Why do Democratic Politicians go on Faux News?

Just this morning, I was flipping through the channels, trying to catch the news about the Indiana primary race. I stopped at what I thought was a legitimate news outlet (it had a scoll running across the bottom and everything). I got the results and was about to move on, but then I looked up....

Hatemonger Michelle Malkin was on. Why Stalkin Malkin still has a career after stalking a 12-year old boy and writing a book on why people should be locked up based on race is beyond me.

But there is always an audience for her on "Fair and Balanced" Fox.

It was only a minute I watched--just enough to catch the results, when I heard one of the "reporters" on that show ask Stalkin Malkin a perfectly fair question:

"Could you give some examples of how she [Michelle Obama] hates America?"

Malkin responded that she watched Michelle Obama on the Today show (one of the yokels tried to make a joke about mentioning their "competitor"--like they have any relation to a real news station). Stalkin Malkin went on some rant about Michelle Obama saying how proud she was of her husband, which according to Malkin's twisted logic meant that she hated America because she didn't mention how proud she was of her country as well.

(Yeah, that makes sense. I often tell my son I'm proud of him, but always follow up with "BUT not as much as AMERICA!" But I wear flag pins to bed with me, something you terrorist-loving America haters don't understand.)

I could laugh it off but it reminded me of how angry I was that both Barack AND Hillary decided to go on this stupid network very recently. For what reason, I have no clue. All they did was help FOX pretend to be a legitimate news source and allow them to inject this obvious right-wing vile as regular news..

I can imagine the outrage if this happened on any other network, but for some reason we seem to have outrage overload on FOX and just ignore it. They are a dangerous force and should be called out every time they cross the line.

And NO DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN SHOULD EVER GO ON FOX!!! PERIOD!!

The GOP politicians don't EVER go on left-wing medium, like Air America or DailyKos. In fact, they call ANY successful left-wing venture, like MOVEON.org or DailyKos, "Anti-American". (In fact, Markos posted a front page clip of Fox and Friends hosts going ballistic over some politician posting a diary on the "anti-American site DailyKOS!!!")

WHY the hell don't OUR politicians do that with FAUX News? (I can't even get them to stop joining the GOP in condemning OUR OWN support systems!!)

WHY the hell should any of our politicians give them an ounce of legitimacy? WHY do I have to even explain to our politicians the stupidity of going on that network---no one on the right is telling their people to "Get on DKOS and try to reach that audience!"

But then again, at least we don't pretend that we are fair and balanced. Maybe if we did, then all GOP candidates will be forced to come here, post diaries, and try to win us over.

Yeah, I know that sounds stupid.

Think about it.

Poor, sweet, naive Karen Thurman

I met her several times. She is a tough, smart lady. Here is what she sent out:

I'm angry.

Earlier this week I was hopeful that the thousands of emails we sent to the Republicans in control would wake them up out of their special interest stupor.

Unfortunately, Republicans like Jeff Atwater proved once again that they just don't care about the people of Florida. It was business-as-usual for them.

They should be ashamed of themselves - but they're not. So we have got to throw the bums out.

Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper NOW to let people know about the Republicans' tax hikes, special interest giveaways, cuts to health care and gutting of education.

In the middle of the recession they created, Republicans chose special interests over the people of Florida. They raised property taxes and hiked every fee imaginable. They're sending pink slips to teachers across the state, and shuttering health facilities for the disabled.

But Atwater, who thinks he's going to be the next Senate President, has still got his $7000-a-month intern. And a major Republican developer got a $7.5-million connector road that will be a huge boon to their business. Sen. Mike Haridopolos still hasn't finished the book the state paid him more than $100,000 to write, and he's taking another $75,000 for a part-time lecturing job.

These Republicans don't see what's coming at them. Florida is boiling over and we won't forget the pain they've caused this November.

Also, the St. Pete Times:

Barring a Tallahassee miracle, when the Legislature adjourns Friday it will have failed in every respect to responsibly address the state's most pressing issues. It is hard to imagine re-election campaigns based on a record of imposing painful spending cuts, protecting special interest tax breaks, forcing universities to cap enrollments and raising local property taxes to keep public education limping along. But incumbents will try to paper over the sins of the spring with misleading campaign ads in the fall, and voters should not let them get away with it.
- St. Petersburg Times Editorial, 4/28/08

Florida IS boiling over mad. In today's Orlando Sentinel, the headline is how our state legislature threw away federal dollars for us to have a REAL rail system we desperately need here in Central Florida, along with it would have come money to WIDEN I-4. Logical, yes. Did it pass? NOPE.

Two weeks ago, front page Orlando Sentinel, GOP legislative leader Marc Rubio talked about gutting medical care for the needy because Florida citizens needed to "tighten their belts". Of course, that didn't mean his. The wealthy FL legislators receive free health care, and were insulted that they were asked to cut that benefit.

HOWEVER, I have lived here long enough to know this: FL won't throw the bums out. They will keep electing them just like a kid who can't resist touching an electric fence to see if he gets shocked.

The GOP is betting on voter's apathy and stupidity to keep them in office--even after this fiasco. Karen Thurman and the state Democrats are betting on their active participation and sensibility.

Sorry to say, I am with the Republicans on this one.

Mr. Straight Talk can't even get his own position straight

I LOVE that DNC add I featured in my previous blog post below. Watch it here if you haven't seen it. But the GOP is outraged--threatening lawsuits against TV stations who show it and attacking those (like me) who post it. I was attacked in a blistering email yesterday (and even threatened with "legal action") because even though McCain talked out loud on tape, he was "taken out of context". The email claimed that McCain was talking about staying there in the model of Germany and Japan where there are no casualties. (Keep dreaming.)

Well, 4,000 troops haven't been killed in the 60 years we have been in Germany and Japan. That is how many have been killed in the 5 years we have been in Iraq (along with half a trillion dollars spent). Germany and Japan are homogeneous nations, not three factions who have been killing each other for centuries.

McCain is talking about staying in Iraq NO MATTER WHAT. He has never said that he will pull the troops out of Iraq if the violence continues against our own troops.


Most people are smart enough to know that success in Iraq does not constitute any reduction in violence, no matter how mall (great news--our troops are now being slaughtered from 60 to 30 deaths a month!) This is, unless of course, the violence sharply increases, which apparently also means success. (PS-yesterday concluded the Deadliest Month so far on record. You guessed it, the GOP is saying this means we are being successful.)

In fact, watch this video montage below. McCain hasn't even been consistent on his backpedalling either---he screams that we neeed to leave SOON after the invasion and that Iraq will never accept a permanent US presence to being happy with our troops being there for 1,000 years no matter the conditions on the ground. (PS-the full clip of McCain talking about staying in Iraq is included):

Ad Against McCain so Effective, RNC is Trying to Sue!

This is unbelievable. The same corrupt committee that funded ads smearing decorated veterans running for office as terrorist sympathizers and the same committee that is supporting ads that play clips of Obama's former preacher is furious that the Democratic National Committe is running an ad of McCain saying that being in Iraq for 100 years is "fine with him".

This is not out of context, this is not a manipulation--this was HIS OWN WORDS in direct response to a question. It is a POWERFUL AD:



The RNC is now threatening legal action against any television station that runs this ad reminding the American people what John McSame said. Although the words and the images are powerful, it is the very last shot that is most devastating to McSame.

I am actually proud of Howard Dean. He is doing exactly what he should be doing--focusing his energy on beating McCain while Obama and HRC finish things up. And he is not afraid to play tough, a refreshing change. I have had my differences with the DNC this year, but PLEASE consider supporting this ad:

http://democrats.org/

Breaking: Islam Exists, Sem. County Parents Outraged

Channel 9 reported on the Lake Brantley scandal:

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- Some high school students in a Seminole County public school got a lesson in Islam. Outraged parents at Lake Brantley High School called Channel 9 after an Islamic group visited the classroom.


Parents say the discussion violated the separation of church and state, because, they said, the discussion touched on specific elements of Islam and the Koran. Students in one particular class at Lake Brantley High School didn't have a choice about whether they wanted to be involved.

It was just the second day of a new class at Lake Brantley High School called "Family Dynamics," but students said guest speakers were there to talk about something else.

"She said, 'Mom, three Muslim ladies came in and talked about Islam today in school,'" said parent Lisa Wagner.

Wagner's daughter was one of about 35 in the class who heard from the Academy for Learning Islam. The school district said it invited the group to talk about cultural diversity, but the conversation went beyond that.

"I just felt like it shouldn't have been available in the classroom at all. Religion should be separate from school," Wagner said.

"Would three nuns be allowed to come into a classroom and talk about Jesus and the Bible?" WFTV reporter Eric Rasmussen asked Regina Klaers with Seminole County Public Schools on Thursday.

"If those three nuns came in to talk about how their religion has affected history, yes," she said.

I would love if my child got a lesson in world religions. I wish to God that our moron-in-chief would have been briefed sometime in his life before he became president.

Seperation of Church and State does not mean that you never mention a major religion in any context. It means that you don't force kids to pray or promote a particular religious ideology.

If they were trying to promote Islamic beliefs, then that would be wrong. But I didn't get that impression from the article. I also got the impression that the parents would not have a problem if this was a Christian group.

Speaking of which, Seminole County has NO PROBLEM whatsoever inviting JMJ (Jesus, Mary, Joseph) Life Center to area schools to force kids to listen to their views on sex. This organization was exposed by the Orlando Weekley discrediting contraception, calling the Pill an "abortion agent", trying to link breast cancer to abortion (which, by the way, there is absolutely NO proof at all), and claiming that condoms don’t prevent the spread of HIV.

You see Seminole, THAT is violating Seperation of Church and State. And it's downright lying too.


Hopefully, rational thought will prevail. But then I read further in the article:

Local activist groups like the United American Committee have also denounced the presentation.

Who is the United American Committee? From their website:

... a non-partisan movement of concerned Americans, promoting awareness of threats which face America from within. The UAC is dedicated to educating and awakening the nation to the current threats confronting the U.S., with the primarily focus on confronting Islamic extremism. The UAC champions the fight in the ideological aspects of the War on Terror, and brings the War on Terror to the grassroots level.

Brings the War on Terror to the grassroots level? Translation: we are too chicken to enlist and fight overseas.

So we will keep our kids safe from evil-doers by opening up a front here at places like Lake Brantley High School. I am certain those kids were contemplating going to a radical madrassa after learning what a Koran is. Thank you for protecting Freedom's Fortress again, UAC.

But rest easy, Seminole. The district is now "reviewing" its guest speaker program. This glimpse of insight will be stopped and we can keep out kids ignorant.

Next week's topic: Parents Outraged. Why won't the county allow the 10 Commandments to be displayed in school?

McCain Video: U Are Better Off than 8 Years Ago?

What can McCain run on, since his 100-10,000 years in Iraq isn't a winning strategy. As this video demonstrates, certainly not the economy. He already admitted he is clueless about economics, (quote: the issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should), but this depth of denial really is frightening:

Unemployed Gonzales Gets Subsidized by UF

The president of the University of Florida, Bernie Machen, has tried for YEARS to get our state legislature to raise tuition rates. Here's a clue, Bernie. If you want more money, maybe you shouldn't blow it on things like this:

NY TIMES:

Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.

He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought...

Places like Washington University in St. Louis, Ohio State University and the University of Florida have paid him about $30,000 plus expenses for appearances, and the business groups pay a bit more, said sources at the schools and elsewhere who are familiar with the arrangements. Pomona College debated inviting him and decided he was not worth the money, the college newspaper reported.

His first speech at the University of Florida last November was interrupted by protesters dressed as detainees.

Exactly what would be the benefit for Gonzales speaking to students at UF? How to be a professional suck-up? How to sacrifice integrity and independence for your boss?

Alberto Gonzales claimed he couldn't remember anything anybody ever said or did under a department he ran. SO either he was the most extreme idiot or a liar.

Before his embarrassing self-destruction, he made a career as a professional suck-up. EVERY SINGLE promotion he had ever received was from George W. Bush--who actually considered him for Supreme Court. (As much sense as a horse judge for FEMA. Thank GOD we only have a few more months of this idiot's "judgment")

For a school that wants to play top tier, I think those who made the decision to blow tens of thousands of dollars on Gonzales could work on their judgment as well.

Feeney: Let Me Squandor or U Hate Our Troops!!

Here in Seminole County, Florida, we are honored to be represented by a man ranked by a nonpartisan watchdog group as the most corrupt Congressman for a third straight year.

Besides being Jack Abramoff's bitch, Feeney is also an avid champion of our fighting men and women in Iraq. No, he doesn't want to the troops to come home. And he has a habit of voting against body armor and essential equipment for our troops.

But he is nonetheless a champion. Why? Because he is outraged that a city 2,000 miles away from us voted to close their recruiter's station. Feeney was so angry, in fact, that he spend thousands of TAXPAYER dollars to tell us how angry he is and of his solution: withhold federal money, including funds for the lunch program in their public schools. (Suck on THAT Berkeley!)

One local reporter questioned if the mailor was a good use of public funds. Feeney's response was unbelievable:

From Sunday's Orlando Sentinel:

Reporter Scott Maxwell: But there are hundreds of ways to support our troops--giving them adequate equipment for battle, providing them with the services they need after the war, honoring them at ceremonies...keeping them alive. This doesn't seem like any of those things. This seems like a way to spend public money to troll for votes in a very targeted manner.

Feeney: There is nothing more important to patriotic Americans.

Maxwell: So if I think your mailer wasn't a good use of public money, I'm not a patriot?

Feeney: You apparently don't have the same respect for the people who are fighting and dying for this country.

I guess you can count me among those self-hating veterans, because I don't think it was a good use of public money either. I don't think the concept of cutting federal funding to punish a few Berkeley legislators is a smart idea either--nor a particularly good use of Feeney's time. It has no chance of passage, and I don't know if Feeney is aware of this, but we have a few issues here in Central Florida--for example, like thousands of people losing their homes!

Suzanne Kosmas, a popular former state representative, is challenging Tom Feeney this November. Despite Feeney being able to draw his own damn district, Kosmas is his first ever real opponent who is getting national Dem backing. Maybe, just maybe, the most corrupt politician in Congress might lose this election.

But I guess that wouldn't be very patriotic of us, would it?

Please help Suzanne Kosmas by clicking HERE.

Just Six More Months....

We are within "arm's reach" of success according to John McCain. Just SIX more months.

Except we were told that six months ago, and six months before that, and six months before that, and so on. I was hoping someone would put together these ridiculous statements and show that nothing ever changes. Thank YOU MoveOn.org.

This is entitled Endless War on the Installment Plan:

Funny Anti-McCain (Palin) Slogans: Bumper-Sticker ready!

UPDATE August 20,2009: This post gets tons of hits every day, but I don't know why...the election is over!

I have a new post on bumper sticker slogans for HEALTHCARE REFORM, such as:

My death panel is an HMO
My other car is a health insurance payment
My car has more insurance than I do

Check out all 55 of them: http://seminoledemocrats.blogspot.com/2009/08/bumper-sticker-slogan-smackdowns-of.html





McCain: The Audacity of "Nope"

McCain. 4 More Years

McCain. 100 More Years



McCain. The 100 year Reich.

McCain: I was against MLK before I was for him.

McAncient.




McCain. When War and Poverty aren't enough.

Bush Bushly McBush: Even Bushier than the Original

McCain: MLK wasn't "Meaningful"

John McCain: More Bush, Less Sane

McCain is Bush on Viagra

McCain: Your Taxes for Endless War

McCain, McWar, McWhy?

McCain. Because McAbel is dead.

McCain. Because things still could suck even more.

McCain. Because America is tough enough to withstand him.



McCain. The latest Republican finger in America's eye.

McCain. Proof that "old" and "wise" aren't necessarily synonymous.

McCain. Who wants peace anyway?

McCain. He went through hell, and he'll take you there, too.

McCain. His 15 minutes were up eight years ago.

He'll bomb Iran for Pearl Harbor.

Get Off My Lawn!

McCain. Because everything's perfect just the way it is!!

McCain. Because Cheney was too damn stable.

McCain is a Third Term for Bush

Against Torture Before He Was For It

Riding the DoubleTalk Express

McCain thinks you're a fucking idiot.
That's why he thinks you'll vote for him.

Securing Personal Loans With Taxpayer Dollars

Because 19% of us know this country is on the right track.

Insane McCain

If The Surge Is Working, Why Will We Be In Iraq For 100 Years?

Not A Maverick, Not A Moderate

More War
Less Jobs
Vote McCain


McSame

McBushAgain 08

McCain Loves Lobbyists (literally!)

McCain & Unable

McCain has a Lobby hobby

Never once voted for a green energy bill.

Give MCain Your Vote
and
Your Draft-Age Child

Feel the Pain with John McCain!

NO YOU CAN'T!

McCain. USS Forrestal. Google it!

McCain = Bush/Cheney: The Sequel

"bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb IRAN"

Putting Americans to Work...In Iraq

Vote McCain, sell your other car for food.

McCain cut the cake while NOLA drowned

Other jobs Americans won't do: Vote McCain!

No Country for Old Men

Never thought I'd miss Nixon

Actually, McCain, I DO care if we are in Iraq 10,000 years

Vote McCain: Stick the final nail in the conseravative's coffin!

If he couldn't protect his own child from Rove, how can he protect our country??

McCain. Because I like my presidents mad and crazy.

McCain: Bush without the hat.

McCain: In Bed With Lobbyists

If you hate America you'll love McCain

McCain: Ready, Willing, Unstable


McCain: Finally a Liberal Republican!


Anti-PALIN or McCain/Palin:




Palin, because we think Hillary supporters are that stupid

Palin: FINALLY, a woman who's not afraid to hate women

Palin: Because after Quayle and Cheney, we just stopped caring.

Polluting, creationist, wingnuts for Palin

McCain's soulmates: 1st wife, 2nd wife, now Sarah Palin. What's with the former beauty queens, creep?!

Palin, like HRC, only right-wing and incompetent

McCain-Palin. What desperation looks like.

Meth Moms for Palin

A one-year, extremist governor with an ethics investigation—thanks McCain!

Palin, like Cheney, only more extreme and less compassionate

Palin: What a love-child of Cheney and Quayle would look like

Go Palin! You'll secede Alaska yet!



Anti-Choice, Anti-Environment, Anti-Stemcells, Anti-Women: ANTI-PALIN!

GOP: Where screwing up a small village makes you veep material

Palin: She doesn’t want to be a citizen, but she can be veep?

McCain-Palin: Alaska First!

How’d that abstinence-only education working out, Sarah?

SWM, 72, seeks attractive, fertile Alaskan for hunting, fishing, waterboarding. Must be anti-abortion.

McCain /What’s Her Name

McCain/Appalin

Karma: Palin slashed programs for teen mothers



Palin, single-handedly stopping the Soviets from invading!

Palin wants Polar Bears Dead

Self-righteous hypocrites for Palin

McCain/Palin: Bridge to Nowhere

Palin: Risking America’s Safety

Palin: Killed a Bridge that was already Dead

McCain/Palin: Too Old/Too Inexperienced

Drill me here, drill me now!

Palin - Corruption up the Wasilla

McCain/Palin: Mr. Mean and Beauty Queen

McCain/Palin: Just making shit up!

Eskimo village, America, what’s the diff?

Palin: Smearing Alaska's good name, One scandal at a time

Palin: Upholding Republican Family Values

Palin: Vote for Me -- I shoot wolves from a helicopter.

Palin: The Alaska Disasta

McCain/Palin: Unstable/Unable

McFailing

McPain

McCain Failin

McBush/Quaylen

McCain/Palin: Curses, Shot Down Again!

McCain/Palin: Same Old Snow Job

McCain: Would You Trust Him With Air Force One?

McCain/Palin: Dirty old man and dirty young woman

Soulmates without souls

Palin: Bush in a skirt

McCain/Palin: Vote for Pedro!

Vote McCain/Palin: Her kids can't, his won't!

McCain/Palin: A Ticket to Nowhere




McCain/Palin=Partners in Treason

McCain/Palin = Abstinence/Incontinence

Palin Killed Bullwinkle!

McCain/Palin: Same Old, Shame Oiled

Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor!

Anti-McCain:

Obama: One house, One spouse

A vote for McCain is a vote for Fear

Crapshoot McCain: Gambling on America's Future

FL GOP Surrenders Our Schools for Chartered-Boats

From FlaPolitics.com:

Despite a 10 percent cut to their state spending plan for next year, House lawmakers said Monday that a historic run of budget shortfalls might not be over. 'We are in uncharted waters,' said House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami. 'I don't think we've ever been in this place - certainly not in modern history in Florida.'"

Remind me. Which political party has been sailing Florida's ship of state for the last decade?

"The Florida House leadership presented a budget plan of $65.1 billion [Monday] and proposed an emergency stop-gap measure to head off any further shortfalls in state revenue collections. House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, and budget chief Rep. Ray Sansom said the budget fiscal 2008-09 that will be considered by Sansom's House Policy and Budget Council is almost 10 percent below the final 2007-08 budget. That budget was about $70.3 billion after some reductions forced by state revenues not keeping up with projections."

And how is this for raw political courage?:

"state lawmakers are proposing giving Gov. Charlie Crist and a handful of legislators the power to spend up to $1.7-billion in reserves to avoid a deficit."

State Lawmakers, which are overwhelmingly GOP, have to cut services, such as education and health care for the poor, and can't think of anything to do about it. REALLY??

The Florida Tax Handbook lists 246 exemptions to the sales tax, including skyboxes, tickets to the ballet, and the sales of satellites and space vehicles.

The International Game Fish Association World Center skips $1.2 million in sales taxes. The Professional Golf Hall of Fame avoids $2.4 million.

On Thursday, Senate Democrats called to eliminate a sales tax break on chartered deep-sea fishing boats, which they say could raise $65-million. Of course, if you are a regular joe, there's a tax on cane poles and fishing rods!

If you look throught the handbook, you will notice a skew towards goods and services for the wealthier set. GO figure.

Remove all 246 exemptions and the state could bring in $12.3 billion in revenue .

Those who would be affected the least pay the least but make the most. Do you really think someone who can afford to charter a boat would be broke paying a sales fee--which is the backbone of our whole stupid tax structure here?

Unbelievable--Even for Fox News

This started with a conversation I had with a GOP co-worker who only gets her news from FOX. Now, far be it from me to tell folks who vist this website that Fox News is (gasp!) not "fair and balanced". But this takes the cake.

Last Thursday, March 27, the top news of the day was the break of the cease fire and the extreme violence that occured in the Green Zone. (Inconsiderate insurgents---ruined Bush's and McSame's speeches today on how great the surge was working). But those who get their news from FOX didn't know anything about it. My co-worker was trying to convince me that the surge had worked and the violence had ended.

I said "don't you watch the NEWS???" She doesn't. She watches Fox.

So I went online in the evening to check out what I found. I went to legitimate news orgs. websites, and then I went to FOX. Unbelievable what I saw. Let me show you.

Here are the screen captures from two legitmate sources and one from FOX. As you can see by the dates and times, I took each one around 7:45 pm (give or take a few minutes) last Thursday:

CBS News:

(Headline on the "deadly Shiite clashes" and the curfew that had to be imposed. Picture was of Shiite insurgents.):



CNN:

(Headline on embassy lockdown and the deadly fighting. Picture of massive plumes of smoke and helicopters around embassy.):



I didn't want to use up memory, but I can tell you that MSNBC, ABC News, and all other mainstream news featured this story on their front page.

And then there's FOX.

NOTHING on the attacks. NOTHING!! Nothing on the embassy lockdown. FOX readers only got to read the "important" news. At the same time as the screen captures for the legitimate news orgs, the big news on Fox was of Obama's former paster's retirement home:

FOX:
(Headlines: Rev. Wright's Dream Home, Michelle Obama's comment REVISTED. Picture of home being built).


Some dream home, huh? Looks like a normal house--something not fit for the pets of Pat Robertson, John Hagee, or Falwell. FOX "News", desperate to keep this Rev. Wright controversy alive, allowed this and a rehashed story on Michelle Obama, as well as a story on the Clinton/Superdelegate fighting, to be the stories of the day. There was a small mention of the Iraqi meltdown, but I really had to look for it. (I even had to use their search engine).

It is beyond the pale to understand how anyone can look at this and argue that Fox has no agenda. This is just one instance, the movie "OUTFOXED" documents hundreds of them. But I'm angry that so many Democrats still treat Fox as a regular news outlet and agree to do interviews with the filth that works there.


PS- In fact, go to FoxNews RIGHT NOW. Go on, I'll be here. And then compare to CNN.com. Notice anything? That's right It's the same deal right now. (As of 6pm 3/30)

Play the Redistricting Game

FairDistrictsFlorida.org is a nonpartisan state committee working to reform the way our state draws Legislative and Congressional district lines by establishing constitutionally mandated fairness standards.

They have drafted two amendments to the Florida Constitution which it plans to put on the 2010 ballot through the citizen initiative process that would establish fairness standards for use in creating legislative and congressional district boundaries.

No matter which party has control of the legislature, that party's main goal is to protect its majority and the seats of its incumbents. This is called partisan political gerrymandering. It is like allowing the fox to guard the henhouse!

Our present system is one of the worst in the country. It permits politicians to choose their voters instead of voters choosing their representatives. Legislators use sophisticated computers, voter registration data and past election returns to predict how particular voters will vote in the future--then they place just enough of those voters to create Districts they can win. They don't even have to connect!!!

And we get options like this:



You can put an end to this stupidity and have real representation. Visit the group's website, play the redistricting game, and most importantly, sign the petition.

How We Can Lose 2008

From the Orlando Sentinel:

I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone could even consider [Barack Obama] presidential material at this early stage of his life and experience. God help us all.

Are some people so brainwashed that they forget that months after Hillary Clinton denied knowledge of their whereabouts, the Rose Law firm legal records that were the subject of a grand-jury investigation suddenly appeared in the WH living quarters?

When it suits you to twist facts.. I have a real problem with that. [Electing Obama] would be like electing another george bush.

...the polarizing nature of Clinton will drive uncommitted voters to vote for John McCain.

Back and forth. The people hitting aren't Republicans. They are all Democrats. I know this because I took them from letters touting their support for the "other" Democratic candidate. Yesterday was even worse--one Dem voter said that if her candidate didn't win, she would have an "honorable" choice in McCain.

That's the point. All of these are on the editorial page--bashing Clinton or bashing Obama. NO ONE attacks John McCain. He gets to play above the fray.

This is from one venue from a mid-size city, Orlando, Florida. But this is playing out everywhere. These editorials have nothing on the venom between Obama and Clinton supporters on Democratic blog sites.

Scroll down and count the front page stories examining our primary GOP rival on DKOS and MYDD. More telling--Look at the Recommended diaries! I have counted up to four anti-Hillary diaries at one time. Right now there is at least one. If you are a Hillary supporter, don't worry--the same ratio applies to MyDD for anti-Obama diaries. (Right now, in fact, ALL of the Recommended diaries on MyDD are anti-Obama!)

How many anti-John McCain diaries are there on these sites? Count them. None. NO ONE attacks John McCain. He gets to play above the fray.

So where does one go to see anti-McCain diatribes? Not the MSM, they are busy covering the slugfest between our candidates or between FL/MI swing voters and other Dems. Not the liberal blogs, they make the reddest GOP hate blogs blush with their venom for the "other" Dem candidate.

The conservative blogs, FAUXNEWS, the MSM, radio talk shows, the liberal blogs, and almost every other venue has this in common--bash the Democratic frontrunners.

NO ONE attacks John McCain. He gets to play above the fray.

Never mind that he said he wants to keep us in Iraq for "10,000 years" at a cost of $12 billion and 60 soldiers lives a month. Never mind that he will appoint a right-wing nutjob to the Supreme Court, making this branch of government a permanent arm of the GOP. Never mind losing our freedoms and privacy.

WE lost the first two Bush terms in 2000 and 2004 because of a bad election and fear-mongering respectively. This time, for the third Bush term, we will have no one to blame for losing 2008 but ourselves.

At Least Crist's Dermatology Assistant Wasn't a Horse Judge

I know, he has great skin. But that's not what this is about: A lot of people are floating governor Crist as a name McCain may wish to consider for veep. McInsane may not know the difference between Al Qaeda and Iran, but even he should know what's wrong with this picture.

Let's play a game. Who is the most qualified to head up the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), the most important job concerning our public employee's labor relations and union issues, (for which we are facing serious challenges right now), which requires a thorough understanding of labor law and unions.

Here are the candidates. Keep in mind they are all vying to replace an attorney who held this post for 33 years and has extensive experience in this area. GO pick one and see if you come up with the same decision as Crist:
1. Jonathan Oliff, attorney with an Bachelor's in business who specialized in labor law and employment law for the past 5 years. He graduated cum laude from FSU law school in 2001.

2. John Beeman, veteran law enforcement officer who is the current union head of the Fraternal Order of Police local. He has 20 years experience working with unions.

3. Sara Gonzalez, a young dermatology assistant who has an undergrad in biology and a master's in physician-assistant studies. She left the qualifications section of her application almost completely blank.

Before you vote, let me remind you that the Florida governor is a Republican. Also, although I'm sure Charlie will insist this was complete coincidence and played no part in his decision, I should mention that choice #3 is the wife of Crist's general counsel, Jason Gonzalez, (who already rakes in $130,000 a year).

Give up? Yeah, you knew where this was going.

With a straight face, Crist announced yesterday that Sara Gonzalez was the best choice. She had an "advanced degree" and besides, he likes having "new blood in the administration".

(That's the type of thinking that lets horse judges head major departments).

What do the current commissioners of PERC think. Charlie Kossuth:

You need to be acquainted with the law and be a lawyer. She will be completely lost.

It's not like she won't have help people. As head commissioner, she will have the ability to bring in additional highly-paid staff.

According to Charlie Kossuth, she is choosing a general counsel to help her. This individual will make even more than her salary, so the taxpayers will be footing over $200,000 for these two people.

And, according to Kossuth, this person she is considering also doesn't know anything about labor law.

I think it's great. In fact, I encourage all of you reading to contact the governor and thank him for his brave choice: Click here

Look on the bright side: at least she will be able to help Charlie with his perpetually tanned skin.

Happy Anniversary: 5 Years of Bush's War

U.S. Fatalities: 3,990
U.S. Casualties: 40,229
Iraqi Fatalities: Unknown
Iraqi Casualties: Unknown
Cost: $504,000,000,000.00


5 Year Anniversary of what Donald Rumsfeld said would last "6 days" or "6 weeks"--but he really doubted "6 months".


And we are told to rejoice because the "surge is working".

Stop and think for a moment.

If someone told you 5 years ago today that in 2008--5 years later:

-we would be spending over 12 billion a month with no end in sight
-the Iraqi troops would STILL not be able to handle their own security and STILL don't have enough trained soldiers! (Cripe! I was ready at 6 weeks after boot camp! 5 years is one hell of a long boot camp!)
-the Iraqi Parliament would not meet any benchmarks and still would be no closer to having a functioning, noncorrupt government
-and, by the way, the reason to go to war (WMD)was proven to be a lie by this administration
--troops would only be killed at an apparently acceptable rate of 30+ a month (but that is good because they were being killed at a rate of 60 a month!)


Would you be saying--HELL YEAH! Let's do this!

Now, even knowing these facts, would you still think this was a good idea. Bush and McCain still do. And McCain said he wants to keep this going for "100" or "10,000 years".

My only question is this: when are they going to erect a monument to Bush in downtown Baghdad that we were promised?

No Way to Avoid Brokered Convention: By the Numbers

Here are the options:

• Do not seat Florida or Michigan
  
• Seat them based on the elections that have taken place. Don't assume Obama gets the 55 Michigan uncommitted delegates.
  
• Seat them based on the elections that have taken place. Give Obama the 55 Michigan uncommitted delegates.
  
• Split the Florida and Michigan pledged delegations 50/50. Superdelegates are free to vote as they wish.
  
• Split Michigan 50/50 including supers. Give Florida pledged delegates 1/2 vote, but based on January election. 1/2 vote for superdelegates also. This is supposedly under significant discussion.
  
• Florida and Michigan hold new elections.
  

The guys at 2008 Democratic Convention Watch blog ran the delegate numbers for every option proposed. Check it out.

Bottom line: Unless one of the nominees drops out before the Denver convention, it is going to be months of hitting back and forth until the floor vote in August.

Just like us Democrats. Take an election that should be a shoo-in and manage to screw it all up. Why do we love to shoot ourselves in the foot? The only saving grace is that the GOP is sooooooooo corrupt and soooooooooooo incompetent and soooooooo bankrupt (morally and fiscally) that that alone may save our butts from the fire. Maybe.

Don't be Black and Missing

I still hear about Jon-Benet, Jennifer Kesse, and Natalie Holloway. But recently, a young and pretty black co-ed was kidnapped. Chioma Gray.

You can help:

Re-Vote in FL only would have benefited Obama

Who would a re-vote have helped:

Not Hillary. She already had good will by saying she would not punish 3 million swing voters by the actions of their GOP-controlled state legislature. Polls show her winning FL handily.

Not McCain. He has the most to gain by Florida being disenfranchised.

Only Obama would have gained. He refused to campaign here, but agreed to take money from some big state donors. If the delegates are seated, we all could have moved forward. But he is in trouble here. And this is why it matters:

In order to win an election, you need two out of the big three swing states: Ohio, Florida, and/or Pennsylvania. Right now, Obama loses Pennsylvania and Florida. He was creamed in Ohio by Hillary, although the latest poll shows him barely holding on against McCain.

Obama is ahead right now because of his risky strategy to win traditionally red states, like North Dakota and Virginia (which hasn't voted Dem since Lyndon Johnson!!) If anyone can do it, Obama can. But it's going to be tough.

I think both are historic, strong candidates and will support whomever the nominee is. I can tolerate Obama losing in FL and MI because people think he's inexperienced or some other reason--what I can't tolerate is him losing the election because people here punished him because of this foolish delegate fiasco.

If it comes down to FL, as in 2000, I don't want to lose this to John McCain. I don't want to lose the Supreme Court for an entire generation, or be stuck in Iraq for, as he says, "10,000" years. What I really don't want to say is "I told you so".

Breaking: God DOES Talk to Bush!

Reasons why the Primary Democratic Fight is GREAT for our party!

The "liberal" media I keep hearing about, (which is overwhelmingly owned by conseravative corporations no less), is telling me that the Democratic Party is in real trouble. The RNC is apparently writing these talking points for them because the outlets I watch or read are very similar--except for Rush Limbaugh who just said that America would not vote for a woman and a black guy. (Great analysis, Rush).

Lucky for us, Rush is wrong. Survey USA just released polls in all 50 states of potential head to head matchups between John McCain and BOTH Hillary and Obama. The results: Both CANDIDATES cream McCain.

So how exactly is this a disaster?

The GOP factions, including the base of the party, can't stand John McCain. Even if they "hold their noses and vote for him", as expected, they will NOT be in full force like they were for their idiot messiah Mighty W. They will not knock on doors, they will not work phones, and they will not donate cash.

Cash--there's something else to talk about. Obama raised a record $55 MILLION for February! An all time high!!! He broke Kerry's previous record of $44 million, but as someone from DKOS correctly pointed out, that was after he cinched the nomination. Obama is still in a highly competitive race with another DEM. In other words, party supporters haven't even consolidated behind ONE candidate!! (Also, Obama raised more than 90% from donations of under 100 dollars!--NICE!). Hillary--not too shabby. $36 million.

McNasty? After Bush's mighty endorsement and after he has sealed the nomination---$12 mil. Yep, that's excitement.

Oh, and did I mention the record turnout for our primaries!?! In Virginia, for example, Obama received 619,000 votes--more than all of the GOP candidates COMBINED!! If that happens in a red state like Virginia, imagine the turnout in real swing states!

We have two great, historic candidates that Americans are excited about!! And this fight is great for us. Why?

1. They are staying in the news and will continue to stay in the news because the DEM competition is where the action is. The GOP race is over. McCain has to say nasty things to try to get anyone to pay attention to him.

2. The lengthy competition is also great because it is building the state parties GOTV mechanism in preparation for the general election. I am thrilled because Ohio and Pennsylvania play crucial roles, and the Hillary and Obama factions are building extensive networks and operations to win the primaries in those states--which will be ready to go come November!

3. Since the GOP does not know who will be our candidate, they don't know where to fight. In Survey USA, they both beat McCain, but they both BREAK OFF different swing states. For example, Hillary wins Florida handily, but Obama takes Virginia. This also has the added bonus of #4.

4. Both candidates are criss-crossing the nation hitting McCain. Ask anyone in a fight, 2 on 1 is tough. As long as Barack and Hillary can focus on themselves and McCain, and NOT bash each other, either one will be ready to claim the mantle and win victory in November.


SO we have our candidates getting all of the attention, building extensive operations in every state, each getting record fund-raising and record voter turnout (many who are voting for the first time!), and each criss-crossing the country taking swipes at a weakened McCain. Oh yeah, and both are kicking the crap out of him in head to head match-ups.

So, what's the disaster I've been hearing about??

Prediction for the Democratic Primary

If I haven't said it already, it's going to be Barack Obama. Hillary is suffering from Rudy syndrome. Rudy was leading nationally, the large states, and the swing states. The only states he was behind in were the early states. He figured they wouldn't matter. He figured wrong.

You can't lose 6 states in a row and think that it won't have an impact on your campaign. I don't get the psychology, but that is precisely why states don't want to go last.

Hillary hasn't lost 6 in a row. She's lost 11 in a row. Obviously that has had an effect. Add that to the fact that the more people hear Obama, the more they like him. The more they hear Hillary, the less they like her. Since Iowa, she always starts with big leads, then loses those leads at the election.

Texas will be no different. Her last debate showed her whining about getting the first question, her negative ads are turning Democrats off (the phone call ad smacks of GOP ridiculousness), and worst of all, she is actually threatning to sue the Texas Democratic Party over their primary/caucus system. The VoteMaster from electoral-vote.com thinks she is bluffing, since suing them would "complicate the election, lose the nomination, come off as a whiny sore loser, shred her repeutation, and end any chance she could be the nominee in 2012 if McCain wins in 2008." But this begs the question: Why is she doing it at all? Texas is not going to change their system days before the election--especially since Hillary had no problem until now--with all polls showing her narrowly losing Texas.

Barack has grown in popularity and has handled the attacks from McCain and Bush with class. I personally can't believe Bush had the gall to say anything to Obama on Iraq. He just invites people to poke fun at him for his tremendous incompetence that unleashed this disaster to begin with. Note to W: worry about running the country and less about running McCain's campaign. The best thing you can do for McCain is NOT try to help. On second thought, go campaign with him. :)

Barack Obama will win Texas and barely will win Ohio. Once that happens, Hillary will move to Mike Huckabee status and continue to lose states, including PA in April. I predict that she will drop out at that point and that we will not be subjected to a brokered convention.

One year ago I predicted McCain would win the GOP primary, let's see if I'm right on my predictions for the Dem primary.

Congrats Sasso!

If a Dem can win a heavily GOP-gerrymanderded district, then this is a good sign for Democrats to come in November. It was close (obviously) but the good people of FL-32made the correct and obvious choice.

Congratulations Tony Sasso!

My Friends...

The real mccain..

If Every Paper Endorses Tony Sasso....

Will the republicans who make up the majority of gerrymandered District 32 have the good sense to vote for the best candidate?

The two major papers that serve this District, the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Today, have both handily endorsed Sasso as being one of the best candidates this district has seen: and both say that his GOP developer opponent is woefully unprepared:

Sentinel:

Voters have a clear choice in Tuesday's election for House District 32: Democrat Tony Sasso.

Mr. Sasso has the experience and command of the issues facing the district made up mostly of Brevard County, including Kennedy Space Center and parts of east Orange including the communities of Vista Lakes, Lake Nona and Wedgefield.

The resignation of former state Rep. Bob Allen forced this special election, and we recognize Mr. Sasso will have a tough battle in this district, where Republicans far outnumber Democrats.

But Republicans ought to think before they vote the party line. Mr. Sasso's Republican opponent, Merritt Island builder Sean Campbell, is woefully unprepared to serve in Tallahassee. The other option, independent Jerry Maynard, is not a serious candidate.

Mr. Campbell lacks even the basic knowledge of how Florida's tax structure or its school system works. Such lack of knowledge would leave little hope he could be effective.

Mr. Sasso, on the other hand, served on the Cocoa Beach City Council for six years. During that time, he's been a champion of managed growth, and he has a plan to lure high-tech industry as the shuttle program winds down.

The Sentinel endorses Tony Sasso for state House District 32 in Tuesday's special election.

Excerpt from Florida Today:

• He understands the public's tax revolt sentiment but also the impact tax cuts will have on local services and education -- an insight that would serve citizens well in Tallahassee.
  
• He says the state must "get its act together" to help lure post-shuttle industries and jobs to Kennedy Space Center, and wisely wants the Legislature to create a public-private aerospace and high-technology investment fund.
  
• He's a leader in environmental protection, pressing hard for growth management and passage of the Clean Oceans Act that would ban Port Canaveral gambling ships from dumping their waste off our coast.
  
• He believes the Legislature must get tough with insurance companies that continue canceling policies, raising rates and dumping more risk on consumers through the state's catastrophe fund.

The other candidates in the race are Republican Sean Campbell of Merritt Island and Independent Jerry Maynard of Titusville.

Campbell, who runs a company that provides labor primarily for commercial and industrial construction, has a sincere desire to serve. But he has a troubling lack of knowledge about key issues such as creating space jobs, improving education and revising tax policy. He also believes the Legislature is exempt from the Sunshine Laws that guarantee open government and the public's access to it, which should worry everyone.

There's no way he's ready for Tallahassee.

And this is REALLY scary. This is what Sean Campbell recently said of bills he would sponsor if elected:

"Well, I'm sure you're all going to find this really hard to believe, but I really haven't given it a whole lot of consideration. I've been so focused on this race and winning this race."

If he wins, it will prove once and for all that GOP voters truly will vote lockstep for anyone with an (R) in front of their name, no matter the qualifications. Sometimes its essential to vote for the best person. I not only voted for, but volunteered to campaign for a republican candidate (Cindy Gennell) for mayor in 2002 AGAINST the incumbent Dem. Our city lost out on a great mayor.

I hope District 32 doesn't give up on the best qualified candidate they have for a uninformed wannabe. You would think that after "Bathroom Bob" Allen, the Grand old Party wouldn't try to put up another embarrassing candidate. But just like an established writer that gets lazy and will put out any piece of crap because he knows his fan base will buy it, they are banking on the GOP majority to take what they are given.

ON FEBRUARY 26, the day of the special election, I truly hope they prove them wrong.

10,000 Years in Iraq

According to McCain, no big thing...

McCain: Janet Reno is Chelsea Clinton's Father

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because Janet Reno is her father.

That lovely joke was complements of Mr. Straight Talk himself at a 1998 Republican Senate fundraiser.

Insulting a child, insulting the first female Attorney General of the United States who was and is suffering from a horrible disease, and getting in a dig at Hillary and lesbianism all in just 12 words. Nice.

Of course, the mainstream "liberal" media that McCain is currently bashing has consistently refused to say anything about this story, and the few who have refused to print or say the joke. They just say he said a "vulgar" or "offensive" joke about the Clintons. Yes, that joke was too bad to print because it might offend someone--however, the detailed exploits of Bill's sexual escapades are fair game. Nice.

The current lobbying scandal is the story currently grabbing the headlines, but the fact that he has lobbyists working and making phone calls from his own "Straight Talk Express" amuses me more frightens me.

No, what frightens me is that McCain is a nasty, abusive, ill-tempered man who is not fit to serve as Commander in Chief. America can ill afford to have another brain-damaged individual serving in the highest office.

McCain's veep, and other predictions...

I was more certain, until recently, who the veep would be than the presidential nominee for the Republicans. I always knew it would be either McCain or 9ui11iani, but either way I predicted last December that the veep would have to be HUCKABEE. Both men needed a likable but solid conservative on the ticket, the reasoning went. After Iowa, it seemed like a sure bet. McCain/Huckabee.

But I was wrong.

From what we KNOW about Huck, the GOP establishment hates him. In previous blogs I ranted how it would be impossible for Huckabee to get the nomination. The GOP establishment's agenda is to reduce taxes for the wealthy and big business. It was never really about social issues. The establishment doesn't really care about abortion, homosexuals, and the right-wing evangelicals silly crusades--they are to be whipped into a frenzy and vote, then go home. Period. Huckabee actually believed this crap and actually believed that he would be supported even though he was fine with raising taxes on the wealthy in his state to balance the budget.

Poor Huck. He learned otherwise when he was viciously attacked by establishment conservatives and their front groups (like Club for Growth). Huckabee is staying in for one reason--to force McCain to accept him as veep. He is making the plea that social conservatives rally behind him and McCain desperately needs him.

My original prediction that Huckabee would be veep runs contrary to the fact that he is wholly rejected by the GOP establishment. If McCain were to win, and Huck would be veep, then the GOP would have to get behind him next presidential election. This would be unacceptable.

Besides, the longer he stays in, the more irritable he is making everyone on the right (except the right-wing loons). Huckabee will never again be able to run, unlike Willard Mitt Romney.

(Bonus prediction: Romney calculated that he could be the establishment candidate next time. Let me break it down. Dole proved himself in 1988 by being a force against Bush 1--when his goose was cooked, he endorsed and strongly supported Bush 1--hence, it was his turn. McCain did the exact same thing with Bush 2 in 2000--and now it's his turn. Romney wants to be the establishment candidate after a supposed McCain win--so I knew he would swallow hard and endorse McCain. Given age, McCain might just run one term. Romney wants to be next in line for 2012 or 2016. You wait.)

Back on track---Then I got to thinking, why the hell does McCain need to suck up to the base after all? McCain has snubbed them repeatedly, and those bozos are so weak that they are unable to stop his rise to win the nomination--even in closed primaries. Even massive evangelical turnout in my former home state of VA couldn't stop the McCain Train. Picking another old man like Fred Thompson or another Rush-hated man like Huckabee is not going to bring the social conservatives over. Even if he can get some to accept him, they aren't going to be throwing money at him and work their tails off going door-to-door like they did for their cult leader, George W. Bush. (As one nutjob told me, "Once again, GOD is speaking through a Bush"! Idiot.)

McCain owes them nothing, he doesn't like them, they aren't going to like him, and it looks like they aren't going to be a factor in this election.

McCain will go with his gut. Someone he likes. Someone he trusts.

Who will it be?

Tim Pawlenty of MN?
Kay Bailey Hutchinson of TX?
Joe Lieberman of Turncoatland?
John Thune of SD?
Bobby Jindal of LA?
Condi Rice?
Our own Charlie Crist?
Some moron we've never heard of?

Nope. I think it will be Rudy Ghouliani.

Think about it. To some in the establishment, this is a "dream ticket". The right-wing conservatives who hate McCain aren't going to vote for him anyway, but the thinking is that this could bring in more independents and swing Democrats. Furthermore, both of these guys are close. Rudy said that he would support McCain if he wasn't running in a debate last year, and McCain never attacked Rudy. In fact, I would be willing to bet that Rudy and McCain discussed this after Rudy lost Florida. (What did Rudy have to gain be dropping out one week before his home state and other big states before Super Tuesday?)

My prediction is this will be a McCain/Guiliani ticket. Wrong? We'll see.

One more prediction: After Wisconsin, Obama will have won 8 primaries in a row. Momentum is the name of the game. Rudy had a big lead in Florida, and all of the other major states, and all of the other swing states. He lost the first 6 primaries/cauci and then POOF!* Gone. HRC leads slightly in TX, PA, and OH, but she lost her big leads. After Wisconsin, I think Obama will win TX and OH. It's hard to stop momentum.

If I am wrong here, then this race will go to a brokered convention. If that happens, HRC will win. This is why she won't drop out. Most of the superdelegates have ties to the former Clinton administration and will pledge to support her as long as she either won the state, the relevant congressional district, or has the lead in delegates.

A brokered convention will tear up the party, and leave us with 8 weeks to put it back together a fight McCain. Bad news all around. This is why, once again, I am currently supporting Obama (from Obama to Clinton and back again).

If we go to a brokered convention, we will lose. This is not a prediction, it is reality. And if we lose the election in 2008, the only prediction I PROMISE will happen is that McCain will entrench us in Iraq for his promised 100 years, we will lose two more seats to the Supreme Court, and America will suffer unbearably with the extension of Bush's third term.

You wait.

Creepy Picture of McCain..

Almost as creepy as a third Bush term...

Some "maverick". Hugging the man who let Rove smear his daughter. What a loser.

What's that you say? Not Bush's fault? He couldn't have known, no one tells him anything. McCain should just be mad at Rove.

Quote from John McCain:

I've always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics. I've always respected him. We never had any ill will after the initial South Carolina thing. After we had the meeting with President Bush we moved on. I've seen Karl Rove many times when I've been over at the White House. We've always had pleasant conversations.

A man who throws his own daughter under the bus does not deserve to lead this great country. Click here to help us stop this bastard: Stop the Third Bush Term

How pathetic is John McCain?!

I couldn't believe this headline on FAUXnews:

McCain Open to Rove's Advice, Cash

Maintaining that he does not hold any grudges from the 2000 GOP nomination fight, John McCain says that Karl Rove’s help and advice is welcome aboard the Straight Talk Express...

“They beat me (in 2000). I would certainly be happy to have them give us advice..... he has a very good, great political mind and any information or advice and counsel he could give us I would be glad to have,” he added.

Doesn't hold any grudges??

Rove is the architect behind the push-polls in South Carolina that attacked McCain's daughter. In case you forgot, John M. won New Hampshire in 2000. Rove decided to stop McCain in SC by organizing phone calls to ignorant, potential GOP voters that asked how they felt about McCain having a "black" daughter.

Although McCain's adopted daughter isn't black, the GOP voters were NOT ONLY ignorant enough to believe it, but actually think it even mattered. (Adopting outside your race? What's next?)

Despite W having nieces and nephews who are racially mixed, he obviously had no trouble with the smear. His puppet-master told him he would win at any cost. In one fell swoop, he smeared McCain's daughter while playing to people's prejudice and fear (a Bush administration trademark).

The most revolting thing? McCain threw a little temper tantrum, then proceeded to KISS BUSH's ASS for the next 8 years. He did this because he knew if he sucked up like a good little soldier, it would be his turn.

So what if he threw his OWN daughter under the bus? Maybe that coward doesn't consider her his own since she's adopted or isn't white. Or maybe he figures his own family can take one for the team. I can't understand how anyone would suck up to someone who thought your family was fair game.

(Remember that straw poll last year when he told people not to vote for him but to write in George Bush because he "needs" us? I almost threw up.)

And now, to accept cash from and SUCK UP to Rove, the very person who orchestrated the whole thing?

At least Hillary defended her own daughter when attacked by Schuster.

How can anyone trust John McCain to protect our nation when that coward won't even PROTECT HIS OWN FAMILY!!!!!!!!!

Bush Legacy: Setting a Standard in Fear-Mongering

Happy Super Tuesday!!

The following is an article written by Richard A. Clarke, the former terror czar of the Bush administration, in the Philadelphia Inquirer on 01 February 2008:

When I left the Bush administration in 2003, it was clear to me that its strategy for defeating terrorism was leaving our nation more vulnerable and our people in a perilous place. Not only did its policies misappropriate resources, weaken the moral standing of America, and threaten long-standing legal and constitutional provisions, but the president also employed misleading and reckless rhetoric to perpetuate his agenda.
This week's State of the Union proved nothing has changed.
Besides overstating successes in Afghanistan, painting a rosy future for Iraq, and touting unfinished domestic objectives, he again used his favorite tactic - fear - as a tool to scare Congress and the American people. On one issue in particular - FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) - the president misconstrued the truth and manipulated the facts.
Let me be clear: Our ability to track and monitor terrorists overseas would not cease should the Protect America Act expire. If this were true, the president would not threaten to terminate any temporary extension with his veto pen. All surveillance currently occurring would continue even after legislative provisions lapsed because authorizations issued under the act are in effect up to a full year.
Simply put, it was wrong for the president to suggest that warrants issued in compliance with FISA would suddenly evaporate with congressional inaction. Instead - even though Congress extended the Protect America Act by two weeks - he is using the existence of the sunset provision to cast his political opponents in a negative light.
For this president, fear is an easier political tactic than compromise. With FISA, he is attempting to rattle Congress into hastily expanding his own executive powers at the expense of civil liberties and constitutional protections.
I spent most of my career in government fighting to protect this country in order to defend these very rights. And I know every member of Congress - whether Democrat or Republican - holds public office in the same pursuit.
That is why in 2001, I presented this president with a comprehensive analysis regarding the threat from al-Qaeda. It was obvious to me then - and remains a fateful reality now - that this enemy sought to attack our country. Then, the president ignored the warnings and played down the threats. Ironically, it is the fear from these extremely real threats that the president today uses as a wedge in a vast and partisan political game. This is - and has been - a very reckless way to pursue the very ominous dangers our country faces. And once again, during the current debate over FISA, he continues to place political objectives above the practical steps needed to defeat this threat.
In these still treacherous times, we can't afford to have a president who leads by manipulating emotions with fear, flaunting the law, or abusing the very inalienable rights endowed to us by the Constitution.
Though 9/11 changed the prism through which we view surveillance and intelligence, it did not in any way change the effectiveness of FISA to allow us to track and monitor our enemies. FISA has and still works as the most valuable mechanism for monitoring our enemies.
In order to defeat the violent Islamist extremists who do not believe in human rights, we need not give up the civil liberties, constitutional rights and protections that generations of Americans fought to achieve. We do not need to create Big Brother. With the administration's attempts to erode FISA's legal standing as the exclusive means by which our government can conduct electronic surveillance of U.S. persons on U.S. soil, this is unfortunately the path the president is taking us down.
So it is no surprise that in one of Bush's last acts of relevance, he once again played the fear card.
While he has failed in spreading democracy, stemming global terrorism, and leaving the country better off than when he took power, he did achieve one thing: successfully perpetuating fear for political gain.
Sadly, it may be one of the only achievements of his presidency.

Just Go Away Nader

What a loser. He can't possibly win, but like Eugene McCarthy, will continue to run in every election.

I do agree that we need more than this ridculous two party system. But we need a charasmatic leader who can pull enough people from both sides to make a difference.

Nader aint' it. Never has been, and especially now.

He will take a few hard core liberals with him on this futile quest, but I don't think they would have voted for Clinton anyway. Obama, maybe.

What irritates me the most was Nader's smugness in talking to Wolf Blitzer. He said he was running to fight the corporate interests. In 2004, he accepted money from EVERYBODY, including the so-called "corporate interests" he railed against.

He took money from hate groups and anti-environmental groups. He refused to give any money back, telling his supporters that maybe they just really like him and want change.

NO, idiot. They were hoping you would be a spoiler like you were in 2004. Turns out that John Kerry didn't need help losing--his lack of response to the SwiftBoaters, his ban on attacks of W at his convention, and his refusal to spend over 14 million on election day was more than enough to cost the election. But like last time, you didn't help.

You have spent a lifetime fighting for righteous causes, and all of that has been blown out the window with your ego-driven quest that only helps the Republicans--although very insignificantly, but helps nonetheless.

This time no one will pay him notice. I just get irritated when I hear him blather about why he's doing this.

PS--And another thing, I owned a Corvair, and it was the best damn car I ever drove.

CALLING FL VOTERS!! Help Us Fight Unreal Dirty Tricks to Stop FL Hometown Democracy!

One thing that unites citizens of both parties, at least in my city, is the topic of urban spawl and uncontrolled development. You would never believe it, but Florida really does have a state comprehensive growth plan that local governments are supposed to abide by in their own growth management plans.

Unfortunately, changes can be made to these plans relatively easily. RIGHT now, all a developer has to do is persuade a majority of a city or county commission to grant a change (easy enough with the right campaign contribution). Often this change is made with NO citizen input, and BOOM, another strip mall or unfinished condo.

(What I really enjoy is driving down 17-92 and seeing the vacant, boarded up shopping centers on either side of a patch of trees---and then seeing that lone patch of trees torn down to build yet another vacant strip mall.)

The Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment will mandate a referendum for any comprehensive plan amendments approved by the city and county commissions. In other words, the VOTERS OF THAT COMMUNITY are the final word.

Sensible?? Intelligent?? Your damn skippy it is.

Logically, our elected officials are doing everything they can to STOP THIS MADNESS.

On a radio call-in show last week on NPR, an opponent of this measure was trying to tell people that voters would have to vote on EVERY new building that gets built (a HUGE lie). Then he went on to say that this would hurt the vulnerable big developers. THAT was rich--big developers crying VICTIM!

That line of attack doesn't work, so they resorted to something more sinister. The "honorable" John Thrasher, former GOP Speaker of the FL House, sent out this letter to people who have already signed the petition. This takes LYING to a new level. Get this:


If you read their proposed Constitutional Amendment (it’s reprinted on your PETITION REVOCATION FORM) you will also notice that it turns all power over use of Florida’s lands to certain “electors.”

Guess who the “electors” will be. The “special interests” and their slick lawyers will rig the system to put our future in the hands of their cronies. Their “electors” will decide our fate and the fate of Florida.

Unless you want higher property taxes, higher utility bills and Florida’s scenic beauty destroyed by Big Developers, you will certainly want to revoke your signature from their petition.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? The "electors", folks, are the "VOTERS" of the COMMUNITY!!
I wish we were the “special interests”, but those are the the big developers we are fighting against.

Unbelievable! I often wonder how these people can live with themselves. If your position is so weak you have to lie by taking the position on the other side, maybe you ARE on the wrong side! Let me make this clear: you know they don't have a leg to stand on when the Developer Lobby starts crying about our beauty being destroyed by BIG DEVELOPERS!! But they can't win on their merits. (Please let us continue uncontrolled development by pumping money into elected officials coffers). So they must pretend they are with us in opposing...them?

But it gets even better.

The Developers are now putting forth their OWN petition that reads very similar to the petition for Florida Hometown Democracy. I saw this petition at several places (it's GREEN, whereas the real one is WHITE) and thought GREAT! Grassroots is working! IT's a SCAM! Click here and see the fake one.

If you read closely, you will see how this is actually an ALTERNATE petition that is worded to UNDERMINE and SUPERCEDE the FL Hometown Democracy petition. The developer petition is a petition to just let you petition. Under their amendment, you could have a referendum on a comprehensive plan change if 10% of the electorate goes to the supervisor of elections and then signs a petition saying you want a referendum on a plan change. Although they wouldn't mind if this one passes, it's designed to siphon off votes from people who otherwise would vote for the REAL one.

Dirty Tricks at its best.

Let's NOT LET THEM WIN.

Florida voter, there is many things you can do to stop this.

First, Print out and sign a Petition: Click here. Get your friends, family, and coworkers to sign as well. The deadline IS FRIDAY!!!

Donate or Volunteer. Any help is needed. 1-866-779-5513.

Write a letter to the editor or post on your blog. Please include the phone number and/or website: http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/. The link to the petition is http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/documents/FHD_Petition2-Final.pdf

Time is running out, and the Big Developers and their cronies are doing everything in their power to sabatoge our effort. Once these green spaces are gone, they are gone for good.

Please help. Thank you.

Who should the Seminole Republican vote for?

I, along with many Florida Democrats, switched parties to vote in the GOP primary Jan. 29 so our votes would count--since the GOP only took half their delegates, but the DNC took all of them. I plan on switching back after the primary. (Although I may hold on to this affiliation through November, just to make sure my vote counts.)

I would love to rant about being bombarded with GOP commercials and GOP candidate visits, while the Dem candidates storm across the most GOP state in the union. I would love to rant about the DNC saying the candidates refusing to talk to swing voters in an important state is all about principle, but in the same breath saying they ARE allowed to take as much campaign money as they want from the state. But that's not what this is about.

I realized something very important. Who the hell am I and other Dem voters who registered GOP going to vote for?

If I were in Michigan, I would vote for Romney to keep him in the race like Kos suggested. Simple. Let him spend his fortune bashing the GOP frontrunner.

In South Carolina, I would vote for Fred Thompson. He is going after Huckabee with a vengence. I think it would be wonderful to keep him in the race to split the evangelical vote for as long as possible.

But here in Florida, I'm torn. If Romney wins MI, and Fred wins SC, I would be tempted to vote Guiliani. That way, you have a 5-tier race. Of course, since Guiliani has pinned ALL of his hopes on Florida--and I REALLY am terrified of a Guiliani presidency--this could be a chance to shoot that SOB down once and for all.

Some are voting for Huckabee because they assume he will be the most easily defeated in the General. He is in over his head, and he is nowhere in states without a lot of Bible thumpers. But I think he is too affable and too dangerous. He is probably the only one that would make me pine for Guiliani, so I can't risk him winning. Any of the GOP players will make it close, and although I think Obama or Hillary will trounce him--I can't risk it.

Of course, if I don't play the "weakest link" game, I would just go with the only GOPer who's tolerable. For me, that would be McCain. At least he has a history of some bipartisanship, and he doesn't pander. Sure, he's an idiot he declared Baghdad safe with 1,000 bodyguards. Sure, he kissed Bush's ass after his team push-polled him about having a "black daughter". Come to think of it, I can't vote for his sorry ass either.

Ron Paul? He's just a nut. A racist lunatic who I can't bring myself to vote for.

Maybe I'll just write-in John Edwards or another Dem.

GOP Deserves Huckabee

I say this because they created him. I have said in previous posts that they just use the evangelical sheep for votes and then ignore them after the election. That is why gay marriage was on the agenda just a few months before the Nov. 2006 election when they saw the writing on the wall. (Too little too late--it didn't work.)



The GOP throws abortion, gay marriage, and dead women on respirators out there to motivate these folks--but their agenda is and always will be taking care of Big Business, Big Oil, and the SuperWealthy. Cutting taxes for the rich has always been what they have fought for time and time again. Under Bush, the burden has been completely placed on the working middle class while the rich enjoy their lowest tax rates in American history. Click here, here, here, and here. (PS--rent Maxed Out from Blockbuster this weekend.)

This has NEVER been about promoting "family values"--re: evagelical beliefs on abortion, gay marriage, and euthanasia. (Sidenote--notice "helping the poor", which unlike these issues, is mentioned in every book in the Bible, was dropped from list.)

The evangelical voters are to be used, not actually catered to.

But what happens when an evangelical actually buys into this crap and thinks he's really a part of all of this?

You get Mike Huckabee.

I have said previously that he was getting shunned by the establishment, which includes Pat Robertson and his ilk. And now he has actually won something and is a real contender. John McCain is the establishment candidate, Rudy is acceptable--but Huckabee? That was NOT supposed to happen. And you know what? The establishment is not letting this happen. The attacks from the right have begun, and he will not be the nominee.

I am not one for making predictions, but I promise you the nominee for the GOP will be McCain or Guiliani. You can take that to the bank and cash it now.

By the way, I am not the only one who said this. The VoteMaster at www.electoral-vote.com said the same thing in a brilliant post. (Click the link to see all the hyperlinks):

The bashing of Mike Huckabee--from the Republicans--has begun. See here, here, here, here, and here. Not a peep from the Democrats. They like Huckabee. They think he's in over his head and will be easy prey in November, in the unlikely event he gets that far. It's the Republican establishment that hates Huckabee. The reason is clear but the media are scared to talk about it. The truth is what the current administration really cares about is tax cuts, expecially big ones for the rich. What was the first thing George Bush after Jan. 20, 2001? Tax cuts, including lowering the top marginal rate from 39.6% to 35%. If you are making $10 million a year, that's $460,000 extra in your pocket. After Bush's 2004 victory, he said that the election gave him political capital and he intended to spend it. So what did he do? He spent two months traveling around the country trying to sell a plan to privatize (read: phase out) social security. He didn't spend two months trying to get a constitutional amendment banning abortions or forbidding same-sex marriages. He could have, but didn't want to spend his political capital that way. Even when pleasing the Base was cheap he didn't do it. Remember that his long-time friend, Harriet Miers, was his first Supreme Court nominee, and he asked her to withdraw only after the Base protested loudy. The Republican party's dirty little secret is that upper management really doesn't care much about the social issues; they care about taxes. They trot out the social issues just before each election to whip the Base up into a frenzy and conveniently forget about them after winning. Huckabee is a real threat because he sincerely believes in the Bible. He's not just making it up to get votes. He's become their Frankenstein monster and must be eliminated. [emphasis added]

PS--To add something, you and I got a tax break as well. It amounted to a little under 40 dollars. The Oil companies, who are raking in the largest profits in human history, got "needed" tax breaks worth millions. When these trailer-park hicks wise up to this, the party will be over. The GOP is counting on keeping them ignorant. We will see what happens.


In the meantime, I am really enjoying watching the GOP establishment squirm over Huckabee. They deserve him.

Who will win the Iowa Caucus?

Cross-posted on Daily Kos:

The latest polls show a dead heat (Statistical tie) between Hillary, Edwards, and Obama. Let's take a quick poll this Glorious New Year's Day...

Remember, this is who you THINK will win, not who you want to win.


Keep in mind that it's normally 100,000 people who vote in the Hawkeye Cauci, and it's important to note that supporters of any candidate who does not meet the 15% threshold will have to make a SECOND CHOICE.

Since no poll shows Richardson, Dodd, Biden, Kucinich, or Gravel anywhere close to 15%--their supporters will most likely have to make another choice between the top three.

If you can figure out the second choice for these supporters, I think you will have a good idea of who will win on Thursday.

The only thing I can promise is the winner will make the victory seem more important than it is, and the losers will do the opposite. I know--not much of a prediction.

OK--let's have some fun....

Click HERE for the poll.