December 23, 2008

did you do it?

i didn't do it (yet), but i'm going to diddit soon. you'll see.

--

December 20, 2008

baby daddy mama six counts and counting

From the how'd I miss this one department: Bristol's baby-daddy's mama got snagged on drug charges today. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is due to become a grandma this weekend if Bristol cooperates. Alaska--it seems so.... fun, juneau?

December 18, 2008

Enter the Micro Worker

When i met George* more than two decades ago, I remember chuckling over the name of his first business.

He still had company checks, and I came across a box of them one day while we were packing to move out of our apartment.

They said: "Sessum Cleaning and Productions."

He was 18 when he officially started his own business, and he decided to name the business after what he did: commercial floor cleaning and music production. Completely unrelated businesses, apples to oranges, a marketing faux pas in my eyes. And, boldly monogrammed on yellow checkered business checks, also kind of funny.

He said, "It made sense at the time - It's what I did. Plus, it saved the cost of registering more than one business name."

In those days I wrote about technology. All of my marketing training and big company expertise made me right, of course. I told him, you don't dilute your brand. Focus. How can you know who you compete against if your business is cleaning and production? You're playing in two different markets; you have no unique selling proposition; how can you differentiate across those markets - it's a losing proposition, I told him.

I was so smart. girl genius.

Except, he was ahead of his time.

His time is actually now.

With business as usual officially on life support, we as workers will all assume new roles, like it or not, before the plug is pulled. I can be glad that I'm ahead of the curve. The dot-com bust cut my industry** down substantially 8 years ago. I've had my own business ever since.

During the last year, I find myself differentiating my offerings even further. I sell vitamins. I write copy. I'm a business strategist. I do marketing and PR. I'm a publisher. If you give me a microphone, I might even do comedy. I'm just sayin'.

I'm starting to be asked to do even smaller time-limited tasks for some, micro tasks, which in turn bring in micro dollars, but dollars nonetheless. Once the dollar is no more, I'll be trading words for chickens, and I'm okay with that. I'm cleaning and productions. I'm PR person and journalist. I'm vitamins and content.

Micro jobs for micro money*** -- the age of the micro-focused is here. One job won't do it, and one job is hard to find. Many tasks spread over geographies and markets will supplant the old "real job." Many small business activities under one small business umbrella, or personal brand, will trump the job title (at) real company (dot) com.

Tools that will make this happen:

Google - gmail, collaborative google docs, g-chat and video chat.

LinkedIn**** - it's there, we're already using it, referrals based on multiple types of skill sets (related and unrelated to my current business) are coming in.

RevolutionMoney*+* - I've been calling for a micro-payment service to take the lead in allowing us to compensate one another for small tasks we can farm out to those we respect and know across our various online social homes. With Revolution Money, the service provider won't take a hit when they receive a payment for a task as they do with paypal.

Skype*#* and Twitter*#* - "Hey, do you do x?" "HELL yeah!" (or) "No but let me find you someone who does." Do I become my brother's reseller? Am I my friends' affiliate? The details remain to be seen, but I think IM and DM (through the likes of twitter.com) will take the place of 'over the cube wall' inquiries.

Companies like Cerego*^, with the iKnow social learning platform, and the open source education movement, where the world's best universities offer free access to course and lectures, also have much to offer the coming upside-down business environment by helping solo practitioners stay ahead of the game with new skills, languages, and knowledge.

As David Weinberger's#@! blogsticker(^) noted several years back: "Cluetrain was basically right." id est:

>>"Corporate firewalls have kept smart employees in and smart markets out. It's going to cause real pain to tear those walls down."

>>THESIS 94: To traditional corporations, networked conversations may appear confused, may sound confusing. But we are organizing faster than they are. We have better tools, more new ideas, no rules to slow us down.

These are the best of times. These are the worst of times. Ain't we lucky we got em - good times.

Disclaimers follow: *my husband, **reference to BigPR and Ketchum, ***covet it, ****member, *+*I hear you get $10 for signing up and plan to do so, *#*jeneanesessum and jeneane respectively, *^work with them some, #@!Friend, (^)blame gary turner.

Good Times - They're Back (now new and improved for white people!)



Good Times.
Any time you meet a payment.
Good Times.
Any time you need a friend.
Good Times.
Any time you're out from under.

Not getting hassled, not getting hustled.
Keepin' your head above water,
Making a wave when you can.

Temporary lay offs.
Good Times.
Easy credit rip offs.
Good Times.
Scratchin' and surviving.
Good Times.
Hangin in a chow line
Good Times.
Ain't we lucky we got 'em
Good Times.

December 10, 2008

Blagojevich Is Right...

a job is a very fucking valuable thing.


BONUS:
Predicted time elapsed until web 2.0 delivers social jobs4sale site: 22 hours, 5 minutes, 29 seconds.

December 09, 2008

horror at Marianna - The White House Boys Speak.


Statements from The White House Boys - Funny videos are here

SEE ALSO: The White House Boys.

It appears Florida government has finally be shamed into listening.

One of the children abused there, Roger Kiser, grew up to write books, this one among them. I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't. Unmarked graves, a cover up for murder.

December 08, 2008

Merry Christmas to/from Lorenzo & Francesco

Skype trumps email. The first message I answered after a weekend off my laptop was Lorenzo Pescini, skyping me about his new holiday video with Francesco Nesi.

I looked, I loved, I linked.

How do I say that in Italian Lorenzo?

Merry Christmas!

December 05, 2008

the layoff thing - getting beyond denial

A friend remarked the other day that the only person we know with a "job" is one of our friends' husbands who works at The Home Depot.

I thought about it. She's right. Three of my friends have been laid off in the last year; a couple more are struggling to keep their businesses going, a couple more are single moms - one of them on public assistance - a couple more are doing odd jobs here and there to pay what bills they can.

But very few of the people I know have an actual job.

Somehow though, Atlanta keeps pretending. Denial is our specialty. People run here and there, get nails done, hair done, the gym done, the spa done. Hell, I'm one of them. By day we pretend it's going to be ok. By night, we hoard and joke about who has enough land for crops.

Three big restaurants in our immediate area are closed in the last six months. Two coffee shops still boast signs welcoming customers, but they're all but abandoned. Building projects have been halted in media res. It's beginning to look someone decided to bail half-way through prosperity.

Another friend was going by the Cobb County unemployment office on Monday. The parking lot there is not small. I was there seven years ago when I used a mutually-agreed-upon departure from BigPR to start my own business. There were no shortage of parking spaces even though the newly laid-off were plentiful then.

But on Monday, my friend said, the parking lot was not only full, but cars were parked on both sides of the road where it's located, up and down the street, no where to park.

That's not so good.

I was working at Starbucks yesterday (a knowledge worker, not a barista -- they have better benefits and work hours, trust me), and three ladies were at the table next to me. One said, "So what - I'll lose my house if I have to," and so I poked my nose in and said, "Did you get laid off?" They had 'the look.' I knew before I asked. She said all three of them had been laid off on Monday, along with 65 others. Small company, just down the street.

I told them it would be okay. They didn't look like they believed me.

It's not like the end of business as usual wasn't predicted. It's just that most of us didn't think it would happen all at once.

Joke's on us.

If you have a job, don't wait: Start your own business. Whatever you're good at, get better, get networked, and start taking on small projects where you can get them.

And someone wake Gary Turner, re: the blogtank--are we there yet?

---

December 04, 2008

Losing Joe

There aren't many musicians remaining of both the hardy stock and stubborn attitude required to survive the Rochester/national/international jazz scene from the time my father played it (1950s-60s) through the time my husband played it (1970s-90s).

The more of them we lose, the more loudly the loss resonates. The absence of a player's unique interpretation of sound and space can be deafening.

That's just one of the reasons why it's so hard for artists to live--period.

Joe died December 1st at 76 of lung cancer. My memories of hanging out after the gigs listening to Joe's special brand of humor haven't faded since the 80s. I could say a lot of things about him--about his musicianship, his edge, his, his tenacity. But instead, I'll simply say, so long Joe Romano.

Ok it's time to say something

First of all, I have glasses. I'm 46 years old and these are my first real glasses--the kind you wear all the time, the progressive lens type for people who can't see close or far away.

My initial reactions:
  • Trees have leaves.
  • There are too many words hanging up in the world.
  • I am short.
  • My feet don't walk right.
  • I need to wax my upper lip and pluck my eyebrows. Like right away.
  • Time for some makeup.

It reminds me of Halley's old snowglobe posts...
... they got me in and out of there fast as can be and in LESS than an hour and my glasses are a god send. I slipped them on and hell, it was like being high on dope with Oreos, with your best high school buddies and candles -- I am seeing things so much more clearly, I was amazed. I say to the glasses guys, "Whoa! I can really see with these things!" The manager says, "That's the idea!"

So I leave the mall, feeling so cool that I can see things -- like I can see my car in the parking lot, even before I attempt to open three other wrong Burgundy Camry's and before I have to bend down and braille-read the license plate. I'm just teasing, I'm not that bad. Well, almost.

I feel some sort of apology is in order - for my clients and myself. Blaming my fuzziness on menopause may have been inaccurate. I now realize I was fuzz-sighted. That's not near sighted or far sighted. That's when everything is blurred around the edges.

Now I look like a dork, but I have these lenses that make me feel like a kid, complete with feeling shorter. I wonder if that's my brain reconfiguring my perspective back to the last time I could see this well.

It's all very very very odd.

---

November 20, 2008

the bridge is so nice

Oh Gosh I almost forgot the Stupid People song. An oldie AND a Goodie

heh.

okay sing the stupid people song with me--want to?

Helloooo stupid people
it's good to meet you
no it's not
see you made me lie
and if I tell you true
I would have to tell you
you
really you make my
intestines flutter
and rumble, baby
and not in a gooood way, baby.

I'm not sure how you
live with a pin-sized braihaaaiiin
but you really do
yah you do baby
you do it all my sweet
thing
because you're not just
ordinary
solitary
no
you're very very
extraordinarily
stupid
How do you do it?

You're bill-o'reilly stupid
You're bill-o'reilly stupid
You're not just smiley stupid
You're bill-o'reilly stupid

I bet in the morning, yah
you open your sweet shining eyes
and come alive inside
and your mind, your mihiiiiind
goes back to sleep
precious sleep
and that's okay
because baby
you gotta lotta work to do
in this world
a lotta hard work to do
and it's not easy, baby
no not easy
to operate the fryer
all the grease
sometimes the policeeeeee, baby
they come a rum come come
and say to you...

You're bill-o'reilly stupid
You're bill-o'reilly stupid
You're not just smiley stupid
You're bill-o'reilly stupid.


November 19, 2008

social allaboutMEdia or how i forgot my blog's 7th birthday

It's hard to see the forest for the trees these days. Social media pundits are punditizing themselves into such puffery that they are bursting from the very overstuffing of their grandiosity. There are more places than ever to pontificate, but blog posts still reign supreme as the bully pulpit to nowhere.

as in:

If I See ONE MORE post with BIG BOLD SUBHEADS boasting cute phrases that want so desperately to be profound that I have to turn my head to spare them their own embarrassment, I WILL puke.

I'm telling you, people.

I'm not talking polite regurgitation - I mean PUKE.

Don't pretend you have no idea what I mean.

"Think Small, Talk Deep" "Make Them Let You See Me Sweat" "If They Say Yes, You're Doing It Wrong." THOSE types of bullshitty neon nonsense.

You can tell these posts because the 'faux ballsy' subheads are most often followed by all the reasons why social media-community-internet-technology (buy my book buy my book buy my book) is the answer to every question yet to be answered under the sun, especially by business, which we all seem to forgotten, has RUN OUT OF MONEY.

That's the kind of supluferous fluff disquised as consulting genius I'm talking about.

It's the echo chamber, baby, say "hello" (ello ello ello ello)

So repulsed am I by what the conversation unleashed online back at the turn of the century - yes I was there - has become, I have managed to miss my own blog's 7th birthday.

happy birthday to me and the class of 2001.

Not for nothing, but if you think you're saying something new and interesting ABOUT the Internet with those big sweeping subheads you hope to work into a TOC for your next novella, it's time to actually DO something new and interesting BECAUSE OF the Internet. Or create something interesting and let us at it.

Because those posts--the ones with the faux-ballsy subheads--they gotta go.

happy birthday to my ass.

November 15, 2008

Paint the White House Black Lyrics, George Clinton, Baby!!!

I've been on the interwebs long enough to find everything I've ever wanted to find, needed to find, hoped to come across, and a lot of stuff I wish I'd never seen. One thing I haven't been able to find since I started looking when our new King, Barack Obama, began his run for office, are the lyrics to the funkolicious "Paint the White House Black," by one of our elder kings, George Clinton. I have the CD Smell My Finger, and in 1993 I danced like a proper funkateer to PTWHB. But I never could find the lyrics online, so I did what any good netizen would do - transcribed em myself.

I could use help with one line--you'll see he ???s--leave a comment if you can make out what she's sayin.

With assistance from grandmaster George himself, the following represents my best shot at transcribing the lyrics to Paint the White House Black, which, 15 years later, is ever more timely - Picture this, paint a picture picture perfect, paint a perfect picture. :-)


Paint the White House Black
George Clinton
Paisley Park Records, 1993


...Featuring Ice Cube, Dr.Dre, Yo-Yo, MC Breed & Kam; other appearances by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Public Enemy, Shock G & Pupa Curly


And in these uptight times
Hardcore Funkateers deploy the Bop Gun
The unleasher of positive light
The bop gun can do you no harm
It frees your mind
so your behind can follow.

Let's do a fly-by

123 and I come with the wicked
White house, lights out
Boom boom boom with the bop gun
looks like I dropped one.
I'm top gun.

Picture this, paint a picture picture perfect,
paint a perfect picture, paint a picture.
Picture this, paint a picture picture perfect,
paint a perfect picture.

Hi, yeah, what's up? What's poppin'?
This is Dr. Dre callin' from gun control
Can I speak to the President?
Uh, yeah, just tell him he was smokin' last night at the club,
you know what I'm sayin?
What? He don't inhale? Well I know I got
the wrong muthufuckin' house.

Did somebody beep me from there?

Colors don't clash
for good.
Color me happy
next to you.
Oh, just like it should,
There goes the neighborhood
That's what they'd have us believe.

Paint the white house black
Brown
Paint the white house

(No matter what creed no matter what color)

Paint the white house black
brown
Paint the white house
white.

If love ain't got nothing to do with it
then keep it
Ain't no big secret
We all know the reason
People change every day
but life stays the same
one big game
ain't a damn thing change
A woman's gotta do
what a woman's gotta do
be a macstress
don't let these macs smack you
So I can ??? ????
I'm stressin' and tired
the man that runs the joint
gets me higher
It can be a white house
a black house
it can be a crack house
An outhouse
if it ain't the right house
Go get your army
Yes ladies we got a fight
They ain't gonna set aside another night.
It's so bad in Los Angeles
It's so scandalous
Gimme somebody
who can handle us
Young brothers on top of things
So ah color me man
I'm ready for a change.


I gave a show
one time too many
and a brother gotta be
comin' out his nickles
and countin' up his last pennies
buyin' his brushes
and bum rushes home his greenery
man he don't give
a hill of beans
what it means to me.

Leave it up to me
I'm paintin' the white house black
It ain't no feature when you're frontin'
So why do LA be frontin', Jack

It'll either change
or we're gonna change it
(yeah it's gettin old)
Usin' everything from
spray cans to charcoal
Put em up
Put the crew up on discharge
leavin' wet paint signs
in the front yard.

It drives these people crazy man,
They don't even know what I'm sayin'.

Ohhh, air brushed and colorized
change right before our eyes
Real is the US of every flag

And that's the north side from the right house
Be it the black, red or white house
I fear the puppeteer can pull
our strings.

Paint the white house black, brown.
Paint the white house.

(This white ain't right, get the flash light.)

Paint the white house black, brown.

(No matter what creed no matter what color)

Paint the white house.

I pledge allegiance to the flag
bein' all i could never be
Damn, with this toe tag
This is USAK all day
And you can't interrupt
Lay back.

Stars and stripes
For the tards and tights
Got brothers like me
behind bars and on pipes

Damn I'm gettin' fit for a trip
they got me seeing stars from the club
and stripes from the whip

Why must ya'll be like that
I ain't into politics
So skip them
white collar tricks
They never did us no good
to hell with the space shuttle
put some money in the hood
and make jobs
let's mob up to the capitol
Then we ain't gotta rap at all
Power to the people
And the only way to get free
Is the J to the U-S-T-I-C-E.

Picture this, paint a picture, paint a perfect picture

Yo listen to the real Clinton
Who Bill Clinton?
Hell No, I'm talkin' bout George Clinton

Paint the white house black, brown

Paint the white house black, brown
(no matter what creed or what color.)
Paint the white house
(with God by our side we gonna change this power)

Paint the white house black, brown
Paint the white house.

Picture this, paint a picture picture perfect, paint a perfect picture, paint a picture.

There goes the neighborhood.

Picture this, paint a picture picture perfect, paint a perfect picture, paint a picture.

You understand this, cause that's how it be.
His name is George and his last name begins with a "C".

Picture this, paint a picture picture perfect, paint a perfect picture.





November 09, 2008

despite everything that's wrong...

...this is so right.



Hard to be in a bad mood lately.

November 05, 2008

Yes, We Did.


I can't stop smiling.

I just can't.

Can you?

To those who said to me in the early years of my marriage that they didn't believe in mixed marriages because, after all, "What will become of the children?" I say to them today, "They can become your President."

Happy Day, America.

The fear mongers are out of power.

Breathe.

Let's get ready to get to work.

It's for them.

October 31, 2008

Been busy holding my breath

WAITING hoping praying for an Obama win.

meanwhile, the spammers have started to have their way with my comments, so I decided to stop being quiet and start breathing.

If you are still thinking of voting mccain, listen to these colleagues:




The group Vietnam Veterans Against McCain attacks Senator John McCain's heroism as a POW in the Vietnam conflict; this is making some waves in the news due to McCain's presidential candidacy. The documentary "Missing, Presumed Dead the Search for America's POWs" however focuses more on Senator John McCain successfully blocking the release of classified POW/MIA documents. Here is a DVD extra from that documentary. A DVD of the documentary may be purchased at www.MissingPresumedDead.com.

October 14, 2008

The Ills of Big Pharma - Cure? Not for you.

It's happening to Andrew Barron's dad, who happens to have a researcher on his case who has discovered something important.

It appears the Drug Company with the potential cure is trying to block its use.

In what can only be defined as a miracle in timing, a few days ago, one of his doctors who has been studying his tumor cells in the lab for years found an antibody with an exact match: Tysabri which is manufactured by your company, Biogen Idec. In the test tube, it attached to the antigens on the surface of the tumor 100%.

Though the drug has never been used before in this way, and because time is running out, the head of the FDA, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach has granted special approval for use of the drug for this purpose but you have personally decided “no”.

Help Andrew if you can - he says how in his post.

Also: Interesting discussion on this issue at TechCrunch.

-----

October 10, 2008

The Corporation Pwnd - Silver Lining 3.0


THIS my, fellow soldiers, is the Official End of Business as Usual.

THIS is the moment where loosely joined independent workers will change how business is done.

THIS has been 10 years in the making. It will not be easy - but it will be transformative.

THIS is the rightful skewering of the bloated corporation, the bleed of the overstuffed startup.

YOU are the new upstart.

Get started.


October 08, 2008

WANTED: Alphacat and Sara Benincasa Mashup

A DEFINITE MUST. Introducing Alphacat - ROCKIN the BARACK

Won't Evict, Sheriff Dart Says

An American Hero in the War on Economic Terror

CHICAGO (AP) - Residents of foreclosed properties in Chicago and other parts of Cook County don't have to worry about deputies forcing them out. Sheriff Tom Dart says that starting Thursday his office won't take part in evictions.

Dart says he's concerned that many of the people being evicted are renters who were unaware that their landlords have been failing to pay their mortgages. He says his deputies have no way of knowing whether they're removing someone who has defaulted on a loan or someone who has been faithfully paying rent.

Dart says he thinks he's the first sheriff in a major metropolitan area to stop such evictions during the ongoing foreclosure crisis.

October 07, 2008

McCain's Fear and Loathing

McCain despises otherness. It is why he left his disabled wife. It is why he uses racial slurs and endorses American Exceptionalism, now touted by Palin any chance she gets.

Good video by an author who tackled McCain's "It's Ok That I Hate Gooks" era and why it matters.

That One for President!



October 04, 2008

she was READING? more lies.


Is it a crime to incite an assassination - because she might as well be crying: Hang the nigger! With a wink and a smile.



Side Note: American Exceptionalism.

She is DANGEROUS.

more, said better, here.

How you like him so far?

The Children Notice: Recession Archetypes

We don't have the TV on a lot at home. But kids talk about what their parents can't afford to do right now because of "the economy." Vacations not taken. Gas not to be had. Gym and swim memberships gone by the wayside.

Most of all I think she notices all of the new office construction, the new plazas, sitting empty. "90 days free lease!" "OFFICE SPACE!" "For Rent - First 3 Months No Cost." She knows Sonny's Barbecue has gone bankrupt. She's seen the two coffee shops we used to go to fail.

She told me today: "I had a dream last night mom - you and I went to Coldstone Creamery to get an ice cream cone, and it was gone. Empty. It had gone out of business."

I told her that must have felt like a crummy dream. She said yep it sure did.

Wonder how long before it's reality.

On a wink and a prayer...

What they say:

The McCain campaign was asked by ABC News to clarify what a McCain administration would do to "stop multimillion dollar payouts" to CEOs.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain supports allowing company shareholders to vote on CEO compensation. However it's unclear how any president could enforce such a measure within a private company.

"What he supports is making sure that shareholders can vote on CEO compensation, right now he's saying they don't," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told ABC News.

McCain's top economics adviser Carly Fiorina, a McCain campaign surrogate who made the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows this past weekend and appeared on CNN Monday speaking for McCain, herself benefited from a multimillion dollar payout.

Fiorina was dismissed as the CEO of Hewlett Packard in 2005 after a merger with Compaq floundered, stock prices plunged 50 percent, and 20,000 people were layed off. Fiorina walked away with a $21.4 million severance package.

Asked whether McCain was talking about CEOs like Fiorina, McCain's top adviser who walked away with millions in compensation as her company's stock price plunged, Rogers said McCain was "talking about the issues that are before us today."

"We're talking about Freddie and Fannie and CEOs like Jimmy Cayne of Bear Stearns, Angelo Mozilo at Countrywide, folks that are largely responsible for what happened and walk away with this kind of multimillion dollar payout," Rogers said.

"I don't think there's any analogy there," Rogers said referring to Fiorina.


Heaven help us.



What she says:

I am one of those female, middle-class business owners Sarah Palin seemed to think she was addressing in last night's vice presidential debate.

Nothing is more horrifying than the thought of being represented nationally — or worse yet, globally — by a functionally illiterate, issue-evading, winking Barbie Doll. It is insulting to assume that Americans prefer lapses in the English language (“gonna,” “betcha,” etc. — how I wish the commentators would have counted the number of “ing” drops in her responses) to leaders who can speak clearly and articulately.

And I truly cannot imagine that Germany's Angela Merkel, Iraq's Jalal Talabani or China's Hu Jintao would appreciate coy winks during diplomatic discussions.

Palin's redirection of responses to the things she wanted to talk about (an expression she used more than once) was successful only in confirming her lack of knowledge about most of the issues that burden our nation today. Successful debating is about persuasive argument on the issues — not coy, patronizing, self-aggrandizing deflection.

October 03, 2008

Women in politics and the media: embarassing. OR read a book Cokie.

Exceptional post on American Exceptionalism and the current state of a union that is to stupid to know a gaffe from its asshole.
By way of contrast with the above "misspeech," Joe Biden said...
Look what we did in Bosnia. We took Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, being told by everyone, I was told by everyone that this would mean that they had been killing each other for a thousand years, it would never work.
Here's that towering genius, Cokie Roberts, calling Biden on his "gaffe" (click image for video)...



The fact of the matter is that Bosniaks is the correct term for Bosnian Muslims. Sounds as if -- like Sarah Palin -- Cokie should maybe sometime read a book.

Say It Ain't So, Average Joe Six Pack

Frank Listics Payner summarizes last night's debate "no fail" from the Palin side of things. What you saw last night was a performance by someone who could be anyone of average (or slightly below) intelligence who works within any given field. That's NOT ENOUGH to lead a country on the brink of the Great Depression 2.0. Three cute winks, one say it ain't so, joe, and seven "nukyoulars" are NOT ENOUGH.

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.


I'm so afraid that she did just well enough with the right voters. I'm so afraid that I live in a country where so many stupid people who consume politicians as if they are just another arm of the media.

Hillary must have rolled over in her pant suit last night. That's all I can add.

----

October 01, 2008

mccain - hiding in plain sight...

From Rolling Stone:

At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation's capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It's the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the experience in Hanoi that, according to legend, transformed him from a callow and reckless youth into a serious man of patriotism and purpose. Walking along the grounds at Fort McNair, McCain runs into John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam.

McCain is studying at the National War College, a prestigious graduate program he had to pull strings with the Secretary of the Navy to get into. Dramesi is enrolled, on his own merit, at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in the building next door.

There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam — call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

On the grounds between the two brick colleges, the chitchat between the scion of four-star admirals and the son of a prizefighter turns to their academic travels; both colleges sponsor a trip abroad for young officers to network with military and political leaders in a distant corner of the globe.

"I'm going to the Middle East," Dramesi says. "Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran."

"Why are you going to the Middle East?" McCain asks, dismissively.

"It's a place we're probably going to have some problems," Dramesi says.

"Why? Where are you going to, John?"

"Oh, I'm going to Rio."

"What the hell are you going to Rio for?"

McCain, a married father of three, shrugs.

"I got a better chance of getting laid."

Dramesi, who went on to serve as chief war planner for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of a wing of the Strategic Air Command, was not surprised. "McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man," Dramesi says today. "But he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in."

READ IT.


http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

September 29, 2008

Good Dog.

War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.

How can anyone in good conscience support the power structure that has been in charge for a decade -- the one that has succeeded in ruining the economy and waging a 100-year war with the wrong country. They'd like to tell you it's the fault of minorities and the poor. I know a few people who have lost their house or had to sell before forclosure, and they look mostly like Glenn Beck. They would like you to go aaaaaallllll the way back to Jimmy Carter (second only to Bill Clinton in the GOP blame game) and pin the current problem on him.

How stupid are we? That is the question that will be answered in the next election.

How. Stupid. Are. We?

Ron K. Jeffries has heard from some friends who are early casualties in the economic war zone.

Here is some of what is happening:
  • Friend #1 said in a phone call: “I’ve lost my house, the auction is tomorrow.”
  • Friend #2 writes: “My IRA has been wiped out but more importantly, Ameriprise has frozen my huge cash deposits, because the Reserve Muni Money Mkt fund has not honored their redemption.
I'm so sorry Ron. I don't know what any of us are going to do. Meanwhile my health insurance premium goes up this month to an obscene amount for an obscene deductible.

It's going to be a long road.

VOTE.

---

September 28, 2008

smart i am.

paynter stop niggling me. dammit.



September 21, 2008

McCain - Palin: Sheriffs for the World


It's time to say it:
The star in that logo.
I just can't take it.
A damn sheriff's star.
That's what it is.
Recalls: don' mess with texas.
McSame and:
Palin: Another Bush in the White House
Could republican voters BE any more stupid?
That's rhetorical.
(Look it up, Sarah.)

--

Substituting Vehemence for Coherence: John McCain

September 12, 2008

Sorry, Charlie (Gibson) (for Having to Talk to a Pinhead)

words out of my mouth:

Stop voting for people you want to have a beer with. Stop voting for folksy. Stop voting for people who remind you of your neighbor. Stop voting for the ideologically intransigent, the staggeringly ignorant, and the blazingly incompetent.

Vote for someone smarter than you. Vote for someone who inspires you. Vote for someone who has not only traveled the world but who has also shown a deep understanding and compassion for it. The stakes are real and they're terrifyingly high. This election matters. It matters. It really matters. Let me say that one more time. This. Really. Matters.


---

the part of the sarah palin - charlie gibson interview you won't see!!

Palin on Iraq?

---

September 10, 2008

"If I die, I forgive you. If I recover, we shall see." -Spanish Proverb

Frank, this stuff scares me, so cut.it.out!

I've got enough fear, uncertainty, and doubt on my plate without worrying about a time warp machine that's going to suck us into a black hole (Obama's fault I suppose).

However, the fact that there were 4 earthquakes today - yeah that is scary.

Thinking of the folks in those places, who are probably even more scared than I am.

---

The First YouTube Election - Get Your Benincasa On.

Mr. Uncle RageBoy pointed out to me by teleprompter - err phone - today that this 2008 election is the first YouTube election. He googled it while I drove to be sure, and sure enough, no YouTube til 2005, which means the last time (the last last time) George W. stole the election, the non-revolution was not youtubeized.

Thank you Jesus - we just might have our ace in the hole after all. I keep saying: One YouTube video of Palin speaking in tongues, and Bob, as they say, 's your uncle.

In the mean time, I look 3 times a day to see if the OTHER sarah, Sara Benincasa and her crafty sidekick Diana Saez, have updated their most HYSTERICAL portrayal of the up and coming Sarah Palin.

rotflmao, it's about the only thing that cheers me up on newsday, which lately is every day.

---





Matt for Prez



he knows more than she does.

McCain #1 -- Vote for Corruption!

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!

As I've said, every time I mention John McCain's name from here on out it will be with the Keating Five reference. That people are willing forget and forgive his pattern of corruption and lax ethics in his obsession for power is amazing to me. Not only was he ONE of the Keating Five, he was also the most worst of them.

From 1989 - McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five
You're John McCain, a fallen hero who wanted to become president so desperately that you sold yourself to Charlie Keating, the wealthy con man who bears such an incredible resemblance to The Joker.

Obviously, Keating thought you could make it to the White House, too. He poured $112,000 into your political campaigns. He became your friend. He threw fund raisers in your honor. He even made a sweet shopping-center investment deal for your wife, Cindy. Your father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was cut in on the deal, too.

Nothing was too good for you. Why not? Keating saw you as a prime investment that would pay off in the future.

So he flew you and your family around the country in his private jets. Time after time, he put you up for serene, private vacations at his vast, palatial spa in the Bahamas. All of this was so grand. You were protected from what Thomas Hardy refers to as "the madding crowd." It was almost as though you were already staying at a presidential retreat.

Like the old song, that now seems "Long ago and far away."

***

The story of "the Keating Five" has become a scandal rivaling Teapot Dome and Watergate. The outcome will be decided, not in a courtroom, but probably on national television.

Those who survive will be the sociopaths who can tell a lie with the most sincere, straight face. You are especially adept at this.


Those born when this article was written are now 18 and old enough to vote.

Please don't be fooled by lipstick on a pig.

Andrew Sullivan on McCain and Integrity

Andrew writes eloquently on McCain (keating 5) and his lack of character during the pig fight here. It's good stuff.

Read it.

Yes, McCain made a decision that revealed many appalling things about him. In the end, his final concern is not national security. No one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the world on a total unknown because she polled well with the Christianist base. No person who truly believed that the surge was integral to this country's national security would pick as his veep candidate a woman who, so far as we can tell anything, opposed it at the time.


---

Tell That to Jesus, Lady.

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer. Except that you have actual responsibilities"

7 hours ago Las Vegas Sun (4728 occurrences)

Ed Koch backs Obama - calls Palin "Scary" - and what to do about friends in the other party

Just got a call from a republican friend who up until Palin was going to vote for Obama. "You're Obama made a mistake calling Palin a pig." I said, "Did you WATCH the whole clip? He was talking about McCain's non-change-oriented approach. It's a famous saying. He didn't make it up."

I think I am going to say Keating-Five-McCain every time I say his name now.

She didn't want to talk anymore after I blasted Palin and her fundy beliefs. Believe me, Palin would not have this friend of mine as her friend. "I know you're smart and it scares me when you say these things," she said. And I say, "It's not rocket science--read more than fox news!"

She had to go. I don't know if and when we'll talk, but we can't talk politics. And that's going to be increasingly difficult. What are you doing about friends and family on the other side of what republicans have turned into a culture war?

My friend is lockstep with Fox news and her Republican parents. These are dear people. I have known them. They are genuine. But they are sorely misled. Brainwashed even.

I question how I will continue to have friendships with those who are willing to let the ideology of the Palin party go mainstream -- book banning, loyalty testing, lying, end times, anti-gay, anti-choice. How? How can my friends, in particular, be part of a party who would not want them as members?

Republicans are the great pretenders, and Palin is giving them a new make-believe to believe in.

I'm looking for bright spots. Found this today: Bush-Supporting Koch is backing Obama:

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who endorsed and worked for George W. Bush in 2004, is endorsing Obama today, NY1 first reported.

I asked Koch just now what prompted the move.

"The designation of Palin to be vice president," he said. "She's scary."

He said he was alarmed by the report that she'd triggered a conflict with the local librarian in Wasilla, Alaska by inquiring about the possibility of banning books.

"Any time someone goes to the library and says, 'I want to ban books,' and the librarian says 'no,' and she threatens to fire them -- that's scary," he said.

NO DUH!!!! Hey, Koch, could you call my friend?

---

September 09, 2008

Among Friends

Women Against Sarah Palin.

A blog that counters the mass media's assumption that women are flocking to Sarah's side.

hat tip Doug Alder.

I can't stop watching - Lmao. some more.



--

It's been close before, and they stole it.

Time to start watching for voter manipulation and fraud. Download black box voting's PDF tool kit - it has tips I would have never thought of, including confirming your polling place before election day.... And things to watch out for, including last minute changes in polling places.

I spent six hours trying to vote in the Presidential primaries, and went to three different places to try to cast my vote. In the end, a few weeks after the election, I received a notice in the mail saying my vote wasn't counted. I registered appropriately at the library. Somewhere between there and my county voter registration office, I fell through the cracks.

Want to be sure your vote counts? Start NOW - from blackboxvoting:

Watch for: Last minute changes, polling place consolidation, confusing ballot design, shorting voting machines, malfunctioning machines, electronic poll book problems, supplies missing, not enough election workers, provisional ballot roadblocks, deceptive phone calls / fliers, deceptive ballot configurations, race left off some ballots, deceptive translations, snoop-friendly ballots, improper absentee ballot / envelope design, incorrect mail ballot insertions / delivery problems, cheat peeks.

Set news alerts: Google.com has a "News Alert" feature which allows you to set automatic e-mail notifications. Choose key words carefully, it can generate a lot of e-mail. Another easy method is to join an election protection e-mail list like electionreform@yahoogroups.com.

Confirm polling place before voting: Every election triggers complaints from voters when they learn that their polling place has been moved or eliminated. Of course facilities occasionally need to be changed, but we have even had reports of a husband and wife who were told to go to different polling places, even though they had lived in the same house for 20 years! This indicates a database problem. Also, due to cost run-ups from new voting machine purchases, hundreds of counties have closed polling places.

Part of election protection is knowing what to watch for. These things happen. The first time you see it, you can't quite believe it. That disbelief prevents citizens from taking crucial, immediate action. Elections are time sensitive. Keep your eyes wide open, vow to respond quickly and effectively.

The Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act was passed by the US House of Representatives and as of the time of this writing, is pending in the US Senate. This act prohibits any person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, from knowingly deceiving any other person regarding the time, place, or manner of conducting any federal election, or the qualifications for or restrictions on voter eligibility, and it prescribes a criminal penalty for such deceptive acts.

Unfair practices are deception's cousin. They come with an "Oops Excuse" and a denial that there was intent behind them. Deceptive and unfair practices are sometimes minimized by calling them "dirty tricks."

Just days before the 2008 primary, the state of Indiana invoked new voter ID laws. Last-minute changes like this disenfranchise. And that's just what happened to a group of nuns, who were dismayed to find out that they could not vote in Indiana this year because they lacked newly required photo ID.

There's a cool forum on the site as well.

We've been down this road before folks. Now is the time to get ready.

----

Lies Lies Lies: Bridge to Mo Money?

She is good at repeating lies over and over - in other words, a skilled Bush-like politician.

“I told Congress, ‘Thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere up in Alaska,” she said in a speech today. “If our state wanted a bridge, we were gonna built it ourselves.”

Yet even today’s Wall Street Journal, that bastion of liberal, pro-terrorist, anti-American ideology, reaches the only conclusion possible on the facts available:

“Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the McCain campaign continues to assert that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the federal government ‘thanks but no thanks’ to the now-famous bridge to an island in her home state….,” the Journal states.

The Journal also makes clear that Palin only abandoned the project AFTER Congress had killed federal funding for it, and that “she did not return the federal money. She just allocated it elsewhere.” As late as last September, Palin was complaining that criticism of the project had been unfair, claiming that “much of the public’s attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here.”

In other words, it was never “thanks, but no thanks.” It was “thank you very much, and now give me some more.”

---




The Sensitive Baracuda - Palin's Hiding Behind the Woman Shield

What makes me more crazy than the fact that Palin is applauded by conservatives for leaving her four-month-old special needs baby and her pregnant teenage daughter in order to participate in the biggest beauty contest of all - the Presidency - is the notion that somehow the media probing her background -- or asking ANY questions -- is unfair.

This woman-as-victim thing has GOT to stop. Now. With this election. Palin is the one who used her down syndrome baby as a human shield to hide her pregnant daughter's belly at recent campaign events. How low can you get?

The notion that the media has to treat Palin with "deference" is beyond me. WTF? Where is the outrage?

Maybe the GOP and the rest of America have grown too stupid or too scattered to know what deference means. From the L.A. Times:

John McCain's campaign essentially confirmed over the weekend what some had suspected: Media access to Sarah Palin, would-be vice president of the United States, will be tightly controlled.

Troublemakers need not apply.

And how will we know those troublemakers? They will be the ones unwilling to treat the governor of Alaska with what campaign manager Rick Davis called "some level of respect and deference."

Deference?

The dictionary definitions I find begin with "respectful submission" and "yielding."

Respectful Submission. Are you ready to submit? Because I'm not ready to submit.



Palin not throwing the plane out with the bathwater.

The LA Times reports that Sarah Palin, who got rid of Alaska's state plane, will be riding plenty on her own campaign plane starting as soon as she decides she'll speak to actual people or the actual media.

September 08, 2008

meaninglessness and moose stew



which inspires this:

Where Do We Gather: The Problem with Distributed Outrage

With the Internet came the notion that self-publishing means we all have a voice. Anyone with a connection can tap free self-publishing tools and have their say online. This, as humans, has changed us. If what we say resonates, others link and comment on our words, raising the profile of our voice, making it easier to find and hear what we have to say through search engines.

The problem is, in an emergency, the distributed nature of the Internet can cause more problems and confusion than it solves. In retrospect, articles about how Twitter helps hurricane victims organize are inspiring. In fact, in the middle of an emergency, all of our technology with its bells and whistles pulls a FAIL as often as a SAVE.

I'm afraid, very afraid, that distributed technology and far-flung voices are not sufficient to power the kind of revolution needed to save the soul of America.

I'm afraid that by its very nature, because the Internet lets the world speak simultaneously 24x7, writers and spammers and snake oil salesmen all, it dilutes the urgency, the outrage, the power of voice.

We have no more agora.

The marketplace is flooded.

We have millions of podiums with millions of voices and no where to gather. We are as disorganized as we are loud. Our collective power has been usurped by the very use of our individual voices, the freedom of speech we so value, the creative technology we've developed, and the tenor of our own voices.

When Paul Revere made his midnight ride, the signals were set before hand: one if by land, two if by sea. These were simple instructions, not a complex cacophony of opinions.
In the days before April 18, Revere had instructed Robert Newman, the sexton of the Old North Church, to send a signal by lantern to colonists in Charlestown as to the movements of the troops when the information became known; one lantern in the steeple would signal the army's choice of the land route, while two lanterns would signal the route "by water" across the Charles River.[3] This was done to get the message through to Charlestown in the event that both Revere and Dawes were captured. Newman and Captain John Pulling momentarily held two lanterns in the Old North Church as Revere himself set out on his ride, to indicate that the British soldiers were in fact crossing the Charles River that night. Revere rode a horse loaned to him by John Larkin, Deacon of the Old North Church.
And when he rode through the streets, Revere did not shout loudly, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" as we were taught in school. His mission was secret. His voice was pointed. His success -- the collective success of his community -- depended upon precise action of a single purpose at the right time.
By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's advancement. Revere certainly did not shout the famous phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"), largely because the mission depended on secrecy and the countryside was filled with British army patrols; also, most colonial residents at the time considered themselves British as they were all legally British subjects. Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "the regulars are coming out."[4
It began with a man on a horse, on a single street during a single night. That one voice cutting through the night, purposeful and centralized, created a unified response. Others joined him, and as many as 40 riders spread the news.

We need a Paul Revere. We need a lantern and an Old North Church.

Seriously.

My hope is that Anne Kilkenny is our midnight rider.

Kilkenny witnessed Palin's book banning "test of loyalty" in Wasilla, and wrote an honest and eloquent email that gives an unmistakable preview of the woman who would be president.

This is what she said:
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out
there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers
involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s
surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s
attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew
her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the
Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power
to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top
cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure
and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that
an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t
fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she
later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to
nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant
she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march
to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state
initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT
•“Hockey mom”: true for a few years
•“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
•“NRA supporter”: absolutely true
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
•“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation
•“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
•”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasilla’s history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen
when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out
of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s
attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are
swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The
day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the
current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

Anne Kilkenny
August 31, 2008


I'm not sure. I think Kilkenny may have ridden too early. History will determine how important her warnings were, how many heard her, and whether or not she made a difference.

She made a difference to me.

My hope is that in the coming weeks, someone will emerge, some meeting place will emerge, some tool will emerge, that will power and centralize our voices, our energy, our efforts, so that instead of "tweeting" our lunch plans across the distributed Internet, we can ride together. That others will join us. That no one will be able to dispute the significance of our ride, because on this mission, we will speak with one voice and a single purpose: freedom.

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