Liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, black, brown, or white, when you read the words of the Declaration of Independence, you have to know that days like today are the days that make America the greatest country on Earth.

Being alive today is as revolutionary as being alive the day that shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord in 1775; or when Francis Scott Key looked through the smoke to see our flag still waving; or the day when Abraham Lincoln stood at Gettysburg to address the nation over what was at once our greatest tragedy and greatest feat as a country; or the day that Martin Luther King Jr. took a bullet in the hopes that some day his sons and daughters would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

These are the days that make American special.

Today is not about the impending election of Barack Obama, or even about Barack Obama himself.  Today is about the ideas that Barack Obama represents, the ideas that our founding fathers put forward for future generations to ponder and achieve.  Today is about bringing a decades old cynicism about our American government to a screeching halt, even if for only one evening.

Regardless of what happens over the next four to eight years, today is the proudest day I have ever spent as an American.  Days like today are the ones that children for generations will read about in their classrooms, studying what it means to be an American, and what it means to be a success in the greatest country ever devised by mankind.

Barack Obama brings to light the meaning of the old saying, “The purpose of life is a life of purpose, and real success is not what you achieve, but what you overcome.”  A life of purpose, a life of liberty, and a life in pursuit of happiness….for all.

Today is the day that these words have been the clearest for me:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Proud to be an American,

Karl

For just a moment, forget party loyalties.  Forget that you have always voted Republican.  Forget that you have always voted Democrat.  Take a step back and look at your positions from the outside.  Take note that not any one party has been in possession of the greatest ideas of their time all throughout history.  What has happened instead is that one party capitalizes on whatever is moving our society forward, (or backwards) and if the movement is considered a worthy one by a majority of the population, that is the party that rules until the next great idea comes along.  The fact of the matter is that over the last fifteen to twenty years, both parties have changed, just as they have changed throughout history, and right now, only one party, the Democratic Party, is in possession of the greatest ideas of our time.

How have they changed throughout history?  One example is how the Democratic Party has handled African Americans.  Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and James Madison, who is widely considered the father of the Constitution, both formed what would become the Democratic Party.  Both were slave owners.  James Buchanan, a Democrat, was the last President leading up to the Civil War and presided over the country throughout the Dred Scott case.  Along came the creation of the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln.  They came to free the slaves and a war ensued.  Not just over slavery, but over state rights and federal power.  Of course, the Republican’s won and changed the course of American history forever.

Skipping forward a bit, throughout the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the Democratic Party was the party of the South, the party of White Supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan.  The Republican Party, similar to how it was later, was about business, and banking, and national security.  In 1929, it came to a head.  The Republican Party had control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency under Herbert Hoover.  What happened in 1929?  Due to failures in banking and Wall Street, the stock market crashed, forcing the long running Great Depression.  As a result, groups like the KKK lost its stranglehold on the Democratic Party and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the one party control Democrats took the reins of the country and implemented new and innovative programs to put people back to work and to raise the country out of its financial ashes. 

The irony was that everyone did better; everyone from homeowners, to businesses, to banks.  FDR lead us in to WWII and after passing away during his fourth term in office, passed the torch to Missouri Democrat Harry S. Truman to finish the job.  Then came the baby boom, the civil rights movement, and the anti-war movement, intertwined with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy and Republican President Nixon’s Watergate scandal.  All altered the course of American history forever.  During that time, the Democrats became the party of civil rights, and equal rights for all, but also the party of hippie peaceniks, an outdated moniker that it still struggles to shake off to this day.

From 1865 to 1965, the parties traded major aspects of their party platforms and their ideas.  What was once Democratic was now Republican, and vice-versa.  A Lincoln Republican in 1865 would not have recognized his party in 1965.

Skipping forward to today, some of what took place in the sixties still leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths, especially those who identify with the Democratic and Republican parties of 40+ years ago.  However, while many of us believe we haven’t changed, the fact of the matter is, the parties have.  While the Democratic Party is still the party of civil rights and equal rights, it is also the party in possession of the best ideas for our new 21^st century global economy.  The Republican Party is still trying to hang on to the outdated economic and national security ideas of the 1980’s, the party of Reagan, the party of 20^th century economics.

My support of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in 2008 is not about anything that happened before September 11^th, 2001.  My support for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in 2008 is about the contrast of the two platforms and the ideas of the parties since September 11, 2001.  Not only is this not the world of our grandparents, these are not the parties of our grandparents.  The world and the times have changed and the challenges that face America in the 21^st century global economy cannot afford the Republican platform and policies of the sixties and eighties. 

I understand that some people just cannot bring themselves to vote for Barack Obama, not just because of the color of his skin and the letters that make up his name, but also because of the myths that make up their beliefs about the Democratic Party.  I am asking you to set those things aside for a moment and to look at the bigger picture.  The bigger picture being that this is a new day that calls for new solutions, and the only party offering new solutions for our economy, our country, and our world is the Democratic Party, the 21^st century Democratic Party.

Don’t just be a part of history, be a part of our future.  Vote Barack Obama on Tuesday, November 4^th.

Wow.  I have never seen Drudge and FoxNews so obviously in the tank.

However, don’t fret.  Obama’s Civilian National Security Force is not some type of facist military force.

It is the Brainchild of the current administration’s Secretary of Defence Robert Gates.

Last fall Gates began giving a series of speeches about the need to create a more modern State Department and a “civilian national security force” that could “deploy teams that combine agricultural specialists and engineers and linguists and cultural specialists who are prepared to go into some of the most dangerous areas alongside the military.”

“If we’ve got a State Department or personnel that have been trained just to be behind walls, and they have not been equipped to get out there alongside our military and engage, then we don’t have the kind of national security apparatus that is needed. That has to be planned for; it has to be paid for. Those personnel have to be trained. And they all have to be integrated.”

So relax everyone.  Drudge has just lost a wheel and is trying to scare everyone with misinformation.

A Day in the Life of Joe Republican

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare
his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some
tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With
his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His
medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought
to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical
plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for
paid medical insurance — now Joe gets it, too. He prepares his
morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because
some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing
industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo.
His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in
the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right
to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath.
The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko
liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He
walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to
work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation
fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public
transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a
contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical
benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy
liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some
bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some
godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous
bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided
that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and
earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at
his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His
car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating
liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood
home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by
Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural
loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government
liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural
electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired.
His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some
wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of
himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk
show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and
conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved
Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe
enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our
lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should
take care of themselves, just like I have.”

STLtoday - Voting Yes on Prop Iis voting yes on the futurefor St. Louis County kids
What $150K buys

I am not sure if I live in a pro-America or anti-America part of the country here in the heart of Oakville, but I do know that when we bought our three-bedroom house in 2000, it cost $15,000 less than the Republican National Committee spent on clothing for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, over the last two months.

Does Ms. Palin have to pay income taxes on the clothing she received? At my last job, employees were provided lunch, but we had to pay taxes on the lunches received as income (similar to how Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s health plan is supposed to work).

And, with the salary I received at that job, it would have taken me more than seven years after taxes to buy a wardrobe similar to Ms. Palin’s.

Of course, my husband, our four children and I would have starved and lost the house in the process.

Elaine “The Working Mom” Frank | Oakville

McCain’s Last Hope and the end of Chris Rock’s ‘Head of State.’

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

According to most respected scientists, and philosophers throughout history, we all have an animal nature in one form or another. It is common knowledge that we are creatures of our world. Yet, because of our cognitive superiority (or spiritual superiority, as some would say) to the rest of the beasts of the world, we have developed a set of societal norms that allow us to function towards a higher calling. In a sense, what is good for most is good for one. Those societal norms change through time and the balance of “most” and “one” is in a constant state of flux.

Of course, there have been many examples or experiments by various cultures along the way. Cultures and countries come and go based on many factors. Some of those factors may be natural disasters or climate change, economic ruin, systemic superiority, pure evil, and the triumph of good over evil, to name a few. Human history, in terms of culture, rarely, if ever, stays stagnant. It is always changing. It either progresses or regresses, the definition of those two terms being subjective, and relative to who decides what is and is not progress.

The natural, animalistic side of human beings serves us well on a daily basis. We flinch for a reason, our stomachs growl for a reason, we get angry for a reason, and we love our children for a reason. The reasons are often debated, but survival is the generally accepted reason. As a result of this natural tendency to survive, we feel fear. Many times that fear can overwhelm us. And that brings us to our current situation. The anger and the hatred coming from Republican rallies, as seen here, here, and here, and as I walk door to door in my canvassing efforts for Obama, is very real. I am not making excuses for their regressive behavior, but their fear is genuine.

Each and every one of us has a way that we look at the world. We hear it expressed often as our “world-view.” And for one reason or another, certain things scare us and threaten us. They threaten our physical safety as well as our world-view. You would think the latter was insignificant, but when a person’s brain has been conditioned to believe a certain way, either through nature or nurture, many times they will shift in to a survival mode sparked by their fear. What results, in many cases, is anger and hatred.

I, as do many readers of this Huffington Post, have family members, friends, and neighbors who have outright told me that they will not vote for Barack Obama because he is black. they do not arrive at that position lightly. They genuinely are afraid of what it means to have a black man as their leader. Many of them, who feel superior to the black race for one misguided reason or another, are having their very purpose and role in life called in to question. A man with the name of Barack Obama, with a skin color such as his, is a threat to their very existence, or so they believe.

While canvassing for Obama, I knocked on a man’s door who I have known for years. He was in utter shock that I would be out working for an “Arab.” Yes. He said, “Arab.” From what I gather, he heard that from Rush Limbaugh, and that is what makes this all the worse. In a grab for power, there are leaders and celebrities in this country, who know better, who allow this behavior to take place, and some gleefully stoke the fire. I don’t know if Rush Limbaugh really knows any better, but I can tell you with relative confidence that John McCain does, and that is despicable. John McCain is a better man; at least I used to believe so, than to let such baseless accusations of Obama’s links to terrorists, and the conclusions drawn from them, go unanswered.

World-renowned psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, mentions in one of his latest books, The Lucifer Effect, that there are many types of evil. He says that there is natural evil; there is systemic evil; there is the “doing” of evil; and there is the evil of doing nothing. I believe the latter to maybe be the worse evil of all, the evil of inaction. While those who do not know any better hunker down in to their animalistic nature of survival when no real threat is apparent or at the very least, exaggerated, those who do know better need to stand up and say so. Power at the expense of good and righteousness is vile and despicable and contrary to everything this country stands for.

Rupert Murdoch, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and company have done more to bring America down and hold this country back than any one person on Wall Street can ever dream of doing, and John McCain’s deference to it is appalling. Senator McCain’s base is erupting into nasty pot of hatred which, if we are not careful, could be very dangerous, not to mention, criminal. A real culture war is not one that we want to fight. The people at the Republican rallies are totally out of their minds and have become slaves to their fears.

It is time for John McCain to call it to a halt before it gets out of hand. It is time to invoke the spirit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who stood up at a podium in 1941 and let the American people know that the world has four basic freedoms. Those freedoms are the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom of want, and freedom from fear. The regressives of the Republican Party have not only refused to free us from fear, they have purposely invoked it.

I know that Barack Obama carries the spirit of FDR, but it is time for John McCain to step up to the plate and be the leader that he portends to be. It is time to remind John McCain of what he was fighting for when his jet crashed in Vietnam, so he can then remind his followers of what makes America, America. Or, he can continue on his current path as a guilty participant in the greatest evil of all, the evil of inaction.

YouTube - Who is the real Barack Obama?

It is amazing how little ‘Joe Six-pack’ actually knows about the United States of America.  They know very little about where it came from, how it got here, or even what America stands for.  The hope of having any kind of conversation with ‘Joe’ that includes facts is about as likely as having Alaska’s Governor Palin on the ticket as a Vice-President.  (Oh.  Crap.  I will have to find a new metaphor for things that are unlikely.) 

Over the last couple of days, I have had one of these one-way conversations with Mr. Six-pack, and I have to tell you, if you are a fan of the great American experiment, the depth of his ignorance is disheartening if you are hoping for the experiment to succeed.  Most importantly, it is indicative of what civic leaders like Barack Obama have to face every day of their lives.

The next couple of paragraphs will sort of run like a play-by-play.  As readers of this blog continue through the text, you will swear that you know this Mr. Six-pack.  I promise you that you don’t, well, unless you actually do know him, which would be funny to me.  For the purposes of this column, I will call him ‘Benedict.’ Benedict fits, mainly because he is a classic American traitor, and you will see why as you read on.  Benedict is indicative of the halfwit that the regressive, maverick Republican brand has rounded up and caged as sure-thing voters year after year.

It all started this Sunday as I sat on my couch watching ‘Meet the Press’ on my DVR.  From my laptop, which sits next to me, a loud crash of a gong came across my speakers to notify me that I had a new email.  It was from Benedict, a Joe Six-pack that I met once a few years back when I was laid up from a knee surgery.  He was not happy with my last blog post ‘Therapists are here to ‘get’ us, not VPs.’

The following is not for respectable people who are easily offended:

“Thanks Karl (my dad) for sending this one. It just proves you and your ex were extremely intoxicated the night this one was conceived. Junior, I only met you once and I will refer to you as BLISTER because you showed up after we had finished moving your father a few years back. Just like you liberals, showing up after the work is done. What Karl should have done was wait for the government to move him, just like OSAMA’s posse did in Louisiana when Katrina hit. I have spent enough time on BLISTER, it is obvious the major thing BLISTER and all liberals are missing is COMMON SENSE. It must have been aborted on your daddy’s sheets.”

I replied with, “Typical.  When you lose on the facts you revert to personal attacks.  Facts matter Benedict, so unless you’ve got some, you’re useless to the greater debate and the larger picture.  When I get emails like this, I can’t help but thank the people who created the system of checks and balances the way that they did, or people like you would actually be running this country…or at least what would even be left of it.”

Needless to say, there have been 40+ emails sent back and forth since then.  I won’t bore you with most of them, mainly because it will probably make you a little nauseous to read most of what he says, but in general, the entire conversation has been largely one-sided as it relates to facts.  All Benedict has in his arsenal are old Limbaugh and Coulterisms, like “liberals showing up when the work is done,” and “The only difference between Obama and Osama is the ‘bs’,” and “I’m no more racist that Osama (again, meaning Obama.)” 

He didn’t deny, nor defend his racism, other than to recite a list of other African-Americans who he claims are racist, so I had to ask, “So you excuse your racism because of what you claim to be someone else’s?   Whatever happened to the conservative ideal of personal responsibility?  Or, are you a hypocrite too?  One who only applies the conservative ideals that he isn’t too lazy, mentally and physically, to deal with?”

As you might expect, he came back with, “Again other than the word Africa what did I say was racist? Nothing that is what you liberals do is throw the race card. Is Rev. Wright racist? Is Michele OSAMA racist for her speech talking whitey this and whitey that? Let me guess freedom of speech. What about OSAMA’s ties with Rezco? If that was a Republican Lord help us.”

I literally LOL’d on that one.  I about hit the floor I was laughing so hard.  After I explained to him how disrespectfully calling Obama, Osama was racist and how Michelle never said those things that Fox News falsely propagated and later recanted, and how Obama was cleared of any wrong-doing with Rezco, my laughter stopped.  It stopped because at that moment I realized just how clueless Benedict and his fellow “patriots” are.  And then, when I thought of all of the other people who willingly, and many times unknowingly believe these lies, it made me sad for my country.

Then it dawned on me, as he proceeded to send me all of the crazy viral emails that were proven false months and years ago that form the basis of his neurotic political beliefs, like the South Dakota FEMA email, and the Obama not saying the pledge email, etc., that Benedict is not a conservative.  Wick Allison is a conservative, George Will is a conservative.  My grandfather was a conservative.  This man is not a conservative.  He is a modern day American traitor. 

In his deranged, hateful world, he denies everything and anything that has made America great. Such “liberal” documents as the Constitution, and the words carved in to the Statue of Liberty don’t escape his scorn and cynicism.  They apparently are just out-dated ideas that only hold meaning for ”liberals.”  How do I know this?  I presented the Constitution and the Statue of Liberty to Benedict as evidence of how it was the ingenuity of American capitalism, restrained with common sense social maturity, and the immensely successful liberal ideas of our forefathers that has made America so strong, and this is what he had to say about it:

“That was great years ago. You liberals screwed it up. Press 1 if you want that in English and 2 if you want it in Spanish. Get the picture moron.”

Yes Benedict.  I get the picture.  I just threw up in my mouth a little bit, but I get the picture.

In typical Hogwash fashion.  McCain fails to mention when talking about his health care plan that it will also result in 1.3 Trillion in cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

McCain Plans Federal Health Cuts - WSJ.com
John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.
[Barack Obama campaigns in Virginia] Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama speaks at a rally at Victory Landing Park in Newport News, Va.

The Republican presidential nominee has said little about the proposed cuts, but they are needed to keep his health-care plan “budget neutral,” as he has promised. The McCain campaign hasn’t given a specific figure for the cuts, but didn’t dispute the analysts’ estimate.

Sarah Palin may have covered the spread last night, but it was only because the odds makers were not sure exactly how low to set the bar. For a comparison, imagine the coverage today if Al Gore, in 2000, would have acted like Sarah Palin did on Oct. 2nd, winking at America, spouting ill-timed slams on Biden like “say it ain’t so Joe,” and worst of all, essentially admitting that she was not going to answer the moderator’s questions.

Sarah Palin was typical last night, the real “Average Joe” of the evening, if you will. I understand that some people like that. I understand how some people think that having a typical, plain Palin in the White House is totally rad, dude. I understand how some people think that a lack of intellectual curiosity in the White House is a good thing. But dagnabbit people, this is America, and America is the most powerful nation in the world.

Being the most powerful human being in the free world is an incredible responsibility, and requires the attention of an incredibly qualified person. Running this amazing country is only simple in the acknowledgment of its complication; and gosh darnit, if I had my druthers, Americans would realize that.

Excuse me for a moment while I look “backwards” and ask my fellow Wasillian Main-Streeters what they think of typical leaders. What do you think was typical and “just like me” about George Washington? What do you think was typical and “just like me” about Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, or James Madison? (Yes, I know Franklin was not a president, but America as we know it would not exist without him nonetheless.) What do you think was typical and “just like me” about John Adams? What do you think was typical and “just like me” about Abraham Lincoln, or Teddy Roosevelt, or FDR, or John F. Kennedy? (While being the son of a poor frontiersman, Lincoln was well-read, philosophical and was a successful attorney.)

Now, for comparison, *wink* what do you think is typical and “just like me” about George W. Bush? Remember? People were passionate about W because they could sit down and drink a beer with him. He was just like them. He understood them. He could not field dress a moose, God bless his soul, but darnnit, he could choke on a pretzel with the best of them. I mean, because he is just like, “us” he led this country into arguably the worse eight years of this country’s previously great existence. What is more “backwards” and regressive than that?

To all that voted for Bush, not once, but twice, for Christ’s sake, are you not embarrassed about that people? Are you not willing to at least take some of the responsibility for the current situation we find ourselves in as a country? Yes, there has been a failure in leadership, but that is only because there has been a major washout in followership. Democracies and republics fail for one overriding reason.  It is the failure of society to pay attention; to educate themselves on the complexities of the governance; their utter refusal to look in the mirror and take some responsibility for the failures of those whom they pick to lead.

Now, here we sit, on three hundred million straw pedestals, ready to pick the next great (or not so great) leader of the free world, and you are telling me that the major criteria of which almost half of this country is using to pick their next President is, “Well, she understands me, she gets me, she shares in my problems. She doesn’t know her ‘you know what’ from a hole in the wall, but she can recite prepared euphemisms and doublespeak with the best of them.” Are we really going to use the same criteria to pick the next president that we used to pick the last one? Are we really a country of gluttonous fools who want to continue relishing in the repercussions of the incredible weakness of our collective decisions?

I feel compelled to remind everyone that this is what we have psychiatrists and best friends for, not presidents and vice-presidents.

Am I aggravated? Yur darn toot’n I am aggravated. I don’t think this country can handle another four years of ignorant leadership. Even if you tattoo it with lipstick and call it change, it’s still W and Dick.

It’s nice the Palin did some speed-dating with foreign leaders, but I thought it would be nice for you to see the list of people Biden has met with…officially.

As of September 23, 2008

Senator Biden/Meetings with World Leaders

This is a partial list of world leaders that Senator Biden has met with at least once over his nearly 36 year career as a United States Senator. As mentioned, this list is not exhaustive. As chairman of the subcommittees on Europe and Africa earlier in his career, the list is certainly much longer. ****The dates listed indicate when the foreign leader was in office.

Iraq
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (May 2004 - April 2005)
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (April 2005 - May 2006)
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (April 2006 - Present)
President Jalal Talabani (June 2005 - Present)
Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani (June 2005 - Present)
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (March 2006 - Present)

Israel
Prime Minister Golda Meir (March 1969 - June 1974)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (July 1992 - November 1995)
Prime Minister Shimon Peres (November 1995 - June 1996)
Prime Minister Menachem Begin (June 1977 - October 1983)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (October 1986 - July 1992)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (June 1996 - July 1999)
Prime Minister Ehud Barak (June 1996 - July 1999)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (March 2001 - April 2006)
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (April 2006 - Present)
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (January 2006 - present)

Palestinian Territories
Chairman Yasser Arafat (September 1993 - November 2004)
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (November 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad (June 2007 - Present)
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (October 2003 - March 2006)

Jordan
King Hussein (August 1952 - February 1999)
King Abdullah (August 2005-Present)

Egypt
President Hosni Mubarak (October 1981 - Present)
President Anwar Sadat (October1970 - October 1981)

Libya
Prime Minister Col. Muammar Qaddafi (March 1977 - March 1979)

Lebanon
Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri (October 1992 - December 1998)
Prime Minister Najib Mikati (April 2005 - July 2005)

Bahrain
Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (March 1999 - Present)

Syria
President Bashar al-Assad (July 2000 - Present)

Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (March 2003 - Present)
President Ahmet Sezer (May 2000 - August 2007)
Prime Minister/President* Abdullah Gul (November 2002 - March 2003, Current President)
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit (January 1999 - May 1999)
Prime Minister Demirel (November 1991 - June 1993)

Greece
President Kostis Stephanopoulos (March 1995 - March 2005)
Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis (March 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister Kostantinos Mitsotakis (April 1990 - October 1993)
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou (October 1981 - July 1989)
(October 1993 - January 1996)

Cyprus
President George Vassiliou (February 1988 - February 1993)
President Glafcos Clerides (February 1993 - February 2003)

Afghanistan
President Hamid Karzai (December 2001 - Present)

Pakistan
President Asif Ali Zardari (September 2008 - Present)*
Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani (March 2008 - Present)
President Pervez Musharraf (June 2001 - August 2008)
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (December 1988 - August 1990, October 1993 - November 1996)
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (November 1990 - July 1993, February 1997 - October 1999)

India
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (May 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (May 1996 - June 1996)
(March 1998 - May 2004)

Sri Lanka
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe (May 1993 - August 1994)
(December 2001 - April 2004)

Russia
President Vladimir Putin (May 2000 - May 2008; current Prime Minister)
President Boris Yeltsin (July 1991 - December 1999)
Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev (March 1990 - December 1991)
Soviet Union President Andrei Gromyko (July 1985 - October 1988)
Premier of the Soviet Union Alexey Kosygin (October 1964 - October 1980)
Premier of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev (May 1960 - July 1964)

France
President Jacques Chirac (May 1995 - May 2007)
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (May 2005 - May 2007)
President Francois Mitterrand (May 1981 - May 1995)

U.K.
Queen Elizabeth (February 1952 - Present)
Prime Minister Tony Blair (May 1997 - June 2007)
Prime Minister John Major (November 1990 - May 1997)
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (May 1979 - November 1990)

Ireland
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (June 1997 - Present)
Prime Minister John Bruton (December 1994 - June 1997)
Prime Minister Albert Reynolds (February 1992 - December 1994)
Prime Minister Charles Haughey (December 1979 - June 1981)
(March 1982 - December 1982)
(March 1987 - February 1992)

Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel (November 2005 - Present)
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (October 1998 - November 2005)
Chancellor Helmut Kohl (October 1982 - October 1998)
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (May 1974 - October 1982)

Italy
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (June 2001 - May 2006)
(May 2008 - Present)
Prime Minister Romano Prodi (May 2006 - May 2008)
Prime Minister Cossiga (July 1989 - April 1992)

Serbia
President of Serbia Boris Tadic (July 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica (March 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Djindjic (January 2001 - March 2003)
President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic (May 1989 - July 1997)

Yugoslavia
Premier of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito (January 1953 - May 1980)

Croatia
President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman (May 1990 - December 1999)

Slovenia
Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Drnovsek (December 2002 - Present)
President of Kosovo Ibrahim Rugova (March 2002 - January 2006)
President of Slovenia Milan Kucan (October 1991 - December 2002)

Bosnia and Herzegovina
President of Bosnia Haris Silajdzic (November 2006 - Present)
President of Bosnia Sulejman Tihić (October 2002 - November 2006)
President of Bosnia Alija Izetbegovic (March 1992 - October 2000)

Kosovo (as an independent nation)
President Fatmir Sejdiu (January 2008 - Present)
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci (January 2008 - Present)

Poland
President Lech Walesa (December 1990 - December 1995)
Prime Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz (October 1993 - March 1995)

Czech Republic
President Vaclav Havel (February 1993 - February 2003)

Hungary
Prime Minister Gyula Horn (July 1994 - July 1998)
President Arpad Goncz (August 1990 - August 2000)
Prime Minister Viktor Orban (July 1998 - May 2002)

Finland
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (April 1995 - April 2003)

Romania
President Ion Iliescu (December 1989 - November 1996)

Georgia
President Mikheil Saakashvili (January 2004 - Present)
President Eduard Shevardnadze (October 1995 - November 2003)

Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev (December 1991 - Present)

Ukraine
President Viktor Yushchenko (January 2005 - Present)

Canada
Prime Minister Paul Martin (December 2003 - February 2006)
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (September 1984 - June 1993)

NATO
Secretary General Lord George Robertson (October 1999 - January 2004)
Secretary General Javier Solana (December 1995 - October 1999)
Secretary General Manfred Woerner (July 1988 - August 1994)
Secretary General Lord Peter Carrington (June 1984 - July 1988)

China
President Jiang Zemin (March 1993 - March 2003)
Premier Zhu Rongji (March 1998 - March 2003)

Hong Kong
Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa (July 1997 - March 2005)

Taiwan
President Chen Shui-Bian (May 2000 - Present)

Korea
President Kim Dae Jung (February 1998 - February 2003)

Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (June 1959 - November 1990)
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (November 1990 - August 2004)
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (August 2004 - Present)

Indonesia
President Megawati Sukarnoputri (July 2001 - October 2004)
President Bambang Yudhoyono (October 2004 - Present)

Australia
Prime Minister John Howard (March 1996 - December 2007)
Prime Minister Paul Keating (December 1991 - March 1996)

Philippines
President Gloria Arroyo (January 2001 - Present)
President Fidel Ramos (June 1992 - June 1998)

Vietnam
Prime Minister Phan Van Kai (September 1997 - June 2006)

East Timor
President Ramos Horta (May 2007 - Present)

Tibet
The Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (1950 - Present)

Colombia
President Alvaro Uribe (August 2002 - Present)
President Andres Pastrana (August 1998 - August 2002)
President Cesar Gaviria (August 1990 - August 1994)

Mexico
President Vincente Fox (December 2000 - December 2006)
President Ernesto Zedillo (December 1994 - November 2000)

Bolivia
President Jaime Paz Zamora (August 1989 - August 1993)

South Africa
President Thabo Mbeki (June 1999 - September 2008)
President Nelson Mandela (April 1994 - June 1999)

Liberia
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (January 2006 - Present)

Lesotho
Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan (July 1965 - January 1986)

United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (January 2007 - Present)
Secretary General Kofi Annan (January 1997 - January 2007)
Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali (January 1992 - January 1997)

Vatican City
Pope John Paul II (October 1978 - April 2005)

Slovakia
President Rudolf Schuster (June 1999 - June 2004)

Turkmenistan
President Saparmurat Niyazov (October 1990 - December 2006)

This is a fantastic article.  If you never read another Hogwash post, read this one…

A Conservative for Obama | D Magazine - Dallas Fort Worth’s Resource for City Guides, Daily Blogs, D Bests, and Restaurants
Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.

I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.  I saw her say it at her church in Wasilla.  -  That’s some crazy stuff!

US Elections - Times Online - WBLG: Palin linked electoral success to prayer of Kenyan witchhunter
The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witchhunt against a Kenyan woman who he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells.

Muthee_400156gAt a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God on June 8 this year, Mrs Palin described how Thomas Muthee had laid his hands on her when he visited the church as a guest preacher in late 2005, prior to her successful gubernatorial bid.

YouTube - “Fundamentals” Ad

The daily criticism and insults of collective media of this country is total Hogwash, and quite frankly, an affront to our Constitution.  Yes, it is true that the media is slow to do their jobs at times, and many times it is too late, but I believe that in the long-run, the press ultimately gets it right.

Basically, we are not giving the media enough credit.  I agree with the media criticisms in one sense, that all the main stream media is ultimately concerned in the long run with its bottom line.  This is only a major problem with consolidated media.  Before mainstream media was so consolidated, different media outlets would compete ruthlessly for the truth.  If a paper had a history of not telling the truth, people would not buy it and that would be the end of it, thanks to the plethora of independent alternatives.  That is one reason why the average, every day American citizen, is the fifth check and balance of this great country.

Now, there are not very many alternatives as it relates to mainstream media, although the playing field has been leveled a bit with the Internet.  All a mainstream media company is interested in is selling advertising and promoting their other businesses, not the reporters necessarily, but the parachutist at the top of the media companies.  Ultimately, the big wigs are only concerned that they are telling just enough of the truth on both sides, without any real depth for either side, so that they do not have to be all that concerned about aggravating anyone other than the extremes of both sides so bad that they will not come back in the future.

The democratic Internet media, on the other-hand is full of all types of media, from flat out fabrications to breaking stories about stains on blue dresses.  Credible bloggers blog and write out of passion.  They value their credibility.  They are in it for the truth, and for the passion of it.

The emergence of these blogs, many of whom do have a particular level of credibility, have forced some of these mass media outlets into doing their homework a little better, and for that, we should be thankful.

Mass media does not like to be out-scooped, especially by pesky little computer dorks.

In the end, the media (all of it), love them or hate them, are essential to the long term success of our democracy.  In history class we always learn about how we have a system of three checks and balances…the legislative, the judicial, and the executive.

What they always leave out in the lesson, is the fourth and a fifth check and balance…the press, and the American people.  The press is the only industry specifically protected by the constitution, and the people…well, we are the Constitution.

The press is mentioned for a reason.  Whether it has a liberal or conservative bias, the press has the protected right to report as it pleases.  If the press as a whole reports falsehoods, they will lose credibility, and that is just not good for business.  Bias comes from the very idea to decide to cover a story or not, but what matters is if the story is the truth, or The Maverick Truth, or a flat out lie.

For instance, if a particular media outlet thought John McCain was a reincarnation of Herbert Hoover, they would find all kinds of examples of parallels between John McCain and Herbert Hoover to prove their point.  The parallels would most likely be true, while the main idea itself may be a little subjective, but the point is, it was liberal bias to decide to cover the story to begin with.  If Fox News wanted to put it in peoples minds that Obama was a Muslim, even if it wasn’t true, they would lead the story with, “Is Obama a muslim?  Some say that he is…”  Well, is it true that Obama is a Muslim?  Absolutely not, but is it true that some people say that he is?  Sure.  (Mostly people on Fox News about two years ago, but true none-the-less).  And that would be conservative bias.

The press plays an important role, and we should not be so quick to demean and demonize them.  I think in the long run, the media as a whole gets the big stories right.  It is like one big case of “Crowd Wisdom.”  It’s just on a day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second basis that individual writers and media outlets are trying to get your individual, undivided attention, and a great deal of the time, they will feed you hogwash in the process.

But do not let that get you down.  Don’t let it get you angry.  Have faith in the press.  Have faith in our Constitution. Even if it is not the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because, you have to ask yourself, where would this country be right now without Silence Dogood?  Would we even be here…or would we all be calling each other bloody fools, sitting around with our powdered faces eating crumpets, drinking tea, and playing cricket?

That John McCain, his campaign is getting really good at telling “The Maverick Truth.”

Jonathan Martin’s Blog: Holtz-Eakin: McCain helped create BlackBerry - Politico.com
Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate’s top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.

“He did this,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. “Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

Al Gore, call your office.

This is the brainchild of Patriot John, and I put it together for Hogwash - Thanks again for your input Patriot John.

Oh, what a glorious day for the regressive Republican economy.  It just keeps booming and booming.  I’m sure glad they know finances and macro-economics.  Where would we be without all of their glorious economic theories?  I haven’t hugged a Republican today…I need to find one.  They are getting a bit harder and harder to find though.  I’m sure I can find one somewhere.  Here rovey, rovey, rovey, here rovey, rovey, rovey…..

You know the old saying:  “Conservatives say government doesn’t work, and then they get elected to prove it.”

Here is your must read assignment of the day, called “Foreclosure Phil”:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

Remember when John McCain was considered a maverick because he occasionally took liberal positions?

Now he has provided the American people with a whole new euphemism for a lie: The Maverick Truth

Palin is qualified to be the most powerful person in the free world = The Maverick Truth

Trickle down regressive Republican economics has worked = The Maverick Truth

The regressive Republican run economy works for middle class Americans = The Maverick Truth

Trickle down regressive Republican economics trickles down to Indian and Chinese workers = The Maver….oh wait, that’s the REAL TRUTH!!!

David Ignatius - Stopping At Nothing To Win - washingtonpost.com
McCain even seems to have forgotten what saved his greatest legislative achievement, which is campaign finance reform. When he was asked during the Saddleback Church debate which Supreme Court justices he would not have nominated, he named Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. It happens that those are four of the five justices who voted in 2003 to uphold the McCain-Feingold law.

In May 2006, after McCain had courted the Rev. Jerry Falwell in an effort to win conservative support, I asked him if he was bending his principles for the sake of winning. “I don’t want it that badly,” McCain answered. “I will continue to do what is right. . . . If that means I can’t get the Republican nomination, fine. I’ve had a happy life. The worst thing I can do is sell my soul to the devil.”

He was right.

Officer Development
“Midshipmen are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right.

They tell the truth and ensure that the full truth is known. They do not lie.

They embrace fairness in all actions. They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented. They do not cheat.

They respect the property of others and ensure that others are able to benefit from the use of their own property. They do not steal.”

Obama Camp Memo on The Straight Talk Express

OBAMA CAMPAIGN MEMO: Unraveling the myth of the Straight Talk Express

To:                   Press Corps

From:               Obama Campaign

Re:                   Unraveling the myth of the Straight Talk Express

Since naming Governor Palin as their Vice Presidential nominee, the McCain campaign has distorted, distracted, and outright lied to the American people about her record in a desperate attempt to hide the fact that a McCain/Palin Administration would be nothing more than a continuation of the failed Bush policies of the last eight years.

Indeed, today alone we learned that the McCain campaign’s claim that Governor Palin traveled to Iraq is a lie. In fact, she didn’t cross the Kuwait border. We learned that the McCain campaign is desperate enough to tell the press phony crowd numbers, which they falsely attributed to local elected officials and the United States Secret Service.  And we learned that despite Senator McCain’s claim that Governor Palin is a fiscal conservative, spending actually increased during her brief tenure as Governor.

Here are the facts. Governor Palin supported the Bridge to Nowhere, requested hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks, never visited Iraq, increased spending as governor, increased taxes as governor, and was about as successful selling that luxury jet on eBay as the McCain campaign has been selling her reputation as a reformer. Oh yeah, and the gas pipeline she touts won’t be usable for at least a decade, if it’s completed at all.

While the media is slowly starting to call the McCain campaign on their dishonest tactics, McCain’s staff boasts that they don’t care. As a McCain spokesman told the Politico, “We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

To help you cut through their lies and spin, below are the facts you need to set the record straight.

McCain Myth: Palin Visited Troops In Iraq

FACT: Palin Did Not Venture Further Into Iraq Than It’s Border With Kuwait

“In The Second Official Revision Of Her Only Trip Outside North America,” Palin Aides Concede That Her 2007 Visit To Iraq “Consisted Of A Brief Stop At A Border Crossing.” “Sarah Palin’s visit to Iraq in 2007 consisted of a brief stop at a border crossing between Iraq and Kuwait, the vice presidential candidate’s campaign said yesterday, in the second official revision of her only trip outside North America. Following her selection last month as John McCain’s running mate, aides said Palin had traveled to Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq to meet with members of the Alaska National Guard. During that trip she was said to have visited a ‘military outpost’ inside Iraq. The campaign has since repeated that Palin’s foreign travel included an excursion into the Iraq battle zone. But in response to queries about the details of her trip, campaign aides and National Guard officials in Alaska said by telephone yesterday that she did not venture beyond the Kuwait-Iraq border when she visited Khabari Alawazem Crossing, also known as ‘K-Crossing,’ on July 25, 2007.It was the second such clarification in as many weeks of the itinerary of what Palin has called ‘the trip of a lifetime.’ Earlier, the campaign acknowledged that Palin made only a refueling stop in Ireland.” [Boston Globe, 9/13/08 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/13/palin_camp_clarifies_extent_of_iraq_trip?mode=PF> ]

McCain Myth: McCain’s Appearance Drew Crowd of 23,000 to Event

FACT: Crowd-Size Estimates Provided By Campaign Aides Not Backed By Officials.

Bloomberg: “McCain-Plain Crowd-Size Estimates Not Backed By Officials.” “Senator John McCain has drawn some of the biggest crowds of his presidential campaign since adding Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to his ticket on Aug. 29. Now officials say they can’t substantiate the figures McCain’s aides are claiming. McCain aide Kimmie Lipscomb told reporters on Sept. 10 that an outdoor rally in Fairfax City, Virginia, drew 23,000 people, attributing the crowd estimate to a fire marshal. Fairfax City Fire Marshal Andrew Wilson said his office did not supply that number to the campaign and could not confirm it. Wilson, in an interview, said the fire department does not monitor attendance at outdoor events. . The McCain campaign said 10,000 people showed up at the Consol Energy Arena in Washington, Pennsylvania, home of the Washington Wild Things baseball team. The campaign attributed that estimate, and several that followed, to U.S. Secret Service figures, based on the number of people who passed through magnetometers. ‘We didn’t provide any numbers to the campaign,’ said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service. Wiley said he would not ‘confirm or dispute’ the numbers the McCain campaign has given to reporters.” [Bloomberg, 9/13/08 <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070=a1J0tfV3XJYs=politics <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a1J0tfV3XJYs&refer=politics> > ]

McCain Myth: Palin Is a Fiscal Conservative

FACT: Palin Has Grown Government in Her Time as Executive of Both Alaska And Wasilla

Boston Globe: “Fueled by Oil Taxes, Alaska Spending Soared Under Palin.” “Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska has also presided over a dramatic increase in state spending in the last two years. Still, she can accurately claim that her state is in good fiscal health, thanks to an explosion of revenues from state taxes on oil industry profits. Indeed, in her 20 months in office, Palin’s toughest financial decisions involved dickering with the Legislature on creative ways to spend and salt away the billions of dollars in oil revenues pouring into the state treasury.” [Boston Globe, 9/13/08 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/13/fueled_by_oil_taxes_alaska_spending_soared_under_palin?mode=PF> ]

·         In Two Budget Cycles, Palin Only Vetoed $2.6 Million In Spending Requests For Alaska’s $8.1 Billion Operating Budget - Which Has Increased 30 Percent In Two Years. “.in two budget cycles, Palin has vetoed a total of only $2.6 million in spending requests for the state’s now $8.1 billion annual operating budget, which, according to an analysis by the legislative finance office, has increased about 30 percent in two years. The increase figure includes the one-time energy rebate checks but no increases in reserve accounts or any capital expenditures. It also doesn’t include a supplemental appropriation for additional expenditures, which is routine. Last year, the supplemental budget was more than $4 billion, mostly deposits in reserve accounts when revenues continued to pour in at high levels.” [Boston Globe, 9/13/08 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/13/fueled_by_oil_taxes_alaska_spending_soared_under_palin?mode=PF> ]

Wasilla’s Total Government Expenditures Increased 63 Percent Under Palin. In fiscal 2003-the last fiscal year Palin approved the budget-the total government expenditures of Wasilla, excluding capital outlays, were $7,046,325. In fiscal 1996-the year before Palin took control of the budget-the expenditures were $4,317,947. The increase was 63 percent. [Wasilla Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2003, Table 1]

McCain Myth: Palin Has Succeeded in Signing a Deal to Build Alaska’s Long-Stalled Gas Pipeline

FACTS: High Gas Prices Have Given Alaska a Huge Windfall, Passed on to Alaskans Like Sarah Palin in Huge Dividend Checks - And Palin Has Backed Shipping Alaskan Natural Gas to Asia

Palin Touts Her Pipeline Deal, But It Has Not been Started, Would Take Years to Complete and Could Never Happen, Costing Taxpayers $500 Million for Nothing. “When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska took center stage at the Republican convention last week, she sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump-started a long-delayed gas pipeline project. But an examination of the pipeline project also found that Ms. Palin has overstated both the progress that has been made and the certainty of success. The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin’s relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built, and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs.” [New York Times, 9/13/08 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/us/politics/11pipeline.html?ref=politics> ]

·         Republican Lawmaker Worried Alaska Bargained Away Too Much Leverage, Has No Agreement to “Lift One Shovel of Dirt or Lay Down One Inch of Steel.” “As Ms. Palin takes to the road to campaign with Mr. McCain, invoking the pipeline as a major victory, some Alaska lawmakers who initially endorsed her plan now believe it was a mistake. State Senator Bert Stedman, a Republican who is co-chairman of the finance committee, said that in its contract with the chosen developer, TransCanada, the state bargained away too much leverage with little guarantee of success. ‘There is no requirement to lift one shovel of dirt or lay down one inch of steel,’ he said.” [New York Times, 9/13/08 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/us/politics/11pipeline.html?ref=politics> ]

McCain Myth: Palin’s Energy Experience Will Lower Gas Prices and Reduce Our Dependence on Foreign Oil

FACTS: High Gas Prices Have Given Alaska a Huge Windfall, Passed on to Alaskans Like Sarah Palin in Huge Dividend Checks - And Palin Has Backed Shipping Alaskan Natural Gas to Asia

Thanks To “Soaring Oil Prices And A Higher Windfall Oil Profits Tax,” Alaska’s State Coffers Are “Overflowing With Petrodollars.” “Soaring oil prices and a higher windfall oil profits tax - an increase pushed through by Palin, now the Republican vice presidential nominee - have state coffers overflowing with petrodollars. The Alaska oil industry calculates that its annual payments to the state doubled in a single year to $10.2 billion.” [Boston Globe, 9/13/08 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/13/fueled_by_oil_taxes_alaska_spending_soared_under_palin?mode=PF> ]

·         Every Alaskan Receiving $1,200 From The State, Along With Annual Check From The Permanent Fund, Which Is A Record $2,069 Per Resident This Year - Palin Family Eligible For $19,000. “And Alaska residents are getting their cut. Starting this week, every Alaskan who has lived in the state more than a year will receive $1,200 from the state, a total of about $756 million in rebates to offset high energy costs in the 49th state. That’s on top of the perennial check each will receive from the state’s oil revenue-endowed Permanent Fund, this year a record $2,069 per resident. The large Palin family is eligible to receive more than $19,000 from the combined payments.” [Boston Globe, 9/13/08 <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/09/13/fueled_by_oil_taxes_alaska_spending_soared_under_palin?mode=PF> ]

Palin Backed A Two-Year Extension Of The Export License To Export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) To Japan And Other Asian Countries-Criticized Because Alaska’s Gas Reserves Are Declining. “Alaska producers can continue shipping gas to Asia after DOE last week approved an extension of the export license for the Kenai liquefied natural gas plant owned by ConocoPhillips and Marathon. The companies will be allowed to export up to 98.1 Bcf to Japan and other Pacific Rim countries over a two-year period through March 31, 2011. [.] The application came under fire from local end-users, including gas distribution companies Enstar and the Chugach Electric Association, as well as fertilizer maker Agrium, all of which claimed the exports would exacerbate the problem of declining gas reserves in south-central Alaska.  Agrium permanently closed its plant near Kenai due to an inability to find enough local supply for the facility that used 53 Bcf/year. In January, ConocoPhillips and Marathon reached a deal in which they agreed to step up development in the Cook Inlet region in return for the state’s support of the export license extension. The producers also agreed to divert gas from the LNG plant as needed to meet the peak winter supply needs of the local utilities. [.] Alaska Governor Sarah Palin welcomed the DOE approval. “In these times of economic uncertainty, this is great news for the state and its residents. This extension will secure a future for the LNG operation and is another step toward ensuring energy supplies and energy security for Alaska,” the Republican governor said. [Platts Inside FERC, 6/9/08]

McCain Palin Myth: Sarah Palin Told Congress “Thanks But No Thanks” On That Bridge to Nowhere

FACT: Palin Was Before It Before She Was Against It - Kept the Money for Other Projects

Politifact: Palin’s Stance On “The Bridge To Nowhere” Is “A Full Flop.” Politfact, a service of CQ and the St. Petersburg Times wrote, “McCain said Palin has ’stopped government from wasting taxpayers’ money on things they don’t want or need. And when we in Congress decided to build a bridge in Alaska to nowhere for $233-million of yours, she said, we don’t want it. If we need it, we’ll build our own in Alaska. She’s the one that stood up to them.’ Nevermind that Alaska didn’t give the money back. It spent the money on other transportation projects. The context of Palin’s and McCain’s recent statements suggest Palin flagged the so-called Bridge to Nowhere project as wasteful spending. But that’s not the tune she was singing when she was running for governor, particularly not when she was standing before the Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce asking for their vote. And so, we rate Palin’s position a Full Flop.” [Politifact <http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/680/> ]

McCain Myth: Sarah Palin NEVER Sought Earmarks As Governor.

FACT: Palin Sought Nearly $200 Million Earmarks For The Coming Year.

AP Fact Check: McCain “Erroneously” Asserted That, As Governor, Palin Never Sought Earmarks. “John McCain continued to laud his running mate, Sarah Palin, as a budget cutter on Friday, this time erroneously asserting that as governor of Alaska she had not sought congressional earmarks for her state. In fact, while Palin has significantly reduced the state’s earmark requests, she asked for nearly $200 million in targeted spending for the 2009 fiscal year. And in an interview with ABC News aired Friday, she defended her earmark requests, emphasizing that she opposed ‘earmark abuse.’ . Appearing on the ABC television show ‘The View,’ McCain was pressed on her record of seeking such targeted money for Alaska. ‘Not as governor she didn’t,’ McCain said. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said that McCain’s remark came ‘in the middle of a conversation, the middle of a back and forth,’ and the reference was to her record of cutting spending.” [AP, 9/12/08 <http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gtx_hOhOBrAMbgsXYxQAu3f_QvBwD935EU2G0> ]

McCain Myth: Sarah Palin Has Taken a Tough Stance Against Earmarks

FACT: As Mayor, Palin Hired a Lobbyist Tied to Ted Stevens Who Got Wasilla $27 Million in Earmarks and as Governor, Alaska Has Sought and Received More Earmarked Spending Per Person than Any Other State

Lobbyist Hired By Palin Secured $27 Million In Federal Earmarks for 6,700-Person Town. “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.” [Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090103148_pf.html> , 9/2/08]

In 2008, Alaska Got More Earmarked Federal Funding Per Person Than Any Other State. “Arizona, the second fastest growing state in the nation, will receive just $18.70 per capita in federal earmarks this fiscal year. By comparison, Alaska - with roughly a tenth of Arizona’s population - is set to receive $506.34 per capita, the highest in the nation, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group which tracks earmarks. The state of Alaska receives about three times as much as Arizona receives in actual dollars, $346 million to $119 million.” [USA Today, 3/22/08 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-22-earmarks_N.htm> ]

Palin’s Requests - More Per Person Than Any Other State. “Just this year, she sent to Sen. Ted. Stevens, R-Alaska, a proposal for 31 earmarks totaling $197 million - more, per person, than any other state.” [Seattle Times, 9/2/08 <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008154532_webpalin02m.html> ]

McCain Myth: Palin Cut Taxes

FACT: Palin Raised Wasilla’s Sales Tax

Palin Supported First-Ever Wasilla Sales Tax to Pay for Police Department. In 1992 “Palin, a political newcomer, was one of two supporters of the police-sales tax plan elected to the city council in Wasilla, Alaska.” [Anchorage Daily News (AK), 10/8/92]

Palin Supported Increasing Wasilla Sales Tax From 2 to 2.5 Percent to Build $14.7 Million  Sports Center. “Wasilla residents have given the go ahead to building a new multiuse sports center in town and to raising the city sales tax to pay for it. With the final votes counted Friday, residents voted 306 to 286 in favor of a measure to raise the city sales tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent to pay the estimated $14.7 million cost of building the center.Mayor Sarah Palin, who supported the measure, said the tight vote will motivate city officials to keep a close eye on the budget for the center.” [Anchorage Daily News, 3/9/02]

McCain Myth: Palin Is a Reformer Who Brought Ethics Back to Alaskan Politics

FACT: Palin Is Under Investigation, Faces a Separate Ethics Complaint and Signed a Weak Ethics Law

Joint Legislative Council of the Legislature Voted Unanimously to Appoint a Special Counsel to Investigate Palin Abuse of Power Claim.  The Alaska State Legislature’s Legislative Council voted 12-0 to approve $100,000 for a special investigator to begin an investigation into claims Palin fired a former state official because he would not fire a state trooper who was involved in a bitter custody battle with Palin’s sister. [KTVA 11, 07/28/08 <http://www.ktva.com/ci_10026165?source=most_emailed> ]

Ethics Complaint Filed Against Gov. Palin Over Alleged Involvement in Hiring a Campaign Contributor. In August 2008, former state House member Andree McLeod” filed against Gov. Sarah Palin and her staff today with the Attorney General’s Office. It accuses the governor’s office of using its pull to get a Palin supporter hired to a [Department of Transportation] job in Fairbanks.” McLeod said ” ‘Executive branch employee shouldn’t be getting involved in the recruitment process unless it’s based on merit,’ said Andree McLeod, who wrote the complaint based on a series of e-mails between members of Palin’s team.The complaint accuses Palin, her acting chief of staff and others of breaking executive ethics branch and hiring rules. It centers on the hiring of surveyor Tom Lamal, who once co-hosted a Palin fundraiser, for a state right-of-way agent job in Fairbanks.” The complaint <http://community.adn.com/sites/community.adn.com/files/McLeod%20Ethics%20Complaint1.pdf>  is available online. [Anchorage Daily News <http://community.adn.com/adn/node/128527> , 8/6/08; Anchorage Daily News <http://www.adn.com/front/story/486163.html> , 8/7/08]

McCain Myth: Palin Traveled Abroad to Ireland

FACT: Palin Stopped In Ireland To Refuel Plane.

Palin’s Ireland Trip Was A Refueling Stop. Politico’s Ben Smith reported, “I wrote the other day that a Palin spokeswoman said trips to Germany, Kuwait and Ireland made up her foreign travel. Two details worth clarifying: The Ireland trip was a refueling stop on her trip to military installations in Germany and Kuwait, spokeswoman Maria Comella said. And she’s also visited Canada, another spokesman, Ben Porritt, says.” [Politico <http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Palins_stopover.html?showall> , 9/2/08]

McCain Myth: Palin Has Experience in Foreign Affairs Because She Was Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard

FACT: Palin Has No Role in National Guard’s National Defense Responsibilities or Overseas Deployments and Never Issued Any Orders to the Guard Since She Took Office

Adjutant General of Alaska National Guard Said Palin Plays No Role in National Defense Activities, Even When They Involve Alaska National Guard. “Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, considers Palin ‘extremely responsive and smart’ and says she is in charge when it comes to in-state services, such as emergencies and natural disasters where the National Guard is the first responder. But, in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, he said he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.” [AP, 8/31/08 <http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpxv9PHwtrYyiK-btXIRE8AepmiwD92TGCQ01> ]

·         Palin Has Not Issued Any Orders for Guard Activity Since Becoming Their Commander in Chief.  “Occasions in which Palin retains command authority over the 4,200-member Alaska National Guard are whenever the Guard responds to in-state natural disasters and civic emergencies, said Campbell, who also serves as the commissioner of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.Some examples? ‘We’ve deployed individuals in state service all over the state under Sarah Palin,’ he said. ‘We had defense men down in Seward for the (Mount) Marathon run doing security. ‘Out west and northwest we had erosion problems, and the National Guard was involved in some of the protection out there. About three days ago, the Army National Guard picked up a lady from Little Diomede (Island) . . . at the request of state troopers.’ Did Palin directly approve each of those activities? No, Campbell said. The governor has granted him the authority to act on his own in most cases, including life-or-death emergencies - when a quick response is required - and minor day-to-day operations.” [McClatchy, 9/3/08 <http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/51665.html> ]

McCain Myth: Palin Sold the State’s Jet on eBay

FACT: Palin Sold the Jet to Campaign Contributor at a Loss of $600,000 for the State

Palin Did Not Sell Murkowski’s Plane on eBay - Sold it to an Alaskan Entrepreneur at a Loss of $600,000. “One of the compelling anecdotes about Sarah Palin is that she auctioned off the Alaska governor’s jet on eBay after taking office - a swift move made by a reformer hoping to clean up the excesses of her predecessor. But in fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the jet, shy of the original $2.7 million purchase price, according to contemporaneous news reports, including a story in the New York Times. What happened? It appears that, as promised during her bid for governor in 2006, Palin did try to sell the plane on eBay, but that doing so was not as easy as it might have sounded. After putting it up to auction, there was one serious bid, in December of 2006, and it fell through. Still, the Westwind II was sold about eight months later, achieving Palin’s goal of ridding the state of a luxury item.” [Washington Post Blog, 9/5/08 <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/05/plane_not_sold_on_ebay.html> ]

·         Larry Reynolds Made Campaign Contributions To Palin And State Rep. John Harris, Who Is Credited With Brokering The Sale, In 2006 And 2007.  “Dan Spencer, the director of administrative services for Alaska’s Public Safety Department, said that the Republican speaker of the Alaska House, John L. Harris, brokered the deal. Reynolds made campaign contributions to both Palin and Harris in 2006 and 2007.”  [Washington Post Blog, 9/5/08] <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/05/plane_not_sold_on_ebay.html>

McCain Myth: Palin Fired the Governor’s Chef

FACT: Palin Did Not Fire the Chef, Just Reassigned Her to a Different Job - She Now Cooks for the Legislature

Contrary to Palin’s Claim, Governor’s Chef Wasn’t Fired, She Was Just Reassigned. “Remember the long-time executive chef who lost her job at the Mansion when Sarah decided to live mostly in Wasilla instead of Juneau? Stefani Marnon was first reassigned as a ‘constituent relations assistant’ in the governor’s office and later to the state museum. Earwigs report she’s finally landed where they really appreciate a good chef: the Legislative Lounge. Lawmakers were smacking their lips in anticipation, according to Sen. Kim Elton’s newsletter.” [Anchorage Daily News, 9/9/08 <http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/288561.html> ]

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McCain really has nowhere to go but down from here.  The Palin Bump is over and now that independents are coming back to their senses, they are realizing that what they need to do is decide who has the best chance of leading America in to the 21st century starting on November 4th.  Clearly, Independents and Democrats are tired of Regressive politics and policies.

One thing I noticed is that McCain never matched Obama’s high during the “Palin Bump,” and Obama never matched McCain’s low.

From the Daily Gallup Tracker polled September 10-12…(without the tragic hurricane, I think the slope would be even deeper, but that is purely speculative.)

Not only has Obama’s Vice Presidential running mate Joe Biden actually met with foreign heads of state, he has looked one of the worst in modern history in the eyes and called him a “Damn war criminal.”  The video below was taken with my wife’s cell phone when Biden was in town last week.  We just caught the end of the story.  The excerpt of the Time Magazine story below also outlines the story.

Of course, General Wesley Clark, as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces subsequently dismantled Milosevic and Yugoslavia, bringing him up on charges as a war criminal.  The only thing that got in the way was Milo’s heart, which gave out for good on him before he could be found guilty.

I do not know about you, but I am very comfortable with Joe Biden being one heartbeat away from the presidency.

The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME
Year after year, he has been at the forefront of the fight for judges who respect the fundamental rights and liberties of the American people; college tuition that is affordable for all; equal pay for women and a rising minimum wage for all; and family leave policies that value work and family. Those are the priorities of a man whose work reflects his life and his values.

That same strength of character is at the core of his rise to become one of America’s leading voices on national security.

He looked Slobodan Milosevic in the eye and called him a war criminal, and then helped shape policies that would end the killing in the Balkans and bring him to justice. He passed laws to lock down chemical weapons, and led the push to bring Europe’s newest democracies into NATO. Over the last eight years, he has been a powerful critic of the catastrophic Bush-McCain foreign policy, and a voice for a new direction that takes the fight to the terrorists and ends the war in Iraq responsibly. He recently went to Georgia, where he met quietly with the President and came back with a call for aid and a tough message for Russia.

Joe Biden is what so many others pretend to be – a statesman with sound judgment who doesn’t have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong.

Sarah Palin has been thoroughly exposed for the gimmick and fraud (in relation to the persona presented by the McCain campaign) that she is.  Whether 54 days is enough time for the average American voter to pick up on it is another story.  If the percentage of people who still believe that Iraq had a hand in 9/11 is any indication, the truth about Sarah Palin may never take hold.

So here is the deal, there probably is not much more that I can contribute to the Sarah Palin conversation that is not being exposed somewhere else.  Unless she makes some newsworthy blunder, or does something else to contradict or embarrass John McCain and his obviously poor judgment and critical thinking skills, I am not going to go out of my way to post it here.

What I am interested in right now is how the Bush administration has slowly begun to follow the Barack Obama foreign policy doctrine (maybe that is why Sarah Palin was confused – damn, what was that…like 15 seconds without mentioning Palin?)

All of the  things that John McCain and the Republican party used to call Obama naïve for, like an Iraq withdrawal time table…check.  Talks with Iran…check.  Ground forces in Pakistan without Pakistani permission…check.

This is like something out of the twilight zone.  If Barack Obama is so ignorant, naïve, and liberal, why have the Regressives adopted his foreign policy?

(Picture the penguin and the audio fade, “Do, be, do, be, dooooooooooo.”)

Update:  Apparently, Andrew Sullivan from the Atlantic concurs:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/a-first.html

“The Bush administration - when guided by the saner forces within it such as Gates and Rice - eventually follows Obama’s advice. In that sense, Obama has been president for quite a while already. And proving he could be a shrewd, pragmatic and prescient one.”