Meth Heads Plan Assassination

Here's a little advice for the meth addicts in the audience, next time you get high, don't plan to kill anyone.

This entry is about three idiots, who got high on meth, and then began planning the assassination of Barack Obama. Can you think of anything more stupid?

Times Online reports:

Three white supremacists with a sniper rifle and high on drugs who were arrested near the Democratic convention in Denver wanted to assassinate Barack Obama, US authorities said last night.

The FBI and the US Secret Service carried out an “intensive” investigation into the plot — in which the supremacists talked of shooting Mr Obama as he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in an open-air sports stadium on Thursday night — but found insufficient evidence of a “true threat”.

One of the suspects, Shawn Adolph, 33, was connected to a high-velocity Ruger sniper rifle seized during a series of early morning arrests on Monday and had made clear threats and “racial slurs” against Mr Obama, Troy Eid, Denver’s US district attorney said.

Who would've though, a white supremacist with the name Adolf?

The spectre of assassination arose in May when Hillary Clinton had to apologise after appearing to suggest that the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 during his presidential campaign was a good reason for her staying in the race. Mr Obama is often compared to John F. Kennedy. But it is his skin colour that has added to concerns in a country that has more than 200 million legally held firearms and 30,000 gun deaths each year.

Mr Eid said: “It is a serious federal crime to make a threat against a presidential candidate.” But he added that the three men arrested in connection with the plot had been abusing the drug methamphetamine when they discussed the possibility of killing Mr Obama.

“From a legal standpoint, the law recognizes a difference between between a true threat and the racist rantings of drug abusers,” Mr Eid said. “The alleged threat does not warrant charges at this time but we are keeping an open mind.

I am not sure I agree with the "true threat" theory though. If they had a plan, and had not executed it, yet, how does that free them from assassination related charges? I guess, when you're high on drugs, you can say anything or plan anything you want, including shooting someone? This is not just one drug addict ranting to himself in a room, these are three people planning a murder, nothing else.

The three men — Mr Adolph, his cousin Tharin Gartrell, 28, and Nathan Johnson, 32, have long criminal records for illegal gun possession, drug dealing and theft. There were multiple outstanding warrants for their arrest and all three were being held on drug and firearms charges last night.

The alleged plot received serious attention after an extraordinary jail-cell interview with local television by Mr Johnson, who said that his associates had planned to assassinate Mr Obama as he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in the 75,000-seat openair Invesco sports stadium on Thursday.

Mr Johnson also told police that the plan had been to shoot Mr Obama “from a high vantage point using a rifle sighted at 750 yards”.

Due to their history of illegal guns, I think these guys should be watched a bit more, and not just released because they were high on meth when they stated their plans.

Voter Fraud

The Republicans and John McCain are trying real hard to connect Barack Obama to voter fraud. The problem is, Obama hasn't done any wrong. Companies are hired by both Democrats and Republicans to gather votes, and here is the latest news regarding Republican toes to voter fraud.

From: GOP voter registration fraud case leads to arrest

The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario late last night on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California.

How much voter fraud has gone on through this company?

How tied is the Republican party to this group?

If McCain and the Republicans want to portray Barack Obama as taking part in voter fraud, when they themselves are connected to companies committing the same offenses. Possibly even worse?

From: McCain renews claims of voter fraud

Republicans are stepping up pressure on election authorities over alleged voter fraud by a grassroots group with past ties to Barack Obama, setting the stage for a potential legal battle should the Democrat win next month's election by a narrow margin.

Maybe McCain should keep clean out the skeletons in his own closet before accusing Barack Obama of doing anything fraudulent.

Not only did this company commit voter fraud, they actually tricked people into registering "Republican." And were paid for each voter they registered.

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department comes after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by his firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM. The voters said YPM tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters. The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.

Several agencies had launched investigations into Jacoby's activities, including the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, which issued the warrant for his arrest earlier this month on felony charges of voter registration fraud and perjury.

Sounds like McCain and the Republicans have been up to their own voter fraud tricks?

McCain has ridden the news soundbytes with "ACORN," now let's see how he faces his own voter fraud case.

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.

Muslim Students Fakes Attack

It looks like we have a great winner for Friday night. Just when you thought there wasn't enough race based attacks in the world, here comes a student to fake one and stir up some racial tension.

(Sun Times) A Muslim student who claimed she was attacked at Elmhurst College in what school officials described as a hate crime has now been charged with making up the story.

Safia Z. Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook, told police that on Oct. 9, a masked, male attacker struck her in the head with a handgun about after she entered a restroom in the Schaible Science Center on campus, according to a release from Elmhurst police.

Police found threatening graffiti -- "Kill the Muslims" -- written on a mirror in the restroom, students and police said. Earlier Thursday, the victim had spoken at a demonstration called to denounce anti-Islamic slurs and a swastika she had discovered Oct. 2 on her locker, school officials said.

But late Friday afternoon, Elmhurst police announced that a weeklong investigation determined the assault never occurred,there was no gunman and Jilani was arrested on a warrant for filing a false police report, a Class 4 felony punishable by up to 3 years in prison.

The initial report of the attack triggered a lockdown at the college while police searched the campus and prompted hundreds of students to rally again the following day to protest the incident.

Officials at the 3,300-student private college -- which has about 30 Muslim students -- denounced the attack and promised to increase security on campus, including offers of rides for Muslim students to and from classes.

Uh oh. So did she draw the swastika on her locker or did someone else?

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.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

At the time of writing this entry, I have only blogged two DVDs, and I recommend this third one as much as the previous documentaries.

Earlier this week, I didn't feel like watching any more Alfred Hitchcock, although I enjoy his work, I felt like watching something to do with those nasty big corporations, that run the world. You know, like Enron.



As you can see by the image above, I chose, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room. If you have not seen it, are interested in this type of stuff, you may want to give it a look.

Quoted from description...

Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind a multidimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars leaving investors and employees with nothing. The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron's walls resembles a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face of our economy...

Listen to phone calls of stock traders cheer on California fires, as people die, so they can increase profits. You won't believe your ears. See, Enron controlled the energy markets, and by bringing down California power, during "Black Outs," the value of energy stocks would increase, this allowed them to fluctuate and manipulate their stocks and ultimately the cost being charged to the public. Americans were ripped off for millions, you must see this.

To quote Jeff Shannon, from Amazon:

The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation.

While many documentaries like to portray corporations, as big bad things, America will never be without them. It is best to educate yourself on them, and be aware of what is going on in the modern business world.

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.

Palin Clears Self In Troopergate

Whew, well that makes us all feel a little better now don't it? LOL

According to MSNBC:

Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing.

Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law.

The move came hours after the state Supreme Court refused to halt the ethics investigation.

The investigation started before she was even picked to run for vice president...

Sworn to secrecy, Alaska lawmakers on Friday began reviewing a lengthy and politically sensitive investigative report. The inquiry, approved by a legislative committee's bipartisan vote, began before Republican presidential nominee John McCain named Palin his running mate. Since then, the case has been dogged by accusations of political influence.

What's better than clearing yourself of any wrong doing? Trying to stop the actual report from being made public, and only revealing your report that clears you! Sweet.

At their meeting Friday, lawmakers planned to vote on whether to release the estimated 300-page report and some of the 1,000 or more pages of supporting documents. The 14-member legislative panel could recommend that the case be closed, that another committee continue to investigate or that the matter be referred to criminal investigators.

Of course the report should be made public.

"I just hope that the truth is figured out," Monegan told The Associated Press on Thursday. "That the governor did want me to fire him, and I chose to not. You just can't walk up to someone and say, 'I fire you.' He didn't do anything under my watch to result in termination."

Palin's critics say that shows she used her office to settle family affairs.

"When you're the governor, you leave your household hat at home and you become governor," said state Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Palin.

LOL @ troopergate

SS Drops Obama Threat Investigation

Well, that didn't last too long.

I sure hope, for Obama's sake, that nothing happens to him. You would think that the Secret Service would do a more thorough investigation regarding someone shouting "kill him" about Senator Barack Obama. But, as it seems, the case has already been dropped, with the person responsible, never being found.

Who was it that screamed "kill him?" What if they are now plotting an attempt on our next President's life? Will the next person who scream it be taken seriously? This is serious stuff, and I am worried that this type of acceptance, when it comes to threats on Obama, will be overlooked from now on.

According to AP:

The US Secret Service has investigated an alleged death threat against Democrat Barack Obama shouted Monday at a rally for his Republican rival John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin, an agency spokesman told AFP Thursday.

The probe by the service that protects US presidents, past and present, visiting world leaders and US presidential candidates, stems from a report by The Washington Post about a shout, "kill him," heard during the rally when Obama's name came up.

The alleged threat was made when Palin was speaking of Obama's relations with former 1960s radical Bill Ayers, whose group "The Weathermen" carried out a series of attacks in protest against the Vietnam War.

"We take every threat very seriously. Every time we receive or are reported information like that, we follow up," said Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan.

However, he cautioned that at the McCain rally, "no Secret Service agent overheard any threatening statement and no threatening statements were reported by law enforcement or the general public."

"We did make some inquiries after the Washington Post reported on Tuesday that a someone had yelled 'kill him,'" he added.

What irks me, is no Secret Service heard anything???

Donovan said it wasn't clear whether the threat was actually vocalized or, if so, if it was meant for Obama or even Ayers, both of whose names were uttered by Palin at that moment in her speech.

For those reasons, he added, the investigation was dropped.

Not vocalized? Then how did people hear it then?

I have begun thinking very differently about Sarah Palin and John McCain after this event. I have watched them give their speeches while people shout "kill him" and "terrorist" about Barack Obama, and they stand by and do nothing. How can John McCain sit there and raise questions about his "connections to terrorists" when Obama is a U.S. Senator, this isn't some new guy off the street? Barack has served this country as honorably as McCain has. Obama is not connected to terrorists, and by allowing their hateful mobs to rally and cheer on things like "kill him" at political events, its embarrassing to me, not just as an American, but as a human.

Secret Service Investigating Kill Him Shouting

Having just blogged about the Sarah Palin "Kill Him" rally scandal, I wanted to dig up a little more info on the subject.



This image is not intended to be humorous, I believe that when you actually see the words in an image, it sinks in exactly how hateful and real they are. Sarah Palin could have stopped herself and identified whoever it was that was screaming "kill him" about Barack Obama, and did not. Instead she kept on talking and said, "Boy, you guys just get it."

When you put those two quotes side by side, you can see how much of a threat these type of people are to freedom in America.

No one on either side of the aisle should want to see Barack Obama shot, and if that happened I don't think America would ever recover from the image of a nation so racist they shot the first racially mixed man running for Pres.

I am also glad to read that the Secret Service, according to RadarOnline, has started an investigation...

The Secret Service is following up on media reports today that someone in the crowd at a McCain/Palin event suggested killing Barack Obama, according to Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley. The shout of "kill him" followed a Sarah Palin rant on Obama's relationship with radical Chicagoan Bill Ayers.

Wiley says the Secret Service did not begin looking into the matter until press reports, namely Dana Milbank's article in the Washington Post, surfaced today, because no agents at the event heard anything. "The Secret Service did not hear any threatening statements directed at targets under its protection and no threatening statements were reported to us by law enforcement or citizens at the event," Wiley told Radar. Also unclear: whether the remark was directed at Obama or Ayers if the words were actually "kill" and "him."

If you don't take things like this serious, where do you draw the line?

McCain Supporters Threaten To Kill Obama

Under any normal circumstances, uttering the words "kill him" towards a Senator and especially someone running for president would be greeted by Secret Service members or at least Homeland Security. However, what we see from the John McCain campaign is exactly the opposite.

During a Sarah Palin speech, McCain supporters began screaming racial obscenities towards a black camera operator, and even "kill him" when she mentioned Barack Obama by name.

Although it is hard to make out, here is a video of the "kill him" rally:



According to The nation...

Sarah Palin was on the verge of inciting a race riot in northern Florida yesterday. At her rallies, the Republican faithful hurled a racial epitaph at a black sound man, and screamed "kill him" and "treason!" at Barack Obama.

"Boy, you guys just get it!" Palin responded. This reaction, presumably, was what Palin had in mind when she urged John McCain to "take the gloves off."

As a concerned citizen, I demand the Secret Service and whoever else needs to be involved, do some investigating and find out who exactly it was screaming "kill him" about a United States Senator and presidential hopeful, Barack Obama.

Here is a video of McCain supporters shouting "terrorist" when asked "Who is the real Obama?"



Notice McCain just smiles and does not correct this? I would not be surprised to find out if the person screaming "terrorist" was actually involved in the campaign to be honest at this point. McCain should have stopped his speech and corrected the heckler, instead he smiled and continued on. Eerily as if expecting it and knowing it was coming.

Like him or hate him, Barack Obama is a US Senator and is protected by Secret Service, no one in America should be screaming 'kill him" when his name is mentioned. This should be taken as a serious threat and should be investigated.

Republicans Pay "Terrorist" To Speak At School?

When Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of being pals with terrorists, I bet she had not thought the comment out too far. In a classic retort to such hateful association attempts, Obama's brilliant campaign has sought to bring to light the fact that Republicans may have actually paid William Ayers (the guy they claim Obama is friends with) to speak at the University of South Carolina.

According to an article I just read from the Associated Press...

Barack Obama's campaign is citing the University of South Carolina's speaking invitations to William Ayers and Republican Gov. Mark Sanford's role as school trustee to counter GOP efforts to link the presidential candidate to the 1960s radical.

The governor dismissed the effort as "totally bogus" and said he never heard of Ayers.

If Republicans really consider Ayers a terrorist, why is this school paying him to fly there and speak? Wouldn't that mean Republican Governor Mark Sanford is in fact, "paying terrorists to speak at a school?" And, according to Palin's logic, "pallin' around with terrorists?"

In an e-mail to reporters, the Obama campaign said Ayers is a "distinguished scholar" at the University of South Carolina, where Sanford serves as the ex-officio trustee while governor.

"By Governor Palin's standards, that means Governor Sanford shares Ayers' views," the e-mail read.

Something tells me if John McCain even hints to this in the debate tonight, it could be the breaking point where one of the opponents must overcome the other verbally or lose control and get "erratic" the way McCain has been since the current financial crisis.

the campaign did not back down, saying the connection in both cases is equally tenuous.

"The point is that by Sarah Palin's logic, serving on a board with someone establishes an association with them," said campaign spokeswoman Melanie Roussell. "Obama has served on the board but did not have a relationship with William Ayers. He only met him a few times.

"If her logic is to stand, it could be said that Gov. Sanford has been palling around with William Ayers," she continued.

I would say, paying a "terrorist" to speak at your school would make you more of a pal to a terrorist than being 8 years old and having no connections to Ayers while he was committing crimes.

When will the Republicans ever learn that this stuff will only backfire on them?

Keating Economics & John McCain

Find out just how involved McCain was in the Keating Five scandal in this video. It's pretty simple, he would help push for deregulation and immunity from prosecution for the crook behind the entire ordeal.

McCain's push for deregulation is what helped cause the Keating scandal, and further paved the way for the mess we see on Wall Street today in the form of $700 Billion Bailout.

From the Chicago Tribune:

"During the savings and loan crisis of the late '80s and early '90s, McCain's political favors and aggressive support for deregulation put him at the center of the fall of Lincoln Savings and Loan," Plouffe writes to supporters. "More than 23,000 investors lost their savings. Overall, the savings and loan crisis required the federal government to bail out the savings of hundreds of thousands of families and ultimately cost American taxpayers $124 billion."

"In that crisis, John McCain and his political patron, Charles Keating, played central roles that ultimately landed Keating in jail for fraud and McCain in front of the Senate Ethics Committee," Plouffe writes. "The McCain campaign has tried to avoid talking about the scandal, but with so many parallels to the current crisis, McCain's Keating history is relevant and voters deserve to know the facts."

McCain should have known the Keating Five scandal would resurface, and as an American citizen, it is startling how similar these events are. Notice McCain's answer, "more deregulation!

That very deregulation is why we are in the mess we are now. Thanks to John McCain.

John McCain Keating Five

After John McCain came out with his latest negative ads, Barack Obama has began striking back by saying "Hey John, weren't you one of the Keating Five, who ripped off thousands, mostly elderly?" The answer, yes in fact he was....

Barack Obama’s campaign plans to release an Internet ad Monday morning that will highlight Republican John McCain’s involvement in the “Keating Five” scandal of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The campaign says it will email its supporters a link to a new Website called KeatingEconomics.com that features a 13-minute documentary on the savings-and-loan scandal. The Website also includes a timeline and newspaper articles explaining in detail the nearly twenty-year old scandal.

The Web ad shows footage of the senate trials of the five senators, including McCain, all of whom were accused of improperly aiding Charles Keating, chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association and a political donor who went to prison for fraud that led to the bank’s collapse.

McCain has long associated with criminals of this type. Keep in mind this crime affected mostly elderly folks.

The failure of California-based Lincoln Savings led to more than 20,000 mostly elderly investors losing their life savings and at the time was one of the largest financial failures in history. In 1991 the Senate Ethics Committee cleared McCain of acting improperly but said he exercised “poor judgment.”

The campaign says that McCain’s involvement in the Savings and Loan crisis directly impacts the current economic problems and is indicative of a mindset of deregulation and lack of oversight that led to the financial industry meltdown.

“His involvement with Keating is a window into McCain’s economic past, present, and future,” says Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer.

“The Keating Five involved all the things that have brought the modern crisis. Senator McCain has not learned the lesson, and has continued to follow policies that are going to produce a disaster,” former bank regulator William Black says in the Obama campaign’s new documentary-style Web attack.

John McCain is not the answer to America's problems. In fact, it's crimes like the above that have helped cause the current financial crisis we are facing in America. McCain will not fix it, he will only make it worse.

At the heart of the scandal was Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which took advantage of deregulation in the 1980s to make risky investments with its depositors' money. McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating with federal regulators tasked with preventing banking fraud, and championed legislation to delay regulation of the savings and loan industry -- actions that allowed Keating to continue his fraud at an incredible cost to taxpayers.

When the savings and loan industry collapsed, Keating's failed company put taxpayers on the hook for $3.4 billion and more than 20,000 Americans lost their savings. John McCain was reprimanded by the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee, but the ultimate cost of the crisis to American taxpayers reached more than $120 billion.

Do those words in bold sound familiar, sounds just like this current financial crisis doesn't it?

What is the Keating Five?

From wikipedia...

The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

They were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB).

Senators John Glenn and John McCain were criticized by the Senate ethics investigation for having exercised "poor judgment".

Palin Case Reversal

When Troopergate first made the headlines, Palin instructed her subpoenaed friends and aides (including her husband Todd Palin) to disobey the subpoenas.

Looks like things are reversing in the case... from the NY Times.

Seven Alaska state employees have reversed course and agreed to testify in an abuse-of-power investigation against Gov. Sarah Palin.

Flip flop in the court of law!

Ms. Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, is the focus of a legislative inquiry into whether she abused her office by firing the public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan. Mr. Monegan says he was dismissed because he would not fire the governor’s former brother-in-law.

Lawmakers subpoenaed seven state employees to testify in the inquiry, but they challenged those subpoenas. A judge rejected that challenge last week. Because of that ruling, the Alaska attorney general, Talis Colberg, says, the employees have decided to testify.

The Sarah Palin case will be in the news this week, I will post more about it in the morning.

Republicans Sue Palin Over Email

Sarah Palin's sneaky email tactics are gaining more attention as yet more email accounts are turning up.

Keep in mind this is a Republican who filed this lawsuit, not a Democrat or crazy wild eyed liberal ;)

According to the Washington Post...

In a lawsuit filed in Alaska Superior Court, a Republican activist seeks to force Gov. Sarah Palin to produce copies of official correspondence she sent and received on private e-mail accounts.

Andrée McLeod filed the suit Wednesday and publicized it in a news release today. "Rather than using her state e-mail account, throughout her two-year tenure as Governor of Alaska, defendant Sarah Palin, as a matter of routine, has used, and, on information and belief, continues to use, (at least) two private e-mail accounts... to conduct official business of the State of Alaska," the suit alleges.

The suit is the latest front in a battle McLeod is waging over Palin's e-mail. In June, she filed an open-records request and received four boxes of redacted e-mails. But more than 1,100 others were withheld, an action Palin justified by claiming executive privilege. McLeod appealed that claim last month before going to court last week.

McLeod has questioned whether Palin was using private e-mail accounts to conduct state business in a manner that would skirt open-records laws. In one notable e-mail, a Palin aide apologized for discussing state business on a public account. "Whoops!" Palin aide Frank Bailey wrote, after addressing an e-mail to the governor's official state address. "Frank, this is not the Governor's personal account," a secretary reminded him.

ABC News is reporting that even more email accounts are being discovered as

News of yet another private email account for Sarah Palin could affect the Troopergate probes by the Alaska state legislature and the state personnel board, the Washington Post reports this morning.

Palin and a close circle of aides had accounts on the “PalinForGovernor.com” domain, a privately-run domain she had used for her campaign, that paper found.

A technician described to the Post how he set up email accounts for Palin and others this spring at the direction of aide Frank Bailey. Bailey denied the account as “completely inaccurate” and told the paper “we haven't used that domain in a long time.”

This just keeps getting better and better... over at the Huffington Post I read...

The Washington Post reports that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is "being asked by a local Republican activist to release more than 1,100 e-mails she withheld from a public records request, including 40 that were copied to her husband, Todd." Invoking a favored practice of the Bush administration, Palin has claimed executive privilege to keep the e-mails secret -- despite the fact many of them were sent to Todd, who is not an elected official.

What's more, Palin and her staff intentionally use her personal Yahoo e-mail account, perhaps to avoid document release requests.

Republicans Foreclosing Voter Rights

With over 700 families a day losing their home in California, and the current financial crisis facing America is causing more people to lose their homes, I wonder if the Republicans will use this to their advantage during the presidential election of 2008? Or are they already planning to?

According to the NY Times,...

The foreclosure crisis could do considerable damage to the nation’s voting system. More than a million people have lost their homes in the past two years. And because voter registration is based on people’s residences, they could face politically motivated challenges at the polls.

The problem may be especially acute in the presidential battleground states. In Ohio, more than 5 percent of home mortgages are seriously delinquent or in the foreclosure process, and there were more than 67,000 foreclosure actions in the first half of 2008. Michigan and Florida have also been hard hit.

There are a large number of advocacy groups and other programs that work to ensure that minorities, the disabled and students are able to cast ballots. Because the foreclosure crisis is so recent, not much work has been done to ensure that people who lose their homes do not also lose their chance to vote.

Many of the hardest-hit neighborhoods are low- income and minority areas, which tend to vote Democratic. That means officials have to be extra vigilant to ensure that Republicans do not use foreclosure lists to challenge voters. There was a dust-up recently in Michigan, after a progressive Web site quoted the Republican chairman of Macomb County as saying that his party planned to do just that. He and the party insist there are no such plans, but the Barack Obama campaign has filed suit to block foreclosure-based challenges.

Whatever happens in Macomb County, where nearly one in every 100 households is in foreclosure, it is likely that in at least some parts of the country there will be challenges to voters who have lost their homes. There is also a real danger that voters who are in foreclosure will be misled or intimidated into not casting ballots.

What can be done to try and stop this from happening?

It is important that state and local elections officials do everything they can to help people caught up in foreclosure to cast ballots. They should make clear that in many circumstances, people in foreclosure still have the right to vote where they have been living. The rules vary by state. They should also widely advertise how people who leave their homes can change their registration, to vote from their new addresses.

Election officials should also ensure that there are enough poll workers to handle the disputes and confusion that could arise — and that they are properly instructed in the law.

OJ Simpson Guilty (Again)

I'm reading the news, having my coffee this morning... looks like they've found OJ Simpson guilty again.



The Los Angeles Times says...

A jury convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping late Friday night, 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles.

Simpson and his codefendant, Clarence Stewart, were both convicted on all 12 counts. As the court clerk read "guilty" 24 times shortly before 11 p.m., Simpson grimaced and then nodded slightly, quickly regaining his composure. From the gallery, his sister, Carmelita Durio, wept on a friend's shoulder.

Acquitted of killing his ex-wife Nicole, but found guilty for stealing some old football cards, and a football he signed 25 years ago? LOL

According to the Associated Press...

Nine men, including O.J. Simpson, were involved in an armed robbery on Sept. 13, 2007, in a cramped Palace Station casino hotel room. Six were initially charged in the case. Four pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and testified for the prosecution, along with the two victims and the man who arranged the meeting.

I know if I was OJ Simpson I would stay away from anything even remotely considered a "crime."

Arnold Schwarzenegger Bans Texting While Driving

If you are like me, you are tired of seeing people buzz by you texting or talking on cellphone while driving, seemingly oblivious to the world around them and not watching the road they are driving on!!!

It takes a real winner like Arnold Schwarzenegger to take this problem head on, and despite upsetting many in the public, he has signed a law making it illegal to ban cell phone text messaging while driving, and rightfully so.



Every time I see an SUV mom driving past me texting, I can imagine the conversation... "LOLZ... pizza.... makeup... OMG she said what??" As you can see this stuff cannot wait until she gets home.

There are reports of how people who are texting and talking on the cell phone are just as distracted as a person driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs! Not to mention the recent Metrolink train crash that has been rumored to have happened because of text messaging, this needs to stop and to those who are putting on make up, discussing what type of pizza they want for dinner, or just "lolzing" their way speeding down the highway, you need to pull over off the road to conduct your impulsive communications, or simply wait until you get out from behind the wheel. Don't like it? Tough, you've had your fun, too many accidents are caused by people text messaging or yapping on their cellphone for someone to not step up and make it illegal.

So let's congratulate the Terminator on this wise decision and for protecting those of us who while driving keep our eyes on the road and not our Blackberry.