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Si non è vero
Yesterday I posted a speculation about the famous/infamous, true/false, existent/inexistent, Michelle "tape/dvd". I was gratified by the tremendous response I received. This forum is a unique opportunity to take the pulse of any issue and anyone who earns his bread and cheese in political speculation has to be grateful for this opportunity.
I had to really dodge the flung dung.
In fact, the reaction I received to my post convinces me more than anything else that there is something to this rumor. Or perhaps I should say that it proves that there is a tremendous fear among Obamites that there is something out there of equal caliber and destructiveness.
There is a famous Italian saying about certain rumors; "Si non e vero, e ben trovato", it means: if it isn't true, it's well...made up.
For example if we were going to invent scurrilous rumors about John McCain, we would probably invent things like his having incipient Alzheimer or wearing diapers. Because of his great age, some people might believe it.
However, if we spread it about that he was a sex addict or a child molester or that he took drugs, or often missed his naps, very few would find that credible, again because of his great age.
I really can't imagine either McCain or his supporters mobilizing masses of people to refute any of these inventions, either the credible or the incredible.
In the case of Michelle Obama, this tape rumor is either true or it isn't.... and if it isn't, it will die a natural death.
However, the hysterical reaction of the Obama campaign and the Obamites in general makes me smell a rat. It proves that as Maureen Dowd writes in the NYT.
“Michelle,” as one political observer puts it, “is a target-rich environment.”The Obamite reaction will prove to the Swiftboaters that they are close to pay dirt. Obviously the Obama campaigh want to intimidate them.
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As to the rumor itself... there is one detail that is either true, or the work of master rumor monger: that is the bit about Michelle's denouncing Bill Clinton's inaction on the Rwanda genocide.
That is a story that surfaced a couple of months before her supposed speech to the Rainbow/Push conference in 2004 and which quickly dropped out of the public eye, a political junky's collector's item, it is certainly something too old and too obscure for a crude forger to use today.
Comments (53)
After every new post, be sure to check the link below and watch the graphic update with the new total.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/TrollBowl
You post, I donate ... facile, no?
June 13, 2008 3:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great! I learn and you go broke.
June 13, 2008 4:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here's what I've learned from David: A denial of a story is proof that the story is true. Not denying a story is also proof that the story is true.
Clearly, the only way we would know a story was false would be if they admitted it was true.
June 13, 2008 8:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Must be penny ante or the trollers are in training wheels (troller skates?), it's only up to $150.
June 13, 2008 5:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
"troller skates"
That's very good!
June 13, 2008 5:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for helping make a point: 'troller skates' - now that's funny, and I'd be all for payin' top dollar for funny, 'cept why buy the cow when you're gettin' the milk for free? And with all the fresh milk flowin' around here, who in their right mind's gonna pay top dollar for curdled ol' troll? Don't make sense. A nickel on the barrelhead for a little mockery is a nickel well-spent, so why go callin' it 'penny ante' when folks are gettin' their money's worth? Waste not want not is how I see it.
June 13, 2008 5:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Should have been "troller stakes", double down when you're losing I say.
June 13, 2008 8:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but you always doubled-down with panache. That ain't what's happenin' here.
June 13, 2008 8:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
True, Desi. You're clever and entertaining--in a smart way.
This crap is just wacky with no entertainment value. Except for the freakshow.
June 13, 2008 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Toss him a chicken, see what he does with it.
June 13, 2008 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nah, they're funds that would've been donated anyway. This way's just more fun. You learn, I spend, and Obama wins ... È senz'altro più divertente.
June 13, 2008 5:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
And I apparently still haven't learned how to click the damn 'reply' box ...
June 13, 2008 5:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
The center of my thesis is that while McCain can't "win", Obama can lose and the weakest link is his wife. That is because she is a real person, with real opinions and has spoken her mind without calculating the effect her words might have years later.
Obama, on the other hand, is a phony... look at how he sold out the Palestinians the other day at AIPAC... he'll do the same on health or anything else. He makes John Kerry's "flip flopping" look Gibraltar-like in its steadiness.
June 13, 2008 5:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Goodness, what insight, how did I ever miss it the first time? But of course any real person who dares speak their mind is just asking for trouble. As it should be.
All I'm left to wonder is why you haven't bothered to apply such a wonderful principle to your own life, Mr. Seaton?
a real person ... [who] has spoken [his] mind without calculating the effect [his] words might have ...
Weird, sounds like Seaton.
Anyway, check the linky thing in my first comment. Holy Moses, it's gone jumped up to $200! Consider that a bonus prize for peerless asshattery. Rock on.
June 13, 2008 6:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'd say both McCain's wives are far weaker links. The first because of how he cheated on her and abandoned her, the second because of how she looted her non-profit for drugs.
June 13, 2008 7:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but googling "Carol Shepp" is way too easy and what her story suggests about John McCain's character is way too obvious.
Better to follow Seaton's lead and pursue the harder truths to be learned from a non-story.
June 13, 2008 8:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Seaton is merely trying to divert attention from the true scandal. To wit:
I hear there's a tape of David Seaton holding forth in a Spanish cafe - his rant is fueled by the crowd - he gets more passionate and enraged - finally he loses it and shouts "Barack Obama! You mean B-lack YoMama!" The aftershock reverberates across the Atlantic.
June 13, 2008 8:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I would suggest keeping quiet on McCain's first marriage just on principles of taste and basic respect. The man was a POW for 5 1/2 years, he came back physically messed up to find a messed up wife, and they still stayed together for 7 more years in a decade where a lot of marriages broke up on the rocks.
June 13, 2008 8:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Seen any posts about "Carol Shepp" here at TPM? Didn't think so. Once you get past appearances, we're basically good people. Otherwise, agreed and point taken.
June 13, 2008 8:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, wasn't trying to start a fight.
June 13, 2008 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Seaton, I don't wish to put too fine a point on it but you, sir, are a fool.
While ignoring outright and unbelievable lies may well be a way to battle them, this is never the case with misrepresentations.
Michelle did indeed make statements, but not in the way they have been depicted. While The Right (et al) would like us to believe she was talking about 'whitie', she wasn't. Such slander must be met, not ignored, and the defense doesn't betray the 'fact' of the alligations in any way.
In the court of public opinion, much like any court of the land, one does not refute statements of the opposition by refusing to acknoledge the statements were made. Rather, one provides the evidence of the slander and the validity of the misquoted remarks.
The alligation: Michelle Obama talking trash about 'whitie'. Yep, that's right, she was being blatantly racist! This is what she said:
Whitie cut folks off Medicaid!
Whitie let New Orleans drown!
Whitie do nothing about Jena!
Whitie put us in Iraq for no reason!
Shocking stuff to be sure, until you find out that she was talking about Bush. Oh, and that this was what she actually said:
Why'd he cut folks off Medicaid?
Why'd he let New Orleans drown?
Why'd he do nothing about Jena?
Why'd he put us in Iraq for no reason?
It goes nowhere with thinkers, but you can bet your ass that the 'working, hard-working, white Americans' will be sure to tell all their friends down at the tracker pull.
Buy Rush a snow cone while you're there, David..
June 13, 2008 7:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
The new cable network Planet Green marks the beginning of selling sustainability. What kind of people does it makes us that we have to be sold on the idea of saving ourselves? Pathetic.
June 13, 2008 7:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
But are they pushing light rail? If so, good on 'em.
June 13, 2008 8:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mostly it is how to retrofit existing homes or build new homes to be more sustainable. There are a couple of lifestyle shows that touch on different subjects.
I would imagine that as time goes on and independent producers pick up on the theme that shows on light rail and other mass transit options will air.
You're right. This is fun! :O)
June 13, 2008 8:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
You know, I'm from the Ozarks originally, and my dad has so far built two comfortable homes (not small, 5 kids!) pretty much on his own: one for when we were all in school, and most recently their retirement home on a wooded section of our farm.
Last time I was back and checked out the new house, it was pretty impressive ... hot-water piped under the basement floor that pretty much kept the whole house warm, super-efficient air-conditioning, yadda yadda yadda ...
The point being, I think that small family farms could be damn green these days. And what with the Internet, all we really lack is a decent rail network to make living on the land not the sacrifice that it once was.
June 13, 2008 8:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
All great points. None of the "green building" craze is new. People have been living in harmony with reality much longer than our current trend against it.
We live in a 100-year old home in DC and it was very well designed to take advantage of the heating and cooling advantages of urban construction.
Most people used to get most items from within 100 square miles from home. Everything was cheaper, adjusting for inflation, and made by people you actually knew.
I think with Internet and Just-in-Time Manufacturing and Hydroponics and All Kinds of Nifty Things like Nanotechnology will begin to take us back to a smaller world that is yet somehow completely integrated. We took globalization the wrong way. It didn't mean that we could now cannibalize the globe the way we did our own country.
Perhaps the definition of the human race that seems to be emerging from the ashes of our transition into this new century will be one that lasts for a while and actually starts planning for seven generation out vice the one currently in charge.
June 13, 2008 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's an inspiring vision. Seriously. You know, I'm hopeful that one of these days we're gonna be able to harness some of the trans-generational energy that's currently bottled up inside the 19th-century religious mindset of so many Americans. The 1800's were raw, but there's stuff that was happening back then that would be considered absurdly freeform in today's cookie-cutter world. And it was stuff that was meant to be passed on to future generations, and the attempt to pass it all on was undertaken with a vigor that's sorely lacking in our time. We look back and imagine that our 60's and 70's were somehow radical, but these were actually the years when we settled into the notion that we'd somehow "arrived" as a country. Fact is, America is an unfinished project. Somewhere along the way we got distracted and dissuaded from seeing ourselves as living in an unfinished country. And it's all the stuff that remains to be done that should be animating us - it's actually some pretty exciting shit, considering that, unlike much of the developing world, we're actually in a position to make it happen, and, unlike Europe, we needn't suffer from the inertia of having already gotten it mostly done. It's not done. Nowhere near done. That too many of us think otherwise is the real soft bigotry of low expectations.
June 13, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now you've made me go and get all maudlin. But, seriously, you young folks give me hope. Those of us who are a bit older sold ourselves and the country short.
June 13, 2008 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I pointed out in my tribute to the Boomer Legacy, the reason we are so irritatingly optimistic is that we learned how to be at the knees of our boomer parents. We also learned how to dream of something greater than that which we were given.
Another key difference in this generational shift is that we are quite a bit older than you guys were when it was time to take over. That's why the power structure didn't really change.
The social-justice revolution ended with a roar in 1968, at which point the Powers That Be exerted total control over the economic and political levers of this country. You guys were too successful and not really ready to take over. That was the true shame of the era. The two people who could have guided the evolution of the revolution were killed. We are just now recovering from that blow.
Thanks for the vote of confidence and the patience as well. My generation could have gotten off our asses a lot sooner as well. We certainly could have made sure the progressives got a fair shake. I came to voting age in 1988, yet never really started voting until 2004. That is a piss poor showing to be sure.
Now, we are all older and hopefully wiser and can actually perform at a level that enables the evolution of the revolution to take place. If anyone can help guide it, Barack is the guy.
Otherwise, we really are fucked.
June 13, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Fact is, America is an unfinished project. "
Yes. Everything is an unfinished project. Ourselves, our country, every other country, the earth, the universe. All are changing. Change is normal; cataclysm, creation and destruction are normal. Stasis is not normal. The only completed project would be the disappearance of all matter, energy, and space.
Some people think their life is a completed project when they have a mortgage-free home, money in the bank, nice toys, and food on the table. Self-complacency is easy in such circumstances. Barack said something about being seduced and lulled into a stupor by "the soft comfy lap of American consumerism" or something like that.
June 13, 2008 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like your new open thread idea, so I'm going to put this out there: how many other people are following space news? I'm personally excited by our new Martian polar lander Phoenix, the GLAST telecope, Bigelow's plans for space hotels, the X Prize's moon challenge for private business, and Virgin Galactic.
Exciting times.
June 13, 2008 8:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
It is exciting. What's the latest on that front? I followed the initial burst of photos, news, etc. on the Martian side of things, but I've not kept up. Elaborate at will, it's plenty interesting.
June 13, 2008 8:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, they had some problems getting the Martian permafrost into their ovens because it was far clumpier than they expected (and they're having all kinds of fun speculating on that), but they've at least partially worked out that problem by shaking the grill enough and using the robot arm to smash it a bit better in order to get the smaller bits into the oven. I don't think we have any composition news yet, however.
Personally, I'm more excited on the commercial front, but there hasn't been any recent news there—as far as I know.
June 13, 2008 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, other than Sergei Brin putting a cool $5 million down to book his berth, haven't heard much recently.
June 13, 2008 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
As a long-term geek who read and wrote tons of sci-fi growing up, Virgin Atlantic is perhaps the most exciting thing on this list.
Given the complete inadequacy of government-funded space exploration, it is about time someone started looking at it with a little common sense and ingenuity.
It is long past time for sub-orbital transportation that allows people to get from LA to Tokyo in an hour or so. It is long past time we actually got to see some of things American sci-fi writers have been describing since the 1920s.
I want someone to explain to me why Tesla's ideas aren't being put into practice. JP Morgan didn't shut him down for no reason. Also, what is so hard about tapping into all that power hitting our magnetic field everyday? Speaking of which, why aren't we using magnetism to provide transportation? It's everywhere right? How about gravity? Tidal power generation? Microwave transmission of solar from orbit? I want my bionic eyeballs and little scrubbing bubbles of nanotechnology to keep my biological systems running tip-top, even when I choose to imbibe "toxic" substances. I am sure they can program them to leave my tattoos alone.
(Extra credit if anyone knows which series of novels starts with nanotechnology injected into the hero, who wakes up with every scar gone, including his tattoos.)
Great conversation.
June 13, 2008 9:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
As for your questions regarding using magnetism and gravity as energy sources, what's required is a field differential. Just as with heat engines, having heat is not enough, you need a heat differential (i.e., you also need a source of "cold" or at least "cooler"). Tidal power is, by its very nature, taking advantage of gravitational field differentials indirectly. Beaming microwaves from space is all fine and dandy until you end up with collateral damage. :) (Still, there are plans for this in the works, and I applaud it.)
As for the bionic eyeballs, they're working on it.
June 13, 2008 9:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't that what many of Tesla's theories were about, a field differential to harness the enormous amounts of energy hitting our magnetic field each moment? Making our energy and communications one big global wireless system.
Love the article on the solar energy. This has been one of the plot points in my sci-fi writing for years. That and finding a solution to the magnetic field thing.
I am not a scientist, but it always seemed like common sense to me growing up in Alaska that something that could generate the Aurora Borealis should be able to provide all the energy we need.
Sounds like you have some science training, though.
June 13, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I do have an MS in astrophysics, so I'm not completely ignorant in the field. (My current area of research is in computers and neuroscience, so I'm not necessarily up-to-date.)
As for Tesla, the man was a genius, no doubt, but not all of his ideas were environmentally friendly, to say the least. (Not to blame him—it wasn't really something scientists thought a whole lot about back then.)
June 13, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mmmmm...space...
Seriously, it's some of the coolest stuff people have ever done. And I'm willing to wait for direct monetary returns, in exchange for increasing both our knowledge about nearby planets and our science and engineering skills used in acquiring that knowledge.
June 13, 2008 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
____________________________________________________________
OPEN THREAD OPEN THREAD OPEN THREAD OPEN THREAD
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Beta version. Any better ideas?
June 13, 2008 9:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I like it.
June 13, 2008 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
More beta testing ...
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THIS IS AN EXCELLENT TIME!! FOR AN OPEN THREAD!!!
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June 13, 2008 9:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is also the Daily Kos tradition of recipes for trolls. May I therefore suggest:
Mixed green salad with caramelized onions
Mixed greens of your choice
Red onion
Balsamic vinegar
Gorgonzola or other blue cheese of your choice
Slice the red onion into 1/4" strips and slowly caramelize in olive oil with a sprig of rosemary. Once the onions have begun to soften, add balsamic vinegar and reduce by 1/2. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Scatter cooled caramelized onions over greens, top with crumbled Gorgonzola, serve to your well-pleased guests as a first course.
Any leftover Gorgonzola can be put to good use by spreading on slices of ripe Bosc pear for dessert.
June 13, 2008 10:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mmmmm! Easy! And it sounds so delicious! I think I would sprinkle a few crushed walnuts, too.
June 13, 2008 10:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Walnuts. That would be good. Best to dry-toast them first (slowly, over medium heat - when the aroma comes up, take them out of the pan and put them in a cool bowl) for even more flavor.
June 13, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
40 comments and 1 lonely rec. Jeepers. What's up with that?
Somebody rec'd the recipe, didn't they? One hint of cooled caramelized onions and there goes the willpower. Oh well. Mine, too. I'm gonna rec this monstrosity and call it a night. Ciao!
June 13, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice work, folks! I admire your neutralization techniques.
Spanish Rice Recipe
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil (can use up to 1/4 cup)
1 onion, chopped fine
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups of medium or long-grain white rice
3 cups* chicken stock (or vegetable stock if vegetarian)
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste or 1 cup of diced fresh or cooked tomatoes, strained
Pinch of oregano
1 teaspoon salt
*Check the instructions on the rice package for the proportions of liquid to rice. They can range from 1:1 to 2:1. If your rice calls for 2 cups of water for every cup of rice, then for this recipe, use 4 cups of stock for 2 cups of rice.
Method
1 In a large skillet brown rice in olive oil, medium/high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook onion rice mixture, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes, or until onions are softened.
2 In a separate sauce pan bring stock to a simmer. Add tomato sauce, oregano, and salt. Add rice to broth. Bring to a simmer. Cover. Lower heat and cook 15-25 minutes, depending on the type of rice and the instructions on the rice package. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
Serves 4 to 6.
June 13, 2008 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
So... how about those NY Mets?
June 13, 2008 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
David, you are a weasel, and either phony or demented.
In any case, don't hold your breath waiting to win the Nobel Prize for Logic.
June 13, 2008 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Are there any DVD/Videos rumored to be out there which reveal that David Seaton is a convicted pedophile, who can not return to the USA? If he denies it, then, using his own logic, he is actually admitting that it is true.
June 13, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ohmygod! You're right! That's the only believable reason for his being out of the U.S.! If Seaton can't prove it's not true, we should start making a lot of posts about how concerned we are about his reputation...
June 13, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Space: There was the Orion Project around 1959, which would have used a nuke engine to deliver a ludicrous huge load of people and equipment to Mars. The ship had a big rack of nuclear bombs inside; it ejected the bombs out the tail one at a time and then exploded them against a thrust plate.
That project was killed by the test ban treaty.
June 13, 2008 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Concrrn trole iz vry concrrrrrrrnd!
June 19, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
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