Screw the Southern anti-union states!!!!

Last night’s failure to provide Congressional financial help to the American auto industry is another example of how a small group of ideologues are out to ruin other parts of this nation in order for their small-minded sector to profit.
All this fucked-up anti-union (specifically the United Auto Workes) talk is for the birds. Where was all this anti-banker, anti-stockbroker, anti-speculator, and anti-white collar yacking when 10 TIMES the billions wre being shoveled down the black hole that is AIG and all the other banks (who have totally failed to live by their agreement to become LENDERS instead of buyers)?
Naw, it's not GM management that’s the problem; it's not the fickle American public that scooped up the SUVs and other gas eaters like candy and SUDDENLY decided to become green flag waving consumers over night.
It's ALL the fault of union workers, who negotiated in good faith, a higher raise and pay scale with management. It's their fault for not taking a severe pay cut DEMANDED at the point of a gun by Southern Republican senators who are ALL hanging under major fiduciary conflicts of interest - with MAJOR foreign carmaker presence in their states and will gain financially to see Detroit and the Big Three fail.
For the record, Japanese workers might be PAID less hourly wages but they are provided government benefits in excess of those contractually negotiated by American UAW workers - that factor is never entered into ANY equation.
This IS, and always HAS BEEN, about breaking unions by anti-union plantation-owning thinking white males senators who have decided the Civil War can still be won by the South almost 150 years after it tore apart this nation.
Gee whiz, it is doing the same thing ... again.
I, for one, will never set foot in certain states again ... or do business with any entity headquartered there (Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee to be specific). This is the UNITED States of America, not just the Southern right-wing states of America.
And what is always missing in the bankruptcy debate is the failure of any bank/lending institution to serve as a guarantor of debts in Chapter 11 for General Motors. Without it, reorganization cannot happen. Then it's Chapter 7 - liquidation and bye, bye hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Principle is nice to talk over coffee but when there is no one left to serve the coffee, what good is it?
And let's ask why the banks, who have been the favored darlings of billions of bailout dollars, continue to be as willing as corpses to lend money ... to anyone. They continue to be self-serving thieves, preying upon the taxpayer to fund their lavish lifestyles while others suffer.
American is burning and these people – these headline grabbing holier-than-thou Republicans – are just fiddling around.

Fortune smiles on those who wait

From her lips to God's ears:
So here’s my story … on Monday of this week, or maybe Tuesday, an older woman came to the Samaritan Inn and asked to meet with me.
Seems she and her mother recently sold some land they owned in Frisco and felt compelled by God to make a donation to charity - problem was they didn’t know of a charity.
But then - in a message from God, written by Chuck Bloom for the Dallas Morning News, they read about me (see below blog posting).
And Edwina (yes, that was her name) and her mother, thought I seemed like “a very nice girl” so she came by to drop off a check.
For (are you ready?) …
In the amount of ( are you sitting down?) ...

$40,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s right 40,000 big ones because of your column and because I am a very nice girl. I really need to be nice more often.
Thank you, Edwina, thank you, Dallas Morning News, thank you, Chuck Bloom!!!!!

Xxxoooo

Lynne
(Being nice since 1974)

Lynne Sipiora
Executive Director

The Samaritan Inn
1710 North McDonald Street
McKinney, TX 75071
phone 972-542-5302
fax 972-569-9988

If any of you feel euqally "inspired" to make a ... smaller ... donation in my name, your name and the name of your choice, contact Lynne at the Samaritan Inn, Collin County's ONLY homeless shelter (and one hell of a major charity and need in an area where wealth hides the REAL problems of others). Use the numbers or address shown above.
And GOD BLESS YOU for doing it.

Lynne Sipiora: Texan of the Year - Changing the world for people in need

Author's Note: This column appeared in the Op/Ed pages of the December 4, 2008 edition of the Dallas Morning News, in conjunction with the newspaper's annual Texan of the Year designation - due to be disclosed Dec. 30.
This is the original submission, which was edited for space requirements.
She has never thrown the winning touchdown pass to capture the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl or Super Bowl; nor has she won a Grammy or any political office. All she has done is … change the world; at least for some people in need here in Collin County.
As executive director of the Samaritan Inn, the only homeless shelter in Collin County, Lynne Sipiora proudly marshals the task of providing food, shelter, counseling and the possibility of a better future to a group of folks many would rather forget. And on April 9, 2008, she achieved one of her goals for the Inn – the finished construction and opening of the Gateway Apartments project in McKinney, the first transitional housing unit for homeless people in Collin County.
For that important achievement to humanity, she deserves her nomination for Texan of the Year by the Dallas Morning News.
Think for one moment what Gateway represents to its residents. For the first time in ages, 20 families (and more in the future) can re-emerge into society as functional, productive citizens; a crucial stage of establishing a sense of independence and dignity at a juncture when hope has been reignited after so much pain and loss. Plain and simple, without Lynne’s initiative and oversight, it would never have become a reality.
Sipiora singularly hoisted this challenge on her shoulders and willed Gateway’s completion, doing it without one red cent from any governmental agency. She found the perfect silent partner in Dallas philanthropist Marc Sparks, who totally funded the construction and property purchase; got the builders, Darling Brothers, to do the work at cost; and convinced numerous businesses, churches, social groups and individuals to sponsor various aspects of the everyday Gateway regimen.
Lynne’s daily task at the Inn is difficult enough; each resident has a tale of woe and reasons for their predicament. There is the added heartbreaking burden of having to turn away others (including families with children, the hidden innocent victims of homelessness) due to a lack of space and resources. This work can crush most normal spirits and souls, but she always rises to the challenge (even if it takes more than a scoop of Rocky Road as a boost).
Add to this her backbreaking schedule of meetings, speeches, fundraising activities, executive and committee session, as well as the role of mother and wife – at which she also excels.
“Sometimes it’s pretty overwhelming, but I love my job, it is my passion,” she once wrote me. Her passion and performance earned her the 2007 Executive Director of the Year award from the Texas Homeless Network – and that was BEFORE Gateway was finished.
With Gateway completed, Lynne has her sights focused on the next logical step – a homeless children’s day care center on property next to the complex. If office space were relocated, it would open an additional 30 beds to help people – to change their world. Only a foolish person would bet against her on this.
As many of you have read on these pages, no one can put a definitive face on “the homeless” – they represent the same cross-section of society, like most neighborhoods from which they come (race, age, gender, educational background, cause). In far too many cases, they have become mirror images of ourselves – people who worked hard, followed the rules and searched for the American dream.
However, a stumble here, an illness there, or a divorce where one former spouse was left without adequate financial support placed them into circumstances beyond their control … and out of control. The problem in these rough economic times is only becoming more acute, not better, and the services offered by the Samaritan Inn will be needed more than ever in Collin County.
If, for whatever reason fate decides, should it be you or I who faces such trials and tribulations, you need that oft-dreaded four-letter word, “help,” the person who want, you need, to be at your side is Lynne Sipiora – to change your world. She is truly a worthy recipient for any Texan of the Year honor.
To learn more about the Samaritan Inn, or to donate and/or volunteer, go to thesamaritaninn.org.

Big 12 conference cluster fuck

The exclusion of the Texas Longhorns from the Big 12 Conference footballchampionship is one major cluster fuck. Any tiebreaking system that permits OUTSIDE non-conference forces (such as the BCS standings) to determine a champion is WRONG! In truth, Texas and OU should play one more time for the conference title. Missouri deserves squat, especially after losing to Kansas last Saturday ... at home!
Truthfully, realignment of the Big 12 should be a consideration. There are too many powerful teams in one division (UT, OU, TT, OSU - sorry A&M not yet there; got passed this season by a resurging Baylor) while the North has too many weak sisters (ISU, CU, Nebraska). Putting Oklahoma and Oklahoma State into the North would establish a balance of power.
Here is what every UT fan should openly root to happen:1) Missouri to stun OU in the Big 12 title game (by the way, all these extra affairs should be abolished - they are only played for mo' money and circumvent any argument AGAINST a national playoff system).
2) For UCLA to stun crosstown rival Southern Cal and put undeserving Oregon State into the BCS.
That will leave Penn State or Texas (higher ranked in the BCS) to haggle about playing the winner of Florida-Alabama for the national title. The nod will go to Texas over Penn State based on schedule.
Uh, it COULD happen, right? That way Texas, who will not win its "conference" title can become a national champion. It has taken place once before - just ask Nebraska.

My worst person in the world

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, host of "Countdown," is on vacation so I am stepping into the breach for his signature feature, "Worst Persons."
My nominee comes courtesy of Newsweek, as reported by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post:

"Obama triggers such fear in the hearts of America's millennialist Christians. Mat Staver, dean of Liberty University's law school, says he does not believe Obama is the Antichrist, but he can see how others might. Obama's own use of religious rhetoric belies his liberal positions on abortion and traditional marriage, Staver says, positions that 'religious conservatives believe will threaten their freedom.' The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they're not nuts: 'They are expressing a concern and a fear that is widely shared,' Staver says."

You must remember that Liberty University is the spawn of the late Jerry Falwell and teaches accordingly. However, such religious bigotry and stupidity is being passed along to students who might actually believe such bullshit!
And turn them into society as ... LAWYERS?!?!?!?
However, Mr. Staver is definitely wrong about something - if you hold such a twisted belief, YOU ARE NUTS!
Mat Staver, dean of fools, today's WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Auto industry NEEDS the bailout

While the U.S. auto industry has monumental problems, not the least of which is the fickleness of the American consumer who demands change far faster than the system (design, retooling, construction, sales) allows,
There is also a major piece of hypocrisy at work. AIG was originally slotted for a whopping $115 BILLION in its bailout (for reasons far FAR shaadier than the Big 3), but two weeks ago, it was announced (without ANY public reaction or outrage) that the Treasury Dept. was upping the amount to ... $140 BILLION - equal to that $25 billion sought by the automakers.
AND ... AIG executives were STILL spending high six-figures on outings and confabs at luxury spas and resorts. If AIG is SO broke, why such flaunting and thumbing of noses at the taxpayer? Why aren't these goddamn people in jail?
Bashing people who work making cars for a living seems to be fashionable. Personally, I'd rather have bailout/loan/assisstance funds go to working families (union or NOT) than to selfish, uncaring executives who are ripping off the U.S. public. You can flog the auto management all you wish; I'll toss in a lash or two. But ... in the end, NOT helping will only hurt middle class families and is NOT a good thing for this nation's economy.
Which is STILL the bottom line.
By the way, the Southern Republican senators (notably Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions) voicing the loudest opposition have alterior motives - to move the jobs from the Midwest to places like Alabama. It is a subtle version of pork, at the expense of an entire region of the U.S.
I guess if you couldn't win the Civil War one way, just wait until you bankrupt that part of the country for your own economic benefit. Screw those people who want to let Detroit and the Midwest just rot. Next hurriance, fend for your own selves.

The auto industry deserves equal treatment

Since more jobs and families' lives depend on the auto industry, and related/supportive businesses (dealerships, parts, etc.) than, say, AIG, the same offer of help should be extended by the federal government.
It is interesting that the Bush administration's Treasury Dept. INCREASED the bailout of AIG by $25 billion ... without blinking an eyelash ... or much discussion. YET people are up in arms about ... THE SAME AMOUNT going to help the Big 3. What gives?!?
The auto assistance would help MORE MIDDLE CLASS families than anything to AIG, whose brain-dead executives have been openly flaunting their lavish spending at spas, resorts, etc. with their "let them eat cake" attitude. Why these people aren't headed to jail is a mystery rivaling "Who Shot J.R.?"
I would ask anyone who disagrees with the auto assistance (I refrian from using the term "bailout;" it is a LOAN) to reconcile the AIG fiasco, including the $25 billiob unexplained add-on, with an industry that affects some 1.2 MILLION workers and families.
Which ONE is really more important to the nation's economic health?
Full disclosure: As a native Detroiter, I grew up soaked in what the Big 3 meant to everyone in that city, state and region. Remember, it's just NOT Detroit on the line here but scores of towns with auto assembly factories OR who make auto-related items (mufflers, window glass, tires, engine parts, and brake pads ... and not just Callahan Brake Pads) or who sell and repair them ...
AND for all you NASCAR fans, watch to see if there isn't a MAJOR cutback/dropoff in participation in that sport. A left turn isn't the only "turn" drivers and teams will have to face; welcome to the reality of the DOWNTURN.

New agenda for America: buy local, sell local

There is no fear in my household of the telephone ringing in the early hours of any morning, with someone from the Obama Transition team on the line, asking me for advice on turning the economy around. The soon-to-be president has plenty of brilliant minds locked in several rooms, contemplating just such actions.
However, if it were to happen, there are a few pearls of wisdom I’d love to share with them, and you: launch a nationwide campaign to buy American products – first and foremost – and to SELL American products – first and foremost. It’s time for this nation to begin supporting companies making products in the United States, selling those products in their stores and encouraging industries, long ago shipped away to foreign lands because of ridiculously cheap labor forces, to reignite their factories to make them here.
If I were President Obama, I’d call a summit meeting of the nation’s largest retailers, led by Wal-Mart Corpora­tion in Bentonville, Ark., and cheerleader of this disturbing trend. I’d strongly seek a return to “America FIRST” manufacturing and retailing as a major spoke in the economic recovery wheel.
I would insist on a full-blown media blitz, led by those retailers and manufacturers, to saturate the country with the “Shop Local, Buy Local, Make Local” message. President Obama can only do so much from his bully pulpit; it needs to come from the people involved in the retailing-manufacturing process.
Why Wal-Mart, the symbol of middle America? Precisely because it IS that very icon. Once upon a time, Wal-Mart used to pride itself (and advertise in a boastful manner) about ALL the things it sold “made in the USA.” Now, you can hardly find anything within its walls with that label (Wal-Mart was a frontrunner of the job loss stampede).
The American consumer must also bear plenty of responsibility for its insatiable “cheap is better” thirst. With price becoming the overriding consideration, little concern was given to the residual effects of “made in (Fill in the Blank);” the biggest being a near evaporation of the American manufacturing sector.
The United States, sadly, has become a nation of warehouses and distribution centers, storing cheap items pro­duced elsewhere. The main jobs offered are working the loading docks and driving the forklifts to pile things that should be made on these shores.
It’s been happening for some time now; it didn’t appear overnight. In the 1990s, the growth industry in many parts of the U.S. (notably Texas) was the construction of prisons (private and state-operated). Cities engaged in cut­throat campaigning for such facilities, often to replace and another dismal, dwindling sector – military bases which have been closed by the score for three decades.
And what exactly does it say about our society, our priorities and our future?
Americans must display some fortitude and endure some measure of self-sacrifice in order to restore our eco­no­my. We must steer away from the low end, ask/demand American-made products when buying anything, and loudly in­sist on that requirement at local retail outlets.
The results will be greatly beneficial for everyone, including the consumer in ways not always realized. Ask any small-town chamber of commerce and you’ll discover a single dollar spent with a local business is turned over 5-8 times within that one community – going toward payroll, toward rent, toward groceries, toward meals, toward other local businesses. Circulating dollars is the cornerstone of any stimulus package and doesn’t require the government to go deeper in debt.
If you believe such a campaign would be impossible to achieve, just ask yourself one simple question: what is the current price of gasoline?
Finally, a turnaround in American manufacturing would also revive a most important attribute seemingly lacking lately – pride. We need to remember what it feels like to wear something with the label, “Made in the USA,” or make something with American hands, mindpower and muscle. We DO have the best workforce in the world, but it isn’t being allowed to function at any kind of percentage close to normal.
When ALL Americans unite in a common purpose to buy American-made products, and sell those products (including the phone they use to call me) and many more, the U.S. will actually return to its rightful place as the number one economic power in the world.
And truly mean it!

The "four bells" of history

After watching MSNBC Tuesday night and seeing the heartfelt reaction to Barack Obama’s election victory (as well as Eugene Robinson’s Washington Post column Thursday on the same subject – when he was was editor of that paper and I worked in the sports department), I flashed back to the days and nights at the Michigan Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Michigan, when we would wait and watch for the world to change … for the better.
On that August night in 1974, but I was there at the Students Publications Building on Maynard Street, when the Associated Press wire machines in the back began to go crazy, announcing the resignation of President Nixon.
Aside from missing the unique sound those machines made, the clickety-clack staccato that often kept us going and alert when the nickel Coca-Cola buzz was fading away, along with the stream of cascading wire copy printout streaming down the back stairs to the composition room, I miss the signal of impending major news sent by AP – the bells.
I remembered that one bell signaled a news bulletin coming over the wires, two bells upped its importance and three bells meant you needed to stop and pay real close attention.
However, FOUR bells was the rarest of happenings – only a chosen few events offered the four bell treatment in our lifetime – JFK’s assassination in Dallas, Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon. But on that night, the machines were eerily silent for a few moments when the bells began to ring as if Burton Tower was inside the Daily. Some of us rushed from watching the TV in the other end of the second floor and saw the simple bulletin: “Nixon resigns.”
It was, so we thought, a “game changing” event for the world; I guess only to discover that Peter Townsend was right, “Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.”
BUT … on that hot August evening, it was the biggest news story I had ever seen/heard and indirectly involved in as a newspaperman (albeit at such a tender age). Much has happened since, but when 10 p.m. rolled around here in Texas, and David Gregory and Keith Olbermann simultaneously announced Barack Obama had been elected as the 44th President, the first African-American to achieve the loftiest of goals, my head began to ring with those “four bells.”
To this day, I retain my copy of the Daily (the only complete issued I kept from those halcyon days) with the “Nixon resigns” headline in the biggest type Lucien could find. I am trying to collect as many front pages from various friends across the U.S. to preserve for my children and granddaughter – to show her and them that, yes, you CAN become president of the United States IF that is your ambition. Nothing can stop you now.
When Robinson told his 18-year-old son the same thing, yes, it was now the God’s truth, and, in the comfort of my living room, my composure was far less restrained at the sight of John Lewis’ and Jesse Jackson’s emotional responses.
I was just happy and lucky enough to be alive to see it.

Top 10 historical events in MY lifetime

At my age (56), I was thinking that Tuesday's election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the U.S. was truly history in the making.
But where would it rank in my mind about my lifetime?
So here is my top 10 list of all -time historical events sicne I was born in 1952 (it won't include Vietnam or the San Francisco earthquake or living through a tornado in Texas in 1994):
10) Hurricane Katrina (changed everything about this nation's most special city and exposed the depth of our nation's governmental insincerity toward its own citizenry)
9) Death of John Lennon (you might this strange but it affected an entire generation more than people realize)
8) Assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 (the entire year was bad; these things were the worst - no one knows what our nation would have been had RFK lived and been elected president which he WOULD have)
7) Challenger explosion (I watched it live and it stopped any serious advancement in our space program, whcih has seriously hampered our development and education in math and science)
6) Obama's election (this could, hopefully, change the politics and face of America ...for the better)
5) Assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 (the total end of innocence in the United States - nothing else was EVER the same)
4) 1967 Detroit race riots (so profound to me, it changed everything, for the worse, about the city in which I was born and raised)
3) Nixon resignation (the biggest scandal in my lifetime and the worst, most divisive political chapter of pour nation)
2) Sept. 11, 2001 (the second loss of innocence, and subsequent loss of liberty, humanity and spirit in the U.S.; we stopped being the beacon of hope and became the isolated revengers)
1) American sets foot on the moon (for the first time, mankind left and then touch another surface; NO achievement has ever equaled this in MY lifetime).

Just when you least expect it ...

I am driving back from my rehab workout at the Medical Center of Plano, along Park Blvd., when a silver Jaguar begins honking at my 1999 Ford Explorer (it was not because both are Ford products).
A woman, blonde, in her 40s and "well tended" as they tend to say in this here the suburbs of 'burbs, pulled along my right side and, after seeing my "TEXANS FOR OBAMA" bumper sticker, flashed a big smile and gave me a huge "thumbs up" - obviously in support of that sentiment.
Normally, I get looks of total scorn and even NASCAR paint scraping from some of the redder of necks in this county. But this was totally unexpected.
Maybe ... just maybe ... things have REALLY changed in America.

"Change has come to America"

To the following people:
Rush Limbaugh
Sean Hannity
Bill O'Reilly
Lars Larson
Mike Gallagher
Mark Levin
Mark Davis
Bill Cunningham
Glenn Beck
Laura Ingraham
Michael Medved
Dennis Prager
Michael Savage
John Gibson
Hugh Hewitt
Charlie Jones
Eric Harley
Jerry Doyle
G. Gordon Liddy
Bill Bennett
Jeff Bolton
Neal Boortz
Rusty Humphries
and MANY, many other right-wing partisan talk radio vomit yakkers...
May you choke today on all the crow you are forced to consume!
The American PEOPLE, not your robotic listening audience, made history and announced a new direction for this nation last night. YOU people need to listen instead of forcing others to listen to you.
And in the dead of night, I thought of Tim Russert looking down from Heaven, cursing his Buffalo Bills for losing last Sunday and cursing himself for NOT being around to see such a moment in time.
God Bless Barack Obama as he moves forward to lead this nation and God Bless America!

All you need to know about candidates ...

It's Halloween Night and you have children, ready to go trick or treating. What do you do?
If you are Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and running for vice president of the U.S., you shclepp your youngest daughter in some costume through a strange (to you) Philadelphia suburb, with TV cameras and Secret Service in tow, begging for candy.
You also have your infant daughter, suffering from Down's Symdrome, in costume too (in violation of any clear Halloween rule that a child must be able to walk to a door to get candy) - all for the obvious PR effect.
If you are Barack Obama, senator from Illinois and candidate for President of the U.S., you GO HOME to Chicago, stash away the cameras, take your daughters through THEIR own neighborhood ... as ANY NORMAL FATHER WOULD! Away from the press; just sharing family time together.
Just exactly WHO is showing the proper family values?
And WHY isn't little 7-year-old Piper Palin IN SCHOOL? In Alaska? What kind of parent allows this child to become a campaign PROP??!?? And why is a special needs child, who needs "special" care, constantly hoisted up like she is in "The Lion King" to GOP crowds?
It disgusts me and to think she wants to govern anyone in this nation. Hopefully the people of Alaska will send her packing to Wasilla in two years ... unless she appoints HERSELF to replace Ted Stevens as U.S. Senator (if this cranky felon actually wins re-election tomorrow).
Perhaps it WOULD be a good idea for Alaska to become its own nation ... less corruption for the rest of us.

Sarah Palin is still a DOLT!

Please ... someone outh there ... please tell me what this idiot woman is talking about:
(From CNN Ticker, Nov. 3, 2008)

(Sarah) Palin again accused Barack Obama of wanting to bankrput the coal industry, citing an interview the Democrat gave to the San Francisco Chronicle in January in which he discussed his “aggressive” cap-and-trade proposal to limit carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.
“Just yesterday, revelation, an audiotape surfaces,” Palin argued, despite the fact that the Obama interview has been posted online for nine months. “People are starting to hear in his own words what Sen. Obama’s intention is for the coal industry. You got to hear this tape. You’re going to hear Obama saying it, talking about bankruptcy, bankruptcy there in the coal industry. He’s explaining all this to the San Francisco Chronicle, and he says …”
Palin was interrupted by an audience member who shouted “Liberal!” She continued: “And there must be something about San Francisco and he because it’s like I heard on Fox News today, it’s like a truth serum where when he’s there, he seems to be more candid, and remember it was there that he talked about, there you go, the bitter clingers, the cling-ons, all of us, I guess, you know holding on to religion and guns and, um, so something about he being there in San Francisco.”

What a fool! What a puppet!
The most frightening prospect is her obvious candidacy in 2012 and the number of robotic followers she will have. Never overestimate the intelligence of a large segment of the U.S> population.

Thoughts on Texas elections 2010

In this home stretch of the never-ending search for the 44th president of the United States, perhaps it is time to project ahead to 2010 in the state of Texas when all sorts of dominoes might fall for office holders.
Leading the pack will be the drive for the (torched) Governor’s Mansion in Austin and there isn’t a political operative who doesn’t think that the Lone Star State’s senior U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will toss her hat/hairband into the ring for governor. She isn’t being coy or anything in denying any rumor to that effect.
IF KBH runs for Gov, I predict the current occupant, “Helmethair” Rick Perry will, in turn, seek her Senate seat. After all, it actually makes sense for him; running against her (perhaps the most popular Republican in Texas) is possible career suicide. If she beats him in the primary, his political days COULD be over. After all, being governor means you don’t take a step backwards in politics; the only way is upward and that means Washington, D.C. on a bigger stage than the House of Representatives.
Besides, the GOP does not want a bloodbath at the top of its ticket. It can plainly see what will happen come Tuesday to the national party – a national implosion leaving the Republican brand less than desirable in almost every part of the U.S. – EXCEPT for Texas.
So what of the others seeking to move UP the food chain?
The biggest loser could be Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst … with nowhere to go. He cannot beat KBH for any office she wants and perhaps he cannot defeat Helmethair in an 1-on-1 battle in the primary. Of course, no one counted on him to defeat Democrat John Sharp to become the state’s senatorial leader.
Look for Land Commish Jerry “Six Guns A-blazin’” Patterson to run for Lt. Governor if Dewhurst vacates (Paterson is a former state senator and a pro-gun wacko) and others scrambling to see how those chips fall prior to the filing date next year – which is a little than ONE year away (unbelievable).
And what about them Dems? Houston Mayor Bill White, in his final term and unquestionable the state’s BEST mayor, can pick and choose where he wants to go – Governor? Senate? Lt. Governor?
But can he inspire and lead others to follow and file? And it needs to be people of substance and quality.
I’d love to see State Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo move into statewide office. But the question pops up again – just where is her best fit?
Sadly for Democrats, the list of quality names is short. Perhaps it will increase based on the results from Nov. 4, where turnout for Democrats should be higher than at anytime in the last 12 years.
Politics these days permits NO time for a breather or respite – it has become 24/7 in terms of campaigning and the public gets saturated and badgered sooner than anyone knows … or appreciates.
Still, such is the new world order to get elected – a constant spinning wheel that must be fed and kept in perpetual motion.

Rah! Rah! Sis-boom-bah! Hit that Jew and fight!

Lovely; just lovely!
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/midwest/view/2008_10_23_Suburban_St__Louis_students_face_punishment_for_%E2%80%98Hit_a_Jew_Day_/srvc=home&position=recent
Anything for school spirit, right? Did those spirit ribbons have sawstiskas on them?
What in the fuck are we teaching our youth these days?!?!?!
And, as always, all this shit starts in the ...
HOME!

Hard times for major sports

If you are one of those people who thinks baseball is washed up and other sports, such as NASCAR and the NBA are taking its place, please read this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203343.html?hpid=topnews

The rough economic times are about to take their toll on the new so-called "American" sports. Sponsorships are going bye-bye by the millions ... of dollars. Fans will soon follow because, as in the case of NASCAR, there is no way to reduce the cost without the quality of the sport suffering. And fans won't want to see slower cars that DON'T wreck.
In reflection, baseball is looking just fine - in all its glorious deliberate play, pace and beauty.

"My mommy is number one, too!"

Out of the mouth (or hands) of babes????
Ain't Piper Palin just the sweetest little white trash girl you've ever met? Wonder who taught her THAT?
That's what you get for eating all that moose ...

Are these my parting gifts for participating?

Now we also see how much of a clothes whore Sarah Palin has become.
$150,000 in outfits since Sept. 1, raising the profits for Neiman-Marcus here in Dallas to say the least.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/10/httpwwwpoliticocomnewsstories1.html
And now almost $9,000 for a professional makeup artist for Princess Sarah. WOW! You mean that MILF look, driving all those horny neo-cons crazy in the zipper, is AUGMENTED? It's NOT her natural foxiness???????? She needs help???????? And more than $13,000 for the entire campaing??????
Isn't this worse than any haircut Clinton or John Edwards might have received?
And will she give the outfits BACK since keeping them come Nov. 5 will be against the law????
The hole hasn't been dug deep enough to hide this woman now! I guess that kind of expenditure represents HER "real America."
It would be laughable if it weren't SO sad.

Oh Sarah, what job are YOU running for?

Dedicated to Frances K.
Here is what should be a fundamental rule for politics: you MUST know exactly the description of the job you seek!
For poor Sarah Palin, alas, she does NOT!
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/22/sot.palin.vp.role.kusa
And this isn't an isolated case. She didn't know during her debate with Joe Biden (uh, he DID!), on CNBC and during the campaign trial. Simply put, she is CLUELESS about the job she thinks she should have!
"They’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes ..."
Sorry, wrong Jeopardy answer! Any student above third grade knows THAT! It's in the freaking ... Constitution - plain as day! But I guess that information never floated UP to Alaska, huh?
This is SOOOOOO beyond the Peter Principle, it makes you want to hurl!

Limbaugh about Powell: Finally the real racist shines through

Any normal thinking person who watched Gen. Colin Powell's comments Sunday on NBC's "Meeet the Press," heard - distinctly - that the man said his "endorsement" of Barack Obama for President was NOT due to race but character - mostly the lack of character of the Republican Party.
Powell, one of THE most distinguished and revered retired military men in this nation, said if race was THE issue, his endorsement would have come MUCH earlier.
So here we have uber-bigot, uber idiot Rush Limbaugh echoing the nasty race-baiting attack on Powell that began Sunday night by the most putrid of the right-wing extremists on the radio.
This is CNN's Political Ticker report from today (Oct. 20):

Conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh Monday strongly defended his recent remark that Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama largely because of race, and lashed out at members of the media and Democrats for appearing to take issue with his comment.
"So what if it's race?" Limbaugh said on his radio show. "Why is it so hard to admit that it's race…What's so problematic about admitting it?"
Limbaugh's original comments came in an email to Politico reporter Jonathan Martin Sunday, when the talk-radio host took issue with Powell's contention that his endorsement of the Illinois senator did not have anything to do with the color of his skin.
"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race," Limbaugh wrote in the e-mail. "OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."
The comments immediately caused a stir on several Democratic blogs and an Obama campaign spokeswoman called them "disgusting." They were also heavily reported on several news programs Sunday night and Monday morning. But Limbaugh made clear Monday he is not backing down from them.
"I thought it should be about race," he said. "I thought you liberals thought this was a historic candidacy because finally we are going to elect a black guy … why hide behind this, why act like it's not about race?"
"This was all about Powell and race, nothing about the nation and its welfare," Limbaugh added. The talk radio host also criticized members of the media for not addressing his claim that Powell likely hasn't endorsed white candidates who, according to Limbaugh, have similar political leanings and experience as Obama.
"Just so you know, I haven't come up with any," he said. "I worked diligently on this on the airplane on the trip home from Green Bay yesterday. I can't find any of these inexperienced white liberals that Powell has endorsed."
In announcing his endorsement of Obama, Powell said his decision was not based solely on race, but added "I can't deny that it will be a historic event for an African-American to become president."
"Should that happen, all Americans should be proud — not just African-Americans, but all Americans — that we have reached this point in our national history where such a thing could happen," Powell said on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday. "It will also not only electrify our country, I think it'll electrify the world."

I wonder who Donovan McNabb is endorsing, Rush...

This good dog goes to Heaven: 1990-2008

When a life comes to an end, be it human or animal, it ought to be done in peace – without pain and suffering – after the longest journey possible. For a dog, “the big sleep” should come at the end of a wonderful dream – running free through a long field, chasing squirrels, birds or cats.
It really shouldn’t be done by appointment; somehow it’s not … natural.
Blarney was a faithful, loving companion to my wife for more than 18 years, and to me for the last eight. However, at 18 ½ years old (incredibly old for a Jack Russell terrier), the time has come to say goodbye. It was no longer fair to keep him heavily medicated against pain and the ravages of age, simply to see him struggle so much to execute his rudimentary functions.
So on a Monday, we packed his bags, went to the vet’s office and sent him quietly to Heaven.
Blarney got his name because he was born on St. Patrick’s Day and was a rascally livewire during his life. While I only knew him in his September years, my wife’s tales of his antics were legendary – of the terrier trait of digging, chasing and “burying” bones and toys in the house. They would be discovered later between couch pillows and in corners of closets.
When she had to make frequent excursions to San Antonio, to visit her late parents during times of illness, Blarney was her sole companion, curled up in a ball on the floorboard of the car. He was not the world’s greatest passenger, as evident afterwards by mounds of shed hair from his coat. Yet there he was and there he listened as she played her music, National Public Radio or news channels.
In later years, the car mean going to the veterinarian, among reason to shed, but the final trips produced no such panic. It was as it he was signaling his surrender.
Dogs are not human being and do not have the same constitutional, inalienable rights as homo sapiens. But they ARE one of God’s nicer creatures and deserve the proper love and respect as such.
Like any animal, upon entrance to one’s home, they should be objects of only love and proper treatment; never subject to one iota of abuse or be trained in any form of abusive behavior. Tragically, some canine breeds have been engineered by cruel humans to exhibit anti-social behaviors ... and act upon those criminal impulses. As is the case with hatred and bigotry among people, it is instilled at the home during development. Puppies, like babies, are always innocent until subject to their environment.
And now there exists an eerie silence in our home, knowing the sound normally associated with our friend is forever extinguished. In the coming days, we will have to collect the remnants of his life (food/water bowls, beds, toys). Tears might spontaneously flow when we gaze at the place she used to sleep or play and no words will be needed as explanation.
In Judaism, there is a mourning period, known as shiva, where the family “sits” for 30 days to properly honor and mourn the deceased. Candles are lit and prayers (the kaddish) recited. Since Blarney was tagged with an Irish name, perhaps a wake during next year’s North Texas Irish Festival would be more appropriate.
Friends can hoist their Guinnesses to Heaven and remember a nice, old dog that brought unconditional love and joy to one home for a long, long time.
Now if I can only find where he buried my slippers …

From the Book of Hitchens

Today's passage comes from the Book of Hitchens (as in Christopher Hitchens, one of the blogosphere's most acerbic writers):
"Last week's so-called town-hall event showed Sen. John McCain to be someone suffering from an increasingly obvious and embarrassing deficit, both cognitive and physical. And the only public events that have so far featured his absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience. McCain occasionally remembers to stress matters like honor and to disown innuendoes and slanders, but this only makes him look both more senile and more cynical, since it cannot (can it?) be other than his wish and design that he has engaged a deputy who does the innuendoes and slanders for him . . .
"The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: 'What does he take me for?' Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her -- her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations -- were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.
"It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them."
You gotta love it!

Quoting from a REAL conservative

From today's Washington Post, E.J. Dionne's column, quoting from I believe to be a major hero of true conservatives:

"When Christopher Buckley, a novelist and former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush, announced last week that he would vote for Obama (his first vote ever for a Democrat), he referred to words once spoken to him by his late father. 'You know,' the conservative hero William F. Buckley Jr. said, 'I've spent my entire lifetime separating the right from the kooks.'"

Am I right?

Separation of church and noise

As the 2008 campaigns limps into the final days, more preachers, ministers and other people of various religious persuasions are opening their mouths on matters FAR from the word of God - their alleged job. Many conservative preachers, part of a movement called, the Alliance Defense Fund (sounds like some old 1960s radical groups that William Ayers might like to have had coffee with), have been overtly partisan in their sermons and homilys about telling/instructing/brow-beating parishoners who specifically to vote for and who NOT to vote for.
Hiding behind the red herring of "freedom of speech," they are challenging the traditional belief that politics has no place in a house of God and the pulpit should not be used for political attacks of one kind or another.
Opponents of such practices want the IRS to look into the tax-exempt status of these churches since it is illegal for corporations or non-profits to engage in political activities. These preachers want it both ways and that ain't right.
If they want to exercise their "freedom of speech" from the pulpit, go right ahead. Speak your mind and say your piece - attack all the Democrats you want and kiss all the Republican as you can find.
But give up that tax-exempt status. Pay your fair share to the government you keep attacking but hide behind its tax shelters, forcing the membership to pay more of the freight because you won't.
In the Bible, Matthew 22:21 states, "They say unto him, Caesar's. The saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."
Politics belong to Caesar, not God; it has been created by mankind. If they want to dabble, pay the piper to hear or sing the tune.

Meet the future high school dropout son-in-law

This is almost TOO good to believe. The governor's daughter, knocked UP at 17 because she and her boyfriend cannot practice simple safe sex educationnal practices, is going to marry this white igloo-trash kid.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081013/ap_on_el_pr/palin_wasilla_heartthrob
And he isn't going to marry the girl NOW, but is going to WAIT until next summer. Whatever happened to chivalry and "doing the right thing NOW?"
Or ... is there an escape clause in his mind where he can bolt if it isn't what it was all cracked up to be in the first place?
Sorry, but when you parade around your Down Syndrome child as a stage prop during rallies, and preach your "holier than Thou" rhetoric on the campaign trail, you have your "family" values examined under a microscope.

Caught with her hands in the abuse of power cookie jar

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah …
I don’t want to say people told you so, but … people told you so!
And now, there’s a public report released by a bi-partisan legislative commission (consisting of 10 of your fellow Republicans and just 4 Democrats) which states, “Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: To get Trooper Michael Wooten fired.”
And this, “the disciplinary investigation was closed and could not be reopened. Yet she allowed the pressure from her husband, to try to get Trooper Wooten fired, to continue unabated over a several month-period of time.”
And THIS, “She had the authority and power to require Mr. Palin to cease contacting subordinates, but she failed to act.”
The “he” in this reference is the First Dude, the Todd-ster, who apparently was his wife’s Luca Brazzi for this situation. I doubt anyone in any level of state government was SO involved without any check of his “unofficial” activities in the nation.
As for the Palins’ claim of fear of reprisal by Wooten (who is not going to be named saint by anyone in this lifetime, the report states, “ Such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins’ real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons.”
For all of those who want to read the actual 263-page report yourselves, here’s the link:
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/investigative/documents/palin-101008.pdf?hpid=topnews

The report does state Palin had the power and right to simply discharge Walt Monegan as Public Safety Commissioner for whatever reason, but … NOOOOOOO … by golly, she had to drag her family into it … and use HER OFFICE illegally and inappropriately to seek revenge upon her former brother-in-law.
Is that “being a maverick?” Is that political “reform?” Is that … (wait for it) being like “a Chicago politician????”
We, in Yiddish, have a word for being such a person:
SCHMUCK!
And this country has elected enough of them over the last eight years.

When ... WHEN will politicians EVER learn RULE NO. 1?

That the COVERUP is worse than the alleged crime?
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101008dnpoltroopergate.71a177.html
If this report exonerates Gov. Sarah Palin, WHY in the holy hell would is be kept SECRET?
For now?
I ask, until when?
Nov. 5?????????
Bill Ayres, Tony Rezko, Jeremiah Wright - these people are NOT runing for the second-highest elective office in the United States.
SHE IS! And she has other characters - from her past and present (namely Joe Vogler, her OWN pastor problem and ... HER HUSBAND) to answer for.
And let's not get started on John McCain and HIS unsavory connections duirng his LOOOOOONG political career.
Because ... anyone look at their investments lately? Anyone try to make a major purchase lately on credit? THAT (my friends) is "Where the Action is" (anyone remember THAT 1960's Dick Clark Show?).

The newly printed American dollar

On the button ...

Exposing the REAL John McCain

If any of you out there, who haven't decided on which candidate to support on Nov. 4 (if you are undecided STILL you'd be best NOT to vote out of sheer ignorance), or are thinking about voting for John McCain, you NEED to read this article IMMEDIATELY!

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

John Dickinson, the son of legendary NBC correspondent Nancy Dickinson and former writer for TIME and Slate.com, peels the onion that IS McCain and reveals some truths not being exposed by ANY media.
What he discovers is frightening - the horrid academic record, skating along on the family ties, the womanizing, the callous regard for classmates and shipmates, the constant cover-ups and the naked ambition that had led to the moment in time.
Any clear thinking person who would argue about moral fiber and standards, and places McCain in that column, should have a major epiphany after digesting all this fact-based information.
Read it! I dare ya.

Lower the voting age to 17

Inspiration for these columns often has many fathers – something you read, something you see, something you hear. I was watching an episode of David E. Kelley’s television dramedy, “Boston Legal,” and one of the central legal issues concerned a guest character on trial for violation of election laws – she had voted despite not being of legal age (the young lady was 17 and talked like a Harvard law graduate).
The central question asked, “Why can’t 17-year-olds be allowed to vote?” made me think (extensively between Viagra commercials and trailers for the upcoming Leonardo DiCaprio movie).
Why CAN’T 17-year-olds be allowed to vote? Other than it’s not legal at this time …
Lord help me, but I could NOT think of one substantial, cognitive reason against such a proposition. In an age where voter participation in this country has steadily decline like most folks’ 401k plans, an infusion of energy into the process would probably be a good thing.
In the show, the prosecution used the tried-and-true (but tired) argument, “They’re just kids!” However, in SO many ways, 17-year-olds are as adult as any of us – they get start families, decide on their own educational future, earn livings and make their own decisions. Choosing who will lead them ought to be among those.
As more than one-third of the United States individually consider this procedural change, let’s look at what a 17-year-old man or woman CAN do:
- they can hold permanent employment and earn a steady paycheck (this age bracket earns and spends in excess of $130 billion annually)
- they can sign binding contracts for purchases, etc. (buy a car, rent an apartment, get credit cards)
- they can get married without parental consent (at least in in most states … and we know they can easily begin families)
- they can file tax returns and either pay income tax or get tax refunds (the taxation without representation argument was made in the show)
- they can be designated as heads of households
- they can get arrested and be tried as adults
In the past, 17-year-olds joined the armed forces and fought for this country. That used to be the firewall between granting the privilege to vote and keeping 18-year-olds out of the loop (“If you’re old enough to die for this country, you should be able to vote”). Not that barrier exists for the age of alcohol consumption.
At 17, people are far better informed than in any of time in our nation’s history. The access to positions, biographies and all other high definition political matters is limitless. Meanwhile, too many of their parents vote from complete ignorance which is almost a crime in itself; such a practice defeats the purpose of representative democracy when you have no clue about any of the candidates OTHER than party affiliation.
Lowering the voting age is not lowering the standard of those making our political choices. Adults do that fine and dandy all by themselves, and, in many cases, and have not done the best job possible in choosing the country’s leaders (federal, state or local). Judging by the enthusiasm generated by this year’s presidential campaign, some of us old foagies could remember a thing or two about why the process is vitally important. Adding a different set of eyes cannot be a bad thing for our democracy.
Thank Goodness I wasn’t watching “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” instead.

A rush from judgment: Why people don’t run for public office

Author's Note: The following is the unabridged text of the column that appeared in the Sept. 28 edition of the Dallas Morning News' Community Opinion page:
We live in a nation that strives, at times, to have a true “citizen’s democracy,” in which ordinary people are placed in charge of the various levels of government instead of the seemingly privileged few. It’s a noble concept, but lacks in one overriding ingredient – the willingness of those average citizens to step forward and serve.
For the most part, they simply do not want that light upon them. When voters examine the ballot on Nov. 4, many of the races will be unchallenged – the very antithesis of a democracy when one essentially has no choice about who governs.
Some will say money (or the lack of it) is the main reason for non-involvement and others will point to one-party strangleholds at many levels … in areas such as this. These are all valid arguments but miss the real reason most people fail to sing on that dotted line for political office – at ANY level; it’s far more personal than that.
Simply put, most men and women do not want to be judged by strangers; afraid such verdicts will always be negative. Placing your name on a ballot, asking others to go thumbs “up or down” on your worthiness for any office, cuts to one’s core as deep as any surgeon’s scalpel. Rather than face such judgment, they avoid it – at all costs.
It requires a special brand of moxie to seek election; call it ego or by another name, without it, you don’t success or even try. Successful “politicians” allow that attitude to be fed by the public’s reaction to them; the ones who win the most just don’t take it personally.
It’s the hardest lesson of all to learn, and the most personal choice ever made; to put oneself forward in deciding about people’s future (family, homes, community, the nation itself). When Barack Obama told the Denver convention audience, “This election isn’t about me,” it was his way of detaching the judgment from the effort. When people finally get to mark that ballot, it obviously will be about him and his opponent – anyway you slice it.
If you run for office, the following could happen to you. While living in a small, rural South Texas town, I ran for the local school board of a consolidated (dual community) district. In one area, I held my own against my opponent. But in her hometown, I got swamped 84-1 … and lost the election.
I didn’t mind losing, but it became a burr in my saddle to discover that single individual brave enough to support me against that electoral tidal wave. I never knew the identity of such a lone wolf; would have bought him or her a thick steak dinner simply to say “thanks.”
The following year, after editorializing against a city council incumbent for not paying back taxes yet voting to make others do the same, I ran to unseat him … and won. For the next two years, I was in the middle of the lion’s den, often without Daniel’s technicolor coat to protect me. However, confident of doing a decent job, I sought a second term.
Election Day coincided with a press convention in Laredo, so I left town two days prior to the vote, knowing three men (including my name) were vying for two seats. When I returned home 24 hours after actual balloting, I learned of my fourth-place finish in a three-man race. It seems while I was gone, someone (actually named Bubba) decided to conduct an impromptu, ad hoc write-in campaign (mostly by phone), and darn if he didn’t finish third. I was dead last.
Should I have cried or gotten angry at such an outcome? No, I actually laughed; it was pretty comical – fourth in a field of three. I was freed from harassing phone calls at night about someone’s dog or loose trash or broken water lines or missing girlfriend. I no longer had to fire friends who broke city policy or decide how much of other people’s money to spend annually. Serving is often just as hard as campaigning.
For most citizens, it’s a daunting responsibility and, at times, burdensome pressure. Those people tend to spend their entire existence avoiding such judgments, and, hence, should never be asked to run for any office. They wouldn’t be able to handle it.
But when you cull the herd, there’s not many left to do the important job of governing. It’s why incumbents last forever and fresh faces are hard to find.

Candidates in glass igloos shouldn’t throw stone snowballs

Oh, Sarah, do you know whacha done, by golly? You’ve potentially opened a Joe six-pack of whoops-ass upon you, your family and your party by trying to link Barack Obama with some guy who started a political movement (albeit professing violence and radical views) when little Barack was a mere youth of 8.
You claim that Barack “pals around with terrorists” yet you sleep with a guy who was a dues-paying member of a secessionist party in your home state of Alaska – a group you addressed as a governor and mayor and attended functions when your hubby Todd was just a face in the crowd.
Does THAT make the Toddster, the First Dude, a secessionist? A radical? Secession, as people in the South, and NOT meaning Minnesota to you, learned the hard way, is NOT an enduring term.
Please check out the following link to an article in The Atlantic:
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/wm_ayers_v_todd_palin_tales_fr.php
And this website about the Alaska Independence Party;
http://www.akip.org

From the group’s own website:
The Alaskan Independence Party’s goal is the vote we were entitled to in 1958, one choice from among the following four alternatives:
1) Remain a Territory.
2) Become a separate and Independent Nation.
3) Accept Commonwealth status.
4) Become a State.
The call for this vote is in furtherance of the dream of the Alaskan Independence Party’s founding father, Joe Vogler, which was for Alaskans to achieve independence under a minimal government, fully responsive to the people, promoting a peaceful and lawful means of resolving differences.

And then a little info about the AIP founder, the late Joe Vogler, a strange man with weird ideas to MOST Americans.
From Wikipedia:
“The Alaskan Independence Party quotes Vogler as stating “I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions.”
“In a 1991 interview currently housed at the Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Vogler is recorded as saying, ‘The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. And I won’t be buried under their damn flag. I’ll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation, they can bring my bones home.’”
Geez whiz, who is the real radical??????? If Todd isn't associated with Vogler, why is Obama a "pal" of someone he openly disavows????????
Eh? Wink at that.

When parody becomes reality

Not even Tiny Fey from “Saturday Night Live” could make this up:
From the actual transcripts of the CBS Evening News interview with Sarah Palin:

COURIC: “Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?”
PALIN: “That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the – it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.”

On her foreign-policy experience, Palin’s response with this:
“It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where – where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to – to our state.”

And THURSDAY NIGHT LIVE should be a hoot…

Did Palin break her state's own law?

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah ... what did you do?
You know, once you get elected, you can NEVER be just a ordinary citizen.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/27/AR2008092702834.html?hpid=topnews
Once again, small time politician WAY out of her league.

"Everyone has a price"

Ah, so, it turns out Sarah Palin ain't NO different than any other Washington politician ... she loves her some gifts and donations - even from indicted scumbags in her own state.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_el_pr/palin_tainted_donors
She got caught, like the rest of them, AFTER THE FACT.
And with her idiotic ramblings to simple policy questions heard over the past two days on CBS News with softball tossing Katie Couric, anyone who STILL thinks this MILF is qualified to be vice president needs a major IQ test.

What is the hell is she saying???

Somebody PLEASE explain what this woman is actually SAYING:
From the Associated Press story, Sept. 23, 2008, about Sarah Palin's interview to be aired on Fox News Channel tomorrow (Sept. 24) on that bastion of total objectivity, "Hannity and Colmes:"
Regarding John McCain's assertion earlier this month that the fundamentals of the nation's economy were strong: "It was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Sen. McCain chose to use because the fundamentals, as he was having to explain afterwards, he means our work force, he means the ingenuity of the American people. And of course, that is strong and that is the foundation of our economy."
Come again?
On the "Saturday Night Live" skit that skewered Palin, as done by lookalike Tina Fey:
"I thought it was hilarious. I thought she was spot on," Palin said. "Didn't hear a word she said, but the visual, spot on." She said people in Alaska have remarked on the similarities for years, and that she once dressed up as Fey for Halloween.
Uh, you watched but didn't listen .... isn't that an accurate description of her Alaska gubernatorial administration????
About Palin's disappointment with the government needing to bail out another financial institution (AIG):
"Disappointed that taxpayers are called upon to bail out another one," Palin told reporters during a morning visit to a downtown deli. "Certainly AIG though, with the construction bonds that they're holding and with the insurance that they are holding very, very impactful for Americans, so you know the shot that has been called by the Feds — it's understandable but very, very disappointing that taxpayers are called upon for another one," she said.
Palin shook hands with police officers and business people. She and her husband, Todd, sat down for a cup of coffee and chatted briefly with patrons.
??????????
Since when did this nation begin to discount intelligence in its leaders?????? More on that later.

After all, what's in a name?

Perhaps it would be wise for the EPA (Extra Political Agency, not the Environmental Proection Agency because it ain't protecting NO ONE right now under the Bushies), next time, to have someone ELSE prepare the statement in dismissing legitimate concerns about too much rocket fuel in some folks' water than the man currently serving as the assistant administrator for water.
Benjamin GRUMBLES.
It just doesn't ... sound right.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/09/22/rocket.fuel.epa.ap/index.html

From the Book of (Sarah Palin) Revleations

Today's Sarah Palin flip-flop revelations concerning Troopergate:
From Howard Kurtz' Media Notes, Washingtonpost.com, Sept. 18, 2008

"Sarah Palin's latest explanation for why she fired Walt Monegan is that he had gone over her head in seeking federal money for an initiative to combat sexual assault crimes, before she had approved the program," says TPM's Zachary Roth.
"But it now appears that the program in question is one that most elected officials would be wary of admitting they hadn't strongly backed. According to Peggy Brown, who heads the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Monegan wanted to use the federal money to hire retired troopers and law enforcement officials, and assign them to investigate the most egregious cases of sexual assault -- including those against children.
"In other words, if Palin's new story is true, she fired Monegan for being too aggressive in going after child molesters."
Prompting the New Republic's Christopher Orr to observe:
"If the Obama Campaign Were the McCain Campaign . . . how long do you think it would be before they cut an ad claiming that, as Alaska governor, Sarah Palin wanted to go easy on child molesters?"

Alaska, by the way, has one of the HGHEST rates of sexual assault and rape in the United States (all 50 of 'em)! And she fired the state police commissioner for seeking funds to help STOP that?!?!?!
The women is a kook! Please, someone defend THAT!!!!

The "drill, baby, drill" canard

All this bulshit about having to immediately drill our way out of the high price of gasoline is just that - bullshit!
The facts and the free market, the conservatives PRETEND to love but undercut at EVERY turn (when it doesn't benefit big business), state otherwise.
The price of a barrel of oil has dropped BELOW $100 - it was over $150 a few months ago. Why is that????
Uh, the public decided to conserve and use less??? Right.
Less demand forced down prices from over $4 to $3.30 (still NOT matching the drop in oil prices, running counter to gas increases when the oil price rose)??? Right.
And no one had to drill a single hole for a thing to make it happen...
Hey, all you drill-happy people, EXPLAIN THAT!
Conservation, changes in driving habits and better energy maintenance DOES make a difference. You can laugh NOW at keeping tires inflated, but if everyone did it, we'd save money energy than exists in the earth right now.
And the last few months proved it.

Elitist pot calling the candidate black

Now THIS is funny!
From CNN's Political Ticker, Sept. 17, 2008:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.
The announcement will take place at a news conference on Capitol Hill, just blocks away from the DNC headquarters. Forester will “campaign and help him through the election,” the spokesman said of her plans to help the Republican presidential nominee.
Forester was a major donor for Clinton earning her the title as a Hillraiser for helping to raise at least $100,000 for the New York Democratic senator’s failed presidential bid.
In an interview with CNN this summer, Forester did not hide her distaste for eventual Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”
Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.
Let me get this straight - you live in LONDON and NEW YORK; you're married to an INTERNATIONAL BANKER; the guys has a SIR by his name; and you are a CEO of some investment firm, and YOU think Barack Obama is an elitist?!?!?!?
Oh, I forgot ... Sazrah Palin is qualified to be vice president .... right...

More FEMA fuckups

From the Dallas Morning News, Sept. 17, 2008 edition:
The mayor of the nation's fourth-largest city complained the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn't bringing in the supplies fast enough. Mayor Bill White also asked that a federal supervisor at a distribution center be fired for telling the drivers of two trucks - one filled with ice and other with food - to turn around. The supervisor thought the site was stocked, but it wasn't.
"That is not going to happen again," White said, adding that other distribution centers were also not getting supplies quickly enough and most were running out of ice.
FEMA spokesman Marty Bahamonde said he was not aware of the situation White described, but said Judge Ed Emmett - the top elected official in Harris County - was now personally coordinating the efforts to hand out relief supplies.
"As the requests come in, we're really starting to refine the system," Bahamonde said. "We've set up a distribution system to deliver millions of meals and water in literally a 24-hour period. There were glitches along the way. But by the end of the day, we had refined some of those glitches and we'll see that progress more."
Gee whiz, boys and girls; it's NOT like FEMA didn't have past experience to learn a goddamn thing about helping people.
One bureaucrats "glitch" is another, make that, thousands of people, suffering.
Assholes! The last crumb of the Bush-Cheney legacy.

Meet the marionette candidate - Sarah Palin

Rugged? Independent? Someone who can stand on HER OWN two feet?
I think not, at least not according to the John McCain campaign.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080917/ap_on_go_pr_wh/palin_mccain_operatives
Since when does a political campaign become the de facto spokesperson, and hence, information filter, for an entire state? I'm sorry but didn't Alaska join the UNITED States of America and not just the fucking Republican Party????
If you REALLY think this woman is ready to lead anything, let alone become Vice-President of the United States of America, you obviously are NOT part of the McCain campaign or the GOP.
They obviously do NOT!
So what does THAT say, folks?

Today's Palin lie: Don't "hold me accountable"

First you say you will and then you won't;
Then you say you do and then you don't...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080916/ap_on_el_pr/palin_troopergate
Oh, Sarah, you really don't want to answer ANYONE'S questions about anything despite past LIES when you should you wanted "transperency" in your government.
Now your lackey Republicans, trying to protect the poor, innocent, helpless female governor (that you claim NOT to be), are attempting to stop the investigation YOU yourself welcomed ... with open arms.
To quote Groucho Marx: "How late do you stay open?"
Another day, another lie, another try.
Don't worry; nothing is important except for the future leadership of this nation, in jeopardy so long as you hang around as someone sort of sainted, annointed by God candidate.
Except for the fake you ARE!

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

Uh ... this says it as well as I ever could:

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/viewCommentary/3618/1
Sept. 13, 2008
By Tim Wise
Tim Wise's ZSpace Page

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who areconstantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at 17, like Bristol Palin, and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is apersonal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office - since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s - while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband, who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do - like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college - you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflictin the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racismand its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a "light" burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull. For review copies or interview requests, please reply to publicity@softskull.com

Amen, brother!

Another FEMA fuckup

From the Associated Press, Sept. 14, 2008, 6:22 p.m.

"HOUSTON – Hundreds of first responders at two staging areas in Texas for Hurricane Ike have run out of food and water.
Congressman John Culberson (R-Houston) said Sunday that 300 National Guardsmen, state troopers and other emergency workers are going hungry at a high-school football stadium — and at another staging area on Houston’s west side.
Culberson blamed FEMA for the gaffe and says he tried to contact Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who is touring flood-stricken areas of Texas.
Culberson says several buses full of gas are sitting idle at the stadium while crews await instructions. He called on area residents to take food and water to the crews at the stadium — despite official warnings for people to stay off Houston roads."

Hey, no Michael Brown to blame THIS time. Only that arrogant son of a bitch Chertoff who should never hold another job about roach killer in this lifetime.
Oh yeah, neither the Red Cross nor Salvation Army has shown itself in Galveston to help those people.
The next president (hopefully Obama) should dismantle FEMA and get it the fuck out of Homeland Security and start from scratch as what it should be - a RELIEF agency to help - not part of the fight against terrorism. Mother Nature is NOT an Arab terrorist ... or a climatofacist!
Goddamn Bush Administration would fuck up a two-car funeral procession!

Today's Palin update: Cronyism Mom

Just what we need: More cronyism in Washington, D.C.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

And above is the MILF from 1998 wite the council of one of the major meth depositories in all of Alaska - Wasilla.

Oh don't take MY word for it - look it up.

Another day; another Sarah Palin lie

It's Saturday ... so there MUST be another lie as told by the campaign and the candidate herself.
Oops, here it is!

From The Trail, on WashingtonPost.com - Sept. 13, 2008

Report: Palin Did Not Visit Iraq
By Anne E. Kornblut
WASILLA, Alaska -- Aides to Gov. Sarah Palin are scrambling to explain details of her only trip outside North America -- which, according to a new report, did not include Iraq, as the McCain-Palin campaign had initially claimed.
Palin made an official visit to see Alaskan troops in Kuwait in July of 2007. There, she made a stop at a border crossing with Iraq, but did not actually visit the country, according to a new report in the Boston Globe.
Earlier, McCain aides had said that Palin visited Iraq, and expressed indignation at questions about her slim foreign travel.
The campaign also said she had been to Ireland; that turned out to have been a refueling stop.
In her ABC interview, Palin said she had also been to Canada and to Mexico, where her advisers said she went on vacation.
Obama aides described the new revisions to Palin's account as part of a growing pattern of deception. "The McCain campaign said Governor Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, but now we know she supported it. They said she didn't seek earmarks, but now we know she hired a lobbyist to get millions in pork for her town and her state. They said she visited Iraq, but today we learned that she only stopped at the border. Americans are starting to wonder, is there anything the McCain campaign isn't lying about?" Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor asked in a statement e-mailed to reporters.
A short time later, the Obama campaign circulated a new Bloomberg story that questions whether the McCain campaign has been sending out false crowd estimates.
On two occasions since Palin joined the ticket, McCain aides have cited law enforcement sources in claiming enormous crowds -- but law enforcement officials interviewed by Bloomberg denied having given such estimates.
Posted at 1:11 PM ET on Sep 13, 2008 Category: Sarah Palin

One day, Americans will wake up and see what the Republicans are trying to do and have done - smear and lie! Constantly!
You know, if it's a fucking FACT, it ain't an attack. It's the goddman truth!

Should Galveston be saved if you say 'no' to New Orleans?

There have been many commentators, and quite a few newspeople, who have advocated that not one red cent be spent to rebuild and fortify New Orleans (for a variety of reason already well known and illuminated).
Question for ALL of them: If Galveston is devestated to the point of total disaster, a city of 250,000 (same as Plano and larger than Lubbock, Corpus Christi, Amarillo, etc.), should money be spent to rebuild IT? What about it??????
Galveston (oh Galveston, I can hear your sea winds calling ... - sorry, a Glen Campbell/Jimmy Webb moment overtook me) will always be in danger because of its location in the Gulf of Mexico. It is another 1900 disaster just waiting to happen.
But ... isn't it a special as any other American city? Since when do we, as a nation, abandon other Americans merely due to address? Well, we DON'T and WE SHOULD NEVER START!
Point to ponder, eh?

Palin on earmarks: "We did well!"

Oops, there she goes again!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/11/kaye.palin.honest.cnn

Seems as though the state of Alaska KEPT the Bridge to Nowhere money and put it into its general budget. The bridge was dead but the money was still spent as an earmark.
Exactly how does THAT work?
Is it a lie or has she misspoken?
OR ... is it just wrong to begin with? And how does McCain accept the same person, who as mayor, he railed against in the U.S. Senate for ... earmarks?
The more thinking people know, the more Sarah Palin simply becomes totally unacceptable to be VP. But the sheep in this land won't care what is said.
Which is why they get sheared...

Future baseball Hall of Famers

Now to my blog for today (NOT Sarah "Pigface" Palin, yes I said it):
Among the current MLB rosters, who will, and should make the Hall of Fame?
My choices are as follows:
SHOO-INS -Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, David Ortiz, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Manny Ramirez, Chipper Jones, Ichiro Suzuki, Trevor Hoffman, Randy Johnson.
MANAGERS - Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre, Lou Piniella.
FUTURE BETS - Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Morneau, Felix Rodriguez, Brandon Webb, Matt Holliday, David Wright, Lance Berkman.
TOUGH CALLS - Curt Schilling, Jim Thome, Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, Vladimer Guerrero, Jeff Kent, Todd Helton, Mike Mussina.
Technically, Barry Bonds is not retired but he's not on any roster this season.
Thoughts?

Why won't Sarah Palin answer any questions??

From the Associated Press (certainly NO liberal outlet) after the ABC interview later this week:

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has said that Palin will "agree to an interview when we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it."
"She's not scared to answer questions," Davis said on "Fox News Sunday."

Doesn't this BOTHER anyone out there???? If she's not scared, why is the McCain campaign scared????? Exactly WHEN will they think it is TIME?
Since when can't a mother of five with SO MUCH EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE answer some questions?
Sounds WAY too Stepford wife to me...

The danger to the nation that IS Sarah Palin

I received an e-mail that linked to a site containing a long post from a Wasilla, Alaska resident about Sarah Palin. Some of it is taken with a grain of salt but much of it is quite disturbing (I put it into Word format for easier reading).
The writer seems to be legit and the additional Washington Post article backs up at least many of the claims or incidents as factual (numerous personnel firings for less than good cause, possible pro-book banning and pro-censorship, lack of qualifications for the Oil Commission job, a certain mean spirit that reminds me of the Reese Witherspoon character in "Election").

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/06/AR2008090603024.html?hpid=topnews

I've heard other things about some statements made along the lines of her religious convictions that, as a Jew, I find unsettling, but let's leave that out of the equation.

Here is the post from Anne Kilkenny of Wasilla, Alaska.

About Sarah Palin: A Letter From Anne Kilkenny

www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/about-sarah-palin-a-letter-from-anne-kilkenny/741

on Sept. 3, 2008

What follows is an open letter written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska named Anne Kilkenny:

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administrationthan about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe.”

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her lifestyle ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She’s smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral
administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by
party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over
precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative.” During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? Or a new library? No. $1 million for a park. $15 million-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 years later – to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5 million for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 years without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla, she tried to fire our highly-respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys.” Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal – loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor (Frank) Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/year, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job.

In a gutsy move, which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects – which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance – but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork.”

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla, there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly-respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS. FACT:
•“Hockey mom:” true for a few years.
•“PTA mom:” true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since.
•“NRA supporter:” absolutely true.
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
•“Pro-life:” mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation.
•“Experienced:” Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all.
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no.
•“a Greenie:” no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents.
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen when good people stay silent.” Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at
censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending &
taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information
supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall – they are swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000,” up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced, a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the
mid-90s.

2008 http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/tag/2008/, Sarah
Palin , Vice
President http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/tag/vice-president/

If HALF of what was written is actually the case, Mrs. Palin's possibility to be one step away from President of the USA is more than disturbing...it's down right dangerous IMHO.
Of course, the McCain people are NOT making her available for press conference or any kind of normal examination of positions or background that every single politician in this country subjects themselves to.
Unfortunately, too much has been focused on her daughter's impending pregnancy (although the issue of abstinence only education not working, and Palin's daughter, as a prime case of such ineffective education IS worthy of some discussion).
OR ... too many conservative Valentines are being written without all the facts.
I'm no wild-eyed radical - just a nomral American who wishes to see what's best for this nation. Bush has NOT been what's best; Cheney certainly has not been what's best; and from where I sit and what I see, Sarah Palin is definitely NOT what's best. Censorship, intimidation, failure to cooperate and unwillingness to answer questions is NOT qualifications I seek, or we need, as VP or president.
I invite you to read this with an open mind and do with it what you'd like.