December is finally here. The local forecast includes a small chance of snow here tomorrow. The “small” chance means we will probably be buried in 3 feet of the stuff.

My wife cringed when she saw the weather forecast that showed that our high temps will not get above the 40’s all week long. This is Texas….not Minnesota…….a week without wearing shorts will kill us. Before you know it, our legs will all be corpse-white like the poor souls up north…like in Oregon.

The Daughter starts training today for her hairdressing career. She will be working in NE Fort Worth. This means she will work 40 hours a week and spend another 17.5 hours stuck in gridlock traffic. Being Texas, we have already bought her two pistols, a sawed-off shotgun, and some Chinese throwing stars for her to use for protection against the inevitable swarm of road-rage psychopaths and common everyday carjackers.

I had to buy some new reading glasses the other day. I wear them way down my nose so that I can see the TV way across the room with my eyes and the magazine in my hands with the glasses. My dear family saw me wearing the glasses for the first time and started laughing. They say that my white hair, white beard, overweight physique, and the now the glasses…all add up to one image……Santa Claus!

That’s my new motto….”Back off damnit!! I am Santa Claus!!”

I tried some cyber-shopping yesterday but it really hurts my head. I pulled up a popular electronic device on Target’s website and it showed the price with a slash through it. The site advertised “huge cyber savings” and indicated that I had to put the item in my “shopping cart” in order to see the special reduced price. I did that and was floored when the new sale price turned out to be $5.75 lower than the everyday price. That’s it? All the mystery and drama for not even $6!!!???? Wow! What a deal!

My oldest son bought himself a 50″ Flatscreen HD TV. The bedroom wall it now occupies is only about 55″ wide.

We have about 128 TV’s in my house and none of them are flat-screens and none of them are HD anything. They are ALL old console type units that weigh about 300 pounds each.

Me and the kid went to the movies over Thanksgiving break. I saw 2012, he saw “New Moon”. “2012″ was good for what it is…..pure fantasy. Cosmic forces and Mayan prophecies will NOT signal the end of the world in 3 years……but Sarah Palin again holding elected office just might.

Thanksgiving was great. We were at the In-Laws in Chillicothe. By my count, there were about 15 of us there, which resulted in the turkey being stripped clean as if devoured by piranhas. Someone did over-calculate the amount of dressing though in that we ended up with about 23 pounds of the stuff leftover. I got a feeling that the In-Laws will be giving out gift-wrapped Tupperware bowls of dressing for Christmas and for everyone’s birthdays next year.

Only in Texas. A story on the news the other day showed the dumbassed situation that a Brownsville woman finds herself in. She lives right on the River with Mexico being on the opposite side of the river. The Government is constructing a huge 20′ high steel border fence to try to keep out illegals. Though Mexico and the border are across from her backyard, the fence is being constructed IN FRONT of her house….for “environmental reasons”. So….she is soon to be a US Citizen, living in the United States of America……but her home will now be on the Mexico side of the fence………

Like I said, only in Texas.

1.  “Among those inclined to be antiwar, it doesn’t much matter whether they “support” the escalation. What matters is whether they openly oppose it – and, if so, how vocally and emphatically.

There’s a clear and well-trod pathway for ineffectual dissent from members of Congress who end up passively assisting the escalation by a fellow Democrat in the Oval Office. Avid support for the war effort is helpful but not necessary. Scarcity of determined opposition will suffice to keep the war politically viable in Washington.

At the core of the enabling politics is inner space that’s hollow enough to reliably cave under pressure. Typically, Democrats with antiwar inclinations weaken and collapse at push-comes-to-shove moments on Capitol Hill. The habitual pattern involves loyalty toward – and fear of – “the leadership.”
http://original.antiwar.com/solomon/2009/11/30/the-hollow-politics-of-escalation/

2.  More bad faith on everyone’s part:

“Supreme Court Throws Out Order to Release Abuse Photos“

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/11/30/supreme-court-throws-out-order-to-release-abuse-photos/

3.  What a stupid, evil man Friedman is:

“How many Muslims has the U.S. killed in the past 30 years?

Tom Friedman had an especially fatuous column in Sunday’s New York Times, which is saying something given his well-established capacity for smug self-assurance. According to Friedman, the big challenge we face in the Arab and Islamic world is “the Narrative” — his patronizing term for Muslim views about America’s supposedly negative role in the region. If Muslims weren’t so irrational, he thinks, they would recognize that “U.S. foreign policy has been largely dedicated to rescuing Muslims or trying to help free them from tyranny.” He concedes that we made a few mistakes here and there (such as at Abu Ghraib), but the real problem is all those anti-American fairy tales that Muslims tell each other to avoid taking responsibility for their own actions.

I heard a different take on this subject at a recent conference on U.S. relations with the Islamic world. In addition to hearing a diverse set of views from different Islamic countries, one of the other participants (a prominent English journalist) put it quite simply. “If the United States wants to improve its image in the Islamic world,” he said, “it should stop killing Muslims.

…

I have deliberately selected “low-end” estimates for Muslim fatalities, so these figures present the “best case” for the United States. Even so, the United States has killed nearly 30 Muslims for every American lost. The real ratio is probably much higher, and a reasonable upper bound for Muslim fatalities (based mostly on higher estimates of “excess deaths” in Iraq due to the sanctions regime and the post-2003 occupation) is well over one million, equivalent to over 100 Muslim fatalities for every American lost. “
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/11/30/why_they_hate_us_ii_how_many_muslims_has_the_us_killed_in_the_past_30_years

4.  “Robert Reich: “Shame Won’t Work. Only Political Muscle and Courage Will”

Obama is planning to “shame” the big banks who are not agreeing to modify mortgages.

This is a repeat of Bernanke’s play book … scold the giant banks for failing to lend, but then give them a pat on the back and a wink.”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/11/robert-reich-shame-wont-work-only.html

5.  “Economist: “What Passes For Help To Homeowners In The Capitol Might Look More Like Handing Out Money To Banks Anywhere Else”

It is extremely unlikely that the vast majority of underwater homeowners will ever accumulate a penny in equity. Keeping them in their homes as owners means wasting thousands of dollars a year on excess housing costs only to be forced to arrange a short sale or face a foreclosure at some future point in time.
…
In some cases the government may pay enough to buy down principle that the homeowner is no longer underwater, but the bulk of this money is a gift to the bank, not the homeowner. If a homeowner is $100,000 underwater and the government pays the bank $50,000 to write the loan down to the current value of the house, then the bank has pocketed $50,000, while the homeowner is essentially left breaking even. This is very generous to the bank, but homeowners have nothing to show in this story.
…
Maybe that’s why a professor of law advises that underwater homeowners walk away from their mortgages, saying that it is not immoral to do so, Congresswoman Kaptur advises her constituents facing foreclosure to demand that the original mortgage papers be produced, and portfolio manager and investment advisor Marshall Auerback argues that a debtor’s revolt would be a good thing.”

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/11/economist-what-passes-for-help-to.html
This is all to be expected.  Ostensible justifications for war are more or less universal, as is the familiar mix of fear, claims of moral necessity (and superiority), and appeals to patriotism and military love that are always hauled out to justify their continuation and escalation.  Beyond that, Bush’s escalation was based on many of the same counter-insurgency dogmas in which Obama’s escalation is grounded, designed by many of the same people.  So it’s anything but surprising that it all sounds remarkably similar.  And it’s possible that once we hear the actual speech, rather than the White House’s coordinated depiction of it, that there will be new elements.

Still, this pretense that Obama spent months carefully deliberating in order to devise some new and exotic thought pattern about the war seems absurd on its face.  At least if his top aides are to believed, what he intends to say tonight should sound extremely familiar.”
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/

7.  “The Truth of UK’s Guilt Over Iraq

President George Bush was able to disguise his blatant militarism behind the false sincerity of his ally Blair and his own secretary of state, Colin Powell. The president’s task was made far easier given the role of useful idiot played by much of the mainstream media in the US and Britain, where reporters and editors alike dutifully repeated both the hyped-up charges levied against Iraq and the false pretensions that a diplomatic solution was being sought.”

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24084.htm

8.  “President Sarah Palin

Smug Democrats love to imagine they are a species apart from Sarah Palin, the “pit bull with lipstick.” However, U.S. political history teaches us never to overestimate the intelligence of the American electorate, or trust a Democrat – many of whom were Republicans not very long ago. At root, Palin’s supporters are “white nationalists,” the same people that adored Ronald Reagan and, yes, George Bush. So why is it so hard to imagine a Palin presidency?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24083.htm

Sarah Palin exits jet (oops, we mean bus) with G.I. Joe while Michael Steele holds back the crowd.

The “Sarah Palin Blue-Collar Book-Bombing Bus Tour” has been busted. The former ex-quitting governor of Alaska likes to promote the public image that she is a “Joan Sixpack”. She would have the American public believe that she buys her clothes at consignment shops, purchases used cars and clips coupons. All of this is done in a purposely choreographed manner in an attempt to create an “us” versus “them” political atmosphere wherein Palin is one of  “us” (or is it “them”? Now I’m confused.). Anyway, as we all know, you can’t judge a book by its cover. You must examine the prose beneath in order to determine whether you are reading fiction or non-fiction. In the case of Sarah Palin, the truth is that her public persona is pure unadulterated fiction.

Palin has little to nothing in common with her targeted band of supporters other than a lack of education. She lives in a Kennedy-like Hyannisport waterfront compound of separate custom built structures, one of which doubles as an aircraft hangar. She raised her children with the help of a hired nanny. She and her husband, the once and future “First Dude” are unemployed as a matter of choice, not circumstance. She also spends more time traveling the country than she does at her home. This is not the life of the average American that she claims to identify with so well.

And now we learn that Sarah Palin’s cross-country bus tour is also a carefully manufactured facade. Palin announced that she would travel the country by means of motorcoach as a symbolic way to meet and greet her working class supporters in the manner by which many of them travel (i.e. public transportation). Problem is, she seldom rides the bus. In fact, Palin travels from city to city in the lap of luxury by means of a donated private corporate jet. After landing at each destination on her tour, she discreetly boards the bus that is waiting for her at either the airport or her hotel and travels in workmanlike fashion to each booksigning where her supporters are led to believe that the bus was her only means of travel. How cunningly deceptive. Nonetheless, could we expect anything other than trickery from the would be Liar in Chief? Probably not.

In honor of the troops, please remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with today’s song parody.

Bennie And The Jets song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0WCQadt864

SARAH AND HER JET

(sung to the Elton John song “Bennie and the Jets”)

Hey kids, let’s sing this together
Sarah Palin’s brain-dead fans
Are as tasteful as shoe leather
They’re a filthy bunch of pigs that
Should be hosed-down
You’re never gonna wanna be ‘round a
Bigger bunch of clowns

And Sarah flies to them on a private jet -  (ooh)
But they’re so spaced out, (sa sa sa sa sa) Sarah and her jet
Oh, if those fans only had a clue
She signs books to take their green
She thinks it’s a hoot to rake in their loot
And she still cannot name a magazine (no)
(sa, sa, sa) Sarah and her jet

Her fans left waiting in bad weather
Treated just like pawns
Yet still sticking together
She’s in the sky, stringing all of them along
She leaves them cold and wet out in the streets
That’s where she thinks they belong

She gave up the tour-bus for a private jet -  (ooh)
That bus had no clout, (sa sa sa sa sa) Sarah and her jet
Oh, the big Leer-Jet’s so wonderful
Fitting for Alaska’s queen
She’s got her mukluk boots, Arctic Cat suit
I saw it pictured in a magazine (ohh ho)
(sa sa sa)Sarah and her jet

(Musical Interlude)

She’s living the high life, on that you can bet -  (ooh)
But she’s so spaced out, (sa sa sa sa sa) Sarah and her jet
Oh, but palin is so full of bull
Slippery as Vaseline
She thinks that it’s a hoot to aim and shoot
And take her daily dose of Thorazine (ohh ho)
(sa sa sa)Sarah and her jet

Sarah, Sarah and her jet
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah and her jet
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah and her jet
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah and her jet
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah and her jet (jet) (jet) (jet)
Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah and her jet.

So I read Sarah Palin’s  Going Rogue. Its falls right in line with my obsession with those involved with presidential politics and my unwavering support of women in politics in all areas whether they share my political viewpoint or not.

And besides if there was any book in politics that was a must read this year, it was without a doubt this little book right here.

I was impatient about getting to this book. I knew most of my peers were so turned off by her they’d never read it. I knew that reviews would be as skewed towards whatever side of the love/hate spectrum people are on with this woman. And really there actually seems to be no spectrum, you either love her or you hate her and I did not want a review biased solely  because of that. And I knew that the book has been fact checked to death and ripped to shreds by liberal blogs and the media.

All of this only made it that much more of a must read for me. At first I planned to get it from the library, but all copies were reserved. Then I was going to ask one of my Secret Santas for it, but then I was in Target one day and I saw it for $17.99 and I just could not resist.

I have read a vast majority of political biographies both penned by the actual political figure or written by a political friend or foe. I find the entire political biography genre to be endlessly fascinating. In fact that is my favorite non fiction section at the library.

So I have much to compare Ms. Palin’s book to and let me say right off the bat that as far as a political biography goes, Going Rogue falls extremely short on the political and policy side.

Palin’s book really is more about her than anything else.

Now this is to be expected and it is a similar complaint that I had about Barack Obama’s the Audacity of Hope. People with very limited political careers tend to all fall into this trap, especially people who take off out of no where and are capitalizing on their popularity without much of a record. Obama and Palin both fall into that category and here their books suffer from the same ailment.

But Obama made up for this with a lot of his ideas and dreams, (political prose I called it) though all of it was overly idealistic drivel clearly intent on setting him up as a presidential candidate. The intentions of the Audacity of Hope were clear as a bell to any reader.

The intentions of Going Rogue, however are never quite certain, or if they ever never clear and this is my overall problem with the book.

There is much to enjoy here.

I found the first half the book very engrossing and fascinating. Sarah Palin as a woman was very easy to relate to. I was fascinated by her unique upbringing in Alaska and some of the stories she told about hunting trips with her father, including the infamous one where he handed her a pair of moose eyeballs fresh from a kill and was relieved to see her flinch at holding them. I felt her sorrow as she talked about her first of two miscarriages, the joy and triumph of the birth of her son (though I thought she was quite loopy to name him Track simply because it was Track season) and I also related to some of her complaints about sexist remarks and attitudes she was a victim of as a early contender in city politics.

The woman, I related to and liked enough.

Until she got to Sarah Palin, the politician. 

This is where the portrayal became muddled. Palin had no idea going into this book exactly who she wanted to sell herself as. And let’s not kid ourselves that is the point of political biographies and most of the reason I find them fascinating. Each person who sits down to write their life story that is a politician usually uses it as a chance to create their public image, for redemption or to take control of their legacy. Palin missed this opportunity all these opportunities, save the first I suppose.

She spends a fair amount of time trashing Katie Couric and a few senior people in the McCain campaign but she never pays herself the appropriate amount of reflection that would demonstrate that she understands the mistakes that she made on the trail. I wholeheartedly believe many of her assertions that she was mishandled as that can be seen plain as day. Palin was not properly prepped to engage on a national political stage and the McCain campaign is responsible for that. They should have prepped her better for the interviews and not kept her locked away the way they did and they should have listened to more of her ideas about attacking Barack Obama in my opinion.

However, Palin needs to refrain from making excuses about her poor performances in the Couric interviews and own up to them and get past them. In much of the book she portrays herself as very naive to the ways of national presidential politics as an explanation for many of the gaffes she was responsible for. Even if this is true, if she desires a future in national politics she shouldn’t present this weak, uninformed, “aww shucks!” persona that Going Rogue does to brush her embarrassing moments under the rug.

I understand that political campaigns are tough on the candidates, their families,full of spin  and constantly on damage control or accidentally creating the damage but it seems Palin never got that at all and all she can do is shrug her shoulders about how she was handled. That’s not enough.

She needs to take more responsibility.

Furthermore her attacks on the people who mishandled her are very passive aggressive. She never really goes after anyone hard core. The Katie Couric remarks border on cattiness but she attributes them to someone else. She spends all this time dishing but does it in a way where she seems to shrug her shoulders and say “o well. Those are some phony, mean people, but I kept my head up and weathered it.” You’d think Sarah Palin was just a big victim telling on all her bullies at times, and there is little “rogue” about that.

O well, at least she apologized to Hillary Clinton for calling her a whiner when Hillary remarked about how she was treated differently because of sexism. I’m a Hillary fan girl though, so I was pleased purely on that level. I hardly think it was totally sincere, more so another excuse in her arsenal.
Not to say the book isn’t an interesting read. As far as political biographies go it is short, a page turner and Palin doesn’t ever bog it down with very complex language. It reads how she talks pretty much and except for a few kind of pointless stories about her love for running, and ad nauseum mentions of Ronald Reagan including tons of quotes from him, it flows pretty well.

But at the end of the book I am not sure what Sarah Palin’s intentions were. I would have thought she wanted a run for the Presidency no matter how much she denies it, but this book doesn’t even feel like it is written by a desirous presidential candidate at all to me and I have read many and called future candidates for it several times. Going Rogue is an interesting piece because of Sarah Palin, but it doesn’t really seem to know what it wants to be besides her vision of herself, which overall isn’t that flattering as a potential political figure. And if it is simply that, then it is the least effective of all the political  biographies I read. I wouldn’t vote for her, but I certainly found myself feeling more like I could relate to her.

But perhaps that was the point. I just don’t get how that translates into a political career.

But then again, maybe that’s the most mavericky thing of all?

political cartoons

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Published 11/20/09 The Wheel

For the sake of cartoonists, comedians, and entertainers everywhere – Thank you  Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!

See the article it was published with – Palin Agonistes: What Happens When Sarah Palin Grows Up? – Asher Smith

I haven’t achieved old age yet, nor am I a man. However, Dylan Thomas’s villanelle seems the appropriate beginning to the week. It’s a reminder to us humans, with a ways to go, that time is short and we better get busy, or prepare for the angst we are sure to have at the end.

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Although I am wary of pronouncements that suggest Palin just needs the right support team, Black Agenda has the correct view about her status:

Freedom Rider: President Sarah Palin

Posted Tue, 11/24/2009 – 20:30 by Margaret Kimberley

[By BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

Smug Democrats love to imagine they are a species apart from Sarah Palin, the “pit bull with lipstick.” However, U.S. political history teaches us never to overestimate the intelligence of the American electorate, or trust a Democrat – many of whom were Republicans not very long ago….]

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/freedom-rider-president-sarah-palin

One of the good things that has resulted from putting Democrats back in charge, is to give some breathing room in the fight over national resources. The three-year moratorium instituted in July was a start.  However, as the article below demonstrates, the real work is only beginning:

Keeping Uranium out of the Grand Canyon

Marty Durlin | Nov 23, 2009 12:53 PM

[Are 21- year-old documents adequate to approve reopening a uranium mine about 15 miles north of the Grand Canyon? The Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Grand Canyon Trust say no, and they're suing the Bureau of Land Management for giving the go-ahead, claiming the agency is violating multiple federal laws by using the decades-old environmental assessment to approve the uranium mine….

http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/keeping-uranium-out-of-the-grand-canyon

I find this news fascinating. Just think, Citibank is now 36% USA government owned, and more than 26% foreign owned, a large chunk by Abu Dhabi and Singapore.  And who was it that wanted to buy our port management businesses just a little while ago? Oh yeah. Then six months later who bought it from them and got bailed out? Oh yeah. Then who teams up together? Oh yeah.

After Dubai World debt panic, UAE guarantees all bank deposits

The United Arab Emirates central bank guaranteed all deposits in the banking system Sunday, seeking to calm markets made nervous by Dubai World's debt payment crisis. Asian markets rose Monday on the news.

[DUBAI, UAE - The United Arab Emirates' central bank sought to reassure investors rattled by the debt woes of the politically-connected conglomerate Dubai World on Sunday with an announcement that it was backing all deposits in locally owned and foreign banks.

Asian markets were cheered by the news, rising more than 3 percent on Monday after falling by between 3 and 5 percent last Friday, though UAE stock markets fell by up to 8 percent on Monday on concerns over a deepening local recession….]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1130/p06s07-wome.html

Fanning the flames of bigotry even when we are afraid or angry is wrong. The results demean all of us. Does anything more need to be said about this?

Muslim Soldiers See ‘Teachable Moment’ in Ft. Hood

Attacks From Right Raise Pressure on Soldiers After Ft. Hood Shooting

By SPENCER ACKERMAN 11/26/09 6:00 AM

[Jamal Baadani was driving home from work outside Washington on November 5 when a friend called to tell him a gunman had shot up the Army base at Fort Hood, Texas. It didn’t take long for Baadani to learn that the suspect, Nidal Malik Hasan, was an Arab-American, a Muslim, and a member of the U.S. military. In other words, nothing like him and everything like him, all at once…]

http://washingtonindependent.com/68976/muslim-soldiers-see-teachable-moment-in-ft-hood

It is funny, I don’t recall Palin having served in the military in honor of her country but she sure loves to make links to others and imply the most hateful of things.  The link she has not implies that Obama isn’t an American and isn’t in the battle to win.

Part of the letter:

“I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son,” Estes wrote. “Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out.”  See the rest at Palin’s page of hate and blame on Facebook

For the idiots: Just because someone serves in the military doesn’t make them the final word on what should or shouldn’t be done on the matter.  Clearly, the gentleman that wrote the letter that Palin links would prefer the George Bush method of sending Americans to their death for lies about WMD and ties to 9/11.  Apparently a President that lies and makes torture a moral good in a fight that is apparently a “mission from God” is the kind some people prefer.  Guess what?  That was the beginning of our problems and our debt and is still using our tax dollars.  I don’t support such immoral behavior and excuses to avoid accountability.

Clearly, the method followed by Bush and those that supported him was the wrong approach.  I personally don’t think Obama should send any additional troops and should instead get our asses out of the money pit that has already defeated other great powers.  I don’t support Obama on this matter but I would say he is in a better position to know what is best for America and I believe he wants to do what is right for America.  However, I believe he is like many Democrats and wants to try to please everyone and thus give too much in areas that he shouldn’t.  I think he is doing that by sending in more troops.

We need to spend the billions to trillions on technological superiority and ensure our freedoms here at home.   Invest on technology, education and a strong America, not killing and causing suffering to others.  Bush did that for enough years in the name of his God.  We don’t need any more money wasted on death.  Time to buildup America again.

Next on the agenda: do something about jobs But what?

The Twelve Lies Of Sarah Palin One for each day of Christmas?

These are not hyperbolic claims or rhetorical excess. They are assertions of fact that are demonstrably untrue and remain uncorrected. Every single one of the lies I documented holds up after several news cycles have had a chance to vet them even further….

So for the record, let it be known that the candidate for vice-president for the GOP is a compulsive, repetitive, demonstrable liar. If you follow the links, here is the proof. I repeat: proof…

Taking measure of Obama’s first 10 months

Gosh, who could guess Goldman would be deceptive instead, pretending to be charitable when they actually weren’t.

Biden Goes On Attack As Senate Begins Health Care Debate

This pretty well sums up the heart of a conservative Lugar: Delay Health Care Until Next Year, Focus On War.  Sure, put off what make people die later to focus on what makes people die sooner.  The “pro-choice” party chooses death over life.

As Sully puts it:

… [U]nlike the Iraq war, health insurance reform was a signature issue in the previous campaign debates – both primary and general – and a clear Obama campaign pledge from the get-go. Unlike the Iraq war, the proposal’s long term costs have been inspected closely by the CBO. I know no one who believes that the total final costs over ten years could go from $50 billion to, by some estimates, between $2 trillion and $3 trillion and counting. And I know of no one who thinks the end result will wreck America’s international standing.

But yes, more debate and scrutiny. If you really think three decades of failures, a year of campaign debate and a year of legislative wrangling really hasn’t aired the issues sufficiently.

Neocon media at play Drudge, Washington Times Falsely Claim Allegedly Hacked Emails Show Global Warming Is Not Real. This piece, of course, we could see coming.  Watch Krugman take Will apart.

Regarding those party crashers

Remember when the Bush administration allowed a male prostitute from a fake newspaper into the White House press room in order to ask the president softball questions? Or when a guy managed to hurl not one, but two shoes at President Bush’s melon during a so-called “secured” event, and the Secret Service did nothing to protect the president when the shoes began to fly?

Just thought I’d mention.

Were defense contractors buying budget votes with dummy donations?

Dem Rep Obey: Afghan Troop Surge Is ‘A Fool’s Errand’

How do you define “has been”?

Just 1 percent pick George W. Bush as the best reflection of the party’s principles, and only a single person in the poll cites former vice president Richard B. Cheney. About seven in 10 say Bush bears at least “some” of the blame for the party’s problems.

Maybe now the neocon media can stop force-feeding us his daughter?

Another major victory in the war on lobbyists Elections matter.

Fox News thinks President Obama traveled back in time using his Muslim-Hitler-Commie Flux Capacitor and somehow passed the FY09 budget before he was actually elected president.

Currently, liberals especially are siding with and defending Obama while populist rage at the banksters grows.

This is shortsighted and delusional. If we on the left want to win, we need to harness that growing anger and make it ours. And to find common ground with those on the right who we agree with on specific issues.

Reckon Palin will whine about sexism directed at her from the Right? Nah, me neither.

Christians should be lauded for rejecting modern-day religion.

See a pattern here? Palin quits the 5K Turkey Trot race early and doesn’t make Thanksgiving dinner because it’s too much work.  Why are Republican leaders so lazy?

Why does the Republican senator hate America’s military leaders? Heh, indeedy.

Time to boycott the fondue cheese and cuckoo clocks

Huckabee may not have a choice anymore. He says he’s not sure about whether he’ll run for preznit in ‘12, but it seems he may have pardoned the guy who killed four Seattle policemen (and who think’s he’s the messiah and, therefore, allowed to rape children).  Voters tend to frown on that sort of thing. Update: He may already be dead.

More fallout from Bush’s Folly Senate Report: Bin Laden Was ‘Within Our Grasp’

New Details About Destroyed Torture Tapes

Stupid Dem Alert! Poll: 40% of Dems ‘Not Likely’ Or ‘Will Not Vote’ Next Year

I get the feeling WND doesn’t like gay people Not to mention they’re making these kids target for Palin-Beck wingnut violence.

Christmas comes early! Monsanto is going to be investigated by the Justice Department for anti-trust violations.

If you’ve seen The Corporation or Food, Inc., you’ll know what Monsanto is up to. Roughly 90 percent of the soy bean supply, for example, comes from engineered Monsanto seeds. And they’ve patented the seeds, so any seed that accidentally drops into a non-Monsanto field is a lawsuit worthy trespass against the unknowing farmer. As corporations go, Monsanto is easily the worst of the worst.

Greed knows neither limits nor shame

It’s not enough that they have brought the US and Europe to their financial knees. Now banks, under the guise of the WTO’s free trade treaty, want to expand the casino to the new big emerging powers with their trillion-greenback reserves. A derivatives crash in those markets could easily trigger a financial China Syndrome—a second meltdown from New York to Beijing to Brasília.

Neocon media at play The Strange & Silly Media Rewrite Of The Fort Hood Shooting Spree

Don’t be a jerk — it’s Christmas (great new tune for carolers!  hehehehe)

Neocon media at play Why does The Wall Street Journal put a fourth-day news story about a golfer’s minor car accident on page-two today?

Ho hum. Just another would-be domestic terrorist found with a bomb-making lab. Nothing to see here, just move along

Of course, if this had been a Muslim extremist caught with such an arsenal, we’d be getting talk-show panels on Hannity featuring Michelle Malkin ranting at length about the threat of Islamic jihad, blah blah blah. Not to mention chatty discussion on Fox and Friends and Morning Joe.

But instead, because he’s just a white anti-government extremist, hey, let’s just give it a big shrug.

Tweety is an idiot Why is TV so full of painfully uninformed, unintelligent people?  More Tweety and TV stupidity here. TV cartoon mocks Tweety’s ego.

Sanders: I Won’t Vote To Confirm Bernanke As Fed Chair He’s none too thrilled with the Afghan “surge” either.

Send this story to your crazy uncle who keeps saying the ACLU is the enemy of Christianity and America You can also point out that the ACLU has a rich history of defending religious freedom.

Quote of the Day

When the sad and destructive history of the U.S. over the last decade is written, the coddled, nepotistic, self-serving face of Evan Bayh should be prominently included. It embodies virtually every cause.

Normally to posit a giant conspiracy you need some plausible account of the motives.

Nothing to see here.  Move along, The Supreme Court has thrown out an appeals court ruling that ordered the disclosure of photographs of detainees being abused by their U.S. captors.

Sarah Palin is especially popular among Republicans who listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck. Overall, 17% of Republicans said they would vote for Palin for the 2012 nomination for president — with a higher number of 45% among Limbaugh listeners, and a third of Beck listeners.  You’re shocked, I know.  (Like I said last week, she is the queen of stupid people.

Howard Dean Calls David Broder Inside the Beltway Gossip Columnist, Villager Head Explodes

The Military Budget Is Bleeding Us Dry. It’s Time We Addressed That.

Top 5 Republican lies

The GOP reaches even further into the past Trying, in vain, to find a way to connect with voters they revive the ol’ reefer madness

Wow…
This is some exciting stuff… 
There is a lot going on all around us… 
So lets get right at it…

“Where there are fences, there are gates… 
Where there are gates, there are “gatekeepers…”

After this said, why are all these “gatekeepers” allowing all these breaches of  security and entrance???  We have heard recently of a shooting in Washington state and we see that the shooting never would have happened had the “gatekeepers” did their job and not let this “Cop Shooter” out of jail… 
Dahhhhh???

We here about how Pres. Obama should or should not send troops into Afganastan from several people… So where were all these people (gatekeepers) that are speaking out against these wars when “Bush” was in Charge???   Dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh???

We heard recently about a father (gatekeeper) who took his little daughter to a drug infested home to an unfit mother, causing the little girl to get kidnapped, raped, and Killed…  So who is really the blame???   Dahhhhh???
It angers me when people (gatekeepers) neglect their responsibility and then want to blame others for the outcome…

Now we have Tiger Woods who had a minor single car accident early one morning where he was the only one that was injuried and the police are harrassing him…   Hey leave Tiger alone…  When I had a single car accident, it took the police several hours to get to me, and no new cameras showed up at all… 
What’s up with that???

Wow…
So what about the gatekeepers???

The Chinese behead them who don’t do their job…  Read the “Art of War – By Sun Tzu…
 Just a thought… 

“Pres. Obama: “So what about the gatekeepers???”
 

I wish to juxtapose the headline for this piece of international news with the headline for this piece of national news. Draw your own conclusions.

Palin arrives by jet, oops we mean bus, in Orlando, FL.

Thanks to our friends over at Palingates (and yes, we are aware of the updated correction), another pack of the former ex-quitting governor’s lies (or purposely misleading statements) has been exposed. Last week that blog revealed that contrary to public opinion and official Palin announcements, Sarah  Palin is not actually on a bus tour to promote sales of her ghost-written memoir. In fact, rather than traveling in a workingman’s motor coach to each of the rural hamlets where she hawks the tome, Sarah prefers the elitist comforts of a privately owned luxury jet. It appears that she takes the jet to the next city on her tour and then discreetly rides the bus only a short distance from either her hotel or the airport to the next book signing event. She is not forthright with regard to her means of travel because she wants her fan base to believe that she is one of them; hardworking and frugal in these recessionary times. She wants them to believe that she lives like them by shopping at second hand stores and by the hands-on raising of her children. This is a calculated deception however, because in reality she and her family wore $ 150,000.00 worth of  clothes that were purchased by means of campaign donations and she pays nannies to raise her children.

Sarah Palin’s deceptions continue by means of her Twitter posts. Once again, the folks at Palingates exposed the deception. On the morning of November 24, 2009, Palin posted the following message on her twitter account:

On bus to Jacksonville, FL book signing. The Southern hospitality around here is unsurpassed – thx for the encouragement!3 book events today

In fact, Palin may have been traveling by bus at that moment, but she certainly did not ride the bus from Birmingham, AL to Jacksonville, FL. The flight log (see below) of her luxury jet reveals that she arrived via plane in Jacksonville the previous evening (November 23, 2009) at 10:09 pm. Palin supporters might be tempted to say that although the plane was in Jacksonville, there is no evidence that Palin was on the plane. Problem is, the plane seems to arrive at and depart from Palin’s book signing event locations on the very day that Palin arrives and departs from those locales. Notice the arrivals and departures from Rochester, NY, Fayetteville, NC, Birmingham, AL, Jacksonville, FL, Orlando, FL and Tri-Cities, WA. That would be quite a coincidence if Palin were not on board.

Great work Palingates!

Today’s song parody is based upon Sarah Palin’s high flying lies about her means of travel. Please enjoy.

Remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with the parody.

Leaving On A Jet Plane song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4hsC0nRvZM

FLYIN’ ON A JET PLANE

(sung to the John Denver song “Leaving On A Jet Plane”)

All her bags are packed, she’ll “go with the flow”
Dressed like a flight attendant ‘ho
To raise some cash Palin takes to the sky
The “First Dude” must stay home, he’s so forlorn
Stapleton’s waiting, she’s blowing her horn
To hell with that bus, Sarah wants to fly

She’s bitchy yet smiles with glee
Giddy that they pay her fee
She’s more famous now than Plumber Joe
She’s flyin’ on a jet plane
She’ll never ride that old bus again
She’s raking in the dough

From Fayetteville her plane leaves the ground
In Birmingham it touches down
Sarah Palin sits next to the wing
She meets her fans and signs some books too
Then back on the jet with the nice view
Sarah Palin is living like a king

She’s bitchy yet smiles with glee
All her fans have paid her fee
She is headed now for Jacksonville
She’s leavin’ on a jet plane
Her fans left standing out in the rain
They hate to see her go

In Orlando she tells the crew
We now must fly someplace new
Send that decoy bus upon its way
She knows that her fans are dumb
But her plane travel must stay mum
Or they might stop donating their pay

She’s bitchy yet smiles with glee
Happy that they paid her fee
Thinking of the ways she’ll spend her dough
She’s leavin’ on a jet plane
Profiting from their lack of brains
She smiles at them below

She’s bitchy yet smiles with glee
Happy that they paid her fee
Thinking of the ways she’ll spend her dough
She’s leavin’ on a jet plane
Profiting from their lack of brains
She smiles at them below.

The more I read about Palin, the more I like her. She seems so forthright and outspoken and above all, she is undeniably motivated by herself.

Palin is young, attractive and relatively new on the political scene and yet she is holding her own and seems to have a lot of support. The manner she was treated by John McCain is part of the reason he LOST. Palin is not less knowledgeable than most other governors, why they made her seem like this hill billy person I do not know. Well, it came RIGHT BACK and bit them in the you know what! Palin is a good politician. I am loving what I see!

Many women in the face of obstacles like those faced by Palin would have jumped back and maybe even curled up in the fetal position feeling sorry for themselves. Palin instead has chosen to go on and live well.

I am captivated by this woman’s verve. I mean, I loved Hillary Clinton when she was Senator of NY and even before that, I loved her manner. It was evident that she was bright, no nonsense and just doing what the heck she needed to do. Even if she stayed married to Clinton because she had political ambitions, so what?? People always say that she did that and somehow it makes her a bad person?? She had a cheating spouse and made the best of it. She stayed with him and if she reaped some benefit, Oh well!

Michelle Obama is another of my very favorite people. She is obviously tough and no nonsense. You can look in her eyes and see that she is a determined woman. Honestly, I do not want to compare her to Mother Theresa, but I will anyway. One thing that struck me about all the pictures I saw of Mother Theresa was the look in her eyes. Mother Theresa despite her slight frame had a fire in her eyes that never ceased to amaze me. It was that character within her that made her able to do the massive charity work she was able to do despite the incredible odds. Michelle Obama is in a similar situation.

How? Hmmm….

Well….as a Black woman, if she coughs loudly, they will immediately say she is angry and the press will draw her with a big afro again and make her appear militant and non-first lady like. Meanwhile, this is a bright intelligent woman who has a lot to offer. So what does Michelle do? She is doing what she has to do but more quietly. She has her fire in her eyes and I lovee lovee the fact that everyone knows she is formidable. She does not seem to care about the naysayers and those who say she is too strong– and I love that quality. The quality in her which does not give a rats behind about people saying she is too strong or whatever other drivel they spew.

She is who she is and I love that in women like Michelle Obama. I cannot wait to see how her daughters will turn out. Strong women in good families bring up strong, determined daughters.  At this point, I will insert a shout out to my own Mom–Thanks Mom. My Mom is a Lawyer and a strong determined woman and did her best to make me like her. I think it worked Mom

Honestly, I think more women should bring up their daughters with STRONG women as role models. In this day and age of equal opportunity violence and abuse, women who are not built to take the world on and still live as they desire, will not make it. Little girls need to thrown up their shirts less for beads and think more about more long lasting fun things. And no, I was no angel as a teenager and very young adult but at least I knew that being anything but strong and focused was not effective.

So Kudos to Palin. She is my latest and greatest hero. I have not decided if I can vote for her should she run for President, but I do know that if she runs for Senator in my State she has my vote, unreservedly.

You go SARAH PALIN! Do what you need to do. You inspire a generation of young women, Republicans and Democrats, by your verve and forthrightness! WHAT A WOMAN!

I always find good stuff over at Mudflats.

Need to give a gift to a dear conservative friend/relative/newspaper delivery kid, but have NO idea what they are into? Never fear – SFL has got you covered. I suggest you go with the “gift basket” approach – because who DOESN’T love opening up one gift, only to find that it is actually many gifts. Well, maybe this guy. But most people – yes, even conservative – are delighted to receive a vessel full of gifts that have been thoughtfully hand-picked to thrill, amuse, and inebriate the recipient.

First, you will need something to delight the eye. In light of the holiday season, I suggest something red:

Note I said something “red,” not something “read.” I know that this is made even more confusing by the fact that, technically speaking, this is a “book.” (note the review by the very excellent J.C. Patriot). But from what I read, it would appear that this isn’t so much a book, as it is an idea of what a book should be as dreamed up by people who generally do not like books, facts, logic, editing, or character development. Much like Ms. Palin isn’t so much a leader as she is an idea of what a leader should be as dreamed up by people who generally do not like books, facts, logic, editing, or character development.

Okay, good.

So now that we have dazzled the eye, how ’bout a little something for the brain?

At last! Something for those who miss the good ol’ days of Bush I and Nixon AND appreciate the good ol’ challenge of a puzzle, unlike some nasty liberals who have to make fun of everything. This challenging mind-game is based on a lovingly-rendered painting of our treasured Republican presidents in the style of that calendar guy and the guy who totally captured the good ol’days that we never actually experienced and now never will thanks to socialism.

Now we need a little treat. How about something that reminds us of the reason for the season?

Yeah – I know. These are totally awesome. But unfortunately, they are not yet available for commercial purchase. I suppose you could go with the OFFICIAL Jesus cookie, but I think it would be nicer and more thoughtful if you rolled up your sleeves and made your own cookies.*

And, of course, no holiday gift basket is complete without booze:

just awesome.

And last, something to make them laugh.

Might I suggest that you avoid the audio version, as I understand that just the sound of Gore’s voice is enough to fill people with rage and crazy.

*NOTE:  While most of the gift ideas in this blog are sprinkled with snark, the cookie suggestion is straightforward. Baking, in any literal form, rules, and there is nothing nicer than taking the time to actually MAKE something for someone else.  Also, I must point out that I really really like that cookie cutter set.

Sarah Palin dropped out of a 5k race on Thanksgiving Day in Kennewick, Washington The former vice presidential candidate who quit as  Alaska Governor clams she quit this race because she wanted to avoid the crowds that were waiting for her at the end.  Rather contradictory when consider the money worshiping terrorist (which is what she is) announced that she would be running the race on Twitter.

Palin was 1 of about 3,000 participants.  A local paper reported that her presence drew a "mass of onlookers." Much like an automobile accident during rush hour.

Just a few noteworthy news stories that have been careening around the stratosphere this week.

BREAKING NEWS:  You have to love MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. On her television program, Andrea Mitchell Reports last week she had Republican National Committee Chairman, Michael Steele as a guest. The topic was Sarah Palin and whether she has the political acumen to run for national office. When Steele answered in the affirmative and stated that she was a “successful governor”, Mitchell stopped him in his tracks and reminded him that she quit that position halfway through her first term. Good for you, Ms. Mitchell.

THIS JUST IN:  From the “Only In Massachusetts” category we have Charlie Baker, one of two Republican candidates for governor announcing this week that he has selected an openly gay Republican running mate. You see, in the Bay State even the conservatives are liberal.

BREAKING NEWS:  The former ex-quitting CNN talk host Lou Dobbs announced on former senator Fred Thompson’s radio show last Monday that he is strongly considering running for President. Our question to Mr. Dobbs is, “President of what? Maybe the He-Man Immigrant Hating Club?” Seriously though, we really hope that he does run as a third party candidate for no other reason than to further splinter the ever dwindling Republican Party.

THIS JUST IN: Liz Cheney took a big slapdown this week. The daughter of the former Vice President and Face Shooter in Chief, Dick Cheney runs a group known as “Keep America Safe.” She released a short documentary film in which she profiles a few residents of Standish, Michigan that claim that they are against any Guantanamo Bay prisoners being held in the maximum security prison in their town. Problem is, Standish city manager Michael Moran says that the community is strongly in favor of housing the detainees so as to repopulate the prison and bring jobs back to the city. He dismissed Cheney’s efforts as, “fearmongering.” Gee, anyone surprised that a Cheney might be involved in fearmongering?

BREAKING NEWS:  Fox News was once again caught using a little fuzzy math this week. The Fox Chicago television station displayed a graph which shows that 193% of persons polled believe that Huckabee, Romney and Palin should be president. You read that correctly, 193%.

THIS JUST IN: Sherry Johnston, the mother of Levi Johnston (the once and future son-in-law of Sarah Palin) was sentenced to three years in prison as the result of her conviction for dealing Oxy-Contin. The sentence seems a little harsh. Couldn’t they just have arranged for Alaskan state trooper Mike Wooten (estranged brother-in-law of Sarah Palin) to tazer her?

BREAKING NEWS: Fox News‘ Greta Van Sasquatch had Karl Rove as a guest on her show this week. The topic of discussion was Sarah Palin’s book and both of them were gushing over the wonderful writing contained therein. Van Sasquatch then asked Rove how Palin should deal with crazy rumors like the ones surrounding the birth of baby Trigg. They both agreed that Palin handles such rumors in the best way possible which is to ignore them. That statement should lead everyone to doubt that either of them has even read the book that they were praising. Did neither Rove nor Van Sasquatch realize that Palin did not ignore the Trigg story but rather dedicated lengthy passages in her book to just that subject. Van Sasquatch then said that Barack Obama was lucky that he did not have to face such unwarranted rumors. Does Greta live on another planet? Does she not remember the Birthers and those others that claimed the President is a secret Muslim? Fox News and its commentators simply have no credibility.

THIS JUST IN:  It was revealed this week that Republican John Boehner’s (pronounced, “boner”) PAC spent 83 thousand dollars for his golf outings last year. I wonder how the fiscally conservative Republicans’ unemployed constituents feel about that lavish lifestyle of the rich and famous?

BREAKING NEWS:  This week the Anti Defamation League named Fox News‘ Glenn Beck as the nation’s ‘Fearmongerer In Chief.” Were there any other candidates?

Yes indeed, the reich-wing Republican world is a scary place. So scary in fact, that it inspired today’s song parody. Please enjoy.

Remember to click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with the parody.

Welcome To My Nightmare song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OGM4FdpJFc

WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE

(sung to the Alice Cooper song “Welcome To My Nightmare”)

Welcome to my nightmare
You ain’t seen nothin’ like it
I think you’re gonna feel
Something’s wrong

A cerebral vacation
Republicans need sedation
Their mouths will be filled with foam
Before too long

Welcome to my nightmare, ohh

Welcome to my breakdown
Does Sarah Palin scare you?
That’s just the way they are
In Red State towns

They sweat and laugh and scream there
Mann Coulter’s their wet dream there
He really makes them feel
Right at home, there

Welcome to my breakdown, ohh
You’re welcome to my nightmare, yeah

(musical interlude)

Welcome to my nightmare
You know I just don’t like it
G.O.P. makes me feel
I don’t belong

They lie and shout and scream there
And Palin is their queen there
They all giggle and squeal
At her throne, there

Welcome to my nightmare, ohh
Welcome to my breakdown
Yeah!

(great instrumental fade out)

There are days when my mind is skimming rocks across the pond, not enough for a plate full of rant, just enough for a few glancing blows across the bow. I sent my men off hunting today, the house is empty, and I can now see the benefits of twitter – short, sweet outrageous bites of ripe words.

Holdren should be strung up high by his gonads. This incompetent spawn of political persuasion has no business running Justice. We’ve been given a man who’s plays hopscotch using widely interpretive federal law as a rock to be tossed serving nothing more than Obama’s current scatological executive prerogative.

Michelle Obama is plum ugly. Ton’s of posts this week on the woman’s poor fashion sense and major backlash against the mainstream press promoting her non-existent X factor grade of no-where-near pretty. This woman is unfortunately ugly. Yes, she’s fit and thinnish, but the woman’s uglier than my dog’s hind end. Which is surprising considering that our successful boy wonder is no where near ugly. Why would this ambitious, handsome man marry someone so unattractive? I figure it’s some sort of liberal hair shirt badge of male honor.

Sarah Palin. I won’t be reading her book, she didn’t write it and I could not care less about last year’s campaign trail. She’s a private citizen now, smartly cashing in on circumstance. I wish her well in her commercial endeavors, may she reap the beast of public consumption and grow fabulously rich. God help us if her populist drivel ever takes hold, the republic has already been raped to shreds by enough simplistic, pluralist pro-democracy political hacks baying “people power” to the ignorant masses.

This country’s smart modern day conservatives imagine that the perpetual promised land of America’s founders is based on a few simple premises;  a place where were we are free to achieve, innovate, excel, cash in, choose and create a life without interference from the state. The people who believe in these tenets have no need of populist politicians, yet they continuously embrace their alarmist calls as a last measure, furthering the state into more regulation of man’s freedom.

Populism is the antithesis of conservatism, it’s more socialist happy juice for the underclass, a jizz of simplistic dogma that appeals to ignorant voters, a simple knock down, two step of soft moves for the people, by the people. You’ll never have independence when you indicate a willingness to bow to the will of a self-serving, tax-less people. The masses will annihilate your every avenue of success out of sheer, ruthless perversity. They’ll vote for your demise out of blind spite. The founders knew this core truth of human nature.

The conservative brands do it as well as the liberal ones, it’s all about feeding the state. Our girl Palin is busy shoveling heaping dumb bucketfuls of bromides to that ancient beast of polity. I happened upon a ridiculous post today equating her in fond terms with Thomas Paine. I was appalled at how many ignorant people were lapping this shit up. Are you fucking kidding me? Paine and Palin?  That’s a partnership that would cause most true conservatives to grab some rope if they didn’t immediately succumb to congestive heart failure.

I would be a happy woman if I saw more people going rogue, questioning the people and parties in power, taking a large step back from the personal and giving the direction of  our country a clear hard, dispassionate look. Yeah, that would be good.

By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman
As posted in comments on Greta’s artical referncing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin

by Dewey Whetsell

The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it…It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here.

1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s “Corrupt Bastards Club” (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing “la la la la” (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar. But while you’re thinking, I’ll continue.

2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So, she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called “ACES”. Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them “don’t let the door hit you in the stern on your way out.” They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor’s office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as “pork”. She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the “when-hell-freezes-over” stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we’ll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor’s jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor’s cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning—I imagine—that she’s packing heat herself). I’m still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed “gosh and golly” mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn’t impress you, then you’re trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.
5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn’t start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona . Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that’s just a cover-up. I’m still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won’t be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn’t let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

Obama should be very afraid of her! I am personally extremely impressed with her. Finally! An honest politician!!

State wide broadcast at 4pm Saturday KYES Channel 5.

If you’d like tickets to this weeks live taping, email mooreupnorth@gmail.com

Ethan Berkowitz, Steve Heimel and Rick Steiner.

Security provided by Tank Jones.

I have seen so much of Sarah Palin in the news over the past several weeks, I feel like I am qualified to be called one of her best friends.  Sarah Palin and her book tour have attracted the attention of almost every media outlet.  My most recent Newsweek came in the mailbox, and there she was brandishing running attire and the American flag.

One of the things I noticed in reading and hearing all of the coverage was how mean and insensitive some commentators are when talking about her.  Many are critical while others point out the weaknesses of her policies; as a whole, Palin’s been treated with disdain, even from pundits within her own party.  She is often portrayed as an airhead, opportunist, or sex symbol.

The negative press on Palin is a symptom of a deeper issue of how women are treated in the public sphere.  Consider Hillary Clinton who stands on the other side of the political aisle.  She too has been portrayed as a villain, a she-devil in a skirt.

The treatment of Palin and Clinton reveal that women are often presented as mere caricatures in the media.  I constantly remind myself that I cannot expect much more than generalizations from news organizations that are interested in ratings and the bottom line.

But I can expect Christians to treat all women with respect, dignity, and equity despite whether they agree with a woman’s politics.  It was St. Paul who said in Galatians that, “In Christ there is neither slave nor free, man nor female.”  Ours is a faith that declares Christ’s salvation for all who call him Lord and baptizes both genders.

Yet, religion sometimes finds itself on the wrong side of history when it comes to gender equality.  Christianity, among other religions, has a soiled past in its treatment of women.  Women stand in the shadows of Sinning Eve, Laughing Sarah, Murderous Jezebel, and Temptress Bathsheba.

As a result, some denominations influence women to wear clothes from head-to-toe, while others are silenced.  Just this past month, the Georgia Baptist Convention broke ties with the First Baptist Church of Decatur because the church, made up of several thousand members, called a woman to be its pastor in 2007.

One traditional belief is that Paul forbade women to speak in churches in his first letter to the Corinthians (15:33b-34).  A fuller treatment of Paul’s letter, however, proves that Paul was not so much concerned about gender as he was about power.

The church in Corinth had very strong factions in its midst.  Prestigious cliques, at least one made up of women, paraded their honor over the weak within the community.  For Paul, social decorum was the great equalizer that prevented a robust lust for power.

My deepest conviction is that women are without equality for much of the same reasons Paul wrote to the Corinthians.  Those in power do not like to see those on the margins have a respectable footing in the world; dehumanizing rhetoric insures inequality.

Women speak for themselves with clear, reasoned voices.  Sometimes despite the merit of their words and the strengths of their arguments, they are ignored or exploited by many who are content with a status quo of inequality.  All of us who are concerned with the biblical call to fashion a more just society must draw attention to the gender disparities that still exist; we must work for the full inclusion of women in life, work, and the church.

I’m thinking about entering Slate’s contest: Can you write like Sarah Palin? I’m always going on about how badly my writing is going, but I don’t know if I can write this badly:

“As the soles of my shoes hit the soft ground, I pushed past the tall cottonwood trees in a euphoric cadence, and meandered through willow branches that the moose munched on.”

and

“I breathed in an autumn bouquet that combined everything small-town America with rugged splashes of the Last Frontier.”

–from Going Rogue, Sarah Palin’s ghost writer

This is so unbelievably poorly written, I don’t know where to start. If I brought this to a writer’s workshop, my fellow writers would say something like, “What a great use of diction to characterize your narrator as a naive, high school girl filled with silly romantic notions and bad poetry.”

The flowery, incomprehensible nonsense I’ve quoted above reminds me of the bad poetry written by Emmeline Grangerford in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec’d

And did young Stephen sicken,
And did young Stephen die?
And did the sad hearts thicken,
And did the mourners cry?

No; such was not the fate of
Young Stephen Dowling Bots;
Though sad hearts round him thickened,
‘Twas not from sickness’ shots.

No whooping-cough did rack his frame,
Nor measles drear, with spots;
Not these impaired the sacred name
Of Stephen Dowling Bots.

Despised love struck not with woe
That head of curly knots,
Nor stomach troubles laid him low,
Young Stephen Dowling Bots.

O no. Then list with tearful eye,
Whilst I his fate do tell.
His soul did from this cold world fly,
By falling down a well.

They got him out and emptied him;
Alas it was too late;
His spirit was gone for to sport aloft
In the realms of the good and great.

My boyfriend made some great edits to the Palin lines:

“I walked happily through the forest.”

and

“It smelled of Autumn.”

What a huge improvement. These edits remind me of some advice Chekhov gave novelist Maxim Gorky:

“It is intelligible when I write, ‘The man sat down on the grass’; it is intelligible because it is clear and does not impede the reader’s attention. Conversely, I will be unintelligible and tax the reader’s brain if I write: ‘The tall, narrow-chested man of average build, who had a short, red beard, sat down on the green grass, already trampled by passersby; sat down noiselessly, timidly, and fearfully glancing around him.’ One’s brain cannot grasp this at once, yet fiction must be grasped at once, on the spot.” –p 37, The Making of a Story, Alice LaPlante, Norton 2007

After all, Palin’s memoir is fiction, isn’t it?

Anything I would add would only detract from this. From a great commenter and American on this blog, Joyce,

“CW,…. I received this email from a very good friend of mine.  He is honest and I know that this is from him.
 
 Just more good things about Sarah Palin.  She is an amazing woman who I know loves this country. I hope you can read thru it with out tears.  I couldn’t!!!!!!
 
Joyce”
“This e-mail was sent to me today by my Step-sister xxxxxx xxxxxxx. She took her Dad  (my Step-Dad) to meet Sarah Palin yesterday when she was in Birmingham doing a book signing promoting her newly released book. The date was November 22, 2009. I was amazed to hear the story and called her to verify that it happened to her and not just a “forward” that I so often receive.
   I took my Dad to meet Sarah Palin tonight. He wore his Marine’s hat and his Purple Heart pin. Before we entered the signing place, we were stopped by Sarah’s aunt. She grabbed my dad’s hand  and told him thanks for his service to our country. He was so proud. Next, we waited our turn to meet Sarah. She shook my hand and we exchanged greetings. When I introduced her to my dad, she held (not shook) his hand and thanked him for her freedom – yes, her freedom. She thanked him for his service to our  country. My dad began to cry. She
 asked where he served, and she told him that her book was in honor of him and his dedication to America . My Dad thanked Sarah for her service and told her how proud he was of her. She then thanked me for bringing my Dad and said God Bless you.

As we were leaving we were stopped by a man who asked to meet my  Dad and it turned out  to be Sarah’s Dad. He hugged me and thanked me for bringing my Dad & then hugged him and told him it meant so much to him that we took the time to stand in line to meet his daughter. Trying to find his voice, with a face full of falling tears, my Dad said, no… Thank you…thank you for your daughter.
 As we left, tears filled  Sarah’s father’s eyes and everyone, incuding security and all told him goodbye. As we were leaving, we learned that Sarah stopped by Fort Hood unexpectedly and donated the money from her book signing today to the victim’s families. She is a Great lady!

xxxxxx xxxxxxx

Birmingham, AL”