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Anti-Bush Out of Business
- Making fun of George W. has meant big business for some companies. But what's going to happen when he leaves... more info
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- ENDS: 31/12/2008 09:00 PM GMT
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Shaming Them Into Freeing the Press
Dear ABC,
Please reconsider this decision and air the Repower America ad this Friday on 20/20
I can't believe I need to remind you, ABC, are considered part of the "free press". Acting like a corporate puppet makes you appear un-American. Remember free (or paid for) speech is a right and ABC has a moral obligation to allow all POV's to be aired (if they have the dough). More than ever before people need to know they have "a truth sayer” in this country they can trust. Dear ABC, Please reconsider this decision and air the Repower America ad this Friday on 20/20 ... more -
Domestic Terrorism or Dissent?
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
During the vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin couldn't resist showing off her knowledge of a new term: "domestic terrorist" any more than she could refrain from slapping that term onto those Barack Obama is said to have known 40 years ago.
Well, we have breaking news for Governor Palin, and any other candidate for elected office, now and in future. Those of us who were at Kent State, and others, like myself, who protested the war in Vietnam at universities in Buffalo, who staged sit-ins at administration buildings that included, but were not limited to, the likes of current Nobel Laureates like J.M. Coetzee, didn't think of ourselves as "domestic terrorists," but as citizens exercizing our constitutional right to dissent, a right which police in Maryland recently put on life supports when it classified more than 50 members of nonviolent protest groups as "terrorists" while listing not just their names, but all their personal data, into state and federal databanks.
As The Washington Post reported, a police superintendent, Terrence B. Sheridan, exposed the covert military action which placed not just those opposing the war in Iraq, but those opposing capital punishment, under surveillance from 2005 through 2006. Mr. Sheridan told the Senate that those 50 odd names have no place in Maryland police databases: "It's as simple as that."
Pity Joe McCarthy because nobody seems to have told him he's dead, or maybe he has better things to do than rest in peace, and is out haunting not just Maryland, but the US Patriot gangbangers who want to put dissent on perpetual hold...
(pls. see link for entire article) by Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
One more liberty hits the dust... just in time for economic crash
Why don't you go to this link and read more about a tragic fact: Posse Comitatus has been a part of our national identity for almost 2 centuries and George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus. That means it’s now legal for the (army) military to patrol the streets of this country. A few thousand infantry fresh back from Iraq have been deployed in this country as of October 1st. The problem is there was a law enacted way back in our history to prevent the US military from being used against the American people. This law was rescinded by Bush as an after thought to a bill, its called a signature statement, or something like that.
My guess is our “dear leader” was preparing for lash-back for devastating our economy when he rescinded this liberty. Could it be? Taking it a step further, maybe ignoring the building economic storm and then suddenly declaring the sky is falling 30 days before an election might be more that a happenstance? You decide, go to this site for more info.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/101958/thousands_of_troo... Why don't you go to this link and read more about a tragic fact: Posse Comitatus has been a part of our national identity for alm... more -
An Open Letter to Congress
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
Dear Elected Officials:
I acknowledge the need for an economic recovery plan with the implicit understanding that some drastic action needed to be taken, as well as therecognition that what happens on Wall Street affects what happens on Main Street.
That said, the provision which boosts FDIC coverage on individual, and small business, bank accounts is little more than a placebo, and a dangerous one at that when considering that the U.S. Treasury will have to make good on any default over the roughly $45 billion currently in theFDIC fund. Thanks to the Iraq war which costs, in 5 months, what the FDIC now has in its fund, the Treasury is depleted, and we are experiencing record deficits.
As far as I understand the proposal, now passed, which is designed to impact executive's golden parachutes, it appears to me to be little more than a slap on the wrist in that, as I understand it, executive severance packages will merely be deferred, and not denied.
Most importantly of all, it's time for our government to overcome its addiction to the concept of immunity which is implicit in the bailout. The idea that banks and mortgage companies, stock brokers, and entrepreneurs, should be saved from the same dire fate as the average working family who lose their home when they default on a bank loan is one that is offensive to those who still hold to the illusion of economic opportunity in America.
That a plan like this, which won such ardent support from a President who insists that he supports what he calls "free enterprise," was allowed to pass Congress shows just how high octane fear can be. Indeed, this President does not support "free enterprise." Every form of enterprise under George W. Bush has been a very costly affair. Is it any wonder that three quarters of Americans disapprove of leadership that rewards what Franklin D. Roosevelt called the "banksters" while, at the same time, turning the working class into the working poor.
Financial security is a crucial issue in this age of global instability, but economic equity will prove to be the core issue of our era. It's time that Congress, and our leaders, rescue the American Dream which is currently on life support.
Never trust anyone who tells you that greed comes with an expiration date. by Jayne Lyn Stahl Dear Elected Officials: ... more -
Channeling Ronald Reagan
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Given that she made not one, but two references to Ronald Reagan, during Thursday night's debate, clearly one of her script writers seems to think she might squeak by if she piles on that smile, and "Gosh darn it," or "Come on, Joe" schtick, all the while laying on the Reaganesque charm.
But, whether we agree with Reagan or not, Sarah Palin is no Ronald Reagan. Reagan only needed to read from a script when he was in Hollywood. Reagan didn't need to go to a prep. camp for future presidents. Reagan courted the press, and didn't condemn the press. Palin's idea of folksy is a euphemism for trashy.
Her coaches may think it wise to play the Reagan card, but the only way in which Sarah Palin resembles Ronald Reagan is when it comes to economics, and the only thing that trickles down is evasion when it comes to subjects about which she knows little; the issues that most concern us during these hard times.
If given the chance, she will embarrass this country with her intellectual agoraphobia when it comes to foreign policy; with her deliberate mispronunciation of words like Iran, Iraq, and what she calls nu-cu-lar power.
Remember, Reagan started out as a Democrat. It was only as he was approaching his later years that he switched parties. Some might argue that Reagan's switch to Republican was evidence that he was in the first stages of Alzheimer's, but no one would argue that Ronald Reagan had a heart. The governor of Alaska has a Ford Explorer.
Sarah Palin's pathetic attempt to channel Reagan does a disservice not just to her party, not just to history, but the truth of who Ronald Reagan was. Her attempt to feign tolerance, despite her record of intolerance when it comes to choice, gay marriage, and animal rights, shows contempt for the audience at which she repeatedly winks. It's the kind of grizzly contempt that only someone heartless enough to shoot wolves from 20,000 feet can display.
Whether you agreed with him or not, Ronald Reagan wasn't an embarrassment to his country when it came to foreign policy.
So, while Tina Fey, and others, entertain with a terrific parody of her, anyone who finds Palin's winks, nods, and references to six pack soccer moms charming, or amusing, is in for a big surprise come November if she is, gawd forbid, second in command of our military and our country.
Ronald Reagan is, no doubt, rolling over in his grave from this comparison and, if Palin really wanted to "score one for the gipper," she'd exit stage right.
Those who call Palin "feisty" can't distinguish between feisty and arrogant.
While there are some who might find her ignorance and contempt for history quaint, the prospect of somebody like Sarah Palin ever finding her way to the Oval Office should trigger outrage from anyone with a pulse, and a passport. By Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
Something to think about...
when watching tonight's one and only vice presidential debate:
If fate lands her in the driver's seat, will there be a camp to send Sarah Palin so she can be coached on how to respond to questions when an international crisis develops, and she is called upon to meet with world leaders?
Maybe she thinks that because Ronald Reagan started out as an actor, it's okay for the executive branch to be scripted, too. when watching tonight's one and only vice presidential debate: ... more -
At Great Cost
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Back in the early 1930's, another president had a word for the honor society that has run off with our savings, and stock options: "banksters," that's what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called them.
I'm sure Roosevelt would have a thing or two to say about those in public service nowadays who have betrayed the public trust, and figured out a way to immunize themselves in the process, a kind of corruption that would inspire a Shakespearean tragedy.
But, the trick is to connect the dots, and recognize that the difficulties of our financial market are inextricably bound to the disintegration of the social, political, and moral fabric of our society. So far, none of the candidates for president is connecting the dots.
"We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from
which we now suffer," Franklin Delano Roosevelt said.
President Roosevelt was right. America was an experiment in democracy that was hijacked by a gang of free market capitalists whose ultimate intention has been to institute a monarchy of means, a hierarchy of income, and a class system unparalleled since feudal times. In this, they have succeeded, at great cost to us all and, ultimately, at great cost to themselves, too. By Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
Privatize the FDIC?
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
Now that the largest bailout in U.S. history may be history itself, what may we expect next? Since privatizing social security hasn't been completely ruled out, and won't be especially if the Republicans prevail in November, what about privatizing the FDIC?
After all, what will happen when the FDIC runs out of money? Who will insure the FDIC? Not the U.S. Treasury which is too busy cutting dollar bills that are worth less and less; too busy taking high octane empire booster shots, and expending, by some estimates, as much as $3 trillion on an irrelevant war to worry it's pretty little head about the fate of the FDIC.
Who do we call when we get music on hold at the ATM, and not money? Do we call Herr Paulson, collect, and ask him if he can spare a dime, or $700 billion?
What happens when the neighborhood bully can't stand up to a punch, and Citibank buys up every square foot of financial space on Main Street? Does this make for a freer free market? Don't expect to hear a peep out of the rogues on Wall Street, or the rogues in the mainstream press either. The news, these days, is decapitated, and every bit as manipulated as the market that got us into this mess.
The same way the media rolled over for Rupert Murdoch, the money markets will roll over for financial consolidation at the expense of the American consumer. It wouldn't be called a bailout if this were about taxpayers getting in over their heads; it'd be called welfare, and government handouts.
While we may question who's doing the regulating, nobody's questioning that regulating's got to be done. The past 20 years of a free ride for the corporate elite have come to a screeching halt, and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America are the ones who are screeching. There were plenty of people who got filthy rich during the Depression. There were carpetbaggers then, and there are carpetbaggers now; think Exxon, Chevron, and Halliburton.
Whether Congress elects to save Wall Street as if it were a wayward child or not, somebody had better start taking a closer look at the euphemism that is free market capitalism which, in the end, means somebody sticking their icy fingers into your empty pockets. by Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
Quote of the Day
Quote of the day comes from Congressman Barney Frank who, while talking to reporters today about the House's historic vote to reject the Wall Street bailout, had this to say:
"The Republicans don't trust the administration. It's a Republican revolt against George Bush and John McCain," Barney Frank Quote of the day comes from Congressman Barney Frank who, while talking to reporters today about the House's historic vote to rej... more -
Ad Astra Mr. Newman
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
On a day when many will have much to say about a man who few understood, or took the time to understand. In this country where we celebrate celebrity, and divest celebrities of their humanity; humanity is, after all, the only thing that matters.
At a time when I, too, like many, can share my Paul Newman stories about his infinite kindness in responding to a query letter with a screenplay enclosed; I can share my own personal experience of his uncommon generosity in returning the script at his own expense, as well as his personal response to invitations I sent to attend writers' forums speaking out against the neo-McCarthyism that had already reared its ugly head back in 2005.
Lots of people have lots of stories about his great humanity, about large endowments to First Amendment activists, and his abiding concern for civil liberties; about his stand against Nixon and reactionary dogs of state, as well as his support for Barack Obama, and justice. But, in the end, there is so much chatter, and so little truth, so anyone who tells us about the world as he sees it will win our hearts. Paul Newman's integrity puts the world to shame.
And, at a time when those who will benefit for generations the most from his philanthropy, too, have their stories to tell, the work he has done to benefit humankind must, and will, continue, and this is, above all else, what Mr. Newman will be remembered for as, in the end, even legends have a short shelf life.
The planet along with every sentient thing says Happy Birthday, Mr. Newman, to a long life forever in our hearts."We are such spendthrifts with our lives. The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I'm not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out," Paul Newman once told a reporter for The New York Times.
To a good farmer, and a good man, we say only ad astra, Mr. Newman; to the north star, and others, that will surely look to you for light as the planet will continue to look to you for heart. by Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
The Republican Guard?
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
In an election cycle which might well make the Guiness Book of World Records for gaffes, evidence of yet more confusion surfaces from the mouth of candidate McCain who says that we must go after the "Republican Guard of Iran."
Perhaps Sen. McCain was thinking of his own party, when he said that, and not the Iranian "Revolutionary Guard" that allegedly causes an egregious, and growing, threat.
As you recall, the Republican Guard was an elite group of Iraqi ground forces that was dissolved in 2003,and functioned principally to guard Saddam Hussein. Oh, well, Iraq--Iran; same difference.
McCain got his Reagan reference right, during the debate, though. The gipper's famous slogan "Trust, but verify" was a timely reference indeed given McCain's penchant for chastising Obama over his openness with respect to making public any intention to take some kind of military action in Pakistan. For the McCain camp, covert action only need apply. Presidents think, and strategize about, but never discuss with taxpayers what military roller coasters they intend to embark on. Let the taxpayer pick up the tab, to the tune of $10 billion a month in Iraq, as Obama repeatedly reminded McCain tonight and, all the while, let the unitary president keep his mouth shut.
Rest assured, if John McCain becomes the next commander-in-chief of our military, we may expect the same news blackouts witnessed in Grenada, and Libya. And, if Sarah Palin, becomes his second in command, we can expect to see the same defiance of congressional subpoenas, the same claims of executive privilege, campaign of secrecy, and the same suppression of the press. If the next occupiers of the executive branch are McCain/Palin, we may also expect to see the State of the Union Address with photos only, and no sound.
With President Obama, we may expect to hear plenty of sound, some of which we may not like, of course, but he will be one president who knows how to talk.
And, when it comes to the vision behind the talk, think about this: while McCain speaks about increasing the use of nuclear energy, Obama's focus, when it comes to things nuclear, is on nuclear nonproliferation, with the recognition that nonproliferation is as much a necessity to the survival of the planet as an effective energy plan.
Think about this: while McCain said that he will cut back on governmental programs and services with the exception of defense spending, and aid to veterans, remember that, on Memorial Day, John McCain openly opposed Virginia Senator Jim Webb's G.I. bill that will increase benefits to service members who return from Iraq and Afghanistan. McCain used the lame argument that the bill would "encourage people to choose to become noncommissioned officers," and would thereby "hurt the military and our country." (WaPo)
When Obama disagreed with McCain's position on Webb's bill, McCain shot back by challenging Obama's experience, and knowledge...
(see above link for rest of article) By Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
Do We Believe Mark Crispin Miller?
Prof. Miller has another new book out, with a lot of documentation against the voting machines of the last election. He believes that the voting irregularities in Ohio in the last major election, and various irregularities of other states, are the product of the election reform action taken after the 2000 election "Help America Vote" He demonstrates that by hiring these voting machine companies, we have handed over control to them, with no ability for oversight of the voting process or re-count, etc. Recently, one of these companies came out in the media to state that they could not guarantee that votes could not be lost or changed. I believe this should not go unchallenged . I think Oregon has the right idea. Everyone votes by mail, the vote is counted the old fashioned way, by hand. Prof. Miller has another new book out, with a lot of documentation against the voting machines of the last election. He believes that... more
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From an American Airman in Iraq
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
The below e-mail was forwarded to me by author Mike Palecek who has given permission to share it with you:
Dear Mike:
We have read your articles, and when I say we I mean myself with my fellow soldiers, and to be blunt, your (sic) pissing us off. You talk about war, the military, and government as if we're just screwin' the country and out for some laughs.
First the thing about oil in Iraq, GET A FUCKING CLUE! We found 100% pure pesticide...know what that's used for? BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS. They were moving the stuff out before we got there...well, most of it anyway. And a country that plans, encourages, or aids in any way to terrorism is a direct threat to the United States.
And on a positive note, the people over there are no longer under rule by a heartless dictator. Stop looking at the picture the liberals are trying to paint to everyone because they want the white house....people are happy over there...you drive around town and they still wave and smile at you saying thank you.
If only Americans were like those people...because they know how precious freedom is. And we are fighting for your freedom. We just happened to get in there before it became a larger threat...that's the way its done. If you think that what we are doing over there is nothing more than trying to get ourselves some oil, then I suggest that you put your boots on the line, gear up, and charge into the frontlines with us so you will then fully understand.
But that's the problem right there. Nobody can fully understand until they have been in our shoes and know what its like. I thought I knew but I was wrong. So all we ask is for your FULL support, a thankfull (sic) attitude, and your prayers for all the soldiers that are standing fast in the path of the enemy ready to kill for you.
Because of us you will never know what it is like to hold a weapon in your hand and have to kill for your freedom.
We don't enjoy killing, but we take great pride in why we are doing it. We are United States Soldiers (sic) and we defend your freedom wherever we go.
Airman Blake French
United States Air Force
Mike Palecek's response was:
"Dear Blake,
You and your fellow soldiers are murderers. Someone should have told you by now. Sorry to have to be the one.
Mike"
My response to Mike and Airman French is:
You know it's funny (figuratively) how many of these air force guys enjoy their work. It's odd how the human mind is able to rationalize all kinds of things like why it's okay to look someone in the eye and shoot them, in Baghdad, and get a medal when putting a bullet through someone's skull in the South Bronx gets you a one way ticket to death row.
It's a kind of psychological boot camp that soldiers go through that makes the marrow in their senses harden, and calcify with no hope of detoxification when they return to home soil, but only more deeply entrenched pathology for which we all take responsibility. We, their teachers, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, classmates, pediatricians; we who replace the fillings in their teeth, and fill their childhoods with biblical axioms like "Thou Shalt Not Kill," we then turn them loose, and tell them anything goes in the name of protecting freedom; a freedom which has become yet another abstraction not unlike terror itself.
Guns and roses is no longer just the name of a rock group, but a way of life, a mindset that eroticizes weaponry, and war, with a social infantilism that is as inescapable as it is chilling.
(see above link for entire article) By Jayne Lyn Stahl The below e-mail was forwarded to me by author Mike Palecek who has given permission to share it with you: ... more -
Stolen Elections
And you wonder why she doesn't get on TV very often... She talks about the things most Americans don't want to think about.
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These Are The Folks
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
These are the folks who brought us bankruptcy "reform" which enables the credit card companies to collect their gargantuan fees from average working men and women in this country who happen to fall on bad times, and need credit to help them out.
These are the same folks who have profited from the sacrifice of more than 4,000 service men and women in the name of a war that they knew was irrelevant, and purported only to bring about profit, and gross capital gain to military contractors, and soldiers of fortune.
These are the folks who invented "extraordinary rendition," and who tweaked the Geneva Conventions such that long held practices like waterboarding were no longer to be considered torture.
These are the folks who came up with the Military Commissions Act to nullify the War Crimes Act of 1994, thereby granting themselves immunity from being held criminally liable for their war crimes.
These are the folks who will get to retire, and live out their lives, at taxpayer expense, and whose parting gift is saddling every taxpayer with more than $3500 to let those, on Wall Street, who have managed to elude accountability for a generation, or more, off the hook.
This is your President and Vice President, America. This is your President and Vice President on drugs---the drug of power. Hold them accountable, before they ride off into the sunset with your IRAs; hold them responsible before they run off with your history to build their presidential libraries, and leave you holding the bag By Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
Revolution on the Installment Plan
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
If you're like me, you, too, are still waiting for the revolution we were promised, back in 2000, when the Supremes stole the election, and it was "fascists night out..."
Back then, those fundamentalists on the Left were certain that when we were robbed of our privacy, free speech, a dissenting media, and due process, when the credit card companies scalped us with their egregious 30% rates, when our bosses paid less in taxes than we did, people would show up in outrage. Instead, they took to their trailers, and reality TV, with the result being that more Americans today think of Marx as a comic with the curly hair. Even what's left of the Left was too busy reading Marcuse, or watching "Gunsmoke" in syndication; too many were text messaging to get off their air mattresses.
Instead of Che Guevara, we got "Sex in the City," and ruminations about revolution were replaced by striving for the perfect orgasm. The 1960's mantra "turn on, tune in, drop out" has been transformed, by Generation I-Pod, into tune out. Not listening has become an artform; not paying for anything is seen now as the first stop on the road to grace, and grace is a Ford Explorer with an endless trunk. By and large, our youngsters have been seduced by technology, and are apoplectic with neutrality.
But, there is good news, after all. We can stop waiting for something that already happened despite the best efforts of the mainstream media to sleep through it. There was a revolution back in 1994, the Republican revolution. Okay, so they bungled the spelling-- revolution became "revelation;" nevertheless a deranged bunch of apocalypse hackers have taken over leaving the rest of us in denial.
You thought only liberal fringe groups would revolt? The McCain-Palin ticket is living proof that Gingrich, Quayle, Frist, and other evangelistas have triumphed; proof that liberals don't have a patent on the revolution; proof that, while no one was looking, not only an election was stolen, but everything that our grandparents fought for, too.
Let's not kid ourselves: the radical change Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and others had in mind may not come with Obama either, but with Obama will come an administration that can at least use spell check, and that will raise taxes on those who have been cannibalizing our paychecks, stock options, and IRAs, for the past two decades, not provide incentives for more gluttony.
Don't believe what he says: "deregulation" is John McCain's middle name, and the mere mention of the words "free market" make Sarah Palin salivate more than the sight of a saturday night special.
The Republican platform has long extolled the virtues of "free market" deregulation, and caused the trickle-down mess we find ourselves in today.
Don't let their populist agitprop fool you--just picture Palin shooting wolves from 20,000 feet, and calling for open season on deer.... that's the Kodac moment we all need to have come election day.
Don't be deceived: should McCain-Palin prevail in November "the land of the free" will become the home of the hunter, and the meek had better run for cover.
Karl Marx would tell you that revolution comes in stages, but even Karl Marx couldn't have predicted this one.
Waiting for the revolution is, indeed, a bit like "Waiting for Godot;" go-dot, go... By Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
Not even a short-term solution
By Jayne Lyn Stahl
Make no mistake, the Democrats, in this election, have got it right. Not only is drilling not a solution, it's not even a short-term solution.
Moreover, the notion that drilling in Alaska, or anywhere else, will produce enough oil to relieve what is, for most of us, colossal pain at the pump applies the same logic as trying to put a bandaid on the trunk of a bleeding elephant.
This is thinking that is not only unsound, but intentionally unsound because the goal is to deflect attention away from longterm solutions and instead put it on a free market fix. Well, hey, guys, we see where free market fixes got us, deregulation, and all the flawed economic policies from Reaganomics on down: the stock market has suffered its greatest decline since 9/11; the credit card empire is falling apart before our very eyes..
But, you ask, what does this have to do with drilling for oil? Everything.
Going back to the future, and undoing all of the efforts at environmental sanity made
in the past two decades just won't cut it anymore. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but your 15 minutes of fame are up.
We have too many empty gas tanks, too many empty refrigerators, and toomany empty dreams as a result of those whose chief goal is to explore ways to enhance their own financial bottom line like Exxon, and Chevron while theaverage working man and woman in this country can barely come up withwhat they need to make it to and from work every day.
We need leadership with vision, not just a plan. We need a president who looks to alternative energy the way John F. Kennedy looked to exploring outer space. Only those who respect dreams, not those who worship schemes. need apply.
Give tax incentives, not to those whose gluttony has led to the all but certain decimation of civilization as we know it, but to those who look for alternatives for how we consume, and how we grow, energy. By Jayne Lyn Stahl ... more -
George W. Bush, the sequel...
Sarah Palin, the Republicans pick for vice president (er, president?) may someday be known as George W. Bush, the sequel.
Mind you, the comparisons to Dick Cheney wear thin in a hurry, given the Alaska governor can bluff her way through the Bush doctrine which is more than one can say about the current vice president.
Rest assured that the novacaine, from the Bush years, will wear off as quickly if McCain/Palin are allowed to triumph, and we are about to lose the few rights we have left like a couple of loose molars.
Yes, guaranteed, too, by the end of a McCain/Palin's first term, the legacy of George W. Bush will be that of a "compassionate conservative."
Keep this in mind when going to the polls in November: a vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin is not a vote for Harry Truman, but for Joe McCarthy on steroids.
(by Jayne Lyn Stahl) Sarah Palin, the Republicans pick for vice president (er, president?) may someday be known as George W. Bush, the sequel. ... more -
Running by the Numbers
by Jayne Lyn Stahl
After Thursday night's interview with ABC, one thing is clear--Sarah Palin is running by the numbers.
And, if you're Sarah Palin, running by the numbers means:
1) Repeating your interviewer's name, "Charlie" several times to show that you have that personal touch. And, more importantly, to deflect attention away from the fact that you still believe Cuba is in the Balkans.
2) Plowing right through a question that you don't know the answer to without even blinking. If you blink, people will know that you have teleprompters everywhere even in the bathroom.
3) Repeating keywords like "Islamic," "extremists," and "terrorists" as often as possible.
4) Being absolutely sure not to deviate from accepted party line when it comes to mispronouncing words like nu-cu-lar, and eye-rack (Iraq).
5) Invoking the name "John McCain" more than God (that is, until after the election)
6) Making sure to wear reading glasses, so people will think you really read, but never admitting to reading newspapers. We wouldn't want to distance ourselves that much from the current commander-in-chief. (Palin admitted she knows about as much about eye-rack as her running mate knows about the economy.)
7) Working to simulate dissent, so people won't see you as that yes man in a skirt. (keep in mind that Madame Payless declares her difference from McCain who opposes ANWAR. (watch for that flip flop, too, after --gawd forbid--inauguration day.) Make "drill, baby, drill" the national anthem.
8) Employing catch phrases like government that is "on the side of the people" without clarifying which people you are talking about.
9) Calling Russia "our next door neighbor" while, at the same time, declaring the need to stand tough on Georgian autonomy. This gives just enough wiggle room for illegal breaking and entering, something the Bush doctrine doesn't expressly state, but something this president clearly considers being neighborly.
10) Embracing the war on terror, yet admitting that some "mistakes" were made like, for instance, invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, and confusing Saddam Hussein with bin Laden, but, hey, this is a country discovered by a dude with a bad sense of direction.
11) Discreetly making inquiry in your local library about banning books, and asking a longtime library staffer how she would handle censorship, and when called on it, saying that any questions about pulling questionable books from the shelves were only hypothetical.
12) Violating your state's open records act as a dress rehearsal for breaking the presidential records act by refusing to turn over more than 1,000 e-mails that might prove ethics violations showing real aptitude for being our next Redactor-in-Chief.
13) Using the power of your office to strongarm anyone who crosses you, or your family, even members of the press, and never confusing a campaign ad with a Cialis commercial.
14) Saying you're for life, but meaning you're only for certain forms of life---for life of a fetus, but not that of wildlife, or that of your teenage daughter who chooses her own future over that of a one-inch embryo. Saying you're for life, but denying access to life-saving medications to clinics, worldwide, who refuse to cooperate with abstinence-only sex education.
15) Showing just enough moxie, and twinkle, to convince people you have a mind of your own when really you are a hired mouth, and a good one.
After all, running by the numbers means counting on people not to pay attention to anything of substance, but only what will fill the front page of a tabloid, and is the only hope McCain/Palin have for victory in November. by Jayne Lyn Stahl After Thursday night's interview with ABC, one thing is clear--Sarah Palin is running by the numbers. ... more -
"Royalty in Kind" programs
Today's quote comes from McClatchy newspapers:
Brandishing a copy of the inspector general's report, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said Wednesday. "It's bad enough that the government employees who oversee offshore oil drilling are literally and figuratively in bed with Big Oil, the rest of the U.S. government doesn't need to jump in bed with them."
Think of this the next time you hear the Republican presidential campaign mantra, "Drill, baby, drill." Yes, indeed, we have had enough of their "Royalty in Kind" programs! Today's quote comes from McClatchy newspapers: ... more
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American Politics
