It was on Fox, I think that Bush senior commented about his son, George, that he "passed the test". What test is he talking about? I will take your answers or comments. If you ask me, he failed pretty much every imaginable test he ever took. most of all, for his presidency he got an "F".
I beg the White House to respond and to capitalize on every opportunity to point out attempts at excusing Bush's excesses.
Thank you.
The "boy (not) in the balloon" story reveals one thing and one thing only: the American mass media, especially the cable channels, including CNN and MSNBC, have forgotten what their purpose in life is: present the news. Not stupid, sensationalist nonsense out of TV land (the family in the Colorado balloon story starred in "Wifeswap") but significant events that might actually affect people's lives. How many 6-year-old boys died today because of violence or malnutrition or disease, around the world? Why did none of the news channels mention them? They weren't from a zany middle class family in a plush suburb of Colorado, perchance? Their father had not invented a flashy, shiny helium balloon that looked like a UFO? CNN are still plugging the story, except it is NOT a story--NOTHING happened! No child died, no one was even in danger. Yet the network, and to their shame MSNBC, cut away from Barack Obama's "town hall meeting in New Orleans in order to show sensational, but as it turns out completely empty and meaningless film of the shiny balloon. This, by the way, after the cable news channels had been incessantly plugging the line that Obama had not shown enough respect to NOLA because he was only spending 4 hours there. But as soon as a shiny object diverts them, the magpies at the cable news channels cut to the shiny UFO and away from Obama answering thoughtful questions about New Orleans' crisis and recovery. Who is showing disrespect for New Orleans, might I ask? A president who fulfills a promise to go to NOLA, even though, God only knows, he has enough things to occupy him, or the news channels, who can't be bothered to stick with the meeting when a balloon (which turns out to be empty) flashes through the Colorado sky? What is it about shiny vehicles (OJ’s SUV for instance) that acts like catnip for TV producers? CNN and MSNBC should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for being suckered into devoting their precious TV time to a non-event. If anyone thought that there was any integrity or intelligence left in the mass media in the USA, then today should have set them right. American news channels have become another form of infotainment, and have nothing to do with keeping the public informed about what they really need to know. Where, might I ask, were the stories about the six-year olds in New Orleans today suffering from poor education, lack of food, or simply lack of safety and prospects? But to report on THAT would have required some intelligence and effort, not the sort of thing, apparently, that CNN or MSNBC (let alone Fox) are interested in. A sad day for the fourth estate, and for democracy.
The title says all you need to know about this "prez'dint's" commitment to "bipartisanship".But bipartisanship doesn't matter anyway…the Democrats have the votes to ram this crap through without a single Republican committing political suici, "joining them"…The only reason obama or the Democrats want Republican participation in the upcoming disaster is so that they'll have someone to blame when the American people turn on them!!!
BY Chisco on 09/09/2009 at 12:03
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/57859-boehner-gop-leaders-havent-met-obama-for-health-talks-since-april
Have you finally had it with all of the absolutely unbelievable political maneuverings by the fringe right, the lies, the distortions, the twisting of facts, the outright hatred towards our President simply because a minority (yes it's a minority, remember they lost) of our society are unhappy he is our President?
If so, it's time to do something about it.
Remember, when we were "all one" working hard for the would-be-President, to get him elected because we felt for once we had an intelligent person who was running? Well, we were right. He was the best person running. He is the best President we've had in a long time and we're lucky such an honest, caring individual with vision for our future is in office. Given our world situation, we need him now more than ever. Our future depends on him.
But we are no longer supporting him with the fervor as we did, nor are the same numbers of people supporting him.
Can you believe, his poll numbers are dropping? Yes I understand, post the honeymoon period numbers drop. But to this degree and while he's saving our country, maybe our world? The man that inherited the worst our country has ever seen in terms of war, finance, enviornment and more, who is helping us drag ourselves out of this recession and fight two wars he didn't even want - his poll numbers are dropping? The man who has accomplished more in months than others before him accomplished in lifetimes, his poll numbers are dropping? It's ludicrous. It's like Lincoln's or Roosevelt's poll numbers dropping as they were saving our country. But I must remember, we live in a world where Lincoln was assassinated.
I wear my Obama hat and my wife at times tells me to "take it off Steve, you might anger people" Wow, what a world. I might anger people that I support our President. That is the times of our current times, little by little, it's less acceptable to support our President because the fringe right has made it seem so.
As we fall off in numbers, the extreme fringe right takes advantage by spreading hatred and lies. And there seems to be no limit to how crazy of a story that can be spewed and believed by those who want to believe it and spew it. If I wrote such stories in a screenplay, I'd be told to modify my words because it would be unrealistic that the public would believe such nonsense. But apparently, the public's benchmark for naivety knows no bounds when fueled by hatred.
For instance (one tiny example) think about the outrage (yes outrage) regarding President Obama speaking to school children this Tuesday (as though that's a new idea).
President Obama is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. He is the mentor of our country the image of our country to the world. He is doing what millions have done before him, speaking to school children. He was elected to lead our country. Get over it fringe right, he gets to lead. You lost.
The cynicism and hatred that drives those who dislike President Obama so much, so as to try to make speaking to school children seem as anything more than what it is, an attempt to inspire and lead our children, is beyond my understanding.
People say, is President Obama's speech to children "political?" Well, he is a politician, he is the President of the United States and yes he will weigh the pros and cons of his every action (as will the world), so I guess he'll weigh the politics of his actions, but that doesn't mean that everything he does, because it's weighed, is a sham or diabolical as some are actually seriously suggesting.
The fringe right who are the strategic architects of the nonsense we hear every day on so called "news" have lost all credibility to argue against anything. Even if they had a legitimate complaint, it's lost in the shuffle of their ludicrous positions and lies.
So, let's start writing, talking, doing - not taking this anymore.
And by the way, I hate to say, "I told you so", but my video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4srDYEPoqo
"Yes We Can (Change our Destiny), which I produced for the inaugural, was written because I feared that we'd lose the spirit of optimism, that phenomenon of involvement that occurred during the election. To some degree, we have. So be re-inspired. Pass the link on
and get others re-inspired.
Don't take this anymore, because as the famous phrase says,
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”
Well since I have been labeled a right wing terrorist, I just want to see what all the hype was about.
Healthcare reform? Laughable at best, until you control the high cost of prescription drugs by the Manufacturers, you will never get any type of reform. Also, the tier system for insurance companies is absolutly a farce. And my favorite stupid idea is to cut the payments to the physicians...and instead give money to new students to become general practice physicians. Why would they want to be general practice when speciality is such huge pay difference?
No, I don't like being labeled a terrorist anymore than the left wing wants to be called HITLER.
Yet, this site has called me a terrorist...and mixed it in with Patriot Day (9/11). Just what are you people thinking?
I do not like the idea of healthcare ran by the government, especially with it trying to be pushed out at record pace. Mr. Obama took over 6 months to pick a dog for his family, yet I am supposed to be happy with a "imperfect bill" on healthcare that was ram-rodded through? HELL NO!!
And why did you pick Sebelius to be over healthcare...she could hardly run the state of Kansas when she was Gov., now we are suppose to trust her based on what qualifications? ABSURD!!
The coastal cities need to ask the central United States what we want... yes, us in the middle of the U.S.. Doing so, you will find the majority in no way shape or form wants your idea of healthcare reform. While I agree we need to reform healthcare, the Democratic plan is not the correct way to go. Mr. Obama... just BUTT OUT.
Afterall, you staffers have already called republicans assholes... We get the point, you are surrounding yourself with racist people...so where the hell is MY BEER... isn't that what we do for a man that refuses to obey a uniformed officers orders... cover it up, never apologize for your comment and buy them all a beer?
Waiting til the next election...~Darrin Green
This is the year 2009 right? And next year is 2010! I just needed to know. I needed to know because if you listen to FOXNEWS or Rush Limbaugh or Shawn Hannity or any of the conservative / republican talk shows (and most republican politicians) you’d think it was 1984!Not “the real” 1984, when the Celtics beat the Lakers for the NBA championship but George Orwell’s make believe “1984.”In this “1984”, FOXNEWS is the FicDep or Fiction Department. Rush Limbaugh is Parsons: “a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom…the stability of the Party depended…." Republican Party elected officials make up the Ministry of Truth. While the voting members of the Republican Party play the role of the Proles. Oh yeah, Ronald Regan is Big Brother—a fictional leader. This is the only way one can explain the mindlessness of the Conservative / Republicans.They speak in Orwellian BlackWhite: “ The ability to accept whatever "truth" the party puts out, no matter how absurd it may be." Orwell described it as:"...loyal willingness to say black is white when party discipline demands this. It also means the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know black is white, and forget that one has ever believed the contrary." This so perfectly describes the current state of the Conservative / Republican party that if you didn’t know better it would be hard to believe that everything I just attributed to them came from a book written in the 1940’s.How else do you account for the fact that they twist the truth and blame President Obama for EVERYTHING that THEY do. And by the way, just like in the book, the…” titular head (of the Conservative / Republican Party) is a person whose whereabouts nobody knows." The latest rendition of “blackwhite” is this notion that somehow President Obama is responsible for a racist neo-nazi, white supremacist, shooting up the Holocaust Museum.
They say it’s because Obama is dividing the country.
Some are even suggesting that it was all a hoax created by—OBAMA?
A black Security Guard is killed in a Jewish Holocaust Museum and—OBAMA DID IT!
People… the Conservative / Republican Party has moved into a fictional and very dangerous world.
GOD please protect President Obama.
Rupert Murdoch and his Faux News netword have every right to refuse to air the president’s news conference touting his first 100 days in office.
The White House has every right to refuse to grant press credentials and access to the White House press area to “Fox News”, not out of any retaliation but ONLY because the company really does not meet the requirements to be defined or qualified and journalists.
Even now, when the president’s remarks haven’t been written, we all can predict the Fox News response and “analysis”. That’s not news, it certainly isn’t analysis, and it is even a response because it’s prepared BEFORE the statement it claims to be answering.
We have every right to boycott Murdoch's businesses and their subsidiaries and programs.
Some guy from C4L was carrying a lot cash from the MO conference, and he got detained!
Here is the vid with a part of the recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfYwmXgEE58.
Now, how would you react if the guy was an O4A member?!
(Oh, and by the way, the beginning half of the playlist with the link talks about a sound bank being extorted; but sadly, they don't mention the bank's name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYcKJMhycy8&feature=PlayList&p=97C516966E30AB57&index=0&playnext=1. If the bank was BoA or CitiGroup, would this have happend to them, if they were a sound bank?)
Free to discuss? :-/
Until later,
EMK
Yes, fellow travelers!
We TOO can experience the wonders of Obamian Socialist Ideals.
Much like the ones that created the modern 'middle'class"...
It was called the GI BILL of Rights I believe.
It socialistically allowed people who might otherwise not ever have afforded it-- to own a first house.
Yes, the evil totalitarian socialists (the post ww ii government) hatched the insidious plot.
We're in RUIN this very day due to it.
Damn poor people got houses, got cocky and uppity and began investing in stocks!!!!
Oh, tis a tangled and odious weave we web....when Stalin comes a knockin'
Beware! Beware!
If Obama keeps up more people might own houses!!!!
Get yer pitchforks and meet me at the church at midnight!!!
(oops, I forgot...newt and rush can't use hand tools and besides they got a dinner party tonight)
There goes the revolution!
Now the damn fish are addicted to tea and i got 5,000 pitchforks i can't sell.
Maybe I'll loan em to some real people so they can pitch that line of crap out of the way before we all get it on our shoes.
So, we leave the reader, agape at Rush and Gingrich's 'paper-revolt"...a document written on
toilet paper...and head, fearful of socialism but contrite that our country
is much too spoiled and lazy to ever adapt to it, into the brave new world of twitter.
(yes, and scrap that "meeting at the church" too! WAY, way too socialist for twiddle and dee)
bow--wooo!
I watched 24 this night. Yes, the Jack Bauer thing. Just to observe what it is that keeps Fox going, and our nation's males enthralled. I liked the ugly president. No Hollywood beauty, that one, but a lot of expression. Unfortunately, not many lines of worth. She actually spends a good bit of her time on the screen, during this, the first two hour special and opening of the show for this season, lecturing her security team in the situation room about how important it is to go out and commit war when it is called for. And also, about how hard that is for her. What rubbish. Those clowns who sit around that table are weathered veterans and need no such lectures, nor pleas for understanding. Following one of those lectures she delivers her very worst, and idiotic, line (her son committed suicide a few days earlier): "I don't have the luxury of grief. I must get the job done." Even writing for Hollywood I sometimes wonder who writes such trash. As if grief is some sort of emotion you can turn on and off with a Data-From-Star Trek kind of switch. That was written by a young person who has not lost anyone close to him or her yet. Grief comes at you like a runaway truck down a dark alley. No way over, under or around it. It takes you full on, right in the face, and you are never the same following it. Not deep grief. But then, some of you out there know about that sort of thing.
24 is all about torture and negotiation. You simply have to torture. That is the Fox mantra, following the lead of our 'Fox-like' government. All you have to do to justify it is be right. And are not television shows great at demonstrating that? You actually get to see the 'bad guy' be bad. You know, looking right down upon him, that he is evil. So Jack Bauer can torture him and we all feel great. Unfortunately, in the real world, we don't ever get to know things to that level of deep satisfaction. We kinda think we know. We have it on good authority. We believe he is evil. The negotiation? That is all lies on such shows. You say anything necessary to get what you want or need. You do not keep your end of the bargain because the people you are dealing with are, again, demonstrated to be evil. Bauer has a new FBI chick leading him around. I like her, not because she is beautiful (and terribly unlikely as an FBI agent) but because she has acne that shows up on HD. We are in a new age. Even the cutish chick that is Bauer's secret computer genius female friend, on the inside of operations, has acne. A little humor in the show. Lightens it up for me.
I don't much like negotiation, anyway. Oh I have done. We all do a bit of it out here. You have to if you are going to get a car. You can just go ahead and be an idiot and lose thousands, but most of us negotiate. What I don't like is all this stuff being shoved at us on the television about how we can save so much if we just start negotiating at stores. Like department stores, and stuff. Everywhere. Anywhere. I kind of hate it. To even be around somebody doing it. I leave. The other night I was having dinner next to someone who was a 'negotiator.' She is actually quite a wonderful warm human being...until it is time to negotiate. Then she becomes a monster...to the work force. To clerks, waiters and waitresses. We finished dinner and I picked up the tab. But I got it too soon. Some people wanted to have ice cream. I was going to re-open the tab, but no. She wanted to prove that we could get the ice cream for free. And she managed to bully the staff into doing exactly that. I had tipped pretty big (like thirty percent, which is not uncommon for me) so maybe that partially influenced the staff decision to go ahead and accede to her wishes. I am pretty sure, anyway. I did not like the whole thing and did not want to eat the ice cream. I am on my diet, after all. But there was nothing I could really do without becoming a horse's ass. So I just shut up and then dabbed at my ice cream. On the way out I gave the long-suffering waitress an extra twenty. I may not be the cleverest person on my block, but I sleep well.
from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com
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Alternative EnergySource: David Apperson
url: http://veterans.barackobama.com/page/community/tag/alternative-energy
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/01/obama-dales-cabinet-picks/
Obama Dazzles Dems and GOP with Cabinet PicksPresident-elect Barack Obama has named half of his Cabinet members at record speed and earned positive reviews from both sides of the political aisle. By Stephen ClarkFOXNews.comMonday, December 01, 2008 After naming his economic team and his national security team at record speed, President-elect Barack Obama will now focus on filling the last half of his Cabinet.Rounding out his Cabinet will be the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Transportation and Education.New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to be named commerce secretary and Tom Daschle has been widely touted as secretary of health and human services. And speculation is growing that Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, will get the nod to lead the national department.What has been most striking about Obama's nominations so far is the speed at which he has named them and the lack of controversy. The president-elect has moved swiftly to try to bring reassurances and continuity in the federal government as the world grapples with war, recession and terrorist threats, which erupted last week in Mumbai, India.On Monday, Obama introduced his national security team, picking Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state and President Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, to continue at his post. The announcements marked a shift in emphasis after his of appointments last week of his economic team, led by Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary."I think the times demand this," Democratic consultant Martin Frost told FOXNews.com. "I don't think you can go at a leisurely pace."Frost said the sequence in which Obama has announced his Cabinet members isn't unusual, noting that economic and national security issues are the top priorities for any president."I think he's done this in a very careful way," Frost said, adding that Obama's picks have drawn favorable reviews from both sides of the aisle.GOP consultant Doug Heye praised Obama for how he he has rolled out his Cabinet members so far."The Obama transition team has made a strategic decision on how this will be done," Heye said, noting Obama's move to present his economic team last week followed by his national security advisers this week."We don't know yet what next week will be," he joked.But Heye added that Obama, by not naming an energy secretary yet, runs the risk of signaling that energy independence is not as important to his administration."Energy policy is something he said would be a top priority," he said. "We haven't even got any real rumors of who's being vetted."Even so, Obama's picks have allowed Republicans to breathe a sigh of relief."I think there's a number of things for people who didn't vote for him to be relieved about," GOP consultant Cheri Jacobus told FOXNews.com, citing Obama's decision to keep Gates on as defense secretary.Jacobus said Obama so far has resembled Sen. John McCain or President Bush. She said Obama has been able to move as fast as he has because he doesn't feel obligated to repay any of the special interest groups that helped him get eleted."This is someone who was a blank slate before he was elected," she said.
By Stephen Clark
FOXNews.com
Monday, December 01, 2008
Rounding out his Cabinet will be the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Transportation and Education.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to be named commerce secretary and Tom Daschle has been widely touted as secretary of health and human services. And speculation is growing that Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, will get the nod to lead the national department.
What has been most striking about Obama's nominations so far is the speed at which he has named them and the lack of controversy. The president-elect has moved swiftly to try to bring reassurances and continuity in the federal government as the world grapples with war, recession and terrorist threats, which erupted last week in Mumbai, India.
On Monday, Obama introduced his national security team, picking Democratic primary rival Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state and President Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, to continue at his post. The announcements marked a shift in emphasis after his of appointments last week of his economic team, led by Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary.
"I think the times demand this," Democratic consultant Martin Frost told FOXNews.com. "I don't think you can go at a leisurely pace."
Frost said the sequence in which Obama has announced his Cabinet members isn't unusual, noting that economic and national security issues are the top priorities for any president.
"I think he's done this in a very careful way," Frost said, adding that Obama's picks have drawn favorable reviews from both sides of the aisle.
GOP consultant Doug Heye praised Obama for how he he has rolled out his Cabinet members so far.
"The Obama transition team has made a strategic decision on how this will be done," Heye said, noting Obama's move to present his economic team last week followed by his national security advisers this week.
"We don't know yet what next week will be," he joked.
But Heye added that Obama, by not naming an energy secretary yet, runs the risk of signaling that energy independence is not as important to his administration.
"Energy policy is something he said would be a top priority," he said. "We haven't even got any real rumors of who's being vetted."
Even so, Obama's picks have allowed Republicans to breathe a sigh of relief.
"I think there's a number of things for people who didn't vote for him to be relieved about," GOP consultant Cheri Jacobus told FOXNews.com, citing Obama's decision to keep Gates on as defense secretary.
Jacobus said Obama so far has resembled Sen. John McCain or President Bush. She said Obama has been able to move as fast as he has because he doesn't feel obligated to repay any of the special interest groups that helped him get eleted.
"This is someone who was a blank slate before he was elected," she said.
Henry M
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We can't watch shows when they air since we spend time with our baby. We use Tivo to catch up on news and other events. On a hunch I set my Tivo to record both CBS and Fox for the "Barack Obama Political Message" to see what would happen. Since Tivo records by show name it couldn't possibly mess up - it does what the network tells the guide to do.
So, my wife and I sat down on the couch around 10pm PST to watch and I gave her the choice of which one she wanted - she picked CBS. We watched the whole 30 minoutes. Ater it was done I said, let me just check the fox recording to see if they actually aired it - it was a joke.
I hit play and all that was recorded was TMZ.com! I kept forwarding thru expecting for maybe a late start...nothing. Then I checked the TiVo info for the recording at it had the program name right but the wrong time - 9pm PST (5pm EST). So I checked "the google" and here is what I found...
KTTVDT (KTTV-DT) (FOX) channel logo KTTVDT (KTTV-DT) (FOX). Barack Obama Political Message Today at 9:00pm PDT.
So did Fox do this on purpose? I can't be the only one that Tivo'd the program to watch later? People who work swing shifts might have done the same. This is either on purpose or incompetence.
Once a mighty oak, the ReDubyaKin Party is Reduced to Lying about Acorn: Brits Get It; Why Not American Media Outlets?
The Republican voter fraud hoaxDonald Duck and the Dallas Cowboys won't steal the election for Obama. Acorn's only crime is registering Democratic voters Monday October 13 2008 20.30 BST Barack Obama and the Democrats are stealing the election. Massive voter fraud is being carried out, even as we speak, by their henchmen, known by the innocuous sounding Association for Community Organisations for Reform Now, or Acorn. Clever bastards.The only problem? Despite the screaming wall-to-wall coverage of "Democratic voter fraud in 11 swing states" as seen on Fox News and even the once-respectable CNN, none of it's true. None of it.In just the last week, we've had a phoney stunt raid in swing state Nevada (where Acorn had been cooperating with officials for months, concerning problem canvassers they'd long ago fired); a Republican election official in swing state Missouri tell Fox News that she's being beseiged with fraudulent registration forms from Acorn (in a county where they've not done any registration work since August); a Republican sheriff in swing state Ohio, who, the very next day, suddenly requested the names and addresses of hundreds of early voters (with evidence of exactly zero wrong doing, but lots of Democratic-leaning college student in the particular county, and John McCain's state campaign chair as a partner in the investigation); and a screaming front page headline in Rupert Murdoch's New York Post about a guy who claims he was somehow tricked by Acorn into registering 72 times (but read the article closely to note he says he registered at the same address each time, which, even if true, would allow him - you guessed it - precisely one legal vote.)It's an old Republican scam, but it's never been carried out with more zeal than this year. The Republicans have been putting so much time, money and resources into the propaganda leading up to this over the last four years, we should have expected no less. As luck would have it, the Democrats have a man who, as an attorney years ago, actually had the temerity to join the US department of justice in representing Acorn in a successful lawsuit, forcing the state of Illinois to follow the law by allowing citizens to register to vote at the department of motor vehicles. What a scoundrel.That, of course, was before the department of justice, under George Bush's corrupt command, would itself become politicised by the very Republicans so desperate to keep low-income voters from voting, that they were willing to fire their own US attorneys for failing to bring phoney charges of voter fraud in key swing states like Nevada and Missouri.So what are the crimes that have caused all the Sturm und Drang on US television and talk radio, and in several otherwise respectable newspapers and even by the McCain campaign itself?The only actual crime here is that Acorn managed to register some 1.3m low-income (read: Democratic-leaning) voters over the past two years. The rest is, pretty much, just made up.But in the bloody and desperate trenches of the Republican war on democracy, that's more than enough to kick in a last minute surge of lies that may - with the help of a compliant and lazy corporate US media - wreak enough havoc, scare enough voters, confuse enough people and plant enough seeds to call an Obama victory into doubt on November 4.If you can't win it, steal it. If you can't steal it, claim the other guy stole it. If you can't claim the other guy stole it (yet), say they're about to and then kick up smoke that maybe someone will believe you. (Heckuva job, CNN.)Here are the facts. Acorn verifies the legitimacy of every registration its canvassers collect. If they can't authenticate the registration, or it's incomplete or questionable in other ways, they flag that form as problematic ("fraudulent", "incomplete", et cetera). They then hand in all registration forms, even the problematic ones, to elections officials, as they are required to do by law. In almost every case where you've heard about fraud by Acorn, it's because Acorn itself notified officials about the fraud that's been perpetrated on them by rogue canvassers. Most officials who run to the media screaming "Acorn is committing fraud" know all of the above but don't bother to share those facts with the media they've run to. None of this is about voter fraud. None of it. Where any fraud has occurred, it's voter registration fraud and has resulted in exactly zero fraudulent votes.You'll hear that Donald Duck, Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Mickey Mouse and (new this year) the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team have all had fraudulent registrations submitted in their names. That's true. And we know this, why? Because Acorn told officials about it when they followed the law and turned in those registrations, flagged as fraudulent.What you won't hear is that federal law requires anybody who does not register to vote in person at the county office to show an ID when they go to vote the first time. So, unless Donald Duck shows up with his ID, he won't be voting this November. You needn't worry, no matter how much even John McCain himself cynically and dishonourably tries to mislead you.If it quacks like a duck, in this case, it's likely another Republican Acorn voter fraud lie. They haul it out every two years.Just days before the 2004 presidential election, rightwing whack job Michelle Malkin claimed that Acorn was registering terrorists to vote in swing state Ohio. Problem was, that was a lie.In 2006, again just days before the election, the new US attorney in swing state Missouri (recently appointed, since the one before him refused to bring such charges), filed voter fraud indictments against Acorn workers in the state. Problem was, bringing election-related indictments that close to an election was a violation of the department of justice's own written policy. And Acorn had nothing to do with it, other than turning in the employees to officials.Getting the picture? It's a hoax. All of it.But it's been an effective one, as it's served to distract from very real concerns about tens of thousands of voters who have been illegally purged from the voting rolls in dozens of states, as the New York Times reported in a remarkable front page investigative story. That story followed a report the week before from CBS News detailing still more wholesale purges of voting rolls in some 20 states.That will be the November surprise, when thousands, if not millions show up to vote only to find they are no longer welcome to do so and are forced to vote on a "provisional ballot" which may or may not be counted.These real concerns of election fraud, such as voting roll purges, electronic voting machines that don't work and so much more that actually matters, have been obscured by the smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand of the Republican party's phoney Acorn voter fraud charade.And where they can, they'll parlay it all into new photo ID restrictions at the polls (knowing full well that some 20m, largely Democratic-leaning voters don't own the type of ID they'd need to jump over that next Republican hurdle.)Yet, with all of the unsubstantiated, wholly bogus claims of voter fraud being carried out by Democrats, there remains at least one case of absolutely ironclad, documented, yet still-unprosecuted case of voter fraud that, for some reason, Republicans don't much like to talk about.We can only wonder why.© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
The Republican voter fraud hoax
Donald Duck and the Dallas Cowboys won't steal the election for Obama. Acorn's only crime is registering Democratic voters
Monday October 13 2008 20.30 BST
Barack Obama and the Democrats are stealing the election. Massive voter fraud is being carried out, even as we speak, by their henchmen, known by the innocuous sounding Association for Community Organisations for Reform Now, or Acorn. Clever bastards.The only problem? Despite the screaming wall-to-wall coverage of "Democratic voter fraud in 11 swing states" as seen on Fox News and even the once-respectable CNN, none of it's true. None of it.
In just the last week, we've had a phoney stunt raid in swing state Nevada (where Acorn had been cooperating with officials for months, concerning problem canvassers they'd long ago fired); a Republican election official in swing state Missouri tell Fox News that she's being beseiged with fraudulent registration forms from Acorn (in a county where they've not done any registration work since August); a Republican sheriff in swing state Ohio, who, the very next day, suddenly requested the names and addresses of hundreds of early voters (with evidence of exactly zero wrong doing, but lots of Democratic-leaning college student in the particular county, and John McCain's state campaign chair as a partner in the investigation); and a screaming front page headline in Rupert Murdoch's New York Post about a guy who claims he was somehow tricked by Acorn into registering 72 times (but read the article closely to note he says he registered at the same address each time, which, even if true, would allow him - you guessed it - precisely one legal vote.)
It's an old Republican scam, but it's never been carried out with more zeal than this year. The Republicans have been putting so much time, money and resources into the propaganda leading up to this over the last four years, we should have expected no less. As luck would have it, the Democrats have a man who, as an attorney years ago, actually had the temerity to join the US department of justice in representing Acorn in a successful lawsuit, forcing the state of Illinois to follow the law by allowing citizens to register to vote at the department of motor vehicles. What a scoundrel.That, of course, was before the department of justice, under George Bush's corrupt command, would itself become politicised by the very Republicans so desperate to keep low-income voters from voting, that they were willing to fire their own US attorneys for failing to bring phoney charges of voter fraud in key swing states like Nevada and Missouri.So what are the crimes that have caused all the Sturm und Drang on US television and talk radio, and in several otherwise respectable newspapers and even by the McCain campaign itself?The only actual crime here is that Acorn managed to register some 1.3m low-income (read: Democratic-leaning) voters over the past two years. The rest is, pretty much, just made up.But in the bloody and desperate trenches of the Republican war on democracy, that's more than enough to kick in a last minute surge of lies that may - with the help of a compliant and lazy corporate US media - wreak enough havoc, scare enough voters, confuse enough people and plant enough seeds to call an Obama victory into doubt on November 4.If you can't win it, steal it. If you can't steal it, claim the other guy stole it. If you can't claim the other guy stole it (yet), say they're about to and then kick up smoke that maybe someone will believe you. (Heckuva job, CNN.)Here are the facts. Acorn verifies the legitimacy of every registration its canvassers collect. If they can't authenticate the registration, or it's incomplete or questionable in other ways, they flag that form as problematic ("fraudulent", "incomplete", et cetera). They then hand in all registration forms, even the problematic ones, to elections officials, as they are required to do by law. In almost every case where you've heard about fraud by Acorn, it's because Acorn itself notified officials about the fraud that's been perpetrated on them by rogue canvassers. Most officials who run to the media screaming "Acorn is committing fraud" know all of the above but don't bother to share those facts with the media they've run to. None of this is about voter fraud. None of it. Where any fraud has occurred, it's voter registration fraud and has resulted in exactly zero fraudulent votes.You'll hear that Donald Duck, Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Mickey Mouse and (new this year) the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team have all had fraudulent registrations submitted in their names. That's true. And we know this, why? Because Acorn told officials about it when they followed the law and turned in those registrations, flagged as fraudulent.What you won't hear is that federal law requires anybody who does not register to vote in person at the county office to show an ID when they go to vote the first time. So, unless Donald Duck shows up with his ID, he won't be voting this November. You needn't worry, no matter how much even John McCain himself cynically and dishonourably tries to mislead you.If it quacks like a duck, in this case, it's likely another Republican Acorn voter fraud lie. They haul it out every two years.
Just days before the 2004 presidential election, rightwing whack job Michelle Malkin claimed that Acorn was registering terrorists to vote in swing state Ohio. Problem was, that was a lie.In 2006, again just days before the election, the new US attorney in swing state Missouri (recently appointed, since the one before him refused to bring such charges), filed voter fraud indictments against Acorn workers in the state. Problem was, bringing election-related indictments that close to an election was a violation of the department of justice's own written policy. And Acorn had nothing to do with it, other than turning in the employees to officials.Getting the picture? It's a hoax. All of it.But it's been an effective one, as it's served to distract from very real concerns about tens of thousands of voters who have been illegally purged from the voting rolls in dozens of states, as the New York Times reported in a remarkable front page investigative story. That story followed a report the week before from CBS News detailing still more wholesale purges of voting rolls in some 20 states.That will be the November surprise, when thousands, if not millions show up to vote only to find they are no longer welcome to do so and are forced to vote on a "provisional ballot" which may or may not be counted.These real concerns of election fraud, such as voting roll purges, electronic voting machines that don't work and so much more that actually matters, have been obscured by the smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand of the Republican party's phoney Acorn voter fraud charade.And where they can, they'll parlay it all into new photo ID restrictions at the polls (knowing full well that some 20m, largely Democratic-leaning voters don't own the type of ID they'd need to jump over that next Republican hurdle.)Yet, with all of the unsubstantiated, wholly bogus claims of voter fraud being carried out by Democrats, there remains at least one case of absolutely ironclad, documented, yet still-unprosecuted case of voter fraud that, for some reason, Republicans don't much like to talk about.
We can only wonder why.
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
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We are in a moment at a time of leadership: the fire and wood chips have been placed in the House of Representatives. When people start to lose their jobs, the secert room chats start to come out: "House Repubs (Reagan File Republicans) are voting against their own party presidents bill. Whoever is elected is screwed and will carry this big anchor around their neck. The repubs, who really don't care that much for McSame: as they call him (John McCain) anyhow, are pretty sure they are going to lose this election. They are hoping to see a dem fail to have a better shot in four years with a legitimate candidate." -- Former NY Sun Reporter
A rumor on the hill leaked from an out of work reporter stated: "House repubs are now losing lots of money in the market, like everyone else. They are caught between a rock and a hard place and most likely will have to pass this bill, but for all the wrong reasons." -- Former NY Sun Reporter
This country is at a moment in time where you can't sink the country; in order to regain the seat 4 years later. That's not leadership: that's rackateering. This is the time when you see the signs of real leadership. Please remember on election day that Barack Obama's campaign is united his party. While John McCain has divided his party. Here's how we got into this mess, a divided county -- where parties will throw wood-chips in a fire for power. You have many reagan file Repubs, and a few freshman Dems -- voting and creating bills for their friends in Wall Street. They are setting the un-regulated laws that has turned this country into greed. You can't blame them for thinking about greed, yet, I hate to say it but: President Bush dropped the ball. He was so hungry on the axis of evil, and forgot about his own house. Which in tern burnt his country -- maybe G. W. Bush didn't know because: NOBODY LISTENED. This is the change we need in Washington, when everyone knows that they can't beat the system. They can't vote for the regulations in Wall Street, and then say: I didn't make that law: The other party did. It's time to unify both parties, and stop the bickering of you did this and they did that. It's time to work for the American people -- because for once they really need it. It doesn't matter if your from the north, south, east west, middle, off the coast, or a terriorty: YOU are an American product. So if one state hurts, the next territory will hurt. We have 600,000 unemployed Americans, and in Washington they are fill-bustering the bills so they can make a few dollars in the market. Maybe their should be a tax on Congress that uses stock market revenues as campaign contribution. What I mean is they are placing their money into a product on Wall Street, and getting funds. That's how we got into this mess, and it started with the Reagan File Republicans: and when Nacy Pelosi told them the party was over they: wanted to remove her from the seat. That's a shame!
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will win with our votes, organization and own accounts.
I'm glad to see my Brookline High School rank number one again in Academic Performance in Boston magazine.The greater task now is to secure the United States of America's top position in the world.
We won the most medals in the most recent Olympics. China may have had more yellow medals, but the USA is color-blind, so we really clinched the most medals.
We need the strongest military position. Reagan got us a lot of new-Ki'-Lear weapons; in doing so,
Vietnam veterans slept homeless even right by Faneuil Hall.
So many Vietnam veterans have had it so bad. "Born in the USA" indignantly pointed out the outsourcing of labour, even to "yellow man" countries (China, Philippines and India).
A US-against-vietnam war hero himself, Jim Webb supports Obama, and had worked right at the get-go of his winning in Virginia...on the college education bill for post-9/11/2001 war veterans to get the same substantive tuition coverage that our World War veterans had gotten to put to good use.
Obama understands our need for a militarily strong USA.We must secure the benefits of our veterans and active duty soldiers.A soldier should be able to buy and keep a home, even outside his fort of duty.
US soldiers who served us in Afghanistan have come home to crappy barracks (as in Kentucky, where they were thrust into a building that can only be noted as CONDEMNED), and a predatory real estate market.
Freddie Mac-Cain is out to ruin his younger brother-in-arms, Abel.
We must banish the deregulator McCain
to maintain ourselves a Garden of Even-playing field
for us workers, who are now organizing and voting for living wages.
Let McCain Rove an Anderson Cooper 360 spin around the globalized Earth for many decades (covered by Obama health care). Let McCain have his Ritz in Paris, Hilton in Hong Kong, but leave 1600 Pennsylvania for Obama and Biden, who actually work for our America to grow up and stand out.
The best watchdog team out there!
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah-palin-gender-card
* can't say I coined the howler monkey phrase ... see previous post called "Enough! Here's Why the Polls are so Damn Close!" by Bob Cesca.
Oh, and doesn't Dick Morris remind you of Harvey Fierstein? You know, the husky-voiced, drag queen on Broadway!
