As we prepare to go back to war in Afghanistan, voices of dissent are ringing loud across the country and the Internet. Michael Moore:

Following President Obama’s announcement on Tuesday of a short-term troop surge in Afghanistan, an emotional Michael Moore told CNN’s Larry King, “I feel very bad for him.”

“I feel even worse for our troops,” Moore went on, blinking back tears. “And I feel a real sadness for the parents of those soldiers.of ours over the next eighteen months who will not come back home.”

“Our own CIA says there’s less than a hundred al Qaeda in Afghanistan,” Moore explained. “What are we doing in Afghanistan? This is absolutely insane. ... We have been in this war for twice as long now as the US was in World War II. ... We’re going to have 100,000 troops there to find these killers—who aren’t even there!”

And, even more to the point, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY):

The Bush administration permitted the world’s most notorious terrorist mastermind to escape because it needed additional justification to invade Iraq, according to a Democratic lawmaker from New York.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) leveled the allegation during an interview with MSNBC host David Shuster on Monday afternoon.

“Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan, how we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away,” he said. “How we intentionally did not follow the Taliban and al-Qaeda as they were escaping. That was done by the previous administration because they knew very well that if they would capture al-Qaeda, there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq.”

“They deliberately let Osama bin Laden get away?” asked an incredulous Shuster. “They deliberately let the head of al-Qaeda get away right after he, right after the 9/11 attacks? You really believe that?”

“Yes, I do,” Hinchey replied. “There’s no question about that. The leader of the military operation in the United States called back our military, called them back from going after the head of al-Qaeda because there was a sense that they didn’t want to capture him.”

Time will tell how much longer America can keep this up. Hard to play World Police when you can’t pay your cops. Bad, bad times indeed.

I recently watched the pilot episode of the new V series just cause, you know, you gotta keep up on your mass brainwashing. It was stupendously bad. However, I did have to laugh that the reptilian alien visitors in the show come bearing promises of “change” and then offer humanity… wait for it… wait for it… UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE. Sweet holy f*K, is that what it’s going to take to get the U.S. up to the baseline quality of life standard of the rest of the “first” world? Space lizards? Well, if so, I for one welcome our new overlords. (Wink wink)

Asylum points out the similarities to the Obama administration:

1. The aliens come to Earth using Obama-campaign watchwords hope and change, and offer the most literal form of universal health care. Aided by a complicit news media, they assuage rabid protesters through a sweet-talking figurehead. Skeptics try to warn everyone of the impending danger, but nobody listens.

2. Of course, the most striking comparison is that, while many Obama opponents are sure he’s concealing an alien birth certificate, the seemingly benevolent V’s are pretending to be just like us, but (spoiler alert) are hiding lizardy evidence that they just aren’t.

3. The whole thing could have been lifted from the minds of Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs.

For bonus points, check out this fundie blog going off about the show, and this video from C-SPAN of the White House reacting to the show.

WASHINGTON ?

It’s eight months into Obama’s administration, and not only is Guantanamo still open (and amid new revelations about doctors being used to facilitate torture procedures), but Obama is now attempting to open a new one in Afghanistan.

The Intelligence Daily reports:

On Monday, a day after the New York Times and the Washington Post reported that the Obama administration was planning to introduce tribunals for prisoners held at the US prison at Bagram airbase, Afghanistan, the reason for the specifically-timed leaks that led to the publication of the stories became clear.

The government was hoping that offering tribunals to evaluate the prisoners?

Sign Obama’s petition to get your reps to back health care here, and win at life. And likely live a longer one.

Working state-run health care is the bare minimum for a functional, civilized 21st-century society. All you need to do is leave the U.S. for half a second to see how woefully, miserably behind the rest of the world we are, and just on bare minimum quality of life issues.

Also, all you have to do is take a quick trip to, say, Canada, to realize that state-supported health care, in general, produces people who are Fucking Hot. It’s not even funny.

Sign it, and strike a blow against ignorant Republican motherfuckers who want you to die young and live in misery while being dependent on corporations who don’t give two fucks about you or your life, and who also don’t want you to get laid by hot people! Help bring America up to speed with reality instead of regressive corporate troglodytism! Help your fellow wo/man!

Tell Your Members of Congress to Support President Obama’s Plan for Health Reform

_{(If you get why the above picture is funny, you really are going to hell.)}

Oh, lord have mercy. Lord have mercy you people!

A White House environmental policy adviser who specialized in “green jobs” resigned on Sunday after an uproar over his previous affiliation with a September 11 conspiracy group.

Van Jones, special adviser on green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, apologized on Thursday after videotape surfaced of him using a crude epithet to describe Republicans and amid revelations he had signed a petition suggesting U.S. government involvement in the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

The apology did little to quell Republican criticism, however, and President Barack Obama’s chief spokesman gave only tepid support to the adviser on Friday.

1. Lord forbid a person entrusted with thinking clearly think for themselves.

2. Lord forbid they criticize the previous administration (who everybody knows were Lying Curs Who Would Sell Their Own Grandmothers for Toll Bridge Fare).

3. Lord forbid they criticize the opposition party?