Things That Just Piss Me Off

I found some interesting pictures of Sarah Palin and wanted to share them here.

Another claim McCain liokes to make. He claims to be an advocate for veteran’s rights and benefits and we all know he claims to support the troops while saying democrats do not.

From the Anchorage News

September 2007: McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments.

February 2007: For such a strong supporter of the surge, McCain didn’t even bother to show up and vote against a resolution condemning it.

Not only that, during campaign speeches, he claims the surge was his idea. During the televised speech by George Bush at the republican convention, Bush thanked McCain for supporting the surge, not for thinking of it himself.

May 2006: McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.

April 2006: McCain was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.

March 2006: McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

March 2004: McCain once again voted for abusive tax loopholes over veterans when he voted against creating a reserve fund to allow for an increase in Veterans’ medical care by $1.8 billion by eliminating abusive tax loopholes.

October 2003: McCain voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd that called for an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq and to reduce the amount provided for reconstruction in Iraq by $322,000,000.

April 2003: McCain urged other Senate members to table a vote (which never passed) to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq related to a shortage of helmets, tents, bullet-proof inserts, and tactical vests.

August 2001: McCain voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650,000,000.

As a veteran, it is easy to respect what Mccain went through as a POW. But his voting record shows he is not someone who will help veterans if he is elected president. Being a POW also does not qualify you to be Commander in Chief any more than being a Rhodes Scholar does.

That isn’t disrespect to John Mccain’s military experience to say that. However, just being in the military does not qualify you to lead the military, otherwise they could just let lieutenants run things rather than Generals.

As far as the experience needed to be president. What is that specifically? What specific qualifications are people talking about? No one has ever been ready to be president.

This really pisses me off. Fox News can be biased, but MSNBC wants to make sure no one is biased on their show. MSNBC was seen by me as the counterpoint to Fox News.

Liberal Blogs Assail Anchor Changes
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer

The decision by MSNBC to yank Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from anchor duty during live political events did not exactly send a thrill up the leg of liberal bloggers.

A number of them denounced the cable channel yesterday for making a change that had long been sought by NBC News veterans, saying MSNBC was caving into pressure from John McCain’s campaign and the right wing.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin denied that complaints from either Republicans or NBC journalists were a factor. He said he reached the decision after “talking to my guys, mainly Olbermann,” following the Republican convention. Olbermann and Matthews will remain as analysts during such major political events as the presidential debates.

“We came to the conclusion it was better not to restrain them” by making them wear “two hats,” Griffin said. “It’s not like we haven’t talked about this all along. What Keith can say on ‘Countdown’ and what Chris can say on ‘Hardball’ is a little different” than what they could tell viewers in the role of news anchors.

No outside pressure? BS. Fox News Anchors like Brit Hume make biased opinions all the time during news broadcasts like when Hume said of the democratic convention, that he was hoping for a rift between clinton and obama supporters.

In the liberal blogosphere, Olbermann — an occasional contributor to the Daily Kos site — is viewed as a heroic truth-teller who has now been undermined by network suits whose company is owned by General Electric.

General Electric would pay more in taxes if Obama is elected. Just one point to make.

The complaints grew louder when Olbermann praised the Democratic speeches by Obama and Hillary Clinton but likened GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin to the obnoxious Reese Witherspoon character in the movie “Election.”

Here is where I did disagree with Obermann about Sarah Palin. She is much more like Sally Fields in the Flying Nun.

Larry Grossman, a former president of NBC News, said MSNBC has “been doing very well as the liberal antithesis to Fox, everyone knows that. But at some point standards and journalistic integrity have to take over.”

If only Fox News would take that and consider doing it there, then the MSNBC decision would be a good one.

Sarah Palin tells everyone in her convention speech and everywhere she goes about how she fought against the bridge to nowhere as governor of Alaska.

She was for it. She accepted the money for it. When public attention was drawn to it, she came out against it to save face. However, as governor, she chose to keep the money for the bridge to nowhere.

Wikipedia - In October 2005, Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska became the object of strong media criticism when he opposed diverting the Gravina and Knik Arm Bridge funds to help aid recovery from Hurricane Katrina.[8] In his speech on the Senate floor, Stevens threatened to quit Congress if the funds were removed from his state.

In 2005, Congress stripped the specific earmark allocation of federal funds for the two bridges, without changing the amount of money allocated for use by Alaska.

“In September, 2006,Sarah Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town’s prosperity.” In August 2007, Alaska’s Department of Transportation stated that it was “leaning” toward alternative ferry options, citing bridge costs, despite having already received the funds from the federal government.

The project was canceled in 2007 by bridge supporter Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who changed her view after Congress forced the funds to be used elsewhere. She said, “Much of the public’s attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here. But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened.”

Yet, now she says she fought the republican party and the powers that be and the good ole boy network by being against the bridge to nowhere all along. She says she told the federal government, “Thank you, but no thank you.”

NYTimes - 11-17-05

Straining to show new dedication to lower spending, House and Senate negotiators took the rare step of eliminating a requirement that $442 million be spent to build the two bridges, spans that became cemented in the national consciousness as “bridges to nowhere” because of the remote territory and small populations involved.

The change will not save the federal government any money. Instead, the $442 million will be turned over to the state with no strings attached, allowing lawmakers and the governor there to parcel it out for transportation projects as they see fit, including the bridges should they so choose.

Lawmakers said widespread news coverage had turned the bridges, near Ketchikan and Anchorage, into symbols of Congressional excess. Some members of Congress said they got more questions at town meetings about the bridges than about the new Medicare drug program. A Republican pollster warned that the projects were a political albatross.

Sarah Palin didn’t say no thank you to the money as governor of Alaska. She just got it with no strings attached rather than have it slated just for bridges.

Comment from the same article; “We ought to do away with $24 billion worth, not just one bridge,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona.

Hmmm, John, have you and Sarah Palin actually talked to each other yet? Have you been introduced?

From the Anchorage News 8-31-08, a newspaper in Sarah Palin’s home state of Alaska

“I told Congress, thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere,” Palin told the cheering McCain crowd, referring to Ketchikan’s Gravina Island bridge. But Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

Meanwhile, Weinstein noted, the state is continuing to build a road on Gravina Island to an empty beach where the bridge would have gone — because federal money for the access road, unlike the bridge money, would have otherwise been returned to the federal government.

In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town’s prosperity. “OK, you’ve got Valley trash standing here in the middle of nowhere,” Palin said, according to an account in the Ketchikan Daily News. “I think we’re going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project.” One year later, Ketchikan’s Republican leaders said they were blindsided by Palin’s decision to pull the plug.

Andrew Halcro, who ran against Palin in 2006, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Palin changed her views after she was elected to make a national splash. Mayor Weinstein said many residents remain irked by Palin’s failure to come to Ketchikan since that time to defend her decision — despite promises that she would.

Businessman Mike Elerding, who helped run Palin’s local campaign for governor, told the paper he would have a hard time voting for the McCain ticket because of Palin’s subsequent neglect of Ketchikan and her flip-flop on the “Ralph Bartholomew Veterans Memorial Bridge.”

I find it funny that she is still building a road to nowhere since the bridge to nowhere didn’t work out. McCain and Palin both say she was against the bridge to nowhere to prove she makes tough decisions and that she is a budget cutter.

The truth is she did not oppose the bridge to nowhere until after the public got wind of the pork barrel project.

These are just questions. John Mccain has said a lot of things and convinced a lot of people he is about this or that. But what about his record.

He says his campaign is about change, yet he voted with Bush 90% of the time.

Did you know he admitted that he had affairs when he was married to his first wife? Yet republicans keep talking about Edwards and Clinton’s infedelities like democrats are the only ones who have them.

McCain tells you how withdrawing troops from Iraq is unpatriotic and cowardly, even though the objective was not clear. Yet, did you know that in 1983, he bucked President Reagan by voting against a resolution allowing the White House to keep Marines deployed in Lebanon for another 18 months. He denounced the policy in a House floor speech.

“I do not foresee obtainable objectives in Lebanon,” McCain said. “I believe the longer we stay, the more difficult it will be to leave, and I am prepared to accept the consequences of our withdrawal.”

Wow. Sounds like cut and run to me. But to hear his supporters spin it, it makes him a maverick. So, when Obama says that about Iraq, he is unpatriotic and cowardly, but when McCain says the same thing, he is a maverick.

Did you know McCain thought Bush’s warrantless wiretap program circumvented the law and now he believes the opposite?

Did you know McCain supported moving “toward normalization of relations” with Cuba and now he believes the opposite?

Did you know McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.”, then four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”?

Did you know McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest and now he doesn’t?

Did you know McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting “irresponsibly?” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.

Did you know John McCain initially argued that economics is not an area of expertise for him, saying, “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues; I still need to be educated,” and “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”? He now falsely denies ever having made these remarks and insists that he has a “very strong” understanding of economics

Again, republicans and fox news, their propaganda channel, loves to say Obama is the one that flip flops on issues. Hannity and O’Reilly the pinhead had a list of 13 Obama flip flops. Would you like to see 61 times John Mccain has flip flopped on issues? Click here

I watched the Bill O’Reilly interview with Barack Obama. Part 1 of the interview wasn’t too bad, but one thing continues to amaze me about Fox News and it’s unqualified, celebrity anchor people, like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity.

These people have no more qualifications that give them insight into politics or how this country should be run than you or I. They simply have a job at a so-called news station called Fox News where if they do not continue to represent a republican neo-con point of view, they will no longer have that job.

O’Reilly has long said that he does not belong to or identify with any political party. In 2000, however, The New York Daily News determined that he was registered with the Republican Party in the state of New York. He said that there had been “no box to fill in” to register as an Independent; in fact, the form did have a box labeled “I do not wish to enroll in a party.” Since this disclosure, he has registered as an independent.

At any news organization, the editors and owners determine the philosophy that will be followed by all who work for them if they want a job. Some owners make sure that their advertisers are never seen in a bad light on the news. Some owners determine that their stories should have a liberal point of view. Others, like Fox News, have determined that everything should have a neo-con point of view.

It is their right to do that, just like it is the right of other news organizations to do whatever they do. However, I do take exception with Fox News because they claim to be fair and balanced. During the democratic convention, the fair and balanced logo was beside Brit Hume’s big head while he said, “I hope there is some kind of rift between the Clinton and Obama supporters so we can bring you that right away.” That is not a fair and balanced statement and clearly shows that he was there to try and find something bad to report.

You can see it in the questions they ask. You can see it in the comments they make. You can see it in how they choose their guests. Fox News is not fair and balanced. As I said, they can be whatever they want, but it is total dishonesty to claim they are fair and balanced.

It was also apparent when Bill O’Reilly interviewed Barack Obama. If anyone on any Fox News program brings up anything that criticizes the Bush administration, they seem to have been instructed to change the subject and not allow it to be said.

Bill ‘O’Reilly and Hannity do this better than most. They simply raise their voice and do not allow the other person to be heard or they interurpt the person they are interviewing before they can finish their answer.

In this video watch what happens when Obama tries to bring up anything about the way Bush has handled the Iraq war;

On Fox News, you cannot criticize George Bush in any way without being interupted, being condescended to, or being yelled at. Fair and Balanced? Are you joking?

O’Reilly, you are a pinhead. You will do and say anything to keep that cushy job at Fox News. Your interviews are a complete joke. You do not interview people and not let them answer the questions and still call yourself a journalist.

You are a loudmouth bully who believes that anyone who disagrees with him is wrong because you are always right in your own mind. You don’t invite people to be interviewed. You invite people to hear what Bill O’Reilly has to say to them.

As a former weatherman you probably found out that hurricanes would go wherever they wanted, even if you yelled at them, so that wasn’t the job for you. If you really think you are a journalist, you really need your head examined. You are a political pundit with a loud mouth and nothing real to say.

Fox News did it again during the republican convention. They brought up John Edwards cheating on his wife as some sort of proof that the democrats are immoral. Well, the dems also had Bill Clinton.

But there have been so many republicans caught in sex scandals and indicted for crimes, that you would think the republicans would want to avoid talking about it at all.

No mention of John Mccain’s infedelity?

A former Arizona rodeo beauty queen and daughter of a millionaire Phoenix businessman, Cindy McCain was 25 when she met her future husband at a cocktail party in Hawaii. John McCain was a 43-year-old naval liaison officer travelling with a congressional delegation, his sights already set on a political career.

He was also still married to his first wife Carol. Carol later attributed the breakdown of the marriage to “John turning 40 and wanting to be 25 again”.

McCain fell like a brick for Cindy, who was the heir to a brewery distribution business worth millions. For several years afterwards the McCains endured Washington gossip that he had dumped his first wife - who had been crippled in a car accident - in favour of a trophy bride to enhance his political ambitions.

It was in the late 1980s, after a series of miscarriages and giving birth to three children, that Cindy developed spinal problems and was prescribed painkillers after surgery.

Her husband and family had no idea she was secretly taking pills stolen from a charity she had created called the American Voluntary Medical Team, which sent mobile surgical units to war zones.

When federal agents began to investigate gaps in the charity’s records, Cindy telephoned her husband, a senator in Washington, and confessed.

She admitted at the time that the 1994 episode had “nearly destroyed both of us”. But she underwent treatment and attended meetings of Narcotics Anonymous as part of a deal with prosecutors who dropped charges.

I’m not attacking John or Cindy Mccain. People make mistakes. It doesn’t matter what political party they are in. But the republicans do not seem to realize they live in a glass house. They talk about Edwards and Clinton and act as if the republican party is full of politicians that have the high moral ground.

I call on John McCain and the republican party to start talking about issues and start saying exactly what they promise to do if elected AGAIN. Rather than making general “I’m a true patriot and you are not” statements and ads that only talk about Obama, run some ads that tell us what you will really do on specific issues.

I waited patiently through the republican convention hoping to hear what John McCain will do if elected. I don’t mean rhetoric like “I will lead us into the future”, “I will drain the swamp that is Washington”, and “I have the experience to lead!”. Those type of non-specific statements are hollow and only meant to cause emotion in the republican base.

At Saddleback, McCain and Obama were asked for a specific number to define who the middle class was that they both refer to in their speeches. Both say they are for the working class, the middle class, etc.

McCain laughed, then stalled, then said ok, 5 million dollars per year. Of course he does not really define those who make up to 5 million per year the middle class. But he used the joke to avoid answering the question.

His tax cuts go to those who make millions of dollars per year. His argument is that he wants everyone to pay lower taxes. He uses that to convince people he is also for the middle class when, in reality, his tax cuts benefit the rich, just like George Bush’s tax cuts.

Obama gave a number. He said below $250,000 per year is how he defines the middle class. His tax policy would raise taxes on those who earn more than that amount and lower taxes for those earning less than that amount. Mccain may say he is all about straight talk, but Obama ia the one that gave the straight answer.

Now McCain claims his is the party of change. He acts as if the republicans have not been in the white house for the last 8 years and that he is an outsider to Washington. He wants us to believe that the republican party is the only party that can fix what the republican party did in the last 8 years.

There was a budget surplus when George Bush and the republicans captured the white house in 2000. Now there is a huge deficit, larger than any time in history. John McCain says he wants everyone to have lower taxes. If you lower everyone’s taxes, then you cannot also bring down the deficit created by the republicans in office. So is he stupid or is he lying? McCain cannot do both, yet he continues to tell people he can.

His campaign continues to run ads about Barack Obama. No ads are running that explain what John McCain will do if elected. Nothing specific was in any speech he gave. All he does is tell you the other guy is bad. When all you can do is tear down your opponent to make yourself look good, something is wrong with you, not your opponent.

I am still waiting to hear what John Mccain will do if elected. I am still waiting for him to give a speech about himself and his platform and where he stands on the issues without making more than 75% of his speech about Barack Obama.

In 2007, the median annual household income rose 1.3% to $50,233.00 according to the Census Bureau. The real median earnings of men who worked full time, year-round climbed between 2006 and 2007, from $43,460 to $45,113. For women, the corresponding increase was from $33,437 to $35,102.

Just 26% of all households had annual incomes exceeding $100,000, 12.3% fell below the federal poverty threshold and the bottom 20% earned less than $19,178.

Only 2% of Americans earn more than $250,000 per year. 2% of Americans would pay more taxes under Obama. I don’t even care about those people. They don’t read my blog. They have someone read for them.

McCain wants to protect that 1.5% and give them tax breaks, leaving the rest of America to pay the taxes it takes to run the government.

So, we do know this. If you make more than $250,000 per year, then a vote for John Mccain will help you lower your taxes. If you make less than $250,000 per year, then a vote for Barack Obama will lower your taxes.

People should think about this.

Do you consider the job of Vice President an important position?

If Yes: Why did John McCain choose Sarah Palin after just one interview, the day before she was chosen? They did one interview. And not until the day before they announced her as his VP choice. So if you answered yes, John McCain obviously does not care about how he fills important positions.

If No: If the job of VP is not an important position, then having a woman fill that job is not really a step forward for women at all.

Does John McCain think the job of Vice President is important?

If Yes: Then he is guilty of dereliction of duty by not investigating his choice for VP. He did this just to get votes rather than picking someone who is best for the country.

If No: Then John McCain picked a woman because he thinks the job is unimportant and again is just doing it for votes.

So either way, the choice of Sarah Palin was a bad choice. Not because she is a woman.

How about Olympia Jean Bouchles Snowe? She is a moderate Republican. Snowe has become widely known for her ability to influence the outcome of close votes and Senatorial filibusters, in part making her one of the most influential modern U.S. Senators.

How about Susan Collins? Susan Margaret Collins is the junior U.S. Senator from Maine and a centrist Republican. Senator Collins is often labeled as more bipartisan than most senators. She is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem-cell research. She is also a member of The Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice, The Wish List, Republicans for Environmental Protection, and It’s My Party Too.

How about Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison? Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, usually known as Kay Bailey Hutchison (born July 22, 1943), is the senior United States Senator from Texas. She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of “The 30 most powerful women in America” by Ladies Home Journal. She is the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.

The point is that John McCain had a lot of choices. He could have picked someone with experience whether male or female. He claimed experience was really important in all of his attack ads on Barack Obama. Then he chose Sarah Palin. His supporters say it’s great because he wanted to pick a woman. Then why didn’t he pick and experienced woman from the republican party?

The fact is that he made this pick at the last minute. The fact is he didn’t bother to seek out a more qualified candidate. The fact is he was in such a hurry to try to get some of Hillary Clinton’s voters to like him that he made a poor choice. What will happen when he is faced with other important decisions if he is president?

This proves John McCain’s lack of judgement when making important decisions. Do you really want a president who has such poor judgement?