Meltdown Missions

Progressives are scaring themselves again.

PI picked the story up from DemocracyNow.

DemocracyNow picked it up from ArmyTimes where writers often hint of supposed-to-be-scary new government robogrunt programs are being prepared for the masses (you), but how many times do I have to tell you ArmyTimes is not affiliated with the Army, the government, or the military - but is a product of Gannett (ticker symbol GCI).

And of course DailyKos blogs the ArmyTimes story as: Army Unit To Deploy For Domestic Operations.

ArmyTimes: "The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys. Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

... this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities."

Hmmmm. Yes, NorthCom was established in 2002 but Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) was established in 1999.

ArmyTimes hint: "They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control..."

That's right folks, when the country collapses "they" are ready for ya, lest you rise up and assault them with your diet soda and keyboards.

Hacking Palin

An anonymous hacker has shared the contents of Palin's yahoo email account, which apparently revealed nothing incriminating - had there been we would be drowning in the staged outrage from the "left."

I did note progressive sites gleefully discussing the hacking with comments such as "ain't Karma a bitch" - the same folks who scream about invasion of privacy, illegal spying on citizens, government eavesdropping, etc. Lemme see if I have this right: It's godawful wrong to spy on potential Joe McVey Blow or Akhmad bin Abbar terror suspect but it's okay to read the mail of Republicans, especially their wimen folk?

When the emails revealed nothing to flog Palin with, the "progressive left" switched to claims of Palin Email Hack a Hoax by McCain Camp. A "perfect Rovian hoax."

Stop laughing, perfect rightwing hoaxing is serious business.

Politico posted an anti-Palin email from Anne Kilkenny, Wasilla resident and Democrat.

Kilkenny states: ... I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there ...

Thanks,
Anne

Lol. Of course Anne's opinion has been posted on websites far and wide. Yes, Anne, there are too many kooks out there ... so give 'em your name and email addy ... There are also disingenuous folks out there who think an "about Sarah Palin" email will not be posted "on any websites." Annie, you courageous thing, is that your own horn I hear blowing loud and clear?

Like Fine Wine

Ronettes


The Diamonds


Ben E. King & Juke

Half-Truths

RFK Jr. on HuffPo commenting on Westbrook Pegler: Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies."

WallStreetJournal: It tells us something about Sarah Palin's homage to small-town America, delivered to an enthusiastic GOP convention last week, that she chose to fire it up with an unsourced quotation from the all-time champion of fake populism, the belligerent right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler.

TPM comments: It appears that during her convention speech, Sarah Palin quoted an anonymous writer who, it turns out, once lamented that Franklin D. Roosevelt's would-be assassin hit the wrong man.

Frank Rich, NYT columnist, also called national attention to the grievous Palin pegler-lover.

Palin said: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity" attributing it to a writer but without naming Westbrook Pegler. (Her speech writer may have known the source but doubtful Palin did.)

So there you have it folks - Sarah is a flaming racist/bigot because she has used a 14 word sentence once uttered by the notorious and politically incorrect Pulitzer winning journalist for an exposé on corrupt Chicago union bosses, a rightwing Hearst newspaper columnist - Westbrook Pegler.

How much more proof do you need that McCain/Palin will order all not-white-enough folks into those concentration camps that Halliburton built?

Reading just the tidbits from the above mentioned sites you would have the impression Pegler was a racist, Jew hating, lynch mob supporter, anti-labor, fascist, Nazi lover, avowed racist, and an all round miserable, despicable soul.

Pegler was an anti-communist Catholic married to a Jewish woman who was also a journalist, Julia Harpman. He often wrote columns pretending to be someone else, i.e. to be Jimmy Hoffa in a column attacking RFK - which is probably where RFK Jr. got his quote. I can't believe I'm reading and thinking Jonah Goldberg makes more sense these days.

Pegler was also a critic of the FBI and DOJ.

Amazing at the press freedom on a national basis in that era. I suppose the distasteful Pegler would be the Coulter or Limbaugh of his day.

The lynching story is a 1936 column Pegler wrote in support of a mob who lynched 2 (white) men in California charged with murder and kidnapping.

I note Kos Diarist and other wannabe famous crud bloggers are omitting the word "white" when posting the lynch mob story. We know why that is, don't we? And it's an insult to the intellect because I know a sorry ass attempt at propaganda and half-truths when I see it. My knee is not jerking.

MAC

Have I mentioned the military-academic complex?

In 2002, an Association of American Universities report noted that nearly 350 colleges and universities were conducting research under funding by the Department of Defense, and that universities were receiving more than 60 percent of defense basic research funding.

Since 1802, when Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy, America has been formally melding higher education and the art of warfare. The second is the militarized civilian university--since World War II and the emergence of the national security state, civilian educational institutions have increasingly become engaged in the pursuit of enhanced war-making abilities.

DePaul College of Law professor Barry Kellman received a $30,000 grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency for his part in something called a Bio-Security Matrix Feasibility Assessment. When asked for the practical application of this typically cryptic project, it was explained that the assessment aimed to "weave together a matrix of the many international organizations that have partial responsibility for preventing bioterrorism."

---- Quite a web to weave ... Amounts for 2007 here. So go ahead and protest those recruiting offices on campus, just don't bother the dean about DoD funds, which could range as much as $42,000,000 (Duke U) in a fiscal year.

Whiteguy Avenger

Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk. Comicbook marvels.

And now, Tim Wise - White Privilege, White Entitlement and the 2008 Election. Ta-da. Fluff writing white bro passing for serious shit.

A list written by Tim Wise, for those who "still can't grasp the concept of white privilege." Is that white condescension trying to masquerade as goodness or what?

TIM: White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay."

KAB: It will be "white privilege" when Bristol is pregnant with baby #4 with no daddies around and selling food funds from her EBT card for 50 cents on the dollar so she can get her hair and nails done for Saturday night clubbing, and defenders claim she is not irresponsible - she just cannot escape her circumstances because "the man" keeps her down.

TIM: White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

KAB: It would be "white privilege" if Palin got away with admitting she spent part of her education living in a pot haze and a "little blow when it was affordable" and could get a lucrative autobiographical book deal while still a relative nobody and schmucking around with the Chicago political machine. It would be "white privilege" if Palin was head of a law review and law professor who left almost no paper trail of legal thought but was labeled a gifted legal eagle anyway.

TIM: White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."

KAB: It would be privilege when your tenure as state Senator is not examined closely, when you mistakenly vote the wrong way on issues - oops. And people wouldn't piss on themselves laughing because registering community voters for the machine behind you is a really hard test for a Harvard scholar who wrote all of 1 paper for HLR.

TIM: White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office - since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s - while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

KAB: No, it would be "white privilege" if Palin sat for 20 years in a church dancing to the tune of God Damns America because of Rich Black Folk and she can get away with calling it White Liberation Theology.

TIM: White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

KAB: No, white privilege would be if Palin had knowingly for years wined, dined, socialized, and conducted business with a corrupt political machine and its slum lords, but it is okay because her defenders swear those ties were innocent, and not be bashed for being naive.

TIM: White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.

KAB: No, it would be white privilege if folks believed that being tailed in a department store or being pulled over for driving while black is equally horrendous to 5-1/2 years in a POW camp.

TIM: White privilege is, in short, the problem.

KAB: No, the problem, in short, are self-appointed "leaders" who have made careers from hustling whitey. Or as Booker T. Washington called them - those "problem profiteers."

Gaming Blame & Change

Listening to back to back spiels earlier today from both Obama and McCain on the latest economic "crisis" and reading a few liberal bloggers comment on the why and how of it all - it's obvious most of the public depend on their favorite icons to tell them what to think and who to blame.

For instance, some folks were connecting McCain and the Keating Five to the current banking mess. Huh? Do people really believe they can lay the blame on any and all members of the opposition? Are these folks 18y/o, on their first job and new to grown-up life?

Economies always go through boom and bust cycles, a-l-w-a-y-s. Some cycles worse than others. Today's economic atmosphere is similar to the 1970s and '80s - although not as bad, yet. That's right, not as bad, yet. The misery index for 1980 was 22%, today it is 11.3 and climbing.

If you want to blame particulars for today's crisis you could go back a few years. To the Carter reign when money lending change began. Back to the DIDMCA (Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980) cosponsored by democrat senator William Proxmire and signed into law by Jimmah Carter. Jimmah said, "As you know, under existing law, which this bill will change, our banks and savings institutions are hampered by a wide range of outdated, unfair, and unworkable regulations." That's right - money changers were hampered, dammit.

The "crisis" was banking/lending and real estate back then too. (Why do we never have a crisis that would be good for us - say a crash of the fast food industry, the fall of BigPharma drugging grampa's erectile dysfunction and little Johnny's ADHD industry, or an utter and complete collapse of the entertainment industry?)

Then there was the "Tax Reform Act of 1986" also known as the Bradley-Gephardt bill, Bill Bradley and Dick Gephardt, both Democrats. Touted as fair and sensible tax reform - it was to close tax shelter loopholes and reduce taxes. It was the era of yuppyism and beemers and mergers. Garn-St. Germain didn't help things either.

The "pay-off" for these bipartisan works and dozens of other monetary bills and acts, was to benefit everyone, even if the US ruling class had to outsource and offshore every job not nailed to the floor, and give Joe Average more "service" work (flipping burgers and wiping butts for minimum wage). And wouldn't ya know it, at the same time we had to import illegal workers to do the jobs Americans would not do - you know, like construction, landscaping, farming, housekeeping, nanny work .... and taxes rose on the lower classes from 11% to 15% - oops.

Meanwhile back at the White's House ,Clinton was signing Nafta and shafta. Clinton continued the Reaganista dreams, as overseer of central-bank autonomy, deregulated markets, liberalized capital flows, free trade, and privatization. Not to mention spending your tax dollars to bailout other economies such as Russia, Japan, Mexico, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Most bailouts were under the auspice of the IMF but the US holds a lot of "quota" and voting power for who does and does not get loans.

The IMF, along with World Bank, are dirty words in "progressive" circles, although most followers carrying those "down with IMF/WB" signs are quite clueless as to how the world works. Sometimes I wonder why all the hue and cry because The World Bank is pledged to the UN-backed Millennium Development Goals, to reduce poverty - a goal and organization which progressives claim to support and look to for UN approval.

Critics of IMF/WB argue that loans and long-term agreements lock countries into aid dependency. Shusssssh - kind of like the locked in welfare dependency here in the 'hood. And the World Bank was good enough for Obama's flowerchild mama to work as a consultant for .... so by golly it should be good enough for today's progressives.

It is the developing world and giants such as India and China who want more IMF/WB powers. So while progressive anti-globalization icons are shouting down with IMF/WB their goal is not to end globalization but to make it better globalization. With them in charge of doling out the money - just changing the faces of the money changers.

Pinkster Medea Benjamin calls IMF/WB and WTO the "unholy trinity." In this interview she preaches the usual sermon about putting more money into public programs, otherwise known as the war on poverty, which we know is a failure, and by the way all the "humanitarian aid" from do-gooders has killed more people in Africa than the US military ever will.

The trendy election cycle mantra for grassrooters is mo' money for infrastructure and healthcare. Infrastructure - what does that mean to Joe Average? Roads, schools, hospitals? Don't ask me why healthcare and infrastructure were not hotly targeted for "change" when the Clintons, the democrats, and progressives were living in the White House for 8 years.

National Priorities has an interesting interactive chart. Pull down the State and city and see how much the median income family spends on defense, education, health, etc. Not mentioned is how much tax refund the median income family receives, if any. The top 4 costs on locations I checked were the military, health, payment on national debt, and anti-poverty programs, in that order. Education and social services held the 5th spot.

You can also select and see what the trade-offs would be. For instance, if the State of California used the FY 2009 tax cut for the richest 10% for housing instead - they could provide 44,000 affordable housing units. Who will pay shady contractors for rehabbing the units every couple of years is any one's guess. Nor is there any description of the size or type of units this trade-off would provide or how many years would pass before taxpayers get to fund gentrification of the area. See Cabrini Green and Obama. "Affordable housing" is feel-good code for da projects and/or other shoddy government housing.

The costs of the military, health/education, welfare, have remained pretty constant the past 15 years, at least according to this chart.















But be afraid, very afraid - because fear and blame are all that motivates the public to vote every 4 years.

Liars & Crooks

CREW's report. (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington).

The 20 most corrupt members of Congress:
* Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
* Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
* Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
* Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
* Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-NY)
* Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
* Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
* Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
* Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL)
* Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
* Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
* Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
* Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
* Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
* Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
* Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY)
* Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
* Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
* Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
* Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

Dishonorable mentions:
* Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
* Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)
* Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
* Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH)

Big Guns Shoot Nits

Charles Pena at Antiwar writes What $700 Billion?: In accepting the nomination as the Republican candidate for U.S. president, Sen. John McCain proclaimed that if elected, "We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much." One can't help but wonder what $700 billion the good senator is talking about. ... Apparently, the $700 billion is money we're spending for energy, presumably foreign oil."

---- Now, presumably Mr. Pena is an educated fellow from Cato and various and sundry other institutions, agencies, and programs to his credibility, and not to defend John McCodger's stump, but "energy" includes more than just "foreign oil." Maybe Pena used his Simple Sheople template?

I looked in at Factcheck to see their take on McCain's 700 billion. I read Factcheck with a grain or two of salt as they are funded by the Annenberg Foundation which Obama and Ayers served, and regardless how nonpartisan an organization claims to be they still have to look to the hand that feeds them. I don't give them a lot of credibility because there does not seem to be much fact checking on issues that mean anything - they appear to pick their nits from the leading icons of the political blogosphere. Besides, we all know stats and information can be juggled to suit the desired conclusion.

FC says: In fact, the U.S. doesn't pay nearly that much for oil from hostile nations. According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. imported 4.9 billion barrels of oil in 2007. At today’s prices, that works out to about $536 billion, still a hefty chunk of change, but considerably less than $700 billion. More important, that's what we pay to all exporting nations, not just those that “don’t like us very much.” We note that 32 percent of U.S. oil imports came from Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Hmmm, I always have a problem with folks who begin their declarations with "In fact." It's usually a signal that bullshit is on the way.

McCain doesn't specifically state the 700 figure is for oil alone. And that was not my first impression, and it did not sound outrageously over stated to my ear. Nor did he claim that amount is sent to "hostile nations" but to countries which "don't like us very much" (the whole world doesn't like us if you believe "progressives").

Not only oil, but the US imports large reserves of natural gas from countries like Qatar, Iran, Russia, Angola, Yemen, Algeria, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago. EIA import volumes for gas by country. Multinationals have already rushed to build facilities to import more.

We also import small amounts of coal from Indonesia and Venezuela. (Last time I looked Hugo didn't like us very much.) The US imports fuel ethanol from Brazil, Costa Rica, and China. Nuclear fuel is also imported, mainly from the Netherlands and Russia. Russia not our best friend anymore either. In 2007, America spent $5.5 billion to buy nuclear fuels and related materials from other supplying countries – a 39% gain from last year and a 91.3% rise since 2003.

Due to that pesky thing called "global trade" and trade with countries that don't like us very much, the US also imports materials for extraction, delivery, storage, processing, and producing the above energy, i.e. metal alloys, titanium, zirconium, polymers, glass, plastics, ceramics, steel, rubber, etc. etc. and the costs of economic, military, and humanitarian aid to countries that don't like us very much but like the US$. (Plus the war to keep Iraqi oil safe for Royal Dutch.)

In fact, winkywink, there is a lot more to energy costs than just the price on a barrel of oil.

Flap Flap Flap

Obama put lipstick on a pig in Lebanon, Virginia.



Of course Barack knew his audience would associate the remark with Palin - the audience response is evidence of that. Of course Obama knew lipstick/pig is a common phrase, which would give him plausible denial when the McCain camp jumped on the comment, which of course he knew they would.

What irritates me more with this clip is Obama's lapsing into his street cred pose - the enunciation of policy as "paw-luh-cee" and worse each time he says it, and the slight slouch and bounce in his posture - but maybe that's how folks in Virginia like their deliverance.

Legacies to the Left of Me

The Democratic Promise: Saul Alinsky and His Legacy - Documentary blurp: "Alinsky's hard-nosed politics were shaped by the rough and tumble world of late 1930's Chicago. Back then, the city, still in the grips of the Great Depression, was controlled by the Kelly-Nash political machine and by Frank Nitti - heir to Al Capone's Mafia empire. In 1938, with a freshly minted graduate degree in criminology from University of Chicago, Alinsky went to work for sociologist Clifford Shaw at the Institute for Juvenile Research. He was assigned to research the causes of juvenile delinquency in Chicago's tough "Back-of-the-Yards" neighborhood. In order to study gang behavior from the inside, Alinsky ingratiated himself with Al Capone's crowd, and came to realize that criminal behavior was a symptom of poverty and powerlessness."

Another blurp: Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote, "Power concedes nothing without demand." THE DEMOCRATIC PROMISE: SAUL ALINSKY AND HIS LEGACY is the story of ordinary people making demands for the power to govern their own lives. Narrated by Alec Baldwin, the documentary examines both the history of community organizing - through the work of Saul Alinsky - as well as the current state of community organizing, as shown by contemporary organizations in New York and Texas.

How can ya not win over the hearts and minds of disempowered folks when using the names of Douglass, Baldwin, and Capone. A Black icon, a Hollywood beefcake, and a member of the romanticized Mafioso. Who better to learn community organizing from than an international street gang? Badabing.

Note I use the word disempowered meaning you have been deprived of power/authority, but the "Left" prefers "disenfranchised," meaning you have been deprived of some privilege. The Left/progressives do like the term "empowerment," particularly the women's movement, meaning "official authority" usually to act on someones behalf. The World Bank also likes to use the term "empowerment." It may be code for "here let me do that for you while I pick your pocket and screw your children."

Alinsky is considered the pioneer, the father of "community organizing." An icon of the '60s social movements and influence on many today. Hillary Clinton's senior thesis at Wellesley College was on Alinsky, There Is Only The Fight...": An Analysis of the Alinsky Model. In the '80s Alinsky disciples hired Obama as a Chicago community organizer.

When I was young and dumb Saul was an icon of mine too. His theory is to organize and select a leader to take your fight to the man ... as we can see, the "leaders" usually do quite well after they meet with "the man" but I fail to see where the little people have benefited much with Alinsky's methods.

Alinsky "came to realize that criminal behavior was a symptom of poverty and powerlessness." Hmmm, I grew up poor among other poor folks and we never considered crime an option. But that was an era of parents without societal excuses, when delinquency and thuggery were a family shame - not a ghetto badge of manhood, or a symptom of something outside mom and dad's control that could be cured with mo' money.

And how does Saul explain the rich and powerful who exhibit criminal behavior just as often as those in poverty? Explain to me how the hundreds of folks I have known in Central America, decent and generous, who would literally give you the shirt off their back, their last bowl of soup, living in the worst poverty, and live so without criminal behavior.

This docudrama "is the story of ordinary people making demands for the power to govern their own lives." Alinsky may have improved the lives of some in his era - but it has since become that making demands translates to electing community leaders to squeeze more funds from BigDaddy Government and in exchange, Government Authority will run your dependent little life for you. If you cannot squeeze enough to meet your demands and you choose crime - then you can say "the government made me do it."

We have transformed into a nation of ordinary thugs and thieves, from top to bottom, with too many folks looking for a way to extort ("get over on") someone or something, where simple day-to-day respect for others is the exception rather than the rule. We are the least self-governing society I know - preferring to be government franchised (privileged) rather than accepting authority over our lives.

Looking back I don't know if guys like Alinsky began their theories and careers with sincerity or if they were manipulating the public for their own ego and financial gain, and/or political ideology - when you get in bed with dogs like the Capone crowd you usually get up with fleas. Not to mention the US is run like an organized crime ring with most folks awaiting their allotted share from the family don.

I'm the least religious person I know, but I sometimes think of the phrase about false prophets and ye shall know them by their fruits. And looking around in the year 2008, America is in no better position with the legacy/fruits of Saul Alinsky or his disciples.

Ever Wonder

I'm wondering: Obama and his handlers have, more or less, portrayed Barack as the product of a single parent household, where at times his Kansas momma used food stamps; a boy with simple working class grandparents.

So who paid tuition for his private prep school in Hawaii (the school today runs about $17,000 per year)? His first 2 college years before Columbia U were at Occidental, another private Ivy type college. This website says Obama at Occidental was on a scholarship but not what type - I've read elsewhere it was an athletic scholarship. Seems to me Bubba that Barry was not the brilliant scholar until later.

How did Obama manage to fund his way through Columbia University and Harvard (his daddy's alma mater)? He claims to have "worked his way" through college but according to Factcheck Barack had 3 summer jobs during his college career - construction, deli worker, telemarketing - hardly sufficient for the Ivy League schools above. He also says student loans paid his way but his years at Columbia and Harvard were during the Reagan era when higher education loans and grants were hit hard by Ronnie and Poppy Bush. Even so, student loans are not enough to pay for an Ivy League education. Myself and other family members know what it means to "work your way through college" and it's working 12 months of the year - not just summers wrapping lunchmeat or teledialing. Even with "affirmative action" and special minority grants an Ivy league education carries a hefty price tag. And do you know how difficult it is to get into Columbia or Harvard?

Did his grandparents help? Obama has never said they contributed financially to his education. Nor has he credited his father, stepfather, or his mother; Stanley Ann seems to have spent a good deal of her life as a struggling student.

Obama's years between Columbia and Harvard (approx 1983-1988) were spent in Chicago "Black community organizing." Sometimes I read this is low paid altruistic work, other times it's nice work if you can get it. Obama's biggest claim to organizing fame was registering voters for the Chicago Democrat machine. In either case it's doubtful Obama was pinching pennies to save for Harvard law school. During his community organizing he joined Rev. Wright's Trinity church, where he apparently napped during Jeremiah's fiery tirades about whitey's America.

In an interview with Percy Sutton, an aging Harlem politician and Malcolm X lawyer, it was said that back in the 1980s Donald Warden a.k.a. Khalid al Mansour had lobbied for Saudi prince Alaweed bin Talal to fund Barry's education. But left/progressive bloggers and Obama's camp are denying this story.

I cannot find enough teeth in the story to believe it or disbelieve it. I tend to think there may be a grain of truth as Obama's connections to Tony Rezko and possibly Nadhmi Auchi have been discussed here numerous times, hence other Middle East connections would not be a stretch. Is Percy Sutton senile? Is Warden/Mansour godfather to Obama? Or is it a rightwing conspiracy theory to push Obama with radical Islam connections?

I do believe Obama is not what he appears to be and his backers are not who we are led to believe. Odd as it may sound, Obama may be politically backed by the same folks behind BushCo - but regardless who they back the goal over the past 30 years has been the destruction of the US, which they seem close to accomplishing.

Which makes me wonder why so many "progressives" want to see the collapse of their own country. What the hell do they think will replace it?

I also wonder why mainstream media has not made more noise over Obama's shady connections. Oh sure, they've mentioned Bill Ayers but he's no longer a bomb building anti-establishment type. Which makes me ask - how come so many radical felonious folks rose from the underground to become well-paid "respectable" members of the status quo? Ever wonder why so many medal tossing long haired flag burners became life-long members of the political establishment? Ever wonder why all the "social" movements in the '60s ended overnight?

Ever wonder why Obama wants to change the education system since it apparently worked so well for him, the fatherless child of a Kansas mother?

Ever wonder if almost everything you think you know is mere b.s.?

Swines

CAGW’s (Citizens Against Government Waste) 2007 Congressional Ratings came out yesterday and you may be wondering how the presidential nominees did.

• Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) 2007 rating was 10 percent, making his lifetime score 18 percent. The 2008 Congressional Pig Book contained 53 earmarks worth $97.4 million for Sen. Obama, including $1,648,850 for the Shedd Aquarium.

• Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) received the worst possible rating in 2007 with 0 percent, while his lifetime rating is 22 percent. According to the Pig Book, Sen. Biden had 70 earmarks for a total of $119.7 million in fiscal year 2008, including $246,100 for the Grand Opera House in Wilmington.

• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) received a score of 100* percent and has a lifetime rating of 88, has never requested nor received a single earmark, and has pledged to veto any spending bill that contains any earmarks.

*Sen. McCain was only present for 11 of the 35 Senate votes that CCAGW tallied. Therefore, he was not eligible for the Taxpayer Super Hero Award.

Alaska Storybook

“Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean”

“So Sambo beat the bitch!”

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”

------------ This could be true of Palin, but I need more than hearsay. Surely someone this racist has been caught on tape, a la Biden with his 7/11 store and Indian accent comment. Surely someone brave will come forward with their hand on a Bible and swear Palin is a racist.

Remember Biden's more recent comment : "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Obama and Jesse Jackson both claimed Joe B.'s remark was not offensive ... but you can bet that's not what they said in private about it.

Republicans are often open and blunt with their racism - Democrats more subtle (Osambo is clean, bright, and good-looking). No pol from either group has been caught yet doing a Dog the Bounty Hunter rant or Rush Limbigot tirade.

(I have family members who have lived in Alaska for many years. They tell me Palin has done a lot of good for the people in her short time as governor. Alaska's PFD (Permanent Fund Dividend) checks have risen to $2069 with a bonus of $1200 this year to help with fuel costs. Every eligible man, woman, child receives a PFD check. They agree with Palin's stand on environmental and drilling issues. I also believe Alaska is a strange place - having attracted a lot of social escapists from the lower 48.)

Also of note, Todd Palin is of Yu'pik Eskimo descent. Sarah Palin writes that "... her family has been ''blessed'' by learning Yup'ik traditions and stories from Helena Andree, her children's great-grandmother and a one-time Bristol Bay Native Corporation Elder of the Year. The Palins named their oldest daughter ''Bristol'' in honor of the region many of their family members still call home."

Opponents have rushed to claim Todd Palin is not Eskimo enough - is he 1/8 or 1/4? Although the same not-enoughers will label anyone with 1/8 or 1/4 Negro heritage as being black enough. By the way, some folks say the word "Eskimo" is not politically correct, it should be Inuit or Indian, but most Eskimos don't mind being called Eskimos and not all Eskimos are Inuit.

The questions are: Is Palin a mean racist? is Hillary a bitch, is Obama the first clean Negro? Are Joe Bid and John Mac lovable old crackers? Hmmm, not much changes in politics.

Mavericks & Militant/Milquetoast

Progressives are picking Palin apart and finding nothing of importance to zoom in on. They claim the bridge to nowhere thanks but no thanks was a lie, but I think I would put that pork at Senator Ted Stevens feet. Progressives need to be careful trying to link the inexperienced newbie Palin to oldhand Stevens - it might cause folks to focus on Obama's long-time connections to the Chicago Machine.

As always in the carnival of presidential runs the issues have become brief sound bytes, and the focus heavy on personalities who promise to make you better off. Magically you will be given more money, education, healthcare, housing, and jobs - the American dream. All you have to do is get off the couch for a day and mark the ballot.

It's the Two Mavericks versus the Militant & Seasoned Milquetoast.

Progressives are playing the race card every chance they get - but it's a bridge stretched too far to believe. For example: an LA Times opinionator: "Elitist" is another word for "arrogant," which is another word for "uppity," that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves."

Or this from The Hill : "Democrats have charged that the Republican campaign to paint the Illinois senator as an “elitist” is racially charged, and accused them of using code words for “uppity” without using the word itself." Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) told reporters, “When I hear the word ‘elitist’ linked with Barack Obama, to me, that is a code word for 'uppity.' I find it extremely offensive and John McCain should know better.”

Oh please. Elitist is not code for "uppity." It's the word for belonging to a group that believes themselves superior in knowledge or taste. And if you listen objectively to Michelle and Barack they are at times speaking New Snobbish. Acquiring money and status often does that to folks. Remember Michelle's joking about buying a $600 pair of earrings with the stimulus check. Or Obama's dismay over the price of arugula. How many of their followers can pay $600 bucks for baubles; how many had to ask what's arugula?

Progressives are also playing the "theocracy" card, Palin says Iraq war is 'task from God'. Been there done that with GW Bush. Has society moved any closer to a theocratic state in the last 8 years? "Liberation theology" in goddamn America is okay though.

Progressives sneer about McCain's pick of VP as being the typical impulsive and erratic "going with the gut" decision of McCain. I thought progressives encouraged getting in touch with the inner self, trusting your instincts, etc., yet Obama picking DC insider Biden was calculated to "get under McCain's skin." Skin and gut politics.

One of my favorites stumbled on this week is this: " Max Blumenthal of The Nation reports last week, while the media focused almost obsessively on the DNC’s spectacle in Denver, the country’s most influential conservatives met quietly at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis to get to know Sarah Palin. The assembled were members of the Council for National Policy, an ultra-secretive cabal that networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy."

Hahahaha, "ultra-secretive cabal." Sure, I don't know where their next meeting will be held but you can read previous speeches online from various evil-doing Christians, Mormons, Pentecostal, Catholics, etc. My god, look at that, novelist Tom Clancy is a cabalist at CNP.

Not to slight anyone, progressives also have a "secretive left-wing group" Tides: What makes the pairing with Tides troubling is that organization's secretive funneling of cash from private foundations -- such as Heinz, the Pew Charitable Trusts and many others -- to extreme left-wing activist groups whose interests include exclusion of humans from both public and private lands, anti-war protests, opposition to free trade, banning of firearms, abolition of the death penalty, unlimited abortion rights, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy, as well as and environmental extremism.

Progressives make us self-indulgent degenerates and conservatives keep us vulgarly poor, is that it?

Progressives are sooooo pee'ohd because Republicans trumped them. The old man maverick chose not only a young pol with more than enough charisma to match Obama - but a woman - surely Hillary grinds her bleached teeth at her own party's good ol' boy sexist snub. Hahaha - the feeble cries of sexism from Hillary supporters now claim there is nothing sexist about the jabs at Sarah Barracuda.

And no matter how hard progressives spin Obama's Indonesian/Hawaiian prep school, surrounded by educated role models and banking executive white granny - it will never reflect the typical Black childhood experience in America. And then the Republicans have the gall to give us a small town, basketball playin' hunter and fisherwoman, wife and working mother of 5 with an unwed pregnant teen daughter who we little folks are supposed to relate to. The nerve.

I dunno folks. It seems democrats/progressives had their brains sucked out and have been on their knees ever since Bill lied about those blowjobs. Republicans have made Democrats their bitch, is that it?

High-Rollers

GENEVA (Reuters) - George Clooney has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama by headlining an exclusive event for Americans in Geneva, one of the world's most affluent cities.

Dressed in a black suit and tie, Clooney signed autographs but did not comment as he squeezed his way past fans gathered in the narrow streets of Geneva.

Some 170 contributors paid $1,000 a head to hear him speak at a cocktail party held at a museum in Geneva's Old Town.

And 75 high-rolling supporters spent $10,000 each to attend "an intimate seated dinner" with the 47-year-old star which followed at the organizer's nearby apartment, according to the American lawyer who set up the twin "private" events.

Earlier, organizer Charles Adams said on local morning radio that the event was "fully subscribed."

"Actually most of our guests for dinner are coming from elsewhere -- people are flying in from Los Angeles, Prague, London, Zurich and so on," said Adams, who serves on Obama's National Finance Committee.

"I personally assured George Clooney that Geneva is a city where reserve is a way of life, that he won't be attacked by fans trying to tear off his shirt," he told the daily Le Temps.

The two events could infuse more than $900,000 into the Democratic war chest ahead of the November 4 election which pits the Illinois senator against Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is due to be formally nominated on Wednesday.

In keeping with U.S. laws, only American citizens were allowed to buy tickets to the fundraiser which has had normally sober Geneva buzzing.

Guru - Naomi Klein

Klein is touted by some as the new Chomsky. Here at CommonDreams she defends her book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism against "attacks" from the right.

Personally, I think Klein is just interested in pushing the book as long as possible. The public seems to lose interest quickly from one "bestseller" on the list to the next and it takes a lot of blow and hard to keep your book front and center at the cash register.

Klein addresses one such attack on The Shock Doctrine, from Jonathan Chait in an article at The New Republic, title Dead Left. Lol, how appropriate.

Klein claims she resisted responding to the "attacks" but now feels compelled to do so for her fans have spoken and request it.

It seems some disagree with Klein's portrayal of Milton Friedman as a supporter of the Iraq war.

KLEIN: I am not the one who should be embarrassed. Despite his later protestations, Milton Friedman openly supported the war when it was being waged. In April 2003, Friedman told the German magazine Focus that "President Bush only wanted war because anything else would have threatened the freedom and the prosperity of the USA." Asked about increased tensions between the U.S. and Europe, Friedman replied: "the end justifies the means. As soon as we're rid of Saddam, the political differences will also disappear." [Read the whole interview in German and our translation.] Clearly this was not the voice of anti-intervention. Even in July 2006, when Friedman claimed to have opposed the war from the beginning, he remained hawkish. Now that the U.S. was in Iraq, Friedman told The Wall Street Journal, "it seems to me very important that we make a success of it."

Why, I don't know, but I did my own translation and came up with more or less the same version as Klein's translation - however, I did not draw the same conclusion, that of Friedman clearly being "not the voice of anti-intervention." Friedman did not sound particularly pro- or anti-intervention in Iraq, but he did appear to support one of the leftwing's foe/faux talking points - "tax cuts for the rich".

Friedman: The only right way is tax cuts. Then the government is forced to spend less.
FOCUS: But then the gap between high and low wage earners increases.
Friedman: Naturally those with the highest tax rate profit first. But they use their tax savings not only to eat or drink more. No, they invest – and that gets the economy going and helps all citizens in the long term.

Chait at TNR writes a much more articulate piece, and Klein's rebuttal is quite puny. But as she says, she was " clinging to summer vacation" ... before feeling the necessity to address the "attacks" for her fans.

All I can say is if you have read the old fart libertarian, anti-intervention, small government Friedman, have read Klein's work, and are objective you will have to conclude Klein is out of her league with this one.

Her arguments and conclusions in The Shock Doctrine are what's disastrous - largely tweaking facts to fit her audience, which seem to be "young radicals." Even if very few radicals actually read her book - they buy her rhetoric. The more radical of the "conspiracy" radicals are disappointed with her 9/11 stance, rightly so, as she takes the safe no-government-involvement road, the same as Chomsky - these two stand a little to the left side of the gate, keeping their audiences safely corralled, and some frustrated.

Question: Have you noticed how so many of the "young radicals" are also extremely anti-Zionist, anti-AIPAC controlled congress, US bowing before Israel, those five dancing Israeli, yadayada, etc. yet most of their intellectual gurus are Jewish?

As for Friedman's statement on the Iraq War in the WSJ "... it seems to me very important that we make a success of it," well Naomi, many of us who protested the war have come to the same conclusion. As to what Klein has done for the anti-corporate globalization movement, she's about 28 years too late.

Palin Slashes Funding

WaPo : Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.

After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Inking her initials on the legislation -- "SP" -- Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.

According to Passage House's web site, its purpose is to provide "young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives" and help teen moms "become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families."

"The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.

--------- I wasn't going to bother with the Palin pregnancy hairballs but changed my mind. Seems this is the "news" for most progressive pundits who know their audience.

(Disclaimer: I support no political party.)

Palin cutting funds in Alaska doesn't bother me one way or the other for the simple fact that the programs aimed at troubled youth, and particularly teen mothers/pregnancy, have taught few to become "productive, successful, independent adults" and when they do it is the exception - not the rule.

Children need to be mentored long before they are troubled teens and temp shelters are not the outreach I would choose. Honest, involved, loving parents might work. But for some unknown reason the State and/or society cannot interfere with parenting - until the damaged results are kicked to the curb.

The above traits - productive and independent, used to be part of parenting - not State funded charities. The State fails miserably when attempting to re-do what's left of throw-away children. And there are those scandals of authorities physically and sexually abusing the very children they are charged to protect. Not to mention the siphoning and corruption of funds.

Why is it that society has thrown billions at social programs for 40 years and yet the crisis deepen? When will society approach the problem at the core rather than waiting until the victim is a troubled runaway? Because we don't have the right to interfere with parents? So we can ignore the messes and horrors, and then fund attempts to clean up a fraction of the ruined lives?

Often it's the blind leading the blind and you cannot teach what you yourself do not know. But you would think success is rampant if you attend the charity fundraisers. They're gonna put themselves out of business if they're not careful.

Covenant House, founded by 2 New York priests, is a faith-based international program and "the largest privately-funded childcare agency in the United States providing shelter and services to homeless and runaway youth."

Passage House , an offspring of Covenant House, is a 10-bed residential program for "pregnant and parenting women ages 17-20" in Alaska.

Palin must have been very saddened by her daughter's pregnancy, because regardless of how well you think you're doing the job of parenting, you will blame yourself for the mistakes your children make - you will ask yourself where did I go wrong, where did I fail. (Unless you're the Casey Anthony family living blissfully self-deluded, and always have been to produce a daughter such as Casey.)

Modern parenting - all appearance and little substance.

Palin says she does not support funding for "explicit sex-ed programs." Note the word "explicit." I agree. It is not the State's job to teach my children how a condom is used.

What are parents teaching children if the State needs to teach explicit sex education? Our children are exposed 24/7 from all media directions with sex education - however, crude and pornographic it may be, and many are exposed to anything and everything at home by the parents.

Are you unaware of what today's teens are uploading and watching on the internet?

I have no problem with children learning the biology of reproduction in school - they do not need demonstrations on how to unroll a rubber.

The progressive howling about Palin's "slashing" funds for a charity in Alaska is hype. If this is all they have to make her ugly they'll need to dig deeper.

Maybe the accusation she pressured someone to get her former brother-in-law fired will do the trick, although he's still working. I read somewhere the brother-in-law, 4 times married and divorced Mike Wooten, used a taser on his 11-year-old stepson, poached game, drank in his patrol car, threatened Palin's dad would "eat a f*cking lead bullet" if he helped his daughter (Palin's sister) get an attorney - maybe that's why progressives are not running harder with that accusation.

All That Money ...

... and she wears this ??

The End of Unlimited Internet?

Get ready to say goodbye to unlimited Internet access.

Last week, Comcast -- the second-largest Internet service provider in the country -- announced that starting Oct. 1 it would officially set a threshold for monthly Internet usage.

In an online announcement, the service provider said that although it already contacts residential customers who use excessive amounts of bandwidth, it had never provided a specific limit. Now, Comcast said it will amend its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of monthly usage.

----Ka-ching ka-ching.

Far Phony & Desperate

Kos diarist is claiming Sarah Palin's last child is really her grandson - the child of her teen daughter. A few pics of mom not large enough at 7 months, according to Kos diarist, and a couple of pics of her daughter with a tummy bulge is evidence.

As "proof" of something Diarist says: "Sarah began leaking amniotic fluid. Instead of checking into a hospital, she instead made a call to her doctor, and delivered the keynote speech. The oddities only grow from here on, as instead of rushing to a Dallas medical facility that could treat a mother who's amniotic fluid has been draining for hours on end (made even more crucial due to the fact that this is occurring a full month prematurely), Sarah & Todd instead opted to... Fly all the way back from Texas to Alaska. A dangerous choice, as with each pregnancy (once again, in this case after four previous), a mother's window of labor to delivery grows shorter and shorter."

----My water leaked with one of my pregancies - it was a holiday season and I continued on with shopping and other preparations for 24 hours before going to the hospital. And after multiple pregancies the labor and deliveries grow longer again, a physician once explained it to me as the result of uterine muscles not working as well with multiple pregancies. Labor and delivery window gets longer again usually after birth #3.

The Kos Diarist's facts about Down syndrome are also misleading. Down syndrome is more common in older women but more are born to younger women because of the "overall fertility" of that age group. The Kos Diarist must have gotten his data from wiki.

Kos Diarist states: "Eight months pregnant. A 6.2 pound fetus. No one notices a visible trace. By the third trimester, a perfectly fit woman not wearing anything less than a space suit should be easily spotted as pregnant."

Not true - with a couple of my children I was still able to wear my jeans (unbuttoned/unzipped) and a baggy shirt into the eighth month. Here's a clue - good stomach muscles keep many women looking smaller in the third trimester. Good stomach muscles are from exercise and diet before pregnancy in the "perfectly fit woman". Not every woman wants to flaunt her pregnancy with tight clothing, like so many trendy celebrities seem to enjoy doing these days.

Does Kos know how desperately pathetic this hit piece makes progressives / democrats look? Probably. The goal of mainstream "left/progressive" has been to discredit themselves, and they continue doing a good job of it. It's enough to make a genuine leftist wanna cry, and the rightwing cheer.

Update: The 17-year-old daughter of Palin is pregnant and plans to marry the father.