
And it's not what he said in November of 2004:
“Without privatization, I don’t see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits.”
That's lie #1.
Here's lie #2. In the famous "green screen" speech on the day Obama clinched the nomination, John McCain said these lies:
You will hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I'm running for President Bush's third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false. So he tries to drum it into your minds by constantly repeating it rather than debate honestly the very different directions he and I would take the country.
[]
I have worked with the President to keep our nation safe. But he and I have not seen eye to eye on many issues. We've disagreed over the conduct of the war in Iraq and the treatment of detainees; over out of control government spending and budget gimmicks; over energy policy and climate change; over defense spending that favored defense contractors over the public good.
I disagreed strongly with the Bush administration's mismanagement of the war in Iraq. I called for the change in strategy that is now, at last, succeeding where the previous strategy had failed miserably.
But that's not what he said in June of 2005 on Meet the Press:
The fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush. So, have we had some disagreements on some issues - particularly domestic issues? Yes, but I will argue my conservative record of voting with anyone's, and I will also submit that my support for President Bush has been active and very impassioned on issues that are important to the American people. And I am particularly talking about the war on terror, war on Iraq, national security, national defense, support of men and women in the military, fiscal discipline, a number of other issues; I strongly disagree with any assertion that I have been more at odds with the President of the United States than I have been in agreement.
Watch John McCain 2005 versus John McCain 2008 on this video:
John McCain, stop lying about your record! (Grrrr.)
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Go Read
Good news story of the day: the Supreme Court ruled that The Great Writ, the writ of habeas corpus, applies to the Guantanamo Bay prisoners: The Rule of Law Prevailed The prisoners are entitled to challenge their detention in federal court; the Bushies have failed in their attempt to create an extrajudicial SuperMax prison for the world. But it was only a 5-4 decision; our democracy rests on the weary shoulders of 88-year-old Justice John Paul Stephens. Elect Obama, save the Court.
To understand why this is so offensive, you must know that in contemporary jargon, "baby mama" means unwed mother: Fox News calls Michelle Obama "Obama's baby mama"
36-year-old right-wing nutjob Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal keeps getting invited to McCain's house for ribs as a VP candidate. Perhaps he's banished a few spirits while he's there? After all, he's an exorcist! Is Bobby Jindal -- Who May Be On McCain's Veep Shortlist -- An Exorcist?
We all know the corporate media is bought and paid for. And then we see the concrete evidence. David Broder, the supposed "dean of the Washington press corps" is selling his own corpse to speak at coporate events. If they're lucky, he then features their issue in a column. Presstitute. David Broder’s Moonlighting: Post columnist benefits from corporate speaking deals
I'm Voting Republican
Well, not really, but watch this video for why you "should"
And if you're going to vote Republican, you may as well learn to Speak Republican!
hat tip to this diary at dailykos.
And if you're going to vote Republican, you may as well learn to Speak Republican!
hat tip to this diary at dailykos.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Real John McCain
Not a nice man.
DailyMail (uk): The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind
DailyMail (uk): The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind
[T]here is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children.
And yet, had events turned out differently, it would be she, rather than Cindy, who would be vying to be First Lady. She is McCain’s first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty and a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965.
She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.
But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.
When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter.
Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.
Today, she stands at just 5ft4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.
For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.
Carol insists she remains on good terms with her ex-husband, who agreed as part of their divorce settlement to pay her medical costs for life. ‘I have no bitterness,’
she says. ‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce.
‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’
Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.
[]
[] Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.
‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.
‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’
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