Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Banned Book Week


It's Banned Books Week.(If Sarah Palin is reading this... Banned Book Week DOES NOT mean to go to your local libary and ask how to ban books, like you did in Wasilla.)
-
I simply can't imagine any ENLIGHTENED or INTELLIGENT person would, in this day and age DO such a thing. But then again I can't imagine anyone picking her for a Vice President, and it happened.
-
"I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you."

Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Sunday Morning Muse, September 28, 2008


Paul Newman is gone. Sad. I went to the Internet Movie Database and searched for his movies. Turns out I didn't see as many Newman movies as I thought I had. Maybe that's a good thing. I'll have the rest of my life to watch his movies and they will be new to me.


Beautiful blue eyes. The kind you get lost in. A screen presence that defied age. It's like you could see into the inside of him. So handsome in this picture.


150 million in charitable donations and counting. I'm gonna buy some Newman's Own Spaghetti Sauce next week. I don't know why I didn't buy it before.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Governor Sarah Palin- Vlog#1



This woman is very funny and talented. I don't know who she is, but she has made me laugh aloud.

Grandpa Forgot Something... Look Close Now



Okay...I watched the debate. I saw pretty much what the polls showed. Obama held his own, McCain got in his war stories, and it was pretty much a tie. Both displayed some knowledge of foreign affairs, and both expressed very different ideas on how to proceed forward from here.

Grandpa McCain seemed so angry at times...and kept saying that he wasn't Mr. Congeniality back in Washington. Sure proved it to me! I felt more at ease listening to Obama when he spoke because he was very cogent, affable and stuck pretty close to the time frames given to him.He also didn't interrupt. He raised his hand a bit in a wave to the moderator. Dignified. McCain rattled on more and was rather mean at times. He looked kinda surly and kept addressing the moderator instead of Obama or the camera. It's like they forgot to tell him HE HAS TO CONNECT with people.

(read: HEY YOU KIDS GET OUTTA MY YARD!!!!)



HE wouldn't even look at Obama let alone engage him in the debate...what's up with THAT?
-
He IS a bit of an "odd duck" to quote McYapper.
-
Anyhow. Part one is done. Looking forward to Palin... who must memorize all her Cliff notes before next Thursday. If she is as bad as she was in the Couric Interview, it won't be pretty.

-------------------------------------------
And who goofed up by forgetting GRANDPA'S FLAG PIN?

Friday, September 26, 2008

Monty Python- Money



Searched and searched to find the perfect song to end this horrible week of financial chaos.

Well, There Goes the Wiccan Vote!


In case you haven't seen this.... it was a real toss up to me as to what was scarier. Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric or this African pastor praying over her in this strange voice to bring money to her campaign...and KEEP HER SAFE FROM WITCHCRAFT.
-
You can't make this up. I kept thinking this had to be a spoof video or something... but it is not.
-
It is an African "Pastor" praying over Sarah Palin at her church. See the video yourself. It is about a minute and a half into the dialogue.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDfkAnCvKY&feature=related
-
If you didn't see the Katie Couric interview segments, you missed out. It is kinda like passing a car wreck... you HAVE to look. She is in SOOOO far over her head.
-
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/25/couric-presses-palin-on-alaska-is-close-to-russia-nonsense/


COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
-
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our– our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They’re in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia–
-
COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
-
PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We– we do– it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is– from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to– to our state.
-------------------snip---------------------------------------


OH MY..... PUTIN REARS HIS HEAD??????? Beam me up Scottie.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Barack Obama on Letterman (2 weeks ago)




Hard to believe that two weeks ago all the right wingers cared about was making an issue out of "lipstick on a pig." Yet another distraction from the real issues. (Who can forget McCain's campaign advisor saying the election was no longer ABOUT issues?)


Obama is so genuine in this clip. Funny, animated, yet clearly showing a grasp of what is going on and why we need change in this country--- particularly at the end... in the last minute or so, when he talked about the economy. He certainly was not raving about how "fundamentally sound" it is,(snark),like McCain has repeated over and over again.

Have we learned nothing from 8 long years with Bush? Repeating something doesn't necessarily make it true.

David Letterman Reacts to McCain




John McCain suspended his campaign, and his appearance on the David Letterman show last night... leaving Dave in a lurch.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Campbell Brown: Free Sarah Palin



MY TWO CENTS: Amen Campbell. Let her join the fray. If she can't handle the heat, she will be sent back to Alaska.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Elite, Part Two


John and Cindy McCain: 13 cars
-
Barack and Michelle Obama: 1 car
-
source: Newsweek

-

What have we learned? Last time out we learned that multiple homes, being married to the Anheuser-Busch fortune, and having millions of dollars does not make John McCain elite.


Keep in mind that Cindy McCain's worth has been estimated at $100 million. All that beer has given McCain the fruits of wealthy lifestyle.... i.e. private jets, vacation homes, and those 13 cars -- even if the millions remain in her name--- but he is not elite. (Kept, maybe?)....


Spending 26 years in Washington government circles, didn't make him elite. Just ask him. He's not elite.... that other guy is. The one with one car, who came from modest means and managed to get a degree from Harvard.
-

Isn't all this silly?

The Sunday Morning Muse, September 21, 2008


What a week. Wall Street falling apart, the stock market in freefall...and an unheard of almost TRILLION dollar bailout...if all this is scary for the people who understand it, think of how scary it is for us folks who DON'T understand it and assume someone was paying attention at the top.
-
Too often we just go on with our lives letting someone else take the wheel, and we just watch the scenery go past. I could use this space to hurl blame at someone, but I'm not. I've heard enough talking heads on the Sunday Shows telling me that greed and deregulation are to blame. We can rail at the scam artists in the mortgage industry, or criticize the speculators, or the people lying about incomes to get homes that were far above their means, but what good will this all do now?
-
We are already on track to lose a million jobs in the country this year. And this financial crisis has the potential to make it worse. Hopefully the Treasury Secretary knows what the hell he's doing with this bailout. It's a crap shoot really. The muckety-mucks say this may work/might not....and temper their words with with a lot of mumbo jumbo.

-As a final thought...do you think President Bush has a secret calendar under his desk? You know, marking off the days till he can go back and clear brush at the ranch and forget these eight long years ever happened. . . .

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Sisters of Mercy



Leonard Cohen's song-featuring the movie McCabe and Mrs. Miller. There are actually three of his songs in the movie.
-
It's beautiful, really.
-

wikipedia:
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. McCabe & Mrs. Miller was acknowledged as the eighth best film in the western genre.

-
One tip though: Watch it 'full screen' because the video itself seems dark. So if you click the little box on the right-bottom of the video screen to watch it full size it helps.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Dan Quayle Said...


"The other day the President said, I know you've had some rough times, and I want to do something that will show the nation what faith that I have in you, in your maturity and sense of responsibility. He paused, then said, would you like a puppy?"
-Dan Quayle

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Market was Down 450 Points Today



Treasury Secretary: CLAMPETT WITHDRAWAL TRIGGERS MARKET COLLAPSE. MR. DRYSDALE ON SUICIDE WATCH

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said yesterday that the collapse of financial markets worldwide occurred as a result of the withdrawal of the Clampett fortune from the Beverly Hills Commerce Bank in Beverly Hills, California.
The withdrawal sent shock waves throughout the global economy, sending Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy and triggering the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America.


(Every once in a while, the Carbolic Smog Ball comes through with a good laugh. I sure need one. Click on their link for the full story.)

Plan for Change




Feeling a bit nervous about Wall Street? Worried about your own finances? Your job?
There are you Republicans out there who won't watch this. And you will miss a rational person discussing our nation's problems, and pointing us toward solutions.

An open mind is all that is required here. There are no cheap shots, no distortions, no lies in the this video. Just a simple statement.

As for me, I feel we need to focus on the issues--- and discuss things in a more civil way and forget moosehunting and the hockey mom. To quote Kate Clinton... "Let L’Oreal come out with a new line of pig lipstick. I don’t care."

We need someone who can actually run this country.

Happy Days are Here Again



These gals can sing. :)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Let's Play Palin Bingo!



I came across this today and just had to share it. It's easy to play. Just go to the site and click on the game board to make it bigger and print it out. All you do is watch your favorite news show
and "just get some tokens, watch the reporting, and mark off every scandal or horrifying policy position that gets mentioned!"

Heed the warning:

NOTE: One game of SARAH PALIN BINGO should take one hour on MSNBC, three hours on CNN, and up to a month or more on FOX News.

No Rest for Clarence





Blueman Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown was chased from New Orleans by Katrina.. now Hurricane Ike has unearthed his coffin in Orange, Texas. It's a tragic tale.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Sunday Morning Muse, September 14, 2008


Delayed post today, because I couldn't access the site. Probably too many people posting more lies from John McCain and Sarah Palin.
-
It never ceases to amaze me how gullible people are. Or how quickly someone will sell out his own principles. John McCain's betting that Americans are basically shallow, stupid and lazy. Too lazy to go and find the truth themselves. I can only hope he is wrong.

I can't say all this any better than Tony Norman did this week, in his column, Where Have You Gone John McCain?:

(snip)
Even if you're able to repeat your predecessor's trick of fooling enough of the voters to prevail in November, you'll spend the rest of your days in the hole you've fallen into, John McCain. Like Marlowe's Faustus or Robert Johnson selling his soul to become the greatest blues guitarist of his time, you've become a prisoner of the very devils you've employed.

Where is the honor in reciting lies for something as transient as political advantage? What are we as voters supposed to make of political ads that accuse Barack Obama of advocating sex education for kindergartners? Are we supposed to believe your campaign's repeated assertions that Sarah Palin opposed the "bridge to nowhere" along with the earmarks connected to it? More than a dozen news organizations have already demolished this myth.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Sarah's Lies, Part Three- Mating Habits of Crabs



I really didn't mean for this to be an everyday thing. But if the lies continue at this pace, my whole blog will be devoted to debunking them. What I can't understand is why she and McCain aren't being held more accountable. They just repeat them and repeat them........



Thinkprogress.org


Appearing on “The View” (Friday) Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) falsely claimed that Sarah Palin never requested earmarks as the governor of Alaska. “Not as governor she didn’t,” McCain told Barbara Walters after she noted Palin “took some earmarks”:

WALTERS: What is she going to reform specifically, senator?

MCCAIN: Well, first of all, earmark spending, which she vetoed a half a billion dollars worth in the state of Alaska.

WALTERS: She also took some earmarks there.

BEHAR: A lot.

MCCAIN: No, not as governor she didn’t, she vetoed…

WALTERS: As Mayor.

MCCAIN: Well, look, the fact is that she was a reform governor.

------------

Continued from Thinkprogress.org

McCain’s claim that Palin never accepted earmarks as the governor of Alaska is divorced from reality. In fact, she actively sought them:

– Though Palin did reduce Alaska’s earmark requests, “in her two years in office, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation.”

In March 2008, Palin wrote an op-ed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, saying that her “role at the federal level is simply to submit the most well-conceived earmark requests we can” and that her reduction of requests was a response “to the changing circumstances in Congress.”

In February 2008, Palin’s office sent Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) “a 70-page memo outlining almost $200 million worth of new funding requests for the state.”

– In her most recent earmark requests, “Palin requested millions of federal dollars for everything from improving recreational halibut fishing to studying the mating habits of crabs and the DNA of harbor seals.”

As ThinkProgress has noted, Palin has requested earmarks of the very type that McCain routinely mocks while on the campaign trail. As Walters pointed out, Palin was also a big fan of congressional pork as the Mayor of Wasilla, even hiring a lobbyist to help secure them.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Palin Supports Aerial Wolf Killing



The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund has put out an ad on Sarah Palin's promotion of (and personal fondness for) aerial wolf hunting, describing the practice "brutal."

Sarah's Lies, Part 2: Another day, Another Lie


Washington Post:

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Sept. 11 -- Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."

The idea that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a view once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. But it is widely agreed that militants allied with al-Qaeda have taken root in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Cat Versus Printer

Happy Birthday from Joe Cocker



Another year... has come and gone. I got by with a little help from my friends.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sarah's Lies




This woman appears to lie at every turn. So I've decided to do my part and shine light on these lies as I find them. The video tells the real story on the Bridge to Nowhere.. and the Jet (which she did NOT sell on EBAY). Oh...and that cook she supposedly fired...
-
Read more about the Bridge to Nowhere at the Wall Street Journal.
-
(snip)But Gov. Palin's claim comes with a serious caveat. She endorsed the multimillion dollar project during her gubernatorial race in 2006. And while she did take part in stopping the project after it became a national scandal, she did not return the federal money. She just allocated it elsewhere.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

People are Strange- The Doors

Albert Camus Said...


Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.

-Albert Camus, French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 - 1960)

Who's Gonna Build Your Wall? Tom Russell



I heard this song this morning and thought the guy makes a good point. The Mexicans are not our enemy...

The Sunday Morning Muse, September 7, 2008


I flipped the TV on this morning, and a preacher was on... andlet me just say none of what this guy was saying involved Love Thy Neighbor, or Peace be with you.
-
This preacher was talking about a pedophile who raped a 5 year old girl...and at higher and higher volume, he was yelling and inciting this crowd at his church, chorusing into ..."the Bible says pedophiles should be stoned to death!"... and then... "The Bible is the AB SOL LUTE word of God!!!"
-
...and in a huge leap in thought he continued at loud volume ranting about Celebrities and Hollywood types---getting caught driving drunk and getting lenient sentences... and they should be THROWN IN JAIL (yelling)---and they should STAY THERE." ( loud applause from crowd.)
-
Keep in mind I've had the TV on less than 7 minutes... and now he transitioned into how we need to recruit "Christian Warriors..." and not be passive...stand up for....take back...
-
WHOA....I've had enough of this. What is really going on here? Who is this Guy? Is this for real? Is this a movie? Is he nuts?
-
It was John Hagee. Then the bells went off in my head. He's that Evangelical preacher who endorsed John McCain...and then McCain had to twist himself into a pretzel trying to denounce certain things the guy said about the Catholics... I never put a name with the face. I had just lumped Hagee in with my thought path of "just another Evangelical right winger," but he is sooo much more than that.
-
Here are just a few of his views... there are plenty more if you want to read them. The man just scares me.
-

Wikipedia:

-Despite Hagee's professed "Christian Zionist" beliefs and public support for the state of Israel, Hagee has made statements that some have interpreted as antisemitic, including blaming the Holocaust on Jews, stating that Adolf Hitler carried out a divine plan to lead Jews to form the modern state of Israel, blaming Jews for the death of Jesus, calling liberal Jews "poisoned" and "spiritually blind," and stating that the preemptive nuclear attack on
Iran that he favors will lead to the deaths of most Jews in Israel.

In his book, Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World, Hagee interprets the Bible to predict that
Russia and the Islamic states will invade Israel and will be destroyed by God. This will cause the antichrist, the head of the European Union, to create a confrontation over Israel between China and the West. A final battle between East and West at Armageddon will then precipitate the Second Coming of Christ.

He said in 2006, "I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area, that was not carried nationally, that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came."

In 2007, Hagee stated that he does not believe in
global warming, and he also said that he sees the Kyoto Protocol as a conspiracy aimed at manipulating the U.S. economy.[21] Also, Hagee has condemned the Evangelical Climate Initiative, an initiative "signed by 86 evangelical leaders acknowledging the seriousness of global warming and pledging to press for legislation to limit carbon dioxide emissions."

Hagee calls literature such as
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter contemporary witchcraft.

-

And here is the really scary part.....he's got a lot of followers.
-

Hagee is the President and CEO of John Hagee Ministries, which telecasts his national radio and television ministry carried in the United States on 160 TV stations, 50 radio stations and eight networks, including The Inspiration Network (INSP) and Trinity Broadcasting Network.

The ministries can be seen and heard weekly in 99 million homes.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

One Billion Dollars!


Last night was the big star-studded event to raise money for the fight against Cancer. It was a huge effort to raise money. The disease touches everyone of us. I was particularly affected last night because yesterday my neighbor, who has battled cancer for months now, passed away just yesterday afternoon. He fought courageously... but in the end time ran out. No cure yet.
-
My dad died waiting for a cure... 10 years ago. Believing if he could just hold on... stay alive... something would happen. Some of the work studying genes shows promise. Being able to shut off certain genes with defects that lead to specific types of cancer. It is hope. But so much more money is needed for research.
-
It struck me as ironic that on the same day as I'm watching this telethon, I read where the Bush administration pledged one billion dollars...(say it like Doctor Evil ...ONE...BILLION...DOLLARS..... to aid Georgia. (yeah... the one OVER THERE provoking Russia.) Why is my tax money bailing them out? I don't really understand how a billion dollars can be sent there...like writing a check...hey, a billion dollars is still a billion dollars. Why not a billion more for cancer research?

Friday, September 5, 2008

Joe Biden on Fire



I just love him. He puts it out there, and he does it with integrity, with passion
and with plain language.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Alaska/Russia Argument... I GET IT... Don't You?



Crooks and Liars --Link with more on this astute knowledge of VP nominee Sarah Palin:

-


Italic

GIBSON: Can you honestly say you feel confident having someone who hasn’t
traveled outside the United States until last year, dealing with an insurgent Russia, with an Iran with nuclear ambitions, with an unstable Pakistan, not to mention the war on terror?

-
MCCAIN: Sure. And one of the key elements of America’s national security requirements are energy. She understands the energy issues better than anybody I know in Washington, D.C., and she understands. Alaska is right next to Russia. She understands that.

------------(snip)--------------------

You know what? I understand that, too....(snark) See, I looked it up and there it is right on the map. I'm starting to see that it really doesn't take much to become a VP nominee on the Republican ticket. Notice how he skirted over Iran and Pakistan. I guess Palin doesn't know as much about them since they are FAR AWAY.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Remembering Jerry Reed

Jerry Reed Dead at 71




"When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: Money."
-Jerry Reed
-
I was sorry to hear of the passing of singer Jerry Reed. I got to see him and talk to him backstage in the mid-80s at a Jamboree. I still have this picture. It's not a great picture by any means, but I dug it out of the archives here anyway.

Monday, September 1, 2008

VP Wannabe --Teen Daughter is Pregnant



Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the Palins said.

-
Pretty understanding over all. How nice. More the merrier. I don't think most parents handle it that way. Typically, the reaction is WTF... are you an imbecile? Did you use protection????Didn't we teach you ANYTHING???? You have ruined your life and embarrassed the family!
-

All is well. Goes to show you, even if you are Governor, you can't control your teenager. All the same, when McCain called to offer her this VP gig, I can't imagine why she didn't turn it down. He would have understood. "Ya know, I just had a developmentally challenged child, I have 4 other kids, Oh yeah....I'm the Governor, and my 17 year old is pregnant... hold on.. let me see if I can work it into my schedule, I can multi-task you know, BTW, WHAT DOES THE VICE PRESIDENT DO?"
-
At least the rumors about Sarah pretending to be pregnant because Bristol actually gave birth to Trig, the 5th child of this family, were wrong. I'm glad it wasn't true. This is all just too tiring.
-
It reminds me of when McCain ran before for the nomination, when the Republicans... (I think it was linked to Rove) started that smear McCain fathered a black child.