"She" ended up with "Him". I thought it was because "She" must have had a mental illness like believing in "God" and "Creation".
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21.12.08
So That's How...
18.12.08
At Least Led Zeppelin Rocked!
Just like a friend who always says he is 'broke' and needs to bum (a.k.a.: take with no chance of being re-paid in any way) money from a friend in order to 'hang out' with said friend, who is visiting from out-of-town, rock bands will do anything to gain with as little work or personal responsibility as possible. Each are the lowest common denominator: leeches who suck the life out of others hard-earned work in order to maintain a level that is well beyond the person(s) natural means.
If you do not have the means to be that good, then don't steal (or borrow - without any intention of paying back) to make your name better. Sooner or later, or even as soon as you steal (or borrow), someone will know (or will be talking behind your back).
Led Zeppelin has had a history of borrowing lyrics, rhythm, riffs, etc, from blues musicians. Most of these 'borrowings' happened with Led Zeppelin's first albumn.
Here is a link from The Howard Stern Show showing these stolen materials.
But at least Led Zeppelin rocked! They are still popular today. Their music is still just as relevant today as thirty years ago. Can anybody imagine a band like Coldplay having that same influence thirty years from now?
Coldplay has been recently accused of stealing. Coldplay has been accused, and sued, by guitarist Joe Satriani for copyright infringement, saying that Coldplay had taken “substantial original portions” of his song “If I Could Fly” for its song “Viva la Vida.”
Here is the proof...
COLDPLAY STEALS MUSIC! - The most popular videos are a click away
And when you get to the bottom feeders of, what I call, "Fake Rock", whose 'riffs' are pre-programmed, pre-designed by media conglomerates, focus tested to gain the highest number of sales, deemed 'sell-able' by 13 year old girls by viewership of MTV, and is NOT ROCK ALL ALL. You know, the likes of Puddle of Mud, Good Charlotte, Seether, and the worst of them all: Nickelback.
Nickelback is so fake, they should be called "Stepfordback". All their songs sound exactly the same. They are so formulaic; if they were a blockbuster Hollywood romantic film, you would know from the first two seconds who will get married at the end and live happily ever after.
Nickelback sucks so bad: they are too stupid to steal from someone better. They only steal from THEMSELVES.
IF you think Nickelback is 'original' and 'rock', then tell me why all their shit sounds the same, with the transitions and melodies placed at the same time, with the same tone.
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17.12.08
21.11.08
What Been's Happening In Iraq?
From the looks of it, on the verge of another blowup. Once again, the followers of al Sadr are up in arms about the Iraqi-American deal that will keep U.S. troops for another three years minimum. A "Fuck You" from Bush to Obama. The natives are gettng restless. These are the same men who, during that big uprising last year, killed many American soldiers; but, under al Sadr's orders, have stood-down. How much longer can al Sadr keep them at bay?
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16.11.08
5.11.08
What An Evening
There was so much change last night, and I was proud to witness it all. All the past months of eagerly waiting for last evening's events sure was it's worth. I am sure most of the Americans agreed with me when I say, "I was blown away with the end result."
"What am I talking about," you ask.
I'm talking about the Election Night News Studios. I tell you, nothing brings out the "Entertainment" in Corporate Entertainment News like a Presidential Election. All the new technology comes out to draw the highest ratings; to get the highest return viewers for future news developments. That way the corporate slant can hit the largest population it can. Ask FOX NEWS about that strategy (they had dominance for a decade).
The Election of 2008 featured some 'high' tech additions to distraction. Like the "hologram interview" thanks to CNN.
Do I really need a 3D image of Will.i.am telling me that Obama is the future. Shit! I thought he was from the future. I was expecting Will-e to call Wolf Blitzer "Obi Wolf".
You ever pondered, "I like my T.V. news programs, but I would like them better if they were in a virtual Ancient Greek Colosseum-like structure." That is what NBC gave us with Chuck Todd in his 'virtual set'.
Democracy started in Greece, but so did the crossbow and the cannon.
Special mention goes to the FOX NEWS 'cubes'. These large blocks hanging from the ceiling provided 4 sides to the election (as compared to the usual one-sided view of news any other night on FOX NEWS).
The winner of the Grand Prize, the largest in-studio touch screen monitor displaying the electoral map, goes to CNN after a brave battle by ABC. CNN, with it's dual 102 inch interactive plasma monitors, really showed how big it's dick is going forward into next year.
It was a close contest, with FOX NEWS coming in with about the smallest interactive map. I guess the large cubes got in the way of the camera angles and blocked parts of the monitor.
I can't wait until 2012. What new entertainment will I see on the major networks then?
Oh, and Barack Obama won big. Take that Religious Right. You're irrelevant!
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4.11.08
3.11.08
2.11.08
Bill Maher's New Rules
Here are Bill Maher's "New Rules" segment of his HBO show which aired Friday night. He gives an election re-cap at the end. First Rate Stuff....
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1.11.08
Political Rhetoric: a.k.a. Bullshit
Still think a Two Party System is the way to go? Still think your party is the right and true party, while the other party is the party of rhetoric, the party of division, the party of corruption, and the party of distortion?
Think Again.
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Thank You C-SPAN
For giving the American people more than the distorted, polarizing, two party system view of American politics. Below you can watch the Third Party Presidential Debates. A little too late, but at least some 'mainstream' media covered it. Too bad the "Bud Bowl"s garnered more media coverage than the Third Party Debates. If you have 90 minutes to spare, take a look at how more open Presidential Debates can be if you allow more views into the mix.
Does the media not allow more parties because these Third Parties don't bow to the conglomerate's wishes? Or/And the Third Parties are shown because the media thinks Americans are too STUPID to have more than two choices and they will get confused?
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31.10.08
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Don't drink too much tonight, you never know where the night will take you.
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29.10.08
Don't Believe Everything You See On T.V.
The paid-advertisement (propaganda) that is currently airing shows how much money can influence an election. Barack Obama has set the new mark for the next Presidential Election Season (starting January 21, 2009) to surpass when it comes to television advertising spending.
If you see it on T.V., then it usually is hyped up more than the actual product can do. Does the McDonald's Big Mac look on T.V. the same way as the actual burger? Does the fabric softener make your towels super fluffy with a terrific odor? Can the pickup truck drive through a massive pendulum and stop before going off the cliff? Isn't the big-budget movie with the most cross-promotions, product ties, and incessant trailers on T.V. ALWAYS end up being the biggest flops in Hollywood?
Television advertising is a big business because it sways the minds of people purchase the product. You may not notice it, but the constant barrage of moving pictures will implant, somewhere in the back of your head, a necessity to have that product.
As years go by, more and more Americans get their entire advertising intake on television. Print ads no longer have the relevance since no one reads anymore. Billboards are going the way of the dodo since most people are too busy texting while driving to see the signs. But when you are worn out from the long work day, weakened by the daily overload, television advertising takes advantage of you.
Believing what tonight's infomercial says as the complete truth is just as wrong as believing McCain's ads about Obama not having enough experience as the truth. Advertisements are made to sway the public, not to inform. I am not about to go through all the misleading statements by the Obama campaign, yet. I am, though, going to show how much Barack Obama spends compared to the major corporation's T.V. budgets in the United States.
Barack Obama has spent $230 million on television advertising. The infomercial tonight cost roughly $1 million per network airing the ad. George Bush's 2004 reelection run's T.V. budget was ONLY $188 million.
How does Obama's spending on T.V. ads compare to the major corporations of America? Well, according to last years numbers, there are only 8 corporations who spent more on T.V. advertising.
Some of the following corporations who did not spend as much as Obama: Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, e.g.), Time Warner Inc, McDonalds, Comcast, Proctor & Gamble, General Mills (Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Cheerios, e.g.), and Walt Disney Co.
Only the "Big 3" U.S. Auto Makers, Toyota, Nissan, AT&T, and Verizon spent more money swaying Americans more.
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28.10.08
My Favorite Joke of the Day
John McCain is so old that the only time he doesn't have to pee is when he peeing.
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27.10.08
My Favorite Photos of the Day
They may not eat pork, but the men there are PIGS!
Yeah, both arguments are identical. Each have a closed system which eliminates faulty logic.
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26.10.08
The Religious Right is "Right"?????
This article shows how UN-AMERICAN the Religious Wackos are. They pray for attacks on this country if their choice for President doesn't win.
Christian right intensifies attacks on Obama
By ERIC GORSKI and RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writers Eric Gorski And Rachel Zoll, Ap Religion Writers – Sat Oct 25, 12:15 am ET
Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts.
All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation called "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," produced by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family Action.
The imagined look into the future is part of an escalation in rhetoric from Christian right activists who are trying to paint Obama in the worst possible terms as the campaign heads into the final stretch and polls show the Democrat ahead.
Although hard-edge attacks are common late in campaigns, the tenor of the strikes against Obama illustrate just how worried conservative Christian activists are about what should happen to their causes and influence if Democrats seize control of both Congress and the White House.
"It looks like, walks like, talks like and smells like desperation to me," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston, an Obama supporter who backed President Bush in the past two elections. The Methodist pastor called the 2012 letter "false and ridiculous." He said it showed that some Christian conservative leaders fear that Obama's faith-based appeals to voters are working.
Like other political advocacy groups, Christian right groups often raise worries about an election's consequences to mobilize voters. In the early 1980s, for example, direct mail from the Moral Majority warned that Congress would turn a blind eye to "smut peddlers" dangling pornography to children.
"Everyone uses fear in the last part of a campaign, but evangelicals are especially theologically prone to those sorts of arguments," said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University political scientist. "There's a long tradition of predicting doom and gloom."
But the tone this election year is sharper than usual and the volume has turned up as Nov. 4 nears.
Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, a Pentecostal publication, titled one of his recent weekly e-mails to readers, "Life As We Know It Will End If Obama is Elected."
Strang said gay rights and abortion rights would be strengthened in an Obama administration, taxes would rise and "people who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms."
Separately, a group called the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has posted a series of videos on its site and on YouTube called "7 Reasons Barack Obama is not a Christian."
The commission accuses Obama of "subtle diabolical deceit" in saying he is Christian, while he believes that people can be saved through other faiths.
But among the strongest pieces this year is Focus on the Family Action's letter which has been posted on the group's Web site and making the e-mail rounds. Signed by "A Christian from 2012," it claims a series of events could logically happen based on the group's interpretation of Obama's record, Democratic Party positions, recent court rulings and other trends.
Among the claims:
• A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to "hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys." (In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than obey).
• A series of domestic and international disasters based on Obama's "reluctance to send troops overseas." That includes terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that kill hundreds, Russia occupying the Baltic states and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and al-Qaida overwhelming Iraq.
• Nationalized health care with long lines for surgery and no access to hospitals for people over 80.
The goal was to "articulate the big picture," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of public policy for Focus on the Family Action. "If it is a doomsday picture, then it's a realistic picture," she said.
Obama favors abortion rights and supports civil unions for same-sex couples, but says states should make their own decisions about marriage. He said he would intensify diplomatic pressure on Iran over its nuclear ambitions and add troops in Afghanistan.
On taxes, Obama has proposed an increase on the 5 percent of taxpayers who make more than $250,000 a year and advocates cuts for those who make less. His health care plan calls for the government to subsidize coverage for millions of Americans who otherwise couldn't afford it.
One of the clear targets of this latest conservative Christian push against the Democrat is younger evangelicals who might be considering him. The letter posits that young evangelicals provide the margin that let Obama defeat John McCain. But Margaret Feinberg, a Denver-area evangelical author, predicted failure.
"Young evangelicals are tired — like most people at this point in the election — and rhetoric which is fear-based, strong-arms the listener, and states opinion as fact will only polarize rather than further the informed, balanced discussion that younger voters are hungry for," she said.
In an interview, Strang said there are fewer state ballot measures to motivate conservative voters this election year and that the financial meltdown is distracting some voters from the abortion issue. But he said a last-minute push by conservative Christians in 2004 was key to Bush's re-election and predicted they could play the same role in 2008.
Kim Conger, a political scientist at Iowa State University, said a late push for evangelical voters did help Bush in 2004, "but it is a very different thing than getting people excited about John McCain," even with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick.
Phil Burress, head of the Ohio-based Citizens for Community Values, said the dynamics were quite different in 2004, when conservative Christians spent some energy calling Democrat John Kerry a flip-flopper but were mostly motivated by enthusiasm for George W. Bush.
Now, there is less excitement about McCain than fear of an Obama presidency, Burress said.
"This reminds me of when I was a school kid, when I had to go out in the hall and bury my head in my hands because of the atom bomb," he said.
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25.10.08
"You're Sucking The Life Out Of Me"
Definition of Parasite: Biology An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.
Have you ever had a dog who has become infested with fleas? Was it an old dog who found trouble taking care of the constant irritation of that infestation? An old dog who would gnaw and scratch to no avail; only pulling it's own coat out in the process; never really ridding it's body of the parasitic force?
That is what happened to the Republican Party.
The parasite in question is the Religious Right. They, like a flea, has latched on the back of the Republicans and sucked the blood of the massive beast. No longer does the Republicans have the energy to fight the take-over; they just lay in the corner of the room, in utter despair, waiting for the end to come.
What has happened to the Republican Party? They was not always like this. Remember the good ole days when being a Republican meant limited Government and low taxes?
Does being a believer in "limited Government" mean deciding who can get married? Does it mean deciding what a woman can do with their own body? Does it mean expanding the powers of the Executive Branch of Government? Does it mean putting expansive conditions that need to be met in order to vote? Does it mean starting wars against Islamic nations because they are "Evil"?
What has happened to the Republican Party?
The TRUE Republicans are still out there (I, for a while, even considered myself a Republican). The kind of person who wants the Government out of our lives, telling us what we can and cannot do. The kind of Government who lets the people live how they want to live, as long as they don't affect the lives of other citizens. Who wants the Government to spend less, cut programs, and use it's military for DEFENSE purposes only.
What has happend to the Republican Party?
The God People have infected them like the Black Plague. Before they find out what is causing the plague it will be too late. The disease will have spread too far. But what can you expect? When a great number of the "real" Republicans have already defected to the "Obama" Party (notice I didn't say Democrats; these Republicans just decided Obama is a better Republican than McCain).
Notable Elected Republicans who publicly endorse Obama (and not limited to):
*Former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson
*Former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee
*Former Minnesota Senator David Durenberger
*Former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton
*Former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach
*Former Connecticut Governor and Senator Lowell Weicker
*Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld
Other Notable Republican figures who support Obama:
*Ken Adelman, former diplomat and member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board
*Former publisher of National Review, Wick Allison
*Jack Antaramian, Florida real estate developer and Bush fundraiser
*Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughter of former President Richard Nixon, granddaughter-in law of Dwight D. Eisenhower
*Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower and president of the Eisenhower Institute
*Charles Fried, former U.S. Solicitor General and former McCain advisor
*CC Goldwater, granddaughter of former Arizona Senator and Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater (endorsing Barack Obama on behalf of herself, her sibling, and some of her cousins)
*Lilibet Hagel, wife of Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
*Rita E. Hauser, Former White House intelligence advisor for George W. Bush
*Actor and former Bush supporter Dennis Hopper
*Larry Hunter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Policy Innovation and Chief Economist for the Free Enterprise Fund, former Reagan policy advisor
*Rear Admiral John Hutson, USN (ret.), former Judge Advocate General of the Navy and the current dean and president of Franklin Pierce Law Center
*Legal scholar Douglas Kmiec
*Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary under George W. Bush from 2003-2006. Author of controversial book, What Happened
*Tricia Mosley, former staffer to Senator Strom Thurmond
*Paul O'Neill, United States Secretary of the Treasury from 2001-02 under George W. Bush
*Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
*David Ruder, Chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission under President Ronald Reagan
So, again, what has happened to the Republican Party?
The Religious Right has overpowered and now the mainstream politicians have to pander to their STUPID views and pander to the STUPID Americans who still think Obama is a Muslim, Evolution is still not "accepted", Abortion cannot be done because a magical being deemed it wrong 2000 years ago in a book. To get elected in a Republican district, you have to bow down and "kiss the feet" of these STUPID people (and yes, if you think Evolution is just as sound as INTELLIGENT DESIGN, then you are one of them - no matter how much you try to tell yourself differently).
What can the Republican Party do to reverse the trend?
It's simple. Go back to the roots. Go back to the "Goldwater Conservatism" (ironic that Barry Goldwater's offspring now support Obama). Go back to the ideas of Eisenhower (whose granddaughter has now switched sides and now votes for Obama).
What will happen to the Religious Wackos? Who believe in complete and utter BULLSHIT? Who takes that pile of BULLSHIT and dumps that BULLSHIT on Laws and Policies that are not Governed in any way, shape, or form, on religion? Who takes the BELIEFS of a overwhelming majority of the county and try to install it on the Federal and State levels that oversee all the people whether they may or may not have the same BELIEFS?
Why not get your OWN Party? A party where you can excite your base? A party for all the Joe the Plumbers. A party where you can put every STUPID thing your BOOK says into YOUR Party platform; so as not to infect any other Party.
Then we will have more than a Two Party System. And the votes of the Religious Wackos will be contained to the small percentage that will have no affect on the major elections anymore.
They will never garner the power they loved to leech off the Republicans anymore, and the Democrats and Republicans can devote their entire time to pander to those who really control this country: Corporations.
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23.10.08
My Review of "Religulous"
“Join me in the final battle between intelligence and stupidity that will decide the future of humanity. Coming soon to a house of false idols near you.” –Bill Maher
Need there be any more to say? "Religulous" may not be a real word (but neither is "strategery"). But both describe the current state of the world at this time. Our political and social systems are based on both, but, over time, the ideas of religion and strategy have morphed into a pastiche version of the original ideas. Just in name and look is religion still a part of our fabric, not the substance.
"Religulous" tackles the hypocrisy of the established religions with the certain wit that only Bill Maher can communicate. In a time in the United States where all we hear about is how Christians (and, in turn, Republicans) will save us all, Bill Maher shows how Western Religion (for you Christians out there, that is the one and only you) has done more to destroy our civilizations and planet than any other power or group on Earth. And before you say, "He just has a problem with Christians," pick up a history book and read.
Not that Christians are the only subject of ridicule in "Religulous": all are welcome to the absurdity of anything other than EVOLUTION, BILLIONS OF YEARS, ADAPTATION, and THERE IS NOT A MAGICAL MAN IN THE SKY WATCHING OVER US ALL AND WHEN WE DIE WE GO TO A HAPPY PLACE WHERE ALL OUR DEAD RELATIVES WILL BE WAITING TO GREET YOU WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY OR GO TO A FIRERY PIT WHERE YOU WILL BE TORTURED AND SUBJECTED TO HARSH INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES FOR EVER AND EVER.
Maher starts his movie off standing in the valley floor of Meggidol where God is supposedly going to return to Earth to start off "End Times". From there he goes to America to see how the Right's views work. He visits a "Christian" Theme Park, where he pisses off Jesus. From there, he's off to tractor trailer rest stop church, where Bill confronts a group of truckers who cannot listen to reason. These truckers demonstrate the stupidity of the Christians in America. These "religious" truckers show their ignorance about what is in the Bible, and this sets the tone for the rest of the film.
The other major religions he tackles is Islam. He doesn't go straight for the jugular by going after Muhammed, he does talk to several Islamic Leaders and grills them on their beliefs. I guess he didn't want a fatwa against him and will be treated like Salman Rushdie by Islam.
Maher doesn’t leave other religions out, as he finds time to explore and skewer Hasidic scholars, Mormons, Jews for Jesus, Satanists, and Scientologists. He lets the viewer see the "truth" beyond the religulous ideas of the people he interviews by Maher's concerns himself, but by displaying subtitles with things called "facts" that the subject of Maher's questioning fails to mention (a la The Colbert Report).
This documentary is a love letter to the 16% of Americans who consider themselves atheists, and a declaration of intellectual war with the other 84%. If you want unbiased reporting on religion, then you will not find it here (actually, you won't find it anywhere). What you will find is the conclusive argument that religion is a dangerous idea and which can no longer be tolerated in our enlightened time. You will also see the ignorance of the religious people, in Government positions sometimes, interviewed who reveal a poor understanding that many believers have in their own religion.
I enjoyed the film and the intellectual stimulation it provided and would recommend the documentary to both atheists and religious people. It offers an interesting way of looking at 2000 year-old religions, what we’ve done to change them over the years, and the dangers of ignorance.
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17.10.08
Review of Oliver Stone's "W."
No, this is not my review of the movie "W." I haven't seen the movie, yet; that will come later (along with Bill Maher's "Religulous" - which I've seen).
But someone with a very close tie to Bush has seen "W", and he talks about it.
He is former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. You know, the one who wrote a book about his time there and subsequently testified before Congress?
Here is his review
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15.10.08
My Summay Of The Last Debate
Question 1: How to solve the Economic Crisis?
McCain: Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, trouble, more debt, transparency, and pay off mortgages
Obama: A bunch of numbers, more money, more debt, and tax break
McCain: Joe the Plumber, Obama with higher taxes, talking point
Obama: Exxon, 95% of Americans, talking point
McCain: Joe the Plumber, spread the wealth, business first, Obama increases taxes, Joe the Plumber again
Obama: Exxon, pay taxes,
McCain: taxes too high
Question 2: Need to eliminate programs due to cost; give specifics?
Obama: living beyond means, dodges cut programs, spins it to Energy and Health Insurance and College, spins it to his talking points
McCain: Stuck on Question 1, Energy first errr second of all, nuclear, energy independence, spending freeze, no specifics, is tariffs spending cuts?, eliminate earmarks
Obama: no specifics, now he's on earmarks, generality, a little bit of history, budget surplus before Bush, new direction
Question 3: Balance Budget?
McCain: he is not Bush (but the people who are running his campaign are), Bloomberg freezes, he will balance (no specifics), back to hurting and angry Americans, attacks Obama, MAVERICK!!!!, stood up to leaders
Obama: Tort, McCain keeps jumping in, clean coal, on the defense, does not talk about balancing the budget, McCain=Bush
McCain: he has scars, torture, he's a fighter against the Repubs, he hates the Repub's I guess
Question 4: What high road? Say it to their face?
McCain: tough campaign, he regrets some aspects, Obama didn't repudiate remarks of John Lewis, negative ads by Obama and McCain can prove it, Obama didn't keep his word, does not mention Ayers (yet)
Obama: tough campaign, 100% of McCain's ads negative?,
{this is a debate?, they are actually talking about issues?}
, 4 more years of Bush (talking point), McCain camp: "if we keep talking about the economic crisis, we lose" (talking point), politics as usual
McCain: Arizona Cardinals beat the Dallas Cowboys, McCain loves stem cells, Obama is spending $$$$$$$ on negative attack ads, Joe the Plumber's back, back to Congressman Lewis
Obama: on the defense of Lewis (no part of Obama's campaign), "Terrorist", "Kill Him!", "Kill Him" is the same as "reminds me of the segregation age", cynical Americans, "tit for tat" but Obama is doing it just as much as McCain, Obama on the offensive
McCain: fringe people at rallies, Veterans Vietnam Korea War Patriotic Citizens... deflects the subject
{We need Jerry Springer.."Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!}
Obama: the issues is important, cannot characterize as bad people
McCain: Ayers a washed up terrorist, Acorn
Obama: Obama sets the record on Ayers, Obama on the defensive, lazy people work for Acorn
McCain: Obama in Ayers' living room, McCain is best, Obama to raise taxes
Question 5: Why your V.P. is best?
Obama: Biden has foreign policy credentials (no specifics), Scranton Penn, the little guy, the small town, help working families, 8 years failed policies (talking point), tax cuts to the little guy (talking point), get serious about energy (talking point), college (talking point)
McCain: Palin fights corruption, she gives money to taxpayers, negotiates with Big Oil, reformer through and through, breath of fresh air, cronyism, reform, special needs families, ignited the Right, husband is tough
Q6: Is Palin qualified to be President?
Obama: autism needs money, Palin is good??
Q7: Is Biden qualified to be President?
McCain: Biden is wrong, he wants dictators to control the entire middle east, Obama wants "to spend more", McCain is a reformer,
Q8: Foreign Oil: what NUMBER can we reduce foreign oil imports in your first term?
McCain: Eliminate foreign oil (no number), attacks Obama, build Nuclear plants, Obama works for Greenpeace, clean coal, wind solar, 7-10 years can eliminate, drill baby drill, {no real #}
Obama: again talks about the future (10 years), borrowing money from China to pay Middle East, does not give total in first term, we can't drill way out of problem, solar wind bio-fuel, {still no #}, South Korea cars, not free trade, {still no #}
McCain: Drill Now!!!!!, free trade good, confusing talk about trade, talking about Columbia for some reason, Obama aids the drug trade, we give billions to Columbia for drugs, Obama needs to visit Columbia, no talk about energy
Obama: {Columbia is now the HOT BUTTON TOPIC?!?!?!?!}, human rights, now Obama is talking about Peru?!?!?, no talk about energy, fuel efficient cars, clean energy
McCain: Obama was talking about energy now McCain is back on Columbia, Obama wants to team with Chavez the terrorist, Obama will sink us into Depression
Q9: Control Health Care Costs? or Increase Care?
Obama: do both (duh), story of people laid off, his health care plan (talking point), no discrimination, cheap drugs, make system more efficient (like the government always does), make families healthy
McCain: painful for Americans, his hands shaking (he may need a doctor), fat kids are the cause, $5000 tax credit {'cause $5000 is the cost for health care?}, Joe the Plumber will get fined
Obama: Joe the Plumber will not get fined, taxpayers pick up the cost, Joe needs to do the right thing and get his employees health care, McCain's plan: 20 million will lose health care from their employeer and McCain taxes the Health Care Benefits and McCain's plan will exclude people
McCain: Obama wants to take Joe's money, Congratulations your Rich, transplants are cosmetic surgery?, Senator Government wants to do the job but McCain wants Joe to do the job
Obama: McCain's plan is bad and will unravel the employer-based health care system
Q10: Roe vs Wade?
McCain: Roe v Wade is a state issue, McCain only cares about the qualifications {fuck whether a woman's basic right will be lost}, no litmus test
Obama: Roe v Wade hangs in the balance, abortion is difficult issue, women need to make the decision and the whole "Right to Privacy" thing, important issue, he spins it about a gender discrimination lawsuit
McCain: change the culture of America, courage and compassion to the woman's decision, Obama votes present
Obama: Obama on the defensive, partial-birth abortion: needs and exception on mother's life, abortion is a wedge issue, Obama says there is a common ground {no there isn't},
McCain: Extremists want to help the mother's life during an abortion, those who are not born have more rights than a woman who has lived on Earth
Q11: U.S. spends more on education than any other country, but kids are getting dumber. What the hell are you going to do?
Obama: we got to fix it, need more money AND reform, need an army of teachers, need better math and SCIENCE scores, need college more affordable (talking point), parents need to be more responsible
McCain: civil rights issue?, need competition for the dumb kids
Obama: Bush's 'no child left behind' left the money behind, no funding for special needs children, teachers need higher salaries {to pay to keep the kid they are fucking's mouth shut}, vouchers are bad, children are our future
McCain: vouchers are good, 'no child...' had problems, head start is not working, money will not fix it...reform is, transparency, reform, reform, reform, will not throw money
Obama: McCain interrupts, Obama with fuzzy math about vouchers
McCain: gets a sentence in
CLOSING STATEMENTS:
McCain: My Friends, difficult times, graphic demonstrations, change, reform, take on my party, 9-11 Commission, need to make health care "avoida....affordable", steward of the tax dollar, reform, record, country first, long line of McCains, proud to serve, honored and humbled.
Obama: tough times, troubles over decades, no same failed policies over past 8 years, fundamental change, Obama in homes, Americans are generous, invest in people, tax cuts for middle class, college for everyone, higher wages, more middle class, utopia, renew, sacrifice service and responsibility, he will work every day
THE END OF THE FINAL DEBATE....
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Just Close Your Eyes...
And think about a McCain-Palin Presidency. And then imagine that John McCain dies, and Sarah Palin is sworn in as President. Close your eyes and imagine the what the Oval Office would be like.
Make you want to leave the country, huh?
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7.10.08
Interesting Point
I was doing some reading today, and one website brought this to my attention. With all the McCain-Palin rhetoric and theatrics giving the Liberal media/blogs into an uproar, no Liberal is talking about their nominees: Barack Obama and Joseph Biden.
Isn't it funny that everything you read about is about McCain-Palin? That nobody talks about Obama's plans. That the only thing that we hear from the Obama camp recently is the defending of Barack's personal relationships. Is this bad for Liberals? The Left Mediosphere spends more time on McCain-Palin than Obama-Biden. Like they say: any news is good news.
McCain-Palin is, ironically, running a campaign like Paris Hilton runs her life: It doesn't matter what the attention is about, they just want to be in the spotlight. And no matter what people may say, McCain-Palin will get fans just like Paris gets them just by being somewhere.
The left is up in arms over the choice of Palin, and I agree with them. This is a person who is bringing down (to a lower level than I even thought) the Presidential Run-up to the election. All look, style, but no substance. She's a Pitbull, not a hockey mom, and she wears lipstick. She says what the McCain camp can't say: Barack is a Muslim, terrorist who will destroy the country and instill a MUSLIM religion (gawd forbid the Constitution includes anyone but White Christians). That is all she is good for.
But Liberals have to start spending time talking about their horse, not picking on the other horse in this Belmont-like-in-length election cycle. Otherwise, nobody will find out the truth, what the nominees really want to happen to this country. But, instead, all we hear is rhetoric and attacks. Both sides do it (don't proclaim your side is above it).
Data and policy can be re-worded to make one side wrong on the point when, in actuality, the data or policies may make this country stronger in the long run. We will never know because neither party will talk about the issues and what THEY stand for. Instead, you will hear a quick talking point about the candidates policy, then an additional 90 seconds of attacking the other candidates ideas. What do we really learn about the candidates, either of them?
But, you ask, how can we CHANGE this and actually BELIEVE IN that we are hearing the truth? Not just a pre-scripted con to keep the country thinking this is a democracy. Corporations decide the President, and it's a win-win situation for them. Each party gets campaign contributions from the same corporations. They have so much money (now it's the taxpayer's money, but it's still money) that they put up the farm for both heads and tails.
So, how do we change this? Get the media, who is owned by huge corporations (G.E., White-Westinghouse, Disney, eg) who want the status quo to continue, to change. We need a public uproar over allowing third-party candidates (instead of "lipstick on a pig" and "Obama supports terrorists") in the national, major network debate forum. A boycott of network television, and the soon to follow drop in ad revenue should do the trick. But if that doesn't work, several thousand people protest should do (even if it doesn't, when the Blackwater soldiers surround the building and shoot protesters that will do it).
But every major network has picked their pony, and there is only room for two on the track. Good vs Evil, David vs Goliath, Right vs Wrong. It's good for ratings. It's like a reality show.
I have yet to decide who I want as President. McCain is a definite NO. Obama is probably the choice just because I want to make sure McCain will not win Ohio. But who do I want as President? Remember "Brewster's Millions"? I vote "none of the above."
If there is one, it has to be Ralph Nader. He's a close to a Truth Talker as there is. When will you hear an unscripted sit-down with Barack Hussein Obama or John Sidney McCain III talking about what matters instead of talking about how the other man is evil?
Just imagine McCain or Obama talking about the control of corporations over national politics. You can't, can you?
One quote from Nader that I want you to read (if your too lazy or scared to watch 10 minutes of truth): "The principle difference between the Republican and Democratic Parties, with certain exceptions, the principle difference is the velocity with which their knees hit the floor when corporations pound on their door."
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3.10.08
Long Post About Palin...
nah. Not right now. What is really scary is the parallels between George Bush II's initial Presidential debates and Sarah Palin's Vice-Presidential Debate.
Here is a segment from Countdown with Keith Olbermann which aired tonight. When Keith splits the screen between Palin's and Bush II's '00 debate talking points you see how identical these campaigns are being manufactured.
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1.10.08
We Were Warned
Some politicians warned of giving too much control of the economy to corporations. These politicians were not in a position of power to do anything, they were only Presidents of the United States of America:
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks...will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
... The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating. -Thomas Jefferson
History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance. -James Madison
If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. -Andrew Jackson
The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. -Abraham Lincoln
Issue of currency should be lodged with the government and be protected from domination by Wall Street. We are opposed to...provisions [which] would place our currency and credit system in private hands. - Theodore Roosevelt
Despite these warnings, Woodrow Wilson signed the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. A few years later he wrote: I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. -Woodrow Wilson
Years later, reflecting on the major banks' control in Washington, President Franklin Roosevelt paid this indirect praise to his distant predecessor President Andrew Jackson, who had "killed" the 2nd Bank of the US (an earlier type of the Federal Reserve System). After Jackson's administration the bankers' influence was gradually restored and increased, culminating in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Roosevelt knew this history.
The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial
element in the large centers has owned the government ever since
the days of Andrew Jackson... -Franklin D. Roosevelt
(in a letter to Colonel House, dated November 21, 1933)
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27.9.08
25.9.08
Didn't Know There Were Still Witches...
on Earth. But, according to Sarah Palin's minister, while she was at the alter being "blessed", Thomas Muthee casts the witches away. I know Halloween is coming up soon, but I am more scared today after seeing this video.
Pay special attention after the 3 minute mark.
A little about the Wasilla Assembly of God church: it is a member of the pentecostal association of churches. Pentecostal worship can get lively, depending on the church - everything from the rattling of tambourines and wailing, to the indwelling of the holy spirit, a sort of trance state that results in the uttering of indecipherable gibberish - otherwise known as 'speaking in tongues'.
The minister of the Wasilla church, Ed Kalins, has an apocalyptic view of the world. He believes in so-called 'spiritual warfare', a concept that sees a great struggle between darkness and light, good and evil. The big guy with horns and a strong scent of sulphur is always on the prowl looking to take everything over.
Kalins even frames the Prince of Peace as a sort of 'warrior saviour': "I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode." Kalins' attempts to rationalize Jesus' "war mode" as spiritual, but it is clear that he is a shill for Right Wing ideology and that his views of Jesus have been compromised by his politics.
In 2004, Kalins wondered whether or not Americans who voted for John Kerry would get into heaven. He is also alleged to have said that any who criticized George Bush in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe would be banished to hell. This is really hokey stuff, but it's the type of primitive bible thumping Palin was obviously comfortable with, because she kept coming back for more.
A little bit about Thomas Muthee, the person seen praising Sarah Palin: Thomas Muthee is a Kenyan evangelist, famous for founding the the Prayer Cave, in Kiambu, Kenya, after God 'spoke to him'.
Muthee is also famous for being a witchhunter. He believed that Kiambu was infected with demons and that 'a spirit of witchcraft rested over the place'. He identified the source of the infestation as one Mama Jane who worked out of the Emmanuel Clinic. Muthee believed that Mama Jane's fortune telling and other nefarious 'evil eye' related activities had led to an increase in traffic accidents in the area near her clinic. He declared her a witch, and demanded she either convert or get out of town. She chose the latter, possibly after deciding the place had become possessed by deranged Christians, some of whom were threatening to stone her.
This is the same pastor Muthee who 'laid hands' on Sarah Palin when he visited her church in 2005. His Kenyan escapades leave little doubt that Muthee is a delusional man who sees demons lurking around corners and witches working their dark designs in order to bring about traffic accidents and such.
None of this, though, put the least bit of a damper on Palin's endorsement of the witchhunter. A Times article on her relationship with the pastor, quotes her as saying:
"And I’m thinking, this guy’s really bold, he doesn’t even know what I’m going to do, he doesn’t know what my plans are. And he’s praying not “oh Lord if it be your will may she become governor,” no, he just prayed for it. He said “Lord make a way and let her do this next step. And that’s exactly what happened.”
What would the Right Wing do if Barak Obama's preacher did these things? That would issue #1 on FOX NEWS every night. Obama would never have been nominated of President. Again the hypocracy of the Conservative Right. They slammed Reverend Jeremaih Wright for being "Un-American" and "Crazy", but when Palin's church is in the stratosphere (even in terms of churches) of being "out there", there is no talk about that.
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23.9.08
No Blank Check
The Financial Crisis of 2008 does not grant the U.S. Government to issue a blank check, funded by US, to bailout Wall Street. But, according to the Bush Administration, it is imperative to act now, forgo analyzing the bill and making sure nothing "screwy" is happening.
Just like the War in Iraq, the Bush Administration, with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. — himself a product of Wall Street, is trying to use FEAR to push through legislation that will give the Administration carte blanche to use the taxpayers money to spend in any way they deem fit without oversight or fear of lawsuits. Mr. Paulson has said that the powers he seeks are necessary to chase away the vampire at the blood bank: a potentially swift vivisection of the American financial system. That would be catastrophic for everyone, he argues; not only banks, but also ordinary Americans who depend on their finances to buy homes and cars, and to pay for college.
Many economic experts believe we are in a situation that hasn't been duplicated since The Great Depression; and, it is very important to act quickly in helping out those companies affected. But what consequences will be tolerated to get Wall Street the funding it needs to keep our economy afloat? In times of peril, this Administration has used FEAR to leverage politicians and the American public to follow the President's wishes: to line the pockets of his corporate elite friends.
The Admin wants to give OUR money to Wall Street with no strings attached. Never has this been so blatant than these thirty-two words in Section 8 (touchingly) of the Presidents legislation package:
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
In short, the so-called "mother of all bailouts," which will transfer $700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase the distressed assets of several failed financial institutions, will be conducted in a manner unchallengeable by courts and ungovernable by the OUR representatives of government. All decision-making power will be consolidated into the Executive Branch - who, we remind you, will have the incentive to act upon this as quickly as possible, before they leave office.
Doesn't this sound familiar. Like after 9/11? When the nation was in shock, and nobody dare question the President or be labeled Un-American. Now, if you ask questions or delay the bailout package, you are hurting every American, and every second this bill is not passed means we are closer to the end of the world. Sound familiar, huh?
"This is scare tactics to try to do something that's in the private but not the public interest," said Allan Meltzer, a former economic adviser to President Reagan, and an expert on monetary policy at the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business. "It's terrible." Even Reagan Republicans are disillusioned over this take-over.
Under Paulson's plan, the $700 billion will be spent to buy the beleaguered investments; with the taxpayer recouping the money once the investments bounce back over the years. We will hold no stake in these companies. If these investments take off in the years to come, we will no gain a profit, we will only get what we put in. We will not gain any stock in these troubled banks. We will not 'own' these banks.
These executives give themselves billions in bonuses, but when their company goes to shit, we clean the shit up, and give them more bonuses. Any bailout must pinch the people who have run the companies now needing rescue, along with their shareholders. The bailout needs to address that the executives have amassed beach houses and fat bank accounts while taxpayers are now stuck with the bill for their reckless ways.
Section 8 is as changing an economic policy as The Bush Doctrine was with Military Intervention. It transfers a significant amount of power to the Executive Branch, while walling off any avenue for oversight, and offering no guarantees in return. Democrats, don't wimp out and cave in. Get Section 8 out of the bailout package. We need oversight. We need someone in charge of this bailout who is not affiliated by the Bush Administration. We need Congress to gain some it's power back.
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20.9.08
18.9.08
One Question For Sarah Palin...
that she needs to answer. It's a simple one. That question (answered by science for many, many years) is ....
And I'll give her multiple choice...
When were Dinosaurs on this planet???
a.) 145-208 million years ago
b.) 4,000 years ago (four thousand years ago)
A simple question.
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14.9.08
This Is Why We Are Fucked As A Nation
Science Teachers Face Fundamentalist Students
Posted on: Wednesday, 7 June 2006, 18:00 CDT
By Stephanie Simon
By Stephanie Simon
LOS ANGELES TIMES
LIBERTY, Mo. - Monday morning, Room 207: First day of a unit on the origins of life. Veteran biology teacher Al Frisby switches on the overhead projector and braces himself.
As his students rummage for their notebooks, Frisby introduces his central theme: Every creature on earth has been shaped by random mutation and natural selection - in a word, by evolution.
The challenges begin at once.
"Isn't it true that mutations only make an animal weaker?" sophomore Chris Willett demands. "'Cause I was watching one time on CNN and they mutated monkeys to see if they could get one to become human and they couldn't."
Frisby tries to explain that evolution takes millions of years, but the student isn't listening.
"I feel a tail growing!" he calls to his friends, drawing laughter.
Unruffled, Frisby puts up a transparency tracing the evolution of the whale, from its ancient origins as a hoofed land animal through two lumbering transitional species and finally into the sea. He is about to start on the fossil evidence when sophomore Jeff Paul interrupts: "How are you 100 percent sure that those bones belong to those animals? It could just be some deformed raccoon."
From the back of the room, sophomore Melissa Brooks chimes in: "Those are real bones that someone actually found? You're not just making this up?"
"No, I am not just making it up," Frisby says.
At least half the students in this class of 14 don't believe him, though, and they aren't about to let him off.
Two decades of political and legal maneuvering on evolution has spilled over into public schools, and biology teachers are struggling to respond. Loyal to the accounts they have learned in church, students are taking it upon themselves to wedge creationism into the classroom, sometimes with snide comments, but also with sophisticated questions - and a fervent faith.
As sophomore Daniel Read put it: "I'm going to say as much about God as I can in school, even if the teachers can't."
Such challenges have become so disruptive that some teachers dread the annual unit on evolution - or skip it altogether.
In response, the American Association for the Advancement of Science is distributing a 24-page guide to teaching the scientific principles behind evolution, starting in kindergarten. The group also has put out a list of talking points for teachers flustered by demands to present "both sides."
The annual science teacher's convention in Anaheim, Calif., during the first week of April was designed to cover similar ground, with workshops such as "Teaching Evolution in a Climate of Controversy."
"We're not going to roll over and take this," said Alan I. Leshner, the executive publisher of the journal Science. "These teachers are facing phenomenal pressure ."
About half of all Americans dismiss as preposterous the scientific consensus that life on Earth evolved from a common ancestor over millions of years. Some hold to a literal reading of Genesis: God created the universe about 6,000 years ago. Others accept an ancient cosmos, but take the variety, complexity and beauty of earth's creatures as proof that life was crafted by an intelligent designer.
Religious accounts of life's origins have generally been kept out of the science classroom, sometimes by court order. But polls show a majority of Americans are unhappy with the evolution-only approach.
Students gather ammunition from sermons at church or from the dozens of Web sites that criticize evolution as a God-denying sham. They interrupt lectures to expound on the inaccuracies of carbon dating; to disparage transitional fossils as frauds; to show photos of ancient footprints that they think prove humans and dinosaurs walked side by side.
If hushed, they stalk out of class or put their heads down on their desks to make it plain they have stopped listening.
Liberty senior Sarah Hopkins was proud of her response when a botany teacher brought up evolution last year: "I asked, 'Have you ever read the Bible? Have you ever gone to church?' "
Such personal questions can make teachers uncomfortable, but they're fairly easy to deflect. Far tougher are the detailed, science-based queries that force teachers to defend a theory they may not ever have studied in depth.
"If a teacher is making a claim that land animals evolved into whales, students should ask: 'What precisely is involved? How does the fur turn into blubber, how do the nostrils move, how does the tiny tail turn into a great big fluke?' " said John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research near San Diego, Calif.
"Evolution is so unsupportable, if you insist on more information, the teacher will quickly run out of credibility," he said.
Anxious to forestall such challenges, nearly one in five teachers makes a point of avoiding the word "evolution" in class - even when they're presenting the topic, according to a survey by the National Science Teachers Association.
"They're saying they don't know how to respond ... They haven't done the research the kids have done on this," said Linda Froschauer, the group's president-elect.
In a classroom cluttered with paper models of DNA, newspaper clippings about global warming and oddities such as a four-eared pig in formaldehyde, Frisby parries his students' questions patiently, but with a bit of disappointment.
For the first 27 years of his career, he taught life's origins without controversy. Then in 1999, the Kansas Board of Education deleted evolution from the mandatory science curriculum.
Frisby was teaching biology at the time in Shawnee, Kan., and he was determined not to alter his curriculum. His students, however, seemed emboldened by the board's action.
One, the daughter of a local minister, took to bringing in creationist research that she thought proved Darwin wrong. Her critiques hit their mark: More than a third of the students wrote in their class evaluations that they did not accept their teacher's account of how life emerged.
Kansas restored evolution to the science curriculum in 2001 after conservatives lost their majority on the board. A subsequent election again shifted the balance, and last year the board issued a mandate, which still stands: Students must be taught that the theory of evolution is a "historical narrative" based on circumstantial evidence. They must also learn specific criticisms of evolution.
(Begin optional trim)
Though he retired from his Kansas teaching job in 2002 for personal reasons, Frisby remains active in efforts there to elect a more liberal state school board. His job across the state line in Missouri is less political. Missouri does not require teachers to introduce criticisms of evolution or alternative accounts of life's origins. Nonetheless, those views come up in Room 207 every year.
Toward the end of his second class one recent morning, Frisby held up an old issue of National Geographic magazine. The cover asked in bold type: "Was Darwin Wrong?"
"Yes!" one student called.
Another backed him up: "Yes!"
Six or eight other voices joined in. Frisby quieted them and opened to the article inside, which began with the one-word answer: "No."
"It's my job to show you the overwhelming evidence for evolution," he said.
"What about the other side?" Jeff Paul called. An approving murmur swept the room.
Frisby, 59, rarely gets angry at such interruptions; even his most skeptical students praise his willingness to listen. He has attended two creationist conferences to hear their evidence first- hand; he digs out articles that respond to their doubts; he'll even sit down with a student to talk about God - though only after class.
(End optional trim)
To engage students who might be inclined to tune out, Frisby fills his lesson plans with hands-on activities.
In one, he'll unspool a long roll of adding-machine tape and have the kids make a timeline of earth's history. They'll be able to see at a glance how long it took for a vast diversity of creatures to evolve, from the humble worm 430 million years ago to the first fish 345 million years ago and on through dinosaurs and mammals. On his timeline, early man won't appear until the very end of the paper, right up against the edge.
Frisby hopes the exercise will make an impression on students like Chris Willett, who offered this rebuttal to evolution: "I think it's kind of strange that they can find all these dinosaur fossils from what you say is millions of years ago, but they can't find any transitional human fossils."
Frisby promised to show the class several fossils that document the halting and gradual evolution from apes to humans. Then he reminded them not to expect equal numbers of human and dinosaur remains, because hominids emerged only recently, while dinosaurs ruled the planet for nearly 200 million years.
At that, sophomore Derik Montgomery snapped to attention.
"I heard that dinosaurs are only thousands of years old, like 6,000. Not millions," he said.
"That's wrong," Frisby responded briskly. "What can I tell you? You can't believe everything you read."
Sprawled out across his chair, Derik muttered: "You can't believe everything you hear in here, either."
(c) 2006 Topeka Capital Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Topeka Capital Journal
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12.9.08
Now Time For Me To Show What McCain...
really is. McCain is a career politician (even though he uses Vietnam as his career). He is aligned with several interest groups. The top levels of his campaign committee are involved with the banking industry.
In the past few years, the banking industry has done more to hurt Americans (US) than the Bush Administration (the Military Industrial Complex). The fallout from the mortgage crisis and the inevitable home foreclosure market, and the subsequent bailout of the major banking industries without repercussions should be the major discussion of this election.
But it won't. Because the major corporations are tied to the banking industry. And the major corporations own all the media in America (US!!!). So we will not know the entire truth to the destruction of America. The United States of America's mortgage market has imploded more than a white dwarf falling upon itself to become a BLACK FUCKING HOLE!!!
Who can help???? How about a man who has been involved in banking scandals since the 1980's????? How about a man, who had by his side the man, instrumental to the de-regulation that gave the corporations mile-long leeway to do whatever the FUCK they wanted to do (no matter how many "regular Americans" (US!!!) were left out to freeze to death). Phil Gramm is a banking lobbyist. Plain and simple.
Any banker who practices in the deceptive practices this Administration and the future McCain Administration will let practice should go the mythological HELL where they deserve to go.
I do not need to go into detail of McCain and the Keating 5; or, the Phil Gramm connections to de-regulation which led to the current economic climate we are currently in: but I want to talk about influence.
McCain's possible election to the highest power in the U.S. will only summon the free-for-all that will become the banking industry.
You think that banks prey upon the stupid American (which the Right made stupider due to Religious Fanaticism and Decreased Funding For Schools) less then they do now? With McCain in charge?
The banks will be more in control of this country just like Bush put the OIL INDUSTRY in charge the past 8 MOTHER FUCKING YEARS!!!!
The only problem is that OIL will still be in charge also. This time, the DIRECT feed will not be OIL, but BANKS. But BANKS and OIL deal with each other daily; I'm sure they developed a close bond. Their common bond in TAKING AS MUCH MONEY AS THEY CAN FROM THE HARD-WORKING AMERICAN (us!) KNOWS NO BOUNDS.
That is who will really control Washington. Not the Church (even though that is what RELIGIOUS FOLK think is who they are voting for). If the CHURCH's patrons knew the SINS they are committing by voting for the worst dredge of society (the WALL ST ELITE and ALL WHO TAKE THEIR MONEY) then citizens like Bob Barr might have a chance of being the President of the United States of America.
Bob Barr is the Libertarian Nominee for President of the United States of America. "What are Libertarians??" you say????
Libertarians are people who want Government out of our personal lives. Who want Government out of the lives of women who want to decide what they will want to do with her bodies. Libertarians want the Government to stay out of what drugs we can take (prescription synthetic or natural). Libertarians want RELIGION OUT OF AMERICAN LIFE (CONFINED TO THE WALLS OF INDIVIDUAL'S CHURCHES WHERE THEY ONLY BELONG). Libertarians want a REAL approach to the growing crisis of Muslim Fundamentalism (which is just like Christian Fundamentalism, only with more media scrutiny). Libertarians want the TRUTH to be the basis of SCIENCE.
HERE IS THE NOMINEE FOR THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY:::: Bob Barr
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11.9.08
10.9.08
Anti-Intellectualism
From Alternet.org:
“It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.” Barack Obama finally said it.
Though a successful political and electoral strategy, the Right’s stand against intelligence has steered them far off course, leaving them — and us — unable to deal successfully with the complex and dynamic circumstances we face as a nation and a society.
American 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 29 countries in math literacy, and their parents are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution; roughly 30 to 40 percent believe in each. Their president believes “the jury is still out” on evolution.
Steve Colbert interviewed Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland on “The Colbert Report.” Westmoreland co-sponsored a bill that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but, when asked, couldn’t actually list the commandments.
This stuff would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous.
In the 2004 election, nearly 70 percent of Bush supporters believed the United States had “clear evidence” that Saddam Hussein was working closely with al Qaeda; a third believed weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq; and more than a third that a substantial majority of world opinion supported the U.S.-led invasion, according to the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. The political right and allied culture warriors actively ignore evidence and encourage misinformation. To motivate their followers, they label intelligent and informed as “elite,” implying that ignorance is somehow both valuable and under attack.
Quoting Bill Maher on his show Real Time with Bill Maher
Say it loud: I’m elite and proud! The right-wing crusade to demonize elites has paid off. Now the country’s run by incompetents who make mediocrity a job requirement and recruit from Pat Robertson’s law school. New rule: Now that liberals have taken back the word liberal, they also have to take back the word “elite.” By now you’ve heard the constant right-wing attacks on the “elite,” or as it’s otherwise known, “hating.” They’ve had it up to their red necks with the “elite media.” The “liberal elite.” Who may or may not be part of the “Washington elite.” A subset of the “East Coast elite.” Which is influenced by “the Hollywood elite.” So basically, unless you’re a shitkicker from Kansas, you’re with the terrorists.
I don’t get it: In other fields — outside of government — elite is a good thing, like an elite fighting force. Tiger Woods is an elite golfer. If I need brain surgery, I’d like an elite doctor. But in politics, elite is bad
______________________________________________________
It’s not just politics, though. As the influence of fundamental religion grows worldwide, it is becoming perceived as honorable, honest, down-to-Earth to be ignorant and bad-mouth intellectualism. A 16 year old kid makes the news dropping out of high school to play Guitar Hero. Education and the desire to know are no longer priorities.
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Priceless
Here is how a little thing called "earmarks" is used in government today. An important bill to help rural children in NoLife, Arkansas, have new computers in schools is about to voted on in Congress. GOP Senator Godluvsdrepublicans attaches an earmark of $100 million to build a nuclear power plant in Butthole, Indiana. The Democrats vote down the bill and send it back to get remarked without the earmark. The Republicans then say that the Democrats voted against funding rural schools.
Either that happens; or, when both sides of the isle like the earmark, otherwise known as "pork barrel spending", the massive amounts of money is just funneled and more of our taxpaying money is wasted.
The "Maverick" has always said he fights pork barrel politics, and he has. He made a LIST of some of the pork barrel spending, at least, those he wanted published. He really hasn't done anything to stop it, but he does publish a list.
Now lets talk about Sarah Palin. McCain has asserted that his running mate Sarah Palin has "championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending."
Now it has been reported in the LA Times:
___________________________________________________
For much of his long career in Washington, John McCain has been throwing darts at the special spending system known as earmarking, through which powerful members of Congress can deliver federal cash for pet projects back home with little or no public scrutiny. He's even gone so far as to publish "pork lists" detailing these financial favors.
Three times in recent years, McCain's catalogs of "objectionable" spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time -- Sarah Palin.
Now, McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, has chosen Palin as his running mate, touting her as a reformer just like him.
_____________________________________________________
Priceless. Another lie to the American people. But she is a Christian and a Woman, and the idiots who vote for them just because of those two facts don't read truthful articles, they just watch FOX NEWS.
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An Email From Someone Who Knows Her
I saw this email posted on a very reputable news agency, McClatchy (formerly Knight-Ridder). It is from Anne Kilkenny, an Alaskan resident:
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.
She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.
She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.
Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.
She's smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.
She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.
However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT *"Hockey mom": true for a few years.
*"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since.
*"NRA supporter": absolutely true
*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
*"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
*"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
*political maverick: not at all
*gutsy: absolutely!
*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
*"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
*fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
*pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.
*pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90's.
Anne Kilkenny August 31, 2008
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