Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota...

"They produce zilch, zero, nada." "Therefore, there is no reason to extend any humanitarian services to alleviate their suffering." - Rush Limbaugh

Add to this the insanity of Pat Robertson (Mr. "I used my charity to finance a Blood-Diamond operation in Zaire" and "They made a deal with a Devil" - even though they are 80% Catholic.) and Limbaugh's other comments about why we shouldn't be helping Haiti (which is interesting, since we shoulder some of the blame for the sorry state of affairs in that country).

So what is the Christian Republican response to these statements? Limbaugh is the de-facto leader of the Republican party, which a great number of southern Christians also belong to. But what he is saying goes against the basic principles of Christianity (Love thy neighbor, helping the needy, compassion, charity, etc.) or at least the teachings of Jesus Christ. Let's also not forget the massive numbers of Christian missionaries that travel to Haiti to do commendable works in building homes, schools, and infrastructure.

Maybe this is the turning point where the good Christian people in this country that have been hoodwinked by the GOP and confused by right-wing hate radio realize that they have been played. Played and used in the worst possible way - by a political party that seizes upon religion and distorts its meaning in the mainstream.

I recently hired a business to do some work for me. When they started doing the work, their work was shoddy, they were always late, there were always excuses as to why we were being treated the way we were. I was lied to about circumstances regarding material and time. But their biggest method of reassuring me that they were doing things with professionalism was"We are a STRONG CHRISTIAN business ruled by CHRISTIAN values!" - when their deeds spoke otherwise. My point is - just because you hear someone saying they are Christian or the positions they take on certain issues or decisions is "CHRISTIAN" - don't take it at face value.

Remember, Jesus wasn't a Democrat or a Republican. He wasn't an American or a Haitian. He wasn't a Roman or a Persian nor was he a Chinese or Canadian. He was a man, a carpenter, who valued and helped the least amongst us and saw their worth as a person as being just the same as the richest man in the world. Maybe we all, Christian or otherwise, need to take some of these examples to heart.

((Full Disclosure: I'm an atheist, but I value the teachings of Jesus as a good example for all of humanity))

I saw this earlier today and was impressed with how distinct it is in today's time. When I turn on the TV, I see Republican's on every news show saying the same things that Roosevelt is addressing in this speech.

You owe it to yourself to see this.

It's amazing how people are trying to rewrite history today to besmirch this true American Hero.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRZUaW0HwCM

I have a friend that I've talked about on here before - typical right-wing batshit crazy Republican of the Ron Paul variety. You know the type - "Government bad!", "No more taxes!", "Trickle down!", "Only spend on the military!" etc. etc. etc.

I posted a note on my Facebook from the DownWithTyranny blog a few days ago that outlined how out of touch Ron Paul is and added a few select notes and my own observations. I had totally forgot about posting it until a few moments ago I received a few notifications that I had new posts from this "friend". It was basically an anti-Obama screed about how Obama and his supporters (myself included) had no conception of the constitution and the stimulus plan was "socialism". It was the very definition of batshit crazy that we've all come to know and love from the Ron Paulians amongst us. I responded calmly and rationally, pointing out that conservatism and capitalism has brought us to the brink of disaster and that the constitution provides no restraints to the government giving money out in a stimulus of this magnitude. Of course, he just throws more "SOCIALISM!" and "OBAMA DOESNT KNOW THE CONSTITUTION AND HE'S GOING TO DESTROY IT".

So here I am - frustrated to the point of writing this guy off as a friend for good. I've tried the whole "let's not talk politics" route and it works for a while and then it just spirals back into more libertarian bullshit with a vengeance. I would like to have one final response before I cut my losses - so what are your suggestions? Have any of you had to cut off friends because of their political idiocy?

I just feel like I'm beating my head against a wall and at a loss each time this guy opens his mouth.

I'm quite proud of the little guy too! I swear to the 100% authenticity of this story - its just so amazing!

Here's his story:

We send my son to a Private school that has a Pre-K program. It's not cheap but its reasonable enough that we can make it happen. My wife is a public school teacher and she has been the catalyst to make the move to private school. She feels her opinion might change if Obama is elected and changes are made in the system.

Today, his Pre-K teacher talked to them about the election and asked them if they all had heard about Barack Obama and John McCain and what job they were both trying to get hired for. Surprisingly, all of the 9 kids in his class knew about the two and a few even had a general idea of what a President does. My son, naturally, spoke up and told his teacher about what he thought the President does and then went on to tell her about Mommy & Daddy love Obama. She said he was very excited to talk about it and relayed to me that we must have really made an impression upon him about the importance of voting. (I took him in the primaries and during early voting to vote with me for Obama). The end result of their mock election was 9-0 Obama.

Tonight, after hearing the story from my wife, I asked him about his day. He told me all about how he voted and some of what he learned, he recounted how all of his friends got to vote too and use a crayon to color the box below the picture of the person they wanted to vote for. I asked him who he voted for, his answer - "Obama of course!". I then asked him if anyone else voted for McCain - his response:



"Who would vote for McCain?"



Who indeed.

In typical John McCain fashion, he makes another perplexing and boneheaded move in his campaign:

http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/ar... /




So McCain is coming here to East Tennessee, closing the event to Tennesseans, and giving away tickets to Virginians - most of which will have to drive 2 hours or more to get here. You couldn't make this up if you tried.

We're getting a group together - around 50 of us - to give him a nice East Tennessee for Obama welcome!

Well, I guess you could call them my neighbors, they are the closest house to our farm and property out here in rural Tennessee. I farm on the side - all organic - and I travel all around the property in the evenings doing various tasks that have to be done after I get off of work. I've spoken to these two people and their children several times, good conversation and they seem like nice people.

About 8 months ago, we started getting phone calls from collection agencies looking for these people. I guess they had to find the closest neighbor to try to get in touch with them. I would just tell the collectors that I didn't have their number (I didn't) and I didn't know them well enough to go tell them someone was looking for them. This went on for several months until one day someone actually showed up at our house asking about these people. They were from their mortgage company and wanted to see if I was interested in buying their property. This was a little off-putting and I told the person that I would speak with them about it and get back to them. I drove down to their house and had a long conversation with the man, who admitted that his family was having financial trouble and was in danger of being foreclosed. I told him that there were some other options for him through other lenders and that if he was able to settle with his credit card companies, that he would be more likely to get more favorable options for his house. I felt sorry for the family, so my wife and I started bringing them food from the farm - enough for the entire family to get by on for a week at a time and offered to help in any way we could. I got him touch with a good friend at a local bank who was able to point him in the right direction and they finally got their mortgage situation solved. They could keep their home.

After this, we still went by and dropped off a few things every now and again and chatted casually about politics. It's not secret who I support and I've had an Obama sticker on my truck since early January. The family has one income and 4 kids - and the one income is just now starting to get stabilized as the father was lucky to find a stable job in the current economy. Their situation has been addressed over and over again by Obama and all of the things they related to me indicated that they were exactly the kind of voter that Obama is trying to reach. They weren't Republicans or Democrats - just "people" as they once told me.


So imagine my surprise today when I drove down the road and noticed a big, giant McCain/Palin sign in their front yard. I stopped in and asked how everyone was doing and politely inquired about the sign in a non-confrontational way. The father looked at me and said "I've just been getting too many e-mails that I can't overlook". I responded confidently, "Well did you know that most of that stuff isn't true? Would you like me to show you factual information that proves it isn't true?". "No", he replied, "I've already seen enough and if there's just one iota of truth to it then thats all I need". I struggled to find the words to respond and I finally got out, "Well, John Doe, I wish that you would reconsider or at least be willing to listen to the other side of the story. I really feel you are voting against your own best interests and you will eventually regret it. I hope not, but if you look at what you are voting for its clear he's not supporting you." He looked down and then said, "Well, why are you voting for Obama? You and your family have money and you'll probably be taxed more." I said, "Because there are a lot more reasons to vote for Obama than just my own back pocket. I think beyond just my own pocket and think about my child, our country, our soldiers, the future of this country, even you and your family." He cut me off - and said, "Sorry, but I'm not changing my mind. Goodnight" and he walked back inside.

If there ever was a family that could benefit from Barack Obama becoming President, this was it. But somehow, the hatred and the lies got the best of them. Even when faced with the truth, they didn't want to hear it. It's staring them in the face and they ignore it. Needless to say, I'm a little disappointed tonight and just want to bang my head against the wall and say, "Why don't you people get it!?!?!"

So I found myself wondering today what the other side was doing in terms of appealing to voters on their website and printed media. As a marketing and advertising businessman myself, I always find these types of things interesting and at the same time informative. When a company or organization is selling a product, they have a lot more latitude to embellish a bit because they are trying to sell people on something that people are initially unaware of or perhaps only have a passing knowledge about. It's entirely different for incumbents in a political race to "re-brand" their product after having made their case once to the people of their area and actually having to go back and answer for their progress (or lack thereof).

I embarked on a journey to find incumbents in close races to see how they were presenting themselves to voters this time around compared to their last campaigns. I went to DailyKos and looked up their latest battleground polls for House races and pulled a few names off at random and set out finding their websites:

(These are Republicans obviously, so click at your own peril)
http://www.kuhlforcongress.com / Randy Kuhl NY-29

http://www.davereichertforcongress.com / Dave Reichert WA-08

http://www.leeterry.com / Lee Terry NE-02

http://www.johnshadegg.com / John Shadegg AZ-03

http://www.shelleymoorecapito.com/default.... Shelly Moore-Capito WV-2

http://www.thelmadrake.com / Thelma Drake VA-02

http://www.peopleforenglish.org / Phil English PA-03

http://www.culbersonforcongress.com / John Culberson TX-07


Interestingly enough - the word "REPUBLICAN" is a very hard word to come by on these sites. In fact, several of these completely omit the word from the website entirely! They instead opt to use words like "INDEPENDENT", which is an interesting choice. By it's definition, it completely separates themselves from the Republican party, especially since the word "REPUBLICAN" is curiously absent. Of additional note, if you dig just a little deeper, some of these don't even mention that they are incumbents or when they do, they are merely mentioning that they opposed a Bush measure.

I could probably go deeper into this than most people will care to take the time to read, but the facts here are clear. The Republican brand is shot. Finished. Moreover, these candidates are running against themselves more than they are against their Democratic challenger in the sense that they must spend money to explain their previous positions, essentially negating their entire terms worth of work and hoping against hope that people just wont notice or they will find someone who just fell asleep for the past 2 years! We've seen this happen in the Presidential race to some extent and the Obama campaign has been masterful at not letting McCain get off with not shouldering the burden of the mess that he created.

This leads me to my next thought - I believe that an Obama win this election cycle will effectively split the GOP into fragments. We are already seeing a rush away from all things Republican across the country, not just by Democrats or Independents, but by Republicans themselves! The various factions within the party are fighting a "he said-she said" battle between each other over who is to blame for this mess when in reality, it was everyone in their party. A loss of the Presidency and more ground being lost in the House and Senate will be the catalyst to cause the GOP to fracture further and this may be the time we see a third party spin-off of it and gain some traction. Think "Ron Paul Republicans" and you'll see just how real this possibility could be. Regardless, it further weakens the GOP to the point of near breaking and that's good for our party if we can get our proposals passed and set out to fix the economy and restore our dignity on the world stage.

To sum it up: Keep fighting. Keep exposing these Republicans who are running away from their party affiliation. Keep donating money to the Democratic challengers in these races!

If you want to donate to the challengers of the politicians I have listed above, here's the link to Kos, where you can find those candidates:

http://www.dailykos.com/tag/dkos%20poll

Next up: breaking down the messages and ads of the challengers and contrasting them to their opponents!

When Biden was talking about the tragedy that took his first wife and daughter and how horrible it was to face the uncertainty of having lost a spouse, a daughter, and being left with two children who were still fighting for their lives, I fully expected to hear a sad story from Palin about Trig. Or maybe a family member. Perhaps a pet. Something. Anything.

But instead of hearing what any normal, sympathetic human being - be they Republican or Democrat or Independent - would say to that emotional moment, Palin continued to smile. She smiled through the entire response, busily jotting down something on her stack of 3x5 note cards. When it came time for her to respond we weren't greeted with an empathetic being, someone who would offer their respect and then go into something similarly moving or touching. We were greeted with another partisan screed and that hideous smile - seemingly oblivious to what Joe Biden had just related to the American people. She continued on with her speech, never once acknowledging Biden or showing any sense of humanity. We heard more about how she and McCain were a pair of Mavericks, again dodging the original question as she had throughout the debate.

Not only does this prove beyond a doubt that Palin was working from a script - a very limited script - but it also proves that Sarah Palin is void of any sense of decency or humanity. She is oblivious to human emotion or suffering around her. The way she's treated her own children and learning about their "colorful" backgrounds should have been enough to turn anyone away from her without even knowing her politics. But this was a moment that can't be aptly put into words.

This is great news, as he has remained neutral this entire process until recently. He is urging unity and pushing for Hillary supporters to back Obama in our state to put it in play. He's been a good governor (not without fault) and many people like and respect him. He has done a lot for the Democratic party in the state and he's been a good introduction back to the Democratic party for this state after years of Republican mismanagement.

Tennessee is going to be in play, mark my words. Along with VA, NC, and GA.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmart...

http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=842...

There is a rather ardent Hillary support in my office who enjoys talking politics with me, as we generally are on the same side being Democrats and all. Up until about a month ago, we used to chit-chat on a daily basis about the primaries and share our enthusiasm for politics and our candidates (Clinton and Obama, respectively). That all changed when things started really going south for Hillary and she (my co-worker) has gone to great pains to avoid me. Not one to rub it in or to upset her any further, I just let it go and carried on with my work as usual. She didn't speak to me for about a month.

That changed today. She came into my office and said that she was "over" this whole election thing and that she was just hoping that Hillary would go for an independent ticket since what has happened to her this cycle has been so "deplorable" and that Hillary was "the Democrats only chance". I was just flabbergasted as to this and told her that I was sorry she felt that way but I didn't understand her logic since she was a fervent Democrat. I also told her that should the tables be turned, would she still want me to cast my vote for Hillary? She couldn't answer it and told me that I wouldn't understand. I left it at that, so as not to make things uncomfortable around the office.

This got me thinking - is this sentiment about an Independent run a serious thought amongst her supporters? So I started surfing around to a few sites and was amazed at all of the suggestions that she do just that. Comments to her videos from supporters on her website even suggest this. I understand the attachment to a candidate and I know all too well the taste of defeat, but to have such wanton disregard of the future of our country and the viability of our party that any semblance of logic and reason are cast aside is just too much for me to fathom, let alone try to get a grasp. I just hope that these people are just letting off steam and will come around after some time to reflect. But after the way this campaign has been and how her campaign has been conducted, it's not hard to at least accept that these sentiments and attitudes were going to be the by-products.

In all my time on DU, I have used the ignore function once. Now I go through threads and see tons of "IM IGNORING YOU!!!" posts, so many so that it's a both comical and a little scary. Sure, it may save your sanity to ignore a particularly overzealous Obama supporter or a obnoxious arrogant Hillary support, but have we stopped to realize that after this thing is over - no matter when that is - that we will be ignoring a substantial portion of our population here on DU?

Is everyone planning on ignoring these people indefinitely or at least until this thing is settled? I can just imagine DU having one sided conversations with people who only think in one hive-mind and those that have dissenting views will be excluded from the process. I, for one, enjoy the lively debate here at DU (although I will admit, it has gotten out of hand lately).

Just curious, that's all. Now back to your regularly scheduled flame war!

Read this:

“I want to apologize to my colleagues — many of whom I have offended — to the president and his family and to the troops,” Stark said. He added that he hoped the apology would allow him to “become as insignificant as I should be” as the House moves forward on critical, divisive issues. Stark then left the podium, wiping away tears as Democratic colleagues surrounded him with supportive handshakes.


When Pete Stark says something that the overwhelming majority of us here at DU, and further, outside of our friendly confines here, wholeheartedly agree with - it's reason for many of us to pay attention. The man simply was telling it in no uncertain terms that our President simply doesn't care for us or our troops - it's all a game of profit to our President.

Now he's being chastised for it and the party abandoned him in the process. In his statement, he says that he should "become as insignificant as I should be" after his apology. Those are some very, very strong words for not only those of us on the left, but for our system as a whole. It clearly means that telling the truth, even if it hurts, is wrong - that these sentiments are insignificant in the political machine that is assembled today on both sides of the aisle.

I'm tired of being insignificant to my party and to my country.

Just found out some very interesting, if not disturbing news, about a nationwide company that is going to be featuring recruiters in their stores for the upcoming launch of Halo 3 (a wildly popular game for the Xbox 360).

I went into one of their stores yesterday to pick up a game (yes, I'm a gamer ) that I had on reserve. While I was at the register, the clerk reminded me of the upcoming launch of Halo 3 and how they were going to be having special events for the midnight release on the 25th. I inquired as to what kind of special events and he said that they were going to be having give-aways, promotions, costume contests and that the Marines were going to be here. My ears perked up when he said Marines, so I asked what he meant - he went on to tell me that the Marines were going to be there giving away stuff and showing off their "Iraq stuff" (Humvee's, etc.). So I left the store in a sense of bewilderment that a store would be featuring recruiters for a launch of a video game. Then it hit me - it's clever on the part of the military because the audience is already there and will be lining up for hours to be the first to get the game at their respective store. Hours of propaganda, brought to you by the Marines and Gamestop.

That got me riled up - curious as to whether it was just at this one local store or whether it was happening at other locations as well. There are seven stores within driving distance in my area, so I picked up the phone and called them up, asking to speak to the manager on duty each time. I politely asked what events they were having for their launch and out of the seven stores, five of them said they would have the Marines or Army at their stores as part of their promotion. I fired off an e-mail to Gamestop corporate and have yet to receive a response confirming that this is indeed taking place. I picked a few locations at random of their site and placed calls and most of them also reported a similar scenario.

With recruiters increasingly desperate and thousands - if not millions - of young gamers clamoring for this game, it concerns me that a company would allow this to occur. If you have children who are going to be heading out on the 25th to pick up this game, you might want to let them know that there might be recruiters hanging out and warn them of the tactics. Again, I'm not sure if this is a nationwide issue, but it appears that it might very well be.

I'm sure this has been posted before, but in my daily rush and all of the threads that pass through here, I must have overlooked it. A friend of mine sent it to me this morning and I was blown away. Of course, I don't expect any of our right-wing counterparts to feel anything after watching it but I fail to see how anyone with a conscience - right or left - wouldn't be tremendously impacted by the video. The faces of our soldiers, strained under stress but doing their jobs the best that they can do. Their words, tempered because they know they are on video but their frustration and the feeling of futility painfully evident.

But the most striking and profound to me is the Iraqi's. These people, trying to live their lives in the hell that we have brought upon them, are being subjected to a fate worse than many of us can imagine. The children whose lives are being ripped apart by the turmoil and the injuries, when they should be playing soccer or doing the things that young children do when they are young. Their whole worlds are being destroyed, their very way of life is changing for the worse. I can only imagine what they think when they imagine what a young child would be doing a world away in the USA and compare it to what they are experiencing. One thing is for certain, we handed Al Quiada a giant present with a red bow wrapped around it - a fertile land for recruits. A veritable revolving door that will never, ever see an end until we leave these people to figure out how to pick up the pieces. They never should have had to deal with this and we will suffer the consequences for generations to come, but our continued presence only feeds the monster.

Sometimes I feel disheartened at our lack of progress. I get frustrated with our elected Democrats and their lack of a backbone. I ask myself why am I still fighting so hard despite our inherent weakness to accomplish anything regarding this war? This video couldn't have come at a better time for me. It makes more disheartened at our progress and more frustrated at our Dems, but it gives me a face and puts me in the middle of the conflict - if only in my imagination. I'll continue to press on and fight this war and this administration, not just for myself and my family, but for those Iraqi's who deserve better. Will you?

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGp1zi7-4bI