To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?"
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.
I mean, really, what's to be confused about?
The main reason the ban on marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples has been able to finance a massive advertizing campaign is that the LDS church is bankrolling the entire effort. Up to 40 percent of the financing comes from Mormons, who have also sent countless volunteers to the state to canvass door to door. It's all legal, and totally within their democratic rights, but it is striking that one single religious grouping could invest so much in attempting to strip civil equality from gay couples.
Update: their efforts might not pay off: The LA Times just posted a story that the Public Policy Institute of California released a poll showing that Prop. 8 polls have switched and the polling is now 52% against and 44% in favor.
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Vote for McCain or burn in hell
Bishop Robert J. Hermann, who needs to have his tax-exempt status removed.
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A proud moment for the base
KKK endorses McCain: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=138_1224533701
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Spaghetti on the wall
Since Obama wrapped up the nomination in June, the McCain Smear MachineTM has tried the following to influence the voting public:
http://distributorcapny.blogspot.com/2008/10/spaghetti-on-wall.html
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Democratic "socialism:"
Tweaking the tax code to shift the enormous tax break President Bush gave to his "base"--earners in the top 2% of the country--to those struggling to put food on the table and send their kids to college.
Republican socialism:
Taking $150,000 of money at a time when your candidate is taking public financing for a presidential election to buy an over-priced new wardrobe for the vice presidential nominee.
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If Palin is an intellectual, then George W. Bush is a genius. Oh, wait.......
How Anti-Intellectual Is Palin?
Ramesh Ponnuru asks the question. He refers to Noam Scheiber's devastating piece on Palin's Nixonian hatred of educated elites. But Ponnuru wants more evidence. Here's one way to look at the question: how has Palin brought up her own kids? Her eldest son is a high-school drop-out. Her eldest daughter has had, so far as one can tell from press reports, very uneven attendance in high school, and no plans for college. Her other daughters seem to spend a lot of time traveling the country with their mom at tax-payers' expense. I've seen them at several rallies with the Palins this fall. Are they not in school?
The least one can say is that none of her children seems to have been brought up thinking that college is something to aspire to. And her soon to be son-in-law just dropped out of high school as well.
Sarah Palin's own record of several colleges over several years - ending with a degree in sports journalism - tells you a lot. So does her interest in policing the Wasilla library as mayor and using the town's money for a sports stadium. She cut funding for the town museum and opposed building a new library. So does her amazing ignorance about the constitution. She is, in my judgment, the final rebuke to what Buckley tried to do for conservatism. She is burying it as an intellectual tradition and returning it to the pre-Buckley era. With the eager encouragement of a now Buckley-free National Review. Yes, the karma is overpowering. This is a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.
2,000 reasons why McCain is losing
Median family income declined almost $2,000 under Bush. Yeah, those Republican policies sure did great compared to that nightmare of peace and prosperity under Bill Clinton, huh?
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"It's kind of like dating a supermodel. There comes a moment, unfortunately, where they start talking." Christopher Buckley, talking about Sarah Palin Link
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Hey, it worked for Iceland
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In an interview with Daddy Dobson, Sarah Palin describes herself as a "hard-core pro-lifer" and expresses confidence that in spite of disheartening polls, "putting this in God's hands, that the right thing for America will be done at the end of the day on Nov. 4."
So if they lose, we should blame God?
Meanwhile, her running mate was hanging out with naked painted men:
How much lower are they willing to go than this?
Here it comes. With nothing else working, McInsane tries to frighten people into voting for him by raising the specter of nuclear war. Or Cubans.
Erratic psycho John McCain brought up the possibility of nuclear war as he struggled to overcome Barack Obama's widening lead in the polls with just 14 days left in the race to the White House.Huh?? Dude, that's so like 46 years ago. Its practically prehistoric.
"I sat in the cockpit on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise off of Cuba. I had a target," McCain said, referring to the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis.
"I know how close we came to a nuclear war and I will not be a president that needs to be tested," he added. "I have been tested.Well, that's one plane he didn't crash.
In Florida, the Obama camp shot back, laughing, reminding him he was just endorsed by al Qaeda for president.
Some candidates spend $150,000 on clothes while others resole their shoes.:
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If you're interested in all the vote fraud going on, head over to Brad Friedman's site: http://www.bradblog.com/.
Oh, and Boehner has asked Bush to cut off ACORN's funding: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i0S0UhNW8kVPuYQ2AdeMzmY8qGRgD93VQ35G0
No word if he was crying when he asked.
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As news of Palin's $150,000 shopping spree unfolds, The Atlantic reveals that Sarah Palin's personal shopper, Jeff Larson, has an interesting resumé: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/jeff-larson-sarah-palins_n_136957.html
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Al the shoe salesman gets a tax cut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99HzP6BQm5Y&eurl=http://www.teambio.org/
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Hunger: http://casadelogo.typepad.com/factesque/2008/10/hunger.html
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The people that gave you the Swift Boat lies are behind this disgusting piece of shit.
You know what to do.
Donate to the Redmond campaign here.
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The new benchmark
John McCain to Don Imus on the question of Sarah Palin's network TV interviews:
She did fine in the interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. If I called you up and said, "What's the Bush Doctrine?," I doubt if you would know what it is. I think you'd probably have a pretty funny answer. She did a great job in those interviews.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there's your new standard: If Imus doesn't know it, then screw it -- the vice president of the United States doesn't need to know it, either.
Bonus lunacy from McCain:
I think she's the most qualified of any that has run recently for vice president, to tell you the truth.
Yes, really. Sarah Palin: not only more qualified to be VP than, say, Dan Quayle, but more qualified than Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, John Edwards, Al Gore, Jack Kemp, Lloyd Bentsen -- and, of course, McCain's first choice this year, Joe Lieberman.
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It's hard to say what could be worse for a GOP pol two weeks before an election in a tight race — saying liberals (ie., roughly half his suburban consituency) "hate real Americans," or the fact that he denied saying it, only to find out there's audio of him uttering the exact phrase: http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/10/22/gop-rep-hayes-caught-on-tape-lying/#more-6065
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This is from the NY Post, but still....
Last week the Bush Labor Dept released unemployment numbers nearly double what was expected. Now, this week, the NY Post's John Crudele writes that the real number is - hang onto your hats - 147,000. The difference is pure smoke.
So the numbers - which we already knew were cooked because they don't include people whose unemployment has run out, people who have taken part-time jobs because they can't find full-time work, people who gave up looking for a job altogether, and people who had to take menial labor far beneath their training and previous pay-rate - are actually hopelessly skewed by the inclusion of tens of thoousands of fantasy jobs?
Well, um…yeah. This is the Bush Administration. What did you expect, honesty?
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25 (mostly) cool pumpkin carvings and one really scary one.
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The invisible man of campaign 2008: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/21/politics/main4537119.shtml?source=BuckFush.com
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Wow, check out Ted Tubes Stevens abuse of power:
Undisputed evidence shows that Sen. Stevens allowed his wife, a highly-paid Washington, D.C., lawyer, to use his government-paid Senate staff as a personal errand service.
Catherine Stevens used her husband's Senate staff to keep the family checkbook. She used the senator's staff to pay her credit card bills from luxury stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. Catherine Stevens had the senator's staff make runs to an ATM to fetch cash for her. The senator's staff wrapped Christmas gifts for the Stevens, walked the family dog, fed the family cat, cut the family lawn, paid personal parking tickets and handled overdue personal video rental bills.
Much of that help came from someone who reportedly cost U.S. taxpayers $126,000 a year, supposedly to perform official U.S. government business.
Using Senate staff as a household helper is a clear violation of Senate ethics rules, as stated in the Senate Ethics Manual.
The jury is deliberating evidence on his criminal charges, but the verdict on Stevens appears to already be in: too much ego, not nearly enough humility or common sense. And an utter disregard for ethics altogether.
Alaskans need to send him down the tubes in November.
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1 in 3 delaying health care needs, but Wall Street gets $70 billion in bonuses: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/1-in-3-delaying-health-care-needs-but.html
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Palin amended govt expense reports after McCain picked her for VP.
After reporters asked for the filed expense reports for her daughters' travel, she changed the report to use phrases such as "First Family attending" and "First Family invited" to explain the girls' attendance.
So much for McCain being Mr. Ethics. But I'm guessing most people realize that McCain gave up any sense of honor months ago.
Another thing, apparently 7 year old Piper Palin conducts official state business in Alaska. She must be one heck of a kid.
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So the Republicans gave Sarah $150,000 for clothes. That's a pretty big gift. And it's a pretty big taxable gift. It doesn't matter if it's for work. And it doesn't matter if the Republicans now say they're going to donate the clothes to charity.
Sarah Palin can't accept $150,000 dollars in goods, use them, then later give them away to charity and not pay taxes on the gift she received. By the time she gives them away to charity, they're used clothes - and worth about 1/3 of their original value. So, sure, she can take a tax deduction on the $50,000 in clothes she's giving away (a savings of perhaps $15k or so), but she still has to pay $50k or so in taxes on the $150,000 gift she received in the first place.
That means Palin will owe $35,000 net in taxes due to her big shopping spree at Neiman Marcus and Saks. And the Republicans can't help her pay for it, or she'll be paying taxes on their help as well.
Of course, Palin is no stranger to failing to report her taxable income - she did the same thing while serving as governor of Alaska.
Josh Marshall: If Sarah Palin's $150,000 wardrobe had a life of its own, it would get a tax cut from a President Obama.
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If the RNC is going to spend $150k for America's Wal-Mart Hockey Mom, they should at least try to dress her in GOP themed clothing -- not terrorist loving, socialist donkeys.
Here's a letter responding to a good Christian homeschooling mom who doesn't like gay people. And by "doesn't like", I mean "wants them stoned to death and everything they touch blown up." http://thisisby.us/index.php/content/dear_crazy_christian_lady
For all of you who don't believe gays don't face homicidal hatred from decent Christian folk, this should have just rudely ripped the scales from your eyes.
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Literally. A woman in West Virginia and a man in Wisconsin have quit their jobs at call centers rather than read a script that included the message: "Hello, I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the US Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans."
The Wisconsinite had read negative scripts about Obama before as part of the job, but drew the line at that script, choosing joblessness and a clean conscience over being a purveyor of incendiary lies.
Not much of a choice, that.
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Yesterday Faux News mentioned either ACORN or Ayers 95 times. They mentioned "middle class" 12 times. Meanwhile, CNN mentioned "middle class" 22 times and MSNBC mentioned it 33 times.
So if the thing that matters most to you is ACORN or Ayers, by all means, watch FNC. But if you care about the economy and the middle class, stay far away.
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"Experts fault Bush's mortgage strategy," Roll Call reports. The president's push to "loosen mortgage loan qualification standards for first-time homebuyers" helped cause the current financial crisis. Bush's efforts to increase homeownership became the core of the "ownership society" that he promoted during his 2004 re-election bid.Here's Orrin Hatch yesterday on Fox News:
"There's a lot of jealousy of the United States, especially in Europe, and France in particular and some of the other nations as well. So naturally they're constantly poking holes at the United States. … Yeah there's some irritation with the United States but mainly it's because we're so powerful and strong militarily and economically and otherwise."
Orrin? Other countries aren't jealous; they're fed up with the cowboy presidency of George Bush. A 2007 Pew study found that "[d]istrust of the United States has intensified across the world," with anti-Americanism deepening since 2002, especially "among America's European allies." In a 2008 Readers Digest poll of residents of 16 countries, only five reported higher percentages of those calling themselves "pro-American government" than those "anti-American government."
Just five days ago, European newspapers and researchers published a study clearly documenting how damaging the Bush presidency has been to the world's opinion of the United States:
Hatch seems oblivious to how Bush's policies have dramatically weakened the U.S. military and helped cause the financial collapse of America's economy.
But then again he's the guy that said, "Nobody denies that Saddam Hussein was supporting al-Qaeda…Well, I shouldn't say nobody. Nobody with brains."
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