Jesus Christ was a community organizer.
Pontius Pilate was a governor.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Okey, Women, We Can Take This One!!!
The figures are in and, quite frankly, it figures - Men are swayed by figures.
62% of men surveyed by CNN have a favorable opinon of Sarah Palin while only 53% of women feel the same way. Fifty-seven percent of male respondents said Palin was qualified, 14 points higher than women. A majority of women polled, 55 percent, said Palin is not qualified.
Overall, 50 percent of all respondents think Palin is qualified to serve as president, compared with 70 percent who see the Democratic nominee for vice president, Sen. Joe Biden, as qualified.
I don't understand it, but there it is.
Men are also more likely to think Sarah Palin is being treated unfairly.
So, I never thought I utter these words, but here they are:
Sisters, Unite!!!
We really CAN do it. We really CAN get the best person elected. We've got the numbers and we've got the voices and we've got the, dare I say it, EXPERIENCE.
Women know women. There's a reason that women are less trustful of a woman who self-professes to be a hockey-mom/barracuda/pit bull with lipstick.
We are smart enough and experienced enough to question the judgement of a woman 36 weeks pregnant with leaking water who decides it's safe to travel 10+ hours on a plane and in an automobile. We are smart enough and experienced enough to know that women place their unborn children above everything - and if the unborn child is placed lower than self - there's a problem with priorities.
Regardless of it's "fairness" it's a fact. Being able to prioritize is an important aspect of both motherhood and presidency. If you can't do it in one you probably aren't going to be too good at doing it in another.
We are intelligent enough to know that there's a line which needs to be drawn between your personal life and your public life. We are intelligent enough to question how well a person can draw that line when she fires a man for not firing her brother-in-law. We are wise enough to know that we are not the only ones who feel that way - we are level headed enough to know that there is an active investigation going on into the matter. Those of us who've been around also know that, as a rule, where there's smoke there's fire.
We instinctively recognize bullshit and it's not far removed from mooseshit. We understand that Sarah Palin supported the Bridge to Nowhere long enough to get herself elected and to collect a big fat check for her state before she was smart enough to distance herself from it. We are wise enough to know she still spent the money she collected.
We, girlfriends, are smart. All of us - old, young, and in-between - black, white, brown and yellow - rich, poor and middle-class - enducated and uneducated.
We, girlfriends, are smart because we rule!!!
Get out there - read, read, read. Study the facts, seek the truth, trust your instincts. We'll get a woman in office one of these days. Let's make sure it's the right one.
We've waited all these lifetimes. We can wait 4 more years. Chosing the wrong woman would be a disaster. John McCain is basing his whole election on the mistaken belief that women are interchangable Barbie Dolls. John McCain decided that if he put a woman on his ticket that women voters would flock to his side. John McCain chose the wrong woman - tell him so. Tell him he seriously underestimated our intelligence, our ability to judge, our morality and our power.
Vote Obama.
62% of men surveyed by CNN have a favorable opinon of Sarah Palin while only 53% of women feel the same way. Fifty-seven percent of male respondents said Palin was qualified, 14 points higher than women. A majority of women polled, 55 percent, said Palin is not qualified.
Overall, 50 percent of all respondents think Palin is qualified to serve as president, compared with 70 percent who see the Democratic nominee for vice president, Sen. Joe Biden, as qualified.
I don't understand it, but there it is.
Men are also more likely to think Sarah Palin is being treated unfairly.
So, I never thought I utter these words, but here they are:
Sisters, Unite!!!
We really CAN do it. We really CAN get the best person elected. We've got the numbers and we've got the voices and we've got the, dare I say it, EXPERIENCE.
Women know women. There's a reason that women are less trustful of a woman who self-professes to be a hockey-mom/barracuda/pit bull with lipstick.
We are smart enough and experienced enough to question the judgement of a woman 36 weeks pregnant with leaking water who decides it's safe to travel 10+ hours on a plane and in an automobile. We are smart enough and experienced enough to know that women place their unborn children above everything - and if the unborn child is placed lower than self - there's a problem with priorities.
Regardless of it's "fairness" it's a fact. Being able to prioritize is an important aspect of both motherhood and presidency. If you can't do it in one you probably aren't going to be too good at doing it in another.
We are intelligent enough to know that there's a line which needs to be drawn between your personal life and your public life. We are intelligent enough to question how well a person can draw that line when she fires a man for not firing her brother-in-law. We are wise enough to know that we are not the only ones who feel that way - we are level headed enough to know that there is an active investigation going on into the matter. Those of us who've been around also know that, as a rule, where there's smoke there's fire.
We instinctively recognize bullshit and it's not far removed from mooseshit. We understand that Sarah Palin supported the Bridge to Nowhere long enough to get herself elected and to collect a big fat check for her state before she was smart enough to distance herself from it. We are wise enough to know she still spent the money she collected.
We, girlfriends, are smart. All of us - old, young, and in-between - black, white, brown and yellow - rich, poor and middle-class - enducated and uneducated.
We, girlfriends, are smart because we rule!!!
Get out there - read, read, read. Study the facts, seek the truth, trust your instincts. We'll get a woman in office one of these days. Let's make sure it's the right one.
We've waited all these lifetimes. We can wait 4 more years. Chosing the wrong woman would be a disaster. John McCain is basing his whole election on the mistaken belief that women are interchangable Barbie Dolls. John McCain decided that if he put a woman on his ticket that women voters would flock to his side. John McCain chose the wrong woman - tell him so. Tell him he seriously underestimated our intelligence, our ability to judge, our morality and our power.
Vote Obama.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Community Organizers - So Which Is It ?
I'm confused.
Are community organizer's some of the "best and smartest" Anerica has to offer or are they inexperienced and without responsibility?
Senator McCain appears to be flip-flopping around like a wounded moose again.
The most recent about-face took place in a Face the Nation interview when John McCain vowed that he will appoint Democrats to his cabinet if elected.
"It's going to be the best people in America, the smartest people in America," McCain said. "So many of these problems we face -- for example, energy independence -- what's partisan about that?"
He said he'll also ask some members of his Cabinet "to work for a dollar a year. They've made enough money. But I'll also ask people who have struggled out there in the trenches to help people, to volunteer in their communities, who understand these problems at that level, which obviously is lost on a lot of -- a lot -- a big segment of Washington."
Who was that lost on again, Mr. McCain? Your Washington or the other guy's Washington? Or was it your Washington last week and someone else's this week?
I am also impressed with the symbolic dollar a year salary for Cabinet members who've "made enough money." THe reason I am especially impressed is because this is coming from a man whose wife is a multi-millionaire, whose own Senate salary and book royalities in 2007 were $258,800, and who is "unsure of how many houses he owns, (the answer is 8) and still collects a cool $58,000 yearly in untaxed income (from the very government he wants to change) as disability pension.
Any plans to return the presidential salary should you get it? Or at least give up the disability pension in the hopes that one or two of those 400 homeless Iraq vets who really needs it can be fit into the budget next year?
How much is "made enough," Senator McCain?
Or does that bring us back to the magic 5 million again?
Are community organizer's some of the "best and smartest" Anerica has to offer or are they inexperienced and without responsibility?
Senator McCain appears to be flip-flopping around like a wounded moose again.
The most recent about-face took place in a Face the Nation interview when John McCain vowed that he will appoint Democrats to his cabinet if elected.
"It's going to be the best people in America, the smartest people in America," McCain said. "So many of these problems we face -- for example, energy independence -- what's partisan about that?"
He said he'll also ask some members of his Cabinet "to work for a dollar a year. They've made enough money. But I'll also ask people who have struggled out there in the trenches to help people, to volunteer in their communities, who understand these problems at that level, which obviously is lost on a lot of -- a lot -- a big segment of Washington."
Who was that lost on again, Mr. McCain? Your Washington or the other guy's Washington? Or was it your Washington last week and someone else's this week?
I am also impressed with the symbolic dollar a year salary for Cabinet members who've "made enough money." THe reason I am especially impressed is because this is coming from a man whose wife is a multi-millionaire, whose own Senate salary and book royalities in 2007 were $258,800, and who is "unsure of how many houses he owns, (the answer is 8) and still collects a cool $58,000 yearly in untaxed income (from the very government he wants to change) as disability pension.
Any plans to return the presidential salary should you get it? Or at least give up the disability pension in the hopes that one or two of those 400 homeless Iraq vets who really needs it can be fit into the budget next year?
How much is "made enough," Senator McCain?
Or does that bring us back to the magic 5 million again?
Speaking of Media Bias
Yesterday the McCain campaign announced that Sarah Palin would finally meet the press later this week in a previously offered interview with ABC and Charles Gibson.
Gibson, if you recall, cohosted the much panned and pointedly biased Democratic Debate back in April.
In the first 40 minutes of Wednesday's two-hour Democratic debate, the moderators asked Obama about his remarks that small-town residents bitterly cling to guns and religion; the inflammatory sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Stephanopoulos followup: "Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?"); why Obama doesn't wear an American flag pin; and his relationship with William Ayers, a former Weather Underground radical who has acknowledged involvement in several bombings in the 1970s.
In the only comparably aggressive question directed at Clinton, Stephanopoulos cited an ABC/Washington Post poll challenging her honesty and tied it to her false tale of having once come under sniper fire in Bosnia.
"Senator Obama is the front-runner," said Stephanopoulos, the network's chief Washington correspondent and a former Clinton White House aide. "Our thinking was, electability was the number one issue," and questions about "relationships and character go to the heart of it."
It'll be interesting to see if "relationships and character go to the heart of it" in the Palin interview, won't it?
Gibson, if you recall, cohosted the much panned and pointedly biased Democratic Debate back in April.
In the first 40 minutes of Wednesday's two-hour Democratic debate, the moderators asked Obama about his remarks that small-town residents bitterly cling to guns and religion; the inflammatory sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Stephanopoulos followup: "Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?"); why Obama doesn't wear an American flag pin; and his relationship with William Ayers, a former Weather Underground radical who has acknowledged involvement in several bombings in the 1970s.
In the only comparably aggressive question directed at Clinton, Stephanopoulos cited an ABC/Washington Post poll challenging her honesty and tied it to her false tale of having once come under sniper fire in Bosnia.
"Senator Obama is the front-runner," said Stephanopoulos, the network's chief Washington correspondent and a former Clinton White House aide. "Our thinking was, electability was the number one issue," and questions about "relationships and character go to the heart of it."
It'll be interesting to see if "relationships and character go to the heart of it" in the Palin interview, won't it?
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Pro-Choice Women Have Babies, Too
All the talk about Bristol Palin's pregnancy and Sarah Palin's decision to give birth to a Down's Syndrome child got me thinking -
It really is none of our business.
What is our business, however, is the fact that while mentioning the subject has been declared off-limits, Sarah Palin is still being held up as some sort of absolute saint for having made the choices she's made. Those voters who are strongly in Sarah Palin's camp seem to feel that only those who agree 100% with their and their candidate's strong position on abortion would ever dare have the courage to have reacted in the same manner.
In other words, they are as cynical as we.
No one seems willing to entertain the thought that even without overturning Roe Vs Wade, that even without strong family support, that even without strong Christian beliefs that a (dare I say it) Pro-Choice woman might have, if left to her own devices, chosen the same path as Sarah and Bristol have chosen.
Pro-Choice does not necessarily mean Pro-Abortion. It means exactly what it says - CHOICE. It means, in effect, I can do what I choose and you, you can do what you choose. It means there are people who understand circumstances, who understand agony, who understand the possibility of being backed into a corner and it means, most of all, they will not judge you, they will only judge themselves. It means they understand that the world is not black and white - that it is various shades of gray and it means they are uncomfortable imposing their morality upon others.
I know this because I was Sarah Palin's daughter once upon a time. I, too, faced a teenaged pregnancy. A friend of mine, she was Sarah Palin once upon a time. She, too, gave birth to a special needs child. We both knew what was going on, we both knew what our options were, we both, without a moment's hesitation, chose to give birth. We've both lived with our decisions for a very long time and we're both 100% convinced that we did the right thing - for ourselves and for our children. We do not, however, feel that because it was right for us that it is right for everyone. No one should have that right. No one should have that power.
What they should have is the education necessary to make an informed decision. What they should have is the support of their family and their community and their government to help them carry out that decision - regardless of what it may be.
And that, that's what Sarah Palin in denyied them when she voted for abstinance-only sexual education programs in her school system. That's what she denies them when she states that she favors abortion only in the event that the mother's life is endangered by giving birth. That's what she denied them when she reduced funding for special needs children in her school system. And these are some of the things she would like to change for the rest of us - she's just not being as vocal about it yet.
Sarah Palin does not give women credit for being capable of carrying out the most important of decisions on their own. She will, if given the chance, do her darnest to remove the decision making process at all, to narrow their option to one, to back them into that corner, to remove their education and to place their life and their future and the lives and futures of their children in the hands of the state. Either that, or she will force them back into the same dirty, infection-ridden, humiliating back alley that Roe V Wade took them out of.
I don't care where you go - I don't care what path you take or what choice you make -I will make the same assumption about you that I wish people to make about me - that you are an intelligent woman who knows her own life and her own capabilites far better than anyone who is not you can ever know. I will support you as a fellow human being regardless of your decision because I remember, with gratitude, a time when someone supported me in mine - but I have neither the ego nor the desire to force you into anything or to strip you of every option but one.
Pro-Choice supporters are not simply in favor of abortion, regardless of what Sarah and her ilk would have us believe. They are in favor of options - and education. They, unlike many of the Pro-Life supporters, are willing to trust women to do the right things for themselves and by themselves, without state-supported mandates, without government-imposed morality and, most of all, without fear.
And that means having your child as well as aborting your child.
It really is none of our business.
What is our business, however, is the fact that while mentioning the subject has been declared off-limits, Sarah Palin is still being held up as some sort of absolute saint for having made the choices she's made. Those voters who are strongly in Sarah Palin's camp seem to feel that only those who agree 100% with their and their candidate's strong position on abortion would ever dare have the courage to have reacted in the same manner.
In other words, they are as cynical as we.
No one seems willing to entertain the thought that even without overturning Roe Vs Wade, that even without strong family support, that even without strong Christian beliefs that a (dare I say it) Pro-Choice woman might have, if left to her own devices, chosen the same path as Sarah and Bristol have chosen.
Pro-Choice does not necessarily mean Pro-Abortion. It means exactly what it says - CHOICE. It means, in effect, I can do what I choose and you, you can do what you choose. It means there are people who understand circumstances, who understand agony, who understand the possibility of being backed into a corner and it means, most of all, they will not judge you, they will only judge themselves. It means they understand that the world is not black and white - that it is various shades of gray and it means they are uncomfortable imposing their morality upon others.
I know this because I was Sarah Palin's daughter once upon a time. I, too, faced a teenaged pregnancy. A friend of mine, she was Sarah Palin once upon a time. She, too, gave birth to a special needs child. We both knew what was going on, we both knew what our options were, we both, without a moment's hesitation, chose to give birth. We've both lived with our decisions for a very long time and we're both 100% convinced that we did the right thing - for ourselves and for our children. We do not, however, feel that because it was right for us that it is right for everyone. No one should have that right. No one should have that power.
What they should have is the education necessary to make an informed decision. What they should have is the support of their family and their community and their government to help them carry out that decision - regardless of what it may be.
And that, that's what Sarah Palin in denyied them when she voted for abstinance-only sexual education programs in her school system. That's what she denies them when she states that she favors abortion only in the event that the mother's life is endangered by giving birth. That's what she denied them when she reduced funding for special needs children in her school system. And these are some of the things she would like to change for the rest of us - she's just not being as vocal about it yet.
Sarah Palin does not give women credit for being capable of carrying out the most important of decisions on their own. She will, if given the chance, do her darnest to remove the decision making process at all, to narrow their option to one, to back them into that corner, to remove their education and to place their life and their future and the lives and futures of their children in the hands of the state. Either that, or she will force them back into the same dirty, infection-ridden, humiliating back alley that Roe V Wade took them out of.
I don't care where you go - I don't care what path you take or what choice you make -I will make the same assumption about you that I wish people to make about me - that you are an intelligent woman who knows her own life and her own capabilites far better than anyone who is not you can ever know. I will support you as a fellow human being regardless of your decision because I remember, with gratitude, a time when someone supported me in mine - but I have neither the ego nor the desire to force you into anything or to strip you of every option but one.
Pro-Choice supporters are not simply in favor of abortion, regardless of what Sarah and her ilk would have us believe. They are in favor of options - and education. They, unlike many of the Pro-Life supporters, are willing to trust women to do the right things for themselves and by themselves, without state-supported mandates, without government-imposed morality and, most of all, without fear.
And that means having your child as well as aborting your child.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Well. Gag Me
with a presidential spoon.
You'd think a woman who could face down a 1,400 pound moose wouldn't be so reluctant to face a reporter or two. Of course the
can't ask her questions about abortion rights or foreign policy or book banning - and you can't shoot a reporter and then drape his hide
across your office couch, but still - aren't we, as a nation, entitled to hear her speak sans speechwriter?
You'd think a woman who could face down a 1,400 pound moose wouldn't be so reluctant to face a reporter or two. Of course the
can't ask her questions about abortion rights or foreign policy or book banning - and you can't shoot a reporter and then drape his hide
across your office couch, but still - aren't we, as a nation, entitled to hear her speak sans speechwriter?
Friday, September 05, 2008
That Bird Don't Fly on eBay
One of the mainstay stories which supposedly shows us just how decisive and how frugal Sarah Palin can be is the one touted at the recent convention - you know the one - the "I put the plane on eBay" story. The one retold by John Mccain while on the road in Cedarburg, Wisconsin today when he said, "You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was purchased by her predecessor and sold it on eBay — and made a profit."
Great story - until you find out that the plane didn't sell on eBay, it was given to a private broker who sold it at a $600,000 loss....and the dude who bought it is now seeking another $50,000 from the state for unexpected maintenance issues.
Great story - until you find out that the plane didn't sell on eBay, it was given to a private broker who sold it at a $600,000 loss....and the dude who bought it is now seeking another $50,000 from the state for unexpected maintenance issues.
John McCain and Heath Care - Giving Us All The Lie
The whole speech is too much to address - and people other than myself will do a much better job of dissecting it.
I'll speak only of the small part I understand in both my heart and my head to be a bold faced lie.
Somewhere in the middle of his acceptance speech John McCain said this:
My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat... where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.
1) John McCain's so-called "Health Care Plan" is not a plan it is a ramble which does everything but address the issue, filled with wishes and wants and words of no consequence which then trails off into a stance on autism and no other specific disease. Speaking as someone who's spent over 15 years working in the medical field, as someone who, over the years, has been insured, under-insured and totally uninsured, and as the parent of two children with special health needs, even the ramble stinks.
2) I am, currently, a medical secretary. I work with health insurance companies and policy holders all day long - 8 hour a day, 6 days a week. I know the good ones, I know the bad ones, I know what works and what doesn't and why.
3) Nowhere do I recall Obama's plan including a "government run health care system" but
4) Even if it did it would not be the worst thing to happen to health care. The government-run plans such as Medicare and many of the state run programs, such as Medicaid, are NOT filled with bureaucrats - nor does anyone or anything stand between you and your doctor. Medicare allows it's members to seek treatment or advice from any doctor of their choice. They do not interfer, they seldom question and they always pay a fair amount and they always pay quickly and on time. Medicare is NOT an HMO where care is dictated by the insurance company, Medicare is a PPO which allows patients to seek treatment from any primary care physician or specialist who is a member of the Medicare network - and because Medicare is such a huge provider virtually ALL physicians participate in the network.
5) In summary, a PPO type program such as the government-run Medicare is one of the best health insurance policies a person can have. With a PPO a policy holder can seek and receive treatment from any approved primary care physician or specialist without first seeking approval from either the health insurance carrier or anyone else. Because doctors tend to actually get paid by PPO's without too much hassle, most doctors are enrolled in the plans and are known as "preferred providers" which means the insurance company will cover at 100% the approved charges and the patient will pay either nothing at all or a pre-agreed co-pay and nothing else. An HMO is second best. In an HMO the policy holder can seek treatment from a plan-approved primary care physicians and they can see a specialist only if referred to the specialist by the primary care doctor. Not all physicians belong to all HMO plans, they tend to pay less and they almost always require much more paperwork on the part of the physician's office. They tend to deny charges, which PPOs do not often do, and they don't always pay even the approved charges in a timely fashion.
6) Be that as it may, ANY insurance is better than NO insurance, which is what many Americans have now and what they will continue to have if John McCain and Sarah Palin are elected.
I'll speak only of the small part I understand in both my heart and my head to be a bold faced lie.
Somewhere in the middle of his acceptance speech John McCain said this:
My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat... where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.
1) John McCain's so-called "Health Care Plan" is not a plan it is a ramble which does everything but address the issue, filled with wishes and wants and words of no consequence which then trails off into a stance on autism and no other specific disease. Speaking as someone who's spent over 15 years working in the medical field, as someone who, over the years, has been insured, under-insured and totally uninsured, and as the parent of two children with special health needs, even the ramble stinks.
2) I am, currently, a medical secretary. I work with health insurance companies and policy holders all day long - 8 hour a day, 6 days a week. I know the good ones, I know the bad ones, I know what works and what doesn't and why.
3) Nowhere do I recall Obama's plan including a "government run health care system" but
4) Even if it did it would not be the worst thing to happen to health care. The government-run plans such as Medicare and many of the state run programs, such as Medicaid, are NOT filled with bureaucrats - nor does anyone or anything stand between you and your doctor. Medicare allows it's members to seek treatment or advice from any doctor of their choice. They do not interfer, they seldom question and they always pay a fair amount and they always pay quickly and on time. Medicare is NOT an HMO where care is dictated by the insurance company, Medicare is a PPO which allows patients to seek treatment from any primary care physician or specialist who is a member of the Medicare network - and because Medicare is such a huge provider virtually ALL physicians participate in the network.
5) In summary, a PPO type program such as the government-run Medicare is one of the best health insurance policies a person can have. With a PPO a policy holder can seek and receive treatment from any approved primary care physician or specialist without first seeking approval from either the health insurance carrier or anyone else. Because doctors tend to actually get paid by PPO's without too much hassle, most doctors are enrolled in the plans and are known as "preferred providers" which means the insurance company will cover at 100% the approved charges and the patient will pay either nothing at all or a pre-agreed co-pay and nothing else. An HMO is second best. In an HMO the policy holder can seek treatment from a plan-approved primary care physicians and they can see a specialist only if referred to the specialist by the primary care doctor. Not all physicians belong to all HMO plans, they tend to pay less and they almost always require much more paperwork on the part of the physician's office. They tend to deny charges, which PPOs do not often do, and they don't always pay even the approved charges in a timely fashion.
6) Be that as it may, ANY insurance is better than NO insurance, which is what many Americans have now and what they will continue to have if John McCain and Sarah Palin are elected.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Maybe It's Sneaky Sarah?
An ethics complaint against Sarah Palin was filed by The Alaska Public Safety Employees Association on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 charging that either Sarah Palin or aides to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin improperly obtained her former brother-in-law's state police personnel files and cited information from those records to raise complaints about the officer.
Sarah Snide and Shrill or Sarah Saintly and Sincere?
The Republicans and The Democrats don't agree. FOXNEWS and ABC don't agree. The Independent's can't make up their minds. The reporters and the pundits on CNN don't agree. Hell, even my own children and I are getting heated over it. Text messages are flying fast and furious. My husband's gonna kill me when he gets the cell phone bill.
Newsweek has a headline story called "She's Just Like Your Neighbor." And maybe she is - if you live in Alaska. The truth is, however, most of us don't. And I don't know about you but my neighbors are Muslims, Greeks, Jews, Africans, Indians, Hispanics and African-Americans. The closest anyone in my building comes to being "just like" Sarah Palin is me. And I'd consider that an insult.
I don't think she's a rising star here in Washington D.C., but I was pretty fearful that she might be knocking 'em dead in the small towns in the Midwest - and then I read the following article in my (small) home town Indiana newspaper this morning.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state -- by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right -- change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington -- throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.AP
My faith in small-town America is renewed. They left out a few things - like the proposed book burning when Sarah was Mayor of Wassila and they never touched on Trooper-Gate or the fact that Sarah, who repeatedly avowed to her superiour love of America, routinely courted The Alaska Independence Party of which her husband was a 6 year member or that that particular group wants to secceed from The U.S.. Nor did they mention that her church regularily holds meetings on "How to overcome homosexuality" and "The Jews are being punished by God for their refusal to recognize Jesus as their Saviour." They also neglected to point out that for all his talk about the sanctity of the family and the utter baseless gall of anyone daring to even mention Sarah's children, that Senator McCain once cracked wise about Chelsea Clinton by saying, during a major GOP speech,
"Do you know why Chelsea's so ugly? Because Janet Reno's her father"
I have real hope, though. It's a small paper and maybe there wasn't room for all of it. Especially considering there's so much of it.
They did a fine job of unmasking Sarah and John and the entire party, tho, didn't they? I'm rightfully proud of them.
It would behoove The Republican Party to once and for all quit seriously underestimating the "average" American's intelligence.
Newsweek has a headline story called "She's Just Like Your Neighbor." And maybe she is - if you live in Alaska. The truth is, however, most of us don't. And I don't know about you but my neighbors are Muslims, Greeks, Jews, Africans, Indians, Hispanics and African-Americans. The closest anyone in my building comes to being "just like" Sarah Palin is me. And I'd consider that an insult.
I don't think she's a rising star here in Washington D.C., but I was pretty fearful that she might be knocking 'em dead in the small towns in the Midwest - and then I read the following article in my (small) home town Indiana newspaper this morning.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state -- by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right -- change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington -- throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.AP
My faith in small-town America is renewed. They left out a few things - like the proposed book burning when Sarah was Mayor of Wassila and they never touched on Trooper-Gate or the fact that Sarah, who repeatedly avowed to her superiour love of America, routinely courted The Alaska Independence Party of which her husband was a 6 year member or that that particular group wants to secceed from The U.S.. Nor did they mention that her church regularily holds meetings on "How to overcome homosexuality" and "The Jews are being punished by God for their refusal to recognize Jesus as their Saviour." They also neglected to point out that for all his talk about the sanctity of the family and the utter baseless gall of anyone daring to even mention Sarah's children, that Senator McCain once cracked wise about Chelsea Clinton by saying, during a major GOP speech,
"Do you know why Chelsea's so ugly? Because Janet Reno's her father"
I have real hope, though. It's a small paper and maybe there wasn't room for all of it. Especially considering there's so much of it.
They did a fine job of unmasking Sarah and John and the entire party, tho, didn't they? I'm rightfully proud of them.
It would behoove The Republican Party to once and for all quit seriously underestimating the "average" American's intelligence.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Bugs Are Back In Town
On Being Confined Indoors
What are you, oh most fearsome bug
that haunts my balcony?
You've terrorized my fearless cats
and scared the pants off me.
The noise produced by your hind legs
fills up the Southern sky.
Perhaps it's just your mating call
but I'm prepared to die.
Your wingspan rivals aer-o-planes -
you drone most dreadfully.
I've seen young field mice carried off
by smaller things than thee.
You've got to be four inches wide
and two more inches high.
I've never seen your kind before -
you'd make St Gratus cry.
Those pinchers that you wave around -
were those supposed to be -
or were they just gratuitous
when Satan set you free?
I've always felt that bugs had rights -
I wouldnt hurt a fly.
But then again I've never had
one stare me in the eye.
I'd catch you in a pickle jar -
I'd risk the devil's wrath
would "suicide by insect bite"
not be my epitaph.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
A poem FOR me!!!
What a way to start a morning!! Eratosphere has a Tribute to Critters thread and Donna, God love her, wrote one for me.
Our Mrs. Heidy-Halberstein
will save your ass or crack your spine.
She’s in your face or got your back,
protecting mice when cats attack.
Her strong positions, fast opined,
strike with force and charm combined.
She fans the flames then stirs the pot.
But that‘s okay, we like it hot!
Thanks, Donna. I needed that!!!
Our Mrs. Heidy-Halberstein
will save your ass or crack your spine.
She’s in your face or got your back,
protecting mice when cats attack.
Her strong positions, fast opined,
strike with force and charm combined.
She fans the flames then stirs the pot.
But that‘s okay, we like it hot!
Thanks, Donna. I needed that!!!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Words on War from Someone Other Than John McCain
We've all heard McCain speak on his war experiences - ad nauseum.
He walks, he talks, he postures and pontificates. He collects a tax-exampt $58,000 a year in disability money even though he's capable of doing all of those things and more because, his staff says, he is "technically disabled."
I'm sick of hearing John McCain talk about his heroism, (he got shot down - losing his 5th and final plane, for those of you who keep count of such things,) he spent half his life in the military ( he spent a grand total of about 20 hours in actual combat,) his grace under pressure, (he cracked after 5 days like a hard boiled egg on the edge of a counter top.)
How about a few words from a real hero?
Meet Ron Kovic - paralyzed from the chest down for the last 40 years from a wound received during his second tour in Viet Nam - listen to what he's got to say:
"I am the living death, the Memorial Day on wheels. I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy, your John Wayne come home, your Fourth of July firecracker exploding in the grave."
"We who have witnessed the obscenity of war and experienced its horror and terrible consequences have an obligation to rise above our pain and suffering and turn the tragedy of our lives into a triumph."
Now that's a man worthy of the title "veteran." People like John McCain dishonor him and every other veteran of Viet Nam or any other war every time they open their mouth and vomit forth pap and propaganda.
He walks, he talks, he postures and pontificates. He collects a tax-exampt $58,000 a year in disability money even though he's capable of doing all of those things and more because, his staff says, he is "technically disabled."
I'm sick of hearing John McCain talk about his heroism, (he got shot down - losing his 5th and final plane, for those of you who keep count of such things,) he spent half his life in the military ( he spent a grand total of about 20 hours in actual combat,) his grace under pressure, (he cracked after 5 days like a hard boiled egg on the edge of a counter top.)
How about a few words from a real hero?
Meet Ron Kovic - paralyzed from the chest down for the last 40 years from a wound received during his second tour in Viet Nam - listen to what he's got to say:
"I am the living death, the Memorial Day on wheels. I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy, your John Wayne come home, your Fourth of July firecracker exploding in the grave."
"We who have witnessed the obscenity of war and experienced its horror and terrible consequences have an obligation to rise above our pain and suffering and turn the tragedy of our lives into a triumph."
Now that's a man worthy of the title "veteran." People like John McCain dishonor him and every other veteran of Viet Nam or any other war every time they open their mouth and vomit forth pap and propaganda.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
McCain-Rich vs Obama-Rich
The candidates were recently asked what would be a "rich income" and Obama said $250,000 a year and McCain said five million dollars a year.
I think what the candidates have forgotten is that "rich" isn't always defined by a monetary scale.
In the early 70's I was a very young and very single mother - my son and I had a small, low income apartment in a not-so-good neighborhood. I had a 12 year old car with bad brakes and a faulty exhaust which a dear aunt had given to me. I slept on a mattress on the floor, not because mattresses on the floor were in vogue, but on a $3.00 an hour waitressing salary the cost of a real bed was impossible to justify. My son slept in a crib which was 25 years old. I rarely ate the day or two before payday - the money I made just didn't cover living expenses and food enough for both of us.
But, looking back, if someone asked me when I felt the richest and the most secure, I'd have to say that was the time. I was rich because I had a job I liked, I had a car that ran, I had a roof over my head and I had the best baby in the world. I had friends and I had family, I had my health and, most of all, I had hope for the future and boundless optimism.
People who are afraid of the future, people who are pessimistic, people who are suspicious, those people never have enough. Whether they make $30,000 a year or $250,000 a year or 5 million dollars a year - it is not going to be enough.
I don't necessarily think that money is the sole concern of the working class. It is to the extent that they sometimes think it's the answer to all their problems - and then they get more and they find that it's only the answer to some of their problems. More money might buy them a better house, but it won't make that house a happy one or a safe one.
I'll go out on a limb here and say that the very rich worry far more about money than the very poor do. When you're worried about survival everything else pales and disappears in comparision.
As for those in-between here are some of the things having more money won't do; Having money won't make you stop fearing that your son might end up fighting in a war no one believes in, it won't make the gas crisis go away, it won't make you stop fearing that you're going to someday be the victim of a crime, it won't make you trust the government or the politicians who run the government, it won't make you love your neighbor or make your neighbor love you, it won't make you healthy or intelligent or bright or beautiful.
Having money simply gives you more to lose and heightens your sense of insecurity. Hence, the 5 Million Dollar Candidate being so quick to suggest war. It is a get them before they get me mentality. The more you have, the more paranoid you become that someone is going to try to take it away.
If a politician could find a way to give us back our optimism and our hope, he'd be in like flint. I think Obama's trying - but we've become, as a nation and as individuals, much more jaded and fearful then we were when JFK was able to give us Camelot.
In the recent Saddleback forum one of the questions was "What would you do for the orphans?" I was appalled that neither candidate bothered to even touch on why we had orphans in the first place. Get rid of the wars, get rid of the diseases, get rid of the religious and political persecutions which kill parents around the world and you've gotten rid of the bulk of all orphans in the world today. It is a problem humanity has created. It is a problem humanity can eradicate. The question should not have been, "What can we do to care for the hundreds of thousands of orphans in the world today?" The question should have been, "What can we do to prevent the further orphaning of children today?" You cannot fix a situation if you do not eradicate the continuing cause.
It is far easier (and far less costly) to prevent a problem than it is to cure one. That goes for all problems, wars, energy costs, religious mistrust, racial hatred, health issues, enviornmental concerns - not just orphans. It's all a mess right now but it's not reached critical mass yet. It's a very full pot, granted, but adding to it by fear-mongering, war-mongering, painting visions of future doom, "talking tough" without being able to back it up, lying, story-telling and name-calling is not going to fix it - it is going to make it overflow and catch fire.
Taxes, at this point, are (or should be) immaterial. Nothing is free - everyone should be willing to pay a fair share of what's necessary. That goes for the rich as well as the not-so-rich. Make it proportionate and I don't think the poor man's going to object. Arguing over what constitutes "rich" isn't going to change anything. It's not just about dollars, it's also about sense.
Common sense.
Doesn't anyone have it anymore?
We wouldn't need nearly so many tax dollars if we didn't have so many unnecessary costs in the first place.
I think what the candidates have forgotten is that "rich" isn't always defined by a monetary scale.
In the early 70's I was a very young and very single mother - my son and I had a small, low income apartment in a not-so-good neighborhood. I had a 12 year old car with bad brakes and a faulty exhaust which a dear aunt had given to me. I slept on a mattress on the floor, not because mattresses on the floor were in vogue, but on a $3.00 an hour waitressing salary the cost of a real bed was impossible to justify. My son slept in a crib which was 25 years old. I rarely ate the day or two before payday - the money I made just didn't cover living expenses and food enough for both of us.
But, looking back, if someone asked me when I felt the richest and the most secure, I'd have to say that was the time. I was rich because I had a job I liked, I had a car that ran, I had a roof over my head and I had the best baby in the world. I had friends and I had family, I had my health and, most of all, I had hope for the future and boundless optimism.
People who are afraid of the future, people who are pessimistic, people who are suspicious, those people never have enough. Whether they make $30,000 a year or $250,000 a year or 5 million dollars a year - it is not going to be enough.
I don't necessarily think that money is the sole concern of the working class. It is to the extent that they sometimes think it's the answer to all their problems - and then they get more and they find that it's only the answer to some of their problems. More money might buy them a better house, but it won't make that house a happy one or a safe one.
I'll go out on a limb here and say that the very rich worry far more about money than the very poor do. When you're worried about survival everything else pales and disappears in comparision.
As for those in-between here are some of the things having more money won't do; Having money won't make you stop fearing that your son might end up fighting in a war no one believes in, it won't make the gas crisis go away, it won't make you stop fearing that you're going to someday be the victim of a crime, it won't make you trust the government or the politicians who run the government, it won't make you love your neighbor or make your neighbor love you, it won't make you healthy or intelligent or bright or beautiful.
Having money simply gives you more to lose and heightens your sense of insecurity. Hence, the 5 Million Dollar Candidate being so quick to suggest war. It is a get them before they get me mentality. The more you have, the more paranoid you become that someone is going to try to take it away.
If a politician could find a way to give us back our optimism and our hope, he'd be in like flint. I think Obama's trying - but we've become, as a nation and as individuals, much more jaded and fearful then we were when JFK was able to give us Camelot.
In the recent Saddleback forum one of the questions was "What would you do for the orphans?" I was appalled that neither candidate bothered to even touch on why we had orphans in the first place. Get rid of the wars, get rid of the diseases, get rid of the religious and political persecutions which kill parents around the world and you've gotten rid of the bulk of all orphans in the world today. It is a problem humanity has created. It is a problem humanity can eradicate. The question should not have been, "What can we do to care for the hundreds of thousands of orphans in the world today?" The question should have been, "What can we do to prevent the further orphaning of children today?" You cannot fix a situation if you do not eradicate the continuing cause.
It is far easier (and far less costly) to prevent a problem than it is to cure one. That goes for all problems, wars, energy costs, religious mistrust, racial hatred, health issues, enviornmental concerns - not just orphans. It's all a mess right now but it's not reached critical mass yet. It's a very full pot, granted, but adding to it by fear-mongering, war-mongering, painting visions of future doom, "talking tough" without being able to back it up, lying, story-telling and name-calling is not going to fix it - it is going to make it overflow and catch fire.
Taxes, at this point, are (or should be) immaterial. Nothing is free - everyone should be willing to pay a fair share of what's necessary. That goes for the rich as well as the not-so-rich. Make it proportionate and I don't think the poor man's going to object. Arguing over what constitutes "rich" isn't going to change anything. It's not just about dollars, it's also about sense.
Common sense.
Doesn't anyone have it anymore?
We wouldn't need nearly so many tax dollars if we didn't have so many unnecessary costs in the first place.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
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