Misc. Drive-By Views on the Way to Charlestown

I'm not sure what I enjoy more, the journey or the destination:

Shenandoah River + Bridge at Harper's Ferry


Harper's Ferry, West Va.

Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia - Seasonal views

Sunday Trip

Old Town Alexandria, Va.






Dangerfield Island

Saturday's Trip

Sunken Road in Fredricksburg, Va.

The Week In Pictures

My son is here for 2 weeks and we've been busy taking day trips in between my work schedule. It's been a great time so far and we've still got a whole week left!!

CHRISTMAS DAY IN ATLANTIC CITY



GREAT FALLS, Va.



MOUNT VERNON AT CHRISTMAS COMPLETE WITH CHRISTMAS CAMEL

What Banned Books Have You Read?

Look through this list of banned books. If you have read the whole book, bold it. If you have read part of the book, italicize it. If you own it but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, *** it.

(And if you’re drawing a blank, skip it. At least I did.)

1. The Bible
2. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
4. The Koran
5. Arabian Nights
6. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
7. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
8. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
11. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
12. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
13. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
14. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
15. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
16. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
17. Dracula by Bram Stoker
18. Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
19. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
20. Essays by Michel de Montaigne
21. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
22. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
23. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
24. Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
25. Ulysses by James Joyce
26. Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
27. Animal Farm by George Orwell
28. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
29. Candide by Voltaire
30. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
31. Analects by Confucius
32. Dubliners by James Joyce
33. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
34. Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
35. Red and the Black by Stendhal
36. Das Capital by Karl Marx
37. Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
38. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

39. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
40. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
41. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
42. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
43. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
44. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
45. Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
46. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
47. Diary by Samuel Pepys
48. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
49. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
50. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
51. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
52. Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
53. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
54. Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
55. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
56. Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
57. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
58. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
59. Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
60. Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
61. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
62. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
63. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
64. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
65. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
66. Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
67. Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
68. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
69. The Talmud
70. Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
71. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
72. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
73. American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
74. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
75. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
76. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
77. Red Pony by John Steinbeck
78. Popol Vuh
79. Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
80. Satyricon by Petronius
81. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
82. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
83. Black Boy by Richard Wright
84. Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
85. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
86. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
87. Metaphysics by Aristotle
88. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder89. Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
90. Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
91. Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
92. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
93. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
94. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
95. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
96. Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
97. General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
98. Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
99. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
100. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
101. Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
102. Émile Jean by Jacques Rousseau
103. Nana by Émile Zola
104. Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
105. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
106. Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
107. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
108. Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
109. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
110. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
111. Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
112. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
113. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
114. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
115. The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatly Snyder

Sightseeing in Virginia - Great Falls

It was worth freezing our butts off for:

Hero of the Day - David Clowney

This dude's got my vote.

Sometimes

Sometimes she lies in bed and all
he sees are limbs, white-willow tall
and aspen thin. He doesn’t care
what's underneath her tousled hair.
He only sees the artful sprawl.

She has the power to enthrall -
to back him up against the wall
and pin him hanging, hopeless, there.
Sometimes she lies

In bed and orders him to crawl
across the floor and down the hall.
If he’s obedient she’ll swear
she loves him, stretch, and slowly bare
her breasts, secure he won't recall
sometimes she lies.

Whaaaat? I am NOT Fat!!! I'm Well-Padded

Pepsi Cats

It's just like you tolds me - the humans all the time cover their pepsi. But why????

Seen On DC Busses

Wisconsin's New Poet Laureate

I'm so excited!!! The State of Wisconsin has announced it's new Poet Laureate and it's none other than the delightful and talented Marilyn Taylor!!!!!

(Who, if you haven't already guessed, is a friend of mine.)

She's also one of the most talented formalist poets that I know - and I'd say that even if I didn't know her - because it's true and I'm pretty ruthless about the truth when it comes to things poetic.

Congratulations, Marilyn, you rock!!

Presidential Web Site

This is just so cool.

When was the last time your government bothered to ask you what you thought or what your story was?

When was the last time anyone asked you?

Recognize Anyone?

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

These Are the Tasks

These are the tasks the past has laid
before us. It's time. Be undismayed.
Rebuild the earth to house the weak.
Comfort the sick, protect the meek.
Give honor to the men who’ve paid

the price that war extracts. They've prayed
for this. We've seen our nation frayed
by strife. It's time. It's change we seek.
These are the tasks

that must be balanced out and weighed;
The peace restored; all debts repaid;
all fears allayed. It's time to speak
with clarity – each voice unique
yet one with hope and unafraid.
These are the tasks.

YES WE CAN

YES WE WILL

YES WE DID!!

Florida Robo Calls - The Last of the Lies

Automated calls paid for by Republican John McCain are going out to voters in South Florida, portraying Democrat Barack Obama as an ally of Fidel Castro.

Voters hear: "This just in! I'm calling on behalf of John McCain to tell you that at 1:28 PM today, the independent news agency Reuters reported that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro endorsed Democrat Barack Obama as 'more intelligent' than John McCain. Castro said America will become a country where 'an extremist can legally acquire a sophisticated modern weapon on any street corner.' That's just why a thug like Castro would endorse Barack Obama. Don't given Castro what he wants. Get to the polls now to vote for John McCain and stop Cuban-like policies in America."

What Reuters really reported:

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban's former communist leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday praised Democrat Barack Obama as "more intelligent" than "old, bellicose" Republican John McCain, but said that he was officially neutral in the U.S. presidential election.

The ailing Castro, 82, said in a column published in state-run media that neither of the candidates running in Tuesday's election was concerned with the world's most pressing problems as they campaigned to lead what he called "a parasitic and plundering empire."

Obama, Castro wrote, is "without doubt more intelligent, cultured and calm than his Republican adversary."

McCain, he said, is "old, bellicose, uncultured, not very intelligent and not healthy."

Quoting from a letter he wrote to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Castro said if McCain wins "the danger of war will increase."

"When this opinion (is published), no one will have time to say that I wrote something that can be used by one of the candidates in favor of his campaign," Castro wrote.

"I had to be and have been neutral in the electoral contest," said Castro,

Castro also said the U.S., which has imposed a trade embargo against Cuba for 46 years, had a long history of racism and that Obama's selection as the Democratic presidential nomination had "astonished" many because he is black.

He warned that Obama "will run growing risks in the country where an extremist can legally acquire a sophisticated modern weapon on any street corner."

Poets and Voters

Voting day stories to warm the heart.

Just Do It

Go vote!!!

Found on a Poetry Board - Obama's Everywhere!!

Campbell Brown Gets Bullishly Biased

Today Campbell Brown came out swinging - insisting that Barack Obama broke his promise not to take federal campaign funds.

The fact is, there was no "promise." What existed was a pledge which Obama signed (although no one else, including John McCain ever bothered filling out) and which agreed to pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve the public financing system. Obama contacted McCain way back in the beginning - before funding was decided upon - to invite him to discuss the acceptance of such funds. McCain never returned the call.

Sometimes rudeness really is it's own reward.

I've always liked Ms. Brown but that's two in row for her. Last Monday she was indignantly insisting that "diva" was a sexist remark and that the word itself meant an ambitious or successful woman.

Agreed, "diva" is sexist. However, it does not now, nor did it ever, mean "ambitious" or "successful." A diva may very well be successful and ambitious but it's the way in which she pursues her ambition and enjoys her success which gives meaning to the phrase. A diva is difficult, a diva is rude, a diva cares nothing for those other than herself, a diva is ruthless and cunning and petulant. One can be successful as hell and still not be any of those things. If fact, most people would prefer their ambitiously successful ones not to be any of those things.

The RNC included, apparently.

It is biased and bull to complain about a word being used when one apparently does not understand the meaning of the word they are complaining about.

Makes Me Proud to Be From NW Indiana

Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama

By Greg Sargent - October 27, 2008, 5:18PM

Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.

Nina Williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake County, Indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger."

Williams' daughter told her that up to 40 of her co-workers had refused to read the script, and had left the call center after supervisors told them that they would have to either read the call or leave, Williams says. The call center is called Americall, and it's located in Hobart, IN.

"They walked out," Williams says of her daughter and her co-workers, adding that they weren't fired but willingly sacrificed pay rather than read the lines. "They were told [by supervisors], `If you all leave, you're not gonna get paid for the rest of the day."

The daughter, who wanted her name withheld fearing retribution from her employer, confirmed the story to us. "It was like at least 40 people," the daughter said. "People thought the script was nasty and they didn't wanna read it."

A second worker at the call center confirmed the episode, saying that "at least 30" workers had walked out after refusing to read the script.

"We were asked to read something saying [Obama and Democrats] were against protecting children from danger," this worker said. "I wouldn't do it. A lot of people left. They thought it was disgusting."

This worker, too, confirmed sacrificing pay to walk out, saying her supervisor told her: "If you don't wanna phone it you can just go home for the day."

The script coincided with this robo-slime call running in other states, but because robocalling is illegal in Indiana it was being read by call center workers.

Representatives at Americall in Indiana, and at the company's corporate headquarters in Naperville, Illinois, didn't return calls for comment.

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

What's Worse Than a Cat Stuck Up a Tree?

A horse stuck inside one.

Good Grief, Sarah Palin

The other day she didn't know what a vice-president did and now she's unsure what a feminist is - or if she is one.

Now I Understand Why John McCain Wrecked 5 Planes and Lost The Last Presidential Primary - He Just Doesn't Learn

My husband and I are not registered Republicans, neither of us have ever signed up to receive mailings from The Republican Party. As far as I know, neither of us have ever received a mailing from the Republican Party - until today that is.










Nice, huh?

If it didn't work on the campaign trail and it didn't work in the debate and it didn't work on television commercials what on earth makes them think it's going to work in my mailbox?

Actually, on second thought, it DOES work. I'm sending another $25.00 to the Obama campaign - and oh yeah, I'm forwarding this to them, too.

Is There No End To the Badness?

First there was the little matter of $21,000+ worth of airline tickets and hotel rooms for the Palin children being charged to The State of Alaska. (Huh, I wonder when "Kids Fly Free" became a government perk?)

Then there was the "other little matter" of $150,000+ worth of Sarah Palin campaign-clothing (as well as clothing for her spouse and children) being paid for by The Republican Party. (Now isn't that just where all you Hockey Moms and Joe Six-Packs wanted your hard-earned $25.00 campaign contributions to go to?)

Now there's THIS!!! Sarah Palin, looking mighty damned well-dressed, I might add, told Brandon-the-Inquisitive and a group of his fellow 3rd graders that a vice president "is in charge of the United States 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. And it's a great job and I look forward to having that job."

I think we were better off last August when Sarah understood how to dress herself and didn't understand what a vice president did.

Oh wait, she still doesn't really understand either of those things, does she?

PoliticalMatch.Com Introduces Joe the Plumber To Lisa the Lemming

According to Ed Rollins, Joe (the plumber)is a real guy living in Toledo, Ohio. He is representative of the millions of hardworking Americans who get up every day and go to work, and raise their kids and contribute to their communities.

I've got news for you, Ed. Joe may be a real guy living in Toledo but he's hardly representative of the millions of Americans in this country. Nor is he anyone whose opinions would count for too much with many of the other "real guys."

For one thing, many of the "guys" are "girls." And not many of them, guys OR girls, complain to a presidential candidate or a camera about the make-believe taxes that it'll cost them when they buy their first make-believe business with a make-believe salary - all the while pretending it's reality. Nor do they lead people on by claiming to be "undecided" when they've already registered as a Republican. FOr that matter, most of them aren't even home in the middle of the day chasing down a candidate who's walking around in their neighborhood - they're at work - and they, unlike Joe, can't afford to take the day off, not even if they're dying.

Not only that, most of them, unlike Joe, are already paying their taxes on their real property and their real income. In other words, they don't avoid their obligations and they don't have liens against their property for overdue and unpaid back taxes.

You do a grave disservice to the majority of working class Americans when you appoint a man like Joe the Plumber their representative. Even more so when you compare his influence upon them to Colin Powell's. Colin Powell has earned respect - he's proven himself time and time again to be a man of principal and honor while Joe the Plumber has, so far, proven himself to be capable of lying through his teeth on national television and of successfully avoiding the tax collector for the past year or so.

Call me crazy but I, personally, find Colin to be just a bit more credible. And his opinion counts for a hell of a lot more than Joe's does when it comes to foreign policies and economic principals.

Hell, now that I think about it, they've got the same plumbing credentials. I might trust him to fix my toilet, too. Might as well since neither of them are licensed to do so.

The difference is, I'd trust Colin to say so - Joe's already proven he won't mention it if you won't. And he'll deny it if you do - and then ask that you quit picking on him and leave him alone because it's the bogus questions that are important, not the character or the honesty of the bogus plumber asking them.

For what it's worth, I completely fail to understand why we must all be Joe Six-Pack or Joe-the-Plumber or Soccer Sarah - just who exactly benefits when we're all so neatly packaged and pidgeon-holed for mass consumption? And why is it decreed that it must be so?

Do we all act that much like lemmings? Does the McCain campaign think that if they can only scare us enough that we'll all congregate on the same cliff and follow them down?

Or do they just wish we would?

Not the "Real Virginia"

A McCain campaign aide, Nancy Pfotenhauer, told MSNBC today that northern Virginia is not part of the "Real Virginia." It was not, as you might think, an attempt to excuse McCain's failure to nominate a real VP.

This follows on the heels of John McCain's brother referring to the region as "Communist country."

The McCain spokesperson went on to discuss the rest of the state in a high-pitched, barely audible frequency: (h/t Jake Tapper)

"I did say outside of north – well, I mean real Virginia, because northern Virginia is where I've always been, but real Virginia I take to be the – this part of the state that is more southern in nature, if you will."

Someone better tell Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

Maybe they oughta let John McCain know, too, since his Washington DC residence is a 3 bedroom condo in Arlington, Va.

For that matter, the 9/11 dudes really screwed up - they thought they were bombing an American Landmark - instead they bombed The Pentagon - located in the heart of "Communist Country."

Not the "Real Virginia"

Green Haiku

April Northern Lights
Small polar cubs on thin ice
Flash of white and gone
___

Six shy primates play
in a disappearing Eden.
Good-bye Gorillas.

____

Thin-skinned Harlequins
shrinking pond - summer sun
Croaking dappled frogs

Princess Maddie and Sir Dom

Oh My God!! No Flag Pin? How Unpatriotic!!

PALIN AS PRESIDENT

Click often, click everywhere. Avoid the red Phone.

Should Jews Vote For Obama?

Palin Guilty of "Abuse Of Power" - Which Just Happens To Be Grounds For Impeachment

How is "abusing your power" not a crime of some sort?

Ah, what the hell - since abuse of power is grounds for impeachement I suppose it's good enough.

Don't Lie, Don't MudSling, Don't Change the Subject and Most of All, Don't Call Me "My Friend"

I admit it - I'm a Beltway-Junkie. And even I'm nauseated just thinking about tonight's debate.

I'm trying to believe that Sarah's not really ok with people yelling "Kill him" as she exhorts her crowds to see Barak Obama as a terrorist - I'm trying to to believe that the Florida sherrif whom announced her didn't deliberately refer to Obama as "Barak Hussian Obama" making it possible for Sarah to segue directly into her terrorist pal accusation.

These people need to get real - and I don't mean "By golly, God Bless Ya', Joe SixPack" kind of "real," either. I mean they need to touch base with honest-to-God reality - OUR reality. The one that sucks right now. The one where people are losing their pensions, their life savings, their homes, their jobs, their dignity - and most of all - their hope.

For many Americans this election is starting to represent not only their last hope but their only hope. They seriously deserve the right to make an honest choice based on truth and logic and common sense - and not be subjected to bogus accusations, irrational fear-mongering and childish name-calling in lieu of the former. They don't need the subject changed when and if it becomes uncomfortable or when the candidate doesn't know the answer, they don't need baldfaced lies, they don't need old rumors rehashed, and they don't need phony and/or pointless promises. They need - and deserve - truthful and thoughtful answers to their questions.

And I don't want to hear anyone - Republican or Democrat - patronizingly referring to the audience as "My Friends."

We don't need friends in Washington, we've got friends right here at home, we don't need drinking buddies or soccer moms or Joe SixPack in Washington, we've got all those things right here in our own neighborhoods, what we want in Washington, what we need in Washington, what we've been so sadly lacking for the past 8 years in Washington is a leader. Preferably one with compassion, integrity and intelligence.

And THAT'S what we'll be looking for tonight - we're smart enough to know we deserve nothing less - nor will we vote for it.

McCain Wants to "Turn The Page" - Shill, Baby, Shill

``We are very well-funded, and we are looking for a very aggressive last 30 days,'' senior McCain adviser Greg Strimple told reporters yesterday. ``We're looking to turning the page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama's liberal, aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for the Americans.''

ARE THEY NUTS???? "WE ARE LOOKING TO TURN THE PAGE???"

When the stock market is crashing, when their beloved Joe Six-Packers are losing their family homes in numbers never before witnessed and all those revered soccer moms are starting to worry about how to feed their children, never mind how to pay for soccer camp, they suddenly decide they want to "TURN THE PAGE ON THIS FINANCIAL CRISIS"and talk about how some passing acquaintance who never even went to court over his alleged wrong-doings much less get convicted of them might or might not be connected in the slimmest of ways to Barak Obama???

And they call Obama's past behaviour "risky?"

Turning the page, and your back, on a financial crisis which threatens to overtake your own country as well as many of the other countries in the world in order to "discuss" a slim connection between a radical 60's type person and a presidential candidate hardly seems unrisky to me.

It sounds desperate....and the American people are in too desperate an economic situation-not-of-their-own-making to be dissed in such a manner. The last thing they need at this particular point in time is a man with his own desperate need to be king running off at the mouth and trying to turn the page on a very real crisis in a lame attempt to avoid admitting he has no valid solution to this financial crisis he's already had years to head-off/contribute to. It's hardly prime time to hold a conversation about a $200 campaign contribution made in a 2002 election - in fact it's a sub-prime discussion all the way around. You don't turn the page on a current half-trillion dollar-and-rapidly-rising USA deficit to drag up a 6 year old Chicago coffee-clach and a $200 campaign contribution. That's not "change" that's Standard Republican Swift-Boating Politics as usual - and what's more, it's just plain insulting - all more so because it's coming from a man who was investigated and cited for "poor judgement" by the Senate's Ethics Committee for participating in two meetings with banking regulators on behalf of Charles Keating. Keating, a friend, campaign contributor ($112,000 in contributions, to be exact - which is $111,800 more than the damning $200.00 contribution that Sarah is shrilling about) and savings and loan owner who was later convicted of securities fraud.

This is the same John McCain, who just last month when the whole house of cards began tumbling down, assured us that "our economy is fundamentally strong" and who has said repeatedly in the past that "economics are not his strong suit" and is, boy-golly, sure proving it, isn't he? Turning back the page isn't important anymore - We've all got pages people could turn back to - McCain and Palin included. The American people are better than that. We've seen the past, we've lived the past, and, for the most part, we've put the past behind us - we're worried about the future. We'd like a president and vice president who understand that - and ones who at least grant us the courtesy of pretending to share our concern. Too bad for McCain that he hasn't seemed to grasp the fact that he can't suspend the financial crisis to hold a discussion about bullshit as easily as he suspended his campaign to "help" draft and pass an unpopular rescue plan which somehow, somehow ended up chock-full of the very same kind of pork packages he's based his reputation on fighting against.

Someone needs to tell him we're not buying it - we're not buying anything - we can't afford to. And someone needs to tell Sarah Palin that it's just not a good time to "Shill, baby, Shill."

Sarah Palin's $64,000 Question - Complete This Sentence - "People Who Live In Glass Houses _____________________."

Sarah Palin is defending her attack on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama after accusing him of "palling around with terrorists."

The Republican vice presidential nominee on Sunday said it was legitimate to raise Obama's association with 1960s radical Bill Ayers. Ayers and Obama are acquainted, but the charge that they "pal around" is unsubstantiated.

"The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn't been talked about," she said. "It's important to talk about how Barack Obama kicked off his political career in the guy's living room."

I wonder if it's equally important to "talk about" how John McCain "palled around" with Charles Keating? I do believe that what Obama's "pal" did when Obama was EIGHT YEARS OLD is probably going to appear a little bit less offensive to voters than what McCain's "pal" did - considering that McCain was a responsible adult and a senator who was investigated right along with his "pal."

For that matter - isn't Sarah herself still being investigated for wrong-doing in Alaska? Isn't she still refusing to cooperate with investigators into the allegations filed against her office and her friends and family? Weren't Sarah and Ted Stevens "pals" before they weren't? Didn't he endorse her for governor and didn't she use his endorsement as a commercial to show how close they were?

Maybe they don't have glass houses in Alaska? Maybe they do and the McCain campaign is counting on the Obama campaign to be too upright to resort to the same dirty tactics of half truths and outright lies. Although in the case of Charles Keating and Ted Stevens it wouldn't BE a lie, would it? Just dirty politics - something both Sarah and John seem entirely too comfortable with. I guess I'm counting on that, too, to be honest. Although it would be fun to watch Obama and Biden finish what Palin and McCain have started. After all, as Sarah said, It's important to talk about these things.

Late addition CNN's done a report on Obama's response - and their fact check people have given Sarah's allegation allegation a resounding:

Verdict: False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.

McCain Calls NoVa "Communist Country"

Huh- and here I thought I lived right here in Middle America - turns out I was wrong. According to Joe McCain, brother of John McCain, who was speaking at an event in support of his brother, Alexandria and Arlington, two Democratic-leaning areas in Northern Virginia, are "communist country."

"I've lived here for at least 10 years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country," Joe McCain, a Navy veteran, said at an event in Loudoun County, Va.

I'm pretty sure his brother, John, has one of his 7 or 8 homes in Arlington. What does that make him?

Oh wait, I know - a maverick. The lone capitalist in the midst of all us commies.

Does Sarah Even Read The New York Times? And If So, What's Her Comprehension Skill?

Well, now we know what Sarah Palin doesn't read:

(CNN) --Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lashed out at Sen. Barack Obama's ties to controversial figure William Ayers.

Palin's attack delivered on the McCain campaign's announcement that it would step up attacks on the Democratic presidential candidate with just a month left before the November general election.

"This is not a man who sees America as you and I do: as the greatest force for good in the world," Palin said at a fundraising event in Colorado, according to a statement released by the McCain-Palin campaign. "This is someone who sees American as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country."

She doesn't read New York Times which did a fine job of outlining the virtually non-existant relationship between two men who once served on the same committee and who happen to share a common neighborhood. Having once lived on the South Side of Chicago myself, I can attest to the fact that it's nearly impossible not to run into a neighbor now and then - and it's equally impossible to ignore them if you do. We're a weird bunch in Chicago sometimes, but we're never unfriendly. It'd be like Joe Six-Pack not offering you a beer when it's 95 degrees in the shade and you're dying of thirst.

Oh wait - she cited the article in her speech - even though that article concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' "

Apparently she doesn't read the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times or The New Yorker - all of which have also debunked the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship.

I get it now.....it's like she told Katie - she reads everything "they" put in front of her - she just doesn't absorb it, understand it or retain it.

Either that or she spins around in circles and then looks at the pictures. That'd be a very mavericky thing to do.

Anticipated TrooperGate Verdict? The Expectations Are Set Low and the Explanation's Already Offered

If this unconstitutional and unlawful investigation is allowed to continue, is completed, and if the resulting report is released as planned, Plaintiffs and Alaskans in general will suffer irreparable harm," lawyers for the Liberty Legal Foundation told the Alaska Supreme Court.

The Texas-based conservative group is representing Republican legislators who support Palin and are asking the Alaska Supreme Court to shut down the probe, which they call "biased."

Apparently Sarah's people don't have much confidence that she'll be found innocent, do they? Whatever happened to the "we welcome the investigation and we will cooperate fully with officials" initial response of Palin and McCain to the same investigation when it began back in August - even before Sarah was named VP candidate? It's the same people holding the investigation - why the sudden loss of trust and cooperation on the part of McCain, Palin and the rest of her people?

Or is changing your mind and refusing to cooperate with local, state or federal officials just something those gosh-darn Mavericks do?

Yep - That's Livin' On Middle Class Main Street - You Betcha!!

The 2007 income tax return for Sarah and Todd Palin shows that last year the couple had a gross adjusted income of $166,080 and paid $24,738 in taxes — about a 15 percent rate after deductions. In 2006, the records show, the Palins earned $127,869 as adjusted gross income, with taxes paid listed at $11,944 — less than a 10 percent rate.

On federal financial disclosure forms Palin and her husband listed assets worth from $960,000 to $2.3 million. Because the values of assets are reported in broad ranges, it's not possible to calculate an exact value for their holdings.

(Just for comparison)

The median income for a household in Wasilla was $48,226, and the median income for a family was $53,792. Males had a median income of $41,332 versus $29,119 for females. The per capita income for Wasilla was $21,127. About 5.7% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.6% of those under the age of 18 and 9.7% of those 65 and older.

(And one more small comparison)

Like many Americans, their most valuable asset is their home in Wasilla, valued at between $500,000 and $1 million. According to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the land and structure at the Wasilla property is appraised at $552,100.

Estimated median house/condo value in 2006: $172,700.
Wasilla $172,700

In other words, Sarah may live on Main Street but she sure doesn't live like Main Street.

Is It Really "Joe Six-Pack's" Election?

Consider this: There are more women voting than men. The percentage of people who vote rises in direct correlation with the amount of education they have. Less than 50% of people with high school educations vote in elections. More than 80% of people with a bachelor's degree or better vote in elections. Blacks and Hispanics make up a very large block of The U. S. voting population. United States citizens of Asian descent make up 4% of the population - the majority of them vote.

Maybe, if Sarah Palin truly wants to reach the entirety of the "middle class," she should spend a little more time learning that this country is made up of much more than the stereotypical {and faintly insulting) "Joe Six-Pack" who lives in her isolated little neighborhood and eats moose burgers with her and her family. Maybe she would do well to start recognizing that Joe, for all his sudden popularity, is not the only person with a vested interest in this year's presidential election - nor is he necessarily the one she needs to impress.

Chained To A Bed With A Velociraptor

I could survive for 57 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

How Many Times Have I Lied To You - Let Me Count the Ways

My friends, we need a president who will always tell the American people the truth."

Finally, McCain says something I can agree with. Count The Lies

Bill Clinton + Wife's Loss = Passive-Agressive Little Biatch

With friends like this......

McCain Does Damage Control For Palin

And, according to McCain, the moral of the story is - people should quit asking questions when there's a microphone in front of her face.

Sarah Palin - PostTurtle

"You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, she'll stay up there until someone takes her down, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with."

Palin Contradicts McCain Over Cheesesteak and Coffee

Transcript from the McCain/Obama debate regarding Pakistan.

McCain: Now, on this issue of aiding Pakistan, if you're going to aim a gun at somebody, George Shultz, our great secretary of state, told me once, you'd better be prepared to pull the trigger.

I'm not prepared at this time to cut off aid to Pakistan. So I'm not prepared to threaten it, as Senator Obama apparently wants to do, as he has said that he would announce military strikes into Pakistan.

We've got to get the support of the people of -- of Pakistan. He said that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan.

Now, you don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government.
I've been to Waziristan. I can see how tough that terrain is. It's ruled by a handful of tribes.

So it's not just the addition of troops that matters. It's a strategy that will succeed. And Pakistan is a very important element in this. And I know how to work with him. And I guarantee you I would not publicly state that I'm going to attack them.


Impromptu interview with Sarah Palin the day after the debate quoted above:

The governor got a more serious interrogation moments later when Temple graduate student Michael Rovito approached her to inquire about Pakistan.

"How about the Pakistan situation?," asked Rovito, who said he was not a Palin supporter. "What's your thoughts about that?"

"In Pakistan?," she asked, looking surprised.

"What's going on over there, like Waziristan?"

"It's working with [Pakistani president] Zardari to make sure that we're all working together to stop the guys from coming in over the border," she told him. "And we'll go from there."

Rovito wasn't finished. "Waziristan is blowing up!," he said.

"Yeah it is," Palin said, "and the economy there is blowing up too."

"So we do cross border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan you think?," Rovito asked.

"If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," Palin responded, before moving on to greet other voters.

Do McCain and Palin even talk to one other? Didn't he just say, in his awesome debate appearance that we don't say that out loud??? Didn't he guarantee us that he would not publicly state that I'm going to attack them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what his pet running mate very publicly announced over cheesesteak and coffee?

I wonder how gorgeous Asif Ali Zardari finds her now?

Nyac the Otter Dies at Age 20

Nyac the otter died of leukemia today - at the age of 20. Nyac survived the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and spent the remainder of her life in the Vancouver zoo.



The things we could learn from animals if we only bothered to understand what it is they have to teach.

McCain Wins Debate - A Day Early - And Doesn't Mind Telling Wall Street

McCain campaign self-proclaims debate victory in a front page ad on The Wall Street Journal - a day early.

Witnesses Silent - Sarah Speaks Full Sentences

Funny how that works - there's an accusation of witness tampering in The Troopergate scandal, McCain suspends HIS campaign due to the extremely perilous nature of the economy and here's Sarah at Ground Zero - speaking what passes for a mind at last.

Or maybe her handlers figured it was a good time for her to speak - since no one's interested anymore.

Ah, the fickle public - dropping the lipsticked moose-killer in favor of their foreclosured property.

FBI Investigating Wall Street

Wouldn't it be interesting to have had access to Cindy McCain's tax returns? You gotta wonder how a woman who owns 8 houses feels about investing in Freddie and Fannie and Countrywide.

How much of a conflict of interest would that be? Especially since her husband, John, keeps all of his assests in her name.

Regardless of what happens - I really hope the FBI investigation hangs everyone and anyone who's had a dirty little finger in the pie.

Economic McCainism's - Or How I Learned To Add and Subtract The Truth

Seeing is Believing

A random selection of McCain quotes on the economy over the last several months:

“The issue of economics is something that I’ve really never understood as well as I should.”
Boston Globe, 12/18/07

>“I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

January, 2008

“The fact is we have some tough times ahead. We will get through this rough patch.”

"The best course of action is to let the Fed handle it.”

January, 2008


“I don’t believe we’re headed into a recession. I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong, and I believe they will remain strong.”


GOP Debate, Myrtle Beach, FNC, 1/10/08

“Even if the economy is the, quote, No. 1 issue, the real issue will remain America’s security. And if they choose to say, ‘Look, I do not need this guy because he’s not as good on home loan mortgages or whatever it is, I understand about that, I will accept that verdict. I am running because of the transcendental challenge of the 21st century, which is radical Islamic extremism.”

The New York Times, 1/28/08


Since President Bush took office, “I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created… you can make an argument that there’s been great progress economically over that period of time.”

Money & Politics,” Bloomberg, 4/17/08


“The fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

September 15, 2008


"I cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a solution were at hand, which it clearly is not. With so much on the line, for America and the world, the debate that matters most right now is taking place in the United States Capitol. I intend to join it."

September 24, 2008


McCAIN’S ECONOMIC PROPOSALS PRE SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

McCain’s Economic Plan Helps Corporations, not Working Families. “McCain offered sweeping rhetoric about the economic plight of working-class Americans…even as he spelled out a tax and spending agenda whose benefits are aimed squarely at spurring corporate growth.” (The Washington Post, 4/16/08)

McCain Offers Massive Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Wealthy. McCain’s plan offers two massive tax cuts for corporations, slashing tax rates from 35 percent to 25 percent, with 58 percent of the benefits going to the top 1 percent of taxpayers. This is an even larger tax rate cut for the wealthiest taxpayers than Bush gave them. (Reuters, 3/10/08; “Five Easy Pieces and Two Trillion Dollars,” Center for American Progress Action Fund, 3/21/08)

But He Wants to Tax Our Health Benefits. McCain would make employer-paid health premiums part of taxable income, creating a new tax on working families. He would drive insurance costs up further by promoting high-deductible health savings account plans. (Health08.org Forum, 10/31/07; Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits 2007 Annual Survey; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 9/20/06, 4/5/06)

McCain’s Tax Cuts Would Cut Social Programs Working Families Need. “McCain cannot pay for his tax cuts without massive reductions in Social Security, Medicare or other key programs that benefit the vast majority of Americans.” (“Five Easy Pieces and Two Trillion Dollars,” Center for American Progress Action Fund, 3/21/08)

McCain Skipped Vote on Economic Stimulus Package Despite Being in Washington. McCain missed a key vote on economic stimulus legislation to provide rebates to taxpayers—even though he was in Washington, D.C., at the time. “McCain returned to Washington but made an eleventh-hour decision to skip the vote, aides to his campaign said.” (H.R. 5140, Vote #8, 2/6/08; Associated Press, 2/6/08)

McCain Says He Wants Tough Lender Standards—But Votes Against Them. McCain has called for strict standards and greater transparency for lenders and for cracking down on predatory lenders. But he voted against a measure to discourage predatory lending practices and failed to vote on a bill that would overhaul the mortgage lending practices of the Federal Housing Administration. (McCain’s Remarks on Economic Woes, 3/25/08; St. Petersburg Times, 1/24/08; S. 256, Vote #22, 3/3/05; S. 2338, Vote #432, 12/14/07)


Quite a bit different tune he's singing today, isn't it?

Consistancy, thy name is McCain, Palin, GOP, Republican Democrat.

GOP Postponing Palin? How Much Does That Surprise You?

Give me a freakin' break, will ya?

Now the plan is to delay the first presidential debate (because apparently The Republican World needs John McCain to single-handedly show up and settle the economic problems plaguing the nation) and to hold it one week later, on October 2, 2008, thus postponing, indefinitely, the vice-presidential debate.


They really REALLY don't want her to talk, do they?

Poll of Polls Shows McCain Down To a Single Point Lead in Virginia

Here in Virginia, as in the rest of The United States, timing really is all, isn't it?

Self-imposed Time out, anyone?

Personally, were I a John McCain supporter, I'd have to agree that now would be a politically astute (re: cowardly) time to take one.

The New (and Better) Bail-Out Plan According to a Tax-Payer

Instead of giving billions of dollars to bankers, to Wall Street, to Freddie and Fannie, to auto makers, to investment firms who invested unwisely, to all those big businesses with their hands out and their greed still apparent, and doing it all in the name of "saving the economy" with little or no regard to the millions of Americans who make up that economy - instead of that - why not allocate the same billions to us, the people, the ones who are going to foot the bill in the end regardless of who the direct recepient is, the ones who are out of work, who are drowning under mortgages which are eating 50% of their paychecks each month and let them, let us, pay off our mortgages and our outstanding credit cards and our bank loans and our auto loans?

The money would flow from us right back into the business institutions who are begging for government assistance dollars, thus easing their self-made crunch as well as our own. The dollars would circulate - but widely instead of narrowly - and I sincerely doubt that a nation composed of individuals who are mostly (or totally) out of personal debt would object to eventually paying higher taxes to repay the government bail-out loan which came to THEM instead of bypassing them and going directly to the very people who either acted irrationally and irresponsibly with their money and/or outright misrepresented themselves, lied to their customers and ripped them off in the first place.

I've been listening to CNN all morning and I've yet to see how the common man is going to benefit, other than very very indirectly, and, more likely, not at all, from a plan which will surely, certainly, without a doubt, cost them several billions of additional tax dollars in the end.

If we are going to have to bear the cost of a government bail out (and it becomes more and more apparent that we are) shouldn't we, at the very least, be the ones being bailed?

Jinx - No Mo' Foo'Ball Weekends Fer Us

Friday morning we left early and spent the night at Dan's mom's house. It was interesting. Virtually no one was speaking to one another by the time we left on Saturday morning.

After leaving his mom's, we drove about 8 1/2 hours to Ma. - 4 hours of which were spent trying to cross the G.Washington Bridge in New York. It's the first time I've seen New York - I don't wish to repeat the vision. Then we got slightly lost once we got to Mass. No biggie. We did find the hotel and it was nice. The hot tub rocked.

I have a hard time understanding that people drive through New York more than once in a lifetime and that they actually enjoy it.

Sunday morning we left for a 1PM kick-off time before 9AM. Everyone told us it would take that long due to traffic. Everyone lied. We were at the stadium by 10. We walked and walked and walked from the parking lot to the stadium. (Have I ever mentioned that I HATE walking? Or that I don't do it very well due to an old back injury and resulting surgery? Consider yourself told. I don't walk very well.) We had to go thru tunnels and over bridges and, well, you get the idea, I didn't like it. Fortunately there's a mall next to the stadium so we killed some time sitting on benchs in front of stores. They let people into the stadium at 11 so we were some of the first people in their seats - which was cool - until it wasn't. The temperature was in the 80's and it quickly got HOT. So we'd sit awhile, wander back inside awhile, sit awhile until the game started. Spent a small fortune on beers, food, bottled water and a pick Patriot's hat for me while waiting and wandering.

And then they lost. Not just lost, mind you, but LOST.

And so it went for three full quarters....and so did we. And so did everyone else. And we walked and walked and walked back to the parking lot. Which was farther away then it was in the beginning because we came out the wrong doors. It took hours to get out of the parking lot.

I have a hard time understanding that people do this more than once in a lifetime and that they actually enjoy it.

We left Ma. this morning at 9 and made a small detour to a casino in Delaware. I won a few bucks - almost enough to pay for the tire I'm going to have to buy tomorrow seeing as how we blew the left rear one right down to the rim somewhere on I95 in Baltimore.

But we're home - finally. The cats vomited all over the stairway in our absence. To say nothing of the other nasty thing they did in front of the fireplace. (Which they always do is we're gone longer than they think is appropriate...and apparently this time we were gone a whole lot longer then they thought appropriate.)

I have a hard time understanding that people do this more than once in a lifetime and that they actually enjoy it.

No Politics, No Economy, No Palin - It's FOOTBALL WEEKEND

We're out the door in a bit - off for a 4 day weekend (Oh Blessed of All Events) in New England. We have tickets to the Patriots/Miami game on Sunday afternoon. We'll drive drive drive to New Jersey, spend the night with Dan's mom and then drive drive drive to Foxborough where we've reserved a room with a hot tub and we'll giggle and soak and watch television and order room service until Sunday afternoon when we trek off to the game.

Nothing to do but have fun.

Hillary Backer Backs McCain - You Got My Back, I Got Yours

Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.

and if you wonder why - perhaps this will help explain it:

Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.

AlaskaReal - A Native's Eye View of Palin and Politics in Alaska

AlaskaReal

This is one of the most comprehensive Alaska related blogs I've had the fortune to come across.

Anyone with the least bit of interest in Alaskan politics really needs to give it way more than a few second read.

More on the Flooding in Munster, In.

Hammond Clinic/MunsterMed Inn



Taco Bell on Calumet

Flooding In Munster, In.

Ike hit home yesterday.

My 85 year old mother is a patient undergoing short term physical therapy following a serious illness in a nursing home in Munster, Indiana. Her twin sister is a long term totally bedridden patient in the same facility.

Yesterday afternoon, following a record rainfall, a levy on The Little Calumet, the river which once ran immediately behind my backyard, broke. The resulting flood closed streets, cut power, and flooded hundreds of home, forcing the evacuation of over 400 families - and the nursing home.

It took nearly 10 frantic hours to locate my mother and aunt who were moved by a private ambulance company and The National Guard in specially built ambulances to several medical facilies in areas unaffected by the flood waters.

They are both safe and sound - but rattled. My aunt has not left her bed in over 5 years but she seems to have taken the move pragmatically. My mother is not coping so well. She is worried about her house which is also close to the banks of the Little Cal in Lansing, Il. No one's been able to get through the streets to check on it's condition and we are unable to contact any neighbors.

My sister, who also lives in nearby Lansing, Il. is under a mandatory evacuation order but so far is choosing to stay. She lost her entire first level to a malfunctioning sump pump just 6 weeks ago. She was, however, unable to leave once she decided to stay due to street closings. My oldest son was stuck in So. Carolina following a long weekend trip waiting to catch a flight home. My youngest son and his girlfriend, who also live in the Munster area, are stiill unaccounted for. His cell phone is not working and she has not returned my calls as of yet. Their area was not hit so hard and they live on the second floor of a large apartment building, so I am presuming they are ok....otherwise I shall go crazy.

My heart goes out to all who have suffered at the hands of such disasterous weather lately. To Texas, and Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois, Idaho, The Carolinas, Florida and every other place which has been affected, prayers and thoughts are with you.

A big "thank you" to The Indiana National Guard and The Munster Volunteer Fire Department as well as to the amazing staff at The Munster Med Inn who braved the waters and left their own flooded homes and families to tend to their patients. Several of the staff at Med Inn traveled with their patients to their temporary homes in order to keep their fears at bay by offering a familiar face and a friendly hand.

These are people who are underpaid and overworked. People who give of themselves and their time, putting their own needs and fears aside in order to aid those with bigger needs and bigger fears. These are the heroes. These are Americans.



The National Guard Evacuates The Munster Med Inn


update: The two unaccounted for children have called and been counted. Both are ok...one is at work and one is enroute to work but with the distinct possibility that he will not be able to make it.

McCain Throws Hissy-Fit - "My Way or the Lie-Way"

Ok...now we have it. John McCain, when confronted on The View by woman in lipstick about his current spate of lies and half-truths, blamed Barak Obama's refusal to hold joint "Town Hall Meetings" as being responsible for the current tenor of McCain's campaign.

McCain later was pressed on the increasingly derisive tone of the campaign and his new television commercial that carries the widely discredited claim Obama supported comprehensive sex education for kindergartners as an Illinois state senator.

McCain defended the ad's claims as well as those of a Web ad that said Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comments were directed at Palin. He added that the tone of the campaign might have been more amicable if Obama had agreed to his proposals for a series of town-hall meetings.

"If we had done what I asked Sen. Obama to do, I don't think you'd see the same tenor of this campaign," he said. "Why don't you ask Obama the next time he's on this show why won't he be in town meetings with me?"

Hockey Mama For Obama

Signs seen (pro and con) at a recent Anchorage, Alaska rally protesting Sarah Palin's campaign.

Bush In A Skirt
Palin: She Be Failin'
I Love My Alaska Girl
Jesus Was a Community Organizer
We Luv Our Lady Guv
Palin: Thanks But No Thanks
Smearing Alaska's Good Name One Scandal @ a Time
Candidate To Nowhere
Rape Kits Should Be Free
Voted For Her Once: Never Again!
Community Organizers are the Real Patriots
Barbies for War
I Shall Not Be Pandered To
Give Palin Your Vote AND Your Draft Age Child
Sarah Palin: So Far Right She's Wrong
Sarah Palin Is My Hero
Alaska Is Not Frisco
Gun Rights
Coat Hangers for McCain
Sarah Palin, Undoing 150 Years of American Feminism
Hockey Mama for Obama (on a hockey stick)

Who Paid for the Rape Kit if You Were Raped in Wasilla?

Women, if you've ever been raped, if you've ever known anyone who's been raped, if you even fear being raped and you're a Sarah Palin supporter, and even if you're not worried about the possibility of being forced to carry a resulting pregnancy to term, it might behoove you to know that as recently as 8 years ago the Town of Wasilla, Alaska (and ONLY the town of Wasilla, Alaska,) under the mayorship of Sarah Palin, charged the victim for her own rape exam, rape kit and forensic testing.

After numerous complaints, the State of Alaska stepped in and passed legislation requiring that the city pick up the tab. Charlie Fannon, Police Chief of Wasilla, appointed to his position by Palin after her dismissal of the previous police chief, protested the law, saying that it would cost Wasilla $5,000 to $14,000 a year if the city had to foot the bill for rape exams.


Damn good thing Ms. Palin hadn't yet been made governor at the time, isn't it?

Rock Fish and Sea Crabs and Grizzlies, McCain!!

If you've heard Sen. John McCain's stump speech you've surely heard him talk about grizzly bears. The federal government, he declares with horror and astonishment, has spent $3 million to study grizzly bear DNA. "I don't know if it was a paternity issue or criminal," he jokes, "but it was a waste of money."

A McCain campaign commercial also tweaks the bear research: "Three million to study the DNA of bears in Montana. Unbelievable."

Ok, so we know how he feels about wasting 3 million dollars of the taxpayer's money on Montana grizzly bears - I wonder how he feels about 4 million dollar Alaskan sea crabs and 2 million dollar Alaskan rock fish - to say nothing of $8 million to "improve" a former Alaskan Navy airfield which handles 8 scheduled flights a month?

To quote Senator McCain - not about the bears or the crabs or the fish - but about the sheer hypocrisy -


Unbelievable!!

McCain Raising Money for "The Old Washington"

Ya know that maverick, McCain? The one who says he's not part of the old boy's network? The McCain that swears he's different and he's all about "change?" The dude that's not a "party person?"

Well, he's out raising money for The Old Boys all around the nation.

Republican John McCain is asking donors to give far in excess of what they can contribute to him directly, even as he is limited to taking only public funds for the fall campaign.

McCain's fundraising is legal because the money he is asking for does not come straight to him. He is collecting funds for federal and state GOP committees that will aid his White House bid. Donors can give a total of nearly $70,000 to these committees, far in excess of the $2,300 individuals can give directly to a candidate.

The Arizona senator appeared at a $4 million fundraiser Monday night in Chicago where donors gave anywhere from $1,000 to nearly $70,000. Most of the money was split among the RNC and state parties in the battleground states of Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to Bill Strong, who helped organize the event.

Contributors who gave at least $25,000 attended a private dinner with McCain.

Strong said enthusiasm among donors was high, partly because of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. "We got unsolicited telephone calls from female executives in the Chicago area offering to contribute money," he said. "Fundraising has accelerated since the convention."

Bounds said McCain would do more fundraising for the joint committees; he couldn't say how much.

Jan Baran, a top GOP ethics lawyer, said the joint fundraising is not unusual. But he noted "there's an irony there that Sen. McCain is swearing off private money for his own campaign … but actively raising money for party organizations."

Change? No.

Irony? Yes.

"Lipstick on a Pig" McCain Said It First

In 2007, John McCain criticized Democratic contenders for offering what he called costly universal health care proposals that require too much government regulation. While he said he had not studied Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's health-care plan, he said it was "eerily reminiscent" of the failed plan she offered as first lady in the early 1990s.

I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," he said of her proposal.

He's not even the first, other politicians have also used the phrase in recent years, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Rep. John Mica of Florida and Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, among others.

Torie Clarke, a former McCain adviser, even wrote a book called, "Lipstick on a Pig: Winning In the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game."

And so - I'm unsure why McCain's camp is demanding an apology from Senator Obama.

Unless, of course, he gave one to Hillary back in 2007.