ELECTIONS
What is Foreign Money Buying In Washington DC
Palestinian Brothers Gave Obama $31,000 from GAZA strip.
The Federal Election Commission was prepared to sweep aside formal demands for a full audit of irregularities in the Obama campaign until the idea of Hillary Clinton being Secretary of State surfaced. More specifically are monies flowing from foreigners and foreign governments to former President Bill Clinton and into the Obama’s pockets.
The rub with the FEC is concerns can also include receiving money from foreign donors. The FEC compiled a list last month of more than 16,000 contributions from overseas sources. A Newsmax survey of roughly one-fifth of those names found 118 individuals who appeared to be foreign citizens.
Non-U. S. citizens are forbidden from contributing and more specifically campaigns, if knowing, are prohibited from accepting such contributions lest foreigners and foreign governments buy influence.
4,000 contributors to the Obama campaign exceeded the $2,300 individual limits and could be prosecuted and if found guilty fined and even imprisoned.
So, will the commission act now? Incoming commissioners Don McGahn, a Republican, and Cynthia Bauerly, a Democrat, insisted that they would hear cases at the FEC in terms of their merits, not party affiliation.
One egregious example is contribution from two brothers in the Gaza Strip, Hosam and Monir Edwan. Together, they gave over $31,000 to the Obama campaign. The brothers listed their address as Gaza Strip, Rafah,” and used a foreign currency credit card to make their donations.
Obama’s campaign also received millions of dollars in cash cards where a person buys the card for cash, contributes without name or address being reported. In one case an individual bought out a retailers supply with a stack of $100 bills.
Partisans are pointing out that this does not reflect the idea of “change” or “reform.”
At minimum say critics Obama’s campaign should be thoroughly vetted as former President Clinton financed investigated to remove any doubt of foreign influence or expose it if it exists.
Democrats Two Senate Seats Short Of Veto Proof
Chambliss and Coleman Seats on knife’s edge.
Republican incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss holds a four-point lead over Democratic challenger Jim Martin in Georgia ’s closely-watched Senate runoff race, according to the first Rasmussen 
Reports survey in the state since Election Day.
A runoff is required since no one security a majority of the vote on November 4th ,Chambliss leads 50% to 46%, with the vote scheduled for December 2. Only four percent (4%) are undecided. At present Democrats have a 56 advantage; plus one avowed Socialist and an independent (Lieberman) who caucus with the Democrats - two short of a veto proof Senate and hence Congress.
The Minnesota race between uber-leftist, and sarcastic un-funny man Al Franken and bland Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is in a manual recount. They were separated by 209 votes of 2.9 million cast but Coleman’s lead as of 7:03 AM Thursday is 179 due to results from liberal, urban St. Louis County Franken has sued to count absentee ballots even if received late.
Franken’s camp estimates that as many as 250 volunteer attorneys will descend on the state.
Coleman is a former Mayor of St, Paul; first term Senator elected in 2002, a previous member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Coleman switched to the Republican Party of Minnesota in 1996. In 1998 he lost a bid for Governor of Minnesota against former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura , a member of the Reform Party of Minnesota , and Democratic Farmer Labor candidate Hubert H. “Skip” Humphrey III .
Recounting costs about 3 cents per ballot or $87,000 but before every legal challenge is resolved could consume millions of dollars.
Ballot Proposition Roundup (Partial)
…at all levels voters considered nearly a thousand referenda and initiatives on the November ballot.
Same-sex marriage bans passed in California , Arizona and Florida got a lot of attention and bring to 30 the number of states with prohibitions in their constitutions to block same-sex unions. A Connecticut judge decreed same sex marriage OK there. Voters in Arkansas stopped adoptions of children by homosexuals.
Voters in Colorado and South Dakota rejected sweeping bans on abortion that could have tested Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that provided women seeking abortions with legal protections. A third abortion measure — requiring doctors to notify parents of minors before performing the procedure — failed in California .
Washington became only the second state after Oregon to allow doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. Michigan lifted a 30-year ban on stem-cell research. Nebraska agreed to ban affirmative action. President-elect Obma is expected the end the ban on human fetal stem cell research by executive order as soon as he takes office January 20th .
Massachusetts rejected a plan to eliminate the state’s income tax, a proposal that could have cut the state’s budget by more than 40%. North Dakotans declined to cut the state’s personal income tax in half and reduce the corporate income tax by 15%, moves that would have slashed the state’s budget by about 17%. In Oregon , a proposal to allow residents to deduct federal taxes from their state income tax returns failed; the measure would have trimmed the state’s budget by about $1 billion. Coloradans refused to create a savings account for public schools that would have used money otherwise returned to residents as rebates under the state’s landmark Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
Voters in Massachusetts and Michigan relaxed penalties for the possession and use of marijuana. Massachusetts became the first state to decriminalize the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana via ballot initiative, while Michigan became the 13th state — and first in the Great Lakes or Midwest — to sign off on use of the drug for medical purposes.
Washington voters easily approved - by a 58.7%t to 41.3% margin - a “death with dignity” law modeled on Oregon ’s, which took effect in 1997. More than 340 patients have taken lethal prescriptions in the decade since Oregon ’s law was enacted. Some think doctor-assisted suicide is “something that could be coming down the pike in other states” after Washington ’s approval.
South Dakota voters rejected a proposal to repeal legislative term limits. Colorado rejected a plan to lower age limits for those serving in the General Assembly. Perhaps most significantly, Californians were considering giving redistricting authority to an independent commission instead of the state Legislature, a proposal that has failed five times before in the Golden State . With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the proposal was ahead by the narrowest of margins.
California became the latest state to approve a measure requiring more humane conditions for farm animals. But the proposal would not go into effect until 2015. Similar proposals won approval in Florida in 2002 and Arizona in 2006.
America Divided Into Literate And Illiterate
Ten Million Adults Can Not Read, 50 Million More Read at 4th and 5th Grade Level.
There are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent of whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth-grade level. Nearly a third of the nation’s population is 
illiterate or barely literate if a November 12, 2008 analysis by Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com is correct.
Hedges’ premise is of an America split between a literate minority with the tools to cope and a majority that “exists in a non-reality-based belief system. …dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture. It cannot differentiate between lies and truth.”
“A third of high school graduates, along with 42 percent of college graduates, never read a book after they finish school. Eighty percent of the families in the United States last year did not buy a book, “ he says.
American political campaigns, which have learned to speak in the comforting epistemology of images, eschew real ideas and policy for cheap slogans and reassuring personal narratives. Political propaganda now masquerades as ideology.
The illiterate and semi-literate, once the campaigns are over, remain powerless. They still cannot protect their children from dysfunctional public schools. They still cannot understand predatory practices.
Political leaders in our post-literate society no longer need to be competent, sincere or honest. They only need to appear to have these qualities. Most of all they need a story, a narrative. The reality of the narrative is irrelevant. It can be completely at odds with the facts he thinks.
We are repeatedly fed words or phrases like yes we can, maverick, change, pro-life, hope or war on terror. Hedges sarcastically, “It feels good not to think. All we have to do is visualize what we want, believe in ourselves and summon those hidden inner resources, whether divine or national, that make the world conform to our desires. Reality is never an impediment to our advancement.”
News, political debate, theater, art and books are judged not on the power of their ideas but on their ability to entertain. Cultural products that force us to examine ourselves and our society are condemned as elitist and impenetrable.
Predictably, given his background and personal proclivities Hedges says, “Huge segments of our population, especially those who live in the embrace of the Christian right and the consumer culture, are completely unmoored from reality. They lack the capacity to search for truth and cope rationally with our mounting social and economic ills.”
All the traditional tools of democracies, including dispassionate scientific and historical truth, facts, news and rational debate, are useless instruments in a world that lacks the capacity to use them.
In addition to the Christian right Hedges blames, among others, “our entertainment industry and our political demagogues — who will offer increasingly absurd forms of escapism.”
I find myself caught up in and grudgingly agreeing with Hedges’ sarcasm and pessimism. Yesterday I was asked to decide an argument about the meaning of a “Yes” or “No” vote on a recent ballot measure. One side laughably uninformed thanks to the most pathetically cursory reading of the proposition testified to Hedges’ premise.
Christopher Lynn Hedges (born 18 September 1956 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont) is a journalist and author, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and society.
He is a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, is a Senior Fellow at the Nation Institute. His latest book is Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians.
Hedges is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City and a Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than fifty countries, and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, where he was a reporter for fifteen years.
You Can’t Beat This for Hypocrisy
During his 2002 Georgia Senate race, current US Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) ran the following political ad about his opponent, disabled, decorated Viet Nam war veteran former Senator Max Cleland.
2002 Chambliss Ad Against Max Cleland
url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKFYpd0q9nE
Due in part to this ad Saxby Chambliss won that election in what most media outlets reported as a “surprise upset”.
Here’s how PBS’ NewsHour reported the Chambliss win:
” The victory follows a heated campaign characterized by ugly campaign ads during the race’s final weeks. One Chambliss ad, according to the Journal-Constitution, attempted to portray Cleland’s procedural votes on setting up the proposed Department of Homeland Security as opposition to the president’s efforts to defend the homeland.
Sen. Zell Miller, a fellow Georgia Democrat, appeared in a Cleland spot to defend his Senate colleague.
‘It’s disgraceful for anybody to question Max Cleland’s commitment to our national security,’ Miller said. Pointing to Cleland’s record in the Vietnam War, during which he lost both legs and an arm, Miller said ‘Max Cleland is my hero,’ and his ‘opponent should be ashamed.’
Chambliss backed a version of the homeland security legislation that would set aside employee union rules to allow President Bush to hire and fire federal workers in the new department. Cleland supported a version more favorable to those unions, which contributed heavily to his campaign, the Journal-Constitution reported.
Cleland consultant Karl Struble told Cox News Service the Chambliss ads used ’some of the ugliest stuff I’ve ever seen,’ including ‘using pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein … They’re taking lying to a new art form in that race.’ Chambliss media consultant, meanwhile, said Cleland’s ads are ’so over the top negative’ that they seemed designed to disgust uncommitted voters and keep them from the polls, Cox News Service reported.
On the issues, Chambliss and Cleland also sparred over a potential move to allow workers to direct some Social Security payments into private investment. Cleland was against such a move; Chambliss supported it. They also differed on health care and the president’s economic plan.”
Of course by 2002 the Republicans were honing their craft and knew that a smear campaign could be effective even if the target was a decorated war veteran. After all, in the 2000 Republican presidential primary, a highly effective smear campaign was waged against former Viet Nam POW and war hero Arizona Senator John McCain.
So in 2002 CNN quoted Senator John McCain as saying the following when heard about the ad that the Chambliss campaign had run against a fellow war veteran:
“I’d never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful. It’s reprehensible.”
And who did Georgians send to the Senate in 2002? It seems that it was a man who never met a corporate lobbyists that he didn’t like.
Chambliss\’ links to corporate money
url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2yzTEkTSro
Now it’s 2008 and Senator John McCain, who during the course of this year’s presidential campaign reminded us time and time and time again of his war record, is traveling to Georgia to help his “friend” Saxby Chambliss win a run-off election against his Democratic opponent Jim Martin.
You Simply Can’t Beat This for Hypocrisy
Sen. Chambliss one young voter ( and millions like him) are determined to shine a light on this hypocrisy and encourage Georgia voters to go to the polls on December 2nd and elect Democrat Jim Martin.
Vote for Jim Martin on December 2nd
url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVXX7-Xx38E
crossposted at Get the Facts and Get Involved
Election Jones
I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. All my hopes and dreams had come to fruition last Tuesday, I should be feeling great. And I was—for about two days after the election.
For a couple of days there I felt vindicated, optimistic, proud and giddy high. Obama heralds a new age, or, at the very least, the end of an old, used-up one. And I still believe those things.
So why do I have the shakes? Why this nervous feeling of unease, of something missing, why do I have the rocking pneumonia and the boogie-woogie flu? Why am I sweating like a Mormon missionary being chased by a pack of pissed off homosexuals in San Francisco?
I mean, I’m not gay, nobody destroyed my marriage last week, just for spite. So what has my skin all itchy-twitchy and my guts in an uproar? Why is my achy-breaky heart pounding like it’s auditioning for the hip hop awards?
We won, right?
And then I got it. Yes, we won, and that means it’s over. I’m not depressed about the outcome, I’m in withdrawal. I’ve spent the last twenty-four months mainlining news, conflict, opinion and drama daily. I’m coming down hard off a two-year-long, four-hour-a-day habit. The excitement is gone, the suspense is gone, the conflict is gone, the drama is gone, I’m jonesing my ass off.
My name is Snark and I’m an election junkie. I bet some of you are too.
That’s the most important thing to remember, we are not alone. There are millions of us. A nation that last week provided pure, uncut, election buzz for zero dollars a gram 
has now dried up totally. There isn’t a good election high on offer anywhere. And the cheap, Al Franken, senate race stuff doesn’t cut it; it’s just seeds and stems.
It’s all gone now, not a thrill to be had. And if you think it’s bad for us, what about the TV news opinion pushers? We’re talking Panic in Pundit Park.
Unfortunately, there is no 12 step program for us election junkies, no media methadone to help us come down slow. We have to do it ourselves.
I’ve been trying to do just that, but it’s really hard. I’m trying to get clean, to restart my normal life. But it’s hard to get reacquainted with the wife and kids when you’re on the toilet half the time. It’s hard to concentrate on your work when your sweaty fingers have a mind of their own and go blog crazy on the office keyboard, searching desperately for an election fix that isn’t there.
I got so pathetic I spent an hour googling Ted Stevens at 3 AM while my wife cried tears of loneliness in our cold, empty bed. That’s when I knew I’d hit rock bottom. It was time to get straight or die.
It’s been rough, I won’t kid you. There have been times I didn’t think I would make it.
But with Jesus’s help and a whole lot of heroin I’m getting my life back. I’m in recovery now, I admitted my powerlessness over my addiction, put my life in the hands of a higher power and, little by 
little, I’m getting better.
So can you, if you admit your affliction and treat your malady like the disease it is. You aren’t depressed, you aren’t unhappy, your life isn’t a total mess, you are in withdrawal, you are kicking, admit that and you have a fighting chance.
One day at a time, my friends. At least for the next thousand days. After that the 2012 campaign will be in full swing and the election dope will flow like water.
I already feel a relapse coming on.
Who Can You Believe?
Most Say Mainstream Media Biased — Pollsters Join Bias Bunch
A majority of Americans believe media coverage attempted to influence the election for Barack Obama. On Monday the ombudsman for the Washington Post admitted the newspaper’s political coverage was heavily biased to elect Barack Obama.
Now comes a Fordham University Analysis by its Department of Political Science of the 20-major pollsters that appears to confirm he same bias by media to manipulate polling data to influence the election.
The Fordham University Analysis ranks the 20 leading pollsters in order of performance.
1. Rasmussen (11/1-3)**
1. Pew (10/29-11/1)**
2. YouGov/Polimetrix (10/18-11/1)
3. Harris Interactive (10/20-27)
4. GWU (Lake/Tarrance) (11/2-3)*
5. Diageo/Hotline (10/31-11/2)*
5. ARG (10/25-27)*
6. CNN (10/30-11/1)
6. Ipsos/McClatchy (10/30-11/1)
7. DailyKos.com (D)/Research 2000 (11/1-3)
8. AP/Yahoo/KN (10/17-27)
9. Democracy Corps (D) (10/30-11/2)
10. FOX (11/1-2)
11. Economist/YouGov (10/25-27)
12. IBD/TIPP (11/1-3)
13. NBC/WSJ (11/1-2)
14. ABC/Post (10/30-11/2)
15. Marist College (11/3)
16. CBS (10/31-11/2)
17. Gallup (10/31-11/2)
18. Reuters/ C-SPAN/ Zogby (10/31-11/3)
19. CBS/Times (10/25-29)
20. Newsweek (10/22-23)
Most notable among them is the miserable performance of the major US television networks that had “error” rates between 57% and 83%. ABC, CBS and NBC consistently announced Obama with a double digit lead.
Once again Rasmussen hit the nail on the head as it did in 2004. Pew Research tied it for accuracy this year. Newsweek was worst.
NO ON 8 AND OBAMA …… NOT A GOOD MARRIAGE
Okay, I’ll admit it, I did read the LA Times this week. For those who find that particularly abhorrent, I suppose you can delete this message (and perhaps permanently place me in your spam file). But for those who will forgive me, a recent op/ed caught my attention and to save you the indignation and need to go to the pharmacy to procure anti-allergy pills, I thought I’d cut and paste just one paragraph for you.
Many people wrongfully assumed that those voters who were for Obama would also be for Prop 8. This assumption was based on the wrongheaded belief that Obama voters would never support any proposition which could be framed as being against civil rights. This belief was not only wrongheaded but also in my mind, it continues the usual misunderestimation (one of the few good Bush malapropisms) of the Black community.
Ms. Cannick’s op/ed surmises the following: the high turnout of new Black voters for Obama coupled with the audacity to hope that the Black community would march like lemmings lockstep with the NO on Prop 8 bandwagon, may have just led to the passage of Prop 8.
In her article, Jasmyne Cannick, a self-avowed Black lesbian writer, says the following:
But the black civil rights movement was essentially born out of and driven by the black church; social justice and religion are inextricably intertwined in the black community. To many blacks, civil rights are grounded in Christianity — not something separate and apart from religion but synonymous with it. To the extent that the issue of gay marriage seemed to be pitted against the church, it was going to be a losing battle in my community.
I agree wholeheartedly with this. The likely highly paid consultants for the No on 8 Committee failed to see this and their misreading of the situation at hand, coupled with the insanely high Black voter registration and turnout numbers likely had as much to do with the Passage of this Proposition as anything else.
Unintended Consequences
President elect Barack Obama. The country really did it but now we all wonder what will an Obama presidency mean? One thing everyone agrees on is that Obama and his fellow Democrats will be raising our taxes; the only question is what income level will it be based on. I don’t think it really matters as it will be the difference between high and higher taxes. For in addition to federal income taxes, there is also talk of increasing payroll taxes, capital gains taxes, taxes on small businesses and the list goes on and on. That’s just federal taxes; states are also proposing new tax increases. For example, in New York, Bloomberg has already announced higher taxes in the form of tolls on all bridges and has even proposed a tax on plastic bags at the grocery store.
There is, however, good news for some people. No, I don’t mean the low income or no income groups whose outstretched hands will finally be filled. I have a completely different group in mind. For if you find your taxes going higher and higher there is one thing most people could do that will immediately lower your tax burden. What is this talisman to protect you from more taxes? Move to a state without income taxes!
Seven states currently do not have state income taxes: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. I truly doubt if too many people would be interested in moving to Alaska, South Dakota or Wyoming, especially as I just heard that in this, the first week of November, South Dakota had over 30 inches of snow! That leaves Florida, Nevada, Texas and Washington as possible relocation sites for overtaxed folks from the other 43 states.
If you are an employer who wants to either get out from the burden of your taxes or open a new plant or office you will also consider one other important aspect - right to work. Florida, Nevada and Texas are all right to work states meaning that employees can’t be forced to join a union but instead can decide for themselves if they want to join one. With the potential passage of the new union open voting law, the option to join or not may become an increasingly important one to both business owners and employees.
Once the higher taxes start to impact people, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a small boomlet in Florida, Nevada and Texas as people move here to escape their high state taxes. All three states also have large retiree populations and with a lot of people retiring in the near future there is no reason to think that they wouldn’t continue to retire there. This could help the lagging new housing construction and the sales of existing houses in these states. The economy may not be ripe for new businesses, yet I would think that if it were to occur it would happen in greater proportions in Florida, Nevada and Texas. I could also envision that more companies will relocate to these states, too. They offer ideal situations; no state taxes, right to work, lower housing prices than in many areas and not to forget Florida and Nevada’s warm climates.
If you currently live in Florida, Nevada or Texas you are already benefiting from having lower taxes. But if there is a small migration of people and companies to your states then this could mean a faster recovery of the housing market along with increased state revenue from the larger populations. Plus more people mean more business for your local stores. The job market might also increase if companies do start to relocate to your state, too.
I think that it would be extremely ironic if Florida and Texas were to benefit from the increased taxes as proposed by the liberals. Ever since the Bush elections liberals have despised Floridians with an intensity I have never seen before. To a lesser extent they also dislike Texas which is the heart of Bush country and southern Republicans. (Nevada, unfortunately, is Harry Reid’s state and as such is beloved by Democrats.)
So maybe Texans and Floridians should feel a bit smug when they hear how Obama and the liberals plan to raise taxes for they know that they could actually benefit from it! Now all they need to do is make sure the folks who move into their states to avoid higher taxes eventually become good southern republicans who will vote against Obama in 2012!
U. S. 56th Consecutive Quadrennial Election
More Of The Same With A Couple Important New Wrinkles
November 4, 2008, was the 56th consecutive quadrennial United States presidential election to select the President and the Vice President of the United States. It was the first time since 1952 that neither an incumbent president nor vice president was on the ballot.
122.7 million voted almost exactly the same as 2004 despite wild predictions about turnout. The much touted “youth vote” (18-30) simply didn’t show up reaching about 11% as it did in 2004 with 64% going to Obama. Blacks did increase their vote from 11% to 13% with 93% going to Obama. White men went to McCain while women of all ethnicities went to Obama.
Obama spent $638 million and McCain $360 million and when other candidates are added more than $1 billion was spent, and that was a record.
Electing Another Baby Boomer
No surprise that journalists are continuing to get something wrong but it is really bugging me. After the election I keep hearing and reading how we have elected our first post Vietnam president; a man who isn’t a baby boomer. They have the first part right but the second part is wrong. Barack Obama is a baby boomer.
Baby boomers were the children of the Greatest Generation who were settling down, marrying and having children after World War II. To be specific, demographers have always defined boomers as those born from 1946 to 1964. Yes, this is a large group of births but most people don’t realize that the peak of births didn’t occur until 1957. In total, nearly 76 million babies were born during the baby boom and half were born from 1956 to 1964.
Although Barack is an exception, many of these second wave of baby boomers were the younger brothers and sisters of the older baby boomers. Although they are all boomers, the journalists were right in that these two groups had very different life experiences. The older boomers were teens or young adults during most of the Vietnam War and were at the forefront of all the movements of the 1960’s; civil rights, women rights, gay rights. While the younger boomers were, well, young.
I should know as I, too, was a baby boomer born during the second half of this demographic group. This topic, especially the major differences of the two groups has always fascinated me. For example, don’t ask my fellow younger boomers where they were when Kennedy was shot because they’ll be quick to tell you that they were still in diapers or just learning to walk at the time. But do ask us where we were in 1981 when Reagan was shot or when the Challenger exploded, two events which greatly impacted us for we were teens or young adults at the time. As for the pivotal year of 1968, when so much seemed to happen in our country, the youngest boomers ranged in age from 4 to 11 years old. Personally my only memory of the assassination of Martin Luther King was being angry that my cartoons on TV had been canceled for the news coverage.
So Barack Obama is as much of a baby boomer as Bill Clinton or George Bush. I am sure this will frustrate anyone born after 1964 because the rest of the country is definitely tired of baby boomers. Yet as part of the second wave of boomers he does have a much different life experience than the older boomers. He, himself, has already alluded to this when he was defending his association with Bill Ayers by saying he was only 8 when Ayers was bombing buildings. He truly is a post Vietnam child who grew up in a world that was different from the past boomer presidents. Yet, let there be no mistake on this, Barack Obama is still a baby boomer.
Secret Stunner Immediately Follows Obama Election
Ralph Nader got less than 1 percent of the vote — actually losing to low fat milk.
By a 52% to 46% popular vote margin yielding a 349 to 161 Electoral College bulge Barrack Obama resoundingly defeated John McCain. Massachusetts legalized marijuana use. San Francisco rejected legal prostitution. But, T. Boone Pickens managed to get screwed poured tens of millions into a California proposition to advance his clean fuel ballot proposition but lost both his money and at the ballot box. It appears Californians has voted for the second time to ban homosexual marriage. Democrats now control 253 seats in the House of Representatives to 182 for the GOP. Democrats failed to get a filibuster proof senate controlling 54 Senate seats to 42 for the GOP ensuring it an obstructionist role.
In what can be seen as the first problem to face the new U. S. President IsraelNN.com released a breathtaking story first printed in the Lebanese newspaper al-Ahbar, saying Barrack Obama has secretly told Abbas that he supports a Palestinian state, and Arab “rights to east Jerusalem” as well. The sources said Abbas and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad “heard the best things they ever heard from an American president.” Sources quoted in the report, said the U. S. President elect Obama asked them to keep his declaration a secret. The story included the quote “…The PA hopes that the next American president will fulfill his commitment towards the Palestinians and pressure Israel.”
On Wednesday Voice of Israel government radio reported Arabs living in the Gaza were reportedly celebrating in the streets with impromptu demonstrations, waving flags of the terrorist organization Hamas.
God Bless America
I am so very proud of my country. I may not agree with the country’s decision but that doesn’t take away my love and pride of my fellow citizens. The election of Barack Obama is not something I wanted yet it is something I can understand. Listening to his victory speech I was once again struck by his blend of preaching and orating that lifted his speeches into inspiring sermons of hope and change. You had to have a heart of stone to not be affected by these speeches. I was also moved by the look on the faces of those listening to him. From long-term politicians to Hollywood to average people, all had a look of pure adoration while tears of joy creased their cheeks. I truly am happy for them, especially the new voters; the young college kids who got involved for the first time and the African Americans who will now understand that their vote matters, that they matter.
This country made history last night in electing its first African American president. We also did something that continues to awe the rest of the world; a peaceful transition of power between two opposing groups. I think many people were worried about the election process itself. On top of the concerns that ACORN generated, it seemed as if every news channel was requesting that you call them if you see voter fraud. But there were no major or even minor problems which is pretty incredible. We had more people voting and though the polling places were definitely overtaxed it still worked. And again, kudos to the people themselves who stood in lines for 3 or 4 or even 5 hours so that they could vote.
Today is not the time to discuss why I disagree with Obama on almost all of his political ideas or even to analyze what his presidency might bring. There will be four long years for that. No, today is for the victors. To celebrate this great victory, not only over John McCain, who did a valiant job, but a victory over one of the last vestiges of our national nightmare, slavery and the continued ill treatment of a large segment of our society. America will never be perfect, no one or country is, yet we have showed the world, and more importantly ourselves, that after last night we are one step closer to completely fulfilling our country’s promise as set forth in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
God Bless America
Judge Rules On Disenfranchised Military Could Change Virginia Vote
McCain Sues To Extend Deadline Because Ballots Were Mailed Late. Federal Judge Orders Ballots Preserved Until He Can Rule at Mid Month.
A 1986 federal law requires ballots to be mailed to military voters in foreign countries at least 45 days before the election, which this year would have been Sept. 20. But, tens of thousands of active duty military ballots were not mailed in time to be received and returned by 7PM deadline tonight to be counted. John McCain has filed a federal lawsuit demanding a new deadline of November 14th be set to ensure active duty military some serving in remote areas are not disenfranchised. Those votes could change the result in Virginia and its 13 electoral votes and change the outcome of the presidential election.
Around 3PM PST a Federal Judge ordered over seas ballots “preserved” until he can rule in mid-November, If it is close his ruling will become critical.
Most states require permanent absentee ballots to be mailed 30-days in advance of election.
A federal judge rejected an NAACP lawsuit, alleging Virginia allotted too few voting machines for the enormous number of voters in majority black precincts expected to be drawn by the prospect of electing Obama as the first black president demanding extended deadlines. The same judge will hear McCain’s lawsuit at 1:30 p.m. EST today
The Shadow Man
I’ve been listening to a lot of pundits this weekend so I am sorry that I can’t remember who said this but somebody stated that the election is now between Obama and himself. Either you are voting for Obama or you are voting against him. And that made a lot of sense to me because Senator McCain has never really stood out. It felt as if he were a shadow to Obama’s incandescent personality. McCain was never able to define himself with a single message which stuck unlike Obama’s continuous message of hope and change. Even worse, McCain let Obama define who he was.
Actually, I believe that McCain’s campaign has been overshadowed by three people. From the start Obama associated McCain with President Bush. At first the comparison was used to paint him as someone who will keep us in the Iraq war and perhaps get us into new wars. (By the way, did anybody see the big coverage on the news stating that October had the lowest level of deaths in Iraq? No, I didn’t see that either….)
When the economy blew up, McCain had the chance to get away from the Bush label. He tried to take control but he fumbled this opportunity so that Obama was once again viewed as the one who was on top of the issue and had the answers. Actual truth doesn’t matter as long as people believed that the economic problems were due to Bush, and that McCain is just more of the same. Obama’s continuous advertisements showing Bush’s face made it nearly impossible for McCain to break out from behind Bush’s shadow.
The second person who defined McCain’s campaign was his choice for VP, Sarah Palin. This governor appeared out of nowhere and initially electrified the Republican Party. She became the face of McCain’s campaign as McCain himself once again drifted out of sight. Some say she is still an asset to McCain by energizing the conservatives in the party and appealing to the women voters. Others will argue that she was detrimental because of her inexperience which was highlighted by her less than stellar interviews with Gibson and Curic. But, love her or hate her she became the face of the Republican ticket and overshadowed McCain who got lost in the background.
The “October surprise” was the best thing to happen to McCain. For the last person who defined McCain’s campaign is none other than Joe the Plumber. His random question nearly brought down Obama. First, everybody likes and relates to Joe the Plumber, an average guy with dreams of making it rich someday. But Obama’s answer to “spread the wealth” is anathema to all conservatives and even some independents. For the first time it showed the true intent of this most liberal candidate.
But what really had people rallying around Joe was the outrageous treatment of the press. Conservatives had already been incensed when the press attacked Palin and her family a month ago but as she was a public figure it went with the territory. Conversely, Joe the Plumber is one of us so when the press attacked him and divulged private information it truly angered the public. For the first time McCain had a face which complemented him instead of eclipsing him.
I believe that McCain was overshadowed by Bush, Palin and Joe the Plumber and only the last was truly advantageous to him. Against him is Barack Obama, the unknown freshman senator, who’s strong and commanding presence combined with a brilliant campaign has totally eclipsed John McCain just as he had earlier defeated Hillary Clinton.
On Tuesday it appears that more people will be voting for Obama than against, except for the 1 in 7 that are still undefined. Personally I think they will actually end up voting against Obama. Their long hesitation is likely due to the fact that it might feel a bit uncomfortable to pull the lever for Obama. Maybe it’s his race or perhaps it is simply that foreign looking name but many of these undecided will turn to McCain.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it will matter in the long run. McCain has spent too long in Obama’s shadow and like the groundhog in February, this means that the Republicans are in for a long dark winter.
Obama In Another Sgt. Schultz Moment.
Didn’t know impoverished aunt is illegal; living in taxpayer paid housing but took her money.
Barack Obama said Saturday he didn’t know his aunt was living in the United States illegally nor apparently kn
ew she was impoverished and living in taxpayer paid housing or for that matter he had accepted contributions from her.
The Associated Press found that Obama’s aunt had been ordered to leave the country four years ago by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum from her native Kenya. The 56-year old woman, Zeituni Onyango (zay-TUHN on-YANG-oh), lives in taxpayer subsidized public housing in Boston and is the half-sister of Obama’s late father.
Obama says he first met his father’s side of the family when he traveled to Africa 20 years ago. He referred to Onyango as “Auntie Zeituni” when describing the trip in his memoir, saying she was “a proud woman.”
Obama’s campaign said he had seen her a few times since that meeting, beginning with a return trip to Kenya with his future wife, Michelle, in 1992. Onyango visited the family in Chicago on a tourist visa at Obama’s invitation about nine years ago, the campaign said, stopping to visit friends on the East Coast before returning to Kenya.
Onyango’s refusal to leave the country would represent an administrative, noncriminal violation of immigration law, meaning such cases are handled outside the criminal court system. Estimates vary, but many experts believe there are more than 10 million such immigrants in the U.S.
According to Federal Election Commission documents filed by the Obama campaign, Onyango has contributed $260 to Obama over a period of time. Under federal election law, only U.S. citizens or green-card holders are legally permitted to give money to campaigns. Onyango, who listed her employer as the Boston Housing Authority, gave in small increments to the Obama campaign.
Obama’s half-brother was discovering living in a hovel without sewage or running water in Kenya on pennies a day and critics are pointing out that the multi-millionaire Obama who often preaches Christian charity has not been charitable even to his own family and the discovery of his impoverished aunt — living on public assistance — giving him money has reinvigorated cries of hypocrisy.
ICE issued a peculiar order Friday stopping deportations before Tuesday’s election unless approved at least at the level of the agency’s regional directors.
Obama, Boston’s Mayor and the head of Boston’s Housing Authority are all doing their best imitation of Sgt. Schultz of Hogan’s Heros. Mayor Thomas Menino said Saturday that he had no idea how Onyango might have qualified for public housing with a standing deportation order. He said he’s not involved in the operations of the agency, even though he appoints the head, because it runs mainly on federal and state dollars. William McGonagle, deputy director of the Boston Housing Authority, said when contacted: “I know nothing about it and I’ve got no comment.”
A Lesson on Democracy
A teacher wrote to tell me that she had asked her high school students to evaluate the convention speeches by the two candidates. She looked up the speeches shown on CNN and wrote “Obama’s has a grand introduction with inspiring music, 5 minutes of thundering applause, and panning the cheering stadium. McCain’s begins with his speech and a shot of a guy in the back holding a sign that says McCain does NOT support vets.” The sad state of the media is that stories like this are no longer unusual and you almost begin to expect this kind of biased coverage of the two candidates.
The writer then concluded “I try very hard to give a favorable introduction to both candidates, without bias, and also include the ideas that we benefit greatly from a 2 party system rather than a totalitarian 1 party system.” Wow. How disturbing is that? You would think that by high school the students would know about our history, our heritage as a democratic country and why this is better than a one party government. It is scary to think that the idea of America is something that now needs to be taught.
As for this election, I have no doubt that the majority of teenagers are supporting the young black man versus the old white guy. There is more than some truth in the old joke about being idealistic when young but becoming conservative the moment you get your first paycheck. When you don’t have any money it is easy to agree with Obama’s “spreading the wealth”. Anyway, I am sure the teens are very enthusiastic supporters of Obama and probably wouldn’t listen if someone tried to tell them otherwise.
Maybe this teacher has the right idea; to try to be unbiased and yet to expose the students to the blatant misuse of power by the media in favor of Obama. On one hand, you hate to disillusion the teens by showing them the seamier side of politics or even by helping them see for themselves that this is yet one more instance where life is not fair. So finding the bias on their own might make them more cynical and distrustful of not just the politicians but also of the supposedly unbiased media. Yet lessons like this will better equip them to make judgments about what they are seeing, and to learn to question even what “trusted” authoritative figures are telling them. And that might be a good idea after all.
Why do we vote on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November?
…not because it took Scots that long to sober up after Halloween.
In its early years Americans were predominantly church-going farming society. So law makers took that into account in setting election dates. November was perhaps the most convenient month for farmers and rural workers to be able to travel to the polls.
The fall harvest was over, (remember that spring was planting time and summer was taken up with working the fields and tending the crops). Plus in the majority of the nation the weather was still mild enough to permit travel over unimproved roads.
Since most residents of rural America had to travel a significant distance to the county seat in order to vote, Monday was not considered reasonable since many people would need to begin travel on Sunday. This would, of course, have conflicted with Church services and Sunday worship.
Why the first Tuesday after the first Monday? Lawmakers wanted to prevent election day from falling on the first of November for two reasons. First, November 1st is All Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics. Second, most merchants were in the habit of doing their books from the preceding month on the 1st. Apparently, Congress was worried that the economic success or failure of the previous month might prove an undue influence on the vote!