Saturday, September 27, 2008

CNN Election Tracker shows Obama gains in EC map

I noticed some discrepancies between CNN's Electoral College map and their 'Election Tracker' map.

Click this link for the Election Tracker map. Notice that this map shows the latest polling data, all prior to the debate, in the swing states - if you mouse over the CNN symbol of a swing state - it will provide the data. On this map, light blue is still 'even-within margin of error'. Notice that Wisconsin is DARK blue - called for Obama. Also notice that the data for Minnesota and New Hampshire are favoring Obama, but are not called for him yet, however the leads are right at the 'margin of error' for the polls. WI, MN and NH total 24 electoral votes.

Now notice the CNN Electoral College map linked from their main politics page. This is the interactive 'calculator' map that allows you to change states and see what happens to the EC count. With CNN's estimate they show Obama at 240, McCain at 200.

Notice that this map does NOT have WI for Obama, and shows MO and NC as leaning McCain, even though the Tracker maps shows them as 'even - within margin of error'.

It appears that they have not updated the 'Calculator' map linked from their leading 'Politics' page with the latest data from the Election Tracker. If you update the map with the WI, MN and NH, Obama moves up to 264 EC votes - 6 votes shy of the 270 required. MO and NC should be moved back into the 'toss-up' pile, as they are both within 1 pt, and the data is 2 weeks old. This leaves McCain with 176 EC votes, and 100 in the toss-up group.

This shows a VERY different picture of the EC vote status - 264 Obama to 176 McCain with 100 still in the 'toss-up' states. Keep in mind that this data is all PRIOR to the Debate. New post-debate polling data will move things around a bit. If Obama gets a bounce in Ohio or any of the other swing states, which judging from the debate viewer polls , he will, and with his current momentum, the Election Tracker map should start to show Obama polling over the top with the next poll results update.

This is especially true if Palin does not get a huge bounce out of the VP debate. Somehow, based on her press interviews, I don't think that will be likely, unless it's a sympathy bounce because somehow it's 'unfair' or 'sexist' to expect her to answer the same questions as Biden. It's really just another press interview, since they won't be addressing each other based on the 'special rules' for this debate session. Most people don't know Joe Biden, although he has a long record in the Senate. They will learn that he is a very capable, eloquent speaker, and knowledgeable on the issues and the record. Palin has a problem putting together a coherent grammatically correct sentence if she's not repeating a memorized talking point. The best thing she could do is find a reason not to be there on Thursday. The best thing Biden can do is to let her hang herself and stay as far away from the self-destruct as possible, to avoid any 'blame' from the Republican spin doctors.

My only other expectation is that CNN will be slow to update their maps, because of the debacle of the last election, where they missed their predictions by small but important margins.

CBS Poll of Undecided Voters

40 percent said Obama wins. 22 percent. say McCain
McCain won slightly on right decisions on the war in Iraq.

Obama won 68 percent for right decisions on the economy. (!)

Friday, September 26, 2008

CNN Opinion Research Poll on the Debate

Update - 48% to 40% for Obama for responders 50+

This says it all - forget the spinners... ask the public.

Who Did the Best Job In the Debate?
Obama 51%
McCain 38%

Who Would Better Handle Economy?
Obama 58%
McCain 37%

Who Would Better Handle Iraq?
Obama 52%
McCain 47%

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Palin on Russian Foreign Policy

This clip from the interview with Katy Couric is painful to watch.
She has experience, because Alaska is close to Russia.. and has a border with Canada. Not that she's been involved with any negotiations with either...

Remember, this person could be the Vice-President, or even President at some time in the future if by some strange twist, McCain gets elected.


Watch CBS Videos Online

David Letterman gets 'Cratered' by John McCain.

John McCain cancelled his appearance on the David Letterman show at the last minute ostensibly because he was suspending his campaign and was returning to Washington 'immediately' to work on the bailout plan.

However - it seems he had time to appear for a CBS News interview, and give a
speech at Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

Oh, and by the way, since he's not on the committee doing the negotiations, he's probably not going to be allowed in the room to inject some presidential politics and photo-ops, etc.

I wonder if this had more to do with his poll numbers or the fact that every time he talks without a teleprompter or script he comes up with another gaff...

Here's David Letterman's reaction:

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McCain Loses His Head

The signpost of Conservative Criticism, George F. Will, blasted John McCain in an article published in the Washington Post Tuesday calling him a "Queen of Hearts".

He opens with a quote from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
"The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said without even looking around."

and ends with what I would call a clear choice for the readers:

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?


In the middle he called him "Childish", "Shallow" and his behavior "like a flustered rookie".

I just LOVE quoting Conservatives lately...

McCain stalls - to buy time for himself and Palin

John McCain played the 'crisis' card today - 'suspending' his campaign and suggesting that the debate with Barak Obama be postponed.

On the surface, it seems like he's taking the 'high' road. But the reality is that it is a thinly veiled attempt at using this current crisis to avoid another one - the Debates.

As usual, the devil is in the details. He actually suggested that the VP debate be postponed, to a date To Be Determined and that the Presidential Debate be moved into that slot.

What's the matter John, afraid that Sarah Palin can't handle the debate? She says she's ready 'day one' to take the reigns, so why not simply suggest that Gov. Palin debate Sen. Biden this Friday and just swap timeslots?

Nobody needs him in Washington - there are plenty of people already on the Banking Committee that have been working since last Friday on this. Another voice, one that is looking to take credit where credit isn't due for political rating points is the last thing that Congress needs to deal with.

The potential to disrupt the process at this point far exceeds any additional input that would be garnered from someone George F. Will (that's right - the Conservative himself) called "Childish" and whose words he characterized as "fact-free slander"

Michael Moore releases his latest movie - FREE to ALL

Michael Moore has generously released his latest movie "Slacker Uprising" to everyone in the United States - Free of charge, and freely distributable.

A movie about the awakening of the 'Slacker Generation' to American Politics.

Here's the link to the site: http://slackeruprising.com/download/location.php?utm_medium=download&utm_source=21437044

At that link, there are five ways you can watch it free and without advertising!

Obama and the Palin Effect

Deepak Chopra on the choice of Sarah Palin.

In a fascinating psychological analysis of the 'Palin Effect', Chopra makes the following observations:

I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin’s message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.


Look at what she stands for:

  • Small town values — a nostaligic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.

  • Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.

  • Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be needed.

  • Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.

  • Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.

  • "Reform" — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.


Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from “us” pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of “I’m all right, Jack,” and “Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.” The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness

The $700 Billion Debacle

You've probably been surprised at my silence regarding this huge story. To be honest, I'm still trying to digest it. It's really hard to wade through the spin and comprehend the scope of this shocking proposal. The more time I spend thinking about it, the more disturbing this proposal becomes. Questions and 'problems' both practical and ethical seem to multiply without end.

I figure it's time to start a discussion here, and share my distress with those of you who care to examine this situation for yourself. Please feel free to comment. The site is moderated, but I promise you that I will post your comments unedited. The moderation is on only to prevent being 'spammed'.

As a starting point - here's a link to the Text of Draft Proposal for Bailout Plan as presented to Congress. Please take a read - it's 849 words, so at almost $1 Billion a word, as a taxpayer you shouldn't pass it up. It's one short piece of legislation!

So, now for some disturbing thoughts.

I'd heard that the proposal was 3 pages, so I expected fine print. NOT !! This was something spit out of a word processor on a moments notice. It is Outrageous to think that Secretary Paulson was caught so off guard, and had so little warning that this was the best legislative proposal that his entire staff could come up with.

If he was caught so unaware, it would disqualify his ability to solve this crisis. Certainly, it did not happen overnight - he should have been planning for this possibility. Considering his credentials my only conclusion is that it is fully his intention to get Congress to issue him a $700 Billion blank check. That is what his proposal amounts to.

In the back of my mind, alarm bells are ringing - GWB holds an 'emergency' meeting and press conference - threats of total economic disaster, a 'meltdown' unless Congress acts 'immediately'. These sound like the same scare tactics and doom and gloom warnings that the White House used to justify the Iraq war. In that case, some valid questions were raised; most people understand something about foreign affairs, so the White House manufactured some lies about WMDs and talked about the 'Al-Qaeda' link to Iraq even though it didn't exist to justify their demand for a 'blank check' for war. In this case, few in Congress or anywhere else can understand the details of the 'problem', so asking the right questions and getting the straight answers is especially difficult. Bernanke and Paulson are testifying in front of Congress, like Colin Powell did in front of the U.N. They talk of more foreclosures, frozen credit availability, massive job losses and generally paint a picture designed to strike fear into the hearts and stomachs of anyone listening.

Remember, these are the same people who basically called our economy 'strong' 6 months ago so what changed?

Especially disturbing is that it is unlikely that any hard facts as to the 'truth' of their warnings will be forthcoming. This is really based on their opinion, based on their assessment. It is all speculative, to whatever degree.

Other disturbing language - what little of it there is:

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


What the heck? I doubt that this is legal. Removing review by the courts to legislation just because you don't want it to be? I don't think so. This amounts to 'no oversight, no questions'. What was the point? Do they simply want to be unfettered by such minor details such as legal review or congressional oversight?

Sure, they will report to Congress once per quarter, but report only - no questions, no accountability. They will be able to issue contracts regardless of any other public laws regulating their issue (another dubious legality).

The Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve are getting blasted by a bipartisan committee. Both sides of the aisle are upset with this charade of a proposal.

It's easy to digress into the details of what this is all about, but fundamentally, my bigger concerns are with larger moral and ethical concerns. Clearly the health of American financial institutions has been compromised. What to do about it raises larger issues that I'll explore on another continuing post.

Obama Breaks for the Lead 52 to 43% in Latest Poll

It's way to early in this race to break out any cigars but this Washington Post-ABC News national poll is GREAT news.

It shows Obama has taken the lead in the national polls both of likely and registered voters by 9 points - 52 to 43

This breakout is important, as it is the first time either candidate has broken the 50% mark among 'likely' voters (Obama crossed the 50% mark several times during the primaries among 'registered' voters, but not since securing the primary).

This is quite a swing since the last poll of 9/7 Obama +5 and McCain -6 for a net +11 for Obama!!

The momentum is shifting - now is the time to shift into high gear and double up on efforts to get Obama elected.

Palin - Troopergate explanation falls apart, Mr. Hockey Mom?

Palin's latest justification for firing her State Police commissioner, unauthorized travel to Washington D.C. just fell apart - ABC uncovered a travel authorization signed by... the Governor's chief of staff.

By the way, he was going in order to raise money to fight sexual violence. I guess Palin doesn't believe in supporting that effort any more than paying for forensic Rape Kits used to collect evidence from rape victims. They had to pass a state law banning the practice she put in place in Wasilla of making the victim pay for the kit.

CNN reports that Republican campaign officials indicated they are done answering questions about an investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner Tuesday. Palin has dropped an earlier pledge to cooperate with a probe by the state Legislature.


Here's another video from Rachel Maddow. Starting mid-way is an interview with Lyda Green, President of the Alaska state Senate, and a Republican who represents Wasilla.
Sometimes I just love quoting Republicans.


Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The $2 Million Man

They might not be violating the letter of the law; but to me they are violating the spirit of it.

Starting in 2000, John McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, was paid $30,000 or more per MONTH for over 5 years as president of an 'advocacy' group (lobbyist organization) set up by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to try and prevent stricter regulations.

In an article published in the New York Times, current and former officials of the organizations confirmed this information.


Mr. Davis had recently returned to his lobbying firm from running Mr. McCain’s unexpectedly strong 2000 Republican primary campaign, which elevated Mr. McCain’s profile as a legislator and Mr. Davis’s as a lobbyist.


“The value that he brought to the relationship was the closeness to Senator McCain and the possibility that Senator McCain was going to run for president again,” said Robert McCarson, a former spokesman for Fannie Mae, who said that while he worked there from 2000 to 2002, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together paid Mr. Davis’s firm $35,000 a month."

In an interview Sunday night with CNBC and The New York Times, Mr. McCain noted that Mr. Davis was no longer working on behalf of the mortgage giants.


Let me get this straight - Rick Davis 'left' his own lobbying firm to work on John McCain's 2000 primary campaign. At the conclusion of the campaign in 2000 he went back to his lobbying career. He was hired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to head up their lobbying effort and was paid something around $2 Million from 2000 through 2005 (when the lobbying effort was dissoved), primarily because of his close connection to John McCain and the possibility that McCain would run for President again. He then 'left' his own lobbying firm again to work on the McCain campaign.

There is nothing else to say. Clearly, McCain, supporter of the 1999 deregulation of the finance and banking industries, was the pick of Freddie and Fannie when it came to potential presidential candidates. The same lobbyist who was promoting the deregulation agenda to McCain in congress is now writing his campaign speeches and position papers.

McCain has the audacity to throw mud at Obama and Biden with false 'banking ties' ads.
What needs reform is John McCain; one of the infamous 'Keating 5' from the S&L debacle of a previous decade, who apparently hasn't learned his lesson.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Bill Maher - weighs in on MSNBC

Here's an interesting interview on MSNBC:
You go Bill! Finally, they interview someone intelligent; instead
of playing campaign soundbites of someone who is not!





In case you're interested in what someone who is not intelligent
had to say this past week - here are how those sound bites go:



Palin - Yes, Thanks, to a Road to Nowhere

The saga of the infamous 'Bridge to Nowhere' continues -
When you build a bridge, what else do you need to build? A road to the bridge! Congress might have rescinded it's earmark to the 'Bridge to Nowhere', and then Gov. Palin killed the project, but that is not the end of the story.

Construction of a 3.2 mile $26 Million road from the Gravina Airport (pop. 50) to the beach where the infamous bridge was to be built has continued to move forward. This highway, that no one will drive, dead ends near where the bridge would have been built.

"Surely we won't have to commute on the highway if there won't be a bridge," said Jill Jacob, who has been writing and calling the governor's office for the last two years to protest the road. "It's a dead-end highway, a dead-end road."



Read the full story in the LA Times Article

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Gov. Palin's 2nd Private Email Account used for Government Business

A second private yahoo email account being used by Governor Palin for both personal and State Business was recently hacked. Although I do not condone cyber-hacking as a means to discover the truth, I think the larger issue is that the information released confirms that that she was conducting government business through the use of private email; circumventing the law and requirements for retention of communications. It also demonstrates another reason why government business shouldn't be conducted on Yahoo email accounts - it is not secure, and easily hacked.

A criminal investigation of Governor Palin's actions by the FBI and/or the Alaska State attorney general is warranted and should be pursued. This is as blatant a violation as I think you'll ever see.

Screen shots and some photos are still available at gawker.com this morning. I saw one entry on the list of emails that concerns the draft of a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger regarding a new container tax(fee). This is a subject that I've blogged about, but is not widely known. Seeing that email listing for the draft of that letter tells me that this is most likely legitimate information, and not a 'fake'. There is further information that lends credibility to the existence of this email account (now deleted, in an attempt to destroy it's contents along with the 1st account that was previously reported in the news) in the FoxNews story and at gawker.com.

How about it FBI - perhaps a subpoena to Yahoo for it's server backups will yield proof for criminal prosecution? The screen shots show email coming in from government accounts. Those outbound emails should be archived - so why were they sent to an outside Yahoo account of the governors?

Maybe McCain isn't just lying - he's Senile

Age related senility (and maybe even the beginnings of dementia) is much harder for people to connect with, but perhaps that is what's really going on with John McCain (although it's clear the rest of his campaign is being built on lies). If this continues, he should step aside, and retire from public service. It certainly deserves scrutiny considering his age and the strain of the campaign and the office he's looking to hold.

It's noticeable that he's turned his campaign completely over to his handlers. You see him reading his speeches from notes and stumbling as if he's not familiar with what he's reading. He's obviously been speaking from notes even during 'town hall' meetings. Even commentators and supporters have noted that 'this is not the John McCain we know' when discussing his recent ads and campaign tactics.

When questioned about his own campaign talking points, he can't even respond accurately. During his recent interview on "The View" he insisted that Gov. Palin hadn't taken ANY earmarks as governor. It has been widely acknowledged (even by the McCain campaign) that she has gotten some earmarks, but they are less than the previous year. Given the opportunity to correct his statement, and even with direct coaching from his interviewer, he continued to insist emphatically that she had taken NO earmarks. It's easy to jump on it as simply lying, but I think something much more serious is going on. Responses like this make no sense. There's no point on being so obviously wrong, and fumble opportunities to correct so badly, especially for a politician who has such a long career.

That example follows the famous press conference in Iraq, when he 'mis-spoke' about Iran's involvement with Al-Qaeda and was corrected by Joe Lieberman. Clearly not as bad a slip then, but that was awhile ago, and I think he's getting worse.

Now we have another example, and in this case he seems even more disoriented then before. John McCain recently gave an interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper in which he appears to get confused and doesn't respond as you would expect. Keep in mind, this was an arranged scheduled interview for which he certainly would have been prepped by his campaign. It's an audio, he was interviewed in English, but with a Spanish translator speaking over the top. If you speak Spanish you can confirm for yourself. There is the link below for the entire interview, or go to John's post, where he has a link to an audio clip of just the part relevant to this particular question. It is near the end of the interview.

Here's a post from John Aravosis on Americablog.com


Per a post on Josh Marshall's site, I just listened to an interview John McCain did with a Spanish journalist recently. The interview is in English, but there's a Spanish translator translating the tape into Spanish at the same time. So the English part is difficult to hear. I am however fluent in Spanish, and what Josh reports is exactly what the Spanish version shows.

Namely, that John McCain didn't appear to know that Spain was in Europe, or that the leader of Spain was named Zapatero, even after he was told that Zapatero was the leader of Spain.

When asked about Spain and Zapatero, by a Spanish reporter for a Spanish newspaper, McCain responded about Mexico and Latin America. A reader suggested something that Josh had already considered, that perhaps McCain thought the reporter was talking about the Zapatistas in Mexico, the guerilla group. But that's not possible as the reporter clearly said she was talking about Spain and Spain's leader, Zapatero. She told McCain this twice. Let me tell you exactly what she asked McCain (per the translation):
"Senator, finally, let's talk about Spain. If you're elected president, would you invite President Zapatero to meet with you in the White House?"
McCain then gives this odd answer about America's friends and America's enemies. He also, oddly, talks about Mexico (why Mexico? The question was about Spain) and how he'd invite friendly leaders to the White House. She then asks him again, would that invitation include President Zapatero? He says again that he'd have to review relations first, blah blah. She then says again, "so you'd have to wait to see, so would you meet with him in the White House?" He again repeats his weird statement about friends and enemies. McCain also throws in, oddly, to the Spanish reporter, when she's asking him about meeting the Spanish president, a line about the importance of our relationship with Latin America (this is now the second time he answered a question about meeting the president of Spain with an answer about Latin America). She then says to McCain one last time:
"Okay, but I'm talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?"
This time, there was no room for confusion. McCain then gives this very bizarre answer:
"I will meet with any leader who has the same principles and philosophy as us in terms of human rights, democracy, and freedom and I will stand up to those who do not."
What does concern about human rights, democracy and freedom have to do with a prerequisite for meeting the president of Spain? Especially when you told the same paper 5 months ago that you'd be happy to meet with him.

McCain had no idea what was going on in the interview. She specifically told him, twice, that she was talking about Spain and the Spanish president. She's a Spanish reporter with one of the largest, if not the largest, newspaper in Spain, El Pais. I know this paper, McCain certainly knows this paper (and it's not like McCain's staff didn't tell him who he had the exclusive interview with for ten minutes). She made it clear she was asking about her own country and her own president and McCain had no clue what she was talking about.

Either McCain had no idea what the woman was talking about when she said "Spain," and then said "the President of Spain," repeatedly, or McCain intentionally snubbed the country of Spain tonight for no apparent reason, which is very hard to believe, especially given his earlier interview in which he said he was fine meeting Zapatero. The interview is absolutely bizarre, especially in that it sounds like McCain wasn't even lucid, it sounds like he simply doesn't have complete control over his faculties anymore. And judging by the fact that just a few months ago McCain was fine with Zapatero, it sounds like McCain simply wasn't quite all there any more during the interview. He got horribly confused and didn't know what was going on.

This is just incredibly disturbing. And remember, this is hardly the first time in the last year that McCain has become confused about his signature issue, foreign affairs. It's happened a lot in the past year, and it never happened before. There's a pattern here, even if in polite company the media isn't supposed to talk about. McCain is having trouble focusing and understanding what's going on around him. He gets increasingly confused. And that's just scary.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Alaskan Women Reject Palin Rally

This is a must read - the press IS being manipulated by the Republican campaign. To watch CNN you would have thought that every woman in Alaska was going to vote for Palin... NOT!

Alaskan Women Reject Palin Rally

John McCain gets BarackRoll'd -

John McCain get's upstaged:


Governor Palin's reading list

Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies."
It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list.

- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
posted September 15th on 'The Huffington Post'

Again, assuming she actually reads, I'd like to know what is on her list too.
Her speech was written for her; I doubt she knew of the author or the quote, but if you speak it you own it!
It does also make me wonder about McCain's speech writer, Matthew Scully, though..

The Pastor that clashed with Palin

So if you've been following the blog, you've seen the post that talks about Palin's attempt to ban books from the public library in Wasilla.

This article by David Talbot is about an author of one of those books. - Howard Bess

Quoted in entirety, it's important reading, especially since it provides a broader context that helps to understand what Sarah Palin is all about; and that this censorship attempt was not out of context with her other activities; but just one component of a strong fundamentalist/evangelical view that is integral to her decision making as a government official.

Sept. 15, 2008 WASILLA, Alaska -- The Wasilla Assembly of God, the evangelical church where Sarah Palin came of age, was still charged with excitement on Sunday over Palin's sudden ascendance. Pastor Ed Kalnins warned his congregation not to talk with any journalists who might have been lurking in the pews -- and directly warned this reporter not to interview any of his flock. But Kalnins and other speakers at the service reveled in Palin's rise to global stardom.

It confirmed, they said, that God was making use of Wasilla. "She will take our message to the world!" rejoiced an Assembly of God youth ministry leader, as the church band rocked the high-vaulted wooden building with its electric gospel.

That is what scares the Rev. Howard Bess. A retired American Baptist minister who pastors a small congregation in nearby Palmer, Wasilla's twin town in Alaska's Matanuska Valley, Bess has been tangling with Palin and her fellow evangelical activists ever since she was a Wasilla City Council member in the 1990s. Recently, Bess again found himself in the spotlight with Palin, when it was reported that his 1995 book, "Pastor, I Am Gay," was among those Palin tried to have removed from the Wasilla Public Library when she was mayor.

"She scares me," said Bess. "She's Jerry Falwell with a pretty face."

"At this point, people in this country don't grasp what this person is all about. The key to understanding Sarah Palin is understanding her radical theology."

Bess -- a fit-looking, 80-year-old man in a gray University of Illinois sweatshirt and blue jeans – spoke with me over coffee at the Vagabond Blues, a cafe in Palmer with a stunning view of the nearby snow-capped Chugach Mountains. The retired minister moved to the Mat-Su Valley with his wife, Darlene, in 1987, after his outspoken defense of gay rights at Baptist churches in the Santa Barbara, Calif., area and Anchorage landed him in trouble with church officials. In the Mat-Su Valley, Bess plunged into community activism, helping launch an assortment of projects, from an arts council to a shelter for the mentally disabled.

Inevitably, his work brought him into conflict with Palin and other highly politicized Christian fundamentalists in the valley. "Things got very intense around here in the '90s -- the culture war was very hot here," Bess said. "The evangelicals were trying to take over the valley. They took over the school board, the community hospital board, even the local electric utility. And Sarah Palin was in the direct center of all these culture battles, along with the churches she belonged to."

Bess' first run-in with Palin's religious forces came when he decided to write his book, "Pastor, I Am Gay." The book was the result of a theological journey that began in the 1970s when Bess was asked for guidance by a closeted homosexual in his Santa Barbara congregation. After deep reflection on the subject, Bess came to the conclusion that "gay people were not sick, nor they were special sinners."

In his book, Bess suggests that gays have a divine mission. "Look back at the life of our Lord Jesus. He was misunderstood, deserted, unjustly accused, and cruelly killed. Yet we all confess that it was the will of God, for by his wounds we are healed ... Could it be that the homosexual, obedient to the will of God, might be the church's modern day healer-messiah?"

When it was published in 1995, Bess' book caused an immediate storm in the Mat-Su Valley, an evangelical stronghold dotted with storefront churches. Conservative ministers targeted the book, and the only bookstore in the valley that dared to stock it -- Shalom Christian Books and Gifts – soon dropped it after the owner was barraged with angry phone calls. The Frontiersman, the local newspaper that ran a column by Bess for seven years, fired him and ran a vicious cartoon that suggested even drooling child molesters would be welcomed by Bess' church.

And after she became mayor of Wasilla, according to Bess, Sarah Palin tried to get rid of his book from the local library. Palin now denies that she wanted to censor library books, but Bess insists that his book was on a "hit list" targeted by Palin. "I'm as certain of that as I am that I'm sitting here. This is a small town, we all know each other. People in city government have confirmed to me what Sarah was trying to do."

Soon after the book controversy, Bess found himself again at odds with Palin and her fellow evangelicals. In 1996, evangelical churches mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital's community board and ban abortion from the valley. When they succeeded, Bess and Dr. Susan, a Palmer OB-GYN, fought back, filing suit on behalf of a local woman who had been forced to travel to Seattle for an abortion. The case was finally decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that the hospital must provide valley women with the abortion option.

At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. Lemagie's office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer's Little League field. According to Bess and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician's practice that day was Sarah Palin.

Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says that Palin also helped push the evangelical drive to take over the Mat-Su Borough school board. "She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the board," said Munger, a music composer and teacher. "I bumped into her once after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God. I said, 'Sarah, how can you believe in creationism - your father's a science teacher.' And she said, 'We don't have to agree on everything.'

"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

Munger also asked Palin if she truly believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. "She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'"

Bess is unnerved by the prospect of Palin -- a woman whose mind is given to dogmatic certitude -- standing one step away from the Oval Office. "It's truly frightening that someone like Sarah has risen to the national level," Bess said. "Like all religious fundamentalists -- Christian, Jewish, Muslim -- she is a dualist. They view life as an ongoing struggle to the finish between good and evil. Their mind-set is that you do not do business with evil -- you destroy it. Talking with the enemy is not part of their plan. That puts someone like Obama on the side of evil.

"Forget all this chatter about whether or not she knows what the Bush doctrine is. That's trivial. The real disturbing thing about Sarah is her mind-set. It's her underlying belief system that will influence how she responds in an international crisis, if she's ever in that position, and has the full might of the U.S. military in her hands. She gave some indication of that thinking in her ABC interview, when she suggested how willing she would be to go to war with Russia.

"Alaskans liked that certitude when she was dealing with corrupt politicians and the oil industry -- and there is something admirable about it. But when you're dealing with a complex and dangerous world as commander in chief, that's a different story."

Bess said that he and fellow valley residents have long been charmed by the Sarah Palin who is now dazzling the American public. Despite their strong political differences, "she always has a warm greeting for me when we bump into each other. She's the most charming person you'll ever know."

"But," Bess adds, "this person's election would be a disaster for the country and the world."

On a really bad news day, we all need a laugh

Yes, the economy is in the toilet, and someone pulled the handle....

So on a day when the news is all about Chapter 11, government bailouts, and what the fed is going to do keep the economy afloat now that Bush can't ask America to spend it's way out of a recession by whipping out their credit cards and writing those home equity line of credit checks;

We ALL need a Laugh !!

So with no futher ado, here's a link to
A Black comic introduces John McCain in St. Paul. by Jonathan Bines
Here's a quote, but please read the whole thing - it's worth it.

Look at this place. I can’t believe this shit! Y’all couldn’t find one single brother?

(shouting)


There is? Where?

(shouting)


Yo, what up, brother! Looks like you the only chocolate chip in the cookie.

(laughter)


You look like a fly in a glass of milk, yo. Swim! Swim for your life!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes - NYTimes.com

Here's a snippet from another article in the NY Times. This one is NOT an Op-Ed piece, but an investigative piece. The Vetting process of the press at work. Please read the article here:

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she [Palin] appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

It gets worse from here folks... please read the article and pass it along. I'm sure this is just the beginning.

Thanks, Alan, for sending me this link - keep 'em coming.
I agree 100% that Palin would have fit in very well with the current administration with her cronyism, secrecy and attitude toward those who disagree. Might just have well learned this from Karl Rove directly!

Making America Stupid

Here are selected paragraphs from an Op-Ed piece from the NY Times - written by Thomas L. Friedman. Read the whole article here:

Why would Republicans, the party of business, want to focus our country on breathing life into a 19th-century technology — fossil fuels — rather than giving birth to a 21st-century technology — renewable energy? As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewriters, baby, typewriters.”
Of course, we’re going to need oil for many years, but instead of exalting that — with “drill, baby, drill” — why not throw all our energy into innovating a whole new industry of clean power with the mantra “invent, baby, invent?” That is what a party committed to “change” would really be doing. As they say in Texas: “If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.”


I dwell on this issue because it is symbolic of the campaign that John McCain has decided to run. It’s a campaign now built on turning everything possible into a cultural wedge issue — including even energy policy, no matter how stupid it makes the voters and no matter how much it might weaken America.

A Washington Post editorial on Thursday put it well: “On a day when the Congressional Budget Office warned of looming deficits and a grim economic outlook, when the stock market faltered even in the wake of the government’s rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when President Bush discussed the road ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan, on what did the campaign of Senator John McCain spend its energy? A conference call to denounce Senator Barack Obama for using the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ and a new television ad accusing the Democrat of wanting to teach kindergartners about sex before they learn to read.”

Who cares how much steel John McCain has in his gut when the steel that today holds up our bridges, railroads, nuclear reactors and other infrastructure is rusting? McCain talks about how he would build dozens of nuclear power plants. Oh, really? They go for $10 billion a pop. Where is the money going to come from? From lowering taxes? From banning abortions? From borrowing more from China? From having Sarah Palin “reform” Washington — as if she has any more clue how to do that than the first 100 names in the D.C. phonebook?


Sorry, but there is no sustainable political/military power without economic power, and talking about one without the other is nonsense. Unless we make America the country most able to innovate, compete and win in the age of globalization, our leverage in the world will continue to slowly erode. Those are the issues this election needs to be about, because that is what the next four years need to be about.


There is no strong leader without a strong country. And posing as one, to use the current vernacular, is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig.

Are McCain's Lies Finally Coming Home to Roost?

In order for the Rovian political attacks of John McCain to work it requires the complicity of the media. The mainstream media has picked up the negative ads, McCain's stump speech lies, and has repeated his repeated howls of 'foul play' and crocodile tears over Obama's responses. Palin has some far right policies, and has flip-flopped and disguised her true agenda, yet when criticized, the republican machine cries "Sexist" and "Unfair". McCain ignores criticism and fact checks and continues to spew blatant lies about Obama's platform from the stage; trading his credibility for a few votes. 'Win at any cost' is his motto. Is that what we really want continuing to run the country? I thought that 8 years of lies distortions and secrecy was Enough! We need a 'Truth in Campaigning' regulation that holds candidates accountable for this malfeasance.
As Roland Martin questioned on CNN this past weekend - If Michelle Obama had paraded onto the stage at the DNC with 5 children, one of whom was an unwed pregnant teenager, would she be held up as a 'Norman Rockwell' painting of good family values or would the republican attack dogs be all over it?

Even the 'godfather' of sleazy campaigns and false indignation Carl Rove has chimed in, saying that McCain's campaign has gone too far:

"McCain has gone in some of his ads -- similarly gone one step too far," he told Fox News, "and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the '100 percent truth' test."


Finally, it seems there is movement in the press recognizing that they are being manipulated like puppets with the Steve Schmidt's republican hand up their backsides. Here's a snippet from an article from Time that can be read here:


This imbalance has caused some soul-searching and second-guessing in newsrooms, as reporters realize that they are being successfully manipulated by the McCain campaign. "Stop the madness," said TIME's own Mark Halperin, in an appearance on CNN to discuss the controversy. "I think this is the press just absolutely playing into the McCain campaign's crocodile tears."


By the weekend, many news organizations had mounted a backlash of their own, running prominent pieces accusing the self-branded "Straight Talking" McCain of deceiving voters. "The "Straight-Talk Express" has detoured into doublespeak," announced the Associated Press, while the New York Times blared, "McCain Barbs Stirring Outcry as Distortions."


Let's hope that the media will continue to press for a campaign on the issues, and quit paying homage to the campaign of lies, deceit, personality, gender, race, and age. There is far too much at stake here. We have our job to do too. Study the issues, research the facts, and don't let all the negative hype get in the way. And if anything, let the press know that we are not going to continue to listen to all this BS anymore.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sarah Palin - The Economics of Self-Interest for Alaska

Sarah Palin has only one goal in mind - what's best for the economy of Alaska. She has demonstrated that she has no consideration for larger issues, beyond the bread and butter issues for Alaskans.

In a Section B (California) lead article in the LA Times of Friday, September 12, 2008, it is revealed that Gov. Palin is meddling in California politics, sending a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger urging that he veto legislation putting a fee on cargo containers going through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland. There hasn't been much passed by the California Legislature recently, but this piece of legislation was. She argues that the $60 fee will have negative impacts for Alaskans, since a large percentage of goods shipped to Alaska arrive in containers, and many of them go through the ports in California.

California ports handle about 40% of the nation's goods. The fee is designed to raise funds to pay for pollution-reduction projects such as conversion of truck and train engines from diesel to CNG, and roadways over or under rail tracks to avoid traffic tie ups and idling trucks. It is part of a larger overall initiative by local and port authorities to reduce pollution levels caused by port activities.

She offers no consideration for Californians who suffer the pollution and negative effects of the massive port activities that handle goods for the entire country. She is only concerned for the cost of goods arriving in Alaska.

I'm hoping that Gov. Schwarzenegger, who has endorsed McCain, won't give weight to this letter from the Governor of Alaska. This fee is to provide necessary improvements to our port system, the cost of which should not be born by Californians, but by those who use the ports.

To those who argue otherwise, I would suggest that Schwarzenegger and all 48 other governors should send letters to Palin demanding that she reduce the tax her state charges on oil producers, the windfall of which funds the huge budget surpluses that she is paying out in cash to Alaskan residents, the cost of which is passed on to all Americans in the form of higher oil prices.
This fall, $2 BILLION (the largest payout in history) was paid out to Alaskans (over $3200 per person), simply for being residents of Alaska. It is ALL coming from oil money. The Alaskan PFD comes from the earnings of over $40 BILLION in oil revenues, set aside seperate from the Alaskan state budget and invested purely for Alaskan residents. At the same time, Gov. Palin is asking for almost $200 million in federal 'earmark' funding. Why? Can't the state of Alaska build it's own roads and sewers? Can't the state fund research into more efficient fish breeding? Does it really need a road built through a federal wilderness area to connect a town of 800 with a direct road to an airport? Should the federal government be building infrastructure in Wasilla, when the state of Alaska isn't contributing? Why is it that the Alaska Governor, hasn't tapped that $40 Billion well to pay for projects of benefit to all Alaskans, but would rather that all Americans pay for the costs of projects that benefit only Alaskan locals?

It is the Economics of Self-Interest that has created an national economy dependant on Big Oil, and no where is that more apparent than in the state of Alaska; but the narrowness of thinking extends to other aspects Sarah Palin's policies, whether it be the threat to Polar Bears by global warming, or the threat to spawning salmon in Bristol Bay by mining interests, her position is guided by these Self-Interest economics - that it might interfere with a gas pipeline, or with ANWR drilling, or expansion of gold and copper mining are her overriding concerns.

The Palin Environmental Issues Record

In keeping with my call to campaign on the issues;
here's some vital information from the Palin record
courtesy of the DWAF website:

Endangered Species

Palin has repeatedly opposed the listing of endangered animals under the Endangered Species List despite overwhelming scientific evidence that such listings are warranted.

Polar Bear

The U.S. Geological Survey predicts that loss of summer sea ice - crucial habitat for polar bears - could lead to the demise of two-thirds of the world's polar bears by mid-century, including all of Alaska's polar bears. The Bush administration has proposed listing the polar bears as threatened under the ESA to help protect polar bear habitat from threats such as oil and gas development.

Governor Palin has actively opposed the listing of the polar bear despite the fact that Alaska's top marine mammal biologists agreed with the federal scientists who believed the bear should be listed. She wrote the Secretary of Interior urging him not to list the bear on the ground it might hurt the state's oil- and gas-dependent economy. After the bear was listed, she recently filed suit seeking to overturn the listing of polar bears.

Beluga Whales

Alaska's Cook Inlet beluga whales are a unique group of white whales whose numbers have dramatically declined in the past two decades due to pressures ranging from pollution to increased ship traffic. Governor Palin opposes the listing of the Cook Inlet beluga whales, citing the listing as a threat to oil and gas development, despite their genetic uniqueness and the fact that their numbers have decreased from 1,300 in the 1980s to about 350 today.


Drilling

Palin is a strong supporter of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a vital wilderness area. It is home to hundreds of thousands of caribou who use the refuge as a calving ground, more than one million migratory birds, and countless other wildlife. It's the most important onshore denning habitat for female polar bears. Senator McCain himself has repeatedly voted to protect this pristine wilderness area. Palin is also a supporter of drilling in Bristol Bay and other offshore sites despite the risks to sensitive marine wildlife in the area, including the endangered polar bear and Beluga whale.


Clean Water and Pebble Mine

Governor Palin actively campaigned against a state ballot measure this summer aimed at protecting Alaska's Bristol Bay. The mining industry seeks to develop a gold and copper mine in the area that would pollute the Bay's headwaters and threaten the spawning grounds for the largest remaining wild salmon run. The initiative would have prevented large-scale mining operations from dumping waste materials into salmon watersheds.

New Road to Nowhere

Sometimes it pays to flip to the back page of the LA Times..
From the National Brief (page A22, Friday Sept 12, 2008)

Washington, D.C.
Panel OKs road backed by Palin
A remote Alaska road supported by Gov. Sarah Palin cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, angering environmentalists who say it is unnecessary.
The road would run through a federal wildlife refuge, linking the fishing village of King Cove, population 800, to an all-weather airport 25 miles north.
The road could cost as much as $30 million. Federal approval would not include any earmarks to pay for it.
Keep you eyes and ears open folks, the earmarks are next, after approval in committee.

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Other Bridge to Nowhere

I seriously wonder why the press doesn't ask the obvious question:
Since Alaska is running such a huge surpluses due the windfall oil tax revenue why is Sarah Palin asking for ANY earmarks at all? She's asking for $200 million in federal funds this year while putting an extra $1200 cash in every Alaskan resident's pocket directly from surplus state budget funds. Is that what it takes to get popularity numbers to 80%? You tell me! Alaskans are used to this treatment - their PFD funds pay them $2069 this year just for being an Alaska resident.
To do a little math, there are 610,768 eligible Alaskans this year.
$1200 per is $733 Million dollars. The PFD payout is $1.26 Billion.
That's almost $2 Billion in direct cash payouts this week. Twice last year's payout.

Maybe if the govenor of my state hires the right lobbiest, he can arrange for a couple of hundred in every Californian's pocket for next year?

So here's another tidbit coming off the Atlantic.com (Atlantic Monthly) web blog! Thanks Andrew Sullivan for pointing out this article from the Anchorage Daily News
Read the full article here-


...[Palin] still supports spending $400 million to $600 million on "the other Bridge to Nowhere," the Knik Arm Crossing, which would provide residents in Palin's hometown of Wasilla faster access to Anchorage, [former Gov. Tony Knowles] added.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Enough is Enough !!

McCain is running a "Rovian" campaign as of late - and it's obvious and showing. It's the kind of politics that the American public is so sick of.
The campaign is running negative 'swift boat' ads and calling Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment an insulting swipe at Sarah Palin.
As much as they'd like to make it into that, and they certainly are doing a great job of spinning, it just isn't so! In FACT - Palin wasn't even mentioned in Obama's speech! He was referring directly to McCain's campaign positions on the ISSUES when he made the well known comment.
Here's the context:

"John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, 'Watch out George Bush -- except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics -- we're really going to shake things up in Washington'
That's not change. That's just calling ... the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough of the same old thing."



How do we return to making this campaign about the issues? It will take people standing up and insisting that the media to drop the 'political rhetoric' as their top story every night and instead ask 'What about those policies he mentioned?'

Here's someone else who's fed up with it too:


Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A Republican's perspective

My father passed this link along to me - he received it from a Republican friend of his. "The Shock of Palin" written by long time respected republican, Andrew Sullivan.

A thought about Sarah Palin's Lipstick

Governor Palin has said that the difference between an Alaska Hockey Mom and a Pit Bull is lipstick.

She claims to be an Alaska Hockey Mom - a fact borne out by the image of her wearing lipstick;
although she's been described by various supporters as a Pit Bull as well.

But the question in my mind is:

Would it be a good thing to have either a Hockey Mom or a Pit Bull as President of the United States?

When I ponder that question, I think - Hell No !!

Would you want your neighborhood 'Hockey Mom' answering the phone at 3am? Would you want a 'Hockey Mom' representing our country at the G8 economic summit (does she know what that is?) or in a sensitive international crisis? I think not!! This Hockey Mom has been sequestered for almost 2 weeks since her name was announced - NO press interviews, NO public questions. She's getting educated so she'll know how to respond to questions - she's learning the republican 'line'. How would this work in the real world, where the demand is to respond in 'real time', when there is no 'script' to learn or 'my staff will get back to you' option?

The Pit Bull option took just slightly longer to consider, at least for me.
Some would argue that being a Pit Bull is a good quality for a President. I disagree.
A Pit Bull snaps at the least provocation - is stubborn and won't let go. A Pit Bull doesn't listen or want other opinions. A Pit Bull is all about strength, and nothing about finesse.
International relations and negotiations, foreign policy, and consensus building are not well suited to Pit Bulls. The status of our current problems in international relations after 8 years of the GWB 'big stick' is proof enough that being a Pit Bull is NOT the way to go.

Sorry folks, but however clever the speech connecting Hockey Mom to Pit Bull, I don't want either one of them anywhere close to the White House.

Give me a President with finesse; thoughtful and measured, confident yet willing to examine his own choices and respectful of alternative positions.

What is it that we are NOT hearing?

What is it that we are not hearing?

When was the last time you heard about a plan for providing Health Care in this country?

When was the last time you heard about a new energy plan ?

When was the last time you heard about a plan to fix the economic issues?

When was the last time you heard discussion about Global Warming?

When was the last time Environmental Issues were the subject of a speech?

Where do the Candidates (and their VP picks) stand on Sex Education?
Where do they stand on Abortion?
Where do they stand on Stem Cell research?
Where do they stand on Environmental Protection?

Have you noticed that ISSUES are no longer being talked about by the Candidates?

Since the end of the Republican Convention, the republicans have effectively shut down campaigning on the issues, and turned this into a 'Personality' race. Very few people know what Sarah Palin stands for, and according to republicans (and apparently a significant number of other undecided voters) it doesn't matter. They are now talking about 'change' but don't say what change that is - is it putting in conservative Supreme Court Judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade? Is it drilling in the ANWR - environment (and polar bears) be damned?
You hear only vague references to 'change' that goes undefined. They throw political jibes at Obama, forcing him to respond and pulling him off track.

I have to say, I did hear Joe Biden on a sound bite talk about Stem Cell research - and now some republicans are trying to spin it into an attack on Sarah Palin. That is the classic strategy - attack them on issues, and now they can call you Sexist, because they have a woman on the ticket - how shameful and transparent.

Quit whining about it. Sarah Palin isn't taking ANY questions - not even from the public at her numerous appearences next to John McCain, and certainly not from the press! Ask for an interview, and the argument given is that the press is being unfair to her, and so why should she do an interview? Another version of 'Sexist' - unfair to the woman candidate. They have sequestered her on the bus, and all she's been doing is repeating bits and pieces of the only speech she's given - one that was written by a Carl Rove protege. The republicans want to keep this about Sarah Palin - John McCain has faded into the background. No one knows her, and they are hoping to keep it that way until November 5.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Phillip Butler - Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain

I don't like to be redundant, but I'm going to publish the text here from the article linked in a previous blog post (that goes with the video clip), because I've already discovered that the original link I posted was no longer working. So in case the updated link 'goes away', here it is.
Fortunately Google cache holds a lot of web pages; it's harder to get rid of content than people think!

As published on www.military.com :

Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain

As some of you might know, John McCain is a long-time acquaintance of mine that goes way back to our time together at the U.S. Naval Academy and as Prisoners of War in Vietnam. He is a man I respect and admire in some ways. But there are a number of reasons why I will not vote for him for President of the United States.

When I was a Plebe (4th classman, or freshman) at the Naval Academy in 1957-58, I was assigned to the 17th Company for my four years there. In those days we had about 3,600 midshipmen spread among 24 companies, thus about 150 midshipmen to a company. As fortune would have it, John, a First Classman (senior) and his room mate lived directly across the hall from me and my two room mates. Believe me when I say that back then I would never in a million or more years have dreamed that the crazy guy across the hall would someday be a Senator and candidate for President!

John was a wild man. He was funny, with a quick wit and he was intelligent. But he was intent on breaking every USNA regulation in our 4 inch thick USNA Regulations book. And I believe he must have come as close to his goal as any midshipman who ever attended the Academy. John had me "coming around" to his room frequently during my plebe year. And on one occasion he took me with him to escape "over the wall" in the dead of night. He had a taxi cab waiting for us that took us to a bar some 7 miles away. John had a few beers, but forbid me to drink (watching out for me I guess) and made me drink cokes. I could tell many other midshipman stories about John that year and he unbelievably managed to graduate though he spent the majority of his first class year on restriction for the stuff he did get caught doing. In fact he barely managed to graduate, standing 5th from the bottom of his 800 man graduating class. I and many others have speculated that the main reason he did graduate was because his father was an Admiral, and also his grandfather, both U.S. Naval Academy graduates.

People often ask if I was a Prisoner of War with John McCain. My answer is always "No - John McCain was a POW with me." The reason is I was there for 8 years and John got there 2 ½ years later, so he was a POW for 5 ½ years. And we have our own seniority system, based on time as a POW.

John's treatment as a POW:

1) Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care. Several hundred of us were captured much earlier. I got there April 20, 1965 so my bad treatment period lasted 4 1/2 years. President Ho Chi Minh died on September 9, 1969, and the new regime that replaced him and his policies was more pragmatic. They realized we were worth a lot as bargaining chips if we were alive. And they were right because eventually Americans gave up on the war and agreed to trade our POW's for their country. A damn good trade in my opinion! But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.

2) John was badly injured when he was shot down. Both arms were broken and he had other wounds from his ejection. Unfortunately this was often the case - new POW's arriving with broken bones and serious combat injuries. Many died from their wounds. Medical care was non-existent to rudimentary. Relief from pain was almost never given and often the wounds were used as an available way to torture the POW. Because John's father was the Naval Commander in the Pacific theater, he was exploited with TV interviews while wounded. These film clips have now been widely seen. But it must be known that many POW's suffered similarly, not just John. And many were similarly exploited for political propaganda.

3) John was offered, and refused, "early release." Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to "admit" that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was "lenient and humane." So I, like numerous others, refused the offer. This was obviously something none of us could accept. Besides, we were bound by our service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties to refuse early release until all the POW's were released, with the sick and wounded going first.

4) John was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for heroism and wounds in combat. This heroism has been played up in the press and in his various political campaigns. But it should be known that there were approximately 600 military POW's in Vietnam. Among all of us, decorations awarded have recently been totaled to the following: Medals of Honor - 8, Service Crosses - 42, Silver Stars - 590, Bronze Stars - 958 and Purple Hearts - 1,249. John certainly performed courageously and well. But it must be remembered that he was one hero among many - not uniquely so as his campaigns would have people believe.

John McCain served his time as a POW with great courage, loyalty and tenacity. More that 600 of us did the same. After our repatriation a census showed that 95% of us had been tortured at least once. The Vietnamese were quite democratic about it. There were many heroes in North Vietnam. I saw heroism every day there. And we motivated each other to endure and succeed far beyond what any of us thought we had in ourselves. Succeeding as a POW is a group sport, not an individual one. We all supported and encouraged each other to survive and succeed. John knows that. He was not an individual POW hero. He was a POW who surmounted the odds with the help of many comrades, as all of us did.

I furthermore believe that having been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate.

Most of us who survived that experience are now in our late 60's and 70's. Sadly, we have died and are dying off at a greater rate than our non-POW contemporaries. We experienced injuries and malnutrition that are coming home to roost. So I believe John's age (73) and survival expectation are not good for being elected to serve as our President for 4 or more years.

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.

It is also disappointing to see him take on and support Bush's war in Iraq, even stating we might be there for another 100 years. For me John represents the entrenched and bankrupt policies of Washington-as-usual. The past 7 years have proven to be disastrous for our country. And I believe John's views on war, foreign policy, economics, environment, health care, education, national infrastructure and other important areas are much the same as those of the Bush administration.

I'm disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican. On some issues he is a maverick. But his voting record is far to the right. I fear for his nominations to our Supreme Court, and the consequent continuing loss of individual freedoms, especially regarding moral and religious issues. John is not a religious person, but he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist ministers lately. I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man. He disingenuously and famously put his arm around the guy, even after Bush had intensely disrespected him with lies and slander. So on these and many other instances, I don't see that John is the "straight talk express" he markets himself to be.

Senator John Sidney McCain, III is a remarkable man who has made enormous personal achievements. And he is a man that I am proud to call a fellow POW who "Returned With Honor." That's our POW motto. But since many of you keep asking what I think of him, I've decided to write it out. In short, I think John Sidney McCain, III is a good man, but not someone I will vote for in the upcoming election to be our President of the United States.
###



Doctor Phillip Butler is a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight years as a prisoner of war. He is a highly decorated combat veteran who was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merits, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals.

After his repatriation in 1973 he earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at San Diego and became a Navy Organizational Effectiveness consultant. He completed his Navy career in 1981 as a professor of management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is now a peace and justice activist with Veterans for Peace.

The Double-Talk Express

Following up on the previously stated theme of the Republican Campaign:
Lies, Exaggerations, and Misrepresentation

Tip: watch the multiple videos available on thumbnails across the bottom of the video window after viewing the 1st one. Share this with your friends - please pass the word, since the press doesn't seem to do so!






Go for it Sid, you don't need Sarah Palin to shoot you in the foot, you do a good enough job by yourself!!

Just wait Sarah, I'm sure they'll be another video out just for you !

Republican Campaign 'Facts' - Lies, Exaggeration, and Misrepresentations

If there was ever any doubt, the Republican campaign has confirmed for us all that the lies, exaggeration and misrepresentations that have been the mainstay of the current administration are also the political strategy of their candidates. The real facts just don't seem to matter anymore - just like George Bush and Dick Cheney since 9/11/2001 and the case for the war in Iraq. Facts - the Republicans have figured out how to make them irrelevant.

One interesting example is the flag waving around McCain's history as a POW. Not to take anything away from his ordeal, bravery or honor; but is it really a qualification to be Commander in Chief as the Republicans would have us believe?

Here's a very interesting perspective by another POW who knows John not only from Hanoi, but also from his years at the Naval Academy. Read the link, or watch the video.

Doctor Phillip Butler is a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight years as a prisoner of war. He is a highly decorated combat veteran who was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merits, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals.

After his repatriation in 1973 he earned a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at San Diego and became a Navy Organizational Effectiveness consultant. He completed his Navy career in 1981 as a professor of management at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is now a peace and justice activist with Veterans for Peace.
Why I will Not Vote for John McCain(www.military.com)





OMG - it's a post that isn't about Sarah Palin - guess she's turning into old news.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Political Events of the Day ~

John McCain's acceptance speech, got it's loudest applause when he talked about Sarah Palin. Guess the conventioneers have been sucked into the new McCain campaign strategy to turn the next 61 days into a referendum about "Who is Sarah Palin?", instead of a debate on the major issues facing our country and how to best address them.

The intent is clear, to the Republican campaign, the Issues don't matter, it's all about personality and political rhetoric. This entire week of RNC speech making has been devoid of specific discussion of the issues. What little McCain said about the issues, was met with considerably less enthusiasm.

Palin is just another pawn in the process. It's a clever choice. She has a strong, yet attractive personality, and will appeal to those for whom the Issues are beyond understanding. There is that block of voters in this country that are proven to vote based on "who they like". "Likeability", in a close race, can be enough to shift the balance, especially in some of the swing states where this battle will really be won or lost.

Democrats must be careful to not lose the "likeability" contest by getting sucked into this political trap. Instead, they must continue to explain in simple straightforward ways, the critical choice that voters must make in November, and how that vote will directly affect their lives and the direction this country will take. They must also do it in an uplifting, creative and engaging way, so as to appeal to those who don't really listen or study the facts, but rather decide based on what they "Like" about the candidate.

This Cartoon was sent along in an email I got today.
Hope you enjoy it -!!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Sarah Palin Supports Banning Books from a Public Library

OK.. I'm on a roll.. and up late working, so here's the last entry for the night.

There is a pattern of abuse of power in Governor Palin's political career. She is currently under investigation for abuse of power as Governor. The pattern, however has been there since her first term as Mayor of Wassila, as this article brings to light.
This is about as blatant as it gets. Not only the abuse of power, but the that as mayor, she wanted to ban books from the public library. Outrageous!!

I was investigating resources referenced on the Wiki for Sarah Palin and came across this NYT article. Please read the entire article, a snippet quoted below:

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support.

The Twisting of the Truth - Wikipedia is Spun

One of the best things about the phenomena that is the Internet are sites like Wikipedia.org.
An amazing 'Encyclopedia' of the web, it depends on the Internet's millions of users and contributors to collect, categorize, organize and publish information. Generally self-policed, and governed by a set of rules that contributors follow; articles are vetted by providing referenced sources, and the peer review of other contributors both for form and content. It's really an amazing place to do research on just about any subject or person you can think of.

It is however, sad to see even a great resource like Wikipedia being 'spun' by the Republican technocrats. One only has to look at the bio of Sarah Palin. In the few days since being nominated by John McCain there have been many hundreds of edits to her biographical article. Granted, all of the intense interest is going to generate updates with further details to her 'Wiki', but when you actually look at the edits, and the hundreds of discussion thread entries associated with the article it becomes clear that a LOT of the edits are about removing, 'clarifying', and modifying the content of the existing article, not about adding new, further details.

The battle rages; turning the Wiki into the latest political talking point, campaign spin rag, instrument of politically motivated 'correctness'; cleansed of important, interesting information.
Sure, there are those that fight to keep all the information in the Wiki, and to be fair, there are comments and additions that get added that should be removed for lack of proper reference or obvious bias, but there is an obvious effort being made by some to 'clean up' the data, so it reads better for their newest VP candidate.

It's a sad day, and I can only hope that the structure that is Wikipedia will eventually survive the onslaught, and not become just another 'news' outlet or political mouthpiece for the spin doctors, no matter what their bent.

Sen. Lieberman - Speaks at RNC? - Huh?

OK,
So we all know that Senator Joe Lieberman is a Democratic 'traitor', but he must now be suffering from more than mild Alzheimer's.

He actually came out and spoke in support of Sarah Palin.. yet
she stands against pretty much every thing that Joe Lieberman has voted for!

Hey Joe, have you forgotten your entire voting record? Have you forgotten every old campaign speech you ever gave?

I won't go into the rest of the lies he spoke from the RNC podium; there's plenty to read on CNN about that here.

I feel sorry for him... if anyone thought that he had any credibility, surely he has none now.

How obvious can he be, pandering himself to the Republicans and his new best war-mongering friend John McCain in hopes of gaining a position in a Republican administration. I have to say, he is right about one thing; he'll never stand a chance of gaining a position in a Democratic administration. He killed any chance of that with his political missteps long ago.

More interesting news about Sarah Palin

I'll qualify this 1st part as being from a reliable source - The Washington Post:

ST. PAUL -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin began building clout in her state's political circles in part by serving as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. Palin's name is listed on 2003 incorporation papers of the "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group that could raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. The group was designed to serve as a political boot camp for Republican women in the state. She served as one of three directors until June 2005, when her name was replaced on state filings. Palin's relationship with Alaska's senior senator may be one of the more complicated aspects of her new position as Sen. John McCain's running mate; Stevens was indicted in July 2008 on seven counts of corruption. Palin, an anti-corruption crusader in Alaska, had called on Stevens to be open about the issues behind the investigation. But she also held a joint news conference with him in July, before he was indicted, to make clear she had not abandoned him politically.

Sounds like Politics as Usual !!

There also seems to be a discussion of merit brewing regarding Sarah Palin's association with the
AIP -Alaskan Independance Party. For those who don't read the link to Wiki (and it may be sanitized by now), the AIP is a successionist party (as in succession from the USA). When they use the word 'Independance' they mean it !
There is some discussion that party officials have said that at one time Sarah Palin was an AIP member, despite her Republican voter registration; not uncommon if you want to belong to a national party. More clear is that her husband is a long time member (although perhaps not current).
It's getting pretty fuzzy to get hard data, as the Republican Spinners are working hard on the Wiki articles to make SURE they are NPOV. You could read that to mean - sanitized of anything that might be construed as being at all controversial.