Taliban in High Heels

Pardon the mixed metaphor, but my friend Dan in Damariscotta came up with the "Taliban" tag, but this piece by Robert J. Elisberg on HuffingtonPost under the heading "The Worst Vice-Presidential Nominee in US History" is priceless. It's long but worth it.

There was a TV ad for deodorant that said, "Never let them see you sweat." The John McCain campaign has just showed the world that it is drenched.

Selecting Sarah Palin as its choice for a vice presidential candidate is perhaps the worst such choice in American History. To be fair, maybe there are worse choices, but I don't know how bad William O. Butler was when he ran with Lewis Cass against Zachary Taylor.

But it's far worse than Dan Quayle, who was a sitting senator. Worse even than Geraldine Ferraro, who at least served in Congress for three-terms. And far worse than William Miller, a choice so obscure when selected by Barry Goldwater that he (honestly) later did an American Express commercial asking, "Do you know me?" And that ad was after the election. But even Miller had been a Congressman for 12 years. And been a prosecutor during the Nuremberg War trials against Nazis. Sarah Palin lists her credits as a hockey mom.

There was a point during the Republican primaries when I was trying to figure out who I hoped got the presidential nomination. Someone so weak he'd be easy for the Democrats to beat, or someone more challenging who at least wouldn't be a disaster for America. I decided on the latter because America has to resolve its serious problems and can't afford risking some glitch where another George Bush got elected. And so I felt that John McCain, for all his weaknesses, was the lesser of all evils and was glad he got the nomination. Throw that out the window. McCain-Palin is an unthinkable disaster.

I completely understand the reasoning behind the decision for John McCain to select Sarah Palin. Absolutely. It's the thinking that settled on Sarah Palin that's missing.

No doubt John McCain will get some women to vote for him who wouldn't have otherwise, and even some independents. But he will also probably lose as many Republicans uncomfortable with a woman on the ticket - let alone a woman with so little experience as Sarah Palin. Not to mention that the choice will cause many undecided Democratic women to be aghast and push them back to following their Democratic beliefs. And further, it will lose all the independents who look at the GOP ticket and say "This is who I'm supposed to give my vote for the next four years to lead and protect America??" It may even appeal to right-wing evangelicals for her strong pro-life stance and get some to vote - but that position and others related to it are specifically what loses even more women voters. And men. Ultimately, the nomination will lose far, far more votes than it gains.

But this is not the reason the decision is so terrible.

It's always said that the most important decision a presidential candidate makes is their pick for vice president. It shows their thinking and judgment. John McCain, in his first decision, has just told the world that he believes Sarah Palin is the most qualified person to be a heartbeat from the presidency. Forgetting all the available men for a moment, if John McCain felt it critical to select a woman in an effort to somehow grab the Hillary Clinton supporters, look at his choice of women he had available: Christine Todd Whitman, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Elizabeth Dole, Susan Collins, even - for goodness sake - Condoleezza Rice. Or Carly Fiorina. Each of these have marks against them, and perhaps some might not have wanted to run, but it's near-impossible to look at the list and suggest to the American public that Sarah Palin is the best choice of Republican women to be vice president. And again, this is ignoring the men he who could have been chosen.

It's not that Sarah Palin is inexperienced. It's that this is gross political misconduct.

Sarah Palin has been governor of Alaska for just a bit over 18 months. Alaska has a population of 683,000. (Though that doesn't include moose.) This would only make it the 17th most populous city in the United States. Just ahead of Fort Worth.

Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Population 9,000. I know Republicans like to promote "small town values," but this is taking things to ridiculous extremes, don't you think? I'm from Glencoe, Illinois, population 8,762. It's so small it doesn't even have a mayor, it has an appointed village manager. I'm sure that Paul Harlow is doing wonderfully at his job in the village - but I don't expect that he sees himself as even wanting to be a heartbeat from the U.S. President in 18 months. You know what the top news story is on the Glencoe website? "Fire Hydrant Painting Underway." (To be fair, it's the #2 story. The top news is a clarification about displaying political signage.)

Do you know what the first two "powers and duties" are for the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska? Check their municipal code:

1. Preside at council meetings. The mayor may take part in the discussion of matters before the council, but may not vote, except that the mayor may vote in the case of a tie;

2. Act as ceremonial head of the city;

Swell.

If you live in small town America (and I mean really, really small), look around you and be honest - do you see your mayor (or village manager) as a heartbeat from the presidency in 18 months?

But that's not the reason either that the decision to make Sarah Palin the VP nominee is so terrible.

It's one thing to discuss how unqualified Sarah Palin is. That's a national matter and huge. But on a grassroots political level, her nomination takes away the Republicans' ONLY weapon in the campaign - calling Barack Obama inexperienced. They haven't even been trying to run on the issues, or on the eight-year record of George Bush, which John McCain has supported almost 95% of the time. They've only been running on the faux-issue of Barack Obama's experience of 14 years in federal and state government. Yes, Sarah Palin is merely running for VP, not president, but with a 72 year-old candidate with a history of serious medical issues, this is who they're saying is able to step in as president in a heart-beat. She has so little experience that she makes Sen. Obama look like FDR, Winston Churchill and Julius Caesar combined. So, the Republicans pulled the rug out from under themselves. They have no issues. The economy? Housing? The national debt? Education? The Environment? Iraq? Afghanistan? Nothing. All they have is "Dear Democratic women: please pretend our VP candidate is Hillary Clinton. Just forget that she's pro-life. And against most things Democrats stand for."

But that's not the reason the decision is so terrible.

Because if the hope for John McCain is to get women to vote for him who otherwise supported Hillary Clinton - if anything could get Hillary Clinton campaigning in full force and fury...this is it. She likely would have campaigned hard, but it's in Hillary Clinton's best interest to be the leading voice for women, and the leading woman candidate for president in the future, so having another woman as the potential Vice President (and potential President) is a significant challenge to that. The Republicans just opened Pandora's Box and brought Hillary Clinton roaring to Barack Obama's side on the Democratic train. And Bill Clinton, too.

Yet even that's not the reason the decision is so terrible.

What this does in the most profound and grandiose way possible is give lie to John McCain's pompous posturing that he Always Puts America First. And that undercuts the most prominent campaign issue of his entire career, that everything he does is for reasons of honor. There is nothing honorable about making Sarah Palin your vice presidential nominee. Nothing. Unless you define honor as "blatantly pandering."

But that's not the reason either that this decision is so terrible.

But before we get to that, let's look at the actual announcement to make Gov. Sarah Palin (AK - pop. 683,000) the Republican nominee for president, and put the horrible decision in perspective.

First, John McCain stood at the podium, looking up-and-down reading his speech. It's impossible not to compare that to Barack Obama giving his majestic speech the night before that even conservative analysts were admiring in awe.

Second, the cameras were polite enough to avoid it, but there were empty seats in the gym. It's impossible not to compare that to a stadium of 75,000 people that Barack Obama spoke to the night before.

Third, when people around the nation were waiting to hear about Sarah Palin's qualifications and gravitas to be Vice President of the United States, the first five minutes of her speech were spent talking about her husband being a champion snowmobiler.

Fourth, when she finally got around to her qualifications, pretty much all we discovered was that she fought to cut property taxes. And then, she basically stopped there.

She did, however, mention becoming energy self-sufficient - by talking about how she supported drilling in Alaska!!! Perhaps to Republicans this is being an environmentalist, but to most of America, not so much. Then again, she's also against putting polar bears on the endangered species list (which the government did), so maybe her environmental qualifications are more lax than she thinks.

And then, finally, she spent the rest of her time praising John McCain. Fine, that's very supportive of her...except that the one question on everyone's mind was not -- "can you say John McCain is a swell guy and tell us that he was a POW", the question on everyone's mind was - "Who in God's name are you, and please tell us why you should be a heart-beat from the presidency?"

In the end, the only case she herself made for being on the ticket was praising Hillary Clinton! That's it, period. Now, it might be enough to attract some women -- but it doesn't make a case for the ticket. Why? Hint: some women did vote for Hillary Clinton solely because she was a woman. But most women voted for Hillary Clinton because she was a Democrat, as well as a woman, who stood for important Democratic values they seriously believed in. If Sarah Palin wants to praise Hillary Clinton, go for it. But at least understand what you're praising. Because it will likely come back and bite you.

It was a thin, nothing, empty speech. It was a speech to be head of the Chamber of Commerce. Compare that to the speech by Joe Biden when Barack Obama introduced him. Eloquent, soaring and explaining in blunt detail why John McCain should not be president. Joe Biden must have been watching Sarah Palin's speech, in order to take notes in preparation for his debate with her and thought, "This isn't fair."

And all that's not even the reason the decision is so terrible.

The reason is because the election is not about Sarah Palin. Or about Joe Biden. As much as TV analysts want to be excited by the balloons and hoopla, tomorrow the air will be let out, and there are still over two months to go for the campaign.

The campaign is about Barack Obama and John McCain.

Sarah Palin's nomination doesn't change that. In fact, it reinforces it. Nothing about putting Sarah Palin on the GOP ticket changes a word that Barack Obama said in his vibrant acceptance speech - about himself, about his issues, and about John McCain's repeatedly faulty judgment on the critical issues facing America.

What Sarah Palin's nomination does do is focus attention on John McCain's age. Indeed, the nomination was made on his birthday, when he turned 72, the oldest man ever to run for president. As the crowd sang "Happy Birthday to You," you almost sensed that through John McCain's clenched smile, saying, "Thanks for reminding me," that what he was thinking underneath was "Please, oh, please, don't sing the 'How old are you now?' part." And how good a message was it that he's saying he supposedly forgot it was his birthday?

Vice presidents are usually selected as people who are adept at blasting the other side's presidential candidate, because it's only the presidential candidate that matters. Joe Biden has already done that - twice - at length, spoken as someone who knows John McCain well and likes him. Sarah Palin had her first chance...and whiffed. Didn't even try. And it's hard to imagine what she has in her arsenal that will remotely allow her to do so in the future.

The election is about the presidential candidates. And the selection of Sarah Palin now allows Barack Obama to campaign untouched by the Republican ticket. John McCain's only other option is for himself to personally become negative for two months - which is disaster in presidential politics.

Now add on all the problems expressed above. Sarah Palin's inexplicably laughable lack of substance, most-especially on the foreign policy stage. Her taking away the one issue, experience, Republicans were even attempting. Her pushing away voters who might otherwise be willing to vote for a senator with 26 years in the Senate. Her bringing Hillary Clinton aggressively back into the campaign. Her inability to offer anything to off-set Joe Biden. Her standing as supposedly the most-qualified Republican woman as John McCain's first decision.

And, in the end, it all focuses back on Barack Obama, with his indictment of eight years of the Bush Administration and of John McCain's flawed judgment - and John McCain's defense of all that.

Republicans might be dancing earlier today, because there was a lot of fun music playing. But the music has stopped. The actual campaign has now started. For Republicans, it might have ended.

My luck is INCREDIBLE!!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!

Please i need your help to save my life
In the first place, i say greetings to you in the blessed Almighty Name of God
who made it possible for me to contact you in this manner.
It's also my humble prayer to God, that my letter will not have any effect on
your daily schedule.
At this point in time, allow me to introduce myself to you before i forge ahead.
I am Miss Emilie Ehnebel, i am 19 years old girl from Republic of Gabon, l know
it is difficult to understand and believe some body whom you have not seen
before.
Please i need your help to save my life from been destroyed by my family
members, My father is Dr Roland Ehnebel, he was the former minister of
petroleum of Gabon,(my country). my father has been in sick for some time, on
29 of June 2008 He died of hearth problem.
After the death of my father. My father's family members said that in tradition
and culture of our people a woman has no right in her fathers property, that is
only the male child can inherit the property of his father.
But in this case my father he has no male child, now all my father's property
has been sized by them and the gave me a condition , saying it is they culture,
I must stop going to school and get marred, and they are fussing me to be the
third wife to a man that has two wives.
As i am talking to you now my father's family members have taking all that
belong to my father and they do not know where i am now.
The only hope of life i have now is $9 million, my father deposited in a
Security Company in Abidjan the Capital city of Republic of Ivory Coast. He
concealed the money in a metallic box before depositing it to the Security
Company under an agreement as a family valuables.
On the day of my father deposit the box he sign a contract agreements that box
belong to his foreign partner but he did not write any name as his foreign
partner, so i want you to be my father's foreign partner so that the security
company can release the box to you immidetly. All the Documents of the box are
with me and can be sand to you on your request. I also understand from the
security company that they can ues their diplomatic shipment to ship the box to
you in your country.

Thanks i will be waiting to hear from you.
Yours Sincerely
Miss Emilie Ehnebel
And please don't forget to contacts me through this email address;
emilie_bel1@yahoo.fr

Sad. So sad. This is how Bush could win. Twice.

Credit and a little history

If we don’t start weaning ourselves from this credit addiction thing, we as a people and as a nation are seriously fucked. Oil addiction is a bad thing, but credit addiction is worse. Think of the two as heroin or gambling. The guy who started his gambling addiction the day Keith Richards started using heroin hit the Hudson in cement overshoes back in the sixties, whereas Keith is on track to turn 100 any day now. Credit gets you nowhere. It steals from your future and kills off options. It forces you out of choices about your future; without a mortgage, car loan or credit card debt, you could give two weeks notice and join the Peace Corps. With all the debt mentioned above, you are stuck for at least a few years, more likely many, especially given the real estate catastrophe.

As usual, the conventional wisdom was wrong. They said you had to get a credit card because a good credit score is the economic pot of gold, the ticket out of Palookaville, the grand prize. Then you had to use the card to keep improving your credit score. Then you need a condo, a townhouse a house. (Since when doesn’t it take love to make a house a home? I’m sticking with house.)
An entire industry evolved to convince people that credit scores were the point of their entire economic lives, and that taking on more debt made them better and better people.

Unfortunately, those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. For thousand of years, debt was a shameful thing, taken on only in dire need or foolishness. “Neither borrower no lender be” said Ben Franklin, known when I was a kid as a pretty wise dude.

There’s a famous old cartoon print from an earlier economic bust, showing two merchants, one of them haggard and thin, in shabby clothes next to a safe full of moths and worthless IOU’s. Below him it states, “I sold on credit.” In the second panel, a fat, well-dressed merchant sits next to his safe stuffed with cash. Below him reads, “I sold for cash.” Credit is and has always been a dangerous thing, especially when used unwisely.

There’s a tradition in ancient Jewish history called Jubilee. Now we use it to describe a wingding or a dessert, but the original meaning has everything to do with debt, but with a dash of justice and mercy thrown in. Every 7 years, all debts were forgiven. Imagine that, if you will. On the one hand, you get out of jail, er, debt free. On the other hand, how much lending would you do if it wouldn’t count less than seven years later?

On a completely different note, before the Christian Bible became an entirely owned division of the Religious Right™, there was a sin called “usury”.

The Prophet Ezekiel includes usury in a list of “abominable things,” along with rape, murder, robbery and idolatry. Ezekiel 18:19-13.

Jews are forbidden to lend at interest to one another. Exodus 22:25; Deuteronomy 23:19-20, Leviticus 25:35-37.

Dante’s Inferno places usurers at the seventh level of hell, one down from murderers.

How did we get from there to a nation whose Bankruptcy Reform Act is a gift to the vast predatory lending industry? This cruel Act actually stifles new business creation by criminalizing failure at a start-up company.

My first company, Wilder Systems, basically put me into bankruptcy. It ended up being successfully sold, but I was long gone. Later, I was responsible for starting dozens of companies and possibly creating thousands of jobs. If I’d been facing today’s tougher bankruptcy laws, I’m not sure I could have gone through with it. I fear we are scaring our next generation of entrepreneurs from giving it a go because the Republicans threw a gift to an enormously wealthy industry that feeds on greed and ignorance based on a business model that the Bible calls a crime as bad as or worse than murder. In his only known act of violence, Jesus threw out the moneylenders.

Is it me or is the hypocrisy just stunning?

You really CAN'T make this stuff up

I got this comment on an old rant that decried a bizarre xenophobic rant from an RV park owner in New Mexico, that included these gems:

In response to your questions about the ownership of USA RV PARK, I have stated this campground is 100% American owned. We support the AMERICAN CONSTITUTION and BILL OF RIGHTS that outline our freedom. We support and give thanks to our American veterans who served their country. We support and give thanks to and for our troops fighting the war against islam terror. We have freedom because citizens gave and continue to give their lives to protect and preserve our freedom.

Please note, islam believers do not own this campground. The KOA (Kampgrounds of Arabia) at exit 26 on I-40 in New Mexico is islam owned and managed next door to the islamic center of Gallup, New Mexico. (it continues)

By the way "deracinated" means "people forcibly removed from their homeland into a new and foreign environment". Not sure about "eques libertatis", but is sure as hell doesn't mean "liberal horse" as I first guessed.

Here's the posted comment:

Dear Sir:

Thank you for posting this information -- as a pious and patriotic American, I shall be sure to patronize this business while camping in western New Mexico over Labor Day. Touching, to see humble unlettered people like the owner instinctively protect his own -- and revolting, to see deracinated liberals hasting to plunge the knife into the American back. Death to the Left.

-- Eques Libertatis

The Coming Depression

It will be interesting as all hell to see how Americans act in a new depression. For the past two years, all we’ve heard is how no one could have seen this coming and it’s at the bottom and things will turn around next week/month/quarter. Bologna. We’re in for a full on, Joad family in pick-ups, breadlines and soup kitchen depression. This one will grind on for a decade just like the last one.

It’s all inevitable and obvious if you’ve been paying attention, but nothing is obvious to the uninformed, and man, there’s nobody uninformed like the American Joe Sixpack is uninformed.

I’m dumb enough to tell anyone who’ll listen about the coming depression, and the number one response I get is, “I thought they fixed it so that can’t happen again, right?” Well, they did and they didn’t. The deregulation of markets that’s been going on since Reagan left an unsupervised bunch of boy geniuses on Wall Street making millions for coming up with wackier and wackier financial products that no one completely understood.

It was a game of musical chairs, with many players and very few chairs and nobody can quite believe that the music stopped. The silence has been thundering.

The mechanics of how everything falls apart are interesting fodder for another day, but the fascinating part is trying to figure out the social ramifications of spoiled and entitled debt junkies losing everything they thought they deserved, and living in a world where you can only afford something if you saved up the cash money to buy it. No Hummers on lease, no liar loans, no house as ATM. In hindsight, what kind of moron would “consolidate debt” by paying off credit cards and car loans with a new 30 year loan on the house? How would you feel making a mortgage payment today that’s paying for the 1979 Pinto you totaled in 1983 and the huge 19 inch color TV you bought in 1980 that crapped out in 1988? It was and remains ridiculous, and yet it had become standard operating procedure for a vast flock of sheep, er, consumers.

So where do they go if they lose the McMansion and the Hummer and access to credit? The banks and finance companies don’t just forget you when you lose it all. They bill you for the difference of what you owed and what they get for it at giveaway prices. Now your wages are garnished to pay for things you no longer have, but will be paying for for a long, long time. How do you react?

I’m frankly amazed that one of these accidents waiting to happen hasn’t done the math, decided it was the mortgage broker who did it, and gone downtown with a Mac-10 and an AR-15 and popped a cap or three on some mid level functionaries. Next at the realtors. Next at the payday loan/check-cashing store. Pop, pop, pop.

So aside from the homicidal maniac reaction, how will Americans respond? Here in Maine, people are pretty resourceful. I’ve already had discussion like the one with a friend who said she’s moving in with her boyfriend, renting out the house that she owns, and they’re both felling, cutting and splitting trees on their woodlot for heat this winter and getting out at the start of deer season to fill the freezer. What the hell does the ex-McMansion dweller in New Jersey do? Hunt pigeons? Take down the trees at the mall?

I suspect there will be a swing in politics to the left, but you can never forget the attraction of fascism in hard times. Maybe the last seven and a half years have just been a warm up. Maybe the next leadership act will make Mr. Cheney look like Mr. Rogers.

It’s impossible to know for sure, but I’m hoping Americans can come together to take care of each other. The current meanness and social Darwinism just doesn’t feel right, and I hope we’ll all become much better aware of how incredibly fortunate we are, and downright lucky to have had the wisdom and foresight to be born into 20th century America, unlike those who had the misfortune and lack of foresight to be born into, let’s say sixth century Somalia.

Bill Gates born in Somalia in AD 550 would have been lucky to make it to adolescence, and with that bad eyesight would have been a rotten shepherd. So here’s hoping that the collapse of the financial system as we know it and resulting hard times lead us to more peace, love and understanding and not to a Fourth Reich.

You have to admit it's true

As a lifelong feminist, this really hurts me to say, but doesn't Cindy McCain look like an aging porn star? How cruel is that, but I mean just look at her. Doesn't that face just scream, "Cindy Does Phoenix"? Honestly. She really must buy botox by the gallon.

Okay, yes I feel guilty, but it's just so true.

Paranoid and proud

So I'm googling crazy stuff to find the web sites of the far right wing racist crazies, and it occurs to me that the NSA is probably picking up on these ramblings because they contains search strings like "assassinate obama" and slinging around the N word and Obama. Try it. There are some angry, angry ignorant people out there and they're not afraid to post. So I almost didn't write this because I figure why get on the bad side of the NSA? Then I realized, the hell with them, this is still my America, at least for the moment.

So to the low level goon in Maryland reading this, here's some NSA bait. Have a nice snack, Mr. Search Engine.

Terror, al Qaeda, bin-Laden, bomb, martyr, islam, Allah, allahu akbar, c-4, ied, jihad, heroin, assassinate, abu graib, guantanamo, enemy combatant.

Did you notice me? Huh?

Would a Christian please denounce this crap?

Loudly? Publicly? Soon? There are idiots out there who will believe this shit.

Man! My luck just keeps coming!

From; Tim McCarron.

I feel obliged writing this mail to you. Do accept my apology if this mail does not suit your personal or business ethics considering the fact that there wasn't earlier information regarding my mail. I'm establishing direct communication with you soliciting for your assistance and co-operation in a business transaction involving GBP 60 M £60,000,000.00) hoping that you will contact me at your earliest convenience so that we can do this together to a common end.

I'm a Fund Manager with Fidelity International, The World Largest Funds Management Company with over $1.2Trillion Capital Investment Funds. As a Fund Manager, I handle Investor's Direct Capital Funds and extract 1.2% Excess Maximum Return Capital Profit (EMRCP) per annum on each of the Investor's Magellan Capital Funds. Visit the below web link;

http://www.fidelity.co.uk/wealthmanager/funds/europe/oeicsandunittrusts/european.html

I have determined to work this deal with you if you can do the business.If you can be trusted, you would then stand in to receive the funds as Annual Investment Proceeds from the Magellan Capital Funds as an Investor. If you are interested, please let me know for discussion of this deal in further details. I am counting on your sense of confidentiality, as it is my desire that you keep this business to yourself. Thanks for your understanding co-operation. At the moment, I'm compelled not to issue more details about this business until your positive response is received. Please take a moment of your time schedule to read this and send your response. Stay well and keep me posted.Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Tim. =

Drilling for Exxon

Okay, once again pandering sleazeballs make ignorant idiots think they have a better idea.

Here's the latest from McCain with his new RoveApproved team:

"“Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?” the announcer in the ad asks as a still-shot of Mr. Obama fills the screen and an unseen crowd chants, “Obama! Obama!” Subtle? Not so much.

The 30-second spot highlights Senator John McCain’s support for more offshore drilling to wean the country off its dependence on foreign oil. “One man knows we must now drill more in America and rescue our family budgets,” the announcer says. “Don’t hope for more energy, vote for it.”

Well, I just went out and got gas at the domestically produced gas station down the street where I filled 'er up with 87 octane for $1.29 a gallon. None of that $4.14 foreign oil. No sirree, I'm just gonna let Exxon drill wherever they want so we can all have access to the cheaper domestic stuff. Go pound sand, Mr. No Drilling Elitist Obama! I'm standing with Mr. American $1.29 A Gallon McCain on this one!

THIS JUST IN: Wait! They charge just as much for American oil as for the Saudi stuff? Then why the hell do we care where they drill it? We don't have enough freaking petroleum under US soil or seas to make enough for our current and future needs if we don't conserve and find alternative.

What kind of moron doesn't get it? EXXON DOESN'T CUT YOU A DISCOUNT FOR AMERICAN PRODUCED OIL YOU CHUCKLEHEADS!

They made a profit of $12,000,000,000.00 last quarter that's FIFTY CENTS A DAY FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA IN PROFITS!!!