Election Eve Poem

T'was the night before election and all through the land everyone was wondering, was the election in hand?

"Never!" yelled McCain on TV, "ditto" cried Palin, "there's simply no way our campaign is fail'n."

I sat in my living room, remote by my side, the phone off the hook, I was trying to hide.

When out though the window I heard such a chatter, I went to go see just what was the matter.

I spied out the window and across the great lawn, a mob of angry folks surrounding Sarah and John.

"They're Commies! They're terrorists! They'll tax you to death!" came from the crowd with each angry breath.

"He's Muslim! He's foreign! He's elite even worse!" One yelled the N-word in one spiteful curse.

"Down with Obama, down with Biden, off with their heads! ...The country can't handle them, they're better off dead!"

I stood there in horror, how could this be, but standing there in the middle was Palin smiling with glee.

"Liberals hate America and freedom and folks who love God," exclaimed the VP pick with a wink and a nod.

I couldn't believe the mobs violent reaction and that Sarah's sharp words could have so much virulant attraction.

All I could do is hang my head down in shame, that this once respectable party would play such a game.

These unsavory tactics, they work I confess, but eight years of this crap is what got us in this mess.

The Brown Shirts Return

I know that the majority of Republicans are decent people, but for the love of god, what is happening to the party. It is being overrun by thugs.

I have been to plenty of political rallies, both Democratic and Republican. At both I have seen emotions high,but violent intent seems to be the norm at GOP rallies these days.

In 1995 I went to see Bob Dole speak at a rally. There were some Clinton supporters with signs across the street, but no one payed them attention. In fact, we had prior knowledge that there was one guy who planned on doing a "silent protest" of Dole's policy, so being the snarks we were, a friend and I printed up placards that stated we were protesting silent protests and followed him around... silently, of course.

Now, you take you life in your own hands if you dare show an ounce of decent a Republican rallies. (McCain Miami Rally, Getting Ugly Down Here)

Other rallies, McCain supporters shout out death threats, racial epithets, and other slurs. At one rally, a African-American camera man was called a nigger and told to "sit down boy."

And, it is not only the crowds that are getting belligerent. Elected GOP office holders are telling crowds that, unless you agree with them, you are not a "real American" and that you hate god.

I won't even go as far as associating the skin heads what plotted to kill Obama with the GOP even though, I am fairly certain they were not voting Democratic this year.

This whole thing is like some strange convergence of McCarthyism and Brown Shirt intimidation tactics. The GOP is in tatters now and I would be ashamed to be associated with a party that has sunk so low. There is nothing constructive coming out of the GOP these days, only destructive behavior to tear down everybody instead of building anyone up.

If you are a Republican reading this, get a hold of your party. It is decending into chaos and your candidates are leading the charge.

Stones and Glass Houses

Sarah Palin went into pit bull mode yesterday, attacking Obama for sitting on the same non-profit board as former Vietnam era radical, william Ayers. In addition to sitting on the same boards, Ayers also hosted a "get to know the candidate" coffee in his home in 1995, before Obama knew of Ayers past dealing. Obama has called Ayers actions "despicable" and has completely repudiated Ayers and his Vietnam era organization. For this, Palin is saying that Obama is "palling around with terrorist!" She further went on to say that "This is not a man who sees America as you and I do -- as the greatest force for good in the world."

On the inverse, Sarah Palin's husband, Todd Palin, was a registered member of the Alaska Independence Party which advocates the overthrowing of the U.S. government in Alaska and its secession from the union. Todd was a registered member of the party from 1995 to 2000.

Joe Vogler, the party's founder stated "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government." He also said, "And I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home."

Not only was Todd an active member of the party, Sarah Palin spoke at their party's convention in 2000 where she never once disagreed with their platform and actually told them to "keep up the good work."

I guess Todd doesn't see the good old U.S. of A. the same way as the rest of us do "as the greatest force for good in the world" either... and for that matter, I guess, neither does Sarah Palin...

So, while Obama had a passing acquittance with Bill Ayers a long time ago, Sarah Palin sleeps with a traitor to the United States every night.

So, hey, if you are going to throw stones...


Analysis: Palin's words may backfire on McCain

McCain will Continue Presidential Secrecy

McCain has always promised an open and transparent government if he is elected president. After almost 8 years of some of the most secretive government policies under the Bush administration, an open and honest government seems like only a fanciful dream to most of us. 8 years ago, I would have believed McCain was the type of man to tell the American people the truth.

Unfortunately, the McCain of 2000 is not the McCain of 2008. We are already seeing signs that the McCain/Palin ticket would continue the secretive, dishonest and obstructionist policies favored by the Bush administration.

Issue one - McCain has been called to the mat by nearly every organization and publication out there for being dishonest in his campaign. Even FackCheck.org had to publish a response to McCain's deceptive and misleading ads. Karl Rove, the king of deception has even called McCain's ads misleading and have gone "too far". Is it possible for anyone to sink below the level of the Bush administration? Apparently so.

Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads

Issue two - Toopergate. Many partisans claim that this is a politically motivated investigation, but it must be reiterated that the investigation into Palin's abuse of power commenced long before she was chosen as McCain's running mate. Even if Palin is completely innocent of all charges, the attempt to subvert the investigation is clearly following the same path as the CIA/Plame leak investigation. McCain is already trying to control information available to the American people by taking control of the documentation. This is a state issue that should not be controlled by a national campaign. This only proves that McCain believes in Bush obstructionism. As the republicans always say, if you have nothing to hide than allow open access to prove your innocence.

McCain campaign clamps down on questions in Alaska

Alaska AG: State employees won't honor subpoenas

Palin unlikely to speak with investigator

Issue three - Openness subversion. Palin has already proven herself to be following in the footsteps of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney by using non-official email accounts to conduct official state business. In an attempt to leave no official paper trail on Palin's connections with lobbyists and crony capitalism, Palin uses a Yahoo account to conduct state business behind closed doors. This is the same tactic Rove and Cheney used to conduct national business without leaving an electronic trail that could be subpoenaed by the American people.

How Transparent Will Palin Be?

Issue four - Open door policy. McCain once championed the media as his biggest base. now that they are actually holding him accountable for his actions, McCain has closed the door to public access for both himself and Palin. Bush held the same philosophy of avoiding having to answer to the American people. A president cannot deny access due solely to the fact that the press might ask a difficult or probing question.

McCain campaign keeps Palin under wraps

Dems hit McCain on access

McCain has flipped from being a champion of open government to a champion of Bush secrecy and obstructionism. Eight years of this policy has lead to disastrous results. Another four years is not going to get any better.

John McCain Begins Push Polling

Not only has the "honorable" John McCain been called a liar by about every fact checking organization out there...

Not only has Karl Rove, the king of sleazy politics called John McCain a big fat liar... Rove: McCain went 'too far' in ads

Now McCain has started using the very lowest of the lowest tactics in U.S. politics...

McCain has decided to use the very thing that he derided about the Bush campaign in 2000...

John McCain is now push polling...

Jewish voters are receiving phone calls from purported "pollsters", except, the pollsters don't want to ask them there opinion, they want to shape their opinion.

The pollsters are asking

"Would it change your mind about Obama if you knew that his church was anti-Israel? Would it change your mind if you knew that the leaders Hamas had endorsed Obama? Would it change your mind if you knew he had met with the leaders of Hamas?"

I would have never thought that John McCain would ever sink so low. I feel ashamed that I could have ever have considered voting for him. He really has become the evil love child of Tom Delay and Karl Rove.

Jewish voters complain of anti-Obama poll

McCain the Big Fat Liar

I used to have a lot of respect for McCain. He may have even gotten my vote in 2000 had he won the GOP primaries. After 8 years of being around Bush, I guess he has spent too much time within the Bush/Cheney lie machine because he has lost all of his moral and ethical standards since 2000.

Today on "The View", McCain just told flat out lies about his running mate, Sara Palin. He claimed that she has not sought a single cent of earmarks for Alaska as governor even though he knows that she has requested over $200 million in earmarks this year alone.

I guess he has spent so much time with his head up Bush's ass that he is willing to play the same dishonest games as his predecessor.

McCain talks up Palin as a reformer on 'The View'

Palin Charged Rape Victims For Rape Kits

Ok, it is time to get back into the game. I was trying to devote my time to actually making a difference in my community instead of focusing on national politics, but the McCain/Palin campaign has started to so distort truth that I can no longer stand by and be a passive watcher.

Palin is obviously not the person she like to project and she is no friend to women. I had heard rumors that Palin, as mayor, had charged rape victims for a rape kit to be collected, but I finally was able to confirm it.

As an attorney, this is an absolute outrage to justice. To think that you would require a woman who has been raped to pay for the forensic evidence that would be needed to convict the rapist is obscene. If you are poor and can't afford to pay for a rape kit, the rapist will most likely walk away scott free, able to rape again and again.

As the mayor, you are charged with protecting the citizens in you community, but Sara Palin could care less about the safety of women she was elected to protect. This rule was so outrageous, a state wide law had to be passed to ban her policies of charging rape victims seeking justice.

What would have been next for Palin... making the surviving spouse who lost their entire family to a drunk drive pay for the breathalyzer to prove the driver was drunk?

Palin is wrong for women and wrong for America.

Alaska pols: Wasilla charged victims for rape kits

Palin's town used to bill victims for rape kits

Is Obama an Appeaser?

After Bushes speech yesterday, or which I watched most of, the word "appeasement" has been on the rally call of every wignut out there.

This word... I don not think it means what they think it means.

After watching one such blow hard yesterday call Obama an appeaser in almost every other sentence, the host asked the wingnut to define the word appeasement. Of course, he could not. So, here is a little help for you wingnuts out there.

Appeasement has several definitions according to Webster's Dictionary:

1) to bring a state of peace or quiet.

Not a bad thing to have in the middle east in my opinion. Bush likes war and chaos. Me? I am for lower gas prices.

2) to cause to subside

Subsidence of hostilities in the Middle east... oh the horror!

And the third one, and the one that I think Bush and the wingnuts are referring to.

3) pacify, conciliate; especially : to buy off (an aggressor) by concessions usually at the sacrifice of principles.

Ok, not as good as the first to. But lets look at this in context. bush and the wingnuts are comparing Obama to Nevil Chamberlain, former Prime Minister of England. In 1938 Chamberlain attempted to "appease" Hitler by giving a third of Czechoslovakia to Hitler hoping that Hitler would then cease his hostilities. Chamberlain was of course very very wrong.

Now, lets look at Obama. There is a big difference in talking to our enemies and appeasing our enemies in the way that Chamberlain did. You don't have to appease our enemies just by talking to them. If Obama was suggesting that we give half of Israel to the Palestinians in order to stop the fighting, then Obama would be an appeaser. Negotiating with them to settle a dispute is not appeasement.

Bush finally talked to North Korea... Is Bush an appeaser?

If we talk to the government in Khartoum to stop the killing in Darfur, are we appeasers.

When Israel sat down and talked with Egypt, their arch enemies at the time, and negotiated peace, was that appeasement?

McCain himself in 2006 said that we had to deal with Hamas. Is he an appeaser? So did Colon Powell, Jim Baker, Bob Gates.

Seriously people, if you never talk to your enemies, how are you ever going to find solutions other than war? The last thing we need is more of Bush/McCain cowboy diplomacy.

And would someone... Anyone... name me one time that Obama said he would talk to Hamas without them first renouncing violence and recognizing Israel?

Hotel Linda Vista, Costa Rica Travel Scam

I recently enjoyed a nice two week vacation to Costa Rica. If you are at all thinking about traveling to Costa Rica, it is well worth the trip, but there is one thing you should be aware of before booking your hotel in La Fortuna.

The Hotel Linda Vista in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. This hotel is located close to the Arenal volcano. Since this is one of the few hotels located on the side of the volcano where the lava flow can be seen at night, I decided this would be a great hotel to book at. I made on-line reservation and received a confirmation of our booking.

First of all, the Hotel Linda Vista is nowhere near La Fortuna. It is in fact located in El Castillo which is about 55 minutes away from La Fortuna. You have to spend half an hour on a bone jarring dirt/rock road to reach the hotel. The buses only take you to La Fortuna, so you have to hire another bus or taxi to take you the rest of the way.

Second, in reality, it looks nothing like the web-site pictures. It looks more like a cross between a Motel 8 and a tiki bar.

Third, since you are in the middle of nowhere, you are stuck there unless you have a car. You have to eat at their overpriced restaurant because there is nothing else within miles.

Fourth, The volcano has clouds around it most nights, so you can't see the lava flow anyway. Save you money and get a cheaper hotel in La Fortuna and take a night tour if there is a clear evening. It will be a hell of a lot cheaper.

Fifth, when we showed up after a 14 hour day of traveling, they didn't have our reservations and were overbooked. I took out the on-line reservations that I had printed out just for such a situation, but since there is no internet access at the hotel, the desk clerk couldn't "verify" my reservations since the reservations are done with a third party. I asked her to call the booking agent to verify that we had reservations, but "only the manager knows who that is" and the manager was "away" for an indeterminate period of time.

At this point, I figured that there was just some kind of screw up by the booking agent. I was disappointed that I couldn't stay at the hotel, but I was tired and just wanted a room somewhere. So, we asked her to find us a room somewhere else. Without even calling anyone, she said that everywhere is booked up and there is no vacancy anywhere except for one hotel that she knows has room. The only problem is that it was much more expensive.

This is when I began to get suspicious about the situation. I insisted that she call some other hotels that were within our price range. She claimed to called two but lo and behold, there was no answer at either of the hotels. I know this is Costa Rica, but still at least one of the two hotels should have someone answering.

At this point, I figured the best thing to do would be to go back to La Fortuna where there are a huge number of hotels and travel agents and just find something there, but since we are in the middle of nowhere, there is no public transportation, we are stuck there. It would be at least an hour and a half before we could get a taxi to come pick us us and than it is another 55 minutes back to town. I have been up since 4am and it is now 6pm.

The desk clerk was willing to provide us transportation to the one hotel she said had vacancy, but only to that hotel. We had no other option but to take the much more expensive hotel. I knew we were getting scammed, but what else could we do at this point.

In the back of my mind, I still hoped that the desk clerk was being truthful and that everything else was booked up, but that hope was completely dashed when I saw the very same desk clerk working at the more expensive hotel she had re-booked us at that very evening.

The next day, we went back into La Fortuna and were easily able to find another much cheaper hotel, but not without being out a substantial chunk of change. I have no idea how much the kick back was for the Hotel Linda Vista, but at the price we paid at the other hotel, it much have been big.

So, if you are looking to go to see Arenal volcano, there are much better options than the Hotel Linda Vista. It is over priced for what you get and they scam you if they can. If you really want to stay on the lava flow side of the volcano, book at the Volcano Observatory Lodge. The prices are less for most rooms and the view is better.

Huckabee Offically a Whack Job

While I would have never voted for Mike Huckabee in a general election pretty much regardless of who the Democratic nominee was, I had always thought that he was somewhat respectable. I don't agree with his politics 90% of the time, but you can disagree with someone while still having some respect for them.

Well, that respect is completely gone now, and Mike Huckabee has officially moved into the Kool-aid drinking, wingnuttery end of the Republican party in my book.

It turns out that back in 1992, well after we understood how HIV/AIDS was transmitted, Huckabee advocated rounding up all of the Americans living with HIV/AIDS and detaining them until they quietly died so they could not accidentally breath on us or something and infect the entire world.

Not only that, but he also said that no federal funding should be spent on research on a vaccination or cure for the disease.

at first I figured that he would come out saying something about how his ideas had changed and that Americans living with HIV/AIDS are not the dirty little homosexual or drug shooting beasts he had once thought they were, but Huckabee decided to stick by his 1992 comments.

It is disgusting to think any leader of this country to think that way and advocate locking away hundreds of thousands of sick Americans just be cause he thinks he can catch it by touching a hand rail or using the same restroom.

But, that is what you get from the party that has brought us 7 years of Bush.

Today on the presidential campaign trail

Scott McClellan Point Plame Finger at Bush

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while... a really long while, but there is nothing like deceit from the Bush administration to spur me back to action.

Scott McClellan, former Bush press secretary is coming out with a new book in April. He has release some parts of it to give us a teaser. He takes the president and his staff to task for knowingly passing along untrue information to him in regards to the Plame national treason matter where the Bush administration released classified information in order to enact revenge against Joe Wilson.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

"There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."

So, not only is the Bush administration a traitor to the national security of this country for nothing more than political vendetta, it also is an out right traitor to the trust of the American people. But that is just par for the course for America's worst president.

Full Story

Doctors Attempt to Locate George Bush's Head

George Bush will undergo a colonoscopy this Saturday at Camp David which will require him to relinquish control of the presidency to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bush will be undergoing the procedure so doctors can attempt to extract President Bush's head from his ass.

Dr. Mark Wittenberg, White House Physician, will be performing the procedure on the President. "It is a fairly complicated procedure," explained the Dr., "at this point we don't know how far up his ass his head actually is or if we will be able to remove it successfully." Doctors became concerned about the presidents head up his ass due to the length of time it has been inserted. While the president has been known to stick his head up his ass on many occasions, usually it was never for more than a week at a time. But this currently, Bush's head last went up his ass April 21st, 2005 and has not been seen since.

"Sticking your head up your ass is a fairly common occurrence for politicians," further explained the Dr., "but it is only safe in moderation. You can't breath in there and you need to remove your head every once in a while to get a breath of fresh air. At this point, the presidents head has been up his ass so long that, at minimum, he has suffered severe brain damage. He might actually be dead at this point and we wouldn't even know it until we get the camera in there to see. At this point, our only hope is that his head is so far up his ass that he has actually made it up to the trachea and is able to get some air that way. While we have never seen someone with their head so far up their asses as to be able to do this, it would explain a lot about his policy decisions."

Prior attempts to get Bush's head out have been unsuccessful. Laura Bush has attempted to cajole Georges head out numerous times and Dr.s have tried using lubrication and a crow bar, but Bush is either unwilling or unable to get his head out of his ass. Bush was responsive to outside stimuli as late as December of 2006. Doctors could hear President Bush giggle if they placed a stethoscope on his abdomen and than told him a fart joke. Unfortunately, the president has been unresponsive to even 3rd grade underwear jokes during his last two examinations.

This story, unfortunately, is not limited to only the president explained Dr. Wittenberg. "We have seen an epidemic of people with their heads up there ass over the last 5 years." Recent estimates from the CDC place the number of Americans with the heads up there ass anywhere from 27-31% of the American population. While the numbers are high, this is down from approximately 51% of the population with their heads up their ass in November of 2004. "We are making progress," claimed the Dr., "but we still have a long way to go. While most of the American people have woken up to the dangers of leaving their heads up there ass, there is still a huge number of people that have been living with this condition for a very long time. We hope to be able to educate these remaining citizens so they too may once again live an ass free existence.

"Cross your fingers and pray," asked Dr. Wittenberg of the American people in regards to the presidents procedure, "Neither the president or the American people can survive much longer with the presidents head up his ass."

Bush to have colonoscopy at Camp David

Bush Will Temporarily Hand Reins To Cheney