I’m thankful for a lot of people for being just who they are.

I’m thankful for our brave men and women who protect our freedoms and I’m thankful for their families who keep the home fires burning in these soldiers’ absence.

I’m thankful for the lot of people I’ve met this past year.

I’m thankful that there are two sides to a debate because no one side can ever be trusted completely.

I’m thankful for grace and those who demonstrate it.

More later. I’m taking care of some Thanksgiving-related business today.

More thankfulness.

A year after Barack Obama’s historic election, one of his most contentious programs has been the $700 billion stimulus package. Here’s a clip of Lewis Black explaining John Maynard Keynes’ theory of how public works projects can stimulate the economy in his own inimitable (and be warned, very foul-mouthed way):

Now, just in case you’re thinking “that’s just crazy comedian talk and has no basis in proper economics” here’s the view of Keynes himself from ”The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”:

“If the Treasury were to fill old bottles with banknotes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coal mines which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again (the right to do so being obtained, of course, by tendering for leases of the note-bearing territory), there need be no more unemployment and, with the help of the repercussions, the real income of the community, and its capital wealth also, would probably become a good deal greater than it actually is. It would, indeed, be more sensible to build houses and the like; but if there are political and practical difficulties in the way of this, the above would be better than nothing.” (p. 129)

So while Barack Obama may not have been thrilled about having to spend such a huge amount of money getting the American economy going and saddling the American taxpayer with such a large debt (yes, I said it), is was absolutely the correct thing to do. In this instance, to compromise the spending aspects of the package to appease Republicans (the people who, to a large extent, created this mess) in the name of bipartisanship could have led to the Great Recession becoming the second Great Depression and may have left future generations with an even more unmanageable National Debt. The world is now in the thankful state of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, just over a year after we faced economic catastrophe, as the recession ends (at least technically) in many countries and hopefully we can get back to job creation in the new year…

So says “To The Contrary” host and US News columnist Bonnie Erbe.

he's more comfortable with "the boys"

President Obama could invite Chamique Holdsclaw to the private White House basketball court and Billie Jean King to play tennis with him. I still wouldn’t believe he’s any more comfortable dealing with women or concerned about “women’s” issues than the dearly departed former Sen. Jesse Helms. President Obama talks the talk a lot better and a lot louder than Helms. But Jesse Helms was so rooted in his atavist traditions, he chose to remain true to his misogyny rather than pose for cameras with faux female golfing partners. President Obama must hide the side of his personality that is clearly uncomfortable with women because he needs their votes much more than Helms ever did.

Whether it was his treatment of Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail (as in his condescending remark that she was “likeable enough”) or his clearly career-oriented mate who has been toned down and remorphed into a Stepford Wife, I just don’t get the impression this man is comfortable with women. Nor do I believe he cares about them beyond needing women’s votes. It’s an act and a thoroughly see-through, amateur one at that.

Erbe isn’t the only woman who’s noticed that Obama does little more than pay lip service to women.  NOW’s new president Terry O’Neill finds Obama’s workplace behavior disturbing as well.

“Relationships get built in those more informal settings,” O’Neill told ABC News, “and the relationships have a huge impact on the influence an individual has. We know what happens when we segregated whether it by race or whether it by gender — you end up with 1st class citizens and you end up with 2nd class citizens.”

O’Neill told ABC News’ Mike Callahan, “we need to see the White House leading the way for desegregating the work places all around the country and it is troubling.”

Obama feels about as comfortable around powerful, smart women as he does around gay people.  But he still wants their money and their votes.  That’s why he’s got to go out of his way to make a 20 minute speech to the HRC after defending DOMA in court, or invite a woman colleague to golf after he took some heat for his exclusionary workplace practices.  It is all for show, and it’s not difficult to see that he resents having to do it.  What good is it if you LOOK like a feminist, but don’t behave like one?

Feminism, Obama style.

There is quite an amazing story in the NY Times today about the sexist culture that surrounds the sexist president in the White House.  Except the real story, according to the Times,  is that they aren’t really sexist at all.  See, the problem isn’t that a certain kind of boy’s club atmosphere exists, it is that women are just too fucking stupid to get that these men are past sexism and that women shouldn’t get their panties in a twist when men act like men.  Just ask the women of the Obama administration, like Anita Dunn:

Ms. Dunn, who had to take a typing test three decades ago to work for a campaign, rejects the notion of a boys’ club. She calls the Obama administration “refreshingly un-self-conscious” about matters of equality, maybe to a point where they neglected the “optics” of the all-male basketball game.Ms. Dunn said that she recently hosted a baby shower for an administration official and that no men from the office were invited. She is comfortable with that — just as she is fine with never playing basketball with the president.

“That is just part of the culture here that I am excluded from,” she said. “And I don’t care.”

Because I got mine, bitches, and the rest of you can suck it. Maybe if you started acting like women, you’d get a little further ahead too.

But really, the point is that the boys have access to Obama and the women don’t.  What she says MIGHT make sense if Obama showed up to the baby shower, but I’m betting he didn’t.  Maybe Michelle sent a card.

I mean Jesus Christ, the women that they point to in order to prove the administration is giving a voice to women are the very ones who are enabling the boy on top status quo.  For fuck’s sake, they even bake cookies.

Women in important White House jobs tend to be less visible than their colleagues, even as the administration is trying to elevate their profiles. (In the same week as the basketball game, Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, hosted a group of women reporters for an off-the-record meeting with Ms. Jarrett over chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies.)

Well isn’t that lovely?  I hope someone brought the tupperware samples.  Kill two birds with one stone, ya know?

It may be easy for some of the high profile women to tolerate the antics of their male colleagues, but for the women working lower level staff positions, it must just be more of the same bullshit they’ve had to deal with their entire professional lives.  And some of them can’t hide their frustration even though they might want to.  Instead they just cloak themselves in anonymity.

“There is a sense that Obama has a certain jocular familiarity with the men that he doesn’t have with the women,” said Tracy Sefl, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign who speaks regularly to some female aides in the administration.

In interviews, five women who work in the White House or advised officials there described the culture with more of a collective eye-roll than any real sense of grievance or discomfort. One junior aide, who like the other women spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about appearing publicly critical, said that the “sports-fan thing at the White House” could become “annoying” and that her relative indifference to athletics could be mildly alienating. And while this is not uncommon in any workplace, sports bonding can afford a point of entree with the boss.

No shit it can afford a point of entree with the boss.   But like I said, this is the same sort of crap women have to deal with all the time.  I would expect more from someone endorsed by NOW and declared the poster child for feminism by Ms. Magazine.  Instead it appears that the White House is a classic boys club workplace where women are excluded from the inner workings of the power structure and women in high positions go out of their way to excuse their bad behavior.  And they do it at the expense of the women who work for them.  But you can’t really blame those women in power for their behavior, they just know how the game is played.  They know the first rule of the boy’s club:  bros before hos.  It is the golden rule, and even the women on top know not to push back against it.  Just ask Hillary.

Maybe it is the fact that Obama and Co. are so blatantly sexist that this type of absurd denial  has to even be printed.  When we complained about Obama’s sexist antics in the election we were called racist liars.  But since women as a group are responsible for his election, they still have to tamp those fires now and then.  Now they’re basically just saying that if some women view the culture as dominated by testosterone, they just don’t get the “post misogyny” president. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t invited a single woman to play golf, or basketball.  Or that he didn’t want to get a “girlie dog”.   Obama, they argue, is so, so, sooooo not sexist that he doesn’t realize it when his actions are sexist and exclusionary.  He exists in a post-sexist world where everyone is so equal that for him sexism doesn’t even exist anymore.  If only women were enlightened enough to join him there!

Founding Bloggers has the story:

Now that there is news of potential absentee voter ballot fraud having been committed by ACORN’s Working Families Party in NY, the absentee ballots of every district ACORN operates in should be forensically audited.

They can start with Minnesota.

Tea Party protesters should be marching on Sen. Franken’s office, demanding he call for an audit immediately.

Fox News reports:

Brian Suozzo voted with an absentee ballot in the Working Families Party primary on Sept. 15 because, as his application stated, he was “at home recovering from medical procedure.”

Jessica Boomhower’s application said she would be attending a “work conference in Boston.”

Michael Ward couldn’t vote in person because he was “taking care of elderly parent.”

Kimberlee Truell was on a “Bus trip to casino,” as was Miguel Vazques.

The only problem with these absentee ballot records at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections in Troy, N.Y., is that they’re phony, voters and investigators say — and they’ve prompted what’s being called an unprecedented investigation of suspected voter fraud.

[...]

Someone took my signature and voted with it and I felt extremely violated,” Suozzo told Fox News. He is a soft-spoken 28-year-old environmental engineer who says he never saw, let alone signed, the Working Families Party Absentee ballot application that carried his supposed signature. He was flabbergasted that someone would vote for him and submit it.

Is anyone actually surprised? No? I think every election in which ACORN was involved the votes should be recounted at the expense of ACORN and the DNC for employing such a corrupt organization to work for them.

Ron Paul’s What If ? Remastered

I am a veteran and I supported the invasion of Afghanistan, but opposed the invasion of Iraq. During the last election I started following Ron Paul. I liked what he was saying about the Constitution, but strongly disagreed with him on foreign policy. Over the last year I have come to realize just how right he is. I wonder how many more good men and women will die in Afghanistan before Obama quits playing games and brings them home?

Texas is blessed to have Ron Paul in Congress. I don’t know how he has not gotten discouraged being a lone voice of sanity in the Federal District.

NOTE: I thought I had posted this yesterday, but I guess it remained only a draft?!?!  Apologies for that.

A posting on the Chicago Tribune website states that sources tell them a key witness in the former-Governor Blagojevich’s corruption case regarding the US Senate seat is dead.

Christopher Kelly, who cited Federal Attorney pressure in his decision to plead guilty recently in regards to charges against him, is reportedly dead at the age of 51 years old.  He was due to testify for the government in the upcoming Blagojevich trial on corruption charges that arose from an alleged “pay-to-play” scheme on the part of Blagojevich in naming a replacement for Obama in Congress.

Here’s link to the entry at the Chicago Tribune Website:

September 12, 2009

Christopher Kelly, key figure in Blagojevich corruption probe, is dead

Posted by Jeff Coen and Jeremy Gorner at 3:10 p.m.; last updated at 7:18 p.m.

I didn’t do anything overt to commemorate it; I just did my job.

Eight years ago, it was different.  I did my job that day as well, but it was far different from today.  Back then, our department had a lot of students from the Middle East.  (Since then, it has been rare for a Moroccan, Saudi or Pakistani student to get into the the country on a visa, much less our program.)  Some of our students knew what was happening, but most of them didn’t tune into the news in the morning and didn’t have access to computers in class.  Us teachers would run up to our offices during the breaks and check on the news.  It was horrifying.  I sent emails to see if a friend who worked in the WTC area had been heard from.

Later, I heard rumors — started by a women I later learned does nothing but lie — that all of our Arab students had walked out of classes in protest.  It wasn’t true.

I spent the next two weeks trying to keep going at work, despite the worry and the questions, and crying as I watched the reports on tv in the evening.

Over the next few years, work was difficult.  Our student population dropped and we had to do some creative things.  It was a difficult and stressful time, but at least I had a job and my friend in NYC was safe.

I remember how Cheney wanted to have a parade on this day a couple of years ago.  Thankfully that was scrapped.  We don’t need this day to turn into a holiday or a day of showing military regalia.  There have always been blogs that have threatened that people will forget, unless we remain afraid and ignorant.  There will always be some who want to politicize this day, despite the families of the victims trying for years — and finally succeeding this year, in turning it into a day of service and remembrance.  (And yes, Michael Berry, President Obama didn’t come up with this idea, but he did finally formalize it — just as the families have been asking for — for years.)

And then there is Glenn Beck.  Fresh off of getting not one but two scalps from the Obama administration, he’s off to the Mall to gather 2 MILLION people to shake their fists at the nation and demand that we all get together and I don’t know, let him be president or supreme dictator or something.  His loyal followers are following 9 things and 12 other things and supposedly they surround me.  I haven’t seen them yet, but I am a private person, so perhaps they are still looking for me.  It also reminds me of another book by Mike Gallagher titled, Surrounded by Idiots.  Perhaps these hosts need a thesaurus?

I don’t have cable, so watching the wall-to-wall Fox News coverage of tomorrow’s get together in D.C. is not an option for me.  Sigh.  I will check in and see if any bloggers claim that the Capitol Police have estimated their crowd size (they actually don’t do that anymore . . .)

Here’s a straight forward and cathartic response to Beck.

If The Bard were alive today...

But don’t try telling that to the kool aid mainliners at Daily Kos.

President Obama’s address to the Congress was nothing short of poetry to my ears.  His ebbs
and flows were fit for a grand stage. The delivery was perfection, and his articulation and
presentation were masterful.

Umm, sure.    Nothing new here.   He’s the best spechifier EVAH!!! or something like that. But this zombie has to take it just one step farther…

A vision I was thrilled to hear about.  President Obama was outside himself last
night. That is to say, his words were bigger than him.  I felt them flowing out, from him,
and I felt his ego set aside to bring this moment to pass.

All I can say, it was right up there with the likes of William Shakespeare.  It moved me, like
a classical symphony moves me, or a passionate dance, a Van Gogh painting, the sunset,
the ocean pounding against the beach, or a another speech long remembered
through the ages.

So Barack Obama’s pathetically impotent speech about health care will go down in history right there alongside Hamlet’s “To be or not to be”?  Will future generations of 10th graders be forced to memorize “Obama’s address to the joint session of congress”?  Alas, we shall never know.

And will there be controversy over who really wrote the words?   Many question the authenticity of Shakespeare’s authorship. Some say that he took credit for other people’s works.   Could this man be the future Christopher Marlowe or Francis Bacon ???

But really does it matter?  A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, no?  Yes, it’s true that all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.  Some just have better agents.  I’m sure Obama has been often told to be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em…and some have “greatness” bought and paid for by corporate overlords and a corrupt media.  But Ah! there’s the rub!  Of course the Republicans would have been no better.  A plague on both of their houses!  If only they hadn’t told Hillary to get thee to a nunnery maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess.  But in the end, it’s really much ado about nothing…

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!

If Obama really WERE like Shakespeare, I imagine the latter would have looked a little like this:

The Tea Party Movement: How We Got Here
by Dana Loesch

Something curious happened during the summer of 2008. Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
shut down the House and C-SPAN cameras with a resolution that passed by just one vote, smack in the middle of an energy crisis. Afterwards, Madame Speaker jetted off on a week-long book tour while gas prices soared.

The Republicans stood in the dark and refused to leave. A few officials, including John Culberson, took out their phones and began Twittering the action to America, this spawning the #dontgo movement. It was the first nudge to the hibernating conservative constituency who were excited about having something over which to be excited in their party. Netroots activists seethed at the realization that Democrats left America in limbo rather than vote against reducing energy costs and drilling stateside –  though the majority of the population approved of such. They rallied around the legislators that had the brass to stay and urged them to “Don’t go!”

Democrats shut down Republicans a second time promptly after the election by moving to bar them from amending legislation in the House.

Taxpayer fury over these offenses grew to a shriek in February when Rick Santelli delivered his famous diatribe on the floor of the Chicago exchange. The feelings of angry disenfranchisement felt by so many conservatives coalesced following Santelli’s speech. The first wave of tea parties came from this, the first national effort occurring on February 27th, 2008. I was at St. Louis’s very first tea party and stood across the mighty Mississippi on the Arch steps with a bunch of wide-eyed, virgin protesters who were just as shocked as I was to see the amount of people who had assembled.

We’ve kept the movement growing, too. Nationwide demonstrations on April 15th with a bunch of smaller ones peppered in between have raised awareness of government trespasses; the email distribution lists have grown; the flash protests have swelled in size; more people now than ever are reading the legislation that their officials can’t be bothered to read. The administration relented and addressed us this past spring as we protested outside the president’s town hall in Arnold, Missouri. He invited us to meet with him. We accepted, we sent him a certified letter of acceptance and thanks, he never replied.

Conservatives exhausted the phone lines and keyboards contacting their representatives to alter their vote on the stimulus, cap and trade, and other legislation. Leaving messages with clueless aides wasn’t enough. Receiving canned email responses which did nothing to address voter concerns wasn’t enough.

It only validated what we all knew anyway: Washington wasn’t listening.

We conservatives, still stinging from the Patriot Act and the Wall Street bailout of the previous administration, were furious. If our elected officials were too busy frittering away our taxpayer dollars to take our calls and emails then Katy bar the door: “we the people” would march to their offices.

One of the first town halls was that of Claire McCaskill; she and Americans for Prosperity arranged a make-up “listening session” for conservatives with her aides after her University City office staff had a melt down when said conservatives marched to the Senator’s office and tried to speak with the her. Staffers responded by bolting the door, drawing the blinds, and calling the cops. The listening session was specifically for those citizens who felt excluded and the result was an endless stream of polite, but impassioned citizens who raised their voices and pointed their fingers towards McCaskill’s aide Michelle Sherrod. Video of this, taken by myself and Jim Hoft went viral.

Conservatives stormed town halls across the country as their officials arrived home for recess. We lined up and blasted our representatives for forsaking us and the Constitution. We expressed outrage at the lack of debate concerning the health care debacle. When our officials went into hiding, like Russ Carnahan did, some of our like-minded conservative brethren plastered fliers featuring the MIA legislators on the back of a milk carton.

Democrats feign shock; they can’t possibly imagine the cause of so much fuss. Hand them their smelling salts. They bemoan the “rudeness” of the loud town halls while lying to constituents about portions of the health care legislation, bussing in plants, and supporting SEIU members who beat down dissenters in the parking lot seemingly on their orders. They’ve called us “unAmerican,” “evil-mongerers,” “silly,” “an angry mob,” “terrorists,” and that what we’re doing “borders on treason” – all which seems truly rude if we’re defining rude behavior. Their only defense against this strong, informed citizenry is to brush them off as kooks and they’ve leaned heavily on the mainstream media to do so.

Just one problem: conservatives are bypassing mainstream media. Conservatives blogs are on the rise and media is loathe to admit that we’re dominating social media networks and the best sellers’ lists.

The collective consciousness of half the country’s population has changed: we stopped measuring our validity and successes by the media and by our enemies’ criticisms. We embraced the spirit of the underdog. We realized that GOP is not synonymous with conservatism. Some of us are preparing to run for offices ourselves, we’re launching our own conservative groups and organizing petitions, rallies, and lobbyist efforts all around the country.

The tea party movement has challenged the GOP to get back on track or risk losing its grip on the right wing. It’s reminded Democrats that a slick marketing campaign coupled with paid activism isn’t the same as a groundswell of real change and the reason that Democrats are so hostile towards it is because they’ve never before encountered it.

This movement celebrates its last big hurrah of 2009 before marching headlong into a midterm year. The tea party is far from over and for the sake of checks and balances, I hope it never ends.

####

Great piece from Byron York:

Bush delivered a similar speech on October 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington DC, the controversy was just beginning. Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush’s speech — they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue.

Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president’s school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president’s political benefit. “The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props,” the Post reported.

Via Mommy Life.

It appears that President Obama is willing to sell out everyone who backed him because of the promise of REAL health care reform.  News is spreading that a deal will be reached that does not include a “robust” public option.  Instead, Olympia Snowe (arguably the most powerful person in the world) is working on a deal that will “trigger” a public option if prices are not contained voluntarily by the insurance company.  And if you believe that I have a bridge on Mars I’d like to sell you…

Under Ms. Snowe’s proposal, a new government corporation would offer health insurance in any states where affordable coverage was not readily and widely available from private insurers. The corporation would not be part of the Department of Health and Human Services, although federal officials would serve on its board.

The public insurance plan would be offered in any state where fewer than 95 percent of the residents had access to affordable coverage.

Congress would define “affordable” with a sliding scale based on income. Under a proposal being considered by the Finance Committee, Medicaid would be extended to anyone with income less than 133 percent of the poverty level ($29,327 for a family of four).

For people with incomes just above that level, insurance would be considered affordable if they could find a policy with premiums equal to no more than, say, 3 percent or 4 percent of their income. For people with incomes exceeding three times the poverty level ($66,150 for a family of four), insurance might be deemed unaffordable if the premiums were more than, say, 12.5 percent to 15 percent of their income.

Not only is it not even going to be available to all, it’s not even really “public”.  The only reason they are going this far is to pacify Democrats in the house who will not support a bill without a “public option”.

The Congressional Black Caucus meanwhile has sent a letter to Obama pleading with him to aggressively promote a real government option that will help insure the nearly 46 million uninsured in the U.S.  Half of whom, according to them, are people of color.

A strong public health option that will allow the nation’s more than 46 million uninsured Americans – more than half of whom are people of color – to finally have access to affordable, meaningful health care coverage no later than 2013. As you know and we have firmly noted throughout the health care reform debate, a robust public option not only will play a pivotal role in our collective efforts to eliminate uninsurance – a public health challenge that detrimentally affects millions of hardworking, innocent Americans – but also in our efforts to ensure that every American citizen, regardless of race, ethnicity, geography or gender, has affordable access to meaningful, reliable health care treatments and services when needed. Thus, we firmly believe that the extraordinary benefits of a robust public option to the health and strength of this nation should, and do, outweigh the immediate, upfront costs associated with creating it.

So we’ll see how Obama reacts to the demands of a constituent group that voted for him by more than 9-1.  I have the feeling that they’re going to be disappointed by his response.  But will they hold him accountable?

Furthermore, I was disturbed by a report in the NY Times about some of the other compromises the President is willing to make.

White House officials said Congress could also drop proposals requiring the government to create school-based health clinics and collect nationwide data on health and health care by race, sex, sexual orientation and “gender identity.”

The only reason I can think that they would do this is to appease fundamentalist christians who don’t want the government acknowledging the health concerns of minorities, particularly gays and lesbians.  Once again Obama is willing to sell the LGBT community down the river.  This type of monitoring is crucial to manage and prevent diseases like HIV which are most prevalent among the groups listed above.

As far as the rest of the house progressives, who say they won’t pass a bill without a public option, I think it is nothing but double talk.  They will pass a house version with the option and then abandon it once the bill is in conference committee.  They will tell their constituents that they voted for the option, but with little support in the Senate they were forced to compromise to get any bill at all.

No bill would be better than the crap that is likely to end up on Obama’s desk.  And Obama will gladly sign whatever piece of shit bill he gets because he doesn’t really give a damn about the people it affects.  He just wants to claim victory for himself.

So as far as I’m concerned, the time to push for the public option is over, because it ain’t gonna happen.  What progressives should be doing now is trying to make sure that nothing gets passed if it is not true reform.  Otherwise they will be left twisting in the wind.  They will be assured by house Dems that they will not support a bill without a real public option only to cave in the end.  The progressives pushing them will be told that “it’s better than nothing”, and then those progressives will have nowhere to turn because they didn’t oppose the bill outright.  And just in case they think they can pressure house members to oppose the President,  the White House has signaled that isn’t afraid to use the race card against anyone who stands in the way of Obama getting a bill, any bill.

Should Obama jettison the public option, progressives will come under tremendous pressure to back the plan anyway. White House advisers will likely insist that liberals mustn’t deny the president a historic victory and enable a defeat that could cripple the first African-American presidency.

So there you have it in a nutshell. This isn’t about providing health care to the uninsured, or reforming the nation’s health care system, or even saving money. It is all about Barack Obama. What else is new.

UPDATE:  In case you needed MORE proof that the “public option” is officially off the table, Greg Sargent provides further details of the bamboozlement emanating from the White House:

Okay, so the White House is circulating an upbeat polling memo citing a bunch of public surveys showing that public opinion still tilts heavily in Obama’s favor on health care.

The memo, by Obama pollster Joel Benenson, doesn’t mention the public option (the White House may not be committed to it) and largely cites general numbers showing support for action and for Obama’s plan.

But here’s the funny thing: We went back and checked, and virtually every poll cited in this memo also found strong support for the inclusion of a public plan.

* The memo cited a CBS poll from September 1st, saying it found strong support for action. What does it say on the public plan? Sixty percent support, 34% oppose.

* The memo cited a CNN poll done through August 31st, saying it found deep public dismay with the system. What does it say on the public plan? Fifty-five percent support, 41% oppose.

* The memo cited a Kaiser poll from August 11th, saying it found overwhelming support for consumer protections. What does it say on the public plan? Fifty nine percent support, 38% oppose…

…To be clear, it’s not surprising that the White House wouldn’t include these numbers, since it’s currently weighing whether to ditch the public option.

*UPDATE – Quincy News reports that the Quincy Public School District held an emergency school board meeting to decide how to handle the presidential address. Apparently the Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, contacted principals DIRECTLY, totally blowing past the school board and superintendent, not to mention parents.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan contacted principals at school districts to “deliver a national address directly to students on the importance of education.”

Isn’t parental important also of great importance. Did the state forget this?

Superintendent Lonny Lemon said the Board Office has fielded numerous calls since 2:30 today. He said he has had both pro and con calls regarding the president’s address.

“This is not a win-win situation,” Lemon said. “Some parents are not going to have a problem with it, but some are going to want the president to speak when the family can make a decision (regarding the speech).”

Lemon said he was going to discuss the matter with his building principals and the School Board before making a decision on if the Quincy School District will allow teachers to participate in the speech.

Read the whole thing.

Listener Bob writes:

I talked to Alli Rudich who is the Principle of McKelvey Elementary in Maryland Heights where my
son attends to express my concern about Obama’s telecast to public schools. I planned to inform her my son would NOT be attending classes that day. She told me that her school was NOT participating and that the school has a curriculum to follow and Obama was not part of that curriculum.  I was very pleased to hear her say that and thanked her for that position.  Call your childs school.  Hopefully, they will follow Mrs. Rudich’s lead.

Kudos to McKelvey Elementary.

The odd thing about this is that I’m told by multiple sources that the directive for the 9/8 address didn’t come from the superintendent or school board, as these things ought to originate when concerning curriculum and addresses – but it came from the administration who apparently leap-frogged over proper protocol. There’s a reason that we have an educational hierarchy in place and if the president did disregard this that’s even more troubling.

I’ve heard some from those concerned about the financial impact that such a mass absence could have on schools, as they lose money when students are absent. That seems almost like emotional blackmail to me: well, we’ll lose money if you keep your kids out of school that day. Really? Then do what McKelvey did and CHOOSE not to ENDANGER those dollars by not thrusting this on surprised families and allowing parents the choice as to whether or not they want something like this presented to their students! Durr! Jeebus people! That anyone would try to blame the parents for the actions of the administration and schools who choose to go forth with this address is ridiculous.

I’m also giving you full disclosure here – this is reason like, 98 why I homeschool. HOWEVER. My kids get to decide when they hit 7th grade whether or not they want to continue their home education or enroll in the 20th century school system. This little action will set a precedence and it greatly affects our consideration of whether or not we’ll enroll our kids. Additionally, in Missouri, we’ve already had to protest to defend our rights to educational choices and parental rights – homeschooled or not – so decisions like this affect us ALL.

I’m going to do something that makes me sick to my stomach to do.  However, I’m going to be brutally honest in my assessment.  Apparently there are more than just a few people who claim to have voted for Obama and are just shocked at everything that’s happened so far.  Remember this makes me sick to my stomach to do but here it goes.

Evidently, you voted for his skin color and didn’t hear one goddamn word he said.  You didn’t listen to what he said he was going to do at all and now attempt to insult everyone’s intelligence by claiming you didn’t know he was going to do all of this.  Either your lying or your a moron!!

He said upfront that he wanted single payer insurance or government run health care.  Don’t you dare act like a deer in the head lights over this issue.  He said it, there is no way you can deny he didn’t.

He said he wanted to penalize businesses and individuals for using oil/gas by imposing a crap and tax system.  You purposefully ignored this to give us the first black president.

He said he wanted to kill 1/2 of our electricity by killing the coal industry.  Still you arrogantly ignored his statement and dismissed it as nothing.  He even said oil and gas prices were going to sky rocket under his program.  That didn’t bother you one bit.  Not to mention the fact that everywhere this has been tried, it failed.

He arrogantly claimed that he was against every policy ever enacted by Bush now he endorses those programs and continues them.

He announced in his book that he was a proponent of social justice.  It was ok to you because you voted for him anyway.  His idea of social justice means he has to break the economy completely so he can re-engineer our economy so that it is “FAIR.”  Just like mindless numbots, you said ok by voting for him.

He wants to re-instate the fairness doctrine.  You guys didn’t give a shit about that back then you still went and voted for him.

He showed us he was a firm believer is social policies when he said and I’ll quote “I’m not punishing the successful, I’m just sharing a little of your success with others.”

He claims he didn’t know William Aires was a terrorist that he thought he was reformed.  You are to blame for this because you wrote him a pass and played stupid with the liberals.   Now it has come to our attention, not only does he know William Aires, he also is dealing with the OTHER co-founder of the Weatherman Underground under the guise of the Apollo Group.  You know the group that wrote his stimulus plan?  Yeah that group!

He claimed that he didn’t know Reverend Jeremiah Wright was a racist and again you wrote him a pass and played stupid on the whole issue.  Are you seeing a pattern here?  This guy hung out with radicals left and right, yet you bought the whole notion that he wasn’t one himself.  Boy, you really should feel stupid.

He quickly managed a hostile take-over of the auto industry.  No surprise there!  Then again, this one surprised even me.  I wouldn’t have been able to predict this one on my best day but still.

He quickly managed to takeover the banking system.  After the auto industry, we could have probably guessed he’d do that.

Most of the stuff that you people say you had no idea that he’d do, he freakin’ told you he was going to do before he became president.  Most of this stuff is a no brainer because we listened to him and voted against him.  We didn’t give him our votes because we heard his message loud and clear.  We knew the majority of what he’s doing.

After looking at everything, it’s apparent to most of us he intends on breaking the economy because somehow our current system isn’t “fair.”  What in the hell could be fairer than waking up everyday and going to work and at the end of two weeks your given money for your 2 weeks of work to buy products and services for your family.

I get really tired of hearing that Obama supporters are suffering from buyers remorse.  He told you what he was going to do.  I don’t think his teleprompter could have said it any clearer if it tried.  Obviously, you’ve learned a hard lesson.  Next time do us a favor and don’t vote at all if your not going to listen to the politicians pitch their plans.  You have a responsibility to evaluate all of their bullshit and vote for the one that smells the least.  In other words, you suck!  I can’t say it any better than that.  You didn’t listen yet you voted in our current commie-in-chief.   At least I hope you learned to vote responsibly.

Honestly, I’m surprised that it’s taken them this long. ACORN and other astroturf groups will gather across the street from the Pageant and massage the minority for signatures in support of the health care legislation. They miss no opportunity to defend the thugs who gave Kenneth Gladney a racially-motivated beatdown:

Glenn Burleigh, St. Louis ACORN’s head organizer, added,  “In a democracy, every citizen has the right to free political speech, but when someone uses the First Amendment as an excuse to incite violent acts, then it degrades the democratic traditions that all Americans should love and respect.

“We also hope that Healthcare Reform opponents would respect people patronizing the business, some of whom will be supporters, some will be undecided and seeking information, and some who will not support the President’s Healthcare Reform proposals.”

Yes, when people like Maxine Johnson and the thugs who beat Gladney show up to start trouble (I’ve documented it repeatedly in this space) it “degrades the democratic traditions” that apparently don’t matter to ACORN until right now.

Those who oppose this particular piece of legislation have a record of peaceful assembly; it was when HCR supporters showed up, yelled at people, assaulted them, and tried to get in others faces that things got violent. I hope that this represents a new page for these group wherein

Petition: Friday at noon, The Culture Cafe

MoveOn.org to give thank-you and gift at McCaskill office 5850 A Delmar Blvd

(The St. Louis Tea Party has not made this an official event and organizers will not be in attendance.)

I have never been much of consumer of campaign books. I tend to think they more or less rehash everything that has already been dissected in contemporaneous reporting even if they do offer juicy tidbits about campaign infighting, portraits of a frustrated candidate, and a loads of humorous anecdotes. Couldn’t I get much of that on YouTube spoofs anytime I want? Aside from a peculiar variety of political junkies, I often wonder to myself who actually purchases such books.

But after reading the an excerpt of “The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election” by Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson in the Washington Post today, I think I’m beginning to understand the appeal of that genre of books. Of course, the 2008 presidential contest from primary to the end of the general election is an unusual serious of events featuring an unlikely stew of characters giving life to grand themes. Somehow the white guy from the South, former Senator John Edwards, became the underdog and a white woman from a northern blue state and black guy with a Muslim name became the main competitors on the Democratic side. And even in that struggle contained hues of David versus Goliath storyline that the media found easy to sell to a eager public.

Meanwhile, the Republican corp had a number of cartoon characters from the adamantly anti-immigrant then-Congressman Tom Tancredo to the jolly aw shucks evangelism of former Arkansas Mike Huckabee. A more disciplined Senator John McCain had to emerge from the ashes before taking the lead. And that only happened after his big win in New Hampshire.

The media’s appetite for sideshow personalities like Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Joe the Plumber, and Bill Ayers made the long campaign easy fodder for water cooler talk for those who wanted a little gossip go with wonky debates on the minutiae of preconditions, the importance of a employer mandates in a health care plan, and the intricacies of the delegate and Superdelegate count.

Historians will have fun with that moment in American politics for generations to decades to come – maybe even longer than that.

But everything revolved around the eventual victor Barack Obama. Compared to his competitors, his campaign was heralded a marvel of near pitch perfect management with few dips in morale matching the posture of its intrepid leader. And the public, particularly his supporters, were very impressed with his cool demeanor, keen intellect and soaring rhetoric.

Balz and Johnson, however, seized on the moments in which those notions did not hold up.

Aides worried that Obama’s low morale might infect others in the campaign and spoke to him about it. They tried to buck him up, but at points in the spring and early summer of 2007, he was deeply frustrated — with his own performance and with that of much of his campaign. On July 15, he met with his senior staff at the home of Valerie Jarrett, a close friend and confidante to both Obama and his wife, Michelle. One adviser recalled it as the moment Obama began to take a more direct role in the operations of his campaign. He was blunt in his critique, and the exchanges among some of his advisers became testy. Beyond fundraising and the operation overseeing the Internet and new media, the campaign was not performing well, Obama said. The message still wasn’t where it should be. The political operation wasn’t up to speed. The campaign lacked crispness and good execution. He believed it was becoming too insular and wanted new people added to the inner circle. He told his team members they were all doing B work. If they continued on that course, they would come in a respectable second.

“Second is not good enough,” he said.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the excerpt so far, however, was then-chief campaign strategist and now White House senior adviser David Axelrod’s candid and prescient assessment of the big O’s potential weaknesses in a 2006 memo.

“It goes to your willingness and ability to put up with something you have never experienced on a sustained basis: criticism. At the risk of triggering the very reaction that concerns me, I don’t know if you are Muhammad Ali or Floyd Patterson when it comes to taking a punch. You care far too much what is written and said about you. You don’t relish combat when it becomes personal and nasty. When the largely irrelevant Alan Keyes attacked you, you flinched,” he said of Obama’s 2004 Senate opponent.

Many in the blogosphere and beyond often wondered if Obama was in fact the happy warrior beneath all that cool even if he could seduced legions of voters with great speechifying. The sheer force of the machinery of the campaign helped quell, thought not silence, many of those lingering doubts. And Obama knew it telling Balz and Haynes:

As he reviewed the campaign from his transition headquarters in mid-December, Obama offered a frank assessment of his two main competitors: Clinton and John McCain. “I was sure that my toughest race was Hillary,” he said. “Hillary was just a terrific candidate, and she really found her voice in the last part of the campaign. After Texas and Ohio she just became less cautious and was out there and was working hard and I think connecting with voters really well. She was just a terrific candidate. And [the Clinton campaign] operation was not as good as ours and not as tight as ours, but they were still plenty tough. Their rapid response, how they messaged in the media was really good. So we just always thought they were our most formidable challenge. That isn’t to say that we underestimated John McCain; it’s just that we didn’t think that their campaign operation was as good.

I cannot help but note the irony here that the campaign that was often dubbed as personality driven and almost free of doubt was in fact the very same tightly organized campaign that achieved success in no small part due to a healthy fear of losing. Its not news, but still a tidbit worth chewing. And maybe with enough of these kinds of insights it might even form a book worth reading.

       I was visiting with an old friend two weeks ago and went to see his father who is dying from cancer.  Cancer is such a dreadful disease and so many things are linked to the causes.   This man smoked most of his life so smoking is the probable and logical cause.   Something that struck me is the addiction to cigarettes.  This friend and I walked around his yard reminiscing about the days of our youth and talking about the slow dying moments of his father.  I was astonished that in the twenty minutes outside he had smoked two cigarettes.   One would think with his father lying on his deathbed he would consider quitting and I am sure it has run through his mind but the cigarette has him under its control.  

     The final draw of death is so final and I find it unusual.  I stared the man in the face, What do you say to a dying man?  How are you doing?   This seems not appropriate for the situation.   I told my friend, because he was grieving in hard way, that as Christians we have to believe in the Resurrection.  God is loving and merciful.  We have to pray and stay focused on Christ.  Do not get bitter in death if you start, then ask God to give you the grace to stay from despair.  God is love and is a just God.  Our life on this earth is a test and no matter how popular or rich or poor you are,  it is our life and love and works and obedience to God that will matter most.  Pray without ceasing.

     Why do we keep fighting for truth? I was listening to talk radio today and they were discussing the health plan proposed by President Obama.   It is a scary thought to have a government health plan.  One key point on the radio station address said that many people from other Countries are coming to America to receive health care because of the quality.  They also interviewed citizens from other countries about the health care issue and they say that the government health care is horrible.  We really need to get to our senators and push to vote this down.  Obama is trying to make the Government our authority and for us to do anything the government will have to give us the go ahead.  Our freedoms are being taken away and the agenda of the democratic party will destroy our Country unless we stand up and fight daily for our rights.  We are called to defend what is ours.   Do not be afraid because through prayer and sacrifice we shall prevail.  God Bless.