Random Thoughts on the Eve of 2010 Elections

What is with Joe Miller's whiskers?  He's never clean shaven but that shadow never grows into a beard.

Why is it that only Teapublican people are caught being violent toward those who hold opposing political views?

If Nevada really dumps Reid for Angle, I will have to excommunicate NV from my "great states to visit" list.

Does anyone really and truly think that restoring Republican dominance in Congress will help the middle class?  Or put a damper on corporate greed and fraud?

Sarah Palin has spawned a slew of new grifters who seem to think they can improve their personal financial situation by running for office, even if they don't win: for example, O'Donnell and Miller.

Why are so many Teapublicans afraid of speaking with the press?  And don't give me that line that the media is controlled by liberals.  It sounds like they just don't want people to learn what they really want to do to our country, otherwise, why not broadcast it at every opportunity?  Same goes for Democrats, by the way.

Does anyone care that our social programs save lives, restore families, and help keep America together?

When did this extreme us vs them begin, with the "great uniter," GWBush?  That's what I think and it's only accelerated from there.

Who gave the Xtians the right to try to impose their "religious" (and yes, I quoted that word on purpose) beliefs on everyone in the country!?  You believe it, you practice it. But in the name of freedom FROM religion, don't try to legislate your beliefs and force everyone to comply.

The most brilliant move made by progressives in the last 5 years is the founding of Republicorp!  No wonder Rand Paul's mob felt like they had to stomp it.

Rachel's show in Alaska was outstanding.  Rachel is outstanding.

Jon Stewart is one in a million.

I'll still vote for Manchin, but it will be in spite of his pro-gun anti-healthcare stance.  Shame on you, Manchin.

Short 'n' Sweet - Presumption

So okay, I was an advanced placement A student. I have kids and was a soccer mom for a time. I was on the board of, and later 2-term president of, an educational non-profit. Later still, I was the president of a for-profit, handcrafted gift importing and distribution company who can list several measurable accomplishments. I was born in the US, have a strong spiritual streak, and attended five colleges. I believe in continuous education. Am I a good candidate for President of the US?

HELL, NO.

I want someone smarter than me, someone much more capable of handling stress, someone who has taken a serious interest in domestic and foreign policy. Someone who is well-studied in economics, the environment, our history and our Constitution. Someone who reads 10 times as many non-fiction books as I do in any given period. Someone who refrains from cheap shots and someone who has the patience and will to keep trying to scale impossible walls with grace and aplomb.

Anyone as provably ill-prepared as Sarah Palin is for any public trust role, much less the highest office in our government, who declares that she would most certainly consider running for the Presidency, must be disabused of that notion with all due haste. Who among you, good readers, figures that based on your ordinary life experience you would make a good President? Certainly not I.

The ego it must take, the self-delusion it implies, for Sarah to entertain such a notion is truly mind-boggling. Where do you get off, Sarah? In spite of what you and some of your minions seem to believe, God doesn't call people into politics. God is not on the side of one nation or another. God doesn't care who wins the Superbowl or who gets the gold in the Olympics, either. And it isn't God's fault that earthquakes and floods happen or snowstorms cripple cities or Down Syndrome babies are conceived. And God will never take sides in a Presidential race. To think otherwise is to spurn the notion that we have "free will."

Love your freedom? Use it to educate yourself... learn how to tell who is a class A charlatan. Hint: who, personally, is raking in the dough?

Why Babygate Matters

There are some people who say they don't care whether or not Sarah Palin gave birth to a 5th child, a son named Trig Paxson Van Palin. I care, and here is why.

Sarah Palin seems to see herself as a national political figure. She's done nothing to discourage any talk about running for President in 2012 or 2016, and in fact, she seems to be eager to promote herself as someone worthy of consideration.

Palin's supporters push for her candidacy and promote the idea on numerous blogs and other Web sites. They support her potential run financially through SarahPAC. I get the feeling they are not all that numerous but they are very vocal. We have to wait until the PAC's first accounting comes out to see how the support translates into dollars.

Even though many voices I respect claim Sarah Palin stands no chance being selected as the Republican nominee, much less winning the Presidency, I'm not confident enough in our mainstream media or our voting machines to think that such a fluke is 100% impossible. Besides, there is always a 3rd party ticket possibility.

I think most reasonable people would acknowledge that Sarah Palin uses people, including her own children, to further her political aims. If she did not give birth to Trig, she is especially using those who are against legal abortions, or those who also have a Down syndrome child, by appealing to them in events across the country. If she did not give birth to Trig, she has been lying to them and everyone else for a long time.

A person who would perpetrate a deception like this would also attempt to deceive on other issues. These are not the morals or ethics I want to see in a President, or in a person who holds any political office for that matter.

Sarah Palin's resume, and her appeal to what are called the core voters in the GOP, rests almost entirely on these "facts:"

1. She is an attractive woman and a mother of five.
2. She chose to give birth to a baby with Down syndrome.
3. She is a Governor.
4. She is knowledgeable about the "energy" issue.
5. She has a "servant's heart."

Point one is in dispute (the mother of five part). Point two is very much in dispute. Point three is true, but her legacy as Governor is still being written and it is so far peppered with incidents that do not reflect well on Sarah Palin's ability to govern wisely and well. That point four is in dispute is apparent if you do even a little research on the topic. That leaves us with point five, but it's not up to me to judge that.

Babygate is about points one and two. I can say with great confidence that the woman shown below could not have given birth to a 6 lb 2 oz baby a few weeks after these pictures were taken:

Sarah Palin on March 14, 2008

Sarah Palin on March 27, 2008

Sarah Palin, first week of April 2008

Babygate researchers have turned up all kinds of additional evidence that increases my confidence. This information is being preserved online at Team Truther as well as several other places. It's not hard to find if you look!

The only evidence to the contrary remains:

1. Sarah said she was pregnant. ("So, it was really great, I was only pregnant a month.")
2. The mysterious Gusty photos taken on one afternoon that appear to show a pregnant Sarah.
3. An ambiguous printed statement released by the McCain campaign purporting to be from Sarah's family doctor.

As for #1—We heard Sarah claim that the Alaska Legislative Council report on Troopergate cleared her of any wrongdoing even when it plainly told us she was guilty of abusing her office as Governor. Sarah also said she turned down the funds for the "bridge to nowhere" but neglected to mention she kept them anyway. And she also let everyone believe she sold the governor's jet on E-Bay for a profit even though she sold it at a loss to a political contributor. Believe what Sarah says at your peril.

As for #2—We know that a woman can appear to be pregnant when she is not. There are many ways to pad oneself under clothing. For some reason, the Gusty images are no longer publicly available. Neither are any other images that show a pregnant Sarah Palin. There are quite a few images that show a not-pregnant Sarah Palin though!

As for #3—Sarah's family doctor has never spoken on the issue even though local news media gave her the opportunity a few times in an attempt to put Babygate to rest. No birth certificate or medical records have ever been released that would back up Sarah's claim of being pregnant with and giving birth to Trig. No hospital birth announcements were published for Trig Paxson Van Palin.

If the Babygate deception was revealed as truth, would Sarah's chances at a national political office be virtually eliminated? My Magic 8 ball says:

That's why Babygate matters to me, and I'd guess that's also why Sarah Palin's supporters are so savage and vicious when anyone brings it up.

[cross-posted at Team Truther]

Off With the Gloves

Sarah Palin,

I've been hoping you would realize the futility of pursuing a national political career.  In fact, I've been waiting for signs that you were going to be content to remain in Alaska and keep "progressing that great State" until you were voted out of office by another candidate for Governor come 2010.  And then I was not going to spend more time on my blog pointing out your weaknesses, foibles, and deceptions.

But then I heard you started your very own political action committee (PAC).

 

And sure enough, you did. I won't link to it, because anyone with access to Google can find it easily enough.  

If that weren't bad enough, a poster at Alaska Daily News (ADN) noticed that you've filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as a presidential candidate for 2012.

 

And I'll be darned if you didn't do that too!  Just so that folks don't think I'm making this up, here's the link to the record image showing your "Office Sought: President" in "Election Year: 2012" filing.

So, quit blaming the media and the bloggers, Sarah.  You entered national politics and you've now clearly stated your intention to remain a contender.  The gloves are off as far as I am concerned, and everything that can be known, or figured out, about you is fair game for exploration and discussion. 

Count on endless replays of Katie Couric interviews and that Sarkozy spoof.  Look for Bellygate to keep on growing.  Watch out for those fresh ethics complaints and a revival of interest in who told the Troopergate truth. Then there's Pebblegate and the elephant in the room, Gaslinegate.  It should be a fun couple of years ahead!

McCain Picks Palin: Lots of Real Stories

Depending on who you read, you'll get a different angle on what "the real story" is around the Republican nominee's VP pick. Here are just a few, accompanied by an image of Sarah Palin in Feb. 2008, reportedly 6+ months pregnant:

1. Sarah Palin's family values
• Endangering her unborn child with Down Syndrome, about to be born prematurely, by flying cross-country instead of seeking qualified medical care once her water broke
• Revealing to the world that her 17 yr old unwed daughter was pregnant, in order to counter viral internet rumors suggesting she had faked her pregnancy to cover the 17 yr old's pregnancy (let that one sink in a bit)
  
• Accepting the McCain campaign's offer to become the vice presidential candidate, a stressful and demanding role, instead of personally taking care of her special needs infant, her 7 yr old daughter, her 14 yr old daughter, and her pregnant 17 yr old daughter
2. Sarah Palin's ethics
   
• Alleged abuse of power as Mayor, firing two city officials and pushing two other city officials out for supporting her opponent in the mayoral election
• Alleged abuse of power as Governor, firing the state's chief law enforcement official because he would not buckle under pressure to fire a state trooper who was involved in a bitter custody battle with her sister
• Alleged abuse of power as Governor, summarily firing her own legislative liaison at the request of her husband who was distressed because the man was dating the soon to be ex-wife of the husband's friend
• Allegedly hacked into fellow Alaskan Oil and Gas Commission member's computer, obtaining 'dirt' on the member who was later fined for doing party work on government computers
• Alleged use of Mayor's office computers to do political work in her unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 2002
  
3. Sarah Palin's ability to govern well
   
• Hiring a deputy administrator to run the mayor's office for her, and leaving the town $20 million in debt when she left
  
• Disbanding the state's Agricultural Board because one of their subcommittees made recommendations she disagreed with, and hiring a new Board that ended up making the same recommendations, after costing the state an additional $900,000
• Replacing Alaska's public safety commissioner (whom she fired) with a man who had to resign two weeks later due when his sexual harassment history emerged, and then giving this man a $10,000 (or $15,000, I've heard both) separation paycheck
  
4. Sarah Palin's education and life experience
   
• Holding only a BS in journalism (1987), with no evidence of continuing education
  
• Obtaining a passport for the first time in 2007 for her only trip overseas to date
  
5. Sarah Palin's religious influence
   
• Exhorting members of her church to pray for a gas pipeline because it was God's will that the pipeline go through
• Supporting teaching creationism in public schools
  
• Attempting to get certain books (on evolution?) banned from her local library while she was Mayor
• Believing that the US Military is doing God's work in Iraq
  
6. Sarah Palin's job history
   
• 1988—briefly worked as a sports reporter
• 1992-1995—Wasilla city council member
• 1996-2001—Mayor of Wasilla (pop. 5469 in 2000)
  
• 2003—Chair of Alaska Oil and Gas Commission, but then resigned
  
• 2003-2005—one of 3 directors of a 527 PAC supporting Ted Stevens
• December 2006-present—Governor of Alaska
7. Sarah Palin's honesty
   
• Ran for Governor on a "build-the-bridge" platform, but after Congress rescinded the earmark, claimed that she was the one who told Congress no thanks on "the bridge to nowhere"
  
• Claimed that no one in the Governor's office had pressured anyone to fire the state trooper (her sister's ex-husband) but later admitted it when e-mails and recorded conversations were released
  
8. Sarah Palin and "Country First"
   
• Associating with the Alaska Independence Party for more than a decade, addressing their convention from her Governor's desk with words of support and encouragement
  
• Happy about her candidacy because it will be "great for Alaska"
  
9. John McCain's wisdom (or absence thereof)
   
• Campaign didn't go through routine vetting process
• McCain met her once
  
• FBI didn't vet her either
  

In other Alaska news, attorneys for embattled Senator Ted Stevens will try to keep certain audio tapes from the jury—saying the FBI illegally wiretapped an Alaska oil contractor and just happened to get Ted on tape 105 times. The irony is delicious.

P.S. Here's a truly terrific blog about Alaska, and Sarah Palin in particular!

The D'vidus Touch

Back when George W. Bush was campaigning to be president he promised he'd be a uniter and not a divider. He wanted to change the tone in Washington. Work with Congress, no matter what political affiliation. Of course, he also promised he would not do nation-building. So where did the hate start?

My take is, cleverly disguised think tanks planted the seeds during the Bill Clinton presidency. Some people became real Clinton-haters. I remember thinking at the time, how rude and cruel and crazy the voices sounded -- calling Clinton a murderer and rapist, a thief and a fraud. Hillary called it a "vast right-wing conspiracy." But eight years ago the words liberal and conservative weren't dirty words. Right-wing and left-wing were both valid political stances. Neo-conservatives did not sit at the main table.

Fast forward to today. So many aspects of our lives are weighed and measured and judged based on whether one calls oneself a Democrat or a Republican. When you testify in a Congressional committee, some lawmaker just has to ask, "Are you a Democrat?" Nevermind that you honorably served a Republican Administration. If you question a GW Bush appointee, or oppose US foreign policy, you deserve to be discounted, swift-boated, and discredited. You get to be called a traitor who deserves public humiliation and there are even some who will call for your hanging.

The US is more divided today than I can ever remember. The right doesn't trust the left any more than the left trusts the right. If you aren't with "them" you're against "them." Evil vs. good. Black vs. white. Dirty liberal pinko-commie hippie weaklings who want peace which equals surrender, vs. strong gun-toting smoke-em-out or just nuke the crap out of 'em, real Amurikans who won't settle for anything but victory.

It is as if GW Bush has the hands of a neo-conservative version of Midas. Everything he touches splits into opposing camps. Here in the US, it's rich vs. poor, corporations vs. workers, right vs. left, business vs. the environment. Iraq used to be united, but now... We have Sunni vs. Shia, Shia vs. Shia, Kurdistan vs. the rest of Iraq, Iraqi people vs. the puppet government that is trying to privatize Iraqi treasure.

Divide and conquer. It works the same at home as it does abroad.

Meet George W. Bush: the man with the D'vidus Touch.

New Congress: Here is Your Mandate

There are three items on your agenda, you who find yourselves elected and in the new majority in the House and Senate. I'll spell them out nice and simple.

1. Create a voting system that is transparent and verifiable.


2. Get the military out of Iraq, and while you're at it, destroy those permanent bases.


3. Begin impeachment proceedings against the lawless elements in the current Bush White House, beginning with Bush himself.

That's it!

If our vote keeps getting hacked, the voice of the people is not heard and we have no representation. It is not enough that this nation's wonderful disgust for "stay the course" actually seated the other party in power. In state after state, no recount was possible because there was no record of the vote other than that contained on proprietary memory cards. In district after district with e-voting machines there was a serious discrepancy between the exit poll data and the reported vote count. If we do not fix this, we should change our name to the Disunited States of Banana Republicland. Fix our voting system now!

We are not fighting "terror" in Iraq. We are creating "terror" in Iraq. We are slaughtering Iraqi people, daily, in massive numbers. We are building colossal bases and a majestic embassy. We are trying to decimate the country of Iraq so we can take over that patch of sand with its oil, so we can threaten other neighboring countries, so we don't have to ask Turkey for permission to base troops for future imperialistic ventures. We MUST get out of Iraq now. Now!

And finally, we cannot accept the President's men -- Alberto Gonzalez, John Yee, et al -- telling us that they think it is legal to torture, legal to wiretap, legal to invade other countries. So what, I should hire a lawyer and then commit murder and use, as my excuse, that my lawyer thought that murder under these circumstances is legal? Hahahahaha. Give me a break. I do not believe, no matter WHO is President, that a "unitary executive" is Constitutional. When the chief executive of a country is allowed to trample on the law he is sworn to uphold, our nation is greatly weakened. Impeach now.

---

Later on you can start working on the rest of the issues, like global warming, health care, financial solvency. But if these BIG THREE don't get fixed first, you're just diddling yourselves over there in D.C.

Support Our Troops: Bring Them Home!

Get them the hell out of Iraq, and Afghanistan for that matter.

As long as our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters are assigned to places like Forward Operating Base Falcon, as long as their jobs involve driving around Bahgdad or Kirkuk or Fallujah in tanks with guns trained on the local population, as long as they are ordered to bust down doors and drag Iraqi citizens out into the street -- bagging their heads and cuffing their wrists -- and haul them off for questioning somewhere, we fertilize their hatred against us.

In fact, given what happened at Abu Ghraib and other holding facilities in Iraq, we lost the Iraqi hearts and minds a long time ago.

A large majority of Iraqis want us to leave.

Our soldiers don't want to be there.

Top military men are in full revolt against the status quo. In an unprecedented display of dismay, they are retiring their commissions early to come out and say that the way the "war" is being waged is a farce.

Yet those responsible for this farce are still in their jobs -- "Yer doin' a good job, Rummy!"

There is an explanation for the disastrous state of affairs in Mesopotamia. Let me preface this by reminding us that nothing we were told in the pre-war buildup has turned out to be true. There were no WMD. Saddam Hussein was not an imminent threat to us or to his neighbors. We were not greeted with flowers. And our invasion and occupation sure as hell cannot be likened to a cakewalk.

There is an explanation for the disastrous state of affairs. We saw the new rationale, the new goalpost, laid out for us in the Chimp's press conference yesterday. Why are we in Iraq now? It is no longer the lofty notion of bringing democracy to the region. We are there now because Iraq is unstable, and we will stay until the job is done, that is, until Iraq reaches a point of "stability." How does that make sense, though ... how is that a reasonable goal?

It's clear that our continued occupation is the cause of instability, violence, chaos, resentment, and attacks. In fact, US intelligence agencies are uniformly of the opinion that we are breeding more terrorists by staying in Iraq. How does it make sense that staying another day will somehow magically change this fact? Simple answer: it doesn't.

There is an explanation for the ongoing disaster: we need an unstable Iraq to justify our continued presence. The longer we stay the more permanent bases we complete. The longer we stay, the more our permanent presence becomes the "facts on the ground." The longer we stay, the more resources in Iraq we can steal. The longer we stay, the more Iraqis who have means will leave the country. The longer we stay, the weaker the rest of the population becomes.

I ask myself, "Is it possible this administration is willing to be called incompetent and delusionary to cover for the real reasons we are there?" I ask myself, "Are the real reasons for our invasion and occupation any different from what they were initially? And if not, why should we believe the administration would tell us the truth now?" I doubt the real reasons are any more politically palatable than they were almost 4 years ago.

All this leads me to think we have only one option now... a military withdrawal, in as orderly a fashion as possible, and as quickly as possible. There are many who say, "But this will create a mess!" Yes, it is likely it will, at least in the near term. And we will have to face it, accept it, and recognize that this is the result of our misguided and mismanaged attempt at empire-building in the Middle East. We have to demand accountability from those responsible.

I thought, and wrote, a long time ago that the ill-conceived invasion was akin to opening Pandora's box. What's done is done. If we feel, as a nation, that we bear the responsibility to fix it, we first have to admit that we cannot fix it with guns and bombs and torture -- the very things that broke it in the first place.

We did break Iraq. On purpose. Our soldiers are not able to fix it, by the very nature of our armed forces. We are not fighting terrorism in Iraq, we are fighting Iraqi citizens. We've helped create a situation that has fractured Iraqi society and civilization. We've helped to pit Sunni against Shi'ite against Kurd.

All the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put Iraq together again.

Bring our troops home now. Anything less is horribly cruel to our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. Anything less continues to hide the disaster we've created, on purpose, with the fiction that somehow our troops can make it better.

It's time we all accepted responsibility and face the music.