Tuesday, September 30, 2008

News Media, Analysts Blame John McCain For Bush Bailout Failure























John McCain raced to Washington, D.C. in order to focus on the Congressional bailout plan for the staggering economy. Rather than helping, most accounts have McCain sabotaging the delicate negotiations between the failed Bush/Cheney administration, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and House Republicans as he acted more as 'bull-in-the-China-shoppe' rather than as President.

Then, McCain, following his poor showing in the first Presidential debate against Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), flees back to Washington, D.C., supposedly to twist GOP House members' arms to achieve passage of legislation. Just how successful was McCain: Not so much. Republican House members defeated the legislation 67% to 33%.

Sure, Bush/Cheney/McCain should suffer for their mismanagement of the economy and deregulation. Sure, bankers should suffer for crashing their commercial and investment banks. And, for sure, McCain should suffer for damaging delicate negotiations in Congress and for attempting what is clearly not his forte: temperate, patient negotiations with warring factions. If McCain cannot tame Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and House Republicans, how can he calm the waters between Shia and Sunni, between Israel and the Palestinians, between Russia and Georgia?

News media across the country now blame John McCain for today's failure of the Congress to pass the Bush/Cheney/McCain bailout plan:

New Republic:

As for McCain, this is very, very bad news. He failed to convert the House GOP, and the stock market is in a tailspin.

Marc Ambinder, the Atlantic.com:

So if McCain wanted credit for passage, should he share some of the blame for its defeat?

Two thirds of half Republicans voted for its defeat...after a weekend of telephone call diplomacy from McCain.

Nancy Pelosi may have given a partisan speech, but she was able to get most of her Democrats on board...

Joe Klein, Time Magazine:

I do blame McCain for his puerile histrionics and for dragging this issue--which should have been above partisanship--into presidential politics. Let's make no mistake about it: his various gimmicks had absolutely nothing to do with the substance of the issue. He doesn't know all that much about the substance of the issue. The gimmicks were a failed attempt to make it seem as if he had powers, and knowledge, he didn't have. Clearly, he was in a more difficult position than Obama--the populist conservative wing of House Republicans was unwilling to take responsibility for the fruits of the deregulation that they promoted--and that might have required a more aggressive effort to move votes on his part, but the flailing about only confused Republicans (was he for, was he against?) and made matters worse.

Chris Matthews, MSNBC:

McCain said he was going to lead the Republican charge, he was going to make sure that this was a bipartisan success...he called charge, and the Republican retreated. That's what happened here.

Ed Rollins, Republican campaign strategist:

A prominent GOP strategist said on Monday that John McCain handled his role in the bailout process poorly and would ultimately be hurt politically by the failure of the House of Representatives to pass the measure.

"To a certain extent, I think John gets hurt by this," said Ed Rollins, a CNN contributor who worked on former Gov. Mike Huckabee's primary campaign earlier this cycle. "He obviously, at the end of the day, said he was for it. But more important than that, he said he was the one who would bring them to the table and to a certain extent he will be viewed now as not being able to do that."

McCain has shown himself to be intemperate, facile, and impertinent. McCain, as George F. Will so aptly stated is unfit to be President.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Michelle Malkin just can’t control her racism. Blames Latinos for the mortgage crisis

Conservatives like Malkin will go to the ends of the earth to blame brown people for all the problems in the world.

It’s no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure wave - Loudoun County, Va., California’s Inland Empire, Stockton and San Joaquin Valley, and Las Vegas and Phoenix, for starters - also happen to be some of the nation’s largest illegal-alien sanctuaries. Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the accursed species of loan to borrowers with the shadiest credit histories). A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and foreclosure.

Regional reports across the country have decried the subprime meltdown’s impact on illegal-immigrant “victims.” A July report showed that in seven of the ten metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, Hispanics represented at least one third of the population; in two of those areas - Merced and Salinas-Monterey, Calif. - Hispanics comprised half the population. The amnesty-promoting National Council of La Raza and its Development Fund have received millions in federal funds to “counsel” their constituents on obtaining mortgages with little to no money down; the group almost succeeded in attaching a $10-million earmark for itself in one of the housing bills past this spring…read on

The National Review should be ashamed to print this garbage, but we all know their history on racial issues. This is why Latino voters need to turn out in huge numbers this November.


I guess Malkin has never heard of something called “No Doc” loans which mean No Income, No Asset, No employment Verification. It’s got nothing to do with immigration.
And, like most racists, she forgets herself from time to time and forgets to distinguish between illegal immigrants and Mexican Americans. It makes no difference to her, of course, but they are usually a bit more scrupulous in their obfuscation.

The idea that the trillion dollar credit crunch was caused by illegal immigrants is so ludicrous that I can’t stop laughing…..This meme is absurd, but it’s the only way the conservatives can explain things within their world view. And there’s nothing new here. The historical American resistance to government action is historically tied to a reluctance give money to people of color…

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Was Eliot Spitzer "dealt with" ?

Below is an oped from the Washington Post written by former Governor of New york,that explains the whole financial situation this country is currently in.Three weeks after this was printed Spitzer became headline news,for visiting prostitutes. With the Bush crimes family's warrant-less wiretapping,doesn't this kinda make you go HUMMMM?

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime
How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers

By Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, February 14, 2008; A25

Several years ago, state attorneys general and others involved in consumer protection began to notice a marked increase in a range of predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders. Some were misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive "teaser" rates that later ballooned astronomically, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, or even paying illegal kickbacks. These and other practices, we noticed, were having a devastating effect on home buyers. In addition, the widespread nature of these practices, if left unchecked, threatened our financial markets.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.

Predatory lending was widely understood to present a looming national crisis. This threat was so clear that as New York attorney general, I joined with colleagues in the other 49 states in attempting to fill the void left by the federal government. Individually, and together, state attorneys general of both parties brought litigation or entered into settlements with many subprime lenders that were engaged in predatory lending practices. Several state legislatures, including New York's, enacted laws aimed at curbing such practices.

What did the Bush administration do in response? Did it reverse course and decide to take action to halt this burgeoning scourge? As Americans are now painfully aware, with hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure and our markets reeling, the answer is a resounding no.

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

Let me explain: The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers.

In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative. The OCC also promulgated new rules that prevented states from enforcing any of their own consumer protection laws against national banks. The federal government's actions were so egregious and so unprecedented that all 50 state attorneys general, and all 50 state banking superintendents, actively fought the new rules.

But the unanimous opposition of the 50 states did not deter, or even slow, the Bush administration in its goal of protecting the banks. In fact, when my office opened an investigation of possible discrimination in mortgage lending by a number of banks, the OCC filed a federal lawsuit to stop the investigation.

Throughout our battles with the OCC and the banks, the mantra of the banks and their defenders was that efforts to curb predatory lending would deny access to credit to the very consumers the states were trying to protect. But the curbs we sought on predatory and unfair lending would have in no way jeopardized access to the legitimate credit market for appropriately priced loans. Instead, they would have stopped the scourge of predatory lending practices that have resulted in countless thousands of consumers losing their homes and put our economy in a precarious position.

When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers.

Rush Limbaugh is a Lying Bigot


From Media Matters:

On the September 22 broadcast of his syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is "not black," and went on to ask: "Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?" Limbaugh continued: "He's Arab. You know, he's from Africa. He's from Arab parts of Africa. ... [H]e's not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American."

Think about it.

As of 2006, Arbitron ratings indicated that The Rush Limbaugh Show had a minimum weekly audience of 13.5 million listeners, making it the largest radio talk show audience in the United States.

Somewhere around 14 million Americans were assured today that Barack Obama is not African-American, but Arab-American. Here is the ethnic composition of Kenya, where Barack Obama's father came from (according to the CIA):

Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African (Asian, European, and Arab) 1%

Barack Obama Sr. was a member of the Luo tribe. They are not Arab. In fact, the vast majority of them are not even Muslim.

The Luo traditionally believed in an afterlife and a supreme creator, whom they called Nyasaye, and had a strong ancestor cult. Today most Kenya Luo are Christians, and a small number are Muslim.

In fact Barack Obama Sr. would not have been even nominally Muslim if his father (Barack's grandfather) had not converted.

His father, Onyango Obama (c. 1895-1979, buried at Alego),[1] belonged to the Luo tribe and was born Onyango, son of Obama (buried at Kendu Bay, Kenya) and wife Nyaoke, in one of their villages. Before working as a cook for missionaries in Nairobi, Onyango had travelled widely, enlisting with the name Onyango Obama in the British colonial forces during World War I and visiting Europe, India, and Zanzibar, where he converted from Christianity to Islam.

By all accounts, Barack Obama Sr. did not follow in his father's footsteps as an observant Muslim. He was not an Arab. And Rush Limbaugh just lied to his 14 million-strong audience about this for one simple reason. He wants to confuse people and frighten them by playing on their ignorance and fear of Islam and Arabs.

By all rights, there shouldn't be an advertiser in the country willing to associate their product with Rush Limbaugh's show. And for the record, Barack Obama Jr. is a Christian, raised by his white mother and grandparents in Honolulu, Hawaii. He spent a few years in Indonesia before returning to Hawaii to attend high school. He attended Occidental University in Los Angeles before transferring to Columbia University in Manhattan. He received his law degree from Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts before moving to Chicago to practice law. He also worked as a community organizer, helping people that had been laid off when the steel mills closed on the south side of Chicago.

In other words, Obama has lived in four major U.S. cities (five, if you include Honolulu). He has degrees from two Ivy League schools (just like George W. Bush). He's a Christian. And he was raised by white parents and grandparents. But Rush Limbaugh is telling people that he's an Arab and suspect as an American.


Monday, September 22, 2008

"Witch Hunter" who Prayed Palin into Office is Back

An African evangelist, Pastor Muthee has given guest sermons at the Wasilla Assembly of God on at least 10 occasions in his role as the founder of the Word of Faith Church, also known as the Prayer Cave.

Pastor Muthee founded the Prayer Cave in 1989 in Kiambu, Kenya after "God spoke" to him and his late wife Margaret and called him to the country, according to the church’s website.

The pastor speaks of his offensive against a demonic presence in the town in a trailer for the evangelical video "Transformations", made by Sentinel Group, a Christian research and information agency.

"We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place," Pastor Muthee says.

In the infamous video from June where Palin proclaims the perfect providential perspective, she praises Pastor Muthee:

"As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold. And he was praying "Lord make a way, Lord make a way."

"And I’m thinking, this guy’s really bold, he doesn’t even know what I’m going to do, he doesn’t know what my plans are. And he’s praying not "oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor," no, he just prayed for it. He said "Lord make a way and let her do this next step. And that’s exactly what happened."

She then adds: "So, again, very very powerful, coming from this church," before the presiding pastor comments on the "prophetic power" of the event.

Yes, bold. Bold and, well, evil. This charlatan in sheep's clothing founded his success by - literally - demonizing an innocent woman in Kenya, turning her fellow citizens against her and getting her arrested. After ruining her life, encouraging police to trash her house and shoot her pet snake, the innocent woman was forced to move.

The pastor speaks of his offensive against a demonic presence in the town in a trailer for the evangelical video "Transformations", made by Sentinel Group, a Christian research and information agency.

"We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place," Pastor Muthee says.

After the spirit was broken, the crime rate dropped to almost zero and there was "explosive church growth" while almost every bar in the town closed down, the video says.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, six months of fervent prayer and research identified the source of the witchcraft as a local woman called Mama Jane, who ran a "divination" centre called the Emmanuel Clinic.

Her alleged involvement in fortune-telling and the fact that she lived near the site of a number of fatal car accidents led Pastor Muthee to publicly declare her a witch responsible for the town’s ills, and order her to offer her up her soul for salvation or leave Kiambu.

Says the Monitor, "Muthee held a crusade that "brought about 200 people to Christ"." They set up round-the-clock prayer intercession in the basement of a grocery store and eventually, says the pastor "the demonic influence – the ‘principality’ over Kiambu –was broken", and Mama Jane fled the town.

...after Pastor Muthee declared Mama Jane a witch, the townspeople became suspicious and began to turn on her, demanding that she be stoned. Public outrage eventually led the police to raid her home, where they fired gunshots, killing a pet python which they believed to be a demon.

After Mama Jane was questioned by police – and released – she decided it was time to leave town, the account says.

Palin's "normal" pastor (Ed Kalins) isn't much better, claiming that Alaska will be the refuge for American evangelicals in the rapidly-approaching "End of Days".

I'm sure Supreme Leader Palin will do her best to make certain that those End Days come as soon as possible.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Sarah Palin's diversity in action as governor: cronies and classmates - and definitely no blacks.

While there aren't a lot of black people living in Alaska (4.46%), it would be interesting to know what Governor Sarah Palin thinks of her taxpaying black citizens and her approach to inclusion.

Wait no longer. The President of the African American Historical Society of Alaska, Gwendolyn Alexander, who is also one of the Juneteenth Directors in Alaska, released a statement that reveals quite a bit about the veep nominee. (via Electronic Village):

"As for Governor Sarah Palin's involvement in the African American community, the Governor's office hasn't participated in any of our Alaska Juneteenth Events. All previous Alaskan Governor's have traditionally attended and participated in our annual Juneteenth Celebration. Gov. Palin was the first governor not to send out a congratulatory letter or assist us in any way with our Juneteenth activities.

I didn't have the courtesy of receiving a reply when I asked for a representative from the Governor's office to come and speak at our Juneteenth Celebration if Governor Palin was unable to attend. I never even heard of Gov. Palin until she was elected Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, in Mat-Su Valley.

Governor Palin is a very energetic and spontaneous woman. With some of the things being said and going around this state right now, I'm surprised none of the national media have bothered to come here and get the words directly from the mouths of the people who have lived with her all of these years instead of 'surfing the net!'

My other opinion is why would an individual who, to my knowledge, has not hired any African Americans on her gubernatorial staff, insist so passionately on being on a television show owned and operated by an African American, Oprah Winfrey?

While meeting with Black leaders concerning the absence of any African Americans on her staff, Gov. Palin responded that she doesn't have to hire any Blacks and was not intending to hire any. What kind of attitude is this toward African American for who may be the first Vice-President of the United States?

It's an attitude that doesn't surprise me at all. It's right in alignment with a Values Voter Summit attended by many GOP luminaries that promotes the display and sale of Obama Waffles. It's in alignment with a party and campaign that is already working to cage voters through unclear ballots and contest voters from foreclosed homes.

What is Palin's history as governor in terms of appointments? Perhaps there were no qualified POC she could find to promote diversity in her government. Or maybe she has very specific requirements for the posts that no blacks could meet. Oh wait, look at this! (NYT):

As she assembled her cabinet and made other state appointments, those with insider credentials were now on the outs. But a new pattern became clear. She surrounded herself with people she has known since grade school and members of her church.

...Ms. Palin chose Talis Colberg, a borough assemblyman from the Matanuska valley, as her attorney general, provoking a bewildered question from the legal community: "Who?" Mr. Colberg, who did not return calls, moved from a one-room building in the valley to one of the most powerful offices in the state, supervising some 500 people.

"I called him and asked, 'Do you know how to supervise people?' " said a family friend, Kathy Wells. "He said, 'No, but I think I'll get some help.' "

The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government. Ms. Palin appointed Mr. Bitney, her former junior high school band-mate, as her legislative director and chose another classmate, Joe Austerman, to manage the economic development office for $82,908 a year. Mr. Austerman had established an Alaska franchise for Mailboxes Etc.

Trombone Player Who Accuses Palin of "Racist" Incident Has Reputation for Truthfulness


Gregory Charles Royal, a noted Black Jazz musician with a light complexion, has an anecdote seared in his memory from meeting "Sarah Heath" Palin during a trip to Anchorage. He reports that when he was touring with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in Anchorage, Alaska, vice presidential nominee Sarah Heath Palin broke off a conversation with him in a restaurant, saying, "I don't mess with Black guys," after seeing his fellow Orchestra players and realizing that he must be Black.

This is the second case in which Palin has been reported to have made color-based statements in an Alaska restaurant. However, in this case the person reporting the behavior is an internationally well-known Jazz trombonist who operates a community organization in Washington, DC, and whose friends say he has a reputation for honesty and dependability.

Contacted this afternoon by telephone, Ashley Messinger, Editorial Counsel at US News and World Reports, says she has known Charles Gregory Royal for over three years, and first met him when married Messinger's friend, Susan Veres, who is a Co-Director of the US and the Wold Initiative, housed at Demos in New York. Atty. Messinger says Royal has contacted her informally about various issues of media law.

And Atty. Messinger says of "Greg" Royal,

He's never been dishonest with me. I cannot think of an example when he has been untruthful. He's a very funny, charming guy. He says he's going to do something and he does it. What more could you ask?

Shelley Carrol, a Grammy-nominated saxophonist said in a conversation today that he, too, had been with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in Alaska, and had eaten at many fast food restaurants with Royal and 16 other Orchestra mates. He said he was close friends with Royal at the time and knew him to be a very popular and very honest and dependable person.

Now, Royal has come forward to tell of his experience with Sarah Heath Palin.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Virginia GOP Planning Rally To Reach Out To Minorities -- Starring George Allen!







Finally -- real minority outreach from the GOP. The Virginia Republicans have a big rally coming up this Saturday that's designed to reach out to minority voters in Fairfax County.

Guess who is one of the featured speakers?

George Allen. Yes, that George Allen.

We checked in with the state GOP to ask if Allen is really an effective front-man for the party's efforts to win over minorities, given the "macaca" scandal.

The answer? Yes! "George Allen has an excellent record on issues of diversity, reaching out to people," Gerry Scimeca, communications director for the state party, told us. "His whole career, his whole life have been a testament to a guy who's treated people equally across racial lines, across every kind of line."

Asked whether "macaca" might cloud the message a bit, Scimeca said the whole thing was a smear-job by the Dems: "Anyone had to go on Wikipedia to be offended by it. And you know how people can mess with Wikipedia."

Scimeca argued that Allen's father was a football coach who held up his players, many of whom were African-Americans, as role models for his children. "This is not a racist man," Scimeca said. "He never did anything -- this was totally out of character."

Come to think of it, maybe George Allen is the best spokesperson for the GOP's minority outreach, after all.


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Alaskan Conservative Radio Host Rips Lying Palin & GOP

Dan Fagan is a prominent conservative talk radio host in Anchorage, Alaska on station KFQD. In a column in the Anchorage Daily News, Fagan joins the ranks of conservatives who no longer drink the Palin Kool-Aid. In a bit of reporting about events of which many of us in the lower 48 were unaware, Fagan opens the column by describing a Monday press conference in which Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton attacked former Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan. Fagan describes Stapleton as sounding "plain, desperate, and obvious" and "pure shrill." Fagan says Stapleton described Monegan's behavior as "egregious insubordination, full of obstructionist conduct and a brazen refusal to follow instructions." We non-Alaskans forget that Monegan had a long, respected history in Alaska. That's why his firing drove 10 Republicans to vote unanimously with four Democrats to allocate $100,000 to investigate if there was any wrong-doing when he was dismissed. That is evidenced in Fagan's tone:

Did Walt Monegan, former Marine, and lifetime crime fighter deserve this? Of course not. But history has proven, get in the way of Sarah Barracuda's political ambition, and you won't know what hit you. If anyone should be on the hot seat, it's not Monegan, but Palin for her inconsistencies.

Fagan lists a few of the shifting excuses Palin has given for firing Monegan, starting with "we need new direction" and "new energy" followed by "he wasn't hiring enough cops," to "he wasn't doing enough about alcohol in the bush" to "he lobbied for budget increases" to finally the latest version - Monegan displayed "egregious rogue behavior."

Fagan goes on to say that Palin has changed her story concerning whether she was aware of any contact with Monegan from her husband Todd or from those in her office. And after the investigation was started, Palin first said she and her employees would fully cooperate before she and her office stonewalled the investigators.

It appears Alaskans are divided between pride in one of their own on the national stage and desire to get to the truth in the investigation. Fagan feels caught in the crossfire of these desires:

Republicans scold me all the time, "You don't want Obama to win do you? Stop
criticizing Palin!"

My question to my conservative friends is simple. Does the truth still matter?

...But some Republican leaders are abandoning truth and closing ranks to help Palin cover up her scandal by attacking the investigation.

Fagan takes particular Republican politicians to task, such as Lt. Governor Sean Parnell and state Representative John Coghill, and praises Republican state Senator Charlie Huggins, who was the swing vote that allowed for the issuance of subpoenas. Fagan ultimately shows an integrity sorely lacking in his more power hungry Republicans:

My fellow conservatives, remember how frustrating it was when Bill Clinton committed perjury and liberals looked the other way. As conservatives, we are no better unless we demand full disclosure from our governor when it comes to Troopergate.

No politician is so popular and charismatic that they should be above accountability and telling the truth. Not even Sarah Palin.

People can argue whether Bill Clinton deserved impeachment for his indiscretions and lies, but at least it's refreshing to see a conservative believes that the rules Republicans want to apply to Democrats should also apply to themselves.

This is not the first time Fagan has criticized Palin. Remember that appearance of Palin with those two radio shock jocks who ripped into Republican state Senate President and cancer survivor Lyda Green as a "bitch" and a "cancer" and Palin just sat by and laughed? Fagan was not amused: Palin's responses on radio talk show very unbecoming

The governor's appearance on KWHL's "The Bob and Mark Show" last week is plain and simple one of the most unprofessional, childish and inexcusable performances I've ever seen from a politician... It was conduct unbecoming a human being, never mind a governor.

The governor's office eventually tried to spin the public relations disaster, releasing a statement reading, "Governor Palin was caught off guard by Bob Lester's reference to Senate President Lyda Green." I don't buy it. Early on in the conversation before Palin started to crack up, Lester referred to Sen. Green as a jealous woman and a cancer. Palin, who knows full well Lyda Green is a cancer survivor, didn't do what any decent person would do, say, "Bob, that's going too far."

I've read some other stuff about Fagan - such as some remarks concerning Muslims - with which that I fervently disagree. But it seems Fagan does not tolerate when Republicans get ugly with each other or good public servants are mistreated.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

McCain’s Family Doesn’t Even Recognize Him


Even his own family is coming out and remarking on the 180° turn from the Straight Talkin’ Maverick to the craven, say anything, do anything, pander to all politician desperately taking his last covetous bid at the White House.

John and I are related through our grandmothers. Katherine Vaulx McCain and Huetta Vaulx Boles, both of Fayetteville, Ark., were sisters. My side of the Vaulx family represents a long line of Democrats, but it is with no small amount of pride that we’ve followed the life and career of now-Sen. John McCain.[..]

Although neither my father nor I have ever voted for a Republican, when John threw his hat in the ring in 2000, we were both very proud and encouraged, and not just because he’s our relative. This was the first Republican who, on a national stage, was saying things like, “If we repeal Roe vs. Wade tomorrow, thousands of young American women will be performing illegal and dangerous operations,” and, “Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer-reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance.” Wow!

Here was a man who was not abiding by partisan lines, who was, instead, living up to his promise of “straight talk” and commonsense thinking. The right-wing Republican base may not have agreed with everything he said, but the rest of America certainly respected him for speaking his mind honestly.

Jump ahead to the campaign Sen. McCain is currently running. Clearly, a lot can change in eight years. Our nation has gone from a time of unparalleled prosperity and peace to one marked by debt in the trillions of dollars, record foreclosures, and a global reputation for warmongering and neo-imperialism.

So, where is the straight-talking, commonsense John McCain of 2000? I’m afraid he is long gone, replaced by a desperate version of himself who seems to contradict nearly everything he once stood for.

What becomes apparent in his ideological about-face is just how out of touch McCain really is with America’s working families. [..]

But, as he continually demonstrates in this campaign, my cousin John is long gone. “Straight talk” has been replaced with “flip-flop.” Saddest all, this is the same man who, when campaigning in 2000, told a crowd of supporters, “I don’t think Bill Gates needs a tax cut. I think your parents do.”

My parents, John, need some help after the economic destruction Bush has wrought in the last eight years, but it’s clear you’re not the one who’ll give it to us. America’s working families no longer recognize you, nor does your own.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Racial harrassment rife at EPA branch

PEER reports, “In a blistering ruling the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Commission has found that racially ‘discriminatory and demeaning comments and adverse treatment” were ’severe’ and ‘permeated the workplace’ in an enforcement branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.” An example of the complaints of EPA Special Agent George De Los Santos, who is based in the Criminal Investigations Division office in Dallas:

* His supervisor accusing him of stealing license plates and reselling them for profit in Mexico;
* Women co-workers were routinely referred to as “pussies”;
* Native American co-workers were called names like “Squatting Eagle” and “Two Dogs F__king” while an African-American colleague was ridiculed as mentally slow.

De Los Santos’ supervisor called his conduct “Special Agent grab-assing” and said he needed to quit complaining and “act like a man.” The EEO Commission found that many of these offensive comments “occurred in front of supervisors immediately after a meeting about EEO issues, demonstrating that agency officials did not take EEO issues seriously.”

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008

Say it with me, everyone: John McCain is a liar.

John McCain loves to step out of his “straight talk express” and talk about what a decent and honorable campaign he wants to run; all the while, his team of Karl Rove protégés (oh, and, Karl Rove, himself) issue sleazier and sleazier campaign ads filled with the kind of lies and innuendo that make that old Willie Horton ad look like a Sesame Street commercial for the letter “H.”

This week, while the entire presidential campaign has been lost in the lipstick vogue (stupid and false in its own right), Team McCain rolled out an ad that basically accused Barack Obama of being a pedophile. It was bad enough to offend even establishment sensibilities:

"This is a deliberately misleading accusation." [McClatchy, 9/9/08]

"The claim is simply false..." [FactCheck.org, 9/10/08]

"[The] accusations… seriously distort the record. … In referring to the sex-education bill, the McCain campaign is largely recycling old and discredited accusations..." [New York Times, 9/11/08]

"[McCain] is responsible for one of the sleaziest ads I've ever seen in presidential politics, so sleazy that I won't abet its spread by linking to it…."[Joe Klein, Time Magazine, 9/10/08]

"The most disheartening aspect of a scurrilous Republican ad falsely accusing Barack Obama of promoting sex education for kindergarten children is its closing line: 'I'm John McCain, and I approved this message.' This from that straight-talker of yore, who fervidly denounced the 2004 Bush campaign's Swift Boat character attacks on John Kerry's military record." [Editorial, New York Times, 9/12/08]

That little bit of federally required legalese—“I’m John McCain, and I approve this message”—should be enough to tie candidate McCain to his campaign’s gutter tactics, but Sweet John has carried on, maintaining some unspecified distance between his angelic self and the messy stuff of political sausage-making. He’s above that sort of thing, golly gosh [forced smile, creepy laugh].

And, McCain has largely managed to maintain this distance—I guess no one was around to call the old coot on his under-the-table insults. . . until this morning.

JOY BEHAR: "There are ads running from your campaign, one of them is saying that Obama, when he said you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig, was talking about Sarah. There's another ad that says that Obama was interested in teaching sex education to kindergartners. Now, we know that those two ads are untrue, they're lies. And yet you at the end of it say I approve these messages. Do you really approve them?"

JOHN MCCAIN: "Actually, they are not lies." [ABC, "The View," 9/12/08]

Yes, that’s the tough political team at The View nailing John McCain on his lying ads—or rather, that’s The View nailing John McCain TO his lying ads.

From where I come from, when a guy approves of a lying statement—and seconds it, even—that makes him a liar. It is now pretty much universally agreed that both the lipstick and child sex ads were lies, and John McCain has chosen to stand by those lies. That would make the self-anointed above-it-all straight talker a common, down-in-the-gutter, liar.Does'nt it say in the bible "thou shall not bear false witness" ?

Say it with me, everyone: John McCain is a liar.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Kucinich: Seek truth, not 'fake political unity

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) says he won't cease his efforts to hold the president and his administration accountable for their alleged abuses of power just because George W. Bush will be returning to his Texas ranch come January.

Kucinich says he wants Congress to create a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" to examine what really went on within the Bush White House in the aftermath of 9/11 and the lead up to the Iraq war. He says only an independent body with truth-seeking as its goal -- rather than "fake political unity" -- can repair divisions that have emerged in an increasingly polarized nation.

During a brief press conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Kucinich said he would introduce legislation to create a commission before Congress finishes its current session at the end of this month. He said his proposal would be modeled on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions that followed periods of upheaval in other countries, such as the end of Apartheid in South Africa or to consider genocide in Rwanda.

previous bodies like the Iraq Study Group and 9/11 Commission also would be examined by his new commission.

Congress and congressional committees already have many of the powers Kucinich described, such as the ability to subpoena witnesses, compel testimony through the threat of prosecution and grant amnesty. The problem is it's been hesitant in exercising them. (Before Kucinich arrived at the press conference, activists lamented Congress's failure to hold Bush administration officials like Karl Rove and Harriet Miers in inherent contempt -- i.e. ordering the Capitol Police to lock them up until they agree to comply with subpoenas demanding their testimony.)

"Congress has had the opportunity to act, and it's failed to do so," Kucinich acknowledged . "But Congress can still create a process where the work can be done, and that's what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will do."

Dennis keep up the fight,SOME of us appreciate it

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

"So Sambo beat the bitch!”

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”

Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “fucking Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We’re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.

No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it’s in their genetic code. So much for McCain’s pledge of a “high road” campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.

“Palin is a conniving, manipulative, asshole,” someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor said, summing up Palin’s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.

“She’s a bigot, a racist, and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.

“Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”

“Sambo beat the bitch” may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Lets not go there, shall we

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The leader of a statewide group of college Republicans has been forced to resign after posting racially insensitive comments about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on the Internet.

Adam LaDuca, 21, the former executive director of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans, wrote on his Facebook page in late July that Obama has "a pair of lips so large he could float half of Cuba to the shores of Miami (and probably would.)"

LaDuca, who previously had called Martin Luther King Jr. a "pariah" and a "fraud," also wrote: "And man, if sayin' someone has large lips is a racial slur, then we're ALL in trouble."

The College Republicans asked LaDuca to resign after his remarks were publicized by the Pennsylvania Progressive, a blog written by a Democratic committeeman from Berks County. The group announced LaDuca's resignation on its Web site Friday.

"The comments were completely uncalled for and very offensive," said Anthony Pugliese, 22, a senior at West Chester University and chairman of the College Republicans, an umbrella group with more than 50 chapters statewide. "The P-A College Republicans do not accept or tolerate racism in any way."

LaDuca said Monday that he regrets posting the comments and understands how they can be construed as racist. "In hindsight, when you read it a second time, it's like, 'oops,'" he said. "It was just a dumb move on my part to make a statement like that public."

He said he is not a racist and that he admires prominent blacks such as economist and author Thomas Sowell and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He compared the comment about Obama to jokes about Republican presidential nominee John McCain's thinning hair or President Bush's large ears.

LaDuca is a senior at Kutztown University. Two years ago, Kutztown's College Republicans chapter was heavily criticized for holding a "bake sale" to protest affirmative action in which whites were charged more for cookies than blacks. LaDuca, then the group's spokesman, made a public apology on the group's behalf.

OK, lets see,he compared his comments to jokes John McCain's thinning hair.The only person I've heard of making such comments, was Cindy MCcain,after which John MCcain replied " "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt."

In Regard to Bush's ears,I've never heard anyone even mention his ears.However I have seen many political cartoons where Obama was shown with large ears,and by the way Obama's lips are not that large, probably because he is bi-racial.(racist tend to overlook this fact)

Notable College Republicans have included Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, prominent Republican strategist Lee Atwater, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry, lobbyist Jack Abramoff .Need I say more ?

Sunday, September 7, 2008

When they show you who they are ,Believe them

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term "uppity" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.

Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.

"Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity," Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word "uppity," Westmoreland said, "Uppity, yeah."

That's right. Given a chance to back off from the racism, he rejected it. But then, Stephen Colbert already gave us ample evidence this guy is a particularly moronic breed of wingnut. (Ten Commandments, anyone?)




This is the same guy,who “led opposition to renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He also was one of two House members last year who opposed giving the Justice Department more money to crack unsolved civil rights killings.”

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Its not a lies if a republican tells it ? WTF

Why are people ignoring that Palin outright lied about Obama's legislative career during her RNC speech.

"But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the state senate." (Cheers, applause.) - Sarah Palin.

820 is the number of laws Obama sponsored in the Illinois State Senate.

427 is the current count of the number of bills Obama has co-sponsored in the U.S. Senate.

And the final number, 152, is the most recent tally of the number of bills that Senator Obama has authored.

He passed two of the most sweeping ethics reforms since the 1960s. Why isn't the mainstream media mentioning that.

Maybe it was accidental. yeah, right

During the campaign season, scores of such stories come to light. Some stick, some don't. Many are, of course, pure fabrications. Others are only half lies. And still others merely fudge the truth around the edges in the interests of creating a solid applause line.

Let's talk talk about that Damn plane(the eBay jet).

That would be the used Westwind II 10-seat jet bought by the state of Alaska in late 2005. The jet that played a prominent role as object and symbol of what Sarah S. Palin called the state's culture of corruption in her successful 2006 primary campaign against Governor Frank Murkowski.

As she said in her speech to the Republican National Committee Wednesday night to a roar of cheers: "That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay."

But as Adam Raymond at Radar's Fresh Intelligence pointed out Thursday, Palin failed to mention that the plane didn't sell on eBay.

After going unsold for months, the jet was put into the hands of Turbo North Aviation, an Anchorage aircraft broker, which put an asking price of $2.45 million on the nearly $2.7 million jet. It quickly sold to Alaska businessman Larry Reynolds for $2.1 million ($31,000 of which went to Turbo Aviation). Today the Westwind II jet spends its days ushering wealthy hunters around Alaska and Russia.

Palin's statement implied the plane was sold through the online auction site revered for empowering millions of small entrepreneurs, and Palin's spokeswoman insisted Thursday that the transaction occurred. But the plane failed to sell on eBay. ...

While Palin only fudged the truth by omission, John McCain is working heartily on embedding a falsehood derived from that omission: "You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay -- made a profit," he said, introducing Palin.

Rachel Maddow of Airamerica and MSNBC,said it all; *"They are lying"*.

Every time they lie we have to call them on it. AMEN!!!!!!!!!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Caribou Barbie

As the true vetting of Sarah Palin continues, we learn more about John McCain's pick for vice-president. Here's a recap of what we learned about the person John McCain thinks should be a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency:

1- She was involved in yet another ethical scandal, this time relating to her firing of a longtime local police chief, who "says he was fired because he stepped on the toes of Palin's campaign contributors, including bar owners and the National Rifle Association."
2- Although the McCain campaign has stressed her command of the Alaska National Guard as "experience," she never issued a single order.
3-Video surfaced of Sarah Palin at her church just three months ago, claiming that regardless of what policies are enacted, it doesn't mater if "people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God." Palin also claimed that American soldiers have been sent to Iraq "on a task that is from God."
4- She can't "fix" Washington when she's played the Washington game so well:Wasilla had received few if any earmarks before Palin became mayor. She actively sought federal funds -- a campaign that began to pay off only after she hired a lobbyist with close ties to indicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who long controlled federal spending as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He made funneling money to Alaska his hallmark.Alaska, by the way, ranked #1 in earmarks last year.
5- She lied--and continues to lie without shame--regarding her alleged "opposition" to the Bridge to Nowhere.
6- A 62 page opposition research document from Alaska was released, filled with strange tidbits like the fact that she presided over a wedding at Wal-Mart ("it was so Wasilla") and that she once "founded a company called "Rouge Cru" -- what she called a "classy" way to say redneck -- in case her political career didn't work out a few years ago."
7-Yesterday morning, we learned that the Troopergate report was due out on the eve of the election, October 31st. Yesterday afternoon, we learned that the investigation would probably be delayed because the star witness suddenly decided not to testify.