Election Day

The day is here, it has finally come. It is time to elect a new President of the United States.

Who will you be voting for?

I do not consider myself a democrat, and although I can have some conservative thoughts when it comes to balancing the budget and wasteful spending of tax dollars, I am a Libertarian.

However, I have learned my lesson from the past and have decided to vote Democrat this go round and will be voting for Barack Obama. Why? If I went into some long diatribe about it, it wouldn't make a difference here, or anywhere. The reasons do not really even matter anymore.

The race is not just between Barack Obama and John McCain, but I really feel if I do not vote for one of those candidates I may be allowing a room for margin that would allow John McCain to snatch the Presidency, simply because of split and decisive voters placing votes for candidates who basically have no chance of winning.

At first I really thought I would vote for Obama simply because I felt he would do a better job than McCain. But after watching McCain's nasty election campaign, the way his party has used racist images and propaganda, I am now going to vote Obama, to vote AGAINST McCain. I place my vote with Barack Obama because I like him, but also because now I do NOT want McCain to win. I feel he will do more harm than good to this country.

At first I thought both candidates were running a nice campaign, but then McCain's advertising became so nasty, the local Republicans running for office started bashing Obama in their local ads and it just got worse and worse. That is not something that sways people like me to their side of the argument.

As I said, it's too late for reasons, it's time to vote. It's time to put your money where your mouth is and pull the crank. Flick the switch, pull the lever. Take the ride.

It's going to be a long day for some people, and I can't wait to see the results.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

The moment many have been waiting for.

According to the BBC:

US President George W Bush's first Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has endorsed Democratic election candidate Barack Obama for the White House.

He backed his fellow African-American over John McCain, the Republican Party's choice to succeed Mr Bush in the 4 November election.

He told NBC Mr Obama had the "ability to inspire" and was "inclusive".

"All Americans... not just African-Americans" would be proud of an Obama win, he argued.

He nails it. Barack Obama inspires people, can bring about unity and change. People are tired of the same old divisive politics in America.

We want to vote for someone who can help us get this country back on track.

As more news articles come out about this, we will get a glimpse into his reasoning behind this endorsement, but the certainly adds to the excitement of this election.

From CNN: Colin Powell endorses Obama

"I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I think that's inappropriate. I understand what politics is about -- I know how you can go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for," he said.

"Obama displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge," Powell said.

"He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president," he said.

Above are some quotes from Colin Powell about Barack Obama and why he endorses him.

What do you think of this highly public endorsement?

Obama Speaks To 100,000 In Missouri

Barack Obama gave a speech to 100,000 at a Saturday rally in Missouri. Marking the biggest crowd at one of his U.S. events.



Look at the size of that crowd! Amazing.

From WSJ Blog: Obama Rally Draws 100,000 in Missouri

The crowd assembled under the Gateway Arch on a sunny Saturday afternoon to hear Obama speak about taxes and slam the Republicans on economic issues.

Lt. Samuel Dotson of the St. Louis Police Department confirmed the number of attendees piled into the grassy lawn by the Mississippi River.

To be sure, big crowds don’t always signal a big turnout on Election Day. But Obama’s ability to draw his largest audience yet in a typically red state that just weeks ago looked out of reach, could signal a changing electoral map.

For months Missouri polls put Obama as much as ten percentage points behind Republican John McCain. It was widely believed that McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate would have won over the state’s conservatives and boosted his chances there. So far, that hasn’t happened.

I think it says a lot about Barack Obama, that he is able to draw such large crowds and inspire so many Americans to actually get involved in the political process.

Many Americans have grown cynical towards politics, and many would rather watch sports than vote. But we are all working on changing that, and when elections such as this draw so much attention, it helps get more people involved, sometimes those who would normally be doing something else.

McCain RoboCalls

Have you gotten one of these McCain "robocalls" everyone is talking about? Things are heating up on the campaign trail. The McCain campaign is getting aggressive, more than ever.

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Rigel Anderson report: Embattled Republican Sen. Susan Collins is calling on Sen. John McCain to stop paying for automated phone calls which describe Sen. Barack Obama as having "worked closely" with "domestic terrorist Bill Ayers."

"These kind of tactics have no place in Maine politics," said Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley. "Sen. Collins urges the McCain campaign to stop these calls immediately."

We shall file this one under "propaganda."

Ayers is the former leader of the Weather Underground. To protest the Vietnam War, his organization ran a domestic bombing campaign which resulted in fatalities.

Obama, who was 8 years old at the time, has repudiated those acts as "despicable." Friday's statement from the Collins campaign came after Maine's Democratic Party issued a press release earlier in the day challenging the Republican incumbent to denounce what it called "blatantly false phone calls personally attacking" Obama.

Collins' Democratic opponent was not satisfied.

"If she truly feels that strongly about it," said Carol Andrews, communications director to Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, "she should resign as co-chair of McCain's campaign in Maine."

Here is the transcript of the McCain Robocall.

"Hello. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500."

How effective are these types of things during an election?

Republican Vito Fossella Drunk Driving & Having Affair

What's worse than getting busted drinking and driving? Getting busted for drinking and driving and having an affair at the same time. Ooooops!

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge has has convicted Rep. Vito Fossella of drunken driving and will later decide if he should serve time in jail.

The New York Republican was arrested May 1 in the suburbs outside Washington, leading to revelations he had fathered a child from an extramarital affair. After the scandal, he decided not to seek re-election.

Alexandria, Va., General District Court Judge Becky Moore found Fossella guilty, and scheduled a Dec. 8 hearing to decide if prosecutors had met the legal requirement for high blood alcohol content, which would mean a mandatory five-day jail sentence.

Rep. Vito Fossella, on trial for drunken driving, insisted from the witness stand Friday that he had only two glasses of wine the night he was busted. He sought to clear himself in a case that derailed a promising political career and may lead to time in jail.

"I had no more than a glass and a half" of wine with dinner, plus a few more sips of wine at a tavern in the hours before he was arrested, Fossella testified.

Fossella, the lone Republican in Congress from New York City, was arrested just after midnight on May 1 in suburban Virginia. He had spent the previous afternoon at the White House celebrating the New York Giants' Super Bowl victory.

"There was a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from the car and his lips were stained red," police officer Jamie Gernatt testified in Alexandria General District Court. The police officer said Fossella told him he'd had two or three glasses of wine.

The non-jury trial was expected to take a day. Police say his blood-alcohol level was 0.17 percent, and under state law anyone convicted of having a BAC above 0.15 must serve a mandatory five-day jail term.

Doesn't every person busted for DUI claim "all I had was a beer or two officer." LOL

Police said the married 43-year-old told them he was headed to see his sick daughter. Given that his wife and children live in New York, that statement set off alarms and eventually led to the revelation he had secretly fathered a daughter, now 3 years old, with a Virginia woman named Laura Fay, a former Air Force officer and congressional liaison.

After admitting the relationship, Fossella announced he would not seek re-election, a drastic fall for a politician once viewed as a potential mayor of New York City. His downfall has also created an opportunity for Democrats to gain a seat in Congress in November.

Fossella's troubles have only further hurt his state party's election chances next month. If a Democrat wins Fossella's seat, it will mark the first time in 35 years that all of New York City has been represented by Democrats.

Vito Fossella busted for drinking and driving and having an affair.

Uncounted: The New Math Of American Elections

With the excitement building over the upcoming Presidential Election on November 4, 2008, I decided to give Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections a viewing last night.

Here's the brief description I read before I sat down to watch it...

Filmmaker David Earnhardt takes a close look at the state of America's electoral process and presents unnerving evidence that fraud at every level is disenfranchising voters across the nation. Featuring candid interviews with election officials, journalists, statisticians, computer programmers and others, this persuasive documentary also examines the scandals surrounding the 2004 presidential election.

All I knew going into it, was that the documentary was about elections, and the counting of votes using electronic voting machines.

If you are unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding electronic voting machines, the company Diebold, and the 2004 election, you really should check this one out. Diebold received so much negative publicity regarding the voting machines bugged with problems, they have since changed their company name to: Premier Election Solutions Inc.



I understand why the country has begun moving towards electronic voting machines, however, I do not understand why there is no paper trail. The company behind the machines, in this DVD, is Diebold, the same company who makes ATM machines. ATM Machines keep an internal auditable log and can be traced. Why should our voting machines, made by this same company, be unable to be audited or counted if there is an issue. Essentially, once votes are cast, there is no proof of them and no way to verify or count them afterward in the event of a problem.

Electronic voting machines should print out a paper, showing all your votes, you should be able to look that over, and then drop that in a ballot box. Not have it all stored in memory on a machine, that has proven to fail. I am concerned more than ever that the Republican ties to the companies who make these voting machines, has in fact, been used to "flip votes" in favor of Republican politicians. Why would I think that?

The man, Clint Curtis is in the documentary, who was employed to write software for these voting machines blows the whistle in this DVD. He became aware something was wrong when his employer wanted him to make the "vote flipping" part of the software source code to be hidden or non-traceable. He voiced his concern, and was told, "you don't understand, this is to flip the election in Florida." Now, if you remember Florida was the state that basically gave George Bush the 2004 election. If he had not won Florida, there is a chance the entire election would have come out differently.

Other examples of clear vote fraud, is shown in a town where only 800 or so people voted, yet Bush was given 4,200+ votes from that precinct. Something a little strange going on? Certainly, and this DVD will open your eyes to the blatant voter fraud taking place in our modern elections.

Why do electronic voting machines not give us a paper trail? Something we can count afterward? Voting machines are built to the exact opposite of standards that ATM machines are manufactured to. ATM machines can be audited and every bit of info or transaction leaves a record so someone can analyze the machine and its numbers if there is ever a problem. Why would a company, that builds such systems, go out of their way, to make voting machines hold no record, keep no trace or trail of events? There is only one reason, to hide what is going on inside.

In this documentary, you see public officials who have been fired for making inquiries into these voting machines, and you can see many of the connections between certain politicians and the company who makes the machines and more. Bruce Funk is locked out of his office, an elected official, while Diebold denies him access to the machines so they can edit the software and remove the "flip virus." This is an amazing inside look into what is going on in America regarding the vote counting process.

I will leave you with the description from the box:

UNCOUNTED is an explosive documentary that shows how the election fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater fraud in 2006 - and now looms as an unbridled threat to the outcome of the 2008 election. This controversial film examines in factual, logical, and yet startling terms how easy it is to change election outcomes and undermine election integrity across the U.S. Noted computer programmers, statisticians, journalists, and experienced election officials provide the irrefutable proof.

UNCOUNTED shares well documented stories about the spine-chilling disregard for the right to vote in America. In Florida, computer programmer Clint Curtis is directed by his boss to create software that will 'flip' votes from one candidate to another. In Utah, County Clerk Bruce Funk is locked out of his office for raising questions about security flaws in electronic voting machines. Californian Steve Heller gets convicted of a felony after he leaks secret documents detailing illegal activities committed by a major voting machine company. And Tennessean entrepreneur, Athan Gibbs, finds verifiable voting a hard sell in America and dies before his dream of honest elections can be realized.

UNCOUNTED is a wakeup call to all Americans. Beyond increasing public awareness, the film inspires greater involvement in fixing a broken electoral system.

You should watch this before the upcoming election if you have concerns regarding electronic voting machines.

Get your copy of UNCOUNTED: The New Math Of American Elections before the election.

After The Final Presidential Debate

What I saw at the Final Presidential Debate was John McCain acting like a desperate old politician trying very hard to make negative attacks, the other candidate Barack Obama doing a great job at not letting the smear tactics get the best of him.

CNN says: "John McCain came out of the gate strong, but Barack Obama gained strength as the night progressed Wednesday in the final presidential debate where each candidate tried to convince voters that he is better equipped to steer the nation through these troubled times.

Hours before the debate, CNN changed its Electoral Map. The new estimate shows that Obama now has 277 electoral votes to McCain's 174. To win the White House, a candidate needs 270."

I liked the split screen moments, where we could see one opponent speak while watching the reaction on the face of the other. I liked that.

McCain definitely came off as sarcastic, I can't stand that hissing like tone in his voice at times, nor do I consider it presidential the way he turns nasty and you can almost see that fury bubbling to the top. I have heard of his temper tantrums before, and you can see, even from these debates, that McCain is a hot head. Barack Obama kept his cool, calm temper, while McCain went on the attack, and McCain's snake-like grinning while he tries to tie Obama to terrorism turns me off as a voter. Obama is not connected to terrorists, and to see McCain lie over and over again, makes me never want to see him in politics after this. When is his term up???

Barack Obama did a good job on trying to remain on the issues, on topic, and McCain seemed willing, from the start, to try and dodge an issue but come in with a negative attack. We are tired of this, we want answers to the problems facing America, not more of this political back and forth.

McCain didn't get his knockout, and Barack Obama made him look even worse by sticking to the issues and dodging the negative attacks. In this debate, Obama did the right thing by taking the high road and not being tricked into defending himself against baseless accusations. McCain did bring up Ayers of The Weather Underground, and Obama did the right thing by addressing it, but he did not stick on that topic for long and quickly moved to ACORN, and the next attack McCain tried to deliver. I was proud of Barack's focus, and would be proud to have this man as my President. For the first time in my adult life, I will actually ben not only fond, but proud of the leader of my country. President Obama, I look forward to your leadership.

The people who wanted to see McCain strike and attack, will be happy. Those that like the calm mannered Barack will say he did a great job at withstanding McCain's constant attempts at causing Obama to waste his time defending himself versus stating his position. Obama did a great job at not letting those attacks become the focus of the discussion, and kept pulling the debate back to the economic crisis and what is really facing America.

Off topic, but I wanted to mention this: ExxonMobil was the biggest advertiser for the post debate commercials! Those big meany oil companies and their profits!!! ;)

I thought it was highly amusing, that ExxonMobil came up in the debate, their tax breaks and higher fuel efficient cars. Why? Because this is the company McCain wants to give billions of dollars in tax breaks to. Barack Obama specifically named them in the debate, and their ad was for? None other than, those fuel efficient cars we've been waiting for. However, just as in the documentary Who Killed The Electric car, you can tell how the commercial was made not to promote the idea of hydrogen vehicles or biofuel cars, but to show the schematics for tiny box cars that have no room or power. Ads of this nature have been documented by all car advertisement watchers. I won't go into it further here, this is part of my lifelong study of ads, watch Who Killed The Electric Car to gain a further understanding of that I am talking about here. Researchers compare the commercials made for fuel efficient cars vs Hummers, Titans, and other gas guzzlers. You'll be surprised to see how one vehicle is marketed, while the other commercials have negative messages regarding the vehicle they show, to keep people wanting the gas guzzler and not the "tiny sized" hybrid cars.

In the end, to use a McCain campaign line, Barack Obama won... hands down.

Waterboard Barack Obama

As I sit here, reading the news, awaiting the final Presidential Debate, I felt the need to prove Sean Hannity wrong.

"Nobody in the Republican Party has resorted to overtones of "race and fear" in attacking Obama."

Not only has it been shown that high ranking Republican leaders are training vote recruiters in talking points, to smear Obama claiming he has ties to Osama Bin Laden, we can prove Sean Hannity wrong by simple showing a graphic used by the Republican Party in California, on their official website.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how the Republicans plan on gaining votes... "Waterboard Barack Obama" ads.



This was used on the official Republican website, although since removed, it shows how far this political party is willing to go to try and make Barack Obama look bad by claiming he has ties to Osama Bin Laden, totally false.

Here is what FoxNews had to say about it...

A California county's Republican Party Web site encouraged readers to "Waterboard Barack Obama" and compared Obama to Usama bin Laden, drawing criticism on Wednesday from Democrats and Republicans in the state.

The Web site of the Sacramento County Republican Party posted five illustrations saying that the terrorist group Hamas supported Obama and that "the only difference between Obama and Osama is BS." Another attacked Michelle Obama, reading, "Hey Obama! Want to see bitter?"

The graphics were removed from the site by Wednesday, after the state GOP urged the local group to take them down.

The state Republican Party learned of the controversial content when it received a phone call from a reporter, said party spokesman Hector Barajas.

"I called the Sacramento county chairman and I had them remove it," Barajas said. "I also noted to them that this is a complete distraction from what we're trying to do, and that's elect John Mccain and Sarah Palin as the next president and vice president of the United States."

I also posted about the GOP leaders in Virginia, equating Obama with Osama, and training vote recruiters to use the talking point that Obama and Osama are friends.

Anyhow, back to the topic of proving Sean Hannity wrong for his comment that no one in the Republican party has resorted to fear or race in this campaign. As you can see that is plainly, not the case.

Official Republican leaders have used racist graphics, as well as, images that promote fear. Not to mention, not only does the "Waterboard Obama" ad insinuate he is connected to Osama Bin Laden, the ad encourages torture against a United States Senator. Before John McCain switched his stance on waterboarding, he was against it. He said it amounted to torture, and American military had no place in torturing people. He has since, flip flopped, changed his policy and believes in torture as a means to gather info. The old McCain would have shunned this type of advertisement, and it shows the length to which these politicians will go to gain a vote during an election.

Even though the "Waterboard Obama" ad has been removed, it still proves that Sean Hannity did a little more than stretch the truth by claiming no one in the Republican party had stooped this low. They have. Here's the proof, Seany Boy.

I would also like to take this time to prove yet another point I have tried to make before. Notice how these racist things happening on the campaign trail, are actually not in the South? Notice how people say "oh the South is so racist." As I look at the electoral maps today, I see Obama is making gains in Southern states, while not suffering the hateful rhetoric he is getting from other states!

The latest hate is in California, not the South! Imagine that...

Seattle Times reports...

The Sacramento Bee asked Craig MacGlashan about the content after seeking his reaction to hate-filled graffiti that was spray-painted over an Obama display on a fence in Sacramento.

In recent weeks, MacGlashan, an attorney, joined local Democratic party officials in condemning vandalism to political displays.

The vandalism to the Obama display appeared to have been done overnight Monday. A racial epithet, profanity, "KKK" and the words "white power" were clearly visible from the roadway. Six of the nine fence panels were defaced.

"What you are describing to me is not free speech, it's vandalism. We don't condone it," MacGlashan said.

Those people spraying "KKK" on signs, and "white power" are nowhere near the South. As a matter of fact, due to population, there are more registered hate groups in California than the southern states combined, believe it. California has more registered race hating groups, than if you combined all the hate groups in the south. And as the news reports, you can see where all the hate is taking place. Not in the South.

Using fear like this in an election campaign in the year 2008, amounts to terrorism in my opinion. Our political climate should be free of these types of advertisements coming directly from the Republican Party. Sure, some wackos will always make racist ads or propaganda, but to have it being shown on Republican party web sites takes it to a whole new level.

You are wrong Sean, your party has in fact, stooped that low.

Obama = Osama Bin Laden

What a very dumb thing to say, or think. You'd have to be a very uneducated person to say such a thing. But, wait. Isn't that what a leader of the Republican Party, a GOP leader, just said? Yes, yes it is. Although, now he wants to say it "was a joke."

Pay attention to how he says it, he is not joking. This was not a joke, nor was it ever intended to be... clear case of smear tactics being used by the Republican party.

In the Washington Post, ...

"It is just the hard facts. It's terrible that it can be said, but it can," Frederick said. "It's shocking. Here is a guy who is one step away from the presidency, who is one step away from being commander in chief, who has a friend who bombed the Pentagon. It's just shocking to me." He added, "And there is no denying that Osama bin Laden had a role in bombing the Pentagon."

Where, in the above, is the injected humor? Where is the funny part? He is making a propaganda statement, and releasing it to the public. This is not just some guy on the street the Mccain campaign can write off, this is a Republican leader.

Anyone with a brain can tell he was not joking, not in the slightest way. That was calculated, worded carefully, and presented to the media.



"Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick heads Virginia's GOP." A real winner.

This incident is just as bad, if not worse, than the Barack Osama ballots being released to voters. However, it serves the same purpose. Fear. To scare voters into voting one way. Barack Obama is not a terrorist. Stop trying to say he is. He is a United States Senator, and this shows how far these people are willing to go to make him look bad, just to win the election. It's been reported, that Frederick stood on top of a folding table, and announced this as the "talking point" to smear Obama. This is what is being told to people before they go door-to-door? Yes...

According to TIME:

With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.

At this time, according to the Washington Post, even 40 year Black republicans are taking offense to this type of hatred in the election.

Donald Scoggins, a prominent African-American Republican in Prince William County, has condemned Virginia Republican Party Chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick for comparing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to Osama bin Laden.

Scoggins said he's been involved in the Republican Party for 40 years, but said Frederick's remarks are "totally unacceptable." Scoggins once headed Republicans for Black Empowerment, which sought to recruit more African-Americans Republicans to run for office.

"At this point in time, not just in Virginia, but all over, there needs to be a lowering of the decibel of hatred and that was very much uncalled for," said Scoggins, who has been in touch with other GOP activists and leaders this morning to discuss Frederick's remarks. "For him to equate (Obama) with someone as vile and destructive as bin Laden is just very much beyond the pale."

Americans need to realize, these type of people, harm our politcal climate more than encourage nonpartisan efforts to fix the problems facing this country.

Stop letting these racists scare you into voting for someone. This is terrorism, not politics. Using fear in an election campaign, is no different than using bombs. Wake up people. These GOP leaders want to scare you away from voting Obama because he is a terrorist? Barack Obama is a well respected member of the US Senate. Show some respect.

Final Presidential Debate

Tomorrow is the big day, and for many Americans, this has been a much anticipated moment.

The Final Presidential Debate of 2008 is upon us. And remarks, made this week, by John McCain may indicate this could be the most exciting of the debates of this election. McCain has vowed to "whip Barack's you-know-what." How Presidential.



The final presidential debate airs at 9 pm EST, 6 PST. The run time is about 90 minutes, and will be aired on every major network. CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and CNN etc...

According to Associated Press, and as I've mentioned previously by barack showing leadership on foreclosures, the two candidates will both try and show themselves as a leader in the debate.

Barack Obama and John McCain will both pursue the image of a strong leader in troublesome economic times as they meet Wednesday night for their third and final presidential debate.

Joe Biden says he will be disappointed if John McCain brings up William Ayers.

"In my view, the ads that are being run picturing Barack Obama and people saying 'known terrorist' -- I think that's over the top."

As he continued his two-day bus tour across the Buckeye State stopping at Lisbon's Steel Trolley Diner for lunch, Biden said "Barack Obama was eight years old when this guy Ayers was doing bad things."

Biden said he felt "good" about tomorrow's debate, expressing "total confidence" in Obama.

Biden warned that he would be "disappointed" to see McCain bring up Ayers in Wednesday's third and final debate, though McCain has threatened to do so in response to Obama's suggestion that the Republican candidate doesn't have the guts to raise the issue to his face.

All Obama has to do, Biden says, is "repeat the performance he's had the last two times out."

Biden said the debates have contrasted "a guy who’s confident and steady and a guy who's not quite sure of where he wants to take the country."

Accusations of voter fraud in battleground states are beginning to make the nightly news, and we just await election day. I plan on voting early, and so should you! And make sure you tune in for the final debate of the presidential election 2008.

Joe Biden Speech

Just finished watching the live Joe Biden Change We Need speech from the Barack Obama site. The internet rocks for politics.



I like being able to watch live events and videos from all over the country, covering the election.

Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden stumped in his northeastern Pennsylvania hometown Sunday alongside New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton. (Oct. 12)

UPDATE: AP added this video so I thought I should include it.

McCain Not Doing So Good

Lots of people criticizing, not only McCain, but his campaign, trends in donation spending, and more.

In an article about Florida, Florida Republicans cast blame as McCain trails in polls, I read...

John McCain's plunging poll numbers in Florida have top Republicans second-guessing and starting to distance themselves from the campaign.

For the first time in more than a decade, Florida Republicans are considering the almost unthinkable: Their presidential nominee could lose the state.

The economy, an unpopular president, a strong opponent, and the inability of John McCain to reverse poll numbers despite repeatedly revising his strategy has top state Republicans looking for someone to blame.

When things get rough, the blame game begins.

No Republican has won the White House in modern times without carrying Florida. The last to lose the state was McCain's former colleague, Sen. Bob Dole, in 1996. Some Republicans say the state party hasn't done enough, while others blame McCain's national campaign.

Roger Stone, a longtime McCain supporter, said the state party and the national campaign bear almost equal blame.

''This effort lacks coordination and a cooperative spirit and it's showing,'' Stone said. ``But it's more than mechanics. The campaign has no consistent message.''

Over the summer, the Obama camp spent at least $10 million on Florida television ads -- 4,000 of the spots attacking McCain -- while McCain spent nothing.

The failure by the party and McCain's campaign to respond to an Obama radio ad in Florida that bashed McCain over embryonic stem-cell research was ''a perfect example of them not being on the ball in Florida,'' Stone said, echoing numerous Florida Republicans. But national campaign officials said McCain is within striking distance of Obama in the polls, has ample time to turn things around, and had a winning strategy until Wall Street's crash.

I always like reading about the amount of money being spent on the ads in elections...

Some Florida Republicans are concerned that state donors sent $34 million to McCain's national campaign, while only $14 million has been spent here. Meantime, McCain fruitlessly spent money in Michigan -- where he has now pulled out.

McCain's campaign expects to spend much more as the state becomes more competitive. Obama has boasted that he'll spend $40 million in the state. Moving into the final stretch, Obama spent nearly five times as much as McCain during the first week of October -- $2.9 million to McCain's $623,000, according to Data Source, a market-research firm.

Many have started to question McCain's campaign strategy.

From the start, there have always been two separate but equal questions about race in this election. Is there still enough racism in America to prevent a black man from being elected president no matter what? And, will Republicans play the race card? The jury is out on the first question until Nov. 4. But we now have the unambiguous answer to the second: Yes.

from The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama

Could the old racial politics still be determinative? I’ve long been skeptical of the incessant press prognostications (and liberal panic) that this election will be decided by racist white men in the Rust Belt. Now even the dimmest bloviators have figured out that Americans are riveted by the color green, not black — as in money, not energy. Voters are looking for a leader who might help rescue them, not a reckless gambler whose lurching responses to the economic meltdown (a campaign “suspension,” a mortgage-buyout stunt that changes daily) are as unhinged as his wanderings around the debate stage.

To see how fast the tide is moving, just look at North Carolina. On July 4 this year — the day that the godfather of modern G.O.P. racial politics, Jesse Helms, died — The Charlotte Observer reported that strategists of both parties agreed Obama’s chances to win the state fell “between slim and none.” Today, as Charlotte reels from the implosion of Wachovia, the McCain-Obama race is a dead heat in North Carolina and Helms’s Republican successor in the Senate, Elizabeth Dole, is looking like a goner.

Americans are tired of the George Bush policies that have gotten us in this mess, and we won't let color of skin get in our way. Go Obama!

“I mean, when people are facing the challenges in their own lives they are facing, no one wants to hear that stuff. It’s dumb,” Ed Rendell Criticizes McCain Attack Strategy

Nailed it. Some have even called for McCain to tone down the hateful rhetoric being spewed at his political rallies across America.

According to Rep. Lewis Has Harsh Words For McCain:

The Georgia congressman wrote that he is “deeply disturbed by the negative tone” of the McCain campaign. He did not offer any examples, but recent press reports have detailed angry and hateful comments from some people attending McCain and Palin rallies. At a townhall meeting Friday afternoon, McCain himself called on supporters to be more respectful, though aides downplayed the effort and said McCain was acting as he always has.

Lewis was harsh in his assessment of the Republican ticket.

“What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse,” he wrote.

He went on to compare the Republican candidates to Wallace, who ran unsuccessfully for president.

“George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama,” Lewis wrote. “As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all.”

And according to Raw Story:

A conservative columnist called McCain's campaign "stupid" for continuing to run attack ads that criticize the character of Democratic opponent Barack Obama when "they haven't worked.

All these are signs that McCain is not doing so good. Let's hope Barack Obama continues to gain in battleground states and wins, not only the Popular Vote, but the Electoral Vote as well!

5 Barack Obama Quotes

Here are five Barack Obama quotes I put together today.



1. "It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division," ... "The American people are not looking for someone who will divide this country, they are looking for someone who will lead it" - Barack Obama

2. "Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: 'Eight is enough.'" Barack Obama

3. "I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible." from Barack Obama speech on race

4. " It's the politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon, a politics that tells us that we have to think, act and even vote within the confines of the categories that supposedly define us, the assumption that young people are apathetic, the assumption that Republicans won't cross over, the assumption that the wealthy care nothing for the poor and that the poor don't vote, the assumption that African-Americans can't support the white candidate, whites can't support the African-American candidate, blacks and Latinos cannot come together. We are here tonight to say that that is not the America we believe in." from Barack's "Yes we can change" speech

5. "Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America." from Barack Obama's Out of Many speech

Stop Blaming Troopergate On Obama

These people will say anything, and blame anything they can on people who are voting for Barack. Are they trying to say citizens caused this? Obama supporters? Who, the 10 Republicans behind the investigation? LOL

Fox News says:

McCain-Palin 2008 spokeswoman Meg Stapleton issued the following statement on today’s release of Stephen Branchflower’s report:

“Today’s report shows that the Governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan. The report also illustrates what we’ve known all along: this was a partisan led inquiry run by Obama supporters and the Palins were completely justified in their concern regarding Trooper Wooten given his violent and rogue behavior. Lacking evidence to support the original Monegan allegation, the Legislative Council seriously overreached, making a tortured argument to find fault without basis in law or fact. The Governor is looking forward to cooperating with the Personnel Board and continuing her conversation with the American people regarding the important issues facing the country.”

Doncha just love the spin? How can they blame Troopergate or Sarah palin abuse of power investigation on "Obama supporters" if the investigation started before she was even picked by John McCain to run for Vice president? LOL

You gotta be kidding me, people actually fall for this stuff? Sarah Palin was under investigation for Troopergate before she was even picked to run for VP, so to say this has anything to do with Barack Obama or his campaign is nonsense. Let's not forget to mention, it was Republicans who led the investigation, not Obama Supporters!

The New York Times noted that the report "was commissioned and released by a bipartisan state legislative panel made up of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats."

They can try to spin it, but it's just not true. The only fact in the case is, it was abuse of power.

Earlier, the McCain campaign, cleared Sarah Palin of any wrong doing with their own report. Funny.

Sarah Palin Abuse Of Power

Uh oh, it looks like the report findings on Troopergate are surfacing on the Internet, and making their way from blog to blog now. Get ready...

The first paragraph of these articles always contain the best sentences!



Quotes are from MSNBC:

A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state's public safety commissioner.

Zing! Busted! So how will this come into play in this election now?

The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing a commissioner to settle a family dispute. Palin supporters have called the investigation politically motivated.

How come every time a politician is under investigation, they claim, almost always, it is "politically motivated?" The investigation was started long before she was picked as VP running mate.

Walter Monegan says he was dismissed as retribution for resisting pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

The legislative panel met for six hours before making a unanimous decision to release the so-called "Troopergate" report. The vote was 12-0 to release the report, except for certain parts they consider confidential.

Alaska lawmakers on Friday began reviewing the lengthy and politically sensitive investigative report focusing on whether Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her authority as governor.

The first-term Alaska governor has been accused of firing a state commissioner to settle a family dispute. But the report is also expected to touch on whether Palin's husband meddled in state affairs and whether her administration inappropriately accessed employee medical records.

Palin fired Monegan on 7/13/08, was being investigated in that same month, and was not tapped as VP pick until 8/29/08. Which brings up a question of judgment on John McCain's choice of Vice President, in my opinion, choosing someone already under investigation for abuse of power?

The full investigative report can be found here.

Troopergate

Get ready for the buzz word of the day: Troopergate.

Republican lawmakers are trying to halt an investigation into Troopergate...

According to AP:

Five Alaska lawmakers filed an emergency appeal Friday asking the state's Supreme Court to halt an investigation into abuse of power allegations by Gov. Sarah Palin before the findings are released next week.

Why would they want to stop the investigation?

The independent investigator conducting the probe plans to turn over his conclusions by next Friday to the body that authorized the it, the Legislative Council. The five Republican lawmakers, none of whom are on the Legislative Council, claim the investigation is being manipulated to damage Palin before Election Day on Nov. 4.

Somehow, I doubt this is being done to smear Sarah Palin because the investigation started long before she was even vice presidential nominee.

The probe is looking into whether Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, and others pressured Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce from Palin's sister and then fired Monegan when he wouldn't dismiss the trooper. Palin says Monegan was ousted over budget disagreements.

The five lawmakers sued to block the investigation or remove its overseers, but their lawsuit was dismissed on Thursday by an Anchorage judge.

Due to the publicity surrounding this case, Americans anxiously await the report's findings.

Defense attorney Peter Maassen said the Legislature is free to conduct an investigation as it sees fit and the judge's ruling confirmed the separation of power principles. An emergency appeal is unwarranted, he said, because by next Thursday the investigation will have already be completed — it will only remain to make it findings public.

"There's been no time in history that a court has suppressed the outcome of a legislative investigation," Maassen said.

The public deserve to see exactly what the Palin's have been up to, "up there in Alaska."

As it seems, at the moment, Sarah Palin wants to try and slow this investigation down "for years" and keep it secret from the public.

Palin pledged her cooperation with the probe until she became Sen. John McCain's running mate. She has said through her lawyer that she only will cooperate with a separate investigation, one that she calls unbiased but is conducted in secret and can last for years.

Americans are tired of this secrecy that people like Sarah Palin shroud themselves in, while firing public officials, and doing all kinds of illegal things behind closed doors.

We deserve to hear the full extent of Todd Palin's involvement, and to get to the bottom of Troopergate.

Todd Palin sought the dismissal of a Alaska state trooper at the center of a probe into his wife's conduct as state governor but denied attempting to influence her directly, court documents showed Thursday.
In a 25-page sworn affidavit to an investigator examining abuse of power allegations against his wife and Republican vice-presidential nominee, Palin said he had repeatedly contacted senior Alaska officials to raise concerns over the conduct of his ex-brother-in-law Mike Wooten.

Todd Palin is not a government official, and should not be sitting in on Governor meetings, and discussing the firing of anyone in office, or any policemen. This guy is an oil field worker, doesn't have a college degree, and serves no purpose sitting on on important official business. Why should he be talking to anyone in regards to State Troopers being fired or not? His involvement, continues to concern me. Not to mention his membership in the Alaskan Independence Party.

The idea that some oil worker "First Dude" is making phone calls and inquiring whether or not State Troopers are fired, should concern any American. And the fact these two continue to try and conceal their actions, will only further the curiosity of the situation.

AIG Blog Relations

Something that has many Americans angry tonight, is the $440,000 retreat I brought up recently.

Well, today I got a blog comment from "AIG Blog Relations" and I felt I should make a quick post and direct your eyes that way and see their response to my entry. I am guessing AIG Blog Relations is someone being paid to, or a bot being directed to, post replies on blog entries regarding the AIG bailout.

I know a lot of people are angry about this, and rightfully so.

When people can barely fill up their car to go to work because of the gas prices right now, and they hear about people ordering $1,200 worth of food in a night, or spending $200,000 on rooms at an expensive California spa retreat. Yeah, ordinary folk tend to get angry.

And not only are average Americans digusted, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has called for people at American International Group Inc. to be fired over this.

"If AIG was throwing money around for tee times and hot stone massages while begging for Federal Reserve dollars, it's a scandal and an outrage and heads will roll," Baucus said. "I want to know who we can fire and how we can get this misspent money back and I want both of those things to happen pronto."

He said he is considering calling for a special investigation by the Federal Reserve Inspector General.

Even President Bush is mad LOL

Anyway, feel like saying something about this? Make an anonymous comment! join the discussion here

How Can Anyone Still Be Undecided?

Last night was the first time I actually started thinking about people who are "undecided" in regards to the upcoming election. "How can anyone still be undecided?" I thought. And it still has me pondering. So I started to look up some articles about these undecided voters to see if I could understand why they are still debating which side to vote for.

Some undecided voters are leaning toward Obama.

With disgust dripping from his voice, Mr. Sullivan read aloud a story on page 4B of USA Today about how AIG agents had spent $443,000 on a week-long retreat at a California resort six days after the government bailed them out. When he came to the part about Joseph Cassano, the head of AIG’s finance division, taking home $34 million and then being placed on a $1 million-a-month consulting retainer in February, he smacked the paper.

“They should have had these CEOs in handcuffs yesterday,” he said looking at the accompanying photograph of two former AIG CEOs taking an oath before testifying to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “I would have liked to have heard someone say ‘Bailiff, bring the shackles.’ I want outrage, I want heads to roll.”

Mr. Sullivan does not believe either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain is forceful enough to lead the country out of its current economic morass but he is increasingly convinced Sen. McCain is too tied to the special interests in Washington to be given a chance try.

I can understand the frustration this guy feels. All Americans should be upset about this type of stuff. McCain even corrected someone during the second presidential debates for calling it a "bailout," he said he calls it a "rescue." A fine example of how McCain is "out of touch" with ordinary Americans. Americans feels the way Mr. Sullivan does, not the way McCain does.

Watching the debate Tuesday night Mr. Sullivan said he was angered by what he saw as Sen. McCain’s vague promises.

“He said ‘I know how to get America working again,’ but he never said how,” Mr. Sullivan said. “Two weeks ago he said our economy was fundamentally strong, well that tells me for a man who is supposed to be in the middle of the action, his head is in the sand.”

When the debate switched topics to foreign policy, Mr. Sullivan’s interest waned.

“Our house is on fire here, I don’t have time to cut my neighbor’s grass,” he said. “We need a strong domestic economy before we can fix the rest of the world.”

Everyday citizens are worried more about gas prices in America, than about foreign policy.

“There is something fundamentally wrong with our system when I go to my local grocery store and the apples there are from China,” Mr. Sullivan said.

“I’m conservative, I don’t want to see the Democrats get into power and spend like drunken sailors, but the pendulum has swung too far to the right. It needs to be brought back.”

I think many, many, many of us feel the same way right now. Some voters say after the debates, neither candidate "delivered" or "got angry enough."

Are you undecided? If so, please tell me why.

Palin Is Anti-America Like Joe Vogler

Don't know who Joe Vogler is? Well, he is the guy who formed the Alaskan Independence Party that Todd Palin, the husband of Governor Sarah Palin, was a member of. (scroll down for video)

The best way to get to know someone is to hear their words, or things they have been involved in... Let's get to know Joe Vogler a bit shall we?

A quote: “My government is my worst enemy. I’m going to fight them with any means at hand.” Joe Vogler

Another quote from Joe Vogler:

“When the [federal] bureaucrats come after me, I suggest they wear red coats. They make better targets. In the federal government are the biggest liars in the United States, and I hate them with a passion. They think they own [Alaska]. There comes a time when people will choose to die with honor rather than live with dishonor. That time may be coming here. Our goal is ultimate independence by peaceful means under a minimal government fully responsive to the people. I hope we don’t have to take human life, but if they go on tramping on our property rights, look out, we’re ready to die.”

He was quoted more than once threatening federal actions against him with violence, known to carry large guns with him etc...

What does this have to do with Sarah Palin?

Well, her husband was a member of the very group that has held these anti-American ideas, and as recent as this year (2008) Gov. Palin has made video encouraging the AIP to "keep up the good work."

According to Salon, AIP chairwoman Lynette Clark said recently that Sarah Palin is her kind of gal. “She’s Alaskan to the bone … she sounds just like Joe Vogler.”

This quote is from “Coming Into the Country,” by John McPhee, who traipsed around Alaska’s remote gold mining country with Vogler for his 1991 book. The violent-tempered secessionist vowed to McPhee that if any federal official tried to stop him from polluting Alaska’s rivers with his earth-moving equipment, he would “run over him with a Cat and turn mosquitoes loose on him while he dies.”

Vogler wasn’t just a blowhard either. He put his secessionist ideas into action, working to build AIP membership to 20,000 — an impressive figure by Alaska standards — and to elect party member Walter Hickel as governor in 1990.

Vogler’s greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States “tyranny” before the entire world and to demand Alaska’s freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue.

That’s right … Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages. The rogue nation that McCain and Palin have excoriated Obama for suggesting we diplomatically engage. That Iran.

Joe Vogler attracted such anti-American governments as Iran to sponsor his anti-American ideas, and now with the national attention Sarah Palin has gained, she has continued to encourage the plans of Joe Vogler by supporting the Alaskan Independence Party's ideas of secession from the United States.

How can this woman even be considered American when her own husband has belonged to a radical group that doesn't believe Alaska should be a part of this nation, and in fact, should be its own country??

This doesn't sit well with any American who hears about it, and it's no wonder why this topic has been kept off the radar of mainstream media. But the Palin's cannot deny their involvement with the group, nor can they change the fact Todd Palin was a member.

Imagine if Michelle Obama had joined some Black Panther type of black radical group that called for armed resistance against the government? The media would be having a field day, but here the Palin's associate and encourage the AIP to "keep up the good work" What work? Raising funds to separate Alaska from the United States?

The bottom line is, Americans on the mainland U.S. had never heard of Sarah Palin before John McCain picked her, and if she is "just like Joe Vogler" I think the rest of us Americans are in trouble. I can look past her Canadian accent, but I cannot overlook her connections to a group that wishes to divide the United States, not just on topics, but actual secession of a state.

Here is a video of the AIP talking about how now that Sarah Palin is elected, "we just need to put a Republican label on it, and get it approved." This is in regards to secession from the United States! See for yourself the infiltration of American Government taking place from these Alaskan secessionists.



"Our current Governor, who I mentioned the last conference, the one we were hoping would get elected, Sarah Palin, did get elected. You should infiltrate. I know the Christian Exodus is in favor of it, the free state movement is in favor of it. Put the Republican label on it to get elected, that's all there is to it."

This shows how they have used the Republican label to sneak in their policies of secession...

A final Joe Vogler quote: "The fires of Hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government and I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be buried in Dawson, and when Alaska is an independent nation, they can bring my bones home, back to my country."

This is who founded the Alaskan Independence Party that the Palin's support. One does not 'pal around with secessionists" and not be one. How could you hang around with people who believe Alaska should be a separate natio