Alaska Action Team

Sharing my notebook

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:13:01 EST

"Hospice supports the best possible care to assist patients live as comfortably as possible, for as long as possible. Moreover, Hospice does not promote euthanasia, nor engage in physician assisted suicide. Hospice promotes a patient right to choice about all end of life care decisions."

Sharing my notebook

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:09:05 EST

"Misunderstanding - Hospice is Depressing.

Fact - The two most common fears of people facing the ending of life are suffering and abandonment. Hospice primary goal is to evaluate each individual's cause of suffering.

Moreover - Hospice is a community of professional as well as volunteer experts, that are trained to bring the latest medical and most humanistic care to each patient.

Hospice embraces the patient, the family, and the community in an effort to support an individual's quality of life and end of life decision making.

Hospice makes a difference in the quality of life and the quality of death."

Sharing my notebooks with you'll

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:01:05 EST

Common misunderstandings about Hospice care.

"Misunderstanding - hospice is a place where people go to die.

Fact - Hospice is both a philosophy of care and a program of service delivery.

Hospice can be implemented wherever a patient is - at home - in a nursing home - in a hospital,

Hospice is also a comprehensive continuum of care involving home care and inpatient care provided through an interdisciplinary team."

Dear God I am sinking fast! This is not a funeral i just took down a poster of a dog owner I love!

Lillene Ebanks — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:08:44 EST

Stop my tears! I could not cry at Leila's funeral so not now! I am sick! What is my problemV Just a mountain lonely as al the hopes and dreams are going to firetrucks and greenB It is three AM and I am a little Moore Country than that Cassanova Cowboy! Those water dogs will always make you cry! What is a cure for that? Snow and Ice will will make those slay bells ring, slay dog races and oil pipelines plumbing are you crying yet? No moore tailgating in this town cassanova cowboy! I am praying for a little moore country than that!Pay backs!? Are AB x C B D itch! Se dogs ! Sullendly, I decided , "1e must stop meeting like this" at funerals that is where I needed tears and since when it counted I had no tears like hell if I will let another cassanova cowboy elicit tham now! No I wait on no one but God so the first little special education book that comes my way I intend to sell my tears for a pretty penny this time! I will never give them away again or let them be stolen from me eighter cassanova cowboy for I am a little Moore Country than that tonight! My dad' favorite dog was an Alascan Huskey who ate ribeye stakes as we made $300,000 anually then so I will go right back to a more posperous Gulf Oil Texas Tea period in my history to dry up my tears!

Sharing notes and wisdom

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:50:06 EST

Children and Adults need vaccines for continued protection -so, the best thing to do is to ask you Health provider RN or Medical doctor what vaccines do you need to stay healthy and prevent diseases.

Health Care Is Most Important For All.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:42:23 EST

Well, is like this, in order to be able to work and have some money first you have to be strong and healthy. You see if your health is not well and you can not afford your medicines or to see the doctor you will not be strong and healthy to work hard and earned a living. It just like this.

Health Care is most important for a good economy and success of our America.

You all see Why Health Care and Wellness is So Important.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:33:34 EST

Health care is the most important part of any individual, for we all get sick at times and we all grow older etc... and without health care small illness can become a big problem and can even mean death. So in my opinion Health care is more important then money. You can have all the money in the world but richness will not prevent you from catching sickness specially a lot of rich people catch cancer from over eating at fancy restaurants. Moreover Health care can mean the difference between life and death, between having a long life and not. etc....

So, I think what the President is trying to do about health care for all is very wise. Our President is a smart caring person.

sincerely

Yb-lem

New Obama Group Forming 'AmericaNOchange'

Al Boek — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:42:29 EST

Fellow President Obama Supporters and Former Ones"

AS the founder of the Obama Group named YESWECANSOLVEIT...

I have taken the liberty of forming still another group called

AmericaNOchange. I doubt this one gets approved.

Thought I'd better hurry and write this and send it to all groups that

I am still a member of before I am banned here forever. Why would

that happen? you ask. Because I just formed a new group with a little

kid yelling "Hey You" while flipping off the viewer. Hope the president

and his staff gets the message.

The esculation of the war in Aftganistan is the last straw. Three strikes

your out!

First, he keeps the same people on the payroll that got us into this

financial disaster. He let's Bush and Cheney walk scot-free. He continues

to bail out the banks, "all too big to fail" why they screw us in every way.

And tonight on national tv he will try to convience us all that the way to

end the war in Aftganistan is to exculate it. This did not work in Vietnam,

I know, because I volunteered to go there, and it will not work in Aftganistan.

To add insult to injury. The powers that be, the ones backing McCain in

my city in Northern California, are all meeting to determine what the same

good ole boys get to do with local stimulus funds...So my question is?

WHAT THE HELL HAS CHANGED IN AMERICAN PRESIDENT OBAMA?

I am so damned mad right now, I swear, if I could afford it, I'd trade in

my next presidential ballot for a passport.

Al Boek, Ex-Supporter of a One-Term President

earlallenboek@yahoo.com

530-549-4315

Redding, California

Our Favorite Thanks given Song goes something like this...

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:06:20 EST

Maata Putra se' Pyaar

Chorus: Maata putra se' pyaar

Kiya hai jitana

Kown karega itanaa (2X)

1) Now maheenee uddar me raakha

Jab duniya me' aayaa

Sardee Lage'gee chaadar

orhaos-kar

Stan doodh pilaay aa -Chorus

2) Thapak Thapak Kar

Sukh se' sulaayaa

Gaa Kar surla Bhajana

Bee maar pare' jab, Vaidya

Bulaakar (2X)

Aushadh paan karaaya

Kown karega itanaa -Chorus

3)Javaan bhaye' jab shaadee karnaa

Tab tak prem na chhoote'

Maataa ki mamtaa, aisee baree hai

Saagar bara hai Jitana.

Chorus: Kown Karega Itanaa.

Happy Thanksgiven day President Obama and Family from all of us in Richmond Hill.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:40:59 EST

Happy Thanksgiven Holiday my President Barack Obama to you and to the First lady and to your precious little girls from me and my ill health husband John Mike and our family and my daughters Elizabeth and Melbicita and from my son Cesitar and from my hopefuly future son in law Blanco and from my mom Melby B. Montalvo and my dad Rev. Walter Montalvo and from my spiritual didi Taramati Sukhdeo and from all our family and friends - you are doing a great Job Keep up the good work Big Brother Barack, we all love you and your family, may God Bless you and keep up the good work.

God Bless you always.

Your Humble friend and servant always

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Oskowitz aka Mary.

Raising the Royal Standard: The State Opening of the British Parliament by Queen Elizabe....th II

Lillene Ebanks — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:16:26 EST

On the 500th anniversary of the State Opening of Parliament and this is the 58th Parliament opened by Queen Elizabeth II.My heart watched with love and pride as Queen Elizabeth II walked ever so regally wearing a white gown, a long red train trimmed in cream and gold, and on her natural white hair was one of the three symbols of the Power Of the Crown over the longest Empire in history-for civil servants it means the Perogrative Powers of the Queen! Thank your Your Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for granting the honor and privelege to serve Your Majesty as the Learning and Behaviour Disorder Specialist/ Special Education Director for Cayman Brac Public Schools for five wonderful years and serving as Facilitator for Strategic Planning for Education in the Cayman Islands. As an self apponinted Teacup princess who cried over a stamp with your picture when I had the privilege of openening and inspectin mail with the royal stamp at Polunski Death row in Livingston, Texas it was worth enduring the trial of a survical strain at the hands of a ranking Sargent to cry over your stamp that I had not seen in forty years. Thank you for thinking of the discrimination endured by women worldwide competing for equal pay and equal promotions yet enduring discriminatory situations, Your concern for this was evident in your speech you made it a priority to reduce discrimination and inequality! In addition, you wanted to foster growth by employment for young people, and to build trust to further promote democratic countries. There was a significant emphasis on cambating climate change at cope with global warming and looking forward to the Summit in Copenhagenm This is the 60th anniversary year of the Commonwealth nation which I did not quite comprehend. You spoke of the need to reduce debt and to introduce a bill to help those in need in their homes. You made it a priority to raise educational stantards, You placed the burden on parents not tax payers to control youth antisocial behavior that leads to gang violence, Your priority was to promote advances in technology. You wanted a bill help energy and a billto improve the rail between London and ScotlandM I heard that the rail system is so clean and safe which is an asset of not having a Constitutional right to bear arms then you will not be gunned down and assisinations like President Kennedy where First Lady Jackie had to walk and go through an inauguration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson wearing her pink blood stained dress and the assasinated president's brains still on her watch as she gave to her countryLthe least I coud do" unable to cry she stood so regally with her crowning glory her pink pill box hat in a ceremony marking the peaceful transfer of power! God bless America and God Save the Queen! Equality will be a goal and tackeling discrimination by reducing the differences between men and women's payAnd adding paid holidays. You wanted to have a bill strengthen the law against bribery. In the US we have lobbyist and I equate that with bribery as the interest of the wealthy tobacco , gambling, insurance companiesand pharmacuetical companies has stopped Health Care Legislation for centuries! My sister in law wants it to pas so she can get her smile and her front teethM I remember as a child waiting for Dr. Edilin your government dentist to come to give us whatever we needed in dental care, For those who were afraid of the needles and had long roots that required streength to extract my grand father was a dentist and he would extract then in the raw. I would sit in the flower tree and watch knowing he never used his skill on his family as we could only use the British paid dentist. You went on to say that your support for Ireland's police, justice and succes was a priority. You wanted to give more power to Whales. You wanted peace in the Middle East like I do! You wanted peace and democracy in Afghanistan, Pakickistan. You mentioned Iran and North Korea I am not sure what you said but I think it was probably to start complying with requests for neucular disarmament.You wanted one percent spent on international development. Her Majesty as you wore your purple crown and the Duke of Eddingburg wore the sword and his royal Navy cap the three symbols of the Power of the crown which were later each placed together in a coach and returned tothe Tower of England for safe keeping! You left the Chamber pass Prince's Chamber to House of Lords where your Members of Parliament, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown were. There were regal men in red like on my tea cup but I missed the other cup with Queen Elizabeth I and the plates of Prince Charles Wedding and the christening of Prince Harry with a royal seal. I pray I will have the money should the gift appear again as they mean so much to me! The royal quards wore suits of red, white, and black trimmmed in gold.The Royal Milirary presence was so much an important part of the ceremony. Then it was a time to cry as I realized all the Cinderella fairy tail pumpkin coaches and mice horses were real life in your world as you get to be the Cinderella we dream about! You sat so regally in your coach with three horsemen in the bach and on in front.The. BBC commentators summarized your speech as 1) cutting the financial deficit,2) how to regulate the financial budget, 3) care for elderly,4) improve education, 5) help people in need in their own homes, utilities, and social care. The political issues will be should we cut disable benefits. This is a difference between the two parties- Conservatives and Tudors. If I am not accuarate I live in the US and I am doing this ad lib. BBC Sarah Teather Liberal Democrat was concerned about cutting benefits for the disabled. I recall that the Duke of Eddingburg wore a black suit a white sailor cap trimmed in black bill gold trim- think this cap is one of the three symbols of Power with the purple crown and the sword, I am learing too America! The Sovern Standard was lowered as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edingburg's coach passed while we heard "God saved the our gracious Queen. Long live our noble Queen. God saved our Queen. Saved her victious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us. /od saved our Queen". The Queen was taken to Buckinham Palace and the Imperial State Crown, the Sword of State and Cap of the Royal Navy (?) the three symbols of the Power of Crown rode in a coach for the 500th anniversary of the opening of Parliment. The coach used was Queen Alexandria's State Couch. The Tower is full of legleslative documents covering five centuries. The regalia. From the House of Calgery Regiment Escort with Irish guards was a sight to beholdB Angus Robertson of the Scottish National Party (Moray)said that in the General Election the MP's that did not do their job will be accountable! A BBC commentator wondered if there would be discussion on legislation for gay, lesbian and blacks. God there are mighy casual about it I guess they have a long way to grow! Then again I never traveled to The British Isle with my British passport! A lady BBC Commentator said Harriet worked to secure gender equality including women discrimination at work.all her life! Chris Grayling Conservative said it was all about the Labor Party's Manefesto. They did not deliver in 12 years and is not espected to now! The concerns were equality, arms, trade, child poverty, environmental aspect of sustanibility of planet and the Summet in Copenhagen according to the young people from Burmingham University. Some thought that in 12 years they party in office has blown it. BBC commentator Robertson said the pubic will demand their interest is paid attention to. The people want change if government do not live in their world and work to help young people find jobs, care for the elderly, reduce disruptive antisocial behaviior, provide help for people in their homes then they will vote for a change. Some estates are blighted by gangs Sarah Teather said the government did nothing in 12 years under Gordon Brown but this view was rejected by the other lady bBC commentator who said that it was untrue as two bills dealibg with the financial sector was in the Queen's speech written by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Big Ben was in the backgroung ringing what time is it? Time to stop discrimination of women and ineqyality worldwide! Did women fare better under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's terms? This was in the 1980's when President Regan and soviet Union 's leader Michel Gorbochof were in charge and the Berlin Wall Fell downM we want a woman president and our Berlin Wall of 230 or more years to crumble too!

Prayers To Shree Ganesha DiDi Taramati and Me Yb-lem.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:18:09 EST

Om eka dantaya vidmahe, Vakratundaye dheemahi tanno danti prachodayat.

Om gananantwa ganapati gwam hwa mahe, Priyanatwa priyapati gwam hawa mahe.

Priyanatwa priyapati gwam hawa mahe

Nidhi nantwa nidhipati gwan hawa mahe

Vyaso mamah ahm ajni garbadham

Atwamajasi garbadham.

Om vakratunda mahakaya

Sen. McCain you complain about what is not in the legislation- medical malpractise insurance so why not vote to debate it and let the majority decide on it in a democratic supply and demamnd Capitalism two party system!

Lillene Ebanks — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:50:52 EST

We the people will win!

Since it is not proper for presidential candidates to blame others , I will say that Hollywood destroyed Vice President candidate Sarah Palin to exploit women and she was not allowed to be herself!

Lillene Ebanks — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:49:41 EST

I am for women as I want a woman to be president as forty four men does not a democracy make! We are pushing democracy worldwide when Germany, England are so much more democratic in their top leadership roles. Even Afghanastan has a woman in parliment! I still can not get to grips with racial slurs at all women like "You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig!"

The Way I See It.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:53:37 EST

It is true that this are hard economical times, but I believe that the country is doing a bit better than last year. There is so much that still needs to be done but 2008 was much worst than now, for instance, there was more unemployment and layoff and or companies going bankrupt and out of bussiness, now at least things are a little better, true not much better like everyone would like it to be but there is much hope, and with hard work and continues effort everyone goals can be reach, and yes there is much hope.

Thank You President Obama for Caring

and for all your words of encoragement and wisdom.

Sincerely,

Your Humble friend

Yb-lem

President Obama You are doing a good job you are a Good President.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:28:16 EST

God bless my president Obama always for he is a good person and he is not racist.

Yb-lem aka Mary

Sharing Wisdom

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:43:41 EDT

Thank you for all your prayer for my mother, she is doing much better, but her face is still twisted, the Doctor said it is called Bel Paralises that she has in her side of her face and that with therapy her face might become normal again, for now the one side of her face is still with no mobility and she can't close much one of her eyes and her mouth is to the one side of her face and talks a little different than before but still clear enough to be understood. For now thank God her sugar level is under control eventhough she is still craving sweets, like cookies, ice cream and cake wich she can not eat, and I try my best not to let her eat sweets. My mom sick and all she still going around to temples all over the community with her walker and being active in God volunteer service and lending an ear to others even from her sick bed with the phone next to her. She is a strong lady God bless her and my dad always my dad is a Reverend and he got diabetis too but they are good people and I love my parents that God has given me and I look after them.

Sincerely

Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz

Blessed Be.

Thank you again for your prayers

Senator Liberman I Hope you Vote for Immigration reform to benefit those American Indians even if you go against yor voters who want a government option just to get mre pharmucital and insurance money for your wife and campaign contributions!

Lillene Ebanks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:27:39 EDT

Senator Liberman, if you continue selling your voters down the tubes on health care so you can benefit the pharmacutical and insurance companies who give you comtributions and hire your wife. Your pharmusital stocks won you some cash today for trashing healthcare while 68 percent of your constitucients desire a public option in health care. To your votrs you sold out for your personal financial gain and a pig winfall for the insurance companies and pharmacutical companies! Vote him out Connetticut in 2010. Congressman Biberman since President Obama allowed you to be the Chairman for the Homeland Security, we Latinos and American Indians may not be your constitutients and you may sell us out too but since no one will pay you to do it you may be just the vote we need to maintain the Latino votes for President Obama in 2012! - will watch! (Hank you MSNBC for some real news are you listening Hannity and Beck? Not pictures of gorillas and a pretty low cut dress on a President Hoover republican great great grand daughterB

The CIA have been funding the brother of the President of Afganastan for decades and it is believed Carzi's brother is the head drug dealer and the Taliban benefit from drug revenue: President Obama Our prayers go with you as you decide if our military

Lillene Ebanks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:43:16 EDT

I got it from MSNBC and I am still thinking and I understand why you wait before you do what England does not think is necessary! Does England value their tax payer's money and military more than we do? England has the same threat from the Taliban and both countries need oil! London has better subways to cut down on the need for cars. We are getting closer but we have many hurdles with lobbying legal!

MSNBC how can you compare Gov. Palin's book to the Memoir of presidents and First Lady Laura Bush"s: that shows how close she came to the white House to be in such a distinguished catagory of leaders!

Lillene Ebanks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:11:00 EDT

Let' go ladies break that glass cleing and be the first woman president! If a man had a rib eye steak he would eat it and give his wife and kids potatoes but if A woman had a steak all her fourteen kids would eat stake tips and gravy over rice! /et a woman president so everyone can have some steak gentlemen or cowboys!

Levi you canKt grow a mustache so why go in playgirl or are you trying to get child support money or is your baby being raised by Gov. Palin?

Lillene Ebanks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:58:39 EDT

Grow a mouthstache and get some credibility Levi!

Congressman Grayson Should be Impeached or His Salary Attached for calling women a "K Street Whore" we do not need an appoint as you are paid to talk! Your face looks so slusbucketish!

Lillene Ebanks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:19:12 EDT

Lobbyist are detestable but women are not whores, pigs, beavers so Fox stop degrading women selling insulting caps and pretending to respect women.Fox Beaveer caps give them to your wife and mother for mother's d) and your wedding anniversary and soften your hard head a knotch or two Foxnews.com producers and newsmen!

Qhat do you think Gov Palin should any woman who felt institutionally raped by Letterman to keep her job be covered for her abortion?

Lillene Ebanks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:06:32 EDT

Skumbucket letterman insulting women and girls and being a pushyt rapist boss? Abortion is better than crying for the rest of your life dealing with his money! It does not feel too good to be laughed at does it skumbuckt Letterman?

This Tribute Goes out To Alan Jackson For Standing Up for Women, God and Country; Not Like that nameless long haired Sleesebucket Texan Whose video won the CMT award in 2008 for the video "I wanna marry for money" ! Alan Jackson"s "Sissy"s Song" is classi

Lillene Ebanks — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:57:14 EDT

Nameless country singer laughing at old women!Vengence is mine I will repay says the Lord! Michael Jackson's songs never devalued women. People who use their talents! which are gifts from God, to lift humanity will be remembered forever. Did Elvis Presley ever devalue women? Never! Women all over the world keep his picture as a comfort! So sleezebucket singers will lose their memory in the mind of the women they tear up emotionally in their male egotistic quest to stomp on old women! Well! Family Dollar sells cheap toilet paper but let us boycott them to as they promoted his ugly repulsive life size posters in their front door letting customer know that they value this nameless Texan country singer who sang "I am gonna marry for money" over the cash their customers generate! This is our fight and you are making it harder for us and so is CMT by awarding sleesysongs that devalue women and glorify male egotistical men who use women and laugh about it!!

Do Not Forget the Latino aka American Indian votes when planning the next Legislative or Executive move: Gone are the days of leading us with carrot sticks to get votes and then forgetting promises!

Lillene Ebanks — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:26:02 EDT

A promice is a promice unless it is made to American Indians by the American government historically and continuing, Senator McCain, what do you think! This Bud is to American Indians who out number gays and carry a bigger punch!

Voices of The Community - Say it like it is - May God Bless you'll.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:33:04 EDT

From an E-mail I received - from Harlem.

"Yes you are correct that this oponents have buried themselves in the past, but this Wilson Clown he is not Sorry for what he said at all, as you can see from looking at this clownish youtube video. As long as Obama stays on track and fights for what the people voted for him to fight for on. Republicans are still mad as well as most of the people from the Southern parts of USA. They can not get used to a black president. Get Over It Southerners!!!"

Voices Of The Community Open Research. - And I Say Amen! Tell It Like It Is My Brothers and Sisters.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:50:25 EDT

Community members send me E-mails about their opinions on 9-12-09

That Reads:

"Those extremist right wing racist republicans just cannot accept the voice of the people. Americans elected Barack Obama as president and the racist republicans need to get over it and get a life."

"(About "tea party" Protest about Obama Health Care) - I think There's a new name for what these people are protesting. It's abbreviation is "PWB" - President While Black. I've been sensing this quite a lot of so-called protests recently. You can see it particularly in red angry faces of people like Joe "You Lie" Wilson

Shiva is one of The many Names Of God.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:23:18 EDT

Shiva is one of the many many names of God.

Shiva is a Sankrist word meaning =World Benefactor

And the World Benefactor is no other than God the father of all the souls and of all humanity.

So, Shiva=World Benefactor = God.

Enlightment

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:10:41 EDT

"A tent with rustling breezes cool delights me more than palaces high, and more the cloak of simple wool than robes in which I learned to sigh. The crust I ate beside my tent was more than fine bread to me; the wind's voice where the hill path went was more than tambourine can be."

-Maysun (year 661)

Science Has A Magical Origin.

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:59:39 EDT

nHuman Beings – are the image of God, and part of God – Sons and Daughters of God=The Self.
God = All Atoms
God is three dimensional – Father, Son, Holy Ghost = Neutrons, Protons, Electrons.
Human Beings – The Image of God – Are also three dimensional = Body, Mind, and Spirit. üDivine Faith
Creed established by Akbar of the Mughal dynasty that blended ideas and practices from Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Sufism, and other religions. nWhen one prays to God,
Calling God the name Krishna, One is really saying,
God grant me no pain, no stress, and no difficulties in my life, - and/or God stop all pain, all suffering, and difficulties in life – and bring Beauty, Joy, Happiness, and Light in to my Life.
God/Krishna – Is All Beauty and Light. n God/Krishna = God of no pain, no stress, no suffering.
Krish = pain, stress, suffering
Na = no, stop (God/Krishna – The Father of Lord Jesus and of all Human kind)

Body , Mind and Spirit - The Yoga of Sharing Wisdom Raja and Bati Yoga

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:51:02 EDT

nAncient Sacred texts are not a collection of rules that you should or should not do, but the Bible, Bhagavad-Gita etc… are books with poems, prayers to the Creator, inspiration, and advised which can be understood only depending on the individuals Belief System = Locus of Control, and or point of view. This is because of the fact that we are all unique in our own ways of thinking and opinions. nElohim = It is one of the ten names of God the word Elohim is used often in the Hebrew Bible. nEin Sof = the word, is the cabbalistical name of God, and it means "without End" in Hebrew. nEin Sof Or = It means the light that was emanated from the Divine God/Ein Sof in the act of creation of Our Universe. nThe Hebrew Bible = It is the Old Testament known as Torah, it consist of the first five books of the bible = Books of Moses and also the books of the other Prophets plus the book of the psalms. nKite = Crown = It is the first sefira on the Tree of Life. nHochma = Wisdom = It is the second sefira on the Tree of Life. nBin The Original Psalm 23 of David ah = The third circle on the nTree of Life = Human Being nHesed = Loving-kindness = It is the fourth sefira on the Tree of Life. nGevurah = Strength = It is the fifth sefira on the Tree of life. nTiferet = Beauty = It is the sixth sefira on the Tree of Life. nNetzach = Victory = It is the seventh sefira on the Tree of Life. nHod = Splendor = It is the eighth sefira on the Tree of Life. nYesod = Foundation = It is the ninth sefira on the Tree of Life. nMalkhut = Majesty = It is the tenth sefira on the Tree of Life. nTree of Life = It is the most important symbol of cabbala, for it is believed to have ten circles and twenty-two paths that connect them and keep them connected even though there exist strong forces of Creation continuously. n“Nowadays the world is filled with people wandering in search of something – some are searching for truth, some are searching for God. Always it is a search for a true identity – an explanation of who they really are and where they fit into the vast story of humanity.” nStory Time - (adapted from The book The Story of immortality – a return to self-sovereignty from global Harmony house) nReligious differences also influence the way people behave. nReligion can be very important in people’s lives, particularly when they are ill or dying. nOne must respect the religious beliefs and practices of others, even if they are totally different from your own. nMany religious beliefs include dietary restrictions; these are rules about what and when followers can eat and drink. nBe sensitive to others feelings, cultural values, and beliefs. nNever question a persons religious beliefs, also do not discuss or try to push your own beliefs on others.

Sacred Scriptures

Rev. Dr. Yb-lem Cueva Oskowitz — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:40:54 EDT

üThe Drama Of the Cycle Of The Souls – it is eternal with no beginning and no end, and the new age that awaits us –is the Golden Age (Spiritual heaven – Nirvana) in this world there are Human Beings like you and me (Souls) who are deity's =Saints=Angels with a body of light. nThe length of the drama of the cycles of the souls is 5000 years. nThe drama is eternal with no beginning and no end. n The New age that awaits us is the golden age in this world there are human beings who are deity's. nThe Kingdom of the souls is the Golden age of perfection where people = souls get crowns of gold and jewels and harmony for all heaven = golden age, a perfect beautiful world where there is no sickness – and the soul leaves one body to enter another 5000 years later. nCycles Of The Soul: (The length of this Drama is 5000 years).
1- Golden Age
2- Silver Age
3- Copper Age – After Copper age The Soul gets a material body – and impurity begins to pull the soul down from the highest Supreme Spiritual level.
4- Iron Age – It is Dominated By Consciousness, and evil, and this age comes with sickness, pain and sorrow, bondage. At the end of the Iron age is when God interferes – This is when God comes to reshape and cleanse the soul.
5 – Diamond Age – This age it’s the dawn of the Golden Age – and when God comes = God interferes through wisdom and enlightment.- For those who recognized the Supreme Soul = God and the knowledge – then they move on to what is called the diamond age – it is when the soul knows and understands the whole drama and clarity and Wisdom - And that soul prepares to serve others, teach others so that it can move on to the Golden Age. n6- Golden Age = The age of perfection. nSo, when the soul leaves the body – moves on to another place where relatives are waiting to greed them where everything is beautiful, perfect, and divine. nWhen the soul is pure, then the spirit becomes powerful and brings on peace and harmony and purity to others. nTo go to the Golden Age depends on what we are doing now that gives one pure karma, and allows one to go into the diamond age. nAt the end of the Iron age, it is when at this point the story of creation=recreation begins – when the Supreme Father God intervenes. nGod comes and remold us, and pick up the pieces, and make us like we one used to be – and so, the raw material (us) are there. nGod Change us, renew us, and out of the ashes of the Iron Age – The Supreme Soul God Our Father – recreates the Soul to the Highest State of Purity. nSo, Creation = Recreation takes place – God reshapes our souls and fashions it, uplift it, and transform it fill with divinity and purity. nThis is the real Genesis – The real meaning of the story of Creation. nTo go to the Golden Age depends on what we are doing now that gives one pure karma, and allows one to go into the diamond age. nAt the end of the Iron age, it is when at this point the story of creation=recreation begins – when the Supreme Father God intervenes. nGod comes and remold us, and pick up the pieces, and make us like we one used to be – and so, the raw material (us) are there. nGod Change us, renew us, and out of the ashes of the Iron Age – The Supreme Soul God Our Father – recreates the Soul to the Highest State of Purity. nSo, Creation = Recreation takes place – God reshapes our souls and fashions it, uplift it, and transform it fill with divinity and purity. nThis is the real Genesis – The real meaning of the story of Creation. üCreation = New Creation
The end of the Iron age and the beginning of the golden age = something new is being born a beautiful new world – And when the Iron Age ends The Golden Age is Created over again.
üRecreation takes place on the spiritual level – changing reshaping the human soul by changing the intellect by educating it.
üWhen The soul becomes cleanse like a diamond the person is in The Diamond Age. –When this happens a cleansing process have to take place, and this is the role of God as the destroyer, for God destroys evil and shows one the right path, so that the human soul can rise ones again to perfection. nThe destruction of evil does not just takes place at a spiritual level, but also have physical actions such as fire, volcanoes, and destruction similar in all continents of the world. If God is true, merciful, and just, then he cannot be blame for the worlds problems. nHuman beings have created these problems for ourselves thru the laws of Karma. nNature works according to its laws of cause and effect without needing any intervention from the Supreme Soul God. üWe Human Beings = are the devils in this Iron age – fallen angels – and God comes and interferes cleansing us with purity and love and fill us with power. – God = The Ocean of Knowledge – Purity – Peace – Power. Pure is How we were originally, and this is how God reshapes our souls once again with purity and perfection. – Then, only God’s qualities remain in the Soul. üThe past is the past – and the future is being recreated – by ones thoughts, words, and by actions that are reshaping the future – and the past is forgotten, for God the Supreme Soul comes and makes new – and God gives one a chance to start all over again. So, God is creating us new and giving us new knowledge. (This is the story of Creation.)

APPRECIATION - To Congress Member Supporting the Affordable Health Care Act

Northeast San Fernando Valley - OFA — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:09:00 EDT

A SPECIAL NOTE OF APPRECIATION - We want to let all the Congress members who are supporting the Presidents Affordable Health Care Act with a Public Option along with all the other consumer protections, that we are so appreciative of your efforts. Know that you are not alone; of 70% of Americans are with you. This is a nation where the majority rules, no longer will the big business lobbyist (the few)set the agenda for the majority, we appreciate that you are working towards that are in the best interest of the majority of Americans, we can do this, YES WE CAN!

Healthcare victory is within sight!

Terry G — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:30:36 EDT

I work every day on national health care reform here in Washington DC. From my perspective President Obama and his reform team have done a tremendous job of pushing health care reform forward and placing it on the priority list of our country. Plenty of folks in Congress deserve Credit too.

We are now entering a new phase of healthcare reform which will pit 300 million Americans against the entrenched special interests that oppose reform and partisan Republicans. In the middle are our elected Democrats and centrist Republicans.

All of us as citizens need to put the heat on our Representatives and Senators to finish the job and pass national healthcare reform.

The vote will occur by the end of July if Congress stays on track.

Here we go...................

Organizing For America (OFA) in Alaska

Jonathan Teeters — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:20:21 EDT

Good afternoon,

I just wanted to get active again with my blog, and I wanted to find out if anyone out there is interested in helping me to learn what is going on in Alaska with Organizing For America. I am pretty sure there are things happening...

I am eager to get involved here again continuing all the great work that we accomplished together.

What's going on where you are?

Please leave me a comment, or send me an email to get.at.jonathan@gmail.com.

Talk to you soon!

Jonathan

Religious Hiolidays for American Indians

Lillene Ebanks — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:51:38 EST

Good morning my fellow American Indians who are suffering from severe working inequities. In our religious holiday peace talks today we will discuss our plans to speed up immigration reform and affixiate the housing industry until immigrtion reform is achieved to equalize our plight. As the American Indian Snow and Ice Chief I propose to start a company to lein the houses we worked on and redeam our salaries. This may slow down immigration reform and increase deportation but it will help our white brothers get higher pay to build houses and make sure no one can afford homes. But never the less anamosity will increase as our upper and middle class feel the pinch of a freeze in the real estate market as these labor and mechanic leins take effect and they have to give us our equal pay for all the home we build. I quess our value may increase but at least we American Indians will reclaim our land. Shall we smoke on this or just go back to the reservations or start swimming?

I went to Washington D. C. to see Senator McClain and I left a proposal of a Bill to speed up immigration reform. There was a protocol of having the form faxed in thT i WAS UNABLE TO ACHIEVE BUT SINCE pRESIDENT oBAMA HAS A MORE EFFECTIVE MTHOD i DECIDED TO BREAK TRADITION AND USE THE MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD TO GET THIS BILL ON THE WAY. i AM STILL DEPENDING ON YOU sENATOR mCcAIN AND THIS IS THE OPEN LETTER i CHOOSE TO USE TO GET THE BALL ROLLING. i UNDERSTAND THAT ANY LETTER i SUBMIT WILL BE REVISED BY A TEAM OF ATTORNEYS ANYWAY SO WHY NOT HAVE SOME RELAY THIS MESSAGE AND IF YOU ARE INTERESTED YOU MAY PROCEED WITH IMMIGRATION REFORM. aS aMERICAN iNDIANS WE ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF HELP. aS A TORTURED aMERICAN VETERAN YOU WILL SYMPATHIZE WITH THE PLIGHT OF OUR NATIVE AMERICANS. I WENT TO SURVEY THE PLIGHT OF MY NAVY VETERAN BROTHER DYRL ERNIE EBANKS IN NEW CANEY WHO STOOD UP FOR THE UNITED STATES BY SERVING HIS COUNTRY AND SWEARING TO FIGHT AGAINST THE BRITISH AS THAT IS HIS COUNTRY OF BIRTH AS A BRITISH SUBJECT. HOWEVER HE SAID THAT HE JUST WANTS TO HAVE A COPY OF HIS AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP IN HIS HAND. WE STAND BEHIND ALL OF OUR TROOPS WHO LIVES ARE IN PERIL EACH DAY. i WENT TO SEE MY DAD IN THE HOSPITAL WHO IS ALSO FIGHTING FOR HIS RIGHT TO LIVE. I AM CONCERNED THAT THE MAJOR TERRIORIST WE FACE ARE THE DRUG COMPANIES AS IT APPEARS TO ME AS CHIEF THAT THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN THE TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF DISEASES BEING DIAGNOSED, MEDICATION, CANS, BOTTLES, PERSERVATIVES, AND CANCER. WHEN WILL OUR GOVERNMENT TAKE OVER THE DRUG COMPANIES. mY DAD IS IN HERMAN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL WITH PNEUMONIA AND IS NOT ON A BREATHING MACHINE BUUT IS TAKING ANTIBIOTICS AND WILL GET OUT SUNDAY AS HIS CONDITION IS NOT SERIOUS UNLESS THERE IS RETALIATION AFTER THIS SESSION. WELL MY DAUGHTER LEILA DAHMANI WAS ALSO IN A COMA IN HERMAN MEMORIAL HOS[ITAL AND THEY BROKE HER ARM ACCIDENTIALLY BUT DID NOT Wnt anyone to know so they never fixed it and it grew into an "l" shape. she was put in a reclining wheelchair as she could not sit up and her legs had started to curl up inward. I was told that social security lasted three years and therefore they thus said that she would not be discharged for three years. Notice the corrolation. I did. I asked for the social security document and tore it up. she no longer had funding. the doctor discharged her and wrote that she was walking and had completely recuperated so that i would not qualify to get social security disabilty for her to stay home and take care of her. well, there is always the good guys. Our founding fathers were almost all masons and they came to the rescue. I took her to Shriners Hospital for crippled children where the doctors volunteer and the treatment is free. They put casts on her legs so that they would be forced to grow strain and her feet would bend so she could wlk intead of pointing straing out like a balarena dancer with "C" shaped legs. Well, they carefuly cut the crooked bones out of her arm and it was still functional to a degree. Personally, I believe in olive oil, garlic, leafy grains, citrus, apples that taste great like Australian gala apples or yellow apples organic if I have the money. I want the right to life, long before I want liberty or happiness. Life is our major priority here Senator McCain. I know while you suffered for us in that Hannoy prison you thought alot about what our priorities should be and I trust you to see us through on these important issues, God bless America and the land that we love and God protect us from all those rich companies who try to finance their leer jets and homes at the expense of the American public who just want the right to life. Will any one start a war on those terriorist who try to keep us unhealthy?

Organizing Military Families

Angie — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 10:51:43 EST

I had my first house party for Obama yesterday. I live on a military base and during the election, my husband and I decided we had best leave the "politicking" off-base. Now it's easier. We're supporting the incoming commander and chief and our message is not tailored to only those who might vote for Obama. Our message is to ALL - come out and help be the change that you want to see.

This first meeting was small in numbers but it wasn't small in ideas. We talked for 2 1/2 hours about education for family members, especially children, and for active duty NCO's. One of our members wants to see a certification program that will be accepted in the civilian world so when our troops separate, their work experience makes sense to the civilian community. We spoke about the erosion of benefits, especially health care for dependents and retirees and housing for junior enlisted. Finally, we spoke about Veteran's issues. We all agreed that our veteran's are getting a bum deal and that America as a whole does not take the time to understand the needs of our veterans. We all agreed that we have an awful lot of work to do.

We're going to volunteer locally over the holiday, hopefully with a project at Fort Sam Houston. Details are in the works. But if you are a military member, a military family member, or a civilian interested in improving the lives of military people, then get involved.

I'll continue to blog about opportunities here in the San Antonio area and also let you know about National Organizations that are building and growing. I've mentioned Blue Star Families in the past - keep your eyes open as BSF works out a new structure to meet the needs of our incoming administration. It's time for military supporters to vigilant, to be active, and to speak out.

How Tall Is Obama's Grass

** Maria Isabel ** — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:32:06 EST

Hey You ~ How about a Grassroots Inaugural Party?

"Party": groups acting together, leaning more towards the effort of staying active and organized for Barack as volunteers, reather than to have an extravagant celebration Ball. A scaled back approach to the gathering, being that our country is at war and our economy is the pits.

Here is where we are ~ We have a local Maryland and Virginia kick-off committee, submitted a formal request to the official Inauguration Committee to include our gathering as an official event, have a local event organizer already doing research, found location options including the Convention Center, and have a list of several entertainers to choose from.

The "Party" theme is a promise to continue our community involvement, tickets will be $200 per person, dress code is relaxed.

The Maryland kick-off committee is looking for volunteers to spearhead the event, and you do not have to reside in Washington DC.

If you are interested in attending and purchasing a ticket, or would like to offer your event coordinating talent as a volunteer in one of the committees please send an email to: obamatallgrass@gmail.com.

If you do not wish to attend the party, but would like to be one of the sponsors for the event, indicate your intentions on your email.

Obama Love,

Maria Isabel

Post Election Wrap Up

Terry G — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:34:38 EST

We drove out to Manassas for the final Obama rally late the night before the election. It was very emotional to be there with 90,000 supporters standing in a field near the first battlefield of Bull Run in the Civil War. The sea of people said it all.

The only real low point for us was to see our fellow Alaskans decide to put Sen. Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young back in office in Washington to represent them. Sadly for all our friends in Alaska the wave of change in our country failed to hit the shores of Alaska (just like 2006).

Today all of us in the Health Care Reform Movement are scrambling to get movin!

I hope President Obama and his team will keep this campaign site, team and organization together working for further change in our country. There will certainly be moments soon when the voice of the voters will be needed to weigh in with Congress to push change on energy, health care, education and the economy thru when special interests bog things down in Congress.

Lets all stay connected!

Condradulations President Elect Barack Obama!

La Susa — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:47:34 EST

Congradulations President Elect Barack Obama!

Congradulations To All Of Us, We Won!

It has been a long and hard race!

A Special Thanks To Everyone Here!

And with hope in our future, I am finnally at ease!

If there is one thing that I have learned throughout all of this, and that is, to expect more of myself, especially in the face of adversity. Thank you President Elect Barack Obama!

McCain Calls for Unity

swimmer — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:30:48 EST

It is too bad that the Republican supporters of John McCain had to try and ruin his ending speech by yelling and booing the name of our next President, Barack Obama.

May G-d protect our new first family.

This is our moment

Patrick Frank — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:20:06 EST

This is our moment. This is our time. We are on the verge of making history. We can look back with pride to the time when we stood up for a good man, Barack Obama, and took action, for the sake of our children, and our childrens' children...for our country, America, and the world.

Patrick from South Carolina

Count your vote Make it count

Duane Kuehn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:00:44 EST

Hi All,

     Election Day is upon us, then we can go back to regular commercials on television.
     Congratulations, it appears that everyone's hard work will surely "pay-off".

    Unfortunately, one major problem remains unaddressed and appears to be worse this year, more widespread, than the 2004 election. Vote Fraud. Not, mind you, voter fraud, but computer dysfunction, hacking, and even built in "flip" voting.

     Do we remember the 2004 election? All the networks declared John Kerry the winner, except Fox News. As the very important Florida votes came in, Fox News declared George Bush the winner. The other networks checked their own figures and "gosh darn" George Bush was the winner. How did that happen, all the other networks somehow had the wrong figures, or more exactly, suddenly those figures "flipped".

     Later, December 2004, a man named Clint Curtis testified under oath before the House Judiciary Committee on vote fraud.

      http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/465.html

     Mr. Curtis testified that he worked for Yang Enterprises Incorporated (which proudly proclaims on its site, "To provide high quality engineering and computer services for both the government and private industries"). Clint Curtis testified under oath that he was approached to create and did create a program that would “flip” a percentage of the votes to the other candidate. I hope you will click the link and watch the full video (from a movie insert but apparently the true testimony)

     The House Judiciary Committee did find vote "flipping" in the Presidential election of 2004. One "hint" of this happening is the flicker on the screen. The program which Curtis mentions, however, does not "flip" as the individual votes, a person flips a specific percentage of the votes after the voting is finished. Did the 2004 Florida vote “flip” at the last minute? We the People should be very worried.

     Already, some machines are showing flickers, many called “over or under sensitive screen problems etc. This is not some programmer or screen-maker error. This could easily be resolved in programming, why was it not done. We like to believe in honesty, especially in the election process, however, it is just no longer feasible to believe this.

     Like it or not, we need to take back our country, "change from the ground-upward" as we have been told. Our politicians will do nothing to address this problem but "We the People" will, in order to KEEP this more perfect Union more perfect!

     Election Day, Tuesday November 4, 2008, I plan to go to my appointed voting place, vote and stay there, all day if I must.

     I will take with me a large cardboard box having a hole cut in the top. I will take thousands of slips of scratch paper and a gang of pencils. Staying at least 25 feet from the building entrance, I will ask voters to please write "M" or "McCain or "O" or "Obama" on a slip and put it, unseen, into the box.

     Explaining that this is an anonymous gathering of the votes to check with the computer totals at this precinct to make sure there is no large difference between the ballots cast inside and the intended receiver of that individual vote. The ballot is the private business of the individual voter but the total of votes cast and for whom is important to keep the system honest.

     I will wear no campaign materials, this is not for campaigning, supporters are to take the day off, says Obama. You deserve that.

     This situation, however, demands our time. We are doing this for the honesty of this election and the protection of future elections in this country. If the other candidate wins in our individual districts, one need not be happy but we know that we are able to accept what comes.

     We are much stronger than to tamper with the paper trail we are creating in our individual districts. Tampering, with our own totals, will only do us harm and is out of the question. This is for the future voting rights of all Americans.

     I am inviting anyone to volunteer for this with me. Regardless of political affiliation, color, creed, etc. This is for the nation at large, not for our individual egos. Wherever you live, gather and do your individual precincts.

     I hope you will join me in this. Some may scoff at me but I do not care, this very Democracy deserves my time. Be it alone all day, I wholly plan to do this.
     I hope that you will do the same at your precincts. We have come too far to trust this election to others. Nobody will watch out for us, We must take action. If the results are true, then great. If the results are incorrect and we have done nothing, we get what we get, like it or not.

     For input or more information please contact me at   de-wah@usa.com
Loveya,
Duane Kuehn

Obama VS McCain

La Susa — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:42:37 EST

Im not in favor of McCain because he wants to cheat workers, and give more money to the extreamly rich that make 250,000.00 or more! Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que el quire enganiar a los trabajadores y dar mas dinero a los ricototes, la cual que hacen 250,000.00 y mas!

Im not in favor of McCain because he is too old, 72 years old, and placed Palin as VP. Poor Palin dosn't know much about the world, much less about how to run Our Nation. Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que ya esta muy viejo, 72 anos, y puso a la Palin de VP. La pobre Palin no sabe mucho del mundo, menos como correr nuestro Nacion!

Im not in favor of McCain because he says he knows how to do everything, but really what has he done in, practicly nothing in 20 years. Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que el dice que el sabe como hacer de todo, pero a la deveras no ha hecho casi nada en 20 anos.

Im not in favor of McCain because he lies too much! There are so many lies I cannot place them all here, it is an embarrasment! Yo no estoy en favor al McCain por que miente demaciado! Hay tantas mentiras que no los puedo ponerlos todos aqui, es una veruenza!

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants to help those workers who pay way too much in taxes. He wants the rich that make 250,000.00 or more to pay taxes as it was during the years of President Clinton. Yo Vote por Senador Obama por que el qiere ayudar a aquellos que trabajan y pagan demacido taxes. El quiere que los ricos que hacen 250,000.00 y mas que ellos pagan taxes como era en los anos del Presidente Clinton.

I voted for Senator Obama because he realized when his mom was ill that the insurance companies didn't want to pay the bills because her illness before she died being cancer was considered 'pre-existing'. And she sadly died with the worries of the bills. Yo Vote por Senador Obama por que el se dio cuenta que cuando su mama estaba enferma las companias de seguranza no querian pagar los cuentos por que querian decir la cual que la enfermedad que cancer que tenia su mama antes de murir que era 'pre-existing'. Y la pobre murio con penas de los cuentos!

I voted for Senator Obama because he knows what it is like to live in poverty, for when he was a child he and his mom were on foodstamps. And his manerism is one of humility. Yo Vote por Senador Obama por que el sabe como es vivir pobre, cuando el era nino, su mama y el estaban es las estampas. Y tiene un modo de ser que es humide.

I voted for Senator Obama because he knows what it is like to live without a dad. His dad left when he was only two years old. And he knows that there are many mothers with children who are alone and suffering with mounting bills. Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el sabe como es vivir sin un papa. El papa de el se fue, cuando el no mas tenia dos anos de edad. Y sabe que hay muchas madres con ninos que estan solas y sufiendo con biles demasiados.

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants to give many jobs to the people! Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el quiere a dar muchos trabajos a la gente!

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants all students to have the opportunities to go to collage, not just the rich! Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el quiere que todos estudiantes tengan la oportunidad a ir al colejio, no, no mas los ricos!

I voted for Obama because he knows we have to stop the war in Iraq, and look for that man Bin Ladden who killed nearly 4 thousand people here in the United States on September 11, 2001. Yo Vote al Obama por que el sabe que tenemos que parrar la guierra en Iraq y buscar al hombre ese Bin Ladden; que mato ha casi 4 mil personas aqui en Los Estados Unidos en Septiembre 11 del 2001.

I voted for Senator Obama because he dose not want American companies to leave to China, and he wants them to stay here in the Untited States. Yo Vote por el Senador Obama por que el no quiere que las companias Americanas se van para China, el quiere que se esten aqui en Los Estados Unidos.

I voted for Senator Obama because he wants to help companies make new inventions, so that we will not be dependant on other nations for oil. Yo Vote al Senador Obama por que el quiere ayudar a las companias hacer invenciones nuevas, para no estemos dependidas en otros Naciones para el aceite.

The tax calculator: El calculador de taxes:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Acuerdencen! Remember!

La Susa — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:39:29 EST

Acuerdencen al los ancianos y gente debiles a llevar sillas para que se descansan cuando voten en el dia 4 de Noviembre, por que se me hace que va a ver mucha gente!

Remember to remind the elderly and weak to bring chairs so that they can rest, when they go vote on November 4, because I belive that there will be a lot of people!

McCin on Judgement, Knowlage?

La Susa — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:10:41 EST

McCain is what 72 years old? Will Sarah Palin and her husband Todd Palin be able to run the Whit House? Why hasn't Todd Palin been veted? Are people not aware that Christian women tend to follow scripture and 'be submissive to their husbands'?

If McCain was in deed tested to be President of The United States in 1962, why didn't he run for office way back then?

Why dose McCain proclaim he knows how to fix the economy, the war, the stock market? What exactly has he done that proves he really dose know how to fix all of these complex problems?

VP Dick Cheney

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:05:49 EDT

VP Dick Cheney campaning in Wyoming today praising McCain!

sourse CNN

McCain Tested in 1962?

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:59:40 EDT

McCain says he was already tested; in 1962......... Has anyone reminded him that our world has changed remakably since then? What makes Sen John McCain so confident that he won't be tested? How about Sarah Palin? When was she tested? Aw, this all sounds like a bunch of BS!

ECONOMY

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:52:32 EDT

Economy Obama's Stance on the Economy

Barack Obama has offered a detailed plan to get America’s economy back on track, by creating new jobs and easing the burden on hardworking Americans by offering middle-class tax cuts three times the size of McCain’s.

Plan to Strengthen the EconomyThe Problem

Wages are Stagnant as Prices Rise: While wages remain flat, the costs of basic necessities are increasing. The cost of in-state college tuition has grown 35 percent over the past five years. Health care costs have risen four times faster than wages over the past six years. And the personal savings rate is now the lowest it's been since the Great Depression.

Tax Cuts for Wealthy Instead of Middle Class: The Bush tax cuts give those who earn over $1 million dollars a tax cut nearly 160 times greater than that received by middle-income Americans. At the same time, this administration has refused to tackle health care, education and housing in a manner that benefits the middle class.

Learn More

McCain's Stance on the Economy

John McCain’s economic policy is the same as George Bush’s. It ignores middle class Americans, giving $200 billion in tax cuts to corporations, including $4 billion in tax breaks to Big Oil, while leaving over 100 million middle-class Americans with no relief. Economists say McCain’s plan will add $3.4 trillion to the national debt.

McCain Lieing Again!!!!!!!!

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:59:31 EDT

McCain says Obama wants to re-distribute the wealth!

Who has been burdened by taxes the last 8 years? The Middle Class, because the million and billionaires have enjoyed a tax break, that McCain wants to make permanent!!!!!!!

Obama wants to tax the million and billionaires, and belive me, those folks are not small businesses!!!!!!!!

McCain is using fearmongering to sway votes in his favor!

Who was with Bush on the 'Privatizing of Social Security'? McCain?

When Sen McCain claims to have been tested to be United States President; in 1962 when he sat in a plane cockpit, during the Cuban missle Crisis, why didn't McCain run for USA President way back then? It's only been 46 years ago.

McCain says he knows how to win wars, what wars has he won?

McCain says he knows how to fix corruption, what corruption has he fixed?

McCain says he knows how to fix Wallstreet, when has McCain ever fixed Wallstreet?

"Three Days!"

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:41:27 EDT

Yes We Can!!! Obama live on Fox News

McCain-Palin-Bush Lieing Game

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:20:05 EDT

The lying game

Like George W. Bush, McCain and Palin have to lie. Because if they told the truth about their policies, they'd lose the election.

By Alan Wolfe

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/09/18/lies/

Yo, Arnold R-Gov of Calif.

La Susa — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:56:08 EDT

We can take your 'skinny legs' insults, but we cannot take four more years of McCin-Bush economics!!!!!! Was it not you Arnold R-Gov of Calif. that asked for a bail out for the State of Calif. a few days after the AIG bail out? So you want the hard working middle class to bail out Calif., because you don't know how to balance a budget? And allow the billion and millionaires to get richer and richer?

Do the math!!!!!!

http://www.my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Look it up in the dictionary!!!!!!!

About 'socialism' look it up in the dictionary! Just because Sen Barack Obama wants to make healthcare affordable for everyone, dose not mean a socialistic government! Way too many of our working families are going bankrupt because of the skyrocketing costs of healthcare! And those who don't have healthcare, are often treated when it is too late, driving up the costs of healthcare for all of us!!!!!!! Of all develped countries in the world, the USA is lagging far behind, with high infant mortality rates etc. etc.!

Socialism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

Democracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaDemocracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system. It is derived from the Greek ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy Capitalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Capitalism is the economic system in which the means of production are distributed to openly competing profit-seeking [1] private persons and where ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism

For Those Tax Questions See

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:49:49 EDT

For those with Tax savings questions see the Tax Calculator:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

Exxon Record Profits

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:59:40 EDT

Exxon Oct. 30, 08 record profits 14.8 billion! Bush-McCain Economics!

Every Vote Counts!

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:01:57 EDT

Vote Early, take friends with you!

Before and on Nov. 4, if one can help to bring people to the polls! If one has folding chairs, mark with your name and phone number and offer to help our seniors, and those with disbilities sit down while waiting in expected long lines!

Remind folks to sign their names on paper ballots! In some areas one cannot wear political T-Shirts or pins!

We cannot afford to believe the polls! Every Vote Counts!!!!!!

Joe The Plumber....

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:20:47 EDT

Joe the plumber said yesturday "I will vote for McCain the real American." 'The real American', wonder what he means by that? Or what is he implying by that statement? Unless one has Native American ancestry as dose Sen Barack Obama, I cannot see the connection to 'real American'. I personally find the comment offensive... Should Sen McCain win this election, what cabnet position will Joe the Plunger have, or did I hear wrong?

Poor Joe the Plumber, if he had studied small business (or at least googled it) he would know that overhead, payroll, utilities and a host of other expenses are deducted before talling up the total profit from business income on Schedule C of the Federal Tax Forms... It's sad to see gulable American people lied to, in such a decptive fashion! I wonder if Joe the Plumber is jumping for joy because EXON-MOBIL again anounce hudge profits! Will Joe the Plumber get any cash from EXON-MOBIL as McCain has implied that the rich will somehow benifit the poor and middles class?

McCain-Palin Small Business LIES, MISLEADING, DECEPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

La Susa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:55:57 EDT

McCain's Small-Business BunkJuly 14, 2008He claims 23 million small-business owners would pay higher tax rates under Obama. He's wrong. The vast majority would see no change, and many would get a cut.SummaryMcCain has repeatedly claimed that Obama would raise tax rates for 23 million small-business owners. It's a false and preposterously inflated figure.

We find that the overwhelming majority of those small-business owners would see no increase, because they earn too little to be affected. Obama's tax proposal would raise rates only on couples making more than $250,000 or singles earning more than $200,000.

McCain argues that Obama's proposed increase is a job-killer. He has a point. It's true that increasing taxes on those at the top would leave them less money for other purposes, including investment and hiring in the case of business owners. But the number of business owners who would see their rates go up would be only a small fraction of what McCain says. Many would see their taxes go down.

McCain-Palin "Unethical" Smears Against Obama FALSE, LIES

La Susa — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:27:54 EDT

'Unethical?'October 27, 2008http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/unethical.htmlA McCain-Palin/RNC ad claims Obama 'rewards his friends with your tax dollars.' It's off the mark.SummaryAn ad released jointly by the McCain-Palin campaign and the RNC claims Obama "rewards his friends with your tax dollars" and calls his actions "unethical." Some of what the ad says is false or misleading. Here are the facts:

The ad claims that Obama supporter and Chicago real estate developer Allison Davis received $20 million in taxpayer money. That's false. Davis didn't get this money. Instead, the federal grant went to the Chicago Housing Authority, replacing money it had already put forward for a mixed-income housing project on which Davis was a developer. The grant didn't go to Davis, nor did it help him pocket any additional funds.

The ad says Obama gave Tony Rezko $14 million of taxpayer money. That's misleading. It's true the housing project Rezko was working on cost $14 million in taxpayer cash. Rezko and his partner netted $855,000 in fees.
Obama worked to get Kenny Smith a $100,000 grant to build a park, which Smith later failed to complete. Smith has since caught the attention of the state attorney general. But, according to reports, Obama isn't under investigation for helping Smith get the grant.

The RNC and McCain may consider Obama's actions to be "unethical"; that's a matter of opinion. But the fact is, as far as these three incidents are concerned, Obama has not been officially accused of any wrongdoing, and there's been no report that his actions are the subject of any official investigation.
AnalysisThe joint ad from the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee accuses Sen. Barack Obama of being "unethical," citing instances in which individuals connected to Obama received federal or state funds. Sen. John McCain's campaign and the RNC have spent $5.9 million so far airing the ad in 17 states, including Pennsylvania, where $1.2 million has been spent on the ad, and North Carolina, where it has aired a total of 1,629 times, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group of TNS Media Intelligence. The ad started airing on Oct. 14.

RNC/McCain-Palin Ad:
"Unethical"

Announcer: Obama rewards his friends with your tax dollars. Tony Rezko, fourteen million. Allison Davis, twenty million. Kenny Smith, one hundred thousand. That's unethical. Congressional liberals promise to raise your taxes to reward their friends with wasteful pork. Taxes for you. Pork for them. Who's gonna' stop 'em? Congressional liberals? Or him.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message. $20 Million? Try Zero

The ad claims that real estate developer Allison Davis received $20 million of taxpayer money thanks to Obama. But that's false. Davis didn't get any of this money. The ad cites a story from The Washington Times, but the article says that "city housing authorities confirmed" that the "grant money won't go to Mr. Davis or his company."

According to documentation provided by the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), a letter was ghostwritten for Obama, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and others by the CHA in support of a project called Stateway Gardens – an urban revitalization effort to transition crime-ridden high-rises into mixed-income housing. The letter was sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in an effort to acquire a fiscal year 2008 grant of $20 million to support the project, of which Davis, a supporter of Obama, was one of the developers.

We spoke with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spokeswoman Donna White, who told us that the money was not awarded to Davis, but to the Chicago Housing Authority:

Donna White, spokeswoman for HUD: The Chicago Housing Authority competed for [the Hope VI] grant. The housing authority applies for the funding, they select a developer. ... It's common for congressional members to submit letters of support when they know that a housing authority in their jurisdiction is competing for a grant.

We also spoke with William Little, executive vice president of development for CHA, who reiterated that the HUD grant was not awarded to Davis, but to the CHA, and that the grant allowed the CHA to reallocate funds it had already directed to the Stateway project. Davis did not see a profit as a result of the HUD grant, according to Little, nor did the budget for the Stateway project increase. When we asked Little about the charge in the ad that Obama "reward[ed]" Davis with $20 million, he told us:

William Little, CHA: That's totally false. HUD awarded CHA $20 million in a Hope VI grant, which allows CHA to reallocate funds it had previously earmarked for that particular project to other projects. The overall budget for the project did not increase. Allison Davis gets none of it.

A portion of the Stateway development is devoted to market-priced housing, and Davis stood to profit from the sales of those homes. But he did not pocket any of the HUD grant, which went to construction of low-income units.

Tony Rezko (Again)

The ad also claims that Tony Rezko got "fourteen million," because of Obama. But he didn't.

A 2007 report from The Chicago Sun-Times is the source, but the article goes over territory we've addressed before: that Obama wrote letters to state officials supporting a low-income senior housing complex Rezko was trying to have built. Both men say Rezko did not solicit the letters. The Sun-Times quoted Obama spokesman Bill Burton as saying Obama didn't write the letters as a favor but "in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project."

Regardless, the ad is wrong to imply Rezko pocketed millions. The project cost $14 million of taxpayer money. But, as we've reported, Rezko and his partner, who was Allison Davis, received $855,000 in fees. It's not peanuts, but it's not $14 million either.

Kenny Smith's $100,000 Garden

The ad then claims Kenny Smith received $100,000 in taxpayer money as a "reward" from Obama. This claim holds more water than the rest, but it's still a leaky vessel.

The ad cites a New York Post report that details how Obama, then a state senator in the midst of a race for a congressional seat, worked on Smith's behalf in 2000 in an effort to raise $1.1 million in state funding for the "Englewood Botanic Garden Project." Smith, head of the nonprofit Chicago Better Housing Association and a volunteer for Obama's congressional campaign, planned to rehabilitate a plot of land in a Chicago neighborhood. He was awarded a $100,000 state grant to do so, a far cry from the $1.1 million he had hoped to receive.

But Smith never built the park. And, according to a report from The Chicago Sun-Times, state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat who backs Obama, has started to look into whether or not taxpayer money was mishandled. While questions have been raised about how Smith spent the money, according to the Sun-Times, the paper notes that "neither Smith nor his wife are accused of any wrongdoing." The Post report cited by the ad said that "officials in Madigan's office said Obama's actions in giving out the member item aren't under investigation."

Democrats "Promise to Raise Your Taxes"

The ad swings away from the taxpayer hand-outs and claims: "Democrats promise to raise your taxes to reward their friends with wasteful pork." That linkage doesn't sound like a promise any sane politician would make.

The ad cites a Nov. 2007 article from The Washington Times, which chronicles a bill introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). The bill would have amended the tax code to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax and limit deductions that could be claimed by taxpayers making more than $250,000 a year, among other measures. But Rangel's bill, introduced a year ago, never cleared the Ways and Means Committee.

As for the "wasteful pork" claim, the fact is that securing earmarks is a popular practice among both Democrats and Republicans. Two oft-cited earmark recipients are longtime Sens. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Both were listed in Porkbusters.org's "Hall of Shame" in 2006 and have been singled out as "Porker of The Month" more than once over the last eight years by the organization Citizens Against Government Waste – proof that, promise or not, Democrats and Republicans send money home for projects whether taxes go up or down.

– by Emi Kolawolefrom www.factcheck.org a non-partisan watch dog group!!!!!!!!

"A License To Kill" Email and Adds FALSE! LIES!

La Susa — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:49:28 EDT

A License to Kill

October 28, 2008

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/a_license_to_kill.html

A new anti-Obama group runs a bunk-filled ad implying he'd give a driver's license to Mohammed Atta. SummaryAn upstart group calling itself the "National Republican Trust PAC" mixes a pile of false claims and the image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta to create one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign.

The spot falsely claims Obama has a "plan" to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, Obama has said quite specifically, "I am not proposing that that's what we do."
The ad implies such licenses would enable terrorist attacks. In fact, Atta wouldn't have needed one to carry out his attacks.

It claims that Obama's health care plan will apply to illegal immigrants. But Obama has stated quite clearly that his plan "does not" cover illegal immigrants.

The ad falsely claims that Obama's plan "gives illegals Social Security benefits," which is also flatly untrue.

AnalysisDespite its name, the National Republican Trust has no formal connection to the Republican Party. It is an independent group with ties to the conservative Web site Newsmax. It sprang into being barely a month ago and has reported spending more than $900,000 to attack Obama through e-mail messages and, now, TV ads.

Its TV spot first showed up on the air in Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 26, and it has also received considerable circulation on the Web. It attempts to link Sen. Barack Obama to the 9/11 hijackers. The link? A spurious claim that Obama plans to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. NRT PAC, which is headed by a former writer for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Insight magazine, says it plans to air the ad in other swing states.

Update, Oct. 29: Newsmax distributed a new NRT PAC fundraising e-mail today in which NRT boasts of having now raised "over $3 million." A postscript states that the group's ads are now running "in 5 battleground states."

National Republican Trust PAC Ad: "Social Security for Illegals"

Announcer: Millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. Barack Obama’s plan gives a driver’s license to any illegal who wants one.

But that’s not all.

Obama’s plan gives illegals Social Security benefits and raises taxes for his health care plan to cover them. Who pays? You do.

Driver’s licenses and government benefits for illegals. Higher taxes for us. That’s Obama’s plan. Obama. Too radical. Too risky.

The National Republican Trust PAC is responsible for the content of this advertisement. Drive Like a Maniac

The ad begins with the ominous warning that "Barack Obama's plan gives a driver's license to any illegal who wants one." More alarmingly, the ad flashes a picture of a Florida driver's license featuring 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta. The ad then goes on to claim that Obama's "plan" provides illegal immigrants with Social Security and health care benefits and would raise taxes to pay for it.

Hardly a word in the ad is true.

Let's start with the incendiary implication that Obama's "plan" would somehow enable terrorists like Atta. That's ridiculous. It's true that Atta did use a Florida driver's license to board the plane he hijacked. It's also irrelevant. Atta entered the U.S. legally, using a tourist visa, so laws about licenses for illegal immigrants wouldn't have affected him anyway. What's more, Atta could just as easily have boarded the plane with his Egyptian passport. The Transportation Security Administration lists foreign government-issued passports as acceptable identification for boarding a U.S. flight. For that matter, The Cato Institute's Jim Harper, who advises the Department of Homeland Security on data privacy, describes NRT PAC's claim as "despicable" and says that it is "terror-pandering of the highest order."

Plan? What Plan?

Furthermore, NRT PAC's claim that Obama has a "plan" to give driver's licenses to "any illegal [immigrant] who wants one" is just false. Obama has no such plan. "Plan" implies a worked out, formal policy. But NRT rests its claim entirely on comments Obama made during two Democratic primary debates. All candidates were asked whether they supported then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Obama hedged, but when pressed, admitted that he agreed with states granting licenses, and requiring insurance. Here's part of the exchange:

CNN's Wolf Blitzer (Nov. 15, 2007): Barring, avoiding, assuming there isn't going to be comprehensive immigration reform, do you support or oppose driver's licenses for illegal immigrants?
Obama: I am not proposing that that's what we do. ... I have already said I support the notion that we have to deal with public safety and that driver's licenses at the state level can make that happen. But what I also know, Wolf, is that if we keep on getting distracted by this problem, then we are not solving it.

We take no position on the wisdom of Spitzer's proposal. But it's false to puff up Obama's comments into a "plan" when he quite specifically said, "I am not proposing that that's what we do." That sounds to us to be the opposite of a plan. The group would have been correct had it said Obama supported Spitzer's plan, but only in the absence of a federal effort to fix the immigration mess.

Health Care and Taxes. Again.

It is simply untrue that Obama plans to provide health care for illegal immigrants. To the contrary, in an exchange with CNN's Joe Johns during a January debate in South Carolina, Obama explicitly ruled out coverage for illegal immigrants:

Johns (Jan. 21, 2008): Senator Obama, we all know what universal health care is, as Senator Clinton just said, sort of the idea that everybody deserves health care. And I have not been able to sort of zero in on your position on this one question: Does your plan cover the estimated 12 million or so illegal immigrants in the country?
Obama: It does not.
Johns: Why not?
Obama: Well, because I think we've got limited resources. And it is important for us that, when we've got millions of U.S. citizens that aren't yet covered, it's important for us to make sure that they are provided coverage.

That sounds pretty clear to us. Furthermore, as we've said more times than we care to count now, Obama's plan raises taxes only on people making more than $200,000 ($250,000 for a couple). That's true for income taxes, capital gains taxes and payroll taxes.

Social Security Bunk That Won't Die

Just for good measure, the ad recycles some two-year-old bunk, too. The claim that Obama "plans" to grant Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants is nowhere to be found on his Web site. NRT PAC bases this claim on Obama's vote on an amendment to a 2006 immigration bill. But that amendment would not have granted Social Security benefits to any illegal immigrants, not unless they became U.S. citizens or legal immigrants first. We debunked this attack back in 2006 when it was a Republican favorite. The passing years haven't made it any truer.

Under current law, an illegal immigrant who later gets legal status can claim credit for any Social Security taxes he or she paid while still illegal. The 2006 amendment would have ended that practice. The bill failed 50 - 49, with Obama joining the majority to vote against it. Many illegal immigrants pay Social Security taxes even while working illegally. In 2006, for example, the Social Security Administration collected about $7 billion in taxes that couldn't be credited to specific workers.

Again, we take no position on the merits of the amendment. But it's a serious distortion to say that it would have granted Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.

End-Game Sleaze

The National Republican Trust PAC came into being Sept. 26, when it first registered with the Federal Election Commission. By Oct. 15 it had reported raising $463,000 for its anti-Obama campaign. (Update: In an e-mail to supporters on Oct. 29, the group said it had raised more than $3 million.) It has reported spending a total of $902,604 to attack Obama, according to the most recent report filed Oct. 26. It has reported spending substantial sums to the conservative Web site Newsmax and to other vendors for "email communication" opposing Obama's election, and to a Virginia company called Integram for "direct mail." It has also listed expenditures for "media production" and a "media buy."

Its Web site lists its executive director as Scott Wheeler, who also writes articles for Newsmax, which the NRT PAC pays to distribute anti-Obama e-mail messages, many of which are little more than fundraising pleas.

It's not uncommon for the final weeks of the presidential campaign to bring out some of the most deceptive ads of the cycle. We thought it would be tough to top the whoppers we've seen already, but it looks as if some of the third-party ads are out to prove us wrong. If this gem from the National Republican Trust PAC is any indication, we'd best brace for a blizzard of balderdash.

– by Joe Miller

Marxism, Socialism, Spreading the Wealth?

La Susa — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:38:28 EDT

McCain and Palin can't seem to even understand "Marxism," " Socialism," nor the concept of "spreading the wealth!" Do they not understand that the Federal Income Tax payers of America have been the Middle Class for the last 8 years! And I guess somehow shifting the tax burden from the middle class to the wealthiest is what? Marxism? Socialism? Spreading the wealth? Oh yea I forgott, McCain and Palin want to make permanent Tax breaks for the most wealthy, what's that called?????

McCain and Palin are misleading the American public about small business income, implying that businesses that earn 250,000.00 will be liable to pay federal income taxes, not understanding that businesses have to subtract all of their expenses; payroll, insurance, cars, rents, etc. etc. before they can conclude their total earnings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See Link below and compare one's income tax savings it's amazing!!!!!!!http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGgFgH

911 - Call Bank Today

** Maria Isabel ** — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:35:00 EDT

Almost there.....

While the Senator is away this weekend our orders from Chicago is the urgency to call Ohio.

We have several phone banking locations in Houston, find one near you:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple

If you can not get to a phone bank location but have time to call from home, email me:

mariaobama@gmail.com

What about Texas? Here is my plan: between 9 am and 9 pm we are calling Ohio, but our family members, our friends, our neighbors, and local contacts we can reach anytime by emails.

911 - Call Now!!!

OBAMA ~ Leadership for the 21st Century Now Available as a Free Download

Victoria DePaul, Author — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:51:11 EDT

Obama ~ Leadership for the 21st Century, written by best-selling author Victoria C. DePaul, is now available for a limited time as an Ebook download at no charge. This book will be available as a pdf download or readers can view it online via Scribd.

The book is available at www.ebookobama.com .

This book details how Barack Obama has succeeded in establishing a culture of ingenuity, enthusiasm, passion and collaboration– unlocking new levels of personal power and control. Leaders such as Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King know the secret to unleashing the human potential. His unique leadership style has been the catalyst of one of the greatest grassroots movements in history– and it is the spirit, the fuel, on which we will ride into the third millennium. Pass this information to your distribution lists and ask everyone you know to do the same. If you have a website, please post the link and ask others to do the same. Visit Scribd and view the book there. The more people that view it, the higher the internet ranking for this book. Post the site and this information on blogs and contact your local newspapers– whatever you can do.

After viewing the book please add your testimonial to the site. Following is a sample letter that you can edit as appropriate to send to your lists. Thanks for your assistance and energy to this project, now let's get this done. On to the White House.

Sample:So just how did Barack Obama, a junior senator, become the nominee of the Democratic Party? How has Barack Obama amassed two million financial donors, raising over 400 million dollars? What is it that Barack Obama knows, that the Republicans have yet to discover? What is it that will make Barack Obama one of the greatest leaders in history? Barack Obama understands that while the negativity of smear and fear has its initial impact, what really moves most of us is a desire to feel good about and to be in control of our circumstances, our futures, our communities, and most importantly, ourselves. He understands the difference between inspiration and motivation. Understanding this difference is what moves ordinary people from complacency to positive action. Positive action, originating in positive energy is what yields positive results.

In the future, Obama will be studied as one of the greatest leaders of modern times. Obama doesn't call forth volunteers– he calls forth the leader that resides in all of us. He demands personal accountability—and gets it. He has created an army of grassroots volunteers that is not only contributing financial resources but hours of service in any number of tasks. He has tapped into the spirit of first-time voters and re-kindled the spirits of baby boomers, long searching for a return of the days of JFK, MLK and Bobby. There are still so many undecided voters out there, weighing both sides as they determine which candidate will best serve the presidency as we move further into the 21st century.

Until November 5th, "Obama ~ Leadership for the 21st Century" will be available at no charge to assist voters in making their decision. This book details how Barack Obama has succeeded in establishing a culture of ingenuity, enthusiasm, passion and collaboration– unlocking new levels of personal power and control. Leaders such as Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King know the secret to unleashing the human potential. These leaders understand that the power of the human spirit is the fuel on which we will ride into the third millennium. This book is more than a book on human energy leadership principles, however. It is a compilation of the voices of America with contributions by leadership experts, authors and citizens from all corners of the globe. Please take some time to read this book and especially take the time to pass this on to everyone you know. Please post on your blogs, send to your distribution lists and include the website in your email signature until election day.

Our future and the future of the generations that will follow depend on it.Website to access this book: www.ebookobama.comThe book is available for pdf download or you can read it online at Scribd. Links are provided at the website. We are moving onward to a new era in our history. Be a part of this movement for change and spread the word!

McCain's Alleged Testing?????

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:51:22 EDT

McCain Claims he was tested to be President of the USA when he sat in a cockpit of a flighter plane ready to take orders, back in 1962 during the Cuban Missle Crisis.........

John McCain Trying to Scare People Who Don't Understand Small Buisnesss

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:18:57 EDT

McCain trying to scare people who don't know about 'tax write off's' that are subtracted from the total earnings in small buisnesses. Very Sad....

McCain Says He's Aready Been Tested....

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:41:23 EDT

McCain Says He's Already Been Tested? Just curious what exactly is he refering to; being a POW in the 60's? Being A part of the S and L Scandle? Dis I miss something in American History? Was he President in the White House during 9-11?

McCain Lies About Obama And ACORN

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:30:43 EDT

ACORN AccusationsOctober 18, 2008McCain makes exaggerated claims of "voter fraud." Obama soft-pedals his connections.SummaryThe McCain-Palin campaign accuses ACORN, a community activist group that operates nationwide, of perpetrating "massive voter fraud." It says Obama has “long and deep” ties to the group. We find both claims to be exaggerated. But we also find Obama has understated the extent of his work with the group.

Neither ACORN nor its employees have been found guilty of, or even charged with, casting fraudulent votes. What a McCain-Palin Web ad calls "voter fraud" is actually voter registration fraud. Several ACORN canvassers have been found guilty of faking registration forms and others are being investigated. But the evidence that has surfaced so far shows they faked forms to get paid for work they didn’t do, not to stuff ballot boxes.
Obama’s path has intersected with ACORN on several occasions – more often than he allowed in the final debate.

AnalysisWe've received scores of e-mails asking us about Obama's connection to the community activist group Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, or ACORN. A McCain-Palin ad released on the Web accuses Obama of having ties to the organization, which it says engages in "intimidation tactics," "massive voter fraud" and "pressuring banks to issue risky loans."

Destroying Democracy?

The McCain ad accuses ACORN of "massive voter fraud." In the final presidential debate, John McCain added that ACORN "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." Sounds scary, but is it true?

McCain-Palin Web Ad: "ACORN"

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

Announcer: Who is Barack Obama? A man with "a political baptism performed at warp speed." Vast ambition. After college, he moved to Chicago. Became a community organizer. There, Obama met Madeleine Talbot, part of the Chicago branch of ACORN. He was so impressive that he was asked to train the ACORN staff.

What did ACORN in Chicago engage in? Bullying banks. Intimidation tactics. Disruption of business. ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans. The same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we're in today.

No wonder Obama's campaign is trying to distance him from the group, saying, "Barack Obama Never Organized with ACORN." But Obama's ties to ACORN run long and deep. He taught classes for ACORN. They even endorsed him for President.

But now ACORN is in trouble.

Reporter: There are at least 11 investigations across the country involving thousands of potentially fraudulent ACORN forms.

Announcer: Massive voter fraud. And the Obama campaign paid more than $800,000 to an ACORN front for get out the vote efforts.

Pressuring banks to issue risky loans. Nationwide voter fraud. Barack Obama. Bad judgment. Blind ambition. Too risky for America. There's no evidence of any such democracy-destroying fraud. Here's what is true: In recent years, ACORN employees have been investigated multiple times for voter registration fraud. ACORN workers have been convicted of submitting false voter registration forms in Colorado Springs in 2005, Kansas City, Mo., in 2006 and King County, Wash., in 2007. ACORN's Las Vegas office was raided by a state criminal investigator on Oct. 7, 2008. ACORN workers are also the subjects of ongoing investigations in Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. The Indiana investigation started in early October and may involve thousands of fraudulent registration forms.

On Oct. 16 The Associated Press quoted two "senior law enforcement" officials as saying that the FBI is investigating ACORN seeking "any evidence of a coordinated national scam." The following day the Obama campaign's lawyer, Robert Bauer, sent a seven-page letter to the attorney general claiming that federal law enforcement officials were being improperly used to help McCain by suppressing the vote through "unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud." He asked that the investigation be transferred to the special prosecutor investigating the U.S. attorney firing scandal. The McCain campaign issued a statement in which spokesman Ben Porritt called Bauer's letter "outrageous" and "absurd" and a "heavy handed tactic of attempting to criminalize political discourse."

But so far ACORN itself has not been officially charged with any fraud. Aside from the heated charges and counter-charges, no evidence has yet surfaced to show that the ACORN employees who submitted fraudulent registration forms intended to pave the way for illegal voting. Rather, they were trying to get paid by ACORN for doing no work. Dan Satterberg, the Republican prosecuting attorney in King County, Wash., where the largest ACORN case to date was prosecuted, said that the indicted ACORN employees were shirking responsibility, not plotting election fraud.

Satterberg: [A] joint federal and state investigation has determined that this
scheme was not intended to permit illegal voting.

Instead, the defendants cheated their employer, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or ACORN), to get paid for work they did not actually perform. ACORN's lax oversight of their own voter registration drive permitted this to happen. ... It was hardly a sophisticated plan: The defendants simply realized that making up names was easier than actually canvassing the streets looking for unregistered voters. ...

[It] appears that the employees of ACORN were not performing the work that they were being paid for, and to some extent, ACORN is a victim of employee theft.

The $8-an-hour employees were charged with providing false information on voter registration forms, and in one case with making a false statement to a public official. Five of the seven who were charged pleaded guilty. ACORN was fined for exercising insufficient oversight, but it was not charged with masterminding any kind of deliberate fraud.

ACORN pays canvassers by the hour, not by the form, but it does ask them to meet certain registration goals. In ACORN's Las Vegas office, one employee who admitted to submitting fraudulent registrations said that she did so because she found ACORN's requirement of 20 registrations per day to be too steep to meet, according to an affidavit by a Nevada state criminal investigator. Local news reports at the time also said that some of the ACORN offices under investigation paid bonuses for each registration, or a higher hourly rate to those who brought in more applications. ACORN's deputy political director, Kevin Whelan, denies that this is ACORN policy.

What ACORN Says

In its defense, ACORN says that only a few of its 13,000 paid canvassers turned in any faked forms. "[T]here are always some people who want to get paid without really doing the job, or who aim to defraud their employer," the group said in an Oct. 10 statement on its Web site. "Any large department store will have some workers who shoplift."

ACORN also says it cannot simply discard suspicious forms on its own, but is required by law in most states to submit to local election officials all the forms its canvassers bring in. ACORN's Whelan told us that its own legal counsel strongly advises that the group do the same in states that don't explicitly require it, because "only election officials are legally able to determine the validity of a voter registration application." But ACORN says that it first flags all suspicious registrations. Staffers call the phone numbers written on completed registration forms to make sure they're valid and also take note of incomplete or duplicate forms. The group says that it alerts election officials to forms that look fishy when it sends them in.

However, it's not clear whether or not those procedures were followed in Nevada prior to a highly publicized raid by state officials on Oct. 7. According to an affidavit by Colin Hayes, a criminal investigator for the secretary of state's office, a probe began July 2 after the county registrar reported receiving a number of suspicious registration forms from ACORN. Hayes did not state whether or not those suspicious forms had been flagged by ACORN before being turned in. Later, during a July 18 meeting, ACORN's lawyer told local and state officials that the group had identified a number of suspicious registrations and "would be willing to provide such information" for further investigation. On Aug. 7, at the request of the county registrar, ACORN supplied copies of documents related to 33 ACORN workers who had been fired for "suspicious" voter registration activities.

Investigator Hayes followed up, confirmed that many registrations were faked, and found a former ACORN worker who confessed to faking most of her forms. After obtaining a warrant based on the affidavit, state officials seized records and computers. Secretary of State Ross Miller was quoted as saying the faked forms included names from the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

While ACORN says that such raids are part of "a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression," it is worth noting that in this case, Secretary of State Miller is a Democrat.

Whelan told us that ACORN's national management staff trains local directors and travels extensively to supervise offices, but the 2007 Washington state prosecution makes it clear that quality control is lacking in at least some outposts. Prosecutor Satterberg wrote: "We believe that ACORN’s internal quality control procedures were not just deficient but entirely non-existent when it came to the latter stages of their operation in Tacoma." He fined the group $25,000 for failing to exercise sufficient oversight.

How Common Is Fraud?

Election fraud does exist, but hasn't been shown to be widespread. The New York Times reported in 2007 that a five-year crackdown on such fraud by the Bush administration's Justice Department had produced 70 convictions at the federal level, including 40 campaign workers or government workers convicted of vote-buying, intimidation or ballot forgery, and 23 cases of multiple voting or voting by ineligible voters. But the Times described these as unconnected incidents and said the Justice Department had turned up no evidence of "any organized effort to skew federal elections."

Bush administration officials have pushed hard to find such evidence, too hard in one case, according to an investigation by the Department of Justice's internal watchdogs, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). Their report into the firing of nine United States attorneys concluded that the "real reason" for the firing of New Mexico's U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was "complaints about Iglesias’s handling of voter fraud and public corruption matters." The complaints included gripes by state Republican Party officials who believed that widespread fraud by Democrats had prevented George Bush from winning the state in the 2000 presidential election. Iglesias launched a task force that worked with the FBI but found that "there was insufficient evidence in any of the cases the Task Force reviewed to support criminal prosecution by the [U.S. Attorney's Office] or state authorities," according to the report of the OIG and OPR. These included cases involving ACORN workers. Republicans charged that Iglesias was showing insufficient rigor in prosecuting the cases.

ACORN and the Housing Crisis

The McCain ad says that ACORN in Chicago engaged in "bullying banks. Intimidation tactics. Disruption of business" and "forced banks to issue risky home loans." In support of these statements, the McCain campaign cites conservative opinion pieces, including a column by Mona Charen posted by the National Review Online, titled "Guilty Party: ACORN, Obama and the Mortgage Mess."

It is true that ACORN has led demonstrations on a number of issues nationwide – predatory lending, immigration reform, neighborhood violence, utilities shut-offs, minimum wage increases. Sometimes the group's tactics are confrontational, veering into civil disobedience. For instance, in the late 1980s, ACORN activists in a number of cities, including Chicago, seized abandoned houses and encouraged "squatting" by homeless people, in an attempt to force local governments to salvage abandoned properties and convert them into low-income housing. The targets of ACORN's protests sometimes describe the activists as intractable or even aggressive. Other ACORN protests are less confrontational; Sen. McCain himself spoke at an ACORN rally on illegal immigration in 2006.

It stretches the facts, however, to say that ACORN "forced" banks to make risky loans, though it has certainly applied pressure on banks to make loans to minority and low-income borrowers. ACORN also has worked directly with banks in a joint effort to increase such lending. In Chicago these efforts date back at least to 1992, after a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston showed that minorities in that city were two to three times as likely to be denied mortgage loans as white applicants, and that high-income minorities were more likely to be turned down than low-income whites. Chicago ACORN then started a mortgage assistance program, in cooperation with five local banks, to help minority and low-income borrowers get mortgage loans.

The mortgages that ACORN worked out with the banks did have lower underwriting standards than were customary. They allowed a higher percentage of a family's income to go to debt repayment, and counted rent and utility payments, not just credit card payments, as evidence of ability to pay back a loan. The loans were also more forgiving of past credit problems, as long as the recipient was making a proven effort to address them. But ACORN provided loan deals only to people who went through counseling on budget and credit issues. In 1992, First Nationwide Bank Vice President Neal Halleran told the Chicago Tribune: "Transaction by transaction, [loans from the ACORN program] would appear to be performing no worse than our portfolio overall." According to the Tribune, First Nationwide had contacted ACORN to initiate the lending program.

Obama: Burying ACORNs

The ad says that "Obama's ties to ACORN run long and deep" – that he "taught classes" for the group, paid a "front" $800,000 for get-out-the-vote efforts, and was endorsed by ACORN for president. That last one's true – ACORN's political action committee did offer an Obama endorsement. It's also true that Obama has worked with the group in the past. In 1995, Obama helped represent ACORN in a successful lawsuit to require the state of Illinois to offer "motor voter" registration at DMV offices. Obama has said that this is his only association with ACORN, but that's not the case – he has had other, though less direct, interactions with the organization.

When Obama was on the board of directors of the Woods Fund, the foundation gave grants of $75,000 in 2001 and $70,000 in 2002 to ACORN's Chicago office. The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee cite an additional grant of $45,000 in 2000. The Woods Fund has not responded to our calls about their 2000 grants.

The Obama campaign also paid Citizens Services Inc., a group affiliated with ACORN, more than $800,000 for get-out-the-vote (not voter registration) efforts during the primary election. The nature of CSI's services was initially misrepresented on the Obama campaign's disclosures to the Federal Election Commission, which the campaign describes as an oversight. The Obama campaign says it has not been involved with ACORN during the general election.

In addition, after law school, Obama may have had contact with ACORN when he directed a Chicago registration drive for Project Vote in 1992. According to Sanford Newman, who was the program’s national director at the time, ACORN may have been one of dozens of organizations that participated in registration drives that year with Project Vote personnel like Obama. But Project Vote didn’t begin contracting exclusively with ACORN until after Obama worked for the group in 1992. “Working for Project Vote at the time was by no means working for ACORN," Newman told us. ACORN had no influence on Project Vote policy and no representation on its board.

As for "teaching classes" for the group, the McCain campaign cites a March 2008 Newsday article, which says that ACORN organizer Madeleine Talbot "initially considered Obama a competitor" when both were working to get asbestos insulation removed from a Chicago housing project, but that "she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff." Newsday does not say whether Obama accepted the invitation. An article by Chicago alderman Toni Foulkes says that "we [ACORN] have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year" between 1992 and 2004, when the article was written. The Obama campaign says that Obama participated in two, one-hour trainings in a volunteer capacity. Foulkes could not be reached for comment.

Neither ACORN's Chicago office nor CSI has been accused of voter registration irregularities.

–by Jess Henig, with Ronald Lampard

Update, Oct. 21: We originally said that Project Vote works closely with ACORN, implying that Obama would have had contact with the group when he directed a voter registration drive for Project Vote in 1992. We have since learned that Project Vote and ACORN may or may not have worked together in Chicago that year. The group didn’t contract with ACORN exclusively back then. We have corrected the story to reflect this.http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/acorn_accusations.html

Why Are The Palin's in a CookCoon?

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:46:52 EDT

Heavan forbidd but if McCain, a 73 year old is elected and passes away while in office; will Todd and Sarah Palin be able to 'pass the international test?' Considering we the American people have been denied knowing the Palins, and the press denied access to interview them, our knowlage of them is extreamly narrow.... Hocky, Mom, Lipstick, Mayor Palin of a town with 5,000 residents for 8 years, Mayor Palin builds Sports Stadium on property that dose not have a clear title and is still in litigation, Mayor Palin increases sales tax on residents, Mayor Palin leaves office with town in debt millions of dollars, Governor Palin's 'Bridge to Know Where, accets earmarks, with questionable ties to 'ethics'.

Tod Palin former member of radical anti-american AIP group for 7 years..... This same AIP group allegedly helped Sarah Palin win for mayor and governor? I belive we the American People need to know more About the Palins, furthermore I belive it is our Right. Why have they been so sheltered, and off limits to the media? Is there anything else that they are hiding?

It just seems so odd to me that Sarah Palin can a out right accuse Barack Obama of having spoken with Bill Ayers, and yet, Sara's connection, her husband's sevan year membership with the AIP is like not even being covered by the main stream media... The office of Presidency is not a beauty contest, it's serious, and McCain is old... Just look at the last eight years of Bush...

NRA TV Add Fack Check--False!!!!!!!

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:24:01 EDT

The Rifle Association's 'True Story'

October 23, 2008

A misleading NRA ad claims Obama voted "to deny citizens the right of self-protection."

Summary

The National Rifle Association's misleading attacks on Obama continue. A new ad shows a terrified woman grabbing a gun after an intruder smashes his way into her home. It accuses Obama of voting repeatedly for a measure that would "make you the criminal" in such cases, and voting to "deny citizens the right of self-protection." The NRA says the incident depicted is "a true story." Not quite. The actual 2003 burglary didn't involve a woman, and it didn't become violent until the male homeowner went downstairs and started firing before calling police. The ad fails to mention that the issue was a local handgun ban that made the homeowner's gun illegal to keep in the house. What Obama voted for was not any general repeal of the right of self-defense, but to uphold enforcement of the local gun ban, a "petty offense" that carried a maximum penalty of a $750 fine.

–by Brooks Jackson FULL STORY Analysis

Obama Economic Plan VS McCain

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:26:54 EDT

McCain plan is very simple to understand, tax the middles class as it is, allow the middle class to shoulder all of the TAX burden, and give tax breaks to the Wealthiest American's! Sounds Great yea, how has it worked out so far? Corporations move out of the USA and Americans loose their jobs; Corporations Downsizing; Corporate Curruptions. It's as simple as one plus one, equals two.

Obama's plan is to rescue the middle class from the current tax burdens and shift them to the Weathiest American's who can afford it, in these most difficult times! For the middle class can no longer shoulder ALL of the tax burden, because they Are Loosing Their Jobs!!!!!! We need the middle class to be able to climb out from under the burdends they've been carrying for years. The middle Class are the engine of America, they are the one's who buy new cars, homes, hire plumbers, contractors, carpenders, etc.

Factcheck.org --McCain Lie's Yet Again "Obama's Welfare"!!!!!!!!

La Susa — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:55:13 EDT

From FactCheck.org

McCain calls Obama's refundable tax credits "welfare," but calls his own "reform."

SummaryThe McCain campaign has taken to denigrating some of Obama's tax proposals as "welfare" rather than tax cuts. And it continues to mislead about who would see a tax increase.

A new McCain-Palin Web ad characterizes Obama's proposed refundable tax credits as "welfare." But McCain himself proposes refundable tax credits, too, as part of his health care plan, and calls them "reform."
The ad also says "hard-working families" and "seniors" would pay higher taxes. But – need we say this again? – that would be true only for the affluent few, not for the many.

AnalysisThe "welfare" argument appears, among other places, in the McCain-Palin campaign Web ad released Oct. 16.

McCain-Palin 2008 Web Ad: "Joe the Plumber"

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.

Announcer: Americans are catching on ...

Joe Wurzelbacher: Your new tax plan is going to tax me more.

Obama: It's not that I want to punish your success. ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

Announcer: Everybody? Leading papers call Obama's taxes "welfare" ... "government handouts." Obama raises taxes on seniors, hard-working families to give "welfare" to those who pay none. Just as you suspected, Obama's not truthful on taxes. "Not Truthful?"

The ad says, "Leading papers call Obama's taxes 'welfare' ... 'government handouts'." It says he would "raise taxes on seniors" and "hard-working families" and "give 'welfare' to those who pay none." It concludes, "Obama's not truthful on taxes."

This ad, however, is short of truthful itself.

As we've said any number of times, what Obama proposes would not raise taxes on any "hard-working families" unless they make more than $250,000 a year, a very small fraction of families. Independent analysis has shown than 95 percent of families with children would see federal income taxes go down.

As for "seniors," most of them would not see any increase in their federal income taxes either. In fact, Obama proposes to reduce federal income taxes to zero for persons 65 and over who make less than $50,000 a year. No other seniors would see an increase in what they pay to the IRS unless their income is $250,000 for a couple, or $200,000 for a single filer. It's true, as the McCain campaign likes to point out, that seniors who make less would be adversely affected by Obama's proposal to close down billions of dollars in tax preferences for corporations, which independent analysts calculate would flow through to owners of stocks and bonds in the form of lower dividend payments and reduced profits from capital gains. But while experts at the Congressional Budget Office and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center tally this reduced income as "tax increases" for purposes of analyzing how proposed tax policies would affect different groups, it would not show up as an increased tax bill for any individual taxpayer, whatever their age."Welfare" or "Reform"?

The "welfare" claim rests on the argument, made in an Oct. 13 editorial in the Wall Street Journal, about refundable tax credits. Obama proposes to grant a number of refundable tax credits to low- and middle-income workers. For example, he would give a $500 tax credit ($1,000 for a couple) for workers, which would phase out for single workers making $75,000 or for couples making $150,000 per year. As the Journal editorial says: "You can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability." That's true enough. Whether or not that makes them "welfare" is a matter of interpretation, however. As the Journal editorial also says in its headline, "It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is."

Fair enough. But McCain himself is proposing refundable tax credits of up to $2,500 a year for individuals, or $5,000 for families, as part of his health care plan. McCain doesn't call his credits a "tax cut" but he doesn't call them "welfare" either. He does call it tax "reform," right there on his own Web site:

McCain Web site: John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code . . . [E]very family will receive a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance.

McCain makes his tax credit refundable to make it worth just as much to low-income workers as to high-income workers. If it were not refundable, it would be worth $0 to anyone who makes too little to pay any federal income taxes. A non-refundable credit would be worth the full amount only to individuals who owe at least $2,500 in federal income taxes, or couples who owe at least $5,000. Obama makes his tax credits refundable for the same reason – so they will benefit workers who earn too little to pay federal income tax.

Who's a "Taxpayer"?

Furthermore, the Journal's editorial misstated a key fact in its "welfare" argument. It said that anyone who doesn't pay federal income taxes is not a "taxpayer," which is simply incorrect. Here's what the editorial said:

Wall Street Journal editorial, Oct. 13: [Refundable credits] are an income transfer – a federal check – from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this "welfare." ... Mr. Obama's genius is to call it a tax cut.

The fact is, a worker can be a "taxpayer" whether or not they owe any income tax. Just about every worker is subject to federal Social Security and Medicare taxes totaling 7.65 percent on every dollar of earnings, up to $102,000 per year. (For earnings over $102,000, only the 1.45 percent Medicare tax applies.) Low-income workers, and retired and jobless persons as well, also pay federal excise taxes whenever they buy gasoline or pay a telephone bill, for example. Obama and other Democrats argue that for low-income workers, refundable tax credits are not “welfare” but, in effect, a reduction in their overall federal tax burden, counting payroll taxes.

Congressional Budget Office figures show that even those in the lowest-earning fifth of households pay an effective federal tax rate, on average, of 4.3 percent of their income, despite benefiting from existing federal refundable tax credits to a major degree. This group had average income of $15,900 in 2005, the most recent year for which CBO has done the calculations. But despite receiving "a federal check" through the income tax system that boosted income by an average of 6.5 percent (this shows up as a negative tax rate in the CBO tables), they still paid an average of $600 in federal taxes. That's true even after subtracting the effects of refundable tax credit "welfare."

"Leading Newspapers"

Finally, the McCain ad's reference to "leading newspapers" is worth examining. All three are known for their conservative editorial opinions, and two are under the same ownership. The ad cites two others besides the Wall Street Journal. One is an editorial in the New York Post, which does not make the "welfare" argument directly but refers briefly to the Journal editorial of the previous day. The other is the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, which made similar arguments and used similar figures in an editorial that appeared the day after the Journal's ran.

The Journal and the Post both are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which last year purchased Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Journal. And the Tribune-Review is owned by Richard Mellon Scaife, who has funded many conservative crusades over the years.

As for the star of this ad, Joe Wurzelbacher (a.k.a. Joe the Plumber): He told ABC News, among other news organizations, that he makes much less than $250,000, in which case he'd get a tax cut under Obama's plan. But, he said, he hopes to make that kind of money one day.

For now, Joe would certainly qualify for a tax cut under Obama's plan. According to his hometown newspaper, the Toledo Blade, publicly available divorce court proceedings show that he made $40,000 in 2006. And according to the Tax Policy Center's analysis, 93.5 percent of those making between $40,000 and $50,000 a year would see a tax cut under Obama's plan, averaging $1,124 for the year in 2012.

Correction, Oct. 20: As originally posted, we said that Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes totaling 7.65 percent are paid on earnings up to $102,000 a year. That's true of the 6.2 percent Social Security tax, but the 1.45 percent Medicare tax also is paid on earnings over that amount. We have added a line noting that.

—by Brooks Jackson
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obamas_welfare.html

Mayor Sarah Palin Pro Guns in Schools, bars, hospitals etc.

La Susa — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:46:54 EDT

Mayor Sarah Palin and Chryson Pro-Guns Everywhere!

Meet Sarah Palin's radical right-wing pals

The following year, when Carney proposed a local gun-control measure, Palin organized with Chryson to smother the nascent plan in its cradle. Carney's proposed ordinance would have prohibited residents from carrying guns into schools, bars, hospitals, government offices and playgrounds. Infuriated by the proposal that Carney viewed as a common-sense public-safety measure, Chryson and seven allies stormed a July 1997 council meeting.

With the bill still in its formative stages, Carney was not even ready to present it to the council, let alone conduct public hearings on it. He and other council members objected to the ad-hoc hearing as "a waste of time." But Palin -- in plain violation of council rules and norms -- insisted that Chryson testify, stating, according to the minutes, that "she invites the public to speak on any issue at any time."

When Carney tried later in the meeting to have the ordinance discussed officially at the following regular council meeting, he couldn't even get a second. His proposal died that night, thanks to Palin and her extremist allies.

"A lot of it was the ultra-conservative far right that is against everything in government, including taxes," recalled Carney. "A lot of it was a personal attack on me as being anti-gun, and a personal attack on anybody who deigned to threaten their authority to carry a loaded firearm wherever they pleased. That was the tenor of it. And it was being choreographed by Steve Stoll and the mayor."

Asked if he thought it was Palin who had instigated the turnout, he replied: "I know it was."

Source:

By David Neiwert

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/index2.html

Tod Palin's Past Political Association's A Likely Security Clearance Disqualifier

La Susa — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:08:26 EDT

Source:

The Huffington Post

Todd Palin's Past Political Associations A Likely Security Clearance Disqualifier

By Frank Naif

Above all, honesty is the rule for anyone filling out an SF 86 -- do you think CIA or DoD will want to hire or retain someone who lied on a security form?

Which gets us back to Todd Palin. From the security officer's perspective, Todd Palin the hypothetical applicant should be truthful and disclose his former association with AIP on the SF 86 in Section 29, Association Record. And because AIP has been associated with the Revolutionary Government of Iran, he probably should also disclose his AIP membership on Section 20, Foreign Activities.

How would government security officials who administer the security clearance process view the facts of Todd Palin's association with AIP? The answer is not clear cut, but his involvement in a secessionist party with foreign and violent connections would inject serious doubts about his security suitability. At best, the AIP association would raise questions that might be resolved favorably with further investigative work. However, many security officials would likely view the AIP association negatively -- especially the Iranian connection -- and deny Todd Palin a clearance.

Source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-naif/todd-palins-alaska-indepe_b_134793.html

Meet Ssrah Palin's radical right-wing pals

La Susa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:25:36 EDT

Meet Sarah Palin's radical right-wing pals

Extremists Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll helped launch Palin's political career in Alaska, and in return had influence over policy. "Her door was open," says Chryson -- and still is.

Editor's note: Research support provided by the Nation Institute Investigative Fund. For Salon's complete coverage of Sarah Palin, click here.

By Max Blumenthal and David Neiwert

Pages 1 2 3

Read more: Alaska, Politics, News, 2008 election, Sarah Palin

Video: Interview with former Alaskan Independence Party chairman Mark Chryson

Oct. 10, 2008 | PALMER, Alaska -- On the afternoon of Sept. 24 in downtown Palmer, Alaska, as the sun began to sink behind the snowcapped mountains that flank the picturesque Mat-Su Valley, 51-year-old Mark Chryson sat for an hour on a park bench, reveling in tales of his days as chairman of the Alaska Independence Party. The stocky, gray-haired computer technician waxed nostalgic about quixotic battles to eliminate taxes, support the "traditional family" and secede from the United States.

So long as Alaska remained under the boot of the federal government, said Chryson, the AIP had to stand on guard to stymie a New World Order. He invited a Salon reporter to see a few items inside his pickup truck that were intended for his personal protection. "This here is my attack dog," he said with a chuckle, handing the reporter an exuberant 8-pound papillon from his passenger seat. "Her name is Suzy." Then he pulled a 9-millimeter Makarov PM pistol -- once the standard-issue sidearm for Soviet cops -- out of his glove compartment. "I've got enough weaponry to raise a small army in my basement," he said, clutching the gun in his palm. "Then again, so do most Alaskans." But Chryson added a message of reassurance to residents of that faraway place some Alaskans call "the 48." "We want to go our separate ways," he said, "but we are not going to kill you."

Though Chryson belongs to a fringe political party, one that advocates the secession of Alaska from the Union, and that organizes with other like-minded secessionist movements from Canada to the Deep South, he is not without peculiar influence in state politics, especially the rise of Sarah Palin. An obscure figure outside of Alaska, Chryson has been a political fixture in the hometown of the Republican vice-presidential nominee for over a decade. During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin's campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory.

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Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution's language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as "Black Helicopter Steve," to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. "Every time I showed up her door was open," said Chryson. "And that policy continued when she became governor."

When Chryson first met Sarah Palin, however, he didn't really trust her politically. It was the early 1990s, when he was a member of a local libertarian pressure group called SAGE, or Standing Against Government Excess. (SAGE's founder, Tammy McGraw, was Palin's birth coach.) Palin was a leader in a pro-sales-tax citizens group called WOW, or Watch Over Wasilla, earning a political credential before her 1992 campaign for City Council. Though he was impressed by her interpersonal skills, Chryson greeted Palin's election warily, thinking she was too close to the Democrats on the council and too pro-tax.

But soon, Palin and Chryson discovered they could be useful to each other. Palin would be running for mayor, while Chryson was about to take over the chairmanship of the Alaska Independence Party, which at its peak in 1990 had managed to elect a governor.

The AIP was born of the vision of "Old Joe" Vogler, a hard-bitten former gold miner who hated the government of the United States almost as much as he hated wolves and environmentalists. His resentment peaked during the early 1970s when the federal government began installing Alaska's oil and gas pipeline. Fueled by raw rage -- "The United States has made a colony of Alaska," he told author John McPhee in 1977 -- Vogler declared a maverick candidacy for the governorship in 1982. Though he lost, Old Joe became a force to be reckoned with, as well as a constant source of amusement for Alaska's political class. During a gubernatorial debate in 1982, Vogler proposed using nuclear weapons to obliterate the glaciers blocking roadways to Juneau. "There's gold under there!" he exclaimed.

Vogler made another failed run for the governor's mansion in 1986. But the AIP's fortunes shifted suddenly four years later when Vogler convinced Richard Nixon's former interior secretary, Wally Hickel, to run for governor under his party's banner. Hickel coasted to victory, outflanking a moderate Republican and a centrist Democrat. An archconservative Republican running under the AIP candidate, Jack Coghill, was elected lieutenant governor.

Hickel's subsequent failure as governor to press for a vote on Alaskan independence rankled Old Joe. With sponsorship from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vogler was scheduled to present his case for Alaskan secession before the United Nations General Assembly in the late spring of 1993. But before he could, Old Joe's long, strange political career ended tragically that May when he was murdered by a fellow secessionist.

Hickel rejoined the Republican Party the year after Vogler's death and didn't run for reelection. Lt. Gov. Coghill's campaign to succeed him as the AIP candidate for governor ended in disaster; he peeled away just enough votes from the Republican, Jim Campbell, to throw the gubernatorial election to Democrat Tony Knowles.

Despite the disaster, Coghill hung on as AIP chairman for three more years. When he was asked to resign in 1997, Mark Chryson replaced him. Chryson pursued a dual policy of cozying up to secessionist and right-wing groups in Alaska and elsewhere while also attempting to replicate the AIP's success with Hickel in infiltrating the mainstream.

Unlike some radical right-wingers, Chryson doesn't put forward his ideas freighted with anger or paranoia. And in a state where defense of gun and property rights often takes on a real religious fervor, Chryson was able to present himself as a typical Alaskan.

He rose through party ranks by reducing the AIP's platform to a single page that "90 percent of Alaskans could agree with." This meant scrubbing the old platform of what Chryson called "racist language" while accommodating the state's growing Christian right movement by emphasizing the AIP's commitment to the "traditional family."

"The AIP is very family-oriented," Chryson explained. "We're for the traditional family -- daddy, mommy, kids -- because we all know that it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. And we don't care if Heather has two mommies. That's not a traditional family."

Chryson further streamlined the AIP's platform by softening its secessionist language. Instead of calling for immediate separation from the United States, the platform now demands a vote on independence.

Yet Chryson maintains that his party remains committed to full independence. "The Alaskan Independence Party has got links to almost every independence-minded movement in the world," Chryson exclaimed. "And Alaska is not the only place that's about separation. There's at least 30 different states that are talking about some type of separation from the United States."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/index.html

The Palin's association to Radical Group AIP

La Susa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:28:23 EDT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/alaskan-independence-part_b_133261.html

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Posted October 9, 2008 | 11:28 AM (EST) Alaskan Independence Party: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

AIP's creation was inspired by the rabidly violent anti-Americanism of its founding father Joe Vogler, "I'm an Alaskan, not an American," reads a favorite Vogler quote on AIP's current website, "I've got no use for America or her damned institutions." According to Vogler AIP's central purpose was to drive Alaska's secession from the United States. Alaska, says current Chairwoman Lynette Clark, "should be an independent nation."

Vogler was murdered in 1993 during an illegal sale of plastic explosives that went bad. The prior year, he had renounced his allegiance to the United States explaining that, "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government." He cursed the stars and stripes, promising, "I won't be buried under their damned flag...when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Palin has never denounced Vogler or his detestable anti-Americanism.

Palin's husband Todd remained an AIP party member from 1995 to 2002. Sarah can be described in McCarthy-era palaver as a "fellow traveler." While retaining her Republican registration, she attended the AIP's 1994 convention where the party called for a draft constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent nation of Alaska. The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that she also attended AIP's 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP's 2006 convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year's 2008 convention. In other words, this is not something that happened when she was eight!

So when Palin accuses Barack of "not seeing the same America as you and me," maybe she is referring to an America without Alaska. In any case, isn't it time the media start giving equal time to Palin's buddy list of anti-American bombers and other radical associates?

Sarah Palin

In 2004, America's malleable mainstream media allowed itself to be manipulated by artful Republican operatives into devoting weeks of broadcast attention and drums of ink to unfairly desecrating John ... In 2004, America's malleable mainstream media allowed itself to be manipulated by artful Republican operatives into devoting weeks of broadcast attention and drums of ink to unfairly desecrating John ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MODT4y90k90

McCain Threatens Legal Action for Oct. 14, 08 Rick Sanchez Report!

La Susa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:01:30 EDT

Oct. 14, 2008 Rick Sanchez reported on the Palin and AIP anti-American radical group connection. McCain threatens Legal Action!

A Must See Video You-Tube Rick Sanchez Report

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/14/151519/61/145/630389

Who is Todd Palin?

La Susa — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:36:12 EDT

A vote for McCain is a vote for Sarah Palin, a vote for Sarah Palin is a Vote for Tod Palin.

Who is Todd Palin?

Why did he chose to join The AIP? A political party that wanted to Attack the United States Government? What will he tell her to do, if she becomes president of the USA?

McCain refuses to allow himself or Palin to be on CNN, why, what are they hiding? Will they if elected refuse to speak with the American People?

-A Must Watch Rick Sanchez news Anchor on CNN Tonight on Todd's involvement with the AIP.

CNN's Rick Sanchez A Must See Tonight! Alaka Independent Party-Who is Todd Palin?

La Susa — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:47:52 EDT

I could not belive what I was hearing when this aired! This Alaka Independent Party AIP is similar to other malitia's. No wonder Sarah Palin lowered poroperty tax while mayor, and increaced sales tax, no wonder she is so pro gun... People may say what is the relavance? I say some Christian women do exactly what their husband tell them to do, because it is written in the Holy Bible "wives be submissive to your husbands", this is why it is so important to know who Todd Palin is.

Sorry folks I can't find the transcript link, but hope it will be up soon!

The Book of Phalin...er...Palin

Nia "Hussein" J. — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:17:18 EDT

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-08/news/the-book-of-sarah/5

By Wayne Barrettpublished: October 08, 2008

Along with the winks and folksy "doggone" moments early in her debate with Joe Biden last week, Sarah Palin repeated her familiar claim to the title of "maverick," declaring that "as a governor and as a mayor," she's had a "track record of reform" and has now "joined a team of mavericks."

Despite the free fall that her polling numbers went into after her disastrous interviews with Katie Couric, that branding as a "reformer" has been resilient. Introduced skillfully before tens of millions during an intense surge of interest six weeks ago, it's been hammered home with repeated soundbites.

But the label doesn't hold up under close scrutiny. From the controversy that catapulted her to the governorship, to her ties to the indicted patriarch of Alaska's GOP, to the multilayered nexus of lobbyists and Big Oil interests around her, and, finally, to the Wasilla sports complex that capped her mayoral career, the myth of Sarah Palin, reformer, withers under inspection.

PALIN'S CLAIM to fame as an Alaska reformer—that she risked her career to expose the chairman of the state GOP—is revisionist. In fact, Palin supported the methane-drilling project that helped sink GOP boss Randy Ruedrich before she later decided she was against it—a mirror of her flip-flop on the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. And her reversal had more to do with seizing a political opportunity than following her conscience.

In 2003, Ruedrich, an oil executive known for his ability to raise industry contributions for the party, was appointed to the powerful Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC) by Governor Frank Murkowski at the same time as Palin, who had finished her second term as Wasilla mayor the year before. Murkowski had given Palin the plum position to compensate for overlooking her when he appointed his own daughter Lisa to the U.S. Senate seat he vacated when he was elected governor in 2002. Palin's near-win in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor earlier that year—losing to the first Alaskan of native ancestry ever elected to state office—had made her a statewide star. She had filmed commercials and stumped for Frank Murkowski that fall, so he owed her. But she rejected other top posts that he offered until she got the one she wanted—a position that allowed her to live at home and commute to Anchorage, rather than relocate to Juneau. She certainly also saw the commission appointment as a stepping-stone, and as late as October 2003, she told reporters that she was considering a race against Lisa Murkowski in the upcoming 2004 special senate election.

When Murkowski made Palin the $122,400 chairwoman of the OGCC, one of her jobs was to oversee commission ethics, meaning she was charged with reporting any possible ethics violations by staff or commission members to the governor's office. By her own account, she first did that in September 2003, reaching out to a top Murkowski staffer about Ruedrich. But what she complained about then, according to a source familiar with these conversations, was Ruedrich's party business on state time. She said nothing about his blatant championing of a methane-drilling project by a company called Evergreen Resources—even though she'd witnessed it herself at a standing-room-only community meeting in August. Palin and Ruedrich went to the meeting because the commission had oversight powers over the drilling, and homeowners in the Wasilla area where she was once mayor were up in arms over the effects they feared it would have on their property and drinking water.

Chris Whittington-Evans, chair of the citizens' group that helped organize the meeting, says that Ruedrich presented a slideshow very similar to one the company itself had presented at any earlier session. Palin remained quiet through most of the meeting, though Evans recalls that she was questioned about a possible conflict of interest she might have. Palin was then chairing the campaign committee of a pro-Evergreen candidate for Borough Mayor of Mat-Su, the county that includes Wasilla. The candidate, Charlie Fannon, her former police chief, had taken $2,500 in donations from three Evergreen executives and a consultant, though community outrage eventually forced him to return some of the money. Ruedrich had given Fannon $500.

The same three executives had also just given $1,747 to Palin's 2002 campaign for lieutenant governor. In fact, with the low campaign-finance limits in Alaska, Evergreen was the second-largest giver to both Palin and Fannon. While still mayor, Palin had backed an Evergreen-designed bill that allowed the state to override local objections to the drilling and permitted an ordinance—introduced by her closest ally on the city council authorizing methane extraction—to become law. But the focus of the question at the community meeting was Fannon. Palin had asked Fannon to run and had filmed an ad for him. He was the only candidate she'd ever contributed to—and her father contributed as well. Evans says he found it odd when she insisted that there was no conflict between backing "a big promoter of methane-drilling" and sitting in judgment on the project.

That's what Tim Anderson, the Borough Mayor who beat Fannon and opposed the drilling, says now as well: "You could say that it was a conflict of interest" for Palin to be on the commission and supporting Fannon. Anderson was also at the August meeting and says that Palin sat up front with Ruedrich and Evergreen. "They were trying to convince the people that drilling underneath their homes wasn't a big problem." Fannon's narrow loss to Anderson, wrote the local newspaper The Frontiersman, confirmed the political potency of the methane issue. In early November, Evans sent Palin an e-mail detailing the case against Ruedrich and demanding that he be fired from the commission. Palin finally acted, forwarding the Evans e-mail to the state's attorney general. Two days later, Ruedrich resigned.

A few days after Ruedrich's resignation, Palin searched his commission e-mail and found damaging evidence of his ties to Evergreen and his party abuse of the commission. For reasons she has never explained, she took a month to send those e-mails to the attorney general. In that intervening time, she talked twice to the attorney general's office, and her own subsequent notes indicated that she expressed "concerns" about whether a continuing investigation was needed, since Ruedrich had already stepped down.

By the time she finally forwarded the e-mails, which were very damaging to Evergreen as well, the company had dumped its top Wasilla-based executive and had begun to withdraw from its Alaska adventure. A couple of weeks later, she surprised everyone and resigned herself, attributing it later to the dilatory response she was getting from state officials. In fact, when she quit, she had given the officials less time to act after getting the e-mails than she'd taken to send them.

Michelle Church, who was the director of the same citizens' group that Evans chaired, believes that Palin was "definitely supportive of the drilling" and "opportunistic" when she switched and went after Evergreen and Ruedrich. "It really strengthened her support in the community," recalls Church, who was elected to the Mat-Su assembly as a result of the methane controversy. "She turned on them because it was to her political advantage to do so." The target was the governorship.

When she resigned from the commission in January 2004, Palin was simply trying to decide which Murkowski she would challenge—Lisa for U.S. Senate, or Frank for the governorship. Lisa Murkowski had a couple million in the bank, while the governor's campaign kitty was strangely barren. Frank Murkowski's nepotism, proposed sales tax, and elimination of a longevity bonus for seniors—all of which happened before Palin took Ruedrich on—had depressed his approval ratings so badly that many thought he wouldn't seek re-election. Palin wrote an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News in April 2004, reliving her days as basketball point guard "Sarah Barracuda" and lauding the good competition of public life. But a week later, she announced that she would not run against Lisa Murkowski, attributing it to her son Track, who she said opposed it. Then she set her sights on the governorship. When Murkowski, the oldest governor in America at 73, finally did decide in May 2006 to run again, Palin had already been an announced candidate for seven months, perfectly positioned as his reform nemesis. He spent a third of what he did in 2002 and lost badly.

SARAH PALIN'S MAVERICK image flies in the face of her longtime ties to the Republican patriarch of Alaska politics, Senator Ted Stevens, who is on trial in Washington for taking $250,000 in gifts from VECO, an oil-services company that was once Palin's biggest donor. Palin remained nominally neutral in the recent GOP primary, shunning two Republicans who tried to give the already-indicted Stevens a serious challenge. Her chief of staff, Mike Tibbles, left his state post to become Stevens's campaign manager, and she did a press conference with Stevens shortly before the vote. (Tibbles's wife is still a top appointee in Palin's administration.) A Stevens campaign consultant, Art Hackney, says: "She has campaigned with him, and they are enjoying a good relationship." Asked on a visit to New York recently if she was supporting Stevens's re-election, Palin replied that his trial had just started. "We'll see where that goes," said Palin, who forced the resignation of Ruedrich and another top Murkowski aide on ethics charges that never came close to reaching the level of an indictable offense.

Vic Vickers, a wealthy banker who ran against Stevens in the GOP primary and spent $700,000 of his own money, tells the Voice that Palin and Stevens "are very close" and that the two organizations "merged to defeat my candidacy." While Palin has called for the resignation of Stevens's son Ben as national committeeman, Vickers said that "vicious attacks" against him were "coming out of her office" during the primary. "They just torched me in the end," the anti-Bush and anti-war Republican said. Dave Cuddy, a more conventional Republican and former legislator who also challenged Stevens in the primary, said he reached out to Palin: "We did call, and we played telephone tag. I think she was uncomfortable. She didn't support me because she thought that I was not going to win."

Palin's ties to Stevens go back nearly a decade, when she retained Stevens's former chief of staff, Steve Silver, as the Washington lobbyist for Wasilla. He opened doors for her on lobbying trips to Washington for earmarks. Silver's firm was so tied to Stevens that it also included the senator's former counsel and, according to registration forms, his son. It also lobbied for Ketchikan Gateway Borough, the beneficiary of Stevens's pork-barrel favorite, the since-killed Bridge to Nowhere, as well as for the Alaska Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, sponsor of the second Nowhere Bridge that's still alive and runs near Palin's house. Ironically, the firm was also so tight with Frank Murkowski that it was Murkowski's since-convicted top aide, Jim Clark, who once headed its lobbying unit and brought Silver aboard.

But one Stevens law firm wasn't enough for Palin. She hired the firm that included Stevens's brother-in-law, Bill Bittner, as counsel to the city, ultimately steering hundreds of thousands in payments to it, much of it associated with a costly lawsuit sparked by a Palin development decision. Bittner, who has engineered real-estate investments for Stevens, also rented an apartment to the state for Murkowski's use whenever he visited Anchorage. A year after Palin stepped down as mayor, she was one of three incorporators of a nonprofit called the Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service Committee that he helped establish to support Republican women.

It's unclear why Bill Allen, the VECO president who has pled guilty to bribery charges and is expected to testify against Stevens, became such a large Palin donor in 2002. His contributions and bribes were usually connected to his business interests, and he had none in Wasilla. News accounts in Alaska indicate that in 2001, Palin drove from Wasilla to Allen's home in faraway Cook Inlet. Allen, other VECO executives, and their wives then gave Palin's campaign committee $5,000, contributing $500 apiece over a two-day period in late December.

No one else in Palin's underfinanced bid for lieutenant governor came close to VECO. Virtually the same group of executives repeated the pattern in 2003—giving $1,600 to Charlie Fannon's campaign committee, chaired by Palin. No one seemed to mind that the Alaska Public Offices Commission had collected the largest fine in its history ($28,000) from VECO who were paying employees to make illegal campaign contributions. In the current VECO scandals, which have already led to the convictions of several state legislators, it's clear that VECO continued the practice of reimbursing the campaign donations of its executives. Palin's lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, who recently did a Fox News Sunday appearance on her behalf, collected $16,000 in VECO contributions as a state legislator.

JOHN McCAIN AND Palin share at least one common bond beyond their self-proclaimed independence: They're both very comfortable with lobbyists. Sean Parnell—who is running Alaska's government while Palin travels and is so trusted that he was one of only three Alaskans named to the national campaign's truth squad for Palin—was a lobbyist in the Anchorage office of the legendary Washington firm, Patton Boggs, before he was elected with Palin. Ironically, one of the charges in the eventual ethics complaint against Ruedrich was that he'd sent numerous e-mails to Evergreen's lobbyist, Kyle Parker, a Patton Boggs partner. Ruedrich admitted that he had even leaked a confidential commission memo on the methane controversy to Parker. Ruedrich was reporting at the time to Kevin Jardell, an assistant commissioner of administration who oversaw the commission. Jardell had lived for months in Ruedrich's home while he worked with Parker representing the state GOP in a reapportionment case, hired by Patton Boggs, which was the party's outside counsel.

This intertwining of interests was exposed when all the details of the Ruedrich scandal hit the headlines in 2004. Parnell was then Murkowski's deputy director of Oil & Gas. Undeterred by Patton's reputation, Parnell left his state job in 2005 to join the firm, where he soon had his own oil clients. Before joining the Murkowski administration, he had been the in-house lobbyist for ConocoPhillips. Parnell's bio makes him an odd choice to lead a truth squad—having moved from the state senate to an oil company, then back to a state oil job, and finally, becoming an outside lobbyist for oil interests while running for lieutenant governor.

Even closer to Palin than Parnell is the Alaskan lobbyist whose firm topped the charts in earnings: Wendy Chamberlain. Palin lists Chamberlain on her personal-disclosure forms because Chamberlain took Palin's daughter Willow and her own daughter on a 2007 summer trip to a basketball camp in Mexico. Palin insisted on the form that she had reimbursed Chamberlain—the legislature had passed a bill that barred executives from taking gifts from lobbyists. A Washington Post story last week revealed that Chamberlain's clients have deluged Palin with gifts, including three, worth $2,650, from the chief executive of a mining company (Parnell used to represent the same firm, Calista). Todd Palin took two trips from other Chamberlain clients, though the lobbyist claims she had no idea her clients were so generous with her friend.

In fact, Chamberlain tried to minimize her relationship with Palin in a Voice interview ("I know her about the same as any other lobbyist"), though news clips describe Palin and Chamberlain together working the sidewalks for Frank Murkowski in the 2002 campaign. Chamberlain was then married to Eldon Mulder, a state legislator who now runs his own lobbying firm. "We first met Governor Palin many years ago," Mulder says, "when our daughters were in basketball camp together. About six to eight years ago."

Chamberlain acknowledged that back then, one of her firm's clients was VECO. Mulder collected $9,000 in VECO contributions from 1999 to 2001, and, according to press reports, he used his position as chair of the House Finance committee to push for a tax-break bill introduced at VECO's request by another legislator eventually convicted of taking payoffs from VECO. Mulder was accused by a third House member—also a Republican—of threatening to cut off state funds if he got in the way of the VECO bill. Chamberlain became a lobbyist two years after her husband was first elected to the House in 1992 and ran into problems three times with the ethics committee—mostly for using state offices and funds for her lobbying business. Once, she was sanctioned for "poor judgment" when her husband weakened a cruise-ship-pollution bill in the interests of a Chamberlain client. Mulder and Chamberlain's lobbying partner, former House Speaker Joe Hayes, contributed $1,500 to Palin in 2006.

One Chamberlain client, the Pebble Partnership, has fared so well with Palin that the governor spoke out against a state initiative that would have erected environmental obstacles to its proposed mining project. A state watchdog group whose members she appoints is now looking at whether Palin's highly unusual public opposition to a ballot issue—with her saying, "Let me take my governor's hat off" for a moment of "personal privilege"—violated state laws. Chamberlain pushed so hard against the initiative that other clients, like the Alaska Association of Realtors, decided to oppose it at an executive meeting she attended. Chamberlain's husband also lobbied for Pebble, and three other lobbyists recently tied to the partnership, one of whom is dating Palin's legislative director, donated $4,150 to her.

In her 2006 race, Palin received $24,000 in contributions from lobbyists, most of them tied to the oil industry.

EVEN PALIN'S most plausible claim—that she's taken on Big Oil—is at best a half-truth. She did hike their taxes and push through a natural-gas pipeline deal that, at least for now, has cut them out. But delegates weren't chanting "Drill, baby, drill" during her convention speech without reason. Shortly after she became governor, she was elected chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), a pro-industry coalition of 30 producer states. She soon tapped Michael Smith, who was assistant secretary of fossil energy at Bush's Energy Department, as its new executive director. Smith left the Abraham Group, the lobbying and consulting firm of former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, to join IOGCC. Harper's Magazine said of Smith: "While in government, he pushed to promote oil drilling wherever a drop might be found"—and that was before Bush and McCain began pushing offshore drilling.

Smith isn't the only Palin connection to the most pro-oil administration in American history. One of her 2002 campaign treasurers, Hans Neidig, was named special assistant for Alaska in the Bush interior department. Neidig was selected by Drue Pearce, a former Alaska state senator now in charge of overseeing the federal role in the giant pipeline project. Pearce, a gushing Palin champion in recent news stories, joined in Palin's 2006 victory party.

Palin also selected Larry Hartig as state environmental-conservation commissioner, though Hartig's law firm, Hartig Rhodes, lists a dozen Alaska oil and drilling companies as clients, as well as a few mining companies. One well-known Hartig client, Halliburton Energy Services, has surprisingly extensive investments in the state—and even services the company that acquired Evergreen's Alaska interests. Another, Anadarko Petroleum, is owned by the 30th-largest corporate polluter in the country. Even Randy Ruedrich's onetime employer is a Hartig client, and the man Murkowski selected to replace Palin when she quit the Oil & Gas Commission in ostensible protest was a Hartig partner.

As commissioner, Hartig rushed to the aid last year of Shell when it ran into trouble getting offshore drilling permits from Bush's EPA. The onetime Evergreen lobbyist Kyle Parker actually e-mailed Hartig a draft letter for him to forward to an EPA appeals board, and Hartig obliged—altering the language but requesting an "expedited review" so "drilling can proceed this season." Palin has put Hartig in charge of the climate-change subcabinet she bragged about during the debate as well, suggesting that Carl Pope of the Sierra Club might not be far off when he declared: "No one is closer to the oil industry than Governor Palin."

Marathon Oil, a Wendy Chamberlain client and sponsor of Palin's inaugural, has already benefited from one unnoticed Palin decision—her support of an extension of a license that allows it and ConocoPhillips to continue exporting natural gas to Japan and other Asian countries. Palin championed this license though several gas users in Alaska objected that it would worsen the problem of declining gas reserves, and one, a major fertilizer-maker, shut its plant when the extension was granted, forcing 130 workers out of jobs. As frequently as Palin's lack of foreign-policy experience has been noted in the media, she has never cited her meeting with Japan's consul over gas issues, perhaps because it might appear inconsistent with her claim that Alaska is a bulwark of production for the U.S. itself.

Even Palin's ballyhooed pipeline is more a pipedream than it is the blow to Big Oil that Palin pretends it is. (Murkowski was about to award the deal to the oil giants when she beat him.) Two days after Palin's deal with TransCanada was approved, the company's chief executive, Hal Kvisle, repeated what he'd been saying all along: "Nothing goes ahead until Exxon is happy with it." While he was forced to pull back a bit from that moment of candor, his statement that "the five key players"—including TransCanada, the state, and three main producers—have to still "get together" and "craft something" is indisputably true.

All Palin has done is outsource the negotiations with the producers to TransCanada, who can conduct them very privately. She also offered the company a half-billion-dollar state bonus if it can get a deal going, though Palin's natural-resources commissioner, Tom Irwin, quit the Murkowski administration in part because it gave the producers financial incentives that he said were unnecessary. The only way Palin's pipeline becomes real (she claimed, absurdly, during the debate that the state was already "building" it) is if the producers, who have announced their own project now, are brought back into it—something, like Troopergate and her possible Pebble Mine violation, that won't be resolved until post-election.

THE $12.5 MILLION sports complex and hockey rink that is the lasting monument to Palin's two terms as Wasilla mayor is also a monument to the kind of insider politics that dismays Americans of both parties. Six months before Palin stepped down as mayor in October 2002, the city awarded nearly a half-million-dollar contract to design the biggest project in Wasilla history to Kumin Associates. Blase Burkhart was the Kumin architect on the job—the son of Roy Burkhart, who is frequently described as a "mentor" of Palin and was head of the local Republican Party (his wife, June, who also advised Palin, is the national committeewoman). Asked if the contract was a favor, Roy Burkhart, who contributed to her campaign in the same time frame that his son got the contract, said: "I really don't know." Palin then named Blase Burkhart to a seven-member builder-selection committee that picked Howdie Inc., a mostly residential contractor owned at the time by Howard Nugent. Formally awarded the contract a couple of weeks after Palin left office, Nugent has donated $4,000 to Palin campaigns. Two competitors protested the process that led to Nugent's contract. Burkhart and Nugent had done at least one project together before the complex—and have done several since.

A list of subcontractors on the job, obtained by the Voice, includes many with Palin ties. One was Spenard Builders Supply, the state's leading supplier of wood, floor, roof, and other "pre-engineered components." In addition to being a sponsor of Todd Palin's snow-machine team that has earned tens of thousands for the Palin family, Spenard hired Sarah Palin to do a statewide television commercial in 2004. When the Palins began building a new family home off Lake Lucille in 2002—at the same time that Palin was running for lieutenant governor and in her final months as mayor—Spenard supplied the materials, according to Antoine Bricks, who works in its Wasilla office. Spenard actually filed a notice "of its right to assert a lien" on the deed for the Palin property after contracting for labor and materials for the site. Spenard's name has popped up in the trial of Senator Stevens—it worked on the house that is at the center of the VECO scandal as well.

Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the two-story, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house himself, with the help of contractors he described as "buddies." As mayor, Sarah Palin blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits in the wide-open city, and there is no public record of who the "buddies" were. The house was built very near the complex, on a site whose city purchase led to years of unsuccessful litigation and, now, $1.3 million in additional costs, with a law firm that's also donated to Palin collecting costly fees from the city.

Dorwin and Joanne Smith, the principals of complex subcontractor DJ Excavation & Development, have donated $7,100 to Palin and her allied candidate Charlie Fannon (Joanne is a Palin appointee on the state Board of Nursing). Sheldon Ewing, who owns another complex subcontractor, Weld Air, has donated $1,300, and PN&D, an engineering firm on the complex, has contributed $699.

Ewing was one of the few sports-complex contractors, aside from Spenard, willing to address the question of whether he worked on the house as well, but he had little to say: "I doubt that it occurred, but if it did indirectly, how would I know anyhow?" The odd timing of Palin's house construction—it was completed two months before she left City Hall and while she and Todd Palin were campaigning statewide for the first time—raises questions, especially considering its synergy with the complex.

Salon's David Talbot recently visited the complex, which, he said, resembled "a huge airplane hangar" so far away from the city's center that kids can't bike or walk there. It's adorned by a plaque commemorating Palin. Even as a governor, she is still such a champion of the complex—which loses money every year—that she just steered state funding for a new kitchen to it.

Ayers Issue Put to Rest...

Nia "Hussein" J. — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:02:39 EDT

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/

For most of the election, Sen. John McCain's campaign has been somewhat subtle about trying to tie Sen. Barack Obama to the former '60s radical William Ayers.

No longer. A 90-second Web ad released Oct. 8, 2008, features sinister music, side-by-side photographs of Obama and Ayers, and a series of dubious allegations about their past connections, including this one:

"Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together."

Ayers was a founding member of the militant Vietnam-era anti-war group the Weathermen. He was investigated for his role in a series of domestic bombings, but the charges were dropped in 1974 due to prosecutorial misconduct. He is now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and actively engaged in the city's civic life.

The McCain campaign said the "radical education foundation" to which they were referring is the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a charity endowed by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg that funded public-school programs in Chicago from 1995 to 2001.

We'll look at whether the foundation was radical. But first we have to grapple with whether Obama and Ayers ran it.

Obama served on the foundation's volunteer board from its inception in 1995 through its dissolution in 2001, and was chair for the first four years. So an argument can be made that he ran it, though an executive director handled day-to-day operations.

Ayers, who received his doctorate in education from Columbia University in 1987 and is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was active in getting the foundation up and running. He and two other activists led the effort to secure the grant from Annenberg, and he worked without pay in the early months of 1995, prior to the board's hiring of an executive director, to help the foundation get incorporated and formulate its bylaws, said Ken Rolling, who was the foundation's only executive director. Ayers went on to become a member of the "collaborative," an advisory group that advised the board of directors and the staff.

However, Ayers "was never on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge," and he "never made a decision programmatically or had a vote," Rolling said.

"He (Ayers) was at board meetings — which, by the way, were open — as a guest," Rolling said. "That is not anything near Bill Ayers and Barack Obama running the Chicago Annenberg Challenge."

Now, was the foundation radical?

The McCain campaign cited several pieces of evidence for that allegation, including a 1995 invitation from the foundation for applications from schools "that want to make radical changes in the way teachers teach and students learn." The campaign appears to have confused two different definitions of the word "radical." Clearly the invitation referred to "a considerable departure from the usual or traditional," rather than "advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs."

The campaign also cited two projects the foundation funded, one having to do with a United Nations-themed Peace School and another that focused on African-American studies.

"That is radical in the eye of this campaign and we imagine in the eyes of most Americans," said Michael Goldfarb, a spokesman for McCain. "It is a subjective thing, and there are going to be people in Berkeley and Chicago who think that is totally legitimate."

Teaching about the United Nations and African-American studies may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's hardly "radical" in the same way Ayers' Vietnam-era activities were. Moreover, most of the projects the foundation funded (more on that below) were not remotely controversial.

The McCain campaign also cited an opinion piece by conservative commentator Stanley Kurtz in the Sept. 23, 2008, Wall Street Journal as evidence of the foundation's radicalism. Kurtz wrote that Ayers was the "guiding spirit" of the foundation, and it "translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice."

But Ayers' views on education, though certainly reform-oriented and left-of-center, are not considered anywhere near as radical as his Vietnam-era views on war. And even if they were, there was a long list of individuals involved with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge whose positions provided them far more authority over its direction than Ayers' advisory role gave him.

Let's look at a few, starting with the funder. Annenberg was a lifelong Republican and former ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Richard Nixon. His widow, Leonore, has endorsed McCain. Kurtz might just as plausibly have accused Obama and the foundation of "translating Annenberg's conservatism into practice."

Among the other board members who served with Obama were: Stanley Ikenberry, former president of the University of Illinois; Arnold Weber, former president of Northwestern University and assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration; Scott Smith, then publisher of the Chicago Tribune; venture capitalist Edward Bottum; John McCarter, president of the Field Museum; Patricia Albjerg Graham, former dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a host of other mainstream folks.

"The whole idea of it being radical when it was this tie of blue-chip, white-collar, CEOs and civic leaders is just ridiculous," said the foundation's former development director, Marianne Philbin.

The foundation gave money to groups of public schools – usually three to 10 – who partnered with some sort of outside organization to improve their students' achievement.

In his opinion piece, Kurtz puts a sinister spin on this: "Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with 'external partners,' which actually got the money...CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or ACORN)."

Rollings said the foundation tried to fund the schools directly, but doing so proved to be a "bureaucratic nightmare." But any external group that received money had to have created a program in partnership with a network of public schools.

And though ACORN is considered a liberal organization, the vast majority of the foundation's external partners were not remotely controversial. Here are a few examples: the Chicago Symphony, the University of Chicago, Loyola University, Northwestern University, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

Had Kurtz chosen to accuse Obama of carrying water for the conservative Annenberg, he might have written: "CAC disbursed money to various business-friendly entities, such as the Museum of Science and Industry and the Commercial Club of Chicago."

See how easy it is?

The programs the foundation funded were designed to allow individuals from the "external partners" – whether the musicians in the symphony or the business leaders in the commercial club – to help improve student achievement. They were along the lines of mentoring by artists, literacy instruction, professional development for teachers and administrators, and training for parents in everything from computer skills to helping their children with homework to advocating for their children at school.

This last activity – something suburban parents practice with zeal – is also suspect in Kurtz's view: "CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents 'organized' by community groups might be viewed by school principals 'as a political threat.'" That is typical of Kurtz's essay – relatively innocuous facts cast in the worst possible light. That's appropriate for an opinion piece, perhaps, but hardly grounds for a purportedly factual political ad accusing the group of radicalism.

We could go on and on with evidence that the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a rather vanilla charitable group. For example, under the deal with Annenberg every dollar from him had to be matched by two from elsewhere. The co-funders were a host of respected, mainstream institutions, such as the National Science Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Chicago Public Schools.

In short, this was a mainstream foundation funded by a mainstream, Republican business leader and led by an overwhelmingly mainstream, civic-minded group of individuals. Ayers' involvement in its inception and on an advisory committee do not make it radical – nor does the funding of programs involving the United Nations and African-American studies.

This attack is false, but it's more than that – it's malicious. It unfairly tars not just Obama, but all the other prominent, well-respected Chicagoans who also volunteered their time to the foundation. They came from all walks of life and all political backgrounds, and there's ample evidence their mission was nothing more than improving ailing public schools in Chicago. Yet in the heat of a political campaign they have been accused of financing radicalism. That's Pants on Fire wrong.

FactCheck.org- McCain Ad Lies Again "About Being Liberal?"

La Susa — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:12:00 EDT

'Lying' About Being Liberal?October 13, 2008A McCain-Palin ad twists Obama's words.SummaryA McCain-Palin ad claims Obama was rated the "most liberal" U.S. senator, which was true only for 2007 but not for his entire Senate career. He was rated 10th and 16th in his two previous years.

The ad also misquotes Obama. It says he defended himself against the "most liberal" rating by saying "they're not telling the truth" and "folks are lying." Actually, Obama said McCain and Palin weren't truthful about the "Bridge to Nowhere," and he was correct. And his "folks are lying" remark referred to anti-abortion groups that accuse him of favoring "infanticide" because of votes he cast in the Illinois state Senate.

After twisting Obama's words, the ad accuses him of being "not presidential."AnalysisThe McCain-Palin ad "Folks" was released Oct. 8 to run nationally.

McCain-Palin 2008
TV Ad: "Folks"

Announcer: Who is Barack Obama? The National Journal says he's the Senate's most liberal.

How extreme. But when pressed, how does he defend himself?

Obama: They're not telling the truth.

I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying.

Announcer: Mr. Obama, we all know the truth.

Obama: Folks are lying.

Announcer: Not presidential.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.Not Telling the Truth

An announcer asserts of Sen. Barack Obama, "the National Journal says he's the Senate's most liberal." The ad then says Obama defended himself by saying, "They're not telling the truth ... [F]olks are lying." The announcer says Obama's response is "not presidential."

The ad is misleading regarding the "most liberal" claim, and simply false in the way it twists Obama's own words.

It is true that the National Journal rated Obama "the most liberal senator" in 2007, based on 99 votes in the Senate that year. But in his previous two years, Obama was rated 10th and 16th most liberal. So his career voting record is far from "most liberal." The McCain ad is misleading about that.

And it is downright false when it implies that Obama accused the McCain campaign of lying about the "most liberal" rating. He did not. He accused Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin of "not telling the truth" about the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, and he accused independent, anti-abortion groups of "lying" when they accused him of favoring "infanticide." The ad takes Obama's words completely out of their context.

Bridge to Nowhere

The first comment from Obama quoted in the ad comes from an interview that the senator did for MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann that aired Sept. 8. He was discussing a new ad from the McCain-Palin campaign that claimed Palin "stopped the 'Bridge to Nowhere.' " After video of the ad "Original Mavericks" played on screen, Olbermann noted that Palin had actually supported the project at first, before canceling it long after it became a target of criticism by McCain and others. Here's the exchange:
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's "Countdown" (Sept. 8): What are Senator McCain and Governor Palin doing in this new commercial, do you think?

Obama: They’re not telling the truth. You know, I mean, it’s — I think we’ve all gotten accustomed to being able to spin things in politics. But when you’ve got somebody who was for a project being presented as being against it, then that, you know, stretches the bounds of spin into new areas.
We agree with Obama about that ad. We called it "old bunk" in an item on the FactCheck Wire on Sept. 9. Palin's misleading claim about the bridge is something we've noted on more than one occasion.

"Infanticide"

The second Obama quote comes from an interview that he did with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, and it was not directed at either the McCain campaign or the National Journal. Obama was attempting to clarify his position on "born alive" legislation in Illinois. This is how that part of the conversation went:

David Brody, CBN News (Aug. 16): Real quick, the born alive infant protection act. I gotta tell you that's the one thing I get a lot of emails about and it's just not just from Evangelicals, it about Catholics, Protestants, main — they're trying to understand it because there was some literature put out by the National Right to Life Committee. And they're basically saying they felt like you misrepresented your position on that bill.

Obama: Let me clarify this right now.

Brody: Because it's getting a lot of play.

Obama: Well and because they have not been telling the truth. And I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying. I have said repeatedly that I would have been completely in, fully in support of the federal bill that everybody supported — which was to say — that you should provide assistance to any infant that was born — even if it was as a consequence of an induced abortion.

For the record, we wrote about the back and forth between the National Right to Life Committee and Obama, regarding his votes against "born alive" legislation during his time in the Illinois state Senate. More Misrepresentation

The McCain-Palin press release announcing the TV spot is wrong, too. It claims that "the ad highlights Barack Obama's defense of his extreme liberal voting record by accusing others of lying," which is untrue. Obama and his campaign have disputed the National Journal's 2007 rating by saying that he missed too many votes while campaigning for the rating to be representative, and that some of the votes (particularly one in favor of stricter ethics rules) should not properly be seen as either liberal or conservative. But he has never said the Journal was "lying" or "not telling the truth."

For the record, the National Journal did not offer a rating of McCain's votes for 2007, because he missed more than half the votes that would have figured into the rating, even more than Obama missed.

by D'Angelo Gore

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/lying_about_being_liberal.html

www.factcheck.org

A non partisan group!

Bush-Home ownership up by 50 per-cent in 2005

La Susa — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:18:50 EDT

National Homeownership Month, 2006
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

White House News

Owning a home is an important part of the American dream. During National Homeownership Month, we raise awareness of homeownership and encourage more Americans to consider the benefits of owning their own home.

Nearly 70 percent of Americans enjoy the satisfaction of owning their own home, and my Administration continues to promote an ownership society where the promise of America reaches all our citizens. The American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003 is helping thousands of low to moderate income and minority families with downpayment and closing costs, which represent the greatest barrier to homeownership. Since 2002, when I announced our goal to help 5.5 million minorities become homeowners by the end of this decade, the rate of minority homeownership has climbed above 50 percent, and more than 2.5 million minority families have become new homeowners. My Administration will continue to provide counseling and assistance for new homebuyers and expand homeownership opportunities for all Americans.

During National Homeownership Month and throughout the year, we applaud the men and women who work to achieve the dream of homeownership, and we are grateful for those who provide counseling, lending, real estate, construction, and other services to these individuals. The hard work, financial discipline, and personal responsibility of our country's homeowners help transform neighborhoods throughout our Nation and reflect the best qualities of America.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 2006 as National Homeownership Month. I call upon the people of the United States to join me in building a more hopeful society and recognizing the importance of expanding the ownership of homes across our great Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirtieth.

GEORGE W. BUSH

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/05/20060524-6.html

The Source of the Obama Lies

Nia "Hussein" J. — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:56:49 EDT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13martin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

October 13, 2008The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama By JIM RUTENBERG

The most persistent falsehood about Senator Barack Obama’s background first hit in 2004 just two weeks after the Democratic convention speech that helped set him on the path to his presidential candidacy: “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion.”

That statement, contained in a press release, spun a complex tale about the ancestry of Mr. Obama, who is Christian.

The press release was picked up by a conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com, and spread steadily as others elaborated on its claims over the years in e-mail messages, Web sites and books. It continues to drive other false rumors about Mr. Obama’s background.

Just last Friday, a woman told Senator John McCain at a town-hall-style meeting, “I have read about him,” and “he’s an Arab.” Mr. McCain corrected her.

Until this month, the man who is widely credited with starting the cyberwhisper campaign that still dogs Mr. Obama was a secondary character in news reports, with deep explorations of his background largely confined to liberal blogs.

But an appearance in a documentary-style program on the Fox News Channel watched by three million people last week thrust the man, Andy Martin, and his past into the foreground. The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government.

An examination of legal documents and election filings, along with interviews with his acquaintances, revealed Mr. Martin, 62, to be a man with a history of scintillating if not always factual claims. He has left a trail of animosity — some of it provoked by anti-Jewish comments — among political leaders, lawyers and judges in three states over more than 30 years.

He is a law school graduate, but his admission to the Illinois bar was blocked in the 1970s after a psychiatric finding of “moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character.”

Though he is not a lawyer, Mr. Martin went on to become a prodigious filer of lawsuits, and he made unsuccessful attempts to win public office for both parties in three states, as well as for president at least twice, in 1988 and 2000. Based in Chicago, he now identifies himself as a writer who focuses on his anti-Obama Web site and press releases.

Mr. Martin, in a series of interviews, did not dispute his influence in Obama rumors.

“Everybody uses my research as a takeoff point,” Mr. Martin said, adding, however, that some take his writings “and exaggerate them to suit their own fantasies.”

As for his background, he said: “I’m a colorful person. There’s always somebody who has a legitimate cause in their mind to be angry with me.”

When questions were raised last week about Mr. Martin’s appearance and claims on “Hannity’s America” on Fox News, the program’s producer said Mr. Martin was clearly expressing his opinion and not necessarily fact.

It was not Mr. Martin’s first turn on national television. The CBS News program “48 Hours” in 1993 devoted an hourlong program to what it called his prolific filing of frivolous lawsuits. He has filed so many lawsuits that a judge barred him from doing so in any federal court without preliminary approval.

He prepared to run as a Democrat for Congress in Connecticut, where paperwork for one of his campaign committees listed as one purpose “to exterminate Jew power.” He ran as a Republican for the Florida State Senate and the United States Senate in Illinois. When running for president in 1999, he aired a television advertisement in New Hampshire that accused George W. Bush of using cocaine.

In the 1990s, Mr. Martin was jailed in a case in Florida involving a physical altercation.

His newfound prominence, and the persistence of his line of political attack — updated regularly on his Web site and through press releases — amazes those from his past.

“Well, that’s just a bookend for me,” said Tom Slade, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, whom Mr. Martin sued for refusing to support him. Mr. Slade said Mr. Martin was driven like “a run-over dog, but he’s fearless.”

Given Mr. Obama’s unusual background, which was the focus of his first book, it was perhaps bound to become fodder for some opposed to his candidacy.

Mr. Obama was raised mostly by his white mother, an atheist, and his grandparents, who were Protestant, in Hawaii. He hardly knew his father, a Kenyan from a Muslim family who variously considered himself atheist or agnostic, Mr. Obama wrote. For a few childhood years, Mr. Obama lived in Indonesia with a stepfather he described as loosely following a liberal Islam.

Theories about Mr. Obama’s background have taken on a life of their own. But independent analysts seeking the origins of the cyberspace attacks wind up at Mr. Martin’s first press release, posted on the Free Republic Web site in August 2004.

Its general outlines have turned up in a host of works that have expounded falsely on Mr. Obama’s heritage or supposed attempts to conceal it, including “Obama Nation,” the widely discredited best seller about Mr. Obama by Jerome R. Corsi. Mr. Corsi opens the book with a quote from Mr. Martin.

“What he’s generating gets picked up in other places,” said Danielle Allen, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University who has investigated the e-mail campaign’s circulation and origins, “and it’s an example of how the Internet has given power to sources we would have never taken seriously at another point in time.”

Ms. Allen said Mr. Martin’s original work found amplification in 2006, when a man named Ted Sampley wrote an article painting Mr. Obama as a secret practitioner of Islam. Quoting liberally from Mr. Martin, the article circulated on the Internet, and its contents eventually found their way into various e-mail messages, particularly an added claim that Mr. Obama had attended “Jakarta’s Muslim Wahhabi schools. Wahhabism is the radical teaching that created the Muslim terrorists who are now waging jihad on the rest of the world.”

Mr. Obama for two years attended a Catholic school in Indonesia, where he was taught about the Bible, he wrote in “Dreams From My Father,” and for two years went to an Indonesian public school open to all religions, where he was taught about the Koran.

Mr. Sampley, coincidentally, is a Vietnam veteran and longtime opponent of Mr. McCain and Senator John Kerry, both of whom he accused of ignoring his claims that American prisoners were left behind in Vietnam. He previously portrayed Mr. McCain as a “Manchurian candidate.” Speaking of Mr. Martin’s influence on his Obama writings, Mr. Sampley said, “I keyed off of his work.”

Mr. Martin’s depictions of Mr. Obama as a secret Muslim have found resonance among some Jewish voters who have received e-mail messages containing various versions of his initial theory, often by new authors and with new twists.

In his original press release, Mr. Martin wrote that he was personally “a strong supporter of the Muslim community.” But, he wrote of Mr. Obama, “it may well be that his concealment is meant to endanger Israel.” He added, “His Muslim religion would obviously raise serious questions in many Jewish circles.”

Yet in various court papers, Mr. Martin had impugned Jews.

A motion he filed in a 1983 bankruptcy case called the judge “a crooked, slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race.”

In another motion, filed in 1983, Mr. Martin wrote, “I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did.”

In an interview, Mr. Martin denied some statements against Jews attributed to him in court papers, blaming malicious judges for inserting them.

But in his “48 Hours” interview in 1993, he affirmed a different anti-Semitic part of the affidavit that included the line about the Holocaust, saying, “The record speaks for itself.”

When asked Friday about an assertion in his court papers that “Jews, historically and in daily living, act through clans and in wolf pack syndrome,” he said, “That one sort of rings a bell.”

He said he was not anti-Semitic. “I was trying to show that everybody in the bankruptcy court was Jewish and I was not Jewish,” he said, “and I was being victimized by religious bias.”

In discussing the denial of his admission to the Illinois bar, Mr. Martin said the psychiatric exam listing him as having a “moderately severe personality defect” was spitefully written by an evaluator he had clashed with.

Mr. Martin, who says he is from a well-off banking and farming family, is clearly pleased with his newfound attention. But, he said, others have added to his work in “scary” ways.

“They Google ‘Islam’ and ‘Obama’ and my stuff comes up and they take that and kind of use that — like a Christmas tree, and they decorate it,” he said. For instance, he said, he did not necessarily ascribe to a widely circulated e-mail message from the Israeli right-wing activist Ruth Matar, which includes the false assertion, “If Obama were elected, he would be the first Arab-American president.”

He said he had at least come to “accept” Mr. Obama’s word that he had found Jesus Christ. His intent, he said, was only to educate.

Kitty Bennett contributed reporting.

Republican Manufactured ACORN Outrage

Nia "Hussein" J. — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:09:41 EDT

*I got this information from the listserv*

Looks like the Rethuglicans planted people in ACORN voter registration groups who would do bogus registrations, then turned them in. Then called for an investigation into ACORN. This to dovetail with McCain’s bogus claim that ACORN pressured banks to give home loans to people who were not qualified.

But here’s some bottom lines to this story:
ACORN has themselves identified to voter registration officials any bogus applications to register that they found. They are required to turn ALL of them in (good or not), but they went to the trouble to help registration officials identify bogus registrations. It’s the registration officials who have to accept or reject the registration application.
Ultimately the person who filled out and turned in the bogus registrations has responsibility, not ACORN
Finally, this is not about voting, it’s about voter registrations. Vote fraud occurs when someone actually shows up to vote on an improper registration. For the vast majority, no one is going to show up to vote at all using these registrations, because they don’t even KNOW they have been improperly registered (some of them may be dead).
The Republicans are just messing with ACORN on this to create an issue where none existed. They also are just adding burden to the voter registrars’ jobs. It’s all about trying to tie Obama to vote fraud – while they conduct ACTUAL vote fraud with their other operatives.

Dorchester attorney comes to ACORN’s defense
By Laura Crimaldi
Sunday, October 12, 2008 - Added 22h ago

As election officials in eight states launch probes into possible voter registration fraud, a Dorchester attorney is defending the national advocacy group ACORN, accused of submitting thousands of potentially bogus forms.

“It’s very frustrating to do all this great work and have 99 percent of our employees, sometimes in inclement weather, standing outside of bus stops and in front of stores to help register people in their community and have their work attacked because one percent steal from us,” said Brian W. Mellor, senior counsel for the Washington-based Project Vote.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which partnered with Project Vote in a national voter registration drive, is under fire for voter registration irregularities in Nevada, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Missouri.

Among the phony forms are registrations for the Dallas Cowboys in Nevada, names of the dead and even a fast-food restaurant, Jimmy Johns, handed to elections officials in Lake County, Ind.

The Republican National Committee and Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign accuse ACORN of turning in illegitimate registrations to boost Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

Mellor, who has worked for Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America in Jamaica Plain, said ACORN fired canvassers who submitted phony forms and separated potentially bogus forms from legitimate ones when they turned them in to election officials.

Harvard L. Lomax, registrar of voters in Clark County, Nev., said in an interview that Mellor warned him there might be irregularities because registration is a “sloppy business.” Nevada authorities raided ACORN offices in Las Vegas last week. “My answer was, ‘It’s only a sloppy business when you guys are around,’ ” said Lomax.

ACORN defenders note that the phony registrations do not mean people are voting illicitly since the people listed on them do not exist. Critics say the phony forms needlessly eat up pre-electoral time.

Mellor said ACORN’s quality control requires that workers confirm the registration forms in follow-up phone calls. But all registration forms - even suspicious ones - are submitted to election officials. ACORN says it registered 1.3 million voters this year.

“Nobody wants new voters. The last thing they want is a lot of low-income people voting because that will shake up their city. That’s why we’re registering,” Mellor said.

And this:

Exclusive: ACORN Responds to Voter Fraud Allegations

Sunday , October 12, 2008

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," October 10, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JAMIE COLBY, FOX NEWS GUEST HOST: And it's not just your money that's at risk tonight. There is breaking news, more breaking news about another thing that is so important to all of us, your vote. For the past few days, we've been reporting about a group called ACORN. Their members hit the streets to register low-income voters. And we can tell you tonight that the organization is currently under investigation for fraud or registration irregularities in at least 13 states. There are also questions that have surfaced about Senator Obama's possible ties to this group.

Well, joining us "On the Record" exclusively for his first interview, Scott Levenson is the national spokesperson for ACORN. And Scott, thank you very much for choosing us to talk to about this.

First of all, tell me about these investigations into ACORN. Every day, we hear new information about people who can't even remember how many times they were encouraged to actually register by ACORN representatives.

SCOTT LEVENSON, ACORN SPOKESMAN: Let's talk about what the real story here is because it's actually a great story. ACORN, along with Project Vote, registered 1.3 million folks over the last year. We saw record numbers of people interested and excited about this election in ways we never saw before. There are poor people and young people who are participating in this election in ways they never participated before. And that's our mission. Our mission is to enfranchise the disenfranchised and empower the disempowered.
COLBY: Well, if you're going to sign up...
LEVENSON: So we're...
COLBY: Real quick...
LEVENSON: ... Actually proud of the work we do.
COLBY: You have signed up a lot of voters. I'm not sure you can personally answer. But if you can, how many of them are legal voters and have the right to vote? But why just the poor and disenfranchised? Because perhaps that benefits one party or another, one candidate or another. There's lots of wealthy people who are apathetic who might not vote. Why don't you just do a general get-out-the-vote?
LEVENSON: Well, in fact, we are nonpartisan. We don't ask somebody their income level. We don't ask somebody who they're voting for. We don't ask somebody what party they belong to when we register them to vote. And you know, we've entered a bit of the silly season in politics. You know, all these stories that have come out over the last week...
COLBY: About ACORN -- raids on your offices.

LEVENSON: But it's really important to find out what the real story here is because we by law are required to hold onto and turn over every single voter registration form that's filled out.

COLBY: And your position is that the elections commissions and boards should be responsible for checking those out. Your job is just...

LEVENSON: Well, it's actually -- let me go -- it's really important for the public to understand what's gone on here. We spot proactively by ourselves any questionable voter registration form and proactively notify appropriate authorities at the time that we collect it. We have been turning over registration forms to the authorities in these states weekly...

Watch the interview: Go to this site and click on Watch the interview, imbedded in the story.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,436584,00.html

Of course, being Faux News, she doesn’t let him completely tell the story before she starts spinning. But you get the gist of it.

This is all related to this story below. Looks like the Rethuglicans implanted people in ACORN voter registration groups who would do bogus registrations, then turned them in, calling for an investigation into ACORN. This to dovetail with McCain’s bogus claim that ACORN pressured banks to give home loans to people who were not qualified. That’s in this story.

HBOFF] Major UK banks seek $35B funds from government: UK media
ACORN Response to Senator McCain's Smear Ad

Last update: 4:50 p.m. EDT Oct. 12, 2008
WASHINGTON, Oct 12, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- ACORN President Maude Hurd released the following statement today in response to the McCain campaign's new ad claiming that, among other things, ACORN is responsible for the mortgage crisis:
"For almost a decade, ACORN, a community organization of 400,000 families in neighborhoods across the country, has been fighting against the predatory lending practices that have robbed our members of their homes, destabilized neighborhoods, and roiled the global economy."
"In his newest ad, John McCain's campaign bizarrely claims, "ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans, the same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we're in today." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, ACORN has worked successfully to help working class families get good home loans on fair terms from legitimate banks and has fought vigorously against predatory lenders who have ripped off families in our communities. These predatory loans caused the crisis."
"For more than a decade, ACORN members have held protests, released reports, and advocated for regulations to protect homeowners from predatory lenders. ACORN organizers and volunteers have been working day and night to help victims of the GOP economic meltdown to save their homes from foreclosure. In fact, ACORN has brought class action lawsuits against several predatory lenders, and has lobbied the Federal Reserve and Congress in support of regulations against predatory lending. ACORN has even been successful in convincing many lenders to treat homeowners more fairly and help families be able to make their mortgage payments and save their homes."
"Unfortunately, the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans like John McCain have blocked the sensible regulations that ACORN and others proposed that would have averted the mortgage meltdown. If John McCain thinks that community organizers caused the foreclosure crisis, he knows even less about the economy than previously thought."
"John McCain and the Republicans are desperately trying to shift the blame for the economic crisis they caused with a philosophy of deregulation and indifference to homeowners. All the grainy footage and creepy music in the world can't cancel out some simple, basic facts, and the facts about the economy are not on John McCain's side."
SOURCE Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)

Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved End of Story

Dorchester attorney comes to ACORN’s defense
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1125026&srvc=home&position=active
ACORN Response to Senator McCain's Smear Ad
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/acorn-response-senator-mccains-smear/story.aspx?guid={3359B4E7-C95F-4FB6-AA25-43850C78E4EC}&dist=hppr
Fox News
ACORN Responds to Voter Fraud Allegations
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,436584,00.html

Military Wives Support Obama

Angie — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:24:15 EDT

This is a great video by Blue Star Families for Obama. It goes to show you that many military families support Barack Obama and will not be voting Republican.

Help these women get more attention by viewing the video. Although their combined voices about Obama are more appropriate to the upcoming election than Cindy McCain's comments, it is a hard pressed battle for everyday Americans to get the notice of the main stream media. It makes it easier with your help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwk4LL5-Mpo

Angie

McCain Oct. 10 TV Add "He Lied" About Bill Ayers?

La Susa — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:42:39 EDT

From Factcheck.org "He Lied" About Bill Ayers?October 10, 2008McCain cranks out some false and misleading attacks on Obama's connection to a 1960s radical.AnalysisSen. John McCain has dialed up his attacks on Sen. Barack Obama's past association with former Weather Underground activist Bill Ayers. He released a 30-second TV spot Oct. 10 claiming Obama "lied" about Ayers. A day earlier he announced a 90-second Internet ad claiming that Obama and Ayers "ran a radical education foundation together" and suggesting Obama was being untruthful.

McCain-Palin Ad
"Ambition"

Announcer: Obama's blind ambition. When convenient, he worked with terrorist Bill Ayers. When discovered, he lied.

Obama. Blind ambition. Bad judgment.Congressional liberals fought for risky sub-prime loans.

Congressional liberals fought against more regulation. Then, the housing market collapsed costing you billions.

In crisis, we need leadership, not bad judgment.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
Groundless, False, Dubious

We find McCain's accusation that Obama "lied" to be groundless. It is true that recently released records show half a dozen or so more meetings between the two men than were previously known, but Obama never denied working with Ayers.

Other claims are seriously misleading. The education project described in the Web ad, far from being "radical," had the support of the Republican governor and was run by a board that included prominent local leaders, including one Republican who has donated $1,500 to McCain's campaign this year. The project is described by Education Week as reflecting "mainstream thinking" about school reform.

Despite the newly released records, there's still no evidence of a deep or strong "friendship" with Ayers, a former radical anti-war protester whose actions in the 1960s and '70s Obama has called "detestable" and "despicable."

Even the description of Ayers as a "terrorist" is a matter of interpretation. Setting off bombs can fairly be described as terrorism even when they are intended to cause only property damage, which is what Ayers has admitted doing in his youth. But for nearly three decades since, Ayers has lived the relatively quiet life of an educator. It would be correct to call him a "former terrorist," and an "unapologetic" one at that. But if McCain means the word "terrorist" to invoke images of 9/11, he's being misleading; Ayers is no Osama bin Laden now, and never was.

McCain-Palin Web Ad
"Ayers"

Announcer: Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Friends. They've worked together for years.

But Obama tries to hide it. Why?
Obama launched his political career in Ayers' living room. Ayers and Obama ran a radical "education" foundation, together.

They wrote the foundation's by-laws, together. Obama was the foundation's first chairman. Reports say they "distributed more than $100 million to ideological allies with no discernible improvement in education."

When their relationship became an issue, Obama just responded, "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood."

That's it?

We know Bill Ayers ran the "violent left wing activist group" called Weather Underground. We know Ayers' wife was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. We know they bombed the Capitol. The Pentagon. A judge's home.

We know Ayers said, "I don't regret setting bombs. .... I feel we didn't do enough." But Obama's friendship with terrorist Ayers isn't the issue.

The issue is Barack Obama's judgment and candor. When Obama just says, "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood." Americans say, "Where's the truth, Barack?"

Barack Obama. Too risky for America.

McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
Who's Misleading?

McCain is not accurate when he says – as he does in the Web ad – "When their relationship became an issue, Obama just responded, 'This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood.' " McCain is using the same line in personal appearances, too. He said on Oct. 9 at a campaign rally in Waukesha, Wis.:

McCain: Look, we don't care about an old washed-up terrorist and his wife, who still, at least on Sept. 11, 2001, said he still wanted to bomb more. ... The point is, Senator Obama said he was just a guy in the neighborhood. We need to know that's not true.

Obama never said Ayers was "just" a guy in the neighborhood. The quote is from a Democratic primary debate on April 16 in Philadelphia, and Obama actually was more forthcoming than McCain lets on. Obama specifically acknowledged working together with Ayers on a charitable board, and didn't deny getting some early political support from him. Here's the exchange:

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, April 16: An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house, and your campaign has said you are friendly. Can you explain that relationship for the voters, and explain to Democrats why it won't be a problem?

Obama: George, but this is an example of what I'm talking about.

This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George.

Sen. Hillary Clinton then said, "I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation," and predicted that "this is an issue that certainly Republicans will be raising."

Obama responded, "President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me ... serving on a board with somebody for actions that he did 40 years ago."

We wrote back then that Clinton had gone too far by suggesting that "people died" as a result of Ayers' actions. And nothing Obama said then has since been shown to be false. It is true that he did not bring up his work with Ayers on a second project, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, where Obama was board chairman and Ayers was an early organizer, and where the two were together for half a dozen or so meetings. But neither Clinton nor Stephanopoulos asked him about that project. McCain could fairly accuse Obama of not volunteering the information, but it is false to claim he "lied."

"Pal Around"

The first to begin using the new line of attack against Obama was McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, after a lengthy article appeared Oct. 3 in the New York Times about Obama and Ayers:

Palin, Oct. 5: Our opponents see America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who would bomb their own country.

She's repeated the charge again and again at different campaign stops since then, citing the Times. What the Times article actually says, however, is this: "[T]he two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers." The Times says its review of documents and interviews with key players "suggest" that Obama "has played down his contacts with Ayers," but describes their paths as having crossed "sporadically" since their first meeting in 1995.

And far from palling around with Ayers, the two haven't spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Obama came to the Senate in January 2005, according to an Obama spokesman. He said the two last saw each other more than a year ago, when they accidentally met on the street in their Hyde Park neighborhood.

Obama addressed Palin's claim on Oct. 8, when questioned by ABC News' Charlie Gibson:

Obama, Oct. 8: This is a guy who engaged in some despicable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old. By the time I met him, 10 or 15 years ago, he was a college professor of education at the University of Illinois. ... And the notion that somehow he has been involved in my campaign, that he is an adviser of mine, that ... I've 'palled around with a terrorist', all these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points.

Stormy Weather, UndergroundBill Ayers' notoriety dates from the radical, anti-Vietnam War group he helped to start in 1969, splintering off from the activist Students for a Democratic Society. The members of the new group, the Weather Underground, favored shows of violence to further their cause. On March 6, 1970, though, three of them blew themselves up in a Greenwich Village townhouse during a bomb-making session gone badly awry. Ayers and his fellow Weathermen, as they were called, soon dropped out of sight.
Barack Obama, who was born Aug. 4, 1961, was 8 years old at the time.The Weather Underground continued setting off bombs, including one in a men's lavatory in the Capitol building in 1971 and another in a women's restroom in the Pentagon in 1972. Nobody was killed, due to evacuation warnings the Weathermen sent out in advance.

After the Vietnam War ended, the group's activities petered out. In 1980 Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, another member, surfaced and turned themselves in to police. Because of illegal federal wiretaps, pending charges against Ayers for allegedly inciting a riot and conspiring to bomb government sites had been dropped. Dohrn pleaded guilty to separate charges of aggravated battery and jumping bail; she was fined $1,500 and given three years' probation. Ayers and Dohrn, who had had two children together while in hiding, married in 1982.

Several other Weather Underground alums, including Kathy Boudin, along with some members of a group calling itself the Black Liberation Army, were involved in a bungled 1981 robbery of a Brinks truck in Nanuet, N.Y., in which a security guard and two policemen were killed. Ayers and Dohrn have never been publicly tied to the incident, which took place after they had turned themselves in. Dohrn was jailed for seven months for refusing to provide a handwriting sample to the grand jury investigating it.

Dohrn is now a clinical associate professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago. Ayers is a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Locally, Ayers' radical past hasn't been much of an issue. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet wrote last spring that it "was no big deal, or any deal, to any local political reporters or to the editorial boards of the Sun-Times or [Chicago] Tribune." Ayers was named a Chicago citizen of the year in 1997 for his efforts in the field of education.

In Chicago, Ayers is seen less as a "terrorist" and more as a prodigal son of the local establishment. His father was a prominent corporate executive and civic leader. Thomas G. Ayers was president and chief executive of Commonwealth Edison, the electric utility that lights Chicago and northern Illinois. There is a residence hall named for him at Northwestern University, where he was a trustee for 30 years. Bill's brother John Ayers, according to Education Week, headed a school-reform group called the Leadership for Quality Education, which represented business leaders’ interest in schools. John is now a senior associate of the Chicago-based National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

Despite the fairly mainstream life he lives now, though, Bill Ayers' image took a hit with an article that appeared in the New York Times on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Ayers was quoted in the lead paragraph as saying, ''I don't regret setting bombs'' and "I feel we didn't do enough." The interview had been conducted earlier, in connection with the publication of Ayers' memoir of his years as a fugitive. But when the quotes appeared on the same day thousands died at the World Trade Center and elsewhere, they enraged his critics.

Ayers called the story a deliberate distortion of his views. In a response on his blog, Ayers wrote:

Ayers: My memoir is from start to finish a condemnation of terrorism, of the indiscriminate murder of human beings, whether driven by fanaticism or official policy. ...
I said I had a thousand regrets, but no regrets for opposing the war with every ounce of my strength.

That's hardly an apology, referring as it does to the U.S. role in the Vietnam War as "terrorism." Ayers has maintained a public silence since then, refusing all requests for interviews.

Even so, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley had kind words for him recently:

Daley (New York Times, Oct. 3, 2008): He’s done a lot of good in this city and nationally. ... This is 2008. People make mistakes. You judge a person by his whole life.

FactCheck.org and the “Annenberg Challenge”

Contrary to suggestions we've seen in some conservative blogs, there is no connection between the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and FactCheck.org, save for the fact that both received funding from the Annenberg Foundation. The foundation supports a wide variety of charitable causes – a total of 5,200 grants during its first 15 years of operation. It was founded in 1989 by Walter H. Annenberg, a newspaper and magazine publisher who died in 2002.

FactCheck.org is funded by, and is a project of, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which was established by the Annenberg Foundation with a $20 million endowment in 1993. The Annenberg Foundation also made additional grants to support our work. We also receive funding from the Flora Family Foundation to help support our educational offshoot, FactCheckED.org. We receive no other outside funding.

FactCheck.org came into being in late 2003. Director Brooks Jackson states: "Our mission is to be as neutral and nonpartisan as humanly possible. Annenberg supports that, and nobody at the Annenberg Foundation has ever tried to influence anything we've written."

For the record, the Annenberg Foundation's president and chairman is Leonore Annenberg, the founder's widow. Public records show she's given $2,300 to the McCain campaign, which announced on Oct. 8, that she has endorsed him for president.
We Have Contact!

According to an Obama spokesman, the two men first met in 1995, when Obama was tapped to chair the board of the newly formed Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Ayers had been instrumental in creating the organization, which was to dispense grants for projects that would improve Chicago's schools.
The Challenge was one of 18 projects supported by a $500 million grant announced at a White House ceremony Dec. 18, 1993, by the Annenberg Foundation, founded four years earlier by Philadelphia publisher Walter Annenberg. It was the largest single gift ever made to public education in America. The Chicago project received a $49.2 million grant in 1995, and officials administering the grant funds at Brown University announced at the time that the Chicago proposal was developed through discussions among “a broad-based coalition of local school council members, teachers, principals, school reform groups, union representatives and central office staff” convened by three educators – one of whom was Ayers. Mayor Richard M. Daley, a Democrat, and Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican, took part in a ceremony announcing the grant.

There are other connections between Obama and Ayers: The same year the two men met through the Annenberg Challenge, Ayers hosted a meet-and-greet coffee for Obama, who was running for state Senate and who lived three blocks away from him. Obama and Ayers also were on the board of an antipoverty charity, the Woods Fund of Chicago, where their service overlapped from 2000 to 2002. And Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's campaign for the Illinois state Senate on March 2, 2001.

In addition, Obama told the Chicago Tribune in 1997 that a book Ayers wrote about the juvenile court system was "a searing and timely account." This is sometimes billed by Obama's critics as a "book review." Actually, a reporter simply asked three Chicagoans for a sentence about whatever they were reading at the time.

The Annenberg Challenge connection has drawn the most attention recently, though, mainly because of articles written by Stanley Kurtz, a conservative contributor to the National Review, the publication founded by the late William F. Buckley. Kurtz first suggested on Aug. 18 that there was a "cover-up in the making" when he was unable to gain access to 132 boxes of project records housed at the University of Illinois. Records were released nine days later, along with all records held by the Annenberg Foundation itself.

The Chicago Tribune, after examining the records, said they showed Ayers and Obama "attended board meetings, retreats and at least one news conference together as the education program got under way." It also said Obama and Ayers "continued to attend meetings together during the 1995-2001 operation of the program." The story played on page 2. According to the New York Times, the documents show the two attended just six board meetings together, Obama as chairman and Ayers to inform the board on grantees and other issues. (In a press release, the McCain campaign puts the number of meetings at seven, five of them in 1995, one in 1996 and one in 1997.) Ayers was an "ex officio" member of the board for the first year of the project.

United Press International summed up the reaction to the contents of the group's archives with a story headlined "No 'smoking gun' in Obama relationship":

UPI, Aug. 27: Reporters reviewing records in Chicago have so far found nothing startling in documents linking Sen. Barack Obama to 1960s radical William Ayers.

Where news reporters found little of note, though, Kurtz – the conservative writer who initially suggested a "cover-up" – cast it differently. After combing through the Annenberg records, he published an article in the opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal saying he found that Obama and Ayers acted as "partners" and together "poured more than $100 million into the hands of community organizers and radical education activists." He said money went to groups that "focused more on political consciousness, Afrocentricity and bilingualism than traditional education." A "Radical" Foundation? Hardly.

What Kurtz – and McCain in his Web ad – considers "radical," other observers see differently, however. Veteran education reporter Dakarai I. Aarons, writing in Education Week, says the Chicago Annenberg Challenge actually "reflected mainstream thinking among education reformers" and had bipartisan support:

Education Week (Oct. 8): The context for the Chicago proposal to the Annenberg Foundation was the 1988 decentralization of the city’s public schools by the Republican-controlled Illinois legislature, a response to frustration over years of teachers’ strikes, low achievement, and bureaucratic failure. ... The proposal was backed by letters of support to the Annenberg Foundation from Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, a Republican, local education school deans, the superintendent of the Chicago public schools, and the heads of local foundations.

Among the mainstream Chicago luminaries on Obama's board was Arnold R. Weber, a former president of Northwestern University, who in 1971 was appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon as executive director of the Cost of Living Council and who later was tapped by Republican President Ronald Reagan to serve on an emergency labor board. More recently, Weber has given $1,500 to John McCain's presidential campaign this year.

Others on Obama's supposedly "radical" board included Stanley Ikenberry, a former president of the University of Illinois system; Ray Romero, a vice president of Ameritech; Susan Crown, a philanthropist; Handy Lindsey, the president of the Field Foundation of Illinois; and Wanda White, the executive director of the Community Workshop for Economic Development.

Kurtz originally claimed that Ayers somehow was responsible for installing Obama as head of the board, speculating in his "cover-up" article that Obama "almost certainly received the job at the behest of Bill Ayers." But after days of poring over the records, he failed to produce any evidence of that in his Wall Street Journal article. To the contrary, Ayers was not involved in the choice, according to Deborah Leff, then president of the Joyce Foundation. She told the Times, and confirmed to FactCheck.org, that she recommended Obama for the position to Patricia Graham of the Spencer Foundation. Graham told us that she asked Obama if he'd become chairman; he accepted, provided Graham would be vice-chair. The bipartisan board of directors, which did not include Ayers, elected Obama chairman, and he served in that capacity from 1995 to 1999, awarding grants for projects and raising matching funds. Ayers headed up a separate arm of the group, working with grant recipients. According to another board member, Ayers "was not significantly involved with the challenge after Obama was appointed." One possible reason had little to do with Obama himself, but instead was related to cautions about conflicts of interest; the group was funding some of Ayers' own alternative school projects.

In any case, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge failed to bring about improvement in students' test scores, classroom behavior or social competence. An independent consortium of educators concluded in 2003 that “Annenberg schools did not achieve an overall effect on student outcomes” compared with schools that received no support from the project. Education Week quoted some project supporters as saying it succeeded in raising interest in helping failing schools.

Conclusion

Voters may differ in how they see Ayers, or how they see Obama’s interactions with him. We’re making no judgment calls on those matters. What we object to are the McCain-Palin campaign’s attempts to sway voters – in ads and on the stump – with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. Obama never “lied” about this, just as he never bragged about it. The foundation they both worked with was hardly “radical.” And Ayers is more than a former "terrorist," he’s also a well-known figure in the field of education.

– by Viveca Novak and Brooks Jackson

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/he_lied_about_bill_ayers.html

www.factcheck.org

My email to USA Today

Patrick Frank — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:35:05 EDT

I am so relieved that John McCain has moved away from the campaign of character assassination that has been promulgated by Sarah Palin and other extreme right-wingers in this country. Conservatism is fine. Racist attacks, thinly veiled, and guilt by association are not.

Barack Obama is a good man, more liberal than some would like, but he is no terrorist; He loves America, has strong family values, and displays intelligence and wisdom.

I salute John McCain for acknowledging that Obama is a man worthy of respect. I hope that he keeps it up. My own respect for McCain is being restored. I will vote for Obama, and look forward to Ovama, the president, negotiating with McCain, the senator--to fashion bipartisan legislation.

Patrick Frank
Box 1283
Kingstree, SC 29556
(843) 372-8851
patrickgfrank@yahoo.com

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This is Barack's video on Ayers and McCain video on Domestic terrorism..Watch

LuAnn in Indiana — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:09:57 EDT

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5989582

This video is from Barack and explains the Bill Ayers issue. It is clear that McCain, Palin and the RNC are planning to paint Ayers as a terrorist and try to link him tightly with Barack.These are the facts. Barack was 8 when Ayers was participating in some deplorable acts during the Vietnam Era which was a time when there were a lot of radical movements and things happening. I am not defending Bill Ayers but this happened during a terrible time in our history and it was 40 years ago.Barack served on a board with Ayers which was appointed by a Republican. There is nothing here but we know they are going to try and make this look bad.On the other hand, McCain voted twice against stopping DOMESTIC TERRORISM. Watch this terrible video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDlpWfLyYss
I guess he feels it was okay to BOMB medical clinics and kill doctors and patients! TERRORISM is terrorism and if the McCain camp wants to go there then I think we should bring this up.
Just because McCain does not approve of a Women's Right to Choose does not mean it is OKAY to BOMB clinics and KILL doctors and patients.
So, does the McCain camp really want to go here? They will and they will get away with it unless We all say ENOUGH and let him know WE know about his votes to stop actual terrorism HERE in the US.
Come on Obama supporters. Barack and Joe need our help and full support in these final days! Both of them have the integrity and intelligence to lead us through this Crisis facing all of us.
We have the power to stop this nonsense and we have the TRUTH and the FACTS on our side. Let's use them!
Thanks,LuAnn in Indiana

World of Friends: Bridges for Obama (New Video)

Lynn — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:00:22 EDT

World of Friends: Bridges for Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEhwaGwlzz8

WE HAVE LEGIONS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD SUPPORTING OUR CANDIDATE.
Beautifully Done Video -- Let's make it go viral !!!
:)

Bridges for Obama: American supporters of Sen. Barack Obama have been staging rallies abroad at world-famous bridges to show support for the Democratic presidential candidate and his pledge to span old political divisions. ...

Source: www.youtube.com
(only 67 views so far! 10/10/08 Noon EDT)

Keywords: abroad, bridge, bridges, span, nations, people, hope, change, global, international

McCain's rage makes him unfit to be President!

LuAnn in Indiana — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:35:33 EDT

Watch this and think if this man could talk to foreign leaders or make rational cool headed decisions. This is so scary. He could blow up and not work with anyone he did not like. OMG he even shoved a woman in the hall way and has called his wife the c word in public!You have watched how hateful and condescending he has been towards Barack and even the media now. He is out and out lying and will do anything to win.We need this out there viral and let people see the REAL McCain.......not the kind of PRESIDENT we need in this time of crisis!Watch the video and send it to friends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAyK-enrF1g

LuAnn

Tell everyone including the media!

Obama Clearly States His Priorities

akmk — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:17:47 EDT

In the Town Hall debate, Obama clearly stated his priorities.

#1 A smarter and more diverse energy policy to invest in jobs, turn the economy around and stabilize world tensions.

#2 Health care is a right. An emphasis on prevention will reduce costs of health insurance and Medicare.

Enough of this hate and smearing! Palin has her skeletons!

LuAnn in Indiana — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:06:39 EDT

McCain, Palin and the GOP want to talk about Bill Ayers and terrorists.......well it looks like they a Major problem. Please get this out there.

If Palin gets VP talk about anti American! She is stirring up hate wherever she goes. We have to say Enough!

This is not acceptable!

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/10/07/palins_unamerican/index.html

We don't not need hate and partisanship stirred up. Palin is stirring it and McCain is letting her run free with whatever she wants to say. This country needs to work together to get us out of this mess we are in. Barack is the only one who has the intelligence, knowledge, temperament and vision for that great future.Let's all help Barack and make sure all the slurs and hate stops!

Enough!

LuAnn

McCain Lies "Other quibbles"

La Susa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:25:16 EDT

Other quibbles

Obama said: "When George Bush came into office, our debt – national debt
was around $5 trillion. It's now over $10 trillion." Actually, it was closer to $6 trillion when Bush took office. On Jan. 22, 2001 (two days after Bush was sworn in) the debt stood at $5.728 trillion. On Sept. 30, 2008, it was $10.025 trillion.
McCain said it again: "We've got to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't want us very – like us very much" (He actually used the figure three times in the debate.) He's talking about what we spend importing oil, and he's said the same thing at the last debate and numerous other times. At current oil prices, the correct figure is about $493 billion. About a third of that goes to Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom, which were still on the friendly side of the ledger last time we looked.
Obama was right about the amount of earmarks, when he said they "account for about $18 billion of our budget." According to the budget watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, earmarks totaled just $18.3 billion in 2008. Citizens Against Government Waste came in with a slightly smaller number of $17.2 billion, and the Office of Management and Budget smaller still at $16.9 billion.
McCain repeated an error he made in the last debate when he said, "In Lebanon, I stood up to President Reagan, my hero, and said, if we send Marines in there, how can we possibly beneficially affect this situation? And said we shouldn't. Unfortunately, almost 300 brave young Marines were killed." In fact, as we noted previously, McCain wasn't elected until three months after the Marines had been deployed. He did vote against the post-hoc War Powers Act authorization of the deployment; Reagan signed it into law in October 1983, 11 days before a suicide bomber set off a blast that killed 241 servicemembers in their barracks.

–by Brooks Jackson, Viveca Novak, Lori Robertson, Joe Miller, Jessica Henig and Justin Bank

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_debate_no_2.html

www.factcheck.org

McCain Lies on Somalia

La Susa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:24:13 EDT

McCain: We went in to Somalia as a peacemaking organization, we ended up trying to be – excuse me, as a peacekeeping organization, we ended up trying to be peacemakers and we ended up having to withdraw in humiliation.

What McCain isn’t saying is that he led an attempt to force the Clinton administration to withdraw more quickly. After the First Battle of Mogadishu (immortalized in the book and film “Black Hawk Down”), Clinton proposed a six-month plan for withdrawing combat troops. Then-Sen. Phil Gramm complained that the plan was an attempt to “save face,” and McCain introduced an amendment to cut off funding for combat in Somalia and force an immediate withdrawal. The amendment was tabled and the Senate backed Clinton’s plan. In his 2002 memoir, “Worth the Fighting For,” McCain called his amendment “hasty” and wrote that he “regretted” what he came to see as “a retreat in the face of aggression from an inferior foe.”

–by Brooks Jackson, Viveca Novak, Lori Robertson, Joe Miller, Jessica Henig and Justin Bank

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_debate_no_2.html

from www.factcheck.org

What Debate?????

La Susa — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:07:49 EDT

The definition of "DEBATE" IS to discuss opposing reasons; argue; to take part in a formal discussion ... To consider something; deliberate. To engage in argument by discussing opposing points.

Each candidate was allowed 2 minets to answer complex questions; with NO EXTENSIVE REBUTTALS! "REBUTTAL" definition "An attempt to contradict or disprove an argument by offering a counter argument or ...

Perhaps the American lauguage has changed, where "DEBATE" now means "TWO MINET SOUND-BITES"! Im discused to say the least, this is the most important Election we have had in years, and yet it seems the media wants to treat it as though it were a circus, piling on as many as questions as possible, while McCain throws in his lieing out of context attacks on Obama! And Obama is cornered with no choice but to try to answer the questions and defend himself against McCain ALL IN 2 MINETS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gallup "Drills Down" To Younger Voters; A Generational Shift

Elstun — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:54:56 EDT

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- America's youngest voters are mindful of history and the impact on their own lives as they prepare to cast ballots on Nov. 4. Among 18- to 29-year-old registered voters surveyed for a USA Today/MTV/Gallup poll, 61% support the Obama-Biden ticket, versus 32% who prefer the McCain-Palin ticket, with Obama's voters being far more likely to be certain about their vote than McCain's.

Obama's strong appeal to younger voters is apparent in that he outperforms McCain by double digits on every single character dimension tested in the poll of more than 900 18-29 year olds nationwide, conducted by Gallup for USA Today and MTV Sept. 18-28, 2008. The 47-year-old Obama swamps 72-year-old McCain, 71% to 12%, on understanding the "problems of people your age" and even wins on what is a McCain strength among the broader electorate, being a "strong and decisive leader," 46% to 36%.

While only a minority (37%) of young adults have qualms about McCain's age, a majority (55%) do have concerns about his running mate Sarah Palin's qualifications to step in as president if necessary. In contrast, a majority are satisfied with both Obama's experience and running mate Joe Biden's qualifications. (The poll was conducted before the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate.)

Obama also beats McCain on several lighter dimensions tested in the poll. A majority of 18- to 29-year-olds would choose Obama over McCain as a teacher, boss, drinking buddy, or advisor. McCain's only appeal on this level with young adults appears to be his personal life story as young adults are more likely to be interested in reading McCain's private diary than Obama's. While such items may seem trivial, basic likeability can be a key indicator of a presidential candidate's ability to win votes.

When asked in an open-ended fashion to name the single most important issue affecting their vote for president this year, 18- to 29-year-old registered voters most often cite the economy (30%), followed by the war in Iraq (13%), healthcare (5%), energy and gas prices (4%), and international issues (4%). These issues are, in a broad sense, little different from those listed by all voters, regardless of age. Asked which candidate they think would do a better job on their top-priority issue, 58% say Obama versus 27% who say McCain, again echoing their basic candidate choice.

On the Outcome

The poll results make it clear that young Americans perceive that the outcome of the election really does matter, both to the country and to their own lives. Nearly-two thirds (64%) of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed say they have already given the election a lot of thought. Nearly half (44%) consider this election to be the most important of the last 50 years, and another 37% consider it more important than other elections.

When asked about the consequences of the two possible election outcomes, 84% say an Obama victory would have a great deal (47%) or moderate amount (37%) of impact on their lives and 72% say the same about McCain (36% great deal, 36% moderate amount).

Going a step further, the survey asked those who said an Obama or McCain victory would impact them "a great deal" or "not at all" to explain in their own words why they feel that way. In Obama's case, nearly one in four (24%) volunteered that good or positive changes would take place, while in McCain's case, the most common responses were negative or pertained to the War in Iraq.

Asked in a separate question how a McCain administration might compare to the Bush administration, 55% said they would view a McCain victory as "four more years of the Bush administration" versus 37% who said they would view it as "real change from the Bush administration."

The two tickets this year also carry the distinction of the first major party black nominee in U.S. history, and only the second major party female vice presidential nominee. In the eyes of young voters, victory for the Obama-Biden ticket would be much more of an historical event than victory for the McCain-Palin ticket. A majority (53%) agree that if Barack Obama is elected president, it would be one of the most important advances in racial equality over the past 100 years. By contrast, only one-third (32%) agree that if Sarah Palin becomes vice president, it will be one of the most important advances in gender equality in the past 100 years.

Bottom Line

A majority of 18- to 29-year-olds are registered to vote in this election and have given it a lot of thought. They prefer Barack Obama, both as an alternative to John McCain, but also as the candidate who is the most likely to understand their problems and to bring positive change to their own lives. Casting a ballot for Obama also carries the excitement of making history. Nearly 8 in 10 consider this election to be more important than other elections, if not the most important in the past 50 years. What remains to be seen is how many of this highly sought-after demographic will in fact turn out and vote on Election Day, and thus help to determine the winner.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted September 18-28, 2008, with 903 U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 29, 633 respondents of whom were randomly selected from a national sample of landline and cellular telephone numbers, and 270 respondents of whom had participated in earlier national Gallup polls and agreed to be re-interviewed for a future poll. For results based on the total sample, which is weighted for demographic information to be representative of 18- to 29-year-olds nationwide, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points. For results based on the sample of 742 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

First Gallup 3-Day Running Average Incorporating Palin Attacks: Obama Up By 9!

Elstun — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:21:54 EDT

>Note. This 3 day running average goes back to the start of Sarah Palin's "heels on, gloves off" campaign. While it appeals to the 18% of the electorate that constitute her die-hard base, it appears to be turning off the independents. This is the first time any candidate has gotten a 51% posting on the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll.

PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking poll shows registered voters preferring Barack Obama to John McCain for president by 51% to 42%.

The nine percentage point lead in Oct. 4-6 tracking matches Obama's highest to date for the campaign, and the highest for either candidate. Obama led McCain by 49% to 40% near the tail end of his international trip in late July. (To view the complete trend since March 7, 2008, click here.)

Obama has now held a statistically significant lead since Sept. 24-26 polling and has not trailed McCain since Sept. 13-15, roughly coinciding with the intensification of the financial crisis.

McCain has an opportunity to try to reverse Obama's momentum at tonight's town hall style debate in Nashville. -- Jeff Jones

Facts about John McCain that need shared ASAP!

LuAnn in Indiana — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:47:13 EDT

These are facts about McCain, his family, his life and all the mistruths that he likes to brag about. Please take the time to watch these and you may be shocked.People everywhere have the right to know these things about John McCain.He is no maverick. He would be a disaster as President. He is strictly out for John McCain and has proven he will say or do anything to get elected.Please help Barack and share these facts. McCain’s campaign is getting nastier.

Thanks, LuAnn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06zsn5BuL3Y

http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/jnail/blog/&blogId=4588

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain/page/1