10.31.2008

White House Calling Shots in Ohio Voter Suppression


The White House admitted on Monday that President Bush has asked the Justice Department to take a look at the registrations of more than 200,000 people, here in Ohio. Bush made the request last Friday, according to the Washington Post and UPI-news.

Ohio republicans want all new voters to reconfirm their registrations before next week’s election. The United States Supreme Court has already ruled that GOP requests for such actions are not necessary and dismissed the latest GOP lawsuit last week.

You will recall that GOP officials throughout Ohio, such as Hamilton County Prosecutor, Joe Deters, have continued attempts to suppress the vote, by calling for grand jury investigations, and quarantining ballots already cast in Ohio’s early voting, here in Cincinnati. A special prosecutor was appointed to oversee the investigation by Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel. The special pros
ecutor is a former assistant to Joe Deter's.

The sheriff of Greene County has taken similar actions and made similar requests and attempts to suppress the vote in his area. Greene County his home to historically black Wilberforce University, Central State College, Wright State College and Antioch. A record number of students have signed up to vote in this year’s election and officials speculate that they may overwhelmingly favor Barack Obama.

Other counties have taken the same kinds of actions, here in Southwest Ohio. There has been no word from the Justice Department about any actions that it plans to take.

The DOJ is currently involved in its own scandal, having to answer for the firings of 8 US Attornies who reportedly refused to follow White House orders to pursue or investigate similar voter suppression charges that surfaced back in 2006.

UPDATE: The Justice Department has announced that it is sending out 800 feds to monitor voting on Tuesday. No federal monitors will work in Ohio. However, federal staffers will watch polls in Cuyahoga County...that's Cleveland and the surrounding area. No official monitors or staffers here, in Hamilton County or anywhere in Southwest Ohio.


10.23.2008

Hey! God!

Talking with Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, yesterday, Sarah Palin said she is confident that God will do the right thing for America on November 4th.

Dobson chimed in that he and his wife are also praying for Devine intervention on election day.

While out campaigning earlier this week for Senator Obama, and my friend, Rep. Tyrone Yates, I ran across an aged little chocolate lady who was sitting on her porch, taking in the dying warmth of a fall afternoon. She fixed me with a serious stare over her sagging glasses and repeated a line that I’ve heard over and over throughout my life and this campaign in particular.

“God don’t like ugly,” she said.

She went on to tell me that there was big payback coming and she felt it was coming to Palin and her running mate John McCain. But she didn’t think they would be enjoying that payback in the White House.

She also expressed fears that folks wouldn’t turn out to vote. I had to agree with her, because standing there with us in this conversation was another younger woman of a different shade of brown, who said Obama had the election sewed up because he had the lead in the electoral college. I had to break it down to her, because she didn’t realize that the electoral college is dependent upon the popular vote. That the election was far from over and that it was very, very important to turn out on election day or before.

These women are my neighbors. We all live on the same street, in the same part of town. A part of town that Sarah Palin probably doesn’t consider American or patriotic enough because she’s never set foot in it to ask for my support or those of my neighbors. The two ladies that I was talking to probably wouldn’t fit Sarah’s or Dobson’s definition of Christian, either. But the little lady had King James open in her lap and I know if I’d pushed, she would’ve and could’ve quoted it without written notes or a teleprompter.

In between puffs on her unfiltered cigarette my little lady went to say that God answers all prayers, you just have to ask. But she said what many people don’t understand is, that the answer you get, may not be the answer you want. But it will always be the answer you need. And she said again,

“God don’t like ugly.”

I always say, what goes around comes around. Karma, God....all the same. You reap what you sow. I hope Palin’s ready for her answer come election day. I know that I am, regardless.

“God don’t like ugly.”

Bet.

10.22.2008

Palin/McCain Land at Lunken

The straight talk express flew into Cincinnati’s municipal airport this evening for a brief visit to the Queen City. Several thousand people crowded the hangar and adjoining tarmac, in order to hear from the candidates. The GOP loaded the back stage with office holders like Jean Schmidt, republican chair Alex Triantafilo, and Rob Portman to name a few. Portman also mc’ed the pep rally. Gretchen Wilson was the entertainment prior to the arrival of the candidates.

A coatless Cindy McCain, looking very cold in the 40-degree temperatures, warmed up the crowd and then introduced the Governor of Alaska, to thunderous applause and chanting. It was obvious from the response that the crowd was mainly there to see and hear their Sarah. She didn’t disappoint them, quickly jumping on the attack with her now familiar stump speech, crammed full of “gotcha” lines aimed squarely at Obama. She sprinkled the new and latest buzz words throughout her talk, switching socialist for terrorist, leaving out Bill Ayers, and accusing Obama of planning to raise taxes on everybody. She was sharp and to the point.

But I can’t say that about McCain.

He began okay, opening a notebook with a prepared script to keep him company along with the teleprompter. But he still managed to get lost within his words, constantly losing his place and repeating himself over and over, sometimes, obviously confusing his listeners. He retread the same attack territory previously trodden by his VP. He was very animated throughout. So animated, in fact, that I wondered if he was amped on something. He leaned heavily on his past history and reputation, as the man who acts and strikes quickly to solve problems. His delivery, along with being unusually hyper also smacked of desperation. Something I hadn’t seen earlier in the campaign.

He promised to cut taxes for everyone from the top, down, and told Cincinnatians that he could tell from the audience that he was in McCain country and that Ohio would make him president.

I was curious to see what fashionista Sarah was wearing today. It was dark and subtle, a suit that I’d seen her wear before. She’d peaked my curiosity because of all the talk the past couple of days about how much money the RNC had paid to buy her new clothes. She may talk and sound the way she thinks hockey moms talk, but she’s not dressing like one these days. As reported, yesterday, the republican national committee shelled out 150,000 dollars for a new wardrobe for her. That’s more than she makes as governor of Alaska. That’s not exactly a hockey mom’s budget. It’s not a Cindy McCain budget either, but close. Mrs. McCain routinely wears jackets that would pay for three or four of my house. But, then she can afford to dress like that, since daddy left her a 100-million dollars.

The republicans jumped all over John Edwards about his 400-dollar haircuts, but haven’t yet said a word about McCain’s 5000-dollar make up artist.

The thing that really got me though, was that the McCain campaign, in defending the cost of the wardrobe, said that it will be donated to charity after the election.....REALLY!? She just went to Nieman Marcus for the first time in her life, picked out some really, really nice, classy clothes, and they’re going to make her give it to charity? I don’t think so.

I mean, why lie about it? The pictures don’t lie...like many suddenly thrust into the spotlight people, Sarah has no taste...doesn’t know how to dress....she had to kick it up a notch....We Americans like our representatives and celebrities to look good, not tacky. Honestly, from what she was wearing as the mayor of Wasilla, she needs to find the negatives of those pictures and burn them.

In addition to a new wardrobe, she needs a speech and voice coach. Did you notice that she talked with no accent on Saturday Night Live last weekend? You betcha!

10.20.2008

Voter Suppression Shuffle in Cincinnati

Let’s dance!

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters has jumped into the alleged voter registration fraud campaign being conducted nationwide against newly registered voters. Deters has convened a grand jury and has subpoenaed the records for about 40% of the new voters, in order to check them out. But he says it’s not political. He is just doing his job as the lawyer of record for the Hamilton County Board of Elections.

Deters has long had a habit of using the power of his office to intimidate anyone who disagrees with his version of what should be the status quo. What is his status quo? Republicans in charge, poor people invisible and black people in jail.

Republicans across the nation have been going after ACORN, a grassroots organization that has reportedly registered more than one million new voters, with most of them leaning toward Barack Obama.

Here in Ohio, the GOP first attacked early voting...then the window that allows folks to register and vote all on the same day. The Republicans filed suit in state, and federal courts. The sixth circuit court of appeals tried to force the State of Ohio to make up an entirely new system for checking voter registration. The new system duplicates one already in place and functioning. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner filed a motion with the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. SUPCO backed Brunner and the State of Ohio.

Yet the GOP and Joe Deters are not content to let the matter rest.

Elections officials have said throughout this farce that many of the questionable registrations were initially flagged by ACORN itself. Officials also say that many of the troubles on the new registrations are the result of erroneous entry by elections officials who key in the info to the computer. In other words, a faulty registration is not a concrete indication of fraud. It’s not even fraud until or unless “Mickey Mouse” shows up to vote. Casting the vote or attempting to cast the vote, is fraud. What we have now, is a scenario that means elections officials simply have to be left alone to do what they are paid to do.

Yet, Deters, and other Sheriffs and County prosecutors around Ohio are wasting taxpayer money chasing ghosts in an attempt to once again steal an election for their chosen candidate. And make no mistake about it, Deters colors are fully visible. He is chairman of the southwest Ohio campaign for McCain/Palin.

If he were really doing his job, he would have stepped aside and allowed the appointment of an independent counsel or prosecutor of some kind to handle the situation, if he deemed it so reprehensible that it needs immediate attention from law enforcement.

One note, national voting statistics do track voter fraud. Records show that from 2000-2005 there was exactly one case of voter fraud, nationally. Just one..Today there is another one, a guy hired by the republican party in California to register voters. He has been arrested for allegedly tricking people into changing their party affiliation by telling them that the papers they were signing was a petition to get tougher on child molesters.

The Hamilton County Board of Elections is holding a special meeting today. I hope common sense rules and someone is able to tell Joe Deters to go back to his office, close the door, sit down and shut up for a change.

10.19.2008

Damned if We do....Damned if We Don’t

General Colin Powell today endorsed Barack Obama. Now the GOP wingnuts, led by Rush Limbaugh are saying Powell did what he did in racial solidarity...In other words, like the rest of us stupid non thinking blacks, the General is voting for the black man because he is black.

“Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race... OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."-Limbaugh

HEY, YOU STUPID WALKING WASTE OF OXYGEN AND AIR TIME.....POWELL NOT ONLY ENDORSED GEORGE W. BUSH..HE VOTED FOR THE IDIOT AND SERVED IN HIS CABINET..

Can’t get any more inexperienced or dumber than Dubya, except maybe the current GOP pick for VP. Another inexperienced white man with black support was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. But he was a supremely intelligent man, a quick study with cool.

We’ve voted for the white guy all of our lives. We’ve had a couple of chances with some real intelligence...Shirley Chisolm, for instance...but she didn’t stand a chance because she was black and female. And blacks didn’t vote for her either. Is it racial self hatred when we vote for the white guy?

How come it’s only racial when we support one of our own against the chosen great white hope? Ours is the better man, this time around. His skin color is not relevant except to those who can’t see past it...

We are not monolithic. Many of us share conservative values with our white counterparts. But when candidates for public office refuse to come to our neighborhoods, refuse to support even minor programs that might make our lives easier, always lay the blame at our feet no matter what... Or refuse to accept our common humanity without first filtering it through that bogus concept of white superiority, then we have a problem.

Who wants to be part of a group that refuses to recognize your equality. Everything about the GOP is exclusive, rather than inclusive when it comes to blacks and minorities. There are always one or two who are willing to join up and hang out with the oppressor, most are not, which is why most of us overwhelmingly vote democrat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happily democratic either. But it’s the best we’ve got right now.

In recent days, we’ve taken the blame for.... the current financial crisis..blamed on loans to minorities.....McCain labeling tax cuts for the middle class as welfare...Palin campaigning only in "pro American" cities where she tells the people it’s okay to vote for her because she looks like them....Michelle Bachmann calling everyone who disagrees with her extreme views as unpatriotic and anti American. Congresswoman Bachmann is Chair of the House Subcommittee, BWNB, (bitches with no brains). The last three people that I've mentioned campaign and live as if there are no black people in America.

The plain truth of the matter is that McCain/Palin is not good for America. Happily, it appears that everyone except that small, extreme right fringe group of extremists, that has taken over the Republican party, agrees that Obama should be the next president, so that we can get past this stupidity.

So would somebody please, please, pull the plug on the junkie, before he further embarasses himself.

Guilty by Association

Ted Kennedy

Caroline Kennedy

Madelyn Allbright

Christo Buckley

John Kerry

The Chicago Tribune

The LA Times

The New York Times

The Washington Post......

And now............General Colin Powell

I’ll take Obama’s associations any day of the week........

“BIG WHEEL KEEPS ON TURNIN’..............PROUD MARY KEEPS ON BURNIN’ AND WE ROLLIN’...ROLLIN’....ROLLIN’ ON THE RIVER.............”

10.17.2008

Race Card

You’ve seen those old 20th century postcards depicting lynchings in America. There are museum exhibits of these cards that were sent through the mails , just like you, or I would send a card from our latest vacation spot, like Las Vegas or the Virgin Islands.

When I look at those, it’s not the mangled man or woman, hands tied behind their back, dangling at the end of the rope, slowly twisting in the wind that horrifies me. It’s the crowd surrounding the spectacle that terrifies me. The looks on the faces of the men and women who had witnessed the killing of another human being, for no other reason than they were black and had offended some white woman or crossed some invisible line drawn in the dirt, by some white man.

Washington Post columnist, Charles Krauthammer, opened his column today, which he titled; “Who’s Playing the Race Card?” with these words:

“Let me get this straight. A couple of agitated yahoos in a rally of thousands yell something offensive and incendiary, and John McCain and Sarah Palin are not just guilty by association -- with total strangers, mind you -- but worse: guilty according to the New York Times of "race-baiting and xenophobia."
Mr. Krauthammer goes on to argue that McCain and Palin are being vilified for injecting race into the campaign when actually it was Barack Obama who brought up the subject.. He maintains that McCain and Palin should be held guiltless when a couple of “yahoos” as he calls them, shout obscenities every time Palin or McCain say Obama. Continuing his reasoning, since McCain and Palin can be held accountable for these stranger actions, Obama should be held accountable for his past associations with William Ayers, Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the organization ACORN.

Mr. Krauthammer’s argument is comparing apples to oranges. The McCain/Palin role in their campaign rallies is more like the one or two guys who beat the black man, found the rope and tree and strung him up as the crowd watches in not so silent approval.

If this scenario was also happening at Obama rallies when Obama/Biden invoked the names of McCain/Palin, then Krauthammer might have an argument. But I’ve personably attended these rallies on both sides, since I do live in the swing state of Ohio. There are no similarities.

Until shamed into speaking, McCain/Palin stood silently smiling, while the rage spread through their crowds. Obama’s press releases tell you up front “don’t bring homemade signs, and he shushes the crowd as soon as anyone tries to take his opponent’s names in vain.

I don’t worry about who surrounds me when I’m at an Obama rally. I do worry when the rhetoric starts to heat up at a McCain/Palin rally If the violent rhetoric was happening on both sides within the same type of situation, then Krauthammer would have an argument. He doesn’t. His column is merely a thinly veiled attack from the right attempting to paint Obama as a shady man with a shady past. The extreme right can’t beat him on issues, so they slam him with mud balls.

Now if Obama were to suddenly flood the market with campaign advertisements that talked about, say, Palin’s husband’s affiliations with the secessionists of Alaska, or her affiliations with the African witch doctor, or McCain’s past affiliations with General John Singlelaub or current affiliation with Oliver North, or pastor John Hagee, or even McCain’s past affiliation with ACORN, then Krauthammer would have had justification for some of the things he stated in his column. There is even a white supremacist group hiding in McCain’s past. But none of this has been brought up by the Obama campaign, in ads or at campaign rallies.

The scenario that I opened with, is ugly. It doesn’t feel good to even talk about or to write about. It is an open wound on all of us over the age of 45. But as long as the Charles Krauthammer’s of the world refuse to take responsibility for their own racial blindness while at the same time justifying the racist subtexts that still permeate American politics, I will continue to bring it up.

Obama may be our next president...a black man in the White House...But he is only the beginning of true racial healing in America. Columns like those written by Charles Krauthammer show us that we still have a very long way to go.





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10.15.2008

The Fat Lady is Tuning Up

She won’t be singing until November 4th, but she is beginning to clear her throat. The first word that comes to mind tonight was not presidential with regard to John McCain. It was condescending. But I’m gonna back off and exhale. We’re closer than we’ve ever been and like Obama tonight, we all need to keep our cool and get our collective butts to the polls and cast our votes, to make this man president of the United States.

McCain threw the kitchen sink at him tonight. He brought up Bill Ayers, which was a tactical mistake if you know anything debates. He started talking about his plans and possible programs but then fell back to his old attack lines. Lines so familiar by now that I could’ve parried them without breaking a sweat.

Tonight, it wasn’t Joe Sixpack. It was Joe the Plumber. And here, McCain made another mistake. He screwed up the guy’s last name, not good on TV. That’s always an indication that you haven’t fact checked yourself.

McCain had more passion tonight. Several times it looked as if he was gonna cry, especially when he talked about Congressman John Lewis’ statements last week. Lewis, you will recall, took McCain/Palin to task for demagoguery, harking back to the days of George Wallace, the segregationist who ran for president. I guess he was angry, taking Lewis' comments personally, since he said previously, that Lewis was one of his heroes. McCain wrote in his memoirs that when he was a little kid, if he got mad he would throw himself down on the ground and hold his breath until he passed out. That's what it looked like tonight, many times, except he didn't push himself to pass out. It's tough when your hero takes you to the woodshed for stuff you said.

McCain was also given a chance to defend his vice presidential choice. He said she was a great politician, a great reformer, but I never heard him answer the question, which was....Is his VP ready to step in and lead the country. McCain kind of talked around that, never actually endorsing his VP.

Another thing....is one of Palin’s kids autistic? McCain mentioned that a couple of times. You would think that he would know that, given all the thought he put into selecting Palin.

I thought he also blew it with the base when he said he would not use the litmus test of abortion in making his judicial appointments. Obama danced around that one too. Not around a woman's right to choose, but whether or not he would use the litmus test to select judges.

John McCain needed a knockout tonight. I’m a boxer’s brat and one thing I know about fights is that you can’t decision a champ. McCain did not get his knockout. In the end he just kind of faded, tired and out of shape.

I would have like to hear more about the current financial mess, but I guess we will have to wait until after the election.

I think Obama won this one, too. And I guess many Ohioans agree with me, the Channel 12 phone poll had it 55% thought Obama won. Up until last week, this poll was overwhelmingly favoring McCain. I guess Ohio is painting itself Blue these days.

These next three weeks will be like waiting for Christmas..

Voter Fraud = Another GOP Smoke Screen

Every presidential election comes with charges and counter charges about voter fraud pushing the election one way or the other. This campaign is no exception. The sixth circuit court of appeals, here in Cincinnati has ordered Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to put into place, by this Friday, a program for checking the validity of all newly registered Ohio voters. Newly registered voters total some 666,000 people. The court ruling was in answer to a lawsuit filed against Brunner by the Republican Party, voicing concern about possible voter fraud committed by ACORN registrars. ACORN is a grassroots organization that works to help poor and minorities in dealing with issues from mortgages to registering to vote.

The GOP has been upset for quite a while now at the State because of a law that allows residents to register to vote and then to vote on the same day. The GOP says that’s unconstitutional and opens up the state to all kinds of voter fraud. Well, that window was put into place by Ohio’s GOP governor and GOP controlled government back in 2006. They didn’t seem to have any problem with the window at the time they created it.

Nor did they have a problem with then Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell’s tactics against black and minority voters in 2004 when he played a major part in hijacking the election for Bush. Bush won by 119,000 votes in Ohio. Change just ten votes per precinct and he would’ve lost the presidency.

The Sheriff of Greene County has asked to see all 302 cards of the newly registered in his county, to check for voter fraud. Yet he says he is not trying to intimidate anyone. This is a republican controlled county, as is most of Ohio. Similar harassment techniques are being used in other states that are still up for grabs in this election.

HERE’S A FACT FOR YOU- In the entire United States of America, from 2000 to 2005, there has been exactly one..did ya hear me.....one, proven case of voter fraud....just one.....

All this hyper ventilation by the republican party against ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a smoke screen. ACORN is a grass roots advocacy group that works on behalf of poor people. Poor people of the minority kind in particular, don't generally vote republican.

The GOP is talking about faulty registrations, not votes. Faulty registrations are caught before the vote is cast. It may stress out elections officials, but fraud? No.

And usually the faulty registrations were flagged by ACORN, in the first place. They are required to do that, but instead of throwing away the shaky forms, they turn them in with the correctly filled out ones, because they are also required to do that.

Blackwell unveiled the GOP plan a couple of weeks ago in an article in the New York Post in which he compared the alleged ongoing voter fraud to the devastation of a hurricane.

Just like all the other smoke screens thrown up this year, by the GOP and the McCain/Palin campaign, this one is an attempt to divert attention away from the real issues and to confuse the population about the election and the state of the country.

The Republican party, has publicly admitted that campaigning on the issues is not the way to win an election. Confusion and diversion are the tactics that have worked in the past. The public campaign against ACORN is no exception.

10.14.2008

What! Me Worry?!

Ran across a story in the Wall Street Journal talking about a survey of rich people, that is Obama rich people, those making more than 250-thousand dollars, measuring how they feel about this current financial crisis. According to the study done by American Express, 69% are worried that they may run out of money, or at the very least have to cut back on spending.

Now, in my world, when I think of cutting back spending, that means I’m worried about how I’m gonna pay my mortgage, car note or gas and electric bills. Fancy food and wine are the first things that go, as well as cutting back on driving. Restaurants and take out food are out of the question in these tough times.

But rich people, as we know, think differently. What do they say they need to cut back on? Buying SUVs, jewelry, leather goods, handbags, and private jet usage. They would also, according to the report, cut down on home decor and fine liquor.

Another difference, the rich look at the current mortgage crisis as an opportunity rather than a headache. Fully 30% said they are buyers this year.

It all comes down to your cash cushion....rich people have a cushion....poor people don’t. But we all worry the same way, apparently.

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On another front, Congress is debating about whether to give out another round of stimulus checks in addition to food stamps and extending unemployment benefits. While I and my neighbors can use the extra money, I worry about whether we, as a nation can afford it, on top of all of these other promises being made to the corporate world and banking.

I mean, rather than printing or borrowing more money....how about some jobs....you know, work in exchange for cash? Can we take some of that 700-billion dollars and get some infrastructure work going on to employ some of these laid off skilled laborers who need to feed their families? And I’m talking jobs with a real wage. For years corporations have been cutting payroll or giving substandard raises if at all, while at the same time padding the pockets of their Directors, and CEOs.

I like Obama’s idea of tax breaks for those corporations who hire Americans right here in America rather than shipping it all overseas. Do you realize how many families could benefit if say the 24 million dollar golden parachute given to Carli Fiorina were given to them instead of her? She nearly bankrupted her company, yet walked away with all that money.

Off topic Question.......The American car company that builds the 60 miles per gallon Fiesta, soon to be on the market.....why is that car not being sold in America? Why can’t they sell it in America? Flex cars, which have just recently come to the American market, have been sold in South America for years, WHY? Why screw us? If corporations would take care of their own, maybe we wouldn’t be having this financial breakdown right now. The usual answer is that they need to use overseas workers in order to remain profitable. American workers cost too much. We won’t work for 50-cents an hour. Yeah we do cost, but we make a helluva product and why does your profitability need to be high enough to pay your CEO mega millions golden parachute?

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You want to cut government.....how about getting rid of the Department of Homeland Security. The stuff it purports to do overlaps already existing departments...Let’s cancel all contracts with KBR and Haliburton and Blackwater...they were no bid sweetheart deals for Cheney’s friends....there’s got to be some kind of eminent domain type rule that allows the government to back out of these bad deals.....How about cancelling the contracts for all those useless and already out dated weapons?....

Question...Why do we pay farmers not to grow food? Is there still a rice shortage in the world that could be aided by us doing away with these types of subsidies? Just asking..

Other places to cut...The Internal Revenue Service....somebody please revise the damn tax code...it’s killing us! Just start by making it understandable, please!

Let’s go through the books and cancel any deal written by lobbyists....like our national energy policy...and then rewrite it to benefit the people, rather than the industry it purports to regulate...That would cut a lot of waste....in insurance, in medicare and it’s drug plans, etc...it goes on and on...

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Since, I’m on a rant today....how about term limits for Congress....If the president can only serve two consecutive terms...why should congressmen be allowed more? I’m tired of entrenched public servants who have forgotten that they work for us, not themselves...

Lobbyists....I would like them banned, period. No perks or gifts exceeding 25-bucks..that’s the rule that all corporations live by, why not congress..

Line Item Veto....I think the President needs one.

And although I’m dreaming....how about mandating a balanced budget by the end of the president’s four year term or when he/she turns over the government to the new president....with consequences to be determined if he or she fails to deliver....



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10.13.2008

A Big Can of Whup-Ass

John McCain is telling folks he plans to kick Obama’s ass in Wednesday’s debate. Really? Doesn’t look like he can lift his leg that high off the ground.

McCain also promised a big new economic plan today....well, ain’t gonna happen...He’s changed his mind, again. His campaign leaked it on Saturday, then retracted the Politico.com report on Sunday.

I guess Johnny Mac thinks most of us don’t speak or read Spanish or listen to Spanish television....He gave a sit down to Univision over the weekend and tried to once again connect the dots between 9/11 and Iraq;
"No. We invaded a country that every intelligence agency said was developing weapons of mass destruction. Think of Saddam Hussein in power with oil at 100 dollars a barrel, and all that entails with his commitment which when after he was captured, he stated categorically that he would acquire weapons of mass destruction, and he would use them wherever he could. Now, Iraq--"

"But he had nothing to do with 9/11," the hosted interjected.

"He had a lot to do with invading his neighbor Kuwait, and we had to go to war and fight there," McCain replied. "He had a lot to do with using weapons of mass destruction, he used them previously, so there's no doubt about his commitment to get them."


Can we just vote now and get it over with?

One other thing that bugged me this weekend....McCain once again hiding behind his time as a POW, when defending himself against the statements of Congressman John Lewis. Lewis compared the feelings and attitudes generated at the McCain/Palin campaign rallies to those of George Wallace’s when Wallace was running for president. It was a very toxic time. I made another comparison earlier this week.

McCain said, or one of his flacks said, he was a POW when Wallace was doing his thing and shouldn’t be taken to task for the feelings that he stirred up in his campaign speeches, claiming he didn’t know about what was going on racially in America at the time.

Just more crap from McCain. He used that same line to defend his “no” vote against the MLK national holiday. But he wrote in his memoir that his captors used the civil rights movement to break his spirit...Now which is it? Did he know...or didn’t he know? Maybe he thinks some of us haven’t read his memoir.... Not surprising...McCain/Palin campaign like the browner complected citizens of this country don’t exist....

And for the record, Congressman Lewis spoke truth and should not apologize for anything he said. Critics should reread the statement.

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Caribou Barbie and the First Dude

I spent the weekend reading the Troopergate report which was a total waste of time. I should have just let Sarah tell me what was in it.

I thought the 263 pages said that Palin had abused the power of her office as governor of Alaska. But Mrs. Sarah said the “partisan” report showed she didn’t do anything wrong...maybe she didn’t do anything really criminal, but she violated state ethics laws. And as for that partisan claim...the investigative panel was made up of 8 republicans and 4 democrats....totally stacked in her favor, by my reckoning.

One of my problems with a Hillary Clinton presidency was the specter of Bill having too much power over his wife....Well....the first dude, according to the report, camped out in his wife’s office at her conference table with his own phone, and even summoned various government officials in to talk to them about firing his ex bro-in-law. The report said he took more actions than she did.

Doesn’t he have a job to go to? Or does his job exist in the same non existent place where the Palin kids attend school?

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First Baby Daddy

Levi Johnston spoke out today...says he and his baby mama Bristol are getting married in December and it was planned long, long, long before his soon to be mom in law was tapped for VP. No shotgun wedding this. I guess he wrote his myspace profile before he met and fell in love with his soon to be wife.

The report goes on to state that Johnston is a working man now in the oil fields. He’s dropped out of high school to prepare for taking care of his kid which is due on December 18th.

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Hockey Mom

Did she really get booed at the hockey game this weekend? I thought joe six pack loved drinking her bath water. Guess not.

10.10.2008

Karma Come Back-Troopergate et al

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser...

McCain actually tried to calm down his crowd today when they got rowdy and hateful toward Obama. The crowd then turned on him....

Then the troopergate report is released and guess what...the great reformer Sarah Palin is found to have abused her office...

Just another Karma Smackdown!

Brown Shirt Patriotism

Now I know what it must have been like to be a jew and to watch Hitler lash out from his podium in Nazi Germany while watching Sarah Palin and John McCain whip up their crowds into mouth frothing frenzy using code words and innuendo. I saw it first hand Wednesday, when Palin landed in Wilmington Ohio, home of the Sarah Palin corn maze.

After introducing her kids, she slammed into her brand of attack politics while her people shouted insults at each mention of Obama’s name. It was a very scary feeling to see and hear such vitriolic fervor in the name of patriotism. The xenophobic hatred was palpable inside the Roberts Center.

The Republican Party continues to ignore the fact that America is not a monolithic culture of European descended, fundamentalist practicing immigrants. This country really is a melting pot of many cultures, many beliefs, many backgrounds, many origins. If John McCain was really serious about country first, he would speak out against this anger. He would tell his people to cool it with the nastiness. Same with Palin. But it’s obvious that this campaign is about control and power and not people or country. McCain’s silence speaks volumes about where his head really is.

I’m old enough to have heard Martin Luther King called a troublemaker, seen him beaten, spit upon and thrown in jail because he chose to disagree with the vanilla majority. I can recall as if it were yesterday the names of the people lynched, shot, beaten and mutilated because they tried to vote or tried to register others to vote. I remember when sitting at a lunch counter or attempting to gain entrance to Coney Island’s swimming pool, right here in Cincinnati, would get you arrested for disorderly conduct.

Chills literally played up and down my spine as I listened to Palin nearly drowned out by the chants of her joe six pack crowd. The contrast with the Obama rally earlier in the day was startling. No one took McCain’s nor Palin’s name in vain. No one attempted to link them to dubious folks from their pasts and they do have them. Palin sleeps with a homegrown terrorist...her husband Todd. McCain’s POW story is not quite as heroic as he would have you believe.

And I’m not mad at young blacks who want to be members of the GOP. I applaud them for their fortitude, because I believe that the only way to change the republican party is from within. Neither party will change unless forced to. The Democratic Party is learning. The GOP and its followers are still struggling with diversity. I have always felt they fear that we minorities will do to them what they have historically done to us. But if they truly looked at the civil rights struggle they would know that we simply want a piece of the pie not a piece of their hide, although we would be well justified in taking it.

Gandhi, MLK, and now Barack are preaching to “turn the other cheek” and so we will again.

Buddha says be the change you want to be...and so I will.....

© 2008 Jo Anne Moore, JAM Publications

Voter Intimidation in Ohio

The Sheriff of Greene County, a republican, has asked for the registration cards of all 302 newly registered voters in his area. Greene County is located in southwest Ohio and is home to several colleges, including historically black , Central State College and Wilberforce University. Wright State, Antioch and Cedarville are also located in this area. Most of the students are thought to lean toward the democrats. Antioch in particular is famously noted for its rebellious, left leaning attitudes.

Sheriff Gene Fischer says he is not politically motivated, he’s just reacting to complaints from his constituents who fear there may be some fraud going on. It should be noted that the Greene County prosecutor who is representing Fischer, is a former law partner of former GOP Senator Mike DeWine, who is chairman of John McCain’s Ohio organization.

The Ohio GOP has been upset, issuing legal challenge after legal challenge against the State’s window allowing voter registration and early voting on the same day. The early voting window was put into place during Republican Bob Taft’s regime in 2006. This is the same regime which installed Ken Blackwell a former Cincinnatian, as Secretary of State. Blackwell is believed to have led the charge in tampering with the 2004 presidential election. After being voted out of office, Blackwell went to work for a GOP conservative think tank. Ohio went to Bush by a mere 118,000 or so votes. The GOP had no problem with it until the new law began to benefit Democrats as well as Republicans.

Brunner says her office will turn over the requested records with the names, telephone numbers and social security numbers blacked out.

Fischer acted yesterday, after a federal judge in Columbus issued a ruling ordering Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to verify all new registrations against government data bases, specifically, Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, or Social Security records.

The order was prompted by a lawsuit filed against Brunner by the Ohio Republican Party. Some 666,000 people have registered to vote in this election since the beginning of the year.

The GOP says its just trying to prevent fraud in the upcoming presidential election. The state already makes these checks, but Brunner is appealing the ruling because she says federal law has no recourse if a mismatch is found in the first place.

The GOP claims Brunner is being partisan and doesn’t want to make the checks because to do so would harm Barack Obama’s chances in Ohio.


© 2008 Jo Anne Moore, JAM Publications


10.09.2008

The Cheerleader and POTUS to be

Got to see and hear both parties today. Lady Sarah without Papa, and Barack Obama made stops in my neck of the woods today. Obama spoke issues to about fifteen thousand plus people in Ault Park. God must have been happy because it was an absolutely beautiful day in Cincinnati. No rain clouds in sight. Obama’s crowd looking like America, a rainbow of genders, ages, sizes and colors. Happy, laughing, upbeat.

Palin showed up a couple of hours later in Wilmington, home of the Sarah Palin corn maze, conducting an inside pep rally to the vanilla faithful who worship at her feet. She started off by introducing her kids, Bristol, Piper and Trig as her traveling companions.

Question....Don’t these kids have to go to school? And what about the baby. Why oh why does she drag that poor child out on stage at all hours of the day and night? We know she’s fertile. We know she has kids. She doesn’t have to prove it every time she takes the stage.

What she is proving is that the kid is more of a trophy kid. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she had the kid for the base not because she wanted it.

After the platitudes, she got to the reason why she was there....to attack Obama. Right on cue the no necks in the crowd began chanting “nobama” and yelling “terrorist” and “traitor”. These chants were interspersed with other chants of “go Sarah.” She stood mute as her syncophants abused Obama’s name. At no time did this happen to her or McCain during Obama’s rally.

Obama did call McCain erratic. He is. He is just plain batshit crazy. Check out the latest edition of Rolling Stone Magazine.

Palin defended her attack as being truthful. Once again she relied on the memory of Ronald Reagan invoking the picture of the shining city on the hill, rather than the plans her partner intends to implement if elected. The crowd was in a half hearted frenzy by now, chanting hysterically as if at a revival rather than a political pep rally.

Heavy on fake patriotism, and still not wearing a flag pin, she continued to beat the dead horses that are William Ayers and Iraq, amid calls for absolute victory that even General Patraeus is backing away from.

Listening to Palin one could forget that her party is the one that has brought this country to its knees with its wrong handed witch doctor policies that began with the man, Ronny Raygun, back in1980.

She spoke for roughly 29 , minutes, tossing out bucket loads of democratic red meat. Then she abruptly ended and left the stage after shaking hands with a few folks.

She is slated to attend a breakfast fund raiser tomorrow in Indian Hill, that’s a rich suburb here in Cincinnati. Word has it that bacon and eggs will cost twenty five hundred bucks a plate. That lets me out. Even if I had the money she goes down easier when she’s free..


© 2008 Jo Anne Moore, JAM Publications

10.08.2008

Congress Threatened with Martial Law

Last month I posted about Dubya’s intent to deploy American military on American soil for potential use against Citizens for the first time in the history of our country. You can read it here. I have also linked a post from October 2006 that you can read here. The second post is the first time that I talked about the changing laws stripping us of our civil liberties and constitutional rights.

Now comes word of a Youtube video that purports to show that some congress members were threatened with the use of troops in the streets if they didn’t vote for the financial bailout bill, last week.

Contained in the report, which is posted on Alternet is an interview which paints a pretty chilling scenario of what could happen if Dubya takes it upon himself to impose martial law. A move that is perfectly legal because of laws pushed through Congress in the past couple of years. These laws include; The Military Commissions Act, Public Law 109-364, and The Patriot Act.

Don't think it can happen. Well, who would've thought that Wall Street would collapse or that we are actually facing another depression.

Think about it. Especially before you cast your vote for the next president of the United States. Who do you want in control of that red phone or the US Military at any time of the day..

10.07.2008

Town Hall Debate

Well, the senile mutant ninja turtle didn’t get it done tonight. He stayed true to form and couldn’t resist getting in a condescending slap or two, as well as a new slur. Got to give McCain an “A” for creativity, when he came up with a new phrase to go along with Elitist, Uppity and N*****.

THAT ONE?..... WTF is that in reference to a United States Senator.

Otherwise, McCain was a bit more subdued tonight. He’s apparently going to let his attack bitch, er dog do his dirty work. The only thing that Palin isn’t bringing to her lynching/campaign stops is a rope. But then I’d lay odds that someone in her crowd probably has one stashed nearby, based on reports from the field today.

Obama played safe and presidential tonight. I didn’t hear anything about the economy that made me comfortable. We’re screwed and both incoming candidates don’t really have a clue, or so it seems.

On to next week...

10.06.2008

Naked Ambition

"Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers. And according to The New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol,'" She will say according to excerpts released by the campaign. "Wow. And there’s even more to the story. Barack Obama said Ayers was just someone in the neighborhood. But that’s less than truthful. His own top advisor said they were, quote, 'certainly friendly.'
That’s a quote from Sarah Palin addressing a gathering in Clearwater Florida this morning. She is attempting to portray Obama as dangerous through his associations. This particular slur is being replayed by the McCain campaign in new ads hitting the air waves today.

As was stated before, Obama was 8 years old when William Ayers was doing his thing with the Weather Underground. I was in college at the time. I remember them well. A bunch of rich white kids with way too much time on their hands and money at their disposal. They were mad at everybody and they bought bombs to blow things up...not battling for civil rights as the rest of us were doing. Ayers has apparently paid his debt to society and is now a college professor. He and Obama apparently served on some charity board together and he then threw a party for Obama’s campaign.

Question for you....Which is worse....sitting on a charity board with a former radical from the sixties...or sleeping with a real live active terrorist in the same bed?

Isn’t it time to talk to Governor Palin about the associations of her husband, Todd, with the Alaskan Independent Party? The AIP wants to secede from the USA. They have a slogan that says Alaska First, not Country First. . Read what Wikipedia says about the AIP and it’s associations with the Constitution Party.

When Palin gave her acceptance speech, she wore the flag of Alaska, not the stars and stripes of America. The AIP earlier said the governor was also a member, but I guess the McCain camp got to her to make her disavow her association. The AIP also apparently flip flopped under pressure.

Let me ask you this...with the exception of 9/11 hijackers, who had Saudi Arabian passports ....Who were the terrorists that have attacked this country?....were they homegrown...did they look like Obama...or do they bear a striking resemblance to the First Dude of Alaska?

Do the young dudes with unlimited access to money, to weaponry, shoot up their schools, kill their classmates and voice hate for this country, look like Obama....or do they resemble Todd Palin?

Do the men of Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma Bombing, Posse Comitatus, The Identity movement, That bunch pushing RAHOWA (racial holy war), look like the Obamas of the world...or do they look like Sarah Palin’s husband? Hell, does Bill Ayers look like Obama....or does he look and sound more like Todd Palin?

I’m not afraid of the men who look, act and talk like Barack Obama. Terrorists who look like Obama are held in check by racism. Everybody is always looking for the big bad black man or arab, while the white guy with the dynamite and AK-47 gets a pass..from the government, from cops, from their neighbors and yeah, even us black people. But, honestly, I’m very afraid of guys like Todd Palin and the women who back them up. There is a very big difference to sitting on a board or attending a party, then between joining and participating in an organization that wants to do away with the United States of America. We’re not talking history here...the weather underground doesn’t exist anymore. The AIP is active as we speak.

These guys are out in the open with their feelings and as it were...one heart beat away from the presidency of the country they want to do destroy.

I know Todd’s not running for office, but his wife is and no one is asking her the tough questions about her associations with the militants in her closet and her bed, or the crazy preacher at her church. She needs to talk about it if she is going to throw mud at people.

I have already said that I believe John McCain is a Manchurian candidate. If you know the story, the term refers to a brain washed prisoner of war soldier who comes back to America and runs for president, thereby implementing a bloodless coup of the United States.

I think we should not only look at the candidate himself, but the associates he intends to bring with him into the White House.

Let me put it another way, McCain is batshit crazy and we're in deep, deep trouble...

10.02.2008

The Cute Factor

With expectations sweeping the floor, Sarah Palin had no where to go but up. She was forceful, bless her heart. She had the “cute factor” working, batting those great big brown eyes, sporting those huge dimples and flashing that perfectly aligned extra white smile. But after about five minutes of “aw shucks, politics delivered in that grating sing-songy voice, I was ready to pull out what little hair I have on my head.

Palin was obviously well rehearsed in GOP attack lines, but was almost totally non responsive to most of the questions. Cliche after cliche was followed by campaign line after campaign line to the point of repetitive tedium.

Joe Biden, I thought gave the best debate performance of his life. I’ve seen him a few times now, and this time he kept me engaged without resorting to an overwhelming amount of Senate-speak. He showed himself to be the foreign relations expert that he is. He stated his positions as well as those of Obama’s, clearly and concisely.

He was a gentleman. There were many times that he could have climbed all over his lesser experienced opponent, but chose to just chuckle rather than to pounce. He didn’t need to, her sometimes nonsensical answers spoke volumes.

Palin will still probably get a bounce out of this. Not because she and McCain deserve it, but because folks probably think she is so damned cute behind that microphone.

You Say Tomato..I Say ToMahto..

Who gives a damn what you call it....Bailout....Rescue....WE, the people are still getting screwed...still drowning in debt...still facing foreclosures...still have no credit...the newly minted measure passed last night by the senate...did not address any of these under lying problems...And, the now 451 page bill, was sweetened for republicans in order to get them to vote for it, by adding tax cuts....So much for Johnny Mac’s primal scream about earmarks and pork barrel spending... Obama voted for it, too, much to my disgust..

I don’t understand why we have to act so quickly....I’ll bet my next paycheck that 99 percent of our senators haven’t read the measure itself, yet, if ever...But they want us to swallow it unread...just trust them...they’ve taken care of us...so well, so far...yeah right..

This “rescue” is adding more debt rather than decreasing debt...I hope the House will just say “no” again..But I doubt it.....

Here' s novel idea....why don't we all go back to using cash...as in dollar bills ya'll...cut up the credit cards....Your life will suddenly destress...guaranteed...

-0-

Pre V.P. Smackdown

Is it just me, or does it seem like Johnny Mac is having woman trouble again

First the serial adulterer picks Sarah Palin as his running mate as a dig at Hillary...apparently spending more time choosing his 500-dollar ferragamo loafers than he did vetting Palin...Then after telling us that she really, really, really has a brain...He shields her from the media....no questions...

Finally, he allows her to answer some questions in sit downs, first with Charlie Gibson...and after that, Katie Couric...

McCain hasn’t said anything about Charlie..but he keeps accusing Katie of “gotcha questioning.”..all this after Palin shows she can’t think on her feet without a script in front of her..nerves, maybe?

There is also a rumor floating around that Palin doesn’t like talking to women, either, which is reportedly why she did okay with Charlie but not with Katie..

Now JM is upset that Gwen Ifil is handling tonight’s debate, because she is writing or has written a book about race and politics and has put Obama’s name in the title...Looks like he’s building up a routine of attack for after the debate, just in case his VP doesn’t perform up to his expectations..

Word has it that John has also thrown NY Times Op Ed columnist Maureen Dowd off his campaign plane...guess he doesn’t like her column either...