Jon finds some eerie similarities between John McCain’s convention speech and the one given by George W. Bush eight years ago.

Daily Show: 2008 McCain = 2000 Bush: A case of amnesia.

from Crooks and Liars by SilentPatriot

Jon finds some eerie similarities between John McCain's convention speech and the one given by George W. Bush eight years ago.

 Download | Play  Download | Play

John Amato: McCain wants us to forget that if he wins the election—America will be controlled by the Republicans for four more years that have produced such disastrous results. And the media will only help make this election about personalities instead of issues and then use Palin to distract us from those issues.

Arianna has  great post about this:

Listening to McCain, you'd think it was the Democrats who occupied the White House the last seven-plus years and it was time to throw the bastards out.

Given that 82 percent of voters believe we are heading in the wrong direction, it's a logical position to take. But for the American people to buy into the notion that McCain, who has raced to Bush's side on tax cuts, on offshore drilling — even on torture — is this campaign's agent of change, it's going to require an incredible suspension of disbelief. Or a serious case of amnesia.

And this is clearly McCain's campaign strategy: inducing amnesia about the past and confusion about the future, attempting to hoodwink the American people about what he has become. Which is where Sarah Palin comes in. As a major distraction. In the effort to divert attention from the matter at hand — McCain's embrace of all things Bush — Palin is the perfect storm…read on

Sarah Palin has been the GOP's vice presidential nominee for 8 days, 5 hours, 24 minutes, and 19 seconds -- and she still hasn't done a single serious interview on the issues

It Isn't Even Good Politics

from The Jed Report

As I write this, Sarah Palin has been the GOP's vice presidential nominee for 8 days, 5 hours, 24 minutes, and 19 seconds -- and she still hasn't done a single serious interview on the issues.

GOP strategist Todd Harris tried to defend the political wisdom of the McCain campaign's decision to hide Palin. If they put Palin out too quickly, he says, she might "make a mistake."

The problem with that spin is obvious: if they are afraid to have Sarah Palin talk with Wolf Blitzer, they must be downright petrified at the thought of her becoming president.

It's already clear that they had no idea who they were picking when they chose Sarah Palin. Now, the longer they keep her in hiding to prepare her for her first interview, the harder it's going to convince skeptical voters that they honestly believe she's ready to be president.

About the National Women's Law Center

A Worthwhile Cause

from PerezHilton.com by Perez Hilton

CLICK HERE to read up on and donate to a very worthwhile cause.

"About the National Women's Law Center

Since 1972, the Center has expanded the possibilities for women and girls in this country. The Center uses the law in all its forms: getting new laws on the books and enforced; litigating ground-breaking cases in state and federal courts all the way to the Supreme Court; and educating the public about ways to make the law and public policies work for women and their families. An experienced staff of more than 50 takes on the issues that cut to the core of women's and girls' lives in education, employment, family economic security, and health — with special attention given to the needs of low-income women and their families."

Stephen laughs along with Rudy Giuliani as he disparages Barack Obama’s historic campaign

Colbert Annihilates Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin

from Crooks and Liars by SilentPatriot

  In the most biting of satire, Stephen laughs along with Rudy Giuliani as he disparages Barack Obama's historic campaign, and agrees with Sarah Plain that Barack Obama is a nobody who's only popular for giving great speeches (or in her case, a single speech.)

 Download | Play   Download | Play 

Palin: What exactly is our opponent's plan?

Colbert: Exactly! We know nothing about Barack Obama. Only that he can give a great speech… and that is not enough. By the way, Governor Palin, great speech last night.

"...earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live"

Sarah Palin Slashed Funding For Teen Pregnancy Programs

from Crooks and Liars by Logan Murphy

Washington Post:

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

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

So Mrs. Palin throws her full support behind her own pregnant, unwed teen daughter, but it's tough sh*t for all the other girls? It's bad enough that by bringing her out and center, Palin's daughter is now the poster child for the failures of abstinence only "education," but to now find that with the stroke of a pen she made things tougher on pregnant teens to get the services they need really takes the cake. That's just the kind of compassionate conservatism that America could do without.

Fat Kid on a Rollercoaster

I feel bad for thinking this is funny....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85yop7aV6FY

He could have been the MVP this year...

Quentin Done For Season

from Chicagoist by Benjy Lipsman

This has not been a very good week for Chicago baseball fans. Sure, both of our teams entered September in first place but it seems like players named Carlos are working to derail our Crosstown Series fantasies this week.

On the heels of Cubs fans' panic attacks over the state of Carlos Zambrano's shoulder, now Sox fans are now getting the gut check. The team revealed this afternoon that Carlos Quentin has a broken bone in his hand that will require surgery and end his season. It's believed he suffered the injury in Monday night's game against the Indians.

As the Sox enter a key series against the AL's best team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, they're going to need the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. to step up and fill the offensive void. Quentin currently leads the AL with 36 home runs and has driven in 100 runs, tops on the team. The Sox had hoped to shake the Minnesota Twins while the GOP Convention chased them from town, but after 18 straight on the road the Twins are still right there. It's unclear if Quentin would be available if the Sox finish on top of the division and make the playoffs. Doctors are expected to reevaluate the outfielder's wrist in two to three weeks.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

After finishing as a runner up for Miss Alaska 1984, Sarah Palin went on to be crowned the state’s Queen of Earmarks and its Empress of Fiscal Irresponsibility

Sarah Palin the 'Earmark Queen' of AK Left Wasilla $20 Million in Debt

from Crooks and Liars by Bill W.

After finishing as a runner up for Miss Alaska 1984, Sarah Palin went on to be crowned the state's Queen of Earmarks and its Empress of Fiscal Irresponsibility.

Wonk Room: Sarah Palin: Earmark Queen Of The Earmark State

In 2000, Sarah Palin, as mayor of the Alaskan town of Wasilla, hired a Washington lobbyist to secure federal earmarks for her community.

This is not totally atypical in her state. Alaska's government receives more money per capita in federal earmark money than any other state, despite being the only state in the union with no income tax and no sales tax. They fund their government primarily with petroleum money, and recently distributed oil profits to its citizens in the form of rebate checks.

But even in her heavily earmarked state, Sarah Palin was the earmark queen.

From 2000 to 2003, she secured over $27 million in earmarks, averaging $6.7 million in federal money every year for her town of about 6,700 people. …(read on)

As mayor, Sarah Palin managed to secure a thousand dollars a year per person in her city in earmarks, yet…

When Palin left office in 2002, Wasilla had "racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt," or roughly $3,000 of debt per resident. …(more)

Asked in 1996, her first year in office, about her ability to "effectively run" the city, Palin claimed:

"It's not rocket science," Palin said, "It's $6 million and 53 employees."

Only "$6 million and 53 employees" and yet she managed to bury it $20 mil. in the red in just two-terms. How very Bush-like. And she wants us to trust her to be a heartbeat away from the national budget?

another one bits the dust

cryptogon.com » Archives » FDIC Friday: Silver State Bank of Nevada Goes Down

Via: CNN:

Nevada regulators have shut down Silver State Bank. It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank.

Andrew McCain, son of Republican presidential nominee John McCain was a member of the bank's board, but recently stepped down for "personal reasons," according to The Wall Street Journal. The younger McCain, 46, had also served on Silver State's audit committee, and was only with the bank for five months before leaving on July 26, the Journal reported.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the bank, located in Henderson, Nev. It had $2 billion in assets and $1.7 billion in deposits as of June 30.

The FDIC said Friday the bank's insured deposits will be assumed by Nevada State Bank of Las Vegas. Its branches will reopen Monday as offices of Nevada State Bank in Nevada and National Bank of Arizona in Arizona.

The agency said depositors of Silver State Bank will continue to have full access to their deposits.

The 11 failures so far this year compare with three for all of 2007, and federal banking officials have said that more banks are in danger of collapse.

Silver State Bank has operated 12 branches in Nevada and Arizona as well as loan offices in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California and Florida.

The FDIC estimated its resolution will cost the deposit insurance fund between $450 million and $550 million.

Regular deposit accounts are insured up to $100,000; for some individual retirement accounts, the limit is $250,000.

There were about $20 million in uninsured deposits held in roughly 500 accounts at Silver State that potentially exceeded the insurance limit, the FDIC said.

Concern has been growing over the solvency of some banks amid the housing slump and the steep slide in the mortgage market. The pressures of tighter credit, tumbling home prices and rising foreclosures have been battering many banks, large and small, across the nation.

The largest bank failure by far this year has been that of savings and loan IndyMac Bank, which was seized by regulators on July 11 with about $32 billion in assets and deposits of $19 billion.

The seizure of Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac, which was the largest regulated thrift to fail in the United States, prompted hundreds of angry customers to line up for hours in Southern California to demand their money. IndyMac also was the second-largest financial institution to close in U.S. history, after Continental Illinois National Bank in 1984.

The FDIC has been operating the bank, now called IndyMac Federal Bank, under a conservatorship.

The FDIC plans to raise insurance premiums paid by banks and thrifts to replenish its reserve fund after paying out billions of dollars to depositors at IndyMac. The fund, currently at $45 billion, is expected to take a hit from IndyMac of $4 billion to $8 billion.

Federal officials expect turbulence in the banking industry to continue well into next year, and more banks to appear on the FDIC's internal list of troubled institutions.

Of the 8,500 or so FDIC-insured banks in the country, 117 were considered to be in trouble in the second quarter - the highest level in about five years and up from 90 in the first quarter. The agency doesn't disclose the banks' names.

Only 13 percent of banks that make the list fail, on average, and most are nursed back to health or acquired by stronger institutions, according to the FDIC.

Federally insured banks and thrifts set aside a record $50.2 billion to cover losses from soured mortgages and other loans in the April-June quarter, when profits plunged 86 percent from a year earlier.

"McCain said heartless things about the adolescent Chelsea Clinton but any little scrutinization on them has them crying like WATBs."

Palin Asked For Specifics On Her Whine Of Mean Obama/Biden Democrats; Can't Answer

from Crooks and Liars by Nicole Belle

  Jake Tapper at ABC: 

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sent out a fundraising solicitation today that charged that "the Obama/Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family and John McCain."

I asked spokespeople of the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee just which "Obama/Biden Democrats" they're referring to.

The response I got was that Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski erroneously attacked Palin as a supporter of Pat Buchanan.

That's it. That's the evidence.

An attack on Palin herself.

In other words, they can't name one person affiliated with the Obama-Biden campaign who attacked the Palin family.

This whole Culture of Victimization of the Republican Party makes me ill.  As Tapper points out, McCain said heartless things about the adolescent Chelsea Clinton but any little scrutinization on them has them crying like WATBs.

What should anger you is that every time you fill your tank, you’re paying 18.4 cents a gallon into that fund (24.4 cents if you’re tanking with diesel).

Blame game sabotages highway trust fund

from Scholars and Rogues by Dr. Denny

If you live in America, undoubtedly you drive on roads and highways maintained by the state in which you reside. And, just as certainly, many miles of those byways are in poor repair. They're not safe. The rutted, pot-holed macadam causes expensive damage to your vehicle. Don't count on this changing any time soon.

Friday, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters asked the Senate to prop up the federal highway trust fund with $8 billion. The fund, established in 1956 as the national financial engine of road building and repair, has a deficit. The fund provides the money the federal government uses to reimburse states for up to 80 to 90 percent of highway construction and maintenance costs. The House has already approved the extra cash.

If the Senate fails to add its approval, at the end of this month the federal government will delay and occasionally reduce the payments it sends to the states for construction it has agreed to underwrite. That means you'll keep on driving your vehicle over the same badly damaged, poorly maintained roads that you have been, probably for years.

What should anger you is that every time you fill your tank, you're paying 18.4 cents a gallon into that fund (24.4 cents if you're tanking with diesel).

Why has this deficit come to pass?

Americans have been driving less — 50 billion miles less between November 2007 and June than the same period a year ago. Writes Eric M. Weiss of The Washington Post:

The trust has been hammered because its main source of funding is the gas tax, which has not been increased since the Clinton administration. The high cost of gasoline has resulted in less consumption and, therefore, fewer dollars flowing into the trust fund.

What are the consequences?

Secretary Peters says the fund will take in $4.4 billion in funding requests this month — with only $2.7 billion available. Payments will delayed or pro-rated. Projects may be stalled or stopped. Added interest costs may be shifted to the states. Reports Mr. Weiss:

Transportation officials said the move will not result in the wholesale cancellation of road projects, but could have a profound effect on future contracting and the reliability of the federal government as a partner. [emphasis added]

Whom should we blame?

The usual suspects, of course, are the legislative and executive branches of government. Congress has not raised the federal excise tax on motor fuels since 1993. In January, after a two-year study, the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission called for raising the tax by 40 cents a gallon over five years as a drastic fix for just as drastic national infrastructure needs. But a few years ago, even a modest increase of 5.45 cents brought on the analytical ire of conservatives.

Politicians won't touch the gasoline tax. They believe it would be political suicide to add a greater burden to taxpayers and consumers already stuck paying on average $3.68 a gallon as of Sept. 1.

But politician do, in fact, touch the federal highway trust fund. Repeatedly. Reports Joan Lowy of the Associated Press:

Compounding the problem, Peters said, is federal lawmakers' habit of loading up highway spending bills with pet projects, or earmarks, for their home states. The current highway spending bill has more than 6,000 earmarks totaling $24 billion, she said. [emphasis added]

Secretary Peters pointedly blames Congress for failing to act on administration initiative (she is, after all, a September 2006 appointee of President Bush) in a DOT press release:

Secretary Peters noted that today's problem would have been avoided had Congress acted on the President's fiscally responsible proposal from last February to transfer funds from the highway trust fund's mass transit account, which has a surplus. That measure would not have affected current transit investments at all …

Congress, of course, does not believe robbing Peter to pay Paul is wise. If the mass transit account has a surplus — why? Is it because the Bush administration has not properly focused on maintaining present mass transit and expanding it as a means to lower overall transportation costs for commuters and reduce national greenhouse gas emissions?

Congressional Democrats blame the Bush administration for the delicate condition of the highway trust fund, accusing it of "nickel and diming our degrading roads, bridges, highways," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. In a statement, he said:

For years, we have been trying to increase funding to repair our nation's antiquated infrastructure, but the Bush administration and the Republicans in Congress have thrown up ideological roadblocks in front of every effort. Now, we are facing a severe crisis that could delay vital modernization projects across the country.

Meanwhile, Sen. Schumer's lovely scapegoating rhetoric notwithstanding, the trust fund remains in arrears. The gas tax remains untouchable. Earmarks in transportation persist. Democrats blame Republicans; Republicans blame Democrats. In the next two months as one Democratic senator pummels a Republican senator before we vote for president, just now much attention do you think the federal motor fuels excise tax and the highway trust fund are likely to get?

About as much as those potholes you see every day.

Additional reading:

• "Highway Trust Fund: Fact Sheet" by the federal Department of Transportation.
• I-35W bridge and the nation's infrastructure: Little has changed.
• Pols fail to comprehend breadth of infrastructure crisis.
• Bad highways? Blame politics, technology, new driving habits.
• Bad bridges? Still far too few fixes.

News Alert: Government Preparing Plan to Seize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Officials Say

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Friday, September 5, 2008 -- 9:03 PM ET
-----

Government Preparing Plan to Seize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Officials Say

Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal
Reserve informed top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac, the mortgage-finance giants, that the government is
preparing a plan to seize the two companies and place them in
a conservatorship, officials and company executives briefed
on the discussions said.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

he Boston Globe and other media outlets went about their business of vetting Palin’s past

Palin's First Passport Issued in 2006

from Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines

Apparently undeterred by Sarah Palin's challenging stance from the RNC podium Wednesday night, The Boston Globe and other media outlets went about their business of vetting Palin's past, as with any other public figure who aspires to play a major leadership role on the world stage. As it turns out, Palin's own experience on said world stage has thus far been rather limited.

---

The Boston Globe:

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin got her first passport in 2006 and has visited just four countries, and has had little involvement in her state's cross-border issues, raising questions about her supporters' assertions that Alaska's proximity to Russia has given her unique experience on foreign affairs.

In seeking to demonstrate the first-term Alaska governor's readiness to be John McCain's second-in-command, campaign officials have maintained that Palin has had to deal with unusual security challenges and a variety of diplomatic and trade issues in a state sandwiched between Russia and Canada.

However, a review of Palin's 20 months in office shows that aside from overseeing the National Guard's state-level emergency missions, as all governors do, the first-term governor played no role in any territorial defense or other national defense operations involving military forces.

Read more

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

I WISH I HAD SHORTED THIS STOCK...

Will Fannie and Freddie shareholders be wiped out this weekend?

from BloggingStocks by Peter Cohan

Filed under: Federal Natl Mtge (FNM)

Three weeks after Barron's reported that a senior administration official -- my guess is it was Hank Paulson -- leaked details of a "rescue" plan for Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) -- Bloomberg News reports that its implementation could be imminent. And in after-hours, shares of both companies are down 20%. If what Barron's reported -- wiping out common shareholders and slashing preferred dividends -- proves prescient, both stocks have further to tumble -- as in all the way to 0.

Bloomberg reports that Paulson met with Ben Bernanke and the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie and the head of Federal Housing Finance Agency which oversees the two. And they have catering set for the entire weekend. I wonder what they are serving? I think PIMCO bond guru Bill Gross knows. He said, "There's probably a 95 percent chance that the moment that something will happen is Sunday or Saturday," according to Bloomberg.

Yesterday Gross called for the government to use $500 billion to bail out the real estate market. As I posted yesterday, this bailout is for the benefit of people like Gross and the Chinese government which owns $340 billion worth of Fannie and Freddie mortgage-backed securities. If you happen to be among the holders of their common or preferred stock -- you are going to lose it all. As I suggested this morning, after the market lost 345 points yesterday, the government needed to announce another rescue plan by Sunday night.

Continue reading Will Fannie and Freddie shareholders be wiped out this weekend?

Coke poured onto raw pork will not cause worms to come crawling out of it.

51 uses for Coca-Cola – the ultimate list.

from Wise Bread by Paul Michael

By Paul Michael

I was trawling the Internet recently searching for a way to remove a grease spot from a favorite shirt of mine. How it got there, well, I blame a faulty fork and not my clumsy mouth. Anyway, time and again sites would reference a can of Coca-Cola as a way to remove the grease spot. I tried it, cynical but hopeful, and it worked. Not 100%, but it was way better than before. It did leave me wondering, are there other uses for Coca-Cola? It turns out there are a lot more.

I haven't had a chance to test all of these out, but the ones I have listed here are the uses I found turning up time and again; not just on the web, but in books and magazines. If you have any more, feel free to share. And by the way, I'm no Coca-Cola advocate, I'm sure Pepsi or even store-brand would work just as well (unless that secret Coke ingredient is behind all of this…but I doubt it).

The list
1. Remove grease stains from clothing and fabric (I had to start there)
2. Remove rust; methods include using fabric dipped in Coke, a sponge or even aluminum foil.
3. Remove blood stains from clothing and fabric.
4. Make gooey Coke funnel cakes .
5. Clean oil stains from a garage floor; let the stain soak, hose off.
6. Loosen a rusty bolt; pour on some Coke and wait for the magic to happen.
7. Kill slugs and snails; a small bowl of Coke will attract them, the acid will kill them.
8. Help a lawn become lush and green (see my lawn tonic article here )
9. Prevent an asthma attack! Apparently, the caffeine in two 12oz cans can prevent the onset of an attack.
10. Defrost a frozen windshield. Apply liberally and wait (I'll see if this works in winter)
11. Clean burnt pans; let the pan soak in the Coke, then rinse.
12. Descale a kettle using the same method in 11.
13. Neutralize a jellyfish sting.
14. Clean car battery terminals by pouring a small amount of Coke over each one.
15. Cure nausea; let a can of Coke go flat then take a teaspoon of Coke every hour.
16. Also, flat coke can help relieve an upset stomach (aka "the runs")
17. Make a Mentos & Coke exploding fountain. This one takes a 2-liter bottle of Coke.

Popout

18. Get rid of hiccups; gargle with a big mouthful of ice-cold Coke.
19. Shake up a can and pour it over your windshield to remove bugs and other crud.
20. Use the method in 19 for your car bumpers, too.
21. Clean your engine; Coke distributors have been using this technique for decades.
22. Relieve congestion; boil and a can of Coke and drink while hot to clear you up.
23. Make a sweet BBQ sauce. Mix a can of Coke with ketchup and brush over ribs or chicken.
24. Baste a ham roast with Coke as it cooks. The sugars will caramelize; the ham will be moist.
25. Add a can of coke to your pot roast to tenderize it and add extra flavor. (Thanks Linsey).
26. Make pretty pennies; soaking old pennies in Coke will remove the tarnish.
27. Make your hair curly; pour flat Coke onto long hair, leave for a few minutes then rinse.
28. Age documents and photos; for that antique look, apply Coke, pat with paper, leave to dry.
29. Clean tile grout; pour onto kitchen floor, leave for a few minutes, wipe up.
30. Mix a can of Coke with a packet of Italian seasoning; cook a tough steak in it.
31. Make better compost; Coke increases the acidity, adds sugars and feeds microorganisms.
32. Dissolve a tooth in it; Use a sealed container, this takes ages. Why would you want to though, unless you're Hannibal Lecter?
33. Remove gum from hair; dip into a small bowl of Coke, leave a few minutes. Gum will wipe off.
34. Get silky skin; mix a spoonful of Coke with regular lotion and apply liberally.
35. Make low-fat brownies .
36. Pour a little in a cup and set it out an hour before a picnic, away from your site; it will attract wasps and bees so they're not bugging you and your grub.
37. Remove stains from vitreous china. More info on vitreous materials here .
38. Got a dirty pool? Add two 2-liter bottles of Coke to clear up the water (it acts as rust remover).
39. Add Coke to your laundry to remove bad smells, especially fish.
40. Remove (or fade) dye from hair by pouring diet Coke over it.
41. Mop a floor with Coke to make it sticky. It's a movie industry trick to stop actors slipping.
42. Remove marker stains from carpet. Apply Coke, scrub, then clean with soapy water.
43. Clean a toilet; pour around bowl, leave for a while, flush clean.
44. Apply to skin for a deep tan (although this seems like a recipe for skin cancer to me).
45. Supposedly, drinking an 8oz can of Coke every day can prevent kidney stones.
46. Add it to a Sloppy Joe mix
47. Perk up your Azaleas or Gardenias.
48. Coke and aluminum foil will bring Chrome to a high shine.
49. Strip paint off metal furniture; soak a towel in Coke, sit it on the surface for days. Make sure you keep adding Coke to keep the towel wet. (Seems like a hassle, I'd rather buy paint stripper.)
50. Add it to vodka, rum or bourbon.
51. Drink it straight from the can, if you can (too sweet for me)

And a few Coke fallacies:

• Coke is not used by the authorities to clean blood from the roads after accidents.
• Coke will not dissolve teeth or nails OVERNIGHT. It takes a long time.
• Coke and aspirin will not get you high.
• Coke is not an effective spermicide.
• Coke poured onto raw pork will not cause worms to come crawling out of it.
• The acids in Coke do not make it dangerous to drink (your own stomach acids are much stronger).
• Drinking too much Coke will not make you die from CO2 poisoning.
• Coke does not contain cocaine (although it used to).
• Coke did not become carbonated by accident.

So, that's what my days of research turned up (yes, days. Anyone who tells me to get a life will be justified). If you have anything to add, pour away folks.

Permalink | 6 comments | Paul Michael's blog | Channel: Frugal Living, Life Hacks, General Tips

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She might make "a mistake."

New GOP Spin: Palin's Not Ready

from The Jed Report

Todd Harris, a GOP strategist who is close to the McCain campaign, says Palin won't be available to the press for about two weeks. His defense? She might make "a mistake."

If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that's something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.

This has got to be one of the craziest messaging decisions ever: Harris is conceding that Palin's not even ready to be a vice presidential candidate, let alone be president.

I just don't see how they can sustain two weeks of keeping Palin in hiding. Every day the McCain campaign keeps her away from reporters just highlights the fact that they don't think she's ready.

This strikes me as a pretty impressive strategic blunder.

Pensito Review » Palin Cut Funding for Alaska’s Special Needs Children by 60 Percent

Pensito Review » Palin Cut Funding for Alaska’s Special Needs Children by 60 Percent

At her speech before the Republican Nationa Convention, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made this heartfelt-seeming claim:

Palin: “To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.”

Sarah Palin might have changed her mind on this one recently. However, a comment here notes that Palin actually slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62 percent. Budgets: FY 2007 (pre-Palin), 2008, 2009 (all pdfs).

Analysis:

The facts here show Governor Palin cut funding for special needs kids dramatically.

In 2007, before Palin assumed her office of governor, the State of Alaska FY2007 Governor’s Operating Budget for the Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools Component Budget Summary (this department provides services—not just school but services—for children with severe disabling conditions) includes approved and necessary budget increases to help special needs children. This budget was released in December, on the 15th to be precise, 2006.

In that budget, the budget actuals are (FY = Fiscal Year):

FY 2005 6945.30
FY 2007 Management Plan 7949.30
FY 2007 Governors 8265.30

Palin was elected governor in November of 2006, and assumed her position in January 2007.

When budget time rolled around in 2007, Sarah Palin—self professed advocate for special needs children, mother to a special needs child, aunt to a special needs child, and who promised in her acceptance speech last night that she was there for special needs children — slashed the budget. When she said she would be a “friend and advocate in the White House,” I guess she just meant in words, not with actual money for needed services.

Here’s what the State of Alaska FY2008 Governor’s Operating Budget for the Department of Education and Early Development Special Schools Component Budget Summary shows:

FY 2006 7949.30
FY 2007 Management Plan 3173.70
FY 2008 Governor 3156.00

You see right. Under Governor Palin, funds decreased from a planned budget of 8265.30 to 3156.0. That’s a 62 percent decrease. Actual consumed amount went from 7949.3 to 3156.00, where it lingers to this day. That’s a 60 percent decrease.

t r u t h o u t | Tackling the Crisis in Emergency Care

t r u t h o u t | Tackling the Crisis in Emergency Care

Over at "Home of the Brave," Annie calls attention to the following Las Vegas Sun story about a man who suffered a heart attack and went to the nearest ER for help:

"But even as Linda Scheinbaum - Morton's wife of 24 years - was screaming [in the emergency room] for medical attention to save his life, the MountainView Hospital nurse was insisting on getting his Social Security number, emergency contact and insurance information.

"'I'll give you all the information later!' Linda Scheinbaum yelled at the clerk.

"It would be Scheinbaum's tragic misfortune to [go] to the emergency room on the night of Nov. 4, 2005, when it was busy and hospital officials said there were no open rooms. The Scheinbaums were told to take a seat and wait - even though a delay of just minutes can make the difference between life and death during a heart attack ...

"The precise timeline of the events of that desperate night is in dispute, but hospital records show that it was at least 41 minutes from the time Morton Scheinbaum arrived to the time he collapsed, blue in the face and foaming at the mouth. Only then was he rushed into the emergency room for treatment.

"And that's where he died, his admission paperwork completed."

There are many reasons to feel outraged when reading this story. But the tragedies of this tale are part of a larger - and just as depressing - picture in American emergency care. The staffing and overcrowding issues that Linda and Morton Scheinbaum faced three years ago are becoming the rule, rather than the exception, when it comes to emergency departments (ED's) in the United States.

Begin with the seeming villain of this tale, the pigheaded nurse who forced paperwork on the Scheinbaums in a time of crisis. Blogger Annie has some issues with the Sun's less-than-probing characterization: "Is the 'nurse' cited an unlicensed admission clerk?" asks Annie. "A secretary? ... or a licensed registered nurse who is obligated to perform triage and intervention to conform to state regulations and to the hospital's accreditation agency standards?"

This is important - if the nurse in question is a registered triage nurse, then it's her job to prioritize patients based on the severity of her conditions. This would make her failure to recognize Morton's condition all the more scandalous. Though the Sun isn't specific on the matter, the nurse probably wasn't a triage nurse, since Linda was screaming that her husband needed to see a triage nurse and got no response.

Sadly, it really wouldn't be surprising if MountainView didn't have that many registered nurses on staff. RNs are increasingly scarce in emergency departments. In fact, the Committee on Pediatric Emergency Medicine notes that, "among all the supply shortages in health care professional groups, the greatest deficiency is found within the ranks of registered nurses."

As I discussed in a recent post, medicine faces a dramatic nursing shortage, and EDs are not being spared. In fact, the supply of nurses is particularly unstable in high-stress practice settings like emergency rooms, which see an annual nurse turnover rate of more than 30 percent.

This is a big problem: as the Committee puts it, "experienced ED nurses are truly the backbone of emergency care." When nurses leave too quickly, it's harder to accumulate experience - and the intuitive knowledge that would lead a nurse to realize that Morton Scheinbaum needed immediate aid, just by looking at him.

As I argued in my earlier post, America's nursing shortage can be solved by encouraging: innovative partnership programs across nursing schools, providing higher pay for nursing faculty and clinical nurses who work in high-stress situations, and - perhaps most importantly - improving working conditions for nurses through better benefits and greater voice in hospital decisions.

But EDs face a number of other issues which have little to do with staffing. Every day, millions of Americans put up with the same long wait time that doomed Morton Scheinbaum to an early grave. In fact, an August report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that average ED wait time was about 56 minutes in 2006, up from 38 minutes in 1997 - even longer than what the Scheinbaums experienced in Nevada.

These long waits aren't due to testy nurses. As Maggie wrote in a recent post, the real issue is that more people are visiting EDs - even as the number of emergency departments in the U.S. is decreasing. Between 1996 and 2006 ED visits jumped more than 32 percent, hitting 118 million two years ago. Yet from 1993-2003, the U.S. saw a 17 percent decline in hospital beds and a 9 percent decline in hospitals with EDs. There's no more straightforward way to illustrate these trends than the graph below, pulled from a 2006 New England Journal of Medicine article by Dr. Arnold Kellerman, a professor at Emory School of Medicine.

The math here is simple: more ED visitors plus fewer facilities equals longer wait times. The key word is "overcrowding." For Morton Scheinbaum, this meant that there were no beds available to him when he needed care. Even in cities like New York City, which boasts an embarrassment of hospitals, ED overcrowding has become a major concern: 69 percent of NYC doctors say they've personally experienced an ED patient suffering harm because there was no hospital bed available; 28 percent said a patient died as a result.

So what's driving Americans' great migration to emergency rooms? "The likely cause is there are just fewer and fewer primary care physicians," Dr. Stephen Pitts of Emory University told the San Francisco Chronicle last month. "If you were to get the flu and your doctor says, 'Sure, I'll see you in two weeks,' you may not be able to wait. It's hard for even insured people to get quick appointments and be seen quickly."

As Health Beat has noted recently, the evidence on primary care backs up Pitts' hunch: it's people who have insurance - and thus already have, at least in theory, access to doctors - who are making up a greater share of ED visits than in the past. Over the years, America has seen primary care physicians who must take on more patients. As generalist doctors have become less accessible to insured Americans, they're substituting doctor's appointments for non-emergency care with visits to the ED.

When so many patients use emergency physicians as primary care physicians the people who actually need emergency care may wind up taking a backseat to everyone else: At MountView hospital, one of the bed that could have gone to Morton was already taken by a patient who was constipated.

With such increases in ED visits, why do we have fewer EDs, when in fact we need more? Emergency rooms just aren't very lucrative for hospitals. Indeed, hospitals often lose money on emergency care.

This is in large part because, whether or not they are insured, all American citizens have a legal right to emergency care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) of 1986.

EMTALA is a noble idea, but there's a big problem: it's an unfunded mandate. The federal government orders medical professionals to provide care for everyone, while never instituting a mechanism to compensate them for delivering that care. And that care gets pretty pricey.

The American College of Emergency Physicians estimates that EMTALA requirements cost emergency care professionals more than $425 million annually; the growing ranks of America's uninsured, who also tend to use EDs as doctors' offices, add another $1 billion in uncompensated care to emergency physician services. All in all, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, fifty-five percent of emergency care in the U.S. goes uncompensated.

Such generosity also eats up time: American College of Emergency Physicians reports that one-third of emergency physicians provide more than 30-hours of EMTALA-related care a week - which leaves less care for other insured patients who could cross-subsidize EMTALA care. With little in the way of financial support to help them navigate a sea of new patients, 500 hospitals and more than 1,000 EDs have closed over the past ten years.

It would be wrong to argue that emergency departments should turn away more people in order to save money. The answer is to rebalance the U.S. health care system so patients don't feel that EDs are their best resort for medical attention. That means expanding health coverage for Americans and making sure that those with insurance have better access to primary care physicians. The "medical home" model, centered on collaborative, coordinated care, could go a long way in helping patients feel like they had more options for everyday care.

What happened to the Scheinbaums was tragic. Unfortunately, so long as emergency care in the U.S. continues to be under-staffed, under-funded, and over-crowded, these stories will become more common.

"The global stock market had more ups and downs this week than the career of Britney Spears."

Stocks have their worst week in six years

from BloggingStocks by Jonathan Berr

Filed under: General Electric (GE), Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Recession, NASDAQ

The global stock market had more ups and downs this week than the career of Britney Spears. Don't look for the bottom to appear anytime soon following the worst week for global equities in six years.

A parade of superlatives continues to weigh on the mind of investors, most of them bad. Unemployment is at a five-year high. Payrolls shrank by 84,000 last month, according to the Labor Department. That's more than 75,000 economists predicted, the Associated Press said. Rising interest rates spurred the biggest increase in the foreclosure rate in almost three decades, according to Bloomberg News.

Sure oil prices are dropping to near $105 but they are still high. No car, truck or airplane was ever designed with the thought that oil would be anywhere near that high. Gasoline prices have also come down but they are still at levels that many Americans can not afford.

Continue reading Stocks have their worst week in six years

"The silence of the Republican party was deafening. It was deafening on jobs, on health care, on the environment, on all the things that matter to the people ..."

Biden on the RNC: "What do you talk about when you can't explain the last eight years of failure?"

from Crooks and Liars by SilentPatriot

Biden gave a barnburner of a speech today in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, where he responded to some of the attacks lobbed at the Republican Convention. It just might have been more effective than his actual convention speech.

 Download | Play  Download | Play (h/t David)

"It's not merely a lost job, it's a lost sense of identity. I don't think my Republican friends — and this is not your father's Republican party, by the way. So folks, when I listen to the parts of the Republican convention I can hear…it's not what I heard, it's what I didn't hear. The silence of the Republican party was deafening. It was deafening on jobs, on health care, on the environment, on all the things that matter to the people in the neighborhood's I grew up in. Deafening! Their America is not the America I live in. They see something different than I see.

"Rick Davis, John's campaign manager, said 'this election is not about issues.' Everything I saw at the convention demonstrated that.

"What do you talk about about when you have nothing to say? What do you talk about when you can't explain the last eight years of failure?"

This is the most effective I have ever heard Biden speak. All that he and Obama have to do from now until November 4 is remind people that the only thing John Bush's Republican Party has to offer is four more years of the same old irresponsible economic policies. If you like today's economy, vote McCain. If not, vote Obama. It's that simple. Hell, not even McCain's own surrogates can distinguish him from Bush.

"...resembled more a propaganda news reel that exploited horribly the memories of the victims and heroes of 9/11"

A Visibly Upset Keith Olbermann Castigates RNC 9/11 "Tribute" Video

from Crooks and Liars by Nicole Belle

 Download | Play    Download | Play  (h/t Heather)

There's nothing like some exploitive and fact free propaganda to bring Republicans together in mindless cheering against a phantom and revisionist enemy.  On Thursday's final night of the Republican National Convention, the RNC broadcast what was billed as a tribute to 9/11 victims, but by tying in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis and the Iraq invasion and occupation, resembled more a propaganda news reel that exploited horribly the memories of the victims and heroes of 9/11.  Jeffrey Feldman: 

No doubt, showing a 9/11 video at a political convention was emotional exploitation. But it was also something much worse: it was blatant historical revisionism. It was a cynical attempt to claim attacks on Americans–1979 and 2001–were carried out by the same 'enemy.'

What Olbermann should have apologized for was MSNBC accidental transformation of their network into a mechanism of the most cynical kind of Orwellian propaganda.

John McCain did not make the link between 9/11 and Iran in his RNC speech, but we can be certain that the video 'tribute' is a sign of what is to come on the campaign trail between now and November.

The media's responsibility from this point forward is clear: either they can sit back and let McCain's historical revisionism stand or they can move quickly to debunk it.

Either way, it seems apparent that major broadcast outlets need to take a more proactive role in pre-screening for blatant historical inaccuracies any video a political party plans to show during a national broadcast–or at least preparing to immediately debunk politically motivated inaccuracies.

So Media–you lazy ass, dismissive-of-blogs-who-do-your-job-better-than-you, monolith of bias?  The onus is on you to set the record straight. 

As for Olbermann, he promises a Special Comment next week on this subject. 

SPIDERMAN 4 AND 5 ON THE WAY

Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire Will Return For Spider-Man 4. Sony Wants Spider-Man 5 Shot Back-to-Back. Venom Spin-Off News.

from /Film by orfilms@gmail.com (slashfilm.com)

Nikki Finke reports that Sony has locked in both Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire for Spider-Man 4. Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane character is said to be included in the sequel(s), so the actress is rumored to be returning as well. And in the execs' best case scenario, Raimi and Maguire would shoot Spider-Man 5 back-to-back. This would confirm what we reported this May: Screenwriter James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Rundown) turned in a script for the third sequel that, much to Sony's liking, segued smoothly into an arc for a fifth film. Specific details on what it took to bring back the original star and director are not yet available. Spider-Man 4 remains set for a May 2011 release.

Per villains for a fourth film, Finke's source hints, "once you find out who the villain is, you'll know who's playing it," leading everyone to speculate that actor Dylan Baker, who played Dr. Curt Connors in Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3, will fight Spidey as The Lizard. Last year, Slashfilm gave 95% odds that The Lizard would be the main villain in the third sequel. Next time, call your bookie and send us 20%.

Our reasoning was the dynamic relationship involved a la Harry Osbourne's Goblin: "Connors developed an experimental serum taken from reptilian DNA, which he tested on himself and was subsequently transformed into a reptilian humanoid monster. Peter Parker worked as a teaching assistant to Dr. Connors at Empire State University, although Connors had no idea that Peter was actually Spider-Man."

Included in Finke's report is an update on the status of the Venom spin-off, a project that has divided fans and our readers, just like the jock-like character, for years. In what would be Marvel's first feature headlined by a villain, Finke's sources say that Topher Grace, who played the character in the much maligned Spider-Man 3, is still the front-runner due to, and I paraphrase, a sympathetic boy-next-door appearance. ;)

Discuss: Good news? Personally, I think Spider-Man should fight a new villain made out of hundred dollar bills. Do you think speculation about The Lizard is correct? Venom or bust? Where does this leave Raimi's Evil Dead sequel and Maguire's RoboTech?

Wow, Calm Down, Ha: Early word is that they are not going in a "gloomy Dark Knight direction."

GOOGLE CHROME'S EULA HAS BEEN UPDATED

Update to Google Chrome's terms of service

from Official Google Blog by Karen

Whenever we release a product in beta as we just did with Google Chrome, we can always count on our users to come up with ways to improve it. This week's example: several eagle-eyed users and bloggers have expressed concern that Section 11 of Google Chrome's terms of service attempts to give us rights to any user-generated content "submitted, posted or displayed on or through" the browser.

You'll notice if you look at our other products that many of them are governed by Section 11 of our Universal Terms of Service. This section is included because, under copyright law, Google needs what's called a "license" to display or transmit content. So to show a blog, we ask the user to give us a license to the blog's content. (The same goes for any other service where users can create content.) But in all these cases, the license is limited to providing the service. In Gmail, for example, the terms specifically disclaim our ownership right to Gmail content.

So for Google Chrome, only the first sentence of Section 11 should have applied. We're sorry we overlooked this, but we've fixed it now, and you can read the updated Google Chrome terms of service. If you're into the fine print, here's the revised text of Section 11:

11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

And that's all. Period. End of section.

It will take a little time to propagate this change through the 40+ languages in which Google Chrome is available, and to remove the language in the download versions. But rest assured that we're working quickly to fix this. The new terms will of course be retroactive, and will cover everyone who has downloaded Google Chrome since it was launched.

Posted by Mike Yang, Senior Product Counsel

I LOVE A GOOD CATFIGHT...

Exclusive: 'My Name Is Earl' Creator Greg Garcia Labels Alec Baldwin An 'Unlikeable, Psychotic Narcissist' [Feuds]

from Defamer by Mark Graham

While we found yesterday's 8,000 word New Yorker profile of Alec Baldwin to be an engrossing (if entirely too long) read, we were able to find one person who was less than impressed by Baldwin's long-winded rants about the perils of being impossibly rich and famous: My Name Is Earl creator/executive producer Greg Garcia. In the piece, not only did Baldwin blast the suits who run NBC's programming and promo departments for "wring(ing) the last drops" out of Thursday night comedy staples like Earl and Scrubs while 30 Rock is treated like a "red-headed stepchild", he also indirectly criticized the quality of said shows by labeling both as "done" and "cooked." Naturally, this irked Garcia, who spoke exclusively with Defamer this morning about his thoughts on his show's performance, 30 Rock's ratings and, of course, Baldwin himself:

"Maybe the reason enough people aren't watching 30 Rock to make Mr. Baldwin happy is because Alec Baldwin is so unlikable as a person. 30 Rock is a really funny show. And Alec Baldwin is funny as long as someone else is writing his words. When left to his own devices, he sounds like a psychotic narcissist who whines about being rich for 8 pages in The New Yorker."

"Instead of blaming NBC, I think Alec should consider that some people in America may not want to watch a man who cusses out his own 11 year old daughter on a phone message, calling her a "rude thoughtless little pig." It's a shame that the people who produce such a funny show have to put up with such a distasteful man on a daily basis. It makes me thankful to have such a wonderful cast on My Name is Earl, a show that is still going strong and has helped bring an audience to 30 Rock over the last few years. You're welcome, Alec.

Oh, and the reason NBC occasionally puts on an hour-long episode of Earl is because an hour of Earl gets better ratings than an Earl followed by a 30 Rock. It's called math, stupid."

Huzzah! We've got to admit, nothing warms our cockles like a good ole fashioned catfight between two strong anchors of NBC's Thursday night lineup. We would think that Ben Silverman would be able to bring peace to these warring factions, but then again, it's a crapshoot as to whether or not he's even showing up for work these days. Our only piece of advice at this point is directed to Greg Garcia: if Alec Baldwin decides to ring you up this afternoon, be sure to let that call go straight to voicemail.

PREVIOUSLY: Inside Alec Baldwin: A 'Nudist,' A 'Homosexual,' A Rock Music Aficionado, And a Tormented Soul

the McCain campaign are sending Sarah Palin back to Alaska to hide out until the journalists forget about her

"Holed Up"

from Emptywheel by emptywheel

As many people have pointed out, the McCain campaign are sending Sarah Palin back to Alaska to hide out until the journalists forget about her.

CHUCK TODD:Well Ron, We've been able to see that there are a few folks who are saying [Palin is] actually going to hole up in Alaska for a little, she's got to see her son off who's going to be deployed to Iraq, so we may not see her on the campaign trail for a little while.

RON ALLEN: Yes she hasn't been home for a long time, and she's obviously got some business to deal with there.

Obviously, part of the reason the campaign is sending Palin away to the woods is because the media has made it clear they're not satisfied with only scripted interactions with her--the McCain campaign needs to get Palin away from the media at least until they do some real vetting of her. (Though, as Mudflats points out, there are journalists in AK, too.)

But I think there are several things contributing to their last minute change of plans.

• They intend to shield her from the media, as everyone has mentioned.
• McCain campaign staffers have been in AK for several days, trying to bury all the dirt on Palin; I'm certain they need her personal involvement to bury some of it, not least on TrooperGate, in which her promised cooperation has disappeared in the last several days. 
• She's a quick study, no doubt, but she still has a great deal of cramming to do before she can answer any real questions about McCain's policy or foreign policy in general.
• If the MI Independents quoted in this focus group are even remotely representative, then I suspect the McCain camp has internal polling showing that Palin helps immensely in some places, but drags down the ticket in others. Sterling Heights is adjacent to Oakland County, where all those Independent voters were panning the Palin pick. I think the campaign realized they better get a better sense of where Palin helps them before they roll her out and offend voters in swing states.
• After last nights underwhelming speech, McCain is being overshadowed by his Veep candidate. He needs to reassert himself as the dominant player on the ticket, before Palin comes out of her hibernation and wows the crowds again.

She'll be back, probably in heavily vetted appearances and fundraisers. But for now, McCain's campaign have to figure out what they've got on their hands, and figure out how to manage it to get the wrinkly white dude elected.

for its “Pledge of Allegiance video” on Tuesday night, the Republican National Convention used stock footage of a staged military funeral, along with actors

Fake Troops, Fake Support, Sanitized War

from Crooks and Liars by Cernig

Brandon Friedman at VetVoice notes that for its "Pledge of Allegiance video" on Tuesday night, the Republican National Convention used stock footage of a staged military funeral, along with actors - fake soldiers and a staged military funeral instead of the real thing.

Brandon writes:

The issue here isn't that the RNC used actors in what might have been a haste.  Rather, the underlying problem is that Bush and McCain supporters don't like to deal with the messy reality of warfare that genuine troops bring to the table.  That is, they feel compelled to stage a funeral with actors.  Because to show a real military funeral–with the heaving chests of a broken family clutching a flag-draped coffin containing the pieces of their dead soldier–might just make the funny hat-clad, stupid button-wearing audience blanch.  And that doesn't make for good TV.  Plus, people just wouldn't go for it.  So they use sanitized actors.   

But this is an insult to the military.  The use of actors shows an unwillingness to face up to what they've done–to the military and to the nation.  And it shows that the only way to keep up support for the war is to hide its reality from the American people.   

If I said that something like this surprised me, though, I'd be lying.  But then, this is also why troops overseas are donating to Obama at a six to one rate over McCain.  They're tired of being treated like this.

I'd add that its another example of the glorification of war - something that can only be done by sanitizing it - that McCain says he hates but that Republicans indulge in at every turn. Even some on the Right have previously noted McCain's love for warmongering.

Popout

Meanwhile, the wars that Bush involved America in continue to take their toll. Army leaders said today that soldier suicides this year could surpass the record rate of last year and attributed the increase directly to a force strained by two wars.

As of the end of August, there were 62 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers and Guard and Reserve troops called to active duty, officials said. Another 31 deaths appear to be suicides but are still being investigated.

If all are confirmed, that means that the number for 2008 could eclipse the 115 of last year — and the rate per 100,000 could surpass that of the civilian population, Col. Eddie Stephens, deputy director of human resources policy, said at a Pentagon news conference.

With Richard Holbrooke warning that, because of Republican incompetence, Afghanistan is shaping to be a 'long war' which will outlast even Vietnam's 14-year term, we can see clearly where a McCain-Palin administration would lead - and it isn't a glorious future unless the thousands of dead, crippled and grieving are to be played by actors too. It bears repeating - in the first four days of the Republican convention, Afghanistan didn't rate a single mention. That's shameful.

Crossposted from Newshoggers

News Alert: Economy Shed 84,000 Jobs in August

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Friday, September 5, 2008 -- 8:41 AM ET
-----

Economy Shed 84,000 Jobs in August; Unemployment Rate Jumped to 6.1%

The government said Friday that the American economy lost
84,000 private nonfarm jobs in August, the eighth straight
month of job losses. The unemployment rate jumped to 6.1
percent in August, the highest in nearly five years. Both
figures were worse than economists had forecast.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Statement by Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the August Employment Report

Statement by Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the August Employment Report

Today’s extremely disappointing employment report shows that the economy remains mired in a slump and still waiting for something to jump start a sustainable recovery. Consumer spending supported by the stimulus payments that Congress enacted earlier this year helped keep the economy growing in the second quarter, but the headwinds from still-high energy prices, a weak housing market, tight credit markets, and continuing financial market uncertainty will make it difficult to sustain economic growth as the effects of the first round of stimulus wear off.

August was the eighth straight month of job declines, with employers shedding a cumulative 605,000 jobs so far this year. The official unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent in August, and other indicators show even greater labor market weakness. The percentage of the population with a job (62.1 percent) is at its lowest level since the fall of 2003 – near the bottom of the last jobs slump. The Labor Department’s most comprehensive alternative unemployment rate measure — which includes people who want to work but are discouraged from looking and people working part time because they can’t find full-time jobs — stood at 10.7 percent in August, its highest level since June 1994. In addition, 1 in every 5 of the 9.4 million unemployed has not been able to find a job despite looking for 27 weeks or more.

Revised figures show that the economy expanded at a 3.3 percent rate in the second quarter, but all signs suggest that growth will slow markedly in the coming months. The Federal Reserve’s “Beige Book,” which compiles reports from regional Federal Reserve Banks, found widespread weakness in August. As today’s jobs report shows, the labor market is particularly weak. Claims for unemployment insurance jumped unexpectedly this week to 444,000 and the number of people receiving unemployment benefits is the highest since November 2003.

The weak growth that is forecast for the rest of 2008 and into 2009 suggests that a well-targeted second round of fiscal stimulus would benefit the economy, as well as state governments and those individuals who are most feeling the effects of the weak economy. To be most effective, such a package should provide assistance to those who are experiencing the greatest hardship and should go where it will be spent most quickly and thus have the largest stimulus impact.

Specifically, a temporary increase in aid to state governments to help them avoid budget cuts and tax increases and a temporary increase in food stamp benefits would have a high fiscal stimulus bang-for-the-buck because they would be spent quickly. An increase in low-income home energy assistance (LIHEAP) would be well-timed to keep low-income households from cutting back on other purchases when facing high energy bills. Policymakers have enacted an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for workers exhausting their regular benefits but, given pronounced weakness in the labor market, additional assistance to unemployed workers would help unemployed workers and be very effective stimulus as well. As with the first stimulus package, the three T’s – timely, targeted, and temporary – should be the guiding principles in designing an effective package.

# # #

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization and policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of government policies and programs. It is supported primarily by foundation grants.

What Conservatives Ignored - from http://thinkprogress.org/

With Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) pick of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his vice presidential running mate, excitement and anticipation were running high for the Republican National Convention, which wrapped up yesterday. Hurricane Gustav stormed into the Gulf Coast, however, disrupting the GOP's plans. The McCain campaign tried to act aggressively and decisively, sending McCain and Palin to Missisippi for a hurricane briefing. All of this action was supposed to show that the policies in a McCain administration would be different than those of the Bush administration. But what was most evident during the convention was how similar the two men's policies were. Superficially, convention organizers tried to put distance between the two men. According to an analysis by The Progress Report, Bush's name was mentioned just once during the entire convention; Cheney was never mentioned. But substantively, no new ideas or solutions for the country's current problems were put forth. Even on national security, which was a prominent topic, conservatives refused to engage in any introspection. They referenced Guantanamo Bay once, Osama bin Laden once, and never uttered Afghanistan or the name of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

THE ECONOMY: The American public views the struggling economy as the most important issue facing the country. But as AFP observed, "The economy may be the number one issue in the White House race, but the Republican National Convention has yet to dwell on the troubles of Americans trying to make ends meet." On Wednesday, CNBC said its reporters were "darned to find much at all" about the economy in the convention speeches. In fact, housing was mentioned just once and the term "middle-class" was used only twice. Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) claimed that Palin explained McCain's "economic message" in her address, but when CNBC asked him "in your words, what is that economic message," Putnam couldn't put forward any specifics. McCain did mention the economy several times in his acceptance speech last night, declaring, "I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn't even noticed. ... That's going to change on my watch." However, his prescriptions would continue Bushonomics. McCain has repeatedly expressed pride in Bush's failed economic policies. In April, he told Bloomberg TV, "You could make an argument that there's been great progress economically" during the Bush administration. During a January primary debate, McCain claimed that Americans "overall are better off" than they were eight years ago.

HEALTH CARE: At a town hall event last month, McCain declared, "There is a health care crisis in America. We would be, if it were not for the energy crisis, we'd be talking a lot more about health care issues." But despite skyrocketing health care costs and millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans, nearly every prominent speaker at the Republican National Convention ignored this crisis. Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), and Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) never addressed health care. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) only discussed "health insurance" in passing. On Tuesday, Huckabee, a long-time advocate of wellness and fitness, "said his health care remarks were cut for time restrictions." McCain devoted just one sentence to the topic, giving no specifics: "My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance." But McCain believes that Americans would be better off finding health care on their own, in the private market. As Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow Elizabeth Edwards has noted, this system would bar more Americans from receiving coverage. "A recent study showed that nearly nine out of every ten people seeking individual coverage on the private insurance market never got it," wrote Edwards. "People who have had cancer are denied coverage and those who get cancer run the risk of simply being dropped by their insurer for any excuse that can be found."

GLOBAL WARMING: Hurricane Gustav threatened to overtake coverage of the GOP convention. Recognizing the potential destruction and severity of the crisis, the McCain campaign made sure to address the crisis by changing the theme of the first day to "service." However, after that first day, the hurricane was rarely mentioned again. Republicans never said "Katrina" and the word "hurricane" was actually used only seven times in convention speeches. Republicans also ignored the obvious link between global warming and the increasing intensity of storms: the terms "global warming" and "climate change" were each mentioned just once. A new study published in the journal Nature this week found that "the strongest of hurricanes and typhoons have become even stronger over the past two and a half decades." James Elsner, a professor of geography at Florida State University and lead author of the paper, said that the findings indicated "a climate signal." Despite McCain's claims that he believes global warming is real, the GOP platform -- which McCain has promised to run on -- is loaded with caveats about the uncertainty of science and the need to 'resist no-growth radicalism' in taking on climate change." Palin has said she doesn't believe that global warming is man-made, a position with which the majority of the American public disagrees.

Country First?? No, Alaska and Big Oil First. | BuzzFlash.org

Country First?? No, Alaska and Big Oil First. | BuzzFlash.org

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Joel Badeaux
Submitted September 3, 2008

How John McCain could pick Sarah Palin for Vice President is beyond belief. Besides the fact that she is just about the least qualified pick ever and has no foreign policy experience at all, her views on the issues are the most extreme for anybody ever considered for the Vice Presidency (yes, even worse than Cheney, who believes in gay rights). She is against abortion even in the case of rape and incest -- and, yet, she claims to believe in freedom and acts like she is taking up the mantle from Hillary and Geraldine Ferraro on women's rights?

Not to mention the fact that the Republicans think we are stupid enough to believe that she can properly raise a 4-month old infant with Down's Syndrome and be ready to step in as President of the United States at the same time. This would not be fair to her child or America. She works vigorously against sex education and contraception in schools and then has an unmarried teenage daughter that gets pregnant? Where was she as a parent when it came to teaching her daughter about how to be abstinent and finish her education first -- maybe out moose hunting? So much for Faith-Based Birth Control. Sadly, McCain passed over all the qualified women in his party like Condoleezza Rice, Olympia Snowe, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Carly Fiorina in order to pick the closest thing he can find to Britney Spears' mother and put her on the Presidential ticket.

At present the Republicans have canceled Palin's previously scheduled appearances and interviews and are trying to hide all of her views on the issues, while claiming she is being unfairly attacked because she is a women. And this is the party that spent the last 16 years savaging and ridiculing Hillary Clinton? Now they think Palin should get a free pass and not have to answer any questions about her positions on the issues? No doubt they will try to portray her as a moderate "hockey mom" in her speech tomorrow. Ha!!!

In fact it turns out that she and her husband were active in the Alaska Independence Party, which puts the needs of Alaskans above other Americans and even wants to debate whether or not to secede from the United States and become their own country. Here is a Youtube video of Governor Palin addressing the Alaskan Independence Party, as well as a link to the party website.

YouTube - Sarah Palin and the Alaska Independence Party. Palin addresses AIP convention

Alaskan Independence Party

Notice their party slogan -- "Alaska First, Alaska Always." Notice their mascot is a Polar Bear -- yeah, like the ones out there drowning on melting ice sheets because of global warming that she doesn't believe in and the Big Oil companies that she does. This is who they want us to believe is a patriot? McCain and the Republican Party have the nerve to adopt 'Country First' as their slogan and then put a modern day Secessionist on the ticket. This is the person he would put a heartbeat away from the Presidency, when he is 72 years old and has had four episodes of melanoma already? This is an example of his experience and judgment? God help us. Fortunately he has probably thrown away his chances of winning the election with this ridiculous selection.

In less than 2 years as Governor she is already under investigation for abuse of power. She is accused of having the Alaska Public Safety Commissioner fired because he was unwilling to have her brother-in-law fired, who is a policeman, when he was getting divorced from her sister. Then she appointed an old friend to that position who was forced to resign after 2 weeks because he had a history of reprimand for sexual harassment. Of course this friend got a $10,000 severance package. And we would want to bring her type of ethics to Washington? Please.

Yet it's easy to see why she is "the most popular Governor in America." Why? Because she copped a Democratic idea and put a tax on oil company revenues and sent $1200 checks to all residents of Alaska. Alaska is of course the state that gets more pork per person out of the Federal budget than any other. When she was the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she sent out a team of lobbyists to Washington to collect as much pork for her town as she could possibly get, and she was very successful. Now we are supposed to believe she will "fix" and "reform" Washington, DC? Well, it turns out she was for the famous "Bridge to Nowhere" before she was against it, and she actually kept the money for Alaska even though they never built the bridge!!

Are we living out an episode of "The Twilight Zone," or maybe this is just a "Saturday Night Live" sketch (starring Tina Fey, of course)?

In my worst nightmare I would never have thought that John McCain, who I used to think was a bipartisan patriot, would do this. Sadly, for the John McCain of 2008 it seems to be about putting the far-right-wing of the Republican Party first and America last.

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

Palin's Speech Is Over; We Now Return To Your Previously Scheduled Reality -- Verse-Case Scenario by Tony Peyser | BuzzFlash.org

Palin's Speech Is Over; We Now Return To Your Previously Scheduled Reality -- Verse-Case Scenario by Tony Peyser | BuzzFlash.org

Her personal attorney is on Alaska's payroll;
To fire an ex-brother-in-law, she played a role

That wasn't small. Her husband has a DUI.
Banning books is something she once did try.

Her hubby's secession group (fringe-y, pissed)
Should be on a Homeland Security watch list.

Sarah said she didn't know what a VP did.
Her "Bridge To Nowhere" support she hid.

The local church that was hers to choose
Has had guest speakers not fond of Jews.

(This religious allegation isn't light stuff;
It's her version of that Rev. Wright stuff.)

There's irony in some of her steadfast rules
Like opposing sex-ed programs in schools

And Alaska funding Sarah didn't want to give
To pregnant teens who needed a place to live.

Singing her outsider status is a favorite carol
Despite a fondness for all things pork-barrel.

(Alaskan politicians often wind up rico
Once they're in the pocket of VECO.)

And how, when mayor, of the tiny Wasilla
Did Sarah get earmarks the size of Godzilla?

This all has to freak out the GOP in short order
Explaining why Sarah hasn't met one reporter.

She'll eventually emerge from her protected box
To do "hard-hitting" interviews at places such as Fox.

Why no press contact? The GOP's checklist
Is openly insisting news outlets are "sexist."

Palin's nomination is already an historic joke
Causing GOP shortages of mirrors and smoke.

VERSE CASE SCENARIO

Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, "Blue State Jukebox." He was a daily cartoonist for the L.A. Times from 1994 to 1997. You can e-mail Tony at tonypeyser@yahoo.com.

Progressive Alaska: Saradise Lost - Chapter Twenty-Five - Obama Campaign Responds to Palin's speech

Progressive Alaska: Saradise Lost - Chapter Twenty-Five - Obama Campaign Responds to Palin's speech

Fact Check of Governor Palin's Speech


PALIN: "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already. But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all."


REALITY: PALIN SAID SHE WOULD BEG TO DISAGREE WITH ANY CANDIDATE WHO SAID WE CAN'T DRILL OUR WAY OUT OF OUR PROBLEM


Palin Said She Would Beg to Disagree With Candidate Who Said We Can't Drill Our Way Out of Our Problem. Asked by Invester's Business Daily "Some politicians and presidential candidates say we can't drill our way out of our energy problem and that drilling in ANWR will have no effect. What's your best guess of the impact on prices?" Palin responded, "I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can't drill our way out of our problem or that more supply won't ultimately affect prices. Of course it will affect prices. Energy being a global market, it's impossible to venture a guess on (specific) prices." [Investor's Business Daily, 7/11/08]


PALIN: "Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works."



REALITY: PALIN OPPOSED CRUCIAL EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE AND SENIORS FUNDING



EDUCATION/CHILDREN

Total: 396,000.



Anchorage – Fire Lake Elementary School Replacement of Unsafe Sports Equipment. Palin vetoed $10,000. [FY08 Budget]

Tanana City School District – Repair School Bus. Palin vetoed $36,000. [FY08 Budget]

American Lung Association of Alaska – Asthma Control Program and Champ Camp. Palin voted $350,000. [FY08 Budget]



HOSPITALS/HEALTH CARE

Total: $4,527,500.



Ketchikan General Hospital Surgical Suite Expansion/Relocation. Palin vetoed $4,400,000. [FY09 Budget]

Ketchikan General Hospital – Replacement of Outdated Equipment. Palin vetoed $70,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Sitka – Community Hospital – Medical Equipment. Palin vetoed $31,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Kenai Peninsula Borough – Diagnostic Hospital Equipment. Palin vetoed $26,500. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]



SENIORS

Total: $600,000.



Ketchikan Senior Citizens, Inc. – Access Road for Pioneer Heights. Palin vetoed $300,000. [FY08 Budget]

AARP Ketchikan – Access Road for Ketchikan Senior Housing Project. Palin vetoed $100,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Catholic Community Services – Angoon Senior Center Stove, Refrigerator and Freezer. Palin vetoed $20,000 twice. [FY08 Budget, 2007 Legislature Supplemental]

Alpha Omega Life Care, Inc. – Delivery Van and Moveable Building. Palin vetoed $20,000. [FY09 Budget]

Older Persons Action Group – Senior Voice Equipment Upgrade. Palin vetoed $20,000. [FY09 Budget]

Statewide Independent Living Centers – Assistive Technology for Alaska's Centers for Independent Living. Palin vetoed $125,000. [FY09 Budget]

Kodiak Senior Center – Facilities repair and Equipment. Palin vetoed $15,000. [2007 Legislature Supplemental]



PALIN: "Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown."




REALITY: UNDER PALIN, WASILLA GOVERNMENT SPENDING & DEBT SKYROCKETED.

Total Government Expenditures Increased 63 Percent Under Palin. In fiscal 2003—the last fiscal year Palin approved the budget—the total government expenditures of Wasilla, excluding capital outlays, were $7,046,325. In fiscal 1996—the year before Palin took control of the budget—the expenditures were $4,317,947. The increase was 63 percent. [Wasilla Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2003, Table 1]


Palin Supported Increasing Wasilla Sales Tax From 2 to 2.5 Percent to Build $14.7 Million Sports Center. "Wasilla residents have given the go ahead to building a new multiuse sports center in town and to raising the city sales tax to pay for it. With the final votes counted Friday, residents voted 306 to 286 in favor of a measure to raise the city sales tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent to pay the estimated $14.7 million cost of building the center…Mayor Sarah Palin, who supported the measure, said the tight vote will motivate city officials to keep a close eye on the budget for the center." [Anchorage Daily News, 3/9/02]

Palin Left Behind Almost $19 Million In Long-Term Debt, Compared to None Before She Was Mayor. In fiscal 2003—the last fiscal year Palin approved the budget—the bonded long-term debt was $18,635,000. In fiscal 1996—the year before Palin took control of the budget—there was no general obligation debt. [Wasilla Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2003, Table 10]


PALIN: "It was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau … when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network."


REALITY: PALIN HAS A LT. GOVERNOR WHO IS A FORMER OIL LOBBYIST, HIRED WASILLA'S FIRST FEDERAL LOBBYIST (A FORMER STEVENS STAFFER) & HAD THE SUPPORT OF ENTRENCHED ALASKA POLITICIANS DURING HER 2006 RACE.

Palin's Oil & Gas Appointee Is Former Lobbyist for TransCanada. "Marty Rutherford, who leads Gov. Sarah Palin's gas pipeline team, made $40,200 in 2003 while consulting in Juneau for a pipeline subsidiary of TransCanada. TransCanada is one of the companies bidding for a state license to build a pipeline to carry gas to market from Alaska's North Slope. It's not a disqualifier, but the past connection deserves a second thought." [Anchorage Daily News editorial, 12/15/07]

Palin "Counting on Her Lieutenant Governor Candidate… Former Oil Lobbyist" to Help Win Oil Industry Support. "The defiantly grass-roots nature of the campaign may have distanced her from certain traditional centers of power in Alaska. The oil industry is one -- but the campaign says it is counting on her lieutenant governor candidate, Parnell, a former oil lobbyist and legislator, to help there." [Anchorage Daily News, 10/24/06]


Palin's Former Chief of Staff is Stevens' Campaign Manager. "Monegan says pressure came from those around Palin, including former Palin chief-of-staff Mike Tibbles, Department of Administration Commissioner Annette Kreitzer, and director of boards and commissions Frank Bailey. Tibbles, who is now the campaign manager for Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, said Friday he couldn't comment on whether he spoke to Monegan about Wooten." [Anchorage Daily, 7/19/08]

As Mayor, Palin Hired a Washington Lobbyist to Help Get Earmarks for Wasilla – Lobbyist Was Former Chief of Staff for Indicted Senator Ted Stevens. "And as mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents. Wasilla's lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project." [USA Today, 8/31/08]

The Usual Alaska Suspects - Ted Stevens, Don Young, And Lisa Murkowski Fundraised For Palin. "Will we see Ted Stevens stumping for Sarah Palin? Palin said this morning that Stevens appeared at a fund-raiser for her in Ketchikan and gave a speech about 'moving Alaska forward.' But does that mean he'll pop up in any advertisements? (Remember his arguably pivotal role at the end of the Knowles and Murkowski Senate race?) Palin said she doubts it and hasn't asked… She said Don Young came to one of her fund-raisers two days ago, and she expects Lisa Murkowski at an upcoming event. Tonight she planned to talk with John Binkley, who she says is writing a letter to his supporters on her behalf, and she planned to meet with Frank Murkowski tomorrow morning." ["The Trail" blog, Anchorage Daily News, 10/13/06]


In Her 2002 Campaign for Lieutenant Governor, Palin Raised 'About 10 Percent Of Her Campaign Fund' From Veco, An Oil Company At the Heart of Federal Investigation. "While mayor of Wasilla, Palin ran for lieutenant governor in 2002. She gathered $5,000 -- or about 10 percent of her campaign fund -- from Veco officials or their wives along the way." [Anchorage Daily News, 9/6/06]


PALIN: "I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law."



REALITY: PALIN SIGNED WEAK ETHICS REFORM BILL & HAS HAD NUMEROUS ETHICAL FLAPS OF HER OWN.


Palin Signed Ethics Reform Legislation That Anchorage Republican Bob Roses Said Didn't Go Far Enough. "An ethics reform package for state officials was signed into law Monday by Gov. Sarah Palin, just minutes after a former state representative was convicted on seven federal extortion and bribery counts. Palin said the law will help re-establish trust between the public and elected officials by improving on existing statutes. … Ethics reform had been a recurring theme throughout Palin's election campaign, and she pushed hard for the bill to become a bipartisan effort in the Legislature this session. She said she remains determined to clean up Alaska politics. … Rep. Bob Roses, R-Anchorage, who succeed Anderson in the Legislature when Anderson didn't seek re-election in 2006, said the law didn't go far enough. Campaign contributions should be available for immediate public scrutiny, he said, and all contributions should be reported, even those below the current $1,000 threshold. 'Quite frankly, I thought some of the things should have been a little tighter than what they were, but this is a first step,' he said." [The Associated Press State & Local Wire, 7/10/07]


AUGUST 2008: Ethics Complaint Filed Against Gov. Palin Over Alleged Involvement in Hiring a Campaign Contributor. In August 2008, former state House member Andree McLeod" filed against Gov. Sarah Palin and her staff today with the Attorney General's Office. It accuses the governor's office of using its pull to get a Palin supporter hired to a [Department of Transportation] job in Fairbanks." McLeod said " 'Executive branch employee shouldn't be getting involved in the recruitment process unless it's based on merit,' said Andree McLeod, who wrote the complaint based on a series of e-mails between members of Palin's team…The complaint accuses Palin, her acting chief of staff and others of breaking executive ethics branch and hiring rules. It centers on the hiring of surveyor Tom Lamal, who once co-hosted a Palin fundraiser, for a state right-of-way agent job in Fairbanks." The complaint is available athttp://community.adn.com/sites/community.adn.com/files/McLeod Ethics Complaint1.pdf [Anchorage Daily News, http://community.adn.com/adn/node/128527, 8/6/08; Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com/front/story/486163.html, 8/7/08]


July 2008: Special Counsel Appointed Last Month to Investigate Palin Abuse of Power Claim. In July 2008, the Alaska State Legislator voted 12-0 to approve $100,000 for a special investigator to begin an investigation into claims Palin fired a former state official because he would not fire a state trooper who was involved in a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister. The legislator's intent was to investigate the events surrounding the termination of former Dept. of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan and potential abuses of power and improper action by Palin and her administration. [KTVA 11, 07/28/08]



PALIN: "I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress."



REALITY: ALASKA HAS REQUESTED $589 MILLION IN PORK SINCE PALIN TOOK OFFICE & AS MAYOR, SHE HIRED WASILLA'S FIRST FEDERAL LOBBYIST TO SECURE EARMARKS FOR THE TOWN.



Over $589 Million in Federal Pork Requests During Palin's Tenure as Governor. According to Citizens Against Government Waste, www.cagw.org, under Palin's tenure as Governor the state of Alaska has asked for $589,599,715 in pork barrel projects. [2007 and 2008 Pig Book, www.cagw.org]



· Alaska Has Sought 31 Earmarks Worth $197.8 Million in Next Year's Federal Budget. "But under her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year's federal budget, according to the website of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee." [LA Times, 9/1/08]


As Mayor, Palin Hired a Washington Lobbyist to Help Get Millions in Earmarks for Wasilla – Lobbyist Was Former Chief of Staff for Indicted Senator Ted Stevens. "And as mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents. Wasilla's lobbying firm was headed by Steven Silver — a former chief of staff to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key proponent of the bridge project." [USA Today, 8/31/08]


· Under Palin, Wasilla Received $26.9 Million in Earmarks. "As mayor of Wasilla, Palin made regular trips to Washington seeking federal aid. The city received $26.9 million in earmarks during her tenure from fiscal year 2000 to 2003, according to the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense, which tracks pork barrel spending." [LA Times, 9/2/08]


McCain Criticized Earmarks that Palin Sought as Mayor. "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… In 2001, McCain's list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town -- one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion. McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin's tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002. The funding was provided to help direct locally grown produce to schools, prisons and other government institutions, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group." [LA Times, 9/3/08]


PALIN: "In fact, I told Congress -- I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that bridge to nowhere."

REALITY: PALIN WAS FOR THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE BEFORE SHE WAS AGAINST IT.



October 2006" Palin Supported Bridge To Nowhere. In 2006, Palin was asked, "Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?" She responded, "Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist." [Anchorage, 10/22/06, republished 08/29/08]

2006: Palin: Don't Allow "Spinmeisters" To Turn Bridge To Nowhere Project "Into Something That's So Negative." "Part of my agenda is making sure that Southeast is heard. That your projects are important. That we go to bat for Southeast when we're up against federal influences that aren't in the best interest of Southeast.' She cited the widespread negative attention focused on the Gravina Island crossing project. 'We need to come to the defense of Southeast Alaska when proposals are on the table like the bridge and not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project or any other into something that's so negative,' Palin said." [Ketchikan Daily News, 10/2/06]

REALITY: PALIN ONLY ANNOUNCED OPPOSITION TO ONE "BRIDGE TO NOWHERE," STILL SUPPORTS THE OTHER ONE


Palin Refused to Fund Ketchikan Bridge, But Did Not Stop Funding for Knik Arm Bridge."Among the earmarks: $449 million for what critics have ridiculed as two 'bridges to nowhere' -- one in Ketchikan and one across Knik Arm in Anchorage formally named Don Young's Way. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, also a Republican, last month refused to use any more money for the Ketchikan project, redirecting it for other purposes." [Anchorage Daily News,11/11/07]



As Recently as June, State Asking for Cost Estimate Proposals for Knik Arm. "An independent party will be called in to look at one of the most elusive aspects of a proposed bridge linking Anchorage and Mat-Su: the price tag. Gordon Keith, regional director for the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said his office will be putting the job of estimating the cost of the controversial project out for bids in coming weeks. He said the task of coming up with a price could cost up to $200,000 and take up to 3½ months. 'The issue keeps swirling around, so we thought it best to go ahead and do an independent estimate,' he said. The cost to get the estimate is going to be high 'if you want to do it correctly,' he said. The cost of a span reaching across Knik Arm from Anchorage to Point MacKenzie has ranged over the years from $450 million to $1 billion, depending on what kind of bridge is envisioned and what starting date is plugged into the formula… Randy Ruaro, a special assistant to Gov. Sarah Palin, said the administration, even in the face of the recent lengthy report from the bridge authority, was having trouble getting an accurate picture of everything that is involved in the project, of the timing of the phases, and of the costs. He said the independent estimate is expected to answer those questions. Mary Ann Pease, spokeswoman for the authority, said she welcomes the effort to get updated costs." [Anchorage Daily News, 6/22/08]




PALIN: "But we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions…"


REALITY: PALIN UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR ABUSE OF POWER.


Former State Official Accused Palin, Palin's Former Chief of Staff and Current Ted Stevens Campaign Manager and Palin's Husband Of Pressuring Him to Fire Trooper. In July 2008, former state official Walt Monegan accused Palin, Palin's former Chief of Staff and current Stevens' campaign manager Mike Tibbles and husband Todd Palin of pressuring him to fire Palin sister's ex-husband Mike Wooten. [Anchorage Daily News, 07/18/08]



July 2008: Special Counsel Appointed Last Month to Investigate Palin Abuse of Power Claim. In July 2008, the Alaska State Legislator voted 12-0 to approve $100,000 for a special investigator to begin an investigation into claims Palin fired a former state official because he would not fire a state trooper who was involved in a bitter custody battle with Palin's sister. The legislator's intent was to investigate the events surrounding the termination of former Dept. of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan and potential abuses of power and improper action by Palin and her administration. [KTVA 11, 07/28/08]


PALIN: "As Governor, I have a record of being a strong fiscal conservative and have vetoed millions in special projects pushed by legislators."
Palin Increased Taxes on Oil Companies to Pay for $1,200 Giveaway to Every Resident in the State. "One of her most significant accomplishments as governor was passing a major tax increase on state oil production, angering oil companies but raising billions of dollars in new revenue. She said the oil companies had previously bribed legislators to keep the taxes low. She subsequently championed legislation that would give some of that money back to Alaskans: Soon, every Alaskan will receive a $1,200 check." [New York Times, 8/30/08]

PALIN: "I understand that we must reduce our dependence on foreign energy. I've worked with our state's energy producers to expand our production so that we can have a safe, reliable supply of energy produced here in the United States."



REALITY: PALIN SUPPORTED EXPORTING NATURAL GAS WHILE ALASKA BUSINESSES CLOSED BECAUSE OF SHORTAGES



Palin Backed A Two-Year Extension Of The Export License To Export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) To Japan And Other Asian Countries—Criticized Because Alaska's Gas Reserves Are Declining. "Alaska producers can continue shipping gas to Asia after DOE last week approved an extension of theexport license for the Kenai liquefied natural gas plant owned by ConocoPhillips and Marathon. The companies will be allowed to export up to 98.1 Bcf to Japan and other Pacific Rim countries over a two-year period through March 31, 2011. […] The application came under fire from local end-users, including gas distribution companies Enstar and the Chugach Electric Association, as well as fertilizer maker Agrium, all of which claimed the exports would exacerbate the problem of declining gas reserves in south-central Alaska. Agrium permanently closed its plant near Kenai due to an inability to find enough local supply for the facility that used 53 Bcf/year. In January, ConocoPhillips and Marathon reached a deal in which they agreed to step up development in the Cook Inlet region in return for the state's support of the export license extension. The producers also agreed to divert gas from the LNG plant as needed to meet the peak winter supply needs of the local utilities. […] Alaska Governor Sarah Palin welcomed the DOE approval. "In these times of economic uncertainty, this is great news for the state and its residents. This extension will secure a future for the LNG operation and is another step toward ensuring energy supplies and energy security for Alaska," the Republican governor said. [Platts Inside FERC, 6/9/08]



· Agrium Closed Manufacturing Plant Because Of Gas Shortage. "Reserves of gas in producing fields in Southcentral Alaska are declining, posing concerns for supply to local utilities. A manufacturing plant on the Kenai Peninsula owned by Agrium Corp. recently announced it would close because the gas shortage." [Alaska Journal Of Commerce, 11/25/07]



· Gov. Palin: Agrium Closure Is Unfortunate. "Agrium announced yesterday that the plant will close in December due to a shortage in the supply of Cook Inlet natural gas, leaving about 100 of the 140 employees without employment.'It's unfortunate to see the closure of a facility that has provided so many jobs that support families on the Peninsula,' said Governor Palin. 'I am heartened to hear that Agrium is willing to keep its options open if sufficient long-term supplies of gas can be found. We know there is more gas to be found and developed in Cook Inlet, so I remain hopeful that those jobs can be preserved.'" [Palin press release, 9/26/07]



PALIN: "And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources." This

REALITY: PALIN IS CLOSE TO THE OIL INDUSTRY


Sierra Club Director Carl Pope Said "No One is Closer to the Oil Industry Than Governor Palin." "No one is closer to the oil industry than Governor Palin," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club in comments reflecting the views of a cross section of environmental activists. They cite her eagerness to embrace expanded offshore oil development, her lawsuit against further protection of polar bears so as not to hinder oil drilling in Alaska's ice-filled waters and her ardent support to allow oil companies into the Alaska wildlife refuge. [Associated Press, August 30, 2008]



Palin Took $13,000 from Lobbyists Representing the Oil Industry in Her 2006 Campaign for Governor. The lobbyists who donated to her campaign represent a range of industries, including oil and gas, tobacco, education and the Native Alaskan community. "She's fought oil companies and party bosses and do-nothing bureaucrats and anyone who puts their interests before the interests of the people she swore an oath to serve," Mr. McCain said Friday at an Ohio rally to introduce her as his running mate. But since Mrs. Palin leads a major oil-producing state, that industry is one of her top donors. She collected nearly $13,000 from lobbyists who represent oil and gas industries in her primary and general campaigns, according a review of her campaign donations and 2006 registered state lobbyists. [Washington Times, September 1, 2008]


PALIN: "Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines … build more new-clear plants … create jobs with clean coal … and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources."

REALITY: PALIN CUT FUNDING FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY


2007: Palin Vetoed $20 Million Toward A Fire Island Wind Farm Project."[Sen. Hollis] French and [Anchorage Mayor Mark] Begich both lamented the [Palin] veto of $20 million toward a Fire Island wind farm project and connecting transmission lines. That money was part of Railbelt Energy Fund cash that Palin said she doesn't want to spend until a study on energy needs is finished." [Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), 7/30/07]



2008: Palin Cut $20 Million For Chugach Electric Association Wind Farm. As part of a large package of budget cuts, in June 2007, Gov. Sarah Palin, R-AK, cut $20 million in funding for a Chugach Electric Association wind farm. The funding was expected to come from a fund called the Railbelt Energy Fund. Palin said she cut the $20 million because she wanted more information before dipping into the Railbelt Energy Fund. [Anchorage Daily News, 6/30/08]


PALIN: "Taxes are too high … he wants to raise them."

REALITY: PALIN HAS REPEATEDLY SUPPORTED TAX INCREASES



Palin Supported Increasing Wasilla Sales Tax From 2 to 2.5 Percent to Build $14.7 Million Sports Center. "Wasilla residents have given the go ahead to building a new multiuse sports center in town and to raising the city sales tax to pay for it. With the final votes counted Friday, residents voted 306 to 286 in favor of a measure to raise the city sales tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent to pay the estimated $14.7 million cost of building the center…Mayor Sarah Palin, who supported the measure, said the tight vote will motivate city officials to keep a close eye on the budget for the center." [Anchorage Daily News, 3/9/02]



Palin Increased Taxes on Oil Companies to Pay for $1,200 Giveaway to Every Resident in the State. "One of her most significant accomplishments as governor was passing a major tax increase on state oil production, angering oil companies but raising billions of dollars in new revenue. She said the oil companies had previously bribed legislators to keep the taxes low. She subsequently championed legislation that would give some of that money back to Alaskans: Soon, every Alaskan will receive a $1,200 check." [New York Times, 8/30/08]



PALIN: "It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.



With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.



But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better."



REALITY: MCCAIN COUNTED MCCAIN OUT TWICE



February 2008: Palin Wouldn't Endorse McCain. "Top Alaska Republicans were downcast Thursday as Mitt Romney suspended his presidential campaign just two days after overwhelmingly winning the state party caucus. Romney's decision makes it nearly certain Arizona Sen. John McCain will be the party's nominee for president. McCain finished dead last in the Alaska Republican preference poll, behind Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. McCain opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has repeatedly battled with Sen. Ted Stevens over federal spending on Alaska projects… Republican Gov. Sarah Palin said she won't make an endorsement until she can speak to McCain. [Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), 2/3/08]



July 2007: Palin Was Waiting For A New Player In GOP Primary. 'A lot of us are sitting back and waiting to see if there will be new players in there,' Alaska Gov.Sarah Palin said. 'That's probably why that box that says 'none of the above' is so popular right now.' [The Associated Press State & Local Wire, 7/23/07]



Palin Couldn't Support McCain Because Of His Opposition To ANWR."Some Alaska Republicans are conflicted over McCain, including Gov. Sarah Palin. They like his maverick reputation and military background but not his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 'She said she'd like to support McCain but felt she couldn't at this particular time because of his stand on ANWR,' said the governor's spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow." [Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), 2/3/08]



PALIN: "They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America … who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars."



REALITY: Palin Backed A Two-Year Extension Of The Export License To Export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) To Japan And Other Asian Countries—Criticized Because Alaska's Gas Reserves Are Declining. "Alaska producers can continue shipping gas to Asia after DOE last week approved an extension of theexport license for the Kenai liquefied natural gas plant owned by ConocoPhillips and Marathon. The companies will be allowed to export up to 98.1 Bcf to Japan and other Pacific Rim countries over a two-year period through March 31, 2011. […] The application came under fire from local end-users, including gas distribution companies Enstar and the Chugach Electric Association, as well as fertilizer maker Agrium, all of which claimed the exports would exacerbate the problem of declining gas reserves in south-central Alaska. Agrium permanently closed its plant near Kenai due to an inability to find enough local supply for the facility that used 53 Bcf/year. In January, ConocoPhillips and Marathon reached a deal in which they agreed to step up development in the Cook Inlet region in return for the state's support of the export license extension. The producers also agreed to divert gas from the LNG plant as needed to meet the peak winter supply needs of the local utilities. […] Alaska Governor Sarah Palin welcomed the DOE approval. "In these times of economic uncertainty, this is great news for the state and its residents. This extension will secure a future for the LNG operation and is another step toward ensuring energy supplies and energy security for Alaska," the Republican governor said. [Platts Inside FERC, 6/9/08]



· Agrium Closed Manufacturing Plant Because Of Gas Shortage. "Reserves of gas in producing fields in Southcentral Alaska are declining, posing concerns for supply to local utilities. A manufacturing plant on the Kenai Peninsula owned by Agrium Corp. recently announced it would close because the gas shortage." [Alaska Journal Of Commerce, 11/25/07]



· Gov. Palin: Agrium Closure Is Unfortunate. "Agrium announced yesterday that the plant will close in December due to a shortage in the supply of Cook Inlet natural gas, leaving about 100 of the 140 employees without employment.'It's unfortunate to see the closure of a facility that has provided so many jobs that support families on the Peninsula,' said Governor Palin. 'I am heartened to hear that Agrium is willing to keep its options open if sufficient long-term supplies of gas can be found. We know there is more gas to be found and developed in Cook Inlet, so I remain hopeful that those jobs can be preserved.'" [Palin press release, 9/26/07]



PALIN: "As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment."

REALITY: 1999: Campaigning In San Francisco, CA, McCain Said "I Would Not Support Repeal Of Roe v. Wade." In August 1999, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that McCain said he "would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade": "I'd love to see a point where (Roe vs. Wade) is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to (undergo) illegal and dangerous operations." [The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/20/99]



· McCain Said Roe v. Wade Should Be Overturned. McCain said, "I do not support Roe v. Wade. I think it should be overturned." [New York Times, 2/24/07]



At A Private Meeting With Hispanic Community Leaders, McCain "Assured Leaders He Would Push Through Congress Legislation To Overhaul Federal Immigration Laws If Elected." "Republican presidential John McCain assured Hispanic leaders he would push through Congress legislation to overhaul federal immigration laws if elected, several people who attended a private meeting with the candidate said Thursday. Democrats questioned why the Arizona senator held the meeting late Wednesday night in Chicago. But supporters who were in the room denied that McCain held the closed-door session out of fear of offending conservatives, many of whom want him to take a harder line on immigration. … 'He's one John McCain in front of white Republicans. And he's a different John McCain in front of Hispanics,' complained Rosanna Pulido, a Hispanic and conservative Republican who attended the meeting. Pulido, who heads the Illinois Minuteman Project, which advocates for restrictive immigration laws, said she thought McCain was 'pandering to the crowd' by emphasizing immigration reform in his 15-minute speech. 'He's having his private meetings to rally Hispanics and to tell them what they want to hear,' she said. 'I'm outraged that he would reach out to me as a Hispanic but not as a conservative.'" [AP, 6/20/08]



· During GOP Primary Debate At Reagan Library, McCain Said He Would Oppose the Legislation He Authored With Kennedy. McCain co-authored the McCain-Kennedy comprehensive immigration bill which was described in 2006 by the Miami Herald as "the most generous of the bills now before Congress." The legislation "would legalize as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants" and "grant temporary work permits to illegal immigrants and then after waiting six years and paying a $2,000 fine, it would enable them to apply for green cards." During a Republican presidential primary debate held at the Regan Library, McCain was asked whether he would vote for the this immigration legislation that he previously sponsored. When pressed, he eventually replied, "No, I would not." [Miami Herald, 2/24/06; CNN GOP Presidential Debate, 1/30/08]

Biden's Vote Total? Higher Than Palin's | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

Biden's Vote Total? Higher Than Palin's | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

By Juliet Eilperin
ST. PAUL -- Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee got a big laugh from the crowd at tonight's convention when he said that as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin outpolled her Democratic counterpart, Joseph Biden.

"She got more votes running for mayor of the town of Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States," Huckabee declared, sparking applause.

There's just one problem with Huckabee's statement: it's not true. Biden collected a total of 63,157 votes during the Democratic primaries and caucuses this year. By contrast, Wasilla boasts a population of 9,780.

Running statewide, Biden still comes out on top. Palin got the backing of 114,697 Alaskans in her 2006 gubernatorial bid, compared to the 135,253 votes Biden got in his 2002 Senate race.

Detroit mayor pleads guilty, will resign -- chicagotribune.com

Detroit mayor pleads guilty, will resign -- chicagotribune.com: "DETROIT (AP) _ Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to felony charges Thursday in a sex scandal, forcing him out of office after months of defiantly holding onto his job leading the nation's 11th-largest city. He was ordered jailed for four months and fined $1 million. 'I lied under oath,' Kilpatrick said in court."

John McCain Cancels Habitat For Humanity Event

John McCain Cancels Habitat For Humanity Event

How anti-press is the McCain campaign? They just canceled a Habitat for Humanity PHOTO OP. Because it has to do with "houses"? Go figure!

Indeed. How could McCain maintain his sense of press victimization against the backdrop of people building homes for people who look forward to being able to one day say, "I know exactly how many homes I own! One! Just the one!"

But another part of the reason McCain canceled the outing is because last night, his campaign went out of its way to slag community organizers, defaming them for not having any "actual responsibilities." Habitat For Humanity, as it happens, is one of the biggest brand names in community organizing -- they maintain a massive network of individual donors, are capable of mobilizing an equally impressive volunteer base to contribute labor to the cause, and have a global reach. It's not a bad idea at all to associate one's own brand with Habitat's. But after last night, I have to imagine that McCain would have found it difficult to face the community organizers of Habitat For Humanity.

Biden, others hit the airwaves to counter Palin - Yahoo! News

Biden, others hit the airwaves to counter Palin - Yahoo! News: "Biden, speaking from Virginia Beach, Va., on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' quickly added: 'Last night, what we heard was a lot of partisan attacks and no real solutions.'

'I didn't hear a single word about health care. I didn't hear a single word about education,' he said. 'I didn't hear a single substantive thing.'

The Democratic rapid response team in Denver scrambled to get Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on a media conference call to respond to Palin, whose hard-hitting speech ignited Republican excitement and was favorably received by television commentators.

'Gov. Palin, I think, did a good job last night. ... She mastered the words written by the Bush speechwriters and clearly delivered them well,' Sebelius said. 'What we heard last night was a lot of partisan attacks and no real solutions.'"

Jewish voters may be wary of Palin - Ben Smith - Politico.com

Jewish voters may be wary of Palin - Ben Smith - Politico.com

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Barack Obama has struggled for 18 months to lock down the support of a traditionally Democratic group, Jewish voters.

In the past week, John McCain may have helped Obama with his Jewish problem by choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

McCain and Obama are battling over a portion of the Jewish community: older, conservative Democrats, largely in South Florida, some of whom backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. McCain’s secular, hawkish credentials appeal to many in that group, who are skeptical of Obama’s relatively short record and have been deluged with rumors about his pro-Palestinian leanings.

But Democrats hope Palin’s social conservatism, her paper-thin record on Israel, and — perhaps most importantly — her cultural roots in evangelical Christianity may be a major turnoff to Jewish voters, just as Republicans have tried to reach women disappointed that Obama didn’t choose Hillary Clinton,

Democrats have already begun to to capitalize on the choice of Palin — over Jewish Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman — in South Florida and elsewhere. A prominent Obama backer, Florida Rep. Robert Wexler, has attacked Palin for appearing at a 1999 event with Pat Buchanan — who has attacked the influence of the Israeli lobby in America. And the same factors that are rallying the evangelical base to Palin may push away the Jews.

“There is almost always an inverse proportion between a candidate's popularity among conservative Christians and secular Jews,” said Jeff Ballabon, a Republican lobbyist long active in Jewish politics who supports McCain.

An illustration of that gap came just two weeks ago, when Palin’s church, the Wasilla Bible Church, gave its pulpit over to a figure viewed with deep hostility by many Jewish organizations: David Brickner, the executive director of Jews for Jesus.

Palin’s pastor, Larry Kroon, introduced Brickner on Aug. 17, according to a transcript of the sermon on the church’s website.

“He’s a leader of Jews for Jesus, a ministry that is out on the leading edge in a pressing, demanding area of witnessing and evangelism,” Kroon said.

Brickner then explained that Jesus and his disciples were themselves Jewish.

“The Jewish community, in particular, has a difficult time understanding this reality,” he said.
Brickner’s mission has drawn wide criticism from the organized Jewish community, and the Anti-Defamation League accused them in a report of “targeting Jews for conversion with subterfuge and deception.”

Brickner also described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity.

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

Palin was in church that day, Kroon said, though he cautioned against attributing Brickner’s views to her.

The executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Ira Forman, cited the “cultural distance” between Palin and almost all American Jews.

“She’s totally out of step with the American Jewish community,” he said. “She is against reproductive freedom – even against abortion in the case of rape and incest. She has said that climate change is not man-made. She has said that she would favor teaching creationism in the schools. These are all way, way, way outside the mainstream.”

Huffington Post on Tuesday posted portions of Palin speaking at her former church, a politically conservative Assemblies of God congregation, in which she suggested that an Alaska pipeline plan reflects God’s will.

A spokesman for McCain and Palin, Michael Goldfarb, dismissed the notion that Palin would bring a Jewish problem.

“If this is going to be about who was at church on the day of which sermon, that’s not going to be an argument that the Obama campaign is going to win,” he said, a reference to Obama’s controversial former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

“This woman has been on the national stage for all of four days – of course it’s going to take some time for people to get a sense of what her views are on some things,” Goldfarb said. “Once she’s had a chance to make her positions clear on these issues, the Jewish community is going to be very, very comfortable with her.”

In the meantime, however, there’s simply little information available about Palin’s views. Two of Palin’s prominent Alaska Jewish allies, Rabbi Joseph Greenberg and businessman Terry Gorlick, told Politico they consider her a friend of the Jews. But they said they’d never heard her discuss Middle East policy in detail and that she’d never visited Israel, though they cited a boilerplate Alaska-Israel friendship resolution she signed.

Her thin record was underscored when the staunchly loyal Republican Jewish Coalition e-mailed its members evidence of her support for Israel: a video in which a small Israeli flag can be seen poking out from behind a drape.

"I think it speaks volumes that she keeps an Israeli flag on the wall of her office," the group's executive director, Matt Brooks, told Politico in an e-mail. "It clearly shows what's in her heart.”

Obama’s Jewish allies, meanwhile, are doing their best to fill that gap with unsettling information, an effort that in some ways mirrors the overt and covert campaigns against Obama in that community.

“My constituents are bewildered by Senator McCain’s pick and they just don’t understand it,” said Wexler, the Florida Democrat, citing the report that Palin had gone to a Buchanan event, and Buchanan’s “frightening views.”

Also Tuesday, a new Jewish Democratic group, JewsVote.org, sent out an email under the heading “Who is Sarah Palin?” an echo of conspiratorial anti-Obama emails that have criss-crossed the Jewish community.

“Given her record as a hard-right Christian conservative, her embrace of Pat Buchanan, her praise of Ron Paul, and her lack of credentials on foreign affairs, it is likely that her selection would raise serious red flags about the McCain/Palin ticket among Jewish swing voters,” they wrote, asking their members to send out their own anti-Palin emails.

McCain aide Goldfarb called the email “unbelievably cynical—fighting smears with smears.” Gallup and other polls conducted over the summer showed Obama beating McCain by a roughly two-to-one margin among Jewish voters - a comfortable lead, but narrower than John Kerry's and Al Gore's wins among Jewish voters in the last two elections.

Tuesday, both sides scrambled to play on the changed turf of the Jewish vote. Palin, shepherded by Lieberman, introduced herself to leaders of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in St. Paul on. Tuesday.

"We had a good productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Gov. Palin expressed her deep, personal, and lifelong commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel," AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said. “AIPAC is pleased that both parties have selected four pro-Israel candidates.”

Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), meanwhile, campaigned through the Jewish heartland of South Florida, showing off his cultural familiarity, dropping Yiddish words into his talk to a crowd of hundreds at a retirement community.

"I want to remind those of you who don't know me — and those of you who do know me — what my record has been. It has been unstinting in the defense and support of Israel," he said.

It was a contrast Wexler said he relished.

“There’s just no relationship, there’s no comfort, there’s no natural affinity with Palin,” he said. “There is with Joe Biden.”

At McCain’s Convention, Big Money Still Talks - NYTimes.com

At McCain’s Convention, Big Money Still Talks - NYTimes.com

ST. PAUL — Of all the whales at the Republican National Convention this week, Robert Wood Johnson IV, the billionaire heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and owner of the New York Jets, may be the biggest.

He wore a thick stack of credentials around his neck all week, providing access to many of the convention’s most exclusive sanctums. He shared a skybox at the Xcel Energy Center with Rick Davis, the manager of Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign. More significantly, he was the only top fund-raiser with his name emblazoned on his own hospitality suite, the “Woody Johnson Minneapolis-St. Paul 2008 Host Committee Private Lounge.”

Mr. Johnson’s exalted status here shows that for all of Mr. McCain’s efforts to purge the influence of money in politics, the big donors still wielded sizable influence over this convention, getting singular access to the campaign and shaping the endless chain of parties and events outside the convention hall.

The power brokers from the McCain campaign lavished Mr. Johnson and others like him with attention here — his itinerary was a parade of posh receptions for V.I.P. donors. Before the convention ramped up Tuesday evening, Mr. Johnson, 61, was among a cluster of McCain campaign officials and supporters hovering outside a suite guarded by an aide. As Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard and senior McCain adviser, chatted in one small circle, Mr. Johnson, 61, was at the center of another next to her, before he disappeared inside the suite with Mr. Davis.

Mr. Johnson has long been a player in Republican politics — he was a Bush Ranger in 2000 and 2004, raising more than $200,000 in each election. He has personally given more than $1 million to Republican candidates and committees over the years.

But this year, he emerged as perhaps the party’s most coveted donor. In May, after turning his office into a war room for more than a month and making sometimes 50 calls a day, he orchestrated a fund-raiser in New York City that brought in $7 million in a single evening for Mr. McCain, by far the largest amount collected up to that point by a campaign that had been struggling to raise money.

More recently, Mr. Johnson rode to the rescue of the Minneapolis-St. Paul convention host committee, helping it close a more than $10 million budget shortfall in a matter of weeks by writing a sizable check himself, getting his mother, who hails from Minneapolis, to do so as well, but also soliciting a slew of large contributions from his circle of wealthy friends.

“What we needed was somebody from the outside who through the Republican infrastructure had connections that we don’t necessarily have here in Minnesota,” said Jeff Larson, chief executive of the convention’s host committee.

Campaign finance watchdogs have long criticized how individuals and corporations, many with interests in Washington, can make unlimited donations to political conventions, in contrast to the caps on contributions to campaigns and parties, as a back-door way to curry favor with the parties and their candidates. But Mr. Johnson said he believes conventions are important and sees no reason to stanch the amount of private money flowing into them.

“I’m not a real believer in limits,” Mr. Johnson said.

Mr. Johnson rarely speaks at length with reporters. But in a series of conversations, he said that he is motivated by a belief in Senator John McCain and the democratic process.

“I only take on things I really believe in,” Mr. Johnson said.

But Mr. Johnson also clearly has his own agenda. Staffers on Capitol Hill credit him with playing a pivotal role in 2002 in pushing members of Congress, including House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, to allocate $750 million over five years for juvenile diabetes research. Mr. Johnson’s oldest daughter, Casey, has Type 1 diabetes and he has given millions to the search for a cure.

“We sat down and talked a couple times,” said Mr. Hastert, who added that the pair bonded over football. “He made a very good case that by investing U.S. dollars, we could actually save money.”

Mr. Johnson, who has another daughter with the autoimmune disease lupus and raised millions for that cause, also met with President Bush in the White House to push for embryonic stem-cell research, a meeting Mr. Johnson believes might have helped Bush to compromise in his policy and still allow federal financing for research on existing stem-cell lines.

As owner of the Jets and in search of a new stadium for his team over the last several years, Mr. Johnson’s political clout has certainly not hurt him, even if his quest to build a stadium in Manhattan ultimately fell short. He is candid about the need to make contributions to New York and New Jersey Democrats as well, given his business interests in the region.

The Jets and the Giants are building a new $800 million stadium together in New Jersey, but some critics have questioned the wisdom of the state taking on more than $100 million in debt as part of the deal.

Like other major donors, Mr. Johnson has traveled with Mr. McCain on the campaign trail. Mr. McCain also calls him on occasion to thank him. But Mr. Johnson downplays the access he has, saying he is no different from anyone else.

“You can call the senator too,” Mr. Johnson said.

At a cocktail reception on Tuesday put on by the Minnesota Vikings, Mr. Johnson hobnobbed with Mr. Hastert, who now works for a lobbying firm, and Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah.

On Wednesday night, inside the convention hall, Mr. Johnson’s suite drew such Republican luminaries as former Senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee; Charlie Black, a senior McCain adviser; and former Senator Alfonse M. D’Amato of New York.

Mr. Johnson’s easygoing manner makes him popular among his fellow bundlers. On a hunting trip in Texas for Bush Rangers, he once brought with him an elephant gun he had used to hunt game in Africa and challenged others to see if they could handle its powerful recoil. These days, many ask him about his new quarterback, Brett Favre. What makes Mr. Johnson so effective as a fund-raiser, according to those around him, is his willingness to engage in the hard slog of making hundreds of calls.

“To raise seven figures the way Woody has done for an event and to get other folks to do it, you have to have a lot of conversations,” said Larry Bathgate, a top McCain fund-raiser who has known Mr. Johnson for two decades.

When Mr. Johnson was putting together his New York event in the spring, he removed the paintings from his office wall and taped up more than a hundred pieces of paper with the names of people he was hoping to convince to raise $100,000 each, or failing that, $25,000, marking his progress after each call.

The list included a Who’s Who of wealth and power in New York, from Donald Trump, a close personal friend, to David H. Koch, the billionaire co-owner of Koch Industries, the oil and gas conglomerate.

When Mr. Johnson’s staff was considering whom to call, someone suggested Charles F. Dolan, the chairman of Cablevision, and Mr. Johnson’s bitter foe in the stadium fight. Mr. Johnson quickly agreed and eventually secured what he described as a generous commitment.

“Anything for John McCain,” Mr. Johnson said.

Outreach to black voters has failed, GOP admits | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | National Politics

Outreach to black voters has failed, GOP admits | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | National Politics

MINNEAPOLIS – The reception honoring black participants at the Republican National Convention had it all – tasty food, an open bar and a little swag.

The only thing missing was the black delegates.

The 50 people attending the event were either lobbyists or connected with the sponsors. A similar party at the Democratic National Convention attracted 1,500 people.

At a time when Republicans have vowed to improve their minority outreach, they have taken a step backward. Black leaders in the party are not sugarcoating the problem.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams said outreach to black voters has failed, partly because of the historic presidential candidacy of Barack Obama.

"I can't stand here and tell you that there has been progress," said Mr. Williams, one of four black statewide officials in Texas. "It's a tough time right now, but we'll get back on it."

Speaking to the convention Wednesday night, he explained why he supports Mr. McCain over Mr. Obama, in spite of the historic significance of this election. "Values and ideas take precedence over the politics of demography and identity," he said, adding: "John McCain is ready to lead."

Considering the pool of black delegates at the convention, the reception, sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, had little chance to succeed.

According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, which researches black issues, only 36 of the 2,380 convention delegates are black. In 2004, there were 167, or 6.7 percent of that year's convention total.

"There has been a lot of dissatisfaction with the GOP across all demographics," said Harold Jenkins, a 49-year-old delegate from Irving. "African-Americans are no different. The numbers are down because the Republican Party isn't as popular as it was four years ago."

Mr. Williams said Republican outreach to black voters would improve if a black Republican were a credible candidate for one of the country's highest elected offices.

John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Grand Old Party of Hypocrisy | BuzzFlash.org

John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Grand Old Party of Hypocrisy | BuzzFlash.org

You might say a key founding principle of BuzzFlash back in May of 2000 is that the Republican Party is a club of hypocrites. They will say and applaud any change of position based on whether you are inside or outside the club.

If you are inside of the club, all indiscretions or disastrous records of service are forgiven. If you are outside the club, all indiscretions and disastrous records of service prove that you are a socialist, immoral heathen.

Because blatant hypocrisy is such a hallmark of the Republicans, several years back we created a site devoted to it: GOP Hypocrites.com. Our slogan for the site is "So many Republican hypocrites, so little time."

The reasons vary for the hypocrisy based on which of the three major factions of the party you belong to. Sarah Palin is from the fundamentalist wing that believes every "believer in Christ" who opposes abortion (and that is the litmus test) is pure of heart and can do no wrong. The Neo-Con wing of the party is arrogant and elitist and believes that their policies can never be wrong because they are so enlightened. The Corporatist/Wealthy wing of the party believes that being ruthless is one of the reasons they are rich, so hypocrisy comes with the territory; it's one of their weapons in the battle to consolidate wealth.

These three main factions find their outlet in right-wing media personalities who echo their hypocrisy.

On what may have been the most brilliant first 15 minutes of "The Daily Show" ever (Wednesday night, September 3), Jon Stewart did one of his "X vs. X"/point-counterpoint segments that nailed how this works.

First he had Karl Rove claiming Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia had too thin a resume to be Obama's Vice President, but, of course, now Rove is saying that Sarah Palin is eminently qualified to be a vice presidential candidate.

You had Bill O'Reilly saying that with the Jamie Spears pregnancy the fault lies with the parents. Of course, with the Bristol Palin pregnancy, it's a private family matter and the fault does not lie with the parents.

You had Dick Morris saying that Hillary Clinton used charges of sexism to "hide behind her apron strings." And, right on cue, you had Morris claiming that Palin is the victim of liberal media sexism.

You had a top level female McCain advisor charging, like Morris, that Clinton was not the victim of sexism and needed to stand on her record and policies; and then the same person declare that Palin is being pilloried by a sexist press.

And as the closing "X vs. X," you had a video of Sarah Palin accusing Hillary Clinton of whining when she claimed that some of the media (Chris Matthews, for instance) had used sexist language. Of course, this is the candidate that the McCain campaign is trying to protect from an Alaskan avalanche of revelations by charging that the reporting of her record and hypocrisy is due to sexism in the media.

It was a knock-out finish to 15 minutes of the best "reporting" on the Republican convention, with Stewart and his staff at the top of their ironic truth-revealing form.

Liberals tend be tolerant and self-critical, as a group. If you accuse me of hypocrisy at times, I will probably examine my behavior and might agree with you. That simply doesn't happen with a Republican politician, unless they've been tossed overboard because they are a political liability.

The "maverick" brand of John McCain is just the same old Grand Hypocrisy Party with different packaging. It's been stupefying to BuzzFlash readers and me at how they've managed to get away with it for so long.

The BuzzFlash Editor's Blog

Abramoff Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Corruption - washingtonpost.com

Abramoff Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Corruption - washingtonpost.com

ack Abramoff, the onetime powerhouse Republican lobbyist whose influence peddling led to one of the biggest public corruption investigations in recent history, was sentenced by a federal judge today to four more years in prison.

The sentence handed out by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle comes nearly three years after Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy for plying public officials with gifts in exchange for official actions.

It means that Abramoff probably will remain in prison until 2012, regardless of whether his sentence in a separate Florida fraud and conspiracy case is reduced. Huvelle said she wrestled with the appropriate sentence for Abramoff because he has cooperated extensively with authorities but committed "serious offenses."

"This is a very challenging case," Huvelle said, adding, "There was a consistent course of corrupt conduct, and, in a sense, it got much worse over time."

Abramoff apologized for his crimes, saying that he was no longer the person who "happily and arrogantly engaged in a lifestyle of political corruption and business corruption."

"I am sorry, so sorry, that I have put everyone through this," he added.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers sought leniency for Abramoff, citing his extensive cooperation extensively with the wide-ranging public corruption probe. He has been interviewed by prosecutors and investigators for more than 3,000 hours and has reviewed nearly half a million documents, lawyers said in court documents filed last week.

That "extraordinary cooperation" prompted prosecutors to ask the judge to essentially sentence Abramoff to three years and three months, taking into account time he has served in the Florida case. That represents a substantial reduction from the 10- to 12 1/2 -year sentence recommended under federal guidelines.

Abramoff's attorneys sought a more lenient sentence that would have allowed their client to be released as early as 2010.

Evidence of Extremist Infiltration of Military Grows | Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center

Evidence of Extremist Infiltration of Military Grows | Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center

The racist skinhead logged on with exciting news: He’d just enlisted in the United States Army.

“Sieg Heil, I will do us proud,” he wrote. It was a June 3 post to AryanWear Forum 14, a neo-Nazi online forum to which “Sobibor’s SS,” who identified himself as a skinhead living in Plantersville, Ala., had belonged since early 2004. (Sobibor was a Nazi death camp in Poland during World War II).

About a month after he announced his enlistment, Sobibor’s SS bragged in another post to Forum 14 that he’d specifically requested and been assigned to MOS, or Military Occupational Specialty, 98D. MOS98D soldiers are in high demand right now. That’s because they’re specially trained in disarming Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) like the infamous roadside bombs that are killing and maiming so many U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Presumably, a part of learning how to disarm an IED is learning how to make one.

“I have my own reasons for wanting this training but in fear of the government tracing me and me loosing [sic] my clearance I can’t share them here,” Sobibor’s SS informed his fellow neo-Nazis.

One of his earlier posts indicated his reasons serve a darker purpose than defending America: “Once all the Jews are gone the world will start fixing itself.”

Sobibor’s SS included enough biographical details in his various posts to Forum 14 over the years, including that he’s a single father from the small town in southern Alabama, that a military investigator with access to enlistment records for recent months should have little trouble discerning whether the Army is actually teaching a skinhead with genocide on his mind how to be a tactical bomb maker.

But there’s little reason to expect that will happen.

Two years ago, the Intelligence Report [1] revealed that alarming numbers of neo-Nazi skinheads and other white supremacist extremists were taking advantage of lowered armed services recruiting standards and lax enforcement of anti-extremist military regulations by infiltrating the U.S. armed forces in order to receive combat training and gain access to weapons and explosives.

Forty members of Congress urged then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to launch a full-scale investigation and implement a zero-tolerance policy toward white supremacists in the military. “Military extremists present an elevated threat to both their fellow service members and the public,” U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, wrote in a separate open letter to Rumsfeld. “We witnessed with Timothy McVeigh that today’s racist extremist may become tomorrow’s domestic terrorist.”

But neither Rumsfeld nor his successor, Robert Gates, enacted any sort of systemic investigation or crackdown. Military and Defense Department officials seem to have made no sustained effort to prevent active white supremacists from joining the armed forces, or to weed out those already in uniform.

Furthermore, new evidence is emerging that not only supports the Intelligence Report’s findings, but also indicates the problem may have worsened since the summer of 2006, as enlistment rates continued to plummet, and the military accepted an ever-lower quality of soldier in a time of unpopular war.

First of all, a new FBI report [2] (PDF) confirms that white supremacist leaders are making a concerted effort to recruit active-duty soldiers and recent combat veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the unclassified FBI Intelligence Assessment, “White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel Since 9/11,” which was released to law enforcement agencies nationwide: “Sensitive and reliable source reporting indicates supremacist leaders are encouraging followers who lack documented histories of neo-Nazi activity and overt racist insignia such as tattoos to infiltrate the military as ‘ghost skins,’ in order to recruit and receive training for the benefit of the extremist movement.”

The FBI report details more than a dozen investigative findings and criminal cases involving Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as well as active-duty personnel engaging in extremist activity in recent years. For example, in September 2006, the leader of the Celtic Knights, a central Texas splinter faction of the Hammerskins, a national racist skinhead organization, planned to obtain firearms and explosives from an active duty Army soldier in Fort Hood, Texas. That soldier, who served in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, was a member of the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group.

“Looking ahead, current and former military personnel belonging to white supremacist extremist organizations who experience frustration at the inability of these organizations to achieve their goals may choose to found new, more operationally minded and operationally capable groups,” the report concludes. “The military training veterans bring to the movement and their potential to pass this training on to others can increase the ability of lone offenders to carry out violence from the movement’s fringes.”

Currently, 46 members of the white supremacist social networking website Newsaxon.com identity themselves as active-duty military personnel. Six of these individuals are members of “White Military Men,” a New Saxon sub-group.

Earlier this year, the founder of White Military Men identified himself in his New Saxon account as “Lance Corporal Burton” of the 2nd Battalion Fox Company Pit 2097, from Florida, according to a [3] master’s thesis by graduate student Matthew Kennard. Under his “About Me” section, Burton writes: “Love to shoot my M16A2 service rifle effectively at the Hachies (Iraqis),” and, “Love to watch things blow up (Hachies House).”

As part of his thesis research, Kennard, at the time a student at Columbia University’s Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, also monitored claims of active-duty military service earlier this year on the neo-Nazi online forum Blood and Honour, where “88Soldier88” posted this message on Feb. 18: “I am in the ARMY right now. I work in the Detainee Holding Area [in Iraq]. … I am in this until 2013. I am in the infantry but want to go to SF [Special Forces]. Hopefully the training will prepare me for what I hope is to come.”

One of the Blood and Honour members claiming to be an active-duty soldier taking part in combat operations in Iraq identified himself to Kennard as Jacob Berg. He did not disclose his rank or branch of service. “There are actually a lot more ‘skinheads,’ ‘nazis,’ white supremacists now [in the military] than there has been in a long time,” Berg wrote in an E-mail exchange with Kennard. “Us racists are actually getting into the military a lot now because if we don’t every one who already is [in the military] will take pity on killing sand niggers. Yes I have killed women, yes I have killed children and yes I have killed older people. But the biggest reason I’m so proud of my kills is because by killing a brown many white people will live to see a new dawn.”

The Army is currently investigating war crimes allegations leveled against Iraq combat veteran and active-duty Army soldier Kenneth Eastridge, 24, who is facing trial for the December 2007 murder of a fellow serviceman. After Eastridge was arrested for that killing, National Public Radio publicized his MySpace page, which showed Eastridge displaying a tattoo of SS lightning bolts, a common neo-Nazi insignia.

Another member of Eastridge’s company recently told Army investigators that Eastridge used a stolen AK-47 to fire indiscriminately at Iraqi civilians from his moving Humvee on the streets of Baghdad. “The military is to some extent desperate to get people to fight, soldiers who are not fit, mentally and physically sick, but they continue to send them,” Eastridge’s attorney told Kennard. “Having a tattoo was the least [Eastridge’s] concerns.”

As part of the research for his thesis, “The New Nazi Army: How the U.S. military is allowing the far right to join its ranks,” Kennard used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain from the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division investigative reports concerning white supremacist activity in 2006 and 2007. They show that Army commanders repeatedly terminated investigations of suspected extremist activity in the military despite strong evidence it was occurring. This evidence was often provided by regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which are made up of FBI and state and local law enforcement officials.

For example, one CID report details a 2006 investigation of a suspected member of the Hammerskins, a multi-state racist skinhead gang, who was stationed at Fort Hood, a large Army base in central Texas. According to the report, there was “probable cause” to believe that the soldier “had participated in a white extremist meeting and also provided a military technical manual 31-210, Improvised Munitions Handbook, to the leader of a white extremist group in order to assist in the planning and execution of future attacks on various targets.”

The report shows that agents only interviewed the subject once, in November 2006, before Fort Hood higher-ups called off the investigation that December.

Another report, also from 2006, covers an investigation of another Fort Hood soldier who was posting messages on [4] Stormfront.org, a major white supremacist website. One CID investigator expresses his frustration at the muddled process for dealing with extremists. “We need to discuss the review process,” he writes. “I’m not doing my job here. Needs to get fixed.”

A third CID report, regarding a 2007 investigation, notes the termination of an investigation of a soldier at Fort Richardson, Alaska, who was reportedly the leader and chief recruiter for the Alaska Front, a white supremacist group. According to the report, the investigation was halted because the solider was “mobilized to Camp Shelby, MS in preparation for deployment to Iraq.”

an amazing example of a technology that's making people's life better with no working parts

The Un-Electric Fridge

from WorldChanging by Alex Steffen

Not all great design-for-development is high tech. Dawn's post about the Pot-in-Pot cooling system, The Un-Electric Fridge, profiles an amazing example of a technology that's making people's life better with no working parts.

Mohammed Bah Abba's Pot-in-Pot is one of my favourite design innovations ever. Without electrical refrigeration, until now Northern Nigeria's poor agricultural population has had no access to food preservation: "The device owes its cooling powers to a simple law of thermodynamics. When moisture comes into contact with dry air, it evaporates, causing an immediate drop in temperature. When the water in the sand between the two pots evaporates, the inner pot is kept cool, preserving the goods inside."

This piece is a part of our month long retrospective leading up to our anniversary on Oct. 1. For the next four weeks, we'll celebrate five years of solutions-based, forward-thinking and innovative journalism by publishing the best of the Worldchanging archives.

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Option ARM Time Bomb About To Explode

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Option ARM Time Bomb About To Explode

HousingWire is reporting Fitch Warns on Option ARMs; “High Defaults Await”.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday released a wide-ranging look at option ARMs that paints a decidedly negative picture for the mortgage markets over the next 36 months. In fact, the picture is a downright scary one: the bottom line is that most outstanding neg-am mortgages won’t get out of 2011 alive, thanks to forced recasts.

Fitch analysts said they now expect roughly $29 billion in option ARMs to recast to higher monthly payments by the end of 2009, and an additional $67 billion to recast in 2010; of this, approximately $53 billion is attributed to early recasts.

“Though recent declines in the 12-month Treasury average rates have mitigated some risks, the majority of option ARM borrowers have elected to make the monthly minimum payment over the past 24 months,” Fitch said in the report. “As a result, a large number of these loans, especially those with 40-year amortization and 110% principal caps are expected to reach their recasts before the end of the five-year mark.”

My Comment: Declining treasury yields will bail out some subprime borrowers, but not Alt-A Pay Option Arms. 80 percent of pay option arm holders make only the minimum payment. That is all they can afford (if they can even afford that). The time bomb is negative amortization, and that time bomb goes off when negative amortization hits contract levels (typically 110% percent but as high as 125%).

The result? Fitch said it expects 90-day plus delinquencies — already ranging from 10 percent to 24 percent, depending on vintage — to more than double after recast for 2004-2007 vintage loans. It gets worse: Fitch also estimated that the potential average payment increase on the re-casting loans to be 63 percent, representing on average an additional $1,053 due each month.

California Will Be Hit Hard

California will be the state hit the hardest by Pay Option Arms. Florida and Las Vegas also had significant pay option arms usage. Pay option arms were least used in the Midwest where home price appreciation was more subdued than the biggest bubble areas.

his is a smokescreen, intended to divert attention from the very real and responsible vetting that is taking place in the media–about the substance of Palin’s record as mayor and governor.

Joe Klein is pissed. And rightfully so.

from Crooks and Liars by SilentPatriot

Joe Klein unloads on the McCain campaign for getting testy with the press for having the audacity to do their job.

Swampland:

The second thing is more insidious: Steve Schmidt has decided, for tactical reasons, to slime the press. He wants the public to believe that there is an unfair–sexist (you gotta love it)–personal assault going on against Palin and her family. This is a smokescreen, intended to divert attention from the very real and responsible vetting that is taking place in the media–about the substance of Palin's record as mayor and governor.

There is a tendency in the media to kick ourselves, cringe and withdraw, when we are criticized. But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is "a task from God." The attempts by the McCain campaign to bully us into not reporting such things are not only stupidly aggressive, but unprofessional in the extreme.

The Politico's Roger Simon joins him: 

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn't be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

Palin offered a bounty for anyone engaging in aerial hunts of wolves, paying $150 for each left foreleg brought in

Palin's Sad, Brutal Campaign to Tame Alaska

from Pensito Review by Trish

Palin's idea of sport

In her 20 months as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has worked hard to turn it from America's last great wild place into strip mall sprawl suburbia, like the lower 48. A key component of her effort is to get rid of predators, wolves in particular.

Palin offered a bounty for anyone engaging in aerial hunts of wolves, paying $150 for each left foreleg brought in. The Defenders of Wildlife sued to end this brutal killing, which is the opposite of sportsmanlike and which was outlawed by Congress 30 years ago. Wolves are either shot from the air or run down with airplanes until they are exhausted and then shot point blank on the ground.

"The Governor is overstepping her legal authority by offering cash payments for each wolf killed by aerial gunners," stated Tom Banks, Defenders of Wildlife's Alaska Associate. "That's a bounty by anyone's standards regardless of what they call it."

Palin offered a bounty for anyone engaging in aerial hunts of wolves, paying $150 for each left foreleg brought in

Hoping to boost the number of wolves killed this year by permitees, Palin announced the state would pay $150 for each kill. According to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) news release, the bounty was instituted to "motivate permittees to redouble their efforts and to help offset the high cost of aviation fuel, ADF&G will offer cash payments to those who return biological specimens to the department… Permittees will be paid $150 when they bring in the left forelegs of wolves taken from any of several designated control areas."

Healthy ecosystems need predators. Without them, varmit populations — rodents, usually — explode. Poison is commonly then employed to kill the varmits, taking desirable and domestic species with the rodents, sullying waterways and introducing toxins.

"Governor Palin needs to take a close look at wildlife management practice in her state and restore the use of sound science," concludes Banks. "She said would heed the will of the public, but it's increasingly clear she's only listening to that segment that is willing to sacrifice Alaska's natural heritage for the benefit of a few."

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced the Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act to close a federal loophole that would eliminate Palin's aerial hunting program, which has also been proposed by Dick Cheney's friends for the Greater Yellowstone region. Go to the Defenders of Wildlife's site to see if your representatives have cosponsored the bill, and to sign a petition demanding they do.

t r u t h o u t | Palin's Speech to Nowhere

t r u t h o u t | Palin's Speech to Nowhere

Sarah Palin delivered a great speech tonight -- for her party, for John McCain, for herself, for what she set out to accomplish. This was America's first real glimpse at the Alaska governor, and what we saw was a boffo politician who speaks in a plaintive prairie voice that channels America's Heartland like a chilling breeze rippling a field of wheat, who knows how to tell a joke, how to bring down the house and bring a tear to a few eyes. She is proud of her family, as she should be, and there is much to admire in her own "personal journey of discovery" (don't we all have these, by the way?) including her efforts to raise her son Trig. It is indeed nice to think that there would be an advocate for such children inside the corridors of the White House, although I'd surely like to hear what -- if anything -- she's done for special needs kids as governor of Alaska.

But...it was a great speech -- written for someone else, a male in fact, days before the Palin selection was even a gleam in John McCain's eye, but a great speech nonetheless. The pundits are fawning over it as I write this -- Tom Brokaw said she could not have been "more winning and more engaging" -- and in a world that is dominated by horse race journalism I can understand why, because I agree that Palin's one-of-a-kind story has given her long shot running mate a decent chance now of pulling this one out at the finish line.

It's a good metaphor, a horse race, because in the end it finishes right near where it started -- just as it will be for America if John McCain and Sarah Palin are sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009. Yes, it was a great speech politically, and a great night for her family, but an empty speech for America -- and for America's families. It was defined by its lowest moment, Palin's shameless lie about "the Bridge to Nowhere."

This was a Speech to Nowhere.

It was a Speech to Nowhere when Palin said that "I told the Congress 'Thanks but no thanks' on that Bridge to Nowhere," because that was a lie, and the worst kind of lie in American politics, a blatant falsehood that showed utter contempt for the American people that Palin pledged to serve, assuming we are too stupid to look up or know that truth, that she pushed for those funds in Congress and while she got great political mileage out of announcing that she was killing the project, she still has not returned the funds to American people.

It was a Speech to Nowhere because Palin also boasted seconds before her lie of fighting against wasteful earmarks in Congress, even though she pushed for and accepted $27 million of such grants when she was mayor of Wasilla.

It was a Speech to Nowhere because Palin said that "we've got lots" of oil and gas this country, and while one supposes that all depends upon what you definition of the words "lots" is, the production of oil in the United States has been irrevocably on the decline since 1970, and with her words she showed this nation that she and John McCain will perpetrate the dangerous myths that began with Ronald Reagan at his acceptance speech in 1980, that sunny optimism is the solution to all our energy woes, and not a posture that put energy research on a war footing, or requires moral leadership on conservation, mass transit, or any other common sense answers whatsoever.

It was a Speech to Nowhere because Palin boasted that "I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies," and the audience cheered -- after eight brutal years of the same crowd's cheering two oilmen in the White House who fiddled while $4-a-gallon gas burned and while American men and women died in a needless war fought on top of an oilfield, and while lobbyist friends like Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed got rich at the same time.

It was a Speech to Nowhere because Palin had the nerve to talk at length about John McCain's "torturous interrogations" in the very same speech when she all but condoned the continuation of similar, abhorrent practices that have been directed for eight years by our own U.S. leaders, when she stated that Democrats are "worried that someone won't read them [terrorism suspects] their rights."

It was a Speech to Nowhere because Palin belittled "community organizers" -- thousands of Americans who work long hours for little pay in some of the toughest neighborhoods, trying to assist the American Dream that even the poorest among us can pull themselves out of the muck with a helping hand. Palin and other GOP speakers have turned a noble job into a dirty word tonight -- shame on you! Listen to what CNN's Roland Martin said after Palin's speech was over.

My two parents are sitting home in Houston, Texas and they are both community organizers and the GOP and Sarah Palin might have well have said "being community organizers doesn't matter" to my parents face. I'm disgusted. Community organizers keep people in their homes, keep their lights on, keep food in the fridge.

It was a Speech to Nowhere because it made no mention of the men that Sarah Palin and John McCain are running to replace -- their names are Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, in case you've forgotten this week -- and no acknowledgment that as many 80 percent of Americans believe this country is on the wrong track, or that you can't solve a nation's problems when you deny they exist.

It was a Speech to Nowhere because...well, I urge everyone to read the text, without Palin's sharp delivery or her adoring fans in the crowd and in the press box, and tell me where there is any kind of policy at all -- except for the short boilerplate passage on energy -- or any mention of the issues that concern everyday Americans, including the No. 1 issue of the economy. Show me the part where this "grand slam" of speech touches on how citizens can afford health care or sending their kids to college.

But more than anything else, it was a Speech to Nowhere because for all the acclaim, the great bulk of it was devoted to one thing, and that is the one thing that millions of Americans are talking about in 2008 when we talk about "change" -- to the ugliest kind of "pit bull" politics, to use Palin's words, that tear down the other side with cheap ad hominem attacks, surrounded by a cloud of half-truths (uh, those "Greek columns"...did you actually even watch Obama's speech? Because there weren't any) and ridiculous innuendo about "parting the waters" which means nothing but fires up a big hockey rink full of Dittoheads. These kind of vicious attacks -- without having the grace to acknowledge that, despite some real differences on issues with Obama, that he has already accomplished something impressive that says something positive about America and the progress we've made -- were utterly lacking in class. And this is what Tom Brokaw considers "winning" -- have we really sunk that low as a nation?. The people of America want and deserve a real debate, now trash talk from the basketball point guard who was once called "Sarah Barracuda."

I hope America wakes up tomorrow and realizes that Sarah Palin's words were rousing -- and completely empty, that they offered no road map (let alone bridge) for America other than more of the bogus partisan name-calling that has gotten us into the mess that we're in now.

Actually, let me rephrase that.

I hope America wakes up tomorrow.

t r u t h o u t | Former KBR Chief Pleads Guilty to Bribery Charges

t r u t h o u t | Former KBR Chief Pleads Guilty to Bribery Charges

Editor's Note: For an excellent timeline tracing the ongoing Nigeria, Halliburton/KBR bribery scandal, please visit Halliburton Watch. mr/TO

Washington - A former chief executive of construction firm KBR Inc. has pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in connection with the company's natural gas operations in Nigeria from 1995 to 2004.

The Justice Department said Albert "Jack" Stanley entered a guilty plea Wednesday in federal court in Houston to conspiring in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials in return for engineering and construction contracts.

As CEO of Houston-based KBR, Stanley headed a subsidiary within Halliburton Co., the oilfield services conglomerate whose chief executive from 1995 to 2000 was Vice President Dick Cheney.

Stanley also pleaded guilty to a separate count of conspiring to defraud KBR and others, admitting to receiving $10.8 million in kickbacks from a consultant hired by the company at his behest.

Under his plea agreement, Stanley, 65, faces a sentence of seven years and payment of $10.8 million in restitution.

The government said the seven-year term is the longest sentence to date against an individual in a case involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it unlawful to bribe foreign government officials or company executives to obtain or retain business.

A number of U.S. and foreign companies have been charged with violating the law in recent years, in cases involving payments to officials in Nigeria, Ecuador, Iraq, China, Iran and Kazakhstan.

"Today's plea demonstrates that corporate executives who bribe foreign government officials in return for lucrative business deals can expect to face prosecution," acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said in a statement.

Stanley acknowledged in his plea that a four-company joint venture including KBR paid about $182 million to consulting companies that then paid bribes to several Nigerian government officials.

In a separate settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Stanley agreed to an injunction against future violations of the securities laws and to cooperate in the SEC's ongoing investigation. He neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in that settlement.

Stanley was chief executive of KBR until 2001, and its chairman until June 2004. He has cooperated "and will continue to cooperate with the government," said his attorney Larry Veselka.

The Justice Department and the SEC have been investigating for some time the alleged bribery scheme in Nigeria involving Kellogg, Brown & Root, now called KBR, and three other companies - from France, Italy and Japan. The investigation centered on a contract for a $4 billion Nigerian liquefied natural gas plant that was awarded in 1995 to a consortium of the four companies.

KBR, a major engineering and construction services company with operations around the world, was split off as a separate public company from Halliburton last year.

In November 2006, Halliburton agreed to the SEC's request for more time to investigate the alleged bribery scheme. The agreement also gave Halliburton more time to make its case to the SEC against possible civil charges under the foreign corruption law.

Halliburton fired two consultants, including Stanley, for violating the company's business code of conduct by receiving "improper personal benefits" related to the consortium's construction of the Nigerian plant.

t r u t h o u t | Official: Palin's Never Issued an Order to Alaska Guard

t r u t h o u t | Official: Palin's Never Issued an Order to Alaska Guard

Anchorage, Alaska - When presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate last Friday, the Arizona senator emphasized her role as the commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard.

Later, when questions were raised about Palin's lack of experience in national and international affairs, the McCain campaign pointed again to her military command experience as governor. Some reporters have tried to follow up.

"Can you tell me one decision that she made as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard?" CNN journalist Campbell Brown asked Monday while interviewing McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds. "Just one?"

Bounds couldn't, because Palin has never personally ordered the state guard to do anything.

Instead, here's what he said: "Any decision she has made as the commander of the (Alaska) National Guard that's deployed overseas is more of a decision than Barack Obama's been making as he's been running for president for the last two years."

However, the governor has no command authority overseas or anywhere in the United States other than Alaska, said Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, the service commander of the Alaska National Guard.

"When members of the National Guard are federalized, they work for the president," Campbell said Wednesday. "It's not just overseas. They could be federalized to go to other states or they could even be federalized in the state."

Occasions in which Palin retains command authority over the 4,200-member Alaska National Guard are whenever the Guard responds to in-state natural disasters and civic emergencies, said Campbell, who also serves as the commissioner of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

Some examples?

"We've deployed individuals in state service all over the state under Sarah Palin," he said. "We had defense men down in Seward for the (Mount) Marathon run doing security.

"Out west and northwest we had erosion problems, and the National Guard was involved in some of the protection out there. About three days ago, the Army National Guard picked up a lady from Little Diomede (Island) . . . at the request of state troopers."

Did Palin directly approve each of those activities?

No, Campbell said. The governor has granted him the authority to act on his own in most cases, including life-or-death emergencies - when a quick response is required - and minor day-to-day operations.

"Some authorities have been given to me that she has acknowledged that I can execute," he said. "For others I have to ask her each time."

The recent decision to deploy a C-17 cargo plane from the Alaska Air National Guard to Louisiana to assist during the Hurricane Gustav response was an occasion in which Campbell briefed the governor's office and sought its approval, he said. Chief of Staff Mike Nizich signed off on it.

Last year, Palin journeyed abroad to visit 500 members of the Alaska Army National Guard who were stationed in northern Kuwait for 15 months. She also stopped at a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, to visit wounded Alaskans, including regular Army troops based at Fort Richardson.

The journey marked the first time that Palin had traveled overseas, according to Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman in the governor's office.

The flooding that occurred in Fairbanks in late July - for which the Guard sent trucks north to provide clean drinking water - didn't require the governor's approval, Campbell said.

Natural disasters are fairly sporadic, said Jeremy Zidek, the public information officer for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which is part of Campbell's department.

Last year, during Palin's first year as governor, there wasn't much action, Zidek said. "Thankfully, we didn't have any major disasters."

In 2006, however, during former Gov. Frank Murkowski's last year in office, the Guard assisted at a tragic fire at a schoolhouse and church in Hooper Bay.

The Alaska National Guard receives about 75 percent of its funding from the federal government, Campbell said. All the federal funding is pre-allocated by Congress.

The state maintains Army National Guard bases in 76 locations in Alaska and Air National Guard bases in three locations.

Meet the Truth-Challenged GOP Vice Presidential Candidate: Sure A. Pallin' | AfterDowningStreet.org

Meet the Truth-Challenged GOP Vice Presidential Candidate: Sure A. Pallin' | AfterDowningStreet.org

By Dave Lindorff

Now that we’ve had a chance to see Sarah Palin and to hear her speak—or at least read the big rolling white block letters on the teleprompter in front of her—we can see that she’s prone to telling whoppers.

Now we know politicians as a group have a propensity to embellish the truth—particularly when describing their opponents or themselves—and even to lie outright, but Palin does it so well, she’s like a George Bush with reading and pronunciation skills.

In her acceptance speech last night, Palin told a whole string of lies. My favorite was talking about little Trig, her latest offspring, who was born with Down syndrome. Looking right out into the camera, she told the parents of America with special needs children that if she and John McCain win in November, “You’ll have an advocate in Washington.”

Hard to square that with the truth, though, which is that as governor, Palin as proposed a reduction in funds for special needs grants to schools in both her budgets—this at a time that the state of Alaska has been benefiting from record oil tax revenues, which Palin is pushing to return to citizens as cash rebates.

Left unsaid by Palin was the fact that McCain himself, in Congress, has voted against funding for the Head Start program, an early childhood program particularly important to children of teen mothers, and that he has opposed bills to increase funding for special education. So in fact, parents of children with special needs like Trig not only won’t have an advocate in the vice president’s office; they won’t have an advocate in the White House either.

Palin has also tried to turn a family tragedy—her 17-year old daughter Bristol’s getting pregnant by a local self-described 18-year-old “redneck” athlete from the same high school—into a virtue by saying that she and her husband will be helping their daughter “keep the child” and raise it. To keep things cool in the eyes of god, she also announced that the two teen parents would be getting married. Both kids were prominently on display at the Republican National Convention during her speech.

What Palin didn’t tell convention-goers or the national viewing audience was that as governor she cut the funds for a program in the state to support single teen mothers and that as a PTA member, mayor and finally as governor of Alaska, she has opposed sex education in the schools—something that her daughter and future son-in-law clearly could have used. Less advantaged single mothers in Alaska and, should she be elected, in the rest of America, will not have a friend in Blair House. She also failed to mention that McCain has voted against funding of teen pregnancy prevention programs in Congress.

Palin continued, in her acceptance speech, to spout another lie which she had already been making in her first days on the stump since being picked by McCain as his choice for running mate: that she had said “No thank you” to the $439-million “Bridge to Nowhere” which, as perhaps the biggest single earmark in a year of record earmarks last year had become a national joke line. The truth: Palin backed that bridge, and was even ready to add state funding to get it built, until it became a national joke. Then she thought better, and killed the bridge, while still taking the money, which the state’s senior senator, Ted Stevens (now under indictment for taking bribes from contractors), had earmarked.

Palin went on to lie about her opponent, Barack Obama’s, tax plan, saying it would raise taxes on businesses and on all Americans. In fact, Obama’s plan calls for lowering the corporate profits tax, while increasing the tax on dividends and capital gains, both of which fall not on businesses but on investors, and for lowering taxes on most Americans, while raising them for people earning over $250,000.

John McCain likes to ride around in a bus he dubs the “Straight-Talk Express.”

Sarah Palin, in her debut on the national stage since being named as McCain’s Number Two, has lied enough times to deserve the sobriquet “Sure A. Pallin’.

San Soo Gap San - Restaurant Review - Chicago Gluttons

San Soo Gap San - Restaurant Review - Chicago Gluttons

This is possibly the greatest restaurant review I have ever read.

Quote: "In conclusion, San Soo Gap San is the greatest restaurant in the world. All other restaurants are bullshit in comparison. I love it so much. I am gay for it. I would marry it.

PLEASE go to the link above and read the review, watch the video and revel in this person's aura.

Either John McCain is dumb, or he thinks we are. Either way, he and Sarah Palin are unfit to serve.

Delusional John McCain peddles "Alaska is close to Russia" nonsense

from Crooks and Liars by SilentPatriot

  Has it really come to this? A presidential nominee citing the geographic proximity of Alaska in relation to Russia in order to defend his VP choice and argue that she has relevant foreign policy experience? John and Cindy must be drinking the same kool-aid.

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GIBSON: Can you honestly say you feel confident having someone who hasn't traveled outside the United States until last year, dealing with an insurgent Russia, with an Iran with nuclear ambitions, with an unstable Pakistan, not to mention the war on terror?

MCCAIN: Sure. And one of the key elements of America's national security requirements are energy. She understands the energy issues better than anybody I know in Washington, D.C., and she understands. Alaska is right next to Russia. She understands that.

As it that weren't enough, John McCain offers one of the most deceptive lines of his entire campaign, stressing four times that Alaska is America's "largest state." Geographically speaking, yes, McCain is right. But in real terms — such as population (683,478) and nominal GDP ($44 million) — Alaska ranks near the very bottom, at 47th and 45th, respectively. These semantic games are laughable. I wonder if the campaign realizes how foolish he sounds.

Another amazing quote:

"So she is experienced. She's talented. She knows how to lead and she has been vetted by the people of the state of Alaska. But most importantly, people in America want change. They don't want somebody from inside the beltway."

If the American people want change — which is the one thing in the entire interview John McCain actually gets right — why the hell would they elect someone who has been part of the Washington establishment for 25 years?!?!!!? Does he even hear the words that are coming out of his mouth?

But wait, we're not done. Check out this one:

GIBSON: But you criticized, for a long time, Sen. Obama based on his lack of experience. […] Jan. 6, I'm quoting you, "Sen. Obama does not have the national security experience and background to be president."

MCCAIN: I said he didn't have the judgment.

GIBSON: Sarah Palin does?

MCCAIN: I said that he didn't have the judgment. He doesn't have the judgment. He didn't have the judgment on Iraq. He still refuses to acknowledge that the surge has succeeded. Gov. Palin knows the surge has succeeded. She's the commander of the Alaskan National Guard. He said that Iran was a tiny problem. He's never visited south of our border. He has no experience on these issues.

Leave aside for the moment the fact that John McCain is just spitting out nonsensical one-line lies, and focus on the two bits I highlighted. John McCain seems to believe that the history of our involvement in Iraq begins in January 2007, when the surge began. Because if we go back to the real start of the war in 2002, he would look like a fool saying Obama doesn't have the judgment on Iraq considering he predicted exactly what the consequences of an invasion would entail. Secondly, and this is a talking point that needs to be forcefully blown out the water, Sarah Palin has NOTHING/ZERO/ZILCH/NADA to do with "commanding the Alaskan National Guard." It's a nice-sounding talking point, but it is a bald-faced LIE.

Either John McCain is dumb, or he thinks we are. Either way, he and Sarah Palin are unfit to serve.

when you’ve got 170 marijuana plants growing in your backyard, it’s a problem.

Green Thumb Goes Wrong in Oak Lawn

from Chicagoist by Ana Bolotin

The police don't really care about your stance on drug legalization or what health problems you have: when you've got 170 marijuana plants growing in your backyard, it's a problem.

Michelle Farnum knew this, so it came as no surprise to her when the Oak Lawn police came a-knockin' Monday; according to the police, who'd received an anonymous tip, Farnum openly admitted to knowing they were there "…because of what [she had] growing in her backyard…marijuana plants." Farnum insisted she never sold or gave away any of her homegrown, and she didn't even like drug dealers; rather, the 46-year-old woman claimed to be cultivating the plants as a medicinal remedy to a recently suffered stroke.

Farnum agreed to a home search and even went so far as to give the officers a tour of her special garden after signing a confession. Also found at the home: 130 grams of marijuana, 145 grams of marijuana seeds, and a .25 caliber pistol for which Farnum lacked a valid firearm owner's identification card.

Judge John Hynes set Farnum's bail at $7,500 Tuesday. In the meantime, Oak Lawn police Division Chief Mike Kaufmann said, police are holding onto Farnum's plants, waiting for them to dry out so they can be "bagged and sent to the state police laboratory for testing." Uh-huh, sure…

Google Chrome is Fast, as was its EULA Backlash | Public Knowledge

Google Chrome is Fast, as was its EULA Backlash | Public Knowledge

This past Tuesday, I rushed home from work to download, install and test Google's new web browser Chrome, like the dutiful geek that I am. The next morning, Chrome was the talk of the town, with tech blogs far and wide falling over themselves to praise the latest open-source browser. It's fast! It has a built-in task manager! It sandboxes individual tabs and processes! Yes, yes, these things are all true and are all very exciting. However, just a scant few hours after Chrome's release and the fanfare that followed it, the honeymoon was all but over. Thanks to a carelessly crafted End User License Agreement (EULA), Google managed to turn a PR dream into a PR nightmare--and in record time to boot. It was an impressive demonstration of the speed with which a backlash can brew, even by Internet standards.

Google released Chrome into the world on Tuesday September 2, at 3:00 p.m. EST. At 9:46 p.m., Florida-based lawyer David Loschiavo published a detailed post on his blog Tap the Hive, chronicling some of the Chrome EULA's more nefarious provisions. Here's the section that drew the most scrutiny (emphasis mine):

11. Content license from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.

(Note that "the Services" is defined elsewhere in the EULA as referring to "Google’s products, software, services and web sites," which presumably includes Chrome)

What does this all mean, in practical terms? Essentially, it means that while you own the rights to any content that you produce, upload or otherwise transmit using Chrome (for example, blog posts, emails, videos, music, photos, etc.), by using Chrome, you are agreeing to grant Google a "perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free" license to "to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute" your content, as part of the company's promotional efforts. Further muddying the waters, Loschiavo pointed out that many of Chrome's users (i.e. anyone who is gainfully employed) may not even have the power to grant such a license, as any intellectual property they produce during the workday is generally owned by their employer.

As you might imagine, this bombshell did not go over well in the blogosphere. At just past 5:00 a.m., the story hit the front page of Slashdot and from there it spread like wildfire. "…I guess I shouldn't have used Chrome to put some posts up yesterday," Gizmodo's Adam Frucci joked, "because I certainly do not have the rights, power or authority to hand over my work from Gawker to the Googe."

Google may have screwed up in attaching such an overzealous EULA to Chrome but to the company's credit, it acted quickly to rectify the situation. At just before 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Ars Technica ran a story with the following quotes from Rebecca Ward, Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome:

Google's Rebecca Ward, Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome, now tells Ars Technica that the company tries to reuse these licenses as much as possible, "in order to keep things simple for our users." Ward admits that sometimes "this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don't apply well to the use of that product" and says that Google is "working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome."

As it turns out, the Google Chrome EULA controversy is just another case of a high-profile company lazily copying and pasting together a EULA with little regard for the terms therein. And as humorous as the entire 12-hour fiasco might be, Google's misstep reminds us yet again why it's important for end-users to read the EULAs that come attached to software and services and why it's doubly important for companies to run a fine-tooth comb over the language in their EULAs before releasing them into the wild. In all honesty, though, end-users shouldn't have to dig through every EULA for fear that something like this might be buried inside. If a EULA requires that a user relinquish significant rights in order to use a piece of software or a service, that fact should be made abundantly clear to the user, through some means other than a condition buried deep inside a click-through EULA.

Regardless, as I've said in the past when discussing similar controversies, this isn't the first time we've seen a high-profile company caught unaware of the contents of its own EULA--and it certainly won't be the last.

Biden's opening up a can of whoop ass....

Biden says Bush Admin. criminal violations will be pursued

from Crooks and Liars by Cernig

     How did I miss this, as reported by the UK's Guardian? Why isn't it a major news story in the U.S.? Ah yes…it's all about Sarah.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president — no one is above the law."

Obama sounded a similar note in April, vowing that if elected, he would ask his attorney general to initiate a prompt review of Bush-era actions to distinguish between possible "genuine crimes" and "really bad policies".

Back in April, Obama said that he would ask his AG to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted. Biden's statement simply confirms that the Obama campaign hasn't backed off from that intention.

But "genuine crimes." Where do we start? That would be a really good discussion to have right now, in my opinion. Aggressive war, torture, illegal rendition to torture, surveillance without warrants, criminal negligence over Katrina, various counts of perjury before Congress…

Instead we get endless talking heads pretending they don't know what their conservative guests really think - or even say when they think the mikes are off.

Steelworkers President Slams Palin: 'Stop Using Your Husband's Membership in the USW as a Prop' | Election 2008 | AlterNet

Steelworkers President Slams Palin: 'Stop Using Your Husband's Membership in the USW as a Prop' | Election 2008 | AlterNet

By Ali, Think Progress
Posted on September 4, 2008, Printed on September 4, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thinkprogress.org//97595/

When Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, he trumpeted her husband’s union membership: “The person I’m about to introduce to you was a union member and is married to a union member, and understands the problems, the hopes and the values of working people,” he said. That day, and again last night, Palin also emphasized that her husband is “a proud member of the United Steelworkers Union.”

Conservatives are hoping the reference will play well in Michigan and Ohio. But the United Steelworkers union (USW) isn’t so pleased. USW President Leo Gerard noted that just because Todd Palin is a union member doesn’t mean that Palin is automatically qualified to represent labor interests:

It is important to realize that while the governor’s husband is a member of a union, this does not automatically qualify her for an on-the-job training program to become a heartbeat away from the presidency. And while her husband is one of 850,000 dues-paying members of the steelworkers union, it does nothing to absolve Sen. McCain of his long history of anti-union sentiment and anti-worker actions.

In fact, McCain’s hostility to unions and union priorities runs deep:

– McCain voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act, making it easier for workers to unionize. [6/26/07]

– McCain condemned unions as “serious excesses” and said government workers are “crippled” by union contracts. [10/9/07; 5/21/07]

– McCain voted to filibuster minimum wage hike in 2007 [1/24/07]

– McCain voted against a bill protecting discrimination against workers who go on strike, effectively allowing companies to hire permanent replacements for striking workers. [S. 55, 7/13/94]

– McCain voted against an amendment providing more effective remedies to victims of gender discrimination in the payment of wages. [7/17/07]

Last night, Gerard demanded that Palin “stop using USW as a prop.” Noting McCain’s opposition to the top priorities on USW’s agenda, Gerard asked Palin:

Are you with McCain – and against workers – on these issues? If so, you need to stop using your husband’s membership in the USW as a prop, because then his union card cannot possibly cover up your or John McCain’s worker-savaging positions.

© 2008 Think Progress All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thinkprogress.org//97595/

Scarborough, Buchanan Completely Reverse Positions On Palin In Just Five Days | Video | AlterNet

Scarborough, Buchanan Completely Reverse Positions On Palin In Just Five Days | Video | AlterNet

By Ali, Think Progress
Posted on September 4, 2008, Printed on September 4, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thinkprogress.org//97541/

Yesterday, Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan enthusiastically endorsed Gov. Sarah Palin, praising her experience compared to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) and slamming criticism of her as sexist attempts to “destroy this woman”:

BUCHANAN: Maybe she doesn’t have the foreign policy experience to be president now. But she’s a great asset, and she’s not DC, so they want to kill her. They are trying to destroy her in a way. […]

SCARBOROUGH: How can Barack Obama’s campaign criticize an inexperienced number two on the Republican side when Democrats have picked, I would say, probably the most inexperienced person to run for President of the United States in the Democratic party probably in a century?

Watch a compilation:

What a difference five days makes. Awaiting McCain’s VP announcement on Friday, Scarborough and Buchanan sang a very different tune, declaring Palin too inexperienced and pointing out that Obama “validated himself with 18 million votes”:

SCARBOROUGH: She’s only, she’s only been a governor for one year?

BUCHANAN: She’s been a governor one-and-a-half years, yeah.

SCARBOROUGH: That, that will not work. [Laughter] No seriously, you’re going to bring somebody from Alaska who’s been a governor — Let’s be honest here. … I just find it hard to believe that with the problems that we have across the world…that you’re going to have a governor that’s been there for one-and-a-half years as Vice President.

Watch it:

Transcript:

SCARBOROUGH: You can legitimately ask whether she’s qualified to be president because of her experience. Of course that’s a bit strange thing to argue when Barack Obama actually was in session in the senate for about 130, 140 days before he decided to be commander in chief. […]

SCARBOROUGH: A lot of people will say, I’ll take somebody who ran a state with a $9 billion budget over somebody that voted in the Senate for a couple of years. […]

BUCHANAN: Look, you know what they want? They want to destroy this woman. We’ve picked — whatever you say about the other party, we picked somebody we love. She’s fresh, she’s inspired, she’s an outdoor gal, she’s done a great job in Alaska. Maybe she doesn’t have foreign policy experience to be President now. But she’s a great asset, and she’s not DC, so they want to kill her. They are trying to destroy her in a way — I think it’s evil what they are trying to do and the way they are doing it, it is a smearing attempt. […]

SCARBOROUGH: Gloria Steinem was right. We were talking about this before. Gloria Steinem wrote an op-ed the night before the New Hampshire primary and said if a woman had as little experience as Barack Obama, she would be eviscerated by the press. Well, Gary Wells proves her right. All the op-eds today prove her right. It’s sexist. […]

SCARBOROUGH: How can Barack Obama’s campaign criticize an inexperienced number two on the republican side when democrats have picked, I would say, probably the most inexperienced person to run for President of the United States in the Democratic party probably in a century?

[…]

SCARBOROUGH: With all the problems though that we have pointed out, and the fact that John McCain is 72 years old — 72 years old — do you really want somebody that America doesn’t know to step in being just one heartbeat away from being the President?

BUCHANAN: Well you mentioned that word, commander in chief. And it’s hard to see this Sarah Palin as commander in chief within say the next year or so. So I think — that is the real risk that just this woman, she might be outstanding, might get women, get conservatives, energize the base, but I think the argument made against her would be that she just is not ready to be commander in chief, and she could jsut get eaten alive in a debate with Joe Biden.

SCARBOROUGH: How many years has she been in office?

BUCHANON: I think only — ‘66 I believe she was elected.

SCARBOROUGH: In ‘06.

BUCHANAN: She threw out Murkowski in a primary–

SCARBOROUGH: She’s only, she’s only been a governor for one year?

BUCHANAN: She’s been a governor one-and-a-half years, yeah.

SCARBOROUGH: That, that will not work. [Laughter] No seriously, you’re going to bring somebody from Alaska who’s been a governor — Let’s be honest here.

BRZEZINSKI: Well we don’t know for sure.

SCARBOROUGH: No I know. I just find it hard to believe that with the problems that we have across the world…that you’re going to have a governor that’s been there for one-and-a-half years as Vice President.

BUCHANAN: Don’t forget: She was Mayor of Wasilla!

SCARBOROUGH: Good point. I’ll guarantee you there are a lot of people out there saying, Well Barack Obama only had one year’s experience before he ran, but guess what? He built this campaign. He validated himself with 18 million votes. … I don’t see it happening. […]

BUCHANAN: Joe you’re right. He validated himself — Barack Obama — by beating everybody, all the powers of the Democratic Party, over 18 months, knocking out even Hillary Clinton.

SCARBOROUGH: He built a historic political structure. That’s much different than waking up in — where?

BUCHANAN: Wasilla.

SCARBOROUGH: Wasilla!

© 2008 Think Progress All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.thinkprogress.org//97541/

Main Message of the RNC? The GOP Loathes Itself | PEEK | AlterNet

Main Message of the RNC? The GOP Loathes Itself | PEEK | AlterNet

By Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
Posted on September 4, 2008, Printed on September 4, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/97538/

Going into their convention, the Republican Party faced a rather daunting challenge. The nation wants change, and a conservative Republican president has been in office for eight years. He's failed miserably, and the former head of the NRCC recently compared the Republican brand to dog food. It's similar to the predicament facing the party in 1992.

What to do? If the last couple of nights are any indication, the GOP has decided to simply pretend that they haven't been in power for most of the decade.

Three days into the Republican National Convention, it is clear that the G.O.P. has settled on a message: "Washington is not working." The phrase is included in virtually every speech and every statement in St Paul.

We agree completely that Washington is in desperate need of renewal and reform. We're not even going to quibble about the fact that Barack Obama said it first. The problem is that American voters have yet to hear -- from John McCain or his warm-up acts -- any serious ideas on what, exactly, is wrong with Washington, apart from the fact that a Democrat might win the White House, never mind how to truly fix it.

The difficulty for the Republican ticket in talking about change and reform and acting like insurgents is that they have been running Washington -- the White House and Congress -- for most of the last eight years.

Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee, was a combative and witty relief at a torpid convention. But it was bizarre hearing the running mate of a 26-year veteran of Congress, a woman who was picked to placate the right-wing elite, mocking "the permanent political establishment in Washington."

And we couldn't imagine what Mitt Romney was thinking when he denounced "liberal Washington" and then, at the convention of the party that brought you unimpeded presidential spying, declared: "It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother!"

Watching the speeches, and the contortions Republicans have to go through to avoid mentioning the current president (and ostensible head of their party), it's like getting stuck in a "Twilight Zone" episode. The multi-millionaire former mayor of New York railed against "cosmopolitans." The multi-millionaire, Harvard-trained, former governor of Massachusetts railed against "eastern elites." Just 48 hours after the party's nominee insisted the convention would be less partisan, we're bombarded with the most ugly and nasty partisanship of any party gathering in years.

Welcome to The Ironic Convention, 2008.

At one point last night, Romney argued, "We need change all right -- change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington!" It was a fairly common sentiment. I have this nagging urge to put a post-it note on the convention podium that reads, "Psst, Republicans, you've controlled the White House for eight years, and Congress for six of the last eight years. You've humiliated yourselves and discredited the conservative governing philosophy forever. Love, Steve."

Seriously, what's the message of the week in St. Paul? That Republican governing works? No. That Republicans have a legitimate policy agenda? No. That the next four years should be different from the last eight? No. It's simple: "Your house may be on fire, but don't trust that man standing outside with a hose, because he doesn't share your values."

In this sense, this convention is just like the one from 1992, with Republicans pretending that they haven't been in charge, and blaming Democrats for the Republican failures in the most divisive, pathological way possible.

Who's buying this nonsense?

© 2008 Washington Monthly All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/97538/

Rhode Island’s Medicaid Proposal Would Put Beneficiaries At Risk and Undermine the Federal-State Partnership: Could Set Dangerous Precedent for Other

Rhode Island’s Medicaid Proposal Would Put Beneficiaries At Risk and Undermine the Federal-State Partnership: Could Set Dangerous Precedent for Other States, 9/4/08

On August 8, Rhode Island applied for federal permission to radically transform its Medicaid program in ways that could profoundly affect beneficiaries.[1] If approved, the proposal could also set a national precedent that would affect low-income people in other states who rely on Medicaid to obtain needed health care. The proposal raises three major issues:

• Ending the federal funding guarantee. Currently, the federal government matches state Medicaid expenditures at a set rate. If a state’s costs go up because of unanticipated increases in health care costs or enrollment, the federal government helps cover those extra costs, enabling the state to continue serving everyone who is eligible for the program. Under Rhode Island’s proposal, in contrast, the state would receive an annual block grant of a fixed amount, and would get no additional federal funds to help address unanticipated increases in health care costs or enrollment. If such cost or enrollment increases occurred, the state would have to increase its own spending or cut eligibility, benefits, or provider payments.

• Restricting state funding. Rhode Island also proposes to limit its own Medicaid spending to a constant share of the state budget. The state acknowledges that the combination of federal and state spending under its proposal would be well below its own forecast of Medicaid costs for each of the next five years and that this gap would grow each year.

• Eliminating federal protections for beneficiaries. To address the large funding shortfalls that could result, Rhode Island is requesting permission to bypass many of the federal legal limits on states’ authority to alter Medicaid eligibility, services, and cost-sharing. Under the proposal, for example, the state could place eligible low-income people with medical conditions on waiting lists for eligibility and services, and give different groups different benefits based on where they live or for other reasons. Many low-income people could lose coverage entirely. Others could get substantially less coverage than they currently have and become underinsured.

Moreover, since the federal block grant would grow faster than the state’s Medicaid contribution, the federal government would end up paying a greater share of Rhode Island’s Medicaid costs than under the current program. The federal share would rise each year.

What Rhode Island Is Proposing

Medicaid is a federal-state partnership. The federal government sets minimum standards regarding whom states must cover and what health care benefits they must receive. States have flexibility to go above these standards. The federal government provides matching funds amounting to a given percentage (known as the federal matching assistance percentage, or FMAP) of the state’s Medicaid expenditures.[2] Rhode Island’s current FMAP is 52.5 percent, which means that for every dollar Rhode Island spends on most Medicaid services, the state receives 52.5 cents from the federal government.[3]

The Rhode Island waiver proposal would radically change this matching structure. Instead of matching Rhode Island’s expenditures, the federal government would give the state a set amount of funds each year. Rhode Island, meanwhile, would restrict its own Medicaid spending each year to a “maintenance of effort” (MOE) requirement equaling 23 percent of the overall state budget, the share it spent on Medicaid in 2007.[4]

The federal block grant, combined with the state’s MOE funding, would have to cover the costs of the entire program, including spending on long-term care. To keep program spending within this limit, Rhode Island is seeking unprecedented flexibility to alter — and reduce — benefits and eligibility for some beneficiaries, including authority to put poor beneficiaries on waiting lists.

Proposal Would Fundamentally Change Federal-State Medicaid Partnership

No state has ever received a Medicaid block grant like the one Rhode Island is proposing. Vermont operates its Medicaid program under two separate waivers (one for acute services, the other for long-term care services) that cap federal funds regardless of changes in health costs or enrollment.[5] Up to the limit imposed by the cap, however, the federal government still provides matching funds to Vermont based on the amount the state spends on Medicaid, as the federal government does in all other states.[6]

Determining State and Federal Medicaid Spending Under the Waiver On August 5, 2008, the Rhode Island Senate and House Finance Committees held a hearing on the waiver proposal, at which state officials described how they calculated the state and federal shares of Medicaid spending under the waiver: The state forecast how much its Medicaid program would cost for each of the next five years by assuming that costs would rise 9.2 percent per year and adding this amount to expenditures for state fiscal year 2007. This 9.2 percent figure has two components: an expected 6.8 percent annual increase in health care costs and an estimated 2.3 percent annual increase in enrollment. To determine the size of the federal block grant for each of the next five years, the state applied its FMAP to this cost forecast. For federal fiscal year 2009, the state used its current 52.5 percent FMAP; for future years, the state used a 54 percent FMAP. The state estimated its maintenance-of-effort (MOE) payments for each of the next five years by multiplying its general fund budget projections by 23 percent, the percentage of the state budget it spent on Medicaid in 2007. The table below is based on the state’s presentation at the hearing.[a] As it shows, total Medicaid expenditures under the waiver (i.e., the sum of the block grant and the state’s MOE) would be substantially less than the state’s forecast of Medicaid costs each year. This shortfall would grow over time, from $231 million in 2009 to $467 million — or 16 percent of the program’s projected costs — in 2013. The federal share of total Medicaid expenditures would grow each year, reaching 64 percent by 2013. [a] The difference between total spending and the expenditure forecast, as well as the federal share of total expenditures, were calculated by CBPP based on written and oral testimony at the August 5 hearing (http://www.ohhs.ri.gov/medicaid/pdf/WaiverPresentationHouse8-08.pdf).

Rhode Island’s waiver is different. Under Rhode Island’s proposal, federal funding would not be tied to the amount the state spends on Medicaid but instead would be limited to a specified dollar amount.

Limiting federal Medicaid funds in this manner carries significant risks for beneficiaries, health care providers, and the state as a whole. Medicaid’s matching funding system is designed to provide each state with flexible federal support to meet the health care needs of its most vulnerable residents. The guarantee that federal funds will match a certain percentage of state spending allows states to cover all low-income people who meet the eligibility criteria the state has established. It also ensures that federal Medicaid funds will help cover unexpected increases in Medicaid costs resulting from an economic downturn, a new disease or epidemic, new drugs or medical technology, or other factors that are beyond the control of a small state like Rhode Island.[7]

Rhode Island’s proposed waiver presents risks. Under the waiver, the federal block grant and the state’s MOE spending already are less than the state’s own projections of what Medicaid expenditures would be without the waiver. To close this gap, the state is assuming that it can generate substantial savings by making numerous changes in the way care is delivered. If these savings do not materialize, however, the federal block grant and state MOE together would not be sufficient to meet the beneficiaries’ health care needs.

In addition, if health care costs or enrollment grow more quickly than the state forecasts, it is virtually certain that the combination of the block grant and the MOE spending would fall well short of needs. Rhode Island would either have to allocate additional state funds to the program or cut eligibility, benefits, and/or provider payments. The federal government would not match any additional funds the state contributed, so Rhode Island would have less incentive to increase its own spending than it would under Medicaid’s current matching structure, and cutbacks hence would be more likely.

State Would Have Unprecedented Power to Reduce Benefits and Limit Eligibility

Rhode Island appears to understand that a federal block grant is risky. In exchange for accepting a block grant, the state is seeking “administrative freedom to manage Medicaid costs within the fixed federal allotment.” Specifically, it is asking for permission to make significant changes in eligibility and benefits without federal approval or oversight.

This would be especially perilous for Medicaid’s so-called “optional beneficiaries” — people whose incomes are modestly above those of the “mandatory beneficiaries” whom federal law requires states to cover.[8] In Rhode Island, optional beneficiaries include children with incomes of 100-250 percent of the poverty line (133-250 percent of the poverty line for children under age 6), many parents, and seniors and people with disabilities with incomes between 74 and 100 percent of the poverty line. Rhode Island wants the authority to put these beneficiaries on waiting lists for eligibility and services and to limit their benefits in ways that current law does not allow.

Maximum Annual Income Eligibility Levels for “Mandatory” and “Optional” Beneficiaries in Rhode Island*
	Mandatory	Optional
Children under six years old	At or below 133 percent of the poverty line ($23,408)	Between 133 and 250 percent of the poverty line ($44,000)
Children from six to 19	Below the poverty line ($17,600)	Between 100 and 250 percent of the poverty line ($44,000)
Parents	Below 38 percent of the poverty line ($6,648)	Between 38 and 175 percent of the poverty line ($30,800)
Seniors and people with disabilities	Below 74 percent of the poverty line ($7,696)	Between 74 and 100 percent of the poverty line ($10,400)
*Amounts based on poverty guidelines for a family of 3 for children and parents and for a single individual for seniors and people with disabilities.

Such authority would also allow the state to vary benefits for different groups of beneficiaries based on where they live or other factors. Without the protections in current law, Rhode Island could pick and choose what benefits to provide to different groups of beneficiaries. For example, it could provide physical therapy to seniors but not to people with disabilities. It could restrict the number of visits allowed for mental health treatment even if that would limit the treatment’s effectiveness.

Rhode Island is also seeking authority to impose larger cost-sharing charges on beneficiaries than federal law allows. These cost-sharing charges could apply even to children with incomes below the poverty line, who currently cannot be charged co-payments. A substantial body of research shows that even modest cost-sharing causes low-income people to forgo needed care.[9]

Finally, the state wants to change the way long-term care is provided. The state seeks to shift its spending on long-term services from institutional care to home- and community-based services, which is a commendable goal. However, the state would establish three categories of need for long-term services, and only individuals who are at the highest level of need would have a guarantee of any form of long-term care (whether institutional or home- or community-based). Everyone else, including some people who can get care in a nursing home under Rhode Island’s current program, could be put on a waiting list.

Senate and House Committee Chairs Express Serious Concerns About Rhode Island’s Waiver Proposal On August 21, the chairs of the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over Medicaid, along with Rhode Island members of the House of Representatives, sent letters to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, warning of the risks to beneficiaries from the unfettered flexibility that Rhode Island is seeking, as well as the risk to the federal budget from the shift of Medicaid costs to the federal government. The Senate letter, from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Health Subcommittee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, stated: A funding structure like the one in the waiver proposal, including the cap on federal funds, puts beneficiaries, providers, and the entire state at risk should health costs or enrollment rise faster than expected. If this happens, the state would be forced to cut enrollment, benefits, provider payments, or meet the shortfall with state funds. No block grant like this has ever been allowed under Medicaid; indeed we are not certain there is authority in the Medicaid statute to permit such a block grant even under a waiver. . . . Under Rhode Island’s proposal, many children and parents could have to wait for a spot to open up before becoming eligible to receive health care, even when they have serious illnesses and need timely access to care. The state also wants to create waiting lists for long-term care services, which could affect many seniors and people with disabilities. The House letter from Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone, and Rhode Island Representatives Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin echoed these concerns, stating that under the waiver there “is no guarantee that all beneficiaries who are eligible will be able to access needed care,” and that the waiver “would shift costs from the State to the Federal government, increasing the Federal share without proper oversight or accountability.”

Proposal Would Shift Medicaid Costs to Federal Government

Under the waiver proposal, the federal share of Rhode Island’s Medicaid expenditures would grow over time. This is because the federal block grant would increase by 9.2 percent each year (the state’s forecast of annual Medicaid cost and enrollment growth), while the state’s MOE funding would increase only at the rate of state general fund spending.

Rhode Island’s own estimates show that by the final year of the waiver, the federal government would pay 64 percent of the state’s total Medicaid expenditures, well above the current 52.5 percent rate. Moreover, if the state budget shrinks because of a recession or for another reason, state MOE funds also would decline, leaving the federal government to pay an even larger share of Rhode Island’s Medicaid costs. Citing this fact, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus and Finance Health Subcommittee Chairman Rockefeller warned in a recent letter to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt: “At a time when federal expenditures on health care are rising rapidly, Rhode Island’s proposal would take us in the wrong direction by eroding the federal-state partnership that is at the heart of the current financing structure for Medicaid.” [10]

If Rhode Island’s proposal receives approval, other states may seek similar arrangements. That could threaten Medicaid’s fiscal sustainability while exposing low-income beneficiaries to risks of cuts in health care services.

Conclusion

Rhode Island’s waiver proposal is a marked departure from any Medicaid waiver ever approved. The waiver would radically transform Medicaid’s current federal-state funding partnership into a block grant without federal supervision or oversight. Many beneficiaries would be at risk of losing coverage and services, while at the same time significant program costs would be shifted to the federal government. The federal government ought not approve this proposal in its current form.

---

End Notes:

[1] The state has submitted its proposal, officially named the Global Consumer Choice Compact Waiver, to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The proposal and related materials are on the website of the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services, at http://www.eohhs.ri.gov/.

[2] Each state’s FMAP is determined according to a formula based on the state’s per capita income. See A. Schneider et al., “The Medicaid Resource Book,” Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, July 2002.

[3] There are a few exceptions. For example, the federal government matches family planning services at a 90 percent rate in all states.

[4] According to the waiver proposal, the state’s precise method of determining its MOE expenditures each year “will be delineated as review of this waiver proposal moves forward.” Thus, it is not clear whether the MOE amount for each year would be set at the beginning of the waiver period (based on long-term state budget projections) or determined each year based on the enacted state budget.

[5] This kind of cap is often referred to as a “global cap,” as distinguished from a “per-capita cap,” which allows a state to receive increased federal funds when enrollment goes up (though not when health care costs per enrollee go up). C. Shirk, “Shaping Medicaid and SCHIP Through Waivers: The Fundamentals,” National Health Policy Forum, July 22, 2008.

[6] J. Guyer, “Vermont’s Global Commitment Waiver: Implications for the Medicaid Program,” Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, April 2006.

[7] The state is asking the federal government for protection through additional funding in case of a catastrophic event or prolonged economic downturn. This kind of protection has generally not been part of the terms and conditions the federal government has agreed to in granting state Medicaid waivers.

[8] Nationally, about 39 percent of Medicaid spending is on mandatory services for mandatory eligibility groups. All other spending is on optional beneficiaries and/or optional benefits. “Medicaid: An Overview of Spending on ‘Mandatory’ vs. ‘Optional’ Populations and Services,” Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, June 2005.

[9] The research on cost-sharing and premiums is summarized in Leighton Ku and Victoria Wachino, “The Effect of Increased Cost-Sharing in Medicaid: A Summary of Research Findings,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 7, 2005.

[10] The Senate letter, from Senators Baucus and Rockefeller, is at http://www.senate.gov/~finance/sitepages/baucus.htm.

Wonk Room » Obstructionist Conservatives Brand Pelosi As ‘Dictator’

Wonk Room » Obstructionist Conservatives Brand Pelosi As ‘Dictator’

Conservative members of the House have been frothing that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) adjourned the lower chamber of Congress for its traditional August summer district work period — branding it a “five-week vacation” — instead of letting them dictate the agenda. They wish to pass their drilling-centric energy bill, after having blocked numerous other pieces of energy legislation in June and July. Their strategy is to brand Pelosi as a dictator, with pro-drilling conservatives representing the will of “average American people”:

– Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI): “This is the people’s House. This is not Pelosi’s politiburo.”

– Rep. John Boehner (R-OH): “She’s gonna bring us back and not deal with it? The American people are gonna hang her.”

– Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC): “When the people of France were starving, they went to the queen and said, ‘The people have no bread.’ The queen’s answer was, ‘Let them eat cake.’ That is not the kind of answer we expect from the leader of the people’s house in the United States of America.”

– Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ): “There’s going to be a change in this policy, Nancy Pelosi notwithstanding. She can’t repress us forever.”

– Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO): “I can’t answer why she’s acting like a dictator.”

– Rep. Denny Rehlberg (R-MT): “Nancy Pelosi should not hold the American people hostage.”

– Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX): “In your mind, do you believe America is a democracy or a dictatorship?”

In fact, when they are not crying in the dark, it is conservatives who are acting like dictators. Conservatives in the Senate have filibustered an energy agenda supported by the majority of the American people — and of the Congress — over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Bush has declared his intent to veto such legislation over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

And, now, with an industry-friendly energy compromise crafted by the Senate’s self-dubbed “Gang of Ten,” the dictatorial conservatives continue their obstruction. As Gristmill’s David Roberts writes:

McCain has refused to support the compromise. House Republicans have refused to support the compromise. Rush Limbaugh and his band of dittoheads are going absolutely ballistic on the compromise, flooding the legislators responsible with angry phone calls and claiming that it’s going to sink McCain’s presidential campaign.

The only real failure of Pelosi’s tenure has been the lack of strong, mandatory legislation to reduce greenhouse gases passed out of the House. Somehow I don’t think the right wing will be complaining about that any time soon.

UPDATE: From Progress Illinois, Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) joined the vilification of the Speaker of the House on a local radio show yesterday:

What the American people want is for us to work together to come up with solutions, not to have Nancy Pelosi being the dictator. This is a democracy.

UPDATE II: From Ari’s Freedom Switch, on August 11, Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) compared Pelosi to Gorbachev, and himself to Reagan:

Ronald Reagan was a man of many quotes. One of his most famous was given in Berlin, while standing in front of one of the enduring symbols of communism: the Berlin Wall. Fed up with the silent suffering of millions of East Berliners, President Reagan demanded: ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!’. Today we stand in the People’s House, where our public debate has been silenced and we also demand: Speaker Pelosi, turn on these lights and give us a vote!

CQ Politics | GOP Offshore Oil Advocates Drill for Support at Convention

CQ Politics | GOP Offshore Oil Advocates Drill for Support at Convention

House Republicans have taken their fight for expanded offshore drilling to their party’s convention in Minnesota.

While nine of their GOP colleagues spent the day in Washington, D.C., demanding a vote on an energy package that would include new drilling in coastal waters, convention participants made their case in the Twin Cities.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio contended that his party wants a comprehensive energy package, saying, “We want an all-of-the-above plan.” He alleged, “There’s only one problem: Nancy Pelosi , Harry Reid and Barack Obama continue to stand in the way of this bill,” referring to the House Speaker from California, the Senate majority leader from Nevada and the Illinois senator nominated by the Democrats for president at their national convention in Denver last week.

It’s a message that congressional Republicans have been preaching every day in the Capitol since the August recess started. Tourists have been invited onto the House floor, which is off-limits to outsiders when lawmakers are in session, as Republicans make their case for a package that would expand offshore drilling and promote alternative energy sources, fuel-efficient vehicles, conservation and nuclear power.

Republicans began this summer pressing a plan that emphasizes drilling, after gasoline prices jumped to record highs and polls showed growing public support for more domestic oil and gas production.

Democrats have generally opposed proposals to extend drilling to the Outer Continental Shelf off the East and West coasts on environmental grounds. After resisting a straight vote on offshore drilling, Democratic leaders now seem willing to settle the issue in September and take the flash-point issue off the table for the fall elections by including drilling in broader energy legislation.

Pelosi has said she will allow a vote on a bill that includes drilling when members of Congress return to Washington next week. And Reid has said he will schedule a vote during the upcoming legislative session on a bipartisan draft energy legislation that also would include new drilling.

But Republicans remain circumspect, and would likely oppose provisions seen as likely in Democratic legislative proposals that would roll back tax breaks for oil companies.

Boehner said the Senate plan is “not bold enough to help us move forward with energy independence.”

“If you look at the other proposals out there, they’re just baby steps in that direction,” he said.

Republicans say events surrounding the convention have bolstered the case for more drilling.

At the start of the four-day gathering, Hurricane Gustav slammed Gulf Coast states where the United States pumps and refines much of its domestically produced oil. Although the hurricane was less severe and did less damage to the areas than earlier predicted, Illinois Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk of suburban Chicago said it highlighted the need for more drilling.

“Chicagoland is uniquely dependent on Gulf refiners,” said Kirk, who is leading a group of centrist House Republicans who are pushing their own energy plan. “My district was decidedly against offshore [drilling], but now they are 89 percent in favor.”

At the same time, Republican presidential candidate John McCain ’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate has put oil and gas drilling back at center stage. In fact, Palin also supports leasing portions of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, even though McCain has opposed that position.

Some Republicans hope Palin will be able to change McCain’s mind on Arctic drilling.

“Remember, McCain was not for offshore drilling all the time — he’s come to see the light,” said Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr. , a New York Republican who spent much of the recess in Washington for the protests on the House floor. Until recently, McCain had opposed opening new areas off U.S. coastlines to oil and gas drilling.

Nevertheless, drilling in Alaska divides the party. Republicans opted to leave ANWR out of the platform they approved the first night of the convention in deference to McCain’s policies, despite the threat of a revolt within the party.

Republican moderates say drilling in Alaska should stay out of the debate for now, because it will hold up any energy bill.

“It’s a non-starter for some people,” said West Virginia Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito , who personally supports drilling in the wildlife refuge. “We have to have a consensus for a bill to move forward.”

Molly Hooper contributed to this story.

Wonk Room » Lifting Offshore Moratorium Is Boon To Big Oil And No One Else

Wonk Room » Lifting Offshore Moratorium Is Boon To Big Oil And No One Else

Today’s speech by President Bush calling for America to drill its way out of its energy crisis is, in the words of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), replete with the “failed policies of yesterday” designed to “pad the pockets of Big Oil.”

There are two central facts about fossil fuel use President Bush carefully avoided when he called on Congress to increase the supply of oil accessible to his industry cohorts:

– The United States has only 2% of the world’s proven oil reserves, but consumes 24% of the world’s oil production. There’s simply no way for us to drill our way to energy independence or eliminate what Bush calls our “addiction” to oil. [EIA 1/29/07, 6/9/08]

– The energy future Big Oil and Bush desire involves burning up the planet. The American Petroleum Institute is promoting an increase in oil demand of 45% by 2030, which would lead to global warming 8.9 to 11°F above pre-industrial levels — guaranteeing global catastrophe. Bush’s “rational, balanced” approach to global warming is in line with this scenario. [CAPAF 4/16/08, 4/25/08]

Bush’s justification for ending the federal moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf drilling that was signed into law by President Reagan and extended by President George H.W. Bush after the Exxon Valdez relies on misleading and false statements. In the Rose Garden today, Bush 43 said:

So my administration has repeatedly called on Congress to expand domestic oil production. Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal — and now Americans are paying the price at the pump for this obstruction.

Congress — which was under Republican control for most of the Bush presidency — is not blocking drilling. The number of off- and on-shore drilling permits has exploded in recent years, going from 3,802 five years ago to 7,561 in 2007. Between 1999 and 2007, the number of drilling permits issued for development of public lands increased by more than 361%.

In fact, Congress and this administration have already opened the floodgates for more oil and gas drilling in the years to come. Since 2002, the number of permits issued has greatly outstripped the number of new wells drilled. In the last four years, the Bureau of Land Management has issued 28,776 permits to drill on public land; yet, in that same time, 18,954 wells were actually drilled. That means that companies have stockpiled nearly 10,000 extra permits to drill that they are not using to increase domestic production.

Furthermore, less than a quarter of offshore acreage open to drilling is being used. Only 10.5 million of the 44 million leased acres are currently producing oil or gas.

The vast majority of federal oil and gas resources offshore are already available for development. According to the Minerals Management Service, of all the oil (85.9 billion barrels) and gas (419.9 trillion cubic feet) believed to exist on the Outer Continental Shelf, 82% of the natural gas and 79% of the oil is located in areas that are currently open for leasing (such as areas in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Alaska coast).

This has nothing to do with lowering fuel costs for Americans in the short, medium, or long term. The auto industry, for example, can change its production mix to more efficient cars within six weeks, and can roll out new production models in three years. But it takes ten years for newly leased oil fields to start producing oil, and around twenty years to reach peak production.

Lifting the offshore drilling moratorium is worth (maybe) 4 cents a gallon — in 10 to 20 years. This uses generous estimates, assuming that all the recoverable oil is drilled and reaches peak production by 2025, and that the impact on the price of a barrel of oil is at the high end of estimates ($1.50 per barrel or $.0375 per gallon of gas). If the oil is extracted at its maximum rate, it would all be gone in five years.

In fact, it is conservative and industry obstruction that is making Americans pay at the pump — from the repeated filibusters of renewable energy and energy efficiency incentives to years of obstructing improved fuel economy standards.

UPDATE: At Climate Progress, Joe Romm notes that the 2007 Annual Energy Outlook from the U.S. Energy Information Administration found:

The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.

And in 2030, “any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.”

Wonk Room » Report: King Coal And Big Oil Unite To Buy The Future, Spending More Than Two Million Dollars A Day

Wonk Room » Report: King Coal And Big Oil Unite To Buy The Future, Spending More Than Two Million Dollars A Day

As Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sets foot on a drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana, his “drill everywhere” message is being amplified by political spending of more than two million dollars a day by the oil and coal industries. The Public Campaign Action Fund has released a major report finding that King Coal and Big Oil have united in an attempt to buy the future:

We estimate that the coal and oil industries spent an astounding $427.2 million over the first six months of 2008 to influence public opinion and public policy.

These industries are on track to spend about a billion dollars influencing energy policy this year, with their “clean coal” and “drill drill drill” messaging. They are supporting pollution-friendly candidates and spreading false doubt about the seriousness of global warming.

This total includes the $12.2 million dollars spent in six months by Newt Gingrich’s billionaire-and-coal-funded 527 corporation, American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF), on its “Drill Here, Drill Now” campaign, and the $40 million that coal industry front group Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (now part of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity) pledged to spend influencing the public. It also includes John McCain’s million-dollar haul from the oil and gas industry.

The Public Campaign Action Fund’s estimate of $427.2 million fails to include the expenditures of pollution-agenda front groups that are “organized under sections of the Internal Revenue Code that do not require the public disclosure of their spending.” These groups include the likes of:

• Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth
• American Council for Capital Formation
• American Energy Alliance
• American Enterprise Institute
• Americans for Prosperity
• American Future Fund
• Business & Media Institute
• Coalition for Affordable American Energy
• Competitive Enterprise Institute
• FreedomWorks
• Heartland Institute
• Institute for Energy Research
• National Association of Manufacturers
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Therefore the Public Campaign’s estimate is rather conservative.

Nothing Newt under the sun | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

Nothing Newt under the sun | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

Gingrich's 'grassroots' drilling campaign is funded by Big Oil, report says

*Several corrections have been made to the original post to fix inaccuracies in the report from Alaska Wilderness League.

"Green conservative" Newt Gingrich is scheduled to deliver his "Drill here, drill now, pay less" petition to Congress today. According to his American Solutions website, more than 1.3 million people have signed the petition. But who's funding the campaign that Gingrich is touting as a grassroots, bipartisan effort?

Turns out a large portion of the money behind his organization comes from Big Oil, according to a new report [PDF] from the Alaska Wilderness League. The group analyzed the donors to Gingrich's group "American Solutions for Winning the Future," the 527 that's heading up a campaign to increase domestic drilling. Among the top donors, according to its report:

• Donald M. Wilkinson, chair and CIO of Wilkinson O'Grady & Co., which invests in companies like National Oilwell Varco, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy, EOG Resources, Schlumberger, Transocean, BHP Billiton, Apache Corporation, and XTO Energy. He donated $25,000.


• Dan W. Evins, who worked for Shell before starting the Cracker Barrel chain of restaurants. He gave $100,000.


• Dave K. Rensin, a software engineer for Pentagon contractor Reality Mobile, LLC. He gave $50,000.


• Robert W. Johnson IV, who serves as chair of the Oil & Gas Committee Chair and the assistant chief attorney for the Exxon Mobil Production Company. He gave $50,000. [Ed. note: Apparently a different Robert W. Johnson -- the one that gave to American Solutions owns the New York Jets]

The list of big donors is rounded off with several dozen other folks who work in the oil and gas industries or related businesses, or consultants and investors who have put a good deal of cash toward those fields. There's another $70,000 from Michael G. Berolzheimer, whose company makes those Duraflame logs by mixing saw dust with petroleum byproducts. There are also a good number of folks who work for big conservative organizations -- like $200,000 from Heritage Foundation trustee Thomas A. Saunders III, and $914,622 from Freedom's Watch founder Sheldon Adelson (who was profiled in today's Wall Street Journal).

Gingrich himself is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, which has received at least $1.6 million from ExxonMobil since 1998. The AEI board of trustees includes for former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, who retired in 2005 with a $400 million compensation package.

This is the same Newt Gingrich who's being used as a posterboy for climate action as part of the We Campaign.

Washington Times - GOP: Lift drilling ban or risk shutdown

Washington Times - GOP: Lift drilling ban or risk shutdown

The showdown on Capitol Hill over expanding offshore drilling could lead to a threatened government shutdown when Congress returns from its five-week summer break in early September.

Some Republicans say they are prepared to vote against a resolution to fund the federal government for the 2009 fiscal year unless Democrats agree to lift an offshore drilling moratorium. If the budget resolution fails, many agencies and departments would be denied money to operate and would be forced to close.

"We don't want the government shutdown to be an issue, but the fact is the Democrats are so overconfident that they're willing to talk about a ban and they're willing to talk about raising taxes on gasoline, so this is just pretty incredible," said Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who is circulating a letter encouraging colleagues to demand that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, strike the drilling moratorium from the budget resolution.

"But I think that once Americans realize that this [drilling] ban will expire unless we pass something, I think there is going to be just an outcry to not vote for anything that had a ban in it."

The congressional drilling moratorium was first enacted in 1982 and has been renewed every year since. It prohibits oil and gas leasing on most of the outer continental shelf - three miles to 200 miles offshore - and expanded oil shale development in the West. The ban is set to expire at the end of September, but Democratic leaders are expected to include a one-year extension in legislation that they will introduce next month to continue funding the government for the 2009 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

The impasse centers on Republican demands that any energy plan include a provision to expand domestic oil drilling to areas currently off-limits, including a wildlife reserve in northern Alaska and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Democrats oppose the idea, saying oil companies already have millions available drilling acres on land they're not using.

"If the Democrats choose to hold the continuation of government operations as a hostage, then as far as I'm concerned, I can't vote for anything that has a ban in it," Mr. DeMint said. "That would just be a betrayal of everything we're talking about as Republicans. And I think that most Republicans are going to feel that way."

Republicans say the ban needs to be lifted to lower gas prices and to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

"On October 1, the bans on offshore drilling and oil shale recovery will end, enabling us to finally be able to develop more American energy - unless Democrats actively prohibit exploration," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who also is circulating letter encouraging House Republicans to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, to drop the ban.

"I hope that Speaker Pelosi and Democrats in the House and Senate recognize the pain Americans are feeling and will not actively enact legislation to block the development of American energy," he said.

Democratic leaders in both houses of Congress have refused to allow a stand-alone bill on drilling. In protest, Republicans have blocked several Democratic bills in both chambers, saying they will continue to do so unless Democrats agree to a drilling vote.

Democrats control both houses of Congress, but hold only a 51-49 vote advantage in the Senate. A budget resolution may require 60 votes for passage, meaning only 41 opposing votes would be needed to block the measure.

Such a move could be risky for Republicans. In 1995, when House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Georgia Republican, led a shutdown of the federal government in a dispute with President Clinton over the budget, the public turned against Republicans, who blamed the party for the impasse after a threatened delay of Social Security and Medicare checks.

But with public opinion polls showing that most Americans support increased offshore drilling, Republicans are emboldened to challenge Democrats on the issue, and say that Democrats, not Republicans, would be blamed for the consequences of a government shutdown.

"As far as I'm concerned, on October 1 we should be able to begin the leasing process of drilling and mining in both of those areas of American [energy] supply," House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, said on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" show Sunday. "In this environment, where energy is the most important issue and the only thing you're fighting over is whether you allow drilling, we'll have to wait and see. [But] I'd rather be on the side that wanted to go after American energy sources than the side that didn't."

This was an evening of anger, hate, and spite. The speakers were downright mean, as was the crowd.

The Angry Old Convention

from The Jed Report

• This was an evening of anger, hate, and spite. The speakers were downright mean, as was the crowd.
• It reminded me of Pat Buchanan's culture war speech which helped define the GOP in 1992
  
• Ironically, despite being a new face, Sarah Palin delivered the message of a tired, old Republican Party. Neither she nor Rudy Giuliani had anything new to say.
• Palin's speech wasn't just bitter and caustic, it was also riddled with falsehoods, starting -- but not ending -- with her claim to have been against the bridge to nowhere from the beginning.
• For all the sarcastic personal attacks and hyperfocus on terrorism, they failed to offer a single solution for our economic problems.
• Beyond keeping him at arm's length, they failed to distingish themselves from the calamity that has been the Bush Presidency.

I'll conclude with a few thoughts about tomorrow, and then leave this up as an open thread.

• Tomorrow evening, John McCain is going to try and present himself as a bipartisan moderate. His speech won't be nearly as strident as the ones from tonight.
• The problem for McCain is that nobody is going to pay attention to what he has to say tomorrow night. Tonight is where the action was. Tomorrow night is just meaningless fluff.
• We should keep the focus on the angry, mean speeches from tonight, including the blatant falsehoods of Palin's speech.

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

UPDATED: Sarah Palin Listens To Hate Speech Against Jews In Church!

by slinkerwink

Wed Sep 03, 2008 at 05:51:44 AM PDT

Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic uncovered a shocking detail about Sarah Palin (one of the now many shocking details), in which she sat in a meeting at the Wasilla Bible Church.

VIDEO HERE of the "Jerusalem Dilemma"

• slinkerwink's diary :: ::
• 
  

The meeting was headed by David Brickner, the executive director of Jews for Jesus, and here's what he said:

Brickner also described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity.

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

Palin was in church that day, Kroon said, though he cautioned against attributing Brickner’s views to her.

John McCain now has a serious Jewish problem, thanks to Sarah Palin's extremist creationist views, which may cost him Florida, and several other states when these views, supported by Sarah Palin, become very well known.

Sarah Palin is no friend to the Jewish community, and neither is John McCain, in having picked this Dominionist as his Vice-President.

Edit: Here's the audio of the sermon at Wasilla Bible Church.

Here's some of the transcript from Brickner's speech (Click on that link and save the transcript because it'll be soon gone when they scrub this site):

And the Bible tells us the entire generation of Israelites perished in the wilderness because of unbelief. And that has characterized the ministry of the prophets. They’ve all experienced that rejection.

And so Jesus, now coming in fulfillment of all the hope and all the promise of all the prophets, is not taken off guard by that. He is likely, obviously, to experience...and will soon experience...that same unbelief, full force, in His own body. And I’ve heard people talk about this reality of history, and talk about the ‘stiff-necked Jews’. Have you heard that phrase before? The stiff-necked Jews... Well, God was the one who first used that about Israel, and He can get away with it. But my mother always told me, "Be careful when you point a finger at somebody else, because there’s some pointing back at you." And really, Israel has not cornered the market on unbelief. Israel is an example of what all humanity has been saying to God since the beginning of time, shaking its fists at the heavens and saying, ‘You’ll not rule over us.’

And so all of the controversy that we see swirling in Jerusalem is really a mirror that the world looks in to see the controversy within. The Jerusalem Dilemma is the Wasilla Dilemma; it’s the dilemma of the human heart. And so it’s important for us to notice, then, Jesus’ response to this unbelief, this rejection.

Cross-posted to Strategy08.

PLEASE DIGG THIS!

AND NOW, THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN RESPONDS:

McCain-Palin campaign spokesman Goldfarb said that Brickner "was a guest at the church who Gov. Palin did not know would be speaking, and she does not share the views he expressed. She and her family would not have been sitting in the pews of the church if those remarks were remotely typical."

t r u t h o u t | Democrats Rebuke Lieberman for Obama Comments

t r u t h o u t | Democrats Rebuke Lieberman for Obama Comments

St. Paul, Minnesota - Democrats officially warned Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) on Wednesday that he could face repercussions for delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention in which he called Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama an "eloquent young man" who lacked the experience to be in the White House.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said that Lieberman's status within the Democratic caucus is in jeopardy.

"Senator Reid was very disappointed in Senator Lieberman's speech, especially when he appeared to go out of his way to distort Senator Obama's record of bipartisan achievements in the Senate," said Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley. "The Democratic caucus will likely revisit the situation with Senator Lieberman after the elections in November."

Obama's aides also accused Lieberman of misstating Obama's legislative record.

The uproar followed Lieberman's address on Tuesday to the Republican convention here. Although Lieberman long ago endorsed Republican Sen. John McCain, many Democrats had hoped that Lieberman would use his prime-time speech only to support McCain, a friend of two decades, and not to criticize Obama.

Most of Lieberman's speech focused on McCain's credentials, but toward the end he pointedly said Obama "has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party."

"Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But eloquence is no substitute for a record," said Lieberman, who eight years ago was the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Manley would not address what sort of punishment Democrats would consider, but said that no sanction would be imposed until after the November elections.

Democrats are expected to win four to eight Senate seats in November. If that happens, Democratic senators and aides have privately said, Lieberman may face punishment from the caucus because they could afford to risk him walking across the aisle and caucusing with the Republicans. If Lieberman were to do that now, it would cede control of a 50-50 Senate to the Republicans, because Vice President Cheney would cast tie-breaking votes.

But on Wednesday, Democrats stated publicly for the first time that Lieberman faced consequences for his actions, particularly after the speech here.

"He clearly went too far," Manley said of Lieberman.

Democratic leaders have considered stripping him of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The strongest reprimand would be to strip him of all his committee assignments, which would effectively be a banishment from the Democratic caucus.

Lieberman lost his 2006 Democratic primary to an antiwar candidate but won as an independent in the general election. Since then, he has caucused with Democrats and voted with them on most issues except those related to the war in Iraq. As a supporter of President Bush's war plans, Lieberman and Reid reached a gentleman's agreement last year that he would not attend party meetings when war policy was the central issue.

He has repeatedly said he has no plans to leave the party. "I remain a Democrat for reasons of principle," he said in a June interview. "I've been a lifelong Democrat, so I have no desire to leave the party."

Republicans praised Lieberman, whom McCain considered as one of his six finalists to be his running mate. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), a member of the House GOP leadership team, said Lieberman appealed to middle-of-the-road voters and predicted Democrats would attack Lieberman at their peril.

"The significant majority in America that is not in tune with partisan politics is going to listen to Joe Lieberman," Cantor said.

Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, made the rounds on network and cable talk shows Wednesday and accused Lieberman of ignoring Obama's cooperation with lawmakers such as Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), with whom he worked on nuclear weapons legislation, and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), with whom he worked on government transparency legislation.

"Do everybody a favor. Don't make stuff up," Gibbs said in an interview on washingtonpost.com.

Despite the sharp critiques from Democrats, Lieberman still enjoys some institutional connections to his former party that have not been severed.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Obama's running mate, accepted a $5,000 donation from Lieberman's political action committee in July as part of Biden's effort to retire debt from his unsuccessful presidential campaign this year.

Lieberman has donated more than $145,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and in July he cut $5,000 checks from his PAC to such key Democratic candidates as Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado and former governor Mark Warner of Virginia, both of whom are trying to win seats vacated by Republicans.

Food-container chemical linked to reduced brain function: study

Food-container chemical linked to reduced brain function: study

OTTAWA - The controversial chemical BPA, found in many food and drink containers, may prevent the brain from building vital connections between neurons, a Canadian-U.S. study has found.

Canada should review the existing safe levels of BPA (also known as bisphenol A) and consider making them lower as a result, one of the researchers says.

"Whether or not the (safety) limits are now low enough is a good question," said study author Neil MacLusky, who teaches biomedical science at the University of Guelph. "I think the limits probably should be looked at and probably should be reduced.

"We should really think carefully about whether we want bisphenol A to be used in containers" for food and drink.

He tested the maximum safe level of the chemical on monkeys and found the animals were less able to form synapses, or connections that allow brain cells to exchange signals. These signals allow us to learn and remember.

That doesn't mean humans are being hurt, he cautioned. Actual exposures are well below the official safe limit - probably at least 50 times lower - but he still suggests the limits should be investigated, and probably made lower.

"It's certainly not saying this is something the average man or woman on the street should be really worried about."

Still, he said, the job of building synapses is vital and must be protected.

The process "is very important in learning and memory and mood states." The hormone estrogen, usually seen as a sex hormone, has a second job of building these synapses in both men and women, he noted. However, BPA somehow blocks the action of estrogen in connecting the brain cells.

Previous work had shown the same effects in rats. This is the first study in primates.

"Estrogen promotes growth and turnover" among the neuron connections. "So the ability of the brain to remodel is very important for normal mood states, for learning, memory, recovery from injury (and) recovery from stroke," he said.

"The ability of BPA to block these is quite concerning, because the ability of the brain to remodel itself is so important."

The study examined the monkeys' brains, but didn't look for changes in the their behaviour.

"It's fair to say Canada has been really rather proactive" in offering alternatives to BPA bottles and suggesting re-evaluation of the chemical, he said.

The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

There has been a flurry of appraisals of BPA in recent months:

. Also on Wednesday, the U.S. National Toxicology Program concluded BPA might be harmful to humans and needed further investigation.

. In the spring, Health Canada banned baby bottles with BPA. It said that, although damage to human health had not been proven, it wanted to take precautions anyway.

. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that the chemical was safe up to the official levels of exposure: 50 micrograms of the chemical per kilograms of body weight in the U.S., 25 micrograms in Canada.

The Satirical Political Report - An Offbeat Look at the Hot-Button Issues of the Day » Palin’s ‘Contributions’ To Women: Establishes a New ‘Crack in t

The Satirical Political Report - An Offbeat Look at the Hot-Button Issues of the Day » Palin’s ‘Contributions’ To Women: Establishes a New ‘Crack in the Wooden Flo

“SARAH PALIN PROVES THAT A WOMAN CAN FALL AS LOW AS A MAN IN TERMS OF BEING A RIGHT-WING, KNOW-NOTHING, BOOK-BURNING NEANDERTHAL IDEOLOGUE, WHO DISPUTES GLOBAL WARMING, AND HYPOCRITICALLY DENIES OTHERS THE VERY PRIVATE FAMILY CHOICES THAT SHE CLAIMS ARE HER OWN BUSINESS.”

The Rude Pundit

The Rude Pundit
Sarah Palin's Speech - Random Observations (Briefly):
So, like, what the fuck does the governor of Alaska do? You can talk about getting rid of corruption as much as you want, but you're still lappin' at that pipeline like a rim job-givin' man whore. Essentially, one's job as governor of Alaska is to keep the oil companies happy as a pig in shit. Because without them, Alaska would still just be a territory of outlaws, moose hunters, and prospectors wondering what the fuck to do about the Inuit.

And to answer another of Palin's statements, um, a community organizer in the projects of Chicago is probably a little more active than a small town mayor in a distant suburb of Alaska. All Mayor Palin had to deal with was tax abatements for the new Target and the occasional walrus attack.

By the way, using one's PTA membership as an example of one's experience to be the vice president of the United States is like saying that because you once took an aspirin, you can handle your speedballs.

So the reason many of us are saying that Sarah Palin is unqualified is not sexism or anti-middle class bias or sucking up to the Washington power structure or whatever stupid ass excuse the right desperately is clinging to in order to calm that gut churn they're feeling. No, the reason we think Sarah Palin is unqualified is because she's unqualified.

(And, oh, yeah, she sucks balls as a speaker.)

Orcinus

Orcinus
FBI Wanted Obama Plotters Charged, But A Rove Appointee Said No
Wednesday, September 03, 2008



[Tharin Gartrell, 28; Shawn Robert Adolf, 33; and Nathan Johnson, 32]

-- by Dave

We noticed last week that it was awfully peculiar that Colorado’s U.S. Attorney, Troy Eid, had so airily dismissed conspiracy charges against the three white-supremacist tweakers who were caught planning to assassinate Barack Obama at last week’s Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Now it turns out that those suspicions were fully warranted:

KUSA - 9Wants to Know has learned three men in Denver planned to assassinate U.S. Senator Barack Obama during the Democratic National Convention in Denver by sneaking into one of his events and shooting him with a gun hidden inside of a camera, according to federal court records.

Nathan Johnson's girlfriend, whom 9NEWS is not naming because she's a juvenile, said it would have to be a suicide mission.

The plot is similar to that in the 1992 movie "The Bodyguard" starring actors Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In the movie, Costner stops an assassination attempt against Houston by spotting a weapon hidden inside a gutted-out TV camera.

Johnson, Shawn Adolf and Tharin Gartrell all thought that Obama had a suite in the third floor of the Hyatt hotel, where they were staying. In fact, the Senator was staying in another Denver Hotel.

The men were doing methamphetamine inside the hotel with two women on Aug. 23 discussing the plot to kill Obama, according to federal records.

Adolf said "it would not matter if he killed Senator Obama because police would simply add a murder charge to his pending charges," according to the records. There were seven outstanding warrants for Adolf's arrest.

The underage woman told law enforcement that Adolf also talked about using "a high-powered rifle 22-250 from a high vantage point" to shoot Senator Obama during his acceptance speech at INVESCO Field at Mile High during the DNC.

Even more significant, beyond the details of the plot, was the fact that, as the Colorado Independent notes, the FBI asked for more serious charges to be filed and were turned down.

When police searched the hotel rooms and cars the men were using, they confiscated meth, needles, laptops, cell phones, a black mask, books indicating check fraud and forgery, bags of new clothes, tactical pants and bar coupons.

Based on the evidence, FBI special agent Robert Sawyer believed there was probable cause to charge the men with conspiracy to kill Senator Obama. However, US Attorney Troy Eid last week said there is insufficient evidence to indicate a true threat, plot or conspiracy against the senator.

Note the language used by Eid in dismissing the gravity of the case: the case isn't serious because they were "more aspirational, perhaps, than operational"? Well, when it was the Liberty Seven -- black Muslim men who were described by the FBI as "aspirational rather than operational" -- there was no hesitation by the Justice Department in bringing charges.

Another funny thing: When a black man in prison sent a threatening letter containing baby powder to John McCain, Troy Eid brought down the full force of the law, complete with press conferences and public declarations that "We won't stand for threats of this kind in Colorado."

But when it’s a claque of white men with rifles, disguises, and all the accoutrement of a conspiracy – as well as open admissions to it – Troy Eid isn’t worried. After all, they just a bunch of harmless, tweakers, right? … Just like little Timmy McVeigh.

But then, when you’re a Karl Rove operative promoted to deliver justice the Republican way, as Troy Eid is, that’s the way the scales fall. As Marcy reported at the time, Eid in fact nearly didn't get the Colorado job because of concerns about "improper lobbying."

His failure to take this matter seriously is itself a serious matter. When law-enforcement officials let this stuff slip by, they send a dangerous message to other would-be plotters out there. And next time, they may in fact be more competent.

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake.]

AP reporter Jim Kuhnhenn tears apart piece by piece all the lies told by the Republicans at last night’s convention. In other words, every word spoken is debunked.

AP Demolishes GOP Convention Lies

from Crooks and Liars by SilentPatriot

AP reporter Jim Kuhnhenn tears apart piece by piece all the lies told by the Republicans at last night's convention. In other words, every word spoken is debunked.

HuffPo:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

Some examples:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

Make sure to read the whole thing.

CNN's Jeffrey Toobin does a little demolition of his own.

Popout

And Will Bunch calls it Sarah Palin's Speech to Nowhere.

I hope America wakes up tomorrow and realizes that Sarah Palin's words were rousing — and completely empty, that they offered no road map (let alone bridge) for America other than more of the bogus partisan name-calling that has gotten us into the mess that we're in now. 

Political Affairs Magazine - Guaranteed Medical Care for Vets a "Burden," Says John McCain

Political Affairs Magazine - Guaranteed Medical Care for Vets a "Burden," Says John McCain

John McCain is pushing the idea of privatizing veterans' health care. He advanced the idea in recent stump speeches, even after media and congressional investigations in 2007 uncovered how underfunding and privatization of services at some of the country's top military hospitals caused poor care, neglect, and other dangerous conditions for wounded veterans.

A Washington Post story in February of that year focused specifically on the dangerous conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. A congressional committee subsequently uncovered a September 2006 memo from Garrison Commander Peter Garibaldi to hospital commander Maj. Gen. George Weightman which stated that the privatization of services, ordered by the Bush administration, had caused a "precipitous drop" in qualified staff at the hospital, contributing to the conditions revealed by the Washington Post.

Though Weightman was fired as a result of the exposure of the problems at that hospital, the Bush administration's policy of privatization and underfunding hasn't gone away.
From his position on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Barack Obama and other congressional Democrats, over objections by John McCain, George W. Bush and many other Republican Party hardliners, forced through increased funding for veterans' medical care and benefits.

John McCain opposed many of these measures, even going so far as to refuse to show up in the Senate for a vote on the 21st Century GI Bill in May. He described new benefits as "too generous."

McCain told FOX News' Bill O'Reilly that better support services and benefits packages for veterans would cause many to leave the military after their term of service, reducing the number of troops available for the occupation of Iraq, which, despite some confusion on his part about his views on the subject, he seems to believe should continue for decades.

In both 2005 and 2006, McCain voted against funding for better medical care for wounded veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. So far the corporate media has refused to seriously investigate the direct link between McCain's efforts in the Senate to block new funding for veterans' care along with his push for privatization to the poor treatment experienced at Walter Reed.

McCain won't give up on the idea of privatization, even as new funding for veterans' care has been made available. According to a report last month by Inter Press Service, McCain called for privatizing veterans' medical care and for ending universal health care for veterans.

Describing these guaranteed services as a "burden," McCain stated that privatized care would be more efficient.

Unfortunately, the facts on the ground about the care veterans receive from the VA compared to the private health care industry have shown the opposite to be true. Studies have revealed that turning veterans out into the private health care industry would mean they are more likely to receive less care without reduced costs.

IPS cited a RAND Corporation study, for example, which found that "VA patients were more likely to receive recommended care ... [and] consistently better care across the board, including screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow up" as compared to those veterans patients who sought care in the private market.

McCain appears to be driven by the ideology of the private market above all else, and not a concern for the well-being of veterans, veterans advocacy groups are saying. Despite a courageous military record, John McCain's political record and ideologically motivated policies are harmful to veterans. It is this political record that disqualifies John McCain from leadership. So far the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the Disabled Americans Veterans have given McCain extremely poor marks for his voting record on veterans' issues.

By contrast, both groups say Barack Obama has a nearly perfect voting record on issues important to them.

McCain's views on privatizing veterans care and his objections to generous benefits mirror exactly the policies of the Bush administration. In 2005, a Pentagon spokesperson, in announcing new Bush-mandated veterans' benefits policies, described the cost of quality benefits for veterans as "hurtful" to national security. The administration subsequently ordered privatization of services, limits on the distribution of benefits, along with higher direct costs for veterans at VA medical facilities.

--Reach Joel Wendland at jwendland@politicalaffairs.net

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

The Palin Emails

03 Sep 2008 10:00 pm

They've leaked, of course. And they're not pretty:

"This trooper is still out on the street, in fact he's been promoted," said a Feb. 7, 2007, e-mail sent from Palin's personal Yahoo account and written to give Monegan permission to speak on a violent-crime bill before the state legislature...

"He's still bragging about it in my hometown and after another cop confessed to witnessing the [moose] kill, the trooper was 'investigated' for over a year and merely given a slap on the wrist," the e-mail said. "Though he's out there arresting people today for the same crime!"

"He threatened to kill his estranged wife's parent, refused to be transferred to rural Alaska and continued to disparage Natives in words and tone, he continues to harass and intimidate his ex. -- even after being slapped with a restraining order that was lifted when his supervisors intervened," the e-mail said. "He threatens to always be able to come out on top because he's 'got the badge', etc. etc. etc.)"

The key point, however, is that Palin clearly wasn't straightforward in addressing the matter:

Palin has said previously that she discussed Wooten with Monegan only in the context of security concerns for the family. Monegan has said that Palin never directly told him to fire Wooten but that the message was clearly conveyed through repeated messages from Palin, her husband and three members of her Cabinet.

"To allege that I, or any member of my family . . . directed disciplinary action be taken against any employee of the Department of Public Safety, is, quite simply, outrageous," Palin said in a statement in mid-July after Monegan's dismissal.

In August, Palin acknowledged that "pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it."