Thank You, Mr President

After two long and difficult years of ups and downs, from the economic collapse and loss of 8 Million U.S. jobs, to the BP Oil Spill, rampant spraying of Corexit 95, specter of Whistle-Blower persecution, indefinite detention, loss of the Public Option and extension of the Paris Hilton Tax Cuts... many of us have doubted you.

But during this final month of your second year, you certain proved nearly all of your critics wrong.

I for one, never lost faith, never lost hope, and right now all I can say is - Thank you, Mr President for showing us that all our hopes were not misplaced.



My favorite portion of the Press Conference was this part in response to a question about the difficulty you've had in closing Guantanemo Bay. Rather than go "small ball" and reduce your goals in the light of the Republican Control of the House - you managed to double-down on ultimately implementing your agenda.

Obama: America is more than just it's economic & military might - we also must implement our Ideals even when it's difficult.

Doing the Right Thing isn't always doing the Easy Thing, or what might make one more popular.

And I especially appreciated this answer on the issue of Immigration.

Obama: My Admintration has done more on Border Security than *Any* other in resent years, but we still need the Dream Act!!

With Predator Drones for Surveillance, additional Border Guards and supporting National Guard Troops this is absolutely true. The number of illegal border crossings have dropped to a relative trickle, and the actually number of undocumented immigrants has gone down significantly for the first time in decades - a record that no Republican President can lay claim to.

(Sept. 2) -- With immigration as a hot-button issue ahead of this year's midterm elections, a new report shows that the number of illegal immigrants to the U.S. fell last year in its first and biggest drop in two decades.

There were 11.1 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally in March 2009, down from a peak of 12 million two years earlier, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a report issued Wednesday. From 2007 to 2009, the number of illegals entering the country shrank to about 300,000 per year, down by nearly two-thirds from the estimated 850,000 per year from March 2000 to March 2005.

"The decrease represents the first significant reversal in the growth of this population over the past two decades," the report said.

Republicans have no leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing you on Immigration issues.

Despite all the challenges you've faced, not the least of which being a recalcitrant, obstructive and surly Republican minority intent on derailing your Presidency rather than helping the American people - you've managed to accomplish all of this.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act


Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009


Cash For Clunkers Extension

Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009


Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

Helping Families Save Their Homes Act

Haiti Economic Lift Program Act of 2010

Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act

Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009

Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004 Extension.

Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009

Jobs for Mainstreet Act, 2010

Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010

Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Haiti Debt Relief and Earthquake Recovery Act of 2010

Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Act of 2010

Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009

Serve America Act

Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009

Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Act of 2009

Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010

Fair Sentencing Act

Southwest Border Security Supplemental

Small Business Jobs Act of 2010

Nursing Home Care to Parents of Veterans Who Died While Serving in the Armed Forces

Reducing Over-Classification Act

Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2010

International Adoption Simplification Act

Help HAITI Act of 2010

Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010

FOR VETS Act of 2010

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

Besides all this you salvaged the America Auto Industry, successfully Ratified the START Treaty to help control and contain Lose Nukes, have just this year generated as many if not more private sector jobs than George Bush produced during his entire 8 Year Administration, pushed BP to close and cap the Gulf Oil Spill weeks sooner than any other comparitive spill has ever been stopped while managing to get a $20 Billion commitment from them to compensate those impacted by the spill.

There's still much more to do, there's the Dream Act and Full Comprehensive Immigration Reform, a final resolution of the GITMO issue, maintaining the funding for and implementation of Wall Street Reform, Consumer Financial Protection, Health Care Reform. crafting a Comprehensive Green Enegy Plan, updating our Trade Policies, and the final resolutions of both the Irag and Afghanistan Wars while reforming and updating our overall Counter-Terrorism Strategies and Diplomacy Efforts in the Mid-East, but this week you showed us all that you are a Baller!

Of course, we should have known that by your response to the threat of the Somali Pirates in early 2009.

Even though we may disagree with some of the details of your style, and some compromises you may have made, even your Republican critics such as Charles Krauthammer have begun to sing your praises. Kinda.

Obama’s presidency has sparked “an extraordinary national debate over what kind of nation we are – who we are as a people, what we believe in,” Krauthammer said.

There is “something intrinsically healthy and clarifying” about this great debate, Krauthammer said. “It’s been a healthy debate, it’s been an important debate, it’s been a spontaneous debate” and one of the most significant in American history.

Obama “thinks very large in world historical terms,” Krauthammer said. He compared Obama to Ronald Reagan, adding: “Obama sees himself as the anti-Reagan….the man who will reverse Reagan” and take the nation “back to a new liberalism.”

Although I never lost my faith, now more than at any time in the last 2 years, I feel that my vote in November of 2008 was the correct one and I look forward with you to the challenges and battles of the future.

Good Job Mr. President, Good Job.

Vyan

I Have A Nightmare...

Fortunately I just woke up, because just a little bit ago I had this horrible nightmare.

I dreamt that for the first time in over 250 years this Country managed to elect it's first African-American President on a wave of positive change, growth, enthusiasm and bright shining hope.

I dreamt that within the first 2 years of his time in office the country would pass it's first comprehensive update to Health Care in nearly 50 years. That the last of combat troops would leave Iraq, with the remaining 50,000 training and support troops scheduled to leave within a year, while the Afghanistan conflict would finally get the attention it long deserves. That he would successfully foil multiple terrorist plots against the nation, save our economy from near total collapse, we would tackle and cap the worst environmental oil disaster in American history faster than any oil spill had ever been stopped, he'd begin the largest investment in Green Technology ever and save the U.S. Auto Industry, that he would negotiate an almost unprecedented Nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia, restart the first serious peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine in over a decade...and Win the Nobel Peace Prize!

And then everyone seemed to magically forget.

That's when it all started to go wrong as while all this happened his approval ratings would dive bomb and his parties control of Congress would almost certain be lost at the midterm elections...

We'd forgotten how he spoke to us, and how he raised us up - impressing not just America, but many in the world and across the globe.



Obama in Berlin:


We'd forgotten how it felt on Election Night. how we cheered, how we cried... how the hope filled us up like a balloon ready to burst.



We'd forgot the intensity and growing desperation of the individual and collective forces aligned against a President of this type - against a Changed America - where it's promises are more than just dreams, but an increasing actually and reality for more and more of our citizens.

We'd forgotten how the previous Administration had completely tanked the economy, and nearly sent us into a new Great Depression - but we recovered.



We forgot those who always hated him, and would always hate him no matter how he might have succeeding in improving even their lives.

Right America, Feeling Wronged... Part 1


Even though he had lowered taxes on 95% of Americans and on small business - still they would cry and scream over the issue.



How they could invent their own victimhood...



We'd forgotten how openly bigoted and vicious they could be...









How they really DID Cling to their Guns, a twisted version of Christianity - and their Nazi Memorabilia.



How they would scream, and rant...



And then came the lies, about his Birth Certificate, Death Panels in the Health Care Bill, his "Secret Muslim Faith", how ACORN stole the Election with the help of intimidation from the New Black Panther Party, how Dr. Skip Gates, the NAACP and former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod are the "Real Racists".

How they would conspire with Seditionists.

Berry, the tea party leader who first solicited support for the militia, has posted rants against President Obama: the "Muslim President" — a "reincarnation of Pol Pot" who is trying to imprison Americans for resisting health reform. One ominous posting from Berry says that his militia should "launch a thousand guerrilla attacks on the plans that these people have to ruin us and our country."

Both Berry and Brogdon lean heavily on far right propaganda and media outlets to fuel their conspiracy theories. Berry frequently cites conservative news outlets like CNS and notes that he draws inspiration from the white supremacist thriller The Turner Diaries. Despite his extremism, Berry has met with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and other members of the Oklahoma Republican delegation, and counts them as "rock solid." Brogdon, whose states’ rights resolution was drafted by corporate lobbyists opposed to health reform, has been endorsed by the lobbyist-run Tea Party Express and has appeared on on Fox News, Alex Jones’ radio show, and at a Glenn Beck rally.

How they would resort to vandalism.



They issued Death Threats and Physical Assaults against Obama Campaign workers.

Eventually some would even begin to Kill...

Joe Stack crashed his plane into the IRS Building.



Five shot, and 1 killed in Knoxville Tennesese by James Adkisson



Two Police Officers in Pittsburgh killed by someone afraid Obama would "Take his Guns Away"...



Abortion Doctor George Killer, killed by Scott Rbeoder, the first such violent attack by an extreme right-winger against choice in over a decade.



And Micheal Enright would attack a Muslim Cab driver with a Knife in New York in midst of a contentious debate over whether the First Amendment does or doesn't apply to Muslims, even when it hurts someone elses "feelings" (of bigotry).



And that after all this... on the 47th Anniversary of the seminal speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which occurred just a few months before I was borne, a virulent demagogue who calls this President "A Racist", and continues to stand by that claim, called him "Un-American" because his name is Barack Hussein Obama Jr., and that he's simply pushing for "Reparations", and was only elected because of his race would hold a Counter Rally on the very same steps as Dr. King in order to dismantle all the progress that had been made so far.

We'd forgotten all that this President, has done - and has yet to do....



But that's where things turned really dark...

The worst part of this nightmare wasn't what the enemies of the President did, it's what his friends didn't do. Rather than rise up and fight fear and hate with hope - they forgot their own power and responsibility - the President's supporters and all those that truly believe in all the things he talked about so long ago in Germany, in Seattle, and on the steps of the Capital his historic Inauguration would grow silent. That they would grow angry over this missed policy objective, slow response in reversing the previous Administration or an unkind frustrated comment by the Press Secretary or the Chief of Staff and begin to miss the big picture...

The true horror of this nightmare is when the deluded, the haters, the screamers, the bigots and the opportunists started To Win and systematically undo everything the President was trying to do, defunding his initiatives, drowning him trivial trumped-up investigations while they pushed forward their agenda of Reverse Robin Hood, turning Medicare into a "Health Stamps" program while raising it's eligibility age to 69, gifting Wall Streets with a brand new Bail-out of Social Security Funds, continuing to destroy Civil Rights enforcement while proclaiming that the only real victims of bigotry in this country - are White, Male and/or Christian despite all rational evidence to the contrary.

Back to where we started, and even worse.

And then I woke up, I think...

Vyan

Obama's Ground-breaking Cairo Speech

MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show - 4 June 2009: The 3rd Rail - Obama's game-changing speech in Egypt.

RICHARD ENGEL of NBC NEWS DESCRIBING REACTION: "A lot of people in Kabul and across the Islamic world simply had their mouths open when they were listening to this speech. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. They had not heard this kind of language from an American president."

RACHEL MADDOW: "President Obama today spoke frankly and directly about the United States, about our closest allies, about our friends in the region and about our enemies. He said things that American politicians never say in public, especially American presidents, especially while they're overseas, especially while they're in the Middle East, especially all in one speech. It was like he grabbed onto the third rail and decided he was not going to let go."

1. Condemns Israeli Settlements
2. Denounces Arab Attacks
3. Labels Iraq "War of Choice"
4. Admits U.S. Role in Iran Coup
5. Dismisses 9/11 Conspiracies
6. Attacks Holocaust Deniers
7. Criticizes Arab "Democracies"
8. Admits U.S. Tortured

Vyan

Obama opens the Whup-Ass Can!!

At the House Democratic Caucus Retreat



Some Great Lines:

Obama: Don't let the Perfect be the enemy of the absolutely neccesary. I found this debt when I showed up - wrapped in a great big bow waiting or me...

It's. About. Fracking. TIME!

For the last two week Republicans have been hammering Obama's Stimulus Plan as being nothing but a pork-barrel spending bill with an average of amount of 2 to 1 in comparitive airtime across nearly all cable networks.

Well, Obama says That's the Point!.

So then you get the argument, 'well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill.' What do you think a stimulus is? That's the whole point," Obama said to laughter.

...

THIS IS NOT A GAME

Spending IS Stimulus.

In this Washington Post editorial Obama lays it out even more.

By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

This is our ECONOMIC 9-11 - the time for talk is over - it's time to Git 'er Done!!

Vyan

Two Days in and Fox is Scared, Really Scared!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

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Obama's First Day!

From all indications even after being out at various inaugural balls until after 1 a.m., newly sworn in President Obama was hard at work on his first day in office.


During that day he established January 20,2009 as a National Day of Renewal and Reconcilliation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.

Obama also signed an executive order establishing strict ethics regarding all Administration personnel, banning them from lobbying after leaving their posts, accepting gifts, and freezing the pay of those making over $100,000 (including himself)

Talk about "Taking One for the Team".
Following the cease-fire instituted by Isreal in Gaza just prior to his inaugural, President Obama phoned the leaders of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian authority to begin the peace process. He also selected Senator George Mitchell - who helped end the conflict in Northern Ireland with the Belfast Accords - as a special envoy to the middle-east.

Anyone who can solve the problems in Northern Ireland and get the IRA to disarm, can provide a great deal of help for Gaza.

Obama also signed an Executive Order to expedite the processing of Presidential Records and FOIA requests, like those that ACLU has used to under hundreds of cases of Torture. This of course, has already sent the Right-Wing into a Panic. Particularly Rush Limbaugh who has already declared "I hope Obama fails".

LIMBAUGH: What I’m afraid of is that what Obama did with this executive order is actually make it easier for the media to go get Bush documents. Because you know Pelosi and some of the guys over in congress are talking about war crimes trials and charges and so forth. […]

What I’m afraid of is what Obama’s done here is made the gathering of the information for this kind of stuff– This is not American. This is not America. This is not what America does. We don’t– This is Banana Republic kind of stuff.

Not so much for the "renewing" is he?

Elsewhere under the "not exactly Reconciled" column the nitwits on Fox News doubted that Obama actually is the President because Chief Justice John Roberts misread the oath of Office during the Inauguration.



Chris Wallace is the Fox brain donor who actually asked President Clinton why he didn't do anything about the U.S.S. Cole bombing? (Answer: Because the CIA and FBI couldn't agree on who did it! You wouldn't want an American President to use half-baked information and go attack the wrong people would ya, Chris? That would've Sucked!!! I'm so glad that didn't happen, whew..)

Ok, let's go over the 20th Amendment again - shall we?

The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

You get that Chris?

After a one day delay caused by Sen John Cornyn of Texas, Hillary Clinton was confirmed by the Senate, sworn in as Secretary of State and is now on the job.



Senator Cornyn also managed to stall the confirmation of Attorney General Eric Holder in an effort to get Holder to commit to NOT prosecuting former Bush Officials for War Crimes.

“It could well be there will be a request to delay the markup for a week so those questions can be asked and answered,” Cornyn said. “Part of my concern relates to his statements at the hearing with regard to torture and what his intentions are toward our intelligence personnel who were operating in good faith based on their understanding of what the law was.”

Well, Senator if I remember the Nuremberg Trials correctly "I was just following orders" really wasn't an adequate defense. No one is required to carry out an illegal or immoral order. On Bush's watch more than 40 detainees died in custody as a result of abuse during interrogation.

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today made public an analysis of new and previously released autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom died while being interrogated. The documents show that detainees were hooded, gagged, strangled, beaten with blunt objects, subjected to sleep deprivation and to hot and cold environmental conditions.

""There is no question that U.S. interrogations have resulted in deaths"" said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. ""High-ranking officials who knew about the torture and sat on their hands and those who created and endorsed these policies must be held accountable. America must stop putting its head in the sand and deal with the torture scandal that has rocked our military.""

That's 40 War Crimes, all punishable by DEATH, resulting from techniques specifically authorized by George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.

Meanwhile Senator Carl Levin feels that Holder should appoint a Special Prosecutor to look into these issues.

LEVIN: We’re going to try to complete this investigation, at least on the DoD side, Ok. But on the intelligence, the CIA side, that’s going to be up to the Intelligence Committe. I know I suggested to Eric Holder, who will be the next Attorney General despite the delay that took place today, that he select some people or hire an outside person whose got real credibility, perhaps a retired federal judge, to take all the available information, and there’s reams of it.

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias (who had been mysteriously fired by the Bush Administration for reason no one could explain even under oath) has been chosen to handle Gitmo Prosecutions.



Obama Orders the closure of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility, he also signed an order requiring all interrogations to follow the Army Field manual (which prohibits torture), setup an task force to determine the dispensation of current detainees.



Yet another bold step away from the long national nightmare that was the Bush era.

Meanwhile in Texas, the still unemployed former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales shed a tear, while his fellow Bushian former FEMA director Joe llbaugh lamented on how the former President - was just so misunderstood.



Yeah, I guess we all just don't understand how we lost $2.5 Trillion Dollars, 5 Million Jobs and 10,000 American Lives (from 9-11, Katrina and Iraq) on George Bush's watch. We should all really be thankfull...

Now that he's GONE!

Vyan

William Ayers on Good Morning America

Following his OP-ed from In These Times, William Ayers appeared on Good Morning America.



Point of fact: Obama did not start his campaign in Ayers house, he started his State Senate Campaign at a Holidy Inn. Ayers did not say "he wished he bombed more" in 2001 - he said "He wished he'd DONE more to end the Vietnam War". Over the last 20 years, Ayers and Obama have met about 6 times. The interviewer, this being on ABC which is pretty much as Right-Wing as FOX , threw a ton of B.S. at him - but he handled it very, very well once he was finally able to speak and address the heart of this "Guilt By Association" mess at about 7:15 into the video.

Ayers: "Everyone one of us should talk to lots and lots of people, especially our political leaders. Far from being a demerit on his record, the fact that he (Barack) is willing to talk to a lot of people, from a lot of different walks in life, with a lot of different opinions and still have a mind of his own is something we should admirer and honor.

"It's not all all true that he sought me out to listen to my radical ideas, or I sought him out, we came together in Chicago, in the civic community over issues of school improvement, and fighting for the rights of poor neighborhoods to have jobs and housing and that's the full extent of our relationship. So this idea that we need to know more, that's there's some dark hidden secret, is just a myth. It's a myth thrown up by people who wan to exploit the politics of fear, and I think it's a great credit to the American people that those politics were rejected."

He may come off a bit strong when he says "the Crimes of the Vietnam Era" were being commited by the U.S. Government, but let me just point out that Ayers was never successfully prosecuted largely because of >criminal acts committed by the FBI which tainted the case.

From the Weather Underground Wiki Page:

In April 1971, The "Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI" broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania.[31] The group stole files with several hundred pages. A majority of the files targeted radical left wing groups, and some individuals, for criminal or subversive activities. By the end of April, the FBI offices were to terminate all files dealing with leftist groups.[32] The files were a part of an FBI program called COINTELPRO.[33] However, after COINTELPRO was dissolved in 1971 by J. Edgar Hoover,[34] the FBI continued its counterintelligence on groups like the Weather Underground.

In 1973, the FBI established the 'Special Target Information Development' program, where agents were sent undercover to penetrate the Weather Underground. Due to the illegal tactics of FBI agents involved with the program, government attorneys requested all weapons- and bomb-related charges be dropped against the Weather Underground. The Weather Underground was no longer a fugitive organization and could turn themselves in with minimal charges against them.[35]

Ayer himself never hurt anyone. It was cases like his that led to the creation of the FISA court, to prevent law enforcement from repeating programs like COINTELPRO, which used illegal wiretaps, planted evidence and even blackmail against other 60's radical and well known "socialists" - people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and John Lennon.

Vyan

Secret Service Blames Palin for Death Threats Against Obama

Yes, I know the election is over and we're supposed to be lovey-dovey now. But the fact is - we're not, and we shouldn't be. Particularly when this report has come from the Daily Telegraph indicating that the Secret Service found a direct link between Sarah Palin little Nuremberg-KKK Rallies and death threats against President-Elect Obama.

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

Why? Some people would do and say anything to win an election. Particularly Sarah Palin, who tirades about William Ayers - were not approved or authorized by the McCain campaign. There were her just "going Rogue!". Gettin' all Mavericky.

And it's not like more than a few people took this crap seriously.

Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."

Irate John McCain aides, who blame Mrs Palin for losing the election, claim Mrs Palin took it upon herself to question Mr Obama's patriotism, before the line of attack had been cleared by Mr McCain.

Let me just repeat that there was not just one , but TWO PLOTS to kill Obama prior to the election, that were both foiled - and those were the only ones. out there. Not only was Obama and his family put directly at risk by Palin's comments - so was William Ayers, who is now a 60-years-old professor at the University of Chicago.

My voicemail filled up with hate messages. They were mostly from men, all venting and sweating and breathing heavily. A few threats: "Watch out!" and "You deserve to be shot." And some e-mails, like this one I got from satan@hell.com: "I’m coming to get you and when I do, I’ll water-board you."

The police lieutenant who came to copy down those threats deadpanned that he hoped the guy who was going to shoot me got there before the guy who was going to water-board me, since it would be most foul to be tortured and then shot. (We have been pals ever since he was first assigned to investigate threats made against me in 1987, after I was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.)

Just remember that Sarah Palin remains the favored person to lead the GOP in the future by 64% That she is still Governor of Alaska, and might very likely find herself in the U.S. Senate, meanwhile Michele Bachmann who wanted an investigation of congress for "anti-Americanism" was re-elected.

The Palin-MCcain campaign was filled with vicious lies, lies which have spread throu-out the nation and just like Sarah herself who didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, or that South Africa is a Country - not a "state" like South Carolina, many of these people still don't know that Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim. (But you can't tell that to 25% of Texas) Those lies were then repeated and amplified by Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly to their millions listeners. They think the country is now in the hands of some kind of Black Radical Terrorist. After the Clinton Chronicles, put out by Jerry Falwell, made people believe the Bill Clinton was a drug dealer and murderer, a belief that contributed to Waco, Oklahoma City and the Bombing at the to Atlanta Olympics we can't afford to take this stuff lightly - despite what Palin says now, that is was "Just a rough and tumble campaign" - the fact remains and that's this was not "just politics."

It was HATE SPEECH!

And none of us can afford to pretend otherwise. Chances are that Obama and his family will be just fine and none of these Palinized Wack-Jobs out there will get off a realistic shot at him, but he's not the one I'm worried about - it's many of the rest of us who may wind being of collateral damage to this misguided rage and terror.

May God have mercy on us all.

Vyan

Hell - Fracking - YES, we CAN!

It's been a long time coming. President Barack Hussein Obama!

We've finally had our moment, it's like finally seeing Bobby Kennedy make it all the way - like seeing Malcolm and Martin's dream alive again.

But this isn't Black Thang, it's an America Thang. American finally has a chance, just a chance - to begin to fulfill it's promise of "We the People..."

But we're going to have to work for it, and work hard. We still have to LEAVE IT ALL ON THE ROAD - because this time we can't afford to fail or the dream will die and not return for another generation, if ever.

I'm probably going to be the first to say it - but we owe George W. Bush our thanks.

Thank You George W. Bush.

Thank you for being such a massive incredible fucktard that you made it blindingly obvious to so many Americans that we needed to go a completely different direction than we have during the last 14 years of Republican dominance in Washington.

Thank you Karl Rove, for teaching us how to stomp your sleazy smear campaign tactics into the ground. Thanks to Lorita Doan, Monica Goodling, Jack Abramoff, Bob Ney, Randy "The Dukester" Cunningham, Mark Foley, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Tom Delay, Brownie, John Ashcroft and your Soaring Eagles, John Yoo and your torture memos, Jay Bybee, Scooter Libby, Alberto "Someone may prosecute us for War Crimes" Gonzales (Ya think!), Condoleeza "It was a historical document" Rice, David "Fourth Branch" Addington and the Prince of Darkness himself - Richard "The Dick" Cheney.

If America hadn't seen how much all of you completely, utterly suck duck butter they might have elected John McCain. You all did America a great service.

Oh, and also thanks John McCain for being such a complete crazy horse maverick nut ball. Thanks to Sarah Palin, just take your hockey-mom pumps witcha on the way back to your witch doctor in crazytown Alaska, also... You Betcha. And thanks, for making sure America knew better than to dive down another dead-end rat hole along with Joe the (Not A) Plumber - not zesty.

Ok - I had to say it - because it needed to be said. And it has to be remembered because we CAN NEVER LET THESE PEOPLE HAVE POWER IN AMERICA AGAIN!!!

EVER!

So sure, we've had our fun - we've had our shadenfreud. We've had our party. Now it's time to get to work and start cleaning up all the feces strains these people have left on the reputation of our country. Time to get a bucket, some water, soap and start doing the heavy lifting. We have to remember that republicans still have over 40 votes in the Senate to road block just about anything, particular after they doubled the all time record for filibusters in the last two years. It's going to take more than cheering crowds to get the job done.

Today is the first day in the future of America, and we better be ready for the fight of our lives - because this will be The Fight Of and FOR our Very Lives.

We have to remember that we're fighting for an responsible end to the mistaken misguided Iraq War. To finally capture and kill Bin Laden, to bring everyone affordable effective health care, to make our companies and corporations take as much care of their workers and customers as they do their shareholders, to have genuine energy independance, to rescue our economy, to make our government both efficient and effective - there when it's needed and out of the way when it isn't.

This time it'll be different, this time we can't afford to give in to cynicism or apathy. We can't afford to sit back now, we can't afford to become complacent and expect Barack to do everything - NO, he taught us we can be stronger together than we are seperately and we have to continue to blog, lobby congress, discuss, review the facts and fight for a better America.

This is our moment, this is our time. Let's make it count. Let's leave it ALL ON THE ROAD!



Amen, Brother Amen!

Vyan

And on November 5th, The Real Struggle Begins

I know right now most of us are focused like a laser beam on the election, working the GOTV, canvassing, doing what we can to flip wavering republicans and family members into our column in order to bring profound change to this nation and elect Barack Obama as the 44th President with a significant democratic majority in Congress.

In all likelyhood - with a fairly stable 190 Electoral Vote Advantage according to electoral-vote.com, a 96.2% Win percentage via Nate Silver at 538.com, and absolutely no viable path to victory for McCain even if you give him each and every close toss-up state including both Florida AND Ohio via CNN 's Interactive Electoral Map - Barack Obama will be the next President.

They're even starting to openly cry at the Whitehouse., so you know things are looking good for our side.

I'm not dancing on the five yard line here, I'm just saying we need to start thinking about what happens when Democrats are finally on the hook for everything!

Before I get into the best case scenario, let's first look at worst - which of course would be that somehow, someway, McCain manages to pull an upset against all logical odds.

What the fuck would we do then?

Before packing our bags for Brazil and/or Fiji, I'm thinking we hit LAWSUIT City. Right now the only way for this scenario to play out is through ongoing voter suppression, caging, but most importantly massive election fraud and vote tally recalibration at the machine level, either in stand-alone voting machines or more likely - at the tabulators.

There's nothing can do after the fact for people who've been blocked from voting, but for votes that have been flipped - the party is only just starting on Nov 5th.

We may learn quite a bit about this tomorrow at the Deposition for Mike Connell, a virulent anti-abortion partisan who was instrumental in setting up the Ohio Tabulator systems which may very well have stolen the 2004 election from John Kerry.

Interview with Stephan Spoonamore, a cybersecurity export (and Republican) who has closely examined the activities of Connell and his rabid pro-life associates.


Statements from Spoonamore's Deposition in the ongoing Ohio Election Case.

In the case of Ohio 2004, the only purpose I can conceive for sending all county vote tabulations to a GOP managed Man-in-the-Middle site in Chattanooga BEFORE sending the results onward to the Sec. of State, would be to hack the vote at the MIM.

IN REGARD TO THE DIEBOLD SYSTEMS, Formerly Global, DESI and now called Premier.

In my opinion, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY to make a secure touch screen voting system. None. Secure systems are predicated on establishing securely the identity of every user of the system. Voting is predicated on being anonymous. It is impossible to have a system that does both.

It is possible to design relatively secure optical scan machines, but even these can be hacked in even the best of cases. In the case of optical scan you have the ability to recount manually the paper ballot itself, and the ability to spot check the machines for errors against a sample of hand recounting.

Do not kid yourselves, the vote can be hacked: the vote WILL. BE. HACKED!

On November 5th, we need to be ready for this. Ready for strange and curious election results which seemingly have no basis in reality or fact. This year, I believe these attacks are almost certain to come - and with McCain trailing so far in so many states the attempt will either completely fail because not enough states will be involved in the tabulation flip or it will succeed and be blaringly obvious to everyone!

We can't let the media talk us into some B.S. "Bradley Effect" mindfuck. "Oh yeah, it was all the closet racists who lost it for Obama..." Like HELL, sure America has racists and even good people who just aren't yet comfortable with the idea of a Black President - but not enough to flip 7 or 8 States! We're gonna need boots on the ground, voters, poll workers and observers in key polling districts (minority and heavily democratic in red/purple zones) with Election Protection on SPEED DIAL in states that McCain HAS TO WIN such as Missouri, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

1-886-OUR-VOTE.

Burn that number into the back of your eyelids people.

If you can get involved in Video The Vote, to help document the election process before, during and after.

In 2004, only Senator Barbara Boxer stood up and dared to challenge the election results. Her Number is 202-224-3553. Lock that into your Cell RIGHT NOW! Also make sure you have both your own Senators and Congresspersons number at the touch of finger.

We're going to need to lobby the FRAK out of Congress to challenge the results in the Senate, then have them subpeona Spoonamore and Connell to testify with expert opinions on what did or didn't happen on November 4th. If necessary Congress may have to fix this by rejecting the results. It could get very messy, but we have to stay the course.

Our way of life depends on it.

And we still have to prepared for all this to fail and for the eventuality of a (shiver) President John McCain and Vice President (gak) Sarah Palin. (You Betcha. Also) Madre de Dios!

If that horror does happen - we have to remember that we still have a Democratic Congress with very likely either 58 or 59 Democratic Senators. It's going to be rough road, but we've been on it for sometime so we know all the curves. We know the house will pass some great legislation only to have it buried by Senate Republicans - and Lieberman. We know that McCain will probably follow in many of Bush's footsteps with Iraq, deepen the chasm with Iran, continue to ignore bin Laden and al Qaeda, continue to play Daddy Warbucks with his corporate cronies as we slip-slide our way into a deeper depression, and fully open the spigot that is spewing American jobs into China, Taiwan and India like a Firehose. Still, McCain might actually get a couple things right if the Wild winds of Crazy Horse Maverick-ness happen to blow the right way. I'm not sure what those will be - No one is, NOT EVEN McCAIN - but we need to be ready to help make sure there more of those moments, rather than less.

It's gonna suck donkey balls, but we need to realize that this massive Amazing organization the Obama has built doesn't need to wither away. WE CAN STILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, but continuing to organize, by lobbying and petitioning Congress, targeting those few swing Republican Votes in the Senate to help break their blockade, to rally reluctant Democrats to stand firm and hold the line instead of wimping out - like usual...

And on the other hand if Obama Wins -

All the ABOVE STILL APPLIES.

We're still gonna have massive election fraud to deal with and cleanup. HAVA needs serious reform. Rove needs Jail, badly. The entire federal government is now filled with ideologues in permanent positions who will continue to press forward the Bushie agenda and undermine President Obama. There are thousands of ridiculous signing statements to undo. We've got to close Gitmo, repeal the Military Commission Act, get our troops safely out of Iraq while ensuring the ongoing stabiilty of that nation, finally get serious with Afghanistan and Pakistan, close off access to lose nukes, get our financial and economic house back in order, balance the budget, save Medicade and Medicare, permanently ban pre-existing conditions, get the FUCK OFF OF FOREIGN OIL and start building a 21st Green Collar industry, fight Climate Change, prosecute a big steaming pile of ex-Bushies for violating the Hatch Act, for War Crimes, Domestic/Political Espionage, Malfeasance and Negligence and general Shit-headerry.

We've got a lot of work to do - a whole heaping ton of heavy-lifting - win, lose or (shudder) draw - November 5th isn't the day we rest...

It's the day we finally GET TO WORK!

Vyan

A Vote For McCain

is vote in support and solidarity with THESE PEOPLE!



Now, everyone has a right to make their own choices, but since McCain and Co have made such a huge issue of who you are "associated with", it's only fair to ask - who is the real John McCain if these are the people he inspires.


"Bomb Obama"

"I don't wanna sound racist here, but I don't want a Black man running our counrty"

"He wasn't born in America"

"Communist"

"No Way, HUSSEIN!!"

"Child Killer!"

"If you associate with terrorists - You're a Terrorist!"

"NOBAMA"

People may have legitimate reasons to prefer McCain, he was incredibly valiant to refuse early release from a vietnamese prison unless all his fellow Americans were going to be released also - HE WAS A HERO - but if McCain he won't reject and repudiate these vicious lies, distortions, horrific and potentially violent hate speech against a fellow American - then he deserves to be tarred with the obvious implication.


Just remember, the future of our nation is at stake, can we really afford to validate what these people are spewing?

Vyan

Keith Exposes Sarah the Socialist!

In tonight's campaign comment, Keith Olbermann, exposes the vile, dangerous commie, totalitarian, schemes of Sarah Palin's dark socialist agenda against our sweet, helpless nation.




In their battle to defeat the equally dreaded Barack Hussein Obama and his plot to "redistribute the sacred lifeblood of the wealthy" by taking our tax plans all the way back to the way Bill Clinton made them in the long lost 90's when the U.S.
only Generated 22 Million jobs, somebody forgot to mention Sarah Palin has done almost the exact same thing in Alaska.


This is a story that's been out there for quite some time, in fact it's surprising that it took this long for someone to notice (besides Keith, Thinkprogress wrote about it yesterday and I almost wrote about it then) that when Sarah Palin famously took on the Oil Companies in Alaska with her full Mavericky fervor, few have bothered to mention that what she actually did was implement a Windfall Profits Tax on those companies.


Who else has proposed a Windfall Profits Tax on Oil Companies?

Senator Barack Commie-Socialist Obama.

..RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Monday he would impose a windfall profits tax on U.S. oil companies as he sought political gain from Americans' pain over high gasoline prices.


Launching a two-week focus on the economy after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama drew a sharp contrast between his economic policies and those of John McCain, his Republican rival in the November election.


"I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills," the Illinois senator said.
..

Commie-scum talk like that obviously makes Super Sarah Pro-PRO-PRO-AMERICAN just plain mad as a wet but perky red hen in designer vanity glasses and a bulbous boufant.




Ok, well - I just wonder what a Social-Commie bastard like Barack Hussieny Osama bin Lyin would like to do with all that hard fought for Oil Profits money? Punishing the sucessful fruits of hard work and rewarding the lazy no doubt. Yeah.
Just like this...

..
"And Alaska—we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources.
So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs. ... It’s to maximize benefits for Alaskans, not an individual company, not some multinational somewhere, but for Alaskans" stated Palin.


Alaska is sometimes described as America’s socialist state, because of its collective ownership of resources—an arrangement that allows permanent residents to collect a dividend on the state’s oil royalties.

..


Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) program, which manages the redistribution of oil wealth in Alaska, provides for so much money that the state needs no income or sales tax.


This year, after spreading the wealth of the oil companies ACES will provide every Alaskan with a check for an estimated $3,200.

America should be afraid, very afraid of Sarah Palin: Commie Alaskan Socialist Slime.


/snark

Vyan

Ashley Todd does not deserve our Forgiveness!

Although she may deserve our pity and certainly our empathy, the fact is that what she did was a Hate Crime and that's unforgiveable.

Look, people - certainly she may require medical attention, counseling and psychiatric care - but that's no excuse! The claim had clear shades of the kidnapping and murder of Emmet Till, a young boy who was lynched for daring to whistle at a white woman (although in actuality, he only whistled to help control his stutter).

This was an attempt at repeat the story of the Scottsboro Boys who were tried multiple times for a rape that never happened.

Lets we think we've come a long way since the 1930's and 1950's lets not forget the false claims of Susan Smith in 1994.

Yes, what we're dealing with here is indeed a disease, but Ashley Todd isn't the only one who has it.

Bare with me, I've got a lot to get off my chest on this one. This isn't just a "Racial" issue, or even a political one - it goes far deeper than that.

For those who may who so quickly forgotten:

In 1994, Smith led the country on a wild goose chase for nine days by blaming a fictitious black man for carjacking her Mazda with her sons still in the car. The practice of unjustly blaming blacks and imprisoning them with alarming racial disparity, is not fictitious. It is a real national tragedy being revealed in studies by human rights groups and government agencies.

The truth was the Smith had sank her own car in a lake, with her children still in it. And her first attempt at a plausible alibi was to make up a story about a "black man in a knit cap."

Flash forward to today and Ashley Todd.

It is commendable that the police were vigilant enough to discover the truth of her story within a day. (Clearly the fact the "B" carved into her face was backwards was a bit a of a give away...) But suppose they hadn't? Suppose they hadn't decided to put her through a lie detector? How long could this have gone on?

And how many times have we seen this story played out before?

How viciously savaged in the press was the black girl who accused several members of the Duke LaCrosse Team of assault in 2006?

How many times do we see deference given to the "sympathatic" character in these situations and how often are those persons - young, (relatively) pretty and white?

We all know the story of the Pretty Private Jessica Lynch who was dramatically rescued from her Iraqi captures. Except that the rescue never happened.

Lynch herself doesn't remember a single thing and all the nurses and doctors and eyewitnesses on the scene say the Iraqi fedayeen guards had fled the day before the "rescue," and there was no danger whatsoever, no resistance of any kind, the U.S. forces could just walk right in, and they knew it.

And the hospital doors were wide open, and the nurses and doctors had gone out of their way to provide decent care for our precious Jessica, considering the circumstances, and doctors even tried to return Lynch to U.S. forces themselves.

Here's another thing, Jessica wasn't alone - she was with her whole unit. Jessica got the cover of Time Magazine, what kind of press coverage did Shoshanna Jackson get?

This is about more than just Ashley Todd's lies. This is about a sickness that America has, not neccesarily against black people - but to give undue and unreasonable deference to people who simply don't deserve it, and to deny it to those that do.

Clearly Ashley was fired up by weeks of charges by the McCain Campaign that Barack Hussein Obama was some kind of "Terrorist Sympathiser". "We can't trust him." He's a "Socialist!" "Kill Him." "He's an Arab".

The Fear of a Barack Presidency has been ginned up and deliberately set ablaze by McCain to keep his fading election hopes alive.

There should be little surprise that it's begun to erupt among the least stable among us. But let's just take a second and really think about this entire "William Ayers the Terrorist" thing.

Ayers and the Weatherman were Vietnam Protestors. They didn't set of bombs to "Kill Americans", they were doing it to try and end a war which killed 53,000 Americans. The only person killed by a Weatherman bomb - was a member of the Weatherman in an accident.

Yes, they were using extreme methods and certainly criminal - but they didn't "Hate America." This was the same time period that the American Indian Movement repossesed Alcatraz by force. This was the time of the SLA and the Manson Family. This was after Kent State. This was during COINTELPRO, which not so coincidentally is why Ayers was never successfully prosecuted, the FBI and police broke the law and participated in criminal actions which destroyed the case. What Ayers did and didn't do should be looked at in context of the surrounding events, not in a vaccum. 40 years later Ayer's is a college profession, education activist and winner of Chicago's 1998 "Citizen of the Year" award. He has no good reason to still be fighting to end a war that ended long ago. He and Barack live in the same neighborhood and have apparently only met about 6 times.

This is your dreaded Ameri-Qaeda member? A 60 year-old ex-war protesting professor? Really?

Yet, the drum beat of fear has marched on even after the fact as the McCain Campain specifically steered the media toward the story.

The McCain campaign steered reporters’ attention to the story yesterday. John McCain even called the 20-year old woman. Sarah Palin called her family. Well, tonight that woman is charged with making a false report

It's probably fair to note that McCain and Co didn't know it was a hoax, but it also shows that they were quite willing to believe it could be true and take advantage of it!

Ashley was providing them with exactly the Mean Liberal Scum they been trying to frighten America with. But the sad part is that you can't completely blame McCain and Palin, as I said before this story has been told for a long, long time and the consequences have been devastating.

About half of all the people who are murdered each year in the United States are black. Yet since 1977, when a firing squad in Utah initiated the modern era of capital punishment, the overwhelming majority of people who have been executed -- 85 percent -- had killed a white person.

Only 11 percent had killed a black person.

Such a huge disparity seems to suggest that racial factors may be influencing how the death penalty is dispensed -- but in different ways than some people had suspected.

While death penalty opponents had long feared that the race of the killer would play a pronounced role in determining who would be executed and that blacks would be put to death far more frequently than whites, several studies suggest that the most significant distinction is the race of the victim.

If about half he people killed in the U.S. are black, and the other half white - while 85% of the attacker of the white person goes to DEATH ROW, just what's going on with all the black people that are killed year in and year out? Just whose really getting away with Murder around here?

Even worse, over the past decade or so 223 wrongfully convicted people have been exonerated by the Innocence Project using DNA evidence. False Witness Testimony, Miss Identification, Police and Prosecutorial misconduct, False Confessions, Forensic Fraud, Lying Informants and just plain bad Lawyers have put hundreds, thousands, and (even if these failures only represent a fraction of 1% of the total cases) there are more than likely tens of thousands of innocent people behind our bars.

Over and over again, the guilty go free while the innocent are punished.

The truth is that's the crime here isn't that Ashley cried "Black Man" in a crowded theater, it's the fact that she was so easily believed - particularly by the McCain Campaign - and immediately garnered national media attention when she never deserved it.

How many muggings usually get on the CBS News?

It's just like how the Jon Bonet Ramsey Story was blown completely out of all realistic proportion andh nearly ruined the life of her parents although they were innocent the entire time.

Just like Jessica Lynch (but not Shoshanna).

Just like the story of that poor girl who "disappeared" in Aruba.

Just like the Jennifer Wilbanks, the Runaway Bride, who original said she'd been kidnapped. Not so much.

Just like the Astonaut in the diaper.

Just like Anne Nicole Smith, who everyone knew was going to die from drugs - so of course we all just made some popcorn and watched her slow, sad decline, completely wrapt.

Just like the latest missing girl, Carrie Holmes, and her apparently murderous mother who spent a month driving around supposedly looking for her daughter while her body (it seems) rotted in the trunk.

It's like a fixation.

We can't seem to tear ourselves away from pouring all our sympathies into these liars and overhyped stories that quickly plug into our own most deep seated fear - that WE MIGHT BE NEXT - we can't stop ourselves from making excuses for them, identifying with them, for immediately trying to "Forgive" Ashley Todd... but she doesn't deserve our forgiveness.

She doesn't and they really don't. Not when it comes at the cost of our ignoring all the real victims of violence, hatred and intimidation.

How much coverage has the tires of Obama supporters being slash received?

How much of the stories of Obama supporters cars being vandalized been covered by the national media?

How much coverage has their been of the hacking of the Ohio Secretary of States Website?

How much coverage has their been of the Obama campaign supporter who really WAS assaulted and accused of being a member of the dreaded "Acorn".

Or the mysterious White Powder sent to the Philadelphai Obama offices?

Or the mutilation of Obama in Effigy?

No, I can't forgive Ashley - not when she's helping take attention away from what's really going on, from the real victims and the Real American Terrorists in our midst.

Vyan

Update: Different people seem to have different definitions of "Forgiveness" - for the purposes of this diary, I was taking it to mean that she shouldn't face any responsibility for her actions, that she should get a little treatment and pat on the head. My position is that that simply isn't good enough, it's sweeping under the rug the consequences of what she did. NO ONE should suffer from false accusations and our entire justice system is currently far from accurate and effective for exactly that reason, the rush to judgement and "closure" by "Getting the Bastard" has far too often trumped fact, truth and "justice".

I'm not advocating hate or vengence of any kind against her. I'm saying what she did is SERIOUS and needs to be understood in the context of history!

She should get treatment AND be prosecuted.

Dana Milbank is Looking for the Real America

Two hours before Barack Obama's appearance at a campaign rally here Wednesday, they played the national anthem -- and people stood and sang. Some even put hands on hearts! In the first row sat a woman -- we'll call her Margaret the Corporate Trainer, in Joe-the-Plumber style -- wearing an actual flag pin on her shirt. "I'm American!" she said proudly. Really.

Then Obama took the stage and gave a stirring speech about those soldiers who "fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America! They haven't served a Blue America! They have served the United States of America!"

The audience took up a chant of "USA! USA!"

And these are Democrats?

This scene did not fit neatly into the Sarah Palin view of the world. In that view, there is the "real America," the "hardworking, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," the place where "we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans." We can identify this part of America because they vote Republican.

By inference, there is also a faux America, where people are slothful, unpatriotic, anti-American, misanthropic, bad and cowardly. We know these areas because they vote Democratic.

By that definition, you can't get much more real-America than Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy and the political center of a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat for president in 44 years. And yet, a CNN poll released Wednesday found Obama leading Republican John McCain by 10 points in the Commonwealth.

In recent elections, Democrats were cowed by challenges to their patriotism. But the crowd in Richmond, confident of an Obama victory, brushed off the Palin insult with laughter, a survey of the first row in the arena revealed.

"I'm a terrorist," said Kathleen the Food Vendor.

"We're probably communists," added John the Other Food Vendor, sitting with Kathleen. "I've been hating America ever since I was a young man."

"I was a baby terrorist," offered Terrence the Unemployed Guy.
If anything, it is those who have lobbed the anti-America charge who are in retreat. Palin herself apologized -- sort of -- for "the way it has come across." In Minnesota, GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann found her previously safe seat in jeopardy after going on MSNBC's "Hardball" to question Obama's patriotism and to urge media outlets to find other "anti-America" members of Congress. And Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) had to climb down from telling the crowd at a McCain rally that "liberals hate real Americans."

By contrast, the phony American folks at the Obama rally in Richmond -- those who got in before the arena reached capacity -- were in a celebratory mood. They danced, hands overhead, to Kanye West's "Touch the Sky," then to the party favorite "Celebrate," then, "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now."

"There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq; there are patriots who opposed it," he said. "There are patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women from Virginia and all across this country who serve on our battlefields, some are Democrats, some are Republicans, some are independents, but they have fought together and bled together, and some died together under the same proud flag."

In the heart of real America, the crowd gave Obama a cheer that did not seem at all phony.

Footage from Barack Obama in Virginia.

With the challenges and crises we face right now, we cannot afford to divide this country by race or class or region; by who we are or what policies we support. There are no real or fake parts of this country. We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this nation - we all love this country, no matter where we live or where we come from.

Amen.

Conservatives for Change

Following in the footsteps of many Republicans who have rejected the vicious and erratic campaign of John McCain and Sarah Palin, including Gen Colin Powell, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Buckley, Susan Eisenhower, Micheal Smerchonish, David Brooks, George Will, Peggy Noonan and so many many others a filmaker - who found members of his own family who had been lifelong devout Republicans were now choosing to vote for their ideals and values instead of their party - decided to document the phenomenon.

Al-Qaeda's Preferred Candidate - John Sydney McCain

(Note this has been diaried, but deserves repeating)

Al-Qeada has Endorsed John McCain for President of the United States

"Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election," said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the "failing march of his predecessor," President Bush.

...

"It will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain so that he takes revenge for them against al-Qaeda," said the posting, attributed to Muhammad Haafid, a longtime contributor to the password-protected site. "Al-Qaeda then will succeed in exhausting America."

That's right while the McCain campaign and RNC are sending out mailers accusing Barack Obama of supporting "Terrorists of who bombed the Capital, Pentagon and killed Americans" - the actual terrorists apparently (heart) John McCain, because he's committed to continuing to weaken America by spilling our blood and treasure on the sands of Iraq - a country that was no threat to us - rather than fight and catch, well, Real Terrorists.

McCain and Co have been having a completely nutty over ex-terrorist Williams Ayers. 40 Years ago he was a member of a group who used bombs to protest the Vietnam War. In 2001 - just a few weeks before 9/11 - he stated that he wished they'd bombed done more to stop the war.

But... let us point out that Ayers was never prosecuted or convicted of anything. His former group, the Weathermen did not "attack Americans", the bombs did not target people but things and the only American actually killed by them was one of their own members in an accident.

The 60's and early 70's were a very different time, there weren't just bombings, there were police riots at the Democratic Convention - there was the tragic shooting of students at Kent State by National Guard troops. The FBI and CIA conducted illegal surveillence and infiltration operations which resulted in the wrongful imprisoning of dozens of individuals including Geronimo Pratt and Leonard Peltier, not to mention others who were essentially executed in the streets by police.

But we aren't in the 60's anymore.

We aren't arguing over the Vietnam war. We haven't had riots in the streets, even though we have had the same type of illegal surveillance of innocent U.S. citizens. (The NSA passing out the tapes of our troops having phone-sex, as well as spying on journalists and peace workers)

The National Security Agency routinely listened in on the intimate and innocent phone calls of Americans in Iraq, including government personnel, journalists and aid workers, as they called back into the United States, according to two former NSA operators who spoke to ABC News.

The accusations that the NSA routinely listened in on Americans' phone calls contradicts the Administration's repeated claims that its secret spying did not listen to any Americans other than suspected terrorists.

We have had the sanctioning of kidnapping and torture as part of official U.S. policy, simply by making up a new word "enhanced interrogation".

In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.

Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.

None of this "We didn't know" - "it was just a few random incidents" crap. All of it, abu Ghraib, Water-boarding in Gitmo, Secret Prison were authorized and approved from the very top, despite the fact that it violated both international and U.S. Law!

We've completely destroyed our own moral authority and standing in the world.

We should be ashamed. American should be, and can be better.

Al-Qaeda knows this, and they know that this makes their job far easier. They want John McCain because he will continue on the exact same path of George W. Bush.

"The idea in the jihadist forums is that McCain would be a faithful 'son of Bush' -- someone they see as a jingoist and a war hawk," Raisman said. "They think that, to succeed in a war of attrition, they need a leader in Washington like McCain."

Forget William Ayers. Forget trying to re-fight the Vietnam War. It's time we started to start seriously fighting this war. We need to end the tragic distraction of Iraq and finally start getting the job done. We need recapture our moral authority. We need to retire al-Qaeda to the trash heap of history.

John McCain is not going to do it. Al-Qeada knows it. We know it.

Time to turn the page on all of Bush's failures, including McCain.

Vyan

The Tragic Rise of the (Un)Real Americans

Everyday we see another sign of the worsening and coarsening of American political discourse during this election.

Palin's - "Real" America is only in the small towns, not anywhere else.

Bachmann - and her media "investigation of Anti-Americanism" in the U.S. Congress.

Pfotenhauer - "Real Virginia supports McCain".

Giuliani - "God forbid that someone report on Obama's drug use"

Limbaugh - "Powell's endorsement was entirely about race"

In ever increasingly desperate moves the GOP has gone far past the pale, but is this really a new viciousness or has this bile been just below the surface for a very long time, and more importantly when they lose horribly in November - where will all that hate go?

Oh yes, there will be blood.

Even going beyond what we've heard directly from the McCain campaign and the GOP mainstream there have been other telling comments revealing the true feelings of the GOP by those such as Republican Rep. Robin Hayes of North Carolina.

He [McHenry] yielded the microphone to Representative Robin Hayes, who prefaced his comments by saying it was important to “make sure we don’t say something stupid, make sure we don’t say something we don’t mean.” Republicans, he reminded the crowd, were kind people. Plus, he added, the liberal media had shown itself eager to distort such remarks. With the crowd duly chastened and put on best behavior, he accused Obama of “inciting class warfare” and said that “liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God.”

Yet again, "those Godless, Anti-American Liberal SCUM simply Hate you Real Americans" -- therefore you're perfectly justified in hating them back. You're perfectly justified in doing what ever it takes to protect the "Real America" from them.

Don't you know they want to steal away the vote with ACORN, destroy democracy, turn American into some Socialist/Communist/Muslim Stronghold. Take away your hard earned money and give it to the lazy?

It's proven. (It's not like we should bother with a trial or anything...)

Can't you read the signs? Just look at this article from National Review Online about how Obama gave those ACORN scum $800,000 to steal the election.

When not scorching the earth to destroy ordinary citizens who have the temerity to ask the messiah blunt questions, or threatening political opponents with prosecution for campaigning against him, or promising war crimes investigations against the opposition party if Americans are daft enough to put his toadies in charge of the Justice Department, Obama comrades can be found editing the amendments to the last modification of their most recently restated campaign-finance reporting errors.

One day the candidate is taking money hand over fist from fictitious supporters like “Good Will” and “Doodad Pro.” The next day, he is illegally raising funds from foreigners (perhaps more than a staggering $63 million), including from Palestinians — who figure a candidate who pours tens of thousands of dollars into the coffers of a terror-supporting former PLO spokesman like Rashid Khalidi is a safe bet to make a prophet out of Jesse Jackson. On still other days, Obama finds himself having to explain his campaign’s misrepresentation of the $800,000 payday it gave his old pals at ACORN.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, is essentially a Marxist shakedown outfit. One of its main rackets is election fraud — but it can also be very helpful if you happen to be a Leftist activist who finds himself needing, say, to foment a riot, vandalize public property, shut down legislative hearings or opposition conferences, harass the families of elected officials, extort leave-us-alone pay-offs from banks, promote illegal immigration, or the like.

This article even goes on to argue that Special Prosecutor Nora Dennehy, whom the Obama campaign has ask to look into bogus allegations of voter fraud- isn't really a Special Prosecutor.

Except that - she is.

Think the language used by NRO is isolated? Think again.

"The Only difference between Obama and Osama is the "B.S".

"Kill the Babies!"

"We need a Muslim President"

"Communism!!!".

But this is just the "lunatic fringe" right?

Not so much.

Here on the lefty and egghead coasts we may argue that William Ayers is someone Obama hardly even knows, that he isn't a Muslim or a Terrorist, that Fraud was actually committed against ACORN - that the organization has been repeatedly investigated and found to be innocent of any direct attempts to influence an election (which is what election fraud is), and that several U.S. Attorneys were actually fired by the Bush Administration for refusing to persue unfounded allegations against ACORN in 2004 and 2006. Particularly form U.S. Attorney David Iglesias who finds the new ACORN allegations "astounding".

"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," Iglesias told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic." In 2006, Iglesias was fired as U.S. attorney thanks partly to his reluctance to pursue voter-fraud cases as aggressively as DOJ wanted -- one of several U.S. attorneys fired for inappropriate political reasons, according to a recently released report by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General.

Iglesias, who has been the most outspoken of the fired U.S. attorneys, went on to say that the FBI's investigation seemed designed to inappropriately create a "boogeyman" out of voter fraud.

But it's been an effective "Boogeyman" none the less.

These so-called "Real" American are scared that their losing their America to the Commmie-Pinko-Liberals. They're scared, and they're pissed and they're not gonna take it anymore.

It's already gone beyond mere "fighting words".

We've had the Vandalism:


Attacks on Government Officials such as the Ohio Secretary of State's Website for fighting GOP voter suppression tactics.

Animal Mutilatons of Obama in Effigy.

Death Threats over Obama Yard Signs.

Physical Assaults against Obama Campaign Workers.

White Powder mailed to Obama's Philadelphia Offices.

Tennessee Gunman attacks Liberal Church

This is not a question of "when" things will turn violent - they already have turned violent. We have to fully accept and realize what this - all of it - really is.

These aren't just isolated incidents between individuals, like all Hate Crimes these are attempts to intimidate those who disagree into submission.

This IS Terrorism: which is the use of violence to accomplish a political goal.

We shouldn't be surprised by these attacks, not after the Clinton Chronicles argued that then Governor Clinton was a rapist and drug dealer, not after Swiftboating of John Kerry and Max Cleland arguing that two decorated veterans were traitors and cowards.

But we also shouldn't be surprised that things will not calm down after these people lose the election, assuming they don't steal it with voter suppression tactics.

It was during Clinton's Presidency that we had incident after incident with radical right-wing anti-government types - from the fiery inferno of Waco, to the bombings of the Murrah Federal Building by Tim McVeigh and the bombings of the Atlanta Olympics by Eric Rudolph.

Mark my words, the violence we've already seen WILL Escalate.

We had worried that the Democratic Party would have a difficult time pulling itself back together after the toughness of the campaign between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. But we truly need to worry, and seriously commit ourselves to picking up the pieces after the lunatic fringe of the GOP has a complete NUTTY after "Barack Hussein Obama Jr." is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

John Lewis was absolutely correct. The incendiary rhetoric of George Wallace has returned in John McCain's skin. Sherrif Bull Connor with his water-hoses and dogs is back, in the form of a skinhead Florida Sherrif who thinks "We'll leave Barack Hussein Obama wondering what happened on November 4th"

We need to be ready.

We need to be prepared for all hell to break lose when we finally defeat these vicious (Un)Real Americans - and win. We need to be prepared to help stitch this country back together once the GOP neo-Terrorist suffer yet another defeat, the loss of public tolerance for their crazy and violent ideas once people finally see exactly where their cowardice and hate mongering are leading us.

It may take yet another bombing like those of McVeigh or Rudolph, it may take something else like yet another Ruby Ridge of Waco - but eventually it will happen, something ugly and violent and full of "a muslim terrorist has taken over our governmment" rantings the will be easily traced back to the hate-filled GOP as we know it today, which as a result, will be utterly and completely destroyed. Reduced to ashes by the flames of their own bullshit.

That will be an awful day. A terrible day. I for one, do not welcome it or look forward to it. But that day is coming, and we have to be ready for it - and ready for the new dawn that will follow.

The dawn of a New - Finally Unified - America.

Vyan