Sunday, August 31, 2008

Bad News and Bad News coverage of Sarah Palin

There is the image of Palin as the oh-so-cute, mother of five, political reformer and maverick. Then when you turn over that shiny rock there is the raw political truth staring up at you. The MSM (mainstream media) is doing it's diligent best to polish the rock, instead of their job, which used to involve real investigative reporting.

Fake consultant takes a look under beneath the image with some real reporting which isn't oh-so-cute but is oh-so-truthful.Here is his closing paragraph:

"So that’s the story for today...Vice Cheney Nominee Palin, the fresh face with executive experience that McCain has brought to the table, is giving away half a billion dollars in taxpayer money to the Big Gas/Big Oil (for openers), has overseen the end of a “dairy industry subsidy” she couldn’t save, pulled the blinds down on “open and transparent government”, kind of “hired” her husband to be an unofficial “Personnel Director”, has apparently decided that the mantra of “anti-spending” is much more important than public safety—even while her State is the recipient of more than $11,000 in Federal spending per Alaska citizen--and she’s going after her sister’s ex-husband, and of course, there’s also that bipartisan “abuse of power” investigation she’s now dealing with...

Not bad for two years in office, eh? "

Media Matters notes how Bob Shieffer at C-BS gushed about her as a reformer even though she supported 31 Federal Earmarks for Alaska in 2008 and vocally supported "the bridge to nowhere" when she ran for office in 2006. They also dispute David Brook's sunny assertions that she "talks about global warming quite a lot" and is pretty progressive on gay and lesbian issues". In point of fact she has said "A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made." She also vetoed a bill that would have granted same sex partners of state employees spousal benefits and ignored a ruling and an order by the state Supreme Court to give them benefits.

Remember, if you are still watching the "news channels" you are only getting corporate propaganda put out by paid talking heads. As we say in Texas,"you can tell they are lying because their lips are moving". Blogs are were real journalism takes place now days.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Palin pales in her own back yard

from SusanG at Daily Kos


Even Locals Are Blasting Palin Pick
by SusanG
Sat Aug 30, 2008 at 11:00:18 AM PDT

An editorial in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:

She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land. Republicans rightfully have criticized the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, for his lack of experience, but Palin is a neophyte in comparison; how will Republicans reconcile the criticism of Obama with the obligatory cheering for Palin?...Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation's when he created the possibility that she might fill it. It's clear that McCain picked Palin for reasons of image, not substance.

The Anchorage Daily News samples some state politician reaction:

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? said [State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla]. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

And the News-Miner again, in round-up local reaction story:

Lately her reputation within the state has been bit by allegations of mixing political and family business, and by mistreating one of the state's premier marine mammals. Palin's catch-phrase of "openness and transparency" has been tarnished by revelations that staff members tried to have Palin's former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper. Also, the governor of the only state with polar bears has adamantly opposed listing the animals as a threatened species, despite strong evidence that global warming has devastated their sea ice environment off Alaska's coast. Dermot Cole, a longtime columnist for Alaska's second largest newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, called McCain's choice of Palin "reckless" and questioned her credentials. "Sarah Palin's chief qualification for being elected governor was that she was not Frank Murkowski," Cole said of her enormously unpopular predecessor, who lost favor with Alaskans in part because of unpopular budget cuts. "She was not elected because she was a conservative. She was not elected because of her grasp of issues or because of her track record as the mayor of Wasilla."

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Sunday News Roundup

Frank Rich has a great column today in the New York Times. He suggests a significant change in Barack's strategy.

Wikipedia has an excellent rundown of Joe Biden's career and influence on the Senate.

Newsweek has an article on the corruption connection between Dick Cheney and Sen. Ted Stevens.

Brains and Eggs has a several posts worth reading and a great collection of political cartoons.

The Alliance for Retired Americans has a terrific rundown of John McCain's planned attacks on Social Security and Medicare.

The intense conservative bias of the MSM (mainstream media) is described in detail and vigorously attacked by Daily Kos creator Markos Moulitsas on the Politico blog today.

LTR (Liberal Talk Radio) has a post about the popular Air America host Rachel Maddow getting her own show on MSNBC.

Maybe you have noticed that our economy is crashing. McCain's response is to strengthen and make permanent the Bush tax breaks for the rich. He says Obama's plan to raise taxes on the very rich will kill jobs. Dean Baker and economist for the Center for Economic Policy Research dissects the absurdity of McCain's position

Thursday, August 14, 2008

More of the Callous Indifference of Sen. Cornydog

From Rick Noriega's campaign:

This week, John Cornyn told the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club that Texas is a national model for improving access to health care, revealing just how out of touch our senator is with Texas families.

But here are the facts:

TEXAS FACT: Analysis of Census Data Shows That 45.7% of Texans Don't Have Health Insurance For All Or Part Of The Year. According to analysis of Census data by Families USA, more than 9 million Texans go without health insurance for all or part of the year. It's more than 45% of Texans, and it's usually longer than a month. [Families USA 09/07]

TEXAS FACT: Texas Had Highest Number of Uninsured Children In the
Nation.
A 2007 report estimated that Texas had 1,410,000 uninsured children.
[Families USA, 9/07]

And Cornyn Was One Of Only 18 Senators To Block Efforts to Provide Health
Insurance to Children. As reported in the Houston Chronicle, "Last year, Cornyn was among 18 members of the 100-member Senate who opposed a huge expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program." [Houston Chronicle, 08/13/08]

In fact, Cornyn Voted SIX TIMES AGAINST Health Insurance For Texas Kids.
[Vote 307, 8/2/07; Vote 352, 9/27/07; Vote 353, 9/27/07; Vote 401, 10/31/07; Vote 402, 11/1/07; Vote 403, 11/1/07; Financial Times.com, 8/2/07; DPC, 7/31/07]

Wonder why? Cornyn Accepted $75,500 from Health Services/HMO Industry.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Cornyn has accepted $75,500 from the Health Services/HMO industry throughout his career. [Center for Responsive Politics, 8/12/08]

We need your help in letting Texans know that not only has Cornyn blocked health insurance for Texas families, but it's because he thinks that there's no health care crisis in Texas.

Lisa Falkenberg wrote in today's Houston Chronicle something that I think we're
all very familiar with, "If Texas is a model, the crisis in this country is deeper than any of us realize."

It's time to take John Cornyn to task for his failures at the expense of Texas families.

Jerry Falwell a Moony?

From Forbes:

Moonstruck

Facing financial ruin from $90 million of debt coming due, Jerry Falwell saved his fundamentalist Baptist organization with secret funding from the doctrinally different church of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, a new book says. Falwell Inc., by FORBES senior reporter Dirk Smillie, says Moon's Unification Church--which holds that Jesus met a youthful Moon in Korea on Easter Day 1935--gave Falwell $5.5 million in 1992 and 1993 that allowed him to buy up $29 million of debt at a big discount and gain needed breathing room. Moral Majority founder Falwell, who died last year, credited others for the largesse in what the book calls "probably the biggest whopper Falwell ever told." --W.P.B.