The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth. Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin defended her record as governor of Alaska on Friday in the face of fierce Democratic attacks, while a state ethics panel subpoenaed her husband.
In the last installment of an exclusive interview with ABC News, Palin rejected her critics’ insistence that she had initially been in favor of building an Alaska bridge project held up as a symbol of wasteful government spending.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has denounced Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere” as a place where government fat needed to be cut. The $398 million bridge would have been built to a small island with only about 50 residents, and has since been shut down.
Palin insists she helped kill the project but Democrats emphasize that she was in favor of the bridge when she was a candidate for governor. It is an assault on her attempts to present herself as a reformer.
Palin, who was mayor of tiny Wasilla before becoming governor less than two years ago, told ABC News she did seek money for infrastructure in the state,” saying it was “not inappropriate for a mayor or a governor” to seek such funding.
But ultimately, she said, “I said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks. We’re not going to spend it on the bridge.’”
She also defended, as Wasilla’s mayor, seeking and obtaining $27 million in federal funding in the form of individual spending items that U.S. lawmakers called “earmarks.” McCain has made cutting “earmark” projects a pillar of his campaign.
“We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office,” she said.
1. McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
2. McCain insisted that everyone, even “terrible killers,” “the worst kind of scum of humanity,” and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, “deserve to have some adjudication of their cases,” even if that means “releasing some of them.” McCain now believes the opposite.
3. He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
4. In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
6. When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in Pakistani mountains with predators, McCain criticized him for it. He’s since come to the opposite conclusion.
11. McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
12. McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
14. McCain recently claimed that he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as “a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.” In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”
15. McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions, concluding, on multiple occasions, that a Korea-like presence is both a good and a bad idea.
16. McCain was against additional U.S. forces in Afghanistan before he was for it.
17. McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
18. McCain has repeatedly said it’s a dangerous mistake to tell the “enemy” when U.S. troops would be out of Iraq. In May, McCain announced that most American troops would be home from Iraq by 2013.
20. McCain staunchly opposed Obama’s Iraq withdrawal timetable, and even blasted Mitt Romney for having referenced the word during the GOP primaries. In July, after Iraqi officials endorsed Obama’s policy, McCain said a 16-month calendar sounds like “a pretty good timetable.”
Domestic Policy
21. McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)
22. On Social Security, McCain said he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Soon after, asked about a possible increase in the payroll tax, McCain said there’s “nothing that’s off the table.”
23. McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.
24. McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.
26. In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
28. McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting “irresponsibly.” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
31. McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
32. McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
33. In 2005, McCain endorsed intelligent design creationism, a year later he said the opposite, and a few months after that, he was both for and against creationism at the same time.
34. And on gay adoption, McCain initially said he’d rather let orphans go without families, then his campaign reversed course, and soon after, McCain reversed back.
35. In the Senate, McCain opposed a variety of measures on equal pay for women, and endorsed the Supreme Court’s Ledbetter decision. In July, however, McCain said, “I’m committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That … is my record and you can count on it.”
36. McCain was against fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act before he was for it.
38. McCain said the Colorado River compact will “obviously” need to be “renegotiated.” Six days later, McCain said, “Let me be clear that I do not advocate renegotiation of the compact.”
Economic Policy
39. McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy before he was for them.
40. John McCain initially argued that economics is not an area of expertise for him, saying, “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues; I still need to be educated,” and “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” He now falsely denies ever having made these remarks and insists that he has a “very strong” understanding of economics.
42. McCain said in 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and falsely argued that he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.
43. McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
44. McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a “‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded. Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”
46. McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off economically than they were before Bush took office.
47. McCain was against massive government bailouts of “big banks” that “act irresponsibly.” He then announced his support for a massive government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
49. McCain recently announced his strong opposition to a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
50. McCain endorsed a cap-and-trade policy with a mandatory emissions cap. In mid-June, McCain announced he wants the caps to voluntary.
51. McCain explained his belief that a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax would provide an immediate economic stimulus. Shortly thereafter, he argued the exact opposite.
54. McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. In 2007, he announced his opposition to the bill. In 2008, McCain switched back.
55. On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own bill.
56. In April, McCain promised voters that he would secure the borders “before proceeding to other reform measures.” Two months later, he abandoned his public pledge, pretended that he’d never made the promise in the first place, and vowed that a comprehensive immigration reform policy has always been, and would always be, his “top priority.”
Judicial Policy and the Rule of Law
57. McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.
58. McCain’s position was that the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
60. In June, McCain rejected the idea of a trial for Osama bin Laden, and thought Obama’s reference to Nuremberg was a misread of history. A month later, McCain argued the exact opposite position.
61. In June, McCain described the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush was “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.” In August, he reversed course.
63. In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.
64. McCain supported a campaign-finance bill, which bore his name, on strengthening the public-financing system. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
65. In May 2008, McCain approved a ban on lobbyists working for his campaign. In July 2008, his campaign reversed course and said lobbyists could work for his campaign.
Politics and Associations
66. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist John Hagee. Now he doesn’t. (He also believes his endorsement from Hagee was both a good and bad idea.)
67. McCain wanted political support from radical televangelist Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.
69. McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
70. McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.
71. In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
72. McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
73. McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
74. McCain believed powerful right-wing activist/lobbyist Grover Norquist was “corrupt, a shill for dictators, and (with just a dose of sarcasm) Jack Abramoff’s gay lover.” McCain now considers Norquist a key political ally.
75. McCain was for presidential candidates giving speeches in foreign countries before he was against it.
76. McCain has been both for and against considering a pro-choice running mate for the Republican presidential ticket.
*****
If and when you learn of a reversal that has not yet made the list. Let the folks know over at The Carpet Bagger Report
So everyone's talking about the nasty spike of nastiness in the presidential race--a spike brilliantly orchestrated by the Republican machinery--and Republican John McCain takes a moment to point out that even this is Barack Obama's fault.
Y'see, all the crap being thrown at Obama--the fear-mongering, the half-truths, the full lies--all the character assassination hurling Obama's way, is in fact, his own doing.
"I think the tone of this whole campaign would have been very different if Senator Obama had accepted my request for us to appear in town hall meetings all over America," the Senator from Arizona tells us.
Am I just losing my freaking mind? Seriously. I keep looking around the room to see if I'm living in some suddenly altered state where everything we know is now called the opposite, and nobody notices. Or can stop it.
"I wish I didn't have to take your lunch money, but you shouldn't of hadda brung it."
We're in the 3rd grade again. The skinny, smart kid who just moved in to the neighborhood is getting roughed-up by the asshole bully. The kid who hits you in the head with your hand and says, "Why're you hitting yourself? Why're you hitting yourself?"
"Um, actually I'm not. You're hitting me."
"You calling me a liar?"
"No, I'm just pointing out that..." SMACK!
"Why're you hitting yourself?"
And there seems to be no one to appeal to. There're no grown-ups around when you need 'em. No one to step in and say, "Alright, that's enough now. We don't do that here, fella." And in the absence of any authority, the asshole gets to keep doing it.
"Why're you hitting yourself? SMACK! Why're you hitting yourself?"
From the few minutes of the GOP convention I could stomach watching, all I could think was that Giuliani and Sarah Palin were doing some big-person, lethal version of "I know you are, but what am I?"
America: "Well, respectfully, Governor Palin, it could be argued that you are, in fact, relatively inexperienced."
Her: "I know you are but what am I?"
"Hm? No, perhaps you misunderstood. We are talking about you."
"I know you are but what am I."
"Well, Governor, just listening to your speech, you seem awfully caustic."
"You are."
"And, frankly, a little bitter."
"You're bitter."
"I mean, where's your sense of humility?"
"I'm rubber, you're glue. It bounces off me and sticks to you."
"My God - you're... dangerous."
"I know you are, but what am I?"
Maybe that's the problem. Obama treats us like adults, and McCain's team treats us like children.
Obama seeks to inspire and raise us as a nation. McCain's people want to reduce us to infants.
Obama asks us to be deep. And courageous.
McCain prays that we're simple. And cowardly.
Now everyone is calling for Obama to "get angry." "Get out there and frown this way, curl your lip that way, and clench your fist like so." And, I don't know...That'd be cool. Sure. But I don't think the fix can come just from him. There's only so much the guy can do. It's going to have to be us. I don't know what exactly we need to do, but I know we'll do it. I have to believe--I mean I really have to believe we're big enough, strong enough and smart enough to reclaim what's ours. I love my children too much to let the assholes take over the school yard.
What with the dreariness of the repugicans lie and smear machine belching its foulness a little light and levity is in order...
Lyrics:
Shiny happy people laughing Meet me in the crowd People people Throw your love around Love me love me Take it into town Happy happy Put it in the ground Where the flowers grow Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands Shiny happy people laughing
Everyone around love them, love them Put it in your hands Take it take it Theres no time to cry Happy happy Put it in your heart Where tomorrow shines Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands Shiny happy people laughing *****
And don't forget ... you haven't made it as a band until you play with the Muppets!
Both sides now ... speaking with forked tongue ...
Huh?! And he asks a mayor/governor to be his veep? Oh, I get it! We are not supposed to pay attention to what he says and remember what he says! How stupid of me.
This year I see calendars where September the 11th is labeled as Patriot Day!
When did this happen and why?
Remembering the tragic events that occurred on that particular date in 2001 is all well and good ... but calling it Patriot Day is a gross disservice to those memories.
Point of fact ... September the 11th is Grandparents Day and has been for many years - I gave my grandparents a card and took them out to dinner way back in the day and my grandchildren give me cards and take me to dinner.
Want to know what McPain isn't telling you about him being a POW or his treatment of other POWs?
Over at BartCop on the BartBlog you can find some of the answers.
Former Congressmen Warn Troops: As Senator He Abandoned American POWs Trapped in Indochina; as President He’ll Abandon You Special to the U.S. Veteran Dispatch By former U.S. Congressmen Bill Hendon (R-NC) and John LeBoutillier (R-NY) August 16, 2008
“He [McCain] has told me several times over the years that the myth of live POWs was a cruel hoax on the families. He chaired hearings into the issue in the 1990s and found nothing. ‘The committee … pored over thousands of records and every claim of a sighting, no matter how outlandish,’ says Salter. ‘It was all untrue.’” Jonathan Alter, When Ross Perot Calls…, Newsweek.com January 16, 2008 ...
(Kindly note both authors are republicans as well as veterans.)
This refrigerator from Electrolux uses modular stacking mini-units to provide personal refrigeration compartments for everyone in the household -- it's designed for shared student accommodations:
Roommates often fall apart over the politics of the shared fridge. There’s always a roommate with low hygiene standards and another with sticky fingers and leftovers compulsion. With the Flatshare fridge, everyone gets there own very separate compartment that still has a tall section for bottles and a smaller side for veg and there can be no arguments about who’s turn it is to clean it out. When another roommate moves in, they can simply buy another unit to go on top.
I wonder if those using Tasers in the United States will heed this report?
"Perhaps there would have been a delay in implementation, or at least a limited deployment (e.g., to supervisors or their designates and to tactical squads)."
The review, which questions the safety of stun guns — especially when used on pregnant women, drug users or people with medical conditions — argues that there should be national standards to guide Taser use by police forces across the country. The standards could be developed with the help of the Canadian Firearms Centre and Public Safety Canada.
A federal appeals court has rejected a second attempt by a delivery man to claim a piece of Howard Hughes' fortune, a plight first dramatized by the 1980s Academy Award-winning "Melvin and Howard."
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a jury in 1978 already determined that a hand-scrawled will offered by Melvin Dummar as evidence wasn't authentic.
Dummar, of Brigham City, Utah, renewed his claim in 2006 after pilot Roberto Deiro came forward to say he dropped Hughes off at a Nevada brothel in December 1967, near where Dummar says he discovered Hughes face down and bloodied in the desert.
Dummar said the man claimed he was Hughes, but he didn't believe it until someone he said was Hughes' personal messenger delivered the handwritten will to the Brigham City gas station that Dummar owned.
Dummar claims Hughes left him $156 million in his will as a reward.
Dummar filed suit against Frank William Gay, a senior corporate officer for Hughes, and Hughes' cousin William Lummis, a major beneficiary of the Hughes estate, who settled the estate with 21 distant cousins after years of litigation.
Gay was included in the lawsuit because he was a senior executive for Hughes' enterprises.
"Obviously, we and the family of Mr. Gay are very pleased by the decision, and this finally puts an end to a matter that was resolved 30 years ago," said Peggy Tomsic, an attorney for Gay, who died in May.
A message left at a number listed for Dummar in Utah was not immediately returned as were phone and e-mail messages left for his attorney.
Dummar's appeal argued that Hughes' associates knew about Deiro, the pilot, but didn't disclose it at the original probate trial in 1977-78.
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court said Friday it was too late for Dummar to bring up claims of fraud and racketeering, saying the statute of limitations began in 1978 when a jury declared the handwritten will invalid.
Those testifying at the probate trial said Hughes never left his hotel in December 1967, which was contradicted when Deiro came forward four years ago, saying he routinely flew Hughes to brothels in rural Nevada and confirmed parts of Dummar's improbable story.
A woman who slashed a young mother's throat and kidnapped her newborn in rural eastern Missouri, setting off a frantic search that drew national attention, was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.
The woman Shannon Torrez attacked two years ago testified at her sentencing hearing. Stephenie Ochsenbine said she remembered being covered in blood and pleading with Torrez while her 1-year-old son, who also was covered in his mother's blood, watched the attack. "You gave me no regard and no caring to my pleading," she said to Torrez. Ochsenbine said she becomes panicked whenever she sees her attacker in court and whenever her children are out of her sight.
Torrez, 38, of Lonedell, entered an Alford plea in May to one count each of child kidnapping, armed criminal action and first-degree assault. She did not admit guilt with her plea but conceded there was enough evidence for a guilty verdict.
DUH!
Too lenient I tell you. The court went soft on Torrez, if you ask me. You do not mess with a kid!
