Morning all.

Hi Laurence,
Good early morning to you! I have just come in from a late night stroll, and it's a perfect autumn evening, the air so cool and refreshing.

It's really nice to see you again :) and commenting at IB, and also to know your little family is doing well.

lots of love,
~ Kate

LPB, good to know you and your family are doing well in Höngg. Do you remember the fun we had with Scientology a long time ago?

Here are some prophetic reflections by the great man in “The Demon-Haunted World”. That great man is the guy we had our fun with:

“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/beyond-belief-candles-in-the-dark

It is always a pleasure to read you, Kate.
Seek Knowledge, Enlightenment and Peace.

She said:
"Rome wasn't build in a day"

Ok

So, what do we do about this truth:
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"

Hmmmmmm!?!?...

BTW, while you were worrying about your money...

Earth In Midst Of Sixth Mass Extinction: 50% Of All Species Disappearing
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020171454.htm
ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2008) — The Earth is in the midst of the sixth mass extinction of both plants and animals, with nearly 50 percent of all species disappearing, scientists say.

#4 We do what we can, Jean. Who will notice?

Your morning poll fix:

10/22 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 51, McCain 41
by DemFromCT
Wed Oct 22, 2008 at 04:29:54 AM PDT

Today's Daily Kos Research 2000 tracking poll has Obama leading McCain 51-41. All trackers are data from three days prior to posting, with the R2K numbers from today (yesterday's numbers in parentheses) and the other trackers from yesterday (previous day's data). LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

Nate Silver (fivethirtyeight.com) wrote up a tracking poll primer covering the eight available trackers. It includes sample size, time of publication and quirks, as well as Nate's opinion of the trackers. Recommended.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 51 (50) 41 (42) 3 LV
Reuters/Zogby: 52 (50) 42 (42) 2.8 LV

Yesterday
Diageo/Hotline: 47 (47) 41 (42) 3.4 LV
Rasmussen: 50 (50) 46 (46) 2 LV
Battleground: 48 (49) 47 (45) 3.5 LV Poll goes back to 10/14 and to 10/20
Gallup: 52 (52) 41 (41) 2 RV See also the LV I and LV II numbers
IBD/TIPP: 47 (47) 41 (41) 3.3 LV alternate link
ABC/WaPo: 53 (53) 44 (44) 3 LV

Pew: 52 (50) 38 (40) 2.5 LV
Ipsos/McClatchy:50 (48) 42 (39) 3.5 LV
NBC/WSJ: 52 (49) 42 (43) 2.9 RV

On successive individual days in the R2K poll (different than the topline, which is a combined three day sample), Obama was up +8 Sun, +9 Mon and +12 Tues. Today's polling will not completely reflect Colin Powell's endorsement (or the less important but still politically potent announcement of Obama's 150 million Sep. fundraiser) but reflective data on that is included for today's poll.

Zogby:

"Three big days for Obama. Anything can happen, but time is running short for McCain. These numbers, if they hold, are blowout numbers. They fit the 1980 model with Reagan's victory over Carter -- but they are happening 12 days before Reagan blasted ahead. If Obama wins like this we can be talking not only victory but realignment: he leads by 27 points among Independents, 27 points among those who have already voted, 16 among newly registered voters, 31 among Hispanics, 93%-2% among African Americans, 16 among women, 27 among those 18-29, 5 among 30-49 year olds, 8 among 50-64s, 4 among those over 65, 25 among Moderates, and 12 among Catholics (which is better than Bill Clinton's 10-point victory among Catholics in 1996). He leads with men by 2 points, and is down among whites by only 6 points, down 2 in armed forces households, 3 among investors, and is tied among NASCAR fans."

From ABC/WaPo's tracker this fun chart:

>>>>08 Post-ABC :: 04 exit poll
Obama - McCain :: Kerry - Bush
All voters: 53 - 44 :: 48 - 51
Whites: 45 - 52 :: 41 - 58
African Americans: 97 - 2 :: 88 - 11
Liberals: 83 - 15 :: 85 - 13
Moderates: 63 - 34 :: 54 - 45
Conservatives: 21 - 76 :: 15 - 84
Whites 18-29: 54 - 42 :: 44 - 54
Whites 65+: 43 - 51 :: 44 - 55
First-time voters: 73 - 26 :: 53 - 46
Cell phone-only: 67 - 32 :: 54 - 45

Obama does better in every demo than Kerry did... except liberals. Go figure. And look at those new voters! And young whites? God bless 'em (and go talk to your grandparents.)

Do note the Tracker Primer Nate wrote and posted. Here's what he said about R2K: [...]

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/tracking-poll-primer.html

[...]

Happy Birthday Deepak Chopra!

You are a late Libra but still a Libra, a very powerful sign! I would like to quote the bottom line of the definition Ed posted on the open thread of last week:

"Libra is an air sign, like Gemini and Aquarius. If you are a Libra, think about how good you feel when everything in your life seems to be harmonious and well-balanced, and when you have friends to go places or do things with."

© Liz Greene, 1977

Have a nice day!

Mieke

hey there folks......

well you can dress her up and parade her across the Nation but it is gonna cost ya.....yes, it seems as though Palin has expensive taste when it comes to her wardrobe....she is not your average WalMart or Macy's VP.......if she plans on "ruling the Senate," as her "idea" of what a VP does, she is gonna do it in style......

no socialist rags for this lady....

Since she's been on the campaign trail, Sarah Palin has received a lot of attention over her wardrobe, her hair, even her glasses.

Now, Politico.com is reporting the Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 on clothes and accessories for Palin and her family.

Politico says the expenditures began early last month, soon after Palin was picked by John McCain to be his running mate.

Palin frequently wears expensive designer clothes on the campaign trail now, points out CBS News correspondent Meg Oliver.

Spending records filed with the Federal Election Commission and obtained by Politico show the RNC paid for "campaign accessories" from upscale department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, where nearly $50,000 was spent, Neiman Marcus, $75,000, and $4,700 for hair and makeup.

"The problem with this for the campaign," explains Politico Chief Political Writer Mike Allen, "is it's the kind of thing that can stick in people's minds. At a time when they're cutting back on their own spending, they see a candidate looking extravagant."

And that, observes Oliver, could pose a political risk.

In 2000, Al Gore was criticized for changing his look by wearing clothes with earth tones. Two years ago, Hillary Clinton got some attention for two hair styling sessions that cost $2,500. And of course there were those $400 haircuts John Edwards got.

"This would," Allen says, "make the John Edwards haircut look like a bargain at the same time she's (Palin's) trying to connect with Joe and Jane the Plumber."

The McCain campaign released a statement late Tuesday night saying, "With all the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses. It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

Politico told CBS News it hasn't been able to identify any similar expenditures on the Democratic side.

but the do say, "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

ya know, I think, Palin and I are about the same size.....maybe...hmmmmmm....

ruth

Hi Ruth,

Well, your latest sentence reminds me of something I saw on our telly about coming Halloween in your country.

Dressed up like Palin to celebrate it seems to be most popular!

Since you have about the same size.... Oh how I would love to see a picture of you dressed like her :)

Love, Mieke

Happy Birthday Deepak......:)

Here is a card for you....you will have to use your imagination for some of it though...

The front of the card has a picture of President George Bush smiling...you know, the smile that all liberals love......and, then, you open the card and it says......

Happy Birthday!!

What is a party without the clown?

ruth....

Hi Mieke,

that would be funny....:))

Winter is peeking in our door here in the northeast USA.....a little rain changing to snow this am..how is the weather in your neck of the globe?

have a great day Mieke.....ruth

Re. 10

Speaking of Halloween and Palin...

Check this NY city street art:

http://frighteningprospect.com/

Commentary by Ben Smith of Politico on the Pic

"There's a classic genre of New York street art that casts Republicans as, literally, the devil. Some of my earliest memories in Manhattan are of being somewhat freaked out by large posters of Ronald Reagan with red eyes and horns; some of my kids' first memories of Brooklyn will be of stenciled images of George W. Bush with horns.

It's a sign of the odd dynamic of the Republican ticket that ultra-partisan New York Democrats never really came around to loathing John McCain with the passion Reagan and Bush inspired. Indeed, that was initially a bit of a strength of the ticket: McCain has preserved his appeal to moderates, and wasn't a polarizing figure.

But Palin, as she's rallied the base, does seem to have filled that slot, as this reader picture from 38th Street and 9th Avenue shows."

she is running mate?

and she don't even know what the duties of the VP are..

u'd think that after being asked the same question 4 times...she'd finally get it right..

and why is flabs not commenting on this clown? i suppose ...he must be thinking of holding his nose and vote instead of finding a clean, sanitary toilet...damn! tsk......

What has happened to the cradle of Civilization, the Middle East?

The place of origin of the alphabet, mathematics, literature, science and the arts? Now part of the Middle East has become the cradle of supernaturalism, where you can blow yourself to bits and seventy-two virgins are waiting for you beyond!

In our neighbourhood a person like Sarah Palin is a popular vice-presidential candidate and may even be president one day.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=iwkb9_zB2Pg&feature=related

Re. 15

How about Texas?

Deep in the Heart of Denial
by DarkSyde
Wed Oct 22, 2008

An exciting, recent fossil find suggest Texas was a hotbed of primate evolution 45 million years ago. Unfortunately, as the Texas Freedom Network has been blogging for months, recent history suggests Texas is leading the rest of the nation backwards in our understanding of science in general and evolution specifically.

"All we must do to maintain science’s credibility and to decide if there are weaknesses in the evolutionary hypothesis is "to use evidence to construct testable explanations" and see where the evidence leads. Let the best scientific explanation win."

http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2008/10/19/10192008wacmcleroy.html

The author of the op-ed is a local dentist and well known fundamentalist named Dan McLeroy who, somehow, wrangled his way to head the Texas Board of Education (No, I'm not joking). He's also a sympathetic to and by all appearances a champion of Young Earth Creationism -- the conjecture that the earth and universe were all created a few thousand years ago and that most or all geology is best explained by a global flood around the same time the first pyramid was built.

Unlike Intelligent Design Creationism, YEC makes easily tested predictions, all of which have been falsified by legions of scientists for over a century, from every religious background, including many in the last decade or two who recovered from their hysterical laughter long enough to bother testing them. That colossal failure is one reason YEC is now cloaked in the vague, untestable rhetoric of Intelligent Design Creationism.

Doc Mac is apparently and no doubt blissfully unaware that evolutionary biology has already 'won' the contest between science and Young Earth Creationism. Just as he whistled right past the gravestones of trials past: Young Earth Creationism was ruled both unscientific and unconstitutional in 1987. And just for good measure, a Republican Judge found in 2005 that Intelligent Design Creationism along with the oft quoted 'evidence against evolution' was likewise a pile of pseudoscientific fertilizer not worthy of being taught as science. Doesn't matter that the major denominations of Christianity accept evolutionary biology. McLeroy and his creationista comrades will pull out all stops to make the good people of the Lone Star State the next national laughing stock, rile up otherwise good neighbors until they're locked in bitter combat with one another deep in the heart of Texas, and ultimately leave local property owners liable for the massive bills they leave behind.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/10302/493/344/637325

Hey Mieke
We got our first snow last night. A blustery storm. This morning it is very sunny and the snow is melting quickly. I love how it sparkles.

peace Mieke

I hear there was some snow falling on Mars. Makes it seem a little more like home. I was reading about our little roving robots there. Our first representatives to other worlds. I hope the other worlds don't get the idea that we are a race of robots. That life here evolved from silica and metallic elements. That somehow that spark of life found it's way through these amazing and intricate machines.

Ahhhh.....science will one day create sanctioned life elevating it to something beyond religion or spirituality. We will then become gods.
How cool is that?

derek

The main reason for the downfall of any society is the unwillingness of its citizens to live in the real world and the manufacturing a supernatural one.

How about a science fictional one.

What a physicist lives for is finding what he does not expect; it in turn opens new vistas on the nature of reality.

Sometimes societies need to fall down and get back up in a new form from time to time.

As soon as you find the truth it changes

reality is as reality does

silly humans

yo doodooman...

what up?

Hi Ruth and Derek,

So you both experienced snow already ...

Here we are enjoying the last really nice quiet autumn days of october, a bit more wind but still temperatures around 13C, bit of sunshine, some clouds. Streets and parks full of coloured autumn leaves. Made already quite a few one day labyrinths out of them :)

But rain is coming our way the next few days.

It has been already quite some time ago that I have seen snow. How I would love to make a labyrinth in the snow!

Love and Peace to you,

Mieke

pardon my fun
I have the greatest respect for science. I would rather live in a science based society with room for sci-fi than a spiritual and moralistically based society hands down.

Yo Diablo
I voted the other day for the first time in my life. It was quite exciting. Almost as exciting as your honeys there at the Love Ranch.....almost. YObama.

derek

Hey Mieke
I need to read a little more closely.

Hey Ruth
I need to read a little more closely.

peace and love

derek

Hey Kate:

Thanks for the shout out.

CWC:

Yea I remember. I just hope that memory keeps me humble on IB. I have a tendency to shoot from the hip. I also have an ability to post long winded, disconnected posts. A real maverick of sorts (maybe).

yogi-one:

Thank you so much.

I have a brother, Christopher, living in New York City. He's a chiropractor and a political Activist. He's been researching and emailing and demonstrating and organizing and rallying not just during the Obamamania of the past half year. For the past 4 years he's been actively campaigning against another 8 years.

I have not had the heart to suggest to him that the political landscape of the US and the rest of the world are in reality the least of our concerns. His heart is so deeply entrench in political activism how could I?

That the economic crises that so many are boo hooing about is non sense.

Look I ain't rich by any standards so don't preach to me about people loosing their homes and other "tragedies" of the economy. My cousin was just shot to death by a lunatic down in Maryland. That's a tragedy and still I don't ask for sympathy. It's all reaction to actions.

Anyway I wonder from my point.

Our planet is in dire trouble. Any thing that takes our attention from the desperate need to heal this, our biosphere, is a distraction from the real threat to our survival.

To put a grass roots global movement on the scale of the Manhattan Project into action to stall and reverse the environmental destruction WE have and are at this very moment, and the next, causing, would as a byproduct shift our politic (a true mandate of the people) and our economies in a more positive direction. It calls in part to dismantle the Industrial Military complex as we know it. We can't have one and the other. We can't have industry as we have known it for the past 100 200 years and nature. We have to choose.

DK Matai has some of the best posts on economics I have ever read anywhere. I just don't feel that my input on his threads would be received as legitimate and so I hold my tongue there as I do with my brother.

Last week or the week before a prominent economist came out and said, when asked, that he did not know why this crises was happening. That no body really could say for sure why we are where we are. Many can speculate but none can conclusively state why the economy has faltered the way it has. After that I noticed a rash of talking heads in the main stream news media outlets jumping on his band wagon and regurgitating the idea that no one knows for sure....blah blah blah blah blah.

I firmly "believe" that the economic "crises" is a direct effect of nature. The environment. I'm not talking about some airy fairy "Gia" earth energy principal. I'm talking about sankara (effect) of action (karma). To me karma is not an ethereal idea. When I drop a stone on my foot it hurts. There's no magic hoodoo there. Release the stone = action (karma) ---> foot hurts (oww!) = reaction (sankara).

No differnence with the planet and the economy. We rape, pillage, plunder and disregard the very limited supply of what our "limitless" growth economy depends on and (you getting the picture.......?) There is no turning back to the days of John Wayne and "Father Knows Best". We can't wish or deny our way out of this one. The economy will continue to go south as long as we continue to allow industry and our own action lifestyles to continue (business as usual).

I have visited this site everyday since I stopped posting nearly 2 years ago. I still read everything (almost). I read the altruistic posters, the ones that care about our planet, our way of life and our "sisters" and "brothers".

I can't help time and again wondering how many of us went shopping today and brought things home in plastic bags. I know it sounds petty but I'm talking about the survival of my daughters here. It's not about me anymore.

Sorry in advance for taking up any unnecessary space.

LPB

There are many people awakening to the fact that the fundamental root cause of this global crisis is that humans are destroying ecosystems necessary for all life. Endless growth is impossible in a finite world. The converging mortgage, financial, food, fuel and climate crises are all symptoms of a massive global ecological bubble.

It's easy to point fingers and engage in moral debates about who or what is responsible, but it all becomes mute when we consider the ecological bubble bursting. But we do have a choice, we can dig in and use every last drop of fossil fuels and prop up artificially high populations and living standards or we can embrace a new dream of returning to the Earth's bounty, rhythms and limits. There's hope if we embrace the latter and we will. It's Nature's way.

b

Amen Bonnie.

I like your positive out look. At the end of the day we are nature and it is "natures way".

Derek, for you :

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081022.html

:)

Hi Everyone,
I am really enjoying the OT
it's great to be able to have this community
of sharing.
It's
makin' my day.
Thanks!
:)
~ Kate

Mieke
There are no words for such beauty. It is because of the dedication of many inspired scientists, shamans, believers in the impossible, mystics and people of in need of AWE that such an image could exist.

I am humbled by the beauty of our fireworks display.

Bonnie
We are in amazing times, as always, but especially right now. We are creating humble and confident leaders. I think our pale blue dot will be very appreciative.

Yo Kate

days are made
to play away
create our life
then fade away
then a new day
is there and
may i say
that making
your day
is the best way
to play

peace comes from peace

derek

I'm incredulous seeing a video on MSNBC that justified Palin's wardrobe expenditure, $150,000, as being a fraction of what most movie stars spend in a single season, and thus, reasonable.

I mean, think about it: she's been airvac'd from the lost arctic tundra like a colossal archaeological prize, like a found female arctic cat, and now is costumed like a Madison Avenue ma'am with cue cards stuffed in all her pockets in the hopes she'll talk right?

I think this really shows how utterly checked out her wardrobe crew and fellow cast members are...$150,000!!!!!!

We're talking about a world-wide slump in home prices, job losses, a sputtering global economy, cut-backs, lay-aways, layoffs, putouts, lockouts, lines for soup, and she's making over and strutting the catwalk like a polar Zsa Zsa Gabor????????

CNN didn't happen to mention the ever-present holes in Obama's shoe soles.

Vladimir Lenin claimed that any cook could run the state. Evidently, the Republicans believe a clown can, too.

P.S what's with the gum chewers behind Palin and McCain at rallies? There's always one person behind them, chawing like it's the best inning.

The fact is that she's NOT a famous film star like her Republican handlers and enablers are claiming in an attempt to excuse what appears to most of us like an Imelda Marcos-type impropriety.

You think she's going to champion the riddance of earmarks?

She IS A WALKING EARMARK.

all this talk about joe this and joe that must be having an effect on joe big mouth biden

the dino and poopy pantz keep talking about joe blow from ohio...that dude was a plant...

the sucker don't even have a plumbing licence..

hey joe biden...keep ur f......piehole closed..will yah...

Mieke, oh my god.............thank you for sharing this site.
I went back to the archives..........found this

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080721.html

galaxies embrace in a dance that is sure to transform them both
do their inhabitants know or are they too close to see
we think we are so grand and important, this maybe true
but when i see these images i know we are
this fireworks display right before our eyes
this miracle in slow motion this most beautiful explosion

and all I have to do is click my mouse, yo

derek

in reference to my #17

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080721.html

Joe Biden....John Mac's best friend!! Baby D...he can't keep his blowhole closed...he knows Obomber is gonna face a big test! :)

Dana, Dana, Dana...ur gettin' all worked up! Sarah wears nice clothes, Michelle eats caviar...yadayadayada........

of course....I heard one of my DEMOCRAT friends muttering something about a watermelon patch in the Rose Garden....not sure what that's about...

It's a great day to be alive! The trees in ole ky are gorgeous right now....frost on the punkin in the morning....corn and soybeans being harvested, tobacco being stripped....what a time of the year! I love fall! wish we could skip winter and go right back to spring....

y'all have a wunnerful evening....just saw where the ap poll has our boys neck and neck...hmmmm...gonna be fun on November 5th! Can't wait to read these blogs if mac pulls it out of the hat! Gawd.....ruthie, baby d, dana, irvine, heath...deepak....y'all will all have to go to the chopra wellness center!

think i'll fire up a big stogie...pour a glass of crown...and reflect....

:O

well girls...

if u had doubts...

here'e the man in his own words...

"You oughta see this girl I worked with! My God....temptation in a short dress! Good thing I'm fat and ugly!(or i'd be all over her)" says flabs...hehe!

Skinny, not getting worked up at all.

Palin's a pothole.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27327993#27327993

It's sort of like the Blue Parking Garage at the Detroit airport.

Please bear with me as I attempt to explain:

The elevators are all broken (again), the stairwells chained shut, and so you've got to jump a fence with your luggage, and then drag it down the same ramp as cars coming up as they're unwittingly following the EXIT signs that you know--through first-hand experience--point UP to the top of the garage, leading them to a dark dead-end blockade of orange barrels and a cement wall, and you think to yourself, some flunkie architect who scored a Sunday School contract with the state must've been doing some serious crack on the job, and I don't think I can stand to be here anymore because it gives me the creeps to even bear weight on this poor thing.

(You even go so far as to wonder if the whole thing was done as an actual joke.)

So you fly out of Flint instead where it's like a charter. Or maybe Lansing. Or perhaps Grand Rapids. But you know the trip will be good and dependable.

But by the Good Lord God in Heaven, you aren't going anywhere near JOE THE ARCHITECT'S flimsy crackhead Blue Parking garage ever again.

It's like that, Skinny.

Just like that.

he's fat and ugly...looks sorta like KR and RL...the three together would make a funny team...for a donut commercial...

Ref #29

No need to apologize, Laurence, you make more sense than many.

Recently I spent some time in your city, where I was born. Zürich is still as cultural, open and innocent as it always was and like you say, no paranoia about terrorism evident anywhere.

Many museums are free. To visit and actually be in a room where Einstein used to study would thrill many. It thrilled me. (Medizinhistorisches Museum der Universität Zürich, Rämistrasse 69 (next to the University's Main Building)
http://www.medizin-museum.uzh.ch/infeng.html

I also spent some time at Science City, just up the hill from where you live. What a joy for someone who is investigating reality rather than accepting some faith-based unreality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETH_Zurich#Science_City

If it were not for a personal need of wide-open spaces and minds, I would return to the foot of the Üetliberg in a heartbeat.

Enjoy the time with your young family and keep Seeking knowledge, enlightenment and peace.

Baby D.... I used to fish a lot...I wish the fish would always bite as readily as you do!! I'd buy a boat tomorrow....

Since I'm one of the 'unsharp' ones here...who is the third amigo?

:)

McCain: I'm the *real* socialist!

Audience member: "Why is it that someone like my father who goes to school for 13 years gets penalized in a huge tax bracket because he's a doctor?"

John McCain: "I think it's to some degree because we feel obviously that wealthy people can afford more."

Audience member: "Are we getting closer and closer to, like, socialism?"

McCain: "Here's what I really believe: That when you reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."

Jon Stewart: That, of course, is the late socialist leader John McCain. I believe he passed away during the Republican primaries. He will be missed.

---The Daily Show
http://crooksandliars.com/silentpatriot/daily-show-flashback-mccain-socialis

Okay, so McCain has stolen the socialist label from Obama ("D'oh!").

Ann Coulter doing the heavy lifting for the MSM

Ayers: Radical Loon When Obama Was Only 47
by Ann Coulter

The media are acting as if they completely and fully vetted Obama during the Democratic primaries and that's why they are entitled to send teams of researchers into Alaska to analyze Sarah Palin's every expense report.

In fact, the mainstream media did no vetting. They seem to have all agreed, "OK, none of us will get into this business with Jeremiah Wright, 'Tony' Rezko, Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers and everyone's impression of an angry Michelle Obama on 'The Jerry Springer Show.'"

During one of the Democratic primary debates, Hillary Clinton was hissed for mentioning Syrian national Rezko, and during another, ABC moderator George Stephanopoulos nearly lost his career for asking Obama one question about William Ayers.

In the past week, TV anchors have taken to claiming that Obama "refuted" John McCain's statement that Obama launched his political career at the home of former Weather Underground leader Ayers.

No, Obama "denied" it; he didn't "refute" it. If "denying" something is the same as "refuting" it, then maybe the establishment media can quit harping on Palin's qualifications to be president, since she too "refuted" that by denying it.

Back before the media realized it needed to lie about Obama launching his political career at Ayers' house, the Los Angeles Times provided an eyewitness account from a liberal who attended the event.

"When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread."

The Times has now stripped this item from its Web page, but the great blogger Patterico has preserved it for posterity on his Web page.

Obama's glib remark that "Bill Ayers is a professor of education in Chicago; 40 years ago when I was 8 years old he engaged in despicable acts with a domestic group. I have roundly denounced those attacks" -- doesn't answer anything.

First of all, the fact that Ayers is a professor of education proves only one thing: He is dumber than any person without an education degree.

Ayers is such an imbecile, we ought to be amazed that he's teaching at a university -- even when you consider that it's an ed school -- except all former violent radicals end up teaching. Roughly 80 percent of former Weathermen are full college professors -- 99 percent if you don't include the ones killed in shoot-outs with the police or in prison -- i.e., not yet pardoned by a Democratic president.

Any other profession would have banned a person like Ayers. Universities not only accept former domestic terrorists, but also move them to the front of the line. In addition to Ayers, among those once on the FBI's most-wanted list who ended up in cushy college teaching positions are Bernardine Dohrn (Northwestern University), Mark Rudd (a junior college in New Mexico) and Angela Davis (History of Consciousness Department, University of California at Santa Cruz).

While others were hard at work on Ph.D.s, Susan Rosenberg was conspiring to kill cops and blow up buildings, and was assembling massive caches of explosives. This put her on the fast track for a teaching position at Hamilton College!

Despite having absolutely no qualifications to teach, having earned only a master's degree in "writing" through a correspondence course, Rosenberg was offered a position at Hamilton within a few years of President Clinton pardoning her in 2001, releasing her from a 58-year prison sentence for participating in the murder of cops and possessing more than 700 pounds of explosives.

But Obama thinks it's a selling point to say that Ayers is a college professor.

Hundreds of college professors have signed a letter vouching for Ayers, which would be like Lester Maddox producing a letter from George Wallace assuring us that Maddox is a respected member of the community. No, really, I've got the letter right here!

The media keep citing the fact that the money Obama and Ayers distributed to idiotic left-wing causes came -- as The New York Times put it -- "from Walter H. Annenberg, the billionaire publisher and philanthropist and President Richard M. Nixon's ambassador to the United Kingdom."

Great Republican though he was, Walter Annenberg died in 2002. The money came from the Annenberg Foundation, which, like all foundations, distributes money to projects that its founder would despise. John Kerry ran for president on the late John Heinz's money. That didn't mean Republican Heinz was endorsing Kerry.

As John O'Sullivan says, any foundation that is not explicitly right-wing will become a radical left-wing organization within a few years. It could be the Association of University Women, the American Association of Retired People, the American Rose Growers, the Foundation for the Study of Railroad Engineers or the Choral Society of Newport Beach.

Left-wing radicals swarm to free foundation money, where they can give gigantic grants to one another and they will never have to do a day's work. That's exactly what Obama and Ayers did with Annenberg's money.

None of the Annenberg money went to schoolchildren. It went to Ayers' left-wing crank friends to write moronic papers that we hope no one ever reads.

Instead of teaching students reading and writing, Ayers thinks they should be taught to rebel against America's "imperialist" social structure. In 2006, Ayers was in Venezuela praising communist dictator Hugo Chavez, saying, "We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution."

He has backed a line of schoolbooks such as one titled "Teaching Science for Social Justice."

Forget about Ayers' domestic terrorism when Obama "was 8 years old." Does he agree with Ayers' idiot ideas right now?

yo ole man, dino from zona...

am gonna give u the straight goods...

that idiot from 'lasaka...has sealed ur fate...she's a f......lunatic...and annoying...and very dumb..don't even know what the constitution says about her imainary role she thinks will be hers...yeah right!

and u wont be able to use the fear factor to scare dummies this time...dude...u can only go to that well so many times before it runs dry...

and am making a prediction...ole dude

when the votes are in...it'll be the brother 364 and u and that embarassment 174...

i wonder...JM are u gonna pay her ticket to thatigloo when on november 5th she tucks her tail between her legs and runs back to igloo? she will never be VP or prez in this lifetime...u betcha...each time this clown speaks on TV i reach for the mute button...just like when bushnut gets on...damn!

It's a joy when wingnuts have no one to fall back on but Ann Coulter.

anne c is f......ugly we outta set him up for a blind date with ole flabs

"First of all, the fact that Ayers is a professor of education proves only one thing: He is dumber than any person without an education degree." says hardup...i hope u didn't forget to include urself in there...diko...

anyone who can quote from an angry, washed up dike has got serious issues...

Dear Ed,
Tell me more about the laughing and crying thing, and who's doing what and why.

I'm dying
or flying
huh?

Keep'em coming Steve.....the msm did more dirt digging on palin in 36 hours than they've done on our coming messiah!

gotta attack ann coulter....can't refute her facts...just go after her personally.....

November 5...just might be fun....

Ann Coulter and Fox News are not msm? Thanks for the laughs.

No wonder...

Frameshop: Is Ann Coulter Now Running McCain's Campaign?

http://www.frameshopisopen.com/

Jeffrey Feldman:

"The GOP smear du jour of Barack Obama is that he is 'anti-American.' In a video circulating the Internet, House Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is shown repeatedly branding Obama and all liberals with the nasty, McCarthyite epithet in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews. But...wait a second--haven't we heard that right-wing smear of liberals recently? Ah, yes! Americans favorite hate-filled pundit: Ann Coulter."

[...]

"When I hear Rep. Bachmann maligning Obama as 'anti-American,' it sends me back to a book I published recently about the current bunch of right-wing pundits who use their media platforms day after day to convince viewers that liberals pose a danger to the survival of America. There are so many examples of right-wing pundits calling liberals 'anti-American' from the likes of Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity, that it was just a matter of time before John McCain gave into the temptation to jump on the bandwagon. Or has McCain given his campaign over completely to these right-wing pundits? Has McCain's campaign become the first in history to be run--lock, stock, and barrel--by Ann Coulter? The evidence begs the question.

On Hannity and Colmes from March 8, 2002, Ann Coulter made a statement about 'anti-American' Democrats that must have been the inspiration for Rep. Bachmann's remarks. Here is Coulter talking to Alan Colmes about then Majority Lader Tom Daschle's (D-SD) concern over President Bush's carte blanche Iraq war resolution :

"COLMES: Now he wants a joint resolution supporting the war. That's not good enough for you. What's the problem with that?

"COULTER: Right. So you do have him in record rooting for America back in December, but...

COLMES: Oh, no. We...

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: ... anti-Americanism could not be...

COLMES: Wait a minute. How dare you call someone anti-American because you don't agree with them. How dare you do that.

COULTER: It's very easy. Would you like to see me do it again? And, in fact, he did -- I mean, his recent attack on the war has -- "Well, we have to raise questions. We don't know how it's going to be in the future," but he never actually articulates a question. It's just this general harping and...

COLMES: What did he say that was anti-American?

COULTER: ... complaining about...

COLMES: Tell me exactly what he did that was anti-American.

(CROSSTALK)

COULTER: ... and I do strongly -- well, that's the point. He said, "We're going to -- we're raising questions." He's carping, carping, carping...

COLMES: That's anti-American? That's anti-American?

COULTER: ... but he actually has no questions. He has no point.

COLMES: Well, what's anti-American?

COULTER: It's this general attack on...

COLMES: Answer me.

COULTER: ... Bush and the war and what's going on and -- which is why, I think, it's a great idea, and I think there should be a resolution...

COLMES: You're not answering me.

COULTER: ... once a week for Democrats to reaffirm their loyalty to the United States."

"Ahh...Ann Coulter. I am sure she is a lovely person, once you get to know her. But in this case she is accusing half the country of disloyalty, if not treason. And the last time I checked, loyalty oaths were the hallmark of anti-Democratic societies.

The 2002 Coulter interview is probably the closest match to Bachmann's call for Democrats to prove they're not anti-American, but if we keep digging through TV transcripts we find the nasty stink of 'anti-American' accusations throughout the last 8 years of FOX News broadcasting."

[...]

"Only one question remains: Is Ann Coulter--or Bill O'Reilly, or Sean Hannity--now running John McCain's campaign or the entire GOP for that matter? Has the entire political wing of Republicanism officially collapsed into cries 'anti-Americanism' like some endless robocall recording of O'Reilly-Coulter-Hannity-Gingrich greatest hits?"

You can't trust someone's facts when they have a condescending, arrogant manner. Facts are close to Truth. Condescension and arrogance are not.

Hello Sherry!

says america's sex symbol...

"November 5...just might be fun...."

whoahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa....

True...it's a curiousity... #55 Jeffrey Feldman

...because they are all starting to sound like Coulter these days.

This may be the reason. She just doesn't stand out anymore so her schtick isn't as effective.

Some GOP guys used to call her "hot"
Now that they've got a new leading lady in the spank bank, no one cares about Coulter anymore...except the two remaining amigos?!

OH BTW, Didn't she say she'd support Hillary over McCain?

Yes, yes she did:

"John McCain is not only bad for Republicanism, which he definitely is — he is bad for the country... If you are looking at substance rather than if there is an R or a D after his name, manifestly, if he's our candidate, than Hillary is going to be our girl, because she's more conservative than he is." -CNN
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/01/coulter-wants-clinton-over-mccain/

She is almost as bad-Hannity. The talking points closely mirror what gets aired on his radio show. First Ayers, now socialist and Joe the plumber all the time. It's pretty uncanny.

I know there's been Hannity influence on McCain campaign. Coulter too, probably. And I think this is where McCain made some big mistakes. Those FOX/talk radio schmucks exist in a bubble surrounded by a worshipful echo-chamber. They don't know that their bullshit doesn't actually work very well outside of that chamber of worshipful followers. So moderates and independents are turned off by it.

I think Sean Hannity deserves a lot of credit for McCain's bad polling, because McCain -- and especially Palin -- have been using his tactics a lot lately. They work on idiot wingnuts... but idiot wingnuts want to hear that shit and don't care if it's true or not. They want to believe something bad. It's less convincing to a more critical audience. In fact, it looks desperate and unhinged.

The funny thing about Hannity is he's been saying LITERALLY since the primaries (he loves to misuse that word) that all McCain has to do is bring up the magical "associations" and Americans would run screaming from Obama.

Then McCain took his advice -- to the hilt. And his polling dropped.

Hannity got everything he ever wanted from McCain and it still didn't work.

And this is why Hannity is considered one of the great political minds of our time... by no one except his Hannitized masses.

Remember the time when Coulter was criticised for what she said about Edwards, and she said something to the effect of, "Well, I have been told I can't use the word 'faggot,' so that really puts me at an impasse."

It puts her at an impasse to not be able to sling venom and slurs. She's got nothing else to say.

Hey Deepak, looks like the MSM has taken the "Rovian" role of negative coverage of McCain. In the tank for Obama, that's just great isn't it? Unbiased reporting is alive and well...

Study: Coverage of McCain Much More Negative Than That of Obama
By Howard Kurtz

Media coverage of John McCain has been heavily unfavorable since the political conventions, more than three times as negative as the portrayal of Barack Obama, a new study says.

Fifty-seven percent of the print and broadcast stories about the Republican nominee were decidedly negative, the Project for Excellence in Journalism says in a report out today, while 14 percent were positive. The McCain campaign has repeatedly complained that the mainstream media are biased toward the senator from Illinois.

Palin's travel scandal gets worse. Not only did Palin take her kids on trips, she sent them on trips all by themselves, then doctored the records to show that they were official business. One part of that official business in NYC? MTV's Total Request Live show.

Palin's Aides Back Charging State for Kid's Travel
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 23, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Palin-Family-Travel.html

"Fifty-seven percent of the print and broadcast stories about the Republican nominee were decidedly negative,"

That'a no brainer. McCain has been running negative campaign, and he and his running mate have more negatives.

And McCain and Palin are covered more than Obama. That's what happens when you create news by running a piece of shit campaign.

Ann Coulter is the Queen of the Trolls whether she likes it or not, and she makes Republicans and conservatism look bad. God bless her.

u mean the devil bless her!

#60

It is a sure sign of a losing side to whine about media coverage.

Media's ideal role is to report news as they are. It is too bad that McCain and Palin's *negative coverage* is disproportionate to their *negatives*

Fair and balanced reporting doesn't mean that you should report *equivalences* on both sides of the race, just so that you 'look' "fair and balanced."

Print media is generally more unbiased than the television media. The corporate media has been in tank with the republican propaganda but are now forced to report negatives, and even they can't help it, given the nature of the sad GOP campaign and their disgraceful candidates.

to be a republican these days is to be a miserable SOB...that party has lost its ways by putting a moron in charge...no?

as that "smart" dude would say...u gota be f......delusional..to vote repub...

If media criticism and/or reporting news that hurt you is negative coverage(as is the conventional thinking goes), it still ISN'T "Rovian" propaganda/tactics/strategy. Media does report on Rovian attacks, yes they report everything, and such "coverage" tends to hurt the opponent and can be clubbed under "negative", but there is only one side indulging in those tactics, and only one side that suffered by such attacks and the related "negative" coverage.

morning all,

I see our homie repubs have offered their two cents to the mash.....they must be feeling...HOPEFUL :))))

but god, Ann Coulter...reading or listening to HER...... just picking at the bones, now, boys,....nothing much left after Coulter....sad sad affair..for you guys...really, Coulter, has a handful of folks who can stand her...didn't realize that you were that into the "propaganda" stuff.

as far as the press coverage being more negative towards McCain.....well, that was true in Hillary Clinton's case too, and, it is juat that the press and media are being very careful with Barak Obama and that IS because of his race, just as the comedians are being careful..286 jokes to Obama's 42....Obama's race is the reason for this.

that is not to say that John McCain, since, picking, Sarah Palin, has not deserved it....frankly, since, picking her he as acted like someone in the very beginning stages of senility.

As far as Barak's race causing folks to tread lightly, it is to be expected but it will end, certainly after the election if he is chosen.

Let's just say that the repubs got "good press" all up to the Iraq invasion and thereafter until the truth became blatantly apparent that things were going bad over there.....

so I wouldn't cry too much about it boys....it is all part of the game

and who said the press was fair?

oh, yeah, FOX TV, but then they are only "fair" to the repbulicans....

btw, skinny, I would go easy on that crown if I were you.....just mentioning it becaus I think we have gotten a taste of the crown's effects on your personality through some of your comments and it wasn' pretty......

better to quit the stuff if it's effects makes one want to lash out...

just saying....I come from a very Irish/English clan so I know from what I speak...

being able to light a stokie and down a shot is a nice way to unwind but it doesn't make one a man in any sense of the word....the reason I say this is because when you say it you make it sound like it is the "grownup adult manly" and not one for "boys," but in reality...a lot more "boys" in
adult bodies partake of the activity than admitted...

have a grand day everyone ruth....

10/23 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 51, McCain 41

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/23/7197/1251/626/639061

Excellent analysis today.

What a difference a cycle makes.

The other day Arianna brought up the fact that the Republicans are running from an old playbook...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-internet-and-the-deat_b_136400.html

.. one where the traditional media takes any charge, say whether a candidate actually earned his purple hearts, and carries it forward donkey-esque as the 'other side of the story.' While this ignores a basic relationship, the opposite of the truth is a lie not another truth, it's how politics used to work (and still does partially.)

Shmuel brother you have reached such lowly place to now be quoting Coulter; Coulter for goodness sakes! You better watch out she wants to "perfect", Christianize that is, your people brother . . .

And I know you don't want to use Prager anymore b/c I just tear his stuff up!

Hey brother Diablo, forgive me, but, who is the 3rd amigo; I do remember there being somebody else besides Amba(Shmuel)steve and skin(Norm)ny I had to rountinely put the smack-down on; but I have forgotten the name of that other person.

It wasn't Skeptisch I always thought his Sagan loving ways were kewl, is it one of our lady friends here, hmmmm . . .

I cannot recall . . .

Peace

For most of today’s top scientists the biggest mystery of our Universe is, by far, why the laws of nature are the way they are? If the law of gravity, for example, were just slightly different, the stars and planets would never have had the chance to form and evolve. The supernaturalists have faith and believe, without the slightest bit of evidence, that a God, or whatever, created these laws, or at least fine-tuned them.

It is that kind of blind faith that is so scary. To have faith, any kind of faith, is a virtue for most Americans and a huge issue in American politics. In America you even go to war when God tells you to. In any other developed nation on earth faith is, at least in politics, a huge handicap. To a realist, anywhere, faith deprives you of clear thinking and must die before a better world can emerge.

Why not simply say, “In the absence of evidence we have to withhold judgement.” Why not give up faith in supernatural knowledge and instead reason things out?

Guys you won’t get punished for doing some doubting or critical thinking of your own, so why not give it a try?

Palin: “God will do the right thing on election day!”
There we go again!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/22/palin-god-will-do-the-right-thing-on-election-day/

Ruth, (#69) I don't want to dwell too much into the past (where, I am sure, we may not agree totally) but I got to disagree with you on a slight note specifically on the late-night jokes part of the "media coverage" (on which some have already commented upthread.)

The reason McCain wasn't the butt of jokes as recently as a couple of months ago is not that he used to be black, but because he has changed in his outlook and behavior most recently.

You know, Keeping potential gaffes to a minimum has been one of many reasons for Obama’s success this year, forcing the wing nuts to dwell on trivial matters such as a washed up terrorist who, along with Republicans, was on some of the same committees with Obama. Indeed, there’s good reason why the late night comics have been making fun of the Repubican ticket seven times as often as the Democratic.

Consider this case. After standing up David Letterman on September 24, John McCain showed up for his appearance October 17 on The Late Show with David Letterman. Just in case, Dave had Keith Olbermann on stand by.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hIbK5ZyWUeEJrqOEcChTTkzHi3JgD93RU49G0

:::::;;;;

'Mr. McCain walked on the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theatre, the site of “The Late Show,” in New York around 5:20 p.m. Eastern. Mr. Letterman immediately asked: “Can you stay?”

“Yes, sir,” Mr. McCain said, and adjusted himself in the chair. He quickly added: “Depends on how bad it gets.”

Then Mr. McCain jokingly said that he asked his son in the Marine Corps to FedEx his flak jacket in preparation for the visit.

Mr. Letterman got right to it: “So what happened?”

Mr. McCain answered: “I screwed up.”'

::::;;;;

McCain continued to claim both that Sarah Palin is qualified to be president and that Palin was right in her claims that Barack Obama pals around with terrorists:

::::;;;;

'Mr. Letterman pressed Mr. McCain on Ms. Palin’s preparation for the office of president, and asked whether she was “the woman to lead us through the next 9/11 attack.”

“Absolutely” she is, Mr. McCain said. “She has inspired Americans. That’s the thing we need.”

Mr. Letterman also asked if Ms. Palin had said that Senator Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists.” Mr. McCain started to say he didn’t know, then said “Yes. And he did.”'
::::;;;;

Dave went on to note John McCain’s association with G. Gordon Liddy.

In a related story, Fox ran a report complaining that the late night comics are skewering the Republicans seven times as often as the Democrats.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/16/late-night-comics-skewer-republicans-seven-study-finds/

There is something bizarre in seeing this at Fox’s site, considering how biased and one-sided Fox is with regards to what they claim to be news. News reports, as opposed to the partisan propaganda which comes for Fox, is expected to be “fair and balanced” in fact as opposed to in slogan only. Late night comics are not bound to the same standards of balance as a news organization.

Besides, there is good reason why the comics make fun of the Republican candidates far more often. I noted two good examples above: John McCain claims that Sarah Palin is qualified to be president when she clearly is not and John McCain continues to repeat the same lies about Ayers when the claims have been thoroughly debunked.

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

The campaign being run by the Republicans is a total joke which is out of touch with reality. McCain and Palin repeatedly say the most absurd and dishonest things and totally ignore all evidence that what they say is untrue. There is simply far more material to mock in the Republican campaign than there is in the Democratic campaign. And that's that.

Dear Ed,
Thank you for being so sane today. It seems it's just what the Doctor ordered: that voodoo, that you do, so well.

I'm sorry to make such a coincidence, I mean nuisance, of myself in another person's house.

Andrew Sullivan asks, "How anti-intellectual is Palin?"

"Here's one way to look at the question: how has Palin brought up her own kids? Her eldest son is a high-school drop-out. Her eldest daughter has had, so far as one can tell from press reports, very uneven attendance in high school, and no plans for college. Her other daughters seem to spend a lot of time traveling the country with their mom at tax-payers' expense. I've seen them at several rallies with the Palins this fall. Are they not in school?

The least one can say is that none of her children seems to have been brought up thinking that college is something to aspire to. And her new son-in-law just dropped out of high school as well."

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/how-anti-intell.html

This New Yorker article tells more about how Palin was picked than I wanted to know:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer

The personal attraction of a couple of guys towards Palin had a lot to do with it. If this is the kind of thinking that's typical of influential conservatives, we can categorically state that their brains don't reside in their skulls. And we don't have to do any more analytical thinking about why McCain's campaign is in such disarray.

There is a new article up on Time.com in which Joe Klein goes through why he believes we (supporters of Obama) are winning right now in this election.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1853025,00.html

I think I pretty much agreed with everything he said, so I thought I'd share the article with you.

He begins with the story of Obama and Petraeus in Iraq, and how the men respectfully disagreed and agreed on certain things, ending with:

"But the Senator from Illinois had laid down his marker: if elected President, he would be in charge. Unlike George W. Bush, who had given Petraeus complete authority over the war — an unprecedented abdication of presidential responsibility (and unlike John McCain, whose hero worship of Petraeus bordered on the unseemly) — Obama would insist on a rigorous chain of command."[Klein]

So basically, Obama proved he would be a LEADER even when faced with people who knew more than him about a particular situation. I think one of the things I admire most about Obama is the fact that he can disagree with someone without being disagreeable. Even in the debates where his own positions were clearly being distorted, he found a way to point out his TRUE positions without coming off like a jerk. That's a great quality to have. As someone who frequently likes to find the middle ground, this is a quality that I love.

"Barack Obama has prospered in this presidential campaign because of the steadiness of his temperament and the judicious quality of his decision-making. They are his best-known qualities. The most important decision he has made — the selection of a running mate — was done carefully, with an exhaustive attention to detail and contemplation of all the possible angles. Two months later, as John McCain's peremptory selection of Governor Sarah Palin has come to seem a liability, it could be argued that Obama's quiet selection of Joe Biden defined the public's choice in the general-election campaign. But not every decision can be made so carefully. There are a thousand instinctive, instantaneous decisions that a presidential candidate has to make in the course of a campaign — like whether to speak his mind to a General Petraeus — and this has been a more difficult journey for Obama, since he's far more comfortable when he's able to think things through. "He has learned to trust his gut," an Obama adviser told me. "He wasn't so confident in his instincts last year. It's been the biggest change I've seen in him."[Klein]

I like that Barack Obama likes to think things through, and I can understand his reluctance to make snap decisions. With that being said, I'd much rather have OBAMA making snap decisions, than McCain. We see where McCain's snap decisions get us, in a war with Iraq, suspending his campaign for no reason, the selection of Sarah Palin, etc. Obama's gut seems to be more in tuned to reality, and I think the fact that he's used to thinking about every detail and that in the past he taught law (which means you have to pay attention to every little detail, especially with Constitution Law which is constantly changing).

Klein asked Barack how he makes his gut decisions, and I think he really respected the fact that Barack didn't just recite talking points to him, but actually thought about what Klein was actually asking him. That quality drives some people nuts because when Obama is actually THINKING through something, his responses tend to be really slow. But again, I like the idea of a President who has a brain and can think for himself.

Another favorite quality that Barack has that I love is his non-predilection to drama. I love that we have a drama-free campaign, that and the fact that it's so inclusive of everyone is why our campaign continues to grow. It really is a big tent, we don't turn anyone away. We don't say "you are not welcome here, you voted for Bush."

"[W]hile Obama has followed a fairly traditional political path in this campaign, his strongest — and most telling — moments have been those when he followed his natural no-drama instincts. This has been confusing to many of my colleagues and to me, at times, as well: his utter caution in the debates, his decision not to zing McCain or even to challenge him very much, led me to assume — all three times — that he hadn't done nearly as well as the public ultimately decided he had. McCain was correct when he argued that Obama's aversion to drama led him to snuggle a bit too close to the Democratic Party's orthodoxy. But one of the more remarkable spectacles of the 2008 election — unprecedented in my time as a journalist — was the unanimity among Democrats on matters of policy once the personality clash between Obama and Hillary Clinton was set aside. There was no squabbling between old and new Dems, progressives and moderates, over race or war or peace. This was a year for no-drama Democrats, which made Obama as comfortable a fit for them as McCain was awkward for the Republican base."[Klein]

The best way to throw off people who thrive on drama is to not engage in drama. I think that's something that drive the press crazy (as Klein points out in the article).

A true defining point in this campaign, in my non-professional opinion) came during the financial crisis. Obama was calm, steady, and re-assuring,and McCain was erratic.

"And at the crucial moment of the campaign — the astonishing onset of the financial crisis — it was Obama's gut steadiness that won the public's trust, and quite possibly the election. On the afternoon when McCain suspended his campaign, threatened to scuttle the Sept. 26 debate and hopped a plane back to Washington to try to resolve the crisis, Obama was in Florida doing debate prep with his top advisers. When he was told about McCain's maneuvers, Obama's first reaction — according to an aide — was, "You gotta be kidding. I'm going to debate. A President has to be able to do more than one thing at a time." But there was a storm brewing among Obama's supporters in Congress and the Beltway establishment. "My BlackBerry was exploding," said an Obama aide. "They were saying we had to suspend. McCain was going to look more like a statesman, above the fray."[Klein]

Klein then goes through how Obama has grown over the last 22 months before ending with this paragraph:

"If he wins, however, there will be a different challenge. He will have to return, full force, to the inspiration business. The public will have to be mobilized to face the fearsome new economic realities. He will also have to deliver bad news, to transform crises into "teachable moments." He will have to effect a major change in our political life: to get the public and the media to think about long-term solutions rather than short-term balms. Obama has given some strong indications that he will be able to do this, having remained levelheaded through a season of political insanity. His has been a remarkable campaign, as smoothly run as any I've seen in nine presidential cycles. Even more remarkable, Obama has made race — that perennial, gaping American wound — an afterthought. He has done this by introducing a quality to American politics that we haven't seen in quite some time: maturity. He is undoubtedly as ego-driven as everyone else seeking the highest office — perhaps more so, given his race, his name and his lack of experience. But he has not been childishly egomaniacal, in contrast to our recent baby-boomer Presidents — or petulant, in contrast to his opponent. He does not seem needy. He seems a grown-up, in a nation that badly needs some adult supervision."[Klein]

OBAMA..

just ask republicans for their vote! u may be surprised how many will consider it...jus' do it!

and if macinsane is elected (not in this lifetime) we'll be in dire straits... God help us all!

granny warns flabs to go easy of C.R. and cokacola...damn....i suppose he'll go into that both saused and holding his nose...maybe he shud ask to spend a week in gitmo..

hmmmmm, sounds like Joe has the "hots" for Barak Obama :)) he likes him, he really, really likes him, okay, that's nice.

I do love reading all this stuff folks write about him, his qualities, and how they feel about the aspects of his personality that he has shown the voting public, so far.

Unfortunately, I feel a lot is overlooked when it comes to Barak Obama and I find that not so much interesting as par for the course when folks are "hot" about a candidate and really folks haven't been this "hot" about a candidate, well, since, the evangelicals saw Bush as their possible "in" to a second coming of the lord and the Supreme Court...

anyway, if Barak Obama is elected it will be much more interesting because then folks will get to see him in action, not that I expect him to fall on his face and turn into someone he is not, I just think Barak Obama the politician, the politically ambitious opportunist, the man, will emerge for better and for worse....

Barak Obama knows how to ride a wave, like any ambitious politician, but waves always crash into the shore and in order to keep surfing you have to catch other great waves.....if elected, we will get to see him surf, up close and personal.

looking forward to it....ruth

Well my philosophy is, is that if the Fonz thinks Obama is kewl, then Obama must be cool!

Aaaaaaaaaa

emperor...

dude..if u can't figure out that skeptisch is alive and well and still quoting sagan and posting here everyday...how are u gonna figure the amigos...

whoahahahahahhahhaaaaaaaa......

O I know Diablo, I know good ole skep has been posting under a number of pseudonyms!

Tis all good bro!

macinsane is going apeship about joe...joe this and joe that..i believe americans are smarter? than that..that joe was a republican plant...a fake...don't even have a plumber licence..nor the capital to open a plumbing bizz..

in fact what he makes in 4 yrs at 40k per annum...is what that barracuda spends on her wardrove in 4 weeks...so who the f... is she speaking for, joe blow?

u see mac-old is kinda miffed that the RNC did not allow him to pick that other joe (leebeeermann) the so-called dem-indi...

so now he's appealing to the lows of society to bail him out...
he claims he doesn't know anything about the economy...then why the heck is he talking about 'bama's tax proposal...why is better for joe blow from ohio btw.

dude...why don't u find a feakin' nice warm tropical island to retire in peace and enjoy ur last few yrs...?

the writing is on the wall and smart repubs can read it...except a few bone-headed ones...

"(CNN) — Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary who sharply criticized President Bush in his memoir last spring, told CNN Thursday he's voting for Barack Obama.

"From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping," McClellan told new CNN Host D.L. Hughley."

fact is stranger than fiction...like they say..

"macinsane is now linking 'bama to his (macs) idol...bushnut..."

dude...who asked u to be skipper of the titanic?

now ur ship has hit a berg...and going down fast in the middle of no where in frigid waters.. and do u really think anyone will buy ur bullshit?????

marek dariusz podsiadlo was one of the original ibers...

now...he's been MIA for a year...

dude...where are u? found ur applepie?

here in the good ole USA...am gonna vote for the first time and very excited about it...can't wait to see the back of that nutcase...bushwhacked...

give us an update....bro....

Brother Craig,

You dare me on Prager, I'm happy to oblidge. He's become a good buddy of mine and I'm happy to share the wisdom on the two irreconcilable Americas and today he predicted that if McCain loses their will be violence. Agree?

Here you are my friend, cheers, Shmuel

There Are Two Irreconcilable Americas
by Dennis Prager

It is time to confront the unhappy fact about our country: There are now two Americas. Not a rich one and a poor one; economic status plays little role in this division.

There is a red one and a blue one.

For most of my life I have believed, in what I now regard as wishful thinking, that the right and left wings have essentially the same vision for America, that it's only about ways to get there in which the two sides differ. Right and left share the same ends, I thought.

That is not the case. For the most part, right and left differ in their visions of America and that is why they differ on policies.

Right and the left do not want the same America.

The left wants America to look as much like Western European countries as possible. The left wants Europe's quasi-pacifism, cradle-to-grave socialism, egalitarianism and secularism in America. The right wants none of those values to dominate America.

The left wants America not only to have a secular government, but to have a secular society. The left feels that if people want to be religious, they should do so at home and in their houses of prayer, but never try to inject their religious values into society. The right wants America to continue to be what it has always been -- a Judeo-Christian society with a largely secular government (that is not indifferent to religion). These opposing visions explain, for example, their opposite views concerning nondenominational prayer in school.

The left prefers to identify as citizens of the world. The left fears nationalism in general (this has been true for the European left since World War I), and since the 1960s, the American left has come to fear American nationalism in particular. On the other side, the right identifies first as citizens of America.

The left therefore regards the notion of American exceptionalism as chauvinism; the United Nations and world opinion are regarded as better arbiters of what is good than is America. The right has a low opinion of the U.N.'s moral compass and of world opinion, both of which it sees as having a much poorer record of stopping genocide and other evils than America has.

The left is ambivalent about and often hostile to overt displays of American patriotism. That is why, for example, one is far more likely to find American flags displayed in Orange County, Calif., on national holidays than in liberal neighborhoods in West Los Angeles, Manhattan or San Francisco.

The left subscribes to the French Revolution, whose guiding principles were "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." The right subscribes to the American formula, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." The French/European notion of equality is not mentioned. The right rejects the French Revolution and does not hold Western Europe as a model. The left does. That alone makes right and left irreconcilable.

The left envisions an egalitarian society. The right does not. The left values equality above other values because it yearns for an America in which all people have similar amounts of material possessions. This is what propels the left to advocate laws that would force employers to pay women the same wages they pay men not only for the same job but for "comparable" jobs (as if that is objectively ascertainable). The right values equality in opportunity and strongly believes that all people are created equal, but the right values liberty, a man-woman based family and other values above equality.

The left wants a world -- and therefore an America -- devoid of nuclear weapons. The right wants America to have the best nuclear weapons. The right trusts American might more than universal disarmament.

The left wants to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples for the first time in history. The right wants gays to have equal rights, but to keep marriage defined as man-woman. This, too, constitutes an irreconcilable divide.

For these and other reasons, calls for a unity among Americans that transcends left and right are either naive or disingenuous. America will be united only when one of them prevails over the other. The left knows this. Most on the right do not.

Steve, that article is self-deluding, self-serving or both.

The biggest difference between left and right is left is less greedy. Left can see that the world is becoming truly global as a result of the change in fast communications. Left is willing to share with the rest of the world, it sees others as its peers, it knows change is inevitable in any case.

The reason left and right seem so polarized is right has become the rear-guard defense for the old ways, when the US either didn't think about having more than others because communication was pretty limited, or, in the latter half of the previous century, that it was fine cause we'd saved the world from itself.

Time to shake the pillow-dust from the sleepy brains of the right.

It's that pillow-dust mind-set that created the economic crisis.

The left isn't looking to conquer anything. It's looking to take things forward to a less-greedy place -- which is more or less how things were a few decades ago, when there was pretty much enough for everyone.

If a right-leaning person thinks that's a bad thing, it's because there's that pillow-dust still in the brain.

the brilliant patriote flabs is worried that he shud make all the money he can now so he can keep it before 'bama gets in...

well whoopy...doodoo...if u cannot get by on a quarter million dollars before u are taxed, u'have got a fucking serious problem donur lover...

Woooo-hoooo! As predicted here a few days ago by our energetic and wise sophomore pundits, the New York Times has endorsed "That One":

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html

an excerpt from the New York Time's endorsement of Barack Obama:

"...The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.

"As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States...."

sweet and simple!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html

a little more...

"...Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.

"In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress..."

even sweeter!

seriously...dude

with americans as "bright" as these F......d amigos (bozos) the brother can do without their tainted support...they can go right ahead and vote for their brilliant macinsane...we don't really need their vote to make the dif...anyway.

i am heartened by the fact that so many intelligent, normal republicans show real class in voting for the brother....whoa!

Yes Heather, Dennis is self-serving just as your comments, you serve the left as many here do. I read it here everyday, but apparently it's only called out when a rare quote from a conservative is posted.

I guess forced unity is better than no unity.

Wake up my fellow flabby amigos and get with the program :

"From each according to his own ability, to each according to his needs"

at the game..
The Rays
9th inning
4- 1
So far so good - Hooray!

at the game..
The Rays
9th inning
4- 1
So far so good - Hooray!

go rays....

it's ladies night at the Ranch of Love...and things are heating up...see u'all tamarra...

Art back at ya? Yo Derek ;)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vnvM_YAwX4I

And the follow on:-
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YG9FO7JGWq4&feature=related

Hi there everyone! Hi Skep!

After a lengthy absence, I thought I should check in on an old stomping ground to share a few thoughts with you all, at the risk of being pilloried by a few cynics!

I was at Chapters the other day with my daughter Oxana (now ten) to buy her a book, the type that teaches children how to write books. As she browsed the isles, I checked out the science section and stumbled upon an amazing book that I had read three times before in the last two decades and bought a copy.

It’s called Cosmos by the great Carl Sagan. What’s amazing about this phenomenal book is, each time you pick it up, it’s as it was your first time. It has significantly changed the way I viewed the world and, by extension, the universe. In the first chapter, the author recounts the incredible accomplishments of an astonishingly brilliant man.

Eratosthenes was one of the greatest thinkers of all time. He was born in Cyrene (in modern- day Libya), in 276B.C. and died in 194B.C. Using sticks, eyes, feet, brains and a zest for experiment, he became the first man to measure the circumference of the Earth to within an error of only a few percent, a remarkable achievement for 2,200 years ago.

In many ways, Eratosthenes revolutionized the world and thus paved the way for bold, new explorations and adventures of the high seas and beyond.

One of the greatest thinkers of our time describes Eratosthenes’ life and legacy in the following documentary: enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JHEqBLG650

10/24 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 40

Today's Daily Kos Research 2000 tracking poll has Obama leading McCain 52-40. All trackers are data from three days prior to posting, with the R2K numbers from today (yesterday's numbers in parentheses) and the other trackers from yesterday (previous day's data). LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

[Nate Silver (fivethirtyeight.com) wrote up a tracking poll primer covering the eight available trackers. It includes sample size, time of publication and quirks, as well as Nate's opinion of the trackers. Recommended.]

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 52 (51) 40 (41) 3 LV
Reuters/Zogby: 51 (52) 41 (40) 2.9 LV

Yesterday
Rasmussen: 52 (51) 45 (45) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 48 (47) 43 (42) 3.4 LV
Battleground: 49 (49) 45 (47) 3.1 LV
Gallup: 50 (51) 43 (42) 2 RV See also the LV I and LV II numbers
IBD/TIPP: 45 (46) 44 (42) 3.3 LV alternate link
ABC/WaPo: 54 (54) 43 (43) 3 LV

Big 10: 52 (46) 43 (45) 3.1 LV
CBS/NY Times: 52 (53) 39 (39) 3 LV

On successive individual days in the R2K poll (different than the topline, which is a combined three day sample), Obama was up +12 Tues, +10 Wed and +14 Thurs.

Zogby says

"Obama continues to dominate among independent voters – he leads by a 56% to 30% margin over McCain among those voters – and among those who have already cast their ballots. Those who have already voted now comprise more than 10% of the Zogby sample, and Obama holds a 20–point lead in that category. Among those who are new voters – registering in the last 6 months – the Democrat holds a 69% to 26% edge over McCain."

[...]

We've noted the steady race several times. But now Dan Balz[WaPo] has spoken:

"Immediately after the debates, some national polls hinted that the race might be tightening, but this week, the weight of evidence is that Obama continues to hold a solid lead nationally and in the states where it counts most."

ABC/WaPo tracker:

"In those crucial states decided by five or fewer points in 2004, Obama is up 21 points."

[...]
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/24/65447/815/551/640161

::::::

Nate Silver: Today's Polls, 10/23: McCain on Life Support

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/todays-polls-1023-mccain-on-life.html

"This is not the time when John McCain can afford a bad polling day. And yet he's had perhaps his worst one of the year.

The national trackers were essentially a push -- three moved toward Obama, two toward McCain, two were flat -- but the action today is at the state level. And boy, there is a lot of action: 29 new state polls enterring our database. And many of them contain great news for Obama.

[...]

As a result of all of this, there is now no perceptible rebound for John McCain; in fact, the race may still be trending toward Obama, although the safer assumption is that it's flat. Meanwhile, Obama's electoral position appears as strong as ever. John McCain's chances of winning the election have dwindled to 3.7%, down from 6.5% yesterday."

Dear Ron #100,
I remember really enjoying Carl Sagan's The Dragon's of Eden. Only at the end he criticized St. Augustine for dropping all his scientific endeavors and running off into the woods. I sympathize with Augustine. I've felt like running off into the woods myself. I think old Carl just didn't get it.

Sorry; didn't get what? I hate those hanging participles.

He didn't get that transcendence is possible, attainable, and desirable.

Hey Ron...welcome back...hope you've been well!

Baby D....here's the problem...how is it for you or anyone else to say what is the correct income? Why is it OK, for me to go in debt, start a company, work 80 hours per week, pay my employees well, make 400K per year, and have to pay a higer percentage of taxes than my employees who work 40 hours and bear no risk?

(I don't make 400K, but that is my strategy for the next 5 years)

Why in the hell is it OK for you to say I have problem for wanting to keep as much of that money as I can, for the good of my family, and FOR THE CHOICES I CAN MAKE CHARITABLY?

You lamebrained little pipsqueak, you've been bitten by the socialist bug!

No Heather, it isn't about the right being greedier than the left....the left is greedy... to take from the doers, and give to the 'nondoers' in order to build politcal clout. It is no more complicated than that....

Y'all have great day....I'm off to work on my dream...which if 'that one' is elected, just became exponentially harder....

:)

Oh by the way... all the major indices are locked limit down on the futures market....

You fucking libs always are wanting the major corporations to 'get theirs'... well this is what happens when they 'get theirs'... and if this community organizer idiot that you guys are running for prez, is elected....you can expect more of this, with his 'punish the rich' mentality.

No Ruthie, it isn't the Crown talking, it never is, I just get sick at the idea of this 'greatest of experiments' getting run in the ground by marxists.... yeah, once in while I develop a bad attitude! I get over it...but it crops up!

have a great day....i really need to get to work....

One more thing....I voted for Bush twice...and given the options we had...I'd do it again.

Having said that....his leadership on this has been abysmal....he is starting us down the socialist slope....he has spent like a goddamned democrat....he is no conservative....

God...where is Romney when we need him....the only one of the whole field this year who knows anything about business...

We have two choices, and they are the poorest choices we've had in my lifetime...an old man who has no idea who he is...and a young empty suit, who with the media's help won't let us know who he is....

The choice ladies and gentlemen...is this...Socialism Lite with McCain, and Full Blown Socialism with 'that one'......

"You lamebrained little pipsqueak, you've been bitten by the socialist bug!" says big ole flabs

well u know what i have to say to that...whoahahahahahahahahahahahahaaa.........

"One more thing....I voted for Bush twice...and given the options we had...I'd do it again."...dude u need a shrink...serious...ly

Want an example of a supreme sense of entitlement, self-importance and arrogance?

Meet Joe McCain who call 911 for a traffic jam.
(You can listen to the recorded calls.)

BTW this is from *Conservative* News source Politico (which also broke the Plain shopping spree story)... Ben Smith reports:

_______________________
'John McCain's brother exchanged sharp words with a police operator after calling 911 to complain about traffic.

His call, and a call back to reprimand him for an inappropriate use of the service, were recorded by City of Alexandria Police, WJLA first reported.

Here's the exchange:

"Operator: 911 state your emergency

Caller: It's not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way?

Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)

Caller: "(Expletive) you." (caller hangs up)"

The operator then called back, and received this message: "Hi this is Joe McCain I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very ... important political project... I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John."

McCain then apparently called 911 again, to complain about the message.

You can listen to the call here (.wav): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3.

(WJLA is part of the same company as Politico.)
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Dept_of_fraying_tempers.html
___________________________

Original WJLA story:
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1008/563913.html

yo flabs one more ...

if u dont pay a little more taxes...how are u gonna pay for bushnut's war? is it socialism to pay a little more to get the country outta debt which ur party has put us in? u really need to pull ur head outta that hole where the sun dont shine...dude...damn!

Alright D, Skinny--not dumber than you, generally speaking--is as dumb as Joe the Plumber when it comes to understanding the tax policies of both candidates and the over all economics plans.

#100 Ron

Thanks!

The markets are plunging. Brace yourself up for Black Friday 2.0. There's going to be bloody murder on the Wall Street today.

Citizens McCain and Palin on "elitism"

Ben Smith of Politico reports:

_____________________________

Fake America located

In tonight's NBC News interview with Brian Williams, McCain explains that the "elites" are located in D.C. and New York City:

"WILLIAMS: Who is a member of the elite?

PALIN: Oh, I guess just people who think that they're better than anyone else. And-- John McCain and I are so committed to serving every American. Hard-working, middle-class Americans who are so desiring of this economy getting put back on the right track. And winning these wars. And America's starting to reach her potential. And that is opportunity and hope provided everyone equally. So anyone who thinks that they are-- I guess-- better than anyone else, that's-- that's my definition of elitism.

WILLIAMS: So it's not education? It's not income-based? It's--

PALIN: Anyone who thinks that they're better than someone else.

WILLIAMS: --a state of mind? It's not geography?

PALIN: 'Course not.

WILLIAMS: Senator?

MCCAIN: I-- I know where a lot of 'em live. (LAUGH)

WILLIAMS: Where's that?

MCCAIN: Well, in our nation's capital and New York City. I've seen it. I've lived there. I know the town. I know-- I know what a lot of these elitists are. The ones that she never went to a cocktail party with in Georgetown. I'll be very frank with you. Who think that they can dictate what they believe to America rather than let Americans decide for themselves."

UPDATE: Numerous readers in those cities note that they were the targets on 9/11.
____________________________________

Trapper John of Daily Kos writes:

"See, that's funny (and no, I don't mean the fact that Palin and McCain disagree on whether elitism is geographically determined, though that's also funny; and no, I don't mean the idea of a guy with 8 houses and a gal who just dropped $150K at Neiman and Saks chiding others for elitism, though that's funny too). John McCain says that people in Washington, DC want to force their beliefs on America. That's hilarious. Hell, that's the definition of irony.

You see, the half-a-million residents of the District of Columbia -- I'm one of them -- pay taxes, register for selective service, and otherwise bear all the responsibilities required of citizens of the United States. But unlike Citizens McCain and Palin, we don't have representation in the US House of Representatives. We don't have representation in the US Senate, unlike those lucky Arizonans who elected John McCain. And perhaps worst of all, our city/state government doesn't have the ability to pass its own budget without the approval of Congress and the President.

In other words, the District of Columbia is a colony. And even the haughtiest elitists of Georgetown have less ability to dictate their own city's governance than do the hardiest, simplest patriots of Wasilla.

But what's truly ironic about McCain's statement is that as a US Senator, he routinely has played God with the colony that is the District of Columbia. Because our elected city government doesn't have the ability to spend our own tax money without approval by Congress and the President, we've had our budget held hostage by a number of Senators -- people who live outside of our city -- who nevertheless like to use our city as a petri dish for their pet causes. Like when Congress forced school vouchers on the city against our will. Or when Congress attempted to repeal our gun laws, against our will. No other city or town in the country is subject to that kind of legislation -- but John McCain co-sponsored both those bills, dictating what he believed to the District rather than letting the District decide for itself.

So while I'm not the biggest fan of Sally Quinn and the Georgetown cocktail party set, it's pretty clear to me that we colonial Americans in the District of Columbia aren't forcing our beliefs on the rest of America -- we're getting John McCain's forced on us. That's elitism we can believe in, I guess."

Hey Ed

be more awake when dreaming and more dreaming when awake

the secret of life

Who made the one who is creating? The creator made it's self from nothing. That makes it god. At some point there was a moment when something came from nothing and consciousness came from unconsciousness. We have been chasing that first moment ever since.

the secret of life is in the moment

Even the great and almighty creator can only enjoy the moment.

the secret of dreams

they are a play ground

Chaos becomes order when it is left alone to settle, once it has settles it gets bored.

the best secret

Once you find the truth it changes. How cool is that?

the beauty of the mountains
on the Isle of Skye
black and solid
against the blue in my eye
the wet wet ocean
that laps at the shore
quenches not my thirst
like the rain that does pour
all that i see
and all that i feel
all that i love
and all that i heal
all the things around me
that i love and adore
are there for just a moment
just a moment for sure

blessings to you brother Ed

derek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou2GlIx2iTc

when you take the importance off knowing then knowing is not so important

Did someone mention Carl Sagan?

His moment still shines bright in my soul.

much love and peace to you brother Carl, good journeys

derek

Ref #100

Hey Ron, welcome back.
I was going to post this today, before I knew you were back. Now that you are back it feels like old times and I might as well use my old name!

I miss the guy who wrote this and the guy he wrote about:

“Let me admit that I have read most of Dr. Sagan's brilliant work and would reread them, eagerly, if time permits.

The world is a vastly richer place because of his superlative life and legacy! He was, uncannily, able to explain life’s long, tantalizing and illustrious journey on earth, from the primordial broth to the mass Permian extinction to the present in a language that anyone could understand.
36. Posted by Ron Saywack on April 19, 2007 04:49 PM”

You will like this, Ron. The wise man is being recognised and honoured by the cream of crop of today’s scientific community.

Beyond Belief: Candles in the Dark, 24 parts, October 3 - 6, 2008
http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/beyond-belief-candles-in-the-dark

Seek, to go in search of
Knowledge, the body of truth and information
Enlightenment, education that results in understanding
Peace, the absence of mental stress or anxiety

Holy Mackeral! The crowd is all here: kewl!

Oooo, you know I saw that Prager article, but his parochial worldview I find unworthy of even commenting upon anymore . . .

Good try though brother Shmuel!

Ron and Skep nice "seeing" you two again!

Whoa Norm such language brother! Sheeeesh.

Peace

morning everyone,

skinny, you write.....you f-ing libs......ya know I know a lot of repubs...many in my own extented family.....I also have many f-ing libs in my extended family not once do we pepper our discussions with you f-ing rebubs or you f-ing libs.....discussing politics can be very frustrating to say the least when you are talking to the opposite of your views but when someone else's views make you just plain angry it is time to cool it....so since you say it isn't the CR talking when you lash out many you need a CR to handle the political or just the average everyday opposition of views one finds in life......

really, you would vote for him a third time? well, you probably are if you are voting for McBush...really, other than his VP is a hot sexy babe mama....rather than an old crudgemudgen...and the fact that McCain...does talk more...especially in his use of full sentences...you won't be too disappointed with his policies....if he wins...if he pulls about a 100 electoral votes out of his hat.....I think he might be behind by that already...

the difference between the left and the right...all you have to do is watch FOX TV and you will see it....propagandists....it is what the Right does 24/7.....they propagate their false sense of morality their "let's pretend" little government, etc.

Yes, watch Fox TV programs for an evening...last night it was "all about Sarah" yes, last night was "thursday eve's propaganda night for Sarah,"..

Hannity, Greta....and Sarah....it was all...."so, tell us Sarah why does the media treat you so bad?"....."for those folks at home....you might want to run and get a box of kleenex, you wouldn't believe how the left leaning liberal bulling media is treating "our" girl, Sarah" boohoohooo"

btw....Rachel Maddow.....she is a breath of fresh air.....now, we are talking a very "smart lady"....really, she makes Keith and Chris look an sound like premadonnas....MSNBC needs more "smart" ladies or gents....that are as fresh as Rachel Maddow.....

anyway...I must get going...have a great day all...ruth

I really must proof read more

when you take away the importance off knowing then knowing is not so important

Totally different, oh and when knowing is not so important then you are free to enjoy everyone's knowing.

You Know Ruth, there are some really pretty news reporters on the tube these days. They're all smarter than me so I just watch for fun and entertainment. It is hard for me to know if anything they say is true. One of my favorites is that, oh his last name is Wolfe, on MSNBC, he's British I think, very gentle spirit. He makes me think of Dr. Bashir on Deep Space Nine. Yo.

Carl is like a cool magnet here. Hey everyone. Yeah I'm still here babbling.

Something comes from nothing every now and then, from an artists point of view and survival. Yo, I create a landscape that does not exist outside of me or inside until I create it. It emerges both outside of me and inside at the same time.........like magic. From a blank canvas to a world you can tell yourself stories about. From nothing to something, the creative process.

derek

Norm, if you earn more, you have more left over after basic expenses are met. For lower-income people, their basic expenses maybe aren't even covered completely by what they earn. Why shouldn't you pay more then? High earners have luxury income. Low earners have just enough or too little.

If you're trying to justify your income by the time you put in, there are plenty of people who are working 40 hour weeks at job A, then they go and put in another 15 or 20 hours each at jobs B and C, and they may not even make $30K a year. How should they be taxed, vis-a-vis you?

If your income were directly proportional to the hours you put in... say you put in 80 hours and make 400K -- do the workers who put in 40 hours make 200K? If it were fair like that, I don't think anyone would moan. But as we all know, it's not.

Conservatives tend to look at the legs, ears and trunk of an elephant, and miss the existence of the beast itself. There is a bigger, less-parochial, less-selfish way of looking at things. That's what liberals tend to be looking at.

Case in point:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Campaign-Money.htm

(or click my name)

lede:

"Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?

"Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, who was identified by the Washington Post this week as Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night..."

What kind of big-picture thinking was this?

Every time I hear McCain do his earmarks thing, and tout how Palin saves money, I remember how Palin managed to get 27 million in earmarks money for Wasilla, which is a very small town. 27 million dollars, she got. Hmmmm. That's more than Obama's Chicago Adler Planetarium projector, isn't it? 9 times as much, isn't it? I wonder what Carl Sagan would say.

Why Obama doesn't come after McCain and Plain on these kinds of things (and there's so much more negative stuff out there, on both McCain and Palin, that Obama's campaign is not using)? It's because he's a liberal. He sticks to the big picture, he's nice, polite, doesn't rant or say nasty things, etc. He's generous. He's thoughtful. He's for everyone, not only for himself. See the difference?

As for liberals causing the downturn, it was eight years of financial mismanagement by conservatives that led to it, it has nothing to do with liberals. Liberals are going to try to get things back to normal again, just as they did when FDR was in office.

Heather...when you punish achievement...you take away the incentive to achieve...therefore, the guys working for the achiever, may be hurt, as the achiever decides the time and effort isn't worth it...and downsizes....

Most achievers aren't selfish....most of them give, give, give.....they just want to do it on their terms....not some inefficient bloated beauracracy's terms....

dat's all....

Ruthie....I sure love you...(seriously) as I wrote that...I smiled, cause I knew you'd get fired up.....

It's all a game...sometimes it's a serious game with serious consequences....nonetheless....a game...

:)

what some neocon artists fail to tell bushies like flabs is that if he makes 400ks and 150ks are for overhead, he would see a tax decrease...not an increase...under 'bama's plan..

he'd only be taxed on net income, not gross...duh!!!!!!!!!

Kind of eerie that others have noticed the insightful wits of Rachel Maddow and Richard Wolfe: yep! :)

Peace

Norm, no one's taking away all the money that achievers make.

You have to admit that, left on their own, most materially-oriented people are unlikely to share, or give, give, give.

In fact, the greed factor, unregulated, is why we have a big economic downturn now.

Someone has to make those are at the far end of the greed bell curve give a little back, to benefit those at the other end, who work their a--s off for their bosses and don't get paid much, or get many (if any) other benefits.

It's healthy for humanity to balance resources equitably.

If you keep thinking of yourself as above some segments of the population -- working harder, thinking harder, achieving harder -- I recommend you live one of their lives for a month.

yo heath..don't go apeship trying to reason with a &%^*&*%$...

hey joe blow from ohio...poopy pantz keeps taking about u (she'll consider u when she splits with todd) but did u know that what she spends in 4 wks on wardrove will take u FOUR freakin' yrs to make..bozo? duh? btw are u related to flabs?

if repubs are as dumb as flabs..i don't wanna ever consider the thought! duh!

btw...why is bushnut not on the cam trail for the dino and that dumdum faker?

duncan hunter is a moron!

Hi there, Ron!

Sarah does Science!

What a busy day for Sarah Palin. Besides giving a deposition on her role in troopergate (ethics, abuse of power), and dropping a hockey puck in St. Louis, she also managed to screw up her first policy speech.

Via Think Progress:

"For many parents of children with disabilities, the most valuable thing of all is information. Early identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference.

'Palin claimed that the amount that Congress spends on earmarks "is more than the shortfall to fully fund IDEA." She then ridiculed some of the projects — such as "fruit fly research" — saying they have little or no value:'

Where does a lot of that earmark money end up anyway? [...] You’ve heard about some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not."

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/24/palin-fruit-flies/

::

Damn those earmarks! Wasting good money on fruit fly research:

"[S]cientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for..nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.

The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism."

http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/biotech/story/1809660/

Oh. Never mind.

Heath and Norm: if you will continue, with just a bit of patience and openness, we all could learn a lot about the 'other side'. Right now it feels like you're both using the standard lib/con talking points, so to speak. Let's go one step beyond, shall we?

Heath: you say "You have to admit that, left on their own, most materially-oriented people are unlikely to share, or give, give, give.". Consider these points:
- materially-oriented is not the same as having money. I'm sure we can all find relatively poor people who cling to every dime they have, and relatively rich people who genuinely believe that generosity is the foundation of their prosperity.
- could an ideology (share the wealth, or reward the achievers) based on a generalization like this do a deep injustice to the people it ignores?

Norm: would a higher tax bracket really take away your incentive to achieve?

Is there a snergistic alternative we could come up with? Norm, what would you think if instead of raising the top tax rate by 5%, there was a requirement to give away say 3% of your income in that bracket to a qualified charity of your choice? (I'm assuming the IRS's cost of collecting is 2%).

Come, let's go beyond the righteous dem-vs-repub locking-horns thing. The world needs us to.

Tell me what do you see?
What do you thing I am?

Walking in the street

Tell me what do you see?
What do you thing I am?

Please stop extreme-mental activity
See through me

Feel my black
Think me white...

Ref # 120

Craig, good to see you in the shape you seem to be in these days. Have a nice weekend and try to hang on to that wagon.

Viva Obama! Yes you can!

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

with thanks to J-F for teaching, revealing, striving.

She is going to Cuba
Flaming-waiting for months

Mom missing
Girl heart un-sharpened from soft hands

She is flaming-joy
Inside an area way too cold

I am happy for you
Go, go sunshine de luna...

Dear Jean,
I like your poems. Somehow they remind me of a karate precept: Student only as good as teacher.

10/25 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 40
by DemFromCT

[...]

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 52 (52) 40 (40) 3 LV
Reuters/Zogby: 51 (51) 42 (41) 2.9 LV

Yesterday
Rasmussen: 52 (52) 45 (45) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 50 (48) 43 (43) 3.4 LV
Battleground: 49 (49) 46 (45) 3.1 LV
Gallup: 50 (50) 42 (43) 2 RV See also the LV I and LV II numbers
IBD/TIPP: 46 (45) 42 (44) 3.3 LV alternate link
ABC/WaPo: 53 (54) 44 (43) 3 LV

D-corps: 52 (49) 43 (44) 3 LV
Newsweek: 53 (52) 41 (41) 4 LV (Previous data is RV)

On successive individual days in the R2K poll (different than the topline, which is a combined three day sample), Obama was up +10 Wed, +14 Thurs and +11 Friday.

This will be an abbreviated posting, as I am on the road until tomorrow.

Howard Dean's pollster in Salon:

"Obama's big lead in the polls is real

Democrats are afraid to believe he's really winning. But a pollster explains why those polls that show a tight race should be treated with skepticism."

and

"There will always be outliers. The IBD-TIPP poll, the one that shows a 1-point margin, is published by Investor's Business Daily and is the product of a firm called the Technometrica Institute of Polling and Politics. The company's tag line, "America's most accurate pollster," derives in part from its claim to have had the most accurate record of all pollsters in 2004. But one indication of potential bias is the fact that among TIPP's current "hot topics" is the question "Are we ready for socialism?" You could argue that the liberal Web site Daily Kos is biased too, and discount its sponsored poll that shows a 10-point Obama lead -- except the Kos poll numbers resemble those in surveys conducted by traditional network powers ABC, NBC, CBS as well as C-SPAN/Reuters. Those all report double-digit Obama margins."

see also WSJ:

"Conservatives attack the poll commissioned by the liberal site Daily Kos, saying it skews toward Obama by using a sample that overestimates the turnout of young people, African Americans and Latinos. Del Ali, president of Research 2000, an independent polling firm that conducts the survey, says his research shows those groups will play a major role in this election and should be sufficiently represented in the polling samples. Daily Kos contributing editor Greg Dworkin says the site does not get involved in the poll's content, and posts all available national polls every morning."

as to what the polls say, from Newsweek:

"The new poll suggests Obama is consolidating his support across demographic groups. He now leads McCain in every age group, even among voters 65 and older, who choose him over McCain 48 percent to 42 percent. He leads handily among men, 52 percent to 42 percent, and among women, 54 percent to 39 percent. He now leads McCain by 46 percent to 44 percent among working class whites, a dramatic reversal from April, when McCain led him in that group 53 percent to 35 percent."

ABC/WaPo:

"Among a recent spate of conservative defections from McCain, one leading Republican was particularly pointed about the impact of Palin's professional background on his decision. Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, and former Solicitor General under Ronald Reagan asked that the McCain-Palin campaign remove his name from several committees in large part because of "the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis.

A Post-ABC poll earlier this week reported the Palin pick deeply damaged voters' confidence in the types of decisions McCain would make as president.

Perhaps more fundamentally for Palin's national political future, though, is that voters in the new poll are evenly divided about whether she understands their problems. Three weeks ago, 60 percent said she did; now, it is 50 percent yes, 47 percent no."

[...]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/25/73747/199/586/641151

morning everyone,

I read that the GOP strategists are predicting big losses in the House and Senate....so, I guess that means our fellow Americans are finally realizing......and, here, I will use a quote from our own fellow repub Ib'er....Skinny....

"It's all a game...sometimes it's a serious game with serious consequences....nonetheless....a game..."

yes, the very serious consequences of the state of our "once" prosperous Nation, the state of a Presidential campaign that has all but become "a very unfunny joke" due to the strategies of a political party than runs on "great sound bites" buy lacks real concern for it's fellow Americans and their day to day struggles. I guess our fellow Americans have "finally" realized that they have been "had" with "good script," that has left them deep in debt with two wars raging that look like they will be stuck with for much longer than they desired to be.

Yes, they are looking at a very happy, self satisfied, completely, content, President Bush and Vice President Cheney, exiting the halls of power to return to their...comfy spralling ranches, to enjoy the fruits of their reigns, while the people they have "served" try to crawl out of the pile of muck they will be leaving behind....

yes, Skinny, I think American voters have finally realized, after two terms of folly, that politics is a game that comes with serious consequences.....but who would'a thought it would take so long and for things to get so bad for that realization to come to light, oh, I guess, that Bush charm was a lot stronger than anyone could have guessed.....where some looked and listened to him an saw a "clown" others saw and heard "their genius,".....without even having to speak in full sentences....go figure....so is the wonder of man's nature...

yes, it will be a welcome sight to awaken on Nov 5th with the GOP strategist's prediction being fulfilled.....it will be like welcoming your old but cherished friend back from their very long exile......we can awaken and say...Welcome Home America!

cross your fingers and your toes.....everyon:))ruth

If anyone out there still believes Palin was a good choice for McCain, this article may change your mind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/us/politics/25faith.html

Don't miss the videos -- the second one is pretty damned scary.

#103 "I hate those hanging participles."

Definitely the root of all evil, Sherry!

There ought to be a sacrament against it ;)

By the way, Sherry #98 was for 'you and Olivia' as well as Derek. (well, you, really, but I'm partial.)

I wonder about siamese twins, in my fluidiocy, you? And then there's voodoo.......

Why is everyone so backward?

What the heck, Ed?

Jean I understand better. I'm learning already to turn black into white. It gives me goosebumps.

I'm also discovering what extreme mental activity means. So now I'm singing (from My Fair Lady) " I was serenely independent and content before we met, but yet,...I've grown accustomed to your face, accustomed to your smile, accustomed to your ups, your downs, your silly frown..." Hmmmm.
Yum.

dude...it was a late nite at the Ranch...

a coupla clowns came in dressed up (in halloween costumes) as macinsane, bushnut and a sidekick as poopy pantz...they were drinking cheaper pints instead of the more expenseive brand names...i guess that's what these joes can afford...damn!

i can't get ova that that aging "beauty" queen from the igloo dont even know what the role of VP is...she seems even dumber than flubs and bushnut put together...is that even possible? dang......

yo granny...

if u keep fat dude on the hot seat he might reach ova for a bigger glass of CR...and then go into a rant cussing u and those (expetive) libs like there was no tomorrow....hehe!

You scratch my black
I'll turn white

Good Lord, I've puggled myself!

Yum ake mes extra mile, art wur thee

Sabian Oracle answers my personal question!

AQUARIUS 11
DURING A SILENT HOUR, A PERSON RECEIVES A NEW INSPIRATION WHICH MAY CHANGE THEIR LIFE

You may find that despite racking your brains there has been no rational guidance. You need to slow down and open up to the message of your inner inspiration. The rational mind can be so noisy and interfere with the flow of the intuition. Quieten your thoughts and let your wisdom flow. A new inspiration is coming, one that may change your life. Be still and listen!
Welling creative power. Inspiration = breathing in the spirit. Being driven to come to terms with one's reality. Spiritual awakenings. Quiet moments and meditation. Intuitive awareness rising up into conscious awareness.

The Caution: Exclusion of others. Obsession with one's self or objectives. Being a hermit. Hearing voices that confuse. Feeling trapped. Dropping things too quickly.

http://www.sabiansymbols.com/page.asp?id=968

Ed, are you yanking my chain?
Does Diablo have a resentment against fat and ugly people?
Once they have a bubble bath
there's a lot more to snuggle at
if you love them to pieces

I am happy for your new found oracle. It's most mindful of most everything.

if the three amigos are feeling a bit blue...here's something that will make u feel a little red....

"Subject: Making A Baby...

There is not one dirty word in it, and it is funny.

The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said, 'Well, I'm off now. The man should be here soon.'

Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the door bell, hoping to make a sale. 'Good morning, Ma'am', he said, 'I've come to...'

'Oh, no need to explain,' Mrs. Smith cut in,embarrassed,'I've been expecting you.'

'Have you really?' said the photographer. 'Well, that's good. Did you know babies are my specialty?'

'Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat'.

After a moment she asked, blushing, 'Well, where do we start?'

'Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there.'

'Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and me!'

'Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.'

'My, that's a lot!', gasped Mrs. Smith.

'Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be In and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that.'

'Don't I know it,' said Mrs. Smith quietly.

The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. 'This was done on the top of a bus,' he said.

'Oh, my word!' Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.

'And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with.'

'She was difficult?' asked Mrs. Smith.

'Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look'

'Four and five deep?' said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.

'Yes', the photographer replied. 'And for more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in.'

Mrs. Smith leaned forward. 'Do you mean they actually chewed on your, uh...equipment?'

'It's true, Ma'am, yes.. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away.'

'Tripod?'

'Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much too big to be held in the hand for very long.'
Mrs. Smith fainted....." hehehehehehehahahahawhoahahahahahaahha.................

You know I'm sorry I missed Deepak's televised documentary on the Kama Sutra a while back.

Old lover
My old lover and still young
Still young!

I though you were out
Out of reach

Life is talking strong
Inside hidden place

I found you sitting and waiting nothing
Still young

I cannot say many words
Words of reality or illusions
Inside this hidden place

While looking at you, a new fascination
I am falling on my vision, amazed
You are still young...

10/26 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 51, McCain 40

by DemFromCT
Sun Oct 26, 2008 at 04:48:17 AM PDT

(yesterday's numbers in parentheses)

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 51 (52) 40 (40) 3 LV
Reuters/Zogby: 49 (51) 44 (42) 2.9 LV

Yesterday
Rasmussen: 52 (52) 44 (45) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 50 (50) 43 (43) 3.4 LV
Gallup: 51 (50) 42 (42) 2 RV See also the LV I and LV II numbers
IBD/TIPP: 46 (46) 42 (42) 3.3 LV alternate link
ABC/WaPo: 53 (53) 44 (44) 3 LV

On successive individual days in the R2K poll (different than the topline, which is a combined three day sample), Obama was up +14 Thurs, +11 Friday and +9 Sat.

Both Zogby and R2K show slight McCain movement, but despite Zogby's breathless "it's getting CLOSER!", it's not clear that that's true in any meaningful way. Since this seems to be a 7-8 point race right now, I'd expect all the polls to start converging by next weekend. However, since some are using a 2004 electorate model (Zogby, IBD/TIPP, Gallup traditional), we may see tightening faster in those. Since we all expect tightening of some sort as those last few undecideds decide, at least in some polls, be prepared for the "It's tightening!" headlines. A close race is good for ratings.

[...]

Here are some recent polling highlights you might not have seen.

From Democracy Corps, polling evidence that Republicans are different than Democrats and independents:

*While a sizeable majority of voters say Republicans have lost in 2006 and 2008 because they have been "too conservative," a sizeable plurality of Republicans say, it is because they have "not been conservative enough."

*Over three-quarters of Republicans say Palin was good choice, while a majority of the electorate says the opposite.

*Two-thirds of Republicans say McCain has not been aggressive enough, but a majority of voters think they have been too aggressive.

*Looking to the future, a large majority of Republicans say the party needs to "move more to the right and back to conservative principles," while an even larger majority of all voters say, it should move to the "center to win over moderate and independent voters."

*Finally, almost 60 percent of Republicans say "if Barack Obama is elected, he will lead the country down the wrong path and Republicans should oppose his plans," while 70 percent of all voters say they "should give him the benefit of the doubt and help him achieve his plans."

From Diageo/Hotline:

*The IL Sen. has opened up a sizeable lead on who would best manage U.S. energy policies. Obama leads 51-36%; one week ago, he led 45-40%. Obama's 15% margin is his largest lead on energy since the survey completed 10/10.

*After McCain made some gains this week among men, Obama is back on top. The Dem nominee now leads men by 4%, not far off his 2% margin one week ago (in the surveyed completed 10/17). Among women, Obama maintains last week's double-digit lead.

Chris Cillizza (on the ABC/WaPo poll):

"In the latest iteration of the Washington Post/ABC News tracking poll, Barack Obama carries an 18-point edge over John McCain when voters are asked which of the two men "better understands the problems of people like you."

Fifty-five percent of the overall sample chose Obama while 37 percent opted for McCain --- numbers essentially unchanged from polling conducted by the Post/ABC as far back as early summer.

Given that gap, it's no surprise that McCain has relied heavily on the now infamous "Joe the Plumber" in the closing moments of the campaign. The image of McCain fighting for Joe and others like him is the campaign's attempt to show voters that the Arizona senator not only understands the economy but also empathizes with the plight of the average voter."

[...]
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/26/74817/150/425/642329

This is MUST READ for every politics-following intentblog reader, especially if you consider yourself a non-"idiot" Republican.

The Right's Howard Dean
by kos
Sun Oct 26, 2008

Link:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/26/901/09483/489/637180

Or CLICK my name - takes you to the article.

Quote:

"I suspect, being a veteran of our own internal power struggle, that this game will be far more enjoyable as a spectator sport, rather than as a participant. And given how bloody this is likely to be, it should be one hell of a show."

#149 Chain? It's an undersea cable, my dear.....maybe the tug of the tides?

Okay, thanks :)) We seem to be linked and winked.

Dear Ed,
That which I exclaimed was an interjectorial statement about either voodo, which is intended to shock me, or synchronicity, which is not intended. Nevertheless I am getting used to it.

Hope usse are havin' a happy Sun-ny Day.

dear poet jean
illusions or figments
of imagination

i find myself
no more concerned
on rumination
to know which is true

it already has come to be
citta - Heart over mind,
essence of a kind

feeling this touch
is sometimes too much

and then again ...

Witch, Witch!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Circe_Offering_the_Cup_to_Odysseus.jpg

A door mi-opened with a name and many

What is on your power?
Why are we in surprise meeting?

Old-black-paganist, natural-youth
Renew your posision...

Spell out black-ink on rose-sorcery
Reshape this false-white heart angel

Witch, witch missing
Dance-flying, visit with respect and firmness
Sherry, Ed, Heath, DK, Malli, all, all willing to

Spell out black-ink on rose-sorcery...

dearest Mieke,
I join in celebrating the life of your Mom, and my blessings to you and to your family, as you remember and honor her.
with love,
~ Kate

from a lovely poem
by Hafiz.

~~~~~
~~~~~

Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out
Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.
Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.

All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.

Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.

10/27 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 50, McCain 42

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/27/74022/450/872/642899

1...the rays are gettin' mugged by filies....one more game and series over...

2...the dino from zona is ill....in the head that is...he takes 20 pills a day...this dude looks older and older and uglier and uglier by the day...he might even give flabs a run for his money...when it come to ugliness.. whoahahahahahahahahhaaaaaa......

3...now that defeat is almost certain...caner gets testier and testier and angrier and angrier by the hour...dude...this is not a hot head u want answer that red fone..at 3am...nada....and what about 3 am...anyway...why not 3pm?

"what about 3 am...anyway...why not 3pm?" ~Diablo

Bathroom breaks vs. Afternoon naps

Indeed, a real dilemma for McGrandpa.

And obviously confused... is our nitwit in nappies or dipshit in diapers; Diablo.

Ohhh!!!

Yo, McCain has survived much pain in his life. Diablo, how would you deal if you were told you have cancer? Would you be as strong as McCain?

I have much admiration for McCain. He has done more in his life than I will ever accomplish. How can you ridicule someone for living their life? Walk a mile in someone's shoes.

Yo bro how cool will you be at 72?

derek

Well said Derek,

how about giving us an artist's take of this:
Crazy Tracy - This is Why America is Broken - From "Now on PBS"

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=-4wQfQtpDAc

Diablo, I think it was you who asked who Sam Harris was.
If so this might help:

http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/can-we-ever-be-right-about-right-and-wrong/

yo doodooman...
damn~

that old dude somehow thinks by standing next to caibou barbie somehow will make him look relevant...and younger....nada...

and yop doodooman...what i'm gettin' at is the campaign is taking its toll on the dude....making him age real fast...er......duh...

yo 166...

that sam dude seems a cool cat...makes an interesting point about morality...damnnnnnnnnnnnn........

Hey Skep
I have walked in those shoes. When I was 18 or so I gave myself to Jesus and no one could convince me otherwise, yo.
The older I get the less convinced I am of anything.
We all share our lives together from where we are. With the understanding we know and that understanding has been molded from a uniquely different experience for everyone. I believe it is that diversity that makes life work.

With all the shifts and leaps in consciousness over our 'human' history, there are still hunter gather people, agricultural people, flat earth people, people that still think we are the center of the universe and people that live years ahead of everyone else. And if you follow the lead of Carl Sagan, there are our ancestors, billions of years old, in no hurry and not concerned about this election in the least. Just another stepping stone.

Yo
Contact
Hadron Collider

Yo Diablo
This campaign has to be the most grueling campaign in history. I don't think I could hold up as well as either candidate.

My favorite would be nix McCain from the picture and have Palin and Fey running in 2012.

peace bro

derek

lemme giv u the staright goods dude...SP in no HRC...period...she can run in 2012 or 2020...she ain't gonnna win squat...to vote repub is to one miserable SOB...DOB ....period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the sooner poopy pantz packs hers icy sleds and slide back to her igloo the betta...for america...she's a total clown, the butt of ugly jokes...so much good judgment macane ......damnnnnnnn.....

Hey Skep
Actually that was some kind of philosophical mumbo jumbo.

From an artistic perspective, I wanted to change her bright pink shirt to something more neutral and do something with her hair. I would have put the husband in a Hawaiian shirt and maybe some shades and a hat. I would have put the camera out a to get a wider shot but zoom in a bit to get the back ground to be a little blurry. I would also introduce some smoke to create atmosphere. The whole scene was too flat and the color palette was horrible.

derek

Happy Diwali 2008, with love and blessings to all.

Dear Mieke, my heart goes out to you. Thank goodness your Mom was lucid and comfortable, and able to share her strong vision of life, in a few apparently-simple words, with those by her side at the end of her life. It was a blessing for her. And it is a blessing from her, to you and those you love.

love, h

And belated congratulations to India for its first moon flight!

Once in a while, someone writes a piece should be technically over-the-top in its use of metaphor, but it's not -- instead, it's produced with such mastery that it not only works, it's also a true delight to read. And usually such pieces are funny as hell, as well.

Hendrick Hertzberg has written such a piece for a New Yorker Magazine blog, on the timely topic of the Republican campaign's last-ditch efforts to keep itself out of its self-dug ditch. A sample follows -- enjoy!

Like, Socialism
by Hendrik Hertzberg (from the 3 Nov 2008 issue of The New Yorker Magazine)

"Sometimes, when a political campaign has run out of ideas and senses that the prize is slipping through its fingers, it rolls up a sleeve and plunges an arm, shoulder deep, right down to the bottom of the barrel. The problem for John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the Republican Party is that the bottom was scraped clean long before it dropped out. Back when the polls were nip and tuck and the leaves had not yet begun to turn..."

Link to the full blog:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/11/03/081103taco_talk_hertzberg

(or click my name)

Hold on tight
You know she's a little bit dangerous
She's got what it takes to make ends meet
The eyes of a lover that hit like heat
You know she's a little bit dangerous

You turn around, so hot and dry
You're hiding under a halo, your mouth is alive
Get out of my way, get out of my sight
I'm not attracted to go-go deeper tonight

Hey, what's your word? What's your game?
I know your business but I don't know your name...

The cool evening air is crisp and
so refreshing
I can see Jupiter and Venus so clear and bright
it is a fantastic Autumn night!

love to you Mieke,
and
IBers here in
my heart,
~ Kate

Love narrows me down
to speechless
but a tear slips easily
through the eye of needless

Dear Heath,

Thanks so much for your comforting words. I have received many from people here at IB. This is such a wonderfully good feeling, to be able to share with friends :)

Much love and friendship to all

Mieke

State of the Race: one week out

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/28/14022/313/422/644358

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kri8G-lGYfg

evening all,

youtube....rarely go there...just not that into youtube...

and, after checking out intent.com I can say that I am also not into the...and, maybe, this comes from facebook or myspace, but the....whole...so and so has this many friends and then there are pictures of the friends...like Mallika has tons and another maybe had five....kind of too highschoolish imo.....but maybe it is "the new world" of the web....

I don't really spend a bunch of time online...checking in about once a day to read some news online and then will stop here ....but other than that....not so much.

oh, saw this a minute ago....flipping through the channels and FOX TV was interviewing "Tito the builder" who was complaining about the treatment that "joe the plumber" and Palin are receiving from Obama's campaign.....please someone give "joe the plumber" some work, so we can get him out of our faces....do you believe this guy? his 15 minutes have turned into weeks...I betcha....Fox TV will give Palin her own show...really, they are so "in love" with this lady truly she is ALL they talk about...that I think they would even kick out O'Reilly...for her....and the View's Elizabeth Hasselbeck or back...not sure campaigning with her...you know things are going bad when they have to recruit Elizabeth from the View...to add a bit more "repub snot...tee....ness"..." to the stup...gee, as my nephew commented after watching the debates ...she(Palin) is really annoying..add Hasselbeck and it is annoying times two...

a week from today.....and the dumbing down of America will have had it's run for eight long years and Barak Obama and his enlightened elitist lefty liberal marxist socialists democrats may be ruling the roost......

ponderings for today....ruth

republicans do not represent what is the real american spirit...they are power hungry and nasty to the core...

they will sell their soul to the devil for the pleasure of power...they got no shame...just look at these three weird amigos...for a hint

after the votes are in one week from tonight....they are going to go in a state of shock...but when they eventually see that the difference when the country is back on track...it will then finally make sense to these knuckle heads...and maybe if they have any sense of decency...they will admit their mistake...damn1

One of our children, Alicia, was shot 16 days ago in South Tuscon. She is still in intensive care. She ended up in between two rival gangs and was hit in the abdomen. The bullet went straight through but caused a lot of damage on the way through. Everyday is a new struggle for life.

She is 2I and has been attending school at the University of Arizona as a dancer, her dream and goal ever since she was big enough to dance around our studio.
Alicia needs some extra energy right now as she is weakening from not being able to eat since she was shot. Most of her organs were damaged from the shock wave of the bullet.

peace and love Alicia, your soul glows bright in my eyes and heart

derek

sometimes
and i'm not sure why
the strongest and brightest
are tested
in the most fierce way
in the brightest hottest fires
what continues is a soul
born of passion and grace
a soul of unique beauty
this is you Alicia before this moment
this will be you Alicia ten times over
in the years to come
your beauty and grace

derek

the dino from zona calls barack the wealth distributor..."spreading the wealth"....

well ...i got news for this hypocrite...

who the f...is speading american wealth all over iraq? nearly a trillion dollars of it...and nothing to show for it in return except more enemies...

i guess he and all his twisted supporters have no trouble with that..

dear Derek,
I offer my prayers and best wishes for healing for Alicia
and my love to you,
~ Kate

Dear Derek,

My heart goes out to you and Alicia.
Am praying for her and send healing energy.
Sending you both my blessings and love.

Mieke

That's cruel of fate, Derek, and I'm rooting for Alicia to come out strong.

Love to all the family at this anxious time.

Ed.

Hi Derek,

It is very shocking to read that your child, Alicia, was shot and is in intensive care so it is easy to imagine how you must be feeling right now....I hope Alicia get better with each passing day....keeping you and your family in my thoughts and prayers...ruth

Hi Derek, I am sure you have the strength to be strong in this tough situation. I am glad she has someone in you to standby and guide her through. I hope she overcomes this critical situation and makes a speedy recovery to normal health and pursue her young dreams with renewed vigor.

It's Diwali, Festival of Lights in India comes to an end.

No big news in India.

*Moon flight in journey...

*(Anti-immigrant/from Northern parts of India)Violence in Mumbai... supposed to be the NY city of India in its cosmopolitan nature, but lately the city is falling off into intolerance.

*A major Earth quake in Pakistan, couple of hundred killed, tens of thousands displaced.

derek...
sorry to hear about ur tragedy...

ours prayers are with u and alicia in this our of sorrow...peace bro!