 | Online nowJamie is a married guy from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. I am a life coach, therapist, educator, and guide. My specialty is Attentional Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder. |
 Share This- McCains attacks fuel dangerous hatred -- baltimoresun.com
 Oct 11, 2008 7:27am  (21 reviews) terrorism, john-mccain, violence, hate-filled, dishonor http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion...- From the page: "McCain's attacks fuel dangerous hatred
By Frank Schaeffer
October 10, 2008
John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence.
At a Sarah Palin rally, someone called out, "Kill him!" At one of your rallies, someone called out, "Terrorist!" Neither was answered or denounced by you or your running mate, as the crowd laughed and cheered. At your campaign event Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa., the crowd was seething with hatred for the Democratic nominee - an attitude encouraged in speeches there by you, your running mate, your wife and the local Republican chairman.
Shame!
John McCain: In 2000, as a lifelong Republican, I worked to get you elected instead of George W. Bush. In return, you wrote an endorsement of one of my books about military service. You seemed to be a man who put principle ahead of mere political gain.
You have changed. You have a choice: Go down in history as a decent senator and an honorable military man with many successes, or go down in history as the latest abettor of right-wing extremist hate.
"
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- The New York Times & Log In
- Oct 11, 2008 3:25am
 (2 reviews) ethics, violation, sarah-palin, troopergate, politics http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us/pol... - From the page: "A 263-page report released Friday by lawmakers in Alaska found that Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, had herself exerted pressure to get Trooper Michael Wooten dismissed, as well as allowed her husband and subordinates to press for his firing, largely as a result of his temperament and past disciplinary problems.
Such impermissible and repeated contacts, the report states, create conflicts of interests for subordinate employees who must choose to either please a superior or run the risk of facing that superior's displeasure and the possible consequences of that displeasure. The report concludes that the action was a violation of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act."
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- pygalgia: Sarah Palin: A Pre-Modern Reactionary Feminist
- Oct 10, 2008 2:40pm (2 reviews) feminism, politics, sarah-palin, right-wing-ideologue http://pygalgia.blogspot.com/2008/09/sar...
- She also believes the earth is 5000 years old.
From the page: "she is inexperienced, knowing little or nothing about foreign policy or national issues; she is really an anti-feminist, wanting the government to enter women's lives to block abortion, but not wanting the government to guarantee equal pay for equal work, or provide adequate child health coverage, or child care, or early childhood education; she shills for the oil and gas industry on drilling; she denies the scientific truths of global warming and evolution; she misuses her political authority; she opposes sex education and her daughter is pregnant; and, rather than being a maverick, she is on the whole a radical right-wing ideologue.
"
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- The Raw Story | Olbermann: McCain, Palin have questionable ties of their...
- Oct 10, 2008 8:31am (5 reviews) politics, terrorists, mccain-palin http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Olbermann_...
- From the page: "Olbermann: McCain, Palin have questionable ties of their own
Nick Cargo and David Edwards
Published: Wednesday October 8, 2008
Senator McCain and running mate Governor Sarah Palin have Senator Obama "beat hands-down" on anti-semitic, Iranian and terrorist ties, said MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
Former Clinton aide Paul Begala pointed out on Sunday that McCain sat on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, part of the World Anti-Communist League, having joined in 1982 after the Anti-Defamation League called it a "gathering place for racists and anti-semites with links to Nazi collaborators and right-wing death squads." The Council for World Freedom was funded by right-wing tycoon Sun Myung Moon, and among its ranks were founding CIA member and Iran-Contra figure John K. Singlaub. While McCain resigned from the organization due to a stated "lack of time," he attended one of its events as late as 1986, and the organization continued to use his name on its letterhead around the same time.
Governor Palin's involvement with the pro-secession Alaskan Independence Party, to which husband Todd belonged, was also criticized. The Governor herself, in a March video message, told the organization to "keep up the good work." Founder Joe Vogler, in 1993, intended to give a speech denouncing "American tyranny" at the United Nations with the sponsorship of Iran.
"If Iran ties and secession do not qualify as terrorist associations," Olbermann said, the WACL also armed and sent supplies, including boots, to rebels in Afghanistan who would become the Mujahadeen, later the Taliban, and Osama bin Laden, "whom McCain once promised to chase to the gates of Hell."
"And, if bin Laden is quaking in his boots at that thought," Olbermann quipped, "who knows, maybe those boots are 'Air McCains.'"
More of the segment, with commentary from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, is available on this site. It was broadcast on MSNBC's Countdown on October 7, 2008.
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- The New York Times & Log In
- Oct 9, 2008 1:06pm (1 review) mac, sounds, customizing http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/techno...
- Useful tip for customizing a Mac system alert with an MP3 Sound.
- Oct 9, 2008 10:36am
- MEMO: McCain's Plan to Reward Lenders at Taxpayer Expense
by Amanda Scott
Thursday, October 09 2008 01:10 pm
Campaign spokesperson Bill Burton just sent out this memo about John McCain's plan to reward lenders at taxpayers expense...
TO: Interested Parties
FR: Jason Furman, Obama-Biden Economic Policy Director
RE: The Facts on McCain's Plan to Reward Lenders at Taxpayer Expense
DA: 10/9/08
In light of the McCain campaign's latest erratic move on the economy, see below for details on Senator McCain's plan to reward irresponsible mortgage lenders at taxpayer expense. In the course of twelve hours, McCain transformed a "new" mortgage plan which was simply restating a policy the government had already authorized into what is possibly the largest taxpayer funded handout to irresponsible lenders in U.S. history. In short, this plan guarantees taxpayers lose money, rewards bad behavior in the past and discourages responsible behavior in the future.
Tuesday Night: McCain announces "plan" which restates current law. On Tuesday night, the McCain Campaign released a plan to "purchase mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage servicers, and replace them with manageable, fixed-rate mortgages that will keep families in their homes." As Senator McCain said, "it's my proposal, it's not Sen. Obama's proposal, it's not President Bush's proposal." But he was wrong: the Treasury Department and Federal Housing Administration already have the authority to purchase, restructure and guarantee mortgages for struggling families. McCain's plan appeared to simply restate these authorities, which Barack Obama had previously fought for and supported when they were included in legislation.
Importantly, the plan McCain released on Tuesday night required lenders to take a "haircut." McCain's plan on Tuesday night explained that in circumstances when loans were purchased and restructured by the government "[l]enders in these cases must recognize the loss that they've already suffered." This approach was not new - it reflected the shared responsibility approach embodied in the Dodd/Frank housing legislation which forced current lenders to sacrifice by backing mortgages for only 90% of current market value. Also, borrowers who benefit from the program share any upside in their house price with the government.
Wednesday Morning: McCain announces a new plan - financial institutions no longer have to take any losses and the McCain Bailout guarantees that taxpayers lose money, rewarding the most irresponsible lenders. Overnight, the McCain campaign changed their plan and eliminated this reference to shared responsibility for lenders from the plan on their website, deleting from their plan the phrase "Lenders in these cases must recognize the loss that they've already suffered." Top McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin explained that, rather than asking lenders to take a haircut, the McCain plan called on the government to purchase mortgages at their full face value. This approach would reward irresponsible banks with taxpayers' money and would give no upside to the government.
* Rewarding Irresponsible Banks. If a homeowner has a mortgage of $200,000 on a house now worth $150,000, the McCain plan would pay off the original lender at the full $200,000 price. His plan would not insist on any sharing of sacrifice by the lender. Indeed, if the original lender engaged in fraud to inflate the size of the initial mortgage, they would be explicitly rewarded for it under the new McCain plan since they would be paid back the full, inflated value of the mortgage.
* Guaranteeing a Taxpayer Loss. The McCain plan will stick taxpayers with the full loss on houses and put them at risk of losing even more if home values don't recover. It would do so without asking anything of the lenders themselves and without giving the taxpayers share in any future upside should house prices recover...
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- Dem strategists see landslide in the making - Yahoo! News
- Oct 9, 2008 10:04am (1 review) politics, barack-obama, economy http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/2008100...
- From the page: "On Tuesday, for the first time in Gallup tracking, Obama surpassed the 50 percent threshold and now leads McCain 52 percent to 41 percent, the largest margin of the campaign.
That same tracking shows that in the past 12 days, Obamaâ€s support has stabilized between 48 percent and 52 percent while McCainâ€s has stabilized between 41 percent and 44 percent, outside the bounds of the fleeting fluctuations that gave Obama his last 9 point lead following his international trip in late July.
Many veteran GOP and Democratic pollsters who have been skeptical of Obama's effort to win red states like North Carolina now believe the economic turmoil has put them well within reach.
Here, events have made the economy dramatically the issue. More people are concerned about the economy now than even in 1992, said Mark Penn, who has served as both Hillary Rodham Clinton's and Bill Clinton's pollster.oeWhat we are seeing is more and more voters who are saying they are voting on the economy because I don't have any confidence from McCain and George Bush that they can handle the economy.
Obama is seen by double-digit margins in multiple polls as the more capable economic steward. Briefly, following the GOP convention, McCain had drawn about even on the question.
â€oeThere is the complete utter loss of faith in GOP politics,” argued Jim Jordan, a Democratic strategist. â€oeThis is chickens coming home to roost in a way that was almost unimaginable a year ago.”"
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- Obama known for keeping cool, focusing on common purpose - USATODAY.com...
- Oct 9, 2008 9:05am (2 reviews) politics, barack-obama, perceptive http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/el...
- From the page: "Obama: Keeping cool, focusing on 'common purpose'
By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
When Barack Obama was elected president of the Harvard Law Review in 1990, the law school was roiling with tensions over issues such as faculty diversity and school support for public-interest law.
The cool and restraint that have frustrated many Democratic strategists and hard-line liberals during Obama's presidential bid generated similar feelings at Harvard. But those qualities have worked for him then and now.
MCCAIN: A 'bare-knuckled fighter'
"There was lots of political and racial division. Almost every two weeks there was a blowup" at the Law Review, says former classmate Kenneth Mack, who now teaches at the law school. "Barack was good at heading off controversies before they got started. He got us … doing the things we needed to do."
Another former classmate, Brad Berenson, a Republican who was associate White House counsel in President Bush's first term, says Obama won trust by "being fair, a good listener, inclusive, and by not himself aggressively taking sides in the hotter disputes. He played more the role of the benevolent referee." "
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- Not &The Senator,& But &That One&
- Oct 8, 2008 12:05pm (20 reviews) politics, hate-tactics, right-wing-slander, name-calling http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignm...
- From the page: "Not "The Senator," But "That One"
posted by John Nichols
The proper, respectful and appropriate description for an foe in a debate between two senators is "the senator" or -- if there is a desire to get flowery -- "my distinguished colleague."
But Arizona Senator John McCain, who after a quarter century on Capitol Hill surely knows the political etiquette, could not bring himself to refer to Illinois Senator Barack Obama as he would any other colleague.
Discussing a 2005 Senate vote, McCain said, "There was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one," he said, motioning toward Obama. "You know who voted against it? Me."
That one?
That one?
If Obama had referred to McCain as "that one," he would have been attacked for showing disrespect or ridiculed for being so new to the Senate that he did not understand the basic behaviors of the chamber.
Either way, it would have been a devastating moment.
And it should be for McCain, as well.
Understand what the Republican nominee was doing.
He did not slip up.
The McCain campaign and its media acolytes have for weeks been spinning the notion that Obama is running as some sort of messianic character who sees himself in something akin to Biblical terms.
In internet advertisements, campaign spin and talk-show commentary, Obama is mocked as "the one."
A McCain Web commercial from earlier this year compared Obama with the Nazarene. That ad opened with the announcer declaring, "It shall be known that in 2008 the world will be blessed. They will call him 'The One.'"
The ad proceeds to ridicule Obama's high-minded rhetoric before closing with the narrator telling Americans: "Barack Obama may be 'The One.' But is he ready to lead?"
That commercial has long been recognized as one of the more amateurish cheapshots from a campaign characterized all too frequently by amateurish cheapshots.
Now, John McCain has brought the cheapest of the cheapshots to the debate stage.
It was, for a senior senator who has embarrassed himself too many times during this long campaign, a uniquely embarrassing moment."
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- Biden: Palin Must Condemn Supporters Hateful Obama Attacks
- Oct 8, 2008 9:21am (4 reviews) politics, joe-biden, death-threats, sarah-palin http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08...
- Biden: Palin Must Condemn Supporters' Hateful Obama Attacks
October 8, 2008 11:12 AM
Read More: Joe Biden, Kill Him Obama, Sarah Palin, Politics News
Joe Biden lashed out at Sarah Palin on Wednesday, calling her recent rhetoric "ugly" and "mildly dangerous," and expressing shock that the Alaska Governor did not interrupt recent rallies when supporters shouted hateful attacks about Barack Obama, including "treason!" and "kill him!"
"I watched the news and I heard a couple people hollering from the audience semi-vile things about 'terrorists,' things like that," Biden said on NBC's Today show. "The idea that a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop mid-sentence and turn and condemn that -- it's just a slippery slope, it's a place that we shouldn't be going."
Biden repeated the sentiment on ABC's Good Morning America:
"I think it goes way too far. Look, this really is a case where, when you don't have anything to talk about, attack -- and it gets really over the edge," he said. "I mean, some of the stuff she's saying about Barack Obama and the stuff that people are yelling from the crowd, if she hears it, she should be at least be saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's overboard. But this is volatile stuff.""
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