A FEW HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR DAYS

Sarah Palin has a book, followed by a movie, about her called UNDEFEATED.  It is not clear what that has to do with Palin since she was defeated in the last presidential election.  Nevertheless, she seems to pop up wherever there is likely to be some publicity for her, regardless about whomever the area is about.  She was NOT in Iowa to steal Bachmann's thunder.  It was just TOTALLY a coincidence that she was there as it was that she was in NH when Romney was campaigning there.

Mark Halpern, usually a highly regarded journalist, called Obama a 'dick'.  Years ago, especially around WW2, no one in their right mind would have stooped so low as to be profane on the air about a sitting president .


The Republicans have gotten pretty bizarre in lock step with Norquist who makes Rove look impotent he is so evil. 

What does Kansas think they are doing with their new regulations on abortion clinics?  Is common sense and adherence to Federal laws really so irrelevant these days?  Regulations requiring reconstruction cannot be done in two days?  Does that surprise us that they think they have found a sneaky way to rid the state totally of abortions?

WHY ARE WOMAN REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS NOT PROTESTING THE CUTBACK IN PLANNED PARENTHOOD?TO PLANNED

As more and more blocks are being put on women's health and interests, I do not hear the Republican women raising their voices.  Who in the world are the misogynists that have been voted in to represent the 18th C in our laws?  Click here,  and here,  and here.

Two high profile Republican women have not uttered a public word when they hear that their sisters have lost the 97% of their medical  care Planned Parenthood  provided their poorest sisters.  Apparently they think they are accepted in the White, big boy network.  They will soon understand they are nothing but arm candy, to the Republican men; what Maria Shriver was to Arnold   Schwartzenegger...someone to make him look good in public; to make him look like an honest man.

It is as though the Phyllis Schlafly  of the is still blocking the progress of women towards finding some equality as marital partners and in the workplace.  This woman has been the equivalent of the American Taliban for women.  Schlafly campaigned against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The amendment called for men and women to be given equal treatment under the law. Schlafly opposed the ERA because it would require women to serve in combat, and because she believed it would take away legal rights of wives and would negatively influence family life.(from her biography...se link above).  She was wrong for women as Ayn Rand was wrong in her economic ideas used by Greenspan for this country.

ODDS AND ENDS OF THE DAY

The appeal by Rahm Emanuel was successful and the higher court agreed he was a Chicago resident even though his job took him to Washington much of the time.  It's nice to see the good guys win against the bad guys once in a while.  I really dislike manipulators with political power try to keep someone out that won't play their brand of ball with them.

Sarah Palin, giving her unasked-for criticism of the State of the Union speech, kept referring to Obama's WTF moment.  The double entendre was tasteless and makes it harder than ever to believe there is still someone put there that thinks she would make a decent President.  I can only be grateful that she didn't win with McCain and have to replace him in office.  For those innocents who don't know the 'other' definition of WTF, click here.

For those who are convinced that the violent rhetoric is not behind attacks such as the one on Gabrielle Giffords,  should listen to the threat on a Chinese-American state Senator's life.
Mark Rosenberg wrote an article on it.  Click here.  Senator Yee is running for mayor of
San Francisco.   If you missed the actual take of Rush being arrogant, click here for the Young Turks discussing it, with the recording of Rush, on You Tube. Senator Lee has started a boycott of Limbaugh's sponsors.  That is what earned him the death threat.

Where are they hiding our leaders?

NEWS IN TODAY'S WORLD

Americans continue to die in two wars in the Arab world, one inherited and the other drawn into by American greed.carried out by politicians' lies.  It seems the media chooses to focus on certain stories while ignoring  the spectacular rather than the necessary and interesting.  For years I've observed news people shove a microphone into  the face of a totally devastated mourner, tears streaming down their face, and ask, "Can you tell us what you are feeling now?"

Imagine that we should see as the leading news story on the BBC Americas page,  the funeral of the 9 year old killed in Tucson.  It is sad that it takes the inevitable and predicted deaths of innocents to confront deaf ears of the guilty that the right to free speech requires some use of common sense.  Hate rhetoric, TV, computer games, etc have done little to make a peace-loving new generation.  As in free software, after a trial period you have to buy the software to be able to run the program.  Similarly, in order to be accepted in the 'club', you have to prove yourself through your speeches and words. 

Sarah Palin has proven herself to be beautiful but somewhat brain dead in sensitivity to most of the people in the lower '48'. Ethics and morals are strangers to far too many. She may defend her right to free speech but she is yelling 'fire' in a movie theater.  I do not 'blame' her for the shooting. I have observed Michele Bachmann making no comments in the past few days, Glenn Beck making the kindest speech I have ever heard him make about toning down the hate speech, Palin whose writer didn't look far enough down the list of meanings of 'blood libel' to use a different phrase defended her poor choice.  I've learned that there are people who don't wish you to explain your meaning.  They know the words you used and that is all they wish to know.  The right choice of words distinguishes the great statesmen from the unsuccessful ones.  Sarah Palin failed that round.

Rand Paul on Hannity speaks of 'they' and what 'they ' have to do.  That vague  
they' allows him to continue to talk about the ideal without any real way of knowing what has to be done to get there other than his suggestion of needing new leadership in Washington, obviously forgetting that it what we voted in two years ago to undo what the Bush administration did to our economics.  Rand Paul has zeal but lacks experience to see ahead to political consequences.  I don't mean about his own re-election, I mean the results to our countrymen if his policies are enacted.

HAS ALL THE HATRED AND DEMAND TO TAKE THE GOVERNMENT BACK FINALLY BROKEN THROUGH CIVILITY AND SANITY?

From Palin's maps with gun sites marking the targets, (see Maddow blog here) To the vitriol of Limbaugh, Beck, Bachmann and others, it seems no wonder that another misfit tries to solve his perceived problems.  Just as anti-abortionists take no responsibility for the death, by shooting outside a church, one has to wonder just how long Americans are willing to put up with the violent rhetoric we to which we have been subjected and which has been escalating since the majority of Americans voted Obama  to the Presidency.  There is no secrecy in our society as to the degree of hatred Republicans have felt, stirred to expression by some media,  for Obama to have been elected President two hears ago.

YouTube gives some lovely examples as to how easy it is to misinterpret the meanings behind statements of determination as, for example, in the second verse of the Star Spangled Banner.  Most of ujs have never heard it and I don't suppose it will pass Supreme Court Challenge as to whether it is 'politically correct' any longer.  Click here to hear it sung. The group hearing it does not seem to understand that it is the elected government which decided whether we are to fight our enemies...not individual or self-appointed posses.

Read Glenn Beck's call to violence just last October, click here.  Quoted from the article is:  Beck portrays Obama, Democrats as vampires, suggests "driv[ing] a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers." On his March 30, 2009, Fox News show, Beck aired a graphic portraying Obama and Democrats as vampires and said: "The government is full of vampires, and they are trying to suck the lifeblood out of the economy." Beck then suggested "driveing] a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers." Beck returned to that imagery on his January 19 radio show, warning listeners that progressives are "vampires" who now have a "taste of blood" and are "gonna start getting more and more violent."

With so many of the things politicians and talk shows say, some would like to pretend the past is a blank slate.  Despite the speeches of Palin, Bachmann, Beck, and so many others finding their way to YouTube for all to see and hear,  we have an article blaming the Left for the violence!  Click here to be impressed with the degree of rewritten history and denial in this blog by Erica.  Haven't the bullies learned by now that guns and violence are not the way to make our country better?.

OUR CONSTITUTION IS BEING THREATENED

While I have lived through many years of changing Presidents, political parties, and the displeasure of voters, I cannot recall in my lifetime the loud battle cry to change the basics of our Constitution giving all citizens equal rights.

REASON.com recently had an excellent article why Sarah Palin, who professes to be a deeply rep;igious person herself, would wish to see the religious rights of others curtailed.  By fighting against a Mosque being built in the area of Ground Zero (actually a couple of blocks away, as I understand it) she is lumping ALL Muslims as though they were the ones perpetrating the tragic events of 9/11.  It seems most un-Christian of her, which sounds quite hypocritical of her.

I urge my readers to read or listen (by clicking on the right arrow) at this link.

For a more knee-jerk reaction, the NY Daily News, provided one.  Check this out by clicking here.

PEOPLE NOT VOTED INTO OFFICE BUT THINK THEY CAN RUN THE WORLD ANYWAY

When Sarah Palin speaks, the association which comes to mind is the Gentile definition of chutzpah: ' The child who murders his parents and then falls on his knees to appeal mercy from the court as an orphan.'  Her inflated ego dares to make her speak as though she is above President Obama in competence and experience.  She spoke in her speech before the Republican Conference in New Orleans about his having no knowledge about nuclear warfare and, I believe, foreign policy, sarcastically commenting that he had gained it when he was a community organizer.That should be beneath anyone worthy of respect.  She never got out of Middle School with that kind of game play.

She later commented on his part-time senatorial service, most of it spent on running his campaign.  The woman must be blind as she looks into the distorted mirror through which she sees.  She was only a half-time governor for the half term she served and spent her time campaigning.  People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones but she still tosses boulders.

Glenn Beck did not do himself or his country a service when he shamefully listed every bias he has to all but white men as he suggested his recommendations to President Obama for Supreme Court ju appointment.  In his bigoted way, he suggested a black woman, homosexual, disabled, immigrant should be chosen and then went on to babble some idiocy as to his reasons.

Words have great meaning but it is what they mean to the listener that is important,  the intent of the speaker is. not important  An intelligent person would understand that some words are incendiary; where they are spoken has meaning.  We can all say 'fire' as often as we wish, but dare not yell 'fire' in a theater.  These two persons stir up violent feelings while professing that they mean nothing from words like revolution, reload, kill, and other similarly poorly thought out use of words if one intends to unite people rather than be divisive.  They seem to be using the 'divide and conquer' for the country, but who then would take over?.

It saddens me to think that our media world is filled with this vitriolic hate, such a poor choice of exercising rights to free speech for elucidation, sharing ideas and opinions, rather than rabble rousing.  The few hate calls played by the media to illustrate the threats to politicians is very scary to me.  I don't feel like a Chicken Little nor do I believe the sky is falling.  However, I do believe that we have clear evidence from many media personalities that they do not wish to bring us together as a Nation but, rather, to continue with fostering distrust, as during the previous administration.

President Obama should stop trying to be the vehicle for healing the split political factions by inviting the Republicans in.  Instead, he should keep passing good bills for the people and continue to help make jobs to raise the economy as much as he is permitted by the House and Senate  The current Republican party .has made it eminently clear that their priority is to exercise as much control of the country as they can though they were voted out of its administration.  They have split themselves off to many obstructive factions and can no longer command respect from intelligent, well-informed people.

LIZ CHENEY

What in the world can Liz Cheney think she is doing? Is that evil stuff in her genes? So far she seems to be continuing to speak only denigrating remarks about our President. The attempt to brainwash the public into thinking that it was her father's decisions that protected American soil from attack through his Vice Presidency is really rather laughable, if it weren't so troubling that people listen to her. In 1988 she wrote her senior thesis from Colorado College on The Evolution of Presidential War Powers. Is it coincidental that her father never accepted what the Constitution of the United States granted while her father was steering George Bush like a puppet. It is also not surprising that she served in the State Department during the Bush/Cheney reign. Unlike Sarah Palin, this woman knows Washington well and the art of political manipulation. Remember, William Kristol who hasn't made an accurate political prediction yet, thinks Palin/Cheney should be the 2012 Republican ticket.

If there is still sanity among historians, Liz Cheney will go down in history sharing her father's popularity. At his knee, she must have learned the power of spreading fear in her audiences and thus gaining some measure of fealty from them. It is a pity that those who respect her are fringe members of the Republican party.

Read here for a Michael Wolff article Liz Cheney is the New Dick.

A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE REPUBLICANS AND THE DEMOCRATS

A major difference between the Republicans and the Democrats of today is that the Republican's God is not kind. He allows hatred, divisiveness and fear to keep the party moving in lock step against all attempts to shed light and reality onto its members. Some Democrats may have a God, but he is not a God for all Democrats and lets them do things like believe in equality, assume that if there are Homosexuals, they are also his people as well and Democrats have acts of kindness more easily dropped. There is a good reason for being called 'liberal'. The term speaks to Freedom of Choice for people.

It was pointed out on the Bill Maher show tonight that it was mostly religious blacks that voted down Proposition 8 in California. They were better organized and funded, backed primarily by the church (in this secular country where churches should be losing their tax-free privilege for violating the right by getting into politics.) Blacks who finally are seeing some relief from previous oppression and racism are now disallowing Gays to have equal rights. This is like a parent who was abused as a child, growing up to then abuse his/her own children. While one would think that a parent would not want their child to suffer what is within their control to stop, what was experienced by way of abuse as a child is handed down by the parent to the children. It makes the picture crystal clear in the saying 'Sometimes you are the pigeon, sometimes you are the statue.'

It was also pointed out that many Republicans still want to have Palin moved high up into the party and that 100% of the Democrats would wish for the same for her! While we were all told that the Palins wouldn't get to keep the wardrobe costing over $150,000, there seems no indication that they will be leaving Alaska and her possession as the family apparently continues to wear the clothes.

Now is the time for all the people who have been saying 'If I were in his shoes, this is what I'd do' to put their money where their mouth is and go to Obama's site and leave your 2 or more cents' worth. For those of you who don't understand that the words written in faint print mean, click on the link, go to: http://change.gov/ and leave your suggestion for one of the many categories listed.

THE COUNTY FAIR OF 1910 IN 2008

Listening today to McCain and Palin at a rally, I want to buy a bottle of what they are selling because it will cure all my ills, prevent cancer, wipe my brow and all for $1.00 a bottle! What I have not heard is where the money is to come from if they raise noone's taxes, since they do not share their plan for how they plan to make a silk purse out of the Bush sow's ear. Palin smilingly says it is not negative campaigning to point out what the opponent is and does, neglecting to say that she is, of course, lying about him most of the time.

It is disgusting , the low these two have reached in trying to gain entrance to the most powerful positions in the country. That there are people who hear only their promises and enthusiasm and lack the ability to ask the questions of them as to exactly how they plan to fund it all, saddens me. So many people are non-thinkers. I guess that is why Barnum is credited to have said there is a sucker born every minute. Apparently, even that is a misquote. That he trafficked in freaks only adds to the comparison.

It is further frightening that, somehow, everything that is said can be twisted so that all positives from the Democrats become negatives to the Republican candidates. What very evil people McCain and Palin really are; how lacking in veracity and integrity; how they will forsake the good of their country in every way to further their own stretch to the goal of running the country their way! Apparently our country once had the wisdom to head in a better direction. Watching the TV ads, we see that the snake oil salesman have never been outed for what they are, they simply have infiltrated the government as well.

UNDERSCORING REPUBLICAN PRIDE

To be a Republican must make one very proud to hear two obviously thoughtful intellectuals discuss Palin more deeply than most of the rest of us, who have failed to recognize how much she brings to the campaign.

Despite the evidence in favor of Palin (that she is hot; that she was mayor and later governor of a state with fewer people than Rhode Island) , there are some who have not as yet seen the reasons for her to quite likely become President if McCain is elected. Matt Damon is one of them and well-worth listening to a 'liberal' who doesn't see the Republican 'truths'. That she does, as someone who thinks the dinosaurs were here on earth 4000 years ago and will, as VP-later President have the nuclear codes, frighten him, oddly. Yet, admirably, as evidence of their greater security about the stability of our Administration by Republicans, it seems not to frighten any of the Republicans who, having run the country to the ground so brilliantly in the past eight years, think they continue at greater speed with Palin/McCain at the helm.

For those of you who don't know what a VPILF is, look it up on Urban Dictionary. Substitute Vice President for Mother and you will subsequently be able to feel the pride of what she adds to the Republican platform and the Republican voters find so appealing about her. It should make all of us flattered to be part of the voting public. It confirms our pride in our country for the past eight years, though the jealous world outside seems to see us quite differently. Their view is difficult to understand because we have saved them from Al Qaeda, which might have invaded Iraq and taken their oil, and we have knocked the money situation of the world to utter chaos so they, too, will have economic challenges (always a fun game). But apparently they have no sense of humor in the rest of the world as we have here in the US. At least, as those of us have who still have jobs, a roof over our heads, hope for the future of our lives and education of our children (oh dear, the numbers in that group seem to be going down so fast as I write this), medical insurance, and a local shelter we can count on occasionally so that we don't freeze to death, (saving the police having to pick up bodies in the morning), and occasionally some food, courtesy of the people who didn't want it.

Yes, we in the middle and lower class (is there a difference now?) of the US have much for which to be thankful. We should thank God for helping us for giving us the opportunity to make the rich people richer, for deregulation which allowed CEOs to earn up to 30,000 times the salary of the average worker, thus adding to our recreational pleasure so that we can stand on shore and watch their beautiful yachts sail or motor by. We can enjoy the creativity of the jewelers who make the $100,000 diamond-studded pet collars for pampered pets, while Sarah Palin continues to kill off the wild life that might endanger those little furry, diamond encrusted darlings. We can be happy that we do not have to defend ourselves against the painful jealousy shown by the rest of the world, now that we have been able to rid ourselves of anything they could envy.

Have we hit rock bottom yet?

FAULTS OF SARAH PALIN THAT SHOULD KEEP HER FROM BECOMING PRESIDENT

Reasons why Sarah Palin is unfit to lead the country:

1. She is vindictive. She fired a Democrat librarian when she would not ban a book from the library at Palin's request. She is harassing her ex-brother-in-law and will not allow State employees to provide information to the investigators. She may be taking a page from Bush but she cannot plead executive privilege here.

2. She would rather keep children ignorant of the dangers of sexual predators or premature and uninformed sexual behavior than allow them to be taught safety. Even abstinence did not work in her own family unit. This suggests she doesn't learn from her own mistakes.

3. She believes that the US military in Iraq is on a mission from God. She seems not to understand separation of Church and State. She also seems not to have studied much about the three branches of government and the Constitution. Some of her statements make me wonder if she differentiates the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

4. The rules of her office and the oath taken to uphold them seem not to matter.

As The Hill reports, "Governor Palin has ... opposed a crucial clean water initiative."

Alaska's KTUU explains: "It is against the law for the governor to officially advocate for or against a ballot measure; however, Palin took what she calls 'personal privilege' to discuss one of this year's most contentious initiatives."

Palin said, "Let me take my governor's hat off just for a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4 -- I vote no on that." And what is that? A state initiative that would have banned metal mines from discharging pollution into salmon streams.

She also approved legislation that let oil and gas companies nearly triple the amount of toxic waste they can dump into Cook Inlet, an important fishery. It looks like being an avid outdoorsperson doesn't mean Palin really has the health of watersheds, natural resources or our environment at heart.

5. She does not believe in abortion for anyone in an unwanted pregnancy whether in throes of passion, failure of contraceptives to work, rape, or incest. She relents slightly if the life of the mother is in danger. Statstics suggest 25% of rapes in Alaska result in unwanted pregnancies to refrain from mentioning other serious consequences.

6. While she claims to be against earmarks, her actions exclude her from her own determination. However, later, she accepted the Federal money that was intended for the Bridge and put it to other uses. The rest of the country's taxpayers footed the bill.

7. Her ignorance of science is reflected in that she doesn't believe in Evolution and wants Creationism taught in schools. That is another indication of her poor boundaries between religion being forced on others, and lack of understanding separation of Church and State.

8. Sarah Palin is in favor of off-shore drilling. If you Google: 'Palin on offshore drilling', you will get 485,000 hits. Take your pick of any one. Environmentalists can only weep if that comes to pass. Her killing from the air and preference for killing animals should teach most people how little she truly values life. Are not animals also God's creatures?

9. Sarah Palin is totally uniformed about regulatory agencies findings. She is in favor of nuclear power. Even the U.S. government's own nuclear agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, thinks an atomic renaissance is a bad idea: Delivered by one of America's most notoriously docile agencies, the NRC's warning essentially says: that all cost estimates for new nuclear reactors -- and all licensing and construction schedules -- are completely up for grabs and have no reliable basis in fact. Thus any comparisons between future atomic reactors and renewable technologies are moot at best.

10. Her statement at the Convention about not going to Washington to please the media but to work for the American people shows how little she understands that, barracuda though she may have been on a basketball court, when she is let loose in the Washington fish tank of media and other political pirahnas, she will find out that she is not yet equipped for political and governing prime time. Unless, she is being picked as another Right Wing puppet, which is more than likely, as they have grown to like that in the past 8 years with the strings they have been able to pull on Bush.

We need a President whose mind and body are youthful and healthy. Absent that, we need a Vice President who will be able to take office immediately, if called upon. Sarah Palin cannot be that person. Her lack of training for that position makes a mockery of the office. Can we really depend on the drooling men who think she is HOT or the women who admire her because she can do her job as governor with fewer people than in the entire state of Rhode Island, while breast feeding? Can she credibly represent the United States to a world already disillusioned by our heads of State and who expect more than sound bites from an American Vice President who might become President?

LETTER FROM AN ALASKAN

Every once in a while something comes to my attention that takes precedence over my original thoughts. This is such an occasion. This letter was written by a woman living and working in Alaska to one down in the lower 48. She requested that it be spread around and I thank her for the permission as it should be read by all.

" I have been so mortified since McCain chose her, since the willing media found their princess, since the campaign, AGAIN devolved to circus.

So. Deeeep cleansing breaths, everyone.

Palin absolutely has the ability to win this thing for McCain. She will avoid interviews of substance, unless seriously coached. Meanwhile, the press will take a pass at serious journalism because, gee. She's SO HOT!

I feel sickeningly like history is repeating itself in the worst possible way.

When she ran for governor, she ran against Murkowski, former us senator, who took the job for one reason only. To appoint his daughter to the US Senate seat he vacated. He spent the rest of the time eliminating revenue sharing for Alaskan communities, flying around on the (now famous) jet, and generally driving his poll numbers into the low twenties. Enter the beauty queen. (Love the Caribou Barbie comment, btw). Pretty, vivacious, and vapid, but who cared? She was HOTHOTHOT. And the bar was set so low, she just had to smile and that was enough for this blood red state to sweep her in. At the time, working for her opponent, I knocked on many doors, where men told me they didn't care that she was incompetent. She had their vote cause she was HOT. It got to be a mocking refrain. Who cares about Troopergate? She's HOT. Applaud the Brdge to Nowhere? So what? She's HOT.

Then, with a resume so paper thin, she is elected governor. Sitting on a multi-billion dollar surplus, (caused by the hardship we all endure over 4.50 dollar a gallon gas) she decides, instead of planning a future for her state, to just give it to us in a lump sum (1200 dollars a person). Popular move, that. My guess is that anybody could be governor with that kind of surplus. But she did NOTHING to fix the gutted retirement system that was dismantled by the Republicans three years ago. She did NOTHING to reinstate the revenue sharing to communities, the absence of which made Fairbanks property taxes among the highest in the nation.

Imagine a woman who even fires a librarian for disloyalty. What a harpy. (Note from Yiayia Online: a few words removed by me to restrict further retaliation to the librarian). To my profound disappointment, she refuses to talk to the press, who have been swarming around her endlessly. The truth of that little story is that she was fired three different times, and rehired two times for one reason or another. But the real reason is because she is a democrat, and had campaigned for Sarah's opponent when Sarah sought the Wasilla Mayor's seat.

Imagine someone that vindictive heading up a country with the Patriot Act backing her up. Meanwhile, the gaff she made about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac makes nary a ripple in the press. That comment showed just how unschooled this woman is. She can be coached for sound bites, but scratch her surface, and she's as shallow as a person can be, intellectually.

I tell everyone to spread the word, hard and fast, there's absolutely no time to lose. There is way, way too much at stake to reelect the Bush administration, the Karl Rovian attack dog, the train wreck that has been the last eight years. Hard to remember, but Bush inherited a 200+ billion dollar SURPLUS in 2000.

Commit your time, your energy, and if you haven't already done so, your hard earned money to stop this. The bar is set so low by Bush, that pretty-pretty princess could toss off a few snarky one-liners, and help McCain step over it.

I am proud to be an American. These days though, it's hard to be proud to be an Alaskan. Feel free to spread this email, if being from Alaska makes any difference to people. Fence sitters out there, don't be fooled by the pretty face and the updo."

There should never be a person elected as Vice President who is clearly not suitable to be President instantly, should necessity dictate. How can people think of this person as being ready?