A 109-year-old woman believed to be the last surviving female veteran of World War I has died, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. Gladys Powers, who lied about her age to join the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps when she was 15, died in British Columbia, Canada, on Aug 14, although the ministry only announced her death on Friday. Born in Lewisham in London, she emigrated to Canada at the end of the war after marrying a Canadian soldier. Most of the service records of the women who served in WWI were destroyed during the Blitz in 1940, making it impossible to formally confirm her time in the military. Paying tribute to Powers, Britain's Veterans Minister Derek Twigg said: "I am saddened to learn of the death of Gladys Powers who may have been the world's last surviving female service veteran from WWI."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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An analysis of new census figures has shown that Australia is suffering from an unprecedented "man drought". The statistics have revealed that there are almost 100,000 more females than males in Australia.
The problem is worse in the coastal cities, where women have moved seeking better jobs and lifestyles, while many men have gone overseas.
Thirty years ago Australia was with flush with men thanks to immigration policies that favoured males. That position has been reversed because thousands of Australian men in their 20s and early 30s have gone overseas either to travel or to work.
It has caused a gender imbalance that is having far-reaching implications. Major cities in Australia now have concentrated groups of unattached women, along with dwindling numbers of the opposite sex.
Demographer Bernard Salt says the exodus of young men to foreign countries is leaving its mark. "If you go into the United Arab Emirates census you'll find there is around 12,000 Australians living in Dubai, mostly male, mostly in the 25 to 34-year age group.
"Here is an example of one country that has drawn out a specific age demographic out of Australia which has contributed to the 'man drought'."
But the situation outside of the larger towns and cities is very different. Vast numbers of women have abandoned the countryside seeking better jobs or education in metropolitan areas. They have left behind communities overloaded with younger males.
In the town of Glenden in the northern state of Queensland there is one single female for every 23 men.
Demographers have compiled a so-called "Love Map" that shows how the various clusters of unattached men and women are distributed across the Australian continent.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I suspect the demographic imbalance reflects on a lot of things not mentioned.
For example, even though the US has a lot of people on its coasts, inland there is at least one big city in every State, whether or not there is an obvious reason for there to be a big city in many States. Truthfully, there was no reason, so we made different reasons.
So why doesn't Australia do the same? It could create a reason to have big cities out in the middle of nowhere, connected by a freeway system. And then, it would have to figure out how to support those cities. Many jobs would be created and sustained.
Why is there a Phoenix? With nothing else, it focuses on electronics. Las Vegas? Gambling. Pretty soon such cities come up with their own motivation.
#2
Phoenix is a recent phenomenon as is Vegas, at least as a large city. People go there because Phoenix summers are far more comfortable than midwestern and upper midwestern winters.
#5
Clearly the 100,000 Australian women will save the excess millions of males of China and India.
TW, when I first read that I was reminded of the old adage, "Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do the job."
After that, I thought, "those are going to be some extremely busy women."
Then the economist in me kicked in and I thought that at even a relatively modest charge, "those are going to be some extremely busy women who will become extremely wealthy very quickly."
This has the potential to do wonders for Australia's balance-of-payments situation...
#7
I remember the days when Australia was the land "Where men are men and sheep are nervous"
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/31/2008 15:12 Comments ||
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#8
TW, when I first read that I was reminded of the old adage, "Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do the job."
The things that completely don't occur to me, Jolutch Mussolini7800, and not just because I haven't a hope in hell of becoming an economist. I was thinking of marriages, not professions, and being a bit sarcastic about cultural causes. If I'd actually thought what you thought I did, I would seriously deserve to be slapped.
#9
AzCat: Only since the 1950s and the invention of the swamp cooler has Phoenix been barely tolerable; and still didn't get going until air conditioning. The city went from 50k to 2M in about 35 years.
What I would recommend for the Australians would be to somehow pump sea water inland to make a "dead sea", which really isn't that dead. They might build a solar tower in the middle of it that would gradually desalinate the lake.
They are already building a 1-km tall solar tower for energy, so why not a much smaller one to concentrate heat and boil water, to separate the salt from the clean water.
"We want 100 percent evacuation," Nagin said. "It has the potential to impact every area of this metropolitan area."
Katrina had a footprint of about 400 miles, he said. Gustav is about 900 miles and growing, Nagin said. "This is worse than a Betsy, worse than a Katrina," he said.
The mayor speculated that Gustav is so fierce Baton Rouge likely will experience 100 mph winds. "You need to be scared and you need to get your butts out of New Orleans right now," Nagin said.
Nagin said he expects Gustav to "punch holes in the Harvey Canal," which could cause the West Bank to become a bathtub. The West Bank has 8-foot-high to 10-foot-high protection, he said. Gustav's storm surge may be 15 to 24 feet high.
Anyone who opts to remain in New Orleans "will be on your own," Nagin warned, adding that services will not be available. Forecast expected to be shifted a bit east overnight, setting up higher probabilities that this could be a "direct hit" unlike Katrina that actually put more damage to the east, and a full cat 4 on impact unlike Cat3 Katrina. Not being alarmist, because you never know what a hurrcane will do in the Gulf, but this one has the potential to be a baddy. God speed anyone in that area getting out.
Gustav has settled into alignment with the other weather systems in the region, and it will probably not deviate from its present track before Gulf Coast landfall. Because it is moving faster than previous projections suggested, it will bring more of its force to the coast.
If landfall occurs near Atchafalaya Bay or further west, the eyewall will pass safely SW of New Orleans. In that case conditions at the city should not severe enough to breach major levees, unless they are weaker than they were before Katrina. But if landfall occurs near Grand Isle, then New Orleans will be hammered by the northeast quadrant of the storm the strongest part.
Yesterday's GFDL model shows category 4 winds blowing water directly into Lake Pontchartrain.
In such a scenario water would flood into the city from the lake, which could drown the city again, and possibly to an even worse degree.
10 PM EDT: New 0000 UTC model runs have clustered on the menacing Grand Isle landfall. Only a few take the storm to SW Louisiana now. The 11 PM NHC advisory will be suitably grave. New Orleans is really at risk now.
Nagin said he expects Gustav to punch holes in the Harvey Canal, which will cause the West Bank to become a bath tub.
The West Bank has 8-foot-high to 10-foot-high protection; Gustavs storm surge may be 15-, to 18- to 24-feet high.
#3
If it gets steered straightoin the path, and goes a bit east, New Orleans is toast.
If it slows a bit, it will fade slighty west, and will weaken a lot quicker, as well as steering the worst of the surge and NE quadrant winds off of New Orleans, probably sparing it.
Both scenarios are possible, neither has been ruled out.
#5
Well, there be a reason that area of our continent is shaped the way it is: BIG storms. Hope everyone gets out and doesn't just think it will blow over. Better safe than sorry, as the saying goes.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2008 0:45 Comments ||
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#7
NOAA National Weather Service office in Slidell, La., which serves New Orleans, issued a statement that explicitly described the impending catastrophic damage expected from Katrina. Here is the original statement issued the day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. This is known as an inland hurricane warning.
WWUS74 KLIX 281550
NPWLIX
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
1011 AM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005
...DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED...
.HURRICANE KATRINA...A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH...RIVALING THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE CAMILLE OF 1969.
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.
AN INLAND HURRICANE WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR HURRICANE FORCE...OR FREQUENT GUSTS AT OR ABOVE HURRICANE FORCE...ARE CERTAIN WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS.
ONCE TROPICAL STORM AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS ONSET...DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE!
#12
Closest approach is 50 nm southwest of NOLA, coming in over Terrebonne Bay at Cocodrie. The track hasn't changed appreciably in the last six hours.
#13
Gromky, I'd like to point out that with that Katrina warning, at least for New Orleans, most of that DIDN'T HAPPEN.
Many buildings sustained only minor wind damage only to be rendered unfit for habitation by the flooding.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/31/2008 11:55 Comments ||
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#14
Here's hoping Glenmore and the rest of the 'burgians in the danger zone have found safe shelter or are almost there. Take care, guys.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 12:14 Comments ||
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#15
Blondie, I ain't worried, this isn't even a new storm coming ashore here. It's just a rerun of Andrew.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/31/2008 12:16 Comments ||
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#16
Katrina weakened to a Cat 3 and passed by NOLA 25 nm to the east. New Orleans wasn't in the dangerous semicircle and didn't get all that much wind, maybe 90 kt. Think Gulfport and Biloxi, which were in a similar position to Katrina that New Orleans is to Gustav, though more exposed. The best hope is that Gustav will weaken and not move to the east of the track it's been holding. At the time the above statement was made, Katrina was a 150 kt Cat 5. Luckily, she weakened, and we can hope for the same.
#17
Andrew hit Louisiana at 100 kt and nearly twice as far from NOLA as Gustav's current track. Gustav is still rated as 115 kt at landfall, a very strong Cat 3.
#18
The DOD briefing on Fox News just reported that a RCAF C-17 is being tasked as part of the NORTHCOM response. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the Americans in the Gulf. Be safe.
#19
Good thing if it stays Cat3, there is a massive difference in storm sure piled up by a long lived 4 versus a short lived 3. ANd they seem to be trending it west, which is even better for NOLA.
#20
National Weather Service office in Slidell, La.,
Grab yur kittuah, small animals might be alarmed sez forcaster in small N. Fla Burg.
Sez gawds are angrified and need panic. Yankees and old farts first to wet pants. Thousands to die, or not, depending on things, pain in the butt for sure tho say locals.
#21
I just watched Jindal doing the pre-storm informational press conference. This guy has his shit together. I am soooo impressed. What an improvement over Blanco
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 18:57 Comments ||
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#22
Looking like it will make shore S of Houma.
Hopefully it slides just a little west and doesnt really intensify much more. If it does that, then NOLA is proabaly going to stay unflooded.
Lucky that it got a lot more disorganized over Cuba than was expected.
Thousands of people fled New Orleans on Saturday ahead of a likely evacuation order as Hurricane Gustav took aim at the Louisiana coast, reviving traumatic memories of Hurricane Katrina.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Good. Governor Jindal has taken charge, and this time Mayor Nagin is actually doing his job.
High child mortality rates in conservative Afghanistan are linked not just to war but to mothers being uneducated and having little or no say when their children need medical help, a study has found.
No, reeeeaaaalllly?
Child mortality rates in Afghanistan are among the highest in the world, and one out of every five Afghan children (or 191 out of every 1,000 live births) will not survive beyond age five.
The study of 2,474 children from 1,327 households in Kabul province found that diarrhea (32.5 percent), acute respiratory infection (41 percent), emaciation (12.4 percent) and stuntedness (39.9 percent) were among the most common health problems, said the article published in the latest issue of BioMed Central Public Health. "As in other countries, the primary caregivers of small children in Afghanistan are their mothers; however, in this country, mothers are subject to a number of restrictions in the decision-making process regarding child healthcare," said the article published by a team of Afghan and Japanese researchers.
The researchers said they interviewed mothers of the children and found the problems correlated most closely with mothers not having any autonomy (79.1 percent) and education (71.7 percent).
Up to 18.3 percent of the mothers also delivered their first child before they were 16, which meant they were married when they were still children, the researchers wrote. A shortage of basic material needs was also observed in 59.1 percent of the households.
The researchers defined a lack of maternal autonomy to mean mothers requiring permission from the head of the household to bring a child to the doctor, or if she required another person - usually a male relative - to accompany her to a clinic with the child.
Afghanistan is deeply conservative and women's movements are still restricted in many parts of the country.
The researchers defined a lack of education as not having attended school for at least a year. "The poor economic and educational status of these women, and their overall immaturity caused by a lack of learning opportunities may have resulted in difficulties in preventing illness in their children," they wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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At a palace which was once the headquarters of the Rome government's senior official during the 1911-1943 colonial rule, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signed an accord on Saturday under which Italy will pay billions of dollars in investments and compensation for its colonial rule of the North African country, Libyan state television showed.
The "friendship pact" accord should remove the latest hurdle to an improvement in ties between Italy and Libya, a major energy producer. Libya accuses Italy of killing thousands of Libyans and driving thousands more from their villages and cities during that era.
Berlusconi said on arrival that under the deal $200 million per year will be invested by Italy in Libya over 25 years," "Italian companies will set up more business in Libya," he added, without giving details.
Italian officials said earlier the deal covered "some billion dollars" in compensation and $5 billion in investments, including the construction of a highway across Libya from the Tunisian border to Egypt. It also involves a project to clear mines dating back to the colonial era. Italy expects in return to win energy contracts and for the Tripoli government to toughen security measures to stem the flow of illegal migrants, including joint maritime patrols.
In a goodwill gesture on Saturday, Italy returned an ancient statue of Venus taken to Rome during colonial rule, Libyan state media reported. The headless "Venus of Cyrene" was carried away from the town of Cyrene, an ancient Greek colony, by Italian troops and put on display in Rome.
Italy has had difficult relations with Gaddafi since he took power in 1969. He expelled Italian residents and confiscated their property in 1970. Rome has backed Tripoli's drive to mend fences with the West, which have improved dramatically since 2003 when Libya accepted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Libya has also said it would stop pursuing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. On Aug. 14 Libya signed a deal with the United States to settle both countries' claims for compensation for bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Insane. Why did the europeans and americans ever considered that oil belonged to the "countries" (entities made up by then, actually) where it laid underground?
This disgusts me, libya is a blackhole, unproductive country, a tiny nothing of NO importance, EXCEPT for the oil WE discovered, ruled by a tinpot dictator that has been causing mahyem since always (remember the recent ivory coast mess, blamed on France, which led not only to a major loss of face and influence by France due to shiraq & galouzeau "de villepin" 's total ineptness, but also to a large number of french citizens being expelled after having been looted of all property and sometimes assaulted and gangraped - note that they got NO help at all from the french gvt after coming back to France, whereas african illegals have free healthcare and the like...? Qaddafy was the driving force behind burkina faso's meddlings in that).
This is madness; more white guilt blackmail, resentment from the colonial era, this is so rich... libya was not even a country back then, but a nest of barbary piricay, will southern Europe ever get repayments for all the looting and enslavement of CENTURIES upon CENTURIEs of non-stop muslim piracy and razzias? Which incidentally turned the hub and heart of early european civilization into the historically poorer and more backward area it still is today, due to that constant predation which prevented normal life for white europeans there?
Also, lybia is using mass african immigration as a tool to pressure european countries into more concessions,a nd more money to help "fight immigration" (which lybian authorities actually fully control and allow, as a weapon... remember qaddaffy's al jeez tombuctu speech, when he predicted the soon to come islamization of Europe, for its greater good???)... and th ehypocrisy! Lybian like all north african arabs are total racists when it comes to blacks, they call them "slaves" (the same arabic word menas "black" and "slave", abid), they park them in ACTUAL ghettoes, and they go on pogroms from time to time. I remember reading about one in the late 90's in lybia where at least 300 african migrants were lynched to death by the locals.
Qaddaffy is getting all that he wants; french analysts are pretty sure that the lybian WMD program was going nowhere, due to the backwardness and lack of technical skill, and that "giving up" this was qaddaffy's trump card.
#3
Again, pointing out the obvious, this is why energy independence from psycho dictatorships is one of the most important security actions a country can do. If McCain wins the presidency, I hope energy independence is his number one priority. It will certainly not be Obama bin Beiden's concern. They will tax gasoline and ensure that tires run at 75 psi, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/31/2008 14:49 Comments ||
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Congo sealed its border with Uganda on Saturday to cut off a rebel group's supply line, government officials said.
Although rebel leader Laurent Nkunda signed a peace deal with the government in January, fighting in the east of the country continues. On Thursday, Nkunda's rebels and army soldiers exchanged machine-gun and mortar fire in one of their fiercest battles this year.
"The government has closed this border in order to cut off the rebellion of Laurent Nkunda from its supply source," said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Claude Kamanga Mutond. "We want to stop Nkunda from being able to supply himself to continue this war."
Nkunda, an ethnic Tutsi, claims he took up arms to protect Tutsi villagers from Hutu extremists who invaded eastern Congo from neighboring Rwanda at the end of that country's 1994 genocide. The Hutus, who led the genocide of more than half a million Tutsis in Rwanda, were eventually pushed over the border into Congo.
But Congo also has a Tutsi minority and the authors of the Rwandan genocide are accused of orchestrating attacks against Tutsi villagers here, as well.
Although Nkunda's men say their goal is to protect the Tutsi minority, they are accused of atrocities, including razing villages, summary executions and systematic rapes. Nkunda is believed to have close ties with the current Tutsi leadership of Rwanda as well as the government of Uganda.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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Britain is facing "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years which will be "more profound and long-lasting" than people had expected, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, tells the Guardian today.
In the government's gravest assessment of the economy, which follows a warning from a Bank of England policymaker that 2 million people could be out of work by Christmas, Darling admits he had no idea how serious the credit crunch would become.
His blunt remarks lay bare the unease in the highest ranks of the cabinet that the downturn is making it all but impossible for Gordon Brown to recover momentum after a series of setbacks. His language is much starker than the tone adopted by the prime minister, who aims to revive his premiership this autumn by explaining how he will help struggling families through the downturn.
The chancellor, who says that Labour faces its toughest challenge in a generation, admits that Brown and the cabinet are partly to blame for Labour's woes because they have "patently" failed to explain the party's central mission to the country, leaving voters "pissed off".
#3
The Guardian should fire everyone and start fresh. The economy will be nowhere near as bad as they make it out to be. Certainly not the worst in the last 60 years. 16, maybe. 60, hell no.
It almost like the writer has no idea how bad the British economy was 30 years ago.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/31/2008 3:29 Comments ||
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#4
It almost like the writer has no idea how bad the British economy was 30 years ago.
Probably applies to Darling, too.
Perhaps the Tories could now start muttering something about reducing the tax burden. It's way past time.
#7
The Guardian should fire everyone and start fresh
They're reporting what the Chancellor (Britain's Finance Minister) is saying
Posted by: john frum ||
08/31/2008 10:21 Comments ||
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#8
Socialism - too much take, not enough give. Brings the mightiest to their knees eventually. People take too much from the government and the government doesn't give enough incentives for them to prosper on their own. Predictible.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/31/2008 11:17 Comments ||
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#9
I forget who said it (I think an Athenian), but maybe a 'Burger will have the answer.
"Democracy lasts until the people realize they can vote themselves gifts from the treasury."
Colombian secret service agents deported on Thursday two Venezuelan citizens who, according to Colombian authorities, were conducting political activities in the city of Ibagué (center-west of the country), where they were caught in a hotel, after having convened people from different Colombian regions, official sources reported.
Santiago Vasquez, the director of the secret service agency, i.e. the Administrative Department of Security's office in Tolima, said that two foreigners "were acting against the national security, because two persons who entered the country as tourists should not engage in such actions", DPA reported.
According to the DAS director, the two Venezuelan citizens were identified as Mario Arias, former deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly (AN), and Nadiuska Josefina, who allegedly is an employee of the Venezuelan Food Ministry.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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THE founder of a website that has criticised the Kremlin's policies in the Caucasus was found dead today in the Russian republic of Ingushetia, according to prosecutors quoted by Interfax.
Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into the death of Magomed Yevloyev, who ran the website ingushetia.ru, said the news agency.
The website reported that Yevloyev was killed while in police custody. "Magomed Yevloyev was arrested today in Ingushetia and was killed,'' said a report posted on his website www.ingushetia.ru.
Interfax quoted spokesman Vladimir Markin of the prosecutor's office as saying that "an incident'' took place after he was taken into a police car "resulting in a shooting injury to the head and he later died in hospital''.
That could have been written by the RAB ...
The website is among the most visited for news on Ingushetia, a republic bordering Chechnya, and was openly opposed to Ingush president Murat Zyazikov, who had more than once threatened to shut it down.
Ekho Moskvy radio separately quoted local opposition activist Magomad Khazbiyev as saying that the website founder was arrested at gunpoint after his arrival in Narzan. Yevloyev arrived on a flight that was also carrying the Ingush president. "Yevloyev was arrested as he stepped off the plane,'' Khazbiyev said.
#2
Those damn shutterguns are always malfunctioning.
Sounds like Ingushitia has been receiving technical assistance from the RAB.
They still have to learn the lessons on midnight rides to weapons stashes...
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/31/2008 11:02 Comments ||
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#3
Puty gets to do that which some of the lefties of America would dearly love to get away with. There's a pattern here.
#5
Interfax quoted spokesman Vladimir Markin of the prosecutor's office as saying that "an incident'' took place after he was taken into a police car "resulting in a shooting injury to the head and he later died in hospital''.
Clearly some technical training in "encountering" from Bangladesh is needed.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/31/2008 12:05 Comments ||
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#6
Interfax quoted spokesman Vladimir Markin of the prosecutor's office as saying that "an incident'' took place after he was taken into a police car "resulting in a shooting injury to the head and he later died in hospital''.
A suspicious lot you all are. It's OBVIOUS he was killed in a CROSSFIRE! What's the matter with you people, you can't see that? RB University got to run some remedial ed classes for you folks?
Gov. Sarah Palin was for the so-called infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" before she was against it, a change of position the GOP vice presidential running mate conveniently ignored Saturday when she bragged about telling Congress "thanks but no thanks" to the pork barrel project.
After McCain introduced her as his choice for vice president on the Republican ticket, Palin talked about her reform credentials, and said she stopped the bridge project as part of an effort to end of earmarking in appropriations bills. The Alaska bridge pushed by Sen. Ted Stevens became a symbol of congressional misuse of tax dollars. It would have connected the town of Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport on it. Ferries and water taxis serve the island now.
"I have championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress," Palin said in her vice presidential campaign debut in Dayton, Ohio. "In fact, I told Congress, I told Congress 'thanks but no thanks' on that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we'd build it ourselves," she said.
She didn't talk that way when she was running for governor. The Anchorage Daily News quoted her on Oct. 22, 2006, as saying yes, she would continue state funding for the bridge because she wanted swift action on infrastructure projects. "The window is now while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist," she said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/31/2008 17:42 ||
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#1
The point was, she was for state funding, not federal funding. So her position today, "if our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves", is consistent with her statement of 2006.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2008 17:50 Comments ||
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#2
Misleading. And wrong. She was agains FEDERAL EARMARK spending. ANd that is certianly true.
#3
What I find really weird about this laundry list of liberal media hit pieces against Palin is that the media never bothered to talk about all of Biden's negatives when he was selected by Obama for the VP spot.
balancing the "McCain is a heartbeat away from the grave" meme ?
A memorial service here for Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones on Saturday comes as a stark reminder of a condition that nearly took vice presidential candidate Joe Biden's life 20 years ago. Tubbs Jones, 58, the first black female representative from Ohio, died on Aug. 20 from a brain hemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurysm.
Biden, who attended the church service with Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, underwent two surgeries to correct near-fatal brain aneurysms in 1988. A Biden spokesman said the Delaware senator, 65, works out regularly and is healthy today.
"Senator Biden is in terrific health, leads a vigorous lifestyle, and looks forward to an extremely busy campaign schedule as we sprint into the fall campaign," spokesman, David Wade said.
Vice presidential contenders submitted themselves to a "very invasive" vetting process, according to Eric Holder, one of two people in charge of the process for Obama. Those who hadn't had a physical in the last 12 months were asked to have one and some were asked to see specialists, Holder said, without identifying names. Wade said Biden's medical records would be released to the media at a later time.
One in 15 Americans develop a brain aneurysm, a weakening of the walls of an artery or vessel. When the artery ruptures, it causes bleeding into the brain, causing a hemorrhage, which can lead to stroke, brain damage and death. The goals of treatment are to stop the bleeding and potential permanent damage to the brain and reduce the risk of recurrence. Neurosurgeons also treat unruptured brain aneurysms preventatively.
In his book Promises to Keep, Biden described having headaches and passing out for five hours in a hotel room after a foreign policy speech before discovering his aneurysms. A priest read him his last rites at a Wilmington hospital where doctors told him an artery in his brain was leaking blood, he wrote.
Tests at Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington, D.C., showed he had two aneurysms -- one below the left side of his brain and another on the right side. Doctors recommended surgery to remove both. "As I heard it, my chances of surviving the surgery were certainly better than fifty-fifty," he wrote. "But the chances of waking up with serious deficits to my mental faculties were more significant."
The first surgery, performed on Feb. 12, 1988, lasted four and a half hours. The second surgery came on May 4. Recovery kept him out of the Senate for seven months.
The reasons for the vast majority of ruptured aneurysms are still a mystery. Less than 11% of them are due to genetics, said Dr. Jeffrey E. Thomas of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. People who have aneurysms have arterial walls in their blood vessels that are missing a layer, said Thomas, also a neurosurgeon with California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. The weak area bulges out with every beat of the patient's heart. Eventually, the area ruptures.
Once an aneurysm is treated, it's unlikely to occur again. "If there was any reason that the surgery was less than perfect, then sometimes there can be small remnants of the aneurysm," Thomas said.
A common screening technique is called the "cerebral angiography," a procedure that involves the injection of contrast dye into the femoral artery. Doctors take images using X-rays that show the dye flowing through the blood vessels. "If we find an aneurysm before it bursts we can cure you," Thomas said. "Unfortunately, most are discovered only after they burst."
Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It's on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.
As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's.
She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans.
#1
Further proof, if needed, Govenor Palin has MORE experience in REAL world politics than either The Chosen One or his lap dog Senator Biden. Just sayin'...
#3
Hey! I'll bet the One also has experience buying off the gangs in Chicago, experience that will serve him well in his dealings with Iran and North Korea. Oh, and Russia, too.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/31/2008 17:40 Comments ||
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#4
Just for fairness we can now grant the former governor of AR a little slack.
#5
Actually AR Nat Guard had no active national security missions comparable to Alaska NG and the BMD. Incidentally, the Colorado NG augments the Alaska NG for BMD.
Queued by our esteemed badanov, accidently deleted and reposted by me.
badanov offers this as a starting point to discuss Palin's stances on various issues including concerns over whether she's really a small government person.
#1
The main thrust of the article is that Sarah Palin isn't perfect; good but not perfect.
That said, I have a terrific problem with raising taxes on a vital industry to the exclusion of any others. "Targeted" tax policy is bad economic policy no matter who does it, and as a conservative, Palin should have known better.
The other issues enumerated in the article are secondary in my opinion to taxes, but they are there to be discussed.
She has a huge upside but she has a large downnside as well and we may as well start discussing that downside now rather than later.
The way I've seen it is that she "went after" the oil companies to reverse the sell-out made by the corrupt Alaska pols in the past. Also, isn't it a royalty arrangement more than a tax?
#3
I'm reluctant to discuss these downside issues before the election as not wanting to take away any thrust to the McCain Palin campaign.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/31/2008 14:05 Comments ||
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#4
Palin's positions on some of those issues are tied directly to the rather unusual position Alaska occupies vs. the other states - its large tracts of wilderness, challenging climate, federal control of a lot of its territory and the fact that exploiting the energy resources there is highly capital intensive.
That said, I guess where I come down on the issues raised here is that she has been tapped to serve as Vice President. McCain will set the agenda, not Palin, although her voice will undoubtably be heard. And if Mac dies in office, she will quite possibly have developed specific policy positions that are national in scope and that might differ a bit from her Alaska-specific ones.
I think her basic instincts and values are right and those will guide any stand on particular matters when they're in office.
#5
It really is important to address any and all concerns upfront. The legacy media have done the last three Democratic presidential candidates no favours by sheltering them from criticism until they crashed head-on into the wall of Republican skeptism... and lost three elections in a row.
The more questions VP candidate Palin is asked, the clearer she'll be on the answers before she faces badgering reports, not to mention her opposite number in the VP debates.
#6
The one thing EVERYONE needs to remember is that Sarah Palin took on not only the Democrats in Alaska, but also the corrupt Repuglycon machine of Murkowski and Ted Stevens, among others, and WON. I would wish John McCain had someone else with her abilities to pick, so she could finish cleaning up Alaska, just as Bobby Jindal is cleaning up Louisiana. I hope the Assistant Governor is a good enough guy/gal to finish the job Palin started. I'm not sure I'd blame her for some of the things she did until I know why she did them, and what the results are.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/31/2008 15:22 Comments ||
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#7
Re lotp's: "I think her basic instincts and values are right and those will guide any stand on particular matters when they're in office."
I second the motion. That's why I voted for Bush twice and that's why I'll vote McCain/Palin. I also think Obama/Biden's basic instincts and values are far more often wrong. I don't expect perfect from anyone.
#8
Suppose for a minute she isn't small government What difference does it make? It's not like we really have a choice between small government and big government. It's a choice between intruding government and the government taking over every aspect of your life, thought word and deed.
#9
It is quite ironic that all we heard leading up to Senator McCain's selection was how pissed upon most wimin felt due to the Hildebeast's, an alleged woman, non-selection. Now that Senator McCain has selected a LADY, the bitching and moaning has intensified. Does this dress make me look fat..... or are there other issues?
#12
It is quite ironic that all we heard leading up to Senator McCain's selection was how pissed upon most wimin felt due to the Hildebeast's, an alleged woman, non-selection. Now that Senator McCain has selected a LADY, the bitching and moaning has intensified. Does this dress make me look fat..... or are there other issues?
Sexist pig. The entire article is about the issues and you whittle it down to does this dress make me look fat. Maybe your thing is just too small to handle discussing the issues.
But I applaud you for having the guts to wear a dress in public, no matter how fat it makes you look.
Try an A-line next time....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 16:11 Comments ||
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#14
Suppose for a minute she isn't small government What difference does it make? It's not like we really have a choice between small government and big government. It's a choice between intruding government and the government taking over every aspect of your life, thought word and deed
Because our ability, or in this case, lack of ability to control the one societal element that can destroy every other element is a truley self fulfilling prophesy that says a great deal about how we view society as it exists.
If we choose smaller government, it means we believe that people have the good sense and resources to make decisions about their own lives, that they are far better arbiters of their own fate than any political system.
If we choose big government we are saying that only mass political will matters in society and that the individual matters little in society.
I chose to take care of myself and I insist to be allowed the right to protect myself against those who believe that an amorphous society can better determine my life and its conditions than I can.
And I am not even talking about my fundamental belief that government of any kind, even self government no matter how benevolent is always tyranny. The less resources at its command, the better behaved it will be.
Everyone remembers the good old days of the Clintons, but what I remember is every police force in the US abbrogating their oath to uphold the US Constitution and assaulting US families when that oversized monster had zero business pressing its agenda in that field.
You say so what, but I say Look Out!
Big republican governmennt or big democrat government it makes little difference; they are both tyrannies.
#15
I hear your frustration, Badnov. And perhaps you are voting for Ron Paul or some other candidate, which is certainly your choice. But Obama was at one point talking about forcing people to got to the doctor once a year for wellness checkups.
Unless something changes, there is at this point in time only a choice between two candidates. You can make a statement vote if you wish, but I'm going to vote for the team that will do the least damage.
#16
I hear your frustration, Badnov. And perhaps you are voting for Ron Paul or some other candidate, which is certainly your choice. But Obama was at one point talking about forcing people to got to the doctor once a year for wellness checkups.
Unless something changes, there is at this point in time only a choice between two candidates. You can make a statement vote if you wish, but I'm going to vote for the team that will do the least damage.
#19
Knowing what I know about the Dems' tried-and-true politics of personal destruction, I figure once they've exhausted the book on Sarah Barracuda, the Donks' operatives will zero in on her husband. And that includes all of the dirty tricks, including set-ups. Whatever it takes for the tabs' front page.
#20
My take is yall are mis-interpreting Besoeker's comment. I took it as a poke at the Democrats who have only found her looks (hair, clothes, glasses) to be worthy of attacking her on.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/31/2008 18:10 Comments ||
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#21
well then I'm sorry I said that. Comments such as I heard on the Beltway Bunch this morning (something like) her experience is equivalent to an elementary school principal or on Colmes' blog accusing her of poor natal care causing the Down's syndrome or all of the bad mother comments are really starting to get under my skin. I could go on and on.
The point I was trying to make is that sexist comments are just like "small thing" jokes, they are immediately offensive to all who read them and have absolutely no valid purpose other than to deflect from a rational argument.
#23
yeah, I guess it is better to discuss this now instead of giving the other side opportunities of bringing up stuff in a bad timing sort of way.
;)
Posted by: Jan ||
08/31/2008 19:17 Comments ||
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#24
well Alan Colmes should know about pre-natal damage, but chromosomal downs isn't part of it. He's cementing his "get me a sammich, bitch" role for Hannity for the next 20 years
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 19:19 Comments ||
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#25
her experience is equivalent to an elementary school principal....Then she ought to be good at being the President of the Senate.
#26
I'm caught in a reprobate's quandary here, if she gives me a woody is it ever ok for me to vote for her based on her accomplishments, or am I a still a scoundrel? And I don't want to hear a lot of B.S. high brow stuff out of pappy and lopt on this cause this is the first time in my life I have had to come to grips with a naughty librarian mistress type nominee. So don't ruin it for me.
Democrats have come up with a new line of attack line against John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, saying she's another Dick Cheney. Ahah. She's not French enough, eh? Pity. Even the Frenchies don't seem to be anymore. Another Dick Cheney? Sign me up!
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) described Palin as a member of the "flat-earth caucus," who McCain picked purely to please the conservative base. "With the choice of Gov. Palin, its the third term of Dick Cheney," Kerry said on ABC News' "This Week." "He's chosen somebody who doesn't believe climate change is man-made." And she's ever so much better looking than Joe Biden. Don't forget that.
Kerry added that Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters should be offended if people suggest Palin was selected to draw some of the female vote away from the Barack Obama-Joe Biden ticket. "Its almost insulting to the Hillary supporters," Kerry said, calling Palin a "Cheneyesque social conservative whos going to satisfy the base. John McCain is a prisoner of the right wing, not a maverick." Sarah shoots moose. Cheney shoots lawyers. There's a difference. You can eat moose.
The Republican counterattack has been to play up Palin's credentials as "commander in chief" of the Alaska National Guard, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), saying "she's tough, she's talented, she's ready to lead. ... compared to Sen. Obama, she's qualified beyond belief."
This is an attack? You could have fooled me; I took it as a high compliment. Only higher political compliment I can think of for Gov. Palin would be "Thatcheresque." That wonderfully bright, courageous woman is the gold standard against which all modern politicians, and particularly all modern female politicians, should be measured. I give Mrs. Thatcher pride of place over President Reagan simply because she was always fighting a more difficult rearguard action against her enemies at home.
Cheney has been a very good VP. Self-effacing, effective, always working for his President and his country without caring who got the credit for his efforts. That he was successful in his endeavors is shown by the bitter hatred his enemies on the left bear him. If Gov. Palin measures up to Dick Cheney she'll have done herself and her country proud. I, however, expect we'll see even better from her. Maybe I'm just being too optimistic, but I truly think this woman is something special.
#13
They are worried. Politicos attack w/crazy assertions when they are nervous. The fact is, she prolly will pick up Hillary women voters and the evangelical core-conservatives of the GOP and Johnny boy knows it.
When Sarah Palin stepped into the spotlight as John McCains running mate in Dayton, Ohio, and promised that women could shatter that glass ceiling once and for all, it was an electrifying moment in a presidential election that had already produced its share of upsets and surprises.
History was on the march again the morning after Barack Obama became the first African-American to accept his partys White House nomination. After the fireworks, the 80,000-strong crowd who had cheered Obama to the skies at the Mile High stadium in Denver woke up with a hangover.
We may be seeing the first woman president. As a Democrat, I am reeling, said Camille Paglia, the cultural critic. That was the best political speech I have ever seen delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is as tough as nails.
With her beehive hairdo and retro specs, Palin, 44, has a naughty librarian vibe, according to Craig Ferguson, the Scottish comedian who stars on late-night US television. However, the selection of Palin, the governor of Alaska and a mother of five, as the first female Republican vice-presidential nominee is no joke for the Democrats.
Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio chat show host, exulted, Were the ones with a babe on the ticket one, moreover, with a reputation as a tax-cutter and corruption buster in her job as the first woman governor of Alaska.
Palins selection on the eve of the Republican convention in St Paul, Minnesota, has set the stage for an epic battle for the votes of women, African-Americans, evangelical Christians and the young. The demographic wars that dominated the contest between Obama and Hillary Clinton are now set to be replicated in the national election.
Will America fall in love with Palin or will she fizzle, like Dan Quayle, the vice-president to George Bush Sr who could not spell potatoe? Can she help McCain to defeat Obama, a modern political phenomenon, who drew a record-shattering television audience of nearly 40m more than the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing to watch his convention speech?
Good Lord, we had barely 12 hours of Democrat optimism, said Paglia. It was a stunningly timed piece of PR by the Republicans.
Whether Palins selection is more than a political stunt depends on how she handles the electoral pressure cooker. With the election in November, there is no time for on-the-job training. Karl Rove, Bushs former aide, offered a guarded welcome to the gun-packing, hockey-playing governor, sayhing: Well get a taste in the next five days of how well she does in the 62 days that follow.
After Obamas acceptance speech was wiped from the front pages, even he was forced to acknowledge that she seems like a compelling person . . . with a terrific personal story. Republicans are hailing their potential new vice-president as the all-American girl of their dreams.
Palin is gunning for the 18m women who voted for Hillary Clinton a third of whom have not made up their mind to back Obama, according to the latest polls. McCain specifically deployed the language of feminism and civil rights when announcing her candidacy. She stands up for whats right and she doesnt let anyone tell her to sit down, he said.
Palins parents learnt that she had been selected by McCain while they were heading for a remote camp in Alaska to hunt caribou. I was speechless, her father said. The skin of a grizzly bear that he shot drapes the sofa in her office.
The more Republicans examined Palins record, the more they liked it, although some are fearful of buyers remorse. She was born in the conservative heartland of Idaho before moving to Alaska as a baby. At school she was nicknamed Sarah Barracuda on the basketball court because she was so competitive and she led the prayers before each game.
She was a hockey mom who cut her teeth at the parent-teacher association before becoming mayor of Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage with a population under 7,000. In 2006 she beat the corrupt male establishment in Alaska to win the governorship. She opposes same-sex marriage, but one of her first acts in office was to veto a bill blocking health benefits for gay lovers of public employees.
She hunts, ice-fishes and is a crack shot who knows how to fire an M16 rifle. I was raised in a family where gender was not going to be an issue, she said. The girls did what the boys did. Apparently in Alaska thats quite commonplace. No softy, she sued to stop the federal government making polar bears an endangered species and favours drilling for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge. However, she also levied a windfall tax on oil companies.
Palin was glamorous enough to have entered beauty contests to earn money for college. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in her home town and was runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest. They made us line up in bathing suits and turn our backs so the male judges could look at our butts. I couldnt believe it, she told Vogue, more amused than outraged.
Counterbalancing McCains reputation as a political dinosaur, Palin smoked pot when it was legal in Alaska, admitting, I cant claim a Bill Clinton and say I never inhaled, and her children, Track, 19, Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, Piper, 7, and Trig, four months, have hippie-sounding names. Track, who joined the US infantry in September last year, is about to be deployed to Iraq. It has really opened my eyes to international events and how war impacts everyday Americans like us, she said.
On stage in Ohio, the Palin family looked every bit as photogenic as the Obamas on their big night in Denver. Todd, her rugged husband, is part Yupik Eskimo and is four-time champion of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race. If that is not macho enough, he is a member of the steelworkers union and a seasonal oil production operator for BP, from which he earned $93,000 last year. He also helps to run the familys commercial fishing business. They eloped in 1988 to avoid the cost of a wedding. We had a bad fishing year so we didnt have any money, he said.
Like his wife, he is able to swap the traditional roles. My husband loves being a dad as much as I love being a mom, Palin said. Ive got great help there.
She needs it. They wanted enough kids for a basketball team, she once said, but Trig was born this year with Downs syndrome. Palin knew there were complications while she was pregnant but never considered an abortion. When he was born, she said, Im looking at him right now and I see perfection. Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking: in our world, what is normal and what is perfect? Undaunted, she held a meeting as governor three days after giving birth. I just put down the BlackBerrys and pick up the breast pump, she said of her life as a working mother.
Left-wing websites such as the Daily Kos are leading the chorus of disapproval for now. Having had two children at home at the age of four months, I know how much help they need even without unfortunate medical conditions, said one tut-tutter.
Republican women, however, are delighted by Palins example. Kellyanne Conway, 41, a Republican pollster and mother of three, said, I really feel mother knows best without the peanut gallery giving unsolicited advice. She strongly conveys to women today that you dont have to choose between a successful career and motherhood. You do have to make sacrifices, but you can have it all.
Evangelical Christians could turn out in droves for Palin, a member of Feminists for Life who opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest, if she maintains her promise.
Deborah Fikes, a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals, said: I would just trust that the child is not neglected in any way. There are millions of women who work. Why is it that the father cannot provide the same standard of care? There has been an evolving view of working women even in conservative Christian circles.
Fikes said Palin was an inspiring choice: I didnt think the Republicans would pick a female candidate for another decade, but John McCain is not a typical conservative leader.
Other conservative women have pointed out that Palin was a much more effective counterweight to the super-competent and glamorous Michelle Obama than Cindy McCain, wife of the Republican candidate.
Cindy, a beer industry heiress who bought the seven homes that McCain cannot remember and once said the only way to travel around her home state of Arizona was by private plane, was under fire last week from her own half-sister. She said she was voting for Obama after Cindy had repeatedly claimed to be an only child and never expressed regret that her father had ignored her half-sister in his will.
In fact, even though the Clinton aides could barely conceal their satisfaction when she was chosen, the woman who Palin upstages most of all is Hillary. If Obama wins the election, Hillary will have to wait until 2016 to stand again. And if he loses, Palin will be first in line to become Americas first woman president.
Front-page WaPo.
A bipartisan state legislative panel has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate whether Palin improperly brought the family fight into the governor's office. The investigation is focusing on whether she and her aides pressured and ultimately fired the public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, for not removing Palin's ex-brother-in-law from the state police force.
The trouble between Wooten and the governor's sister broke into the open after an alleged incident in February 2005. Palin told an internal affairs investigator that she overheard on a speakerphone Wooten arguing with her sister and threatening to kill their father. Fearful for her family members' lives, Palin said she drove to her sister's house and watched the argument through a window.
"Wooten's words were, 'I will kill him. He'll eat a [expletive] lead bullet, I'll shoot him,' if our father got the attorney to help Molly," Palin said in an e-mail she wrote in August 2005 to the chief of the state police. "I heard this death threat, my 16-year-old son heard it (Track Palin), Molly heard it, as did their small children. Wooten spoke with his Trooper gun on his hip in an extremely intimidating fashion, leaving no doubt he is serious about taking someone's life who disagrees with him."
On Aug. 10, 2005, Palin sent an angry, three-page e-mail to Col. Julia Grimes, head of the state police. "My concern is that the public's faith in the Troopers will continue to diminish as more residents express concerns regarding the apparent lack of action towards a Trooper whom is described by many as 'a ticking time bomb' and a 'loose cannon.' "
Palin noted, "Wooten is my brother-in-law, but this information is forwarded to you objectively," and asked Grimes to treat the information objectively.
Keeping Wooten on the police force, Palin wrote, "would lead a rational person to believe there is a problem inside the organization." Pages 2 and 3 at link
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/31/2008 07:56 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
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#1
This is much ado about nothing. She saw a problem and acted as a Governor instead of trying to cover for a family member.
Good on her. No wonder the establish beltway boys are afraid of her.
#2
""Wooten's words were, 'I will kill him. He'll eat a [expletive] lead bullet, I'll shoot him,' if our father got the attorney to help Molly," Palin said in an e-mail she wrote in August 2005 to the chief of the state police. "I heard this death threat, my 16-year-old son heard it (Track Palin), Molly heard it, as did their small children."
Good on her. That this action can even be twisted into an issue of beltway-style "ethics" shows that Sarah Palin has all the EXPERIENCE she needs. That is, real life experience.
#3
The greatest power comes from not needing to be in power. Palin could go back to being a 'hockey mon', manager of the family fishing company, chief fan of a world-champion racing husband etc. and be fine with herself. That scares the establishments of both parties to their roots, I suspect.
#4
To be perfectly blunt, I'm not sure why a smart person with all Palin has going for her would want to take the job unless it truly is for love of country. I've been both places and I'd far sooner live in Alaska than D.C. What is more, I'm sure that Alaska would be far better for my family and I KNOW that's important for Palin.
It's all too clear that for many living inside the Beltway, reality and perception seem to become suspended/different. It seems sometimes like powerful people there act as if they were wearing the One Ring. I'd be concerned for myself in that snakepit, much less for spouse and children.
I'm grateful she's willing to serve since I believe it to be a sacrifice. She's going to be very good for the country; I sincerely hope she doesn't come to regret her decision because of the personal costs to her and her family.
#6
I suspect they'll work that out fine. Not to say that there won't be hard choices, but remember: he has worked the north slope oil fields for years and that's a hell of a commute as well.
The kids will - at a guess, and they might do something quite different - spend time both in DC and with the grandparents, who sound sane and well connected to reality. Hillary likes to say that it takes a village to raise a child, but what she really means is that it takes bureaucrats. The Palins come from a place where family and village actually are at the center of life.
Why would she make any commitment publicly, one way or the other, until after the election? Folks, we should wish the Palins well and support them but it's a trap to focus discussion of Sarah Palin's VP candidacy on family issues.
God, I am soooooo tired of people who use that to deflect conversation away from policies, leadership and the job itself when a woman is under consideration. Not to say that people here are doing that but the femlibs are out in force banging that drum. Let's not do it for them, 'kay?
#8
cingold told me that "well, the oldest son and daughter are adults, and Mr. Palin's job is to take care of the two youngest girls and the baby--which he totally CAN DO, while Sarah is being VP." Plus, the eldest daughter will probably help with the baby is my guess. I was worried for them last night because DC is so yucky, but look on the grizzly bear link on rantburg today, and there is a picture of their family. cingold thinks they'll be just fine, so I'm going with that.
Plus, the Trooper sounds like a total jerk, dangerous, abusive. According to wikipedia, he also tazed his 11-year-old son. The person who is heading up the "investigation" is a democrat in government. Go figure.
#9
I asked a question of fact because it appeared to me that everyone was making an assumption that it was a fact. And family issues are not irrelevant, especially when contemplating a job change or a hire.
#10
Had Col. Grimes done the correct thing, as in, arresting his sorry ass, no one would have needed to call anyone regarding this guy.
I have heard of officers losing their right to carry under VAWA and getting busted for far less than he has done. Col. Grimes and her subordinates simply didn't care enough to enforce the law and make it happen.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 11:00 Comments ||
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#11
Understood - they are relevant to her and the family. Somewhat but a lot less so to us, I would argue.
#12
I asked a question of fact because it appeared to me that everyone was making an assumption that it was a fact. And family issues are not irrelevant, especially when contemplating a job change or a hire.
You are absolutely correct, NS. That's why I appreciate that you brought up this issue in previous discussions about Senators McCain, Obama and Biden.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 11:03 Comments ||
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#13
That last was in response to NS, sorry. And it's JMO, but as a woman I'm pretty sensitive to those issues becoming the focus when discussing a woman in a potential executive slot.
#14
It is not less relevant to us as the hirer. Less important, perhaps. But we deserve to know if there are any constraints on her ability to perform on the job.
I think this is a big deal for her. Does she want to bring her family into the cesspool of DC for 4 years? Or will she be a mom in absentia? Does hubby tie up the boat for four years? It's a tough call. I'm not saying there's a right answer nor that I know what it is. But how she identifies evaluates the important factors are important insights into her decision making process that everyone can identify with.
We don't elect policies, we elect people. And we elect them for very human reasons.
#15
And how exactly would you evaluate her if she DID give you a 3 sentence statement of her intent ahead of the election, NS?
Sure: character and judgement matter. There were many times when I as a hiring executive would have loved to know exactly how someone would respond to tough tradeoffs. But the proof isn't in the words they say, nor even necessarily in the course of action they announce. It's in the way in which it is carried out, which you don't find out until after the hire is made.
Look at how she and her husband have managed their family so far, including in Juno. Look at her overall judgement and character.
And then focus on her stance on VP level issues. You either do or do not trust her to make good family choices -- and frankly, I doubt you have the insight to judge those if you did have data ahead of the election.
#17
By which I mean that none of us have that insight. That last comment of mine wasn't addressed to you specifically but to what can and cannot be judged in these cases.
Look: she and her husband could make any of several choices about the kids and could make it work. Or not make it work. And there is no way to predict that for sure. Judge her overall character and then let's move onto policy issues please.
#18
And if it sounds as if I have a personal stake in this thread, well I do. I spent over 27 years competing for leadership jobs in industry. I got really really tired of people who were far less interested in what I would do as VP, executive VP or COO than in where my kid went to school and whether Mr. Lotp would come to corporate social functions.
Curiously, my male competitors never seemed to get the same questions.
#19
"I think this is a big deal for her. Does she want to bring her family into the cesspool of DC for 4 years? Or will she be a mom in absentia? Does hubby tie up the boat for four years?"
And I think she and "hubby" are adults and can (and already have, before she accepted the nomination) made those decisions - and a whole lot more.
BO also has young children and a spouse who works. When was the last time anybody asked of BO whether he was going to uproot his kids and move them to the D.C. cesspool if he gets elected, or what his wife was going to do about her job?
When people start asking him those questions, then I'll consider similar questions fair game for Governor Palin. Until then, it's ye olde double standard. And I'm sick of it.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 11:21 Comments ||
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#20
Flopping Aces has an incredible timeline on this alledged 'scandal'.
#21
I agree Barb. Contrast the MSM's jumping on this non-event with the MSM's absolute refusal to even mention BO's links to an unrepentant terrorist, and a convicted felon and who knows who else.
#22
AND ... it's on the front page of The Washington Post. BIG news, indeed!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/31/2008 11:53 Comments ||
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#23
Why stop there, NS?
Do you want to know what she uses for birth control, too? If it fails, would she be willing to schedule a c-section so that her "problem" won't interfere with important national business? What does her husband do all day, anyway.....sit on his butt, watching soaps and popping bonbons?
First rule of digging a hole.....know when to stop digging......and you are violating it, big time. Unless you are willing to ask the other candidates the same questions, which I don't recall you ever doing on the 'burg, you really should stop now.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 12:02 Comments ||
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#24
This whole thing is a result of a CRIMINAL state ttropper and the head of the trooper's refusal to really do anythign substantive.
ANd note - almost all this action was well BEFORE Palin was elected. SHe was a private citizen trying to dealwiht a state trooper that had made a death threat against her father.
After she took office, she tried to clean house on the corruption ninthe trooper office.
The main person who elected to leave government there (he was offered another positon) has been cuahgt lying about "pressure" from people to fire that officer.
All in all, this is nothing.
The WaPo is putting this front page?
Where's the front page for the other scandals Obama has been involved in - the lawsuits to silence critics, the arrest of news reporters showing the Dem Fat Cats, etc?
#25
Where's the front page for the other scandals Obama has been involved in - the lawsuits to silence critics, the arrest of news reporters showing the Dem Fat Cats, etc?
BIAS
I concur Old Spook Thru and Thru Bias!
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/31/2008 13:15 Comments ||
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#26
agree. No front page scandal for Obama or Michele Obama re: Rezko, Ayers, their work on the Anneberg Education committees or their black seperatist church, etc. etc., etc.
WAPO and the rest of the MSM shot their wad a long time ago and conservatives don't care what they say anymore. The only thing the MSM can do now is hope that their own choir will stick around to hear them preach.
#28
God, I am soooooo tired of people who use that to deflect conversation away from policies, leadership and the job itself when a woman is under consideration
ditto that. So, Nimble, is it your contention that father's are not worthy to raise children if mother's are the major breadwinner in the family? What exactly is it that you have a problem with in regards to it being a woman moving her family from Alaska v/s a man?
/backs slowly away from the thread and runs before the fuse goes off
sorry NS ;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 18:17 Comments ||
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#30
Imma hidin' behind this big rock.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/31/2008 18:27 Comments ||
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#31
OK, NS, you lost me there.
Are you implying somehow that men aren't as capable of caring for a child as a man is? Because if you are, you just insulted my father, and my brother (who incidentally shares the child raising duties for a Downs Syndrome child with my sister-in-law....he does it 100% on his days off so my sister-in-law gets a break), not to mention other men I know who have stepped up to the plate and done an admirable job raising children.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 18:28 Comments ||
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#32
Crap....I meant to say,"men aren't as capable of caring for a child as a woman is?"
Too much caffeine today.....
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 18:30 Comments ||
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#33
When my wife died, my youngest had just turned 16. That is a time when a young woman needs her mother. I had to fill in. She is now 24, is engaged to a wonderful young man, has a saving's account, a steady job, and I would like to think I had something to do with it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/31/2008 18:35 Comments ||
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#34
Gee, and here I've been thinking that the slew of dual-military-career couples I know well were raising a gaggle of incredibly smart, well-adjusted and productive kids while alternating 6-18 month deployments in theater.
I'll have to let these O3s, O4s, O5s and O6s (and a few senior warrant officers) know that they're not doing it right according to NS. I'm sure it will cause them to seriously re-evaluate their career and childraising decisions, throw out the carefully selected au pairs and welcomed grandparents living with them and get with the NS program.
Only the women, of course .... in fact, they should probably just resign their commissions right now. A couple of 'em probably should send back their medals too. And their senior aviator badges.
#35
I'm saying two parents are best. But most women are better rearing kids than most men. That's not the deck we're all dealt and some make the choice to do it the other way 'round and it works better for them. But all other things being equal, yeah, for most mothers do a better job rearing kids.
Posted by: Your supervisor ||
08/31/2008 18:38 Comments ||
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#37
LOL NS, sockpuppetry has its' risks. As Emily Littella, or the Flyash Liberation Army, I can assure you
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 18:41 Comments ||
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#38
She is now 24, is engaged to a wonderful young man, has a saving's account, a steady job, and I would like to think I had something to do with it.
I'm sure you did, Deacon! As did the several divorced Dads here who fought for their kids and raised them well.
It's so very very situation dependent, raising healthy, secure and well-adjusted kids. I agree NS - all things considered, 2 parents actively involved in raising their kids together tends to produce the best results.
But the mix and degree of roles between the parents, and how that might shift over time in response to unusual situations (military deployments, Mom a governor or Vice POTUS), that depends on a whole lot of variables IMO.
#39
well done, Deacon. I still get Mother's Day cards from my 23 yr old daughter because I played both roles (divorce, absent Mom). Those mean the world to me
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 18:59 Comments ||
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#40
I know wherefrom you come, Frank G. My oldest was married and had her own children when Elizabeth died so she had the benefit of both. Any single parent has a tremendous challenge. Mothers with sons and fathers with daughters I think is the most chalenging.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/31/2008 19:35 Comments ||
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#41
Three cheers for Deacon Blues. You da man.
Sorry Nimble. Lots of families share parenting roles today and raise great kids. All this phoney baloney "concern" for Sarah Palin and her family is just the worst kind of politics. I hope you won't stoop to it.
I was tempted to post this under "WoT Operations."
Ramsey County sheriff's deputies found weapons and devices to disable buses - among other items - in searches in the Twin Cities last night and today. Authorities said the items came from "key members of the RNC Welcoming Committee," a self-described anarchist group.
Five people have been arrested and four properties have been searched, according to the sheriff's office. At 8 a.m. today, the sheriff's office executed search warrants at three Minneapolis homes The FBI, Minneapolis police and the Hennepin County sheriff's office assisted them.
"The 'Welcoming Committee' is a criminal enterprise made up of 35 anarchists who are intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention," said Sheriff Bob Fletcher in a statement. "These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers. They have recruited assistance in their criminal conspiracy from other anarchists groups throughout the country. Through their plans and actions they have exhibited a blatant disregard for the law and the safety of others."
The statement said the items found in the searches included: { list at the link } I'll put my 12 gauge against any of them.
The five people being held at the Hennepin County jail are under arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder and conspiracy to damage property. Arrested at the 17th Avenue home were Monica Rachel Bicking, 23, Erin Chase Trimmer, 23, and Garrett Scott Fitzgerald, 25, Nestor said.
Nathanel David Secor, 26, was arrested at the 23rd Avenue South home. Erik Charles Oseland, 21, was arrested at an undisclosed location, the sheriff's office said. George Soros's hotel room?
"Conspiracy to riot was the charge used against the Chicago Eight in 1968 as part of a politically motivated prosecution," said Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. "It is a charge that is essentially used for preventive detention." There is a better chance it will stick this time, since the media can't cover for them anymore, at least not completely.
A St. Paul building leased by The RNC Welcoming Committee, where a search warrant was executed Friday night, Is being turned back over to the property owner, the mayor's office said this afternoon. An inspector from the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections secured the former theater on the city's West Side after fire code violations were found during the search, said Bob Hume, Mayor Chris Coleman's spokesman. The violations included a boarded-up fire exit and "sleeping pads everywhere," Hume said. Eegad! Those sleeping pads probably contain vermin as yet unknown to science.
The building was secured, pending notification of the property owner, which has happened, Hume said.
People planning to protest at the Republican National Convention and St. Paul City Council Member Dave Thune are calling the actions a preemptive strike before the RNC, which starts Monday.
St. Paul's mayor said this afternoon that free speech rights are separate from criminal behavior. "We have worked very, very hard to make sure we've protected people's right to exercise free speech," Coleman said. "To pick up a protest sign, that's fine. If you're here to pick up a brick or some other instrument there's a problem."
Thune said he called city officials seeking an explanation for why the building, which appeared to be up to code and had a valid lease, was being boarded up at the request of the Ramsey County sheriff's office. Thune said Saturday afternoon that the building has been reopened. "I don't know what happened with the boarding, but they've corrected it, and I'm grateful to our folks at DSI (Department of Safety and Inspections) for seeing the mistake."
Thune has been concerned about the conduct of authorities in the last 24 hours regarding activists. "This is all about free speech," Thune said. "It's what my father fought in the war for. To me, this smacks of preemptive strike against free speech." Your lame-ass denials smack of Joseph Goebbels, Thune.
Members of various protest groups targeted in last night's raid held a press conference today to express their anger and frustration.
The raid was an effort to "derail RNC protest organizing efforts and to intimidate and terrorize individuals and groups converging in the Twin Cities to exercise what are supposed to be their basic civil rights," RNC Welcoming Committee member Tony Jones read from a statement. "We will not be intimidated," Jones exclaimed.
The group is demanding re-entry into the convergence space and a guarantee against future raids, the return of all property seized and an end to the "harassment and surveillance."
After reading the statement, Jones refused to answer media questions, saying RNC Welcoming Committee members won't talk until they've had a chance to meet with each other. and get their stories straight...
There will be another press conference this afternoon at the former Smith Theater, the site of last night's raid. Representatives of other protest groups, such as the Poor People's Economic Rights Campaign, spoke out against local police at the press conference.
Cheri Honkala, who's participated in other RNC protests, such as in New York in 2004, compared the St. Paul raid to "terrorism." "We, just like the Republicans, have the right to free speech," Honkala said. One speaker, who said she does not belong to any protest group, but lives in St. Paul and has been helping visiting protesters, said the raid on the convergence center was unprompted and that the people there had done nothing wrong. The whole world really is watching this time, with the net bypassing your media allies, and you look like a bunch of paint-huffing terrorist wannabes.
"The place they raided last night, they were showing documentary movies to twenty-somethings in a clean, alcohol free zone after dinner," Nanette Echols said. Lot of Muslim donors there, Nanette?
"Today is the biggest day that people are arriving, and we have no place to welcome them," she said, choking up. Sure enough, paint fumes.
#1
They wanted to "Blockade" the republican convention. Good to see that they are for free speech and democracy. IMHO it sound like terrorism so haul there butts off to the real gitmo for a few months.
#10
I suspect that an honest effort to follow the money behind these folks would probably reveal some interesting connections (across state borders as well). This is a lot of folks with no apparent means of support renting some high dollar facilities and homes. Just the per diem and travel expenses would be a killer for most folks.
We know the MSM won't go anywhere near that one though. Fox? Justice Dept? FBI? Anyone?
Within hours of Senator John McCain picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, the talking heads of CNBC had coined a new term: "Palinomics." In a nutshell, the doctrine stands for expanding the search for domestic oil and gas as a solution to the energy crisis.
But while Palin might be a proponent of more drilling in Alaska, she's hardly a patsy of the oil industry. One theme at the Democratic convention was Republicans' cozy relationship with Big Oil. As Al Gore put it Thursday night, the industry has been "drilling [the GOP] for everything it's worth." But whatever you think of such a statement, it would be hard to say that about Sarah Palin.
Palin reached the Alaska statehouse in 2006 after trouncing incumbent governor Frank Murkowski, patriarch of one of Alaska's powerful political families, in the Republican primary. The former high-school basketball star, beauty queen, commercial fisherman, and mayor of Wasilla (population 8,471) ran on one big issue: Exploiting her state's billions of dollars worth of natural gas on Alaska's terms, not on the oil companies' terms.
For years, Alaskans have dreamed of the revenue bounty promised by the state's natural gas resources. But until recently, prices were too low to make shipping natural gas to the lower 48 states profitable. Murkowski had negotiated a deal with the Big Three oil companies of Alaska - BP (BP), ExxonMobil (XOM, Fortune 500), and ConocoPhillips (COP, Fortune 500), which hold long-term North Slope leases - to finance and build a pipeline to get the 235 trillion cubic feet of natural gas estimated to be buried under the North Slope to market. The deal guaranteed a tax cut for the oil companies, and promised that Alaska wouldn't change those rates for decades.
But when Murkowski brought the proposal to the Alaska statehouse, it was rejected as a sweetheart deal for the oil companies. Several of the governor's negotiators were later indicted, accused of making back-room deals with the industry. Voters subsequently booted Murkowski from office. You don't mess with revenues from oil and gas in Alaska, because it goes into Alaska's Permanent Fund, which sends a check to each resident every year.
Once in office, Palin took an aggressive stance toward the oil companies. Her nickname from high-school basketball, "Sarah Barracuda," was resurrected in the press. Early in her term, she shocked oil lobbyists when she was so bold as to not show up when Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson came to Juneau to meet with her. Palin, after scrapping Murkowski's deal, would not give Big Oil the terms they wanted, yet insisted that the companies still had an obligation under their lease to deliver gas to whatever pipeline Alaska built. She invited the oil companies to place open bids to build a pipeline, but they refused. A bid by TransCanada, North America's largest pipeline builder, was approved by the legislature in August.
Palin also raised taxes on oil companies after Murkowski's previous tax regime produced falling revenues in 2007, despite skyrocketing oil prices. Alaska now has some of the highest resource taxes in the world. Alaska's oil tax revenues are expected to be about $10 billion in 2008, twice those of previous year. BP says about half its oil revenues now go to taxes, when royalty payments to the state are included. Earlier this week, Palin approved gas tax relief for Alaskans, and paid every resident $1,200 to help ease their fuel-price burden.
To be sure, it would be an overstatement to brand Palin as an enemy of Big Oil. Her husband works as a production supervisor for BP. And her support for drilling in the Alaska Natural Wildlife Reserve, as well as exploiting Alaska's natural gas resources, certainly won't endear her to environmentalists. "Personally, I have respect for the industry," she said in an interview with Fortune last year, "for the contributions it's made to our state ... and great respect for what their CEOs are doing. We know their mission, to take as much as possible and leave as little behind."
But it does take a special person to go from small-town mayor and hockey mom to standing up to the world's biggest corporations. Despite a stint as chairman of the state's Oil and Gas Commission, she'd never done business on a remotely similar stage. When Fortune last year asked Palin if she was intimidated, she said simply, "No. Being reasonable commercial operations, I expected the Big Three will act responsibly."
In that same interview, she said she intended to change Alaska's relationship with "the lower 48." She saw part of her responsibility as delivering her state's natural gas to those hungry markets. "We're still too reliant on the federal government," she said. She canceled Alaska's support for the "Bridge to Nowhere," a proposed $320 million bridge to sparsely populated Gravina Island, that Senator Ted Stevens, now under indictment for public corruption, famously included in the federal budget.
Palin was also critical of Washington's attitude towards the pipeline project. She said last year she had written a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney asking for help with the pipeline, but didn't receive a response. President Bush did send an envoy to Alaska to help get the project going, but Palin still felt the approval process was unwieldy. "So many federal agencies and permitting processes," she told Fortune. "It's mind-boggling."
Despite her sparkling profile outside the state, Palin has had her critics in Alaska. She faced bitter opposition from the more conservative members of Alaska's legislature over the tax increases. And many in the bureaucracy feel that without the oil companies' cooperation, the pipeline will never get built, since oil companies still own the gas under their lease of the North Slope. And now that TransCanada has bid for the pipeline, Alaska is committed to covering up to $500 million of its costs regardless of whether the pipe gets built.
Palin's first dream in life was to be sportswriter, covering hockey and basketball. She loved ESPN so much, she named her daughter "Bristol," after the town in Connecticut where the cable network is headquartered. Whether that helps or hurts her chances to be second in line for the presidency, we'll see. But at least we know she loves a good power play.
#1
Here is the theme that I would like to see pounded home over the next nine weeks, in comparing and contrasting Palin with Obama:
Given where each of them started, upon award of their highest university degree - that is, given the hand of cards they were dealt, upon entering post-academic adult life - what did they EFFECTIVELY accomplish in their public life, up until now.
Obama was dealt pretty good cards - he left prestigious Harvard University with Juris Doctor degree in 1991. Palin graduated from Idaho State University with a BS degree in 1987 - nothing wrong there, but not exactly a classical scenario of great prestige.
Now - with the cards they were dealt - how effectively did the two play their hands?
Obama, with his prestigious Harvard degree - goes back to Chicago - and accomplished exactly what? How is Chicago a better place to live or do business - because of the influence of Barak Obama? Did he inspire great strides in education? In housing? In nutrition, or public health? What - exactly - did he cause to happen - through his own application of energy and drive? I have yet to hear of anything. I understand that he administered (via the Annenberg Challenge) huge amounts of money and several years of time on education reform - with the result of virtually no improvement. I understand that he played a role in the creation of what ended up as virtually slum housing. With his high-powered Harvard graduate degree - he accomplished virtually nothing for his community. What he did do was endear himself to a Democratic Chicago political machine, that took good care of him. But - he generated virtually zilch in the way of community betterment.
Then we turn to Sarah Palin. Taking the cards she was dealt, she headed back to Alaska, and - starting at the bottom - starting cleaning things up and bringing about serious change. She did not do this with the enthusiastic help of a polished political machine behind her. Instead - like a salmon battling its way upstream - she had to fight tooth an nail for every success. She lowered property tax rates, fought corruption, improved tax revenues from the oil industry, and drove home an international agreement with Canada to put in place a major energy pipeline to carry petro energy to the lower 48 states.
In every way that I can see, Obama appears to have taken the enormous advanatage that he started with - and done virtually squat with it. Palin took an average set of cards, and leveraged it to accomplish a substantial string of noteworthy accomplishments.
So - based on personal history - which one is most likely to take whatever he or she starts with, and generate meaningful improvement for the community (nation) that elects him/her?
My money would be on Palin. She has no enormous, ravenous hometown political machine to pay back. She can get on with what is best for the country.
#2
Palin is a real life person. That is the kind of experience that is most needed in Washington. There are FAR too many careerist politicians that are just biden their time cloistered in the echo chamber beltway groupthink. Conventional wisdom has it that only THEY are experienced enough to rule. That is incorrect. A real person, with real principles, one who instinctively knows right and wrong can learn all the briefing book stuff. Compare that to policy wonks at the State Department.
I am totally comfortable with Sarah Palin, lifetime member of the NRA, ability and experience to lead should need arise.
#5
Barack Obama chaired the Harvard Law Review but didn't write a signed article for it.
He was a senior lecturer at a top 5 law school but didn't write a single, scholarly article.
He was a community organizer in a poor region of a major city, but didn't contribute to correcting a single major problem.
He chaired an educational reform foundation but didn't reform education where it was desperately needed.
He was a state senator who didn't sponsor a single major piece of legislation.
He is a sitting U.S. Senator but hasn't sponsored a single major piece of legislation.
Someone (Pliny?) point to me one substantial thing Barack Obama has done -- one thing I can point out to others. A school, a park, a major reform, a major bill, something.
You can't.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2008 16:12 Comments ||
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#7
Sarah Palin is, in hindsight, the perfect outside pick by the McMaverick. Meanwhile, the highly vocal and glib candidate of supposed "CHANGE" settles for a careerist hack like Biden. ROTFLMAO
UTICA, New York - Republican John McCain's surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's historic speech accepting his party's presidential nomination - has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows.
The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.
In other words, the race is a dead heat.
The interactive online Zogby survey shows that both Obama and McCain have solidified the support among their own parties - Obama won 86% support of Democrats and McCain 89% of Republicans in a two-way head-to-head poll question not including the running mates. When Biden and Palin are added to the mix, Obama's Democratic support remains at 86%, while McCain's increases to 92%.
After the McCain "Veep" announcement on Friday, Palin was almost immediately hailed as a strong conservative, and those voters have rallied to the GOP ticket, the survey shows. Republicans gather in St. Paul, Minnesota this week to officially nominate McCain and Palin as their presidential ticket.
Overall, 52% said the selection of Palin as the GOP vice presidential nominee helps the Republican ticket, compared to 29% who said it hurt. Another 10% said it made no difference, while 10% were unsure. Among independent voters, 52% said it helps, while 26% said it would hurt. Among women, 48% said it would help, while 29% said it would hurt the GOP ticket. Among Republicans, the choice was a big hit - as 87% said it would help, and just 3% said it would hurt.
Pollster John Zogby: "Palin is not to be underestimated. Her real strength is that she is authentic, a real mom, an outdoors person, a small town mayor (hey, she has dealt with a small town city council - that alone could be preparation for staring down Vladimir Putin, right?). She is also a reformer."
"A very important demographic in this election is going to be the politically independent woman, 15% of whom in our latest survey are undecided."
"In the final analysis, this election will be about Obama vs. McCain. Obama has staked out ground as the new JFK - a new generation, literally and figuratively, a new face of America to the world, a man who can cross lines and work with both sides. But McCain is the modern day Harry Truman - with lots of DC experience, he knows what is wrong and dysfunctional with Washington and how to fix it, and he has chosen a running mate who is about as far away from Washington as he could find.
"This contest is likely to be very close until the weekend before the election - then the dam may break and support may flood one way or the other."
The interactive survey shows that 22% of those voters who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in their primary elections or caucus earlier this year are now supporting John McCain.
Among those who said they shop regularly at Wal-Mart - a demographic group that Zogby has found to be both "value" and "values" voters - Obama is getting walloped by McCain. Winning 62% support from weekly Wal-Mart shoppers, McCain wins these voters at a rate similar to what President Bush won in 2004. Obama wins 24% support from these voters
#2
That's strange, based on what I read she supported Obama's energy policy just this Aug 4th but removed it from her website just recently.
Palin Pleased with Obama's Energy Plan
Includes Alaska's Natural Gas Reserves Print Now Printer Friendly
No. 08-135
August 4, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today responded to the energy plan put forward by the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
"I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska's natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs," Governor Palin said. "The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs."
In a speech given in Lansing, Michigan, Senator Obama called for the completion of the Alaska natural gas pipeline, stating, "Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas production. And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process."
Governor Palin also acknowledged the Senator's proposal to offer $1,000 rebates to those struggling with the high cost of energy.
"We in Alaska feel that crunch and are taking steps to address it right here at home," Governor Palin said. "This is a tool that must be on the table to buy us time until our long-term energy plans can be put into place. We have already enjoyed the support of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, and it is gratifying to see Senator Obama get on board."
#3
That story in no way backs up your statement that she "Supported Obamas energy policy"
Go back to making plans for voter fraud with the rest of your fellow donks.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/31/2008 3:20 Comments ||
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#4
So what if she did support one aspect of Candidate Obama's energy policy? For the rest she's been of the "Drill here. Drill now." school, as evidenced by an interview she had a year or so ago (I think) with Maria Bartalomeo (spelling?), which I watched on YouTube yesterday.
#5
What she supported was using Alaska's natural gas as part of the US national energy policy. What that might sound like common sense (and is) it has been bitterly opposed by Pelosi and other congressional Dem leaders.
Congrats for getting posted so early in the queue. But you've got do more than a single sentence easily refuted by a horn dog like Mike N and a non-sequitur paste job. Our client is paying to destroy low-temp red-neck before she can get off the ground. Start popping the zingers or you go piece rate.
Posted by: Your supervisor ||
08/31/2008 7:06 Comments ||
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#7
I tend to think that the phrase "Obama's ________ policy" should always be written "Obama's alleged __________ policy". He's unlikely to follow through on any but his most loony left-wing promises.
#8
Thanks! I did get that post quite a bit earlier.
However, I think the case that they'll blow away the Dems on energy policy is a weak. No Offense.
If she agrees with Obama, more than McCain, isn't that another problem with McCain's vision of America? Who policy will win out, McCains or Palins?
Also, it was Palin's office that said she agreed with Obama, not Obama agreeing with Palin so I can't fall for that justicfication.
And what's her strong points besides energy and good looks? Baiting fish (big whoop)
I can't find anything worth voting for her and I'm not a pure DEM, I voted for Bush for 2 as a registered Republican. Obviously I'm not the only one disstatified with the GOP.
I think this is an act of desperate by McCain and it's an insult.
If McCain only met her 2 times before he hasn't seriously consider her very well.
Even in July, there is an interview where Palin states that she would be better of running things in Alaska than in DC.
What's the big selling point I'm missing?
Executive experience? In Alaska? Things move a lot slower up there than in the Beltway.
Are we just going to repeat she's great until we start to believe it?
#9
Good grief, Pliny - you're great at parroting Dem talking points, but do you have ANY of your own original thoughts? The kind of thoughts that can be written on a family blog, that is.
Sorry, rhetorical question....
Best heed #6-your supervisor's instructions if you ever hope to get out of Mama's basement.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 11:42 Comments ||
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#10
LOL Those are my damn thoughts, but I'm getting no answers? Use your brain please.
Why is she so great?
I guess I could try to answer, she inspires and brings hope like Obama does for the Dems?
#11
Looks like Pliny's been assigned to Rantburg for the day, folks. Sigh.
"Why is she so great? I guess I could try to answer, she inspires and brings hope like Obama does for the Dems?"
Hope for what exactly? (Other than getting back in power so you can push more of your marxist socialist policies through and damage our country more than you already have.) Inspiration's nice, but what exactly does BO intend to do to improve life for the people of our country? (Raising taxes, promoting class warfare, and damaging our economy are not improvements, no matter how much you claim they are.)
Unlike your empty suit, Governor Palin has ACTUAL EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE (both as governor and as mayor before that - badmouth the size of the locality all you want, it's 100% MORE than BO has). More executive experience than Biden, too. (She also has more executive experience that McCain, though he also has more then either BO or Biden.) She also knows how to run a business - not in theory but in actual fact. BO & Biden have no idea whatsoever.
SP runs a state; BO runs his mouth.
Don't go away mad - just go away. You're boring.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 11:59 Comments ||
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#12
Pliny Sleash8027 raises points that others are thinking, like it or not. Here's my take:
Up until the announcement, the campaign was in key ways continuation of what came before. McCain, although definitely the maverick he claims to be, has been a senator for a generation; Biden has been a senator for a generation; Obama, although a baby boomer by upbringing, is a continuation of not only the Olde Chicago party machine, but of the ever so tiresome Sixty-Eighters.
Sarah Palin is actually a fresh face and a fresh viewpoint, the viewpoint of those who have actually made equality of the sexes work. In my circle, and in the eyes of the trailing daughters' generation, this is normal and sensible - as long as someone takes care of the homefront, it doesn't matter whether that person's genes are X-only or XY. As governor she worked for her state, including pointing out where the proclaimed policies of the potential winner of the presidential election are in agreement in principle with her own. Of course there is some overlap on plans -- we all have the same basic goals, it's only on details (some of them pretty serious, granted) that we differ, presidential candidates included.
#13
Things move faster inside the beltway than in Alaska, my ass. Congressional actions have to be timed with a phulking calendar.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/31/2008 12:39 Comments ||
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#14
The state Alaska has the population of Austin, Texas. Less people, less conviving politians, less media, less decisions made, more fishing and hunting time.
And I appreciate trailing wife for neutrality and reasonable counter points, I'm not here to appologize for the dems or bash the gop however I will rant my thoughts.
I was hoping for some "substance" on why Palin is so great.
I agree, Obama and Palin are fresh faces, who give us hope that the corruption in our parties will go away.
I do understand people have chosen sides and won't ever give in to the other side or seem to.
Those people are the worst kind (from either party).
#16
And that population matters exactly how, Pliny?
We could also cite figures on the oil and gas reserves there, along with the other natural resources.
From my perspective, two aspects of Palin that are particularly impressive are her reform work and her actions on domestic energy production.
In the former she broke up and defeated an entrenched political group that was complacent, self-serving and corrupt. A huge amount of pressure was put on her by people in her own party not to do that -- pressure that has particular impact in a smaller population, by the way.
She did it anyway, beat one of the most powerful governors in AK history, and then went on to uproot more of the same elsewhere. She jerked the reins on Ted Stevens re: the Bridge to Nowhere - and Stevens is one of the most powerful senators serving in Congress, not to mention in the history of that state. Obama talks the talk about change. In just a few short years Palin has created it. Oh yeah - she made bipartisan appointments to important positions in her administration too.
On the domestic energy front, she has struck a consistent and effective position regarding commercialization of Alaskan resources. On the one hand she took a tough negotiating position with the big oil companies, ripping up a sweetheart deal they'd cut with the prior administration, raising taxes on the windfall profits they had accrued as a result of that deal and distributing those back to Alaskan citizens who had subsidized that sweetheart deal with their tax dollars. Having torn up that deal, she negotiated a competitive deal for a gas pipeline. That entailed negotiations with Canadian business and political leaders.
Finally, a third point that hasn't been made much yet. Alaska is on the forefront of ballistic missile defense and borders on Russia. Another article here at Rantburg talks about the unique and permanently active duty role of an Alaskan national guard unit in BMD. As commander of the Guard she has been involved in those issues. But BMD isn't the only defense issue facing Alaska. Over the last year+ as Russia became more and more militarily aggressive, Russian military planes have challenged the edges of US airspace just outside of Alaska multiple times. Although we played it down in the press, Alaskan air fields scrambled military jets in response. Those are real homeland defense activities she has been involved with that go beyond the usual duties of your average governor.
Palin brings a lot to this ticket. Obama's an empty suit and Biden, well .... what Biden is is pretty apparent. Palin - the VP candidate - has more credentials than Obama the Presidential candidate.
That people in small population states aren't qualified to serve in the White House.
You from large state - on a coast, perhaps?
Btw, what was the population of Illionois when Lincoln took office?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/31/2008 13:44 Comments ||
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#18
You're so much nicer than I am, tw. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 13:51 Comments ||
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#19
The state Alaska has the population of Austin, Texas. Less people,
The state of Alaska is not Austin, Texas. The population may be the same, but the scope of duties and responsibilities of a state are somewhat larger and more diverse.
Population of a state isn't necesarily a qualifier of what makes a governor 'good' (see Governors Elliot Spitzer (NY) and James McGreevy {NJ))
less conviving politians,
Read up on Alaska politics, please.
less media, less decisions made, more fishing and hunting time
Less media, perhaps. I'll disagree on whether less decisions are made.
Let me run an analogy: A mine-countermeasures (MCM) ship and an aircraft carrier are two different sized vessels. The latter has a population about 100 times larger. The missions are different. The carrier actually may have 2-3 subordinate commands.
But both are commissioned warships. The commanding officer of each ship was selected based on his record and potential. Each has the same responsibilities and duties, makes the same reports on the condition and operation of the ship and its crew. Both will lose their jobs if they run aground, hit another ship, or foul up by betraying their responsibilities and the trust placed in them. So far this year, seven or so COs have been relieved.
True, the CO of a carrier is in the spotlight more, and will likely make admiral before the CO of an MCM. But neither of them will go anywhere if they don't live up to the trust placed in them.
Now, let's run this analogy into the present political scene. Governor Palin has been tapped as a vice-presidential candidate. Population size or not, she is head of a state that has very much the same issues, functions, and responsibilities as any other state in the Union. By all accounts (which are easily researched if you bother to make an effort) she's done rather well during her two-year stint. And governors have traditionally done better in the Executive branch than legislators.
Comparing Governor Palin with Senator Obama is a bit of a stretch but it can be done. We have the governor of a state- with executive experience- tapped as a candidate for the vice presidency - an understudy role (and one that does not usually lead to an automatic presidential-candidate slot).
We have a Senator tapped as a candidate for the presidency. Little or no executive experience, and his past two political positions are as short or shorter than the governors. What's more the Senator's record of accomplishment is not notable.
Do I think Governor Palin will make a good vice-president? I don't know. But I do know that a governor, regardless of the state demographics would, by their duties as governor, be more qualified to higher officer in the Executive branch than a senator.
(and if that wants to be interpreted as a smack again Senator McCain, I'll let the reader judge for themselves).
#20
It's a mutual admiration society, Barbara dear. But it really is important to address concerns upfront, when posed politely. I would not have replied in a similar vein to nonsense like Garrison Keillor on this weekend's "A Prairie Home Companion," where he talked about "Sarah Palin, the beauty queen"... or claims that her last baby was really her illegitimate grandchild.
Pliny Sleash8027, I don't know that Governor Palin is a great choice as Candidate McCain's running mate. I do, however, think she is a good one, and that McCain/Palin is a much more qualified team to run this country than Obama/Biden, for all Candidate Obama also came without a national reputation. But then, I fall for knowledge and accomplishment -- which is why I hang out here -- and I haven't seen much of either from the first term, junior senator from Illinois.
#21
My apologies. The honourable senator has published two autobiographies celebrating his first almost half century of life. Granted, I don't like the person he portrayed in their pages, but people tend to present what they see as their best side in such things.
However, Pliny, I remember a governor from a very small state with a very small population (Vermont) running for president back in 2004. It has even less population than Alaska. His state borders on Canada, and he might have had some "foreign relations experience" based on that. I know it's not one of the largest media markets, although I am not qualified to comment on the hunting and fishing opportunities or the contentiousness of party politics in the Green Mountain State.
By that logic, Howard "The Roarin' Metrosexual" Dean was also not qualified to be President of the United States.
Just sayin'.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 14:38 Comments ||
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#23
As Alaska Paul pointed out,she recently got a $100 million energy fund set up for alternative energy sources in Alaska to get Alaskans off of high cost fossil fuels. There is an energy source inventory being done for every community in Alaska. Everything is on the table--hydro, biomass, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, tidal, etc. She got the ball rolling.
Neither Obama or Biden have ever actually done anything but talk about alternative energy sources.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/31/2008 15:06 Comments ||
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#24
"Neither Obama or Biden have ever actually done anything but talk about alternative energy sources."
Fixed that for ya', Deacon.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 15:09 Comments ||
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#25
Thanks, Barbara. :<)
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/31/2008 15:10 Comments ||
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#26
You know me, Deacon - I live to serve. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 15:14 Comments ||
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#27
Then there was Kerry/Edwards. Of course, Palin can't hold a candle to Edwards.
#29
close contest on prettiest hair. Maybe if she spent as much time on hers as he does?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 15:48 Comments ||
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#30
"not certain, but possible - she uses as much hairspray as he does"
Doubtful now, but maybe in her beauty queen days? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 16:04 Comments ||
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#31
One thing that's missing in all the comments here is the fact that Alaska is a state half as big as the lower 48 combined. With so much area, so little population, and such varying climactic conditions, it's a harder state to govern, not an easier one. The fact that the fastest - and sometimes only - way to get from one place to another is by small plane says a lot about the "conditions on the ground".
Sarah Palin is a staunch, determined individual who grows into any job she takes on. Being a commercial fisherman is one of the most dangerous jobs in Alaska. It's also one that's the most difficult to make a substantial living at. One bad season, and you're in the hole for YEARS. I'm sure that Sarah had considerable input on running that business with her husband. People in Alaska tend to involve family in all matters, much as the rest of America used to do.
Sarah Palin has some negatives, but I believe from all that I've read and my 60+ years of experience that she's a better candidate for ANY elected office than 99% of the dreck from DC.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/31/2008 17:53 Comments ||
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#32
I apologize I have not read all the comments but I did see the point about population.
Yes, Alaska is a state, America is a super power, the experience isn't the same. She's relative unknown and untested outside of Alaska for a lackluster McCain.
I wish she was in the game earlier so she could have prepared, but now we are less than 60 days from electing.
It's not apples and apples. And Vermont is closer than Alaska.
If McCain dies, this charming lady (she is) is running the country and much of the world. There were other female choices he could have made who I'd feel safer with.
She already likes Obama's energy policy so that's no advantage, especially if McCain overrides her.
If she praises Obama's energy policy, then it not going to be much of a debating point with Biden about opening up Alaska for more oil.
In the end, I'm done with this subject for today but I think she's a swell gal who's out of her league. Too bad she's tied to McCain.
Yes, Alaska is a state? Were you born in 1932? Of course it's a state, moron.
And Vermont is closer than Alaska? To what the Roadkill Grill?
Dood Americans don't think their President runs the country, only the government. He's not Putin, fer Lenin's sake.
I'm glad you signed off for today 'cause you're due for reassignment tomorrow.
Posted by: Your supervisor ||
08/31/2008 18:08 Comments ||
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#34
If McCain dies, this charming lady (she is) is running the country and much of the world.
a possibility, if the GOP wins, agreed. If the Donks win, a certainty would be that Obama is running the country and much of the world.
I find that a scarier scenario
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 18:12 Comments ||
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#35
I apologize I have not read all the comments....
YOUR LOSS.
so we're just to read your comments? Selective with your reading huh? Very telling of your mindset. A troll not worth my time.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/31/2008 18:57 Comments ||
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#36
And if Kerry fell off his bicycle again, Edwards would have been leader of the free world.
I'll take Palin. Some think foreign affairs is some wicked complicated thing. I doubt it, look at the turkeys involved. Too much experience is a disadvantage; leads to hand wringing. It's a matter of quick reaction and good judgement. Joe Biden? Are you kidding me? I'll take Palin any day.
#37
The problem is for you Slimy, that you have not been paying attention, and according to your comments here are suffing from self-selective ignorance.
Sarah Palin has been talked about as a running mate a long time ago, notably by the Fred Thompson backers last year. Jindal as well.
And it turns out that McCain has been considering her since February. The press missed it - they are wrong, as usual. There have been a lot more communications than the press knew about. McCain kept those under his hat, so as to provide maximum impact for the announcment, unlike the mush-headed way Obama handled his appointment of 30+ year DC insider Biden at 3am like a drunktexting old girlfriend.
So maybe you should take some time to learn, and be back it down a notch, lest you compound your ignorance with stupidity.
And the topic here is her letter to Harry, not your parroting of unfounded and unhinged commentary from the left. Try to stay on topic.
Regarding energy policy, (back on topic) she is an "All of the Above" liek most sensible peopel, and liek the GOP house memebers have been tryign to push over Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reids obstructianism. Read the letter- she points out the paramount issue, namely that national security implications of the Democrat Congress' failure to act.
UNliek Dingy HArry, SEH has done something - getting a natural gas pipeline going from the Alaska fields to the US markets, without needing to trans-ship via oil/gas tanker. That required negotiation with Canada, and involvment of US State Dept and Interior as well.
I;d say that speaks pretty well for her "foreign policy" experience - she knows the energy market and how it affects the nation, especially an energy critical state like Alaska. Going without power in Delware for a day is no big deal. Going without power in Alaska for a day can kill you.
One of these candidates has had to face that scenario as a "Buck Stops Here" executive. One of them has had to face life and death decisions as a military unit commander. The others have nver done so. Obama was busy voting "Present" while Palin was running corrupt politicians out of office. Biden was busy taking a senate seat that he still holds after 3 decades while John McCain was still a POW.
For those unfamiliar, Donald Fowler was the national chairman of the Democratic National Committee between 1995 and 1997.
According to video, Fowler, on a plane from Denver to Charlotte following the recently concluded Democratic National Convention, was joking with Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) about the timing of Hurricane Gustav potentially hitting New Orleans when the Republicans start their convention.
At least that's what it appears he's talking about:
Plus they think the hurricane's going to hit (starts laughing) New Orleans about the time they start. The timing, at least it appears now, that it'll be there Monday. That just demonstrates God's on our side
Given that Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise (R) has reportedly asked Michael Moore to apologize for similar comments made on MSNBC's "Countdown" Friday evening, one should think Fowler will also come under some scrutiny.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Are you kidding? MSNBC and the rest of Obama's Hallelujah Choir will think it the height of wit in private, and do their best to ensure that it never is reported in the MSM.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
08/31/2008 0:42 Comments ||
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#2
Most New Orleans residents self-identify as Democrats.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/31/2008 0:46 Comments ||
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#3
Are you kidding?
God HATES democrats. Those storms were formed during YOUR convention idiots.
#4
I doubt God hates either party. Rather, He'd prefer if party members would recall that we all are God's creatures, and to respect the equality of that creation. And if, indeed, there is no god, then we all are equally the result of millions of years of evolution, and respect the equality of happenstance that caused us to be the ones here to experience it all.
Who knows when or where flapped the wing of the butterfly that made this particular storm? Mr. Fowler had the particular bad luck to be sitting a row in front of a Hillary Clinton bitter-ender... with a camera on her cell phone and a clear willingness to use it.
#6
"Mr. Fowler had the particular bad luck to be sitting a row in front of a Hillary Clinton bitter-ender... with a camera on her cell phone and a clear willingness to use it."
Heh heh heh.
Sure it's just bad luck, tw? If the Dims Dems think devine providence sent a Cat. 4 hurricane to destroy NO again, just to help their campaign, why wouldn't that same devine providence get pissed off at them and send someone to record this jerk and pass it around the internet? :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 11:31 Comments ||
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#7
God HATES democrats. Those storms were formed during YOUR convention idiots.
Dude you sound like one Indonesian clerics after the TSUNAMI? Talk about HEIGHT of WIT!
#8
The difference, #7 Pliny, is that the moslem clerics were perfectly serious.
newc was being sarcastic.
I think.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/31/2008 12:05 Comments ||
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#9
He's apologized now. I particularly like this part of his apology:
"One doesn't anticipate that one's private conversation will be surreptitiously taped by some right-wing nutcase," said Fowler. "But that's the nature of what we're dealing with."
Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise is calling on liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to apologize after he said Friday that the timing of Hurricane Gustav is "proof that there is a God in heaven," since the storm approaching the Gulf Coast could disrupt next week's Republican National Convention. Moore made the remarks to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Proof there is a God will come soon enough for that lardass. And is he ever in for a surprise for being a tool of the Father of Lies.
Figures it was with Olberman, the biggest a0hoel in the western world.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/31/2008 11:09 Comments ||
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#6
I wonder if Moore goes around with bodyguards. You just know there have to be long lines of people who would pay good money for a chance to kick his ass.
#3
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
When Sarah cremated Barack O'Bee.
#5
I'm in Asia. Yesterday I went to pick up a couple of my friends who had been out of touch from radio/TV. I told them to look up in the air. When they asked me why, I said, "so you can catch the home run ball Johnny Mac just hit. He named Sarah Palin as VP."
Their reaction was instant, high-five hand-slapping celebration. Like me, they think it is a truly inspired choice and believe it clinches the election for the Republicans. I haven't been this enthused since Reagan. McCain/Palin '08!
Sarah Palin has made a good first impression. Before being named as John McCain's running mate, 67% of voters didn't know enough about the Alaska governor to have an opinion. After her debut in Dayton and a rush of media coverage, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Palin while just 26% offer a less flattering assessment.
Palin earns positive reviews from 78% of Republicans, 26% of Democrats and 63% of unaffiliated voters. Obviously, these numbers will be subject to change as voters learn more about her in the coming weeks. Among all voters, 29% have a Very Favorable opinion of Palin while 9% hold a Very Unfavorable view.
By way of comparison, on the day he was selected as Barack Obama's running mate, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden was viewed favorably by 43% of voters.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
One thing the Rs could allude to WRT Palin is that Alaska is a key state on the Pacific Rim. Its role as energy and resource provider has international impacts well beyond the important issue of domestic oil / gas supplies and relations with Canada.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/31/2008 9:30 Comments ||
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#3
Can't wait for the VP debates. High entertainment1
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/31/2008 11:07 Comments ||
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#4
I dug through the trash this morning and found a McCain donation packet. Goes in the mail Tuesday. I guess since he is not using public funds there is a cut off date that you can contribute directly to his or in my case Palin's candidacy.
With an eye on elections, the Lok Janshakti Party on Sunday favoured giving citizenship to Bangladeshis staying in the country and advocated reservation for backward, Dalits, tribals and minorities in government and private sector.
The party, a constituent of UPA, passed a resolution at its training camp here in which it said that Bangladeshis, who are staying in India till today (August 31, 2008) and do not want to leave the country, should be provided citizenship.
Those Bangladeshis who are already staying in India should be provided citizenship. Further infiltration should be checked. There should be strict vigil on the border, the resolution said.
The party supported reservation for the socially and economically backward groups.
The party feels that in view of their social and economic conditions, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people should get reservation in private sector. Every community or group should have equal representation in all sectors, the resolution said.
The party is in favour of giving 10 per cent reservation in Central Government jobs for the backward classes. Besides, employment should be a fundamental right of every citizen in the country, the party resolution said.
Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims should be considered as Dalits and provided quota benefits to help them join the main stream, it said.
Government should start Indian Judicial Service in the same pattern as the civil services with provision of quota for the backward and tribals, the LJP resolution said.
Critical of the ban imposed on SIMI, the LJP said an independent inquiry commission should be set up with social scientists and human rights activists as its member to study the role of various organisations in spreading terror and communal tensions. As per its recommendations, actions should be taken against any group, it said.
Party chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan Favoured India to maintain good relations with Iraq, Iran and Palestine. It supports the nuclear deal with the US and the gas pipeline project with Iran.
LJP condemned the recent violence in Orissa and said it was an unfortunate incident. Party would demonstrate against the Orissa violence on September four, the resolution said.
The party organised a training camp for its activists in this pilgrim city. Hundreds of its workers from different States participated in the camp where issues relating to reservation, foreign policy, education and employment were discussed
Posted by: john frum ||
08/31/2008 18:03 ||
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The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Saturday demanded Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari quit his party office if elected president on September 6. "The president should always be non-partisan, but the Presidency will again become abode of a political party if Zardari is elected president," PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal told a press conference on Saturday.
Ahsan said former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf had been running affairs of the PML-Quaid (PML-Q). "The dignity of the office of president needs to be restored," he said. PPP slammed: Iqbal reacted strongly to what he called a "well-organised media campaign by the PPP to malign PML-N presidential candidate Justice (r) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui". He said the PPP should avoid such campaigns. The PML-N leader said there were around 3,000 international media reports against Zardari but the PML-N had never issued any statement against him. Responding to former chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah comments on Friday about the PML-N role in the 1997 judicial crisis, Ahsan said Shah had been a party in the issue and therefore his statements were worthless.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
what if he 90% quits? would that suffice?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2008 14:49 Comments ||
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PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari's bid for the presidency got a boost on Saturday when the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and the Pakistan People's Party-Sherpao (PPP-S) announced that they would support him in the presidential race, thus, strengthening his position in the numbers game.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, announcing his party's support for the PPP co-chairman, said that as the JUI-F was a part of the ruling coalition at the Centre, it had decided to vote for the coalition parties' nominee Asif Ali Zardari.
Talking to reporters in Peshawar, Fazl said the government had announced to halt the operation in the Bajaur Agency, a major precondition for the JUI-F's support and, therefore, his party had decided to vote for Zardari in the presidential election on September 6. He urged other political parties to follow the suit. He said that since the country was facing numerous challenges, it would be unwise to create a political crisis at this time. He asked all the political parties to evolve a consensus over the presidential election and avoid making it controversial.
Fazl said the Taliban were not the only reason for the growing militancy in Pakistan and the intelligence agencies were equally involved in spreading the menace.
Regarding the law and order situation in the country, he said the Taliban were not the only reason for the growing militancy in Pakistan and the intelligence agencies were equally involved in spreading the menace.
Similarly, PPP-S President Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao also announced to support PPP candidate Asif Zardari in the presidential elections. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said: "We have decided to support Asif Zardari in view of the worsening law and order situation in the country and in order to boost political and provincial harmony."
Asif Zardari's election would strengthen all segments of the society, as he has the capability to pull the country out of the present crisis, Sherpao said. Flanked by Faryal Talpur, the sister of the PPP co-chairman, and Senator Waqar Ahmed, Aftab Sherpao said as the prime minister belonged to the PPP, so the president should also be from the same party for better working relationship among the institutions.
Asif Zardari had sent his sister, along with Mehreen Anwer Raja and Farah Naz Isphahani, to get the support of Aftab Sherpao. A few days back, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had also visited the residence of the former interior minister to get his support for Zardari's candidature.
Sherpao said all the political parties should join hands for improvement in the law and order in the country. Responding to a question regarding the impeachment of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, Sherpao said his party had decided to support all the democratic forces in this connection.
Answering another question regarding the unification of the PPP and PPP-S, he said it was premature to say anything. "At this moment, we should focus on the presidential elections," he added.
Faryal Talpur thanked Aftab Sherpao for his party's support and said the PPP always believed in political reconciliation, and the support showed that political parties of the country had agreed to the PPP agenda.
This article starring:
Bajaur Agency
Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao
Farah Naz Isphahani
Faryal Talpur
MAULANA FAZLUR REHMAN
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl
Mehreen Anwer Raja
Senator Waqar Ahmed
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament must pass a contentious elections law by mid-September in order to allow anticipated provincial polls to be held thi year, the Electoral Commission said on Saturday. "If the law is passed by September 9 or 10, we can hold the elections on December 22. If it's later than that, we will try for December 31," Commission head Faraj al-Haidari told Reuters.
The law has been held up by an impasse over how to treat the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which minority Kurds regard as part of their traditional homeland. The city's Turkmen and Arabs, many of whom moved to Kirkuk as part of Saddam Hussein's policy to "Arabise" the city, reject the Kurds' ambition to make it part of their autonomous northern region.
In early August, parliament adjourned for its summer break after lawmakers failed in last-minute negotiations to find a compromise on how Kirkuk will be treated in the elections law. An earlier version of the law was vetoed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and sent back to parliament.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces will begin evacuating from next week squatters illegally occupying the Baghdad homes of people who fled at the height of the sectarian conflict, officials said on Saturday. The move is designed to encourage people who are the legal owners of their homes to return, said Daniel Endres, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "This measure will certainly increase the return but it is a process that will take time because people want to see first how it turns out," he told AFP.
Iraqi military spokesman Major General Qassim Atta said on Wednesday that the squatters, who themselves are refugees from other parts of the country or from Baghdad itself, have until Sunday to vacate these occupied houses. "Iraqi forces will be on alert from September 2 to evacuate the homes of the displaced families," said Atta. "We cannnot postpone this decision."
The issue of displaced people has become a crisis in Baghdad. A recent study by Iraq's ministry of displaced and migrants said that of the 212,063 families displaced across Iraq, 43 percent are from Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Iraq to remove Baghdad squatters from next week
Nice to know they're going to start small. Imageine the effort it would take to remove them from next month.
#2
This is a crucial step. Since most of the squatters were evicted themselves, you have to start which people who still have empty homes to go back to. Then you find the owners of the homes that were just vacated, etc.
It will probably take several rounds of this to get everyone back to their homes. I expect it to take several years.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/31/2008 15:29 Comments ||
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Samak Sundaravej, Thailand's prime minister, has refused to step down amid intensifying protests across the country aimed at toppling his seven-month-old government.
Speaking in front of thousands of supporters on Saturday, the prime minister vowed he would never bow to protesters' calls for him to quit. "I will never resign in response to these threats," he said. "I came to this job under a legal mandate. I will only go if the law does not allow me to stay and not simply because someone issues threats and puts pressure on me."
Samak flew to the nearby town of Hua Hin on Saturday, to meet King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand's monarch, and brief him on the political situation as the occupation of the grounds of Government House by protestors moved into its fifth day.
The trip to Hua Hin is his second meeting with the monarch in as many days. The demonstrators have also invoked the king, both in speeches and with royalist imagery, but he has remained silent on the current standoff.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
"We want 100 percent evacuation," Nagin said. "It has the potential to impact every area of this metropolitan area."
Thousands of people fled New Orleans on Saturday ahead of a likely evacuation order as Hurricane Gustav took aim at the Louisiana coast, reviving traumatic memories of Hurricane Katrina.
Britain is facing "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years which will be "more profound and long-lasting" than people had expected, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, tells the Guardian today.
Colombian secret service agents deported on Thursday two Venezuelan citizens who, according to Colombian authorities, were conducting political activities in the city of Ibagué (center-west of the country), where they were caught in a hotel, after having convened people from different Colombian regions, official sources reported.
Democrats have come up with a new line of attack line against John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, saying she's another Dick Cheney.
When Sarah Palin stepped into the spotlight as John McCains running mate in Dayton, Ohio, and promised that women could shatter that glass ceiling once and for all, it was an electrifying moment in a presidential election that had already produced its share of upsets and surprises. 
Republican John McCain's surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's historic speech accepting his party's presidential nomination - has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows.
Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise is calling on liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to apologize after he said Friday that the timing of Hurricane Gustav is "proof that there is a God in heaven," since the storm approaching the Gulf Coast could disrupt next week's Republican National Convention. Moore made the remarks to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.
Sarah Palin has made a good first impression. Before being named as John McCain's running mate, 67% of voters didn't know enough about the Alaska governor to have an opinion. After her debut in Dayton and a rush of media coverage, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 53% now have a favorable opinion of Palin while just 26% offer a less flattering assessment. 
PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari's bid for the presidency got a boost on Saturday when the 
BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament must pass a contentious elections law by mid-September in order to allow anticipated provincial polls to be held thi year, the Electoral Commission said on Saturday. "If the law is passed by September 9 or 10, we can hold the elections on December 22. If it's later than that, we will try for December 31," Commission head Faraj al-Haidari told Reuters.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces will begin evacuating from next week squatters illegally occupying the Baghdad homes of people who fled at the height of the sectarian conflict, officials said on Saturday. The move is designed to encourage people who are the legal owners of their homes to return, said Daniel Endres, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "This measure will certainly increase the return but it is a process that will take time because people want to see first how it turns out," he told AFP.
