The Week Simplified

I realize that someone has to boil everything that happened this week down to the grits and serve it up for general consumption. Well, as always, I figure to give it a shot. There was way too much going on so I’ll try to keep it to the really important stuff.

The McCain campaign, fresh from their most recent pr disaster of the non-suspended campaign suspension in order to screw up the financial negotiations, have decided that their next big ploy will be tomarry off Sarah Palin’s storked teenaged daughter, Bristol, with all the networks and cable news guys invited, which will definitively prove once and for all that John McCain can still run a country.

Obama won the first Presidential debate, and even though Republican operatives posted a web ad that claimed McCain won nine hours before the debates even started and Democratic loyalists were disappointed that Obama did not eviscerate McCain in any of the several opportunities, everybody else in America does… except the 28% who still think George W. Bush is doing a good job.

Allegations by the McCain campaign that lobbyists for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae worked for Barack Obama turned out to be transparently FALSE.

Denials by McCain himself that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, was being paid HALF a million bucks by Freddie Mac  also turned out to be TRUE…It was closer to a FULL million.

“Snake Eyes”  McCain has a gambling problem. He  spends so much time and money at Indian casinos that he has his own suite at Foxwood Casinos. Did I mention that McCain was a member of the Committee on Indian affairs and was “One of the founding fathers of Indian gaming”?

Sarah Palin has found out how to deal with her abuse of power and corruption investigation in the state of Alaska… Throw the subpoenas in the trash can. Karp Rove told her, “That’s what we do. They can’t put you in jail until after the election and you can get pardoned before anything serious goes down.”

Sarah Palin was seen in a bar but has yet to show up at a press conference… Dan Quayle sent her his Cliff Notes on “Running your Nation like it was Still a Super Power.” She apparently still has her old dog eared copy of “The Beauty Padgent Queen’s guide to answering Easy Questions for the Totally Clueless “.

Our Financial Sector Essentially collapsed… The lobbyists who sold us the problem are now busy working nights and weekends trying to sell us something else that will delay the actual collapse of the American sector until they are safely in Paraguay.  I would post a link but it’s changing so fast that it would be obsolete before you click it. Surprisingly, everybody in America seems to have called their Congressman.

The EPA has essentially shut down and will be renamed the PPA…The Polluter Protection 
Agency.

Ummm…Well,  so has the FDA. But at least they react after consumer groups scream at them about their dead puppies.

Saturday Night Live continues to provide the most definitive political analysis in America.

Peace,

 

Did You See the Debate?

There will be all sorts of huffing and spinning and "My guy won" stuff thrown about today in the aftermath of last night's Presidential debate. Looking at the reaction from the quick polls and focus groups, particularly the ones involving independants, Obama won in a blowout.


Joe Klein, Time Magazine:

Obama emerged as a candidate who was at least as knowledgeable, judicious and unflappable as McCain on foreign policy ... and more knowledgeable, and better suited to deal with the economic crisis and domestic problems the country faces

.

CNN:

McCain lost the debate among his base, Americans older than 50:

CNN just released some internals from their poll which showed that Obama won the debate. 48% of voters 50 and older thought Obama won, but only 40% thought McCain won. This, of course, is McCain's base. Men gave McCain a margin of only 3%, and women gave Obama a margin of about 20%. More horrible news for McCain. John King made the point that it is these people (50 and older) who are looking at their 401K's, which they spent decades building up, only to see everything now gone.

CBS:

Among Independants, Obama in a blowout!

Screenshots including the raised hands of the CBS focus group showing a landslide victory for Obama.


It is always curious to see what sticks in people's minds after one of these things. I can never predict what it will be. I guess I'm too analytical and calculating. It is why good sales people and good marketing people are good at what they do, they look at the emotional components for direction. Last night's event, which John McCain tried to prevent from ever happening, is a fine example.

I kept track of factual errors and mistakes in judgement, nearly all of which were McCain's. Obama is by far NOT the most liberal member of the Senate. Obama has a decent record on earmarks, whereas McCain's own veep choice is America's reigning queen, getting over ten times what Obama has in per capita earmark money.

But what killed McCain wasn't his obvious factual misrepresentations. It was John McCain himself.

Watching McCain get all shakey during one exchange in which Obama pointed out that McCain was "Wrong, wrong, wrong..." on Iraq and Afghanistan, I noticed two things and so did all of the commentors. I thought McCain was going to have one of those "purple rage" moments he is famous for in his inner circles. ..But he didn't. Even though he was obviously near the edge of losing it, his complexion stayed the same healthy color and I was amazed.

How could this be?

And then I remembered the $5000 makeup program. We have heard a lot about John Edwards $400 haircuts but nothing about McCain's $5000 makeup program. The woman who does John's face was hired away from American Idol for big bucks. I think she saved John McCain from horrendous derision last night.

So as everybody in America watched Jim Lehrer try to get Barack and John to talk to each other, we all saw Obama speak directly to John McCain, the audience, and Jim Lehrer. What we never saw during the debate itself was John McCain look directly at Barack Obama.



I don't think he ever did it. He couldn't, all that much, even look at Jim Lehrer, the moderator who had asked him the questions. Everybody saw that. Everybody wondered what that meant about John McCain.

In my calculating analysis, I know that it means that McCain would be a disaster for the United States in a heated international negotiation. But that's not what everybody else saw...

They saw condecention, arrogance, rudeness, even "passive-agressive outrage". Wow...I was just thinking McCain was a jerk. But several pundits saw something else...They saw John McCain's inability to look Barack Obama in the eye as deep anger toward Obama...

Anger in the inescapable realization that Barack Obama is going to be the next President of the United States of America.

And me? I saw something else on John McCain's face as he turned it away from Barack Obama. I saw one hell of a pancake makeup job hiding the purple rage. That $5000 was money well spent.

That makeup woman is damned good!

Peace,

A Note to Barack Obama...

Hey Barack,

I know you talk to Henry Paulson a lot and listen to what he has to say about the financial crisis and the need to bailout financial institutions...

STOP IT!

The numbers don't work...Somethings really wrong with what is going on here. This whole thing is starting to look like a set up to me... Democrats were about to work with W on a deal and McCain rides in and stopped it, thereby saving the country from the evil President Bush and the Democrats.

Look...The total number of mortgages in trouble totals $111 Billion. That's a lot but it's not $700 Billion. And frankly, Washington Mutual lost $198 Billion in value just yesterday. What's going on?

And look...John McCain hasn't suspended his campaign. He said his ads would stop running and I just watched one, so that's a lie. He's still making loud noises to the press and he said the Paulson plan was unacceptable right before he admitted that he hadn't even read the thing. I mean, hey...It's well over two pages long. I mean I read it. And frankly I agree with McCain and so does every body else on the planet including you, Barack. Even you have said the Paulson plan is dead. Of course you proposed a number of rational points to be worked out and added to what is actually Senator Dodd's plan.

Why not come right out and say you don't support the Paulson plan...You don't.

At any rate, this whole thing is fishier than Flipper. If the problem is bad housing loans we can cover those and keep those folks in their homes for a fifth of what Paulson wants, and anyway, they just made up that $700 Billion number. It's three times what they thought they would need.

Now here are some things to consider...

1. Wall Street paid out $120 Billion in bonuses in the last five years. If they have that kind of money, They can pay for their own bailout.

2. Ok, so they want us to finance their bailout. Fine...Put a transfer fee on stock transactions to pay back anything we spend on bailouts. We are the only Nation with a stock market that doesn't have this fee. London's fee is 0.25%. This would raise roughly $150 Billion a year. Paulsen doesn't want that because he says it would discourage stock trades. Bullshit.

3. If we simply helped folks make their payments, it would take care of the troubled mortgages for a fraction of the proposed money, people would keep their houses, and the government would take a secondary lien to recover some of the cost if the houses are sold.

4. I don't know that much about this stuff, but according to one Democratic Congressman calls to Congress are running about 50-50 on the bailout...50% No! And 50% HELL NO!

5. Tell John McCain that a deal has been worked out that there will be no deal, so get on the plane, fly to Mississippi, and let's debate.

Don't get sucked into this trap.

Peace,

Steve

Update: Told you so. the debate is back on even though there is absolutely no agreement.

McCain was silent during the White House meeting yesterday, mostly because he had nothing to offer. Obama essentially took over the meeting and lead a bipartisan discussion with Republicans offering points and Obama asking Paulson if they would work. McCain kept his mouth shut and offered nothing in the way of ideas or even much comment. So how does his campaign explain this?

The difference between Barack Obama and John McCain was apparent during the White House meeting yesterday where Barack Obama's priority was political posturing in his opening monologue defending the package as it stands. John McCain listened to all sides so he could help focus the debate on finding a bipartisan resolution that is in the interest of taxpayers and homeowners. The Democratic interests stood together in opposition to an agreement that would accommodate additional taxpayer protections.

Absolute bullshit...

McCain Ditched Letterman, Gotta Save Economy...Well, no...Gotta Appear with Katie

Oops! Busted Again

Poor John McCain...The once proud and honorable Senator McCain has degenerated into a candidate who says whatever he wants to be true, whether it is or not. When he gets busted, he calls the messenger irresponsible or "in the tank 150% for Obama".

Sunday night on TV McCain said his campaign manager did not work for Freddie Mac, the monster mortgage bank that was just this month taken over by the government in one of the early bailouts.

The New York Times, 150% in the tank for the facts, pointed out that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, was getting $15,000.00 a month from Freddie Mac and that payments stopped only because the Federal Government now owns the bank.

How sincere do we think John Sydney McCain can possibly be about taking on lobbyists and Wall Street, when his campaign is run by lobbyists, and his main guy was still getting paid until a few weeks ago?

Also a curiosity is McCain's apparent ignorance of all this. He's apparently just repeating what he's told him to say.

Things that are such obvious lies that the Obama campaign has them up in ads before he finishes the sentence, like the one about Sarah Palin selling her plane on eBay for a profit. That was a twofer, since she lost money on it selling it to a campaign donor not on eBay.

Dear John Sydney McCain,

Telling the truth and sticking to the facts used to be considered a virtue in America. We just don't trust you anymore, and it's your fault for lying.

And one more thing...Why is it that every time somebody in the Press points out a factual error on your part, you call them Liberals and In the Tank for Obama?

Facts have a Liberal bias in your mind, I guess, and you must not care much for facts any more. It's like Tommy Smothers said, "Truth is what you can make somebody else believe."

That's too bad. I used to like you and think you were an honest man. I'm over you, John. I need a President who will tell America the truth.

Peace,

Steve

Update: Ever wonder why the letters to the Editor supporting McCain seem so fake?

It's because They are.


Told ya, Ernie.

You can call me Hank

I have a serious problem with what is going on in the financial market. I smell a big fat putrid rat, first name, Henry.

Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, has proposed a very scary legislative action that he says has to be passed NOW or our financial markets will crash. It says that he gets $700 Billion to do whatever he feels is needed to fix the huge financial corporations that are hurting so badly because of loans they made in complicated financial instruments that no one knows how to value, but which are now worth a great deal less than they claimed they were.

The bailout proposal also says that paulson will have no oversight and can't be taken to court for anything he does. Does that pass the smell test? Paulson threw this thing out on the table and told Congress to sign it or else. Now look what Bloomberg Financial news says about the bailout as proposed:

By Jody Shenn
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley may be among the biggest beneficiaries of the $700 billion U.S. plan to buy assets from financial companies while many banks see limited aid, according to Bank of America Corp.

Goldman Sachs is in trouble because of a financial instrument called a "Credit default instrument" that it issued from 2005 through 2007. Other financial institutions followed suit and next thing you know the big boys, think "too big to fail", were slinging debt around like hash. Now the hard assets behind those bundled instruments, think "your house", have lost value and the little folks who were sold home mortgage swampland may lose their homes and the financial guys who came up with and tafficed in this financial crack cocaine, may lose a bunch of their own money , not to mention get in serious trouble with Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, etc. because those countries have been backing just about everything in this country.

So Henry Paulson tries to ram a fishy bailoout proposal imbedded with his own pardon down the throats of America's taxpayers and the Congress that represents them.

"Don't read it...Just sign it!" he says.

So this version of the capital crisis started with Goldman Sachs in 2005. Guess who was CEO of Goldman Sachs in 2005 through part of 2006, while this was going on?
And guess who received compensation for 2005 in the order of $27 Million dollars?

Henry Paulson.

Riiiiight!

His friends call him, "Hank".

Peace,
Steve

Sound Up

A friend writes:

It's the 40th anniversary of the wonderful instrumental "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams, the best guitar piece that's ever been written in my humble opinion. "Classical Gas" won three grammys in 1968; for - Best Instrumental Composition, Best Instrumental Performance and Best Instrumental/Orchestra Arrangement. I'm sure most of you have heard of, or remember the song. What you may not know, is that Mason Williams was the head comedy writer for the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour", the show that CBS snatched off tv in 1969 for being too controversial. It used to be one of my favorite shows, but I had no idea at the time that Mason Williams was the head writer.

Well, actually, I did know that Mason was one of the writers. He recorded several musical albums which tended to try to be funny, although they had a cerebral humor that did not run with the same crowd that was laughing at Bill Cosby at the time. My Brother and I were facing the draft, Vietnam, and other issues of the day in which a thoughtful person had to realize that entire governments could go mentally ill.

You know...Like say...Now, for instance. Here is Mason Williams on the Smothers Brothers with "Classical Gas"


A virtuoso guitarist who has decided to leave Australia and spend a lot of time in East Tennessee, Tommy Emanuel, does a defferent version that pays homage to Mason Williams. You won't really notice that there is no orchestra on this one. Emanuel doesn't really show off on this version, but he gets lively enough. If you've seen him in person you know what I mean.


It is somehow fitting that the Smothers Brothers Show pops up on the radar screen after Tommy Smothers was recognized at the Emmies this week. His speech should be required viewing and a subject for discussion. In so few words, Tommy Smothers challenges us to change America back into itself. (Thanks to Terri for the alert)



Peace,

Steve

HOLD ON THAR, RABBIT!

Krugman says, "Wait just a danged minute there, Paulson. You've been telling us everything was just fine for the last two years only you were lying and now you want us to trust you and pass really strange regulations right this minute? I don't think so!"

OK, I paraphrase. But keep in mind this simple fact...These people want your tax money to pay for their mistakes... And they want your house, too.



Creeps...

Just remember that John McCain and his boys are right in the middle of this mess. McCain's buddy, Phil Gramm introduced the legislation, McCain co-sponsored it and it passed through the Republican dominated Senate, with all but one Democrat voting against the bill, which essentially removed oversight and regulations and allowed big financial intitutions to buy each other out, cut staff and increase profits for a short time. Remember Paine Weber? Got bought by a Swiss bank, UBS, thanks to Phil Gramm's bill. Gramm left the Senate and went to work for...wait for it...Swiss Bank, UBS.

Yeah...Convenient, wasn't it? Made one of those CEO compensation packages we hear about so much, and now he wants you and I to save his sorry ass...

And John McCain wants to make him Treasury Secretary?



s

Evil works Nights and Weekends

The Federal Reserve said Sunday it had granted a request by the country's last two major investment banks — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — to change their status to bank holding companies.

Sunday afternoon, the Federal Reserve Board took Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley off the hook. with a snap of its collective fingers. All of this maneuvering is NOT to save your job or your house. As a matter of fact, the Wall street Lobbyists want your house for themselves...

What is emerging in all these shenanigans is that Wall Street and John McCain want you and I to take the losses and them to take the profits...And also your house.

What creeps these people are. How can anyone look themself in the mirror and even suggest such a thing? Statistically, there is about one true sociopath for every 200 normal people. do they ALL work on Wall Street?

I mean the ones who aren't elected Republicans...

Peace,

Steve

Deep DooDoo

Yes we are...And we're a long way from the bank and Lassie's gone away with Timmy and isn't coming back.

Shoulda put everything into...well, I don't know. You could say gold, but it depends on whether anybody has any currency of value to buy your gold with when you need to sell it.

The liabilities that were traded in the last year in unregulated financial instruments were roughly 70 Trillion dollars. To put that in perspective, the Gross World Product...all the money made in the entire world last year, was maybe $65 Trillion.

Some really big financial companies are bankrupt. Their creditors should lose money, like you and I would if we loaned money to a relative and they lost their job and turned to drugs or something. Wnat to know who the creditors are?

Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Japan, to name just a few of the really big ones. We're talking about bailing these Corporations out to the tune of doubling or tripling the National debt. This is a failure of conservative republican ethics, credibility, capability, morality, and philosophy in a way that the world has never ever seen before without a world war or revolution.

Now, it looks like the proposal out of the people who were in charge while the dollar burned have offered to fix it by running up your credit card and making themselves untouchable. No oversight is to be allowed.

Those Morons! It was the absence of oversight, courtesy of John McCain and Phil Gramm, that got us in this incredible situation in the first place.

I wonder how much money John McCain stands to lose if these companies aren't bailed out? Oh wait...It's not his money, is it? It's Cindy's money. Let's see...Wasn't it Cindy's money that he was trying to protect way back when we first learned who John McCain was during the Keating Five scandal? McCain's first scandal only cost taxpayers $3.5 Billion...This one will cost us a thousand times that.

It's time for a change. McCain's deregulation has cost us our economy, our manufacturing base, our jobs, and now...the houses we live in.

Peace,

Steve

Here's a long article with tons of information about where we are and how we got here. I suggest you read it.

Update: Krugman thinks the bailout as presented is a bad idea.

The Bailout: Corrupt as the Administration that Proposes it

As our Nation's finacial markets collapse, Treasury Secretary Paulson is working over the weekend to come up with something that will save them. Excuse me, but I don't trust these people. They make vultures look like the doves of peace.

Here's Saint Paul (Krugman) on how the bill is supposed to work:

Here's another financial writer on how the bill can be used to steal a bank for next to nothing:

Here's the Text of the Bill:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Have these people no shame? No scruples?

And what about the man who wants to follow in George W. Bush's footsteps? His own words hang him high. How can anybody remotely consider John McCain as a choice for the presidency? Are they nuts?

Somebody help the man get his foot out of his mouth.

This is from an article McCain wrote exactly one year ago:

"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

"As HE has done to banking"

McCain is a liar and an absolute moron. Even HE has to know that.

Obama is nicer than I would have been...




Dear John...Watch this!

Could we have a little Truth here?

Dr. McCain Amputated the Wrong Leg

John McCain and the Republicans voted to make the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression happen...(And I'm giving McCain the benefit of the doubt here...Our current situation may blow away the Great Depression as simply old news.) Every Senate Democrat, except for Fritz Hollings, voted against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in the Republican-dominated US Senate. It was John McCain and his Republican buddies who passedthis devastating legislation on the 6th of May, 1999.

When McCain says he tried to stop the financial meltdown by going against Republicans in his glorified maverickness...He's just plain lying. John McCain is as big a whore to lobbyists as anyone in politics, and voted to give banks and financial institutions a free unregulated run at your money. Now they will take even more of it in order to save their own sorry asses...And Dr. McCain, convicted of malpractice for amputating the wrong leg, wants us to trust him to do our nation's open heart surgery?

Here are the details, if you would like to identify each and every villian in this mess.

Please note that Joe Biden voted against Phil Gramm's bill, and that for once, John McCain was present, even if he did the wrong thing for America once again.


Now just so you know, Obama is back up in the composite tracking poll for President. In Tennessee, we don't necessarily see the best Obama ads that are being run in the states that Obama can and will win, so here's one you should take a look at. Send it to everyone...especially the Republicans that you are trying to bring into the light. Tell them it's time for them to become part of saving this country.




Feel better now?

Peace,

Steve

Save a Republican...Today!

Can we talk?

Look...I know you have friends who are Republicans. You probably have family members who are Republicans. All families have their skeletons in the closet, but there's hope! Cult programming can be broken, but it takes loving and dedicated friends and family to show these people the light and the way of the truth.

It is up to you, because very few people can break the cult addiction by themselves and because your loved ones are not going to see it on TV.

Whenever I hear someone call the US media "liberal" I pity them. How can you be so dense that you would believe such a statement to the point of repeating it?

If our media were truly liberal, John McCain would have been laughed out of the presidential race long ago.

You see...Liberals have this thing about telling the truth. We believe that part about "Thy shalt not bear false witness..." and we have a good relationship with facts, science, and honesty. We would never let our marketing department try to brand the campaign of a serial liar with the absurdity, "The Straight Talk Express."

John McCain is a serial liar, unworthy of the office of president. Either that, or he is so deranged from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that he's wandering around in a daze and reading a script that makes little sense to a sentient being.

But then you folks knew that already. Our task, at this point, is to demonstrate to our Republican friends that they don't want a Republican president either, and certainly not one as daft as John McCain. I want all of you to answer the call to arms, right now as soon as you receive this, by emailing this link to your Republican friends...I know you have them. Everybody has them in their family and we all live with the shame, because we know they have a choice. Let's help them, shall we?

Put your arm lovingly around your friends and loved ones and watch with them, this inspiring video.

John McCain, in his own words.

Yes...One day they will thank you for it.

Peace and Love,

Steve


Update: Washington Post columnist, Richard Cohen is a prominent example of Republicans who now see the light...

"I broke my promise to always tell the truth," McCain said. Now he has broken that promise so completely that the John McCain of old is unrecognizable. He has become the sort of politician he once despised.

A must read!

No they Didn't...

The McCain ads make me sick. There should be some minimum level of truth required in a political ad, but so far, it seems like the Lies of John McCain are validated by a docile press whofails to call him on them.

John McCain took on the Republicans? Yeah, right...By voting with George W. Bush 100% of the time in the last year? That'll show 'em.

Sarah Palin took on Big Oil? By supporting off shore drilling, drilling in the Arctic National Refuge, and wanting polar bears eliminated? Give me a break.

I have always, up until now, held a grudging respect for John McCain, believing that he was sort of an honest person, by Republican standards anyway. I'm over it.

McCain is running the most dishonest campaign in Presidential history. Even Karl Rove thinks McCain is lying. Yeah...Him!

McCain is sincerely ill equipped to deal with the challenges ahead, and Sarah Palin?...Don't make me laugh. Sarah couldn't build a hockey rink with Federal earmark money without going $20,000,000.00 over budget. She'll do a fine job of following W. His record of amassing more debt than all pervious Presidents in American history combined could well be in jeapardy is McCain somehow gets in. The American economy doesn't stand a chance with these two driving the train.

Did I mention the McCain has had 5 occurences of melanoma? Know what the odds are?

Anyway, as we watch all those big republican financial firms collapse and have to be bailed out with your money, remember that McCain's financial advisor, Phil Gramm, was the architect of the regulations that made all this possible. And also remember the McCain first rose to national prominence as the main player in the Keating banking scandal which cost us $3 Billion in bailout money. Cindy McCain's family was heavily invested in Keating, by the way. A small detail that gets left out by the liberal press,

So McCain has no capability of solving the economic mess we're in, but that won't matter, because we'll be fighting World War Three.

Lost in the weekend's news was the fact that Bolivia and Venezuela kicked out the United States Ambassadors. Venezuela supplies over 10 percent of America's oil and could supply much more. Say what you will about Hugo Chavez, he is well loved in his country, except by rich people and multinational corporations.

Bigger still, is the news that in retaliation for installing the Spy Wars missle defense system in Poland, Russia has now landed and stationed long range bombers in Venezuela.

Here's another little bit of info: Our Missle defense system doesn't work. Whatcha wanna bet Russia's bombers work very well?

The all Universe stupid level of the Bush Administration has grievously weakened America. McCain looks for all the world to be even worse than Bush in his saber rattling and belief that war is the answer to all problems. As the article noted above points out, The only one stupider than the man running screaming off the cliff...Is everyone following him off the same cliff.

That would be John McCain and everyone who votes for him.

Peace,

Steve

McCain Lies to America

Good is Dead?...(Maybe Not!)

It is with angry frustration that we have watched our Press fail in its solemn Constitutional duty America, that of Factchecker and Truth teller. With the McCAin campain caught on camera with its many hands in the cookie jar, they looked straight at reporters and editors and newscaster all across America and ernestly said, "It wasn't me!"

Somehow, someway, somebody needs to travel across America and wipe off the mirrors above the sinks at which the people who are supposse to call out liars wash their faces and look themselves in the eye.

But there is a glimmer that some in the media are coming to grips with the fact that they do not want to live in the America of John McCain and the power mad entities that he serves. In the struggle between good and evil, it appears that good may not be dead yet.


The McCAin campaign is gradually being busted for what they are...LIARS!

These stories have two things in common: they’re all claims recently made by the McCain campaign — and they’re all out-and-out lies.

she is a fraud, and has been proven a demonstrable liar

Whatever the motivation, the McCain campaign simply has a problem telling the truth. With each passing the day, the disdain this gang shows for the democratic process becomes a little more breathtaking.

He says he’d rather lose the election than lose the war. But it seems he’d rather lose that honor he’s always going on about than lose the election.

The American people are watching her repeatedly lie to them, day after day, and watching her do so with no apparent compunction.

All of these quotes come from the mainstream media...Krugman, Kinsley, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Washington Post, Andew Sullivan...Many More...Is there a light rising in America? Will we demand that our candidates for the highest office in the land, simply tell us the truth?

Unless the referees in America blow the whistle, the cheaters will win.

Do I hear that whistle blowing?

Peace,

Steve

A Pig's Ear...mark

Of Pigs and Bridges

So now the American political process has degenerated to the level of the paint on a cheap whore.

Obama's words, "Lipstick on a pig", describing McCain's policies is the latest supposed outrage. McCain says it's a sexist remark aimed at Sarah Palin, which is funny, since McCain used the expression twice with regard to Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin herself said that it was the only difference between herself and a pitbull.

Can we talk about an issue, by any chance? Can we talk about Sarah Palin being the world champion per-capita earmark queen? Nope..Lipstick.

Can we talk about John McCain's votes against the GI Bill and against veterans? Nope...Lipstick.

Can we talk about the repeated lies McCain and Palin tell every day about her opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere"? Nope...Lipstick!

Can we talk about McCain's embrace of the disastrous economic policies of Phil Gramm that allowed the lending industry to destroy itself requiring tax money bailouts of Trillions of dollars? Nope...Lipstick!

Can we talk about McCain's dangerous warmongering? His call for military confrontation with Russia? His call for military confrontation with Iran? His promise of more wars? Nope...Lipstick!

Can we talk about McCain's support of tax policies that place the tax burden ever more heavily on the average American and give more tax breaks to the richest of the rich? Nope...Lipstick!

Can we talk about McCain's idiotic cave in to Big Oil and now pushing for drilling off of our last remaining pristine beaches? Nope...Lipstick!

Can we talk about McCain's promise to destroy Social Security, even while he himself draws $24,000.00 a year? Nope...Lipstick!

Ok, then...If that's what you want, that's what I'll do.

John McCain's entire campaign is based on putting lipstick on a pig, and John McCain himself is nothing more than a Bridge to Nowhere!

Peace,

Steve

Give all you can...Work your Ass off

The Sarah Palin choice has resulted in a swing of 20% of the white women's vote. This is mainly because nobody knows who Sarah Palin is, but that is changing. She has an impressive resume vehemently opposing women's health issues and that's coming out, but the pettiness of Sarah Palin strikes me as incredible offensive:

There is something deeply strange about this woman. We know she lies easily and without fear of consequence, as her big fat lie on the national stage about her supposedly opposing the "Bridge to Nowhere", but she has a narcissistic bent that makes George W. Bush look positively normal.

How does one reconcile, for instance, the ability to justify falsifying an expense report that charges for lodging in one's own home with charging the victims of rape for their own rape kit used to investigate this dastardly crime against women?

Couple that with extremist opposition to abortion even in cases of rape, incest, and where it threatens the life of the woman, and you have the makings of a doctoral level study in personality disorder.

But that's just my opinion...Here's another...

The best ever blog post on Sarah Palin.

At any rate, let's not fixate on Sarah Palin, except to point out that it illustrates everything wrong with Republicanism.

Republicans are completely inept at running our country, protecting our environment, or providing a safe and nurturing school system for our children. They've run up trillions of dollars on the American credit card, deregulated mortgage lending into bankruptcy, and screwed up our foreign policy beyond all recognition.

They are deeply corrupt, with everything they touch requiring a government bailout using your tax money. There is no Republican platform plank that will make for a better America. If they win this electionIt will mark, for all time and history, the end of Constitutional America.

Give all you can! Work your ass off!

Peace,

Steve

Palin for President...(I Swear!)

Quotes

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."...Barack Obama

America must now make a choice. We must decide if we want a continuation of Republican rule and the ruination it has brought, or a return to the Democratic principles our nation was founded upon. Eveyone has their pet issue. It behooves us as voters to examine the policies and plans advocated by our candidates. There's a problem with examning John McCain, though. He has flipped on most of his previous stands and hasn't defined himself much on any issue except war and drilling our beaches (one of his bigger flip flops).

Here is a nice set of quotes with links to detailed policy from
Barack Obama.

The McCain camp has nothing close to any of this, preferring instead to concentrate on trying to smear Obama instead of offering a positive choice for the Presidency.

And then there's Obama's record in the Senate:As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel.

After announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama emphasized withdrawing American troops from Iraq, energy independence, decreasing the influence of lobbyists, and promoting universal health care as top national priorities.

But let's make sure we take a look at John McCain's record as well. Ummm...Well, it seems that Senator McCain was pretty much absent from the Senate in the last year and missed well over 400 votes, so it's somewhat difficult to compare his record with Obama's.

Actually, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask:

Dear John...

Do you still believe Saddam was behind 9-11?

Why hasn't Sarah Palin even had an FBI Background check yet?

Believe that? Hell...Even school teachers get background checks!

Frank Rich asks a few more. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/opinion/07rich.html

That should keep you guys busy for a bit.

Cheers,

Steve

What are we changing here?

I thought I had seen the nastiest lies ever in the past two presidential elections, and somehow, I though John McCain would be slightly better at sticking with the truth.

WRONG!

Want to know who is responsible for high spending and the deficit? According to McCain it is Democrats. McCain voted with the Bush republicans roughly 100% of the time and they got essentially everything they wanted in money bills. Bush did veto bills that would provide medical care for children...Too wasteful..Need money for bombs and tax cuts for Big Oil companies. Dang those Democrats!

So McCain is the change guy...And I'm Mary Poppins.

I think that of all the evils of the Bush Administration, and picking the one among many is a tough choice, the greatest of all was his turning the United States Justice Department into an enforcement arm of the Republican Party. It looks to me like McCain thinks this was a fine idea. Why do I say that? McCain's people are up in Alaska right this very minute doing everything they can to derail the investigation into Governor Sarah's interference with with due process in the attempted firing of her ex-brother-in-law. The Alaska papers have dubbed it "Troopergate" and it does seem to desereve the label.

Sarah Palin was not exactly happy with the Alaska Public Safety Director, who wanted to follow the law and due process. In an obvious abuse of power, Palin shows us that she absolutely WILL be ready on day one to follow in the footsteps of Dick Cheney.

Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged
investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner
in order to prevent a so-called "October surprise" that would produce
embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the
election.

Newsweek

Sound familiar? We can't have a bipartisan investigation of the Governor because that would be politicized. The only way we can make this a fair and impartial investigation is to let it be turned over to a panel of all Republicans appointed by the Governmor, herself.

McCain is having a hard time making the case that he will change a damned thing and we still won't investigate Republicans when he gets in charge.

John McCain has sold his soul in order to try to become President. If he is elected, American will have lost its soul as well.

Peace,

Steve

Do you know the difference between Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney?

Here it comes...

The good news is that both campaigns have said they will not run negative ads on 9-11. Some of them are funny, though.

I think it's particularly ironic when someone can use a Budweiser commercial to poke at the most successful kept husband in American history. His hundred million dollar wife made her money hauling Bud in Arizona. This is interesting in another way. I remember the local Baptist church going after a local candidate because his wife owns a liquor store, and yet, not a peep out of them regarding demon alchohol this cycle.

Here's a funny from our Union folks at http://worsethanbush.org/.

Enquiring Minds are At it Again

From the "most trusted name in news"...Hmm...That doesn't sound right?

Anyway, The National Enquirer has jumped on the Palin family scandals. There's a lot to jump on, and of course they skip over the "Bridge to Nowhere" lies Palin told and went straight to what their readers want...SEX!

Palin actively lobbied for the infamous bridge and when it got politically hot, she let it go, but guess what? She kept the earmark money anyway. Her Alaska cronies got their money and a small Alaska town didn't get the bridge to the regional airport like they'd been promised...But why am I harping on this little Palin lie when we could be talking about SEX? Or as the RWXtions's call it...Abstaining from Abstinence.

The story should not be about Bristol Palin, and in fact it isn't. It is about her Mom's demand that she get married and then let the cat out of the bag about her pregnancy. (Gotta be true. Enquirer says so. Hey, It was good enough for Republicans when Rush used the Enquirer to back up one of his whoppers) Only this one may not be such a whopper. Mommy has ambitions, Bristol, dear.

Remember what she said last night...

"You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?...Lipstick!"

I think that denigrates lots of people's beloved pets and isn't the correct analogy, anyway. After trying to watch the Republican Convention and cringing as they told plain old lie (Sarah Palin got more votes for Mayor than Biden did for President...from preacher Huckabee) after lie (Obama will raise taxes on the middle class...Fred Thompson...Actually McCain's plan raises middle class taxes), I decided that there was way too much hypocrisy for me to stomach at one time. I mean, all that fawning over the Constitution and our Freedoms from the political party that has done more to destroy our constitutional freedoms than any other party in the last 200 years...My personal constitution can only take so much.

This whole republican thing really isn't about whether a pit bull hockey mom who is under investigation for abuse of power is remotely qualified to be Vice President. It's about the entire Republican party being personified by the policies of George W. Bush and hiding from it. It's about incompetency on so many levels. It's about ruining the value of the American dollar. It's about letting mortgage corporations run amuck and destroy the housing market. It's about letting polluters write environmental legislation, and gun manufacturers write gun law, and Mining companies write mine safety legislation, and about giving tax breaks to an oil corporation that records the largest profit ever made by a corporation in the history of mankind...

No! The Republican convention isn't about lipstick and a pit bull...It's about putting lipstick on a Pig!

Peace,

Steve

Moose and Snow

The McCain/Palin campaign is in a death spiral of epic proportions.

I don't even think that Fred Thompson's reading from last night can save them. I thought Fred's little mythological part about John McCain refusing to give up his military secrets even though he was being tortured was touching, didn't you? I personally forgive McCain for signing all those documents against the USA while he was in a POW camp. I mean I probably would have caved just like he did, but let's be honest about it and not pretend that it didn't happen, and let's all come on out against all forms of torture while we're at it. Just because McCain has flipped and supported torture recently, he was against it before he was for it, and there's still time for him to flop. (Hmmm...Did I say that right? Guess so)

Anyway, McCain's Veep pick seems to be up to her miniskirt in the rankest form of good old boy and girl corruption and cronyism. This particular tale is all about selling icecream to eskimos...If I'm lyin' I'm Dyin'...and cheese futures to miners, and using Federal earmark money to do it. Then there's the part about Sarah firing the entire State Agriculture and Conservation Board because they wouldn't agree to funnel state money into the IceCream Scheme. The company involved was named "Mat Maid" and locals call it Sarah's Dairy Gate Scandal.

Here's the whole thing with links and references and some snark to keep the storyline moving, and yes, Moose and Snow are involved but just barely. The hook was too good to pass up.

And just so's you don't think I was lying about that miniskirt either...here you go (Thanks to Susan)

The shoes and that glass of red wine sorta top off the photo, don't you think?

John McCain needs to quit looking at this woman's ass and realize he totally screwed up.

Peace,

Steve

Teenaged Pregnancy and John McCain

Before I spiral off on my rant, I want everyone to know I agree with Barack Obama that kids should not be used for political promotion, beyond the family portrait of one form or another. Show the picture of the happy family at most, and then leave them alone.

There is a problem in drawing the line with the Sarah Palin family, however, and I can't put my pencil on the wispy line between Sarah's basking in the glow of her son who will be deployed to Eye- Rack, and the declaration that her unmarried and pregnant 17 year old daughter is out of bounds. If you want your children's lives to be a private family matter, make sure you keep them a private family matter.

...And the Palin family pregnancies were not brought to the forefront by those mean old Liberals, either. They were a matter of public discussion and speculation in Alaska for the last year. A governor who hides her pregnancy for seven months before she publicly owns up to it is bound to cause talk, but that's another story. What I think is interesting in McCain's Palin problem is the stark light it throws on republican so called family values, and the effect of conservative policies on America's children. Here are some plain old "Liberal" facts...

80% of all Teen pregnancies are "unintended".

The United States of America has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world.

Compare the US rate (44 per 1000) with the United Kingdom (27 per 1000) and you see how far out in last place we really are.

The United Kingdom has the worst teen pregnancy rate in Europe.

One third of US girls get pregnant before the age of 20.

There are three quarters of a million children born to teenaged girls each year in the USA.

Abstinence programs have no effect on teen sexual activity, but more kids who have abstinence training engage in unprotected sex.

And now the biggie...The Alaska governor has the line item veto. What item did Sarah Palin personally strike from the budget last year? Funding for a state program to help unwed teen mothers find a place to live.

John McCain and Sarah Palin are on record opposing funding for pregnancy prevention programs that involve teaching information about contraception.

John McCain has made a lousy choice for his Vice Presidential running mate, not because she has a pregnant teenaged daughter, but because Sarah Palin shares McCain's Barefoot and pregnant policies toward providing information to America's children, and both of them are willing to force their own ideas on ALL of America's children even though a majority of Americans oppose McCain's policies.

Let me rephrase that...John McCain wants your children taught something most of us don't accept and in fact oppose.

Conservatism is a vile philosophy in these respects...And John McCain has sold his soul to the worst of its proponents in order to help himself win the presidency.

And the fact that John McCain has sold his soul is his real problem. The fact that he allowed his handlers to choose a completely unqualified running mate is merely a symptom of McCain's emasculation.

We must protect America's children from these people.

Peace,

Steve

More

How McCain views his Veep,,,Creepy!

Umm...Yeah. totally Professionally...Right!

Egalia Explained

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=183521

Good Pix, Bad Pix

We ran into a couple of things on the hike.

I've seen this berry several times at this time of year but I have yet to identify it. The bush is a couple of feet high and the berries grow directly off the stem. Anybody know?

And then there was this nice gift from someone who took down the cable and rode their ATV past the signs. I guess it is too much to ask them to buy a backpack to carry their child with them into the woods, and even more trouble to ask them to carry out their trash and their dirty diapers. This was lying right in the middle of the trail.

A Game of Risk

With the choice of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential candidate, John McCain has done what Democrats could not. This election is now about him and his decision making ability...And how long he can live.

If you want indisputable proof that Republican hacks can lie with a straight face, watch, as they try to make the argument that Palin is qualified and ready to assume the duties of the Vice Presidency, much less Presidency. No thoughtful or rational human being would believe it. That won't stop Republicans.

We are busy learning about Mrs. Palin, who has served as the Mayor of a town slightly smaller than Rockwood, TN and, for less than two years, the Governor of Alaska.

Alaska is a state. It has very few people in it and is widely considered the most corrupt state in the union, which is questionable by those of us who live in Tennessee, and the scandals that are so far associated with Palin are more of the misuse of power variety rather than the normal money stealing corruption we usually associate with Republicans.

Here is a compendium of her record in government. Don't blame me if it seems a bit short.

The Cliff notes version of Palin's record is that she is a tax, borrow, and spend Republican, who doesn't believe in science, think creationism ought to be taught in school, loves big oil, and dislikes polar bears. With only her short time in public office, though, she has developed a penchant for using her power to destroy people she doesn't like or who won't misuse their office to do her bidding, Her heart beats as one with John McCain in the character trait of petty vindictiveness. She's being investigated.

That last link, oddly enough, was removed from Palin's Wikipedia entry, which was apparently scrubbed by an operative named "Young Trigg" the night before her announcement.

A blogger who lived in Wasilla, Alaska complains about Palin's record of decaying public schools and her love for Mal-Wart.

So...What does Karl Rove think about McCain's Veep pick? Here is what Rove said...

I think he's going to make an intensely political choice, not a governing choice," Rove said. "He's going to view this through the prism of a candidate, not through the prism of president; that is to say, he's going to pick somebody that he thinks will on the margin help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He's not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities of president.

...it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States?

Only Karl Rove said that three weeks ago about Governor Tim Kaine, whose credentials were way too light for the job in Rove's view. Kaine had only been governor for twice as long as Palin, and before that mayor of a city with a larger population than the entire state of Alaska. I wonder if Rove's head exploded when he heard McCain picked Palin?

The bottom line on all this is that now America can plainly see that John McCain is erratic, unpredictable, and is in fact the far more risky candidate for president when compared to Barack Obama.

Peace,

Steve

Watch Obama's Speech

But don't worry, Republicans...John McCain will rise to the occasion and deliver...

Privacy?

For some reason there are always some folks who seem to think they should be able to tell other folks what they should do and not do in their personal lives.

Chief among those are personal medical decisions, such as whether people should be able to end their own life, or refuse life sustaining medical treatment beyond a certain time, such as after higher brain function has ceased as it had in the famous Karen Anne Quinlan situation. I find this same willingness to interfere in others lives to be at the root of some of our more divisive social issues, such as the misnamed "prolife" movement.

The pro-life movement is actually simply the anti-abortion movement, or the anti "Roe v. Wade" movement, and is mostly driven by certain religious opportunists who gain self importance by attempting to force their opinions and views upon others. Their announced goal is to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that regulated the state's ability to intrude on a woman's right to make her own medical decisions and not have those decisions made by her government. Contrary to what the Pro-life folks will tell you, Roe v. Wade was not a decision directly about abortion. It was a decision affirming a woman's right to privacy. It is one of the greatest and wisest decisions ever handed down by the Supreme Court and the majority of Americans support it and want it upheld. This is a problem for right wing evangelicals and others who want the power of control over women's personal medical decisions.

But, for politicians, there is a problem with being direct and honest with anti-abortionists...Even though they are a small number of voters(roughly 13-17%), they vote as a mindless one issue block. The Republican party, starting with Ronald Reagan, has pandered to this group who were somehow able to delude themselves and accept that pro-war, pro rich, pro multinational corporation, pro gun, anti-middle class, and anti working class, ideologies somehow went along with the anti constitutional, anti privacy, ideology that overturning Roe v. Wade would actually represent. To think that these various ideologies support each other is nuts. Absolutely institutionally asylum lock up batshit crazy. But for conservatives it works.

Is it worth noting that pro-life voters are the most pro-war constituency in America? Does that make sense?

I'm sticking with nuts.

Anyway, 13% is a big enough number that Democrats feel like they have to do what can be done to neutralize this voting block without actually giving in...OK, maybe pandering to them but in such a way as to not compromise the vast majority of Democrats who understand and support the idea that abortion should be available under the just restrictions of Roe v. Wade and remain "Safe, Legal, and Rare!"

A meeting was arranged:

"In 2004, we couldn't get a word in. This time, they reached out to us," says Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, a six-year-old advocacy organization that sponsored a convention gathering that featured antiabortion Democratic Rep. Lincoln Davis of Tennessee. "The big tent is opening up."

The platform states that the party "strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade," the 1973 Supreme Court decision affirming abortion rights, "and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion." But it asserts that the party "also strongly supports access to comprehensive affordable family planning services and age-appropriate sex education" that "help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions."

You should read the entire piece. In some ways it worries me. I see this as a very smart strategic move, but if anyone thinks they are going to reason with conservatives they are wrong.

Negotiate, yes...Reason? Hasn't happened yet and no evidence abounds to make me think it ever will.

Wall Street Journal

Peace,

Steve

Will we let John McCain start World War Three?

Covering up any real public attempt to answer the question John McCain's suitability for the office of president is the incessant blather that he was a prisoner of war and therefore a hero.

Getting shot down on a mission may be nothing more than an indication that he is a bad pilot, and the additional evidence of his numerous other lost aircraft would seem to support that finding. We know that McCain was passed over for promotion to the rank of Admiral and left the Navy as the first failure in his military lineage, so we know that even if he could explain away such things as flying a Navy jet into the marsh on his way to the Army Navy football game, McCain cannot explain away the fact that his judgement on military matters has been a dismal failure and costly in money and devastating in the cost of lives for our Military.

Even before George W. Bush began the beat of his war drum, John McCain was already calling for the invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq!

...the emotion of Sept. 11 overwhelmed his former cool-eyed caution about deploying American troops without a clear national interest and a well-defined exit, turning him into a tool of the Bush administration in its push for a war...

John McCain called for the first target in the war against Al Queda and retribution for 9-11 to be Iraq. As we knew then, Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. As we know now, Iraq had absolutely ZERO Weapons of Mass Destruction. As we should all know then and now, John McCain has exactly No Rational Judgement on these matters...He simply wants war.

McCain has been nearly as great a failure as George W. Bush in his life, his military career, and his judgement. Other "heroes" who survived the same POW camp have gone public and stated that McCain is not fit for the presidency. They do not want his vicious temper, so ready to strike out at anything and anyone when he is angered, to be anywhere near the trigger for war...Especially nuclear war.

In the aftermath of the dismal failure of his beloved Iraq war, we have to ask whether McCain has learned anything? Apparently not as his saber rattling for a war in Iran so obviously indicates:

The Sept. 11 attacks “demonstrated the grave threat posed by a hostile regime, possessing weapons of mass destruction, and with reported ties to terrorists,” Mr. McCain wrote in an e-mail message on Friday. Given Mr. Hussein’s history of pursuing illegal weapons and his avowed hostility to the United States, “his regime posed a threat we had to take seriously.” The attacks were still a reminder, Mr. McCain added, of the importance of international action “to prevent outlaw states — like Iran today — from developing weapons of mass destruction.”

So has McCain learned anything from the tragedies caused by his championing Ahmed Chalabi and the mishandling of the Iraq war? Thousands of our troops died, remember. Well, no! His immediate call, when Russia rolled into the Republic of Georgia, was for Georgia to immediately be inducted into NATO. This was a stupid call on McCain's part. If Europe had been so stupid as to heed McCain's call, we would be facing off with Russia in what could easily become World War Three.

John McCain is a warmonger who, having failed in Vietnam, failed in Iraq, failed in Afghanistan, failed in Pakistan, is looking for a war he can win. What in the name of all that is peaceful and good does he think he will accomplish by picking a fight with the one other super military power in the whole freaking world with the capability and the will to decimate America? Of course it will decimate Russia as well, but who the hell wins in this kind of confrontation?

McCain has nothing in the way of temperament or international diplomacy skill that can guide America through the treacherous world climate that he himself was so instrumental in creating. He is that proverbial man, who has only a hammer in his tool box and therefore sees all the world and its complex problems as a nail. Given his track record of being exactly wrong on every single international issue, he cannot be allowed to take his little hammer out into a world that has the capability of hitting back with disastrous results.

Democrats must make the case that is so obvious...John McCain is unfit to lead America into anything except World War III.



Peace,

Steve

Wake up America!

Michelle

If you missed Michelle Obama's speech last night, you missed a historic event, but in addition to that, you missed one hell of a speech.

Except for the awesome and inspiring Ted Kennedy, the evening was about as underwhelming as these things can be, until Michelle walked up and took, not only the podium, but every heart and mind in the room. Chris Matthews and Tom Brokaw teared up, and so did I.

Michelle Obama will be the greatest First Lady in the history of America, and to show you why, here's the last 9 minutes of her speech.



The rest of her speech and the cutest kids ever can be checked out in this diary.

Peace,

Steve

Fox News gets some Love in Denver

I look here...I look there...I See houses...Everywhere

Exactly!

What buhdydharma said

Since the Republicans have held power the country has gone to hell in a handbasket due to their partisanship, ideology based governance and pure stinking REPUBLICAN incompetence.

This election is not, and cannot be allowed to be, a referendum on Obama. This election is about throwing out the politicians who have turned America from the world leader it was before the Republicans took power, into what it is today

"Of the People" or "For the Lobbyists"?

George W. Bush likes to joke about his "C" average in college. After completely bungling a presidency, we all feel the brunt of how much damage a C student can do to a nation in only a few short years. Well now we are faced with the possible presidency of John McCain who, at forth from the bottom of 859 graduates, is not even up to a grade of C.

Jack Cafferty of CNN states the obvious(Well, about time!):

George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.

He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

Frankly, John McCain is not just like Bush...he is far worse. I mean if you don't have a soul in the first place, you can't be faulted for making a deal with the Devil, as George W. Bush did. John McCain may have once had a soul. It's gone. What did he do with it?

I think he sold it to Karl Rove.

This would explain how he runs a commercial stating how he is taking on "Big Oil" while at the same time scheduling a photo op aboard an off shore drilling rig and talks about solving high gas prices with the absurd scenario of adding one percent to our domestic oil capacity ten years from now by handing Big Oil the rest of our National Seashores.

That'll show 'em.

And to really rub it in, keep your 9 billion dollar tax break.

This Presidential campaign should be putting a stark spotlight on two forms of government that are battling it out for supremacy...Government by human beings for the good of the People versus Government by Lobbyists for the good of the Corporations.

Nowhere is this morality play more evident than the fact that John McCain's main staff advisor on the Georgia Russia war was paid $800,000.00 last year as Georgia's lobbyist in the United States. I feel really good about the objectivity of McCain's information on all that. I wonder if folks will remember that McCain's main proposal was to immediately admit Georgia to NATO, a move that would have put immediate war between the entire European continent and Russia as a high priority option?

Shouldn't we require that our President at least finish the war he is already fighting before he starts another one? Is McCain's strategy to take all these little wars involving this small country and that small country, and roll them all together into one big war involving the whole freaking world?

Anybody who has looked at the map of the Middle East, including Georgia, Russia, and the oil ports on the Black Sea, knows that this conflict is all about Big Oil and the pipelines that cross from the Russian oil fields through Georgia to their customers in Europe.

John McCain is letting himself be manipulated by his own staff who, at the same time they are working to get him elected, are being paid as lobbyists for foreign leaders.

"...I'm here to tell you...There will be more wars" said John McCain. If he gets elected, this is the one statement John McCain has made that I believe with all my heart.

Peace,

Steve

An Important Message...I didn't Exhale!

The Flaming Pants of John McCain

McCain and Obama were supposed to be asked the same questions at the recent forum at a California Church. Neither candidate was supposed to know the questions in advance, but Obama went first while McCain was supposed to be in the church and sequestered where he could not hear the questions or Obama's answers.

He wasn't and he could!

Eyebrows started rising when John McCain started answering questions before they were even asked. Several news commentators spoke about this and the McCain campaign has gone ballistic, demanding that the comments be stricken from the record.

At the beginning of the forum at California megachurch, Warren told the crowd and TV audience, “I'm going to ask identical questions to each of these candidates, so you can compare apples to apples. Now, Senator Obama is going to go first. We flipped a coin, and we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence.”

That turns out to be a lie (or rather, let me call it a "mis-truth") on the part of Pastor Warren.

John McCain was no where near the Church and in fact, was still at his hotel, according to CNN.

Then comes the "truthiness" part, and anybody who has raised a child can spot this one:

"Warren told CNN Sunday evening, “we flat out asked him” if he heard any of the questions. The McCain campaign “confirmed that McCain did not hear or see any of the broadcast” in the motorcade or after he arrived, Ross said."

That is obviously a carefully parsed question that allows the McCain camp to lie with the truth...McCain did not hear or see...But they did not ask him if any of his staff "Heard or Saw" and told him the answers.

I can see little John looking his mom straight in the eye saying, "I did not touch those cookie, Mamma!" ("But the gloves I was wearing might have")

The McCain camp is furiously working the refs trying to keep this from boiling to the top. So far it is working for them.

An even more transparent "fib" simmering at the same time is McCain's story about a guard in his POW camp who drew the sign of the cross in the dirt and let him get away without getting a beating. Of course that story did not appear in any of his writings and in fact was sort of situationally contradicted by them, until he was running for resident decades later. It's one of those stories that really sounds good until you realize it never happened to John McCain at all. It is from a tail told by Alexander Solzhenitsyn from his times in the Soviet Gulags.

So we are starting to see solidifying evidence that the Straight Talk Express is nothing more than John McCain's imagination. Worse than the question of whether John McCain is someone who can't tell fact from fantasy in his own mind is the realization that he is someone who is willing to cheat and then lie about it.

Peace,

Steve

Update: McCain's staff is working extremely hard to kill this story. That is leading some news people to push back and question why? Is it true?

Snorkeling at the Blue Hole

RedHorse Sucker?

Sunfish?

Search Me

I ran into an old friend in Utah a few days ago.

He handed me his card, which read "THINKOLOGIST". "Big money in that," I asked?

He laughed and introduced me to a guy who had created a digital vest. It had monograms that were sensors that controlled an Ipod and phone. He could listen to music and answer his cell phone by touching his vest in the correct places. I think the monograms spelled "geek" but I'm not sure...It could have been "dork".

As I was wishing him luck, he told me that he had written a search engine, and before he could fill me in my next appointment wandered up and I lost my thinkologist friend in the hubub of the convention center.

Search engines are big.

Any number of them have been written, used, and tossed aside when they were replaced by faster or more accurate search engines. It takes money to get them going and money to keep them going, what with the server farms that house the information and software that you and I use every time we "google" something. I personally have used Google exclusively since the first time I tried it. It was different, somehow...and it was really fast. Rather than a plain "look up" search, such as Yahoo, it mathematically weighted web information and I got what I wanted almost every time, particularly after I learned how to use the logic instructions to tailor my search. This is good...and this is bad!

The good thing is that I get what I want. The bad thing is that 90% of all searches are performed by three engines,, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. This is dangerous in the long run, much like the fact that our news is delivered by only a few very large corporations which at one time were noble and served the ideals of democracy, but now serve the ideals of corporate profits.

Corporate News outlets make decisions every minute that control what we learn. Do they challenge an obvious bit of slanted information or let it go because it helps a particular corporation friendly politician? If you've watched Fox News lately and then seen the same news item interpreted by another news outlet, you can see the most egregious example of this in our time. In a Democracy, voters must have accurate information in order to make the decisions required of an electorate. Control the information and you control the elections and the ability of a government to manipulate its people. How else can you explain the obviously false opinion being formed by 68% of Americans that Saddam had something to do with 9-11 in the run up to the Iraq war?

The antidote to bad news is good information and regulation of news outlets. At the moment, regulation is out. News media have been deregulated to the point that they now have monopolies and now support a particular political party that continues to lie to the very people who are supposed to own the airwaves that carry the lies. Monopolies, like corporations, are essentially incapable of being altruistic. They serve themselves by intent... others only by accident. That leaves us to search for good information all on our own.

And that brings us back to search engines. what you find when you search for something can be easily controlled by your search engine. I trust Google at this point and maybe Yahoo, to some lessor degree. Sorry, but I don't trust Microsoft. At some point, Google and the others could be faced with a monumental decision involving monumental profits versus the good of my Country. All of the major news outlets have made these decisions in favor of their own pockets, with Fox being the worst offender. Now, CNN/HNN is vying for second, with the insipid Glen Beck as the most obvious symptom. If the few major players in media can fall victim to the corporate monopoly disease, so can search engines.

When we ask a question, do we want the answer to be tailored to serve those in power? No way! The most dangerous people on this planet, the ones with the most power to harm me and my family, are the people in control of my government. This is why Net Neutrality is such a big deal and why John McCain is disqualified, extremely unqualified in fact, from being able to lead my country. He doesn't get it. Actually, he doesn't have a clue. A man who has never sent an email has an understanding of the issues involved with what will be the dominant avenue of human communication and commerce somewhere on the order of a housefly.

Enter the people who have done more to provide accurate information than anyone in history, and as a result, are most hated by conservative forces...Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is an open source online encyclopedia. The information and articles it contains are written and fact checked by you and me, and everybody else on the planet with internet access. Try to put false information on Wikipedia and get banned. It is a self enforcing reverence for truth, fact, and accuracy that makes Wikipedia the most valuable online tool ever conceived. Now JImmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia has announced his plan to create Wiki Search.

Nobody can predict how well this project will turn out but I am very optimistic. If nothing else, it will keep Google on its most honest toes.

I suspect Wiki Search will be immediately banned in China.

Peace,

Steve

McCain Approves W

Update: Even Better:

Why Does Karl Rove have Press Credentials to the Dem Convention?

Are Democratic Organizers....

a. Nuts

b. Stupid

c. All of the above

d. Deciding that the convention floor be a good place to arrest Karl Rove for Inherent Contempt of Congress?

e. I'm going with chickenshit

The Story

Ross Perot on McCain

But Ross Perot, who paid Carol's medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both she and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel -- even by the standards of modern American politics.

"McCain is the classic opportunist," the billionaire -- who ran for president as an independent in 1992 and as the nominee of his short-lived Reform Party in 1996 -- told the Mail. "He’s always reaching for attention and glory. After he came home [from Vietmam, he discovered that] Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona."And the rest is history."

From SkeeterBites