"Gotcha" Journalism aka Listening

McCain and Palin want to spin her agreement with Obama on going into Pakistan as "gotcha" journalism. I'm not sure how listening and recording an answer that Palin gave TO A CONSTITUENT (it was not even a reporter who asked the question) as some sort of "trick" worthy of McCain's patented snicker. Palin and her dad, McCain, met with Couric again to explain why Sarah should NOT be taken at her word, doesn't mean what she says, and the mean old reporters should just stop asking questions or even listening to the answers.

Saturday night, while on a stop for cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia, Palin was questioned by a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

"If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," Palin said...

Sen. John McCain retracted Sarah Palin's stance on Pakistan Sunday morning, after the Alaska governor appeared to back Sen. Barack Obama's support for unilateral strikes inside Pakistan against terrorists

"She would not...she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest," McCain told ABC's George Stephanopoulos of Palin. "In all due respect, people going around and... sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's--that's a person's position... This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitve policy statement made by Governor Palin."

Poor wittle Sarah, always having to remember that WORDS MEAN THINGS!

John was wrong

...many many times. How does that not count just because the surge is marginally helpful (and I say marginally, because those on the ground say the real turnaround is the "pay for peace" initiative - under which we pay people to stop killing each other). John McCain was wrong about this fiasco of a war. He was wrong over and over. And committing more troops and LOTS MORE MONEY for a tenuous peace does NOT negate that. Thank you Jed at Huffpo for this compilations reminding us of John's own words:

Sexism explained once and for all

OK, it's really simple: IF a woman is an idiot and you call her an idiot BECAUSE SHE'S A WOMAN, that is sexism; if a woman is an idiot and you call her an idiot BECAUSE SHE'S AN IDIOT, that is NOT SEXISM. See, not so hard, huh? If you think that WOMAN and IDIOT are synonyms YOU ARE A SEXIST IDIOT.

So it seems that some on the right are finally cluing in to the fact that Ms. Flailin' might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. Her recent stints in front of the camera w/o a teleprompter have forced them to acknowledge what the left has been saying for weeks. The woman is AN IDIOT.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”

...If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.

Speak for yourself Ms. Parker. Anyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together can see that Sarah is that quintessential combination of idiocy and cock-sureness. Where have we seen that before? Oh yeah, here.

Indian CEO murdered by workers

I notice our MSM isn't picking up this story, so here you go:

INDIAN Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes has shocked industrialists by saying the lynching of a CEO by a mob of sacked workers on Monday should serve as a "warning" to management to show compassion.

Mr Fernandes blamed the brutal murder on "simmering labour discontent" and warned businessmen not to push contract workers too far.

He said managements were often in a position to give workers permanent jobs but only gave contract work.

Lalit Kishore Choudhary, CEO of Italian car parts company Graziano Transmission India, was clubbed to death by angry workers in Greater Noida, close to Delhi, after a prolonged labour dispute.

When Mr Choudhary saw the mob of about 200 outside the factory, he called police. When they failed to arrive, he went out to pacify the workers, who wanted their jobs back.

This horrible crime was perpetrated by those who believed they had nothing left to lose.

McCain blows in, blows up the plan and blows out

I'm not a big fan of the bailout. But McCain's stunt and politicking yesterday was great for his campaign. Knowing that most of America doesn't support a bailout, it's easy for him to come to Washington and be the spoiler and then get credit by the masses for stopping the bailout plan. I think the idea of the bailout is wrong. BUT, I think that Senate and House Democrats went a LONG way to get concessions from the Bush Admin: no excessive compensation, help for homeowners, significantly stepped up oversight (from Paulson's original "non reviewable" plan). I think the bill was shaping up to be at least acceptable. But now, McCain blows in, and the House Repubs go back to square one wanting a deal that they SAY is against Wall St., but really is a much better deal for Wall St: less regulation, no help for homeowners, no money to groups that help keep people in their homes, no caps on compensation.

As an alternative, House Republicans offered a plan under which companies would buy insurance from the government, and that includes proposed tax cuts and a relaxation of government regulations.

Will Americans see through these cynical ploys? Likely not. McCain and his camp will spin this as the great savior riding in at the last minute to save the day, when in fact he has ridden in to continue to hurt the middle class at the expense of the wealthy.

Wake up America.

Currency trader Andrew Resnick said the House Republicans' plan was deficient from a number of standpoints.

"Is this the way a responsible coalition behaves? You say nothing all day, then in the dead of night present a questionable plan via back-channels? Frankly, it's reckless and bizarre," Resnick said. "The House Republicans are playing with fire. Here we are trying to prevent a financial crisis from turning into a catastrophe and one political camp wants to play partisan politics. It's the height or depth of public irresponsibility."

OMG did McCain ever talk to her?

OMG Was Palin a runner up in the Miss Alaska pageant or is she the current Miss South Carolina, like, such as. Seriously. Can this person even be remotely considered to be qualified to be a manager at a Hilton Hotel?

Buh-bye Superpower Status

CNBC

"The world will never be as it was before the crisis," Steinbrueck told parliament. "The United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world financial system will become more multi-polar."

In stark language, Steinbrueck lay the blame for the crisis squarely on the United States and what he called an Anglo-Saxon drive for double-digit profits and massive bonuses for bankers and company executives.

"Investment bankers and politicians in New York, Washington and London were not willing to give these up," he said. "Wall Street will never be what it was," Steinbrueck added.

And one wonders who will fund our international adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan if we're not the financial superpower of the world. Who would have thought that what Osama started, Wall Street finished; all in the name of greed and outlandish pay.

Mem'ries

Lehmans bankrupt, but $2.5BILLION bonus pool - solvent

The Independent

Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5bn (£1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed last night.

The revelation sparked fury among the workers' former colleagues, Lehman's 5,000 staff based in London, who currently have no idea how long they will go on receiving even their basic salaries, let alone any bonus payments. It also prompted a renewed backlash over the compensation culture in global finance, with critics claiming that many bankers receive pay and rewards that bore no relation to the job they had done.

I can't even understand how Barclay's who is buying US Lehman assets at $1.75B can let stand a bonus pool of $2.5B. I don't understand how the Bailout Legislation can let this stand. We have to bail them out, but they still get an average bonus of $250,000?

Tell your friends. I haven't seen the US MSM reporting on this one. Note that this is a UK story.

And go here

No Blank Check?

Sign Here

We strongly urge you not to issue a blank check to the Wall Street giants who have steered our country into financial dire straits. We must address this crisis quickly and prudently. Do not give these companies a dime of taxpayer money unless they agree to the following conditions:

1. If the taxpayers are shouldering the risk, the taxpayers should reap any eventual benefits. We accomplish this by giving the government an equity stake in every company we bail out proportionate to the amount we give them.

2. If we're paying (more than) our fair share, the CEOs and executives should have to, too. All of the fat cats who got us into this mess should relinquish their stock options and salaries until they start showing us, their investors, that they can once again be profitable. Future salaries should be linked to profitability.

3. No more campaign contributions from Wall Street executives and PACs. Taxpayer dollars should be used to get our nation out of a crisis. They cannot be used to fund giant, powerful lobby operations that will be used to strong arm Congress into making bad policy.

4. Better regulations start right now. Wall Street can't expect to take thousands of dollars out of your paycheck without agreeing to increased transparency and more stringent oversight - the kind that might have helped avoid this mess to begin with.

5. Bankruptcy judges get broader leeway to help homeowners. Why should we lose our homes so the CEOs can keep theirs?

Beware the disaster after the disaster

As Naomi Klein writes in the Shock Doctrine, the real disasters happen after the initial disasters. So after we cough up billions to perhaps 1.8 trillion to rescue Wall Street, then comes the pain to the American Citizen. You can hear them now, "but, we have to end Social Security, the country is in too much debt. But, we have to end Veterans Benefits, the country is in too much debt. But, we have to end medicare, the country is in too much debt." Don't let them shove this porker through. CALL YOUR SENATORS!

To top it all off, Paulson now wants to bailout McCain's buddy Phil Gramm's UBS bank and other foreign banks:

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that foreign banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion U.S. proposal aimed at restoring order during a devastating financial crisis.

"Yes, and they should. Because ... if a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution," Paulson said on ABC TV.

Oh really? When AIG was choking last week, the Fed stepped in to bail them out - EVEN THOUGH AIG IS A WORLDWIDE INSURER WHOSE DEMISE WOULD HURT WORKERS ALL OVER THE WORLD! Did that mean the UK, Japan, France, and Hong Kong stepped in to co-bailout? Nope. They let the idiots in the US of A handle the mess. But now, when other country's companies are in trouble, we have to step to the plate again.

Almost makes one think that we're being set up to take on enough debt to finally jettison every last remnant of the New Deal. It's what the neo-cons have wanted for over 60 years. And they're about to get their wish.

But, but, but, Fannie and Freddie WERE regulated...

So another meme coming out of the neo-cons mouths and other orifices is that "Fannie and Freddie WERE regulated, so you see? regulation doesn't help. Regulation is not the answer." And now this from the NY Times...

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

So you see, it's a favorite neo-con ploy, throw some amount of money at a problem, but not enough. Then when the problem doesn't go away, you can say, "see, it's not a problem that will be solved by money." Throw some regulations at a problem, but not enough. Then when the problem doesn't go away, you can say "see, it's not a problem that will be solved by regulation."

And then McCain has the gall, the audacity, the Rovian idiocy to claim that Obama has Fannie officials as "advisors." When in fact:

...the McCain campaign stepped up a running battle of guilt by association when it began broadcasting commercials trying to link Mr. Obama directly to the government bailout of the mortgage giants this month by charging that he takes advice from Fannie Mae’s former chief executive, Franklin Raines, an assertion both Mr. Raines and the Obama campaign dispute.

Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions.

The dems should be leading this thing by 40 points. The fact that this election is still a toss up tells me that Americans just don't get it and won't get it even when facing a financial melt-down. In a democracy, you get the government you deserve. And we're gonna get it all right.

American Business Today

How perfect this video is. How perfectly it depicts the state of the US today - "no wussies" when it comes to the little guy. "Need my $40 million dollar bonus" when it comes to the big guys.

Go here and sign. For frack's sake. WAKE THE FCUK UP AMERICA!.

From Reader John at Americablog

Ablog

We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Social Security.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Medicare.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to provide health care to ALL Americans.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help out Americans losing their homes.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help all our veterans returning from war.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to rescue "no child left behind".

BUT...

We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Bears Stearns.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out AIG.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to pay for an unnecessary TRILLION DOLLAR war.

When the LITTLE GUY needs help, they scornfully say, "GET A JOB!"
But when one of their BIG GUY CRONIES need a bailout, what do they say? SURE, NO PROBLEM. Where's the checkbook?

Remind all your righty friends about this when they start carping about how we don't have money to help every little person who needs food for their families (they should have known better than have sex if they couldn't afford to pay for kids) or healthcare (they should have eaten better) or the myriad other things we could have spent the Iraq and Wall Street billions on.

This country is a joke today. It really has become all about socializing costs and privatizing profits. It makes me ill.

And to top it off, the big boys on Wall Street just got the SEC to restrict naked short selling of FINANCIAL stocks. So, when they were making money from the practice on other people's companies, it was OK. But the big boys' stocks get beat up by hedge funds engaging in exactly the same practices, and they make a call to their buddy Cox at SEC. He changes the rules. Do you really think we're all created equal? Money talks in this country and never more so than this week where we've seen the US taxpayer put on the hook for billions and perhaps a trillion to stem the losses about which wallstreet should have known better.

McCain spells out necessary presidential qualifications

Hint: it' ain't "being a mayor for a short period of time or being a governor for a short period of time."

OK, the real joke is he's talking about Giuliani and Romney; a mayor of a city about 1600! times bigger than Wasilla and a governor of the 14th most populous state in the nation (vs. the least-populated Alaska). So, basically McCain is admitting he's chosen a running mate who, by his own estimation, is unqualified. I guess he must have chosen her for some other reasons? like wooing the righties? Sounds really professional to me.

America's "manhood deficiency"

I was wondering when the wing-nuts wet dream about Palin would start to recede as they faced the clear light of the biblical day; namely, "women should not lead men" (thanks St. Paul) Apparently, the alarm clock just went off....

After watching a week of ridiculous attacks on Sarah Palin which so clearly exposed, yet again, the rank hypocrisy of the left and their lapdog media, I was almost ready to vote for McCain and Palin myself. Almost.

But I won't. I was never keen on McCain to begin with, and his decision to add a woman to his ticket sealed my decision. I won't vote for them. Why? Because I'm a sexist (as many accuse)? No. But because I'm a theist.

I believe in the God of the Bible and I want to see my life conducted according to His Word, and the life of our nation reflect the teaching of His Word. I will not throw my vote behind the Christ-hating egalitarian agenda of the socialist elitists of this nation.

Egalitarianism, as defined by the elitists, is the design to erase all distinctions between males and females from society. If you have not noticed this agenda pushed in our society, you are either hopelessly naïve or just plain stupid. I could give examples from every aspect and quarter of our culture.

From the time they are young boys, the onslaught to effeminize, neuter, and rob males of their manhood [like not letting them take guns to school, I guess] begins in this culture and continues relentless upon them till the day they die. The agenda creates confusion in males [with their itty bitty brains that explode when confronted with anything that contradicts scripture and must therefore be thought about] regarding what exactly their role as men is. The agenda results in rampant male irresponsibility.

God's Word is clear that men and women have distinct roles in which they are to function - both being dear and important to the design of God. Nevertheless, I regularly run into Christian couples who have no idea that, biblically, there are distinctions for men and women. They have no problem with the man staying home and the woman being the provider [Amazing!]. They pompously challenge me (as they condescendingly look at me as though I'm some kind of cultural Neanderthal) to show them "one scripture" which states the woman is to stay at home and the man is to go out and provide. This is how bad the confusion is in our nation, even among those who should know God's ways.

In the Hypocrisy Olympics the Gold Goes To.....

The Nation

John McCain chose the supremely under-qualified Sarah Palin as his running mate partly because she is a woman. If you have a problem with that, you're a sexist. She talks incessantly about being a mother of five and uses her newborn, Trig, who has Down syndrome, as a campaign prop. If you wonder how she'll handle all those kids and the Veep job too, you're a super-sexist. "When do they ever ask a man that question?" charges that fiery feminist Rudy Giuliani. Indeed, Palin, who went back to work when Trig was three days old, gets nothing but praise from Phyllis Schlafly, James Dobson and the folks at National Review, who usually blame all the ills of modern America on those neurotic, harried, selfish, frustrated, child-neglecting, husband-castrating working mothers. Even stranger, her five-months-pregnant 17-year-old, Bristol, gets nothing but compassion and respect from Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and others who have spent their careers slut-shaming teens for having sex--and blaming their parents for letting it happen.

If there were an Olympics for hypocrisy, the Republican Party would have more gold medals than Michael Phelps.

OMG, I love Katha Pollitt.

Sarah's idea of small government

Boston Globe

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on business for his wife.

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by the Washington Post. Her daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel and many of the trips were to and from their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.

Now if this isn't "playing fast and loose", I'm not sure what would qualify. Yes, she's home and home is not her "duty station." But for frack's sake, who would have the audacity to claim that HOME costs her money over and above what she would spend at HOME??!?! That's the idea of the per diem: to cover costs that you incur in the evening when you're AWAY FROM HOME, not away from your "duty station." Sure, she may have followed the letter of the law/rule, but surely she knows she subverted the spirit of the law/rule. I've never seen any group of people parse the truth and the law better than Cheney-mold republicans; of which Sarah is a star-pupil. Clinton gets the jokes about parsing, but republicans can win a parsing-contest w/both eyes closed.

How NOT to do Sex-Ed

...like Americans....

From ScienceBlogs

And it's written by a guy named Charles Blow (get your snickering out of the way now). He has an op-ed in the NY Times about sex education in the US making many of the same arguments I've made over the last few years.

In fact, a 2001 Unicef report said that the United States teenage birthrate was higher than any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. tied Hungary for the most abortions. This was in spite of the fact that girls in the U.S. were not the most sexually active. Denmark held that title. But, its teenage birthrate was one-sixth of ours, and its teenage abortion rate was half of ours.

An even better comparison is the Netherlands, which has a teenage birthrate 1/7th of ours and a teen abortion rate 1/7th of ours as well. And the Netherlands has what is considered to be the world's most comprehensive sex education programs, complete with free and anonymous birth control and free and anonymous sexual health screening and treatment. And by the way, the average Dutch teen starts having sex nearly 2 years after the average American teen despite all of that. Good sex education does not lead to promiscuity.

Hmmm. Gee. Pretending teenagers actually HAVE SEX. What a thought. Well, since what we're doing now (pretending that a purity ball is all that's necessary) doesn't seem to be working so well, is anyone up for a change?

Ignorance is bliss...

HuffPo

Ignorance is bliss, which perhaps explains Gov. Sarah Palin being so confidently wrong about the root cause of the federalization of most of the nation's mortgage market. But what is Sen. John McCain's excuse? Both act as if the financial meltdown of the U.S. economy has nothing to do with the policies of the political party they represent -- but she at least may not know any better.

Distracted momentarily from her campaign revelries of maverick opposition to the "bridge to nowhere," which she had supported until it became a public relations debacle, and congressional earmarks for which she, as a small-town mayor, had hustled piggishly at the federal trough, Palin made the mistake of dealing with an unscripted subject.

Referring to the government's bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Palin opined that the two had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers," displaying abysmal ignorance of the fact that only now will those privately owned banks become a huge taxpayer obligation, as the federal government takes them over. Nor can the meltdown of home values be traced to those two beleaguered institutions, because they did not make the original subprime mortgage commitments.

The housing bubble was the result of the Ponzi-scheme antics of those other financial entities: commercial banks, stockbrokers and hedge funds, which were allowed in a GOP-deregulated market to get into the "swap" business. Through the rampant reselling of loans, the obligation to collect on a loan was divorced from the act of selling it in the first place, so who cared if the recipient of the loan was not at all qualified or the appraisal of the property value was inflated, as long as the paper was traded away, or insured, before the moment of foreclosure?

If Sarah tries to ad-lib, perhaps the Americans so enthralled with this "superstar" of the right, will finally see that the empress has no clothes. She is a know-nothing who has been tapped by Rove and who is more than ready to play the part of the "new feminist" and religious warrior. She attended 5 universities in 5 years to attain an undergrad in journalism. Not exactly smokin' credentials for even an upper manager (who typically need an MBA), let alone the next prez of the US of A. But Americans seem to be entralled with this huntin' mamma. They ask no questions when she tosses out lies about the "bridge to nowhere" and "earmarks." They just stand and applaud at the right times. They can't wait to get out there and vote for this god-fearin' woman who knows that a woman's proper place is on the bottom (of the ticket). They love the fact that she'll vote against the GAYZ, but forget that if she gets a chance, she will vote them out of jobs, social security, medicare and the ability to seek a redress of wrongs in court.

Keep talkin' Sarah. Maybe it will become apparent that the empress not only has no clothes; she has no qualifications.

Now McSame/Pale-In-Comparison are just outright lying

WaPo

One of the most compelling anecdotes in Sarah Palin's repertoire is that she auctioned off the Alaska governor's jet on eBay after taking office -- a swift move made by a reformer hoping to clean up the excesses of her predecessor.

In fact, the jet did not sell on eBay. It was sold to a businessman from Valdez named Larry Reynolds, who paid $2.1 million for the plane -- shy of the $2.7 million purchase price -- according to news reports at the time. Reynolds contributed to Palin's campaign in 2006...

"You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor, and sold it on eBay -- and made a profit!" McCain declared in Wisconsin at a campaign stop Friday.

Is there anything like intelligence left anywhere in America's political process, or can the candidates tell outright lies and get away with it now? Oh, that's right, only if you're a republican is it OK. Obama couldn't get away with it. But McSame and Pale-In-Comparison can say whatever they want as long as it feeds their base's frenzy. Truth is so pre-9/11.

Palin Fever

Whether you've got it because you're sick to death thinking that America could be foolish enough to vote in McSame/Pale-In-Comparison; or just because you're sick to death of looking at this woman on every web page and tv frame, feel free to donate liberally to Obama. Show the cynical Rovians that Palin only makes us fight harder and donate more: ActBlue

PS - McCain says it's not important to do interviews, only to give scripted speeches. Americablog:

And, if reading speeches off a teleprompter were the only requirement for being commander in chief of the US armed forces, then yes Sarah Palin reading a series of speeches written for her would be enough. But it's not enough, and it suggests that McCain thinks Palin is an idiot who can't even answer a simple question from the media, or the American public (or worse, she she's so tainted by scandal, they refuse to put her out there at all). It's downright disturbing how the McCain campaign is handling Palin and her growing list of scandals/controversies. They seem to be hoping that they can trick the American people into liking her, without giving them any real substance. Possibly because she has no real substance. Then again, they're refusing to put John McCain out there for any questions either. Kind of makes you wonder if he's still healthy enough to be commander in chief, or if the campaign is hiding something about John McCain's health and that's why they won't let him do any more press conferences (remember, McCain is 72 years old and has had at least 4 bouts of cancer).

More IOKIYAR

That fun little acronym means: It's OK if you're a republican.

Exhibit 1: Imagine the hoots and derision that would have accompanied Bill and Hill Clinton had they been lugging around a 5 month pregnant 17 YO Chelsea during Bill's second term. Imagine further that the Clinton's paraded around the mythical Chelsea baby daddy at political events. The cries of "family values" would make the ears bleed. But, magically, if you're McCain/Palin, IOKIYAR.

Exhibit 2: Imagine the screeching that would be emanating from the right had Barak Obama been a member of the Nation of Islam which has less secessionist rhetoric than the group associated with Sarah Palin (The Alaska Independence Party says that Gov. Sarah Palin used to be a member. Earlier this year, Palin recorded a welcoming address to the AIP's convention.). But, amazingly, if you're McCain/Palin IOKIYAR

And worth every penny?

AP

The 10 highest-paid CEOs for 2007 at Standard & Poor's 500 companies based on calculations by The Associated Press. The total pay figures are rounded, and are based on the AP's compensation formula, which adds up salary, perks, bonuses, above-market interest on pay set aside for later, and company estimates for the value of stock options and stock awards on the day they were granted last year.

1. Larry Ellison, Oracle Corp., $84.6 million

2. John Thain, Merrill Lynch & Co., $83.1 million

3. Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp., $67.6 million

4. Richard Adkerson, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc., $65.3 million

5. Bob Simpson, XTO Energy Inc., $56.6 million

6. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., $54.0 million

7. Kenneth Chenault, American Express Co., $51.7 million

8. Eugene Isenberg, Nabors Industries Ltd., $44.6 million

9. John Mack, Morgan Stanley, $41.7 million

10. Glenn Murphy, Gap Inc., $39.1 million

Don't worry that many of the companies' stocks are off 20, 30, 40% during the last year or so of these illustrious men's performances. These are the Masters of the Universe and deserve to be paid accordingly. We lowly peons are merely cogs in the great wheel of industry and deserve no more than our $30k or so median wage. After all, these men move mountains; we only break the mountains into rock, load it onto conveyor belts, drive the steam shovels that push it around, carry it to its new location and put it all back together. That is NOT moving the mountain, that is just "mindless work". Not like the high-minded work associated with moving capital around.

Happy Labor Day.

Why women's choices matter

MSNBC

A Pakistani lawmaker defended a decision by southwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of Parliament this week to spare him their outrage.

"These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, said Saturday. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."

The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch.

They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according media reports and human rights activists, who said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing.

Zehri told a packed and flabbergasted Parliament on Friday that Baluch tribal traditions helped stop obscenity and then asked fellow lawmakers not to make a big fuss about it.

Yes, how dare they attempt to make a choice for themselves. Have they not been paying attention to Dobson, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America? Women don't need no stinkin' choices. Only to listen to the god-ordained headship of the men in their lives. Only stoopids try to think for themselves while they are in possesion of ovaries and/or a vagina.

Politico posts Palin dossier

Democrat Tony Knowles, her opponent in the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial race, put together a detailed, 63-page research document — obtained by Politico — cataloging Palin’s strengths and weaknesses.

"It's a private matter"

that is, if you're Sarah Palin and her family, Bristol's pregnancy is a family matter. Her family supports "her decision" to have her child. But if you're not privileged, not wealthy, not connected, and not inclined or able to grow your embryo into a human baby, then it's not just your business anymore. It's the state's business whether or not you get pregnant. It's the state's business whether or not you can have an abortion. It's the state's business to know the contents of your womb at all times lest some undetectable zygote be there implanted.

Funny how the abstinence-only crowd doesn't get that teaching children abstinence-only inevitably leads to MORE teenage pregnancy; to MORE abortions. Funny how they don't get that the people on the pro-choice side of the aisle want the same ability to say "pregnancy or abortion: it's a private matter."