Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
OMG! McCain's a Socialist?
And please don't miss the bonus irony content of this beauty of a video where the question comes from a student at a state university.
( Note to Pete...who told me that he doesn't care if Obama is an Arab, he's a socialist. Pete is currently a senior at Clemson University where his education was brought to him by the socialist state educational system...Have someone explain this one to you.)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Road Trip
Octoberfest?
It's Fall, leaves doing their thing, football games, beer, and songs that feature a tuba player.
We had sworn a solemn oath to go to a college football game while our son was still a student so when Clemson (his school) hosted Georgia Tech (one of my schools) it was time. It didn't hurt that Walhalla, SC was having Octoberfest the same weekend, or that you have to go over mountains to get from East Tennessee to West South Carolina and the color is quite nice this year.
In most of the rest of the world, drinking beer on the streets during festivals is not only allowed, but encouraged. In Roane County it's illegal except for certain legal loopholes that I won't mention lest the church bretheren rabble rouse to close them. Walhalla solved the legal problem by recognizing a big funeral tent as a legal bar under which beer may be served and consumed for four days every October. They started with "near" beer, moved up to "all three kinds" Miller, Bud, and Bud Light, and now have a fine selection of actuall beers to choose from, as long as you stay under the tent with the band.
The tent gets rather crowded, the band has a dance troup and some cow bell players, the crowd gets dragged onto the floor to dance, vendors line the park, and the town makes 25% of it's sales tax revenue in this one weekend for the entire year. It's a tourist destination now. I talked to the man who has been putting it on for over 25 years and he said it was a hard sell at first but now, even the church people love it. They set up booths and hand out literature.
It's a love fest of a different sort, but they had shuttles and vans to haul folks home if need be, and the cops were amazingly friendly and helpful. The only complaint I heard was that the beer tent needed to be much larger, since you had to stand under it to consume. The cops overlooked the fact that the crowd grew bigger than the tent and all was well.
East Tennessee could use a visionary small town that could put on an event like this.
Our tickets were courtesey of the Clemson Tiger mascot and were in the section with the player's family. I was warned to wear orange and not to cheer for the wrong team. Actually, since it was the first game after Tommy Bowden got fired, I was pulling for the Tigers, who almost pulled it out in the last minutes.
Prost!
Steve
And for you political junkies, here's the biggest event of the week so far:
It's Fall, leaves doing their thing, football games, beer, and songs that feature a tuba player.
We had sworn a solemn oath to go to a college football game while our son was still a student so when Clemson (his school) hosted Georgia Tech (one of my schools) it was time. It didn't hurt that Walhalla, SC was having Octoberfest the same weekend, or that you have to go over mountains to get from East Tennessee to West South Carolina and the color is quite nice this year.
In most of the rest of the world, drinking beer on the streets during festivals is not only allowed, but encouraged. In Roane County it's illegal except for certain legal loopholes that I won't mention lest the church bretheren rabble rouse to close them. Walhalla solved the legal problem by recognizing a big funeral tent as a legal bar under which beer may be served and consumed for four days every October. They started with "near" beer, moved up to "all three kinds" Miller, Bud, and Bud Light, and now have a fine selection of actuall beers to choose from, as long as you stay under the tent with the band.
The tent gets rather crowded, the band has a dance troup and some cow bell players, the crowd gets dragged onto the floor to dance, vendors line the park, and the town makes 25% of it's sales tax revenue in this one weekend for the entire year. It's a tourist destination now. I talked to the man who has been putting it on for over 25 years and he said it was a hard sell at first but now, even the church people love it. They set up booths and hand out literature.
It's a love fest of a different sort, but they had shuttles and vans to haul folks home if need be, and the cops were amazingly friendly and helpful. The only complaint I heard was that the beer tent needed to be much larger, since you had to stand under it to consume. The cops overlooked the fact that the crowd grew bigger than the tent and all was well.
East Tennessee could use a visionary small town that could put on an event like this.
Our tickets were courtesey of the Clemson Tiger mascot and were in the section with the player's family. I was warned to wear orange and not to cheer for the wrong team. Actually, since it was the first game after Tommy Bowden got fired, I was pulling for the Tigers, who almost pulled it out in the last minutes.
Prost!
Steve
And for you political junkies, here's the biggest event of the week so far:
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Debate, "No Negative Campaigning"
Do Republican strategists watch too much TV?
(I mean the torture strategy was stolen from 24.)
Hat tip to Digby!
(I mean the torture strategy was stolen from 24.)
Hat tip to Digby!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Soon we can start the Real Work
It's funny to see the McCain/Palin campaign rant breathlessly about Barack Obama's collaboration with a noted educator to found an organization dedicated to school improvement with money from a prominent Republican foundation.
They say Obama and William Ayers wanted schools to teach Liberal ideological things like...reading, science, mathematics, civics...My Gosh!
Can you believe anyone could vote for a man who did things like that? And look who the funding came from ...The Walter Annenberg Foundation. Terrorists!
Why even this very day, Walter Annenberg's widow has endoresed...John McCain?...For President...Oh, wait...What?
But they funded terrorists, didn't they?
Oh, Wow! Now, we find out that Lamar Alexander has an Annenberg Foundation connection to these terrorists. One of Lamar's direct reportees, David Kearns, probably carried secret terrorist instructions from Lamar and his boss, George Herbert Walker Bush.
XEROX! You hear that? They were actually using this man's company's machines and copying documents! Copying documents in offices at every level in America's government...Some of them were even..."secret" documents!
Were all the Annenberg Foundation members terrorist connected? Looks like it! They read like a who's who in America for Education.
My Gosh! How deep does this go?
Look...Bill Ayers worked with a totally misguided group and did some bad things 40 years ago in order to try and stop a stupid, probably unconstitutional, and tragic war, in which tens of thousands of Americans were killed, far more were wounded, and hundreds, including John McCain himself, were captured, held prisoner, and tortured.
He was not convicted of any crime. For decades, now, Bill Ayers turned his energy toward positive action and has worked for better schools. He is a noted PHD professor of Education.
Compare Obama's association with Bill Ayers, 30 years later, in the service of their community, working for better schools, with John McCain's association with his own domestic terrorist, G. Gordon Liddy.
Ayers was trying, in however miguided a way, to stop a war.
G. Gordon Liddy, of Watergate fame, was working to destroy Democracy in America, to continue the Vietnam War, and preserve the Nixon Presidency. Liddy readily admits his intents. His plans included murdering journalists and kidnapping people who opposed Richard Nixon. They would have been carried out except for his bungled burglary at the Watergate Hotel, in which he was trying to steal documents outlining Democratic Presidential Campaign strategy.
Got that? John McCain's friend, fundraiser, and supporter, G. Gordon Liddy, committed domestic terrorist acts in a plan to destroy Democracy in America. He hasn't reformed or worked to give back to his community by working for better schools, as William Ayers has done. He has only tried to become rich, by promoting his perverse ideology, which John McCain still buys into, in books and on his creepy conservative radio show. Liddy held a McCain fundraiser in his own home and has donated thousands to McCain. He also told his listeners that you have to shoot United States agents in the head to kill them.
Obama works with a diverse group of people that includes Republicans, Democrats, and other school activists like William Ayers (who turned his capabilities toward the good side of the force), to improve schools in his community, and McCain has the nerve to accuse him of associating with terrorists?
McCain takes money from domestic terrorist and convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy and acts holier than thou?
John McCain has no honor left.
Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America.
Then the real work of saving America can begin.
Peace,
Steve
Update: Federal Prosecutor of the Weathermen praises Ayers for becoming a responsible citizen.
They say Obama and William Ayers wanted schools to teach Liberal ideological things like...reading, science, mathematics, civics...My Gosh!
Can you believe anyone could vote for a man who did things like that? And look who the funding came from ...The Walter Annenberg Foundation. Terrorists!
Why even this very day, Walter Annenberg's widow has endoresed...John McCain?...For President...Oh, wait...What?
But they funded terrorists, didn't they?
Oh, Wow! Now, we find out that Lamar Alexander has an Annenberg Foundation connection to these terrorists. One of Lamar's direct reportees, David Kearns, probably carried secret terrorist instructions from Lamar and his boss, George Herbert Walker Bush.
David Kearns was: Chairman of the Alexandria-based New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC)—a 1991 school reform initiative of President George H. W. Bush; former Deputy Secretary of Education (1991–1993) under Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the George H. W. Bush administration; former president, CEO and chairman of Xerox
XEROX! You hear that? They were actually using this man's company's machines and copying documents! Copying documents in offices at every level in America's government...Some of them were even..."secret" documents!
Were all the Annenberg Foundation members terrorist connected? Looks like it! They read like a who's who in America for Education.
My Gosh! How deep does this go?
Look...Bill Ayers worked with a totally misguided group and did some bad things 40 years ago in order to try and stop a stupid, probably unconstitutional, and tragic war, in which tens of thousands of Americans were killed, far more were wounded, and hundreds, including John McCain himself, were captured, held prisoner, and tortured.
He was not convicted of any crime. For decades, now, Bill Ayers turned his energy toward positive action and has worked for better schools. He is a noted PHD professor of Education.
Compare Obama's association with Bill Ayers, 30 years later, in the service of their community, working for better schools, with John McCain's association with his own domestic terrorist, G. Gordon Liddy.
Ayers was trying, in however miguided a way, to stop a war.
G. Gordon Liddy, of Watergate fame, was working to destroy Democracy in America, to continue the Vietnam War, and preserve the Nixon Presidency. Liddy readily admits his intents. His plans included murdering journalists and kidnapping people who opposed Richard Nixon. They would have been carried out except for his bungled burglary at the Watergate Hotel, in which he was trying to steal documents outlining Democratic Presidential Campaign strategy.
Got that? John McCain's friend, fundraiser, and supporter, G. Gordon Liddy, committed domestic terrorist acts in a plan to destroy Democracy in America. He hasn't reformed or worked to give back to his community by working for better schools, as William Ayers has done. He has only tried to become rich, by promoting his perverse ideology, which John McCain still buys into, in books and on his creepy conservative radio show. Liddy held a McCain fundraiser in his own home and has donated thousands to McCain. He also told his listeners that you have to shoot United States agents in the head to kill them.
Obama works with a diverse group of people that includes Republicans, Democrats, and other school activists like William Ayers (who turned his capabilities toward the good side of the force), to improve schools in his community, and McCain has the nerve to accuse him of associating with terrorists?
McCain takes money from domestic terrorist and convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy and acts holier than thou?
John McCain has no honor left.
Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America.
Then the real work of saving America can begin.
Peace,
Steve
Update: Federal Prosecutor of the Weathermen praises Ayers for becoming a responsible citizen.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Governor's Land and Water Forum and Devilstep Hollow Cave
First of all I want to note that Governor Bredesen has been awarded the National Humanitarian Award for his work in preserving Tennessee's natural heritage.
Well Done, sir!
I'll talk more about that later and will try to link to the actual announcement if I can find it.
As part of the Governor's Land and Water Forum, we were taken on a tour of our newest state park at Devilstep Hollow. It's 12 miles South of Cumberland Mountain State park but is not yet open to the public. The driveway crosses private land and a new easement is being purchased and developed.
The farm is beautiful, sitting at the very head of the Sequatchee Valley. Grassy Cove is on the other side of the massive sandstone ridge which separates the two valleys,, which are geologically the same.
Here is the Devilstep Hollow sinkhole where the cave is located.
This is where the Sequatchie River flows out of the ground at the Devil Step Hollow farm, a few hundred yards from the sinkhole.
I'll try to add more photos of the actual conference as I have time. There is some great stuff going on in Tennessee that will improve and preserve the beauty of our state for future generations. As a result of Phil Bredesen's personal commitment TDEC Commissioner Jim Fyke made this announcement,
"Governor Phil Bredesen has been selected as the National Recreation and Park Association’s 2008 National Humanitarian Award winner for his work to preserve and protect Tennessee landscapes."
Fyke nominated Bredesen for the award, which NRPA presents to an individual or organization whose concern for humanity has been expressed through park, recreation and conservation efforts that enrich people’s lives.
The one worry I kept hearing from the folks in the room is what will happen after Phil Bredesen leaves in two years? He has set the bar very high for the next governor, and folks are concerned that Tennessee may return to the environmentally indifferent years the hallmarked the previous administration.
Phil Bredesen will be a hard act to follow.
Peace,
Steve
Update: The Link
Well Done, sir!
I'll talk more about that later and will try to link to the actual announcement if I can find it.
As part of the Governor's Land and Water Forum, we were taken on a tour of our newest state park at Devilstep Hollow. It's 12 miles South of Cumberland Mountain State park but is not yet open to the public. The driveway crosses private land and a new easement is being purchased and developed.
The farm is beautiful, sitting at the very head of the Sequatchee Valley. Grassy Cove is on the other side of the massive sandstone ridge which separates the two valleys,, which are geologically the same.
Here is the Devilstep Hollow sinkhole where the cave is located.
This is where the Sequatchie River flows out of the ground at the Devil Step Hollow farm, a few hundred yards from the sinkhole.
I'll try to add more photos of the actual conference as I have time. There is some great stuff going on in Tennessee that will improve and preserve the beauty of our state for future generations. As a result of Phil Bredesen's personal commitment TDEC Commissioner Jim Fyke made this announcement,
"Governor Phil Bredesen has been selected as the National Recreation and Park Association’s 2008 National Humanitarian Award winner for his work to preserve and protect Tennessee landscapes."
Fyke nominated Bredesen for the award, which NRPA presents to an individual or organization whose concern for humanity has been expressed through park, recreation and conservation efforts that enrich people’s lives.
The one worry I kept hearing from the folks in the room is what will happen after Phil Bredesen leaves in two years? He has set the bar very high for the next governor, and folks are concerned that Tennessee may return to the environmentally indifferent years the hallmarked the previous administration.
Phil Bredesen will be a hard act to follow.
Peace,
Steve
Update: The Link
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Quote of the Day
Tina Fey:
"I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5," Fey said at last month's Emmys. "So, if anybody can help me be done playing this lady Nov. 5, that would be good for me."
I have another "quote of the day"..."Kill him!"
That is the crowd response to Sarah Palin's incitement against Barack Obama. Sarah Palin and John McCain are losing the Presidential race and they are losing big. America is finding them to be unworthy of leadership. By this last action we see that there is more to this than just not being up to the job...They are appealing to a sickness in American society.
By all accounts Barack Obama is an extremely good and kind person. He faced incredible odds as a mixed race child and overcame them, excelling at sports, academics, and achievement in his personal career. He became head of the Harvard Review, which is a stunning achievement at the Harvard Law School for anyone. Obama turned down big money job offers at New York law firms to return to the community in Chicago and serve as a community organizer to bring people together so that they could face their challenges together. We have tales from people who have met Barack over the years and they are all good and wonderful stories of kindness and helping strangers. As part of his good works, Obama agreed to serve on a Chicago schools forum at the request of Mayor Daly. It was unpaid service for the good of the community.
Sarah Palin and John McCain have no record of kindness coming to us from people who know them. McCain has an evil temper and a foul mouth. His humor is mean spirited and ugly. Palin is a winking liar as her whopper about that bridge to nowhere shows. She didn't build the bridge...She just kept the money. Neither of them has a clue about what to do to solve any of our nation's problems.
But something uglier and more sinister is coming from the McCain campaign. Incitement to cause harm. What is in the character of a person who would lie about another's character? Palin speaks the words well crafted by her handlers that attempt to assassinate the character of a man who, up to now, has done as much good in this world as he could and who wants to do more. They want to make us think that Barack Obama is a terrorist. It's a lie...They know it.
Here's another quote of the day. This one is older than the first two...
"Thy shalt not bear false witness against thy fellow man."
PHD Professor William Ayers was appointed to the same Board as Obama in Chicago. They taught at the same University. Ayers was an activist who made bad choices way back in the 60's when America was fighting and losing another bad war...This one in Vietnam. He joined the Weather Underground to fight what he saw as a government gone crazy. he was never convicted of anything except bad judgement. Barack was 8 years old at the time. Ayers turned his life toward more positive avenues of correcting society and today, is a leading authority on inner city schools and is a noted author of hundreds of significant academic articles and 16 books in the field of education. Yep! Sounds like a terrorist to me.
How dare Barack Obama teach at the same University as this man! How dare Barack Obama work with this man who turned his life around from one of destruction to one of hope and building up and working together.
"Kill him!" said the man standing at Sarah Palin's feet, as she smiled and winked at the crowd.
This is the level to which John McCain has sunk. I used to think well of him, but I was mislead. It was all an act. Now...McCain is a fountain of nastiness and sickness and I am very afraid of what he and his followers are capable of.
I know that McCain advocates the destruction of Social Security, bombing Iran, dangerous confrontation of Russia with the possibility of starting World War III...I know that he plans to gut Medicare and Medicaid to pay for his tax cuts for rich people. I know he has turned from a strong defender of the Geneva Conventions to an advocate of torture. But what are we seeing John McCain become now?
John McCain has turned his life around just like William Ayers did...Only, in the opposite direction.
America must be saved from the sickness that is Sarah Palin and John McCain and all of the bad things they represent.
We have 4 weeks to work to turn our country away from the dark period in American history that is the Bush/Cheney administration. If McCain wins...We could well look back on the Bush years as the good old days.
Stand up for a good man to be our next President...Barack Obama.
Peace,
Steve
"I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5," Fey said at last month's Emmys. "So, if anybody can help me be done playing this lady Nov. 5, that would be good for me."
I have another "quote of the day"..."Kill him!"
That is the crowd response to Sarah Palin's incitement against Barack Obama. Sarah Palin and John McCain are losing the Presidential race and they are losing big. America is finding them to be unworthy of leadership. By this last action we see that there is more to this than just not being up to the job...They are appealing to a sickness in American society.
By all accounts Barack Obama is an extremely good and kind person. He faced incredible odds as a mixed race child and overcame them, excelling at sports, academics, and achievement in his personal career. He became head of the Harvard Review, which is a stunning achievement at the Harvard Law School for anyone. Obama turned down big money job offers at New York law firms to return to the community in Chicago and serve as a community organizer to bring people together so that they could face their challenges together. We have tales from people who have met Barack over the years and they are all good and wonderful stories of kindness and helping strangers. As part of his good works, Obama agreed to serve on a Chicago schools forum at the request of Mayor Daly. It was unpaid service for the good of the community.
Sarah Palin and John McCain have no record of kindness coming to us from people who know them. McCain has an evil temper and a foul mouth. His humor is mean spirited and ugly. Palin is a winking liar as her whopper about that bridge to nowhere shows. She didn't build the bridge...She just kept the money. Neither of them has a clue about what to do to solve any of our nation's problems.
But something uglier and more sinister is coming from the McCain campaign. Incitement to cause harm. What is in the character of a person who would lie about another's character? Palin speaks the words well crafted by her handlers that attempt to assassinate the character of a man who, up to now, has done as much good in this world as he could and who wants to do more. They want to make us think that Barack Obama is a terrorist. It's a lie...They know it.
Here's another quote of the day. This one is older than the first two...
"Thy shalt not bear false witness against thy fellow man."
PHD Professor William Ayers was appointed to the same Board as Obama in Chicago. They taught at the same University. Ayers was an activist who made bad choices way back in the 60's when America was fighting and losing another bad war...This one in Vietnam. He joined the Weather Underground to fight what he saw as a government gone crazy. he was never convicted of anything except bad judgement. Barack was 8 years old at the time. Ayers turned his life toward more positive avenues of correcting society and today, is a leading authority on inner city schools and is a noted author of hundreds of significant academic articles and 16 books in the field of education. Yep! Sounds like a terrorist to me.
How dare Barack Obama teach at the same University as this man! How dare Barack Obama work with this man who turned his life around from one of destruction to one of hope and building up and working together.
"Kill him!" said the man standing at Sarah Palin's feet, as she smiled and winked at the crowd.
This is the level to which John McCain has sunk. I used to think well of him, but I was mislead. It was all an act. Now...McCain is a fountain of nastiness and sickness and I am very afraid of what he and his followers are capable of.
I know that McCain advocates the destruction of Social Security, bombing Iran, dangerous confrontation of Russia with the possibility of starting World War III...I know that he plans to gut Medicare and Medicaid to pay for his tax cuts for rich people. I know he has turned from a strong defender of the Geneva Conventions to an advocate of torture. But what are we seeing John McCain become now?
John McCain has turned his life around just like William Ayers did...Only, in the opposite direction.
America must be saved from the sickness that is Sarah Palin and John McCain and all of the bad things they represent.
We have 4 weeks to work to turn our country away from the dark period in American history that is the Bush/Cheney administration. If McCain wins...We could well look back on the Bush years as the good old days.
Stand up for a good man to be our next President...Barack Obama.
Peace,
Steve
Monday, October 06, 2008
Keatingeconomics.com
This is heck week for me. I have a Conservation Commission meeting, the Governor's Land and water Conservation Forum, and a trail to get planted before it rains tomorrow. Ok, I'm lazy...
Here's something to chew on until I can get back to you:
Here's something to chew on until I can get back to you:
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Can we Talk?
There are several discussions taking place in our nation this week.
Will people vote for an angry, incompetent, and lying man rather than a stunningly accomplished leader who is of mixed racial heritage? (Most of us are, actually, according to DNA studies on America's population)
Are we having a discussion of race or is it a discussion of campaign lying?
In Buchanan Virginia it is a discussion of both...
Uh, Huh...
Isn't it amazing that we have now narrowed our Presidential choices to two candidates who associate with Terrorists?
One of the candidates associates with a convicted felon who made plans to firebomb the Brookings Institution, Murder investigative journalist for the Atlanta Journal Jack Anderson, and kidnap protesters at the Republican Convention, before he was caught. He was convicted and served 4 1/2 years in Federal prison for several break-ins to steal papers from opposing political figures. The Convicted felon even used the public airwaves to instruct his followers on how to shoot Bureau of Alchohol Tobacco and Firearms agents. In the most brazen of acts, this domestic terrorist held a fundraiser for his candidate who attended even though it was held at the terrorists own home, where tens of thousands of dollars were raised.
The other candidate associated with a man who was a member of a radical anti-war group 30 years before they met, but who was never convicted of anything. This man rebuilt his life, earned a doctorate, published 16 scholarly books and hundreds of articles, founded the "Small Schools Workshop" and the Chicago School Reform Collaborative" and has become a leading figure in the education community and is a nationally recognized and distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois/Chicago.
Uh, Huh!
Now for something completely different...
Our bible study passage for the day is:
Proverbs 6:11-14
And 6:25
Uh, Huh!
Peace,
Steve
"Barack Obama Won't Take Away Your Gun," says one flier. "But John McCain Will Take Away Your Union."
Will people vote for an angry, incompetent, and lying man rather than a stunningly accomplished leader who is of mixed racial heritage? (Most of us are, actually, according to DNA studies on America's population)
Are we having a discussion of race or is it a discussion of campaign lying?
In Buchanan Virginia it is a discussion of both...
"We go to church, sing our songs, pray, come out and talk about, 'I can't be for an African American, because of the color of his skin...You can't do that if you are a Christian."
A local newspaper columnist, in a spoof of Obama’s platform, wrote in one recent piece that the Democrat would hire the rapper Ludacris to paint the White House black (a reference to a pro-Obama song by Ludacris), and divert more foreign aid to Africa so "the Obama family there can skim enough to allow them to free their goats and live the American Dream." He joked that Obama would replace the 50 stars on the U.S. flag "with a star and crescent logo," an Islamic symbol, and that his policy on drugs would be to "raise taxes to pay for Obama's inner-city political base."
The columnist, Bobby May, is also treasurer of the Buchanan County Republican Party and was listed in a July news release as the county's representative on McCain's Virginia leadership team, though he said his column reflected his views alone, and he denied it was racist.
Uh, Huh...
Isn't it amazing that we have now narrowed our Presidential choices to two candidates who associate with Terrorists?
One of the candidates associates with a convicted felon who made plans to firebomb the Brookings Institution, Murder investigative journalist for the Atlanta Journal Jack Anderson, and kidnap protesters at the Republican Convention, before he was caught. He was convicted and served 4 1/2 years in Federal prison for several break-ins to steal papers from opposing political figures. The Convicted felon even used the public airwaves to instruct his followers on how to shoot Bureau of Alchohol Tobacco and Firearms agents. In the most brazen of acts, this domestic terrorist held a fundraiser for his candidate who attended even though it was held at the terrorists own home, where tens of thousands of dollars were raised.
The other candidate associated with a man who was a member of a radical anti-war group 30 years before they met, but who was never convicted of anything. This man rebuilt his life, earned a doctorate, published 16 scholarly books and hundreds of articles, founded the "Small Schools Workshop" and the Chicago School Reform Collaborative" and has become a leading figure in the education community and is a nationally recognized and distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois/Chicago.
Uh, Huh!
Now for something completely different...
Our bible study passage for the day is:
Proverbs 6:11-14
Your poverty will come in like a vagabond.
And your need like an armed man.
A worthless person, a wicked man/woman,
Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
Who winks with his/her eyes, who signals with his feet,Who points with his/her fingers;
Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,Who spreads strife
And 6:25
Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.
Uh, Huh!
Peace,
Steve
"Barack Obama Won't Take Away Your Gun," says one flier. "But John McCain Will Take Away Your Union."
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Aaaahhh...Ctober!
With mornings in the 30's, we have been spending most waking moments outside. The sourwoods have turned, as have a few dogwoods and someother random trees and shrubs. With our drought, it isn't unusual to see some stressed out plant giving up for this year. Next year will be better...It always is, before it actually gets here.
The mast crop was destroyed last year due to the late hard freeze that turned everything brown all across the Southeast. This year the trees have bounced back with doubled vigor. I picked up a chestnut oak acorn yesterday that was too big to wrap my OK sign around. "Bigger than a Bantie," said my neghbor. He was referring to bantam chicken eggs.
Anyway, in some places the woods are hard hat areas, with acorns dropping like rocks. Even a baseball cap takes off some of the sting, but a direct hit still causes some cussing. The old shag bark hickory tree next to the parking area can dent up a car roof better than any hailstorm, so that part of the lot is off limits for the next month or two.
One complaint I've heard is from deer hunters, who say that the acorn crop is so good that they can't get deer to come to their feeders. Too bad, I say. Looks like the hunters will actually have to "Hunt" this year.
Peace,
Steve
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Bail out of the Bailout
Republicans have long maintained that games go better without referees. The problem with the financial markets, republicans argue, is that the referees demand that we be honest and play fair and take care of other people's money and that just won't work. Republicans claim that taking away their whistles wasn't enough...What needs to happen is for the referees need to go away. And then I guess they'll start trying to get rid of the statisticians who keep score.
America should be relieved that when Nancy Pelosi hurt the Republican's feelings so badly by pointing out that their deregulation of financial markets brought American financial markets to the brink of ruin. Republicans are so sensitive that they voted against the bailout bill. As it turns out, that may have been a good thing for all the wrong reasons.
As expected, anytime you let lobbyists into the room, they try to steal something. Buried in the bailout bill were the seeds of the final destruction of America's banking regulatory system.
This may seem complicated but it isn't. You learned wwhat the reserve holdings in banks were for back in middle school civics...Is civics still taught in school? It is the amount of money a bank has to keep on deposit, in reserve, that it cannot loan out. This is what caused 30% of all the banks in America to fail back in the early part of the 20th Century. It's why we have a Federal Reserve, a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and a U.S. Dollar. Henry Paulson was going to kill all of this yesterday.
Even worse, he was going to place a time bomb into legislation and leave town, much like McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm did with his deregulatory bill in 1999. Gramm baked the cake and hid the file so that Bush and his people could saw through the bars on the bank windows.
That would have meant that your hometown bank could simply tell you that they were out of money when you went to withdraw your life's savings and it would be completely legal.
Listen to me...Throw out the Paulson Bill and start over.
This bill has no guarantees, no protections, and no requirements that anything be fixed. The actual wording is, "The President shall propose..." That would be George W. Bush, at this point, known, loved, and trusted?
I don't think so.
It's just throwing money, America's credit card actually, at the losses of monster financial institutions and speculators, in the hopes that things will work themselves out...It also props up the high price of oil by 40% by propping up Oil specultors. How about that one?
I am beginning to believe that we should take our medicine and let some really big boys get killed by the market. If I could be guaranteed that a sound regulatory system would emerge from the ashes, I would let these people burn.
As it is now, I give you a quote from Republican Minority Leader Boehner, "What we have here is a flawed proposal that may work."
Later he blamed Democrats for the failure of the vote. I want to thank them. Now get the lobbyists out of the room, call in the economists, and give us a rational proposal that is less flawed and far more likely to work.
Peace,
Steve
America should be relieved that when Nancy Pelosi hurt the Republican's feelings so badly by pointing out that their deregulation of financial markets brought American financial markets to the brink of ruin. Republicans are so sensitive that they voted against the bailout bill. As it turns out, that may have been a good thing for all the wrong reasons.
As expected, anytime you let lobbyists into the room, they try to steal something. Buried in the bailout bill were the seeds of the final destruction of America's banking regulatory system.
"The original Relief Act of 2006 called for a date of October 1, 2011 to allow banks zero reserves, if the Federal Reserve Board thought it fit. This bill would have moved that up to tomorrow!Daily Kos
Tomorrow people! Do you hear me! Tomorrow we could have all woken up to the possibility of zero holdings in our banks and it being legally allowed!
And you dare cheerlead for this bill?"
This may seem complicated but it isn't. You learned wwhat the reserve holdings in banks were for back in middle school civics...Is civics still taught in school? It is the amount of money a bank has to keep on deposit, in reserve, that it cannot loan out. This is what caused 30% of all the banks in America to fail back in the early part of the 20th Century. It's why we have a Federal Reserve, a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and a U.S. Dollar. Henry Paulson was going to kill all of this yesterday.
Even worse, he was going to place a time bomb into legislation and leave town, much like McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm did with his deregulatory bill in 1999. Gramm baked the cake and hid the file so that Bush and his people could saw through the bars on the bank windows.
That would have meant that your hometown bank could simply tell you that they were out of money when you went to withdraw your life's savings and it would be completely legal.
Listen to me...Throw out the Paulson Bill and start over.
This bill has no guarantees, no protections, and no requirements that anything be fixed. The actual wording is, "The President shall propose..." That would be George W. Bush, at this point, known, loved, and trusted?
I don't think so.
It's just throwing money, America's credit card actually, at the losses of monster financial institutions and speculators, in the hopes that things will work themselves out...It also props up the high price of oil by 40% by propping up Oil specultors. How about that one?
"If speculators were forced to liquidate their positions, oil would easily be $65 to $75 per barrel by the time the liquidation was complete," said Michael Masters, the founder of Atlanta-based hedge fund Masters Capital Management. Tuesday, oil was trading at $108.74 in midday trading in New York
I am beginning to believe that we should take our medicine and let some really big boys get killed by the market. If I could be guaranteed that a sound regulatory system would emerge from the ashes, I would let these people burn.
As it is now, I give you a quote from Republican Minority Leader Boehner, "What we have here is a flawed proposal that may work."
Later he blamed Democrats for the failure of the vote. I want to thank them. Now get the lobbyists out of the room, call in the economists, and give us a rational proposal that is less flawed and far more likely to work.
Peace,
Steve
Monday, September 29, 2008
Smartest People in the World Endorse Obama
The smartest people on Earth endorse Barack Obama for President and urge us to support him. In their letter, they especially mention the comments of Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, and her support for anti-science ideas, such as creationism, being forcefully taught in our public schools...
Let's see...Who else is endorsing Obama? How about the fact that our Military personnel are giving SIX times as much money to Obama as they are to McCain? That's huge!
Sarah Palin has now gotten reverse endorsements from several big name conservatives. They are asking her to resign for the good of her party.
And since we haven't heard a peep out of her, it appears that Sarah is being kept in the "Witless Protection Program"!
Sarah Palin has been sequestered from the questioning public for six straight days now. She's cramming for her debate. Frankly, that fact all by itself is tacit admission that she is unqualified for the Vice Presidency. (This is particularly ominous, given that John McCain has been treated for melanoma cancer 5 times now and won't release his medical records.)
...Ok, I stole the Sarah Palin "Witless Protection Program" thing.
The debate bar is extremely low for Palin. She doesn't actually have to do very much to exceed expectations except remember the litle things, like the fact that Bono is not the President of Ireland.
The financial bailout has entered the strangest stage in its development. I would feel better about it if lobbyists had been excluded from the deliberations and if they had thrown out the Paulson plan altogether. Calls to Congress are still overwhelmingly opposed for several reasons.
I personally remain opposed to this particular plan, although I understand that something must be done. I would tie any bailout to repeal of McCain advisor Phill Gramm's bill deregulating the mortgage industry which allowed this to happen in the first place. So far I see nothing in any of this that acts to prevent a recurrence of a similar failure of the the financial industry.
I also think we should heed the words of Senator Bernie Sanders and act to limit the size of any financial institution...
"If it is too big to fail...It's too big to exist."
Duh!
Peace,
Steve
During the administration of George W. Bush, vital parts of our country’s scientific enterprise have been damaged by stagnant or declining federal support. The government’s scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk. We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy.
We have watched Senator Obama’s approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation’s competitiveness
Let's see...Who else is endorsing Obama? How about the fact that our Military personnel are giving SIX times as much money to Obama as they are to McCain? That's huge!
Sarah Palin has now gotten reverse endorsements from several big name conservatives. They are asking her to resign for the good of her party.
And since we haven't heard a peep out of her, it appears that Sarah is being kept in the "Witless Protection Program"!
Sarah Palin has been sequestered from the questioning public for six straight days now. She's cramming for her debate. Frankly, that fact all by itself is tacit admission that she is unqualified for the Vice Presidency. (This is particularly ominous, given that John McCain has been treated for melanoma cancer 5 times now and won't release his medical records.)
...Ok, I stole the Sarah Palin "Witless Protection Program" thing.
The debate bar is extremely low for Palin. She doesn't actually have to do very much to exceed expectations except remember the litle things, like the fact that Bono is not the President of Ireland.
The financial bailout has entered the strangest stage in its development. I would feel better about it if lobbyists had been excluded from the deliberations and if they had thrown out the Paulson plan altogether. Calls to Congress are still overwhelmingly opposed for several reasons.
I personally remain opposed to this particular plan, although I understand that something must be done. I would tie any bailout to repeal of McCain advisor Phill Gramm's bill deregulating the mortgage industry which allowed this to happen in the first place. So far I see nothing in any of this that acts to prevent a recurrence of a similar failure of the the financial industry.
I also think we should heed the words of Senator Bernie Sanders and act to limit the size of any financial institution...
"If it is too big to fail...It's too big to exist."
Duh!
Peace,
Steve
Sunday, September 28, 2008
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,
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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:
CNN:
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:
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,
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,
Friday, September 26, 2008
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?
Absolute bullshit...
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...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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:
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
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:
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
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
Monday, September 22, 2008
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
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
Sunday, September 21, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
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:
"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!
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!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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...
A must read!
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!
Monday, September 15, 2008
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
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
Friday, September 12, 2008
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!
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
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
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
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
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
Monday, September 08, 2008
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
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
Saturday, September 06, 2008
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.
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?
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.
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?
Friday, September 05, 2008
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/.
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/.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Moose and Snow
The McCain/Palin campaign is in a death spiral of epic proportions.
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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
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
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