Election 2008: Enemies at the Gate (hey that rhymes)!

We’ve come to that part of the Presidential election where things are getting a bit crazy.  If Election 2008 were a game of Texas Hold ‘Em, everybody would be “all in”, all at the same time.

John McCain faux-suspends his campaign to deal with the country’s financial crisis.  He takes credit for the passing of the bail-out legislation only moments before it doesn’t pass.  All the while his surrogates keep saying they would not have been able to do it without him.   McCain says he wasn’t going to be like Obama and “phone it in” and then says he spent all of his time on the phone talking to Republicans in the House.

Barack Obama isn’t eligible for the Presidency because supposedly his Hawaiian birth certificate is a fake.  All the while John McCain was born in Panama while his father worked on the Panama Canal.

Right wing talk-radio “comedians” twist and distort facts to convince their own “base” that the breakdown of the credit markets in the U.S. are Obama’s fault.  Lush Windbag swallows handfuls of Oxycontin while referring to any non-right-wing media at “the drive-by media” until he insinuates that he as documentation that a staffer from a “major news organization” (no longer the “drive-by media”) released secret documents that say the left wing media refuse to publish “facts” about Obama that will cost Obama the election.

Is this really “all in”?  Is it “enemies at the gate”?  Is it political Armageddon?  Ever since the Palin interviews and the $700 Billion bailout, the McCain campaign seems to have lost its footing.  And with Karl Rove at the underground helm in an undisclosed location, there is no telling what the republicans have up their sleeves in a last ditch effort to sway this election.  And we haven’t even had the Palin/Biden debate yet.  Campaign McCain must be pacing pack and forth, in late night meetings in hot, sweat-filled rooms trying to come up with any pile of crap they can to throw against the wall and see if it sticks.  When you have ultra-conservative republicans suggesting that Sarah Palin be removed from the ticket, let’s face it, that campaign is in trouble.

I’m going to suggest something very radical here.  Let’s get back to the facts and the issues.  We have two wars that rage on.  Iraq, which is still by all counts a failure; and Afghanistan which is tremendously underfunded and understaffed.  Obama wants out of Iraq and want attention, and resources, paid to the troops in Afghanistan – that makes sense.  Obama wants tax breaks for 95% of Americans and tax increases on the upper 5% – that makes sense, too.  And Obama wants to get rid of the doomed “No Child Left Behind” program to replace it with well trained and well paid teachers to return our education system to what it once was; the pride of our country when America was always on the forefront of new ideas rather than trying to catch up with China and India – this makes sense too.

Living in New England all my life I can’t imaging not voting for someone because they are black.  Barack Obama’s race has never, ever been a factor for me.  I only think about it when I hear journalists interview people who come out and say outright that they would never vote for a black person.  Not only is it unbelievable that someone thinks that way, it is more unbelievable that someone has the balls to admit to it. “I admit I am a bigot”, or “I admit I am a racist, filled with hatred for no apparent reason”.  Talk about the real enemies at the gate; there you have it.

I believe that each of us already knows who we are going to vote for.  I doubt that there is any substantial number of people out there who haven’t formed an opinion yet.  So my suggestion is to turn it all off, stop listening to the din of anger, rage, racism, and angst and just hold on until November 4th and pull the lever you already know you are going to pull. Otherwise, you will get caught up in 5 weeks of lies, obstructions, misinformation, twisted facts, and you will feel like you have to start all over again to figure it out.  That’s exactly what the republicans want you to think.  They are desperate.   Do they really think that having a Democrat in the White House will be the end of society as we know it?  Because that is how they are acting.  And the only thing that explains this kind of behavior is fear and loathing, in Las Vegas, and everywhere else.

Sarah Palin, Katie Couric, and the press in general

If you really want to know what you are going to get if you vote for the McCain/Palin ticket, there are a few things you can do.

First, take a look at John McCain’s actions, and reactions in the last few days.  Who “suspends” their Presidential campaign for a bill in the Senate?  You can simply take a few days off from campaigning without “officially suspending” your campaign.  David Letterman was right; “This is really starting to smell”.  He flew off to Washington, after lying to David Letterman, and arrived there where nobody really wanted him.  The repubicans in Washington can’t stand the guy and he’s only there to try and get credit for something because his campaign is in the tank.

Now go watch Sarah Palin’s being interviewed by Katie Couric:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/24/eveningnews/main4476173.shtml

Palin just can’t quite seem to answer any questions directly.  And that’s when she knows the answer to the question.  When she doesn’t know the answer, or how to answer, it is excruciating to watch her squirm.  (Actually, I do get some sort of guilty pleasure out of it, but whatever).

Mrs. Palin:  Can you give us an example other than reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of what other reforms John McCain has supported?  Any example.  Just one.  Just one example.  Anything.  Really, any example.  Just one example Mrs. Palin.  Anything really. No?  Nothing? Not one?  No answer? Not one example?

And the finally……paydirt!!!

“I”ll try to find ya’ some and bring ‘em to ya’”, said Palin. (yes, that’s a direct quote)

There Katie, you finally got your answer.

You really need to see the whole interview to see what this woman is all about.

As for the press who is pissed of, and rightly so, that Palin is giving them the cold shoulder when it comes to interviews, I think I have an answer.

We deserve to know what her positions are, we deserve that Palin answer our questions. and we have already had a taste of how she “behaves” in interviews.  But if she want to hide from answering questions then I say, LET HER!  From here on out, ignore her.  Don’t try and talk to her, don’t try to track her down, call her or beg for interviews.  Just ignore her.

Someday soon she is going to need the print and electronic media and when she does, it will be too late.  Think about it.  If ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, newspapers, blogs, magazines, Fox news (yea, I know, but I thought I would throw it in) just ignore her then she’s got no platform at all.

Let her go on Rush Windbag, and Fox Noise all she wants and let her say whatever the hell she want to people who already worship her for no reason.  

There, problem solved.

McCain wants to cancel Friday’s first 2008 Presidental Debate?

You read it right.  McCain is “suspending” his campaign about canceling so they can concentrate on the financial crisis being discussed in Washington.

What???  Although Friday’s first debate was supposed to be about Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street meltdown was bound to come up anyway.  Wouldn’t it be best if America got to hear what each candidate had to say about the issue.  Was there really a need to suspend your campaign?

Well maybe if McCain’s campaign didn’t implode this week after saying “The fundamentals of our economy are strong” on Monday, and maybe if McCain didn’t seem so out of touch, almost senile this week about the economy (trying to fire people he has not authority to fire, and ax people he has no authority to ax.)  Maybe it was the editorial in the Washington Post by George Will (a right wing conservative if there ever was one) who described McCain as having childlike reflexes and was not acting presidential.

Things are not going well for McCain and just like they are hiding Sarah Palin, now McCain’s camp will try to hid McCain himself and hold their breath that he doesn’t say or do something stupid.

John McCain isn’t on any of the Senate banking for finance committees so if he holes up in Washington, D.C. for the next few days to handle the financial system crisis, there won’t be a damned thing for him to do there.  If and when Congress hammers out something to agree on, he can cast his vote.  With a campaign jet he can get to Washington from just about anywhere in the country within a few hours so there’s no need to panic.

McCain cancelled his appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman so he could “handle” said crisis. However, he lied.  He went on Katie Couric’s nightly news show instead, a last minute change.  Daivd Letterman, who watched the CBS feed of the McCain interview while he was taping his show.

Is McCain that out of touch to not realize the Katie Couric works at CBS too.  Did he think David Letterman wouldn’t KNOW he was on the CBS Evening News?

WOW, if you didn’t question McCain’s abilities and judgement before, you certain should be questioning it by now.  

John McCain is flailing in the polls and as a result he tried to change the conversation going on in the country.  

It’s lies, it’s bait and switch, it’s stalling for a plan that the eloctorate might just buy……..when, when will it end.  Oh, I know, November 4th.

Who should really bail out the U.S. Economy?

I am not an economist.  I am not a foreign policy expert.  But here is how I see it.

People around the world, and countries around the world, have made billions and billions of dollars on the U.S. economy, which is the largest economy in the World.

In World War I and World War II the United States of America saved their asses, especially Europe.  We rebuilt Europe and Japan after World War II.

And where are they now that we are in an the economic crisis of a lifetime?  They are lined up trying to get a piece of the “bailout” pie.  Foreign banks and investment firms want to be included in the bailout because they do business in the United States.

Well I’m just going to throw it out there.  Again I’m no foreign affairs expert but come on France, and England, and Germany, and Italy, and Japan, and Austria, and Switzerland, and Belgium.  Where the beef?  Start forking over some cash, man.  It is the least, and I mean the very least, you could do to help America gets back on its feet. 

Yeah, we know a lot of you don’t like us very much.  However, we weren’t so thrilled with you, but it didn’t stop us from helping you out in the 1940s when you needed our help.  You know why?  Because it was the right think to do.  I think your anger is misguided; it’s not Americans you should be angry with.  It’s George Bush, and he is such a lame duck that the Chinese restaurants are preparing the orange glaze as we speak.  So get over it and start digging deep into your pockets.

I don’t know the address to which you should send your checks, but I can certainly find out for you.  In fact, just send them to Barack Obama, care of the U.S. Senate and make the checks payable to “The U.S. Bailout Fund”.  He’ll hold on to them until January when gets sworn into office.  Just post date them.  And Thank you.

And if you are not going to help us out?  Then don’t ever ask us for anything again.  Ever.

So Clay is gay, huh?

Clay Aiken is on the cover of People Magazine saying “Yes, I’m gay”.

He claims that he decided to come out because now that he has a child he realizes that he doesn’t want to teach his child that being gay is something to hide or be ashamed of.

BULLSHIT!

Can a newborn baby even understand what the hell he is talking about?  Is it really important that he take his stance right now?  Um, I don’t think so.

I can only imagine that he was going to be outed by somebody else and so he outed himself.  Not that I agree with third parties “outing” celebrities or any other famous people, but if he was outed, he should be honest about THAT instead.  Stand up and point the finger at the people who are outing you.  They are the ones who should be ashamed of themselves.  We all knew that Clay Aiken was gay; does it really matter or come as a big surprise to anybody?  Come on people.  Clay’s “best friend” Jaymes Foster (I’ve never heard of a girl named James no matter how you want to spell it) was artificially inseminated.

So what was your first clue. 

As I gay man, I am sick and tired of the whole “gay” thing.  I don’t care.  Clay Aiken coming out has absolutely no affect on my life whatsoever.  I don’t understand how this is new, how this is news, or why anybody gives a shit.  The economy is falling apart and I lost my job.  I’ve got bigger thing to think about and frankly the visual of that freak having sex with a man is repulsive.  So I don’t even want to think about Clay being gay.  He’s the Michael Jackson of American Idol; he’s just weird.

I personally think the issue here is that Clay needed some media exposure and since he’s really used up everything else and somebody was going to out him, he said “Yup, I”m gay”.  If you say it over and over again in your head with that stupid Clay Aiken accent that he has, it becomes ridiculous.

Racism in the 2008 Election

The latest statistics I’ve heard indicate that 15% of voters admit that race will still play a role in their decision for President.  The statistics don’t say whether or not it will be a positive role or a negative role, just that 15% will take race into consideration.  I was not raised to consider race in anything, so it is something I don’t understand.  I didn’t know what racism was until at least high school and even then I didn’t hang around with a crowd that was racist so it wasn’t something I thought about.

In the early 1970’s I was in grammar school at Verplank Elementary School in Manchester, Connecticut. I learned how to jump rope, Double Dutch style, from my friends Janet Cooper and Audrey Gaines.  I got so good at Double Dutch that I was better than they were.  But they weren’t mad.  The were proud of me.  We were friends.  I knew that they came to school every day on a bus.  I knew that they lived in Hartford and that is where the buses took them home to every night.  But I didn’t know why, or think about why.  I didn’t care why, I didn’t even question why.   I think I just assumed that there weren’t enough schools in Hartford.  It certainly wasn’t something that I thought was out of the ordinary.  In fact, I was jealous that they got to ride the bus (until I got older and actually rode a bus to school every day).  My parents never mentioned anything about busing and it wasn’t talked about in school.  It wasn’t until many, many years later when busing kids from the inner city out to the suburbs became an issue again sometime in the 1990’s that I even realized that my grammar school was part of desegregation.

My 3 older brothers went to a vocational technical school in Manchester as well.   My oldest brother had a best friend named Eric Coke.   They were much older than I was back then.  My oldest brother and I are only 6 years apart but back then it seemed like generations.  Eric lived in Hartford.  Eric would often stay at our house on weeknights when they boys had a night game or something and it was just easier for Eric to stay with us rather than have his parents or mine drive back and forth to Hartford.  He would come to our house for things like Halloween and dress up with all of us.  We used to laugh because back then with the Polaroid instant cameras, the quality was so bad, and Eric had such a dark, very dark, complexion, he would disappear in the picture unless he smiled.  It wasn’t something racist to us, it was just a funny matter of fact.  We laughed, he laughed, we went trick-or-treating, and that was just another normal day at our house.  I was the youngest of 6 and we’re all about a year apart.  So having one more, or two more people around wasn’t unusual.

Many years after my father died in 1984, my mother and I met for lunch somewhere.  We got to talking about the old days.  I was still in my “I’m going to write a novel” phase.  So I started asking a lot of questions about my father, his past, his upbringing, etc.  My mother told me a story about how my Dad helped the one and only black family in our neighborhood get a mortgage.  He spent weeks going from bank to bank with this man until somebody would give him a mortage.   I didn’t know any of this.  And I certainly didn’t know that banks could be so blatantly racist as to not give a black man a mortgage for a house in a white suburb.  Of course it happened right before I was born.  But it wasn’t something my father bragged about and it wasn’t part of our family story.  It was just something my father did because that’s the kind of man my father was.  He didn’t brag about it because he didn’t want to teach his children that people were different and those differences led to people being treated differently.  I think he wanted to shield us from the evils of life as long as he could.

I am somewhat of a loner.  I don’t like people all that much.  I have always hand-picked the people who are an integral part of my life.  There are a lot of reasons to hate people.  They are crazy.  They are selfish. They are self-centered.  They are dumb, racist, bigoted, loud, misinformed, uncaring, childish.  The list goes on an on.  I can’t image that of all the reasons there are to hate people, someone is going to go with color????  I was raised better than that.

I did not have the best of childhoods and I never really identified with my parents.  They never truly understood me and I did not understand them.  I don’t recall them being very affectionate and loving and I don’t recall really loving them all that much.  Of course that has changed and I have re-evaluated many things over the years.  I learned to understand my mother better and I learned that I am so much like my father that it’s scary.  The big difference between me and him is I don’t have a problem telling people how I really feel.  But when I look back and think about all the things my parents did, and didn’t do, I thank them because I was not raised to hate anybody.  I was not raised to hate those who were different; different from me, or different from the norm, or different from what society said they should be.

I know I am probably living in a fantasy world about the subject of racism.  When I first heard Barack Obama give a speech at the 2004 DNC, I was in awe of him.  I thought, “what a great President he would be”.  And I never even gave race a minute of thought.  I just thought to myself, “Finally, someone who is smart and can inspire me and others to be proud Americans”.

So to me, even if one person refused to vote for a man or woman for President simply because of skin color, that’s one too many.

What the hell is going on: Palin, McCain, Bay Buchanan, ugh!

Sarah Palin has withdrawn from testifying on the “Abuse of Power” case against her.  The others involved, including her husband, are ignoring subpoenas, refusing the testify.  Can you refuse a subpoena?  I know I can’t, why can they?  It was George Bush and his administration who used “Executive Privilege” as an argument against testifying.  They even used the argument for people who were appointed; you know the “non-elected” people.  If you are not ELECTED, then you certainly have no argument for exectuvie privilege.

So that’s my first beef.  Second, what is up with John McCain these day.  He said “The fundamentals of our economy are strong”.  He and half the world have used that expression and when called on the carpet for it this past Monday, he suddenly changed the meaning of fundamentals to mean people.  Have you ever heard of anyone using the word Fundamentals in the context to mean people?  I doubt it.  But his campaign spun it to mean people so that McCain wouldn’t look like such a buffoon.  And people bought it?  Then he said, in the midst of the AIG bailout, among others, that if he were President he would “fire the head of the FEC”.  First of all, it’s not the FEC, it’s the SEC.  The FEC is the Federal Elections Committee.   I guess he could try to fire them, it wouldn’t bother me much.  But anyway, the President does not have the authority to fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.  So he wants to just fire people at random even if he doesn’t have the authority to do so.  He is turning into a grandfather whom you wheel out on holidays and pray he doesn’t fart at the dinner table.

Third is Bay Buchanan.  Who is this hag.  She looks exactly like Sarah Palin will look in about 20 years.  A bit jowly, a furrowed brow, and most importantly, constipated.  She is like a bad imitation of an old Joan Rivers stand-up routine.  OH, OH.  I mean, come on, she’s Pat Buchanan sister. That should tell you something right there.

Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe

I can give a complete transcript of Mika Brzezinski on ANY edition of Morning Joe on MSNBC:

“Really….I know…..Oh, Stop………That’s right……Maybe it’s time……Yes…….Oh, you’re terrible……here we go…..umhmm…..um humm”  And that’s it.  For 3 hours of morning television and that’s all she says, with some of the most influential guests in the country sitting next to her and Joe Scarborough as Joe takes the helm.  Mixed in there also are several repetitions of something a guest said.  For example if a guest said as part of a phrase “very different” then Mika will say “very different, yes, very different.”

She usually attempts to read the news at the top of the hour.  

It is a sad story.  I grew up in central Connecticut and Mika Brzezinski, the daughter of foreign policy expert and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, was on two of Hartford, Connecticut’s local affiliates:  one Fox, and one CBS.  She was the morning anchor on CBS affiliate WFSB in Hartford for a few years before she left to do the overnight, or up all night CBS News which came on at 3:00 AM but at least it was Network in stead of just an affiliate – a bit more prestigous.

I like Morning Joe on MSNBC.  While he is a republican and former U.S. Representative, in the last year or so he seems to have become more fair and balanced in his veiws, at least on air.  

But Mika, come on.  You are the Ed McMahon of news.  You can almost hear MIka say “Ayooooo” and “Yyyyyyeeeessss”.  Also, I keep waiting for Mika to hand Joe some envolopes and a turban so he can do his Carnak impersonation.

It is actually difficult ot watch sometimes.  If you get the chance, Mika, to show your stuff on another news program, anywhere, where you can sink you teeth into it and show them what you’ve got, I say take it.  I don’t know, maybe the Morning Joe gig is all she could get.  I’m not really sure whether or not she has any actual talent.  She didn’t go to school for journalism, she majored in English.  And I’m not sure she’s using the “English” for her current job because she doesn’t say much and much of what she says is quick little phrases, most of which just mimic something that somebody on the show has already said.

In response to this posting I can only assume that Mika would  say “Connecticut, yes……my dad, you know my dad……I know……….I guess so…….We’ll see you tomorrow right here on Morning Joe”

Keeping the Republicans honest (well I can try can’t I)

I am re-posting a portion of a previous post because it needs to be restated.

At one time John McCain was ostracized and criticized by the right wing media.  They shunned him, called him a joke, and blatantly stated that they would never vote for him.  Now he is a neo-con messiah?

I don’t understand why somebody isn’t comparing, word for word, that the right wing media said about McCain before his nomination, versus now, when he is all they have as a chance to keep a Republican in the white house.  Maybe somebody has and I just missed it.  But to me, the contrasts are startling. 

In just one example I can remember, because I wrote about it, is when talk show host Laura Ingraham (yes, the once referred to as the “ultimate Republican whore) in February of this year, berated John McCain on her radio show,and claimed she was voting for Romney in the primary.  She went on to say that anyone voting for McCain was destroying conservatism “at its very core”.  She continued to talk about McCain the next day; exposing her hatred of McCain; calling him an out and out liar.  She commented on human psychology and explained “when you tell a lie over and over again, just look into the camera or talk into the microphone and lie over and over again, if you say it enough times, people will believe it”  She found that to be repugnant. 

Are you kidding me?  Republican whore Laura Ingraham apparently needs to fill several hours of radio programming every day without any regard for the actual truth, and without any actual integrity about what she is saying.  And the AM Talk Radio Neo-cons just go on and on, from her to Glenn Beck to Rush Limbaugh, to Sean Hannity.  It is as if they pass their notes from one to the next so they all stay on topic.  Have you ever heard of a right wing talk show host saying they don’t agree with one of the other right wing talk show hosts?  No, because it would never happen.  The talking points fax that they all receive is real.

At least the Democrats will be honest and say something like ” Well Obama wasn’t my first choice, I wanted Hillary”.  They will support their party but don’t mind telling you what they really think.

And the other thing about the two parties;  Democrats will tell you what the are FOR.  Republicans will tell you, in fact they will force it down your throats, what they are AGAINST.

Isn’t that interesting?  They are against gay marriage, they are against taxing the rich, they are against pulling out of Iraq, they are against telling the truth about how we got into Iraq based on lies in the first place, they are against government programs that help the poor and middle class.

Now think about all the things the Democrats are FOR.  I don’t need to go through the whole list.  You can basically go through what the Republicans are AGAINST and just do the opposite.  Republicans don’t have a platform that explains what we should be doing but they have a long list of things we SHOULDN’T be doing.

Please help support Senate Bill 1738 – Protect our children

Joe Biden introduced a bill back in July that increases the funding for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of child predators, also knows as child molesters, child pornographers, child rapists, child predators, just pick one.  According to the Congressional web site, the bill summary is as follows:

A bill to establish a Special Counsel for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction within the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, to improve the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, to increase resources for regional computer forensic labs, and to make other improvements to increase the ability law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute predators.

There are nineteen other co-sponsors of this bill, among them Barack Obama, Orrin Hatch, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson; so this is not a partisan bill and it SHOULD NOT BE a partisan bill.  You can’t apply a parties political platform to child molestation.

Please contact your representatives, find out how they are voting, and if they are not voting for this bill, ask them to vote for it and ask why they wouldn’t vote for it.  Their response may tell you a lot about who they really are and what they stand for.  If you need help finding your congressional representatives try Congresspedia at the following address: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Congresspedia.

We can not afford to allow the continuation of the most disgusting and damaging crimes against human beings that you could ever imagine.  We’re talking about destroying children, young children, even infants.

Thank you and please do what you can to help.