Two words

Perchance to dream...

What should be a slam-dunk election for Democrats is still too close for my comfort. I cannot fathom how Americans can look at Barack Obama and John McCain and not clearly see that Obama is, by far, the superior candidate.

I have not gotten a good night's sleep in weeks. I take my politics as seriously as a heart attack, so I am constantly on edge. Four years ago, I ended up in the hospital with exhaustion and an inflamed, arthritic back that I hadn't realized I had, from all the legwork that I'd put into the Kerry campaign. The doctor said that driving is extremely bad for the back. At the time, I was commuting 74 miles round-trip to work, plus all the driving and late-into-the-night campaigning and organizing that I was doing across Cuyahoga County.

This time, I promised myself that I wouldn't get as emotionally or physically involved. Hey, I've been doing this stuff for over 25 years--let the young 'uns take their turns. But, sure enough, even from the sidelines I'm having anxiety attacks. My sister called me the other day. She could tell that I was tense.

"What's wrong? You sound kinda down."

"I'm worried about the election. I feel like I should be doing...something."

"Uh, huh. You promised that you were going to take it easy, remember?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Easier said than done.

Mitch Bard at HuffPo very eloquently puts my feelings into words. I've watched numerous Democratic candidates for President go down in flames, beginning with Jimmy Carter in 1980, my senior year in high school. Watching all those snot-nosed rich kids at my Catholic school sit in the student center on Inauguration Day cheering Ronald Reagan still pisses me off. It was an early lesson that politics, like life, is not fair.

Now, there are but four days until E-Day. I know that I will get progressively less sleep over the next few nights. This weekend I will bake cookies and brownies for the poll workers--my small contribution down the home stretch. Tuesday evening I will commune with a group of fellow Democrats and progressives at a bar right after work to watch the verdict--er, election results.

If Obama wins, I will finally enjoy a decent night's sleep.

If McCain wins, I may never be able to sleep again.

DOJ tells Boehner to suck it

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), House minority leader, is popping an aneurysm that the Department of Justice won't do the Republicans' dirty work in trying to screw millions of voters nationwide.

The DOJ reversed a policy which would have sent federal prosecutors to the polls with election observers--in and of itself an intimidation tactic. With the R's putting on the full-court press to derail this election, Boehner is pitching a hissy.

That's fine with me. Too bad that we can't just throw some water on the sorry sonuvabitch and melt him.

The big, bad, scary "future" is now

While Sarah Palin goes around ranting about the "socialist state" that Barack Obama will usher in, Scott Horton at Harper's Magazine posits that we already have a near-fascist state--courtesy of the Bush Administration--that she doesn't seem to mind.

Desperate and dangerous

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." --Thomas Jefferson

The Republicans are already manning their battlestations to circumvent this election, going far beyond what I have already reported.

George Bush has sent the Department of Justice to Ohio to try and invalidate 200,000 new voter registrations. In Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State purged between 16,000-20,000 registrations; the state is currently being sued by voter-rights groups. Even the New York Times has called attention to the possible disenfranchisement of thousands of voters nationwide. In addition, poll observers are being harrassed, even arrested.

Expect the Republicans to pull out every stop in order to avoid the devasting losses that the polls indicate they will suffer.

Please--do whatever you can to support the GOTV efforts this last week. My friend Anthony has a list of things you can do at his blog, BlueOhioan. Poll observers are especially needed to make sure that there are no voter-intimidation shenanigans by the Republicans.

Seven more days, folks! Keep fighting!

O, sweet Jesus! Sarah's religious zealotry

The last thing we need in this country is a theocracy. If Sarah Palin and the religious fanatic wing of the Republican Party had their way, that is exactly what we would have. Here are links to stories and videos revealing the religious nuts that Sarah Palin has been palllin' around with.

Links to Information and Documentaries on Palin's Churches
Sarah Palin, 21st Century Theocrat
Very Bizarre 'Holy Laughter Annointing' Theology at Sarah Palin's Juneau Church

Republicans for Obama

While I'm in an atta-boy mood for sensible Republicans (known these days as Obamacons), let me pass along the link for Republicans for Obama. Of special interest is the list of Republicans and conservatives who have publicly endorsed Barack Obama so far. Go give it a gander.

Chuck Hagel for President--someday

I freakin' LOVE Chuck Hagel. He's a Republican who isn't afraid to call his party brethren out on their shit. He, in no uncertain terms, says that Sarah Palin isn't in any way qualified to be Vice President.

I'd vote for this guy in a heartbeat if he ever runs for President.

ApocaLypstick

While the Neanderthals in the Republican Party want to keep the majority of women chained to the bed or the stove, they apparenly can't keep their own womenfolk in check. After throwing a virtual straitjacket on über-bitch Ann Coulter during the past year, the GOP now has to deal with new shrieking harpies who have emerged to take her bat-shit crazy place.

Sarah Palin has become kryptonite to John McCain's campaign. Her unrepentant ignorance, incendiary rhetoric, and airheaded know-nothingness are proving to be a huge millstone around the Republican ticket's neck. When it comes to The Sea of Stupidity, she has on deep-water diving gear and weights.

• These are a few of the laughers gathered by (gasp!) Fox News.
• Another site, 23/6.com, has been keeping a videolog of Sarah's deer-in-headlights comments and rants.
• Here is her infamous checkbook online statement.
• On Wednesday, she proclaimed that "the vice president is in charge of the Senate." Oh, really? I leaned in fourth or fifth grade that the VP merely casts the deciding vote whenever there is a 50-50 split on a vote, which rarely happens. I guess they didn't show Schoolhouse Rock in beauty-queen school.
• She couldn't come up with one coherent idea when asked for examples of man-made causes of global warming.
• During a recent campaign rally, she asked notorious bigot/homophobe Rev. James Dobson to assemble "prayer warriors" to ask God to intercede on her ticket's behalf.
• She referred to certain parts of the country as being "pro-American" and others as being "anti-American."

Then, on the heels of all this verbal quicksand, comes Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who last week called for an investigation into the "anti-American" connections of Barack Obama in particular and Congress in general. Amazingly enough, the MSM actually did their jobs and got on her like ugly on an ape. The GOP has since disingenuously denounced her and pulled its money and campaign ads on her behalf. At the same time, her Democratic opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, is being showered with donations as a result of her fanatical comments. A seat that the Republicans considered safe is now very much in play.

Thanx loads, girls! Hugs and disses!!!

Maybe they should have stuck to just lipstick

My friend Brian once said of Tori Spelling, "All her daddy's money and the best plastic surgeons in the world--and that's all the ugly they could get rid of?"

I could say the same of the Republican National Committee's spending more than $150,000 American dollars on making over Sarah Palin. The frivolous expense is bad enough, but--for the love of Coco Chanel--is that the best they could do? She still looks as if she shopped at WalMart...during a clearance sale...with an extra 75% off.

Good Gucci...is there a stylist in the house?

George Voinovich is a liar

It seems that our senior Senator is going around calling Barack Obama a "socialist." This is just one example of the ugly desperation of the Republican Party at this point. Well, I decided to call dear old George out on his lie:

Dear Senator Voinovich:

I am writing to tell you that your characterizing Barack Obama as a "socialist" is unacceptable. Using such partisan lies as scare tactics should be beneath a U.S. Senator. Apparently, they are not. I am truly disappointed in you. For my part, I will make sure that everyone I know--Democrats, moderate Republicans, and undecided voters--is aware of your unseemly statement.

Just remember: you represent ALL Ohio citizens, not just the Republican ones. Those of us who will vote for Senator Obama will not forget that you tried to disparage him. We will use our votes this year and in 2010 to grant him the largest Democratic Congress possible. With a friendly Congress, he can try to undo all the damage that your party has done the last eight years.

If you want to challenge Senator Obama on real issues, fine. But the mudslinging will come back to haunt you and your party on November 4.

Best regards,

Veronica C. Johnson

I sent this message through his Senate website's contact form. I will also be calling his Cleveland office and his Washington office. I urge you to do the same. Be civil, but don't let Republican lies go unchallenged!

Washington Office
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3353

District Offices
Click here. Go to the bottom of the page to the map of Ohio, then click your area of the state.

Help beat Mean Jean!

Victoria Wulsin, the Democratic candidate trying to oust Ohio U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, (R-02) needs help. The Repugs have launched a vicious ad campaign against her in an attempt to retain "Mean Jean." Below is a request from EMILY's List, an organization that aids progressive, pro-choice women candidates.

U.S. House, Ohio - District 2 -- Vic Wulsin
Republican to defeat: Jean Schmidt

A chance to finally beat "Mean Jean." Democrats have in Vic Wulsin an incredible opportunity to unseat anti-choice zealot Rep. "Mean Jean" Schmidt, a former Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati president who barely won re-election in 2006. Schmidt, who famously called Vietnam veteran Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) a "coward" on the floor of the House, has been joined in her usual nasty campaign rhetoric by the National Republican Campaign Committee, now on the air with a nasty -- and completely ridiculous -- attack blaming physician Wulsin for the nation's economic woes. Wulsin, meanwhile, has been endorsed by the Dayton Daily News as the "best bet" for the district and recent polling shows this race is in a dead heat. The race for this district in presidential battleground Ohio will go down to the wire -- Wulsin needs our help to raise $215,000 to st ay on television fighting "Mean Jean" and her attack machine.

Click here to make a direct and immediate contribution to Vic Wulsin.

Hell hath no fury like neocons turning on their own

Last month, The National Review’s Kathleen Parker called for Sarah Palin to step down in order to save the Republican ticket. Since then, Parker has been deluged with emails—12,000 at her last count—which have covered the gamut from calling her a traitor to outright death threats. One enlightened person suggested that Parker’s mother should have aborted her. How classy!

Not even the scion of TNR’s founder William F. Buckley has been spared. Christopher Buckley, in his blog on the website The Daily Beast, wrote that, for the first time in his life, he will vote for a Democrat. He purposely avoided saying so in his column in TNR because he wanted to spare the publication the grief. Nonetheless, no sooner than this entry was posted at the Beast, he started receiving the same sort of filth that Parker had: “In fact, the only thing the Right can’t quite decide is whether I should be boiled in oil or just put up against the wall and shot.” Buckley submitted his resignation to TNR s editor, which Buckley said was “briskly” accepted.

Parker and Buckley are just two of the traditional conservatives that have come out against the McCain/Palin ticket—something that the frothing-at-the-mouth neocons cannot abide. So much for free speech.

They are far from being the only conservatives jumping ship—or coming to their senses. Christopher Hitchens, David Brooks, Frank Schaeffer, Matthew Dowd, Ken Adelman, and Francis Fukuyama have railed against the ticket, saying that McCain does not have the temperament to be President, that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be Vice President, and that neither displays true conservative values—one of which is appreciation of intellect. That anti-intellectualism has become a rallying point for the GOP does not sit well with traditional conservatives. Gay conservative Andrew Sullivan, who seems to have come to the center over the past decade, excoriated Palin for her out and out lies. Even acid-tongued curmudgeon Robert Novak saw defections in the ranks on the horizon back in June.

But the most damning blow came this past weekend when Colin Powell endorsed Obama on Meet The Press. Powell “had been disturbed in recent weeks by the negative tone of Mr. McCain’s campaign, particularly its focus on Mr. Obama’s passing relationship with William Ayers.” He said that he feels that Obama is what America needs now. He also bemoaned the ever-more-rightward shift of the Republican Party as a whole.

Predictably, the neocons descended on the whole lot of them, particularly Powell, using the “blacks stick together” meme. Rush Limbaugh, George Will, Pat Buchanan, and “journalist” Mark Halperin ludicrously tried to insinuate that Powell is supporting Obama because they are both African American.

Step out of line, and the GOP neocons will mow you down. Nice bunch to associate with, huh?

The Republican Party and its ticket are unraveling faster than thread on a cheap shirt. Still, we cannot let down our guard. They pretty much have no choice but to try and steal this election. Let’s keep out wits about us—only fourteen more days until liberation!

Republicans for Obama
The Vanishing Republican Voter

How Anti-Intellectual is Sarah Palin?
The Class War Before Palin
Palin’s Failin’
The Right Choice?: The Conservative Case for Barack Obama
A Conservative Case for Obama

Blame game: GOP forms circular firing squad

Republicans Voting for Obama: In Their Own Words

Why McCain has lost our vote (Barry Goldwater's granddaughter)

Conservatives in crisis

GOP Sleaze-a-thon

AlterNet.org has a list of the ten sleaziest tactics that the Republicans have utilized so far in trying to steal this election. Learn to recognize and fight back against them. Even though there are only 15 days left until the election, don't let your guard down for a minute!

Financial Meltdown 101

Here is a great primer on how this whole financial mess happened.

Palin's foreign policy experience: Nothing + Nothing = ?

Here is the sum total of Sarah Palin's foreign policy experience. Good God!

GOP: Low-down, dirty (no) shame

With their ticket going down like the Hindenberg, the GOP is in overdrive mode to keep voters from casting their ballots. Meanwhile, left with nothing but empty rhetoric and snide comments to offer the American people, McCain and Palin are going uber-negative on Barack Obama, using invective that would shame the Devil. Palin whipped one crowd into such a frenzy over Obama that someone was recorded screaming, "Kill him!" A black cameraman had the "N" word hurled at him and was told to "Sit down, boy!" Not once did she bother to chastise the crowd. I guess we see her true COLOR now.

Folks, these last four weeks are going to contain some of the ugliest campaign tricks and tactics ever known to American politics--and that's saying something.

Get ON your butt and DO something!

You may ask yourself, "Self, what can I do to help win this election?" Believe me, there is PLENTY that you can do--right in the comfort of your own home, in your jammies, in front of your PC or Mac.

Below is a list of automatically generated letters. All that you have to do is click on a link (hopefully you'll eventually click ALL of the links), fill in your zip code, then enter your name and address. From there, you get to compose your own persuasive letter to editors of regional, national, and local papers; television stations; and advertisers. Afterward, hit Send, and you'll contact them all in one fell swoop!

Did I mention that you can do all of this without leaving your comfy chair? See the links below, and get typing!

Fight Back Now
Expose John McCain
Contact TV Stations in Ohio
Hit 'Em Where It Hurts
Fight the NRA attack ads
Fundamentally Wrong
Stop Michigan Voter Suppression
Keep McCain's hands off health care

Funny but, unfortunately, true

Separate and unequal

I stumbled across an excellent site called Working Group on Extreme Inequality. Their clarion call is that the economic divide between the top 1% and the rest of us is strangling both us as citizens and our economy as a whole. The middle class is quickly being eradicated. The working class and the poor are being worked to death like Hebrew slaves--and neither of the candidates for President even mentions them. The site also addresses the impact of economic equality on minorities.

Fortunately, the group suggests ways that the divide can be narrowed. They also list action items that each of us can take. There are also links to workshops and PowerPoint presentations that we can conduct. If everyone owned and executed just one of this actions, can you imagine what a difference it would make? It is time to stop bemoaning the state of the economy--make that the state of the union in toto--and get off our collective asses. It's time to take back OUR country!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While I'm on the subject of the economy, here is a list of articles, organization sites, and books that make for enlightening reading:

Articles

The Rich and the Rest of Us
Meet the Wealth Gap
Our Gilded Age
Bottom-Up Economic Theory
Party in the White House Matters to Middle Class
Egalitarian Conservatism
To Reduce Economic Inequality, Protect Workers' Rights
How Big of a Deal Is Income Inequality? A Guest Post
The Wealth Trajectory: Rewards for the Few
A Sensible Plan for Recovery

Organizations/Think Tanks

Institute for Policy Studies Plan to Pay for Recovery
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (focuses on economy at the state level)
Inequality.org
United for a Fair Economy
Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality
AFL/CIO
Center for Corporate Policy
Citizens for Tax Justice
Demos
Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Tax Policy Center
Class Action - "Class Action focuses on the personal, interpersonal, and organizational levels of classism."
Population Health Forum

Books

This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation, Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt & Company, 2008)
Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?, Jared Bernstein (Berrett-Koehler, 2008)
The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, Stephen Greenhouse (Random House, 2008)
The Wealth Inequality Reader, Chuck Collins, Adria Scharf et al., editors, with preface by Jesse Jackson Jr. (Dollars & Sense, 2008)
Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill), David Cay Johnston (Portfolio, 2007)
Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lies of the New Rich, Robert Frank (Crown, 2007)
The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity, Robert Kuttner (Random House, 2007)
Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and its Poisonous Consequences, James Lardner, editor, with foreword by Bill Moyers (New Press, 2006)
Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class, Robert H. Frank (University of California Press, 2006)
The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer, Dean Baker (CEPR, 2006). Full text available online.
The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, Meizhu Lui, Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer and Rebecca Adamson (New Press, 2006)
Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity, Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel (The New Press, 2005)
Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality that Limits Our Lives, Sam Pizzigati (The Apex Press, 2004). Full text available online.

Just a REAALLL Nice Lady...

Just a short note here.

I always appreciate a diplomatic answer. I also enjoy someone indirectly drawing attention to the fact that someone does NOT have the qualifications necessary to do the job...simply by stating where they are not.

Obama doesn't have to say anything negative about Palin. The fact that we don't know anything about her, that she has no real history in the public service arena, and that she is just a "real nice lady"...says enough. Her interesting life story and her back-and-forth platform that serves only to further McCains back-and-forth agenda seems more fit for an after-school special than the Veep!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHi0K-78ZaQ

Not to mention the fact that in Palin's eyes...it is the Palin/McCain ticket...not the McCain/Palin ticket. Maybe if we are lucky we can get Haley Mills to stand in for her when we do the 3 hour TV special...what do you think?

Just some thoughts from Matt Damon...

People can easily get caught up in the glamour of the election. Is a candidate likable? Are they like me? Would I like to be friends with them?

These questions, where fine when determining who should be the president of the local social club for your Tea Group or the leader of the Cookie Sales effort for your daughter Scout group, are rather insignificant when looking at the person who will step into the shoes of President...should the President no longer be in office.

The fact that McCain could statistically be out of office, due to medical reasons and natural causes, within the first term, SHOULD make us think. DO we want the local prom queen ironing out foreign poilcy with a not-so-friendly nation? Do we want really feel that Palin, with under 2 years of upper-level political experience, can play in the big leagues as our figure head?

Matt Damon shared his feelings about this situation. Though his comments are sharp and comical in many ways...they are also TRUE. This is VERY WRONG! And we need to wake up before we end up on the wrong side of a cross-stitch needle in the middle of an ice-fishin' pond wearin' a tiara, in front of a firing line!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anxkrm9uEJk

Will the real John McCain please stand up?

I found a transcript of an interview that the New York Times conducted with John McCain in July. It is interesting to read McCain being called on his contradictions and gaffes about what kind of conservative he viewed himself as, as opposed to what his record actually had been. He opined that he'd rather let children languish in orphanages rather than be adopted by gays or lesbians.

The most intriguing bits of the interview were:

• his comments on "the bridge to nowhere" as being indicative of the recent betrayal of conservative fiscal values (d'oh!);
• his avowed respect for Barack Obama (whom he couldn't give the courtesy of eye contact during last week's debate);
• his tap-dancing on whether a government bailout of financial institutions was imminent or needed;
• and his utter Ludditism when it comes to modern technology.

How can anyone whore himself out this much in just 12 weeks? If this is what he is willing to do to merely campaign for President, then whom would he pimp if elected--himself, or us?

Proximity only counts in horseshoes

First the Republicans tried to sell us that Sarah Palin had foreign policy experience because she could see Russia from her yard, or some such nonsense. Now they have her meeting with several world leaders, trying to pump up her foreign policy bona fides.

Are you effing kidding me? She meets one time with each of them, and suddenly she is Henry Kissinger? (Oh, wait...Henry is one of the people she met with. Great, she is consorting with the Karl Rove of diplomacy. And exactly what country does Herr Kissinger run, anyway?)

Who knew that you could CLEP your way to decades of international knowledge? Damn. If that is the case, can I count all the campaigns I've worked on towards the last two years that I need for my political science degree?

This bullshit is the equivalent of my saying that because I once got the autograph of Asia drummer Carl Palmer, I now qualify for enshrinement in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (BTW, we shall never speak of this again. It's not exactly something to brag about.)

Dear God, are there really people stupid enough to buy this and vote for her?

Wall Street Whoas!

Folks, let’s bend over and grab our collective ankles. We are about to get screwed without the lube. Again. After already pissing away $900 billion of our hard-earned dollars earlier this year to prop up the finance industry’s wanton recklessness, Congress wants to hand them $700 billion more. That’s right: the Wall Street frat boys came to the American public’s house, got drunk, trashed it, and then threw gas and a match on it for good measure. Now We The People have the pleasure of paying to rebuild and refurnish our house, and we don’t even get so much as an “Oops, our bad” from the hungover frat rats. Not only that, but we are being forced to pay them damages because they got hurt while they were running amok: “Hey, you shoulda known that we were idiots when we first got there. All of your money and your desire for The American Dream created an attractive nuisance. Our lawyers say that it’s all your fault for inviting us in.”

From the time when we first began our indoctrination into American history—sometime in grade school—the virtues of laissez faire capitalism were extolled as if they were the key to The Meaning of Life. “Let the market decide!” roared our automaton droids (aka “teachers”). Well, it looks like the market has decided in no uncertain terms that the mortgage industry feeding frenzy was nothing more than a Ponzi pyramid built upon quicksand.

Yes, the market has decided that these charlatans should fall. So, why aren’t we letting financial Darwinism take its natural course? Yeah, I thought so. It’s all “keep the gummint out” until the fat‑cat capitalists are about to lose their shorts. Then they can’t usher the government (and our money) into their hallowed halls quickly enough. Bring on the socialist bailouts, comrades! To add insult to injury, now the bastards are complaining that the bailout isn’t big enough! They are tripping over themselves to get Congress to rewrite certain provisions in their favor before the bill comes to a vote. The CEOs who ran these businesses into the ground are trying to ensure that they keep their platinum parachutes for a job badly done. On top of that, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson has the balls to want complete oversight. Can you say “fox guarding the chicken coop”? He could literally sell this country down the river, and Congress wouldn’t have any say. Paulson wouldn’t even have to give them update reports. Having Congressional oversight isn’t much better, but at least we would have the power to make their lives miserable if they falter.

Meanwhile, the voodoo “economists” in the Bush administration are trying to spin this bailout as helping to keep the economy from crashing down on plain-folk Americans—Underdog swooping in at the last moment to untie us Sweet Polly Purebreds from the railroad tracks. But closer examination reveals that the Bushies are, in fact, just clearing the way for the runaway train that is the financial industry. The frightening thing is, we may just be seeing the tip of the iceberg. I find it interesting that it takes the foreign press to tell us the truth. Too bad that only political junkies like me are reading them.

Hmm…please allow me a momentary digression. I find it interesting that Congress can’t come up with funding for national health coverage…or for fixing our public school system…or for making a college education affordable…but they can pull over $1 trillion dollars out of their asses for millionaires who’ve just bankrupted their companies and employees. Actually, that money came out of OUR asses, with no tube of the afore-referenced AstroGlide anywhere to be found.

Anyway, back to my main rant…

Now John McCain would have us believe that he would reign in the malfeasance on Wall Street.

Never mind that he is hopelessly out of touch on the financial crisis and its causes.

Never mind that he had no idea that the President cannot fire the chair of the SEC.

Never mind that he went along with Republicans earlier this year in refusing to grant similar relief to homeowners. In fact, he blamed them for torpedoing the economy. As I type this, Republicans are opposing help to homeowners as a condition of the bailout.

Never mind that McCain wanted us to turn over our Social Security and retirement funds to these self-same alchemists, even as he and his youngest daughter take SS payments of $2895 per month. Keep in mind that his heiress wife is worth over $100 million.

Never mind that his Senate and campaign staffs absolutely teem with lobbyists and Wall Street minions and shills.

Never mind that he has never seen a deregulation bill that he wanted to vote “No” on.

Never mind that he wants to continue and make permanent Bush’s tax cuts for the ridiculously wealthy.

Yes, Oz—er, America—pay no mind whatsoever to the doddering old liar behind the American flag curtain—nor to the flying monkeys of Congress who are trying to steal your wallets for the wicked warlocks of Wall Street.

Here are some links to shed some light on this subject. Try not to cry into the beer that you can barely afford these days.

10 Things You Should Know About Bush's Trillion Dollar Fleecing Plan
The Wall Street Bailout Plan, Explained
Seven Deadly Sins of Deregulation—and Three Necessary Reforms
Paulson's Folly
Trust But Verify
Rich Reign: Wall St. to Yankee Stadium
John McCain's “Straight Mess Express”
Bailout plan won't be end of Wall Street bailouts
Who Will Pay For The Wall Street Bailout?

Vids gone viral

Alternet rounded up ten of the best viral videos of the campaign so far. Needless to say, these skewer the Republicans...and the downside of that would be...?

Being white has its privileges...

My friend Mia sent me this treatise on white privilege, which the (white) author opines is the reason that Sarah Palin and the Republicans get a bye no matter what they do, while people of color get vilified for doing the exact same things.

If you can't stand the heat, get back in the kitchen.
--Mia, on Sarah Palin's laughable claims of sexism by Obama and the "liberal" media

Rig the vote

Well, The Powers That Be are getting an early start on messing with our votes. Already, voter purges, voting machine errors, and other such shenanigans are being reported in New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Kansas, and Virginia. They are also attempting to thwart college students who plan to vote.

Earlier this year, the Veterans Administration, which is supposed to support veterans, blocked voter groups that tried to register homeless vets. Men and women who defended this country were being denied their right to vote! However, after pressure from vets’ rights groups and politicians, the VA finally relented and will allow registration drives. Interestingly enough, a majority of vets are rallying behind Obama, and troops deployed overseas have contributed funds to Obama’s campaign at a 6:1 pace over McCain’s. Perhaps more reason to disenfranchise our military?

Here in lovely Ohio, we are no strangers to voter fraud. We’ve been in the national spotlight for the past four election cycles (including midterms). After the 2004 presidential election, Congressman John Conyers headed a committee that looked into voter disenfranchisement allegations; the result was a massive report detailing numerous instances of voter fraud and intimidation statewide. What should have been a national outrage received, incredibly, no play whatsoever from the “liberal” media.

Once again, all signs point to continued cloak-and-dagger moves by the Republicans to bludgeon voters’ rights, especially those of minorities. During this year’s primary, Rush Limbaugh encouraged his Pumpkinheads to try to scam the system by registering as Democrats and voting for Hillary Clinton, believing that Republicans could more easily defeat her than Obama. As I write this, our current Secretary of State, Democrat Jennifer Brunner, is challenging a constitutionally questionable, Republican-passed state law that would strike voters from voter rolls simply for having an election notice returned as “undeliverable.” If the voters somehow make it through all of this and get to the polls, then there is the very real possibility that voting machines can be tampered with or re-programmed. It’s ironic that the company at the epicenter of the controversy, Diebold, is headquartered right here in Ohio. At a 2004 fundraiser, Diebold’s CEO vowed to deliver Ohio’s votes to George Bush.

Please use the following resources to educate yourselves on illegal tactics and your rights as a voter.

Know Your Rights!!!

• Ohio League of Women Voters Election Information Flyer
• Ohio Boards of Election Directory
• Ohio Secretary of State Election Day Procedures
• Project Vote Smart State Election Directory (choose your state, click Go, look for State Resources in the right sidebar, then choose Local Electiion Offices. You will find your county board of election, listed alphabetically)
• Project Vote (Click under Issues to familiarize yourself with the various tactics used to disenfranchise voters)
• Voters' Self-Defense Manual
• Reporter's Resource Book (full of media, social organization, and government agency contact info)
• The Politics of Vote Fraud (long but informative report)
• NOW on PBS: Will The Vote Be Fair?
• Rock The Vote! (Nonpartisan org, mainly directed at 20-something voters)
• Declare Yourself (Another non-partisan organization aimed at young people, founded by Norman Lear)
• League of Women Voters
• Brennan Center for Justice Voting Rights & Elections Page
• Legal Guide to Student Voting
• Just Vote (Enter your information and the site will generate a state-specific registration form for you to mail in)
• National Campaign for Fair Elections
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (info about voting machines)
• Black Box Voting (voting machine fraud watchdogs)

All the news that's fit to skip

Saaaaaa-rah, come out and plaa-ay...Saaaaaa-rah, come out and plaa-ay...

Well, it seems that Ms. Palin is shy. She has yet to take a single interview with the mainstream media. What is she--or McCain's shills--afraid of? That there isn't anything of substance beneath that towering bun? In fact, she won't even grant an interview to Alaska's newspaper of record. If she has nothing to say to her own constituents--all 600,000 of them--what could she possibly have to say to the other 300 million of us?

Apparently, she is being "handled" by the McCain camp, who are demanding that media show the proper "deference" to her. Since when did a pitbull need to be coddled? I guess that smackdown that Campbell Brown gave one of McCain's advance people regarding Palin's qualifications has them peeing their pants about what is to come.

Sorry, Saracuda, but you opened up this particular can of dog food, so get ready to chow down. You can re-apply your lipstick later.

Update: Charles Gibson of ABC News is conducting Sarah Palin's first national interview tonight. If he softballs her--and he probably will--I am going to lose my fucking mind! Here are some questions that he SHOULD ask...if he has the guts.

Keeping Palin Under Wraps
The straitjacket express
She’s Clueless, He’s Worse
Why the media should apologize
A Full-Fledged Feeding Frenzy On Sarah Palin
Hurricane Palin
Hiding Sarah Palin behind “deference”
Putin's America

About Sarah Palin...

Anne Kilkenny, a woman who has known Sarah Palin for over a decade and a half, sent this email to some family and friends. The email contained not a hatchet job, but rather clear-headed, even-handed insight into how Palin has conducted her public life.

Unfortunately for Anne, the email went viral. She has been under siege from both the left and the right ever since. Still, I tip my hat to her, seeing as how many of the people of Wasilla who have dealt with Saracuda declined--or were afraid--to comment.

Where the hell is Hillary?

The most lethal weapon that the Democratic Party has to wield against Sarah Palin is nowhere to be found. Hillary Clinton, despite pledging to fully support the Obama-Biden ticket, has been MIA. Talk about damning with faint praise. With her political savvy and killer instinct, she could easily cripple, if not vanquish, the monster that Palin has become. Yet, beyond saying "Congrats," Clinton has been mum.

Hillary and Bill used some down-and-dirty tactics against Obama during the primary campaign. If they were so ready to take down a fellow party member, wouldn't it stand to reason that they would want to annihilate the real enemy? Or is this another example of the Clintons putting personal ambitions ahead of the welfare of the party and of the country? Is Hillary leaving Obama to swing in the wind so that she gets another shot four years hence?

This may be the most important election in our lifetimes. Corporations have become the de facto government. Four corporations own all of the media, which have become private lap dogs instead of public watchdogs. Jobs continue to be outsourced overseas, and unemployment is at a 30-year high. The economy is in shambles. The Constitution has been treated like bird cage liner for seven years. Tens of millions of Americans are without health care. Gas is four bucks a gallon, and oil companies--already the recipients of massive tax breaks--are making money hand over fist. Oh, yeah--did I mention Iraq?

Moreover, five of the nine Supreme Court justices are over 70; John Paul Stevens is 88. It is more than reasonable to assume that several of the justices will retire or die in the next five years. Even one more justice appointed by the right wingnut ticket of McCain-Palin would shift the already-tenuous balance of the court for decades to come. Roe v. Wade probably goes out the window, along with most of the Constitution. What would keep that administration from strengthening the PATRIOT Act, taking away even more rights in the name of keeping us "safe"? Certainly not the spineless DLC Democrats in Congress, even though they hold a majority in both houses. God forbid that they actually use their collective strength to fight back against an oppressive administration--and that's Bush. Sarah Palin makes Bush look like a card-carrying ACLU member.

Every member of this party should be doing his/her damndest to ensure a Democratic victory in November. I wasn't a Hillary supporter during the primary campaign. However, had she been the nominee, I would have sucked it up and moved heaven and earth to make sure that she defeated John McCain. As the most powerful woman in the Democratic Party, Hillary is the perfect counterpoint to Palin. Her intellect, experience, grasp of real issues, and steady, sharp delivery would show Palin up for the shrill, extremist dilettante that she is. Hillary needs to put the full-court press on this Ice Princess.

Given all of this, I call the question: Where the hell is Hillary?

The Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not diss Sarah...or else

Not even Oprah The Almighty can withstand the Palin tsunami. Never mind that Oprah has not offered nor declined an interview with Caribou Barbie. (Thanx for that moniker, Mia!)

WTP? Is this woman the anti-Christ? Who else could have this many rabid minions? Or maybe God really IS on her side.

Is the GOP committing suicide?

According to a fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, the Republicans' zealous views and callous disregard for the widening gap between the haves and haves-not is contributing to shrinking membership in the Republican Party. Let's hope that Sarah Palin hurries that process along.

What does the VP DO every day?

Now I can accept a good deal of things from anyone...including politicians. They are human too. A little lying (they ALL lie). A little schmoozing...they ALL kiss up to everyone around them...

BUT, if you are going to be the person who is second in command of this country (at least in title) shouldn't you at least know what you are doing? We all know Sarah isn't seasoned. We all know she has NO experience outside of Northern Exposure and National Geographic presents "Moose hunting"...but this isn't a retail job hanging skirts on a rack at your local Wally Mart. This is the person who steps into the position of President, should he resign, die or be assassinated (hey...it happens). And she openly admits...she doesn't even know what the job is!

When I go out for a job, I have some idea of what I is expected of me. I am intelligent and I have enough know-how and experience to be able to make some logical (logic is necessary to run a country) deductions. So for her to even think...for a split second that the role of VP would not be busy or productive makes me question if her hair isn't wrapped a bit too tight! That is just absurd! And we are going to vote her into office to lead us as a nation??????????

Here....watch and see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oro2Yh9HoEM

Hockey-Mom goes VP

Who is Sarah Palin?

Here's some basic background:

1. 
   Palin was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has ZERO national/international experience.
2. Palin is an anti-choice extremist, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.
3. Palin supports creationism being taught in public schools.
4. Palin doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change despite factual documentation provided by our trusted University educated Scientist proving otherwise.
5. Palin is solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years.
6. Palin also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as a threatened species-she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.

Alaska MoveOn members were asked what the rest of the USA should know about their governor. The response was striking. Here is a small example of those responses taken from Move On. com:

She is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile international scene that exists today.
Rose M., Fairbanks, AK

She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She's a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO experience beyond Alaska.
Christine B., Denali Park, AK

As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement. Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be.
Karen L., Anchorage, AK

Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nation. She is doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.
Sherry C., Anchorage, AK

She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary.
Marina L., Juneau, AK

I think she's far too inexperienced to be in this position. I'm all for a woman in the White House, but not one who hasn't done anything to deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This is a patronizing decision on John McCain's part- and insulting to females everywhere that he would assume he'll get our vote by putting "A Woman" in that position.
Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK

As a public, we have to be quick on the uptake. Our attention is all-too-often directed to that which is NOT of national importance. She likes to fish. Ducky for her. Does that mean she will take a stand against the continual raping of the Tropical Rain Forest? She's a hockey-mom. Wonderful...so she drives a mini-van and many women can relate to the multiple drive-thru trips to McDonald's she must make after picking the kiddies up from practice. But does that mean she will raise the standards for education and provide funding for classrooms? I am thrilled that she eats moose! Was it humanely killed and was all of the animal used or was it slaughtered and discarded like a common cow??? None of these "look...I'm just like you guys" pieces of trivia are relevant. In fact they prove just how common she is! The VP to our country cannot afford to be common. They need to be a step above the rest. If Suzy Q down the street can do the job then why the hell is finding a good nominee for the platform such a big deal???

Our purpose here is to dig deep! To find all the things that the Republican party doesn't want you to hear about. Considering that most of the news is owned and run by a fashion of the Republican house...you can't rely on popular sources for information. Sometimes, all you will get is what they want you to read! So here we will do the work to provide the TRUTH...some people still remember what THAT is.....