Palin and McCains's Lies

So this is coming late but better to be late than sorry.

Sarah Palin claimed that she told Washington "thanks but no thanks" on the bridge to nowhere. A video on youtube shows the point.

Sarah Palin said in her nomination that she sold the plane belonging to the previous governor on ebay but in reality it didn't sell on ebay and had to be sold at a loss to a private individual.

Why is this important? because these lies are so baldfaced that they insult the American peoples intelligence.

The Beef on Palin

Early today McCain picked for his Vice-Presidential nominee a 44 year old woman named Sarah Palin, the current governor of Alaska and a strong social conservative. In her opening speech to the crowd of McCain supporters she praised Hillary Clinton's brave fight in the Democratic primary and mentioned that she would continue what Hillary began. This coming from the woman that called Hillary a 'whiner' earlier in the primary is a very interesting claim. McCain is trying to woo the women who were so behind Hillary and angry about her supposed treatment by the DNC. So let's get into the negatives of this woman because she was not a common sense pick, atleast on the surface.

#1 McCain has made this issue about experience from day one (video proof) Palin has served as a mayor for six years and as a governor for twenty months. This makes the McCain camp look more than a little hypocritical for his pick of a position that would take his place if he died.

#2 Palin was seen stating earlier this month that she didn't know what the VP position entailed (interview here) P.S. this interview also discusses another liability - an investigation into an alleged firing of her brother-in-law from the police force

#3 Obama has called McCain a candidate of and for oil and Sarah Palin's husband happens to work for BP. This would be the 4th term in the last 30 years that big oil has a direct connection to someone in the Whitehouse. Jr & Sr. Bush + Cheney are the other established connections.


Interesting pick though, we'll see how it pans out in the coming months.

Barack's Night

Tonight Barack Obama gave a speech that battled the criticisms that he faces and better defines his policies for those may be skeptics. This was the defining moment of the election, and if the youth vote can hold, I believe that the white house for the democrats is in reach.

Day 2 at the Dem convention

We heard many more speeches tonight at the Democratic convention center, most of them mediocre rhetoric that glazed the same talking points over and over again. One speech that stood out among the others for its use of factual evidence and persuasiveness was Montana governor's Brian Schweitzer's speech viewable here. Hillary supported Barack Obama with kinder words than many, many convention losers before her. Ted Kennedy mentioned Carter's name once in his convention speech as a loser and Reagan didn't even mention Ford's name in his convention speech. The mainstream media, despite this difference in historical precedent, was keen to point out that Clinton could have done more for Barack Obama. This kind of coverage diminishes the power that candidates have because it is essentially an opposing last word. At best it makes the candidates seem contrived and planned and at its worst it puts words and intentions in their mouths and minds that don't necessarily exist. It is this coverage from the media that is dumbing down the process of the convention. I would recommend that anyone who is interested in politics watch the convention from C-Span and let the mainstream media pretend to know what is happening behind the scenes towards other viewers.

First Night at the Dems Convention

Tonight was the first night of the democratic convention with key speeches by Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Michelle Obama, Jesse Jackson (Jr.) and Caroline Kennedy, among many more. Nancy Pelosi had the only speech of the night that dealt in depth with the issue of McCain's poor policy choices. The video can be viewed here. Michelle Obama gave a speech about Barack's character and Ted Kennedy gave a fire-up speech. The speeches were ok, but save Nancy's speech they lacked the bite that they will need in the coming days to shoot a hole in McCain's boat. More coverage from the convention as it unfolds.

Obama Picks VP

Joe Biden will be Obama's VP on the November ticket. Now if only McCain would pick one.

Obama's lead is nearly gone

Obama's lead in the national polls according to CNN is deteriorating against McCain with the latest slew of events. I think that several things can be attributed to this recent change.

1. McCain's attack ads have partially worked in defining Obama as "risky" and celebrity-ish
2. Right now America supports McCain's quick fix "drill here drill now" over Obama's long term renewable solutions
3. Obama is still having trouble talking smoothly when in a question/answer format

Barack Obama is going to have to fix these issues in the next two months if he wants to stay in the race but only time will tell.

Big Oil Spends Big Dollars Lobbying

Today we learn that oil companies have spent more than fifty five million dollars on lobbying efforts in the congress. You can read the article here.

The American Media Machine Crushes Russia

Returning to the conflict in Georgia with a vengeance, George Bush and the American media machine are very forceful in their insistence that Russia was the sole aggressor in the conflict and that Georgia (the "democratic" government) has not done anything to warrant the level of Russian aggression present. Authors like Glenn Beck are keen to point out how steeped in American principles the President of Georgia, Saakashvilli is. The truth of the matter is that when Saakashvilli won by a landslide in his country the International Community noted that the election process was sub-par for international standards. (here) This resulted in protests from tens of thousands of Georgians, against their government. The conflict before the recent incidents is best summed up by the BBC in a time line. One thing is blatantly obvious, the media, the president and many more are ignoring the Russian side of the story. The truth is that Georgia launched a surprise attack against its own people at the start of the 2008 Olympic games and killed 1,600 of its own population. A population that has tried in vain to separate peacefully from its government. It is sad to see the one sided coverage.

Ouch my Ecosystem!

The Bush administration attacked the Endangered Species Act by proposing the removal of some of its most valued standards. Bush wants new changed regulations that would not require independent impact surveys for department projects, like dams, highways and mines. These surveys tell us what impact the project will have on local wildlife and have been going on for 35 years. Did I mention that they are an integral part of the endangered species act? Putting the impact assessment in the hands of the department that proposes the project would be akin to blindly letting your local car dealership choose for you what options you will be buying in your new car. Please call your congressman after reading the story (here) and make it known that we shouldn't be taking apart some of the important checks and balances between our government and nature.

Campaign funds upddate

Here are the candidate's campaign fund totals so far provided by the non-partisan OpenSecrets.org. I would love to know what McCain's 'other' contributions really are.

McCain (here)

Total
150 million raised
~115 million spent
Break Down
~121 million in individual contributions
~ 23 million in other

Obama(here)

Total
~340 million raised
~272 million spent
Break Down
~336 million in individual contributions
~2.5 million in other

A New Conflict

So for those of you who haven't been watching the news, Russia has invaded its former satellite country: Georgia. With many leaders around the world condemning Russia's behavior, Russia's side of the story seems to be receiving very little press. The conflict started when Georgia sneak attacked a seperatist region within the state after promising Russian mediated talks and a ceasefire. So what I don't understand is how Georgia is being made out to be the victim of an anti-Nato, anti-sattelite conflict when they practiced poor decision making. Granted Russia reacted with overwhelming force for what the situation was, but what does that remind us of? Maybe our own Iraq War had a similar disproportionate scope. Regardless this proves that we are not the only country in the world capable of unilateral action and you can expect a longer post on this issue after some more research. The BBC has a good timeline of the recent conflict here.

A little Justice for Detroit

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been a major disappointment to the city of Detroit ever since he was elected. The lightest of offenses, Kwame made unusual expenses a normality during his tenure. (see here) News of his first misbehaviors started in 2002, when his wife allegedly came home to find him with strippers and proceeded to attack one of them. Officers that took part in the investigation found measures taken by Kilpatrick to harm their careers in retaliation. Six years and seven scandals later, Kwame is finally on his way out of the mayoral office. Like a tornado, he cost the city of detroit millions in misappropriated funds and successful lawsuits by the people he wronged. You can find his laundry list of misdeeds here.

The plan of ten (first impressions)

CNN released a compromised energy plan that was proposed by ten senators, both Democrats and Republicans . Story here

The bill would be an important short-term measure towards energy independence and any common sense liberal should be willing to support the concessions the Republicans were willing to make in turn to having something passable in the near future.

First the necessary evil, we would support drilling expansions in the Gulf and East Coast. I know that this would look bad on the surface to any environmentalist, but we have to consider that pollution from drilling is nowhere near as dangerous as other ocean pollutants. Pollution from plastics, mercury run-offs, fertilizer run-offs and other sources are creating the dead zones we hear about. Aside from the danger of repeating certain historic blunders when it comes to letting drunk captains pilot tankers (glares at Exxon), delving into the benefits of this compromise easily permits this.

Now the good!

Keeping the ban on drilling in ANWR is worth the trade-off for offshore drilling expansion alone. It says a great deal of our country if we can prove that even in times of great need, our national resources are only to be tapped as a last resort, if at all.

It removes the tax break on oil companies that served absolutely no purpose in the modern economy. The gas companies are quick to point out that they make only 8 cents on every dollar of sales that their company does (source here) but when we multiply that out against a hundred and forty dollar barrel, they get ten bucks. So our government is giving tax breaks to a company that is making ten dollars of profit for every barrel of oil sold. Does that make any sense?

The bill additionally puts billions of dollars towards developing alternative fuel vehicles. On the surface this looks great but I can't say how good or not depending on which alternative energies are specifically mentioned. Natural gas cars would be less favorable compared to hydrogen fuel cells distilled with solar energy. (see hydrogen-solar source here)

I have to give political props to the creators of the first energy plan compromise we have seen so far between the Democrats and Republicans. Please make sure to read these names. If your senator is not on this list, call their office up and ask that they support the compromise. It would only make sense.

Conrad, D-North Dakota; Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia; John Thune, R-South Dakota; Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina; Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas; Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana; Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia; Bob Corker, R-Tennessee; Mark Pryor, D-Arkansas; and Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska

Free Buttons for Obama

This link will let you get a free Obama '08 button so be sure to utilize it.

http://pol.moveon.org/obamabuttons/?id=-9526020-ZPVYNPx

The tactics behind the Republican convention

One reason why it makes sense for many common sense Americans to vote liberally this November is because most Americans agree that the policies by the president these last eight years have been ineffective at best and a step back at their worst. I am willing to give Bush the benefit of the doubt these past two years because the gridlock has meant that no-one gets their policies past, but the prior six were atrocious. Many McCain backers don't realize that McCain has kept the core of the Bush policy as his own and would be much less of a "maverick" than he lets on.

The Republicans are keen to make sure that Cheney and Bush will not be coming to convention or shaking John McCain's hand anytime soon. The reason is that they want McCain to look like a new direction when in reality the country would be sailing the same course. So please don't be fooled by this tactic and see it for what it really is.

The truth about "flip flopping"

Now that both candidates have spent considerable time under the limelight of the media and both have had a chance to revise their initial policies or at least the chance to look like they did. (Obama on the possibility of drilling, McCain on how long we stay in Iraq) These perceived changes have some people calling either candidate an ugly word coined in 2004 against Kerry, "flip flopper".
The title gives people the immediate impression of a fish out of water, flapping desperately against its inevitable demise. This phrase does not do justice to when a politician legitimately changes a position on a subject that Americans have changed their minds on as well.

Say you are the leader of a twenty man business group. Originally you and twelve of your group supported sending your quarterly reports as a fax instead of an e-mail but now only three people have your position and the rest demand e-mail reports. A good leader in this situation would sense that he doesn't speak for the majority and change his position. Why would we bother calling a leader in this situation a "flip flopper" when that twenty person group becomes the country. "Flip flopping" in most situations is just a terrible synonym for what is really happening, a leader staying in touch. Let's look back in history at some famous "flip floppers"and their "stick to your guns" cowboy counterparts.

Our first "flip flopper" is president Abraham Lincoln. Abe ran on the policy of allowing slavery but curbing its expansion. Later on during the American Civil War, Abe would find his position on slavery changing to abolition. Did we call Abe a flip-flopper? Actually, many at the time did call him the equivalent, but our country is better off with his changed position.

Now Lyndon B. Johnson was a man who stuck to his guns. He inherited a war that had 16,000 American troops in Vietnam. Much against the growing discontent of the war, Johnson grew our troop commitment in a series of surges to 550,000 at its height. The result, thousands of American lives lost and at the cost of not looking as Johnson called it "weak".

Woodrow Wilson, supposed flip-flopper, ran on a second term platform of staying out of World War One at all costs. After several attacks on US interests by German submarines, he was compelled to enter the war against his original position. The end result? We participate in a war that is later looked on as the war to end all wars and even though it wasn't, the seeds of NATO are planted.

Andrew Jackson was a cowboy with convictions. Jackson ran on a policy known as "Indian removal" and he stuck to it. He kept his Indian removal policy even when the supreme court ruled in the favor of the one of the tribes to be removed. Andrew Jackson was a "strong" leader who would not be swayed by the supreme court or public opinion. What do we call the result? The Trail of Tears.

So the next time someone calls your candidate a "flip flopper", just remember these famous examples and remind that someone that "flip flopping" has done more good than harm in our nation's history.

A history lesson for a current problem

Earlier this week, 45 Republican congressmen in the house decided to protest the house taking its annual august vacation without voting on 'offshore drilling' or any of the other Republican energy plans. The goal of this strategic move is to make Democrats the scapegoats of current high prices. One has to appreciate the irony of this situation, the GOP is trying to look like a defender of the common people's struggle against high gas prices, when in reality common sense would tell us the opposite.

The harsh reality of the Republican plan to drill in Alaska is lost on those who don't acknowledge the facts. That oil would not reach pumps until 7-10 years from now and would still be a minority share compared to foreign oil. Even if the plan eased gas prices in the decade after it was enacted, we would still be hooked on oil. Our children would have to worry, vote on, and find the next source of oil once our domestic sources dried up.

We had an energy crises in the late 70's where the price of oil tripled and part of Jimmy Carter's answer was an emphasis on renewable resources and increased fuel efficiency. What did we do when the crises subsided? Carter's emphasis on renewable energy and fuel efficiency was ignored, the SUV became the vehicle of choice for the American consumer, and all was forgotten. Now we have a similar crises from different sources and a chance to make a different choice. That different choice is renewable energy and we would be fools to make the same mistake again.

So when you see the Republicans in the house 'standing up' for an energy plan that would take as they call it "immediate action", remember that finite resources are finite solutions, and taking immediate pressure off our pumps comes at the price of us fixing what should have been fixed more than 30 years ago.

And so it begins...

America the beautiful, the land where dreams are born, the melting pot of the world, let me begin by saying how much I love my country and how proud I am of how far she has come. She has made a few mistakes, treated native peoples poorly, started unfortunate wars or stayed out of necessary ones, but she has always been guided by a strong constitution and the belief that we are the land of opportunity. Now more than ever in the year 2008, we need to remember our principled beginnings as we face challenges that would have made the founding fathers blanch. We have learned that pollution can have a permanent and lasting effect on our environment. We are sadly reminded that the fuel types our economy is mostly based on are finite. The internet and its related technologies have not only been proven incredibly powerful tools, but have also challenged our views on the right to privacy, intellectual property rights, and a slew of other issues. I don't have the answer to all these recent conundrums but I have some common sense and a keyboard. I am not afraid to use either.