McCain picks another Bigot – Sarah Palin

While she was praised for her veto of a bill that would deny same-sex benefits to State employees, don’t send up the rainbow flag too quickly just yet.

Palin vetoed Alaska Sate Bill HB 4001.  Her advisers had told her that HB 4001 was unconstitutional.  So rather than go through the court costs, she vetoed the bill.   But, she signed HB 4002 – to put these benefits up to a non-binding vote of the people.

To summarize, Palin doesn’t believe in same-sex benefits but the bill as written was unconstitutional so she vetoed it to avoid any court costs that would come about as a result of the law.  Then, she signed a second bill asking the Alaskan electorate to choose in a NONBINDING resolution.

The Alaska court ruled about a year before that the state had to provide those benefits to same-sex partners of state employees, but instead of just giving those benefits, Palin pushed for a nonbinding referendum on those benefits.

Alaska is a small place.  The cost of the benefits to tax payers would have been about $313,000.  The cost of the referendum was about $1.2 million.  So she spent $1.2 million to save $313,000.  Hmm, doesn’t sound too fiscally conservative to me.  But then again, gay rights were at stake, and you just can’t put a price on defeating those.

In the course of all of this Palin used the words, and I am paraphrasing here, “Some of my best friends are gay people”.  Yeah, I know.

Well, it’s nice to know that you can trust that some things will never change.

McCain chooses Tina Fey as running mate

It was one of Saturday Night Live’s funniest sketches I’ve seen in years.  The scene takes place at a press conference where John McCain introduces his choice for Vice President.

Tina Fey played the part of some Alaskan woman who was a Governor who has a husband who races snow mobiles, and has children with names like Track and Trig.  Oh and Ms. Fey parodied Rudy Guliani by saying “September 11th” several times in her acceptance speech. 

John McCain, in his introduction to, said he “found” someone from a hard-working middle class family.  He actually had to go out and “find” one.  He didn’t choose one or pick one, he “found” one.  And that is because in John McCain’s circle, hard-working, middle-class people are hard to find.  When you live a life of privilege and luxury, he must have gone out and used “the google” to search for one of the middle class people.  I wasn’t really a joke but Saturday Night Live  likes to be “topical” sometimes.

Tina Fey even parodied George Bush himself by pronouncing “nukyaler” just like George.  Hysterical!!!

And then, get this, she used the title of John F. Kennedy’s book “Profiles in Courage” as a comparison to John McCain.  I could go on about how this character eats moose-burgers and is a member of the NRA but I don’t want to ruin it for you when you see it on You-Tube.

Oh that Tina Fey, she is so damned funny.  But I still miss Jimmy Fallon.

Pelosi starts new PAC called “My-Face-won’t-MoveOn.Org”

I don’t like taking pot shots atpeople just for the fun of it.  I’ll do it if somebody said or did something blatantly stupid, or if somebody takes pot shots at people who don’t deserve it (payback is a bitch), but I don’t do it just for the sport.

However, every time I see Nancy Pelosi on TV, only parts of her face move.  He forehead is so full of Botox that if she got bitten by a mosquito there, it would die of food poisoning.  The odd part is that other parts of her face do move and she has very deep wrinkles around her eyes.  She was on Meet the Press last Sunday and it was quite comical to watch.  She was fired up at times, other times angry, and still other times she was smiling which was accompanied by squinting eyes.  These squints revealed some not-so-flattering cavernous lines around her eyes.  But her forehead?  That looked like the plastic wrap pulled tightly over the leftover ambrosia salad.  It was so tight and unmovable it made you wonder if her mouth woud open if she crossed her logs.

I honestly don’t know if she is open about the work she’s had done.  Maybe she is.  But sometimes, and it is true with her, people get a little too much Botox, which creates a face that seems unreal, unsymmetrical, and a bit scary.

OK, that’s my catty little remark for today.  Sorry about that.

Hillary made a great speech, and did I mention John McCain is a P.O.W?

I was so tired on Tuesday night and can’t believe I fell asleep early only to awaken at 11:21 PM, right after Hillary Clinton’s speech.  I flipped through C-SPAN, MSNBC, FOX and CNN and saw all of the post-speech comments.  Luckily, MSNBC replayed Hillary’s speech later (at about 1:30 AM).  I think I enjoyed the comments better.  I can’t say it was a bad speech, it was very good, excellent in fact.  But pro-Obama supporter and pro-Hillary folks had better things to say about the speech than the speech itself. 

The real laughing point for me was watching the post-speech coverage on Larry King who comes on live at 12:00 midnight during this weeks convention. His “panel” was 4 Republicans who spent an hour tring to somehow defend John McCain and downplay the Democrats (big surprise).  Their biggest defense was that Hillary didn’t specifically say that Barack Obama was qualified to be President.

She’s at the damned convention, it’s his convention, she said “No way, no how, no McCain”, she said “the future of our country and our children is at stake”; who the Hell do you think she was talking about.  She said she was voting for Obama.  She didn’t have to check with her staff to see how many houses she had (sorry, had to get that in).

So all the republicans have left is “Hillary didn’t specifically say that Obama was qualified to be President” and “John McCain is a P.O.W.”

Further, McCain doesn’t have a platform anymore other than replaying old comments that Hillary and Joe Biden said about Barack Obama (months ago when every Democrat running for President said anything to gain ground in the Democratic Primary), plus “John McCain is a P.O.W.”  The McCain camp isn’t speaking at all about what they are for, what they are against, what they will do for this country, what they will do about the war, the economy or anything else.  All they’ve got are comments by other Democrats and “John McCain is a P.O.W”

I will not deny that being a prisoner of war is the most god-awful thing someone could go through.  I don’t think I could have handled it.  But I have two point about that.  First, what about being in a prisoner of war camp qualifies you to be President.   Second, if you were in a P.O.W. camp, what would you be doing that prepared you for being President.  Being denied food? – well I guess if you wanted to identify with the poor or people in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.  Beaten and tortured? – well, if you wanted to learn how police in America treat minorities or unfounded “enemy combatants” in secret prisons.  Other than that, I don’t see how a P.O.W. learns about the economy in a prison camp.  And I”m pretty sure they didn’t worry much about gas prices or how to make the mortgage payment, or how to send their kids to college.

Again, I have complete respect for anyone who goes through what a P.O.W. does, but if John McCain want to put it on the table as credentials for the Presidency, I have to call like I see it.

What would MLK do?

You’ve heard that before, haven’t you? Although it wasn’t what would MLK do, it was “what would Jeses do?” I’ve turned the protagonist of this story from a man in antiquity who died for his beliefs to a man from 1968 who died for his beliefs.

What would Marting Luther King Jr. say about what is going on today in American politics? I can’t say for sure. I never knew Martin Luther King Jr. and when he was gunned down on the fateful day in Memphis, Tennessee, I was only 3 and a half years old.

On November 4, 2008, in the wee hours of the morning, or even beyond that, as recent elections have made seem possible, Barack Obama may become the next President Elect of the United States of America. And on January 20, 2008 when Barack Obama takes the oath of office with his hand, his head, and his heart held high, swearing to defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution and to protect all of us within its borders, Martin Luther King Jr., I believe, would be proud.

Not because after all these years, an African American has become President of the United States “even though” he is black. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud because Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, and the fact that he is black makes no difference at all.

PUMAs at the Democratic Convention

First, I think that the real “Puma” people, meaning the Puma clothing company, should sue this group called “Party Unity My Ass” (how classy), for copyright infringement.

Barring that, I have a few things to say about the PUMAs.

If ”Party Unity My Ass” is the name of your organization, then we can already tell that there aren’t any Rhode Scholars running your organization.  You can’t have an acronym that requires punctuation.  It needs a comma, or at minimum at semi-colon.

And speaking of colons, if you don’t feel “united” with the Democratic Party (and nobody is saying you have to be) then go start your own party.  Why waste your time with the Democratic Party if they don’t seem to stand for what you believe in?

In fact, go take yourselves, and your candidate Hillary Clinton, and go start your own party; The PUMA Party.  Then let’s see how that goes.  I think you should try it.

If after all this time, and after Hillary Clinton herself has released her delegates to Barack Obama and is in fact backing him, you don’t; then maybe it is time for you people to ask yourselves “Maybe it’s me?”

Here’s the answer:  It IS you. 

What do you think you will gain by protesting and boycotting and marching around with signs that are attempting to splinter the Democratic Party, even convince the Democratic Party, that they have made the wrong decision?  Do you thing the clock will get turned back?  Do you think that suddenly, because of your valiant efforts, that Hillary Clinton will somehow become the presidential nominee?  Do you really think you are going to do anything more than convince Republican and Independent voters who are on the fence that the Democrats got a whole bunch of crazy going on over there.

PUMA doesn’t stand for “Party Unity My Ass”.  It stands for “People United as Many Assholes” (now that is an Acronym).

It’s time to stop acting like school children, unfold your arms, stop looking down at the ground and stomping your feet, and act like an adult.  This is the real world.  I know you’ve seen it and can recognize it because at one point you could recognize a voting booth, you know, the place where people have free will to pull the lever for whomever they choose.  And guess what PUMAs, Barack Obama didn’t pull all those levers, America did.

DNC 2008 – Lord of the Things

What is up with James Carville. 

He is a CNN contributor who is most unphotogenic person, with all those face contortions on top of a southern accent I can barely understand, on top of a rambling upon rambling of disconnected points.

I don’t know how this man was ever the Campaign Manager or Strategist, or whatever he was for Bill Clinton.  He still avidly supports Hillary Clinton even though Barack Obama is the nominee, and most of all, above all things, he looks like, and is just as scary as, Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

 

Can anyone tell the difference.  Has anyone seen them both in the same place at the same time?  I think not.

It wasn’t until I was researching this post that I realized I am not the only person that thinks these two look like twins separated at birth.  Oh well, I may not be original but I am accurate.

DNC 2008 – I’m sick of the whiners and it hasn’t even started yet

I get that Hillary supporters aren’t happy that she didn’t win the nomination.  I would feel the same way if Barack Obama didn’t win the nomination.  But enough already.  If I have to hear one more time that Hillary Clinton supporters are “wounded” and “emotional” and need to “heal”, I swear to god I’m going slap somebody.  SHUT….THE…..FUCK…..UP….already.  We GET IT, you’re NOT HAPPY.

It’s been over two month’s now, what’s happened has happened and you can’t do a damn thing to change it.  I gave this a lot of thought and did some real soul searching.  If Barack Obama didn’t win, I’d be pissed.  But I would also realize that as much as I don’t like Hillary Clinton, she would be the person I am supporting because her platform is essentially the same as Obama’s.  She doesn’t deserve anything and didn’t earn anything any more than he did.  And it’s not his fault that he won.  Do you really want John McCain as your president?  Because I don’t and if Hillary were my other choice, well, that’s it, I would vote for her.  Even Hillary Clinton is giving up her delegates because even she has finally realized that she didn’t win the nomination.  This is about what is good for the country and is about the Democratic party.  It’s not about Hillary Clinton and it’s not about her supporters.

So to you Hillary Clinton supporters, we get it; life didn’t turn out perfectly for you; your candidate didn’t win.  Now let’s hold hands, do a group hug, pass out the Kleenex, sing Kum Ba Ya, change our tampons, take a Midol, wipe the flop sweat off our brow, take a water pill, drive badly, not read maps, wear our Birkenstock, go to Home Depot, adopt an African baby, make a vegetarian lasagna, watch Oprah and a good movie on Lifetime and then  SHUT….THE…..FUCK…..UP….already.

This is about the future of our country.  Not your need for validation.  Barack Obama is the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States.  I’m writing this here because somebody needs to look you in the face and tell you the truth.  Oh, and there is not such thing as the Easter Bunny.

Barack Obama will fight for you and your rights while you are trying to stab him in the back and not vote for him or vote for John McCain to try and get back at him.  Are you in high school?  No, I mean really!

The emotion of politics

So many ideas, summations, suppositions, and emotions go through your mind when you think about politics, politicians, political parties, and who it is you want to represent you in the White House.

We all think we have the right ideas, we think to ourselves, “If I were President….”.  But we all don’t have what it takes to actually be President.  The pressures one must endue, the fine lines one must walk, the sometimes heart-wrenching decisions one must make.  It is, to state the obvious, not easy. 

We want someone who agrees with our own morals, our own beliefs, and our own vision of who we are as a country.  We worry about ourselves, our families, our friends, and our soldiers.  We want someone strong but not so strong that they don’t listen to their constituents.

So how do you decide who to back, who to vote for, who you want to be your next President and/or Vice President of the United States of America?   For me, I can only trust my gut.  And when you peel away all the layers of politics, I believe it comes down to your emotional center.

When I watched the Obama/Biden rally on Saturday, August 23, I had tears come to my eyes twice.  It sounds hokey and I know that politics and emotions are not supposed to mix.  But then again neither are church and state but the Republicans cross that line every day.  So if they want to fault me for being emotional about who I want for President, then I would say “Pot, I’d like you meet kettle” (I know, I use that line a lot).

When a politician can bring a sense of pride, or a sense of hope to me, when I am at the lowest point in my life, a time when I don’t believe anyone can really help, I need to take notice of my own emotions.  Barack Obama and Joe Biden are, to me, my new dynamic duo.  Together I do believethey can make the right choices, I believe they will fight for the rights of every American, and I believe they will undo the injustices brought down upon us by the Bush Administration.  I look forward to the day when habeas corpus exists for everybody.  I look forward to the day when illegal wire tapping and illegal search and seizure gets rolled back to before George Bush and Dick Cheney when the U.S. Constitution was still the document by which this country ruled itself. 

In my gut, I know that we have yet to uncover all of the crimes of the Bush Administration and I hope that they all pay for what they have done.  But that is not the single most important thing right now.  Right now, ALL Americans need to be the most proud they have ever been to be Americans.  And then, we need to be the leaders that we once were, the moral compass and the ones the world could depend on to do the right thing.  With Barack and Joe at the helm, I believe we have a fighting chance.  And as I right this, yet another tear comes to my eye.  We are almost home.  I hope to god we get there.

Obama/Biden 2008

I don’t necessarily feel that I need to comment on Joe Biden as a VP running mate but I want to.  I like Joe Biden and have always liked Joe Biden.   He reminds me a lot of myself in that I have strong convictions and sometimes might say something out of line but I mean no harm; I’m just passionate about how I feel.

I am glad the Barack Obama picked somebody who can fight for the both of them.  Let’s face it, Barack is one intelligent, thoughtful guy.  But he doesn’t know how to fight light a street-fighter against some of these political attacks because it is not in his nature.  I think in some ways he is incredulous that politicians behave the way they do and it is as if he freezes up as he is thinking to himself ”I don’t understand how or why people behave the way they do” instead of reacting, quickly, like Joe Biden does.

And Joe Biden has served in the Senate longer than John McCain.  He ran for President twice and I think that if Iowa wasn’t always the first to vote in Presidential Primaries, things may have turned out differently.  I’m not saying that Biden would have necessarily won the nomination, but what would have happened if the first caucus or primary was held in Delaware or Maryland or Pennsylvania this year.  It could be that Biden would have won some of those states early on.  Who knows.

But, of all the people mentioned on Baracks short list of candidates, Joe Biden, to me is the one that makes the most sense, and if anything ever happened to Obama where he could not fulfill his term, I would trust Biden to take over and continue Obama’s platform, in good faith, on behalf of the American People.