Holy Palin! Xians Pray to Golden Calf to "Save" Economy, "Convert" Pagan "Liberty"

Just when you think you've seen it all, the sheer anti-logic of the "evangelical wing" - or perhaps I should say "wings" - is going out of its way to appear at the apex of hypocrisy after declaring, innocently enough, a “Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies", and then praying at the feet of a "Golden" - well, actually bronze - statue of a Bull, originally set up to satirize Wall Street Greed. Wonkette noticed the Biblical proportions of this thing... According to the guy who dreamed this all up,

“We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems.”

Apparently, the commandment not to worship idols was lost on these guys. How could they have been blinded to this?
Maybe they were inspired by the Osteens' pray-for-stuff philosophy:

Over and over, in sermons, books and television interviews, the Osteens repeat their most firmly held beliefs. If you pray to Jesus, you'll get what you want.

Which, however, ignores such things as, say, the Ten Commandments. Religion for them is very much into material stuff, as when Victoria O was asked about religion per se:

When I asked her how she kept her two children interested in church, she answered that even though they were a broccoli and lean-meats household, she gave them doughnuts as a special treat on Sundays.

She came up with doughnuts - (what elitist wrote that? DONUTS it is) - as a way to be "interested in church". This donut-faith connection shows the shallowness that could easily pray to a Golden Calf and miss the obvious. On the one hand, a bull. On the other, donuts.

Meanwhile, we are waiting with baited breath for Sarah Palin to stop the racism, violence- and hate-mongering that her crowds revel in. Here is the latest in a depressingly long line of such expressions.

A hangman's noose was found near an election sign for Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama posted near Clermont, Fla., police say.
...
"It's unbearably heinous; it's like having the KKK right here in Clermont," resident Barbara Reed said, referring to the Ku Klux Klan white supremacy group.

Where's Palin and her Xian crowd? Praying for "socialism from space". Or maybe she's getting some kids to bus in to fill out McCain's rallies. Better yet, she might just fade away?

It turns out, the only thing that's actually working for the McCain campaign is the daily inciting of rage, fear and hatred among the easily-led gomers lined up outside of Sarah Palin's rallies. I repeat. The one thing that appears to be working nicely for Sarah Palin and John McCain right now is the really evil and divisive stuff.

And we simply can't allow Sarah Palin's fear-mongering -- her Neo-McCarthyism and her Neo-Southern Strategy -- to ultimately be the one successful thing about this otherwise laughable McCain campaign. We can't let this be the one thing that might win the election for the Republican ticket.

And of course, there's that nasty Statue of Liberty, and the illegal immigrants it brings in. Would Sarah Palin sell that, too, on eBay? Or maybe just "convert" it, and "save" Wall Street from its evil, while they're at it.

Maybe those same evangelicals would be wiser to pray - no donuts, no bull - for an end to the hatred and narrow-mindedness in their own hearts.

Mutiny on the McCain Express: Palinites Form "Insurgency" Within Campaign

This from Huffpo:

Politico's Ben Smith reports on the internal tensions that are roiling the McCain campaign, with many Palin allies voicing their unhappiness at how the campaign has been run. According to Smith, there are now "stirrings of a Palin insurgency."

This from Politico:

Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image -- even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.

"She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements and decisions.[...]

Don't tell me even Palin isn't all that thrilled with McCain at this point?

Brave Anti-War Military Mom Attacked at Palin Rally

Wait, wait! By "attacked", I mean treated with steady hostility until "sheriffs" could whisk her out of the area as stealthily as possible - even though she had a ticket, and all she was doing was holding up a sign that said "Troops Home Now" and wearing a protest T-Shirt. But what's stunning in this story is the level of hostility towards free speech.

What constitution do these guys hold their alliegiance to? Blackwater USA?

Pat Alviso tells her story in her own words here, and the following is just an excerpt:

Today I decided that I needed to see the great communicator Sarah Palin in person at the giant Home Depot Stadium in Carson, and voice my opposition to the many public statements she has made recently about supporting the troops. The implication here is that she is, in effect, ready to abandon our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, supporting the troops means you leave them there. No need to have a reason. You see, my Marine son, Beto, has already done two tours in Iraq and is about to be deployed for his third. This is why I found it particularly offensive when she said at the debate that we just can't fly the "white flag of surrender".

And so I felt compelled to brave a sea of red, right-wing, Palin worshipping republicans who were sure to throw me out of the arena. I was able to get a ticket from a passerby who didn't want to use her ticket. I had not planned to get into the event, but it seemed that destiny was calling, so dutifully covered up my Military Families Speak Out T-shirt and joined the flag waving crowd entering the Home Depot Stadium. After all, if my son can just buck up and go out for another tour, I can do this.

While waiting for Sarah, she overheard some nasty conversations that set the tone:

A guy behind me was actually trying to impress his friends by joking that he tried to run over those Obama people on the way in, but didn't, and said if he had, he would have put the car in reverse and run over them twice. I cringed. Then I felt sad because a guy was sitting next to me with his two pre-teen girls. The girls looked at their daddy and waited for his response. The dad laughed at the car joke and so they echoed his laugh. They waited, but got the signal.

Once they catch sight of her sign and pink T-Shirt, the crowd gets ugly.

I couldn't stand it. I just couldn't let her use her son's name again to justify this war. She would be sure to mention that because her son got the orders to go to Iraq, just like mine did , that it's patriotic to keep sending them. That's it. That's the only reason to continue the war- because they are already there. The lesson for them is say nothing, let the senseless slaughter go on indefinitely or your don't support the troops.

That was it for me. The crowd got quiet. I held my sign up and took off my outer sweatshirt. I was surprised how long it took for them to catch up with me. About two applause lengths. My neighbors started asking me to put down the sign. I did off and on, but when others put their signs up, mine went up too. Then two staffers in the red shirts and brown khakis trod past the dear old lady and put their sign over mine and a man, also a staffer, sat in my seat. I couldn't sit back down. One person grabbed my "Troops Home Now" sign, and tore part of it. Then the crowd started turning on me like a McCarthy party on a commie. The rest of the sign got ripped out of my hands and someone hit me with a red pom pom! Two quite older men started yelling at me to leave. One kept screaming right in my ear , "USA", trying to hurt my ear. Then the seat stealing staffer asked me if I had a ticket. I told him I had one. When he asked me to give it to him, I went to get it from my purse and then thought better and said , " No, I have one all right, but you took my seat and they took my sign and you will take my ticket. Besides, I am not doing anything disruptive!"

This wasn't gonna be good.

More folks screamed for me to go, making more noise and fuss than I ever could. Even the sweet old lady turned on me. "Get her out of her. I don't want her here", she said in her new-found authoritative voice. Finally, Mutt , (or was if Jeff?) showed up asking me to leave or they would get the sheriffs. Once again I reminded them that I wasn't doing anything wrong. The man, the daddy of the pre-teens, told them to leave me alone and that I was entitled to my opinion and he just wanted to hear Palin. But no, the sheriffs came.

What is it about Republicans that makes them so angry about the First Amendment?

Then again, this is a "pep rally", as we used to say in the 60's. It's like cheerleading for the wrong team at a sports game. The response is the same. And protesting at a rally like that isn't going to change anyone's team - let alone their mind.

Dems, Do Like Obama: Ignore Palin Entirely

The moment Sarah Palin walked into the presidential race, everything went haywire. That's precisely her purpose: to confuse, distract, rile up, titillate, and exasperate the American public to the point that they might just, in one mindless moment at the polls, vote for John McCain/Sarah Palin. All we need, right? in a political campaign is more pitbulls - described loosely as animals bred to fight to the death, mindlessly, on "guts" alone. Killer instinct. They may be nice on one side, but don't press them...they don't need minds, they need revenge. Sarah Palin's not all that, but she tries real, real hard, which is in some ways worse.

John McCain's actual message is a repeat of George Bush's message. Insofar as he is a "Maverick", it's really only an image thing, not a substance thing. At best, it means he'll gamble more often. As in "...Maverick is his name...luck is his companion, gambling is his game..." And if that's "best" in times like this with the economy melting down like a terminated cyborg, what's worst?

So with a message - "tax breaks for the rich, tough breaks for the rest" - that doesn't resonate, and with a delivery style that resembles that of a depressed person, he needs someone so manic, so mindless, that all messages, all issues get sucked into some crazy vortex.

That's Sarah Palin.

Unless we ignore her. Completely. Not a single damn word. No comment. Let her rant, rave, be cutesy, folksy, show off her incontrovertible ignorance and incompetence for the job she's trying to be a shaky heartbeat from. She makes that point.

I believe there are enough intelligent people who understand she's not going to help the economy, the war in Iraq, the bloated Pentagon, the healthcare system, or even, for that matter, Joe the Plumber. She's only going to help poll numbers for John McCain if enough white guys like her legs. And that has nothing to do with helping women, most of whom are for Obama on issues. I agree with John Cusack who said,

McCain won't just be more of the same -- it will be worse than Bush-Cheney -- using the disasters of the past eight years and the actual crises we face to double down on the American Enterprise/Heritage Foundation vision of government that desires, as Grover Norquist said, to shrink government until "we can drown it in a bathtub."

I would recommend a return visit to the groundbreaking Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.

McCain, who said he knows nothing about economics, will surely hand over the reins to the Friedmanites and neoconservatives who have sent the country on a path to ruin. Anyone looking at his team could tell you that. Palin and the interests she represents are even further to the right.

Now, no one in their right mind -- including reasonable independents and Republicans -- wants to double down on neocon ideology, but here comes the "maverick" and his economic advisers to use the crises we face to implement more "change" and "reform" to the system by privatizing everything in sight. Is this what the American people want? When they are aware of it, the answer is always no. It's the same bullshit re-branded.

Great point, Kusack! McCain is a neocon in fake "Maverick" clothing, and needs to be exposed. Palin is being used as a sexy "libertarian" draw, but in reality doesn't have the slightest idea what's going on, let alone what she would do about it.

Ruin the government you are purporting to run and turn it over to privatization frenzy, creating a shadow government of private corporate rule. That's the whole idea.

So let's brand bust this maverick gibberish but understand the coded language that belies their true mission... we should take them at the true meaning of their words.

Not just more of the same -- worse than the same. Times of crisis are great opportunities to implement the radical agendas we usually reject.

Even conservatives, true conservatives, don't wish death to America. By "less government", do we mean the Department of Homeland Security or surveillance of regular Americans? Or being "served" by Blackwater? Let's gut taxes so we don't "spend" in fixing crumbling infrastructure or health care or education or even alternative energy? So where's the money for the Republicans' beloved war supposed to come from, if most of the budget is tanked in bailing out the robber barons you didn't want to "spend" a dime regulating or at least holding accountable for their actions? Is that the Republican "take" on, say, the morals of the ten commandments?

Obama is no extremist or even particularly "liberal", as painted falsely by the lying McCain/Palin team. But McCain and Palin ARE extremist, right-wing extremist, and America can't endure another year of this trash, let alone four. So let's all ignore the much-hyped story of Palintology and vote by conscience ... for the children who'll have to live with our decision.

Palin Palling Around With "Terrorists", Too???

This guilt by association thing has gotten out of hand, with Sarah Palin lambasting Barack Obama for his supposed "association" with Bill Ayers, who was a Weatherman radical in the '60's when Obama was 8 years old. Now Palin, too, can enjoy her own "guilt by association"! CNN's Rick Sanchez, much to the chagrin and angst of the McCain campaign, brought out Palin's strong ties to the Alaska Independence Party, which advocates ... seceding from the Union! Yes, you got it - Sarah's been palling around with guys who hate the United States so much they want to secede from it, cut ties, become a separate nation of Alaska. Unionists, anyone?

All 3 videos are here - one of the CNN show video, one of Sarah Palin addressing the A.I.P., and one of its founder, Joe Vogler, founder of the A.I.P.

Full report in Salon is here...

Mark Chryson, 51, former chairman of the Alaska Independence Party, surprised Salon reporters when

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."

Take a good look. This is the guy who helped Sarah Palin get to where he is today.

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.

Secessionist movements in the deep South?? Is this what they mean by the "South Will Rise Again"? Against whom??? Well, it doesn't stop there.

Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution's language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as "Black Helicopter Steve," to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. "Every time I showed up her door was open," said Chryson. "And that policy continued when she became governor."

"Anti-government militias"??? Doesn't that constitute right-wing terrorism? Remember Oklahoma City and Tim McVeigh... it was called "domestic terrorism"... Seems that Sarah Palin not only "pals around" with people who could be considered "terrorists", but helps to promote their policies, ideologies, and pet projects or fight their pet peeves, as the case may be. This is a far stronger "connection" than the hazy, sleazily-made "connection" they force-feed on the public of Obama and Ayers.

So what about Joe Vogler, the Godfather of the AIP? Godfather? No, he was the Original "Maverick"!

The AIP was born of the vision of "Old Joe" Vogler, a hard-bitten former gold miner who hated the government of the United States almost as much as he hated wolves and environmentalists. His resentment peaked during the early 1970s when the federal government began installing Alaska's oil and gas pipeline. Fueled by raw rage -- "The United States has made a colony of Alaska," he told author John McPhee in 1977 -- Vogler declared a maverick candidacy for the governorship in 1982. Though he lost, Old Joe became a force to be reckoned with, as well as a constant source of amusement for Alaska's political class. During a gubernatorial debate in 1982, Vogler proposed using nuclear weapons to obliterate the glaciers blocking roadways to Juneau. "There's gold under there!" he exclaimed.

Oh no! Don't tell me Sarah Palin "pals around" with folks who hate America! Where does that put "Country First"? I guess she agreed to go with McCain for the chance at Big Power ... a pretty big draw, I might add. But if she's gonna get nasty about Obama's alleged associations, we have the full right, and in fact, responsibility, to get real, real close and have a critical look at her associations, too. And they don't look all that, shall we say, patriotic, or even anti-terrorist. Oh, and speaking of terrorists or alleged terrorists, how about this?

With sponsorship from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vogler was scheduled to present his case for Alaskan secession before the United Nations General Assembly in the late spring of 1993. But before he could, Old Joe's long, strange political career ended tragically that May when he was murdered by a fellow secessionist.

Yeah, it wasn't a threat. It was a damn serious thing, this secessionist thing. This guy went international to leave the United States, literally, and become another separate nation of Alaska. And it's his party that continues to haunt our stone-throwing, accusing, not-so-innocent-herself Sarah Palin.

Let the voter beware.

John McCain: Fake Maverick, Not-Quite-That-Heroic Narcissist

This thorough and thoroughly damning analysis of the Republican ticket is worth reading whatever your political interests.

It begins with a comparison between John McCain and John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam.

There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam — call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

The two men then discuss their future plans, where Dramesi wants to go to the Middle East, which he believes will be "some problem" for America. McCain, on the other hands, is headed for Rio, where he believes he has a "better chance of getting laid." Which, according to his own autobiography, was a successful effort on McCain's part.

Dramesi on McCain?

"McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man," Dramesi says today. "But he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in."

Is this the man we want for President?

This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather.

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

McCain has shown himself to be the consummate hypocrite: creating a heroic image on the one hand bolstered by bold lies, and pandering to whatever interests suits him best on the other hand, as he openly caved on virtually all his so-called "maverick" principles - bi-partisanship, taking the "high road", straight talk, to name a few - once he got in sight of the Republican nomination for President. Since then, he has been on the low road, sacrificing his country's interests for his political gain, with a cynical slogan of "country first."

Few politicians have so actively, or successfully, crafted their own myth of greatness.

The hypocrisy is showcased in his political race for the Presidency.

We have now watched McCain run twice for president. The first time he positioned himself as a principled centrist and decried the politics of Karl Rove and the influence of the religious right, imploring voters to judge candidates "by the example we set, by the way we conduct our campaigns, by the way we personally practice politics." After he lost in 2000, he jagged hard to the left — breaking with the president over taxes, drilling, judicial appointments, even flirting with joining the Democratic Party.

In his current campaign, however, McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000. He has embraced those he once denounced as "agents of intolerance," promised more drilling and deeper tax cuts, even compromised his vaunted opposition to torture.

Now that's the lowest blow of all.

Intent on winning the presidency at all costs, he has reassembled the very team that so viciously smeared him and his family eight years ago, selecting as his running mate a born-again moose hunter whose only qualification for office is her ability to electrify Rove's base. And he has engaged in a "practice of politics" so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it, saying that the outright lies in McCain's campaign ads go "too far" and fail the "truth test."

Man of principle? Not John McCain. Not in the least.
Read more...

It's well worth it.

Gosh! You Bet! Sarah Palin's Debate Flowchart

This picture is worth literally reams of gibberish.

Is Sarah Palin Right for Toughest Job On Planet?

With the economy in tatters, the war in Iraq surging towards how-to-get-out-without-looking-like-fools - not to mention the Aftermath, the carnage of a destroyed nation, and foreign policy run by the Pentagon at multi-trillion-dollar "guaranteed" funding, is Sarah Palin the one we want in charge?

This quote may be old news, but it's worth repeating. With the impossibly complex decisions facing the next U.S. president, who really would want Sarah Palin in a position to possibly be that person? Then, would the country by run by committee? And who would set the agenda? It would have to be someone who was never elected - a Cheney-like, shadowy back-room sort of advisor, or set of advisors. Is that really democracy?

CNN's Jack Cafferty commented: "If John McCain wins, this woman will be one 72-year-old's heartbeat away from being president of the United States. And if that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should… I'm 65 and have been covering politics...for a long time. That is one of the most pathetic pieces of tape I have ever seen for someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country." (A commenter on Cafferty's blog wrote that he felt "sorry and embarrassed for Sarah" because "McCain has sucked her into an 'opportunity' akin to a sub-prime mortgage situation on a house she cannot afford.")

Our problems need more than spunk, more than enthusiasm, more than supply-side cheerleading. Doesn't any Republican see the use of the human mind?

How Did We Miss This? Conservatives Blast Palin!

Yes, it's true! Sarah Palin's obvious incompetence has finally sunk in after the fireworks blew out, and even conservatives like Kathleen Parker admitted that she is not up to the job:

As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

And as everyone knows, McCain's 72 years, marked lately by a bout with the deadly cancer melanoma, are right there on the precipice of the grave: the question of the veep having to replace him becomes all the more significant in his case.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”

Here's a conservative woman who wanted with all her heart to embrace Palin as part of the McCain team. But she just can't. It's too great a stretch. Palin is not up to the job - she's waayy over her head.

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.

If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.

What to do?

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

I'm not usually a fan of Parker and don't often share her views. But here we can agree...the Palin pick was a total disaster, and who knows how the GOP will crawl out of it? It says a lot about John McCain and his ability to make important executive decisions. That ability looks very politically-motivated, showboating, emotional, and not suitable for the leadership position he seeks. In the meantime, the GOP is stuck with another bomb to bury. They've been awfully busy with their financial landslides, housing market implosion and lie-driven war debacle to have to now deal with the delicate issue of a landmark choice, a suddenly-beloved woman Veep-pick returning gracefully into the Alaskan sunset. Maybe they should find a dentist.

GOP Convention a Lie-Fest Unchallenged by Media

The Republican Party's "strategy" is blatant lying about the Other Party and its Candidate, having nothing of its own to offer except the failed "concepts" of giving tax breaks to the rich, euphemistically referred to as "business" - note: neither "small" nor "big" - and pouring what's left - the lifeblood of the middle class - into overseas military adventures that benefit a few war profiteers in the upper crust of Republicandom and spill the blood of countless people for whom they care, apparently, more about as places to drape flags when they die and can be "praised for their sacrifice" than their actual life-problems.

The lies about Obama are grotesque, obvious, and need to be attacked, because nobody in the media is apparently interested in truth enough to do it.

Lie #1, from Bush-speechwriter-mouthpiece Sarah Palin:

"There is much to like and admire about our opponent. 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."

Oh yeah? What about this:

Here are three numbers every Obama supporter needs to know by heart:

820 and 427 and 152

820 is the number of 4laws 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.
152 is the most recent tally of the number of bills that Senator Obama has authored.
You can see his current legislative record here. Three of them, including S. 3558 ("A bill to provide for enhanced food-borne illness surveillance and food safety capacity") were moved upon just last week.

Actually, it's not hard to find bills by Obama that qualify both as major, and as reforms. As Andrew Sullivan points out:

...it seems extremely weird that she should believe that Obama's record is a total zero.

At her first press conference, why not ask her why she said that Obama has never passed a single reform, when he passed the 2007 Ethics Reform, described by many as the most sweeping package of its kind since Watergate. Of course, she doesn't know. She was given this speech. But she should be asked to respond to the question of why she said something patently untrue to the entire country.

As for Obama's community organizer experience, which Palin dismissed as being comparable to her stint as mayor of Wasilla, AK, check this out:

Governor Palin, Senator McCain and the whole RNC should be ashamed of themselves. They call themselves Christians and having high moral standards, but then they slam Senator Obama for not having executive experience when he was community organizing as the original Director of Developing Communities Project. For those of you who don't know what the project is, go here: Barack Obama not only grew the DCP from himself as the sole person to 13 total employees in his three years there, he also increased revenue from $70,000 annually to $400,000 annually. The area he served has well over 100,000 people. He did this all at the age of 22 while Governor Pailin was still a teenager.

The DCP is alive and well today with 32 employees and directors. It provides literacy assistance to the poor, anti-drug education to the young, and leadership training for young women as well as helping to empower the people of the South Side of Chicago to take control over their lives. Besides their children, has either Senator McCain or Governor Palin started something from scratch and built it into something independent of themselves. In three years from age 22 to 25 Senator Obama did something that most business leaders only dream of: created a self-sustaining entity, did it with the support of the community, for the benefit of all involved and that is alive and well after 23 years.

And say, did anyone mention the impressive feat of grassroots organizing that brought Barack Obama to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States? That alone shows leadership skills - the sort of skill needed in a democracy, not an autocracy - that makes John McCain, he of many "across the aisle" years, look inexperienced.

Speaking of which, how about this:

Go to http://thomas.loc.gov and "Browse Bills By Sponsors" in the middle of the page - from there, you can see the bills currently in congress sponsored by each member. In this tally, could you guess who has more bills sponsored - Obama or McSame?

The count is 129 - 38. Obama wins AGAIN!

Uygur: What if Bristol Palin Was Black?

Christian-right leaders and conservative stalwarts have praised the decision of Bristol Palin, the daughter of Governor Sarah Palin, to carry her child to term. She is 17 and conceived this child out of wedlock. Now imagine she wasn't the daughter of a prominent Republican politician but an average person. Now imagine she was black.
What do you think conservatives would have to say about her? "Typical, urban youth with no sense of responsibility raised with loose morals who plans to depend on the state to take care of her child." You know it. It's not within dispute. That's exactly what they would say.

Read more...