I've made it to the initial round for favorite progressive blogger in the Air America Cruise Contest. I have to stay in the Top 5 before the second voting round begins, so your vote is appreciated! First voting round:
The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
A funny thing happened on the way to the bailout. A number of the members of the bucket brigade - that's us, taxpayers - realized that for all the billions of dollars worth of bailing we're doing, we still appear to be sinking. Our task seems to be keeping things afloat long enough for first class passengers to fill the lifeboats. And as the water rises, more of us are less content with apparent the "brokers and bankers first" rule.
And let there be no doubt, as the U.S. economy looks like it's going down for the first time, "brokers and bankers first" is the rule.
In the waning days of, well, everything from the George W. Bush era, to the Reagan era and 30 years of conservative rule - as is often the case in a disaster - men's true characters reveal themselves, and they reveal their intentions when they have little left to lose.
Last week I ventured into the "spreading the wealth" discussion with a post attempting to unpack one aspect of why even some people who might be helped by the kind of economic policies Obama is proposing are against them anyway. It was a rather long post, so I wrapped it up without getting into another aspect of the debate that I alluded to briefly and hoped to get back to in another post.
Never mind that it takes an utter lack of an “irony gene” to speak of “steal-from-the-rich,” when only after the taxpayer-funded $1 trillion bailout of the financial sector that got us into the current economic mess — welfare for the wealthy, essentially — was passed has Washington started talking about a stimulus package for the rest of us. It takes Joe himself to bring it on home.
While the McCain/Palin campaign attempts to whip people into a lather with a liberal use of the "socialism" label, invoking fears of a wealth transfer, it's easy to forget that a huge wealth transfer has been underway for a while and is going on even now. We call it "the bailout."
The hits just keep on coming for the McCain/Palin campaign. Today the largest paper in Alaska, The Anchorage Daily News endorsed Barack Obama.
The Daily News, which in the past has been generally supportive of the Governor seemed to agree with many in the lower 48. It said: --after the break--
Sen. John McCain offered, on Tuesday, what may go down as one of the more awkward moments of this campaign cycle, in which -- speaking in Western Pennsylvania -- he declared he 'couldn't agree more' with the sentiment that some of the people from that region were openly racist.
"You know, I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately," McCain told the audience in the town of Moon Township. "And you know, I couldn't agree with them more."
Before I launch into this post, let me just be clear about one thing. I'm not sure of much anymore. But I am fairly certain that I shouldn't be writing this, or much of anything having to do with politics these days. For starters, I'm not that relevant as a voter. Based on everything I've read, seen, and heard, as black gay male, a member of the upper middle class, a college-educated white collar worker, and a non-Christian and non-theist, who doesn't reside in a southern state, a rust-belt state, a battle-ground state, a small town or a rural area, and someone far enough to the left to be out of the mainstream much of the time, I am one of the most irrelevant, least important voters in this election.
I am also not a "real American" living in the "real America." At best, I am an "ersatz American." (The use of the word "ersatz" automatically disqualifies me as a "real American.)"
But this is something I - and the rest of the country - already know and have known for a while.
Some of McCain’s black family members say they are not sure exactly where they fall on the family tree, but they do know this: They are either descendants of the McCain family slaves, or of children the McCains fathered with their slaves.
Yeah, the folks who said Obama played it safe were right.
But then again, McCain got a little rope and hung himself.
Senator McCain, I have a few questions for you:
You made repeated references to Autism and kept linking them to governor Palin. Governor Palin’s son is a Down Syndrome baby; to the best of my knowledge, he is not even old enough to have been diagnosed as Autistic—even if his parents had the time to take him to a doctor for an evaluation (which they have not, due to the campaign schedule).
So does this mean that you don’t know the difference between DS and Autism?
You oppose allowing abortions when the mother’s life or “health” are in jeopardy. You had the audacity to put “health” in air-quotes. You most certainly appeared to think that women would lie or otherwise manipulate the system to get late-term abortions on the grounds of their lives being in jeopardy . Here are a few questions on your statements for you on this one, sir:
Do you actually know anyone who has had a late-term abortion or a late-term miscarriage?
Do you have a clue how painful it is for the parents if they have to abort a child to save the mother ‘s life???
Have you even considered the fact that if late term abortion were illegal under all circumstances, this would lead to induced labor when ending the pregnancy is the only way to save to mother’s life—leading to smaller, sicker babies, with a higher likelihood of disabilities, and hospitals bill that could run well over a hundred thousand dollars for the smallest of the babies you would force to be born?
Have you ever lost someone you loved who died in childbirth?Perhaps before you take such a stance, you should look at the statistics on death during childbirth back before abortion was legal or in instances where the mother knows she is endangering her “health” by carrying to term, but chooses to do do anyway. Even when a mother who has been advised to abort due to “health” concerns chooses to carry the baby to term lives to tell about it, both mother and child can become permanently disabled because of it. My step-daughter has medical problems that will last for the rest of her life because at the age of 18 she decided to carry her baby to term in spite of the fact that her “health” was in danger; did you even consider that some mother’s will die and will be disabled if we don’t consider their “health”?
At least he didn't say "That boy," but he was just one word off. I heard it, and I saw it. I saw it first, actually, during the first debate when McCain refused to look Obama in the eye.
Want to blame someone for the financial mess we're in? Well, join the club and get in line. Folks on the right are hell bent on blaming blacks. And if that doesn't work, they can always blame gays for our economic downturn. (Okay, okay! I confess already. it's all my fault. I'm not sure how I did it, and I don't know what I did with the $1 trillion that's likely to be the total we're in the hole.)
It documents John McCain through the years, how he was near the bottom of his class at Annapolis, even though his behavior would have had anyone else given the boot. He used his family background, his father and grand-father were both admirals in the navy, to keep his butt in Annapolis.
When McCain was not shown the pampering to which he was accustomed, he grew petulant — even abusive. He repeatedly blew up in the face of his commanding officer. It was the kind of insubordination that would have gotten any other midshipman kicked out of Annapolis. But his classmates soon realized that McCain was untouchable. Midway though his final year, McCain faced expulsion, about to "bilge out" because of excessive demerits. After his mother intervened, however, the academy's commandant stepped in.
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Religious Right legal group in Scottsdale, Ariz., urged pastors to defy federal tax law by endorsing or opposing candidates during a so-called "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" Sept. 28. Under the IRS Code, churches and other 501(c)(3) tax-exempt groups may not intervene in elections
About 33 churches took part, and as of this past Friday Americans United has urged the IRS to investigate at least seven of these lawbreaking religious organizations.
What the ADF had to say:
As part of the effort, pastors participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday on September 28, 2008, will deliver to their congregations sermons of their own that apply Scripture to the subject of candidates for government office. The sermons are intended to restore a pastor's right to speak freely from his pulpit without fearing censorship or punishment by the government. By standing together and speaking with one voice, it is our hope to recapture the rightful place of pastors and churches in American life.
It is time for the intimidation and threats to end. Churches and pastors have a constitutional right to speak freely and truthfully from the pulpit - even on candidates and voting - without fearing loss of their tax exemption.
It's incredible the ADF makes these churches out to be victims. Sorry if the laws conflict with your insanity, tough break. Maybe they should file taxes as being mental institutions instead of churches.
And just who were these pastors endorsing anyway?
With new polls showing his campaign dead in the water among California Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain has pulled out of a long-scheduled debate with Texas Gov. George Bush, set for Thursday in Los Angeles.
McCain campaign officials tried desperately yesterday to put the best face on their withdrawal, even as a new Field Poll showed Bush far ahead among likely Republican voters in the winner-take-all race for the state's 162 GOP delegates.
Top campaign officials attributed McCain's decision to Bush's earlier reluctance to appear at the debate.
I guess when the going gets tough...McBush likes to run. This time, however, circumstances forced his shaky hand.
NOTE FROM PAM (5:22PM): Obama rejects McCain's debate delay: "It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said at a news conference in Clearwater, Fla. "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once.".
Republican John McCain said Wednesday he is directing his staff to work with Democrat Barack Obama's campaign and the presidential debate commission to delay Friday's debate because of the economic crisis.
In a statement, McCain said he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.
The Republican presidential hopeful called Obama before he made the statement and told him he was going to suspend his campaign, according to a McCain senior adviser.
Message: What is John McCain afraid of?
Message: John McCain has no message on the economy.
Message: A president can't postpone a crisis while he gets his act together.
Message: There's no time-outs in the White House
Message: John McCain isn't ready to talk about the economy.
Message: John McCain doesn't want to talk to you about the bailout.
If I were Obama, I'd stand in front of a camera and say something like this.
John McCain can't wait to get back to Washington. The people he wants to talk to about the economy and the bailout are in Washington. The people he wants to hear from about the economy and the bailout are in Washington. The people John McCain thinks are dealing with the economy and will deal with the bailout are in Washington.
I guess John McCain has forgotten his own words. It's easy to be in Washington and frankly be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have. Like I said before, if all you do is walk the halls of power, all you'll hear is the wants of the powerful.
John McCain can go back to Washington and talk with the people he thinks are dealing with the economy and will deal with the bailout. But you know and I know, the people who are really dealing with the economy, and the people who who are really going to pay for the bailout are out here in the rest of America, going to work, paying their bills, taking care of their families, and it's getting harder for them to do it.
Let John McCain go back to Washington. Until I get a call from the Senate that it's time for a vote, I'm staying out here to talk to you and listen to you, because the real economy isn't in Washington, or on Wall Street. It's right here.
Here's McCain's stance on improving healthcare in America...
Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.
So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago - and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!
It is one of the great curiosities of conservatism that its adherents enthusiastically destroy regulations which - besides a conscience - act as a bulwark against greed and corruption, thereby making greed and corruption inevitable. Because when (a) there's no wrong way to make a buck, and (b) no accountability or consequences for malfeasance, there's no disincentive either. (Other than being able to sleep at night, which isn't a problem if you don't have a conscience in the first place.) And when the inevitable happens, the resulting disaster spreads (because it is never really contained), they bemoan the very same rampant greed and corruption their deregulation made inevitable.
Naomi Klein found hints of it, in the musings of Alan Greenspan.
Guess who finally took his finger out of his ass and stuck it in the breeze.
Rarely have I seen or heard a candidate do a 180° so quickly, and then act as though the skid-marks and the smell of burning rubber aren't obvious to just about everyone. But then came candidate John McCain (circa 2008).
On Monday morning, as Wall Street was absorbing one of the biggest shocks to the financial system in generations, Senator John McCain said he believed the fundamentals of the U.S. economy were "strong."
Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he meant that American workers, the backbone of the economy, were productive and resilient. By Tuesday he was calling the economic situation "a total crisis" and decrying "greed" in Wall Street and Washington.
McCain's sharp turnabout in tone and substance reflected not only a recognition that he had struck a discordant note at a sensitive moment, but that he had done so on the very issue on which he can least afford to stumble.
As economic conditions have worsened over the course of this year and voter anxiety has increased, McCain has had to work to counter the impression - fostered by his own admissions as recently as last year that the economy is not his strongest suit - that he lacks the experience and understanding to address the nation's economic woes.
We could take comfort in the idea that a president doesn't have to know much about the economy. (Or foreign policy, for that matter, but that's another discussion.) Or at least he doesn't have to be an expert in the subject, so long as he surrounds himself with knowledgeable experts, and heeds their advice. Much depends, then, on the experts the president leans upon, their agendas, and their track records.
