The Statement: The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, suggested that McCain also had a link to Rashid Khalidi. It said, "John McCain should answer why, under his own chairmanship, the International Republican Institute repeatedly funded an organization Khalidi founded, the Center for Palestine Research and Studies, over the course of many years."
Get the facts!
The Facts: Since 1993, McCain has been chairman of the International Republican Institute — a nonprofit and nonpartisan group that helps promote democratic practices and institutions across the globe.
The IRI, in an October 29 press release, said it "gave grants" to the Center for Palestinian Research and Studies for polling in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. The IRI said its "relationship with CPRS ended in 2000, and we understand that it no longer exists."
"We understand that Rashid Khalidi was one of the many founders of CPRS, and we understand that he was for some (unclear) amount of time a board member," the IRI said.
A CPRS Web site lists Khalidi was one of the seven people who founded the group in March 1993. CPRS described itself as "an independent academic research and policy analysis institution."
"Because CPRS is independent of political factions, it is in a unique position of being able to serve as a forum for meetings of Palestinian and international researchers from various political backgrounds and ideologies in a free academic and professional atmosphere," the group said.
Michael Goldfarb, a McCain spokesman, told CNN on October 29 that "John McCain has never met Rashid Khalidi."
The Verdict: True. There was a relationship in the 1990s between the IRI, chaired by McCain, and the CPRS, co-founded by Khalidi, which received IRI funding.
Filed under: Fact Check - CNN
Friday, October 31, 2008
This sounds like a good incentive!!!
In order to "applaud Americans who exercise their right to vote in the 2008 Presidential campaign", Krispy Kreme will be giving all voters a FREE doughnut on election day!
So, on Tuesday, November 4th, all participating Krispy Kreme stores will offer you one free star-shaped doughnut with red, white, and blue sprinkles!
In order to claim your free doughnut, you just need to show up with your "I Voted" sticker they hand out at the polls after voting.
A rep from Krispy Kreme said, "We can't guarantee that your candidate of preference will win on November 4, but we can guarantee that your right to voice your choice will be rewarded with a patriotic doughnut that will remind you just how tasty freedom really is. Krispy Kreme encourages everyone to take part in this historical election and vote."
So instead of thinking of this as a marketing ploy or a bribe (a vote in exchange for a doughnut), let's think of it as a nice, free thank you for doing the right thing.
Go VOTE on November 4th and make a difference!
In order to "applaud Americans who exercise their right to vote in the 2008 Presidential campaign", Krispy Kreme will be giving all voters a FREE doughnut on election day!
So, on Tuesday, November 4th, all participating Krispy Kreme stores will offer you one free star-shaped doughnut with red, white, and blue sprinkles!
In order to claim your free doughnut, you just need to show up with your "I Voted" sticker they hand out at the polls after voting.
A rep from Krispy Kreme said, "We can't guarantee that your candidate of preference will win on November 4, but we can guarantee that your right to voice your choice will be rewarded with a patriotic doughnut that will remind you just how tasty freedom really is. Krispy Kreme encourages everyone to take part in this historical election and vote."
So instead of thinking of this as a marketing ploy or a bribe (a vote in exchange for a doughnut), let's think of it as a nice, free thank you for doing the right thing.
Go VOTE on November 4th and make a difference!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
America: 5 Days to Remember
Five more days. I try to change channels on the TV whenever politics come on, I am tired of the vitriolic personal attacks, the sly emails from , yes, friends that show Obama in one bad light after another. Yesterday it was a video morphing Obama’s face into that of the devil. I hear normally perfectly rational people say that Obama is the anti-Christ, etc. It would be laughable if these weren’t intelligent people espousing the ignorance and spewing it out themselves. It hurts. Five more days. Five more days and we can all be friends again. Five more days and we can return to work without hearing the slurs whispered and passed around about Obama and those who support him. Five more days before we can be the United States of America again, not the divided one we are today.
I listened to Barack Obama last night and felt inspired and proud to be an American citizen who came as an immigrant with his mother and sister on a ship to New York at the age of one and a half years. The warmth of genuine patriotism that Obama generated was all inclusive, healing and uniting for all Americans of every race, gender and creed. Looking at him as he sat with his daughters, I saw no anti-Christ, I saw a father. I too am a father with two daughters. No, I will never be a candidate for President of The United States of America but on the level of fatherhood Obama joins me on a common ground where human love and family bring us all together. We all rise from out beds, dress and begin our days the same. Our careers and our hours at work may be vastly different but when we return to the refuge of our homes we again are the same and it is then that we have to remember our common bonds as loving and caring humans.
Obama seeks to remind us of our commonality and reminds us of the true Christian mission which is not politics but is to care for each other as we would have others care for us and to love one another as God has loved us. We are made in God’s image. That image is not one of corporate CEO’s hoarding their wealth and decrying the need to take on any extra burden of taxation to ease the burden carried by their brothers and sisters in the middle class. That image is not of a candidate constantly flinging personal attacks at his opponent in politics. To be a Christian is not to be one of the ‘right’ or ‘left’ persuasion in politics. It is to believe in the message of Jesus and to devote one’s life to following those teachings in your own personal life and in all the aspects of one’s life.
So, there are five days left and now we need to heal. It is time for the persistent drumbeats of manic politics to cease in five days. It is time for peace. It is time to return to our homes and our families and remember what we have in common. God’s image is the face of love and that, we need to remember. Pray that in five days, we can all remember that.
I listened to Barack Obama last night and felt inspired and proud to be an American citizen who came as an immigrant with his mother and sister on a ship to New York at the age of one and a half years. The warmth of genuine patriotism that Obama generated was all inclusive, healing and uniting for all Americans of every race, gender and creed. Looking at him as he sat with his daughters, I saw no anti-Christ, I saw a father. I too am a father with two daughters. No, I will never be a candidate for President of The United States of America but on the level of fatherhood Obama joins me on a common ground where human love and family bring us all together. We all rise from out beds, dress and begin our days the same. Our careers and our hours at work may be vastly different but when we return to the refuge of our homes we again are the same and it is then that we have to remember our common bonds as loving and caring humans.
Obama seeks to remind us of our commonality and reminds us of the true Christian mission which is not politics but is to care for each other as we would have others care for us and to love one another as God has loved us. We are made in God’s image. That image is not one of corporate CEO’s hoarding their wealth and decrying the need to take on any extra burden of taxation to ease the burden carried by their brothers and sisters in the middle class. That image is not of a candidate constantly flinging personal attacks at his opponent in politics. To be a Christian is not to be one of the ‘right’ or ‘left’ persuasion in politics. It is to believe in the message of Jesus and to devote one’s life to following those teachings in your own personal life and in all the aspects of one’s life.
So, there are five days left and now we need to heal. It is time for the persistent drumbeats of manic politics to cease in five days. It is time for peace. It is time to return to our homes and our families and remember what we have in common. God’s image is the face of love and that, we need to remember. Pray that in five days, we can all remember that.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Obama Makes "Closing Argument" In Ohio
One week.
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.
We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn’t have much money or many endorsements. We weren’t given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.
But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.
Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.
Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That’s how we’ve come so far and so close – because of you. That’s how we’ll change this country – with your help. And that’s why we can’t afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.
We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can’t get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they’ve been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It’s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.
At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven’t worked, and it’s time for change. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.
Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts.
And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can’t spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.
It’s not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. It’s not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. It’s not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn’t give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans. That’s not change.
Look – we’ve tried it John McCain’s way. We’ve tried it George Bush’s way. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” That’s why he’s spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. Because that’s how you play the game in Washington. If you can’t beat your opponent’s ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.
Ohio, we are here to say “Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake.” Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I’m worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I can take one more week of John McCain’s attacks, but this country can’t take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It’s time for something new.
The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”
I know these are difficult times for America. But I also know that we have faced difficult times before. The American story has never been about things coming easy – it’s been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. It’s about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It’s about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. That’s how we’ve overcome war and depression. That’s how we’ve won great struggles for civil rights and women’s rights and worker’s rights. And that’s how we’ll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.
Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We’re still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there’s no reason we can’t make this century another American century. We just need a new direction. We need a new politics.
Now, I don’t believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don’t either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who’s willing to work. That’s how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That’s how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.
Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don’t need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.
We don’t have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks. As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs. And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I’ve been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again. That’s the change we need.
The choice in this election isn’t between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It’s about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. I’ll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. And I’ll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing. Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.
When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas. The truth is, we won’t be able to bring back every job that we’ve lost, but that doesn’t mean we should follow John McCain’s plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas. I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America. I’ll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. We’ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That’s how America can lead again.
When it comes to health care, we don’t have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. We’ll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn’t want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.
When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both. As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.
And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don’t have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq. It’s time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
I won’t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now. The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without. On this, there is no other choice. As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don’t need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.
But as I’ve said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn’t just about new programs and policies. It’s about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.
Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of “what’s good for me is good enough” blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn’t afford. Some folks knew they couldn’t afford those houses and bought them anyway. In Washington, politicians spent money they didn’t have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.
That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That’s what’s been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that’s what we need to restore right now.
Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.
In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.
Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
It won’t be easy, Ohio. It won’t be quick. But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country. Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history.
I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.
I know this change is possible. Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months. Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.
I’ve seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I’ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I’ve seen it in the faces of the men and women I’ve met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.
I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale. Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn’t have that kind of money.
In her email, Robyn wrote, “I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can’t think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.”
Ohio, that’s what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. If we’re willing to work for it. If we’re willing to shed our fears and our doubts. If we’re willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we’re tired and come back fighting harder.
Hope! That’s what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. What led them to say, “Maybe I can’t go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can’t have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own.” It’s what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn’t vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, “It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter.”
That’s what this election is about. That is the choice we face right now.
Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.
In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.
In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.
In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.
In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.
That’s what’s at stake. That’s what we’re fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.
We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn’t have much money or many endorsements. We weren’t given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.
But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.
Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.
Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That’s how we’ve come so far and so close – because of you. That’s how we’ll change this country – with your help. And that’s why we can’t afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.
We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can’t get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they’ve been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It’s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.
At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven’t worked, and it’s time for change. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.
Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts.
And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can’t spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.
It’s not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. It’s not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. It’s not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn’t give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans. That’s not change.
Look – we’ve tried it John McCain’s way. We’ve tried it George Bush’s way. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” That’s why he’s spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. Because that’s how you play the game in Washington. If you can’t beat your opponent’s ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.
Ohio, we are here to say “Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake.” Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I’m worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I can take one more week of John McCain’s attacks, but this country can’t take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It’s time for something new.
The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”
I know these are difficult times for America. But I also know that we have faced difficult times before. The American story has never been about things coming easy – it’s been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. It’s about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It’s about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. That’s how we’ve overcome war and depression. That’s how we’ve won great struggles for civil rights and women’s rights and worker’s rights. And that’s how we’ll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.
Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We’re still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there’s no reason we can’t make this century another American century. We just need a new direction. We need a new politics.
Now, I don’t believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don’t either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who’s willing to work. That’s how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That’s how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.
Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don’t need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.
We don’t have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks. As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs. And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I’ve been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again. That’s the change we need.
The choice in this election isn’t between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It’s about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. I’ll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. And I’ll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing. Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.
When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas. The truth is, we won’t be able to bring back every job that we’ve lost, but that doesn’t mean we should follow John McCain’s plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas. I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America. I’ll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. We’ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That’s how America can lead again.
When it comes to health care, we don’t have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. We’ll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn’t want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.
When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both. As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.
And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don’t have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq. It’s time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
I won’t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now. The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without. On this, there is no other choice. As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don’t need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.
But as I’ve said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn’t just about new programs and policies. It’s about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.
Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of “what’s good for me is good enough” blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn’t afford. Some folks knew they couldn’t afford those houses and bought them anyway. In Washington, politicians spent money they didn’t have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.
That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That’s what’s been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that’s what we need to restore right now.
Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.
In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.
Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
It won’t be easy, Ohio. It won’t be quick. But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country. Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history.
I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.
I know this change is possible. Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months. Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.
I’ve seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I’ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I’ve seen it in the faces of the men and women I’ve met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.
I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale. Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn’t have that kind of money.
In her email, Robyn wrote, “I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can’t think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.”
Ohio, that’s what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. If we’re willing to work for it. If we’re willing to shed our fears and our doubts. If we’re willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we’re tired and come back fighting harder.
Hope! That’s what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. What led them to say, “Maybe I can’t go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can’t have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own.” It’s what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn’t vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, “It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter.”
That’s what this election is about. That is the choice we face right now.
Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.
In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.
In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.
In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.
In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.
That’s what’s at stake. That’s what we’re fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.
Supporters Clash At Campaign Rally
The story below reveals the ugly undercurrent of heated emotions that are coming to the surface in the closing days of the campaign. Let's hope everyone keeps their cool and nothing truly violent occurs. Some of us may remember the violence and riots that broke out in 1968 and although some may say it couldn't happen today, I beg to differ. There are some eerily strange similarities. In 1968 we were struggling to get out of a failed war in Vietnam, today it is Iraq. The youth of America was highly energized and involved in the campaign. Eugene McCarthy became a political figure espoused by many young people to represent a true change from the regular Washington politician and a promise of progress and social change in the future, today it is Obama's call for change.
Of course there were some other events that contributed to the violence and I hope and pray this never happens this year. The greatest Civil Rights leader in American history, Martin Luther King had been assassinated, a beloved candidate for the Democratic nomination, Robert Kennedy had been assasinated and George Wallace, a third party candidate, was frequently accused of promoting racism. The only remaining similarity is perhaps Sarah Palin's love affair with trailer park America and Joe Sixpack and her pointed efforts to divide rather than unite America through pointing out the economic divisions and manipulating them in a subtle racist way towards her twisted view of America's future.
Well there are 8 days to go, read the short story below and lets pray for peace and a united America.
Monday, October 27, 2008
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama clashed with people attending a North Carolina event featuring Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The faceoff in downtown Asheville included loud yelling and vulgar signs. The event highlighted the tension between people who live in the liberal enclave and the others living in conservative counties that surround Asheville.
Authorities stood between the crowds, which included a couple of hundred Obama supporters and several thousand Palin supporters waiting to enter the event.
Both sides crowded the sidewalks of a downtown street, at times disrupting traffic as they spilled into the road to confront each other. Some heated arguments devolved into minor shoving.
Of course there were some other events that contributed to the violence and I hope and pray this never happens this year. The greatest Civil Rights leader in American history, Martin Luther King had been assassinated, a beloved candidate for the Democratic nomination, Robert Kennedy had been assasinated and George Wallace, a third party candidate, was frequently accused of promoting racism. The only remaining similarity is perhaps Sarah Palin's love affair with trailer park America and Joe Sixpack and her pointed efforts to divide rather than unite America through pointing out the economic divisions and manipulating them in a subtle racist way towards her twisted view of America's future.
Well there are 8 days to go, read the short story below and lets pray for peace and a united America.
Monday, October 27, 2008
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama clashed with people attending a North Carolina event featuring Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The faceoff in downtown Asheville included loud yelling and vulgar signs. The event highlighted the tension between people who live in the liberal enclave and the others living in conservative counties that surround Asheville.
Authorities stood between the crowds, which included a couple of hundred Obama supporters and several thousand Palin supporters waiting to enter the event.
Both sides crowded the sidewalks of a downtown street, at times disrupting traffic as they spilled into the road to confront each other. Some heated arguments devolved into minor shoving.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Let The Finger Pointing Begin!
Well as Republicans start giving interviews to media outlets and accuse the McCain campaign of errors, missing opportunities and having made poor decisions it was even more amusing to me to see further evidence of the Republican ship breaking apart. The story below relates accusations by McCain aides that their wonderful pick for VP is running a "rogue" campaign. It is becoming more and more important that we Obama voters stay united and determined to bring real change to this country and to make sure that the hopes of young voters in this election are not betrayed as they were when I was young in the 1968 election. Stay the course and above all VOTE! 9 days to go!
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.
Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.
McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.
A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
A Palin associate defended her, saying that she is "not good at process questions" and that her comments on Michigan and the robocalls were answers to process questions.
But this Palin source acknowledged that Palin is trying to take more control of her message, pointing to last week's impromptu news conference on a Colorado tarmac.
Tracey Schmitt, Palin's press secretary, was urgently called over after Palin wandered over to the press and started talking. Schmitt tried several times to end the unscheduled session.
"We acknowledge that perhaps she should have been out there doing more," a different Palin adviser recently said, arguing that "it's not fair to judge her off one or two sound bites" from the network interviews.
The Politico reported Saturday on Palin's frustration, specifically with McCain advisers Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt. They helped decide to limit Palin's initial press contact to high-profile interviews with Charlie Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, which all McCain sources admit were highly damaging.
In response, Wallace e-mailed CNN the same quote she gave the Politico: "If people want to throw me under the bus, my personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is to lie there."
But two sources, one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended the decision to keep her press interaction limited after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have been a lot worse.
They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain's record.
"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."
Schmitt came to the back of the plane Saturday to deliver a statement to traveling reporters: "Unnamed sources with their own agenda will say what they want, but from Gov. Palin down, we have one agenda, and that's to win on Election Day."
Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.
"This is what happens with a campaign that's behind; it brings out the worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating," this senior adviser said.
This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well, most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America's enemies will try to "test" Obama.
Tensions like those within the McCain-Palin campaign are not unusual; vice presidential candidates also have a history of butting heads with the top of the ticket.
John Edwards and his inner circle repeatedly questioned Sen. John Kerry's strategy in 2004, and Kerry loyalists repeatedly aired in public their view that Edwards would not play the traditional attack dog role with relish because he wanted to protect his future political interests.
Even in a winning campaign like Bill Clinton's, some of Al Gore's aides in 1992 and again in 1996 questioned how Gore was being scheduled for campaign events.
Jack Kemp's aides distrusted the Bob Dole camp and vice versa, and Dan Quayle loyalists had a list of gripes remarkably similar to those now being aired by Gov. Palin's aides.
With the presidential race in its final days and polls suggesting that McCain's chances of pulling out a win are growing slim, Palin may be looking after her own future.
"She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "And the difficulty is, when she went on 'Saturday Night Live,' she became a reinforcement of her caricature. She never allowed herself to be vetted, and at the end of the day, voters turned against her both in terms of qualifications and personally."
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.
Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.
McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.
A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
A Palin associate defended her, saying that she is "not good at process questions" and that her comments on Michigan and the robocalls were answers to process questions.
But this Palin source acknowledged that Palin is trying to take more control of her message, pointing to last week's impromptu news conference on a Colorado tarmac.
Tracey Schmitt, Palin's press secretary, was urgently called over after Palin wandered over to the press and started talking. Schmitt tried several times to end the unscheduled session.
"We acknowledge that perhaps she should have been out there doing more," a different Palin adviser recently said, arguing that "it's not fair to judge her off one or two sound bites" from the network interviews.
The Politico reported Saturday on Palin's frustration, specifically with McCain advisers Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt. They helped decide to limit Palin's initial press contact to high-profile interviews with Charlie Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, which all McCain sources admit were highly damaging.
In response, Wallace e-mailed CNN the same quote she gave the Politico: "If people want to throw me under the bus, my personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is to lie there."
But two sources, one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended the decision to keep her press interaction limited after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have been a lot worse.
They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain's record.
"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."
Schmitt came to the back of the plane Saturday to deliver a statement to traveling reporters: "Unnamed sources with their own agenda will say what they want, but from Gov. Palin down, we have one agenda, and that's to win on Election Day."
Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.
"This is what happens with a campaign that's behind; it brings out the worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating," this senior adviser said.
This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well, most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America's enemies will try to "test" Obama.
Tensions like those within the McCain-Palin campaign are not unusual; vice presidential candidates also have a history of butting heads with the top of the ticket.
John Edwards and his inner circle repeatedly questioned Sen. John Kerry's strategy in 2004, and Kerry loyalists repeatedly aired in public their view that Edwards would not play the traditional attack dog role with relish because he wanted to protect his future political interests.
Even in a winning campaign like Bill Clinton's, some of Al Gore's aides in 1992 and again in 1996 questioned how Gore was being scheduled for campaign events.
Jack Kemp's aides distrusted the Bob Dole camp and vice versa, and Dan Quayle loyalists had a list of gripes remarkably similar to those now being aired by Gov. Palin's aides.
With the presidential race in its final days and polls suggesting that McCain's chances of pulling out a win are growing slim, Palin may be looking after her own future.
"She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "And the difficulty is, when she went on 'Saturday Night Live,' she became a reinforcement of her caricature. She never allowed herself to be vetted, and at the end of the day, voters turned against her both in terms of qualifications and personally."
Friday, October 24, 2008
Did I Do That??
"Stinky farts may help regulate blood pressureGas relaxes the blood vessels to prevent hypertension in mice, study finds"
Poll Update: Obama Up By 9
Poll Update: Obama up by 9
Posted: 09:40 AM ET
Obama is up 9 points over McCain.
(CNN) — Barack Obama appears to be widening his lead over John McCain as Election Day inches closer.
According to the latest CNN poll of polls, the Illinois senator now holds a 9-point advantage over McCain nationwide, 51 percent to 42 percent.
That's an increase of two points over the last two days for Obama and a reflection of several national polls that suggest the race seems to be headed in the wrong way for the Arizona senator with only a week and a half remaining.
Included in the latest CNN poll of polls are new surveys from ABC/Washington Post (October 19-22), CBS/NYT (October 19-22), Fox/Opinion Dynamics (October 20-21), Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby (October 20-22), Gallup (October 20-22) and Diageo/Hotline (October 20-22).
Posted: 09:40 AM ET
Obama is up 9 points over McCain.
(CNN) — Barack Obama appears to be widening his lead over John McCain as Election Day inches closer.
According to the latest CNN poll of polls, the Illinois senator now holds a 9-point advantage over McCain nationwide, 51 percent to 42 percent.
That's an increase of two points over the last two days for Obama and a reflection of several national polls that suggest the race seems to be headed in the wrong way for the Arizona senator with only a week and a half remaining.
Included in the latest CNN poll of polls are new surveys from ABC/Washington Post (October 19-22), CBS/NYT (October 19-22), Fox/Opinion Dynamics (October 20-21), Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby (October 20-22), Gallup (October 20-22) and Diageo/Hotline (October 20-22).
Uncommitted Voters - Quote Of The Day
“I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."
quote from author - David Sedaris
quote from author - David Sedaris
Monday, October 20, 2008
Let's Summarize...
Let's summarize. Let's see:
Obama is a Muslim
Obama was not born in he United States
Obama does not have a Christian Grandmother, she is Muslim
Obama was raised by his Muslim grandmother
Obama had Muslim terrorist roommates in college
Obama wants to raise everybody's taxes
Obama went to a Muslim madrasa in Indonesia
Obama was sworn in on the Koran in Illinois
Obama is not patriotic
Obama pals around with terrorists
Obama is a socialist
Obama is black... oops that one is half true; his mother was white and his father was black.
That's all I can remember off the bat. Can you think of any more slurs that were cast on Obama.
Now McCain:
He is old
He picked an unqualified V.P.
He favors the rich
He has 7 houses
He was involved in the Keating Five
He wants to give $3,000,000 in tax breaks to corporate America and to wealthy individuals
He has a temper
He is erratic
He urged Congress to bail out Wall Street and now says it was wrong
He is campaigning on his rich wife's money
I don't know folks but I can't seem to find the same degree of personal slurs cast McCain's way. If you can list a few for me feel free.
Obama is a Muslim
Obama was not born in he United States
Obama does not have a Christian Grandmother, she is Muslim
Obama was raised by his Muslim grandmother
Obama had Muslim terrorist roommates in college
Obama wants to raise everybody's taxes
Obama went to a Muslim madrasa in Indonesia
Obama was sworn in on the Koran in Illinois
Obama is not patriotic
Obama pals around with terrorists
Obama is a socialist
Obama is black... oops that one is half true; his mother was white and his father was black.
That's all I can remember off the bat. Can you think of any more slurs that were cast on Obama.
Now McCain:
He is old
He picked an unqualified V.P.
He favors the rich
He has 7 houses
He was involved in the Keating Five
He wants to give $3,000,000 in tax breaks to corporate America and to wealthy individuals
He has a temper
He is erratic
He urged Congress to bail out Wall Street and now says it was wrong
He is campaigning on his rich wife's money
I don't know folks but I can't seem to find the same degree of personal slurs cast McCain's way. If you can list a few for me feel free.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
They Are Grasping At Straws
The Facts:
Sen. Obama had been campaigning outside Toledo, Ohio, on October 13 when he met Joe Wurzelbacher, 34, who works for Newell Plumbing & Heating Co., a small firm in the Toledo area. "I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250-270-80 thousand a year," Wurzelbacher said. "Your new tax plan is going to tax m more, isn't it?"
Obama explained his tax plan during the roughly five-minute exchange — telling Wurzelbacher that the tax rate on the portion of his income that was more than $250,000 would be increased from 36 percent to 39 percent. But he also mentioned that his plan includes a 50 percent small-business tax credit for health care and a proposal to eliminate the capital-gains tax for small businesses that increase in value. Obama said his tax plan, which he said focuses on bigger breaks for people making lower incomes, would be good for the economy. "If you've got a plumbing business, you're going to be better off if you've got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you," he said. "Right now, everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody. And I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
Wurzelbacher said, "The reason I ask you about the American Dream, I mean I've worked hard. I'm a plumber. I work 10, 12 hours a day and I'm buying this company and I'm going to continue working that way. … I'm getting taxed more and more while fulfilling the American Dream."
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, October 16, Wurzelbacher said he had misunderstood Obama's plan and that the company he wants to buy makes well less than $250,000 a year — which Obama says means his taxes would not be increased.
The Verdict:Misleading. McCain's remark was an oversimplification of a five-minute-long conversation. Obama replied in great detail about his tax plan, and the "spread the wealth" remark was one small part of the conversation.
Filed under: Fact Check
Sen. Obama had been campaigning outside Toledo, Ohio, on October 13 when he met Joe Wurzelbacher, 34, who works for Newell Plumbing & Heating Co., a small firm in the Toledo area. "I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250-270-80 thousand a year," Wurzelbacher said. "Your new tax plan is going to tax m more, isn't it?"
Obama explained his tax plan during the roughly five-minute exchange — telling Wurzelbacher that the tax rate on the portion of his income that was more than $250,000 would be increased from 36 percent to 39 percent. But he also mentioned that his plan includes a 50 percent small-business tax credit for health care and a proposal to eliminate the capital-gains tax for small businesses that increase in value. Obama said his tax plan, which he said focuses on bigger breaks for people making lower incomes, would be good for the economy. "If you've got a plumbing business, you're going to be better off if you've got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you," he said. "Right now, everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody. And I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
Wurzelbacher said, "The reason I ask you about the American Dream, I mean I've worked hard. I'm a plumber. I work 10, 12 hours a day and I'm buying this company and I'm going to continue working that way. … I'm getting taxed more and more while fulfilling the American Dream."
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, October 16, Wurzelbacher said he had misunderstood Obama's plan and that the company he wants to buy makes well less than $250,000 a year — which Obama says means his taxes would not be increased.
The Verdict:Misleading. McCain's remark was an oversimplification of a five-minute-long conversation. Obama replied in great detail about his tax plan, and the "spread the wealth" remark was one small part of the conversation.
Filed under: Fact Check
Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama
(CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign.""I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain's campaign, such as the campaign's attempts to tie Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.
"I think that's inappropriate. I understand what politics is about -- I know how you can go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for," he said.
Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself.
Powell said he has some concerns about the direction of the Republican Party, adding that it has "moved more to the right than I would like to see it." Read a transcript of Powell's remarks
In regard to the financial crisis, which Powell called the candidates' "final exam," Powell said McCain appeared unsteady in dealing with it, while Obama had excelled in handling the situation.
"Obama displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge," Powell said.
"He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president," he said.
During the campaign, Powell has met with both candidates and said he has a lot of respect for McCain. He said Sunday that he thinks both candidates are qualified to be president.
Obama called Powell on Sunday and thanked him for his endorsement, communications director Robert Gibbs said.
In their 10-minute conversation, Obama said he looked forward to taking advantage of Powell's advice in the next two weeks and hopefully over the next four years, Gibbs said.
Powell served as Secretary of State under President Bush from 2001 to 2005.
Powell has offered praise for Obama, calling him an "exciting person on the political stage."
"He has energized a lot of people in America," said Powell. "He has energized a lot of people around the world. And so I think he is worth listening to and seeing what he stands for."
The former general, who has largely steered clear of politics since leaving the Bush administration, noted that the next president will need to work to restore America's standing in the world.
Powell gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in support of George W. Bush in 2000.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Let's Put This To Bed, Shall We?
I have been criticized for not seeing any faults in Obama and as an example I was told that he had a cousin in Kenya who he gave money to and campaigned for . Supposedly this Odinga was a terrible person and Obama supported so the inference is Obama is an idiot, a Muslim terrorist sympathizer and has terrible judgment. I will aquiesce on this point. Obama like all of us has flaws, one big one which I wrote about in my previous post. I am sure if I knew Michelle Obama personally, she could provide with a much longer list as any wife can ably do.
This whole Odinga thing came out of left field for me and I tend to doubt that type of thing until I have the time to actually research it and find out if it is true, false or misleading. Here is one source that looked into this and here were their results. It is a little lengthy and I apologize but it needs to get put out thereso that this crap can stop. If people are going to blindly accept these accusations based on a chain email smear and then are going to insist on its validity because Obama is shown holding a microphone ina picture beside a Kenyan politician one has to ask them the same question, "aren't you doing exactly the same thing you accuse me of but in reverse; blindly beleieving every smear that comes across the internet?" Would an American Senator (white or black) visiting Kenya not be invited to stand beside that nation's ruler at that time for a photo-op and say a few words of thank yous for having me in your country, etc.? Absolutely! Does that photo then mean that they support this individual? No. Does Bush standing beside Putin mean he supports Putins invasion of Georgia. No.
Okay, below is what I found and there was more but pursuing this any further than this is pointless.
From the St.Petersburg Times –politifact website
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/465/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/465/
"Obama ... gave almost a million dollars to the (Kenya) opposition campaign who just happened to be his cousin, Raila Odinga." 
Chain e-mail on Friday, April 18th, 2008 in
‘Not a cent’ from unrelated Obama
A chain e-mail that originates with a letter from American missionaries working in Kenya warns about Sen. Barack Obama’s ties to Kenya and its opposition party, encouraging readers “not to be taken in by those that are promoting him.”
Among the many allegations is one about Obama’s ties to Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga: “Obama under ‘friends of Obama’ gave almost a million dollars to the (Kenya) opposition campaign who just happened to be his cousin, Raila Odinga, who is a socialist trained in East Germany.”
The e-mail reads like a bad game of “telephone,” its claims drawn from assorted people and sources that have been stitched together. And yet, because it is signed by real people, who have a life in Africa, it somehow carries more credence than your average blog posting — and it’s spreading rapidly. ( Read the e-mail here. )
But even with the credibility of a real author, the claims in this e-mail are as baseless as anything you’ve read from an anonymous blogger.
Celeste Davis wrote the letter. Her husband, Loren Davis, spoke to PolitiFact at length about its many allegations.
He says they’ve lived and worked in Kenya for the past 12 years and this was a personal letter “never intended to be forwarded or sent out to the Web.”
“It’s totally caught us by surprise,” Loren Davis said. He went on to back up the claims and provide some evidence.
Let’s examine this one in two parts:
• “Obama under ‘friends of Obama’ gave almost a million dollars to the (Kenya) opposition campaign.”
Loren Davis provided PolitiFact with a document that he says shows Obama gave $1-million to the Kenyan opposition campaign led by Odinga. A header at the top of the page says it’s a “consolidated statement of campaign financial activities.” Under the header is a list of “incoming resources” with entries listed in columns of “from” and “amount.”
Handwritten notes amplify the point being made. A name on the list is underlined and the words “Barak Obama” are written in the margin, suggesting that donation is from the Illinois senator, even though his name is misspelled. The amount across from this name also is underlined and next to it someone has written “$1 million,” implying Obama contributed $1-million.
The Obama campaign strongly disputes this allegation and three Kenya experts who reviewed the document at our request called it fraudulent. The Obama campaign sent PolitiFact the same document and one other purporting to show Obama’s campaign contributions to Kenya. The first they heard of it was when these documents arrived by fax.
See the documents here and here.
On the legible version, you can see the underlined entry says, “Friends of Senator BO,” presumably Barack Obama. Only, there is no political action committee named Friends of Senator BO or Friends of Barack Obama. So says Obama’s campaign. And a search of the Federal Election Commission Web site and Opensecrets.org, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, pulls up neither. In fact, there’s no PAC name even close.
Not to mention, the Obama campaign says the senator never gave money to Kenyan Prime Minister Odinga. And Salim Lone, spokesman for Odinga whom we spoke with in Kenya, confirms that.
“That is absolutely ridiculous,” Lone said in an interview with PolitiFact. “Mr. Obama did not donate a single cent to Mr. Odinga’s campaign.”
Just to be certain, we did an analysis of Federal Election Commission reports of disbursements from Obama’s principal presidential campaign committee, Obama for America, during the 2008 election cycle. We searched for “Kenya,” “Odinga” and “ODM,” (the Orange Democratic Movement) the latter being Odinga’s political party, and came up with no matches.
(UPDATE: In June 2008, a reader correctly pointed out that there was a "Friends of Barack Obama" PAC on the Illinois state level from 1995-2005. We analyzed reports of disbursements from this PAC, searching for “Kenya,” “Odinga” and “ODM." We came up with no matches.)
And what about the second part of the quote?
• “Who just happened to be his cousin, Raila Odinga, who is a socialist trained in East Germany.”
This part of the claim stems from an interview Odinga did with BBC News in January 2008. ( Listen to it here. ) In a discussion about the political situation in Kenya amid fallout from a disputed election — where Odinga’s party rejected official results and vowed to install Odinga as the “people’s president” — the following exchange occurs:
Odinga: “Barack Obama’s father is my maternal uncle.”
BBC: “You’re related to him?”
Odinga: “Yes, I am.”
No, you’re not, says the Obama campaign.
We spoke to three Kenya experts who dismiss this part of the claim as well, suggesting Odinga made the connection to give himself more legitimacy during the political crisis.
“It’s stretched to the point of ridiculousness,” said Joel D. Barkan, political science professor emeritus at the University of Iowa and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. “To my knowledge, they are not first cousins in the normal sense. To my knowledge, there’s absolutely no relationship at all.”
Alex Awiti, a Kenyan postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, says you have to consider the context of when Odinga was speaking, that being in the middle of a political crisis.
“Raila Odinga was groping all over the place, trying to find some political legitimacy to get on a high pedestal to claim leadership and using Obama was basically going to add some political points,” said Awiti, who lived in Kenya until three years ago. “This is very opportunistic and it should be totally disregarded.”
Lone, Odinga’s spokesman, said cousins in the African sense is very different from cousins in the American sense, so they might be distant relatives.
As far as being trained in East Germany, Odinga’s own Web site says he attended Herder Institute in Leipzig, Germany, and earned a master’s degree from the Otto von Guericke Technical Institute in Magdeburg, Germany. Both cities were part of the former East Germany.
But again, our Kenya experts say that doesn’t make him a socialist.
“It should have said he was a socialist trained in East Germany,” Barkan said. “He’s populist politics, but he’s no socialist.”
A nugget of truth in a mountain of wholesale inaccuracy does nothing to diminish our ruling on this irresponsible claim. Neither does the fact the American author says it wasn’t meant for worldwide distribution. This is Pants on Fire wrong.
Chain e-mail on Friday, April 18th, 2008 in
‘Not a cent’ from unrelated Obama
A chain e-mail that originates with a letter from American missionaries working in Kenya warns about Sen. Barack Obama’s ties to Kenya and its opposition party, encouraging readers “not to be taken in by those that are promoting him.”
Among the many allegations is one about Obama’s ties to Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga: “Obama under ‘friends of Obama’ gave almost a million dollars to the (Kenya) opposition campaign who just happened to be his cousin, Raila Odinga, who is a socialist trained in East Germany.”
The e-mail reads like a bad game of “telephone,” its claims drawn from assorted people and sources that have been stitched together. And yet, because it is signed by real people, who have a life in Africa, it somehow carries more credence than your average blog posting — and it’s spreading rapidly. ( Read the e-mail here. )
But even with the credibility of a real author, the claims in this e-mail are as baseless as anything you’ve read from an anonymous blogger.
Celeste Davis wrote the letter. Her husband, Loren Davis, spoke to PolitiFact at length about its many allegations.
He says they’ve lived and worked in Kenya for the past 12 years and this was a personal letter “never intended to be forwarded or sent out to the Web.”
“It’s totally caught us by surprise,” Loren Davis said. He went on to back up the claims and provide some evidence.
Let’s examine this one in two parts:
• “Obama under ‘friends of Obama’ gave almost a million dollars to the (Kenya) opposition campaign.”
Loren Davis provided PolitiFact with a document that he says shows Obama gave $1-million to the Kenyan opposition campaign led by Odinga. A header at the top of the page says it’s a “consolidated statement of campaign financial activities.” Under the header is a list of “incoming resources” with entries listed in columns of “from” and “amount.”
Handwritten notes amplify the point being made. A name on the list is underlined and the words “Barak Obama” are written in the margin, suggesting that donation is from the Illinois senator, even though his name is misspelled. The amount across from this name also is underlined and next to it someone has written “$1 million,” implying Obama contributed $1-million.
The Obama campaign strongly disputes this allegation and three Kenya experts who reviewed the document at our request called it fraudulent. The Obama campaign sent PolitiFact the same document and one other purporting to show Obama’s campaign contributions to Kenya. The first they heard of it was when these documents arrived by fax.
See the documents here and here.
On the legible version, you can see the underlined entry says, “Friends of Senator BO,” presumably Barack Obama. Only, there is no political action committee named Friends of Senator BO or Friends of Barack Obama. So says Obama’s campaign. And a search of the Federal Election Commission Web site and Opensecrets.org, the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics, pulls up neither. In fact, there’s no PAC name even close.
Not to mention, the Obama campaign says the senator never gave money to Kenyan Prime Minister Odinga. And Salim Lone, spokesman for Odinga whom we spoke with in Kenya, confirms that.
“That is absolutely ridiculous,” Lone said in an interview with PolitiFact. “Mr. Obama did not donate a single cent to Mr. Odinga’s campaign.”
Just to be certain, we did an analysis of Federal Election Commission reports of disbursements from Obama’s principal presidential campaign committee, Obama for America, during the 2008 election cycle. We searched for “Kenya,” “Odinga” and “ODM,” (the Orange Democratic Movement) the latter being Odinga’s political party, and came up with no matches.
(UPDATE: In June 2008, a reader correctly pointed out that there was a "Friends of Barack Obama" PAC on the Illinois state level from 1995-2005. We analyzed reports of disbursements from this PAC, searching for “Kenya,” “Odinga” and “ODM." We came up with no matches.)
And what about the second part of the quote?
• “Who just happened to be his cousin, Raila Odinga, who is a socialist trained in East Germany.”
This part of the claim stems from an interview Odinga did with BBC News in January 2008. ( Listen to it here. ) In a discussion about the political situation in Kenya amid fallout from a disputed election — where Odinga’s party rejected official results and vowed to install Odinga as the “people’s president” — the following exchange occurs:
Odinga: “Barack Obama’s father is my maternal uncle.”
BBC: “You’re related to him?”
Odinga: “Yes, I am.”
No, you’re not, says the Obama campaign.
We spoke to three Kenya experts who dismiss this part of the claim as well, suggesting Odinga made the connection to give himself more legitimacy during the political crisis.
“It’s stretched to the point of ridiculousness,” said Joel D. Barkan, political science professor emeritus at the University of Iowa and senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. “To my knowledge, they are not first cousins in the normal sense. To my knowledge, there’s absolutely no relationship at all.”
Alex Awiti, a Kenyan postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, says you have to consider the context of when Odinga was speaking, that being in the middle of a political crisis.
“Raila Odinga was groping all over the place, trying to find some political legitimacy to get on a high pedestal to claim leadership and using Obama was basically going to add some political points,” said Awiti, who lived in Kenya until three years ago. “This is very opportunistic and it should be totally disregarded.”
Lone, Odinga’s spokesman, said cousins in the African sense is very different from cousins in the American sense, so they might be distant relatives.
As far as being trained in East Germany, Odinga’s own Web site says he attended Herder Institute in Leipzig, Germany, and earned a master’s degree from the Otto von Guericke Technical Institute in Magdeburg, Germany. Both cities were part of the former East Germany.
But again, our Kenya experts say that doesn’t make him a socialist.
“It should have said he was a socialist trained in East Germany,” Barkan said. “He’s populist politics, but he’s no socialist.”
A nugget of truth in a mountain of wholesale inaccuracy does nothing to diminish our ruling on this irresponsible claim. Neither does the fact the American author says it wasn’t meant for worldwide distribution. This is Pants on Fire wrong.
Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright... Poor Judgment or Poor Politicking?
I want you to go to this website and watch the video, Call to Teach. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQIEcXS5uQw
First note which University this video was made at and where he was lecturing. I found that humorous. Good old USC, cluck, cluck (a little rivalry humor there). I thought the video was tremendously interesting and I thought it would be inspiring to teachers. Bill Ayers is 63 years old and I have to say that although he did the terrible things he did in the 60's, he is a very intelligent man that is very different from the young punk that he was in the 60's.
Then he had a mindless passion that was without reason in the way he pursued the means to resist and end the war in Vietnam. While he and other anti-war activists (and in his case terrorists) ranted and raved about the millions of North Vietnamese that were killed (over 3 million) by our carpet bombing of their country, they ignored the deaths of millions of South Vietnamese and the thousands of young Americans in their teens and early twenties who died there. They didn't seem to be able to adequately organize and express their anti-war sentiments in a cohesive and coherent package that was all inclusive in its condemnation of the death and destruction of all the lives and countries destroyed by that war. Rather they were more shoot from the hip (or lip in their case), hit and miss in selecting the subjects of their verbal diatribes and thus were more misunderstood and could not gain either public support or sympathy. An activist group that cannot get a large portion of public support is worthless in my view and in the end becomes judged as you would some devil child having a tantrum and blowing up a cereal box with a firecracker. Blowing up statues in parks, placing a small bomb against the outside of the Capitol building's walls amounted to mosquito bites in their effectiveness and appeared ludicrous to many of us in the 60's but it was and is what earned them the infamous title of "domestic terrorists". Then when we listened to their totally disorganized and mis-targeted rants that managed to be published or aired and they seemed so stupid, silly and intellectually embarrassing to the rest of us young people entering adulthood at that time.
Bill Ayers today though, seems to have finally matured in his thinking and is now able to be a contributor to society of some value. The extent of that value though is to be measured in whether he can also grasp the fact that his actions in The Weather Underground, although they may have had a higher purpose, were maniacally despicable and he needs to express a full regret and apology for them. It is unacceptable for him, matured and rehabilitated or not, to expound learning to the youth of today without first telling them that he condemns his past actions, regrets the violence he contributed to and in no way would ever want any student to think that his methods would be proper ones to emulate or reproduce in their youthful idealism and activism in today's political arena.
Barack Obama, during his life in Illinois has had an acquaintance and has had some brief encounters with Bill Ayers. Barack Obama is a highly intelligent man with an intellect that many times finds him probing the different facets of meaning and interpretation of the events, actions and emotions of society. His scholastic pursuits that brought him to graduate from Harvard University and be the first black editor of The Harvard Law Review also can be viewed as a flaw when seen in the eye of media image making. He has been called distant, professorial etc. He is constantly a victim to having statements taken out of context from speeches where he lapses into brief academic postulating. The statement where he described Americans 'clinging to their guns..." was a case in point. He seeks as any man or woman of intelligence would, to understand society and to be able to explain and legitimize society so that it can retain some semblance of logical progression in its evolvement in history. That is not pompous or presumptuous, it is what any person with intelligence and education would and should do. Unfortunately a person of higher intelligence many times finds their intellectual curiosity leading them to probe areas and people to learn and understand the past and explanations of it as to where we came from in our history. Barack Obama's brief encounters with Bill Ayers could be classified in this area of intellectual curiosity. Does that make him a terrorist? No. His affiliation with Reverend Wright was a similar one and in his book, "Dreams From My Father", he actually describes his initial encounters with the Reverend Wright as such.
The question is constantly put forth by Republicans and some of the media, "do his associations with these types of people during his life mean that he has poor judgment and is a risky choice for President?" Absolutely not! They exhibit a refreshing political naïveté, in that they are surely going to avail a political opponent of the opportunity to distort and misrepresent these encounters and smear Obama as a result. As we all know, McCain has taken full advantage of that, as we can hear in his campaign's latest technological political attack innovation, "Robo Calls". Fellow Republicans are asking him to stop them, but they still are going on at this very minute. Some Democrats would love it if Obama would stop looking into these intellectual searches for understanding and learning and just be a political hack like them. However if we really want change and we want to understand our enemies as well as our friends, our intellects should pursue any subject and we should be willing to meet with any person in person or via representative that might be pertinent to the furthering of our common National interests both as a nation and as a society. Obama as a man of intelligence exhibits fearlessness in this respect and will be a great leader and an example for the leaders of our future.
18 days to go! Vote Obama 2008!
First note which University this video was made at and where he was lecturing. I found that humorous. Good old USC, cluck, cluck (a little rivalry humor there). I thought the video was tremendously interesting and I thought it would be inspiring to teachers. Bill Ayers is 63 years old and I have to say that although he did the terrible things he did in the 60's, he is a very intelligent man that is very different from the young punk that he was in the 60's.
Then he had a mindless passion that was without reason in the way he pursued the means to resist and end the war in Vietnam. While he and other anti-war activists (and in his case terrorists) ranted and raved about the millions of North Vietnamese that were killed (over 3 million) by our carpet bombing of their country, they ignored the deaths of millions of South Vietnamese and the thousands of young Americans in their teens and early twenties who died there. They didn't seem to be able to adequately organize and express their anti-war sentiments in a cohesive and coherent package that was all inclusive in its condemnation of the death and destruction of all the lives and countries destroyed by that war. Rather they were more shoot from the hip (or lip in their case), hit and miss in selecting the subjects of their verbal diatribes and thus were more misunderstood and could not gain either public support or sympathy. An activist group that cannot get a large portion of public support is worthless in my view and in the end becomes judged as you would some devil child having a tantrum and blowing up a cereal box with a firecracker. Blowing up statues in parks, placing a small bomb against the outside of the Capitol building's walls amounted to mosquito bites in their effectiveness and appeared ludicrous to many of us in the 60's but it was and is what earned them the infamous title of "domestic terrorists". Then when we listened to their totally disorganized and mis-targeted rants that managed to be published or aired and they seemed so stupid, silly and intellectually embarrassing to the rest of us young people entering adulthood at that time.
Bill Ayers today though, seems to have finally matured in his thinking and is now able to be a contributor to society of some value. The extent of that value though is to be measured in whether he can also grasp the fact that his actions in The Weather Underground, although they may have had a higher purpose, were maniacally despicable and he needs to express a full regret and apology for them. It is unacceptable for him, matured and rehabilitated or not, to expound learning to the youth of today without first telling them that he condemns his past actions, regrets the violence he contributed to and in no way would ever want any student to think that his methods would be proper ones to emulate or reproduce in their youthful idealism and activism in today's political arena.
Barack Obama, during his life in Illinois has had an acquaintance and has had some brief encounters with Bill Ayers. Barack Obama is a highly intelligent man with an intellect that many times finds him probing the different facets of meaning and interpretation of the events, actions and emotions of society. His scholastic pursuits that brought him to graduate from Harvard University and be the first black editor of The Harvard Law Review also can be viewed as a flaw when seen in the eye of media image making. He has been called distant, professorial etc. He is constantly a victim to having statements taken out of context from speeches where he lapses into brief academic postulating. The statement where he described Americans 'clinging to their guns..." was a case in point. He seeks as any man or woman of intelligence would, to understand society and to be able to explain and legitimize society so that it can retain some semblance of logical progression in its evolvement in history. That is not pompous or presumptuous, it is what any person with intelligence and education would and should do. Unfortunately a person of higher intelligence many times finds their intellectual curiosity leading them to probe areas and people to learn and understand the past and explanations of it as to where we came from in our history. Barack Obama's brief encounters with Bill Ayers could be classified in this area of intellectual curiosity. Does that make him a terrorist? No. His affiliation with Reverend Wright was a similar one and in his book, "Dreams From My Father", he actually describes his initial encounters with the Reverend Wright as such.
The question is constantly put forth by Republicans and some of the media, "do his associations with these types of people during his life mean that he has poor judgment and is a risky choice for President?" Absolutely not! They exhibit a refreshing political naïveté, in that they are surely going to avail a political opponent of the opportunity to distort and misrepresent these encounters and smear Obama as a result. As we all know, McCain has taken full advantage of that, as we can hear in his campaign's latest technological political attack innovation, "Robo Calls". Fellow Republicans are asking him to stop them, but they still are going on at this very minute. Some Democrats would love it if Obama would stop looking into these intellectual searches for understanding and learning and just be a political hack like them. However if we really want change and we want to understand our enemies as well as our friends, our intellects should pursue any subject and we should be willing to meet with any person in person or via representative that might be pertinent to the furthering of our common National interests both as a nation and as a society. Obama as a man of intelligence exhibits fearlessness in this respect and will be a great leader and an example for the leaders of our future.
18 days to go! Vote Obama 2008!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Joe the Plumber??????
How many Joe the Plumbers do you know that make in excess of $250,000 a year?? (remember that would be his income after all cost of doing business, pay roll and expenses are deducted and just his taxable income remains) I operate a small business and I know my gross is huge but my net is small so come on guys! Joe the Plumber? Get real!
Here is what Joe Biden had to say about Joe (the McCain set up) Plumber and below that a few leaks have sprung in Joe's story (a Fox News report):
(CNN) — Joe Biden sounded skeptical of “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher’s working-class credentials Thursday.
“You notice John [McCain] continues to cling to the notion of this guy Joe the plumber,” Biden said on NBC’s Today show. “I don't have any Joe the plumbers in my neighborhood that make $250,000 a year that are worried.”
“The Joe the plumbers in my neighborhood, the Joe the cops in my neighborhood, the Joe the grocery store owners in my neighborhood — they make, like 98 percent of the small businesses, less than $250,000 a year,” said the Democratic VP nominee. “And they’re going to do very well under us, and they’re going to be in real tough shape under John McCain.”
“You notice John [McCain] continues to cling to the notion of this guy Joe the plumber,” Biden said on NBC’s Today show. “I don't have any Joe the plumbers in my neighborhood that make $250,000 a year that are worried.”
“The Joe the plumbers in my neighborhood, the Joe the cops in my neighborhood, the Joe the grocery store owners in my neighborhood — they make, like 98 percent of the small businesses, less than $250,000 a year,” said the Democratic VP nominee. “And they’re going to do very well under us, and they’re going to be in real tough shape under John McCain.”
THIS JUST IN FROM FOX NEWS of all people!!
HOLLAND, Ohio -- Joe the Plumber's story sprang a few leaks Thursday.Turns out that the man who was held up by John McCain as the typical, hard-working American taxpayer isn't really a licensed plumber. And court documents show he owes nearly $1,200 in back taxes.
"Joe," whose name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was cited repeatedly in Wednesday night's final presidential debate by McCain for questioning Barack Obama's tax policy.
Wurzelbacher instantly became a media celebrity, fielding calls during the debate and facing reporters outside his home near Toledo on Thursday morning for an impromptu nationally televised news conference.The burly, bald man acknowledged he doesn't have a plumber's license, but said he didn't need one because he works for someone else at a company that does residential work.
But Wurzelbacher still would need to be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo, and he's not, said David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection.
State and local records show Wurzelbacher has no license, although his employer does. Golis said there are no records of inspectors citing Wurzelbacher for unlicensed work in Toledo.And then there was the matter of his taxes.
Wurzelbacher owes the state of Ohio $1,182.98 in personal income tax, according to Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records.
In January 2007, Ohio's Department of Taxation filed a claim on his property until he pays the debt, according to the records. The lien remains active.
At the debate, McCain cited Wurzelbacher as an example of someone who wants to buy a plumbing business but would be hurt by Obama's tax plans.
Wurzelbacher, a self-described conservative, had spoken to Obama at a rally Sunday near his home and asked him whether his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that currently employs him, which earns more than $250,000 a year.
"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" Wurzelbacher asked.
Obama said that under his proposal taxes on any revenue from $250,000 on down would stay the same, but that amounts above that level would be subject to a 39 percent tax, instead of the current 36 percent rate.
McCain said Obama's plan would stop entrepreneurs such as Wurzelbacher from investing in new small businesses and keep existing ones from growing.
The McCain campaign posted a Web ad featuring the exchange between Wurzelbacher and Obama.
During an afternoon taping of "Late Night with David Letterman," McCain said he had not yet spoken to Wurzelbacher, and apologized for the press attention he had received.
"Joe, if you're watching, I'm sorry," McCain said.
Wurzelbacher had to deal with a clog of two dozen reporters outside his home on a narrow street lined with ranch- and split-level homes Thursday morning. No detail about the divorced father of a 13-year-old boy was too small: Was he a registered voter? Did he have a plumbing license? Whom will he vote for?
Leaning against his black Dodge Durango SUV, Wurzelbacher at first was amused by it all, then overwhelmed and finally a little annoyed.
"Joe," whose name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was cited repeatedly in Wednesday night's final presidential debate by McCain for questioning Barack Obama's tax policy.
Wurzelbacher instantly became a media celebrity, fielding calls during the debate and facing reporters outside his home near Toledo on Thursday morning for an impromptu nationally televised news conference.The burly, bald man acknowledged he doesn't have a plumber's license, but said he didn't need one because he works for someone else at a company that does residential work.
But Wurzelbacher still would need to be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo, and he's not, said David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection.
State and local records show Wurzelbacher has no license, although his employer does. Golis said there are no records of inspectors citing Wurzelbacher for unlicensed work in Toledo.And then there was the matter of his taxes.
Wurzelbacher owes the state of Ohio $1,182.98 in personal income tax, according to Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records.
In January 2007, Ohio's Department of Taxation filed a claim on his property until he pays the debt, according to the records. The lien remains active.
At the debate, McCain cited Wurzelbacher as an example of someone who wants to buy a plumbing business but would be hurt by Obama's tax plans.
Wurzelbacher, a self-described conservative, had spoken to Obama at a rally Sunday near his home and asked him whether his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that currently employs him, which earns more than $250,000 a year.
"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" Wurzelbacher asked.
Obama said that under his proposal taxes on any revenue from $250,000 on down would stay the same, but that amounts above that level would be subject to a 39 percent tax, instead of the current 36 percent rate.
McCain said Obama's plan would stop entrepreneurs such as Wurzelbacher from investing in new small businesses and keep existing ones from growing.
The McCain campaign posted a Web ad featuring the exchange between Wurzelbacher and Obama.
During an afternoon taping of "Late Night with David Letterman," McCain said he had not yet spoken to Wurzelbacher, and apologized for the press attention he had received.
"Joe, if you're watching, I'm sorry," McCain said.
Wurzelbacher had to deal with a clog of two dozen reporters outside his home on a narrow street lined with ranch- and split-level homes Thursday morning. No detail about the divorced father of a 13-year-old boy was too small: Was he a registered voter? Did he have a plumbing license? Whom will he vote for?
Leaning against his black Dodge Durango SUV, Wurzelbacher at first was amused by it all, then overwhelmed and finally a little annoyed.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Its almost over!
TWENTY (20) MORE DAYS!!!!By the way, I went yesterday and got 3 more Obama lawn signs and put one back up.
Yes We Can!! Obama 2008!!!!!!!
Below are comments from people attending a Sarah Palin rally in Ohio this week. Only 20 more days that we have to listen to this uneducated and unintelligent racist idiocy! it is really, really sad. I hope you are not offended by their ignorance.
– “I’m afraid if he wins, the Black will take over.”
– “When you’ve got a Negro running for President, you need a first stringer. He’s definitely a second stringer.”
– “He seems like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I believe Palin is filled with the Holy Spirit and I believe she’s going to bring honesty and integrity to the White House.”
– “He must support terrorists. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. And that to me, is Obama.”
– “Just the whole Muslim thing. A lot of people forgot about 9/11. I don’t know, it’s just a little unnerving.”
– “Obama and his wife. I’m afraid they could be anti-White.”
– “I don’t like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash. Because we’re not!”
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
When This is Over...
When this election is over I am going to crack open my Bushmills Irish Whiskey "Black Bush" and have a celebratory drink. Then I am going to Disney World! I am tired of all the smears, the lies and the timid people who say, yeah they like Obama but cave in and vote for McCain because of family pressure or just a lack of guts to stand up for what is right. We have all heard every excuse in the book but at the bottom of it all is a sad cowardice that makes them hide their true feelings and couch them instead in trite cliches and Party slogans.
Once before I wrote about my Obama yard sign being flattened and then wrenched out of the lawn and thrown across the yard. I never wrote about when late last month someone tried to set it on fire with a cigarette but my daughter Sarah discovered it smoking in the yard. When I went out I found that only a small hole had been burnt in it before the fire went out. I tidied it up and left it there, proud and emblematic of all the freedom and constitutional rights we possess.
On Monday, October 13, 2008, "a day that will live in infamy", I went out and my Obama lawn sign was gone. Yes folks, it happened here in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Well I don't know about brave any more because it sure seems there are a lot of cowards out there. The person who bent my sign, the one who threw it across the yard, the one who tried to burn it and the one who stole it are not brave Americans! They are cowards. Cowards of the lowest and most despicable kind. They are such cowards that they are not brave enough to come to me in person and say they do not agree with my views. They can't stand up and say what they actually believe in. They can't verbalize for all to hear why they harbor such hate and hostility for Obama. They hide in the dark of night and damage, mutilate and steal another man's property to make the statement that they cannot bring themselves to say publicly. They are cowards and I ask that we all pray for them and pray for all the others here in America that harbor the same feelings of hate and hostility, that they may someday be relieved of this cancer of hate and be re-born in the light of freedom.
May God bless them and may God bless America!
Once before I wrote about my Obama yard sign being flattened and then wrenched out of the lawn and thrown across the yard. I never wrote about when late last month someone tried to set it on fire with a cigarette but my daughter Sarah discovered it smoking in the yard. When I went out I found that only a small hole had been burnt in it before the fire went out. I tidied it up and left it there, proud and emblematic of all the freedom and constitutional rights we possess.
On Monday, October 13, 2008, "a day that will live in infamy", I went out and my Obama lawn sign was gone. Yes folks, it happened here in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Well I don't know about brave any more because it sure seems there are a lot of cowards out there. The person who bent my sign, the one who threw it across the yard, the one who tried to burn it and the one who stole it are not brave Americans! They are cowards. Cowards of the lowest and most despicable kind. They are such cowards that they are not brave enough to come to me in person and say they do not agree with my views. They can't stand up and say what they actually believe in. They can't verbalize for all to hear why they harbor such hate and hostility for Obama. They hide in the dark of night and damage, mutilate and steal another man's property to make the statement that they cannot bring themselves to say publicly. They are cowards and I ask that we all pray for them and pray for all the others here in America that harbor the same feelings of hate and hostility, that they may someday be relieved of this cancer of hate and be re-born in the light of freedom.
May God bless them and may God bless America!
Monday, October 13, 2008
A View From The Ground
We all have seen some of those Palin rallies and gasped at how the atmosphere is so poisoned by racsim and hate. Georgia Representative John Lewis compared them to the old George Wallace campaigns of yesteryear. He since apologized and explained his comments saying that they did not view McCain and Palin as comparable only some of the speech and actions of participants at their rallies.
However it is my view that if someone tells an African-American cameraman from a major newsmedia outlet to "sit down boy!", and comments like "kill him" are shouted by the crowd about Obama, then Palin in not making any comment when they occurred is allowing them and giving de facto approval. But then what do we expect from a woman who struts her red neck ways in front of every available TV camera.
Here is a good read by Karen McNulty of Time magazine:
A View from the Ground
By Karen McNulty
If John McCain is as serious as he says about running a "respectful" campaign against an opponent he considers "a decent person," word hasn't yet trickled down to his newly opened storefront field office in Gainesville, Virginia.
Top of Form
No Democratic presidential candidate has carried Virginia since 1964, and most election years both campaigns pretty much ignore the state. This time, however, McCain is running behind Barack Obama in statewide polls, thanks in large part to the head start he got on the ground there. "We haven't seen a race like this in Virginia — ever," said state GOP Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick. "The last time was 40 years ago, and they didn't run races like this."
Indeed, Frederick, a 33-year-old state legislator, hadn't even been born yet. But earlier this year Frederick unseated a moderate 71-year-old former lieutenant governor (who also happens to be Jenna Bush's father-in-law) to become head of the Virginia GOP, promising "bold new leadership" for a state party recently on the decline.
The McCain campaign invited me to visit Frederick and the Gainesville operation on Saturday morning, to get a first-hand glimpse of its ground game in Prince William County, Virginia, a fast-growing area about 30 miles from Washington, D.C.
With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.
However it is my view that if someone tells an African-American cameraman from a major newsmedia outlet to "sit down boy!", and comments like "kill him" are shouted by the crowd about Obama, then Palin in not making any comment when they occurred is allowing them and giving de facto approval. But then what do we expect from a woman who struts her red neck ways in front of every available TV camera.
Here is a good read by Karen McNulty of Time magazine:
A View from the Ground
By Karen McNulty
If John McCain is as serious as he says about running a "respectful" campaign against an opponent he considers "a decent person," word hasn't yet trickled down to his newly opened storefront field office in Gainesville, Virginia.
Top of Form
No Democratic presidential candidate has carried Virginia since 1964, and most election years both campaigns pretty much ignore the state. This time, however, McCain is running behind Barack Obama in statewide polls, thanks in large part to the head start he got on the ground there. "We haven't seen a race like this in Virginia — ever," said state GOP Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick. "The last time was 40 years ago, and they didn't run races like this."
Indeed, Frederick, a 33-year-old state legislator, hadn't even been born yet. But earlier this year Frederick unseated a moderate 71-year-old former lieutenant governor (who also happens to be Jenna Bush's father-in-law) to become head of the Virginia GOP, promising "bold new leadership" for a state party recently on the decline.
The McCain campaign invited me to visit Frederick and the Gainesville operation on Saturday morning, to get a first-hand glimpse of its ground game in Prince William County, Virginia, a fast-growing area about 30 miles from Washington, D.C.
With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Betty White - Sarah Palin is a beeeyatch!
You just have to watch this!!! Click and Play.
http://perezhilton.com/tv/index.php?ptvid=b5e593e8bd8a0
http://perezhilton.com/tv/index.php?ptvid=b5e593e8bd8a0
Sarah Palin re-Mix -- Drill Baby Drill!!!
Click and Play. You'll Love it!!
http://perezhilton.com/tv/index.php?ptvid=be9814b476943
http://perezhilton.com/tv/index.php?ptvid=be9814b476943
Friday, October 10, 2008
Worst of Times - a columnist's thoughts
Here is a column from the Chicago Tribune which I feel describes to a tee where we are at now as we await the fateful day (November 4th) when all the mudslinging and slanders cease and the voters decide.
Worst of times
Garrison Keillor
October 8, 2008
We are a stalwart and stouthearted people, and never more so than in hard times. People weep in the dark and arise in the morning and go to work. The waves crash on your nest egg and a chunk is swept away and you put your salami sandwich in the brown bag and get on the bus. In Philly, a woman earns $10.30 an hour to care for a man brought down by cystic fibrosis. She bathes and dresses him in the morning, brings him meals, puts him to bed at night. It's hard work lifting him and she has suffered a painful hernia that, because she can't afford health insurance, she can't get fixed, but she still goes to work because he'd be helpless without her. There are a lot of people like her. I know because I'm related to some of them. Low dishonesty and craven cynicism sometimes win the day but not inevitably. The attempt to link Barack Obama to an old radical in his neighborhood has desperation and deceit written all over it. Meanwhile, stunning acts of heroism stand out, such as the fidelity of military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay—uniformed officers faithful to their lawyerly duty to offer a vigorous defense even though it means exposing the injustice of military justice that is rigged for conviction and the mendacity of a commander in chief who commits war crimes. If your law school is looking for a name for its new library, instead of selling the honor to a fat cat alumnus, you should consider the names of Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Lt. Col. Mark Bridges, Col. Steven David, Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel and Maj. Michael Mori.
Garrison Keillor Bio Recent columns
It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. When she said, "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars," people smelled gas.Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne'er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself—one stink bomb after another, and now Gov. Sarah Palin. She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was Sen. John McCain's first major decision as the Republican nominee for president. This troubles independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will become a trivia question, "What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?" And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics. Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash. Anybody who got whacked and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead us out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold hard rain before they connect the dots.
Worst of times
Garrison Keillor
October 8, 2008
We are a stalwart and stouthearted people, and never more so than in hard times. People weep in the dark and arise in the morning and go to work. The waves crash on your nest egg and a chunk is swept away and you put your salami sandwich in the brown bag and get on the bus. In Philly, a woman earns $10.30 an hour to care for a man brought down by cystic fibrosis. She bathes and dresses him in the morning, brings him meals, puts him to bed at night. It's hard work lifting him and she has suffered a painful hernia that, because she can't afford health insurance, she can't get fixed, but she still goes to work because he'd be helpless without her. There are a lot of people like her. I know because I'm related to some of them. Low dishonesty and craven cynicism sometimes win the day but not inevitably. The attempt to link Barack Obama to an old radical in his neighborhood has desperation and deceit written all over it. Meanwhile, stunning acts of heroism stand out, such as the fidelity of military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay—uniformed officers faithful to their lawyerly duty to offer a vigorous defense even though it means exposing the injustice of military justice that is rigged for conviction and the mendacity of a commander in chief who commits war crimes. If your law school is looking for a name for its new library, instead of selling the honor to a fat cat alumnus, you should consider the names of Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Lt. Col. Mark Bridges, Col. Steven David, Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel and Maj. Michael Mori.
Garrison Keillor Bio Recent columns
It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. When she said, "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars," people smelled gas.Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne'er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself—one stink bomb after another, and now Gov. Sarah Palin. She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was Sen. John McCain's first major decision as the Republican nominee for president. This troubles independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will become a trivia question, "What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?" And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics. Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash. Anybody who got whacked and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead us out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold hard rain before they connect the dots.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Gallup Daily: Obama’s Lead Over McCain Expands to 11
Obama’s Lead Over McCain Expands to 11
52% share of the vote is Obama’s highest to date
The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report shows Barack Obama with a 52% to 41% lead over John McCain.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Newest N.I.I.D. - Well Golly Gee, What an Honor!
Sarah Palin, the President to be should that old curmudgeon sweetheart John McCain pass gas, deflate and vanish while in office, was recently appointed to a lifetime membership by the N.I.I.D. She was interviewed by Vogue magazine (not one of the ones she reads) and when asked how she felt about this appointment she said,
"Well golly gee, I sure do appreciate being made a member of N.I.I.D.. You know way up in Alaska we have a very large and important area called A.N.W.R. with a lot of letters in it and I understand that it is important too. You know the other day I met Iwantmydinnadad (I really had to practice hard to remember that name huh huh uh huh) and anyway I thought well gee wouldn't it be nice if he could see what real Americans like me get to do. I could take him for a ride on my husbands Harley (what a Stud and I love him still) and maybe shoot some moose! Gee I love America and in Alaska (that's part of America too you know) we like to say if its good for Main Street its good for Alaska. You know I am a Main Street girl!"
N.I.I.D. is the National Identification of Idiots Database headquartered on a remote island off the coast of South Carolina where lifetime honorees are sometimes kept for the safety of our country and planet. It is rumored to be somewhere in Bulls Bay (the name was changed from Bullshit Bay under protest in the late 1800's when it was found offensive to those held there) north east of Charleston, SC.
Our congratulations to the newest N.I.I.D.!!
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