What a ridiculous comment, this, made by "Tamar Geller, a California-based celebrity dog "life coach" who trained Oprah Winfrey's puppies..."
""the dog has to be very well mannered. We need to make sure that the dog is not afraid of loud noises because he may hear loud arguments in the Oval Office, and he mustn't be afraid of people with beards and turbans and so on because he is going to meet a lot of foreign dignitaries." "
This is from an article on the BBC website about the Obamas' choice for a new dog for their girls. Maybe this woman should stick to "coaching" celebrity dogs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7714480.stm
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Friday, November 07, 2008
And another thing
What about the audacity of the Republican Party to think it can hide all the newly exposed problems it had with the Palin candidacy? How dare they think they can foist such an ignorant, ill-prepared candidate on the American people? And to think it almost came to fruition. We almost got suckered into allowing this attempt at deception to succeed. How close we came to falling for this Trojan Horse of a candidacy.
We haven't seen a candidate this unqualified for the position since Dan Quayle. And at least his problems were more a difficulty with performing on a public stage rather than an a lack of intelligence or understanding. Dan Quayle is a successful and honorable man in the private sector who was unable to survive scrutiny without melting under the glare of an international spotlight. Sarah Palin is an idiot.
Yes, an idiot. And her "handlers" are not exactly living at the top of the intelligence food chain, either. I hope the leaders of the Republican Party can find a way to purge their party of the infighters and manipulators who are so willing to sell us (Americans) out for their own benefit. The strategy was very short-sighted in that, had it succeeded, the gains would have been short-lived. Obviously the involved parties were bursting at the seams to tell their sordid stories about Palin's inadequacies or rogue courage, depending on which side you believe.
The ends in this case do not justify the means. The potential damage that the American people would have suffered had this charade continued is almost beyond imagination. It could have pushed us over the edge at a time when we are teetering on a precipice of crises both foreign and domestic, ideological and economic; it could very well have undermined our faith in ourselves and others' faith in us; it could have led us beyond a tipping point of self destruction.
As a lifelong Democrat and a student of political economy, I understand the nature of politics. I understand the dirty, behind the scenes "strategery" and the absolute focus on getting one's candidate elected, one's agenda passed. What I don't understand is the Republicans' seeming willingness to pass off on the American people a person so lacking in qualifications, so unwilling to compromise and work within the boundaries of the campaign, so completely and utterly at odds with the concepts of reason, loyalty, responsible behavior, and conscientious citizenship as Sarah Palin appears now to be.
Sure, we questioned the choice. We questioned her abilities, her intelligence, her character. And we were denied the truth. And now the truth is being exposed, at the very least to the detriment of the Republican Part but also to the detriment of the American people.
I only hope that now Sarah Palin will return to Alaska and perhaps reconsider her governorship, consider the damage she has done to the Republican Party and to Alaskans' standing in the eyes of their countrymen. Perhaps she can use her VP candidacy as a stepping stone to a career in the private sector where her influence and actions will be limited, where she can no longer impose her narrow-minded policies on the public, where her inability to understand or engage in ethical behavior will not be rewarded. I hope that, as a people, we have heard the last of Sarah Palin and she will become but a footnote in American history, having no real impact on our reputation as a country or damage to our standing in the world-wide community.
Hey Sarah!
See ya. Wouldn't want to BE ya!
We haven't seen a candidate this unqualified for the position since Dan Quayle. And at least his problems were more a difficulty with performing on a public stage rather than an a lack of intelligence or understanding. Dan Quayle is a successful and honorable man in the private sector who was unable to survive scrutiny without melting under the glare of an international spotlight. Sarah Palin is an idiot.
Yes, an idiot. And her "handlers" are not exactly living at the top of the intelligence food chain, either. I hope the leaders of the Republican Party can find a way to purge their party of the infighters and manipulators who are so willing to sell us (Americans) out for their own benefit. The strategy was very short-sighted in that, had it succeeded, the gains would have been short-lived. Obviously the involved parties were bursting at the seams to tell their sordid stories about Palin's inadequacies or rogue courage, depending on which side you believe.
The ends in this case do not justify the means. The potential damage that the American people would have suffered had this charade continued is almost beyond imagination. It could have pushed us over the edge at a time when we are teetering on a precipice of crises both foreign and domestic, ideological and economic; it could very well have undermined our faith in ourselves and others' faith in us; it could have led us beyond a tipping point of self destruction.
As a lifelong Democrat and a student of political economy, I understand the nature of politics. I understand the dirty, behind the scenes "strategery" and the absolute focus on getting one's candidate elected, one's agenda passed. What I don't understand is the Republicans' seeming willingness to pass off on the American people a person so lacking in qualifications, so unwilling to compromise and work within the boundaries of the campaign, so completely and utterly at odds with the concepts of reason, loyalty, responsible behavior, and conscientious citizenship as Sarah Palin appears now to be.
Sure, we questioned the choice. We questioned her abilities, her intelligence, her character. And we were denied the truth. And now the truth is being exposed, at the very least to the detriment of the Republican Part but also to the detriment of the American people.
I only hope that now Sarah Palin will return to Alaska and perhaps reconsider her governorship, consider the damage she has done to the Republican Party and to Alaskans' standing in the eyes of their countrymen. Perhaps she can use her VP candidacy as a stepping stone to a career in the private sector where her influence and actions will be limited, where she can no longer impose her narrow-minded policies on the public, where her inability to understand or engage in ethical behavior will not be rewarded. I hope that, as a people, we have heard the last of Sarah Palin and she will become but a footnote in American history, having no real impact on our reputation as a country or damage to our standing in the world-wide community.
Hey Sarah!
See ya. Wouldn't want to BE ya!
What ARE they thinking?
I don’t understand this new Republican strategy. All the new stories coming out about Sarah Palin, her lack of understanding of basic geography, her inability to toe the line, the alleged “disappearance” of thousands of dollars worth of clothing paid for by the RNC…
The people leaking these reports, supposedly high level workers in the McCain/Palin campaign, are being very shortsighted in their bickering, or at least in airing their dirty laundry. It seems the McCain supporters and those from the Palin team are trying to outdo each other by exposing the dirty little secrets and behind-the-scene bickering between the two camps. I shudder to think about how much more divisive the Republican Party can become. It appears to be self destructing before our unbelieving eyes and we, as Americans, may all suffer collateral damage.
It is so tempting to join in, with the easy “Foreign Policy for Dummies” jokes, “How to Lose Friends and Turn Away Voters” lecture series, the limitless opportunities to satirize the implosion of the Grand Old Party. It’s like watching a carefully constructed house of cards come tumbling down at the slightest whisper; the total destruction of an elaborate dominoes landscape, constructed over countless months and days and hours of absolute devotion, strategic planning, single-minded focus, being detonated prematurely by one rogue domino. It is almost unbelievable. Almost, but not quite.
Do these folks really have a clue about the damage they are doing not only to their own candidates, their own party, but to the rest of America as well, as their inane caterwauling is heard around the globe, showing the world that not only are the United States not showing a united front, one party’s incessant squabbling is threatening to tear us apart from the inside out.
The Republican Party is acting like a wild animal intent on self-preservation by eating its own, devouring Sarah Palin piece by piece, limb by limb.
The contest is over, folks. The Republican Party has lost the same as the Democratic Party lost the last two Presidential elections. Heal from it. Together. Grow from it. Together. Take a little time to lick your wounds, but come together as a party and begin the necessary work of restoring the faith of your party members, of developing a strategy to fight for your causes and beliefs rather than against each other. Focus on what we need to do, as Americans, to get through our current economic crisis, to regain the respect and admiration from other nations we once held dearly, to repair the rifts between us and our allies, and get us back on track so we can continue to be the leader of the free world, the role model for democracy and the ability to achieve one’s dreams through hard work, to live free in thought and spirit.
Let the healing begin.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Think your vote doesn't count?
So this guy in Ohio is a candidate trying to retain his seat on the local Democratic board and it's a tight race. The guy has two sons who are of voting age. One son lives across the street from his parents, one son is a college student living at home. With his parents. With his mom and the dad who is running for re-election.
So the dad's race ends in a tie, 43 votes for him, 43 votes for the woman running against him. The winner was to be determined by a coin toss. The man lost the coin toss, so now he loses his seat.
Oh, yeah. The two sons? They "forgot" to vote.
So the dad's race ends in a tie, 43 votes for him, 43 votes for the woman running against him. The winner was to be determined by a coin toss. The man lost the coin toss, so now he loses his seat.
Oh, yeah. The two sons? They "forgot" to vote.
A Momentuous Occasions for ALL Americans
As I sat last night crying with gratitude for the incredible sights I was seeing, the words I was hearing, the release I felt, I thought how incredibly proud I am to be a white American in an era when a black man can, IS!, elected to take office as the next President of these United States. I am proud and, yes, a little more than relieved, that we have turned the tides and fulfilled the dreams of Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, James Meredith, Rosa Parks, four young girls attending church in Alabama, three young men working for CORE in Mississippi, the millions of unheralded who have stood up to racism, stood up for each other, stood up for their beliefs and dreams, the thousands who have suffered, died, been imprisoned for those beliefs.
We cannot deny that what we have now, this great and unequaled country, was built on the backs of slaves from Africa, indentured servants from Ireland, Chinese railroad workers, Mexican day laborers, and at the expense of the lives and lands of Native Americans. We cannot deny that as a group, whites have benefited from the color of their skin and the power, earned or assumed, associated with that. And now, maybe, hopefully, we have begun to heal, we have begun to come together, we are building a community of Americans that is all-inclusive and so is non-exclusive.
I am proud to be an American. I always have been, since I was a child and began to understand what it means to be American. But for the first time, I can say I am proud to be a white American, part of a generation, part of a new world order, an all-encompassing, united new order of Americans leading the world in acceptance and understanding of different peoples, cultures, and ideologies that can work together for the benefit of ALL. I can see the melting pot that we have always called ourselves finally becoming a delicious stew with multitudes of flavors, colors, textures all working together and feeding the world.
I selfishly celebrate the election of Barack Obama to be our new President because it relieves me of some of the guilt I have felt, the embarrassment of the behaviors of others of my race, the anguish at how divided my beloved country could be. I selfishly celebrate that we can now truly be one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Now we get down to the nitty gritty and the hard work of building on this momentous occasion so no more black Americans need to feel disenfranchised, no more white Americans need to feel the burden of guilt, no more immigrants need to feel unwanted and unwelcome. Get to doing the hard work of uniting our own people so we can then turn to our duties and responsibilities, as leaders of the free world, to help other peoples in places around the globe experience the freedoms we oft take for granted. We can become what we were meant to be. We can become what we WANT to be. We can become the UNITED States of America.
We cannot deny that what we have now, this great and unequaled country, was built on the backs of slaves from Africa, indentured servants from Ireland, Chinese railroad workers, Mexican day laborers, and at the expense of the lives and lands of Native Americans. We cannot deny that as a group, whites have benefited from the color of their skin and the power, earned or assumed, associated with that. And now, maybe, hopefully, we have begun to heal, we have begun to come together, we are building a community of Americans that is all-inclusive and so is non-exclusive.
I am proud to be an American. I always have been, since I was a child and began to understand what it means to be American. But for the first time, I can say I am proud to be a white American, part of a generation, part of a new world order, an all-encompassing, united new order of Americans leading the world in acceptance and understanding of different peoples, cultures, and ideologies that can work together for the benefit of ALL. I can see the melting pot that we have always called ourselves finally becoming a delicious stew with multitudes of flavors, colors, textures all working together and feeding the world.
I selfishly celebrate the election of Barack Obama to be our new President because it relieves me of some of the guilt I have felt, the embarrassment of the behaviors of others of my race, the anguish at how divided my beloved country could be. I selfishly celebrate that we can now truly be one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Now we get down to the nitty gritty and the hard work of building on this momentous occasion so no more black Americans need to feel disenfranchised, no more white Americans need to feel the burden of guilt, no more immigrants need to feel unwanted and unwelcome. Get to doing the hard work of uniting our own people so we can then turn to our duties and responsibilities, as leaders of the free world, to help other peoples in places around the globe experience the freedoms we oft take for granted. We can become what we were meant to be. We can become what we WANT to be. We can become the UNITED States of America.
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