The Birthers – most not born in the U.S.

Who knows where all the Birthers were born.  Does it matter?  We’ll just make shit up.  It seems to work for them.

If case you don’t know what a Birther is (meaning you live under a rock and don’t partipate in society),  a Birther is someone who believes Barack Obama was not born in the United States (yes, Hawaii is a state) and therefore, has no legal right to be President.

If during George W. Bush’s Presidency, you know, those god-awful years between 2001 and 2008 when the world hated us and still does, someone had told me W. wasn’t born in this country and therefore was not legally the President, would I have believed them? You bet your ass I would.

I despised Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove, the whole ugly bunch.  I would have looked for any reason to start a movement to get rid of any one of them.  So in some ways I understand why the radical right wing conservative movement in this country is perpetuating the idea that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S., is not a U.S. Citizen, and therefore, not legally the President of the United States.  It is brilliantly simply.  If you are not a natural U.S. citizen, you can’t be President.

Let’s not get too confused about this, however.  The Obama Birther movement was born out of extreme hatred which is based on extreme racism.  There is some scary kind of hatred involved in this.  The birther movement is a cover for racism.  Birthers hate Barack Obama and is blackness so much that they will scratch the bottom of any barrel to get rid of him.

I felt the same way about the Bush Administration; not the racism part, but the willingness to do anything necessary to get rid them.

However, if someone on the Democrat, or Liberal, or Progressive side of the map who I trusted or believed said to me “Hey, don’t be an idiot.  As much as we want to believe this stuff, it is simply not true”.  I would have had no choice to throw my hands in the air and give up the fight.  I would have tried other tactics but why spend so much time dealing in lies.

So why is it that few, if any, radical conservatives can’t utter the words “Hey folks, it’s just not true”.  From Limbaugh to Glenn Beck to the halls of Congress, these people and their “believers” can’t bring themselves to say “This is stupid and it’s not true”.  Even when they pretend to debunk the myth, they say things like “Barack Obama is a citizen” but won’t actually say the words “he was born in this country” leaving a sliver of room to back out and re-interpret what they said at a later date.

On the surface the Birther movement appears almost harmless because it is so ridiculous.  The following is what they want you to believe:  In 1961 Barack Obama was born in Kenya and secretly shipped on a cargo tanker (I guess) to Honolulu, Hawaii where someone who knew that he would run for and win the Presidency some day, planted a birth announcement in the Honolulu newspaper all so that in 2009, a forged birth certificate could be disproved by said newspaper announcement.   Hmm.  Sounds plausible to me; you?

Chris Matthews on MSNBC the most trustworthy G. Gordon Liddy (ahem!) as a guest,  so that Matthews could show Liddy all of the facts and copies of the paperwork first hand proving Obama’s birth and citizenship.  Matthews hoped that the irrefutable evidence would convince Liddy to go back to the listeners of his radio show and say “OK guys, I know we want this to be true, but it simply isn’t; Enough is Enough”.  However, Liddy stared at the evidence in what can only be described as an Alzheimer Haze, twitching and mumbling something about wanting to see originals and some woman in Kenya and an affidavit about seeing Obama being born in Kenya and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  It would have been funny if it wasn’t one of the saddest things I’ve even seen on Television.  Search for the video on Google, it’s easy to find.  I do question Chris Matthew’s motives in bringing on one of the most famous liars in the world in an effort to reform him on conspiracies.  But I guess Matthews was trying to start with someone on the radio who had a following.  Liddy was probably the only conservative talk radio host who would accept an invitation from Mr. Matthews.

Some believe that the birther movement is harmless.  But if you undersand that the people involved in the movement are using it as a cover to hide (and not so well) their extreme racism and hatred of Black America then you won’t think it’s so harmless anymore.

It is time now for those of us who are adults with working brain stems to call our Senators and House Representatives demanding that they speak out on this issue and put the Birthers in their place.  Force your legislators to have a spine by speaking out against the fringe right wing.  I’m all for freedom on speech, but when you are inciting riotous and violent acts based on your speech or actions, i believe you forfeit some of those rights.  The Birthers are full of hatred and are trying to spread it around.  That’s just plain wrong.  Nobody should have the freedom to do that.

There are two trains of thought on debunking lies.  First is to never address is; therefore not giving the idea any traction.  You don’t dignify the accusation by responding to it.  The second method is to nip it in the bud.  You run the risk of drawing out the amount of attention the lie gets but you look strong in your defiance.

The Democrats, and in fact the White House itself, have chosen option one.  Ignore the accusation and you won’t give it any traction.  Let’s see.  How did that work our for John Kerry and the Swift Boaters?

Right America Feeling Wronged

In Alexandra Pelosi’s new documentary “Right America Feeling Wronged” she does to radical, right-wing, evangelical America what family and friends would do to an addict at an intervention; she holds a symbolic mirror up to their faces and asks them to take a good, hard look at themselves. 

Like all interventions, if things go well, the addict will see the error of their ways, begin to take responsibility for their actions, and begin down the road of recovery, all with the support of those who intervened in the first place.  If things don’t go well, the the addict will continue to lie, cheat, steal, and fool themselves into thinking they are OK and not doing anything wrong.  Meanwhile, the addict spirals out of control once again.

Below is an exceprt from “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC where Rachel is interviewed filmaker Alexandra Pelosi and show some brief clips from the documentary.  While these two liberals don’t always have the same views on “middle America”, the certainly agree about shedding some much needed light on some real problems.

 I will admit right here, right now.  I recorded this documentary on my DVR and when I sat down to watch it, I had to turn it off after about 5 minutes.  Why?  Because I was truly freightened.  Some of this clips that I found freightening are those included in the very brief film trailer leading into the MSNBC interview.

As I switched channels and sat back for a bit watching something else, I just had to do it.  I turned it back on.  Once I again I wretched in disbelief and had to turn it off.  To me it was like watching a grotesque surgical operation.  You are curious and want to see it, but you sort of look through your fingers that are half-covering your face.  And when the really bad parts come, you look away and say “OOOH, GEEEEEEZ!!!

As I watched “Right America Feeling Wronged” a few thoughts came to mind.  First, it seemed to me that every person showcased in this movie had a glazed-over, blank-but-hate-filled look in their eyes.  Or maybe it was blank with fear.  Or both.

I encourage everyone who’s interested in what the Evangelical crowd is doing and thinking to see this documentary.  This is not a narrated documentary where you might be led down a certain path of opinion based on what the filmaker dictates.  This movie leaves the character development up to the characters themselves.  They reveal a great deal about themselves on their own without prodding from anyone.

While I know that the hatred exposed in this film is real and still exists, I can’t help but think what would have happened if McCain got elected.  What I saw in this film was what I have always seen in Republicans; they don’t tell you what they are “for” but hey will certainly tell you what they are “against”.  In fact at one point a woman was asked what all McCain supporters have in common and she said “We don’t want Obama to win”.  To this radical group the 2008 Presidential Election wasn’t about standing behind a candidate, it was about standing in front of an adversary.   To them Barack Obama became the enemy; out of fear, ignorance, hate, misinformation, and and outright lies by the Right Wing conservatives of the party.

I hope you watch the interview above but hope even more that you watch the entire documentary.  If you do watch to film and don’t see why Barack Obama should fear for his life, then you weren’t listening; play it again.

Voices of my Father

As I watched the Inauguration of Barack Obama today, I deliberately chose not to blog.  I wanted today to be a time of observance and reflection.  As I watched the happenings and while I felt moved and occasionally welled up, there was something missing for me that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  I have been emotional at other times during the Obama “movement” including Election Night itself.  And as President Obama began his speech today, I listened intently.  It was a strong, powerful, moving speech, filled with honesty and clarity of purpose.

I don’t think there has ever been a time in history when so many people gathered in Washington D.C. to see an inauguration.  Not in my lifetime anyway and perhaps not ever, not even for John F. Kennedy, my father’s political hero.  Of course, this is a television/internet era.  So not only were there record crowds on the National Mall, there are record TV audiences and record internet traffic on Live Coverage sites.  But for the first time ever, there were crowds around the world, around the Planet, to watch this truly unique, and world-changing event.  From Kenya to Israel to Japan, they all celebrated today.  Yet even knowing that, there was still something missing.

After President Obama’s speech, and after most of the early fanfare, and the departure of the ex-President by helicopter (what a wonderful sight – that made me cry), my phone rang.  I didn’t answer it because I decided I did not want to be interrupted today, no matter who it was.  If it was urgent, I would call back whoever it was.  I quickly looked and saw that it was my mother and let it go to voice mail.  I figured she was going to ask me some question or tell me some story, or whatever, I knew it wasn’t so important that I needed to stop what I was doing; what I wanted to do at that moment was watch these historical events unfold on television.  I was glad I had a high definition TV; it is truly a grand TV-watching experience,  But still there was someting missing.

After a brief while, I checked my voice mail.  It was my mother, of course, but the tone in her voice was different.  I could tell she was a bit choked up, a bit emotional.  For a brief moment I though “Uh, oh” what happened. 

Throughout the Obama campaign, and  throughout the election, my mother and I didn’t really agree.  She didn’t have the same passion for politics and change that had come to be part of my life.  I didn’t feel she understood how important all of this was to me   Barack Obama winning the Presidency will always be one of the highlights, if not THE highlight, of my life.  Similar to what JFK was to my father and her.

As I listened to her message, she told me in a quivering sort of voice, that she had just finished watching the Inauguration.  And as the words came out of her mouth, I was a bit astonished.  She said “I was thinking about your father, and how proud he would be; how happy he would be at what was happening today”.   My father died in 1984.  In the reality of our family, my father, his beliefs, his politics, his point of view, are rarely, if ever talked about.

So I thought for a moment and the tears came to my eyes.  The man who was so distant as a father, but taught me so much from afar, was with me today.  By not teaching his children about racism and bigotry, we didn’t know it existed.  As he helped ex-cons by giving them jobs when no one else would, and as he helped the first black family in our neighborhood get a mortgage when no local bank would give them one, we never knew.   He helped that same family renovate the electrical service in their own.  They paid him weekly, maybe $5.00 a week until they paid off what they owed.  My father told them to just pay what they could, when they could.  My father quietly did his part to try and end racism and bigotry in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, John and Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  He did not boast or brag about what he did, he simply did it.  And this is what Barack Obama talked about today in his speech.   Obama said that America was ready to once again take the lead; in terms of diplomacy, inclusion, fairness, world peace, equality, and all of the tenets upon which this country was founded.  Indeed all Americans are created equal.

So it came full circle for me.  I finally understood why I was emotional throughout Obama’s campaign, his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, his victory speech at Grant Park in Chicago on the night of November 4, 2008, and today when he put his hand on the Lincoln Bible where he swore to protect and defend America and uphold the Constitution.  It was the voice of my fahter.  Not his actual voice, in fact just the opposite.  It was his silence in not pointing out what racism was, or what bigotry was.  We werent’ told about it because he didn’t want us to even fathom the thought of it.  I grew up not knowing that some people thought there was a difference between white and black, jew and christian, rich and poor, gay or straight.  He didn’t want to teach us about racism for fear that we would participate in it.  Instead, he led through quiet example.  Never judging people based on the differences by which some found it so easy to judge.  

Dad, you did the right thing.  I didn’t learn about racism and bigotry until I was in my very late teens; I learned it from the world.  And it was a terrible thing to realize.  I must admit that I did judge people.  I judged the ones who wanted to deny others their  basic human rights.  Even today some still try to do it.  But not Barack , Dad,  He’s a different kind of guy.  When I look at him I don’t thnk “he’s black”.  I think, “he’s cool, he’s smart, he’s of my generation and he thinks like me, only smarter”.  You would really have liked him.  Thanks Dad.  I found my JFK. 

And so I blogged after all.

It’s time to get back to politics

Today is December 29, 2008, only 29 days until Barack Obama will take the oath of office and become the 44th President of the United States.  I just finished watching “60 Minutes” from last night.  I had it on my DVR which is set up to tape new episodes of “60 Minutes”.  I just forgot about it until I went through my list of things taped, but unwatched.

“60 Minutes” did a retrospective of Barack Obama’s rise to political power from the day before he announced his candidacy back in February of 2007.  I forgot how long ago that was.  “60 Minutes” told the whole story.  About his start in politics, issues of race, Reverend Wright, the Muslim smear attacks, the DNC, the night of his historic win, and everything in between.

I forgot about those agonizing days and months when I was keeping up with all things Obama.  I forgot my frustration over the lies and right-wing smear campaigns.  I forgot about election day and waiting hour by hour, watching the return come in.  I was watching MSNBC and this part I did not forget  There is some question as to who made the announcement on MSNBC.  But it was Keith Olbermann, another hero of mine, who said those fateful words “Barack Obama is projected to be the next President of the United States.”  I could hear the shaking in his voice.  I begin to sob.  I could not believe it was finally over.  If you want to see and hear it again, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1HSnnDfCks. It is so difficult for me to watch this piece of video and not have tears come to my eyes.  Have we forgotten already?

There were so many emotions going on that night.  I know how hard Keith worked on behalf of Obama.  He was the one clear, strong voice in the Media who never faltered from his mission.  Now, I know that journalists are supposed to remain neutral.  But much like Edward R. Murrow, one of the most famous and respected Journalists ever to grace the television screen, Olbermann stuck up for his own personal beliefs; sometimes crossing the line between Journalism and Opinion, just as Murrow did against Senator Joseph McCarthy and McCarthy’s witch hunt against communists.  Sometimes, wrong is wrong, and a journalist who knows the truth must simply speak it.

I believe that both Olbermann and Rachel Maddow had a profound influence in the 2008 Presidential Election.  And good for them.  It is a pleasure to see the year-end lists that every media outlet does for bests and worsts of 2008.  The pleasure stems from how long we have waited to chastise these people publicly.  People like Bush, Cheney, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sarah Palin, and all of the other right-wing crazies whose time has come after 8 long years, to bury themselves back under the rock from which they came.  They fooled enough Americans for long enough to get eight years out of of George W. Bush, but no more.  We simply aren’t going to take it any more.

As I sit tonight looking forward and back, I find myself only wanting to look forward.  I don’t want to forget the past, I just want to put it where it belongs, in the past.  Barack Obama has worked hard at choosing an eclectic and amazingly smart group of people to join him in his cabinet.  I look forward to whatever Obama has (maybe up his sleeve) to offer us.  I believe it will happen quickly.  A lot of changes will take place early on so that Obama can set himself up to move forward and get this country back on its feet.

I hope for transparency but also understand that some things simply can not be transparent.  I believe that if Obama exposed all of the morally wrong and simply evil deeds of the Bush Administration, America might not believe we can get ourselves out of it and may loose hope.  Right now he needs America to be strong, to stand behind him, and be ready to offer their assistance and sacrifice anywhere the President asks for it.  The next few years will be amazing and I am glad I am here to witness all of it.

I’m happy that the President Elect is taking some time off with his family in Hawaii.  He was probably suffering from almost complete exhaustion.  When is the last time you think he might have gotten a good 8 hours of sleep to recharge over night.  I want my President rested, strong, and confident; with a clear head to make the right decisions.

What makes makes a good President?  Many things, but here’s how I see it.  There are things that Barack Obama has said and done that I don’t agree with.  But I trust him enough to lead us down the right path.  I don’t have to agree with everything he says or does, I just need to believe in him and trust him.

We will get there.  Wherever “there” is to you.  We’re not used to trusting our elected officials. It’s a new concept, or at least a lost,concept.  Barack Obama’s priorities are to bring back trust to America and bring back the respect America has around the world.  What will American Politics look like in four years?  Let’s hope we’ll be in the midst of a new era; an era where we can’t believe how far we’ve come because it seemed so out of reach back in 2008.

Obama Wins and it’s a new game in town

I know I should be a gracious winner.  As gracious and incsive as Barack Obama was in his victory speech and as gracious as John McCain tried to be in is concession speech.  I say “tried” because he still refused to stop the booing when he mentioned Obama’s win.   McCain couldn’t muster up the decency to tell the crowd that booing is not acceptable.

But there is a part of me that needs to vent.  I just need to say:

So long Hannity and O’Reilly and the rest of the knuckleheads at Fox.  You make me sick and your team LOST.  You are irrelevant.

So long to Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sarah Palin.  Your talking points memos have no place in this world except maybe to line bird cages.  You are both irrelevant.

And to the blow hard, politically abusive Rush Limbaugh, your tactics didn’t work, your lies didn’t work, you are irrelevant.

To people like Mary Matalin, Mitt Romney, Rudy “9/11” Giuliani, and Tucker Bounds, it’s time for you to just SHUT UP and I would prefer also that you GO AWAY.  You are irrelevant.

And especially to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney whom I believe should rot in hell for the crimes they have committed against the American people and against the U.S. Constitution; you and your cronies are irrelevant.

All of the people mentioned above will pay the price.  Looking back, these people could not think of one nice thing to say about Barack Obama, who is, by any measure, an intelligent, thoughtful, inclusive man deserving of at minimum an inferred compliment.  But no, they just couldn’t bring yourselves to do it.  And so they will pay the price by being considered “out of the loop”, and “on the wrong track” and nobody will want to hear your opinion anymore.  Not even the new Republican Party that will emerge from the muck as something new and different; or perhaps old and familiar, back to their roots, so to speak.

The Presidential Election of 2008 was not just an election and was not just about politics.  The Obama campaign was a movement.  As defined by Random House a “movement” in this context means: “a diffusely organized or heterogeneous group of people or organizations tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal”.  That is exactly what President Elect Obama tied to do through his entire campaign.  And he stayed on topic for almost 2 years.  None of the people mentioned above in this post, and many, many people not mentioned in this post, ever recognized the difference between an election campaign and a movement.  They missed the boat and missed the historical significance of what happened on November 4th2008.  Americans stoop up to be counted and stood up to say “We’re not going to take it anymore”.  The Republican tactics of fear don’t work and were not appreciated by the electorate based on exit polls.  Every negative ad, every mangling of the truth, or outright lie convinced a few more Independents and Republicans to vote Democrat

I’m sure you saw the people around this country who gathered in predetermined locations to await and then celebrate the victory of Barack Obama.  But did you see the hoards of Americans who gathered spontaneously in town squares to do the same thing.  You probably caught this phenomenon on television but did you also notice people from countries all over the WORLD who gather to celebrate America’s huge step forward.  The American Dream is an experiment that has so far lasted 232 years.  And when times are tough, like they are now, Americans can unite for the greater good.  And Americans can think for themselves independently, they can analyze the conditions set before them, and they have the ability to think and look forward instead of backwards to what used to be.  I don’t care how it sounds but for the first time in my life I am truly proud to be American.  That doesn’t mean I wasn’t proud before; it means I am MORE proud.

So when have Americans ever poured into the streets to celebrate and support the newly elected President of the United States.  For that matter when have Americans ever done this to celebrate anything, political or otherwise.  One on-air personality from a cable TV show said that it was possible that the first moon landing/walk may be the only other event in history that created this level of pride and exuberance.  I don’t know because I was too young to remember, but that sounds accurate to me.  And we’re talking about GOOD NEWS celebrations not bad news vigils.

The political torch is being passed to a new generation and a new philosophy.  I am at the cusp (the older side, unfortunately) of a generation who doesn’t see color, religion, sexual orientation, and more as divisive issues.  We doesn’t see differences, but rather similarities.

The right-wing cancer on the American phsyche is finally in remission.  Those of us with clearer, more mature heads have been waiting for this day since it all went wrong when Ronald Reagan took office in January of 1981.  Since that time we have been on a course, either stemming from the President himself or the Republican-controlled Congress, that grew progressively more extreme in its Evangelical values.  For whatever reason, a large group still believes in this philosophy; they believe in subscribing to culture wars.  They believe in “us versus them”.  They believe in exclusion over inclusion.  If you ever watched the critically acclaimed televisionshow called “Jericho” which was about the aftermath of a large scale terrorist attach on the United States, you would have seen the not-so-subtle overtones of what it is like under the Bush Administration or under Republican rule in general.  Americans pitted against Americans instead of Americans helping other Americans.  We are nothing if not generous with our time, money, and support of those in trouble or less fortunate than ourselves.  But the fundamental idea of America’s generosity was swept out when Reagan was swept into power in 1981.  I am overjoyed that America’s self-esteem and its zest for inclusion has returned with gusto.

As for Barack Obama I hear people, including myself, refer to him (before today) as “Senator Obama”, “Barack Obama”, or “Mr. Obama”, or just plain “Obama”.  He has earned the right to be called “President Elect” and/or “President”.  But for some reason, my admiration for him and the fact that he makes me feel included, makes we want to call him “Barack”.  Just plain Barack.  He is the only political figure in my life that I have ever wanted to meet and the only one with whom I ever wanted to sit down and have a chat.

In closing I want to say that I have only recently involved myself in politics.  Barack’s speech at the DNC in 2004 started it all for me and then I began my own personal grass roots movement through communicating with friends and family, acquaintances, and visitors to my Blog.  Prior to this election I voted in every election for President, Governor, and/or Senator.  However, this is the first time I truly “fell” for a candidate.  If it is possible to love somebody that you have never met, then that’s what happened to me.  Love comes in many forms.  In my case my love for Barack comes in the form of respect and admiration.  He makes me want to be a better person; a better American.

I look forward to the future of America and the World.  Maybe someday I’ll forgive myself for not being as gracious as I could have been.

How to decide – Obama or McCain

I am trying, very, very hard NOT to write any more until after the election.  I really want to just let everything sit and simmer; to not think about, talk about it, or write about it anymore.  But I can’t.

How do you decide for whom to vote for President?

First, if you are a political junkie and you are voracious in your appetite for all things politics, of all persuasions, including the web, newspapers, magazines, and television, then you are probably well versed and informed and have already made your decision.  Other than that, I believe there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

What do you know about each candidate and from where did I learn it?  Was it a friend or family member.  Was it one particular medium that you gravitate towards?  For example, if you only watch Fox News or if you only watch MSNBC, then your viewpoint is going to be skewed, assuming you believe everything you have heard.  Maybe there is a particular blog like the Huffington Post or The Drudge Report; same thing there, these are one-sided opinion mediums the often skew the facts in a certain direction.

Have you ever taken one particular news item that is pro or con for a candidate and conducted your own investigation to see if it was true or not.  If not, then you haven’t done your homework.

I believe that each of us has a responsibility to be our own private investigators.  We need to stop listening solely to Sean Hannity or CNN.  Go to reliable, nonpartisan sources.  They are out there; go find them.

Next, check your gut.  See what makes sense.  For example, does it really make sense that someone running for President is a terrorist, or is secretly hiding his religious beliefs.  Chances are if you heard an outrageous claim about a candidate, that claim has either stretched the facts beyond all recognition or is a complete fabrication.  Watch the candidates themselves.  Take note of how they conduct themselves, how the speak, their body language.  You can tell a lot about a person by simply picking up on clues.

Also, keep an eye on political tactics and weigh what their impact is.  Barack Obama said he would talk to John McCain about using public financing for his campaign and come to an agreement.  He never did.  On the other hand, bogus fliers were distributed (by McCain supports) to college campuses in Pennsylvania and Virginia saying that the State recognized there would be such a high turnout for Election day that they split it into two days; Republicans should vote on November 4th, and Democrats on November 5th.  This was all on State letterhead, and it was all a fake.  Voter suppression tactics from the Republicans are not new.

So which one is worse in your mind.

What does each candidate really stand for.  What is his platform?  If, god forbid, he died on day one, who would fill his shoes?  It is maudlin to say the least to think about the President’s death but at some point you need to be realistic.

As much as I don’t want to give my own opinion to anyone reading this on how to decide who to pick for President, I will say this.  John McCain, like most republicans, will spend a lot of time telling you what’s wrong with the other candidate and will tell you what they are against.  However, how often do you hear them talk what’s right about themselves and what they are for.

It is a simple equation, really.  Do I want someone who is AGAINST things, or do I want someone who is FOR things?  Do I want a President who I can have a beer with, or a President that is WAY smarter than I am?  Do I want a President who really cares about our standing in the world and intends to correct it?  Or do I want President with a bully attitude and doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks about us?

What exactly is your candidate FOR?  And into which candidates face can you look and see the quiet, calm passion that pushes him to lead this country to better places?  Which candidate did not squander the time he has to convince America to elect him trying to convince YOU what was wrong with the other guy, rather than what was RIGHT about himself.

Do your homework, do your research, make smart, well-informed decisions.  And thanks again, for stopping by.  Hopefully, I can keep my mouth (and my keyboard quiet) until we get the results on November 4th.

Cheney is still alive…well, sort of

Vice President Dick Cheney was allowed out of his climate controlled coffin today to campaign for John McCain. 

The problem:  He was campaigning in Laramie, Wyoming, the gay bashing capitol of the United States.  Does anyone remember Matthew Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) who was murdered by two young men for the simple fact that he was gay.  Talk about the double edged sword.  The masked VP finally shows up but picks Laramie, Wyoming, as a subliminal reminder of who’s who, and what’s what, and they’re not going to take it anymore.  They’ve killed and will kill again.

Good Job Dick!!!!

As Keith Olbermann might say “Dick Cheney, Gay Bashing Campaign Stopper – today’s Worst Person in the World”

Election Night 2008 (part 1)

As I sit down to write this post to be published on Election night, I find that no matter how I look at it, the post starts the same way:

I can’t believe who we elected to be our next President!

If Barack Obama wins this election, we will be witnessing history, in a good way.  I didn’t know how to find the right words but somebody else said “He is a transforming figure in our history” and I can’t say it any better than that.  I will feel so proud of us (Americans) for getting beyond race, class, and culture, and for voting with our minds and hearts.  After 8 years of what I call Republican Oppression, i.e. a total lack of regard for our own laws and our constitution, Americans have finally figured out that Bush and his entire administration lied and cheated their way into the office of the President, twice, and into an unjust war in Iraq.  People don’t trust the Republicans any more.  And why should they.  And if it weren’t John McCain running, who is only a quasi Republican, I don’t think this race would be as close at all.  If any run of the mill Republican was running against Barack Obama it would have been over a long time ago.  McCain has just enough, or HAD just enough, indepedence in him to get some to stop and think.   

I had a conversation with a friend the other day and found myself saying things like “this election is not about the economy, the war, taxes, education, the deficit, abortion, or who is associated with whom.  It is about the next President’s personality, temperament, and intelligence.”  As a people, we are wounded.  We feel like we were let down and lied to for 8 years.  I feel sorry for the next President whoever it is.  I don’t think that Senator Obama or Senator McCain has a clue what he will be walking into, or what secrets he will uncover, or what messes Bush has left behind to be cleaned up.  And neither do we as voters.  But I do know who I trust to make calm, rational, thoughtful decisions based on integrity and looking at the problems from every angle.  And that is Barack Obama.  Joe Biden was right; Obama has a spine made of steel and he won’t waiver from the path of steadfast corrective action.  John McCain is a rash, emotional, quick tempered, war monger whose first instinct is to simply react with both guns blazing. 

If John McCain wins, I will be aghast that the politics of fear have once again won out.  McCain has so little left of a campaign that I don’t know what he is “for”, I only know what he is against.  And his latest ads are basically saying “Vote for me or you will most likely die at the hands of terrorists”.  That viewpoint is not what we as Americans are believe in.  We want calm, rational thinking.  That doesn’t mean we won’t go to war if that is the absolute right decision.  But it must be a last resort.  As far as Iraq goes, there is no winning, and there is no defeat.  McCain gets so wound up, and caught up, in both of those ideas.  Everything is so black and white with him (no pun intended).  Its yes or no, right or wrong and the decision for him must be made right now!  In these last day of McCain’s campaign he continually and repeatedly uses “Air Quotes” for just about every word that comes out of his mouth.  It makes no sense.  Air quotes are supposed to be used extremely sparingly to make a point.  If you air-quote everything you say, it has no meaning and he ends up looking like a complete fool, or a complete idiot.

I don’t want to get too confident but I can not believe how many conservatives, everyone from Christopher Hitchens (conservative columnist for Vanity Fair) to Colin Powell (Former Secretary of State under Bush) to Scott McClellan (long time aide and former White House press secretary under George Bush) have now endorsed Barack Obama.  I’m not sure if it is sincere.  I don’t know if some of these hard line republicans know that their party is going to take a huge hit so they are tyring to save their careers.  I’m just not sure.  If it all leads to Barack Obama becoming President through the politics of hope over the politics of fear, then I don’t care how he gets there.

If it weren’t for the politics of fear, the Republicans would not have gotten a free ride from 2001 to 2006.  Their power, no, their arrogance, continued unchecked for years.  The things that the Bush Administration and the Republicans in general have gotten away with is nothing less than criminal.  Our basic constitutional rights have been stripped away at many levels and it seems as if nobody noticed.  Do people realize that our own government can listen in on our phone calls, and read our emails without permission or probable cause.  No court or warrant is needed.  Do you realize what the implications are?  And which of the two candidates is likely to rectify this situation?  I know; do you?

So in preparing a post for Election Night 2008, I decided that any post on that night will be short and to the point.  Any analysis of that night will be done later.  I decided to post all of these thoughts that have been running through my head now, before the election.  I can tell you that on Election Night I hope that very quickly after the polls on the East Coast close, I will be able to make my Election Night post and then get some sleep.  Some good old-fashioned, happy the country will be in good hands, the republicans are finally gone, ding-dong the which is dead, sleep.

What is going on with Lindsey Graham

I don’t know that much about Lindsey Graham.  I’ve mentioned him before because he said stupid things on “Meet the Press”.  And today on some political talk show he said more stupid things.  I know he’s a Senator from South Carolina and that’s about all I know

Now, what I think, or what I assume by seeing him on TV is another thing entirely.  He reminds me of your typical white, middle-aged Republican from the South.  Typical in that he is a closeted, middle-aged gay man who speaks out about family values and his evangelical religion.  I don’t know why he is always standing behind John McCain at McCain rallies with a very weird smile on his face.  I think he’s in love with big John to tell you the truth.  I think he finds John’s “maverick-ish-ness-ity” really, really sexy.  If you look at Lindsey Graham and squint your eyes a bit, he looks like a bull-dyke lesbian with an excessively short haircut.  And if you put a flannel shirt on him/her, I could swear I saw in at home depot with his “roommate” buying flower boxes.

Monica Crowley – Republican Whore

I can’t believe I listened to this as I was AM-Radio-channel-surfing.  I can’t believe I heard it, and I can’t believe she said it.

Monica Crowley, forever now in my mind known as, and added to the big list of, republican whores, actually said that William Ayers was Obama’s BFF.  For those of you who don’t do texting, it was originally used by middle school girls to mean Best Friends Forever and has now moved to the public vernacular.

First, I’ll say it again, Obama was 8 years old when Ayers was an active political activist; some say terrorist.  Second, they were on the same school improvement board and probably sat in the same room for that as board members do.  They may have had an occasional lunch or dinner together with other board members.  Beyond that, there’s not much but this is what the Republicans are saying make Barack Obama himself a terrorist.  That is what they are implying.  They are implying that Barack Obama and William Ayers (who is now a college professor) are skulking around Washington D.C. in the middle of the night, dressed all in black with ski masks and carrying ropes and guns and C4 explosives.  They also want you to conjure up an image of Barack Obama in a robe and turban training with Al Qaeda in the dusty Afghanistan countryside.  That is what they mean when they try to link Obama to Ayers and when the emphasize Obama’s middle name (Hussein).  Doesn’t anybody understand that Hussein is the Arab equivalent of “Smith”.  It is the most common first, middle, and last name in the world.  The King of Jordan, one of the few Arab countries that America has a pretty good relationship with, is named King Hussein.  Does that mean we should cut off all diplomatic ties and not meet with him “without pre-conditions”; because of his name?

So to come back full circle, this is what Monica Crowley, just a few days before the election, is trying to get you to imagine in your mind.  Barack the domestic terrorist.  Barack the secret member of Al Qaeda.  Barack the Muslim (as if being a Muslim is a crime of some sort).  Yes the party that says it can bring America together through reform and “mavericky-ness” is telling you that Barack Obama is really a terrorist in disguise.  I find this to be repugnant, disgusting, cheap, evil, and qualifies as something only a Republican Whore would say.  There’s along list of them.  Monica Crowley is only one.

This next one falls into another category entirely.  Monica Crowley is a hateful, lying, manipulating skank.  Barack Obama left on Thursday of this past week to go see his grandmother.  The grandmother that raised him and gave up so much so that he could have a good life and go to college.  She is gravely ill and while it hasn’t been said, it has been intimated that she could very well be on her death bed.  This is a scenario that I can not imagine a man would have to endure just days from the end of his Presidential Campaign.  Can you imagine a woman in such dire condition, a woman who scrimped and saved and took care of Barack every day of his life, including after her daughter, his mother, died of cancer at such a young age.  She devoted her life to him and in many ways he just wants to make her proud.  And god forbid if he gets elected and she misses this historic event by just a few days.  It would be awful. 

But Monica Crowley doesn’t think so.  She got the Republican talking points memo.  I heard Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity talk about it so why was I surprised when I heard Monica Crowley talk about it.  She said that Barack Obama’s trip to Hawaii was all a lie.  It was all a ruse to hide the fact that he is not really a U.S. Citizen and he is going to Hawaii to further cover up this fact in the documentation of his birth.  She said it, I heard it; and you read it correctly.  If you need proof that she said it go to her web site or Youtube or just Google it.  It’s not just Crowley that is saying it.  All of the neo-con wacko’s got the same memo on what lies to perpetuate to try and get something to stick to stop the Obama revolution.  So they are saying Barack Obama is not really a U.S. Citizen and there is some conspiracy to hide it.  Obviously he would not be eligible to be President if he were not a U.S. born citizen.  Do they really think that everyone will question his citizenship because the Republicans say so and then NOT vote for him because we’re just so unsure of the whole thing.  I don’t know what’s more offensive; Crowley and the rest of the Republican whores saying this stuff or the fact that they think we’re so dumb that we’ll buy it.

Based on current U.S. Law, Crowley and the rest of them should be at minimum sued for libel and at most, thrown in jail for treason.  To say such horrible things about a man who could be leading our country in a week or so should go to jail.  If there were any hint, any iota of truth to even the idea that it could be true I would just let it go as one more political attack.  But this is too much.  I can’t wait until this election is over.  I can’t walk around all day staring off into space thinking about this stuff and shaking my head.  People are beginning to think I’m a crazy person.