Senator Sanders Unfiltered: Lies, Fibs and Anti-Reformers

I couldn't have said it better than Senator Sanders. My fear is that not enough people are getting this message, and too many are only getting the lies from FOX and the Sarah Palins.

W. Spent Most Since... Nixon/Ford

graph from Independent Institute

I'm really tired of hearing Republicans complain about spending. Why were their pie holes shut when George W. Bush, who started his eight year reign with a federal surplus, was completely destroying our economy in less than ten years. He spent more than any Democrat in the last thirty years (Clinton x2 and Carter) and is only beat by Republicans Nixon and Ford in the early '70s. Enough already. Don't you Republicans have better things to do, like look for a direction and perhaps a leader more credible than 'air hunter' Palin, 'fib fabricator' Bobby Jindal and comedian Rush Limbaugh?

Wow!? part 2

One can't create this kind of stuff. When will Palin just go away? Just when I think I can't be surprised any more, Palin pulls another from her bag of tricks. I'm starting to believe she is a plant from the Democratic party to sink the Republicans. Forget about how absurd she is and think about McCains choice to have her as VP.

MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolfe said Palin's statement about fruit flies "is the most mindless, ignorant, uninformed, comment that we have seen from Governor Palin so far and there's been a lot of competition for that prize."

When is Terrorism not Terrorism?

To Lie is Patriotic

I asked and someone built it. A websites collecting the many lies from McSame & the Hockey Mom. It is truly amazing. Staggering. How can these two get away with this?

I guess when we live in a country where your leaders blatently lie to the citizens about WMD and then engage the people in a war that took the lives of over 4,000 of our soldiers (4,180 to date actually), hundreds of thousands of Iraq civilian lives (maybe over a million) and billions of our tax dollars (not to mention torture, ignoring the constitution, etc.), politicians realize they can do anything.

Here are a few from Pinocchio Polititics (all of these statements have links to back them at the website):

McCain tried to reform Fannie Mae

ACTUALLY: McCain only supported *a report* on Fannie/Freddie corruption. Meanwhile, his staff lobbied for deregulation of both.

Obama will raise your taxes.

ACTUALLY: Obama's tax plan lowers taxes for 95% of middle class families.

McCain “never asked for a single earmark.”

ACTUALLY: McCain hauled in pork for Arizona -- most recently a $10 million academic center to honor the Justice Rehnquist.

Obama voted against funding the troops.

ACTUALLY: Obama voted to fund the troops 10 times. Both McCain & Obama have voted against funding when attached to larger bills they opposed.

Palin “vetoed millions of earmarks.”

ACTUALLY: Governors can’t veto earmarks; this year alone, Palin pushed for $197 million in earmarks.

Alaska Produces 20% of US Energy

ACTUALLY : Alaska produces just 3.5%. Neither fact means Palin is qualified.

Really? Palin... Really?

from Boing Boing

Hope Someone is Tallying the Lies, I've Lost Track

Sept. 24, 2008 | Salon.com |By Joseph Romm

If this election is about judgment, then John McCain should lose in a landslide. He said of his V.P. pick, "She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America."

We can judge knowledge by both breadth and depth. Palin lacks both. She said in the ABC interview with Charlie Gibson:

Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that's with the energy independence that I've been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.

FactCheck.org notes that this is "simply untrue." Instead of "nearly 20 percent," try "under 3 percent." On Sept. 14, Palin corrected that to: "My job has been to oversee nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." In fact, as the Washington Post notes, "according to authoritative EIA [Energy Information Administration] data, Alaska accounted for just 7.4 percent of total U.S. oil and gas production in 2005." The Post gives her its highest (which is to say lowest) rating of "Four Pinocchios" for "continuing to peddle bogus statistics three days after the original error was pointed out by independent fact-checkers."

Just for the record, the statement is not true even if you replace the word "energy" with "oil." Alaska accounts for only about 13 percent of U.S. oil production. But the point is, you can't replace all energy with oil, as much as the "Drill, Baby, Drill" Republicans would like to. Palin made the same exact same overgeneralization in her convention speech, when she said, "To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world's energy supplies ..." Oil, maybe; energy, definitely not.

From Salon.com

Your Vote Counts

Is Sarah Palin qualified to run this country? Vote at this PBS survey (<- vote here).

She lies, She's Perfect for President (When Mc$ame Dies)

This from Democrats.com:

It is now thoroughly documented that Sarah Palin supported the $398 million "Bridge to Nowhere" when she ran for Governor in 2006, even though Congress cancelled the earmark in 2005.

She only opposed it in September 2007 after her final efforts to get $329 million more from Congress failed. Yet she kept the partial funding from Congress!
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/675/

So when Palin repeatedly says "I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks' on that bridge to nowhere," she is repeatedly lying.

Palin first lied when she was introduced as McCain's VP choice on August 29. She repeated it on August 31, September 3, September 6, September 8, and September 9. All of these lies are documented:
http://thinkprogress.org/lies-nowhere/

Palin knows the truth, but keeps repeating a lie.

It is long past time for reporters to call Sarah Palin exactly what she is - a serial liar.

Religious Funda-mentalists

Every wonder why so many in the Middle East despise us (I know, many more around the world hate us but I'm focusing on this demographic)? Much of it has to do with our military bases on their land, yes. That was one of Osama bin Laden's demands of the Bush Administration: get US soldiers out of Saudi Arabia, and Bush did it. Ah, the bond between the Bush's and the bin Laden's... Now we have our countries leaders talking full on Holy War, The Crusades all over again.

My right wing relatives ask me why 'the Muslims' are so intent on killing Westerners. It's easy to criticize others but not so easy to look critically at ourselves. If the leaders of a powerful country were constantly threatening to attack the USA, might we be worried? Might we act presumptively?

From the Christian Science Monitor (September 19, 2001)

President Bush's reference to a "crusade" against terrorism, which passed almost unnoticed by Americans, rang alarm bells in Europe. It raised fears that the terrorist attacks could spark a 'clash of civilizations' between Christians and Muslims, sowing fresh winds of hatred and mistrust.

The Washington Post reports Bush said "God inspired me to hit al Qaeda, and so I hit it. And I had the inspiration to hit Saddam, and so I hit him."

"The Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation," declared John McCain back in September 2007.

From the Huffington Post:

Comments Palin made to a group of graduating Wasilla high school students earlier this year...: "Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

During that speech, Palin also promoted a $30-billion natural gas pipeline project, stating, “God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built.”

From the New York Times:

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books...

Anne Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support.

And as for commentary, Cintra Wilson's excellently written Salon.com article, though a bit angry and over-the-top in my humble opinion, can't be topped. An excerpt:

As a woman who does not believe what Palin believes, the thought of such an opportunistic anti-female in the White House -- in the Cheney chair, no less -- is akin to ideological brain rape. What this Republican blowup doll does with her own insides in accord with her own faith is her business. But, like the worst and most terrifying of religious extremists, she seems very comfortable with the idea of imposing her own views on everyone else.

Palin has also opposed extending hate crime laws to protect gays and lesbians and called for teaching creationism in public schools.

From the Guardian:

This is a woman who once addressed a church congregation, saying of her work as governor - transport, policing and education - "really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God".

According to the Huffington Post:

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."

In 2007 Palin signed a proclamation declaring "Christian Heritage Week" in Alaska.

Juan Cole has an interesting Salon.com article claiming Palin is a bigger radical than most fundamentalist Muslims.

Not scared yet? Watch this video:

McCain & Palin 'Stealing' Music

[sorry for the lapse in blogging, I sprained my shoulder in a bicycle accidentand haven't been able to post; but I'm back, mostly]

It's funny, as a high school filmmaking teacher, one of my biggest challenges is to teach students (11th and 12th graders) that just because you can download images or songs from the Internet without inputting your credit card information doesn't mean it is a legal acquisition of someone elses art. Looks like John McCain and Sarah Palin could take some time out of their busy campaign schedule to come learn something from my classes.

Back in February, McCain was playing John Melloncamp's “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” on the campaign trail. Melloncamp is a faithful Democrat and a John Edwards supporter at the time (that's a lot of 'Johns'). Melloncamp had his reps contact McCain asking him to stop playing his songs at his rallies according to Rolling Stone magazine.


Now People magazine is reporting that rock-n-roll sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, the backbone of 70's pop band Heart, have sent an email to the McCain/Palin campaign demanding that they stop playing Heart's "Barracuda."

"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission," the statement read.

It continued: "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored."

Even after the email, the Republicans continued to use the song. This also from People's website:

She and her sister Ann then emailed this exclusive statement to EW.com: "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image.

"The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."

McCain Angry at Palin Media Attacks

ARE YOU KIDDING!

A modern day Republican angry at personal attacks!!! The gall. This is the very definition of the modern day Republican party. I am beginning to realize that the GOP of Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld is not the fiscal conservative Republicans of my father's generation. But this is the very reason that Republican baby boomers should separate themselves from these "Family Values", war mongering, Evangelical, Neo-cons that are destroying the USA.

Palin's 17-year-old daughter has had unprotected, premarital sex and got pregnant, Palin's husband has a DUI as well as a violation of a fishing license. These are facts. Making these things public are taken directly from the Republican play book. Not pretty, but they seem to have set the precedent. I'm glad Obama/Biden have the decency not to follow this lead; our sensational media obviously has no such morals.

Oh, and Palin may have fired former state Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan for allegedly failing to dismiss a trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin's sister before she ran for governor (search Troopergate). Seems like she maybe the perfect Republican choice for VP.

Who is Sarah Palin and Is She the Best The Republicans can Offer as Second in Command?

Ironic that McCain hammers Obama for having too little experience then picks Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. Salon.com highlights Palin's qualifications for national office as:

Having served as governor of Alaska for less than two years -- and as mayor of a small town before that...

Four days ago I wrote about some of the odds of McCain not making it to the end of his term if elected president. So this former beauty queen will be the one to replace McCain if he checks out early. Ironic coming from the party who said Hillary couldn't be Commander-in-Chief because of being a woman.


And what exactly is her foreign policy experience, something the republican party has also hammered Obama for lacking?

She does share Republican values such as being a member of the NRA, a fondness for killing animals with guns, and being strongly against abortion, but what else do we know about this person?

Is he going after the stubborn Hillary fans who claim with will consider McCain over Obama?


In this BBC footage, Palin recently asked, "... What is it exactly the V.P. does everyday." Hope someone has told her by now.


This is from MoveOn.org:

• She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.¹
  
• Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.²
  
• She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. ³
  
• Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools.⁴
  
• She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.⁵
  
• She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.⁶
• How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.⁷

Sources:

1. "Sarah Palin," Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin

2. "McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate," NARAL Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17515&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=1

3. "Sarah Palin, Buchananite," The Nation, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17736&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=2

4. "'Creation science' enters the race," Anchorage Daily News, October 27, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17737&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=3

5. "Palin buys climate denial PR spin—ignores science," Huffington Post, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17517&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=4

6. "McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy," Sierra Club, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17518&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=5

"Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past," League of Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17519&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=6

"Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor," The Times of London, May 23, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17520&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=7

7 "McCain met Palin once before yesterday," MSNBC, August 29, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=21119&id=13661-9815853-nTFE2Qx&t=8