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!
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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