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Thursday, July 31, 2008

McCain Campaign Imploding

Over at the McCain campaign for President they are running amok with nobody really in charge including John McCain. Reports are coming from all directions that the one direction they are all heading is one that nobody really believes in. As Senator McCain flips and flops on issues all over the spectrum politically, his campaign can not keep the message straight. The John McCain Straight Talk Express has apparently gone off the road and is lost in the woods.

One of the sites that I contribute to has a very well written piece on the lies that McCain finds himself embracing just to hold on to the Bush dynasty of voters. The language is graphic but the point is made that John McCain has morphed into someone that was never John McCain for the sake of running for President. And worse off, if he can’t sell his side of the aisle on the politics of life then he and his political campaign have no problem making stuff up as fast as they can. If his campaign needs money then he flips his opinion on drilling for oil off the Atlantic coast and raises more money from oil executives and the oil industry in one month than he has in the past eighteen months. This post by Cranky Liberal is a must read over at Bring It On!

From now on I don’t care what McCain promises. I don’t care what he says. He’s a lying dirtbag. Shout it from the hills people and don’t be afraid. They have no problems making shit up, so we shouldn’t have a problem telling the truth. Afterall, we aren’t Republicans. - Bring It On!

Over at YouTube they have this great piece on many of the flips and flops that McCain has “Evolved” his opinion on. Many of which don’t even come close to why John the “Maverick” McCain was even in the spotlight for President just eight short years ago. (Video Link)



One of the things that caught my thought process to write this post was the way that McCain has really changed in the last eight years. He went from being a moderate Republican in the congress to an extremist mirroring all of the idiocy of Bush. The only way to explain this transformation is the fact that he would sell his own soul to be President.

One of the things I admire about Obama in all of this election campaign of he said this and then they said that is that Obama still stands for Universal Health Care, he still stands for the middle and lower classes when it comes to our political issues. Obama and his decision on Choice is still clear and not up for approval or disapproval and easily changed by special interest groups. Obama’s voice is his own and his campaign does not have to run shotgun over his comments and make numerous corrections to the press on a daily basis.

It is pretty clear in all the press reports that there are too many people trying to drive the bus over at the McCain campaign and the only one not able to actually drive the bus is the candidate for President.

Papamoka

Feel free to link to this post or borrow it…

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Monday, July 28, 2008

Obama Horse Whipping McCain in Electoral Votes


Over at Real Clear Politics they have a state by state tabulation of polls on how each state is going to vote and Obama is beating the crap out of McCain. Granted there are still some states that are in the toss up category but as time passes folks and polls will change. As of today, RCP has 153 solid Electoral College votes for Obama and 99 solid votes for McCain. Eleven states are in a toss up category with 137 votes in play. What is surprising is the number of states that President Bush won that are now going for Obama or leaning just a tad for McCain.

I honestly believe that one of the things that is swinging what was once a die hard red state to a thinking about going blue state is the simple fact that Barack Obama is selling hope and not fear. Who in their right winged mind would have voted for Ronald Reagan if he ran his Presidential campaign on fear? He ran his campaign on pride and a simple belief that America is the greatest land on Earth! Ronald Reagan was the great communicator and in the same breath and thought, so is Barack Obama. America is in a time of turmoil, we just have not hit rock bottom yet. Our banking institutions are in crisis, our housing market is busted, and our military is based on calling our sons and daughters up for their third and fourth and even fifth or sixth tour of duty in Iraq. Our nation is in trouble and in times of trouble, we need real leaders that can bring us all together under one flag, not divide us as the last eight years has proven. America needs a new Sherriff in the White House and just as well in the Congress. When you stand back and look at what America can be, and the future that each political candidate on both sides of the aisle is painting then the choice for your vote should be as plain as can be. One is looking at a one hundred year war and the other is looking at diplomacy and working together to solve so many problems our world faces.

All across the world people fight for freedom but don’t understand what it really means. When you think of freedom you have to think of something as delicate as a flower. It is the ultimate form of beauty to the person looking at it as it should be on the plant it came from. When you pick that flower the beauty is short lived as the pedals slowly die without the nutrients it needed from its roots to propagate the species. Freedom is something you have to appreciate and cultivate to make sure it survives the winter. In the end, no matter how much the bull dozers of progress trample the seeds of freedom they grow and flower once more.

Right now in our lifetime we as a people have an opportunity to see flowers and freedom as we have never seen them before. An opportunity to view freedom in its greatest bloom and that only happens when we choose a leader that is looking at all of our people and not just one side of the flower bed. Ronald Reagan gave birth to pride in America in his Presidency because he believed in the American people. He nurtured the pride and stood guard over it like a dotting parent and the result was a newborn belief in America that still stands today. Only Barack Obama can rebuild the pride in our nation from the damage done by the Bush prodigal son. Obama is not selling fear or hate in his message to America, he is telling all of us that we can be one people once more with a common goal. Freedom. Something our founding fathers granted us all as a people in the Constitution. Not some of us, not half of us, but all of us as a people.

Freedom, that is as American as Apple Pie!

Papamoka

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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Amber Alert Boston July 27 2008




***Originally posted at 5:46PM and changed to be the top post on the site.

Missing From: Boston, MA
Missing Date: 07/27/2008 12:44 AM
Issued for: Massachusetts: Statewide
Contact: If you have information, please contact Boston Police Department, (617) 343-4911

Circumstances: The Boston Police Department has requested an Amber Alert for an abducted child and we need your help. Reigh Rockefeller may be in danger and was last seen at 12:44 PM in Boston in the area of 3 Marlboro Street. The Boston Police need your help to locate Reigh Rockefeller who is described as a white female, seven years of age, with blonde hair, and blue eyes. She is about four feet tall and weighs approximately fifty pounds. She is wearing a pink and white sun dress, red shoes, and dark sunglasses. She may be with Clark Rockefeller who is a white male in his fifties approximately 5'6" , 170 pounds, wearing khacki pants and a blue Izod shirt. They may be travelling in a black SUV, Tahoe or Yukon, with an unknown Massachusetts Red Sox license plate and numerous Red Sox stickers on the rear window.

Missing Child
Name: Reigh Rockefeller
Alias:
Hair Color: Blonde Eye Color: Blue
Skin Color: White Age: 7YO
Height: 4FT Weight: 50LBS
Gender: Female
Description: Wearing a pink/white sundress, red shoes, and dark sunglasses

Suspect
Name: Clark Rockefeller
Alias:
Hair Color: Eye Color:
Skin Color: White Age: 50's
Height: 5FT6 Weight: 170LBS
Gender: Male
Description: Wearing khaki pants, blue Izod shirt

Vehicle Information
Make: Model: Tahoe or Yukon
Color: Black Interior Color:
License State: License Text:
Vehicle Description: Massachusetts Red Sox license plate, numerous Red Sox stickers on the rear window
*****Reuters has picked up this post... Thank you!


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Let’s Talk About Character Mr. McCain


Over at the campaign for John McCain they are in attack mode against Barack Obama trying to make mountains out of ant hills. While we can all assume that John McCain is a highly decorated Veteran of Vietnam his personal character is not virgin white when you look at the big picture. In any single persons life you can go back in time and bring forth the skeletons of shame. I’ve got them, you have them, we all have that one moment in time where we look back on life and say to ourselves… “Damn it!” When you are running for President of this nation, the “Damn it!” turns into larger expletives when your life history hit’s the presses.

People really do not know who John McCain is other than the horns and trumpets that sound every time a newspaper or blog sounds off on his war history in Vietnam. Nobody out there is talking about the family and wife he left behind after coming home as a POW in Vietnam. Until, my good friend over at the Gun Toting Liberal sounded off on his investigation as to the character of John McCain recently.

Now, don’t get me wrong — again — I am NOT endorsing Barry O-Bomber here; I just believe it is important we know our candidates as well as possible before we head off to the voting booths of America. Another interesting resource for more information on Panama John McCain can be found at Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain. - Gun Toting Liberal

Gunny linked in to a great article about the man, John McCain, that wants to be President of the United States and has proven through his past actions as a father and husband that he simply does not deserve the “Family Values” vote. Over at the Daily Mail they had this very informative article…

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.

But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter.

Snip

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.
‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.

Snip part 2

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.

‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.

‘Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.

‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’

Snip part 3

But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.
‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’
- Daily Mail

I could start my rant off on what a scumbag McCain was but that would not be right. I could go off on a tangent on marriage is like luggage and it is forever. Or I could go off on McCain for being an opportunistic piece of crap for treating his NOW ex-wife like dirt simply because she was not the same girl he married when he came home from the Hanoi Hilton.

One thing that I have to keep in mind is that the man was a tortured POW in Vietnam and the end result of his time there returned someone that was not the same person mentally that first embarked on his tour of duty. The same goes true for his first wife and the trauma she went through. One thing is in fact true in this whole little soul searching on McCain’s character is that he is not whom he portrays himself to be in the press.

Just one other thought, when you take your vows before God and you say I do, the sickness and health part counts. There is no “Do you promise to always weigh 120lbs, be svelte, a beauty queen for as long as you both shall live.” Or for that matter, “If you do get hurt, sick, injured, your husband may screw around and kick you to the curb and marry another within a month of your divorce.”

McCain is in a race to keep up with his father’s legacy, his grandfather’s legacy and one up them as admiral's. They must have been real pieces of work?

Papamoka

Special thanks to the Gun Toting Liberal for this post…

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Friday, July 25, 2008

Alan Grayson, Democat Budget Hawk

Down in Florida, in the Orlando area, they have a chance to elect a budget busting Democrat hawk to the Congress that will not stand for waste in our government budget spending. Who would have thought that a Democrat would love his nation so much that he cared about where all of our tax dollars are going in the no bid contract war in Iraq? Alan Grayson cares and he deserves your vote if you live in the Orlando area. Over at YouTube they have this budget busting video from Grayson…



Stolen from the Daily Kos…

I did a post a while back that was picked up by Crooks and Liars and I love this Democrat running for Congress. He isn’t running from a big business background but on grass roots and that is why he needs your help to keep this campaign running. It’s your tax dollars that he is fighting for. I’m loving the dude! Click on the Daily Kos sight to donate if you believe in fiscal conservative members of the next Congress! Otherwise, just Google Search Alan Grayson and donate there. We need hawks in our government that are not bought and paid for by any industry.

Papamoka

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Right Wing Spin Gone Mad


David Brooks of the New York Times has an opinion piece up and I’m here to tell you he is full of bull. Mr. Brooks opinion is biased in his lack of hope not for just America but the world when it comes to Barack Obama and his world tour. Apparently, Mr. Brooks life is fat and happy and he is not part of the population that worries about paying the bills from week to week and good for him. I have no ill will toward anyone able to make a good life for themselves. All the power to Mr. Brooks in the super disgusting paycheck he receives for writing drivel and condescending opinion on what a hack Barack Obama supposedly is.

Below is just a clip of his biased opinion and slamming of the Obama campaign for President…

July 25, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Playing Innocent Abroad
By DAVID BROOKS

Radical optimism is America’s contribution to the world. The early settlers thought America’s founding would bring God’s kingdom to earth. John Adams thought America would emancipate “the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.” Woodrow Wilson and George W. Bush preached their own gospels of world democracy.

Barack Obama is certainly a true American. In the first major foreign policy speech of his campaign, delivered in Chicago last year, he vowed a comprehensive initiative to “ensure that every child, everywhere, is taught to build and not to destroy.” America, he said, must promote dignity across the world, not just democracy. It must “lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good.”

In Berlin on Thursday, it was more of the same. Speaking before a vast throng (and a surprising number of Yankees hats), he vowed to help “remake the world.” He offered hope that a history-drenched European continent could “choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday.” He envisioned “a new dawn in the Middle East.”

Obama’s tone was serious. But he pulled out his “this is our moment” rhetoric and offered visions of a world transformed. Obama speeches almost always have the same narrative arc. Some problem threatens. The odds are against the forces of righteousness. But then people of good faith unite and walls come tumbling down. Obama used the word “walls” 16 times in the Berlin speech, and in 11 of those cases, he was talking about walls coming down.
- New York Times

Mr. Brooks points out that there is in fact two America’s and the haves want to keep the status quo and the have not’s just want a step up. In that step up is the message that Obama is selling far better than the doom and gloom of Senator McCain’s message. One hundred years more of war in the Middle East and nation building in that region. One of the few Republican’s I do respect is Former Secretary of State Collin Powell, and one of his greatest quotes was that of America intent on nation building. Collin Powell was asked about America and nation building and his reply was that America has been in many wars in defense of freedom and the only land we asked for was enough to bury our dead. That quote is out of context but the end message is the same.

Senator Obama gave a speech in Berlin that will be marked in history as the change in not just America’s opinion on mankind but the worlds. There is nothing wrong with speaking of hope and all people coming together to solve many of our worlds problems. We are no longer a nation of one people but a member of the world community. Hate and anger have never solved anything but hope and discussions on issues with realistic goals can. Barack Obama is not telling the world or the American People that he can end global warming, the tragedy that is Darfur, our global energy concerns, or even racism of one people of one religion against the other. What Obama is offering is hope and discussion to change the status quo of us versus them that the Bush Presidency perfected.

This world is messed up and change is needed and in some peoples thoughts, we have been handed in this election the mind of Lincoln on a united people, the thoughts of Teddy Roosevelt on seeing a corporate America amok, the determination of FDR to never give up on the American People, and JFK on human rights not just here in America but all over the world. Like him or hate him, Barack Obama brings the message of hope and that is not far from what many of our greatest Presidents have given us throughout history.

When I kiss my daughters goodnight, I hope and pray that the next day and their future will be brighter than my own. That is the beginning of hope, it isn’t anything new to any parent but it is reality. There is nothing wrong with believing in hope. America needs to be cautious and careful when there is only one political party that is selling fear and doomsday scenarios to sell patriotism. Ask any Veteran if the nightmares they suffer and the thoughts of military action and what they have done to them as a person. War is hell and hell lives in the minds of all of the Veterans coming back from the war in Iraq. We as a people can not fix the Vet’s already damaged but we can end the war in Iraq based on the lies from President Bush. A war John McCain wants to continue. What is wrong with putting a little hope in the minds of our military sons and daughters? The end of this war in Iraq is foremost in most voters and Obama is talking about diplomacy to end it. And he is starting the end of the war with actually talking about diplomacy from America. That is hope, something to pray for and dream of.

What bothers me about this opinion article in the New York Times is that my children’s future was right back to the 1950’s. Fear sells well over on the right wing political ideology. I and my family would rather live in a world of hope and diplomacy where people talk out their differences and come to a resolution. Something that has been lacking for the last eight years of the Bush Presidency. I feel bad for David Brooks, somewhere along the way he lost his way and forgot his roots. I think he forgot what hope is because he just doesn’t get it or live it. Maybe Mr. Brooks parents made sure he lived a better life than they ever dreamed possible. Good for him but that isn’t the reality of the average American family.

Don’t ever give up on hope. In your efforts to make a better life for you and your family there is always hope and results from your hard work and just striving for the American dream are never unpaid. I’m all for hope and Obama is not wrong in selling hope. The alternative is not or should not be acceptable to you as an American.

Papamoka
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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Europe in Love with Obama


Let me be the first to say that the Europeans are right on the money with being smitten with Barack Obama. With the charm of JFK and the oratory skill of a master politician he literally kicked butt and took names in Berlin.

After watching the speech myself there was only one conclusion to come to and over at Spiegel they said it better than I could ever do…

No. 44 Has Spoken
By Gerhard Spörl


Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegessäule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he wants to lay claim to become the president of the world.

It was a ton to absorb -- and what a stupendous ride through world history: the story of his own family, the Berlin Airlift, terrorists, poorly secured nuclear material, the polar caps, World War II, America's errors, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, freedom. It's amazing one could even pack such a potpourri of issues into sentences and then succeed in squeezing them all into the space of a speech that lasted less than 30 minutes.


Snip

Europe is witnessing the 44th president of the United States during this trip. Anyone who listens to him quickly realizes that he is not only ambitious but will also make demands. In the inner circles of Angela Merkel's Chancellery, he is reportedly seen as a pleasant person, one who arouses curiosity. - Spiegel

You really need to check out the full article on the Obama appearance to get the full impact of it. This speech alone boosted the odds in Vegas of any chance of McCain winning the election in November.

Papamoka


*****UPDATE: The Obama campaign emailed me the video link for YouTube in it's entirety and you can view it here or below.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Electric Cars

Make no mistake about it, we in America are behind the eight ball when it comes to our love of cars and getting from point A to Z. We as a people love the zero to sixty in seconds because we are power addicts in our cars. More power, more horsepower, and then we do that Tim Alan thing with the grunt as we pass a school bus with our mini van on a double lane road. Then we get to the gas pump and wonder why out loud with many expletives under our breath why it cost sixty, seventy or even a hundred dollars to fill our gas tank.

One of the things that is going to happen in America over the next decade is the extreme change to our choice of motor vehicles. It isn’t by our choice rather than our need as a people to move from one point to the other freely and the rising cost of gasoline will be the ultimate reason behind the engineering changes. You can blame OPEC, Wall Street, or the money grabbing oil companies with billions of profit per quarter or you could just look in the mirror. No matter how you look at the cause of blame, the car market is going to have to move to new forms of transportation or go the way of the stage coach. Just as the horse and buggy was replaced with the combustion engine, the same is going to happen to the combustion engine form of transportation.

Europe has been paying grotesque prices for gasoline for decades and in doing so has been the front runner on new technology to save money on the family budget. Over at Reuters they have this video on the latest car show featuring electric cars…

Wind power and Solar power is growing in America like a virus out of control and for a good reason. Our nation is in trouble when it comes to our energy needs and changing the source of that need is the only way out of it. All across America wind farms are going up like a wild weed overcoming the oil giant garden and this weed is not easily wiped out by insecticides or political lobbyist. What is amazing is that many people in the private sector are taking the initiative and installing their own wind turbines.

When you think about it, every single wind turbine is stealing away from the harmful alternatives that we use for electric generation every single day. Every single megawatt turbine is that less energy from coal powered power plants. Every single megawatt turbine is that much less energy needed from a natural gas fired power plant.

As for the solar power market and people embracing that new and improved energy source, the industry can not grow fast enough. Here in New England, Governor Deval Patrick has endorsed and put his money where his mouth is on green energy, and the solar power industry can not keep up with demand for the product that just sucks up energy from the sun.

Would it not be nice to throw up a solar panel on your roof and a small wind turbine to generate enough energy for not just your car to get from A to Z but also power the toaster, the fridge, the television and of course your computer to read posts like this one?

Anywho, electric cars are coming to America. They need to work on making them look more conventional and macho. Real men, macho hairy men, will be the worst enemy of the electric car industry. Little two seater’s that look like a sardine can will never wash. Get past that hurdle and it will sell like the next coming of Christ. Put the technology of electric cars in a midsized Ford or Chevy model and America will embrace it in a heartbeat.

Papamoka

*****Reuters has picked up this post... Thank You!

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

McCain Oxymoron


This next Presidential election can make or break this country when you really think about it. America is about looking forward, it isn’t about looking back other than learning from our mistakes. John McCain is running for President based on his life experience and not on the possibility of what we can be as a people. I have enormous respect for Senator McCain but his vision of the future of America scares the hell out of me. Where he sees progress in Iraq, I see a quagmire that could never end if he is elected and then 100 years of American troops dying in Iraq would in fact be a reality.

Is that a promise of change or is that a guarantee of more of the same in thinking that the body bag factory will be in the black for another hundred years? Red state or Blue state, your children are in our military and that is just to high a price to pay for a war that was a lie to begin with. Afghanistan, hell yes! That is where the Taliban and the scum bag Osama Bin Laden were in co-hoots. One hundred years more in Afghanistan, no! Just like Iraq, Afghanistan must stand on its own and defend itself against scum like Al-Quaida and any other terrorist threat. Our nation can not be the police for the world. If that is what the world expects of us then the United Nations needs to fork over a check for one trillion dollars every year to the U.S. Treasury.

Getting past all of that war crap and the lies that go with it, our nation is broken, busted, out of sink, and on a downward spiral. The damage of W is done and it will take a decade to recover from it. While our government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to defend a people that really don’t want freedom, our own people are falling by the wayside. Do you think that the billions of dollars allocated for the war in Iraq could have paid for a national health care plan times five?

How about making higher education free for all children in America? How far would a hundred billion tax dollars go to pay for that and actually for the American people every three months? How about taking care of our elderly that need nursing home care? How far would a couple hundred billion every three months go to pay for that? What about our infrastructure and roads and bridges that are in serious disrepair? What about putting one hundred billion into Social Security to make sure it is funded past the year 2100? This list could go on and on but McBush is more of the same and I can’t honestly see even one reason to vote for him for President. George Bush is all about spending billions of our tax dollars overseas and claiming to be a conservative when it comes to any spending bill when it comes to real life Americans. John McCain has voted in favor of every Bush intitiative for spending more overseas and against anything for American's including Veteran benefits and care. Billions for Iraq, nothing for Americans?

Hope, change, and a different perspective is coming from a new generation of Americans and if the message of Obama is change then his plans to make it happen can be a reality if he is elected President. Hope is a funny word, it means that better days are ahead and better times are coming. Isn’t that what all parents want for their children and their future? Given what President Bush has done to this economy, John McCain pointing his campaign of four more years of the same just isn’t selling well. Or he just can’t sell it as a candidate for President.

Many folks in the Libertarian and Conservative movement are abandoning McCain because his message is just weak. You can’t sell a policy of more of the same that busts the treasury and still claim to be a conservative. That is an oxymoron and you just can't sell a message that busts the federal budget when you claim to be a budget hawk.

Papamoka

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Monday, July 21, 2008

Presidential Politics is Local Politics

My family and I spent a great weekend out with my sister and brother in law and their five kids out in New Salem. It’s a beautiful area out by the Quabin Reservoir and a majestic place to visit when you want to see life as it was restored in old time New England. The kids were supposed to tent it for the weekend but the weather screwed us over till the last night. Call me a jerk but I couldn't picture a memory for my girls without a scare from yours truly as a wild animal out in the woods of New Salem. I grunted like a wild pig and almost laughed out loud as my nephew ordered out to identify mylself. I scratched at the tent on the lower corners and started to growl and Reid came up to bat to confront the attacking animal. At the ripe old age of thirteen he was the man in charge defending his family. At which point I growled loud and grabbed at the screen as he tried to unzipp it. As the kids laughed I was in serious trouble as the Mom's came racing out. Long story...

My Sister in law Jean is a Godsend to the restoration of the community and has been one of many driving the restoration of the buildings in the town and for that matter bringing New Salem back together again. Her heart is in the right place and that is building a community and fostering a common goal that brings all of the people of New Salem together. Old Home Day in New Salem would not be what it is without all the hard work everyone in the community puts into it. Trust me, it was a great family event. We had a blast, got some home made honey from a real life bee keeper and some interesting residual products made from honey. The girls were able to ride in a fire truck in the parade, and we all enjoyed some great conversation with family and locals.

We didn’t talk politics but we did talk life. Life meaning how we are all handling the events of our lives given the economy. It’s happening everywhere in America and our discussions probably were not far from the conversations you had with your families over the past weekend. Gas prices are killing our food budgets, we are stretching funds to pay the utility bills, we don’t drive unless we have several errands at the same time, we just don’t spend frivolously anymore. One thing I came away from this past weekend was local commerce supporting local people. From now on, when I see a farm stand I intend to stop and buy from them for my vegetables and any other products they have that I would have bought at the huge grocery chain store. I don’t know where the vegetables came from at the super dooper grocery chain, but I do know that the local farm stand is selling their hard work. At least I hope they are.

Jean and David are the most Liberal people I know but they are also Conservative thinking people. I love them both. Here in New England that is almost a given. Yankee blood is driven into your soul over the long cold winters and saving a dollar, managing your dollars is just something you do. At least in western Mass anyway.

What stirred my thoughts to write this post was the local community and supporting that first ideology. I sat back at the dinner table when my wifes sister Jean went on about supporting local farmers meant supporting the local hardware store, the local store that bought the milk from the farm, the local farm that supplied the eggs to the store and the list went on and on. A loud sounding bell went off in my head and it was right there in front of me and I never saw it before.

What with WalMart importing everything from all over the world and selling it cheap, in the big city of Worcester, not such a big city but the example works, I’m screwing myself over and my neighbor that works at XYZ company that makes product here, buys raw materials here, pays to ship raw materials to the factory, pays a living wage here, then pays to ship the product to the end user here in the USA! I as a person need to stop thinking that cheaper is better and saving one dollar on a product is better for me. It isn’t cheaper and that fact is seen loud and clear by all of the highly educated friends you know and love that are out of work and all they qualify for now is retail sales associates. MIT and Harvard degrees do not matter in this economy that has been created by the current leaders of this nation.

Our Federal government needs to reinvent itself where American’s come first again and that is not going to happen under a continuation of George Bush policies. Governor Deval Patrick has taken the lead in reinventing Massachusetts economy by going green and endorsing the technology that will pay off in the long term for all Americans. In doing so he is securing our higher education background that is a huge contribution to our local economy. In his efforts to go green Governor Patrick is also making this state a leader in the desire of all of our nations people to get off the OPEC monkey that has been holding us back for far too long. Governor Patrick has tripped the light fantastic and in doing so many other states should follow his lead. For the time being the brightest of minds in new energy will work in Mass and that is what good government is all about. Creating a growth industry and nurturing it till it can stand on its own. Change comes slow and when it kicks in new jobs will be created nationwide that will drive the next economoy.

With all of that being said, who do you think will really play a part in changing the way we all think in America? John McCain or Barack Obama?

You decide in November.

Papamoka

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Go Tell Mama - I'm for Obama

Some friends of the family from New Salem, and Wendell, MASS have made a great video in support of Obama in the coming election. Personally, I thought it was a smash hit and it should be seen by all.

Thanks go out to the nice folks out that way. Warning, this video has a catchy beat to it and by all means feel free to spread it around! You will laugh your butt off when you see how they paid for the video in the end credits, I know I did!



Papamoka

Cross posted at Bring It On! and at To the Center

***** Jeff from Worm Town Taxi has linked in.... Thank you!!!
***** Lee from Pink Granite has linked in too! Thank you!!!

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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Obama in Afghanistan

One of the things that I think people see is the extreme difference of personal interaction between Presidential candidates. John McCain is the old uncle that likes children, loves family, enjoys a good time but he is not a people person. Over on the other side is a young man, with a very young family, loves children and people, very energetic, and to the dismay of the McCain Camp very interactive with the troops in Afghanistan. Then to top it off he does not mind a hug or two from the troops in the field in return.

For the record, I didn’t know that Obama has a dead eye shot at a free throw in basketball. Don’t even think of going racist on that sentence and if you do, grow the hell up! I wish I had his abilities on the court. Check the Video out here at this link if the one below does not work for you. Barack nails it from the three point zone!

Over at YouTuBe they have this interesting video on Obama’s current visit to the troops in Afghanistan. One thing you will notice watching this video is the lack of the suit coat or rolled up sleeves that most politicians use to show ampathy, the lack of the troops being held back from him, and most importantly how much they simply love Barack Obama. He is a rock star among the military in country and that speaks volumes onto itself.



As you read this article, Senator John McCain is at WalMart buying a sweat suit and planning his next trip to Afghanistan to visit not just the General's but maybe touch the flesh and maybe hug a vet, (Photo Op only and the selection process is going to be vetted by the White House I'm sure) in the war zone. Then again that touches into the icky factor for McCain? Maybe there will not be hugs for McCain, but the sweat suit shot will be cool?

One thing is certain, the Obama trip to the war zones is going far better than ever expected. That in itself shows that he has what it takes by far to be the next President of the United States of America.

Rock on Obama, rock on!

Papamoka

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Spiegel and al-Maliki Endorsement of Obama


What is a guy like John McCain, the defender of freedom in Iraq, the will of the people of Iraq foremost to be independent in his mind supposed to do when the Prime Minister of Iraq endorses Obama? I told you here once before that Iraq wanted the U.S. out of Iraq and that that would be the time that they would step up to the plate.

I kid you not, al-Maliki of Iraq supports the Obama plan and that is a nail in the coffin for Senator John McCain’s campaign as a foreign policy expert on Iraq! Mind you, there is still some controversy over this endorsement but it is the biggest news on the region in months. Over at Spiegel they have this on the subject and I have one hell of a follow up opinion…

MALIKI'S PRAISE FOR OBAMA
Iraqi Leader Stirs up US Campaign


Obama is pleased, but McCain certainly is not. In an interview with SPIEGEL, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki expressed support for Obama's troop withdrawal plans. Despite a half-hearted retraction, the comments have stirred up the US presidential campaign. SPIEGEL stands by its version of the conversation.

In the interview, Maliki expressed support of Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. "That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of changes."

Maliki was quick to back away from an outright endorsement of Obama, saying "who they choose as their president is the Americans' business." But he then went on to say: "But it's the business of Iraqis to say what they want. And that's where the people and the government are in general agreement: The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited."

A Baghdad government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said in a statement that SPIEGEL had "misunderstood and mistranslated" the Iraqi prime minister, but didn't point to where the misunderstanding or mistranslation might have occurred. Al-Dabbagh said Maliki's comments "should not be understood as support to any US presidential candidates." The statement was sent out by the press desk of the US-led Multinational Force in Iraq.

A number of media outlets likewise professed to being confused by the statement from Maliki's office. The New York Times pointed out that al-Dabbagh's statement "did not address a specific error." CBS likewise expressed disbelief pointing out that Maliki mentions a timeframe for withdrawal three times in the interview and then asks, "how likely is it that SPIEGEL mistranslated three separate comments? Matthew Yglesias, a blogger for the Atlantic Monthly, was astonished by "how little effort was made" to make the Baghdad denial convincing. And the influential blog IraqSlogger also pointed out the lack of specifics in the government statement.
- Spiegel

We live in a world of immediate information and reporting of facts and I'm just guessing that a not so popular guy in our nations capitol has instant access to any information involving Iraq. Maybe we should re-word how the retraction came. Maybe we should say that somebody in a sort of oval office with tons of interest in all events happening in Iraq placed a very angry phone call to the Prime Minister of Iraq? Maybe in that phone call some strong words were exchanged on a one sided basis and the guy in the oval like office told the supposed Prime Minister of Iraq to spin the statement backwards and twist it out of context?

Make no mistake about it, al-Maliki was intimidated into retraction of his endorsement of Obama and his plan for Iraq and we all know what kind of power and influence that was needed to do just that. There is far to much money to be made in Iraq and the pit that the money has gone into to date has been bottomless up to this point in time. How fast would you as Prime Minister of Iraq take a second look at your statements if you were threatened with the loss of hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars coming into your nation that are not accountable for or asked to be accounted for? I’d recant my statements pretty damn quick if I were him and then I would personally put a John McCain for President bumper sticker on my bullet proof limo‘s bumper. I would never ride in that limo again but the damn bumper sticker would be on it!

Make no mistake about it, this next election for President is for sale and the people making the endless amount of dollars off of this war have a friendly ear in a house somewhere in Washingtion, D.C. that just happens to be painted white. Check back soon on the mega dollars being donated to build a Library in Crawford, Texas… That would be another topic on something completely different I swear. Ummm, okay, I'm lying. Sorry.
My thanks to Memeorandum for this post...

Papamoka

Other folks talking about this issue:
The Atlantic
Taylor Marsh
The Impolitic
The Political Carnival
The Swamp… (Loved the Comments)

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Real Clear Politics Polls


Over at Real Clear Politics (RCP) they are showing a huge move from red state to moderate, middle of the road, on the fence thinking about their votes for Obama over McCain. This is a huge upset for the Republican Party and the damage is their political parties own damn fault! All of the lies, deception, “Can’t touch me”, and “Those laws do not apply to me because I am an elected official of the US Congress” are catching up fast and furious to the red state Republican’s. That and the fact that the current President has pretty much torn up the Constitution because his interpretation of “We the People” is far different than what the founding father’s actually stated. That might explain his current approval rating at 28% and the Congress at 17%.

I’m going to be straight with you and tell you right now that the next election will look nothing like the past two for President of the United States of America. This will not be even a close race for several reasons and I’ll list them out for you. Number one is the war in Iraq and the lies that lead all of us into it. WMD’s were a lie, Yellow Cake was a lie and the Plame scandal outing a CIA operative in the field just added up to more lies on top of more lies.

Number two is the corruption or thought of probable corruption with no bid contracts for that war with the largest of chunks of billions of tax dollars going to none other than the former firm CEO that is our Republican Vice President Dick Cheney. Then to avoid the long arm of the law the firm Cheney once headed pulled up stakes in America and moved its world headquarters to… Dubai!

Three, and this one is really important, the mass exodus of die hard conservative and staunch Republicans from red states through resignation or indictment that supposedly had strong “Family Values” but assisted in, were part of, tried covering up, or were actually accused of sexually deviant adventures as elected members of the Congress. You can not preach family values, God, the Bible, and American values and then do the exact opposite.

Four, Americans do not like to be told that you just have to deal with it because you are an oil addict. President Bush’s only answer to our nations energy crisis and the cost of gas at the pump is to drill for more oil, not research programs to fund alternative sources exploration, not science programs to expand our knowledge of potential new resources, just a slap upside the head from a former oil executive that “We the People” are addicts and should be ashamed. President Bush has never, not once, nope, not even during a time of war asked “We the People” to cut back, conserve energy during a time of war. Just his statement that we should all go “Shopping”!

Last but not least, coming in fifth is the tax cuts for millionaires that President Bush passed and Senator McCain who as a Conservative once thought was a fiscal disaster now wants to keep in the worst way. Ergo, taxes on the rich are bad, which McCain is in fact one, with his wife’s assets estimated at over $100 million dollars. Passing the buck to the little people makes more sense somehow in McCain's mind. After all there is more of them than people like him above it all so to speak.

With all of these reasons, John McCain with his following of Bush on every major issue is in fact a clone now known as John McBush. People see through the path that Bush once plowed into a field that will never even grow weeds and that is why the following states are now no longer diehard red states:

Nevada
Colorado
New Mexico (Bush wanted to Annex it but it was already a state)
Missouri
Indiana
Ohio
Virginia
North Carolina
Florida

Dare I add other states to this list? Damn straight if Obama shows some Presidential potential backbone on his current trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. Provided Obama does not screw up Sunni and Shia and other tribes names in Iraq, forget the name of the current leader in any nation he visits, or misspeak on any issue relevant to the nation he is in during this trip, then he should or could change the polling numbers by a large percentage in other red states as well. Just a thought for you to think about, if you are worried about his messing up facts and details… Obama is a Harvard University graduate that was at the top of his class. He studies topics and recalls them fairly well when asked about it. He is not George Bush or John McCain. He is never one to quote Homer Simpson with a “Dhut” explanation.

When you really think about it, the Bush administration has allowed corporate America to run shotgun on our economy and in doing so we have lost our way on how to be the best in the world. While not just jobs but entire industries have been sent overseas the current occupant of the Presidency is the actual cause for this failing economy and is still looking the other way. So is the Republican nominee for President of the United States of America.

Salvation, hope, whatever you want to call it is not in electing just a President but electing someone that actually believes in honest change for the better. While McCain is grasping and gasping for the Bush 28% approval rating he has lost his way like oh so many of us in America. change of the status quo just isn't in his heart and he can not sell it. That is why "We the People" will change our own lives for better times come November.

Papamoka

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Wind Power White Knight Oil Barron


T. Boone Pickens is running a national television and internet campaign to save this country from the strangle hold of imported oil and I’m backing his plan. I signed up as a member simply because he is right. America is spending $700 Billion dollars a year on imported oil and that money is going out of this country to fund God only knows what. And this oil man for life is putting his money where his heart is and building a coalition of people that can make a difference on our nation’s oil addiction. You can check out his video here. I highly recommend it!

For a life long oil man to see our nation’s dependence on oil as wrong has to tell you that he can speak from experience. When he is personally backing the development of wind power in this nation by building a 4000 MW wind farm in Pampa, Texas then you know he is serious about this subject.

All of my adult life I have been energy conscious and a conservative of the use of any energy source. My wife hated it when I started buying fluorescent bulbs for all the light fixtures in the house in the mid 1990’s. And yes she was an energy conservation terrorist swapping out my energy savers with regular light bulbs whenever and wherever she thought she could get away with it. Eventually, I would find her evil doings and undo them with a replacement bulb. This battle went on for several years until she became tired of the war and surrendered.

When the cost to heat the house by natural gas was getting ridiculous, I installed a wood pellet stove that redeemed my “Cheapo in Chief” status with the fluorescent light bulbs as the house was warmer and cozier. She was happy, I was happier with the cost to heat the home reduced by two thirds! While she and my daughters saw the warmth as nap inducing technology, I saw a renewable energy source and a gas bill at summer prices.

This had me looking at other ways to save energy and that is when I stumbled upon a gas fired tank less hot water heater from Bosch on the internet. Tank less hot water is huge in Europe and is slowly now catching on in the United States. Trust me, six females in one house use a ton of hot water and yours truly was always the one jumping in the shower to find no hot water left. The old forty gallon water heater could never keep up and even when we were away it was running up my gas bill and that didn’t make any sense.

Needless to say I was looking at home sized wind turbines and solar panels for the house. That involved a lot more technical know how and installation than my paycheck could afford. Anything to reduce the energy use we have had was scrutinized and looked at for avenues of savings. We came across information on front loading washers and the high energy efficiency they had and combined that with a matching dryer for our clothes. Water bill went down, electric bill went down.



Check out this site from T. Boone Pickens on actually changing our dependence on oil and let me know what you think. Something has to change and it might as well start with us.

Papamoka

*****Wind Power and Generators has linked back to this post...

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

McCain has a Nader

While the Obama campaign has John McBush on the run on what to do about Iraq and Afghanistan the Arizona Senators back yard has been infested with Obamacans. Bob Barr running on the Independent ticket for President is eating into the McCain base and the poll numbers have driven him into the cheap seats of the election process in his own home state. Al Gore would be proud, but then again he lost his own home state to Bush so he isn’t talking to the press on this poll.

Over at the Huffington Post they have this little ditty on the poll results…

In a sign of continued weakness in his home state, an online poll shows Sen. John McCain trailing Sen. Barack Obama by 3-percentage points in Arizona. The poll also shows the candidacy of Libertarian Bob Barr is having a significant impact on McCain's campaign by siphoning off conservative voters nationwide.

The Arizona poll was part of nationwide Zogby International poll that put Obama ahead in total electoral votes with 273 to 160 for McCain. The poll found 11 states with 105 electoral votes too close to call -- including Arizona. McCain's campaign in June included Arizona among its list of swing states. – Huffington Post

I can’t argue with the poll. Nope, I can see where the great people of Arizona see a puppet doll and not a President. While all the main stream media sees this as a Democrat wet dream I have to look at the reality of polls and they don’t mean diddly at this point in the election. Should Obama go to Arizona a couple of dozen times? Hell ya! Should McBush go to Arizona rather than Columbia South America… Depends, how much is dinner going to cost for the guests?

One of the things that piss most politically active people off is where the money comes from to elect a Congressman, a Senator, and a President. Some people criticize Barack Obama for waiving the federal funding match and rightfully so. In the same respect, when you see that many of your contributions which are $5 and $10 are coming from ordinary people in America begging for change then a candidate must consider their voices in everything he is doing on their behalf. Hillary Clinton would have done the same thing if she won the primary process. And Bill would have been the one to tell her not to be stupid because he knows politics better than anyone at the federal level. Who knows, maybe he told Barack the same advice?

Nobody will ever know what kind of promises John McBush made down in Columbia South America or how much money followed him home in contributions sooner or later. One thing is certain, McCain voted against his own bill to change the immigration policy of America after he had a chat with his mentor in the White House. His own damn bill, he wrote it, gave it life in the Senate, fought for it and yet he voted against it? What logical response could ever explain that fact and be actually believable?

I’m going to be looking into the Bob Barr guy and see who he is. If he is able to steal 7% of the vote from McBush in Arizona then he might be able to carry a couple of other key states for Obama and that my friends might be worthy of a donation from yours truly to his political campaign. Politics, it’s like chess, you move pieces, you sacrifice pawns, rooks and even a queen, but the end result is getting your opponents King.

Papamoka

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Monday, July 14, 2008

Obama and al-Maliki Plan for Iraq

One of the things that I am certain of in this next political election is that I want to end the body bags full of our children coming home for burial from Iraq. Everything to do with the Iraq War has been more or less proven to be a lie. Bush and Cheney proposed it and the Republican henchmen in charge of the Congress railroaded it through. They tossed flag burning, patriotism, with us or against us, 9/11 and terrorists at us all till it stuck to the wall. Same thing they did against Gore and then at Kerry in the Presidential elections to close to call that the courts decided who won one election and the other was a guess. Misdirection is a key forte of the Bush Presidency and it worked again when it came to the war in Iraq. Again, every single reason they used to get us into the war other than the UN violations that were ignored for decades turned out to be lies, rumors, innuendo and hearsay.

Barack Obama and John McCain have an open forum over at the New York Times and I applaud the Times for allowing them both to write their thoughts on many of the issues that we the people need to know where they stand. Like it, hate it, the issue is covered. Obama wants to end the war and so does the Prime Minister of Iraq! Huge surprise that McCain wants it to go on for as long as America has one last dollar to spend.

After reading the article by Obama there is not one way I could see that we should not be out of Iraq. Our troops, our support personnel, they are all easy targets for anyone with a pissed off attitude against our military being in Iraq years after the monster of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein, was captured and hanged. Then again, even the Prime Minister of Iraq no longer wants our troops on his soil and believes that his nation can deal with what they have to deal with. Maybe al-Maliki will make Saddam look like a saint but that is not our problem.

Over at the New York Times they have this piece from Barack Obama, read it through. He isn’t looking at this blindly…

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
My Plan for Iraq
By BARACK OBAMA
Published: July 14, 2008


CHICAGO — The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States. - New York Times

One of the things I do know about war is that it is hell to the people that actually face it. Washington is not looking at what effect this war has on the wounded or killed in this conflict, they are looking at the dollars rolling into campaigns.

One last thought, the only part that was not blah, blah, blah in this piece from Obama to the general public was this little ditty…

It’s not going to work this time. It’s time to end this war. – New York Times

Now that makes sense to me!

One of the things important to remember in this Presidential election is that you and your Congressional representatives in your government were lied to. Not just in Blue States and Red States but all of us were deceived and pretty much conned. Bush and company sold the lies after 9/11 and the first amendment and freedom of the press exposed it. Common sense tells you why so many Republican candidates have chosen a graceful exit from public service. Vote where your heart and children are. How are we supposed to raise our children with the truth when those we send to lead us follow lies blindly even if they are wrong?

Papamoka

Related articles of interest...

Gun Toting Liberal
Carpet Bagger
The Moderate Voice

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