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Vic's Story From the RNC March
Hi, folks --
Sorry I couldn't post sooner, but my day job continually interferes with my political activities...
Anyway, I was in downtown St. Paul when the RNC protesters came through. I brought a video camera to capture any misdeeds either by police or by protesters.
There were many different groups, but the largest had held their gathering on the Capitol lawn earlier in the day. They were marching for peace, billing their protest as "family friendly," which, from everything I saw was very accurate. As they came down from the capitol into downtown, many of the other groups joined them. Most of them peaceful and respectful.
Unfortunately, there was a handful of self-titled "Anarchists" who had alerted the media and the police that they intended to do harm to property and/or people that they deemed unacceptable. Ironically, the Anarchists had placed a small blurb in the newspaper to point out how organized they were. I desperately hoped to find one of them and thrust a dictionary in their face with the definition of 'anarchist' highlighted... but alas I was not given such an opportunity. They wore black masks and makeup to cover their faces because they are immensely proud of their activities.
Anyhow, a tremendous number of people were crammed into downtown St. Paul. Many of them, like me, were there to document events for the sake of posterity. I'm guessing if you added up the protesters, the police, the viewers (like myself), and wandering RNC delegates, the number approached a couple hundred thousand people. Maybe more. It's difficult to estimate because people were not all in one location. They were literally on every street for blocks on end - cross streets included. So it's hard to know for sure. But it was a lot. That there were not more direct conflicts is simply astounding to me. Too many people, too much energy, too many cameras, on a day that was way too hot...
I heard horror stories about the behavior of some of the anarchists, and I witnessed some of the resulting havoc - a destroyed police car, smashed windows on Macy's storefront - but I did not see any real physical violence. The police who were on the protest route stood quietly by and watched the marchers pass, without so much as pointing a water pistol at them.
Now, I am a dedicated Democrat, as have been all the generations of my family before me... but I deeply resent the idea that some 20 year old with a black mask on his face is going to decide that our Republican guests can't walk in or out of the convention center or their charter bus - or whatever - without fear of having urine thrown at them, or bricks or some other piece of garbage. I'm sorry - it's not just a free country for Democrats (like me) or morons (like anarchists). It's a free country for everyone, and that means that Republicans get to have their convention without fear of getting a brick to the head.
One 80 year old delegate was actually taken to the hospital when their bus had a brick thrown through the window. That's just wrong. Period.
Besides, to the degree that Republicans are allowed to get their message out freely, Democrats usually jump in the polls. So the next time you're at a political gathering, and it's all going swimmingly except for a bunch of masked anarchists, my advice is this: just grab them and pull their masks off. I guarantee they'll run like the cowards they are.
Thanks, Vic, for sharing what you saw.
I'm even more amazed now that the MSM hasn't even mentioned the situation (at least that I've seen).
Glad you are safe.
I had a dinner party last night, and did not know until my guests arrived and told me that Sarah Palin is a non-denominational "Spirit-Filled" Christian.
You can look her up on Wiki. Here's a link from the church she attended while a teen.
http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/09/sarah-palins-childhood-churchs.html
Vic, I'm with you. The fact that these nutjobs think they have the right to disrupt legitimate political activities says quite a bit about how toxic the climate has become in America. Civility is disappearing.
TSP
Assembly of God is far from "nondenominational." It's as reactionary as churches come (right alongside Evangelical Free Church and the Southern Baptists).
John Asscroft belongs to the Assembly of God.
Anyone who thinks America ought to be a theocracy does NOT deserve the job of Vice President.
More on Palin -
I honestly think she is in the pockets of the Moonies.
After all, Moon owns the entire Kodiak Island, and enjoys strong popular support among the fishermen there. Also, the most widely spoken foreign language in Alaska is Korean. There are more Koreans in Anchorage than in much larger San Francisco, and they love their state Republicans, their state's reactionary theocratic politics, and their oil dividend.
I've recently had an American blogger contact me, from a rural South Korean city (where she teaches English), telling me all the sordid details about the new right-wing "pro-US" (really pro-Republican) government there. Both she and I agree that the Moonies, and their buddies in both nations, must be stopped at all costs; I will see what I can do when I find myself in Seoul in less than 2 weeks.
Sparrow - in answer to your question on the other page:
US Chamber of Commerce:
The 501(c)(6) is specifically reserved to Professional and Trade organizations (Associations and Societies), chamber of commerce organizations, economic development corporations, real estate boards, trade boards, professional football leagues (e.g., the NFL), and other types of business leagues. They are characterized by a common business interest, which the organization typically promotes. Organizations under this category are exempt from most federal income taxes. "Membership Dues" for a 501(c)(6) are tax deductible as business expenses, however any percentage of these used for political activities (like lobbying) is not tax deductible. The organization must report what percentage of these "dues" is not deductible.
501(c)(6) organizations may engage in limited political activities that inform, educate, and promote their given interest. They may not engage in direct expenditures advocating a vote for a political candidate or cause. Donations to 501(c)(6) organizations are not required to be disclosed.
Is Gustav gone yet?
Christy,
I think it's gone. But there's two more that might hit landfall.
yikes.
Carol,
Thanks for finding that out. I guess I'm wondering if listing one person (Walburg) and blabbering about his deeds for business violates that 501c6. They didn't blab about his opponent who is Schaurer who the unions support.
God wants war?
Anyways, read Jon Soltz's diary about that video.
90%
90%
Karen
She is so creepy.
Can all you teachers tell me something? I need clarification.
Is it legal for my childs elementary school to begin every day with the Lords Prayer over the loud speaker,..?
And, is it legal for a teacher to have a class saying a prayer before lunch?
Christy, unless your child is attending a parochial school, it would be unconstitutional. That said, it wouldn't have been unconstitutional sixty-one years ago.
My best estimate is that the "Separation of Church & State" (Jefferson's phrase, not in the Constitution, by the way) becomes effective in 1947, with this decision:
"The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or nonattendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organizations or groups and vice versa. In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between Church and State.'" 330 U.S. 1, 15-16.”
– Justice Hugo Black, February 10, 1947
Everson v. Board of Education
Again, what's fascinating here is that Black is not citing the Constitution, he's citing Jefferson - who was not present when the Constitution was being written!
Now, I argue that the Declaration of Independence's guarantee of equal right forms the spiritual basis for our ethic of near absolute religion liberty (although not total, when it comes to sects like the Branch Davidians and the Polygamists). But it's also clear to me that the Framers left the States free to retain their official religions. Now, given what we've learned about corrupt institutions, including States, perhaps this is one of those areas where the Court has chosen to (in a sense) re-interpret the Constitution so that it reflects the obvious lessons of human experience- and why I find the "originalist" position of Scalia and Thomas largely without merit. Sure, we know what the words say - but we also know the long history of America, and how majorities have routinely disenfranchised minorities of one type or another, and unbelievably nasty civil wars can be.
Slavery was only ended via a Civil War, and the forced passage of three Constitutional Amendments; the Civil Rights fight required troops to enforce rulings of the Supreme Court.
More of the McSame.
If you criticized the Iraq "war" you were called unpatriotic. Now if you criticize Sara Pale-in, you are calle sexist. Same BS just a different day.
Thanks Matthew.
I have looked up some cases here in Louisiana, our legislature played some dirty tricks in 1999 and changed up the definition of what was allowed by removing the word 'silent' from a law that allowed 'silent meditation' in school.
It was struck down in 2001 as unconstitutional, but I don't think anyone in this state obeys our Constitution.
My kids are literally blasted by the Lords Prayer every morning and my older daughter gets a group prayer before lunch everyday by her teacher.
I just don't understand. I send those kids to church twice a week, but they wind up praying more at school than at church. I just want it to stop already.
I sent a note today to the teacher asking for clarification on the reasons. I do not know how she will respond but I am pretty sure it will go badly. I know too many of these fundies and they are highly offended when you challenge them. I don't know what to do about it.
I just don't understand. I am angry about it. I am sick of it. They did it to me as a kid in school here, and now...2 prayer sessions a day?
These people make my head hurt.
Looking to the future but with one eye on the past, Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with "a fine-toothed comb" and pursue criminal charges if necessary.
"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation," he said, "they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/biden-rips-bush.html
Sarah Palin's speech was filled with the platitudes, folksy vacuousness and lies that I could have written myself, having heard them in 84, 88, 92, 96, 2000 and 2004...
I'm glad that Republicans are AGAIN running someone as God's candidate. Read this story and weep. It tells you everything you need to know about Sarah Palin's concept of governance. My favorite part is Sarah's assertion that a pipeline carrying Alaska's oil is "God's will." Yeah, I think we all recall the part of the bible that references Alaska's oil profitability...
(Note the possibility for new drinking game: Every time you see the phrase "God's will," you take a drink.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin_iraq_war
The fawning adoration that was heaped on this string of distorted and irrelevant anecdotes by CNN made me laugh out loud. Honestly, when will it come out that Wolf Blitzer and co are actually on the Republican Party payroll? RNC convention goers had buttons that said Mrs. Palin was 'hot.' I guess if you're into women who compare themselves to pit bulls with lipstick, then yeah, she's a real barn burner.
Conversely, MSNBC did not heap breathless adoration on this woman's ability to read a teleprompter. Keith Olbermann quietly pointed out the lunacy of the claim that Sarah Palin had received more votes running for mayor than Joe Biden did for President. Ummm, not quite. But facts are not often featured in Neocon speeches.
What nobody has seemed to discuss in this morning's post-mortem is the question of who exactly does Sarah Palin bring to the table that wasn't already there? She will no doubt bring the religious-wing-nut-right running for the light of god that she emits, but Independents? Young people? (giggle) Working class city dwellers? Minorities? Pro-choice Hillary supporters? I don't know. Unless these folks can turn out the formidable "deeply religious moose eater" segment of the American population in droves, I'm just not getting how this works out for them. "Reformist snowmobilers?" "Maverick Evangelical Hero Mommy PTA members?" My mother also had 5 children, but sadly, she passed away before she could take a stab at the Vice Presidency.
I think Sarah Palin has a lot of appeal to a certain kind of religious nut. But I just don't see the math from those folks working out to save John McCain's doomed candidacy. I hope the Republicans enjoyed lastnight, because I think it's going to be all downhill for them from here.
"deeply religious moose eater" segment of the American population "
HAHAHA!
Ok, I have to ask.
I saw something I thought was weird earlier from a pic of her standing up there last night, so I went and looked up a lot of different views and I was still stumped. So I move on. And everywhere I go there is still more images of her and now I am almost sure of it.
Is it just me or is she not wearing a bra?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13143.html
FBI Wanted Obama Plotters Charged, But A Rove Appointee Said No
Tharin Gartrell, 28; Shawn Robert Adolf, 33;
and Nathan Johnson, 32
We noticed last week that it was awfully peculiar that Colorado’s U.S. Attorney, Troy Eid, had so airily dismissed conspiracy charges against the three white-supremacist tweakers who were caught planning to assassinate Barack Obama at last week’s Democratic National Convention in Denver.
..............................
Even more significant, beyond the details of the plot, was the fact that, as the Colorado Independent notes, the FBI asked for more serious charges to be filed and were turned down.
....................
Another funny thing: When a black man in prison sent a threatening letter containing baby powder to John McCain, Troy Eid brought down the full force of the law, complete with press conferences and public declarations that "We won't stand for threats of this kind in Colorado."
But when it’s a claque of white men with rifles, disguises, and all the accoutrement of a conspiracy – as well as open admissions to it – Troy Eid isn’t worried. After all, they just a bunch of harmless, tweakers, right? … Just like little Timmy McVeigh.
..............................
Based on the evidence, FBI special agent Robert Sawyer believed there was probable cause to charge the men with conspiracy to kill Senator Obama. However, US Attorney Troy Eid last week said there is insufficient evidence to indicate a true threat, plot or conspiracy against the senator.
http://www.coloradoindependent.com/6857/court-docs-suic... /
http://firedoglake.com/2008/09/03/fbi-wanted-obama-plot...
WTF?
"Jesus Christ was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor."
pass it on...
For those who were appalled at the thugs insulting community organizers, here is an EXCELLENT diary over at dailykos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/4/105623/5197/586/586233
I just watched the Sara Pale-in video and there's only one thing to say:
O M F G !!!
And she is the most qualified Rethuglican they can put up as a VP candidate?
I'm moving to Canada.
NovaScotiaJohn
Karen and Richard can start a little enclave up there, because we're going too.
Ugh.
"The church runs a number of ministries providing help to poor neighborhoods, care for children in need, and general community services. But Pastor Kalnins has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode.""
"It is impossible to determine how much Wasilla Assembly of God has shaped Palin's thinking. She was baptized there at the age of 12 and attended the church for most of her adult life. When Palin was inaugurated as governor, the founding pastor of the church delivered the invocation. In 2002, Palin moved her family to a nondenominational church, but she continues to worship at a related Assembly of God church in Juneau."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
This morning, CNN's Jeanne Most asked a woman who was John McCain's running mate. The woman's response: "Obama?"
Hmmm . . ."HalifaxJohn" is starting to grow on me, eh?
Some people were up on an overpass with a huge flag and McCain sign as I drove home and I reflexively flipped them off.
Christy
It's because they want him dead. (why the double standard about prosecuting on the basis of threats)
Why did almost as many watch Palin as Obama?
Why are McCain & Obama even in polls again?
Half of the people in this country are brain dead.
And the other half are making plans to move up north.
slugbug -
I think the people who were watching Palin were the Obama watchers with morbid curiosity.
ABQJohn
I am not going anywhere.
Though I am possibly looking at investing in Canada (and getting immigration visa that way), I will not give up my right to vote in US elections, nor my presence in the US. I'll be binational.
And honestly, Stephen Harper sickens me almost as much as the Republicans. Another strike against Canada.
Europe is off-limits to me too, as W's puppet regimes have popped up all over its major nations. And the Dutch are so d*mn politically correct, they are letting the Surinamese and the Muslim racism/sexism/homophobia run rampant unchecked; no thanks.
I'm talking about Josh & WA for Obama! I will post Josh's letter alongside some Bumbershoot photos I took. I am not watching the Puke convention or looking at polls. I saw some guys on the overpass north of here with a huge flag and McCain sign & reflexively flipped them off but am trying to be positive. Josh is positive & will always know he has done everything he can. He has supported Obama before anyone I knew & went to PA during the primary. He was behind the Hempfest registration effort we reported on last month. In 2004, he made the same kind of tireless effort & probably made the difference in our gubernatorial race, which was close, along with Ben Doko (& those they enlisted, registered, etc.) I am proud to be their friend. Slugbug
Hey gang,
Wow, what an incredibly inspiring, energetic, emotional, fun, super-crazed weekend! During the three days of Bumbershoot we conversed with people from all over Washington State, all over the country, and all over the world! We met people visiting from many important battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Florida, Indiana, Oregon, Virginia, Ohio, Montana, Colorado, and everywhere else. We armed them with Obama schwag and sent them back to work on delivering their home states for Obama!
I met a lady named Karen in her late 50s who identified herself as "a lifetime Republican" and said she has never voted for a Democrat in her entire life. She is not only voting for and crazy for Obama but signed up to volunteer and wanted to do whatever she could to get him elected. She walked away proudly wearing one of our "Republicans for Obama" buttons. The many volunteers that came to help left with stories like this and thousands of others.
I would love to hear your stories from Bumbershoot! Please share these by contacting me at jcastle77@gmail.com.
We had two booths working for Obama, one inside the event and our table outside the event. We were on opposite sides of the event at the busiest entrances and had the whole place covered!
Our outside booth raised $2,155, signed up 117 volunteers from all over Washington State, and registered 226 voters!
The inside booth raised a whooping $6,600, signed up 30 volunteers, and registered 120 voters!
Here are the final numbers for the whole Bumbershoot for Obama effort combined...
- Raised $8,755 that will all go to the Obama campaign and the Democrats
- Signed up 147 new volunteers for the campaign
- Registered 346 new voters
- 40 dedicated Obamamaniacs showed up to volunteer at the table and the booth!
As you can see, this event was an absolutely STUNNING SUCCESS!!!
I will loop you in on similar efforts and please feel free to reach out to me anytime. For now, feel proud of the contribution you made, get some rest, and then jump in and volunteer for Obama again! Check out events posted on www.barackobama.com, visit the Seattle campaign office at 1310 Mercer St, throw an Obama party, register voters wherever people gather, or help out in whatever creative way you choose. We have an election to win in 60 days!
Thank you for all that you do.
Josh Castle
from Kayakbiker:
Subject: I came home from the store
and turned the Tee Vee on just in time to see my friend from Code Pink
revealing a sign at the McBush speech. How did she get in? BWAAAAAA
http://photos.imageevent.com/kayakbiker/codepink/large/AA%20BD%20CP%20on%20a%20bike%2002.jpg
Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Thursday, Sep 4, 2008
"The two party conventions showcased vastly different directions for our country. Senator Obama and Senator Biden offered the new ideas and positive change America needs and deserves after eight years of failed Republican leadership. Senator McCain and Governor Palin do not.
After listening to all the speeches this week, I heard nothing that suggests the Republicans are ready to fix the economy for middle class families, provide quality affordable health care for all Americans, guarantee equal pay for equal work for women, restore our nation's leadership in a complex world or tackle the myriad of challenges our country faces. So, to slightly amend my comments from Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO McCAIN-PALIN"
MUST REPEAT RIDGE'S NAME FOR McCAIN OFTEN!!!!!
John Bush
HEART are from Seattle. Seattle is at least 85% Democrat & the other 15% are probably Greens.
The Republicans live outside the city limits.
HEART joins Jackson Brown, Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellancamp, Boston and many others in having to make "cease and desist" requests to these uncreative conservatives.
I just called Westmorelands office and asked was it true that he called the Obamas 'uppity'.
The woman said 'Yes, he did, but he did not know it had racial conotations'.
I told her 'And he is from Georgia? That is crap! And when he resigns you can all leave with him.'
Then I called Rep. Kings office. I told them I was looking at where he said there is no 'thread of patriotism' in Obamas bio. I asked them where I could find the thread of patriotism in Kings bio, because I was looking at it and all I could see is how he made his family rich at the expense of our countrymen.
I usually hate the phone, but I am finding very amusing uses for it!
I was driving to work and up north here I saw a car with a sign that said, "Foreign born and bred - something stinks about BO."
Then when I got here, a Volunteer who is from Korea told me that she loves Obama, can't stand McCain and that three generations of her family all agree with her.
We are now embroiled in a cultural war when we should be focussing on peace and sustainable living - thanks to Rovians.
I'm fired up & ready to go, for the election & beyond, no matter what the outcome. I'm figuring I'll have to deal with these (expletive expletive expletive) for the rest of my life.
“So Sambo beat the bitch!”
This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.
“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.
Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”
Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.
Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “f**king Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%E2%80%9Cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/
Very. Strange.
Meanwhile, here's another fun wrinkle: It turns out that the building behind McCain was also used as the backdrop for Matt Santos' announcement of his presidential candidacy on The West Wing.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/mccains_speech_backdrop_was_us.php
Biden gives them the truth--which gives them Hell!
Watch this!
Unbelievable. McCain found the female Spiro Agnew.
Silver State of Nevada Is 11th Bank Failure This Year
In July, Silver State announced the resignation of Andrew McCain as a director of the bank. McCain, who had served on the audit committee and was a director for five months, is the son of Republican presidential nominee John McCain. A call to the campaign's press line wasn't immediately returned.
Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Silver State Bank of Henderson, Nevada was closed by U.S. regulators today, the 11th bank to collapse this year amid a surge in soured real-estate loans stemming from the worst housing slump since the Depression.
Silver State, with $2 billion in assets and $1.7 billion in deposits, was shut by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the FDIC said today in a statement. Nevada State Bank in Las Vegas will assume the deposits from Silver State, which was run by Silver State Bancorp. The failed bank's offices will open Sept. 8 as branches of Nevada State and National Bank of Arizona, the FDIC said.
``Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship,'' the FDIC said.
Banks are being closed at the fastest pace in 14 years and regulators have publicly ordered dozens of institutions to shore up capital or restrict their business. California lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc., which had $32 billion in assets, was closed July 11 in the third-largest bank seizure, contributing to a 14 percent drop in the U.S. deposit insurance fund that had $45.2 billion at the end of the second quarter.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adweqGJO2lNc&refer=home
Christy
You will like this.
Rachel Maddow finally tells it like it is, "They are lying"...
Finally, finally someone tells it like it is. Rachel discusses how "the subject" is usually handled more delicately, and states that she will call it what it is, "*Lying*". Then she went on point by point, through the pit bull's attack, and labeled it all lies. Like that Obama had never authored major legislation, for instance. And then Rachel went on to say that McCain "repeated the lie again today on the stump."
(from DKos)
Christy
Thanks for the LA Progressive article - so telling of Palin AND her sorry excuse of a state.
I repeat: giving statehood to Alaska was a huge mistake.
The Sarah Palin Church Video Part One
The Sarah Palin Church Video Part Two
Master's Commission Wasilla Alaska Trailer
NO QUESTIONS? I bet no questions.
Todd Palin's former business partner files an emergency motion to have his divorce papers sealed
Todd Palin's former business partner files an emergency motion to have his divorce papers sealed. Oh God.
Title: Oh, my, the Palin 'business partner' suddenly rushed into court to get divorce files sealed
Source: http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/
URL Source: http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/%20...%20d/pamw2000.docket_lst?68762762
Published: Sep 5, 2008
Author: http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/
Post Date: 2008-09-05 02:21:15 by Mekons5
This is the guy with whom Palin reputedly had an affair. Nothing happens for four months and suddenly when the cheating rumor hits, he rushes to court to get his divorce records sealed.
Motion denied the next day.
http://www.the-peoples-forum.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=4301
Obama says McCain is all biography, no economy
DURYEA, Pa. -- Democrat Barack Obama called Republican rival John McCain's acceptance speech the final piece of an out-of-touch convention that focused on its nominee's biography instead of the struggles of the middle class.
"If you watched the Republican National Convention over the last three days, you wouldn't know that we have the highest unemployment in five years because they didn't say a thing about what is going on with the middle class," Obama told workers at a specialty glass factory.
"They spent a lot of time talking about John McCain's biography, which we all honor," the Illinois senator said. "They talked about me a lot, in less than respectful terms. What they didn't talk about is you and what you're seeing in your lives and what you're going through, or what your friends or your neighbors are going through."
Obama pointed out that the nation's unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August, according to a government jobs report issued Friday.
"We've now lost 605,000 jobs since the beginning of this year," Obama said. "We've had eight consecutive months of job losses."
Obama seized on the new jobs report as part of his strategy to tie McCain to President Bush's stewardship of the economy and to connect with voters who fear their jobs will disappear. There is no shortage of such voters in Rust Belt Pennsylvania.
In accepting the Republican presidential nomination, McCain spoke at length about his biography, his love of country and his principles for governing.
Obama mocked McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis for saying the election would be decided more by voters' views about the candidates than about issues.
"Personalities? I mean, I've got a pretty good personality. But that's not why I'm running for president," Obama said to laughter.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_McCain_focused_on_biography_over_0905.html
Op-Ed Columnist
Let’s Talk About Sex
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Sarah Palin has a pregnant teenager. And, she’s not alone. According to a report published in 2007, there are more than 400,000 other American girls in the same predicament.
In fact, a 2001 Unicef report said that the United States teenage birthrate was higher than any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. tied Hungary for the most abortions. This was in spite of the fact that girls in the U.S. were not the most sexually active. Denmark held that title. But, its teenage birthrate was one-sixth of ours, and its teenage abortion rate was half of ours.
If there is a shame here, it’s a national shame — a failure of our puritanical society to accept and deal with the facts. Teenagers have sex. How often and how safely depends on how much knowledge and support they have. Crossing our fingers that they won’t cross the line is not an intelligent strategy.
To wit, our ridiculous experiment in abstinence-only education seems to be winding down with a study finding that it didn’t work. States are opting out of it. Parents don’t like it either. According to a 2004 survey sponsored by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, 65 percent of parents of high school students said that federal money “should be used to fund more comprehensive sex education programs that include information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraceptives.”
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/opinion/06blow.html
Ok...You MUST SEE this Daily Show clip.
"Oh, my, the Palin 'business partner' suddenly rushed into court to get divorce files sealed"
Hmmmm. Sounds like the National Enquirer has a few people nervous or something.
Has-been Ted Nugent now supports McCain, having formerly found him too liberal. It must be the aerial-gunning Palin. Now McCain campaign will be free to use old Nuge songs (which I don't remember, since I never liked him in the first place), since Boston, Jackson Browne, John Cougar Mellancamp and Bruce Springsteen all told him to Cease and Desist and recoiled in horrow when they heard their songs blaring from the Platform of the Pukes.
I thought Heart were from 85% Dem Seattle but they hailed from Bellevue the purple suburb, probably why they moved (as was pointed out by Geov Parrish of "Eat the State" when I had it wrong on our blog.)
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
So, my kids teacher wrote me back.
She admits that yes, the entire school begins the day with the Lords Prayer and that there is another prayer before lunch.
But she assures me it is all 'voluntary' and that if I am 'uncomfortable with us blessing our meals' she will instead just have a moment of silence.
So...Now I have to figure out how to say 'F*CKING STOP IT LADY!' except not in those words.
But even that still does not cover the prayer blasted over the loud speaker every morning from the principles office.
Why can't these people just obey and honor the US Constitution and why do they refuse to recognize the authority of the US Supreme Court?
I keep thinking of all of you getting out of Dodge. I so wish I could follow. But no, I am left with the fundies and racists.
Man, that sucks.
By the way, the kids she assures me are not forced into prayer, are a bunch of 8 and 9 year olds. 4th graders.
These people make me sick. I don't even know what to say anymore at this point, I just want to shake them and scream into their faces.
I wish they would be Raptured already. Then we can strangle the last king with the entrails of the last pope and FINALLY be free!
Ummm. Amen.
Amen.
The media is turning on them for sure now. It is real, and building up to a rolling boil. HeHe!
Read the comments section too. Furious.
"Three of the four now-official candidates on the major-party presidential tickets are scheduled to sit down for questions: Democrat Barack Obama on ABC's "This Week," his running mate, Joe Biden, on NBC's "Meet the Press" and Republican John McCain on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Absent from this list, of course, is the GOP's star of the moment, the not-so-long-ago obscure governor of Alaska who is McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin."
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/09/sarah-palin-w-1.html
McCain Allies Move To Derail Trooper Investigation
Team McCain and the Trooper
Nominee's ally moves to curb probe of Palin
Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner in order to prevent a so-called "October surprise" that would produce embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the election.
In a move endorsed by the McCain campaign Friday, John Coghill, the GOP chairman of the state House Rules Committee, wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska's bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called "troopergate" investigation.
Coghill charged that the senator, Hollis French, had "politicized" the probe by making a number of public comments in recent days, including telling ABC News that Palin had a "credibility problem" and that the investigation into the firing of public safety commissioner Walter Monegan was "likely to be damaging to the administration" and could be an "October surprise." Wrote Coghill: "The investigation appears to be lacking in fairness, neutrality and due process."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157439
I'm growing more and more pessimistic, given the utter aptitude of the white liberals wrapped in their political correctness.
We can suck up to Iran all we want, but it remains a fundamentalist theocracy. Same with Venezuela, a dictatorship despite all the spins we put on it.
The coup de grace? Despite all my work fighting the upcoming constitutional ban on gay marriage in California, its supporters got to me first! Both sides seem to assume that because I live in a Republican household in a conservative suburb, and because I am supposedly a Confucio-Christian Asian immigrant (I am NOT Confucian nor Christian), I will support the gay marriage ban. This is despite all the money I put into the opposition campaign and quite a bit of personal time volunteered.
The way things are going, gay marriage will be banned again in California, and Sarah Palin will be our next (grossly underqualified) Vice President.
"Aptitude" should really be "ineptitude" instead in my previous comment.
Christy
If this makes you feel any better, I just threw my copy of the Death Book (AKA bible) out the window.
Excellent video of Obamas' Speech,
rotate the screen, I recall one of McCains' analyists saying there was no excitement up in the higher sections of the stands, they should have watched this video
View of Barack Obama’s Speech at Invesco Field in Denver
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/28/us/politics/20080828_OBAMA_PANO.html
I'm thinking Alaska is the Northern Texas (or Wyoming) - oil, open space, yahoos with guns.
By the way, here is a sane person.
http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
Kangaroo
I was up as high as you could get and it was the most exciting thing I can remember in my life. My brother also had nosebleed seats and was across the stadium from me. I have pictures and videos to prove it. The McCain analysts are delusional.
Christy
I infiltrated Focus on the Family and when I got to my brother's, his kids got all excited and said, "We LOVE Focus on the Family! We went there on a school field trip!"
They attend Public school. Colorado Springs gave Focus on the Family their land for free, and attracted 200 plus other private religious orgs via tax breaks. They have a taxpayer-funded sign on the freeway directing people (like me) to their property and I talked to plenty of taxpayers who resented it.
About Invesco field and the flags in the upper stands for the Obama event - the Republicans STOLE THEM TO USE LATER! They accused Democrats of sending them to the garbage, which turned out to be a lie.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/6/183034/8308/70/575554
I was tired of my old look so had a makeover.
Palin is BUSTED!
She was a MEMBER of that whack group AIP! Go to 6 minutes into the tape.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x183191
And no, Ally. It doesn't really make me feel better to throw Bibles out the window.
I am all for the entrail/strangulation thing, but I try to refrain from abusing books. Even books I find offensive. In my heart I believe it is a sin to abuse a book.
But I am a Christian after all, and I find the Bible helpful as a historical document. I first learned art from a Bible.
The book is not the problem.
The book isn't the problem.
From this week's Time magazine article on Sarah Palin: "[Former Wasilla mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor."
Here's the list of banned books: (highlighted are ones I've read, many as a child or teen)
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess---A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle---Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden---As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner---Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley---Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson---Canterbury Tales by Chaucer---Carrie by Stephen King---Catch-22 by Joseph Heller---Christine by Stephen King---Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau---Cujo by Stephen King---Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen---Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite---Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck---Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller---Decameron by Boccaccio---East of Eden by John Steinbeck---Fallen Angels by Walter Myers---Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland---Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes---Forever by Judy Blume---Grendel by John Champlin Gardner---Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam---Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling---Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling---Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling---Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling---Have to Go by Robert Munsch---Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman---How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell---Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain---I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou---Impressions edited by Jack Booth---In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak---It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein---James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl---Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence---Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman---Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm---Lord of the Flies by William Golding---Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein---Lysistrata by Aristophanes---More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz---My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier---My House by Nikki Giovanni---My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara---Night Chills by Dean Koontz---Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck---On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer---One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn---One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey---One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez---Ordinary People by Judith Guest---Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective---Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy---Revolting Rhymes by Roald DahlScary---Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz---Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz---Separate Peace by John Knowles---Silas Marner by George Eliot---Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.---Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs---The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain---The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain---The Bastard by John Jakes---The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger---The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier---The Color Purple by Alice Walker---The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth---The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs---The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck---The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson---The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood----The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder---The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks---The Living Bible by William C. Bower---The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare---The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman---The Pigman by Paul Zindel---The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders---The Shining by Stephen King---The Witches by Roald Dahl---The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder---Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume---To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee----Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare---Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff---Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween
Symbols by Edna Barth
She forgot:
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice---Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann---Portnoy's Complaint by Phillip Roth---Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X---Sisters by Lynne Cheney---1984 by George Orwell---Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein---US Constitution by the Founding Fathers
Some quick thinker got these pages out of My Space and Face book before they were “removed”….these photo’s are of the older Palin kids plus mom…
The photo with the rifle is a Photoshop job that was created by a former mod on RealGM (a basketball site I frequent) by the name of "Luv those Knicks". I was going to post a link to it here myself, but was worried that it looked a little too salacious too be real - and then the poster owned up to his work.
slugbug
Alaska is worse than Texas.
Texas at least had some Democratic/bipartisan tradition. And Texans are NOT hypocrites.
Alaskans are TOTAL hypocrites, however, when it comes to the small government they claim to love so much. They are the biggest welfare queens in all of the nation, and they love involving the government in our bedrooms.
Christy, sparrow
EVERYTHING is wrong with the Death Book, between its sexism, racism, outright homophobia, and bloodlust.
I only kept mine as an opposition research resource. But I am too fed up.
I have two more copies in storage, which are buried too deep under other things for me to reach and destroy.
Creator of Iconic Obama Hope poster was arrested in Denver
This is a story I hadn't heard. His imagery was everywhere in Denver. The frisbie has an adaptation of his original "Obey" type of image. Throngs of people snatched up merchandise everywhere, official and unofficial. People came from all over the country just to sell. The "party" image is from the Hope design. Image in plastic is from Portland Saturday Market. I have a huge signed version in my living room.
So what is the story of the arrest?
He was one of 152 arrested (compared with maybe 800 at the RNC convention in St. Paul the following week.) Shepard Fairey is one of the most famous street artists in the world. He was part of the Manifest Hope gallery show inspired by Barack Obama. On August 25, Fairey took a break from hanging the show and wheat pasted a few to buildings, along with a small film crew. They were then jailed at "Gitmo on the Platte" warehouse. The same night, police sprayed down around 300 "anarchists" near Civic Center Park and arrested 100 of them. Fairey was bailed out by his wife for $500 bucks after pleading guilty to "interference" but having charges of "unauthorized posting" dropped. He also had to pay $171 fine.
Fairey has been arrested thirteen times before for hanging art illegally. They were apprehended by cops in full riot gear who drew guns. “Get on the fucking ground or we’re going to kick you in the fucking head" is what they said. Fairey and his crew spent sixteen hours in jail during which time they ate PBJ sandwiches, played paper football and hung with anarchists. He intends to continue noctural posting. "I enjoy it. I think it’s really important too. It would take me having potential jail time to quit postering and that’s not likely to happen.”
(photos by Slugbug)
Ally
No more Alaska cruises for me.
Ally,
The book isn't the problem. Like most things in life, it is people who mutate good things into bad.
The fact that the Bible was used for bad things, but if you ask me, those people who were prone to do bad things would have used any excuse.
It's as wrong, to me, to blame the Bible or the religions on the religions when it's just as easy for people to blame the Atheists for what they see as wrong.
I had lunch with a person who shocked me by saying how mean Atheists are. Well, in my book, and I told her this too, the meanness comes from within a person. You hare equally likely to have a vicious mean religious person as you are to have a vicious mean atheist. And by the same token, you're just as likely to find wonderful, kind atheists as you are to find wonderful, kind religious people.
What most people who are religious understand, the Bible was a basis for morality during a terrible time. It's a series of stories passed down in the oral tradition before being printed. However, morality and kindness doesn't come from the Bible any more than it doesn't.
No more Alaska cruises for me.
Darn my brother and sister in law are on one now, I was thinking the same thing, makes me want to puke
Mean aetheists? Well aetheists can be moral.
There are some mean Christians - Sarah Palin comes to mind.
The McCain analysts are delusional.
Slugbug that would have been the ultimate, to be in that crowd with that much excitement. A memory of a lifetime.
slugbug
Mean Christians - not just Sarah Palin.
Just about any "Christian" in South Korea, where I'll rot for the next month or two, falls into that category. They're funding billions of won into California's gay marriage ban, and I will kick Governor Lee Myung-bak's ass.
sparrow
Funny thing that conservatives are busy defending the Bible, and liberals are busy defending the Quran.
Both are Death Books to me. And Quran defending liberals beware - that Death Book is against EVERYTHING the liberals themselves stand for.
And I'm never setting foot in Alaska again, except to sell my parents' house when they pass away.