Is this man senile or what?

Alaska Senator and convicted felon, Ted "The Internet is a Series of Tubes" Stevens said today in a debate, "I have not been convicted of anything." He went on to say, "I think you will find out, I will succeed and I'll be found innocent."

A couple of Halloween Treats

Here are two Halloween items I hope you will enjoy.
The first is the 5th movement of Belioz's "Symphonie Fantastique." You can find the entire piece on youtube if you like. This is the 10 minute finale, "The Witch's Sabbath."

Berlioz ‘s Symphonie Fantastique 5th movement




Here is a blurb about the symphony from wikipedia.

The symphony is a piece of program music which tells the story of "an artist gifted with a lively imagination" who has "poisoned himself with opium" in the "depths of despair" because of "hopeless love." Berlioz provided his own program notes for each movement of the work (see below). He prefaces his notes with the following instructions:[1]
The composer’s intention has been to develop various episodes in the life of an artist, in so far as they lend themselves to musical treatment. As the work cannot rely on the assistance of speech, the plan of the instrumental drama needs to be set out in advance. The following programme must therefore be considered as the spoken text of an opera, which serves to introduce musical movements and to motivate their character and expression.
There are five movements, instead of the four movements which were conventional for symphonies at the time:
1. Rêveries - Passions (Dreams - Passions)
2. Un bal (A ball)
3. Scène aux champs (Scene in the country)
4. Marche au supplice (March to the scaffold)
5. Songe d'une nuit de sabbat (Dream of a witches' Sabbath)

From Berlioz's program notes:[1]
He sees himself at a witches’ sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter; distant shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts. The beloved melody appears once more, but has now lost its noble and shy character; it is now no more than a vulgar dance tune, trivial and grotesque: it is she who is coming to the sabbath… Roar of delight at her arrival… She joins the diabolical orgy… The funeral knell tolls, burlesque parody of the Dies irae, the dance of the witches. The dance of the witches combined with the Dies irae.

***************************************************

The second part is Ray Bradbury's animated movie"The Halloween Tree." Someone posted the video in 8 parts. It's about an hour long and tells the story of Halloween from a youngster's standpoint. Narrated by Ray Bradbury and uses the voice of Leonard Nimoy as Moundshroud the story teller, it's entertaining and informative. Your kid's may even enjoy it.

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Happy Halloween

Blast from the past

Remember when this letter was going around the intertubes four years ago? It seems that a lot of the red states are now purple and credit goes to many progressives from red states for standing up to the bigots. In all fairness, there are a lot of wonderful places in red states that weren't covered in this letter. They have the Grand Canyon, the Rockies, beautiful Florida beaches and tons of other great vacation destinations, really good food, warm hospitable people, cowboys, country music, the home of the blues, the birthplaces of America's best writers (even though it seems they came to NY to die)... but you get the point. It also leaves out the point that the blue states would get stuck with the economically devastated California.

This letter does not necessarily reflect the views of the bloggers at Blondesense, but it's worth a look. Again.

Dear Red States:

We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and all the slave states.

We get stem cell research, the best beaches and the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.

We get Apple, Intel and Microsoft; you get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85 percent of America 's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America 's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners), 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia .

We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking all the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico .

Peace out,

Blue States

h/t ROF

Say something nice about the other guy

CNN Politics has a piece by contributor Bob Greene where he asks decided voters to say something nice about the other guy. He thinks that it makes people feel better by looking for the better side of the man they oppose. It was quite a change from the vile divisiveness we've been hearing.


We're progressives around here. Can we come up with something nice to say about McCain or are we too snarkalicious?

Sci Fi or Sci Fact?

From Military Investigates Amnesia Beams

A team of scientists from the United States and China announced last week that, for the first time, they had found a means of selectively and safely erasing memories in mice, using the signaling molecule αCaMKII. It's a big step forward, and one that will be of considerable interest to the military, which has devoted efforts to memory manipulation as a means of treating post-traumatic stress disorder. But some military research has moved in another direction entirely... continued

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

Halloween "YIKES!" Edition.

Republican Bizarro World

From John Aravosis at Americablog:

Let me get this straight. John McCain finds a guy to be his mascot for Americans who will be hurt under Obama's tax plan, when in fact Joe Mascot does better under Obama's plan than he does under McCain's. And to add insult to injury, Joe doesn't really pay all his taxes anyway - he's delinquent. But somehow that makes him a "hero" to Republicans, and it makes him John McCain's perfect mascot for the campaign - a guy who doesn't pay his taxes and who will benefit more from an Obama presidency. And now, "Joe" has hired a personal manager (read: agent) who hopes to get Joe doing Home Depot commercials and maybe even running for Congress (seriously). What's next, $150,000 outfits and $8,000 make-up jobs? Are there any Republicans left who appreciate the debasement of their party that is happening before their eyes?

Yes, that's right. The Republican party is but a shell of what it once was. Now it's no longer the home of the well to do corporatists. It's a redneck party and what a party it is!

Oh Goodie

It appears that the powers that be are manufacturing expecting a message from Osama bin Laden right around the election. It is being said that he would run the risk of becoming irrelevant if he doesn't rear his ugly face.

"...sources say a number of intelligence analysts have concluded it is critical for al Qaeda's top leader to be seen or heard, if only for public relations purposes. Those analysts believe that if bin Laden is not heard from, he runs the risk of being considered irrelevant or impotent.

"According to sources, the full weight of the intelligence electronic eavesdropping and human sourcing is right now desperately looking for any hint of a bin Laden statement. So far there is only rumor, no hard evidence a message is coming, officials said."

Who side are these intelligence eavesdroppers on anyway? And what relevant thing would OBL have to say to Americans? "Nyah, nyah, I'm still alive!"

Full story.

And in business news...

A Question for A.I.G.: Where Did the Cash Go?

A.I.G. has declined to provide a detailed account of how it has used the Fed’s money. The company said it could not provide more information ahead of its quarterly report, expected next week, the first under new management. The Fed releases a weekly figure, most recently showing that $90 billion of the $123 billion available has been drawn down.

Shell announces huge rise in profits

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell today joined the profits bonanza from record prices with a 71 per cent jump in third-quarter earnings.

The firm made a mammoth 10.9 billion US dollars (£6.6 billion) between July and September - a period when oil prices hit a peak above 147 dollars a barrel.

New York Seeks Details on CEO Pay From Nine Banks

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is demanding information about executive compensation and bonuses at nine banks that have received federal funds under TARP, the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

In a letter to each institution's Board of Directors, Cuomo warns the bonuses could violate New York's state fraudulent conveyance law.

"Obviously," he writes, "we will have grave concerns if your expected bonus pool has increased in any way as a result of your receipt or expected receipt of taxpayer funds from TARP."

The Obama Informercial

If you didn't watch it earlier. It's quite impressive.




Did you catch Obama on the Daily Show last night? You can watch it here.

Also Obama was hilarious in his North Carolina rally.

"Lately he's called me a socialist for wanting to roll-back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can finally give tax relief to the middle class. I don't know what's next. By the end of the week he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

Bush tries to pass law pardoning himself from war crimes

h/t Peter of Loin Tree

PS. this appears to be an older video

Palin the Socialist

Last paragraph from LIKE, SOCIALISM by Hendrik Hertzberg in the New Yorker.

For her part, Sarah Palin, who has lately taken to calling Obama “Barack the Wealth Spreader,” seems to be something of a suspect character herself. She is, at the very least, a fellow-traveler of what might be called socialism with an Alaskan face. The state that she governs has no income or sales tax. Instead, it imposes huge levies on the oil companies that lease its oil fields. The proceeds finance the government’s activities and enable it to issue a four-figure annual check to every man, woman, and child in the state.

One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist. ♦

Goes to show you that even the maroons running for public office don't know socialism even when they are practicing it.

Let Freedom Ring

Governor Charlie Crist of Florida decided to extend early voting hours in Florida to 12 hours a day from 8 hours a day and for all early voting sites to be open on Sunday.

At a hastily arranged news conference, Crist said the right to vote is sacred and that "many have fought and died for this right."

Early voting so far favors Democrats in the Sunshine State.

A Republican strategist in the state told Politico that, "He just blew Florida for John McCain."

Racists for McCain

OMG. Watch Pennsylvanians for McCain. They are completely batshit crazy. God help us. This isn't going to end if Obama wins. They are vile.

McCain: Business first. Workers last.

John McCain said he'd veto the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041), supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would enable working people to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union.

"It’s dangerous for America, it’s dangerous to small business. And I think it’s a threat to one of the fundamentals of democracy."

John McCain does not want to raise minimum wage

"As long as we take care of small businesses. Small businesses right now — I see them every day — they say, You increase the minimum wage, I lay off workers. Is that what we want to do right now? Of course not."

Enjoy this one:

Joe The Plumber is on the campaign trail for McCain. He stopped in Ohio and twice agreed with a questioner that a vote for Obama is a vote for the death to Israel. He was on Fox News voicing his "opinion" and even got Shepard Smith pissed off. Furthermore, the McCain campaign stands behind Joe the Plumber's assertions. Scary.

SMITH: Joe, do you know Barack Obama’s positions on Israel?

WURZELBACHER: Listen, I know you wanna really get some answers on this one, I’m just not gonna help you out here, Shepherd. Let people go out and find, that’s what I’ve been telling people. […] Listen, you don’t want my opinion on foreign policy. I know just enough probably to be dangerous.

SMITH: Yeah, well that’s what I was kinda wondering.

Smith actually said at the end of the interview on Faux News, that Obama is committed to a strong friendship with Israel and called the whole joe the plumber thing frightening. Indeed.

...Thy just punishments..."

God Punishes Pakistanis for Complaining About U.S. Invasion of Their Country

Bloomberg: "More than 150 people were killed in Pakistan when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck before dawn and destroyed as many as five villages near the southwestern city of Quetta, officials said.

"About 200 people were injured in the quake, Mohammed Zaman, assistant to the chief secretary of Baluchistan province, Nasir Khosa, said.

"The quake hit at 4:09 a.m. local time in a mountainous region about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north-northeast of Quetta at a depth of 15 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was about 185 kilometers southeast of the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan."

"Confiteor Deo omnipotenti..."

Little Man in the Boat

And NO, it's not what you're thinking. Kindly get your mind out of the gutter, please.

I am speaking metaphorically.

The Little Man is John McCain.

The Boat is his campaign.

And it seems that everyone is poking a hole in his boat. If it's not journalists, it's the Obama campaign; if it's not bloggers, it's his own campaign staff.

Case in point:

A fellow named Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's senior economic adviser, was interviewed by CNN Money concerning the McCain health care plan. Under the plan:

"...employees would get taxed on the value of their health insurance, which on average costs $12,680 per year for a family, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Workers pay an average of $3,354 in premiums, while their employers cover the rest. Most employees have their premiums deducted from their paychecks without paying tax on them. So, if you make $50,000, you are likely paying tax on only $46,646 of income.Under McCain, your taxable income would rise to $59,326. If you were in the 25% tax bracket, it would mean an additional $3,170 in taxes.But this increase would be knocked back by the $5,000 tax credit. So in the end, you'd actually have $1,830 to put in a health savings account, which could be used to cover premiums and other medical expenses."

Now there's a definite problem with this, and only a minor part of it is the fact that you'd be paying taxes on your health care. Taking out the tax advantage of employer-based health care benefits would result in higher taxes and some employers might drop health benefits completely.

Enter Douglas Holtz-Eakin. When asked whether employees would take advantage of McCain's proffered $5,000 tax incentive, Holtz-Eakin was all too ready to poke a hole in The Boat:

"Why would they leave?" said Holtz-Eakin. "What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit."

You just have to admire people who stay on message.

Right now, with just about a week to go in The Great Presidential Contest of 2008, McCain's campaign boat is looking like a nice healthy chunk of Swiss Cheese.

And try as he might, Captain (USN, ret.) McCain can't play Little Dutch Boy forever. Not with people like his own aides poking holes every time they open their mouths.

Glub ... glub ... glub ...

twirp

McCain calls liberals a threat to economy

That was the headline in this morning's Boston Globe. I had to laugh. I wonder who told John McCain to say that and how he can say that with a straight face. It's right out of Orwell's "1984."

McCain admitted not very long ago that he does not understand the economy. He just proved it. He really ought to STFU now before he chokes on his foot.

McCain said, "Now this election comes down to how you want your hard-earned money spent."

Yes it does and that's why I would sooner cut my nose off than vote for another 8 years of political retardation. Let's see. Did I want my hard earned money spent on a quagmire in Iraq? Nope. Am I happy that most of the money went to war profiteers? I think not. Did I enjoy seeing my hard earned money spent on fueling my car? Nope. Was I thrilled that most people didn't get raises in the past 8 years? Not really, no. Did I enjoy watching it evaporate in the stock market? Nope. In fact any gains I had over the past 8 years are completely gone. Why on earth would I want more of the same?

Lip service is cheap.

"Do you want to keep it and invest it in your future, or have it taken by the most liberal person to ever run for the presidency and the Democratic leaders - the most liberal, who have been running Congress for the past two years, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid?" McCain went on, to boos. "You know, my friends, this is a dangerous threesome."

Obama a liberal? Ha. Is that the new PC code word for "African American?" I know it was the code word for "Jew" not that very long ago. Pelosi and Harry Reid- liberal? ha. I really ought to purchase hundreds of copies of "1984" and pass them out to undecided voters and see if they make the connection. But alas I don't have that kind of money to piss away anymore. The bankers do. Gee, how did they get all that cash infusion? Socialism? Hmmm.

What does McCain think that Obama is going to do with all our "hard earned" money? He doesn't say. He doesn't say what he would do with it either.

I think what disappoints me most about my fellow Americans is their willingness to pick up on this new "Marxist" and "socialist" meme put forth by the McCainiacs. Does anyone bother to take statements into context anymore? I wonder if any of the maroons who cheer when McCain or Palin utter the words, "socialist" if they even know what that means. I doubt it.

Furthermore, many of these knuckleheads who are repeating the "socialist" meme consider themselves "christian." A Christian implies that they are followers of Jesus. Jesus was such a socialist that it would make their heads explode if they ever bothered to read what he had to say. "Sell all that you have, give it to the poor and follow me," Jesus once said to his disciples. Talk about spreading the wealth. I don't think there's a true Jesus follower among the McCain supporters.

The CEO ...

Defiantly hanging onto his bloated bonus package as his deregulated Randite world explodes around him ...

They have taken our money. Soon they will have taken our food and shelter.

Read all about it at Jim Kunstler's latest at Clusterfuck Nation:
"Easthampton Burning?".

And the only difference this or that new President and Congress might make is the rapidity with which we are overwhelmed and dominated.

Senator 'Series of Tubes' Stevens Found Guilty on All Counts

He's the 5th senator in US history to be convicted of a crime while serving in the Senate. He will stay on the ballot in Alaska. It seems like he ought to resign as he is 84 yrs old and has served in the senate for 40 years. Full Story

Nipped in the Bud - One Down

But how many to go?

This, from The Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday.

In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.

Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.

"They said that would be their last, final act _ that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."

A egoist's dream...

Overused Metaphor Alert!

I was reading the morning newspaper this morning (duh!) and noted that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Dallas Cowboys yesterday in football (that's for the benefit of the non-sports fans, although I think it'd be fun to see them square off in full-contact Parcheesi). The Cowboys defense held the Bucs to only three field goals and the final score was 13-9.

The Bucs came to Dallas with a bit of swagger in their steps, and why not? Dallas was falling apart; their starting quarterback was out with an injured finger, one of the star players was openly screaming on the sidelines and their defensive secondary looked suspect. By all measurements it should have been an easy win for Tampa.

But the saying goes "Any given Sunday ..."

Now it's time for The Overused Metaphor.

I've been looking at the polls and noting that the perceived gap between McCain and Obama is widening in Obama's favor. Bookies in London give McCain long odds to pull this one out, but the cocky little bugger (let's recall he is a gambler and a Navy fighter pilot, which requires a sort of a gambler's instincts) has vowed that he will win. Pundits and coworkers cite "the Bradley Effect" (that more people will say they'll vote for Obama for the pollsters, then turn around and vote the opposite way in the voting booth) as if it were a spell to ward off what they perceive as the evils of an Obama Presidency.

There are eight days left until the actual election.

And I'm too much of a realist not to say that Obama can still lose this thing.

and in other wars...

LA Times: 8 reportedly killed in U.S. raid inside Syria

AP: Suspected US strike kills up to 20 in Pakistan

A coincidence that it's one week from US elections?

Rousing the Rabble

"Fear is the path that leads to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Hate . . . leads to suffering."

There’s a lot of fear in America these days.
Oh, it’s not the fear of another terrorist attack. We’ve been collectively whipsawed back and forth on that issue so many times that the prospect of another 9/11 makes us shrug, by and large. With more Americans dying each year of the flu and food poisoning than died on 9/11, one needs a sense of perspective about terrorism.
The fear I speak of is largely twofold.
Both are related and can be grouped under the heading of Fear of the Unknown.
One is the fear of poverty, of having your savings disappear and of being unable to retire in comfort or having your children go to college. That fear makes people fret about the future; if we knew the future, we could at least sleep nights.
The second is the upcoming presidential election. I may be wrong on this, but we’ve never had an election held during two wars and on the cusp of a major recession. Just one of those circumstances would be bad enough – coupling it with the other is sure to make us a bit jittery.
I said earlier that The Fear was “largely” twofold, because there is another component that, quite frankly, makes a small segment of the population so pants-wettingly afraid that they become filed with unfocused anger.
Focusing that anger leads to hatred of the target, and that hatred, based as it is on nothing more than generalized anger, tends to be itself very nonspecific. It’s “fill in the blank” hate, ready to accept any label.
Which leads us to the subject of this post, and the person Sarah Palin is discussing in her speech. Senator Barack Obama.
To a small segment of Americans who have been taught by their elders, relatives, friends, community and church to fear and hate The Scary Other, Obama represents a threat. Obama, to them, is The Other personified.
Like I said, enough fear triggers and anger response that becomes hatred if you can put a name or a face on that fear. Which is precisely what politicians like Palin and to a lesser extent McCain have been trying to do.
Being at least somewhat more sophisticated than their audiences, McCain and Palin have tried to use the coded speech of right-wing ideologues, but the rabble (for want of a better term, and it is applicable) fall back on simpler labels:
Terrorist!
Communist!
Muslim!
N***er!
The level of hatred being stoked in these crowds is palpable, even in a YouTube clip. I shudder to think what it must actually feel like, in person.
Now, where does this hatred lead? You can’t just keep shoveling fuel into the fire; it has to have an outlet.
Which leads to the rest of the quote from Yoda – which, by the way, I accept as completely axiomatic.
Suffering.
Back in the day, this level of rhetoric was usually followed by a fun-filled pogrom through the nearest Jewish ghetto, or – more recently – a foray into the black area of the town.
There have been a few acts of violence so far, as people at these rallies couldn’t wait for the speaker to point them at anyone. To my knowledge no one has died, yet. In this context, the Ashley Todd false report incident may have been a deliberate attempt on someone’s part to ignite the hatred that’s been whipped up into actual, widespread violence.
It might be hoped that our collective common sense will assert itself, but after watching Gov. Palin do her demagogue act I worry that common sense will be too little, too late. I can only ask that Americans do what I wished they would have done after 9/11 – act without fear. Do not be ruled by fear or anger – both cloud your judgment, and do not allow yourselves to be driven to hatred and violence by politicians.
I opened this post with a pop culture reference; I will close with two more:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
- Frank Herbert, Dune

People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?
- Rodney King, 1992.

This is a song done by the Chad Mitchell trio back in 1962.
I'm posting it because of the "communistic" comments made by a fanatic Vice Presidential Candidate.
It's just music with lyrics but for any of you who never heard it, I hope you enjoy it.



Some things never seem to go out of date...(sigh!)

Republican Email Warns Jewish Voters of Second Holocaust If Obama Wins

"Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008," the e-mail from the Republican Federal Committee of PA reads. "Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!"
[..]
It warns "Fellow Jewish Voters" of the danger of a second Holocaust due to the threats to Israel from its neighbors and touts Republican presidential candidate John McCain's qualifications over those of Obama.

The email was sent to 75,000 Jewish voters. The Republicans in Pa have disavowed the email and claim that the "strategist" who helped draft the letter was fired.

The AP reports that Bryan Rudnick who was responsible for the email said he had authorization from party officials to send the email, but wouldn't say who it was.

According to TPM it gets better. The person who is distancing himself from the email is Peter Feldman, the same guy who on Thursday was pushing the mugging hoax by the white woman who falsely claimed that a black Obama supporter attackers and maimed her.

Ironically, on Saturday night, Feldman told the press that McCain "rejects politics that degrade our civics." The AP didn't remind him about the mugging hoax.

Perhaps McCain ought to distance himself from the Pa GOP and especially Peter Feldman, whose fear mongering, race baiting and desperation have gotten the best of him.

Speaking of desperation by the GOP see also these stories at TPM

WH is using the DOJ for political purposes again. WH wants information on the 200,000 newly registered voters in Ohio.
Claims of voter intimidation in NM Voting rights group calls for probe.

Governor Palin is now warning folks that if Obama becomes president we will no longer be free. We will be communist.

Furthermore, Palin took the clothing from the GOP but has strayed so far from the message that the McCain people plan to shred her after the election.

Worst. Campaign. Ever. The McCain campaign may go down in history as the dirtiest and most desperate presidential campaign in our history. And we still have a week to go. Expect it to get even worse.

Sister Love's Traveling Salvation Show

From the Huffington Post:


McCain Faces Internal "Palin Insurgency"


We’re starting to see the true Sarah “Fanatic, Religious Right-Wing” Palin coming out. She’s offered little glimpses of it in her past comments and the interview with Brian Williams seemed to show “tension” between McCain and Palin. Palin takes over the interview and McCain doesn’t appear too comfortable with the choice Dobson made him accept.

The story at Huffington should come as no surprise to any of us who have followed her emergence from the cave. That she pretends to be speaking from her own (warped) mind yet parroting views of extremist religious outside influence is becoming more and more evident. She continues to deliver more and more of Dobson’s Radical Views in her speaking.

Whether she actually understands the extent of the division she continues to cultivate in this country or if she is a mentally aware party to it really makes no difference. She is a TOOL of the Radical Religious Right; fomenting hatred, division and violence which are basics to maintaining control of the frenzied, crazed Xtians and necessary to spread the underlying fascism of their misinterpreted Xtianity.

Watching her closely, a few of us have noticed a growing fanatical expression no longer buried under that pasted-on, artificial smile. Her demeanor has become more bellicose as she tries less than subtly to inflame those at her rallies. She feeds off of the pernicious neurosis she instills in her mindless minions. Watch her eyes and facial expression as she whips the crowd with talking points that obviously aren’t hers but that she fully accepts. That appearance is the same I’ve seen in “Hell, Fire and Brimstone Preachers” at revivals goading their sheep into their demented visions of religious ecstasy...and she attains similar results. It’s the same attitude we saw in a World War II leader in his last days; in crazed “preachers” in Guyana; in Waco; in Montana; in a hundred zealots in a hundred different places driving their sheep into a fervor that can only end one way.

While she is being dismissed by many “rational observers” and even a number of semi sane McCain advisors, make no mistake, the shadows behind this unapologetic opportunist are the ones providing demented motives Palin spews to incite these cattle.

Even if the Republican Party tries to ignore or even disown Palin after the election, the diabolic Religious Nuts using her will not stop. Their taste of power these last 8 years is too adicting for them to ignore.

Another blogger has expressed disdain at Obama for his “Messianic” comments; him (Obama) standing in a Heavenly light. Concerns like that are petty when you compare the hidden malevolence behind Palin’s (and her handler’s) ever widening radicalism. Her association with the Cult she calls her church shows the depth of her commitment to that religious belief no matter how she downplays or evades questions about it. We’ve seen her type before, throughout history. We just never expected it to happen in America.

Bush and Cheney’s fanaticism is mild in comparison to what she and those who support her have planned for this country. Bush and Cheney merely wanted money.

Dobson and his ilk, through Palin, want our souls.


Additional Republican Tripe:
From AmericaBlog:

Norm Coleman Mails "Rape" Comic Book to Minnesota's Children

They just defy the concept of being Human, Xtian or sane.

Sad, but funny. Watch the original first then the new one.

Is This Teh Real America?

It brings a tear to my eye.

I went to an Obama rally and I didn't witness one tiny bit of vile stupidity like what is on this video. Now he's a communist? Did anyone ever pay attention in school and even know what communism is? Or what socialism is?



It's no wonder that McCain wants to spend election night alone at home with his wife. Look what he's created. I hope he's satisfied.

Playing For Change: Peace Through Music

I caught this on Bill Moyers Journal last night. Get out the kleenex box and watch this PBS segment Playing For Change: Peace Through Music

Moyers talks with Mark Johnson, the producer of this remarkable documentary about the simple but transformative power of music. Listen to musicians from around the world perform "Stand By Me" and "One Love".


“Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.”

NO ON PROPOSITION 8

NO ON PROPOSITION 8

(click on above youtube video for Prop 8 television ad)

Adorable, happy little girl: “Mom, guess what I learned in school today? I learned how a prince can marry a prince and I can marry a princess!”

Mom: Rendered speechless, with eyes bugging out of her head as if she’s about to have a flippin’ coronary. Sheer terror sets into the kitchen….

What kind of a parental reaction is this to direct at a happy young child? This mom acts like she doesn’t even love her kid. This mom acts like she doesn’t tolerate her kid saying anything she doesn’t think is correct - or much less even like. Instead, this mom acts as if this book “King and King” is about to convert her child into a lesbian – and finally, she’s horrified that her school is actually admitting that homosexuals even exist!

Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley lesbian couple parked their SUV Chevy Suburban displaying a message in front of a “devout Mormon family’s home” with a large “Yes on Prop 8” banner hanging over the expanse of their garage.

The family’s murky “logic” in support of this anti-gay rights proposition goes like this:

"We are not motivated by hate and anger in any way," Michele Sundstrom said. "We think same-sex couples should enjoy the same rights and privileges as married couples, as it says in the California family code. We just don't want to redefine the word marriage."

Happy Friday!

-2Truthy

Race baiting: Shame Shame Shame

A 20 year old campaign worker from Texas who was in Pittsburgh for a McCain event claimed she was mugged by a black guy who was enraged by her McCain bumper sticker and then beat her and carved a backwards B on her face.

Well it's a hoax.

Now the Pittsburgh TV station KDKA reports: "Police sources tell KDKA that a campaign worker has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter 'B' in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.

The story was all over the news but I didn't believe it.

John Moody, executive vice president at Fox News, commented on his blog that "this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election. If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee. If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."

McCain's got some really crazy racist fans, doesn't he?

UPDATE: The girl is upset that the media jumped all over this story. She ought to place blame where blame is due. On McCain and Palin who called her to console her after her "ordeal." I would love to know what they told her.

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

Nympho Christian website encourages pious wives to spice up their sex lives
The site, Christian Nymphos, dispenses advice on how couples can spice up their love life without breaking God’s laws.
Suggestions for new sexual positions, scenarios and games are published alongside to links to Bible study websites.

I have to spend some time reading this website.

I wonder what kind of positions and scenarios can be thought up using the bible?
Remember Lot's wholesome family in Sodom?

• How about Lot's daughters getting him drunk and raping him?(genesis 19:30-36)
• Or Lot offering his virgin daughters to the townspeople banging on his door? (genesis 19:18)
  
• Maybe licking the salt off your wife? (genesis 19:26)

There is a lot of interesting stuff in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. I wonder if that story is on the "to do" list. hmm.

What other stories do you think would make a good background for some steamy nympho sex?

In Today's Science News

Radioactive Tape: Sticky-tape generates X-rays when unraveled in a vacuum—powerful enough to see finger bones.

CIVICS 101 -How the U.S.A. elects its President

A brief primer on how it all works

........But the Electoral College system also persists because despite its shortcomings, there are several reasons to recommend it. Supporters of the system point out that the framers of the Constitution considered several other possibilities, but settled on this one for its advantages: It helps ensure political stability by making it difficult for third party candidates to become president; it gives rural areas and small states more power, better distributing political clout across the country; and it encourages a federal system of representation.

one of the commenters to this post says that this is not true because at the time of the writing, there was not a 2 party system.


Any input on this?

Anyone....?

Anyone.........?

News from teh FLIP FLOP EXPRESS

I was just over at Think Progress reading the top stories and my head almost spun off my neck.

Sarah Palin who likes to use the word "terrorist" loosely isn't sure that abortion clinic bombers are terrorists or not. I guess it depends on whom you are terrorizing.

Sarah Palin, who enjoys using divisive language and pitting one group against another in our great land said this to Brian Williams: "I’m not gonna label myself. And I think that’s what annoys a lot of Americans – especially in a political campaign – is to start trying to label different parts of America, different backgrounds."

McCain: Obama represents a Bush third term. How desperate is that?

Rove Blames Market Volatility On Obama How really desperate is that?

McCain’s tax plan would have saved the McCains $730,000. Not surprising.

Newt Gingrich thinks SNL's Palin skits are slander and they should be sued.

McCain once voted against the use of campaign funds for clothing purchases.

Again, I can't wait for this election to be over. It hurts.

You've got to see this

Ron Howard for Barack Obama.

Visitors on their way to the Museum of Sex in NYC

Showing required Safe Sex attire.
(Anyone we know?)

Have a nice weekend...Going hunting?

Packs of robots will hunt down uncooperative humans
The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human".
One thing that really bugs defence chiefs is having their troops diverted from other duties to control robots. So having a pack of them controlled by one person makes logistical sense.

More at New Scientist.

Exit Strategy

Bill Moher on "Real Time with Bill Maher" has a segment on his friday show called: "Exit Strategy"
It is designed for us liberals, where to go if McCain wins the election. It is kinda funny...
I invite our commenters to design an exit strategy for the repugs, who are terrified of the prospect of Obama win! The desire to self banish I heard in person from some Long Islanders.
Feel free to call countries like Iraq or Afganistan or any other weird places on earth they can exit to in their desire to jump ship.
The sky is the limit.

Another thought:

Ronnie had Nancy. Reputedly, she was running the country during the last few years of his mental incompetence (should have been replaced by Bush 41 - Oh Gawd!).
Has anyone ever seen McCain at any rally without Cindy the C? To quote Cliff Claven, "What's up with that?"
I'm sure that her shadowing can be defended somehow, I just don't know how. And does the "First Dude" follow the Schnozz around? If so, he's staying in the background so we don't find out he is going to run things instead of Sarah.
So why's Cindy the C always within fainting distance of Johnny Boy?
Just a thought.

Addendum:

I just read on AmericaBlog NBC announced that Johnny Boy will be on "Meet the Press" Oct. 26th, live in, get this...Waterloo, Iowa! They have a video of ABBA doing Waterloo!
Hmmm? Wasn't there something historically significant about that name? We need hip boots to walk through the irony.

Yeah, I Know It's Not Friday

But I had to post this.

You can't make this shit up

After having children named Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig Governor Palin was asked what she would name another child. "I always wanted a son named Zamboni," she said.

She also considers herself an intellectual.

Generally, this blonde finds that those who label themselves intellectual are not.

Who the F@#K is that guy?

Jon Stewart - the only man I've ever really loved (besides my hubby)





and for everything else, there's MasterCard.........

Suspected US Missile Strike In Pakistan Kills 9

Are we at war with Pakistan?

How come it's not on the news?

Suspected U.S. missiles struck a religious school linked to the Taliban on Thursday, killing nine people in the lawless border region where al-Qaida and its Taliban allies are believed to plot attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The strike came hours after Parliament warned against any incursions on Pakistani soil and condemned the wave of terrorism tearing at the country, while stressing the need for dialogue.

This version of the story says that 11 were killed by drone missiles.

Nose Picking

Since the Right (and Faux Noise) has commented on Obama's ears, Failin' Palin's features are fair game.
Liz, I think what 2T and I referred to about her schnozz was the drooping "wattle." It just reminds me of someone who has to wipe their nose but never does; like something - there - you don't try to notice but once you do, you see it all the time.
It may not bother anyone else but it just seems to stand out to me (and don't get me started on her "square face"and wide, manly jowls!)

Some Thoughts for the Day:

Things I thunked about;

Go into a Wal-Mart (I know, it’s hard to do for some); look around at the vast amount of “Stuff” you can purchase with your dwindling dollars; take your time and really, really look at the vast amount of “Stuff”; then realize that over 70% of that “Stuff” is made in China; but you really don’t know which 70%; next check out the grocery section of your local Super Wal-Mart and wonder how much of that comes from China; then try to enjoy your next home-made (with products from Wal-Mart) meal!

Oil and gas prices went up; food, clothing, heating oil and nearly all necessary staples of our life increased in price because the cost of delivery went up; because gas prices went up; now gas is down over 30%; but other prices are still the same; they haven’t dropped and most small businesses said they are not going to return prices to the pre-oil price increase period; but the backbone of Amurikan jobs (small businesses) aren’t hiring because they can’t afford it, they say; but they're keeping the extra money anyway.

We had a milk/dairy products shortage a year or so ago and dairy products increased in price and decreased in volume; have you looked closely when you buy a half-gallon of ice cream?; it’s not a “half-gallon” any longer; it’s 1.75 quarts; but it’s the same price as that half-gallon; even though that shortage is officially over.

We haven’t heard anything lately about illegal immigrants coming into Amurika from Mexico; did they all stop because it’s election time? Maybe they can’t climb over the fence; did ladder exports to Mexico suddenly increase?

We had no trouble raising 700 billion for Wall Street on the spur of the moment with the gracious consent of the tax payers of Amurika; why are there people who don’t have heat for this coming winter when one-tenth of that amount could provide warmth for 95% of those who need it?

Is Iraq still a happening thing? Is it over? Did we win? Does anyone care if our boys and girls are still being maimed and killed for Cheney’s Oil? is there any way we can spend more money in Iraq so Halliburton can have a great Xmas and give bonuses like the failed Wall Street businesses?

Where’s George Bush? Where’s Dick Cheney? Have they gone to Paraguay yet?

Has Jenna dropped her load yet or is the Beige House hoping she’ll deliver December 25th as a sign from Sarah Palin? And did Bristol and what’s his name find an inn or will they have to look for a stable…or hockey rink? And will her mother’s pride and joy be a nice, bouncing 8 pound hockey puck?

Do they still make phone booths?

What have you thunk of lately?

Will God Decide The Election?

Gov Sarah Palin speaking to Dr Dobson of Focus on the Family:
"I know at the end of the day putting this in God’s hands, the right thing for America will be done, at the end of the day on Nov. 4.”

Does she know something we don't know? Is the GOP really God's Own Party?

What if God picks Barack Obama? Will she accept that God chose him?

Will millions of Obama supporters lose their faith in God if he picks McPalin?

October Surprise: War on America's Middle Class (While They Slept)

The Neo-Frat Boy Fascist’s Victory

As we all slumbered, counting our sheep,
The American People were hit in their sleep.
Dreaming of holiday trips to the sea,
Henry Paulson & Friends came looking for me.

There were no loud noises, no sirens or horns,

No flashing red lights through the windows or doors.
Far away on some spreadsheet a liberty lost
Died the death of this Nation, its sovereignty, tossed.

-2Truthy

Are the ruling elites of this country “idiots” or are they instead a clever klatch of diseased sociopaths, drunk on power as they pillage the economy at the expense of the American people? Is the Wall Street Banker Wealth Distribution scheme (otherwise called a “meltdown”) a result of ruling class “mistakes and incompetence?” Or is it the (in) direct result of an emotionally stultified and clueless, indoctrinated public, fed by our media for decades on power delusions of religion, race and social feel-goodism that have diverted attention away from crucial socio-economic policy?

In The Idiots Who Rule America Chris Hedges references the recipe on how to cook up a Fascist state:

“The first three aims of the corporatist movement in Germany, Italy and France during the 1920s, those that went on to become part of the Fascist experience, were “to shift power directly to economic and social interest groups, to push entrepreneurial initiative in areas normally reserved for public bodies” and to “obliterate the boundaries between public and private interest—that is, challenge the idea of the public interest.
Sound familiar?”

While clever Wall Street fox Hank Paulson, King of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) is tasked to “regulate” all of the unprecedented economic misdeeds, the American public is naive about power, which, by training, is at the margins of their attention as jobs disappear to fatten up their profits as no one holds them accountable. Americans have been raised to be good little partisan voters, signing onto a team with “heritage worldviews, as we do in religion.”

Although I must conclude that it was not sheer “idiocy” at all that paved the way for this wealth transfer between Wall Street’s investor class, I do completely agree with the latter part of Hedges’ sentence:

“It is only when these elites are exposed as incompetent parasites and dethroned that we will have any hope of restoring social, economic and political order.”

Indeed, we are in need of a media that is willing to expose the corporate neo-fascist frat boys (who are typically presented as heroes in the media or either completely hidden from view) and a steely, collective public will that is committed to dethroning these panty hamsters. However, I fail to see how scheming bankers can be written off as “incompetent parasites” instead of being called out on their calculated shakedown of John Q. Public. But hey, I’m no economist so what do I know? One thing I strongly suspect is this: We don’t need no stinking EESA. Obama and Pelosi are already planning a new multi-billion dollar "stimulus package" way above and beyond what has already been crammed down our throats. How much “stimulation” can the non-portfolio class of this country possibly take before the whole thing implodes? Never mind.

Perhaps what we need instead is a Department of Deprogramming led by smart, non-think-tanky economists with consciences and a sense of civic duty to replace this Department of Shit for Brains at the “T” to lead us out of this economic quagmire.

What we are now left with for “news” from “progressive” media run by the Power Elite is in crucial ways false and contrary to the public greater good. They tell us lies and instill a false consciousness not because they are idiots, but because they seek to gate-keep the scoop and then plunder and control us. Soon, when Emperor Obama takes the throne, his gr$$n backers will unveil their carbon cap and trade/footprint schemes that will further reduce us to the unsustainable numbers that we, Joe Consumer, in this new world order of dispensable human capital that We, the Disposable People, really are in their eyes:

“Listen to our officials talk about consumers—we’re only valuable to them insofar as we are predictable statistical constructs defined by corporations. Have you heard the Federal Reserve call for a new stimulus package? Beyond the fact that the Fed isn’t even a part of the government, their call represents one of the most troubling features from Hayek’s critique of scientific socialism: that the individual is treated as a means rather than as an end. They would manage us like cattle—not as living beings, mind you, but as potential dollars. None of this is new, and none of this is incompetence. This isn’t a financial collapse; it’s an engineered redistribution of wealth. It’s not a banking failure; it’s a dazzling success for bankers.” - Georg Poothausenschlofths

-2Truthy

Still More Vacation Pictures!

Central Park, #3

Battery Park

Times Square

Hey, John! I got a question. You keep saying that we're not coming home from Iraq unless we're winners and then only with honor. OK.

Al Qaeda (or whatever the spelling du jour is)is supposedly gone into Pakistan or Iran or Afghanistan.
The Sunnis and Shia are fighting each other.
The insurgents, whoever they are whenever convenient are fighting...who?
The Iraqi Police are killing anyone.

So the question is this:
If we win...who was it we beat? And if we didn't beat the guys we started fighting with, how are we winners? What kind of honor is there in beating the guys who didn't start the fight with you in the first place?

Isn't it like Powerhouse Michigan playing Penn State but switching to play a junior college in the middle of the third quarter?

So, John. Who exactly will we be beating with honor?

Anyone!?

More Vacation Pictures!

Central Park, #1

Central Park, #2

An Endorsement McCain Probably Doesn't Want

Al-Qaeda linked site wants McCain for President.

Mean and Dumb: You take a dirty campaign and add dumb to it

Gov Palin is more of a drain on the McCain campaign than even President Bush.

And she's pretty ill informed too:
When asked by a third grader what the Vice President does, Palin replied,

"[T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom."

Don't they have a book like "Government for Dummies" that they can hand out to folks running for public office? I'll bet a lot of Americans think she's correct too.

Dumb and Dumber: Palin invoked Joe the Plumber again.

PALIN: I’m not going to call him a socialist but as Joe the plumber has suggested, in fact, he came right out and said it, it sounds like socialism to him and he speaks for so many Americans who are quite concerned now after hearing finally what Barack Obama’s true intentions are with his tax and economic plan.

How much do you wanna bet that someone told "Joe" to say that Obama's plan sounds like socialism? Does he know what it means? Does she? I wonder if old Joe expects to get social security and medicare when he turns 65 or does he have vast resources at the ready to cover him in his older age? And since when is it wrong to take tax money and redistribute it back to the country? My head is spinning from all the spin.

I can't wait until this election is over. I wish it were over now.

And they thought $400 haircuts were an outrage

It is being reported that the RNC spent $150,ooo on fashions and accessories for Gov. Sarah Palin (and even her family and baby). The expense is listed as "campaign accessories." These expenses do not appear before September.

Records show that starting in early September bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St Louis and NYC totalled $49,425.74. They spent $75,062.63 at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis accessorizing the governor. $4,716.49 was spent on hair and makeup. There's more at the story.

What teh GOP have to say?

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses. It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign," said McCain-Palin spokesperson Tracey Schmitt

Well that's very true. There are much more important issues to pick at. But this is a dirty campaign and the McPalins set the precedent.

Breaking. The AP is currently investigating how Gov Palin charged the state of Alaska for her children's travel expenses even when they weren't invited.

Is it just me or does anyone else notice a similarity between Senators from Arizona?

So much for "a little bit of reality!"



What world does McFailin' live in? Is she simply a pathological liar or patenetly delusional? Or does she have some other undiagnosed (or diagnosed and secretly hidden) mental condition?
We report...you decide!

"Muslim fanatic prisoners to be 'de-programmed' using controversial techniques to 'cure' them of beliefs"

JESUS CHRIST!

ThisIsLondon.co.uk:
Psychologists in the Prison Service will try to ‘cure’ extremist Muslim inmates of their political beliefs with controversial therapies similar to those used to ‘de-programme’ members of religious cults.

The experimental treatments are being developed by a special Extremism Unit set up by the Ministry of Justice in January last year, The Mail on Sunday has discovered.

Sources say the therapy forms part of a wide-ranging strategy to combat Islamic extremism in Britain’s jails.

Evolution of man?

hat tip to Miss Poppy Dixon at Adult Christianity

27 States Now in Recession

In March, 5 states (Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada)were in recession and it's jumped to 27 with 14 more at risk. The states in the areas with the automobile industry like Michigan have been hit the hardest. States with agriculture are faring well. Here's the story

How are you all doing?

Conversation with a Coworker

Link

Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC) has her Dad (ZBig) on 'Morning Joe' (Scarborough)

From The Whole American Hog:
Blood on the Floor at Morning Joe


From Online Journal:
Zbigniew Brzezinski to be the real power behind an Obama throne

Anyone care to share their opinion of Zbigniew Brzezinski?

I don't have one - yet. After I watched the video he struck me as a very reasonable man. I am a very gullible gal though......

"McCain Should Explain About Liberty Killings"

From the Southwest News-Herald:
By RAY HANANIA

If Barak Obama’s association with 1960s radical William Ayers is a critical issue in this campaign, then Sen. John McCain’s role in protecting the actions of his father in the deaths of 34 American sailors is an issue, too.

While most Americans know all about the Ayers controversy, few know that McCain’s father, Navy Admiral John McCain Jr., was involved in the cover-up of the Israeli assault on the U.S.S. Liberty on June 8, 1967.

On that day, Israeli fighter jets, torpedo boats and helicopter assault ships killed 34 sailors and wounded 174 others during the Arab-Israeli war.

McCain and pro-Israel activists insist the attack was an “accident.” But eyewitnesses on the ship, American veterans in uniform who went into the Mediterranean Sea as champions of Israel, insist Israel wanted to sink the ship to force the United States to join the war against Egypt, then a Soviet client.

Phillip Tourney was a young officer on the Liberty working in the security and communications room. In an interview on Radio Chicagoland on WJJG last week, which is online at RadioChicagoland.com, Tourney described what really happened.

“The Israeli Air Force had been flying around us for seven hours. They knew exactly who we were,” Tourney said. “The Israeli planes left and a dozen unmarked planes returned and began firing on us.”

Tourney said the planes put more than 800 holes in the ship, dropped napalm and strafed the ship with gunfire, killing 10 sailors.

“We were waving an American flag from the deck that was 7 by 13 feet in size. They knew we were American and they shot at the soldiers carrying the flag,” Tourney said.

The Liberty sent an SOS to Capt. Joseph Tully, the commander of the U.S.S. Saratoga, which was a part of the 6th Fleet. Tully’s order to help was reversed by 6th Fleet Rear Admiral Lawrence Geiss. Geiss received his orders not to protect the Liberty directly from Admiral McCain.

Five clearly marked Israeli torpedo boats returned and one of the torpedoes hit the ship and immediately killed 24 young men.

That means 24 American soldiers died after McCain intervened and prevented the 6th Fleet from responding to help the besieged American soldiers.

As the attack intensified, the Israelis sent several assault helicopters filled with assault soldiers to finish the job.

“They planned to come on board and kill every one of our men. They wanted to wipe us out,” Tourney said. “If they would have sunk our ship and killed all our men, everyone would have thought the ship had been sunk by the Egyptians and the United States would have attacked Egypt. I believe the Israelis wanted to drag the United States into the war.”

The Israeli strike force only withdrew when it became clear that Israel had been identified as the attacking force, not Egypt.

Several books by Liberty survivors were written documenting these events. But Admiral McCain’s son, Senator John McCain, decided a few years ago to endorse a book written by a pro-Israeli activist who insisted the attack was a “mistake.”

If Obama must answer to his friendship with Ayers, doesn’t McCain have an obligation to explain his father’s role in the deaths of 34 American soldiers?

Doesn’t Senator McCain have an obligation to explain his subsequent actions to protect his father’s name, rather than stand up for the dignity of our soldiers?

We need a real, open investigation. The survivors and the families of those who died deserve it.

Now the racists imply that Powell's endorsement was racially motivated

Over the weekend, Colin Powell endorsed Obama for pretty much the same reasons I would endorse him if I were to endorse a particular candidate out of the 2 front runners. He cited the nasty McCain campaign, his choice of Sarah Palin for VP and the personal attacks against Obama by the campaign and other GOP'ers like Rep Michelle Bachmann.

My favorite responses to the endorsement came from Lush Bimbo and Pat Buchanan. They claim it's racially motivated. But in fact, they are the racists for saying that... but that's not surprising at all because they are racists and always have been.

Lush Bimbo: "Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race... OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."

Pat Buchanan: "Alright, we gotta ask a question. Look would Colin Powell be endorsing Obama if he were a white liberal Democrat..."

What stupid, stupid white men they are. Obama is not a liberal Democrat.

"Dickipedia" - a wiki of dicks

Have your pick of dicks right here folks!!

So many to choose from! (New ones being added on a regular basis!)

samples..........

Henry Paulson:

Dick in training

After getting his dick in the government door as a Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense at The Pentagon, Paulson became the envy of dicks everywhere after scoring a plum job in the Nixon administration as assistant to John Ehrlichman. As creator of the legendary "Plumbers" group at the center of the Watergate scandal, Ehrlichman mentored young Paulson on the ins and outs of abusing government power for personal gain.
In 1974, with his mentor facing jail time for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury, Paulson moved on to the private sector to continue his on-the-job dick training at prestigious investment bank, Goldman Sachs. Twenty-four years of “working in a broken financial system” later, he climbed his way up to CEO. Paulson’s impressive staying power was rewarded with an executive compensation package reported to be worth $37 million in 2005 alone.
It should be noted that during his time at Goldman Sachs, Paulson built close relations with China, visiting the country over 70 times, likely learning a thing or two about communism in the process.

Rush Hudson Limbaugh:


Personal life

Rush Limbaugh is currently single, but has been married and divorced three times, to a radio station secretary, an usherette at the Royals Stadium Club, and an aerobics instructor, respectively, all of whose willingness to “nail the whale” apparently didn’t last more than a few years until fatty remorse set in. Want to know just what kind of a dick Rush Limbaugh is? His third marriage was performed by Clarence Thomas. At Thomas’ house.
It also turns out that Rush Limbaugh is a drug addict. In 2003, it came out that Limbaugh was illegally obtaining pain killers oxycodone and hydrocodone. Perhaps he was taking them to kill the pain of having such enormous junk food man-tits.


Sean Hannity:

Early life & (lack of) education

Sean Hannity was born on December 30th, 1961 in Franklin Square, New York. Realizing early on that facts and rational thought would serve no purpose in his future career, young Sean attended St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary high school and then dropped out of NYU once he realized they taught real subjects there and “Jesus” wasn’t an acceptable answer to every other question.
Hannity moved to Santa Barbara, California where he began his dick education, working as a bartender and construction worker. Given Hannity’s close resemblance to cartoon blow-hard Fred Flintstone, it is quite easy to picture him sliding down the tail of a brontosaurus after Mr. Slate blows the quitting whistle at a rock quarry. It is not known if Hannity has ever ordered a rack of ribs so large that they caused his car to tip over at a drive-in restaurant.
While Hannity never did earn a real college degree, Jerry Falwell eventually awarded him an honorary degree from Liberty University in 2005 with an honorary major in Narrowmindedness.

So many dicks, so little time.......

20/20 - Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics with John Stossel

Below are parts 1 - 6.

Info from youtube poster:

Originally aired on Friday, October 17, 2008 @ 9pm CST. This broadcast was sourced from an ABC affiliate in Chicago, IL.
Apparently, there were affiliates that refused to carry this one-hour special. If anyone has information about this, please let me know.

John Stossel - like him or not, does quite a smack down on congress.

I hope you have a few bodyguards hanging around John!

Before viewing, you may want to read up on the concept of SPONTANEOUS ORDER

You betcha!

A Fraud Perpetrated on Acorn

CNN FACT CHECKS: This is not voter fraud. The reality is that registration fraud was committed by employees against ACORN to make money ($8/hr). They cheated by copying names and addresses from the phone book or making up voters. It is very unlikely that bogus registrations would actually lead to voter fraud.



The GOP is using this issue as a distraction. The AP Nails it:

Is ACORN, according to McCain, perpetuating voter fraud that could be "destroying the fabric of democracy"? Or are Republicans trying to keep the disadvantaged, who tend to be Democrats, from casting ballots in a hotly contested presidential race that has drawn record numbers of new voters?

By legal definition, to commit voter fraud means a person would have to present some kind of documentation at the polls — a driver's license, a phone bill or another form of ID — that bears the name of Mickey Mouse, for example. To do so risks a fine and imprisonment under state laws.

Submitting fake registration cards is another matter. Local law enforcement agencies in about a dozen states are investigating fake registrations submitted by ACORN workers. Late last week, The Associated Press reported the FBI will be reviewing those cases.

ACORN workers were the ones who discovered the fake forms and flagged them for the local election officials. In every state investigating bad registrations, ACORN tipped off local officials to bogus or incomplete cards, so it isn't the organization that is trying to defraud anyone.

Federal law requires that first time voters bring ID when they go to vote for the first time. So will Mickey Mouse actually show up and produce his driver's license? Read why the ACORN issue is a hoax by the GOP.

Voter fraud is virtually non-existent. Voter suppression is a regular practice of the GOP however and I'm sure we'll be seeing and hearing a lot about that, but not from the corporate media.


And why is it when touch screen voting glitches happen, it's always for the GOP?

At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.

Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates.

"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna. continued

Sarah Palin on SNL - October 18th

Sarah Palin and Tina Fey




The Alaskan Rap Song (OUTSTANDING performance by Amy Poehler!!)

Czarina Palin

"AMERICA GET OUT" -- a peaceful protest in Bagdad today

Protesters clogged several streets in the capital, waving Iraqi flags and kicking up dust. The demonstration, the largest in Baghdad in several months, was largely peaceful.

"End the U.S. occupation of Iraq!"

"Thanks to you, to these voices and the millions of voices, George Bush will hear these millions of calls in his 'Black House' -- in which you shouted out, 'No, no, America!'"

"This talk and these words are that of the leader, Muqtada al-Sadr: Baghdad is free, free! America, get out. This voice does not reach the Green Zone. We want to hear everyone who is occupied in that area saying Baghdad is free, free, America get out!" al-Araji exclaimed.


Here's the story

and another "updated" story

(a different version keeps popping up on my att home page -- along with pictures galore!)

Why do you suppose we are hearing so much about these protests?

Why do you suppose we don't get the same coverage of protests that are currently going on in our country?



(thanks for the video recommendation kablooie - PERFECT for this post indeed)

You won't see this stuff in the mainstream media......

From "The Masher" @ AlterNet:

"Enjoy, and thanks to the people -- you know who you are -- spreading around these brilliant commentaries like prairie fire."

Copy & Paste and spread these two around -- BRILLIANT!!

*****************************************************************

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.!!

************************************************************
To: STH

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Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully,

Minister of Treasury Paulson

RFK Jr and Palast: The Election is Already Stolen

"Block the Vote" in Rolling Stone
Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?

"If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat McCain at the polls - they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote tampering."

Read the story and write to the media urging them to cover this bit of very juicy news that ought to keep them busy for months.

Before "offshore accounts" there was always...

Remember all the stories, anecdotes, and jokes even about Swiss banks?
Ah! The mainstay of our civilization!
Well, they ain't doin' so good either.
The headline from the Independent reads,
"Is Switzerland the next Iceland?"
"In an extraordinary move for a nation proud of its financial prudence and stability, Switzerland was forced to take emergency measures yesterday to shore up its two biggest lenders to prevent a collapse in confidence in the country's banking system.

"The state will inject SFr6bn (£3.1bn) into UBS, its biggest bank, in return for a 9.3 per cent stake, and will allow UBS to unload $54bn (£31bn) of toxic assets, including sub-prime mortgages and Alt-A securities, into a fund controlled by the central bank."

Anybody else notice the lights flickering?

Politics That Divide Us

Sarah Palin was campaigning in North Carolina where she implied that small towns are the real America and the most pro-American. I took exception to that.

“We believe, we believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans: those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us, those who are protecting us in uniform, those who are protecting the virtues of freedom.”

As a resident of the largest town in New York State with a population of 765,111 (yes, you read that right. It's more than Alaska), I'd have to say that we are just as pro-America as any other place. We have so many immigrants that sometimes you wonder what country you're in, but I have to say that that the immigrants are so darn happy to be here and remind me on a daily basis of what a great country this is. Yes they do.

I wonder why so many immigrants would come HERE to my town of all places, but they tell me that there is no work or no fairness where they came from or how violent things are where they lived and how great things are here even though our taxes are among the highest in the country.

There are 16 families on my block. 7 of them (that I know of) are originally from other countries: India, Italy, Palestine, and Spain. My son got to attend school with kids from all over the world. How lucky we are to be surrounded by hardworking decent people who are participating in the melting pot that made America great. There are plenty of us blondes who were born here too and we are not chopped liver, Mrs. Secessionist.

We fight wars too. My town has sent more kids off to war than the state of Alaska has. We probably funded more of the Iraq war than the whole state of Alaska. So what's her point?

Every place in this country is real America. Every place in the country has hardworking people and families and kids and teachers and factory workers who make sacrifices and work towards the betterment of their communities and the country as a whole.

We don't allow guns here, but that doesn't make us bad people. We are just so darn squished (only 191 sq miles of which 37% is water) that someone might lose an eye if we were all packing heat. Does that make us un-American in Palin's eyes? We also have the lowest crime rate in the country. So put that in your pipe, Barbie, and smoke it.

It's no wonder that my area has gone from one of the reddest burgs in the nation to one of the bluest in recent years, what with that gobbledy goop about "real" America from the GOP, who needs that kind of disrespect? I mean, really.

Color me squished and pissed off.

From the sidebar...

...over at The Dark Wraith Forums:

This is an article from The Register about the role played by Wikipedia and The Wall Street Journal in the run-up to the meltdown of the financial services sector: "Emails show journalist rigged Wikipedia's naked shorts." People were warning about the disaster that was coming, but their warnings were kept from the public, their reputations were sometimes trashed, and their writings were banned from major publications. This is not just a cautionary tale about how "conspiracy theorists" can turn out to be the ones telling the honest truth, but it should also serve as a red flag to people who rely on everything from august publications like The Wall Street Journal to Wikipedia for information. Trust sources like these at your own peril: it's not just what you read that should be treated with suspicion; far worse, it's what you don't know—the information that's being kept from you—that can be critically important.

Four Tops Frontman Levi Stubbs has Died

R.I.P. Levi Stubbs

Breaking News

Levi Stubbs, the lead singer in the Motown rhythm and blues quartet, the Four Tops, died Friday at the age of 72 in Michigan after a long battle with illness, an official at the regional coroner's office said.

In 1986, Stubbs' baritone voice was used in the film "Little Shop of Horrors" for Audrey II, the man-eating plant.

He died at his home. Click here for "Walk Away Renee," my favorite Four Tops song. What's yours?

-2Truthy

And Now a Brief Interruption of the Normal Broadcasting Schedule

Please indulge a Mule for a moment. Sometimes I just can't resist the urge to share.

Like most silly old grandmothers with picture books in hand, I love my children, but I worship my grandchildren. And these pictures are of my precious granddaughter, Gracie showing her mount Choctaw (age 23) in a Vintage costume class this summer. Not only is Choctaw hers, so if half of my heart. The other half belonging to her big brother Henry. I like to think of Gracie and Henry as my reward for not killing their daddy when he was a teenager.

Gracie got her first blue ribbon in that class - in fact, she received two blue ribbons that day. And her reaction was as I expected, like it always is. Calm. A glancing smile. Not bragging. Not gloating. She patted Choctaw on the neck just as she has done at the end of every other ride - whether she received a ribbon or not.

Below is Gracie's favorite lullaby. I've been singing this song to her since the day she was born. Nothing melts my heart more than her asking me to "Sing me my song, Granny."

Grandma's Little Girl (Based on "Daddy's Little Girl")"

You're the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold,You're Grandma's Little Girl to have and hold.

A precious gem is what you are;Your Grandma's bright and shining star.

You're the Spirit of Christmas, our star on the tree.

You're the Easter Bunny to Grandpa and me,

Like the angels that sing, you're a heavenly thing-Cause you're Grandma's Little Girl.

Carry On.......

Warren Buffet on Investing Now

Warren Buffet in a NY Times editorial said that he is buying up American stocks for his personal account.

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Let me be clear on one point: I can’t predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven’t the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month — or a year — from now. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.

last ditch efforts by McCain to hurt his opponent

UPDATE: McCain using same robocall service that was used against him in 2000 by the Bushistas. He called them "hate calls" in 2000. He was right then.


-----------
Now that the debates are over, the McCain camp is unleashing vile robocalls on unsuspecting Americans. Isn't this what the bushistas did to McCain in the 2000 primaries? Nice man, that McCain. Not.

Obama Voted To Let Babies Die
Obama And 'Terrorist Bill Ayers'
Dems Want Rights For Enemies
'Hollywood Above America'

I think it's time for Obama to unleash some 527's to do some damage control.

Who Won the Debate?

The blogosphere is buzzing with analysis and commentaries over who the REAL winner was after last night's pre-presidential debate held at Hofstra University. Esteemed economic guru to the Stars, The Dark Wraith Gets it and Gets it Right (on Free Trade, Anyway) on citing Obama's superior foreign trade policy assessment. Obama defended his position:

"I believe in free trade. But I also believe that for far too long, certainly during the course of the Bush administration with the support of Sen. McCain, the attitude has been that any trade agreement is a good trade agreement. And NAFTA doesn't have -- did not have enforceable labor agreements and environmental agreements. And what I said was we should include those and make them enforceable, in the same way that we should enforce rules against China manipulating its currency to make our exports more expensive and their exports to us cheaper..."

We've decided, too. Here are the highlights:

• Healthcare: Neither John McCain or Barack Obama offer Single Payer insurance, which means that as long as jobs continue to be outsourced and wages plummet and people won't have money to pay for health insurance premiums anyway, they'll soon be forced to making budgetary "sacrifices" on all kinds of indulgences like eating melamine infused cans of Purina cat chow, routine colonoscopies, or skipping their weekly bowling nights out. Who won? Barry, only because he says he'll provide insurance for the uninsured with pre-exisiting conditions. We thought we saw his nose growing...
  
• Roe v. Wade: In McCain's mixed up, muffled up, shook up, PTSD world, Women don't get to keep their reproductive rights to themselves and everybody better hide the coat hangers, because if this bitch wins, he'll make sure that SCOTUS will be in your SCROTUS, or, ehm, the female equivalent thereof. Who won? Barry.
• Tax Cuts: McCain, true to the old GOP "soak those suckers" rule, wants to stick it to the non-portfolio class (Joe Wage Slave) while Obama wants to only tax people in the $250K and north club. Who the hell won? Barry, like $250K times over!
  
• Bill Ayers: Shesh, just because he bombed the Pentagon and championed pro-Palestinian rights causes... Not everyone gets to associate with smart guys and besides, he's not the candidate. Who won? Barry.
  
• No Child Left Behind/School Vouchers: If you don't have to go to D.C. public schools, you dodged a bullet. Who won? Barry.
  
• Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan. Funny, that never came up. Who won? Barry.
  
• Who Looked More like a Lawyer Defending Himself Against John McCain? Barry.
• Who Had Beadier Eyes? John McCain.
• Who Would You Not Even Trust to Park Your Car? John McCain.
• Whose Hair Had So Much Hairspray it Looked like a Helmut? Katie Couric.
• Whose Post-Debate Analysis Revealed Nada and Whose Hair ALSO looked like a Helmut? Dee-Dee Myers.
• Who Will be the next POTUS? Barry.
  

Who really should be the next POTUS? Ralph Nader.

-2Truthy

h/t Big Brass Blog and the Economic Populist

The Dirt on Joe the Plumber

UPDATE ON JOE THE PLUMBER:
Joe does make less than $250,000 and would be receiving Obama's tax cuts.

------------------------------------------------
He is practicing plumbing without a license. He owes back taxes.
This story doesn't relate to 95% of Americans.

The Chronicle

"Joe the Plumber," the Toledo, Ohio, man whose complaints about Barack Obama's tax plan were featured in the final presidential debate, owes the state of Ohio almost $1,200 in back income taxes.

According to records on file with the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, the state filed a tax lien against Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (Joe the Plumber) for $1,182.98 on Jan. 26, 2007, that is still active.
...
Also, Wurzelbacher told the Associated Press earlier today he doesn't have a plumber's license and doesn't need one.

Wurzelbacher said he works for a small plumbing company that does residential work. Because he works for someone else, he doesn't need a license, he said.

But the county Wurzelbacher and his employer live in, Lucas County, requires plumbers to have licenses. Neither Wurzelbacher nor his employer are licensed there...

See San Francisco Chronicle: Story of Joe the Plumber springs many leaks

And this just in. But it seems far fetched. Joe the Plumber may be related to the Charles Keating.

Stolen From Anna's "Mills River Progressive" Site:

(Quote from Anna's site: "I think the Palins should frame this sweet family portrait, and hang it on the wall under one of the dead moose heads...")
Yup. Hope that's incentive enough to go pay Anna a visit. Here's the LINK.

Headlines

First, we'll take a look at Bloomberg's headline:
SEC Agrees to Accounting Shift Sought by U.S. Banks.

Then, we'll take a look at Cryptogon's headline for the "same" article:
SEC Agrees to Accounting Shift Sought by U.S. Banks Which Will Allow Them to Keep Pretending that They Haven’t Been Wiped Out.

Now the Bloomberg link will give you the entire article but you can get there anyway by clicking the link in Kevin's post.

Anyone Up for More NYC Pictures?

More Pictures!

And more pictures!

Some Enchanted Evening

Last evening I attended a pro-Obama rally in the park across the street put on by the unions which featured all our local Democratic politicians, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (gee, Peter King didn't come too) and plenty of music from Nine Days, Bruce Hornsby and others. We got there at 3 only to be subjected to hours of speeches and wondered when the music would come on. It started at 6 and didn't end until 8:30. We were pretty beat by then and thinking of going home early but told ourselves that we spent that much time there, we may as well stay longer.

The best part of the evening was the finale, after most of the weary Obama supporters went home, when David Crosby and Graham Nash came on the stage for the intimate but enthusiastic crowd. The big old harvest moon was rising over the trees just before they came on stage and made for an enchanted evening. Crosby and Nash encouraged us to sing along with Our House and Teach Your Children as well as teaching us another song which we didn't know. I am so glad that I stayed for that and glad that I brought blankets, chairs and refreshments.

Just down the road from the park is Hofstra where the debate was about to happen and we wondered about the traffic getting out of there, which turned out to be fine. What event I was totally unaware of until we were on our way home and what my son sarcastically billed the highlight of October 15, was the opening of a new nightclub just on the other side of the park that featured Lindsay Lohan's girlfriend, Samantha Ronson. look what I missed!

Gosh, my little neck of the woods was really happening last evening.

Ad on CNN after the debate...

Caption THIS!

Vacation Pictures!

First views of the city.

10,000 McCainiacs -John McCain has created a monster that's turned on him

From The Daily Show - October 14th

"It's the coordinated attack by the McCain/Palin Campaign designed to stir up anger and fear -- will it work?"
~Jon Stewart

Just look at these monsters who support McCain:

Presidential Debate III: The Final Conflict! Nerds in Paradise! Citizens on Patrol!

I'm a bit cheesed off - McCain said "My friends" exactly once, at the end, and I had already finished my gin and fruit juice. Dang it.

Anyway, on to the post-mortem:

Body language:
Obama seemed fairly calm, with only a slight tightening of the lips to show any reaction to attacks on him (the campaign knew that Ayers would be brought up, among other things, in an attempt to break Obama's cool exterior). My assessment of the effect of McCain's attempts to needle him? Ineffective.
McCain seemed a bit jumpy, showing a lot more emotional reaction. He smirked uncomfortably a great deal, apparently told not to smile open-mouthed by his aides, and he glared at Obama when Obama brought up various topics like the rather obvious hatred spewing from spectators at recent GOP rallies.

Issues:
Obama tried to stay very on point (and I thought his bringing up the Ledbetter case on equal pay was a great segue from the question on abortion rights). He had figures on hand, and at every opportunity tried to keep the discussion civil and focused.
McCain, to be fair, also tried to stay on target, but would stray into attacking Obama in order to get under his skin. He failed to achieve that goal, rather obviously, and it seemed to nettle him in the way he said, "Good job, good job" at the end of the debate.
Both candidates got their points across.

Moderation:
Schieffer was the best of the three moderators, keeping them on the subject and maintaining a good watch on the time.

Who won:
I have to give this to Obama. His policies make more sense on paper (and we've seen Bush try to pay for tax cuts with more tax cuts), seem more grounded in reality and he failed to rise to McCain's baiting of him.

I think the polls will give this one to Obama as well, making him 3-0.

What did you think of the debate?

Well, its a marvelous night for a moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
neath the cover of october skies

Why I'd Make a Better VP than Sarah Palin: Turn Up the Volume

-Very Special Thanks to Roseanne Cash-

"A female (vice) president. Maybe they'd start calling it the 'Ova Office'."
-Brett Butler

Does Sarah Palin act like she was just born tonight?

Well some Women Against Sarah Palin think she would be a national embarrassment and disgrace to our gender if she were to become VP of the United States. If so, would that instead brand it the "Office of Oblivion?"

Now to bring out the big guns... the extraordinarily talented and amazing Grammy Award winning Country, Folk, Blues, Pop and Rock singer and songwriter Roseanne Cash offers a near dozen reasons why she'd make a better VP than Sarah Palin:

"In summation, I present myself to the GOP as a woman, and I repeat, woman, who has held a passport for thirty-eight years, a lip gloss-wearing soccer-volleyball-softball-gymnastics mom of five, who can carry a six-pack home to her husband like nobody's business, whose will is firmly aligned with God's will, a neo-natal conservative and legally savvy public figure, a border-watching, trigonometry-credited, breastfeeding, BlackBerry-tapping, cat-throwing maverick whose daughters are out of their teens, therefore immune to teenage pregnancy (although this is a private, family matter), and whose dad's head (or an eerie facsimile) adorns a state airline."

Hey Roseanne, you're not alone.


-2Truthy

Suit against God thrown out over lack of address

I hope the Senator appeals:

A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served due to his unlisted home address. State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction against God.

He said God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents in Omaha, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

Chambers has said he filed the lawsuit to make the point that everyone should have access to the courts regardless of whether they are rich or poor.

On Tuesday, however, Douglas County District Court Judge Marlon Polk ruled that under state law a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a lawsuit to move forward.

"Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice," Polk wrote.

Chambers, who graduated from law school but never took the bar exam, thinks he's found a hole in the judge's ruling.

"The court itself acknowledges the existence of God," Chambers said Wednesday. "A consequence of that acknowledgment is a recognition of God's omniscience."

Therefore, Chambers said, "Since God knows everything, God has notice of this lawsuit."

Chambers has 30 days to decide whether to appeal. He said he hasn't decided yet.

Chambers, who has served a record 38 years in the Nebraska Legislature, is not returning next year because of term limits. He skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians.

I thought his address was HEAVEN.....

No?

Two "Must See" intertube sites!

Palinaspresident
Hilarious - Make sure your sound is up and click on objects in the picture!



And PSA for "Vote for McCain"

See more Hayden Panettiere videos at Funny or Die

Every Time I turn on the TV...

I see either Palin or McCain giving a speech to cheering crowds.

Thanks cable news.

NOT.

NYC Trip - Finale

Had a much more restful trip heading south than I did heading north, and thank you, Amtrak for charging me so much extra for a sleeper compartment.

Next time I fly up there and take the PATH train in.

Took a bunch of pics of the trip back, including a few shots of Washington DC from the train. As we pulled into the Alexandria station I got several shots of the National Masonic Memorial, an impressive neo-Whatever pile erected to either commemorate all the good the freethinkers and Masons of the country have done over the centuries - or channel spiritual energy for their lurid secret rites and blood rituals.

It depends on who you talk to, I guess.

Final tally of pictures taken was 1043, less than half of the 2100 or so shots I took during my trip to Germany. Why so few? Well, simple answer is that I was only in NYC half the time I was in Germany. So there.

Pictures will be posted, of course, starting with the one you see above, a moment of beauty brought to you courtesy of the guy who designed Central Park.

Enjoy.

Debate Fever and Excitment In My Neck of the Woods

Hofstra University is hosting the debates tonight. It's my and my son's alma mater. It's just up the road from us, if you can actually get up the road. In understand that there are 3,000 media types swarming the hood. It's exciting to have such an event out here. I just read how much it cost to host the debate and luckily the university has very generous trustees and sponsors.

Hofstra's share of the cost of hosting tonight's debate turned out to be more like $3.5 million, doled out by three longtime boosters and alumni with deep pockets and deep ties to the university: Kalikow, a real estate developer; John D. Miller, a philanthropist; and David S. Mack, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

While many of the students come from wealthy families and are pretty conservative (business majors), the faculty at the university are not conservative. Our county, Nassau has turned blue. Yay. So nyah.

Political legend has it that Ronald Reagan once said that "when a Republican dies and goes to heaven it looks a lot like Nassau County." There used be jokes that when Democrats gathered for meetings on Long Island, the sessions were held in phone booths.

Not anymore, bucko! We threw the bums out several years ago. There are no big John McCain rallies happening. But there will be protests.

My son said he wants to go over to Hofstra to join the protest by the IVAW but mom is a bit concerned about him being arrested, although I would be so proud, kind of, but not really. Money is tight and I don't want to spend it to bail him out of jail.

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will lead non-violent demonstrations at Hofstra University prior to the final presidential debate Oct. 15 to demand two IVAW members be allowed to ask each candidate one question.

Should IVAW's demands not be met in full by 7 p.m., members of the organization are willing to risk arrest by entering the debate to have their voices heard by the candidates.

IVAW intends to "force the issue" that servicemembers and veterans are not being heard or cared for by our leaders. The next president should make caring for our wounded military a top domestic priority, in addition to ending the war in Iraq.
[...]
IVAW is currently working to contact debate moderator Bob Schieffer to make its demands known

As much as I'd like to take part in something like that and show my solidarity, I am too old and will leave it to the younger folks. When I was a younger folk myself, I attended plenty of anti-war demonstrations. Actually I attended 2 in DC with Red State Blues recently, so what am I talking about?

In fact today I am walking over to Eisenhower Park, a stone's throw from the university and my house, to see an Obama rally headlined by David Crosby and Graham Nash with Bruce Hornsby and others. yay. It's going to be in the 70's. Nice day for an outing and to feel all patriotic. Finally.

Walt Handlesman has been hanging around Hofstra making cartoons. Here's one. The rest are here.

Very nice article over at Huffington about the Sun.



There are more fab pix at the Boston Site.

Here's a site that shows the daily condition of the local ball of fire that keeps us going.
And check out the SOHO site from NASA

Healthcare

The LA Times lays out the McCain health plan and the Obama health plan for your perusal.

Okay. Now I know.

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is Politics?"

Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way; I am the head of the family, so call me The President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we will call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense."

So the little boy! Goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."

The father says, "Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."

The little boy replies, "The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit."

(Thanks, Jill.)

Anger After Cheerleaders Stage Mock Execution at Pep Rally

I just found this "Fearleader" story over at GodIsNotAnAsshole
and I couldn't agree with you more Indigus -- "I GIVE UP"

From Fox News: (figures!)

Cheerleaders at Nacogdoches High School in Nacogdoches, Tex., performed a skit wearing cowboy hats and carrying toy guns while they shot down cheerleaders dressed as the opposing team — the Center High School Roughriders — who had come to steal the NHS mascot, the newspaper reported.

In a video posted to Facebook, Nacogdoches cheerleaders are seen forcing the Roughriders to kneel before them and feign shooting the girls in the head. The mock killers then drag their prey into a pile and celebrate celebrate by raising their guns and tossing money into the air.

More than 120 students have signed a petition protesting “gun promotion” at pep rallies, but the school principal, Nathan Chaddick, called the skit "simple, innocent satire" to boost school spirit, according to the Sentinel.
Everybody enjoyed it and had a good time,” Chaddick said, according to the newspaper.

After the incident the school newspaper published an editorial by a cheerleader in support of the skit in its entirety. Chaddick edited out criticism of the administration in an article opposing the performance, the Daily Sentinel said.

"They were calling the cheerleaders 'fearleaders.'" Chaddick told the newspaper. "That's just inappropriate."

"Excuse me, I think I just dropped something"

"Monty Python could have written this" -- John Cleese on Sarah Palin

Money - Not Love - Makes the World Go Round

The RNC is considering diverting $5 million to Senate incumbents who run the risk of losing re-election bids in November—and thereby the headcount to effectively filibuster against the Democratic majority.


Lucky for McCain, they have plenty.

Better Dig In

President Bush announced this morning that nine major American banks are getting a $125 billion cash infusion (an additional $125b to smaller institutions) from us the U.S. government, and, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke does his best Stuart Smalley.

One Big Reason...

...why changing parties or administrations or majorities in Congress won't change jackshit.

Because these are the guys who are REALLY calling the shots:
(from EconomicPolicy.com)
"They Are Getting Ready To Divvy Up The Lucre: US Summons Only Super Elite Bankers To A Meeting"

"The Bush administration summoned executives from leading banks to a meeting in Washington Monday afternoon to work out details of the $700 billion plan.

"And, as they say in Chicago, "If you are not at the table, you are on the menu."

"For the record those expected at the table are:

"Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, and Bank of America Corp. CEO Kenneth Lewis were all asked to attend. There was some speculation that Paulson might have expanded the invitation to at least three other CEOs from various regional banks, people said.

"The FDIC directly examines and supervises about 5,250 banks and savings banks, and Paulosn invites at most 8 bankers to discuss how to divvy up $700 billion?

"It was expected that whatever comes out of the meeting will be used to put the finishing touches on the plan," AP reported its sources as saying."


And a flip of the Blonde wig tresses to Kevin at Cryptogon.

Cautiously Optimistic Editorial

From the looks of the morning political pundits, Obama will be the next president. Experience has taught me however that pundits of all persuasions are usually wrong. While I believe that Americans are overwhelmingly disgusted with McPalin except for the very rich and the very ignorant, it all will come down to the actual election process itself. It's hard to fix an election when there is a landslide though. So I remain cautiously optimistic that the GOP won't be kicking us around anymore (not that I believe that the Democrats will be whole lot better). "Different" will be a relief although sometimes you have to be careful of what you pray for.

I'm just hoping that there will be a respite from American imperialism and the very rich don't get very richer. I think they have enough already. Greed is so unbecoming.

I look forward to telling those who are fumed that Obama won the election, "Get over it, you racist. Stop whining." A girl can dream can't she?

When the Long Arm of the Lawlessness Knocks...

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."
-Mark Twain, 1912

As details of Wall Street's bumpy $700 billion bailout ride to the bottom of the financial abyss unfolds, jangled sounds from the merchant class in steerage shout "Hey, who's running this ship?" "Mwahahaha! It self-selects!" laughs and laughs the ghost rider second mate at this woeful lot, these Chaucer's pilgrims -- as the hapless souls on board scramble to grab the last chairs on the deck, scrimmaging to hold onto anything that isn't moving.

Like a tangled web of global GPS systems accountable only unto themselves, these plundering pirates of the damned wrestle not with their flimsy excuses of collective (non) conscience but with plans to to socialize their corporate ponzi schemes as they buy off Congress and show the slaves who's REALLY boss right before this presidential election. "They'll never know!" Shouts the burly first mate --not unlike a whole first row of concert goers wearing tee-shirts emblazoned "He'll Never Know" at a Stevie Wonder concert.

At a meeting of the World Bank's policy-setting committee, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, King Hank Paulson, gets to make it all up as he goes along! Hank has now declared that despite the corporate looting of middle class America that has gone without massive protest, his watch has absolutely no plans to enact laws that protect American jobs:

"Although we in the United States are taking many extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flow of goods, services or capital, as such measures would only intensify the risks of a prolonged crisis."

"Flow of goods"? As if we need any more tainted milk products from China. Willie Nelson and his fellow Farm Aid board members John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Dave Matthews sent an open letter to Congress asking that some of that money be redirected to farmers across the U.S. so that we can better strengthen our food supply and safety and restore prosperity to this nation's once abundant family farms. How about restoring "Services"? Who wants to pay three times as much for their weekly mow & blow? (Certainly, not yours truly. Tough choices, indeed.) Oh, and about that "capital" thing: we of course know that "capital" is HR speak for "cheap imported labor from third world countries" that was supposed to make the Captains of Industry squeal with delight over all of those projected profits that was supposed to increase job opportunities for white collar workers (we all know how that turned out.) But don't count on the two presidential candidates "debating" any of these key issues during their upcoming "debate."

Maybe we are just not looking at the bright side... As long as we can keep buying all that crap from China and importing cheap labor into this country to take white collar jobs from our own citizens during this economic collapse, we don't have to be guilty of not being superstitious... So far, things are working out just great for Paulson and Kashkari & Co., as long as the plebes keep believing in things they don't understand...

Meanwhile, Spain and other countries are facing severe economic difficulties, as governments everywhere are hunkering down to protect their own.

And what of our Government? What government? Our degenerate government largely consists of actors, wannabes, pedophiles, and a whole casts of characters slopping around the trough with great abandon, viewing the neighborhood voters as the suckers they have proven themselves to be. The U.S. Congress is nothing but a melamine coated candy store without any clerks minding the till. These scallywags and their Wall Street Sugar Daddies succeed in hornswaggling the plebes to row in the galleys despite dwindling human and labor rights, as they grant themselves cushy compensation plans and benefits on the taxpayer dime, throwing out labor protections along the high seas of Greed, Hubris, and Enmity. But it's not about the people, and the people know it's not really about the people. It's about a rudderless ship that is remote-control operated by a few corporate, upstairs greedstas who have no more use for an educated middle class who dare to believe that they actually deserve healthcare, good paying jobs, privacy and civil rights.

Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps?

"I know people from all kinds of backgrounds - the very rich, to the very poor. The socioeconomic divisions are greater than any of race, creed, or color. Period. The historical record clearly represents that the very wealthy despise the poor and even the "merchant class". The "merchant class" of today includes all white collar workers, the so-called Upper Middle Class. The Republicans do not serve them either. Small business is not served by either party - but especially not among the old wealth elites who really run the Republican party. The Democrats are no better. Their allegiance is to a foreign power instead of the best interests of the USA."

There is some good news -- our nation's Capital will soon be losing its eight-year extended stay village idiot.

-2Truthy

Politicians Serve Up McValues (with a little extra sumpthin on the side)

Remember Mark Foley? Well, ha, ha, this is almost too good to be true: married West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney, better known as the man who replaced pervy IM-sender Mark Foley, supposedly paid a former mistress he had hired as a consultant $121,000 after she threatened to sue him.
Mahoney's spokesperson is denying that the woman in question, Patricia Allen, received any payment, but numerous current and former staffers confirm the story to ABC.
Back in 2006, Mahoney campaigned against Foley by promising " a world that is safer, more moral"; an ad featuring him and his wife bared the tag line, "Restoring America's Values Begins at Home."

For Blackdog; those cool Arkieville nights.

Let The Banks Fail

From wakeupfromyourslumber

Now that the financial system is imploding as we all knew that it would, it's time to get serious about solving the problem that has plagued our nation for almost 200 years - the private central banking system. It's time to let it go. It's time to do what Andrew Jackson tried to do a very long time ago. The truth of this excerpt from his Bank Veto Message of July 10, 1832 is as relevant now as it was then.

Excerpt:

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society-the farmers, mechanics, and laborers-who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. In the act before me there seems to be a wide and unnecessary departure from these just principles.

Nor is our Government to be maintained or our Union preserved by invasions of the rights and powers of the several States. In thus attempting to make our General Government strong we make it weak. Its true strength consists in leaving individuals and States as much as possible to themselves-in making itself felt, not in its power, but in its beneficence; not in its control, but in its protection; not in binding the States more closely to the center, but leaving each to move unobstructed in its proper orbit.

Experience should teach us wisdom. Most of the difficulties our Government now encounters and most of the dangers which impend over our Union have sprung from an abandonment of the legitimate objects of Government by our national legislation, and the adoption of such principles as are embodied in this act. Many of our rich men have not been content with equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to gratify their desires we have in the results of our legislation arrayed section against section, interest against interest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which threatens to shake the foundations of our Union. It is time to pause in our career to review our principles, and if possible revive that devoted patriotism and spirit of compromise which distinguished the sages of the Revolution and the fathers of our Union. If we can not at once, in justice to interests vested under improvident legislation, make our Government what it ought to be, we can at least take a stand against all new grants of monopolies and exclusive privileges, against any prostitution of our Government to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many, and in favor of compromise and gradual reform in our code of laws and system of political economy.


Great comments:

Peacetroll writes

"If you want to make a real individual effort, DONT BORROW MONEY FROM BANKS and DONT USE CREDIT CARDS!

IF YOU HAVE CREDIT CARDS, pay them off and get rid of them.

IF you haven't borrowed money from the bank..DONT. (See rule of 72, they abuse you and you don't even know it).

If you're in a loan, so be it, your awake now and from now on, change and dont use the Bank, its a mark you'll regret.

DONT BORROW MONEY, DONT USE CREDIT CARDS.

IT IS THE LEAST WE WHO SEE CAN DO.

Spread the word."

"Through Andrew Jackson Quotes, We Find a Man Wary of the Evils and True Goals of Central Bank Owners... He Warns of an Elite Intent on Destroying the Constitution."


Discover the True Purpose of a Democracy as it Relates to the Infiltration of the American Government by Large Banking Interests.


Learn How Democracy and its Harmful Impact on America is Leading to a Tracked and Imprisoned People.


Uncover American Revolution Quotes That Remind You That Nothing is More Important Than Staying True to Our Constitution and the Freedom it Represents.


Discover Quotes on Democracy as Well as How America Began as a Republic, Not a Democracy.


Educate Yourself on the Purpose of Law in Democracy and How it Relates to the American Fraud Government.


Here is some background on The Second Bank of the United States --

The Second Bank of the United States provided a convenient way for the government to handle its affairs. The bank was created when James Madison and Albert Gallatin found the government unable to finance the country in the aftermath of the War of 1812. The War of 1812 had put the United States in significant debt,[3] and the First Bank of the United States had closed in 1811. The debt of the nation led to an increase in banknotes among the new private banks, and as a result, inflation increased greatly.[3] As a result, Madison and Congress agreed to form the Second Bank of the United States.
After the war, despite the debt, the United States also experienced an economic boom, due to the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars. In particular, because of the damage to Europe's agricultural sector, the U.S. agricultural sector underwent an expansion. The Bank aided this boom through its lending, which encouraged speculation in land. This lending allowed almost anyone to borrow money and speculate in land, sometimes doubling or even tripling the prices of land. The land sales for 1819, alone, totaled some 55 million acres (220,000 km²). With such a boom, hardly anyone noticed the widespread fraud occurring at the Bank as well as the economic bubble that had been created.[4]
In the summer of 1818, the national bank managers realized the bank's massive over-extension, and instated a policy of contraction and the calling in of loans. This recalling of loans simultaneously curtailed land sales and slowed the U.S. production boom due to the recovery of Europe. The result was the Panic of 1819 and the situation leading up to McCulloch v. Maryland 17 U.S. 316 (1819).[5]
Maryland adopted a policy to restrict banks, by placing a tax on any bank that was not chartered by the state legislature. This tax was either 2% of all assets or a flat rate of $15,000. That meant that the Baltimore Branch would have to pay this hefty tax. McCulloch filed suit against the state in a county court. The case made its way through the courts, all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, where the tax by the state of Maryland was ultimately struck down. Daniel Webster had successfully argued the case for the bank

.


Experience should teach us wisdom

WTF?

McCain is an Idiot

From the Florida presidential candidate's debate in January --

An economic question from Ron Paul to John McCain regarding the President's Working Group on Financial Markets (aka the PPT - Plunge Protection Team)




From the ending of the movie Billy Madison (Adam Sandler stars as a slacker who must go back to school in order to take over his father's business)

Principal:

"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

Uh...about those cell phones...

Pop Corn téléphone portable micro-ondes
Uploaded by sassiere

Update:
This was supposedly debunked by CNN and Snopes. So much for the conspiracy stuff.
But if anybody tries it, let us know what you find out!

November is No Time for Myths

President John F. Kennedy once said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived and dishonest - but the myth - persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."
Was this a visionary leader leaving us a warning about the 2008 election?

One day after our nation's financial system suffered its greatest hit in generations, workers and retirees across the nation wondered if their 401(k) plans would keep sinking and leave them destitute, Sen. John McSenile said, "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." He might as well have added; And yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus.

Sen. Barack Obama asked McCain what economy he was talking about. Some TV pundits said that the Arizona senator appeared to be out of touch and insensitive. So his campaign wound him up and sent him out to attack Obama and talk about how he and Caribou Barbie were "mavericks" who would rein in and regulate the bad actors on Wall Street.

This is John McCain - the guy who told the Wall Street Journal last year, "I am fundamentally a dederegulator." This is John McCain, whose top economic advisor, former Sen. Pil Gramm, was responsible for introducing the dangerous legislation (written by banking lobbyists) that allowed financial institutions to engage in the riskiest of loans. This is John McCain, the guy who voted against raising the minimum wage 19 times and voted against repealing tax breaks that encourage American companies to send jobs overseas. Regulate the bad actors? Give me a break.

McCain's party, which always promises lower taxes and less government, is spending billions of dollars of taxpayer's money to bail out banks and insurance companies.

Sens. McCain and Obama both have established record in their legislative careers that show just where they stand on regulation and deregulation, on trade policy and on the rights and needs of working families.

Brothers and sisters, we are being lied to. Let's heed President Kennedy's warning and not fall for dangerous myths when our nation's very future is on the line.


Can a sista get a cowgirl outfit and an amen?

Poor People = Cannon Fodder

The Army is trying to add 65,000 soldiers (to a grand total of 547,000) in the next year or so. Good news! The economy is helping: "The economic downturn could make it easier to attract new recruits to the military, Defense officials said Friday.... Economic uncertainty and a declining job market are likely to make potential recruits and their parents more receptive to a pitch from the military, said David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness." Also we are looking forward to seeing a whole bunch of Lehman Brothers bankers sign up for the front lines.

Only 83 percent of Army recruits last year have a high school diploma—and the Marine Corps had to grant waivers for "behavioral" (read: drug arrests, at best) or medical issues to nearly half of its new recruits.

Saw this over the weekend!





For a little fun, take the Sarah Palin Experience Quiz.

Update:
Here's the URL for the quiz. There have been some connection problems with some ISPs.
http://mosatire.tripod.com/Sarah01.swf

If you type it in, make sure you the case is the same; Capital "S" on Sarah.

Number of the Day

Today's number of the day is 98.

That's what my Bush's Last Day countdown clock says.

Whaddya think of that?

Columnist Paul Krugman wins Nobel economics prize

Congrats!

Princeton professor and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wins Nobel economics prize

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Paul Krugman, the Princeton University scholar and New York Times columnist, won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect trade patterns and the location of economic activity.

Krugman has been a harsh critic of the Bush administration and the Republican Party in The New York Times, where he writes a regular column and has a blog called "Conscience of a Liberal."

He has come out forcefully against John McCain during the economic meltdown, saying the Republican candidate is "more frightening now than he was a few weeks ago" and earlier that the GOP has become "the party of stupid."
continued

And the "party of stupid" will probably come out and say that the Nobel prize only goes to commies.

October Surprise?

For the Republicans

If you're an investor or have a retirement account, your quarterly reports that were recently mailed out to perhaps a 100 million Americans will show that you lost 30% of your money. It's hard to believe that any Americans will be worried about gay marriage or the abortion issue when their pocketbooks are suffering and their futures look dismal. Rob Kall at Op Ed News suggests your quarterly report is The Mailer That Put the Final Nail in the McCain Campaign Coffin

Here's something to think about. "Trillions in stock market value — gone. Trillions in retirement savings — gone. A huge chunk of the money you paid for your house, the money you're saving for college, the money your boss needs to make payroll — gone, gone, gone". Read Trillions Disappear in Stock Market, but Where Did Money Go?

IMF [International Monetary Fund] warns of financial meltdown
I don't know why anyone would listen to Paulson or any of the "experts" in the United States who asked the European leaders who were working "feverishly over the weekend to restore blocked credit markets to working order" to have patience. In fact the economy is credit starved and deteriorating fast. A year ago, they snickered at those who predicted this meltdown. Why should we trust the same people to fix it?

hat tip farang

Your Poster Apologizes:

Yep! Missed another one. Here's what should have appeared in the

"Obligatory Friday Bank Failure(s) Post":

"Two banks fold, bringing total to 15 failures this year"

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Northville, Mich.-based Main Street Bank and Eldred, Ill.-based Meridian Bank became the latest victims of the ongoing financial crisis on Friday, when they folded and their deposits were transferred by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. 

The closures are the 14th and 15th bank failures so far this year. 

The FDIC said in a prepared statement that Main Street Bank had $98 million in total assets and $86 million in total deposits as of Tuesday. All of Main Street's deposits were assumed by Monroe, Mich.-based Monroe Bank & Trust, the FDIC said. 

The FDIC said that Meridian Bank had total assets of $39.2 million and $36.9 million in total deposits as of Sep. 25. National Bank will buy roughly $7.6 million of Meridian's assets, while the FDIC will "retain the remaining assets for later disposition," according to its statement. All of Meridian Bank's depositors, "including any with deposits in excess of the FDIC's insurance limits," will automatically become depositors of Hillsboro, Ill.-based National Bank, the FDIC said. 

The FDIC said Main Street Bank's failure will cost its insurance fund between $33 million and $39 million, while Meridian's failure will cost the fund between $13 million and $14.5 million.

The Bank Implode-O-Meter has a "Not-so-grand" total.

In related news from Britain, Savers vault from the banks to a safe place at home:

Sales of household safes have surged as wealthy savers concerned about the health of banks opt to keep cash at home.

Leading safe manufacturers contacted by The Times said that they had seen a big increase in demand. Many predicted that fears of meltdown in the banking sector would mean a further rush before Christmas.

One company said that sales had increased by a quarter, while another said that its staff had received calls from panicking investors who now wanted to keep their savings locked away at home.

Russ Reader, the managing director of Leigh Safes, which makes, fits and sells safes, said: “It’s simple: if there’s a lack of confidence in banks, people buy and fit European and insurance-approved safes and put the contents on their home insurance.

UPDATE: The Quadrillion Dollar Powder Keg Waiting To Blow: "The heart of the current crisis is the quadrillion plus derivative market. Roughly half of these derivatives are listed on exchanges, but the other half are on the totally unregulated, totally opaque, poorly documented and mostly naked (no reserves or collateral given to secure performance) OTC derivatives market."

Good News on Long Island

Newsday reported today that Obama has a double digit lead over John McCain on suburban Long Island.

Yay. I don't have to cower anymore. But yes, I still meet bimbos who tell me that if Obama wins they fear they will have to wear a burka and they obviously don't read the paper.

In this poll of 761 likely voters, McCain fared poorly across the board -- trailing Obama among both men and women, in Nassau and Suffolk counties and among all races, income and educational groups. The two roughly split voters 65 and up and independents, with a small edge in both to Obama. McCain carried a single group -- Republicans. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points .
[...]
Obama also benefited from a strong anti-war sentiment on the Island, as about two-thirds of voters support having a timetable to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, one of Obama's signature issues and sharpest differences with McCain.

Many experts believe suburban areas such as Long Island hold the key to this election, and the contests in five states -- Virginia, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada and North Carolina -- hinge in large part on Obama's showing in suburbs there, said Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.

Long Island used to be a Republican bastion. Heck, even I was a Republican for most of my adult life (but that was mostly because of local politics... I wanted my garbage picked up and my street plowed.) Things have changed dramatically here. I'm so relieved.

How's by you? What's the sentiment? Are you afraid to speak?


UPDATE MONDAY: Newsday reports today that over 5000 attended a foreclosure auction where 35 foreclosed homes went for as little as $250,000 to the low $300's.

Newsday also reports that for 63% of Long Islanders, the economy is the number one issue in the election. The war on Iraq and terrorism came in second at 8% apiece. They didn't report on the gay marriage or abortion issue as to how it affects Long Island voters. While Long Island is doing better than the national average, people are still wary. I didn't much of a slowdown in the stores over the weekend. The parking lots were packed. There was a sale at the fabric store and the lines were out the door. I guess people are going to sew their own clothes and stuff. I know I am.

Dirruk, this one is for you.

From AmericaBlog:

"The American Center For Sarah Palin Inspirational Limericks"

I imagine some of these could become classics. Pen your own or just read and enjoy.
Now, I wonder what rhymes with Nantucket?

Headline of the Hour:

BUZZFLASH:
"Sarah Palin is a Manchurian Candidate for One Extremist Splinter Group of the End-Times Crowd"
(Beginning Text): "If a group of people conspires to seize control of the American Government in order to accomplish an agenda to force an extremist theology on U.S. citizens, a religious belief that views the presidency as a necessary step in advancing "end times," isn’t this treason?

"We think so.

"While the mainstream media has been preoccupied with regurgitating – for the third time this year – discredited assertions about a ‘60s radical turned esteemed educational professor and Barack Obama, it hasn’t given any notice to the extreme branch of Dominionism that Sarah Palin adheres to.

"Perhaps the "you betcha’" and "pit bull with lipstick" folksiness veneer makes it hard to accept that Palin is part of a rebel cult aimed at taking control of the U.S. government in the name of advancing Armageddon. It is kind of hard to think of the VP candidate that Republicans touted at the GOP convention with buttons as "The Hottest VP from the Coolest State" as a Manchurian candidate, but who are you going to believe, Palin or the evidence?

"If you think BuzzFlash is going off the deep end of conspiracy theories, then watch this smoking gun video."

When Rednecks Fly

In an recent thread, Jerseycynic posted this link:
If history is guide, path to White House is through Missouri posted then asked this question: "MoMule - how's it looking in MO??"


I'm not seeing it so much here in East Jaysus where the McSame/Pain signs dot every other lawn or farm (with the exception of my own and few other sinners) but apparently it's happening, or so says Yahoo news.
'Rednecks for Obama' want to bridge yawning culture gap

I ain't buying it. Suffering dose strange things to sheep. I've seen it up front and center. They'll take up with anyone. The fine folks from Missouri are just so thrilled that they aren't being totally ignored (as they were by John Kerry and the baby yuppies he sent their way in the 2004 election) that the poor dears actually think Obama is gonna save'em. And to Obama's merit, his handlers know this, and have made a concentrated effort to make a show here in the great Show-Me-State.

But to answer JC's question: Yes, the tide is turning. Unfortunately, it has taken a tidal wave.

Oh, and for record: Any redneck worth his or her weight knows that their Doublewides don't appreciate in value. Well, at least those of us that made it to ninth grade do.



We do, however, date our cousins if they have cable.

Trying to enjoy the season under adverse conditions

With the shit hitting the fan on a daily basis, I wonder how many of us have taken the time to enjoy the lovely autumn and decorate our homes accordingly.

Have I mentioned that I detest Sarah Palin? Well I took that energy and hung my autumnal wreath on the front door yesterday and put out 2 pumpkins. Then I stabbed the obligatory scarecrow guy into the ground by the side of the garage and arranged a couple of corn stalks. I haven't bought that colorful corn to hang on the house yet, but I probably will. But then again, maybe I won't. The maple trees on my front lawn are turning yellow and red. The leaves are beginning to fall allowing a lot more light to come through, but the peak here doesn't come until after Halloween... I just happen to have trees that turn early, so nature takes care of a lot of my Halloween decorating.

What do you like about autumn and how do you decorate?

Breaking: Ethics investigation finds Palin abused power

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday. The politically charged inquiry imperiled her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican ticket.

Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report by a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.

The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

The panel found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

continued.

Oh good god

TROY, N.Y. (AP) -- Who is running for president? In an upstate New York county, hundreds of voters have been sent absentee ballots in which they could vote for "Barack Osama." continued

Political?

My Grandfather*



*Not really! Just a reasonable facsimilie thereof.

And Now the News We Really Don't Give a Shit About

There are only a select few routes high-profile husbands can take when caught screwing women who are not their wives, the two most popular being the Duchovnian sex-addict gambit (porn fees apply), and the other being the wifey-ignored-my-boners approach given, in an upcoming interview with Barbara Walters, by Christie Brinkley ex Peter Cook. Neither way is particularly appealing, but then, hey, these are their reputations—and in Cook's case, his former wife's ex-husband's money—they're dealing with.

Cook tells Walters that, in slutting around and racking up massive porn bills, he "was seeking a connection I could not find in my own marriage. I think the emotional aspect of our lives had changed. I think we were both feeling more like we were living with a brother and sister than a life partner." So, the story goes, he went off and found that connection with his buxom 18-year-old employee.
In the interview airing Friday night Cook seemingly does away with the pesky confidentiality agreement under which he and Brinkley ended their messy divorce recently (his $2.1 million settlement is said to have gone mostly to legal fees), saying, "I wanted a little acknowledgment, a little attention, a little thank you every now and then for my efforts, for the amount of time I took to care for her and my family, for the wealth I was building." Ha ha, whoa! But that's not to say he's broken completely: "My hope is that the world see that I'm not the scumbag pervert that I've been painted to be."
Anyway, Peter. The takeway? Go the sex-addict route, cornered horny husbands. There's nothing worse than a certifiable narcissit losing it all and returning as a whiny little bitch in a Barbara Walters interview.

THE GREAT MADNESS -A Victory for the American Plutocracy -by Scott Nearing — 1917

Here's some background on Scott Nearing:

Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 – August 24, 1983) was an American conservationist, peace activist, educator, writer and economist.
In 1954 he co-authored Living the Good Life: How to Live Simply and Sanely in a Troubled World with his wife Helen . The book, in which war, famine, and poverty were discussed, described a nineteen-year "back to the land experiment," and also advocated a modern day "homesteading." Eugene V. Debs, the five-time Socialist presidential candidate, called Nearing the "greatest teacher in the United States,"

Read some excerpts from THE GREAT MADNESS - written in 1917...

The entrance of the United States into the world war on April 6, 1917, was the greatest victory that the American PLUTOCRACY has won over the American democracy since the declaration of war with Spain in 1898. The American plutocracy urged the war; shouted for it; demanded it; insisted upon it, and finally got it.

The plutocracy welcomed the war not because it was a war, but because it meant a chance to get a stronger grip on the United States.

[The plutocrats believe there are some things worse than war]: the confiscation of special privileges; the abolition of unearned income; the overthrow of the economic parasitism; the establishment of industrial democracy. The plutocrats would welcome a war that promised salvation from any such calamities; they would also welcome a war that promised greater foreign markets, the destruction of foreign competition, more security for property rights and a longer lease on life for plutocratic despotism.

The plutocrats, or wealth lords, ... were for the war from the beginning. They urged preparedness; they demanded national defense; they cried aloud for reprisals upon Germany because ... it gave them a chance to deliver a knock-out blow to the American democracy.

Big business was in public disfavor. Advertisements, "boiler-plate," news stories, press agents and blatant philanthropies had little effect. The people would not forget the "public be damned" days of the business buccaneers. They had learned about the rebates, the unfair rates, the debauchery of public officials and the criminal practices by which many of the most successful of the big business men had climbed into power. The people were "wise" to big business, and they were getting wiser every day.

The immense success of the parcels post sounded an ominous warning to special privilege. There was general talk that the telephone and telegraph industry would be nationalized next, and that the railroads would follow suit at an early date. If this socializing of industry was once begun, where was it to end?

The public had been educated, through many years, by progressive and radical political leaders, newspaper men, and social workers. There was the labor movement in its various phases - unions, socialism, I. W. W. The people were learning the lesson rapidly. Laws were passed; commissions were appointed; regulations were imposed. Most of the laws were violated; most of the commissions were captured by the plutocrats and most of the regulations were evaded. Still public opposition rose stubbornly and surely..........................

Wait until you read the rest. I'm pounding my head - I don't know what to say. 1917!!!-???????


"I'm a little verklempt"?

STOCKS SOAR

Today's New York Post cover is laugh out loud funny—made even funnier overnight by the crash of the Japanese and European markets.

How Alan Greenspan Created the Train Wrecked Economy

If you only read one story this week about the financial crisis, read Peter Goodman's extraordinary take down of Alan Greenspan in yesterday's New York Times.
Among the highlights:

• While Warren Buffett and and Felix Rohatyn were calling derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction" and potential "hydrogen bombs", Greenspan was collaborating with Robert Rubin and Larry Summers during the Clinton administration to prevent all efforts to regulate them.

• Brooksley E. Born, the former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency that regulates options and futures trading, warned Congress in 1997 that derivatives needed to be regulated. Greenspan, Rubin and then-SEC chair Arthur Levitt responded by asking Congress to strip the Commission of its regulatory authority, and Congress complied. Born then left the commission.

• A former colleague of Born's explained: ""Brooksley was this woman who was not playing tennis with these guys and not having lunch with these guys. There was a little bit of the feeling that this woman was not of Wall Street."

• Levitt, who now regrets his position, said "Greenspan opposes regulating derivatives because of a fundamental disdain for government."

• The derivative market now totals $531 trillion (up from up from $106 trillion in 2002)—and that number is at the heart of the chaos still roiling the markets.

• "Mr. Greenspan helped enable an ambitious American experiment in letting market forces run free. Now, the nation is confronting the consequences."

Read it and weep.

Taking a page from the bush playbook

From TPM

In advance of tomorrow's release of the Alaska legislature's report on the troopergate investigation, the McCain-Palin campaign has released its own investigative report clearing Palin of any wrongdoing.

Oh that's rich.

bullying voters, suppression of votes, theft of elections

I was listening to Democracy Now! yesterday. Here's the transcript of the interview with Greg Palast on vote rigging and voter suppression.

Here's the comic book on getting your vote back.

Will the dirty McPalin campaign foment violence?

God forbid anything bad should happen to Barack Obama.

Would the McPalin campaign bear any responsibility for inciting such hostility for Obama?
How about the MSM for reporting on their rallies?
Or is it just that the wackos come out of the woodwork to see McCain and Palin in person?

Inflammatory Republican rallies raise concerns

what do you think?

UPDATE FRIDAY:
David Gergen: McCain/palin rallies "whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence"

I really worry when we get people -- when you get the kind of rhetoric that you're getting at these rallies now. I think it's really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down.

See also RAGE IN THE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM

John McCain and Sarah Palin were backstage, and Lehigh County GOP Chairman Bill Platt was warming up the crowd of 6,000 at a rally here for the Republican ticket.

"Think about how you'll feel on November 5 if you wake up in the morning and see the news, that Barack Obama -- that Barack Hussein Obama -- is the president-elect of the United States," Platt said. The audience at the Lehigh University arena booed at the thought of it.

Nikkei Falls Over 1000 Points

That's about 11%.

Finis

Sorry for the rant - but it's been a bad few days and I've absolutely had it. I think this is a subject that really needs attention. I wish to god more of the mainstream media would talk about health care and how it affects every day Americans. And please excuse the length. I had a lot to say on a very personal subject.



OK. I surrender. It’s over. I can no longer maintain a rear-guard action against the pain. Some months back I gave up fighting the use of pain medication (after years of refusal). Now it’s the pain itself. I am unable to defend against the relentless, moment by moment, withering assault. At some point the wall just gives way - its defenders overrun by overwhelming odds. I am mentally, emotionally and physically drained. Every time I sit down to write (to think) – my body attacks. Wave after wave of unremitting pain batters my brain till it simply closes. I feel like I am drowning in a sea of blood and fire. Maintaining sanity itself is exhausting.

So fuck it. I give up. I do. One day last week the pain got so bad I actually passed out for a few hours. And I must say - outside of the fear and disorientation I experienced upon waking – that five hours of unconsciousness was the best rest I’d had in months. Lately, I’m lucky if I can squeeze out 4 or 5 interrupted hours per night; so to sleep without waking every ½ hour from the pain (!!!). It hardly mattered how I got there. Oh – the pain was present for its usual just woke up greeting – but for five blessed hours I wandered dream free in the land of unconsciousness. It was about as blissful as my life gets these days.

So what does this mean in feet on the ground terms? That I c