Election 2008
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Change Everything! How will politicians win your vote?
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- ENDS: 01/02/2008 07:00 PM GMT
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Panel Finds Palin Abused Authority in Firing State Official - NYTimes.com
A legislative committee investigating Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice presidential candidate, issued a report Friday night that found she unlawfully abused her authority by firing the state’s public safety commissioner. A legislative committee investigating Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice presidential candidate, issued a report Friday n... more
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Legislative panel says Palin abused authority
This long parade of criminals just doesn't end !
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Tell Obama and McCain we need clean energy not 'clean coal'
You can send a message direct to the campaigns by signing at this site. Tell both Obama and McCain campaigns that their misrepresentation of "clean coal" is only hurting the progress we should be making on the climate crisis. It is we who must set the agenda, and the agenda now to save our planet and ourselves is renewable energy.
From the site:
During the Vice Presidential debate, both Senator Biden and Governor Palin touted their support for "clean coal". But both presidential campaigns and Congress are missing the point: Conventional coal-burning power plants are the leading cause of global warming pollution in the United States. "Clean Coal" is a myth--a contradiction in terms. Coal companies claim they can develop coal plants at some point in the distant future that will capture and sequester carbon pollution. But carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is unproven and exorbitantly expensive.
We need real solutions, not coal industry myths. Use the form below to send a message to both Presidential campaigns: We need clean, green energy now! You can send a message direct to the campaigns by signing at this site. Tell both Obama and McCain campaigns that their misrepresentat... more -
"C'mon, Move To Canada!"
Courtesy of Slate V...
"If John McCain and Sarah Palin win in November, it's likely to be more than many Democrats can stand. Slate V imagines how the Canadian government might try to capitalize on this liberal anxiety."
Enjoy. Eh? Courtesy of Slate V... ... more -
Obama-McCain dilemma puts NFL players in middle
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — As the presidential race revs up, political conversations in NFL locker rooms echo those in workplaces nationwide. Taxes. Economy. McCain. Obama. War. Terrorism. White. Black. And a dilemma for these high-paid athletes: principles or pocketbook? "We're right in the middle," said Washington Redskins veteran Philip Daniels. "We've all got family members that are not doing so well. Democrats would help them out, but Republicans would help us out."
The 35-year-old defensive end sat in front of his locker not far from the nation's capital and analytically explained how his political color has changed from blue to red and back to blue again. Everything about Daniels' upbringing screams Democrat. He's a black male who grew up in modest surroundings in a small Georgia town. He majored in social work in college.
"I used to be a Republican," Daniels said. "I wanted Bush in there. The previous years I've been Republican because of what we make, but this year's a little bit different. I think this year more guys are not even thinking about the income part of it. They're just really thinking about the economy and the country. A lot of people want change."
If the contest between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama has energized the U.S. public as never before, locker rooms across the country are reflecting the trend. Players whose jobs are based on wins and losses identify with the wild swings of the who's-leading-and-by-how-much grind of the campaign.
The clear preferences from some athletes stand in contrast to former NBA superstar Michael Jordan's unwillingness to take a stand in the 1990 North Carolina Senate race between Republican Jesse Helms and Democrat Harvey Gantt, who was bidding to become the first black southern senator since Reconstruction.
"Republicans buy sneakers, too," Jordan famously said, though he later endorsed Bill Bradley's presidential campaign in 2000.
"We spend an hour a day talking about this exact subject — in meetings, on the plane, in the locker room," New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita said. "I think it's just because there's a new interest in politics this campaign season, more than there's ever been as long as I've been following it."
Holliday emphasized, however, that he is voting Democratic because he wants "fresh energy and a change." In interviews, players overwhelmingly said their votes in November would not — and should not — be based on race alone.
"That's the thing that a lot of African-Americans fall into: 'Just because he's black, I'm going to vote for him,'" said Redskins defensive end Demetric Evans, an undecided voter who is black. "You need to know why you vote for him. You need to know what he stands for."
The discussions and mini-debates, however, always seem to come back to money. Days after Daniels expressed his feelings inside the Redskins locker room, teammate Ethan Albright held up a stamped envelope containing his absentee ballot, ready to be mailed to his home state of North Carolina. As he put the envelope in his locker, cornerback Shawn Springs called out: "Why you like McCain?"
"I like him," Albright replied with a nod, "because he ain't raising taxes."
The spike in interest isn't limited to the NFL. NBA superstar LeBron James attended an Obama rally last weekend in Cleveland, while Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling appeared with McCain at a NASCAR race in New Hampshire last month.
Not everyone feels politics belongs in the locker room. On Wednesday, before Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn introduced McCain at a rally in Strongsville, Ohio, Browns coach Romeo Crennel told his players in a team-wide address that he didn't want to hear political debates on the job.
"(Quinn) took the time to do that, but as long as he keeps it outside the building and outside the team, that's his choice."
" ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — As the presidential race revs up, political conversations in NFL locker rooms echo those in workplaces nationwide.... more -
The McCain-Palin Mob, Strongsville, OH
Parking lot Q&A with McCain-Palin supporters. It's way too easy to generalize stereotypes about the type of folks that support the Repub ticket vs. the Dem ticket, but folks like this don't help! Parking lot Q&A with McCain-Palin supporters. It's way too easy to generalize stereotypes about the type of folks that suppor... more
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NYTimes: McCain-Palin Supporters Gone Wild
From The Article:
"...Video interviews by confrontational Barack Obama supporters at John McCain rallies are shooting up the YouTube charts, revealing angry and nasty anti-Obama sentiment that is in turn motivational for the Democratic presidential contender’s supporters. You almost feel like Joe Francis is behind the camera asking girls to flash him. And watching brings the same voyeuristic and embarrassed emotional response..."
THIS VIDEO: [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E ]
is referred to at the beginning of the article (you may want to watch it first) From The Article: ... more -
Rolling Stone publishes Piece on McCain: Make-Believe Maverick
this article is unbelievable, this man should not be commander in chief of anything or anyone...
Excerpts--
During his 1992 campaign, at the end of a long day, McCain's wife, Cindy, mussed his receding hair and needled him playfully that he was "getting a little thin up there." McCain reportedly blew his top, cutting his wife down with the kind of language that had gotten him hauled into court as a high schooler: "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." Even though the incident was witnessed by three reporters, the McCain campaign denies it took place.
In the Senate — where, according to former GOP Sen. Bob Smith, McCain has "very few friends" — his volcanic temper has repeatedly led to explosive altercations with colleagues and constituents alike. In 1992, McCain got into a heated exchange with Sen. Chuck Grassley over the fate of missing American servicemen in Vietnam. "Are you calling me stupid?" Grassley demanded. "No, I'm calling you a fucking jerk!" yelled McCain. Sen. Bob Kerrey later told reporters that he feared McCain was "going to head-butt Grassley and drive the cartilage in his nose into his brain." The two were separated before they came to blows. Several years later, during another debate over servicemen missing in action, an elderly mother of an MIA soldier rolled up to McCain in her wheelchair to speak to him about her son's case. According to witnesses, McCain grew enraged, raising his hand as if to strike her before pushing her wheelchair away.
McCain has called Paul Weyrich, who helped steer the Republican Party to the right, a "pompous self-serving son of a bitch" who "possesses the attributes of a Dickensian villain." In 1999, he told Sen. Pete Domenici, the Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, that "only an asshole would put together a budget like this."
Last year, after barging into a bipartisan meeting on immigration legislation and attempting to seize the reins, McCain was called out by fellow GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. "Wait a second here," Cornyn said. "I've been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're out of line." McCain exploded: "Fuck you! I know more about this than anyone in the room." The incident foreshadowed McCain's 11th-hour theatrics in September, when he abruptly "suspended" his campaign and inserted himself into the Wall Street bailout debate at the last minute, just as congressional leaders were attempting to finalize a bipartisan agreement.
Privately, McCain brags that he was the "original neocon." And after 9/11, he took the lead in agitating for war with Iraq, outpacing even Dick Cheney in the dissemination of bogus intelligence about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. "There's other organizations besides Mr. bin Laden who are bent on the destruction of the United States," he warned in an appearance on Hardball on September 12th. "It isn't just Afghanistan. We're talking about Syria, Iraq, Iran, perhaps North Korea, Libya and others." A few days later, he told Jay Leno's audience that "some other countries" — possibly Iraq, Iran and Syria — had aided bin Laden.
A month after 9/11, with the U.S. bombing Kabul and reeling from the anthrax scare, McCain assured David Letterman that "we'll do fine" in Afghanistan. He then added, unbidden, "The second phase is Iraq. Some of this anthrax may — and I emphasize may — have come from Iraq." this article is unbelievable, this man should not be commander in chief of anything or anyone... Excerpts-- ... more -
New York county prints ‘Barack Osama’ on ballots!
From the report: Some are calling it a Freudian slip. Everyone’s calling it a big mistake.
Hundreds of absentee ballots sent to voters in New York State’s Rensselaer County, near Albany, were printed with Barack Obama’s last name spelled as “Osama," the Albany Times Union reports.
County elections officials tell the newspaper that it was a typo that made it by three rounds of proof-readers. They also said the error affected just a few hundred voters, and that they will re-send corrected ballots on request. From the report: Some are calling it a Freudian slip. Everyone’s calling it a big mistake. ... more -
Did Obama "lie" about Ayers?
The claim that Obama "lied" about his relationship with Ayers rests on his response to a question from George Stephanopoulos of ABC News in a Democratic primary debate in Philadelphia on April 16. Invited to describe his relationship with Ayers, Obama played down its significance:
This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas with on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George.
That statement can certainly be read as an attempt by Obama to minimize his dealings with a controversial figure. The claim that Obama "lied" about his relationship with Ayers rests on his response to a question from George Stephanopoulos... more -
Sarah Palin's radical right-wing mentors
[This is one of the most disturbing investigative pieces I've read yet about Palin's ties to hard-right secessionist/dominionist groups. Read the whole thing and spread the word about Sarah "Puppet" Palin, or as I like to call her, "Bush in drag"]
On the afternoon of Sept. 24 in downtown Palmer, Alaska, as the sun began to sink behind the snowcapped mountains that flank the picturesque Mat-Su Valley, 51-year-old Mark Chryson sat for an hour on a park bench, reveling in tales of his days as chairman of the Alaska Independence Party. The stocky, gray-haired computer technician waxed nostalgic about quixotic battles to eliminate taxes, support the "traditional family" and secede from the United States.
So long as Alaska remained under the boot of the federal government, said Chryson, the AIP had to stand on guard to stymie a New World Order. He invited a Salon reporter to see a few items inside his pickup truck that were intended for his personal protection. "This here is my attack dog," he said with a chuckle, handing the reporter an exuberant 8-pound papillon from his passenger seat. "Her name is Suzy." Then he pulled a 9-millimeter Makarov PM pistol -- once the standard-issue sidearm for Soviet cops -- out of his glove compartment. "I've got enough weaponry to raise a small army in my basement," he said, clutching the gun in his palm. "Then again, so do most Alaskans." But Chryson added a message of reassurance to residents of that faraway place some Alaskans call "the 48." "We want to go our separate ways," he said, "but we are not going to kill you."
Though Chryson belongs to a fringe political party, one that advocates the secession of Alaska from the Union, and that organizes with other like-minded secessionist movements from Canada to the Deep South, he is not without peculiar influence in state politics, especially the rise of Sarah Palin. An obscure figure outside of Alaska, Chryson has been a political fixture in the hometown of the Republican vice-presidential nominee for over a decade. During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin's campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory. [This is one of the most disturbing investigative pieces I've read yet about Palin's ties to hard-right secessionist/dominio... more -
NY county prints ‘Barack Osama’ on ballots
Wow. The voting "errors" begin. I find it hard to believe this made it past three rounds of proof reading. I wonder how many other places in this country are going to mis-print Obama's last name.
"County elections officials tell the newspaper that it was a typo that made it by three rounds of proof-readers. They also said the error affected just a few hundred voters, and that they will re-send corrected ballots on request." Wow. The voting "errors" begin. I find it hard to believe this made it past three rounds of proof reading. I wonder how ... more -
Top McCain official raises Obama's past drug use
Top McCain official raises Obama's past drug use
McCain official calls Obama 'guy of the street,' says Democrat should talk more about drug use(NEW YORK) Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a co-chairman of Republican John McCain's presidential campaign, called Barack Obama a "guy of the street" in a radio interview and said the Democratic hopeful should be more candid about his youthful drug use.
Keating made the comments on comedian Dennis Miller's radio show Thursday while discussing Obama's record, which Keating described as "very extreme." He said the Illinois senator should also be more forthcoming about misdeeds of his past.
"He ought to admit, 'You know, I've got to be honest with you. I was a guy of the street. I was way to the left. I used cocaine. I voted liberally, but I'm back at the center,'" Keating said of Obama.
In his memoir "Dreams From My Father," Obama described experimenting with alcohol and drugs as a teenager, including marijuana and cocaine when he could afford it.
"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man," Obama wrote.
McCain aides said Keating had not been asked to bring up Obama's past drug use and that he hadn't cleared his comments with the campaign. But in recent days, McCain and many of his top surrogates began publicly questioning whether voters know enough about Obama.
During the Democratic primary contest, Bill Shaheen, a top adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign, resigned after suggesting that Obama's past drug use could be used against him in the general election. Another prominent Clinton supporter, Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson, apologized in January after hinting at Obama's drug use at a campaign event in South Carolina. Top McCain official raises Obama's past drug use ... more -
944 & Rock the Vote
I thought this was another perfect example of music pairing up with a fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine that reaches to the younger demographic to encourage voting. 944 Magazine has paired up with MTV's Rock the Vote and they feature daily blogs, news, upcoming events in a multitude of cities with featured videos & media, and of course a link encouraging individuals to register to vote. I thought this was another perfect example of music pairing up with a fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine that reaches to t... more
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Obama-McCain dilemma puts NFL players in a state
Interesting article about the dilemma faced by a lot of professional athletes:
"As the presidential race revs up, political conversations in NFL locker rooms echo those in workplaces nationwide.
Taxes. Economy. McCain. Obama. War. Terrorism. White. Black.
And a dilemma for these high-paid athletes: principles or pocketbook?
'We're right in the middle,' said Washington Redskins veteran Philip Daniels. 'We've all got family members that are not doing so well. Democrats would help them out, but Republicans would help us out.'
The 35-year-old defensive end sat in front of his locker not far from the nation's capital and analytically explained how his political color has changed from blue to red and back to blue again. Everything about Daniels' upbringing screams Democrat. He's a black male who grew up in modest surroundings in a small Georgia town. He majored in social work in college.
Everything about his income screams Republican. He's made millions many times over in his 13 years as a professional athlete, and the thought of paying higher taxes under a Democratic administration led him to vote for President Bush in 2000 and support the president's re-election in 2004.
'I used to be a Republican,' Daniels said. 'I wanted Bush in there. The previous years I've been Republican because of what we make, but this year's a little bit different. I think this year more guys are not even thinking about the income part of it. They're just really thinking about the economy and the country. A lot of people want change'...
The clear preferences from some athletes stand in contrast to former NBA superstar Michael Jordan's unwillingness to take a stand in the 1990 North Carolina Senate race between Republican Jesse Helms and Democrat Harvey Gantt, who was bidding to become the first black southern senator since Reconstruction.
'Republicans buy sneakers, too,' Jordan famously said, though he later endorsed Bill Bradley's presidential campaign in 2000...
The discussions and mini-debates, however, always seem to come back to money. Days after Daniels expressed his feelings inside the Redskins locker room, teammate Ethan Albright held up a stamped envelope containing his absentee ballot, ready to be mailed to his home state of North Carolina. As he put the envelope in his locker, cornerback Shawn Springs called out: 'Why you like McCain?'
'I like him,' Albright replied with a nod, 'because he ain't raising taxes.'
That's a sentiment reiterated by New York Giants punter Jeff Feagles, also a McCain supporter.
'He is going to tax the wealthy, which is what we are,' said Feagles, referring to Obama. 'We are in that category. You look at those kinds of implications, and I hate using that word, it will affect us.'
Feagles' teammate, defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, couldn't disagree more.
'It's insulting to think you would vote based on how it affects you financially,' Kiwanuka said. 'I had that conversation even before I got my signing bonus. It's a matter of general policy and what you believe in and what that person stands for. ... When you look at it, I spent the majority of my life with an average upbringing to say the least, and that has shaped how I vote a lot more than the last couple of years living this lifestyle."
Full article at link... Interesting article about the dilemma faced by a lot of professional athletes: ... more -
Max: one young man's story about HIV and failed abstinence-only programs
Max Siegel is a 24-year-old gay man living with HIV. Max contracted HIV from his first sexual experience at 17 years old but his story starts even before that. Max Siegel is a 24-year-old gay man living with HIV. Max contracted HIV from his first sexual experience at 17 years old but his story... more
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Candidates as...
You might have noticed (or ignored) the emerging meme on the intertubez of folks using simple visual analogies to convey how they see the presidential and VP candidates' 'attributes' and 'differences'.
Here's one I found on Flickr depicting "Candidates as Telephony"
If you got one, found one or made one, upload or clip it below and we'll make a collage after afternoon snacktime/naptime! You might have noticed (or ignored) the emerging meme on the intertubez of folks using simple visual analogies to convey how they see ... more -
Palin Can't Name Supreme Court Case other than Roe V. Wade
This one will make you squirm, and not in a good way.
Couric asks Palin about Roe V. Wade and she replies with boilerplate Anti-Choice rhetoric.
She then asks Palin to discuss another Supreme Court decision that she disagrees with, and Palin can't name a single case. Nothing she agrees with... nothing she disagrees with... NOTHING AT ALL comes out of her mouth. Like a moose caught in headlights, it's as if we're watching Sarah Palin realize, for the first time, that Roe V. Wade is not the only decision ever made by the Supreme Court.
I don't care if you're an Obama supporter or a McCain supporter. If you have a brain in your head, then this one will *really* make you cringe. It's almost as bad as watching her inability to name a single newspaper. And she couldn't do that because she really DOESN'T read the paper! It's so clear in this clip!
This is like watching someone bullshit their way through an oral exam when they never showed up in class. I get so uncomfortable watching her desperately struggle to speak intelligently without the safety of someone else's pre-written speech in front of her... She's the student who can only pass the class if all the tests are "open-book."
Please Lord, say we're not going to have to listen to this ignorance for 4 more years.
McCain isn't the new Dubya - SHE IS.
If you want to watch the extended version, with Joe Biden's intelligent answer, and Palin's complete 5th grade-level answer, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBt0r9Exv2I&feature=... This one will make you squirm, and not in a good way. ... more -
Headline Comedy: 10.8.08
Good jokes in bad times go a long way. Watch Donna Lee, Eddie Gossling, and Jeremy Essig from rooftopcomedy.com and turn that economy frown upside down. Good jokes in bad times go a long way. Watch Donna Lee, Eddie Gossling, and Jeremy Essig from rooftopcomedy.com and turn that economy ... more
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Song: Hey Sarah Palin
Check out this song parody of "Hey There Delilah" by Venga Productions... It's very funny / sad / accurate.
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Election 2008
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Election 2008
