In a time where both parties, post presidential election (or birth-certificate-verification-failure, as some describe it), are failing to appeal to the sane among us, the Democrats and Republicans alike should be concentrating on grass roots efforts to get in touch with real people – as opposed to fake people, AKA polls – on an individual basis, and not just so-called “movements” and “collectives.” Both have been trying. Neither have had much success.

Republicans, seeking to combat their lack of relevance on substantive issues, have released a new onslaught of attack ads, boldly calling upon their newest playbook (from 2004) and recruiting the aid of whatever MTV music video director happened upon the unemployment office this month, backed up by the Fox News Christmas Party Band. Huckabee wasn’t invited to play bass this year. Pesky commuted sentences.

At first look, the ad doesn’t serve them well. At second, it becomes a bit laughable. Anything after that requires whiskey consumed from a beer bong. Upside down and preferably in a hot tub. They seem to have shoved their fingers down their ear canals to prevent themselves from being confronted by the truth; that the efficacy of any message is lost when honest appeals to constituents – or even would be constituents – are replaced with carbon copies of retired ideas. How are ditto machine companies doing these days?

If your aim is to broach to the topic of Health Care Reform, then for God’s sake, talk about health care reform. There’s plenty to talk about: obstructionism, deceit, corporate funded opposition and support, cuts to medicare, abortion, wasteful spending, triggers, opt in or outs… There’s a catalog of legitimate pros and cons, which play to the both parties’ respective bases -  in a senate bill that is as fluid as the lines of money fueling the efforts to promote it or kill it.

But, once again, that is not the alley the GOP has chosen to go down. Here’s the approach chosen to be the focal point on the Alaska Republican Party’s page.

OH MY GOD MARK BEGICH IS JOHN KERRY!!! AND THE PRESIDENT IS THE LITTLE GIRL FROM THE RING!!! GET BACK IN THE TV!!!

Oh, wait, never mind. They’re just being “original”. This must be part of Michael Steele’s master plan.

We are strong because we are diverse.  And it’s through our diversity and commitment to these shared principles that we will reach out and welcome more communities into our Party.  The focus of my chairmanship will be to take this message to neighborhoods and communities across the country.

-Michael Steele, on his blog, previously entitled “What up”, briefly “Change the Game”, now simply “Steele’s Blog“

Well, if these other… Similar ads, paid for by the RNC, are any indication of this diversity and individual outreach… The name of the blog might be changing again sometime soon. To a different name. Check them out for yourself, and ask, is the GOP really concerned about your state? About Alaska? On a person by person level? Is this the message Republicans seek to take to communities? Because they just tried to cut and paste my state into a generic template that evidently constitutes their “big tent.” They’re not bothering to go door to door to learn your name. They just expect that you’ll drive by the one giant marquee that they leased for the month.

I’m sorry, but it rings of “integrity” about as much as George W. Bush having his signature stamped onto letters to fallen soldiers’ families. And I’m not okay with that.

Wow.

Attention RNC: I don’t want a one party system. I’m also not too worried about that, considering the unquenchable need of the Democratic party to trip over each other and fall down many, many flights of stairs, usually headfirst. But, more importantly, I want a healthy Republican party. I love discussion, crave debate, and embrace disagreements, so long as all are productive, respectful, and honest. Last I checked, good ideas didn’t generally register party affiliation. We could argue what camp they generally fall within, but that’s another matter entirely. The best solutions arrive when everyone is working towards the common good of the people they represent, and especially when they work to understand the plight of the everyday worker and family. I don’t see that happening right now to any extent that would satisfy me, on either side – but in fairness it seems to be a lot more prevalent with the Republicans. It should also be said that this is somewhat ubiquitous as the role of the party “out of power.”

But, come on folks, pretend you’ve got thick skin until you’ve evolved accordingly. This is a new breed of shameful. One quick trip to your youtube page reveals just how uninspired you are. Why would we trust you with local issues if you don’t offer us the courtesy of taking note of each location, apart from the next? You’ve essentially branded the GOP as a band on tour opening every concert with “Hello Cleveland!”

This is offensive. These ads are as out of touch as they are devoid of passion; of true commitment to the people.

You want successful outreach? Reach out. We’re right here.

The question is, do you even know where that is?

Just in time for Christmas kids, the all new Obozo’s America awaits your purchase!

Get your initial $1,000 cash grant at the First of the Month, then maneuver along Obozo’s Welfare Promenade. Get cash for your out-of-wedlock children. Draw from a stack of Welfare Benefit Cards. Get extra cash from Saturday Night crimes: Gambling, Armed Robbery, Drugs, and Prostitution. Play the lottery and the horses. Get your live-in a job on the Government Cakewalk. Experience the Jail Jaunt. Avoid landing on one of those dreaded “Get a Job” blocks forcing you onto the Working Person’s Rut (Somebody has to pay for Obozo’s Welfare Promenade). 50 Welfare Benefit Cards. 50 Working Person’s Burden Cards. Lots of funny money.

After further review of this ridiculous game, I have the following topics that have been overlooked.  I would suggest the following squares be added for a touch of reality.

1. Your insurance company drops you for attending Benny Hinn ministries.

2. You receive one autographed bible from Sarah Palin.

3. You join and play bass guitar for Ozzy Osbourne’s 2010 Sinners Tour.

4. You win a week to hang and play golf with Rush Limbaugh.

5. You’re selected manger for Mark Foley’s come-back-to-congress campaign.

6. You are diagnosed with ALS and there is no cure.

Stop playing games and Grow Up.

Educate yourself on the issues and help inform the national debate. Visit the Center for American Progress for the latest progressive thinking on domestic, economic, and national security issues as well as media and culture, and listings for our compelling series of public events. To stay informed, subscribe to The Progress Report, a daily review of the reality behind the news, and read our award-winning blog, Think Progress.

Independents everywhere, including myself, have had the privilege of watching several big wigs in the two major political parties suffer humiliating professional and personal defeats due largely to their sheer ineptitude, greed, and smugness.

One such figure, Michael Steele, is feeling the heat after members from within the Grand Ol’ Party (GOP) have called for him to take what has been deemed as the defining tool to determine who is and is not a true conservative; a “purity” test.

Unwilling to bow to the wishes of his constituents, a close ally for the Republican National Committee Chairman is coming to the aid of his friend, saying that the test is nothing more than a well coordinated publicity stunt that was created by enemies of the party.

“You’ve got a few backbenchers who are unhappy,” remarked Shawn Steel of California’s RNC chapter to media. “They don’t have the power they once had under the previous chairman, and that’s what motivating this. This is an attempt to stick it to Chairman Steele by the losers.”

The purity test is to be administered to all members of the RNC in an effort to make sure that all proposed candidates and party leaders meet ten core principles that define the party.

A revelation that says otherwise will mean political death for that person due to the party withdrawing its financial strength and aid of any type from the equation.

Ironically, distinguished Republican demi-gods such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush would have failed the purity test with flying colors.

We’ve been saying it for awhile: the extremists are out to kill the GOP.

Their latest poison is an absurd “purity test” that some GOP committeemen, such as National Right to Life lawyer James Bopp Jr.(IN), want candidates to have to pass or else be barred from RNC funding.

This comes after moderate Republicans were once again proven right and two candidates won by running campaigns designed to attract moderates and independents- and avoided catering to the base. The lone race with a far-right, extremist campaign strategy in NY-23 was the sole Republican loss this year – and a 100-year long GOP seat fell with it.

Panicked as they see their grip over the GOP slipping- and RNC leaders turning away from the tactics of these radicals- the Purity Test would likely force many candidates out of the RNC’s funding pool. This list includes common sense Conservatives that are the GOP’s biggest hopes for winning crucial Senate seats in 2010.

It’s sadly amusing that these fundamentalists are claiming that Reagan is the inspiration for this measure. Did they forget Reagan’s 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of a Fellow Republican?

Looks as so.

Are you “pure” enough to pass the GOP Purity Test? Click here and find out!

The many lies of Sarah Palin continue to emerge in "Going Rogue: An American Life."

The lies of Sarah Palin are different from any other politicians’. They are different because they assert things that are demonstrably, empirically untrue; and they are different because once they have been demonstrated to the entire world that they are untrue, Palin keeps repeating them as if they still were true or refuses to acknowledge that she was wrong.

Once again … here are the lies I mean. Go through them. See if you think they are Clintonian type parsings of the truth or artful political hedging or anything like what we find in most pols. They really are not. They are functions of delusion and a worldview that wants things to be a certain way and cannot absorb that they are not. If you find the slightest error or come across a fact that we should add to this list of current lies, please let us know. We want this list to be as accurate as Palin is delusional. We want to create some template of easily-accessible reality as some kind of guard against the fantasies and fabulisms of our post-modern and fundamentalist age.

Palin lied when she said the dismissal of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, had nothing to do with his refusal to fire state trooper Mike Wooten; in fact, the Branchflower Report concluded that she repeatedly abused her power when dealing with both men.

Palin lied when she repeatedly claimed to have said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere; in fact, she openly campaigned for the federal project when running for governor.

Palin lied when she denied that Wasilla’s police chief [Irl Stambaugh] and librarian [Mary Ellen Emmons] had been fired; in fact, both were given letters of termination the previous day.

Palin lied when she wrote in the NYT that a comprehensive review by Alaska wildlife officials showed that polar bears were not endangered; in fact, email correspondence between those scientists showed the opposite.

Palin lied when she claimed in her convention speech that an oil gas pipeline “began” under her guidance; in fact, the pipeline was years from breaking ground, if at all.

Palin lied when she told Charlie Gibson that she does not pass judgment on gay people; in fact, she opposes all rights between gay spouses and belongs to a church that promotes conversion therapy.

Palin lied when she denied having said that humans do not contribute to climate change; in fact, she had previously proclaimed that human activity was not to blame.

Palin lied when she claimed that Alaska produces 20 percent of the country’s domestic energy supply; in fact, the actual figures, based on any interpretation of her words, are much, much lower.

Palin lied when she told voters she improvised her convention speech when her teleprompter stopped working properly; in fact, all reports showed that the machine had functioned perfectly and that her speech had closely followed the script.

Palin lied when she recalled asking her daughters to vote on whether she should accept the VP offer; in fact, her story contradicts details given by her husband, the McCain campaign, and even Palin herself. (She later added another version.)

Palin lied when she claimed to have taken a voluntary pay cut as mayor; in fact, as councilmember she had voted against a raise for the mayor, but subsequent raises had taken effect by the time she was mayor.

Palin lied when she insisted that Wooten’s divorce proceedings had caused his confidential records to become public; in fact, court officials confirmed they released no such records.

Palin lied when she suggested to Katie Couric that she was involved in trade missions with Russia; in fact, she has never even met with Russian officials.

Palin lied when she told Shimon Peres that the only flag in her office was the Israeli flag; in fact, she has several flags.

Palin lied when she claimed to have tried to divest government funds from Sudan; in fact, her administration openly opposed a bill that would have done just that.

Palin lied when she repeatedly claimed that troop levels in Iraq were back to pre-surge levels; in fact, even she acknowledged her “misstatements,” though she refused to retract or apologize.

Palin lied when she insisted that the Branchflower Report “showed there was no unlawful or unethical activity on my part”; in fact, that report prominently stated, “Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.”

Palin lied when she claimed to have voiced concerns over Wooten fearing he would harm her family; in fact, she actually decreased her security detail during that period.

Palin lied when asked about the $150,000 worth of clothes provided by the RNC; in fact, solid reporting contradicted several parts of her statement.

Palin lied when she suggested that she had offered the media proof of her pregnancy with Trig to “correct the record”; in fact, no reports of her medical records were ever published; and the letter from her doctor testifying to her good health only emerged hours before polling ended on election day, even though there was nothing in it that couldn’t have been released two months earlier.

Palin lied when she said that “reported” allegations of her banning Harry Potter as mayor was easily refutable because it had not even been written yet; in fact, the first book in that series was published in 1998 – two years into her first term – and such rumors were never reported by the media, only circulated as emails.

Palin lied when she denied having participated in a clothes audit with campaign lawyers; in fact, the Washington Times later confirmed those details.

Palin lied when asked about Couric’s question regarding her reading habits; in fact, Couric’s words were not, “What do you read up there in Alaska?” or anything close to condescension.

Palin lied when she mischaracterized the “$1200 check” given to Alaskans as the permanent fund dividend check; in fact, that fund had yielded $2,069 per person, and she claimed otherwise to obscure the fact that Alaskans also received a $1200 rebate check from a windfall profits tax on oil companies – a tax widely criticized by Republicans.

Palin lied when she claimed to be unaware of a turkey being slaughtered behind her during a filmed interview; in fact, the cameraman said she had picked the spot herself, while the slaughter was underway.

Palin lied when she denied having rejected federal stimulus money; in fact, she continued to accept and reject the funds several times.

Palin lied when she claimed that legislative leaders had canceled a meeting with her to hold their own press conference; in fact, they only canceled it after being told she would not participate, and the purpose of the press conference was very different from the meeting’s.

Palin lied when she announced on the news that she never holds closed-door meetings; in fact, she had just attended a closed-door meeting with the legislature earlier that day.

Palin lied when she said that former aide John Bitney’s “amicable” departure was for “personal” reasons; in fact, Bitney said he was fired because of his relationship with the wife of Palin’s friend, plus a Palin spokesperson later claimed “poor job performance” for his firing – without elaborating.

Palin lied when she said she kept her running injury a secret on the campaign trail; in fact, her bandaged hand was clearly visible in photographs and the story was widely talked about.

Palin lied when she claimed that Alaska has spent “millions of dollars” on litigation related to her ethics complaints; in fact, that figure is much, much lower, and she had initiated the most expensive inquiry.

Palin lied when she denied that the Alaska Independence Party supports secession and denied that her husband had been a member; in fact, even the McCain campaign noted that the party’s very existence is based on secession and that Todd was a member for seven years.

Palin lied when she told Oprah that she desperately wanted to go on Saturday Night Live because it would be “fun” and could push back on the Tina Fey impression Palin says she hated but never actually listened to. Contemporaneous emails show that Palin resisted going on SNL and was therefore lying to Oprah.

Palin lied when she told Oprah Winfrey that she gaffed on the campaign trail in saying that the McCain campaign shouldn’t quit Michigan. She said she had been unaware at the time that the decision to withdraw had already been taken. Contemporaneous emails show she was lying, and had already been told.

Palin lied in “Going Rogue” in accusing two journalists she recognized from a press conference as ambushing her daughter Piper on the street. One of those journalists had never attended the press conference cited by Palin, but Palin has never withdrawn the charge.

Andrew Sullivan
The Atlantic

This classic episode of Jump the Smarks originally aired September 4, 2008.  Jump the Smarks will be returning soonwith all new episodes.

In this episode of Jump The Smarks, the boys discuss their love for all things tights. From the WWE to UFC to the RNC to gay porn everything is talked about. Here is a list of jokes made throughout the course of the show…

Sarah Palin’s daughter, Daniel Beniot, Clorious Leechman, Jeff Ross, Kevin’s daily life…

also Kevin takes on a day in his life as there is an UFC and WWE ppv this weekend.

Houston Chronicle (Houston, TX)
Just when independents and moderates were considering revisiting the GOP tent. Just when a near-perfect storm of unpopular Democratic ideas are coagulating over 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Just when the GOP was gaining traction following gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey … Republicans perform a rain dance at their own garden party.

Politico (Washington, DC)
A former Republican New York State Senator and state homeland security official, Mike Balboni, is weighing a challenge to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand next year, associates said today.

Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA)
President Obama plans to send 30,000 to 35,000 additional soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Monday, the largest single U.S. deployment since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Hotline On Call (Washington, DC)
A week after RNC comms director Trevor Francis left under unpleasant circumstances, his top deputy has left the committee as well. Deputy RNC comms director Todd Irons left the committee Monday, sources tell Hotline OnCall.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Nicholas D. Kristof
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 29, 2009

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Nicholas D. Kristof
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 29, 2009
If Joe Lieberman or other senators came across John Brodniak writhing in pain on the sidewalk, they presumably would jump to help him and rush him to a hospital.

Unfortunately, an emergency room won’t help – indeed, the closest E.R. has told him not to come back, he says. So, for those members of Congress who are wavering on health reform, listen to John’s story.

John is a sawmill worker from Yamhill County, Ore., where I grew up. He was a foreman at a mill, he felt strong and healthy, and he had very basic insurance coverage through his job. On April 18, he was married, at age 23, and life was looking up.

Ten days after the wedding, he was walking in his backyard carrying a neighbor’s dog – and he suddenly blacked out. That led, after rounds of CAT scans, M.R.I.’s and other tests, to the discovery that the left parietal lobe of his brain has a cavernous hemangioma. That’s an abnormal growth of blood vessels, and in John’s case it is chronically leaking blood into his brain.

John began to have trouble walking and would sometimes collapse. He developed spasms and restless leg syndrome, he began to use a cane, and his mind suffered.

“He forgets stuff a lot, he bumps into things,” said his new wife, Esther Brodniak. “But he keeps things light. He jokes about it.”

Perhaps the worst is the pain – blinding, incapacitating headaches that have left him able to sleep only in short intervals. He vomits daily when the pain surges.

“The pain is constant,” John said. “It’s a 7 or 8 on a scale of 10, and then it hits the high peaks and makes me vomit.”

With John unable to work, he lost his job – and his insurance coverage. Esther had insurance for herself and for her two children (from a previous marriage) through her job building manufactured homes. But she couldn’t add John to her plan because of his pre-existing condition.

Without insurance, John has been unable to get surgery or even help managing the pain. When he collapses or suffers particularly excruciating headaches, Esther rushes him to the emergency room of one hospital or another, but an E.R. can’t do much for him. One hospital has told them not to come back unless he gets insurance, they say.

Esther used up her family leave time to look after her new husband. “Then I went back to work, and he fell several times,” she said. “I told my boss that I had to quit. Taking care of John was more important than building someone else’s house.”

That meant that the couple had no income – and no insurance for anyone in the family, including the children. Neighbors have helped, and a community program has paid the rent so that they are not homeless. But bills are piling up, and John and Esther don’t know how they will cope.

The doctors warn that pressure from the growth could lead a major blood vessel nearby to burst, killing him. “They tell me I’m a time bomb,” John said. With a touch of bitterness, he adds, “It sort of feels as if they’re playing for time to see if it bursts, to save them from doing anything.”

I’m not a physician, and I certainly can’t speak to the medical issues here. But I have examined John’s medical records, and they appear to confirm his story.

John says the principal obstacle to treatment appears to be simply his lack of insurance. In August, he qualified for an Oregon Medicaid program, but he hasn’t been able to find a doctor who will accept him as a patient for surgery, apparently because the reimbursements are so low. Doctors tell him that his condition is operable – but that they can’t accept him without conventional insurance. He is increasingly frustrated as he watches his family crushed by the burden of his illness.

“The mill won’t let me go back to work until a doctor gives me a note saying I can go back,” he said. “I tried with several doctors. I said, ‘Just give me a note. … I’ve got to do something for my family. But they won’t.” John and Esther agreed to tell me their story in hopes that somehow it would lead to medical help.

John’s story is not so unusual. A Harvard study, to be published next month in the American Journal of Public Health, suggests that almost 45,000 Americans die prematurely each year as a consequence of not having insurance. John may become one of them.

If a senator strolled indifferently by as John retched in pain, we would think that person pitiless. But isn’t it just as monstrous for politicians to avert their eyes, make excuses and deny coverage to innumerable Americans just like John?l.

Unfortunately, an emergency room won’t help – indeed, the closest E.R. has told him not to come back, he says. So, for those members of Congress who are wavering on health reform, listen to John’s story.

John is a sawmill worker from Yamhill County, Ore., where I grew up. He was a foreman at a mill, he felt strong and healthy, and he had very basic insurance coverage through his job. On April 18, he was married, at age 23, and life was looking up.

Ten days after the wedding, he was walking in his backyard carrying a neighbor’s dog – and he suddenly blacked out. That led, after rounds of CAT scans, M.R.I.’s and other tests, to the discovery that the left parietal lobe of his brain has a cavernous hemangioma. That’s an abnormal growth of blood vessels, and in John’s case it is chronically leaking blood into his brain.

John began to have trouble walking and would sometimes collapse. He developed spasms and restless leg syndrome, he began to use a cane, and his mind suffered.

“He forgets stuff a lot, he bumps into things,” said his new wife, Esther Brodniak. “But he keeps things light. He jokes about it.”

Perhaps the worst is the pain – blinding, incapacitating headaches that have left him able to sleep only in short intervals. He vomits daily when the pain surges.

“The pain is constant,” John said. “It’s a 7 or 8 on a scale of 10, and then it hits the high peaks and makes me vomit.”

With John unable to work, he lost his job – and his insurance coverage. Esther had insurance for herself and for her two children (from a previous marriage) through her job building manufactured homes. But she couldn’t add John to her plan because of his pre-existing condition.

Without insurance, John has been unable to get surgery or even help managing the pain. When he collapses or suffers particularly excruciating headaches, Esther rushes him to the emergency room of one hospital or another, but an E.R. can’t do much for him. One hospital has told them not to come back unless he gets insurance, they say.

Esther used up her family leave time to look after her new husband. “Then I went back to work, and he fell several times,” she said. “I told my boss that I had to quit. Taking care of John was more important than building someone else’s house.”

That meant that the couple had no income – and no insurance for anyone in the family, including the children. Neighbors have helped, and a community program has paid the rent so that they are not homeless. But bills are piling up, and John and Esther don’t know how they will cope.

The doctors warn that pressure from the growth could lead a major blood vessel nearby to burst, killing him. “They tell me I’m a time bomb,” John said. With a touch of bitterness, he adds, “It sort of feels as if they’re playing for time to see if it bursts, to save them from doing anything.”

I’m not a physician, and I certainly can’t speak to the medical issues here. But I have examined John’s medical records, and they appear to confirm his story.

John says the principal obstacle to treatment appears to be simply his lack of insurance. In August, he qualified for an Oregon Medicaid program, but he hasn’t been able to find a doctor who will accept him as a patient for surgery, apparently because the reimbursements are so low. Doctors tell him that his condition is operable – but that they can’t accept him without conventional insurance. He is increasingly frustrated as he watches his family crushed by the burden of his illness.

“The mill won’t let me go back to work until a doctor gives me a note saying I can go back,” he said. “I tried with several doctors. I said, ‘Just give me a note. … I’ve got to do something for my family. But they won’t.” John and Esther agreed to tell me their story in hopes that somehow it would lead to medical help.

John’s story is not so unusual. A Harvard study, to be published next month in the American Journal of Public Health, suggests that almost 45,000 Americans die prematurely each year as a consequence of not having insurance. John may become one of them.

If a senator strolled indifferently by as John retched in pain, we would think that person pitiless. But isn’t it just as monstrous for politicians to avert their eyes, make excuses and deny coverage to innumerable Americans just like John?

Climategate – CRU Source Code Confirms AGW Fraud From Hacked Documents

I discuss the actual source code that was released in the recent hack of the CRU.
The source code confirms the manipulation of climate data by climate scientists.
http://fascistsoup.com/2009/11/23/cli..

Update – Climategate – CRU Source Code Explained

I discuss the actual source code that was released in the recent hack of the CRU.

The source code confirms the manipulation of climate data by climate scientists.

Supporting documentation here:
http://fascistsoup.com/2009/11/25/mor…

Al Gore and his global warming BS is nothing more than a giant plot for the NWO and looting of the people for the enrichment of a few. F%@K The Gorical and say no to Obama’s Cap and Tax. Wake up people. With Obama we will lose our freedom and our nation.

F&%K these lying bast%$@s they are all snake oil salesmen.

How to Make a Butt Bomb: Al Qaeda Training Video (Rated X)

On the heels of a half-assed attempt at assassination of a Saudi official by an al-Qaeda operative who had a pound of explosives stuck up his rectum, comes this latest al-Qaeda training video: GET LUCKY WITH A BOMB UP YOUR BUTT

Full transcript at http://www.thepeoplescube.com.

More fact than fiction?? These Islamic nutjobs are as resourceful as Wiley Coyote chasing Roadrunner. Just more despicable because there are no bounds as to where they will sink to terrorize, destroy and murder. Obumble and his crowd act like it’s a board game and want to make up rules to give them an equal advantage therefore limiting our ability to defend ourselves. WTF.

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)

Realizing their party is in disarray and searching desperately for a way to offer value to voters, some members of the GOP are attempting to institute what pundits are calling a “purity test”. Hopeful Republican candidates will have to pass this purity test in order to receive support from the GOP. Were I a Republican, I would support this type of measure. The DNC certainly has its principles defined and is fighting hard for them. Granted, those principles are abhorrent as they stem from a collectivist ideology, but they are defined principles nonetheless (though, like all collectivists, Democrats rarely expound on the specifics of those principles). Unfortunately for Republicans, the GOP has not defined any principles whatsoever. The purity test is barely more than a cheap PR stunt. In addition to falling short of an improvement in the GOP’s strength, the purity test actually represents a step backwards. Let’s examine it further.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee identifies ten (10) key public policy positions for the 2010 election cycle, which the Republican National Committee expects its public officials and candidates to support:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;

Supporting “smaller government” and “lower taxes” makes no principled statement. “Smaller” and “lower” are merely relative measurements. “Smaller government” compared to the Soviet Union? We already have that (though, quite possibly, not for long). “Lower taxes” compared to Europe? Hardly an accomplishment. A statement of principles would have been “We support the smallest government and lowest taxes possible to provide for the protection of individual rights.” To make matters worse, the GOP mentions a specific politician (President Obama) and specific legislation (the stimulus bill). If someone asked me my name, I would not answer with “I am not Fred”. What does it matter what I am not? A person or idea is never defined as a negative, as a negative cannot be proved. To base one’s identity on a negative is intellectual suicide.

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;

This statement faces the same problems as the statement above. The GOP is defining itself through a negative and failing to define any core principles. “Market-based” is not enough. The market must be held completely sacrosanct and freedom must be the rule, not the exception.

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

Again, legislation is attacked rather than principles defended. This test will be outdated in a matter of months.

(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

Much of the same, attacking specific issues rather than defining principles. This, however, falls far shorter of what is right than the second and third resolutions. The GOP should take a firm stance against unions and any other deadly obstacles to business. Why must corporations fear subjective anti-trust law while workers enjoy government-protected collusion in order to artificially raise labor prices, thereby destroying entire firms (GM and Chrysler being the primary examples)?

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

While I certainly support a liberal immigration policy and oppose amnesty for those who have broken our laws, Republicans frequently portray a high degree of ignorance in regards to this issue. Immigration policy should be liberalized, coupled with the dismantling of our welfare state. Furthermore, it should be recognized that immigration policy and border security are distinct issues.

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

As noted above, it is a mistake to focus on specific issues. A coherent policy on national defense should be defined. Preferably, this policy would be non-interventionist in nature, while obligating the U.S. government to counter any threat to American citizens with extreme prejudice. It should also be made clear that U.S. soldiers are also U.S. citizens and are to be valued over civilians of other countries.

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

Not only is this wildly inconsistent with the first resolution, it is so out of line with the our founding principles that I consider it criminal. There is absolutely nothing within the bounds of reason that provide for government authority to decide who a person can marry. That this is even an issue in the United States is something to be ashamed of.

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and

Health care rationing would not be a problem in a completely private health care system. I would assume that “denial of health care” is referring to a host of “right to die” issues which are far too nuanced for this post. A private health care system would make the issue of government-funded abortions irrelevant.

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership;

This is fairly simple and I can’t find much fault with it. But I would note that no reason is given as to why the 2nd Amendment  is to be so fiercely protected. True, it’s part of the U.S. Constitution – but so was the 3/5ths Compromise, and I don’t see anyone fighting to bring that back. The right to keep and bear arms is a natural consequence of an individual’s right to his/her life. The right to your life naturally includes the right to defend your life. As governments have historically been the most serious threat to human life, and governments keep and bear arms, it follows that individuals should keep and bear arms as well

The absence of principles in this purity test is a symptom of the intellectual void in the GOP. Until Republican candidates can offer voters a value, instead of simply being non-Democrat or anti-Obama, they will continue their slow descent into nothingness. I only hope that a third party will gain enough support to challenge the rampant collectivist ideology in today’s politics.

BHussein: “Let MY People Go”

Lieberman: Barghouti Will Not be Released
Article: Israel National News

Speaking Thursday morning, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he could “guarantee” that arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti would not be released from prison in any deal to exchange terrorists for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. “We have no intention to free the head of the murderers, a person who has been sentenced to four life terms in prison. There are red lines, and this is one of them,” Lieberman said.

In response to U.S. demands that Israel free an additional 1,000-some terrorists as a “gesture” to Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, Lieberman said that previous releases of Fatah terrorists “have not proven themselves. The Olmert administration did this several times and it did not work, and we do not plan to allow it to happen,” Lieberman said.

Why can’t BHussein be smart enough to know that freeing RADICAL TERRORISTS does NOT PRODUCE POSITIVE RESULTS?! Oh. I guess “brotherhood” has a lot to do with it.

BHussein with Palestinian President Abu Mazen as he demands that Israel releases an additional 1,000 terrorists as a “gesture”to “moderate” “Palestinians”.

So; even the terrorists who are holding the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captive demand only 450 Palestinian terrorist prisoners that are being held in Israeli jails be released in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

A big thank you to our friend DangerB for posting this, please visit and read the rest of his take on it.

WTF is it with B. Hussein and Islamist terrorists? WTF is it with all of his actions since being “elected”? He is systematically destroying our Republic, stripping us of our freedoms. He needs to be gone along with all of his cohorts. WAKE UP AMERICA.

I have not verified the accuracy of this, nonetheless Obama must go.

Seems the RNC likes to point fingers at others for what they allow to be posted and then blame them for the post.  So, why is this any different.

RNC is as racist as the KKK and they are sexist and homophobic as well.  Not sure how they get any votes outside of hate filled Christians.  I guess they do get the KKK and Socialist Nazi groups vote.

Someone at the Republican National Committee thinks Chip is a Republican, which is almost enough to make me leave him, except that he hasn’t ever voted Republican except for one little slip-up in 1980 when even loyal Democrats were tearing their hair out.

A few weeks ago they sent him a so-called “Congressional District Census,” which is not only filled with biased questions, but contains more outright lies than I’ve ever seen on a supposedly serious questionnaire. For example:

“Do you believe the Obama administration is right in dramatically scaling back our nation’s military?” [Lie: they’re not doing this]

“Do you think the Democrat [sic] efforts to restore the “Fairness Doctrine” that will destroy conservative talk radio is a violation of free speech?” [Lie: they’re not in favor of restoring it]

“Would you like Congress to pass additional tax cuts to further stimulate our nation’s economy?” [biased assumption]

“Do you worry that the Obama Administration is committed to greatly expanding the government’s role in your life?” [biased question]

And, naturally, they end with blatant fear-mongering:

“Do you trust the Democrats to take all steps necessary to keep our nation secure in this age where terrorists could strike our country at any moment?”

On this day when India remembers the Mumbai attacks that dominated our happy little American Thanksgivings last year, I give thanks that I don’t have to see indoctrinating questionnaires like this too often.

The Blackberry addict & former Palin aide John Bitney, host Shannyn Moore, the town crank Anne Kilkenny, and the effete young chap Andrew Halcro. Courtesy of Moore Up North

It has already been established and is well documented that former Alaska Governor and losing VP Candidate Sarah Palin has a very hard time telling the truth in her book Going Rogue.

While she’s running around the country lapping up the adoration of the teabagger crowd, many in Alaska are crawling out from under the bus, while many are still under the wheels.

Voices from the Flats – Palin Critic’s Attorney on Being “Named” in Going Rogue:

Sarah trashes Nick Carney (the Wasilla city councilman who recruited Sarah into politics), John Stein (Sarah’s predecessor as mayor of Wasilla), Anne Kilkenny (a Wasilla resident whose viral email educated the nation to Sarah’s lackluster record as mayor), an unnamed City of Wasilla librarian, Frank Murkowski (Sarah’s predecessor as Governor of Alaska), Gregg Renkes (Frank’s Attorney General), Lyda Green (the former President of the Alaska Senate), Hollis French (the chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Alaska Senate), Steve Schmidt (John McCain’s campaign manager), an unnamed KTUU television cameraman, Walt Monegan (Sarah’s Commissioner of Public Safety), Randy Ruedrich (the chairman of the Alaska Republican Party with whom Sarah worked at the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission), Bill Allen (the corpulent head of the oil field services company VECO, a odious scum bag whose reputation as the bag man for Big Oil in the state capitol had been a matter of common knowledge in Alaska for a generation when Sarah went with her hand out to Bill for the campaign contributions she used to launch her statewide political career), Mike Wooten (Sarah’s ex-brother-in-law), unnamed executives of the Exxon-Mobil, British Petroleum, and Conoco-Phillips oil companies, Pete Rouse (a former Alaskan who was Senator Barack Obama’s chief of staff), Rahm Emanuel (President Barack Obama’s chief of staff), Kim Elton (a former member of the Alaska Senate who is Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar’s Special Assistant for Alaska), unnamed members of the McCain campaign staff who prepped Sarah for her television debate with Joe Biden, John Bitney (Governor Palin’s liaison to the Alaska Legislature), Levi Johnston (the hockey-playing, Playgirl modeling impregnator of Bristol Palin).

That’s not the complete list. There’s no index and I’m tired of typing.

Of all the individuals on the Going Rogue enemies list, the two firsts among equals are Andrew Halcro and Andree McLeod.

Halcro is a former Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives who ran as an independent candidate against Sarah Palin in the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial election. After the election he started a website that he used to become one of Governor Palin’s most articulate and factually well-informed critics.

It was Andrew Halcro who broke the story that Governor Palin had fired Walt Monegan, her Commissioner of Public Safety, because Walt had refused to fire Mike Wooten, Sarah’s ex-brother-in-law, from his union job as an Alaska State Trooper. That news led to the Troopergate investigation of Sarah (and Todd) Palin’s misuse of the Office of the Governor. In the Troopergate report that Sarah touts as clearing her of wrong-doing, the investigator, a former prosecutor with whom (unlike the Legislature’s investigator) Sarah cooperated, implies that during his investigation either Walt Monegan committed criminal perjury or Sarah Palin committed criminal perjury. But the Legislature had no stomach during the remainder of Sarah’s tenure as Governor to determine whether she was the felon.

In Going Rogue Sarah describes Andrew Halcro as “a wealthy, effete young chap who had taken over his father’s local Avis Rent A Car, and he starred in his own car commercial. He would go on to host a short-lived local radio show while blogging throughout the day, all of which were major steps up from a previous job as our limo driver at Todd’s cousin’s wedding.”

Andree McLeod is where I come in.

Short, smart, politically committed, and tenaciously energetic, Andree McLeod is a Republican political activist of Armenian heritage who had once been a personal friend of Sarah Palin’s, who Sarah had endorsed when Andree ran in the Republican primary for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives.

When I went to her home in east Anchorage to have my cup of coffee I found Andree sitting at her dining room table surrounded by two-foot-high stacks of paper print-outs of several thousand emails that the Office of the Governor had given to her in July in response to a request she had filed in June pursuant to the Alaska Public Records Act. The request had asked for emails that had been sent to or received by employees of the Office of the Governor who Andree suspected had been engaging in partisan – i.e., Alaska Republican Party – political activities during their public employee workdays. Andree submitted her public records request three months before anyone other than those of us in Alaska had ever heard of Sarah Palin.

The reason I had been invited to meet with Andree was that one of the things she had discovered by reading the emails was that when Governor Palin assumed office she had set up a private back-channel email system so that she and her senior staff could communicate with each other about state business without the content of their communications being “captured” by State of Alaska computer servers, and hence being available for public inspection pursuant to the Alaska Public Records Act. The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other national media would later report that story. To read more visit Alaskan site The Mudflats.

The month after the McCain-Palin ticket lost the presidential election, again representing Andree McLeod, on December 8, 2008 I filed a second lawsuit against Governor Palin when a further review of the emails that Andree had been given revealed that the Office of the Governor had given to Todd Palin, a private citizen who was an employee of British Petroleum, copies of emails that it was withholding from public inspection on the ground of deliberative process privilege.

That litigation is ongoing. The legal questions of first impression that they present for decision are important enough that my expectation is that both lawsuits will end up in the Alaska Supreme Court.

What does any of that have to do with me and Going Rogue?

Prior to me agreeing to represent her in the two lawsuits above-described, Andree McLeod had begun filing what became a series of complaints against Sarah Palin with the State Personnel Board that alleged ethical transgressions unrelated to the lawsuits. Other Alaskans did the same thing. According to Going Rogue, those ethics complaints have driven Sarah Palin flat-out full-crank nuts.

After trashing Andree McLeod at page 354 of Going Rogue Lynn Vincent aka Sarah Palin moves on to me. Here’s what Lynn and Sarah say:
We always suspected that someone was funding and directing Andree’s efforts. During the spring of 2009, she was actually still begging my administration for a job and led others to believe she hadn’t worked for a couple of years. Yet somehow she had enough time or money to turn harassment of the governor’s office into a full-time vocation. Over time, the wording of her ethics complaints became more and more sophisticated, and we later found out why: prominent liberal attorney Don Mitchell was advising her. As early as September 2008, weeks before the presidential election, Mitchell had already detailed the ethics attack strategy in an article in the Huffington Post. Later he sat with Andree as her counsel at one of her hearings.

I wish my late mother was still alive. Because I know how proud she would be that I made the Going Rogue enemies list and have been mentioned by name in a book whose first printing is 1.5 million copies. (Because he is not named, the mother of the KTUU cameraman who posed Sarah in front of the turkeys can take no such pride.)

But my number is listed in the Anchorage telephone book. If that failed, Lynn and Sarah could have googled “Donald Craig Mitchell.” And if that had failed, since Meg Stapleton, the increasingly strange combination of Sancho Panza and Odd Job who works for Sarah, and I have mutual friends, Meg could have found me quite easily.

Had Lynn Vincent, Sarah, or Meg called me before Lynn had finished writing Going Rogue, I would have told her that in a single paragraph Lynn/Sarah got almost every one of their facts about me, other than that I am an attorney, wrong.

While I probably once was, I haven’t been a “prominent” attorney in Alaska in years. While I am a registered Democrat, my personal politics are hardly “liberal.” To the extent anyone cares, I am a social libertarian who is an Eisenhower era deficit hawk who agrees with Teddy and Frank Roosevelt that the principal responsibility of government is to save capitalism from itself. And while during the presidential campaign several of my ‘Governor Girl Reports’ were posted by individuals other than me on the Huffington Post and Atlantic Monthly web sites, none of those musings “detailed an ethics attack strategy.”

But most importantly, not only have I never advised Andree regarding her ethics complaints, to the best of my recollection I have never read an Andree McLeod ethics complaint. Had Lynn, Sarah, or Meg called me, I also would have told them that neither Andree McLeod nor I have been paid a nickel by anyone for anything (although if I win either of my lawsuits I intend to send the Office of the Governor a bill for my attorneys fee, which under Alaska law I am permitted to do).

It is true, however, that, as Going Rogue reports, because she asked me to, I did accompany Andree to her interview with Tim Petumenos, the former prosecutor the State Personnel Board hired to investigate both the complaint Sarah filed against herself regarding the Troopergate affair and a complaint Andree filed against Sarah and Frank Bailey, Sarah’s Director of Boards and Commissions, for violating state civil service rules in order to give one of Sarah’s campaign supporters a job for which he was not qualified. Again to the best of my recollection, I have never read either complaint. And if he is asked, I think Tim will say that during his interview with Andree I pretty much just sat there.

It also is worth mentioning that the State Personnel Board found the ethics complaint that Andree McLeod filed against Frank Bailey meritorious.

Why should anyone care about any of that? The reason they should care is that if Lynn Vincent aka Sarah Palin got as many of the facts, asserted and implied, about me in Going Rogue as wrong as she did, what does that say about the validity of the many other, much more important, “facts” in Sarah’s book?

It’s fully fine by me that billions of federal tax dollars are being spent annually to invent an AIDS vaccine. But it is just as important to someday invent a Pinocchio serum.

If the world had one, before a faux celebrity like Sarah Palin writes a book, doctors from the CDC could roll up the celebrity’s sleeve and inject him or her with a jolt of the serum. And a serum also would have other important uses.

For example, on page 214 of Going Rogue Lynn Vincent reports that when the McCain campaign vetted Sarah, she confessed to Steve Schmidt, the manager of the campaign, that “the one skeleton I’d kept hidden in my closet” (my emphasis) was that she had gotten a D in a college course.

Had Sarah been shot up with Pinocchio serum prior to the vetting, the immediate growth of the length of her nose would have tipped off Schmidt that the more truthful answer to the one skeleton in the closet question would have been, as The National Enquirer subsequently reported with no push back from Team Sarah, “cuckolding Todd when he was working on the North Slope by hooking up with Brad Hanson, Todd’s business partner in the Polaris snow machine sales business Brad and Todd owned in Wasilla.”

The Anchorage Daily News Reports today that one former Palin aide isn’t too happy about being referred to as a Blackberry Video Game Junkie who can’t seem to keep food off of his tie.

Portrayal in Palin book irritates former aide:

Former Gov. Sarah Palin’s book, “Going Rogue,” blames her first legislative director for moves early in her term that helped poison her relationship with state lawmakers. But the ex-aide, John Bitney, calls Palin’s account a fabrication and said he wishes his former boss would leave him alone.

“I’m just pilloried right and left and turned into the big bad wolf here for stuff I didn’t do,” said Bitney, who is now an aide to Valdez Republican Rep. John Harris. “It’s like I’m this fictional character that she’s decided to make me out to be this sort of incompetent slob.”

Palin’s lawyer, Tom Van Flein, responded in an e-mail that Bitney and others have been talking about “their perceptions of, and distortions about” Palin for more than a year, since after she was chosen as Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

” ‘Going Rogue’ is Sarah Palin’s book to set the record straight. It is her right to speak about the events that occurred in her administration and neither Mr. Bitney nor anyone else has the right to stifle that speech,” Van Flein said. “The statements in ‘Going Rogue’ speak for themselves, and it is Sarah Palin’s turn to get the truth out there after a year of misrepresentations, half-truths and dissembling by her critics.”

Palin’s writing about Bitney is her most detailed description yet of incidents that helped shape her relationship with legislators. Her bad blood with top legislators of both parties began not long after she took office. By last spring, relationships with many lawmakers from both parties had soured to the point that feuds with the governor overshadowed much of the other legislative business.

Bitney joins a list of people slammed in the book who are calling it fiction, including McCain’s former campaign manager, Steve Schmidt. Bitney, though, has a far deeper relationship with Palin than the others. He was a high school classmate of Palin’s from Wasilla who played a key role as an adviser in her successful 2006 campaign for governor.

Palin’s dealings with Bitney are described on several pages of her memoir, although he is never named and there are no details of his work on her 2006 campaign. Palin refers to him as “my first legislative director” and he comes in for some of the harshest criticism of anyone in the book. That includes observations on his personal grooming, such as, “He turned out to be a BlackBerry games addict who couldn’t seem to keep his lunch off his tie.” Later, in describing one encounter to discuss the budget, Palin writes, “The fact that his shirt was buttoned one button off and his shirt tail was poking through his open fly didn’t exactly inspire confidence.” But Palin’s larger point is that Bitney bungled her relationship with legislators.

Bitney is now swinging back hard at Palin, agreeing to appear over the weekend on a television show hosted by one of the former governor’s most vocal critics in Alaska, blogger Shannyn Moore. Bitney was on a panel of others slammed in “Going Rogue” that included Palin nemesis Andrew Halcro and Anne Kilkenney, who wrote a long e-mail critical of Palin’s leadership in Wasilla that was forwarded around the country during the presidential campaign last year.

Moore asked Bitney if Palin is sane. Bitney’s response: “Is a sociopath sane?”

‘ADULT IN THE HOUSE’
One turning point between Palin and Alaska lawmakers came in 2007 after her first legislative session. Legislators complained that Palin blindsided them with the scope of her budget vetoes and she rubbed it in by saying there had to be an “adult in the house.” Legislators saw it as a slap in the face and the remark was not forgotten.

Palin writes that it was Bitney who advised her to tell lawmakers that they were in need of adult supervision. In fact, she writes, he told her, “Trust me, I know this stuff, they want to hear it.”

Palin writes that she followed his advice and had a “come-to-Jesus meeting” with legislators. But, as it turned out, that’s not what they wanted to hear. She writes that “when the fallout began after that meeting, I looked at the legislative director. He looked at the ground and shrugged as if to say ‘Wasn’t me.’ “

Bitney said in an interview that he joked with Palin in her office about how there needs to be an adult in the room when it comes to the state budget, but he said he never advised the then-governor to say it to anyone. He said Palin then made the comment in an interview with the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner editorial board — not in a “come-to-Jesus” meeting with legislators as she recounts in her book.

Bitney left the governor’s office in July 2007 in what Palin’s spokeswoman initially said was an “amicable” termination in which it was mutually agreed that he would leave his post for personal reasons. When reporters raised questions about it during the presidential campaign, the reason given by Palin’s office was “poor job performance.”

Bitney has told reporters he was fired after Palin was informed he was having an affair with the wife of a friend of Palin and her husband, Todd. Bitney, who has since married the woman, has said he was not forthcoming with Palin about it and understands why he had to go.

Palin’s only reference to that in her book is that “later we learned the legislative director had been too busy with his personal affairs to attend to much state business.”

‘LEAVE ME ALONE’
Bitney has influential defenders in the Legislature, including Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, who has been critical of Palin and said he won’t read her book because she is “entertainment and not news.” Stedman said Bitney is qualified and that he did a good job dealing with the Legislature for Palin. He said he told Bitney at one point to let him know if he was ever looking for a job.

Palin writes that she told Bitney to send a letter to legislators about what sort of spending she would approve but that he didn’t do it. She said he indicated lawmakers were fine with budget vetoes that were coming but it became clear otherwise when they howled about being blindsided. “It soon became obvious just how little the legislative director had done to inform the legislature this was coming,” she writes.

Bitney said it was another staffer in the governor’s office, not him, who was requested to send the letter. The letter asked legislators for suggestions on which of their projects to cut, Bitney said, and not surprisingly they did not rush to answer Palin.

Bitney said he did meet with the four co-chairs of the state House and Senate finance committees to tell them about the coming vetoes, and reported back to Palin that three of them felt that was her prerogative and only one became angry.

But Palin staffers had only identified about $100 million worth of cuts by that point, about half of the final total. Bitney said the following day was when his “troubles” with Palin began. He said he was pulled from the governor’s budget work, and fired soon after. In the meantime, he said, Palin staffers kept cutting beyond what he had told legislators but he didn’t have authority to talk to them about it.

Palin uses Bitney in the book to illustrate a point about government. Bitney had years of experience as a legislative staffer and lobbyist before joining her team. “So much for my idea that I needed to hire an ‘insider.’ Lesson learned,” she writes.

Bitney said he tried to be fair to Palin when national media kept “crawling up my backside” over the past year to interview him about her. But the book is too much, he said.

“I’ve had it. Enough. Just enough; leave me alone,” he said.

The Wealth Effet Young Chap Andrew Halcro’s take on his mention in Going Rogue.
Monday Comment: Digging Two Graves November 16, 2009:

On Friday after they received an advance copy of Sarah Palin’s new book, the Associated Press called me to get a response from the two hundred plus words that Alaska’s former 1/2 term governor dedicated to me.

My favorite passage as read to me by Rachel D’Oro at the AP was when Palin referred to me as an “effete chap.”

An effete chap? Who am I, Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby?

And by the way, when did Palin start using 17th century Latin in her dialogue?

According to the brief excerpts I’ve heard, the book seems like it’s less about her and more about blaming everybody around her for all of her short comings. From her lack of intelligence to the word getting out about her pregnant daughter, no matter what the problem or criticism, it’s always somebody elses fault and never hers.

This in and of itself is rich in irony.

After all, how many real rogues complain about being hemmed in by the actions of others?

Isn’t that the antithesis of a rogue?

However, once the book is on the street beginning Tuesday, those throughout Palin’s 413 page pity party that suffer the wild blows of her imagination will come forward with guns blazing to refute the revisionist history Palin has penned.

From the brief passages that Palin has written about me in her book, the terms unmitigated lies, narcissistic delusions and libel came to mind first.

Obviously she never learned the timely Confucius warning:

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

Beginning Tuesday…the people whom Palin has attacked in her book will start reaching for their own shovels.

After perusing the articles on Andrew’s site I would feel confident in my assessment of what really bugs Sarah about Andrew…………….he’s smart, does his homework, works hard and cares about Alaska.

Alaskan Radio Host Shannyn Moore recently begin filming her new show Moore Up Northabout political and state issues. Moore Up North was taped before a live audience at Bernie’s Bungalow Lounge in Anchorage. Last weeks guests included: Rick Steiner, Anne Kilkenny, Andrew Halcro and John Bitney. As expected they discussed the Sarah Palin they know.

View the rest of the segments Moore Up North here.

Released yesterday by the GOP, the ten commandments of Republican purity:

According to the resolution, any Republican candidate who broke with the party on three or more of these issues– in votes cast, public statements made or answering a questionnaire – would be penalized by being denied party funds or the party endorsement.

Wonderful:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run health care;

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership.

This initially struck me as odd.  These seem to be nothing more than  a tactical, knee-jerk reaction to the politics of the moment, rather than a long-strategy for electoral relevance, and for future majorities.

I have a problem with the GOP issuing a list of directives that its candidates must follow—and that 8 of 10 is the minimum they must follow, lest they get no financial support from the party apparatus.  It all seems so clinical.  And the Steele-led RNC is an inept and brain-dead operation right now—I can’t imagine them making any headway with this.

Specifically, I have issues with a few of the 10—namely the DOMA requirement.  It’s bad enough that conservatives need the Republican party as a vehicle to elect true conservatives into office.  Do we really need more of the Bush-era “compassionate” conservatism, where the federal government somehow can dictate conservative ideals on the population?  Why can’t issues like gay-marriage be left to the states where it belongs?  I don’t think this is a road the Republican party wants to follow after the last eight six years.

Also, number six—-We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges ??

Crikey!  Talk about painting yourself into a corner.  I understand the end-game here, but this needs to be clarified a bit more.  Actually, a LOT more.  

It makes it sound like that the party’s policy decisions in Af-Pak and Iraq are solely at the behest of the military.  No room for debate?  Not sure I’d want to sign up for that without all the facts, especially with regards to Afghanistan.   And wasn’t there already a surge in Iraq? 

Again, this all appears to be strictly off the cuff rather than anything well thought out.

RNC members have drafted what's being described as a 'purity' resolution.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — One of Republican National Committee members who helped draft resolution that would prevent moderate candidates from receiving party money said Tuesday that the measure is not intended to challenge to the leadership of Michael Steele, the RNC chairman.

“I think it’s sufficiently broad so as not to handcuff him,” Nebraska committeeman Pete Ricketts said of the so-called “purity” resolution, which first leaked to reporters Monday.

The resolution, sponsored by Indiana committee member Jim Bopp Jr., proposes a ten-point ideological platform for the Republican party and would require GOP candidates to adhere to at least eight of those points. If not, a candidate be prohibited from receiving financial assistance from the RNC.

Bopp told CNN Monday that the resolution will help Steele avoid criticism from the right-wing of the party. “This resolution will establish standards so that he won’t feel obligated to support every Republican and not feel criticized,” he said.

Ricketts said the resolution was sparked in large part by the contentious special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district, in which a third party candidate, Doug Hoffman, entered the race as an conservative alternative to the moderate Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava. Conservative activists nationwide rallied to Hoffman’s side, eventually driving Scozzafava from the race, which was ultimately won by Democrat Bill Owens.

“NY-23 crystallized for us some of the issues the Tea Party people had with Republican party,” said Ricketts, one of the resolution’s ten co-sponsors. “We felt like we needed to send a message that we are the party of conservative values. This resolution is one way to demonstrate that we mean what we say.”

Ricketts disagreed with the suggestion that the measure is an attempt to purge moderate voices from the GOP.

“It’s just the opposite,” he told CNN. “What it says is that we are a broad party, that we understand people are not going to agree with us on every issue.”

He said the resolution, which could be introduced at the RNC Winter Meeting in Hawaii come January, is still “a work in progress.”

You really can’t blame the withering right-wing base of the Republican Party (as if anything but the withering right-wing base exists within the GOP) for feeling powerless and backed into a corner.  These conservative purists are completely inconsequential in the House, and as proven over the weekend with the landmark vote to move forward on the health care debate, they’re really quite weak in the Senate as well.  If they hadn’t overseen the destruction of this country’s middle class, economy, and international reputation, one would almost be inclined to feel sorry for these poor bastards.  Now, any decent political strategist within the Republican Party would undoubtedly want to focus on ways to grow the party, to bring in those moderates who agree on some but not all of the GOP’s platform (which has really been the key to establishing the Democratic Party’s supermajority status).  That’s the rational approach.  But people – especially Republicans – are not rational.

Instead, conservatives’ idea to make the party more successful is to make the party…well, even more conservative.  In a strategy almost as senseless and backasswards as trickle-down economics, the RNC is actually considering adopting a purity resolution.  In other words, fewer members = more members (which is just as logical as lower taxes = higher revenue).  If you thought the Salem-esque burning at the stake of Dede Scozzafava was entertaining, just you wait.  The Great Republican Purge has just begun.

The resolution is an eerie document that manages to include virtually every Republican wet dream, all in one place (talk about “big tent” conservatism).  It establishes ten planks of conservatism, ranging from opposition to “Obama-style government run health care” to support for “the retention of the Defense of Marriage Act,” and it makes clear that any GOP candidate straying from three or more of these core “conservative principles” will be denied funding by the RNC.  If that doesn’t scream “big tent,” I don’t know what does!  The resolution does this while at the same time decrying “Obama’s socialist agenda” and (intentionally, I’m sure) never once using the title “President” when referring to President Obama (though “President” preceded Ronald Reagan’s name without fail).

One must wonder, though, where these conservative principles came from.  Presumably, since the resolution is sprinkled with glorified references to Ronald Reagan, they came from him.  But when one actually looks back into the annals of history and researches the Reagan Administration (which conservative ideologues who masturbate to the “Tear Down This Wall” clip never do), one finds that the Gipper himself would not be considered a true Republican.  The RNC would actually have to deny funding to the very deity that conservatives cite as the one true voice of conservatism.  Let’s break it down:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill.

On Ronald Reagan’s watch, despite the “small government” rhetoric spewing from his mouth, the federal government actually grew.  The myth that states otherwise is false.  Federal spending increased (mainly in the “defense” sector), and an entire new department was added to the executive branch.  Reagan’s illogical policies led to a fiscal nightmare.  Nobody can make the serious claim that Ronald Reagan shrank government or decreased spending.

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Ronald Reagan was a proponent of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing, denial of health care and government funding of abortion.

If one believes that a zygote is a “vulnerable person” (as conservative wingnuts do), Ronald Reagan’s record on the issue is not exactly stellar.  As the Governor of California, he signed the Therapeutic Abortion Act of 1967 (even Free Republic admits it);  as President, (again) despite rhetoric, he was not a champion for the anti-choice movement and really did nothing to advance the cause.

Way to go, RNC – you’re about to adopt purity standards that your purest conservative can’t even meet.  And, just as trickle-down theory decimated the economy, these purges of moderates will continue to keep the Republicans in a permanent fringe minority.

Not that I’m complaining.

The blogger, Kristofer Paul, can be reached at bottomleftpolitics@yahoo.com.

The Republican National Committee will announce Monday that veteran political strategist Alex Castellanos will assume a senior communications role at the committee.

Washington (CNN) — The Republican National Committee will announce Monday that veteran political strategist Alex Castellanos will assume a senior communications role at the committee, an RNC official tells CNN.

Earlier in the day, RNC Chairman Michael Steele revealed that communications director Trevor Francis was leaving his post.

Castellanos will not be filling Francis’ old position but, rather, will be acting as an adviser to the RNC.

Castellanos is a CNN contributor, but the network learned independently of his new role at the RNC.

“Now the RNC has a new focus and direction — the 2010 elections,” Castellanos said when reached by telephone. “And I am happy to help.”

In 2008, Castellanos was a key member of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign team. He will work with the committee through the 2010 elections.

Updated: 8:16 p.m.

Yes, that’s correct.

I headed to the county election board today to change my political affiliation from Republican to Democrat. Drove six miles, in fact, to reach it. Arrived at the Election Board at 3:40 pm.

The hours posted on the door were Mon – Fri: 8 am  – 3 pm

What??  EIGHT TO THREE? THREE???

It looks like I’ll be a registered Republican until next week. So, Michael Steele, you have a few more days to convince me not to switch. And it better be good. Because I can see right through you. I would actually like to register as an Independent…but I want to be able to vote in local elections.

A few more days….

Just a few more………

THREE O’CLOCK???