An open letter to Pastor Jody Hice

I believe, as a Christian Democrat, that when you pit congregants and Christians against one another from the pulpit, you do nothing to further understanding or love for thy neighbor. Jesus spoke out for those who were suffering, the poor, and society's outcasts. Isn't it more beneficial to the world that you do the same, as a man of God? Sir, we live in a democracy, not a theocracy, and when you start believing that some Christians are better Christians because of their political beliefs, you are no longer preaching God's word, but your own.

McCain's ties to gambling make me wonder where evangelicals values truly lie. Talk the talk, yet no walking the walk?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/us/politics/28gambling-web.html?ref=us

Evangelicals and Conservatives should REALLY know their candidate. Christian Coalition members fought hard against him in 2000 because of his ties to gambling, yet they're now ready to vote for him and sidestep proclaimed values? He's the "maverick" who wielded his power to stick it to the guys who screwed him in South Carolina. Was he really in it for the Indian Nation, or for his own revenge? Revenge seems to be a running theme with the McCain/Palin ticket.

Note: I personally don't oppose gambling and think that it could be a financial bonanza for the city of Cleveland. I think it's an exercise in futility to oppose it, since we are losing millions of tax dollars to Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and most especially, Canada.

Senator McCain, I have a question about your values?

You profess your belief in the American Worker, yet you want to make it easier for corporations by not making them pay their fair share of taxes because you think it will promote those jobs going out of the country. I know of a very successful, multi-billion dollar company that took some of it's production out of the U.S. to find that the work ethic they were accustomed to, wasn't there. The dedication to quality they were accustomed to, wasn't there. The American Worker they were accustomed to, wasn't there. Well, that same company ceased operations and brought back the jobs. So, tell me Senator, instead of giving the benefits to the companies that operate here and employ the American Worker, how about telling the companies the benefits of hiring the American Worker, even if it's at a higher cost, because in the end, the quality and work ethic is worth every penny you pay. You don't have to worry about shutting down operations for a month-long "holiday". You don't have to worry about finding good hardworking people that have pride in their work. You don't have to worry about making babies sick because of melamine in their formula, is that blunt enough for you. It's time the President starts promoting the people!

Now welcome to the world's stage, Sarah Barracuda, show pony extraordinare in the McCain Magic Maverick Tour

So, Sarah finally got her chance to meet with some world leaders, like Hamid Karzai above. What did they talk about you ask? It has been rumored that this exchange above what about Karzai's new baby and their shared experience with newborns. How exactly does that further her campaign's message or give credibility to her "foreign policy" clout? Who the hell knows what they're thinking, but whatever it is, it isn't working. Just keep prancing, just keep prancing, just keep prancing, prancing, prancing....

The Republican National Convention aka The Sisterhood of the Traveling Trophy Wives

I love being lectured to by a bunch of old white men about family values and what it means to be a God-fearing, patriotic American while they have their sweet little trophy wives on their arms, cooing in their ears, boosting their egos by telling them how wonderful they are. Would the First, Second, or Third Wives Clubs like to chime in?

Hockey Moms

M: Hey Sarah!

Sarah: What, M?

M: Do you know the difference between a Democratic hockey mom and a pit bull?

Sarah: What, lipstick?

M: Nah, lipstick and a human brain.

Factcheck.org is the best website to stay informed on reality based politics

This is a public service announcement for responsible education in political truth, especially in regards to the recent Democratic and Republican convention speeches. There was a whole bunch of misleading information, and even some out and out lies, perpetuated by people expecting our respect and voter trust. Buyer beware!

McCain had criticized earmarks from Palin

Three times in recent years, the Arizona senator's lists of 'objectionable' pork spending have included earmarks requested by his new running mate.

By Tom Hamburger, Richard Simon and Janet Hook, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers September 3, 2008

WASILLA, ALASKA -- For much of his long career in Washington, John McCain has been throwing darts at the special spending system known as earmarking, through which powerful members of Congress can deliver federal cash for pet projects back home with little or no public scrutiny. He's even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.

Now, McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, has chosen Palin as his running mate, touting her as a reformer just like him.McCain has made opposition to pork-barrel spending a central theme of his 2008 campaign. "Earmarking deprives federal agencies of scarce resources, at the whim of individual members of Congress," McCain has said.But records show that Palin -- first as mayor of Wasilla and recently as governor of Alaska -- was far from shy about pursuing tens of millions in earmarks for her town, her region and her state.

This year, Palin, who has been governor for nearly 22 months, defended earmarking as a vital part of the legislative system. "The federal budget, in its various manifestations, is incredibly important to us, and congressional earmarks are one aspect of this relationship," she wrote in a newspaper column.

In 2001, McCain's list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town -- one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion.

McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002. The funding was provided to help direct locally grown produce to schools, prisons and other government institutions, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Wasilla received $11.9 million in earmarks from 2000 to 2003. The results of this spending are very apparent today. (The town also benefited from $15 million in federal funds to promote regional rail transportation.)

The community transit center is a landmark: a one-story, tile-fronted building with a drive-through garage. Its fleet of 10 buses provides service throughout the region. Mat-Su Community Transit Agency officials say the building was made possible with a combination of federal money and matching gifts from a private foundation.

Taylor Griffin, a McCain campaign spokesman, said that when Palin became mayor in 1996, "she faced a system that was broken. Small towns like Wasilla in Alaska depended on earmarks to take care of basic needs. . . . That was something that Gov. Palin was alarmed about and was one of the formative experiences that led her toward the reform-oriented stance that she has taken as her career has progressed."

Palin, he said, was "disgusted" that small towns like hers were dependent on earmarks.

Public records paint a different picture:

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 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.

Steven Silver was a former chief of staff for Stevens. After he was hired, Wasilla obtained funding for several projects in 2002, including an additional $600,000 in transportation funding.

That year, a local water and sewer project received $1.5 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, which combs federal spending measures to identify projects inserted by congressional members.

When Palin spoke after McCain introduced her as his running mate at a rally in Ohio last week, she made fun of earmarking. She said she had rejected $223 million in federal funds for a bridge linking Ketchikan to an island with an airport and 50 residents, referring to it by its derogatory label: the "bridge to nowhere."

In the nationally televised speech, she stood by McCain and said, "I've championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we'd build it ourselves."

However, as a candidate for governor in 2006, Palin had backed funding for the bridge. After her election, she killed the much-ridiculed project when it became clear the state had other priorities. She said she would use the federal funds to fill those needs.

This year she submitted to Congress a list of Alaska projects worth $197.8 million, including $2 million to research crab productivity in the Bering Sea and $7.4 million to improve runway lighting at eight Alaska airports. A spokesman said she cut the original list of 54 projects to 31."

So while Sen. McCain was going after cutting earmarks in Washington," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense, "Gov. Palin was going after getting earmarks."

*Need I say more?

McCain's Speech and Sarah's ironic theme song

What a yawn! Even his own party pundits are saying he won't win based on his soaring oratory, and boy were they right! The "across the aisle" rhetoric after listening to Shrill Sarah last night was a pretty disgusting display of pandering to the Independents. Sorry, I just don't buy it.

Ironically they played "Barracuda" by Heart for Sarah Barracuda. When the lyrics fit, I guess????

Barracuda
Heart
(A.Wilson/N.Wilson/R.Fisher)

So this ain't the end - I saw you again today
Had to turn my heart away
You smiled like the Sun - kisses for everyone
and tales - it never fails!

You lying so low in the weeds
Bet you gonna ambush me
You'd have me down on my knees
Wouldn't you, Barracuda?

Back over Time when we were all trying for free
Met up with porpoise and me
No right no wrong you're selling a Song - a name
whisper game

If the real thing don't do the trick
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn it out to the wick
aren't you, Barracuda?

"Sell me sell you" the porpoise said
Dive down deep to save my head
You... I think you got the blues too.

All that night and all the next
Swam without looking back
Made for the western pools -silly fools!


I think they should have listened to the song and lyrics before they adopted this theme for Sarah. Not a wise bunch. roflmao!

John McCain has lost his honor

I have always been very insecure with the idea of John McCain becoming Commander-in-Chief, and were it not for the very words he has spoken being recorded with video, I don't know that most people would believe it. This man is beyond dangerous and now he wishes for us to believe his slogan "Country First"? Or is it "Ambition First", even if that means sacrificing your honor, Sarah Palin, but most importantly, the country you profess to love so much, and the one that I DO, in the process?

Wasn't it flip-flopping that the Repubes used against John Kerry??

Anyone who actually votes for this guy should really re-evaluate their priorities.

The two faces of Joe Lieberman

I guess as long as you're using Obama to help yourself get elected, then he's the man. What a two-faced bastard. And this is who McCain surrounds himself with. Nice.

Things that make you go hmm....

So which is it Sarah? Are you expecting special treatment? You can't have it both ways!

Sarah Who?

All I can say is that the first executive decision McCain wanted to make was not his own. He wanted Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge but caved in to his "handlers". Whatever. Shows your mettle, John. Political pandering to women will not work. Thanks for thinking I'm that gullible. Maverick, my ass.

Sarah Palin is a woman who expects privacy for herself and her family, yet believes that other women shouldn't have that privacy, even after being violated and victimized by a rapist or incestuous pig. What's feministic about that?

Sarah Palin was FOR the "bridge to nowhere" before she was against it. She ran on it to gain her Mayoral position, then bailed out when the Feds weren't going to grant the earmark.

Speaking of earmarks, which McCain has been so outraged by, Ms Palin hired a law firm from Anchorage to help her gain the earmarks that she felt her little burg deserved...6.1 million dollars worth, only $800K less than the city of Boise, who has a population of 190,000. Hmmm, against earmarks and political corruption?

Reports the Chicago Tribune:
This year, Palin, who has been governor for nearly 22 months, defended earmarking as a vital part of the legislative system. "The federal budget, in its various manifestations, is incredibly important to us, and congressional earmarks are one aspect of this relationship," she wrote in a newspaper column.
In 2001, McCain's list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town -- one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion.
McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002. The funding was provided to help direct locally grown produce to schools, prisons and other government institutions, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

So which is it? I'm so confused. This lady has gotten herself into more than she ever bargained for and frankly, her cracks are showing and I can't wait to hear her spout off about the Republicans and then have to debate everything she's said and done.

Why hasn't she allowed herself to be interviewed by the press? Why has she allowed her daughter to be put in this critical light and not expect discussion? Why did she want to secede from the Union as an Independent for Alaska, which is against the constitution of the US, and is what Abraham Lincoln sacrificed so much for? Why is she not scrutinized for rhetoric spoken in her church? Why is she forcing another tragedy on her daughter and this poor 18 year old kid, to further her political ambitions? Why has it not been revealed that baby Daddy is already the father of one? Why has she allowed herself to be involved with people like Ted Stevens, until it wasn't politically prudent?

Many, many, many questions have to be asked and if this woman chose to be vetted by the Press, then that's her problem, not the Media.

(Note: I love how they had Bristol covering her pregnancy with the brother, Trig. Were they really expecting people not to find out?)