Such a great interview with Biden (with Katie Couric):
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4493093n
A profile of McCain- his two nickames were Punk or McNasty. This may foreshadow what we see in the coming weeks....
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/21/MNOT12K0TR.DTL
The media is barred from reporting about the devastation from Hurricane Ike.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/15/hurricane-ike-media/
That's a quote from the librarian in Wasslia, AK.
Here's the NY Times story from today, Sunday, Sept. 14.:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?em
Fascinating and complete bio:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/14/MN9A12H3UJ.DTL
From an Obama supporting veteran:
I would like take a moment to address your concerns about Barack Obama's service and his dealing with the military. As you are an Independent, I would like to tell you a little of my story. I am a West Point grad, Vietnam Veteran, with 9 years active duty before I resigned my commission. I then went to work for FMC Corporation and was the Roll Out Manager for the Bradley. I worked for various defense companies until I moved to Austin with Tracor which is now BAE Defense Systems. Burned out on defense, I moved into recruiting and headed up Technical Recruiting for Management Recruiters of Austin for eleven years, worked for Apple for two years and owned a parent teacher retail store for 4 years. Up until 2001 I was a card carrying Goldwater Conservative. So like you I was disillusioned with my party and left it. I voted for Kerry in 2004 and was absolutely distressed when he lost. During all of this time, both as a Conservative and as an Independent/Democrat I never really got involved in the election campaigning process. I blame that on my background of apolitical government and military involvement. Last Mother's day that changed. A good friend and classmate, Col(ret) now Dr. Andrew Bacevich at Boston University has been advocating against the way our military has been used in Iraq and other places around the world. He has written several books and been on Charlie Rose and Bill Moyer's Journal. On Mother's Day he and his wife were informed that his son had been killed in Iraq by an IED. At that point I decided I had to get involved to change the course that our country is on. Initially I supported Joe Biden but quickly it became apparent to me that Barack was the guy we needed. There are many reasons for my decision but your question was about the military and veterans so let me address where Barack stand on these issues. 1. As you know he has opposed the Iraq War from day 1. He did not feel that there was justification for putting troops in harms way and he said so openly. The Bush Administration manufactured reasons for the invasion and these reasons have changed as each one has proven to be false. But the point is that Barack Obama will not use military forces lightly which means he will not put our men and women in harms way unless absolutely necessary to protect the security of the United States of America. 2. There is a perception or meme created out of constant repetition that Republicans are better at national security than Democrats. The truth both from a historical point of view and modern history could not be farther from the truth. Democratic Administrations managed the largest military build up the world has ever seen during WWII. which we won. Since that war no war has been "won" by American forces including my own war, the Vietnam War. But let us look at the present conflicts. Afghanistan was almost a win but at the last moment we took the pressure off and switched our focus and manpower to Iraq so that now 7 years after 9/11 we still haven't caught the masterminds of the attack and they have reconstituted their forces. Iraq invasion is now 6 years old and we are still there. WWII did not take that long. The fact is we defeated Saddam and his military forces easily and Pres Bush declared Victory. If we had left then our loss of life would have been much smaller as well as the toll this war has taken on the morale and retention rates of the Army and Marine Corp professionals not to mention the Army Reserves and National Guard. The Republicans can no longer claim that they end the wars that Democrats start. McCain will continue the Bush policies and will keep the existing civilian leadership at State and the Defense Department that has managed this mess. Barack will clean house. 3. Veterans Benefits-McCain has consistently voted against increasing veteran's benefits which have been cut well below those that I enjoyed after the Vietnam War. Barack joined with Senator Jim Webb to get a new Veterans' Bill through Congress. McCain voted against it! And this was not the first time. Barack Obama has made a pledge to stand by veterans and he has matched his words with actions. McCain says he does but votes just the opposite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NpP5zgc6qo 4. Barack Obama is comfortable with the troops. John McCain is comfortable with the Brass. This is just the opposite of what you would think. but you can see it on news coverage of the troop visits that each have made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smXwiGOCDXg Well, I tried to find video of McCain with troops but couldn't find anything but he and Sarah Palin not the same thing. 5. Afghanistan and Iraq troops stationed abroad are donating to the Obama campaign at 6 to 1 ratio. http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/08/troops-deployed-abroad-give-61.html I could go on but there is much more on Barack's website. If you have a moment please go take a look. http://www.barackobama.com/issues/veterans/ One final point is that Barack Obama will stand by his word. He will not say one thing and do another. He may have to compromise like he did on drilling to get moving on energy. But he will not say one thing and then vote just the opposite. Perhaps the John McCain that I supported in 2000 would have done the same but the McCain of today is not the same man. John McCain earned our respect and honor for his time as a POW, he did not earn the Presidency of the United States. When you see how he has advocated the use of force and how he consistently votes against Veteran funding it is really hard to think that he has the best interests of the military and veterans at heart. Please join us in any capacity that you can. I think once you meet the people supporting Obama you will understand our commitment and excitement. Thank you for your time. Look forward to seeing you.
Mark Morford writes a column for the SF Chronicle. Fair warning, this is not entirely appropriate for younger readers (and by the way if any younger readers are reading my blog, RIGHT ON!)
But more seriously, he is talking about Bush's quote: "Fellow citizens, if the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will." -- George W. Bush, RNC '08
See how they do that- insinuating that anyone who is not going with the flow (AKA GOP) is just an angry, mis-led semi-deliquent. Anyway, Morford responds here....
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/09/05/notes090508.DTL
From Slate, Saturday, Sept. 6
There were bleak tidings, meanwhile, from the government's latest national unemployment report: the Los Angeles Times leads, and everyone fronts, news that joblessness hit a five-year high in August, shedding 84,000 jobs to reach 6.1 percent. The new figures, which brought total job losses for the year to more than 600,000, were markedly worse than had been anticipated, dashing hopes that the economy would recover in the second half of 2008 and confirming that the country's economic jitters have spread beyond the housing and financial sectors. "These are really ugly numbers," said one economist. "Things are going to get worse before they get better."
I think this could be on an Obama campaign t-shirt, except it would depress the hell out of everyone...
I went to McCain-Palin site to find out more about what John has to say about education. What I found was a lot of vague applause-line type statements that seem aimed at riling some people up, not providing actual ideas.
Here's an example:
If a school will not change, the students should be able to change schools. John McCain believes parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. He finds it beyond hypocritical that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe. They can make another choice. John McCain believes that is a fundamental and essential right we should honor for all parents.
The above paragraph does not say anything about what we will do to help the school change. I think he might be referring to Obama with "refuse to allow public school parents to chooose their child's school". That especially gets to me because I am in a similar situation, and that hypocrit label has been applied to me. Here's what gives me hope- Obama is already building grassroot leaderships groups so that WE CAN CHANGE the schools that exist, not give up on them and in effect take them down.
Obama gives me hope, also, because he understands that one of the biggest problems with our education system is not what is happening, but what ISN'T happening from ages 0-3. One important step to improving our children's chances for success is supporting their brain development. Obama led the way on early childhood education programs in Illinois.
More soon on education and change.
In this blog entry, it is actually the comments section that has the most fascinating information. Anne Kikenny, who has known Sarah Palin for years and in her words, attended almost all the city council meetings during Sarah's time as mayor, comments here. You must scroll down to read her clear and honest post.
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate
Here is an article which will give you the truth behind the attacking speech made by Gov. Palin at the RNC.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/uselections/2008/09/palin-and-suppo.html
When was the last time someone in Washington offered to spend two days giving you tools to make a difference? That's pretty much what happened with Camp Obama. I learned how to tell my story, became a deputy voter registrar and got a crash course in leading people towards a common goal. In this blog I will track what the outcome of all this : )
