Anagram: Reality Check/They Lack Rice

         Dream: The Big three, after watching the senate bail on the bailout, will be saved by the George Bush and the White House who will use tarp funds to bail them out in the nick of time.   Reality:   Not so fast there, son…

     There is only $15,000,000,000 left in the first tarp installment, and up until now the Treasury has not wanted to use these funds for the auto industry.  Now they do.  But it will leave almost nothing in the till should another company in the financial Sector need it, which will make at the very least Mr. Kashkari (Cash Carry) less than willing to give those funds to the men and woman who work the lines in Detroit for $38 an hour.  And the conditions the President looks like he is looking at are good I guess, but i don’t know that  a) creditors will reduce the amount of debt the car companies owe enough to make a difference, and  b) the UAW would take half of the money due for a retiree health-care trust fund in stock, instead of cash or bonds.  That stock isn’t worth a plug nickel right now, why would they accept that as payment to retirees who have earned this with a lifetime of hard work?  Sure, if the big three actually make it through alright, and if  the employees wait long enough, it might turn into a sound investment, but if is not something you want to base an investment for your health care after you’ve retired.  If it was your health care on the line, would you take an if?

        And just because Henry Paulson says he will “stand ready to prevent an imminent failure until Congress reconvenes and acts to address the long-term viability of the industry.” doesn’t mean he will actually help.  Truthfully I don’t trust him, but that has been the case since day one. 

     And then there is Ben Bernanke, who said last week that the Fed would probably not lend the money the big three needed if the bailout measure did not pass.  Does that change now that the measure has actually failed?  Knowing mister Bernanke by his previous decisions, I don’t think so. 

    And what if the Auto companies actually need more than the $15,000,000,000 that is left in the tarp? It is a distinct possibility, and that might well lead to Hank Paulson asking Congress for the 2nd $350,000,000,000 from Tarp if he really is true to his commitment to the Auto industry.  And the Congress seems less than willing to do that without some guarantee of help for Financially strapped homeowners.  Which means a fight, one that the treasury could well lose. 

    The last time congress rejected tarp, the market dropped like a stone, lost over 650 points that day in late September as i remember.  How much damage would that do to the markets this time? 

   The point of the entire statement here is simple.  Just because the President says he wants to help, and Paulson says he wants to help does not mean that help is on the way.   Negotiations are underway and I for one hope the auto industry can be saved.  Any money spent on the auto companies would be a fraction of that which was spent on wall street.  With $335,000,000,000 spent using Tarp, a great many jobs have been lost in the financial markets and the like.  With an expenditure of less than 1/10th that, you can save millions of jobs.

      I’d be overjoyed if the President and Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke could save them, but I must admit I am not expecting it. 

    A Viddy, a few quotes and I am done.

     The Viddy is from the Rachel Maddow show on Hoover-ism, Republicans, and The Big Three:

   That’s It from me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, Via Wikiquote:   Ours is a practical people, to whom ideals furnish the theory of political action, upon which they want not only firm assurance, but also effective practice. They want programmes, but they want action to flow from them. They want constructive common sense. They want the development of the common will, not the views of a single individual. They are beginning to realize that words without action are the assassins of idealism. On the other side, they are equally disgusted with seeking for power by destructive criticism, demagoguery, specious promises and sham.   Herbert Hoover

The animals to whom nature has given the faculty we call cunning know always when to use it, and use it wisely; but when man descends to cunning, he blunders and betrays.   Thomas Paine

Anagram: The Monkees/She Not Meek

      Very short blog today, I am getting ready to leave to go to a show, which my wife got tickets to a while

not this monkee

ago.  Apparently Davy Jones, from The Monkees, is doing a show in midtown Manhattan and I and the wife are going.  It’s at the Times square arts center, and his opening act is a pretty funny comedienne named Lynne Koplitz.  I’ve seen a few of her bits on youtube and she’s not too bad. 

    I’m just looking to be entertained, and I’m more interested, to be honest, with the opening act. We’ll see.

    A few news blurbs a video and a few quotes and I am done.

     Citigroup got $306,000,000,000 in government aid, and an additional $20,000,000,000 in tarp funds to shore them up. The stock went up 58% today on this news.  Nice.  Hope we get some of that money back.

    The market went up almost 400 points today.  This, along with Friday’s 494 point uptick made for the biggest 2 day upswing in the market in 21 years. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 each went up over 6 percent, the S&P Gain was a record.

     A former aide to Joe Biden, Ted Kaufmann, has been named to fill Joe Biden’s seat in the Senate once he officially resigns from his senate seat.  He was Joe’s Chief of Staff for nearly 20 years and began serving with him in 1973. He will serve for two years, and then there will be a special election for his seat, and according to Chris Cillizza, the man who will run for the seat will be Joe’s son Beau, who turned down the seat in the first place so he could serve with the J.A.G. In Iraq.

     Time for a viddy.

   President Bush, with Henry Paulson, talking about The Citigroup rescue, from MSNBC.

    That’s it for me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, Via Wikiquote:   Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.   Samuel Johnson

The administration of government lies in getting proper men. Such men are to be got by means of the ruler’s own character. That character is to be cultivated by his treading in the ways of duty. And the treading those ways of duty is to be cultivated by the cherishing of benevolence.   Confucius

Anagram: The American Dream/Edit Her, Cameraman

       One Hundred twenty Million, Three hundred and two thousand, eight hundred and sixty five.  That’s how many people voted for the major party candidates yesterday, according to CNN.  I still cannot find a compiled number of votes for the third party candidates.  53% of those voters voted for Barack Obama, over 63,000,000 Americans said that Barack Obama was the right choice for America.

    But there are those who feel differently.  I just answered a comment in my last post, and I want to talk about it at greater length here.  Here’s the comment:    

How did the liberal base in this country convince enough unregistered democrats to vote for a socialist who hates America???

       Call this An Open letter to those who feel the same as the person who wrote this comment.

       First things first. It was not just about the “Liberal base”.  It was moderates and independents who at one point were Republicans, who gave up on the party because the party left them.  Do you think it a coincidence that the ranks of independents swelled while Republican numbers dwindled?  It is NOT a coincidence.  Iraq, Fumbling the economy, The Patriot act, Gonzalez and the attempted destruction of the rule of law, Cheney, the shadow of Rove and Rumsfeld, all of these things alienated a great many Americans, and pushed them away from The Republicans.  And when they left the Repubs, they looked for a leader, someone to guide them.  The choice, the realistic choices were McCain or Obama.  And they Chose Obama.

   I won’t touch the unregistered democrat vote.  There is nothing but stupid there. 

    What I will attack is the “socialist who hates America” comment.  What the F*ck are you talking about?  Still with the talking points?  The election is over, stop that. Just because President-Elect Obama wants to tax the upper class at a rate which existed several years ago does not make him a socialist.  Read a  dictionary…even better, I’ll throw the definition of socialism out here for you to read so you can know what a socialist is, courtesy of Dictionary.com :
   

a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

      Now how is taxation to even the playing field in America socialist?  The charge doesn’t stick.  For a few reasons.  The last few years have seen the rich get more and

press the button, you know you want to....

more tax breaks, and pay less and less as time has gone by.  They are not paying their fair share for this massive government.  What we need to do is shrink the government where possible and even the playing field.  There is no attempt at vesting ownership and control of business in the government in anything President-Elect Obama says or has intimated he would do. 

      And if you DO still make the argument, you have to, to my mind at least, make it against ALL government.  Every government takes money in the form of taxes and work for the public good with those funds, would that then not be a form of socialism?  George Bush would then qualify as the biggest socialist in American History with all he has done with government spending by that standard. 

    Those who complain about democrats being socialists are themselves nothing more than unwitting whole hearted backers of oligarchic Plutocracy…. Here’s a link to Dictionary.com…look the big words up for yourself, i did it once, I won’t do it twice.

     As for hating America, I just don’t see how you can say that.  The man worked hard for America (and himself, no doubt about that)  for the last 20 months on the campaign trail, and as a senator, and state senator, pushing through legislation to help ALL Americans, regardless of their political stripe on every level on the political ladder he has been on.

    What have you done lately?

    Thought so.   He loves America.  Just like you and me.  Leave it alone, you can’t win that argument.

    Let’s just be Americans and fight for the American dream instead of fighting each other. We’ll go further that way.

     A Viddy, a few quotes and I am done. 

     Tonight’s video,  Keith Olbermann’s final campaign comment of the 08 campaign:

     That’s it for me.  Later!

Andrew Jackson

     Today’s Nuggets, by Andrew Jackson, Via Wikiquote:  It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society — the farmers, mechanics, and laborers — who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be worth defending.

Anagram: Words and Meanings/Grandma’s Snowed In

       Now I have to tell you that I really am running late, yet again…this has got to be the third time this week, and that is annoying as hell as far as I am concerned.  I would rather have extra time to make sure that I get the words, JUST right, and have enough subtle inflection in my words to get across exactly what I want to.  Not that I am all that eloquent, but I do try to be, though often I fail.  And working with limited time makes that job even more difficult. 

    Onto the news.

     WHEW!  The Market came back! Best possible news anyone could have gotten.  After the Infusion of funds by the government and the clear attempts by the Finance committee, The Fed, The Treasury Secretary, and the President, who for once got off of his fat slow stupid ass to do something, are trying there damnedest to fix this mess we’re in.  I do not have details, but when I do get them I will pass them on.  I have heard on TV from Chris Dodd about the meeting he and several other members of congress had with Bernanke and Paulson Thursday night.  He was blunt, he said…and I am doing this from memory mind you, so the quote won’t be perfect: ” When we spoke to Hank, he was blunt, he said this isn’t a matter of weeks or months, but hours, and if we don’t do something, we are looking at a complete meltdown of Wall street”  Something like that.  He didn’t say it was scary, But then again, Chris Dodd doesn’t look the type to scare all that easy.  What he did say is that it was THE most sobering moment he’s seen in his 25 years on the hill, and that the air went out of the room, and everything just stopped.   This man is the Chair of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.    For him to use that kind of language says something of the gravity of the situation.

    But there is a cost.  A MAJOR cost to all of this.  The numbers look something like this.  Total cost to Taxpayers:  $1,000,000,000,000  One Trillion Dollars.  You can call it what you like, but there is only one name I can give it, necessary tho it is.

      Highway Robbery.  They goaded MILLIONS of people who have dreams, just like the rest of us, to get Mortgages, loans.  You’ve seen the advertising.  Very enticing for those who want more.  and EVERYONE wants more.  EVERYONE.  We were fools, we fell for it.  And the banks who sold these things were regulated, but when they sold to people who weren’t able to pay, things started to fall apart,  because they weren’t checked properly.  And who pays for it?

    Us….to the tune of about $7,000 for every taxpayer in America.  And dammit that hurts.  I’m broke as it is, where and how are we supposed to pay for this?  I hope the government, who will own all these crappy mortgages, can somehow turn a profit by holding them and waiting until the housing market comes back?  I don’t know near enough On this subject, but I will learn what I can when I can and I will get back to you on this when I can so I can answer these questions, for myself if no one else.  Hopefully should not be too long.

       A video or two and then I am done for the day. 

   Ran into the whole “Obama doesn’t do the pledge thing” today.  Here’s proof Otherwise:

   Here’s Chris Dodd, from today on Hardball with Mike Barnacle (Chris Matthews had the day off)

That’s it for me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, about Debt, from Wikiquote:   It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.  Cicero

Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and hate; debt, which consumes so much time, which so cripples and disheartens a great spirit with cares that seem so base, is a preceptor whose lessons cannot be forgone, and is needed most by those who suffer from it most.   Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our national debt after all is an internal debt owed not only by the Nation but to the Nation. If our children have to pay interest on it they will pay that interest to themselves. A reasonable internal debt will not impoverish our children or put the Nation into bankruptcy.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Anagram: Pecunious/Ice Upon Us

       Hey!  WHERE’D ALL MY MONEY GO!!! Oh, Look, it’s going down the drain….Ummmm… Shit!

    Before I get to the stupid economy, today’s anagrammed word is something no one can say today, not unless you were ultra friggin rich in the first place: Pecunious: having a lot of money. 

    The Market dropped 500 points.  Over Half a trillion dollars lost in a day.  The question isn’t when will the market bottom out, but how many trillions will be lost before that happens, and what are the long term ramifications of all that financial loss?  Almost everything fell apart today.  Almost. there was actually good news for the American public, in the form of a LARGE drop in oil prices.   Oil is down to, at this moment, 10 PM EDT, $93.18    There’s a silver lining in every cloud.  Or in this case, a silver lining in a Category 5 financial hurricane slamming the living shit out of America.  I am not holding out hope that things will get better as far as the banking sector or the stock market anytime soon.  Let’s hope that Oil can stay down for at least a bit so those of us looking for even a sliver of hope have something to hold onto. 

    Favorite moment of the day.  John McCain, douche-wad of the year, makes a statement that the “Fundamentals of the economy are strong”

     Let that roll around your head for a sec.  Think about 25,000 people from Lehman brothers getting the shaft today, Merrill Lynch gets sold so they don’t end up on the wrong end of liquidation, AIG is about to implode, THE MARKET LOST $600,000,000,000 … IN ONE DAY, the fed may cut rates in response to this tomorrow…Yeah, The Fundamentals are just jim fucking dandy, Johnny McDunce.  Even with his couching things with the words “things are very serious” or some such shit, he comes off here as insanely uninformed.  If this guy gets to the white house it’s gonna be the same blank check for the big firms that they’ve gotten for 8 years.  And you see what that blank check has cost US,  because we, the taxpayer have to back that check up with OUR hard earned money, and in the long term it hurts American business.

   Oh, and as if to cover his stupid ass, McDunce said he meant that American workers are the fundamentals.  Bullshit, you old glib fraud. The Lies and the stupidity from McCain are his worst enemy, and he can’t help but stick his foot in his mouth.  John McCain is the Best ad for an Obama Presidency I have ever seen.  

    And Barack Obama tore Mccain a new Asshole for saying that stupid crap too.  I believe the line, “What economy are you talking about, Mister McCain?” is the one the press will latch onto.  And He hit the nail on the head with that statement, too.  Nice.  I for one would like to know the answer to that as well.  Keep asking until Sen. McDunce spills the beans. 

         Wall street needs regulation, and McCain and the Republicans HATE regulation.  Regulation is the medicine that fixed the economy after Hoover and the great depression, that and a strong boost from New deal projects to bring jobs to America.  And that’s what we need now.  I’ve said it before, we need a NEW new deal.  

    BTW, It’s 20 minutes later, and Oil has dropped another 21 cents.  Any port in a storm, ya know.

    Onto other news.  

        The Republican V.P. Nominee says she will not co-operate with the trooper-gate investigation.  She, who formerly wanted to be seen as being transparent about this, is now running scared.  But from what?

     She’s not been subpoenaed. No one has ASKED her to talk.  I wonder what she has to hide.  I tell you this is big glowing neon sign over her head saying “I’M GUILTY, AND I AIN’T TELLING YOU WHAT I’M GUILTY OF”

    Stupid.  I can’t see what people see in these two Dumb asses.   Maybe their backers just wanna vote for them because they’re white, and Barack Obama’s not.  That’s the only thing I can think of. Out and Out racism. Because McCain’s got nothing. His story is bad for America, everything about the Republican narrative is Anti-American.  Proof you say? OK!

       Anti-Abortion: Why would the party that touts the fact that they want less government, want the government telling woman what to do with their bodies?  They believe in Keeping the baby even after cases of rape and incest.  That is tantamount to giving rights to the rapist and taking them away from the victim.  Does the Government belong telling you what to do with your person or taking away your rights to give to CRIMINALS?  No. 

       Pro-War: They want troops in Iraq.  They want war with Iran.  They wanted to fight Russia.  They want to stretch even thinner a military stretched thin with 2 active military engagements.  They want MORE war for oil.  Where are we getting the money to do this?  Where?

       Anti-Regulation:  Regulation, the bane of the republican party. It is becoming increasingly apparent that it is the way to fix what is wrong with the economy.  It was an unregulated Mortgage market and banking industry that got us into this mess.  When Regulators regulate, they keep these kinds of blow-ups from happening.  If there had been regulation in the financial markets, we would not be in this mess we are in now. 

       The Republicans are wrong for America.  They are a dangerous crowd.  Dangerous to the American Ideals of peace, freedom, and an honest chance to better yourself and move up in the world. 

       The American dream is dying under a Republican Jackboot. 

       A viddy for you before I fly the coop: From tonight’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

That’s it for me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, from Aristotle, Via Wikiquote: If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.

Money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term interest, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of all modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural.

Law is order, and good law is good order.

Anagram: It’s About McCain/Cactus Ambition

        A few thoughts:

1) Why am I or anyone I know never called for any of these political polls? Gallup, Rasmussen, USA Today, Zogby, Nothing!  I’m Listed Dammit! Do you know anyone who has been called for one of these Political polls? Me either!  It isn’t a conspiracy or anything like that, they just don’t call New York City.  The Assholes. I OWN A PHONE, POLL BITCHES!  🙂

2)  Lehman Brothers is toast.  TOAST I tell you!  Both Barclay’s and B.O.A. turned them down, because the Government would not give them money to help clean up their books.  I am wondering what happens to the market after Lehman gets liquidated?  major sell-off, or MAJOR sell-off.  It’s gonna suck tomorrow for stockholders all over the board tomorrow.  One hopes that Bain or some other company can at least buy a piece of Lehman and keep it afloat.  We’ll see.

3)  I watched a bit of “Meet The Press” this morning, as well as some “This Week”,  The “Chris Matthews Show” and “Fox Sunday w/ Chris Wallace”.   I got home from work at around 9:30 and decided to stay up and watch.  Two most interesting views were Karl Rove on Chris Wallace and Alan Greenspan on This Week. Points 4 and 5 are about those two bits.  I usually don’t have Sunday mornings free, so I Rarely get to see this stuff.  I thought it was worth a mention just to say I saw them.  I could get used to having Sunday’s off.  Haven’t had a Sunday off as a Regular day, without vacation days being used in 3 years. 

4) I Hate Karl Rove.  We all know that.  But the man has a head for politics on his shoulders that is to be envied.  He showed it today.  On Fox Sunday, he made a few points about the tenor of the campaign.  He wasn’t 100% as far as I see it, but the day that I think Karl Rove is 100% right may never dawn on this earth.  To the Point though, he said the ads have gone too far.  They make good points, he says, but push far beyond what is necessary to make the points they try to make.  His thought is that there needs to be someone in both campaigns to be men and reign it in and they both Have legitimate points to make about each other.  He was still an idiot for claiming that Fact-check organizations can’t be trusted.  And his claim that Obama is as bad as McCain as far as negativity in the ads was a Bit ludicrous. But what do you expect from Turd Blossom? 100% truth? He can’t do that! He doesn’t know how!

5) Alan Greenspan.  The man is a genius.  When he speaks, everyone listens.  He said more financial firms will fail before this economic downturn is over.  He thinks there is better than a 50% chance of a recession.  He said that this economic downturn is a Once in a Century thing, and that not every firm should be protected by the government.  He said without VERY specific information about Lehman brothers (see point 2) he could not say whether it would be a good idea to bail them out or not.  But if you stick those last 2 statements together, you can see which way the man is leaning.  He is leaning towards the thought of NO CORPORATE WELFARE, let the market pull itself together.  I believe AIG was also mentioned.  If you want to find out more, dig around on youtube and find his statements.  I can’t find them, maybe you’ll have better luck. 

6) To the Obama Campaign, and all those who side with the Democrats in this latest struggle for the White House.  IT’S ABOUT MCCAIN.  Mention of his V.P. Candidate only plays into the hands of the Republicans.  It is Sunday, September 14Th, 2008, 5:20 P.M.  Any person who mentions John McCain’s Vice Presidential pick by name from here on should be made to write the words “IT’S ABOUT MCCAIN STUPID” 10,000 times.  McCain will be President should the Republicans win, so ALL our energy as political animals should be focused on John McCain and his clearly flawed economic policies, his wish to continue running America as it has been run the past eight years, which is to say, into the ground.  His National Security stances will bring America greater disunity with the world and greater strife at home.  The Campaign John McCain has run has been fraught with dirt after promising to run a clean campaign.  He isn’t a Maverick.  He’s a doddering old fool with a bad plan for America and it is the job of Democrats everywhere to HAMMER this point home at every opportunity.  His talking points are more of the same old republican crap.  Haven’t we had enough of that? Don’t Play into the hands of The GOP!  Remember, IT’S ABOUT MCCAIN!!

A video for you to peruse at your leisure.  Chuck Schumer talking on Meet The Press with Tom Brokaw. The bad news is that he mentions the GOP VP. candidate 3 times, but only in passing, he stays on message otherwise.  Kewl.

That’s It for me! Later!

Today’s Nuggets from Mark Twain, Via Wikiquote: A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words in a book or a newspaper the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt.

Some men worship rank, some worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, & over these ideals they dispute & cannot unite — but they all worship money.

Citizenship? We have none! In place of it we teach patriotism which Samuel Johnson said a hundred and forty or a hundred and fifty years ago was the last refuge of the scoundrel — and I believe that he was right. I remember when I was a boy and I heard repeated time and time again the phrase, ‘My country, right or wrong, my country!’ How absolutely absurd is such an idea. How absolutely absurd to teach this idea to the youth of the country.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

Anagram: McCain The Maverick/Chance Victim Maker

        Maverick?  Hmmmm…I dunno.  He doesn’t hit me as a Maverick so much as an old man trying to sell me a bill of goods, and these aren’t good I offhand want.  His wife Cindy put things in context, speaking about government in Washington being in the way.  That government is The Bush Administration, which John McCain has been a wholehearted backer of.  I giggled when I heard Cindy say that. 

    And they Still haven’t spoken about the Economy. Or the Mortgage crisis.  Not yet anyway.  I am currently watching a video that they have playing.  Let’s see what Captain McCain says….

      What would he be without his status of P.O.W.?  What would he have said without it?  It was, so it seemed half of his speech.  He did touch On economy and the mortgage crisis, but only in passing.  He mentioned George Bush, which surprised me, and he mentioned it like he was a friend.  He was really strong at the end of his speech, exhorting the crowd to “Fight With Me”  Fight for what’s right!

    All in all, not a bad speech, as far as feel goes, which is what I was expecting, and I am fairly sure everyone else was too.  This speech was woefully short on specifics.  He was less than great speaking, but again that is nothing  we weren’t expecting.  He pounded his talking points hard. 

     He attacked Obama on several occasions, but nothing that had much weight or heft to it.  Nothing that hasn’t already been completely disproven in several places. 

     He spoke about bipartisanship. He spoke about reaching across the aisle to help fix Washington.  He spoke about love of Country and a cause larger than himself.  He blamed Republicans in part for the wrongs in Washington, said that Republicans had fallen in love with Big government and gotten away from what the party was about.  This AFTER he spoke about George Bush like he was his friend.  Talk about Mixed messages.

   I have to tell you, It was a pretty speech, filled with all the right words.  The only problem for me is that all the right words, and the prettiest speech on earth won’t wash away the taste of the mismanagement of the Bush Administration and the Republicans at it’s head, which included John McCain. 

     He spoke at length about the Iraq war, and about how the Surge was the right thing to do, while neatly ignoring that the war itself was wrong, fought on false pretenses. 

    I did not hear anything from John McCain that would lead me to believe that he will be all that different than George W. Bush.  Nothing.  We heard promises from Dubya as well.  How well did that turn out?

    Not well at all. 

     A video of a Protester from Vote Pink, at the Republican National Convention during McCain’s Speech. 

       That’s it for me.  Later.

Today’s Nuggets, By Thomas Paine, Via Wikiquote:  An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime.