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.

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 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

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.

Jingoism vs Journalism Rockwall Style

Have you seen the "new, upgraded" Rockwall County News? If not, you should pick one up because it is one of the finest examples of a far right-wing rag as I have ever seen. Just take a look at the editorial page. Before, they actually printed letters to the editor, even ones that were hostile to the status quo in Rockwall. But, now that it is time to get on the bandwagon to get Ralph Hall re-elected, they can't have any rational debate on important issues or disagreement with his umbilical attachment to anything King George wanted to do. And you won't read about Jodie Laubenberg and Bob Deuell's subservience to Tom Craddick's agenda. That agenda would be a carbon copy of the one pushed by governor Rick "Big-hair" Perry. You know, the kind of things like taking away from poor kids by cutting CHIP and leaving a million dollars in federal money on the table or giving the saved money to rich peoples kids as school vouchers, or best of all, giving our highways away to a company in Spain.

Debate or commentary on such vital issues to Rockwall citizens has been replaced by commentaries from three wing-nuts: Bill O'Reilly specializing in hate speech, Walter Williams spouting race-baiting nonsense and Congressman Ron Paul off in the ozone of no laws. But of course this is balanced with....no, not Frank Rich, no, not Paul Krugman, in fact you are not even close. Instead the page is filled with four right wing reactionary political cartoons. Keep leafing through and you come to page 6 where the top article is a column in large letters entitled "On Gods Word". Keep going and all you get to read about is Rockwall kids, more Rockwall kids and Rockwall kids and sports.


I do not object to Born-again Christian theology, the right of right-wing commentators to spout nonsense or Rockwall's great kids. What I do object to is a lack of fairness or anything remotely resembling objectivity. In other words if you want to see a pitiful rehashing of the worst of the mainstream media mixed with support of Rockwall's kids, it is great. However, if you want to see a discussion of why Ralph Hall voted against sCHIP, or Veteran's or restraining domestic spying you won't find it in the Rockwall County News? You won't find any questions asking when the county commissioners knew Ray Sumrow was stealing county funds.

You won't find any debate about why the county commissioners couldn't convince voters to back the bonds for the fancy new courthouse located on the area's most expensive real estate either. I could go on, but we all know what is going on in this town and county and it isn't pretty. Too bad we have no local published news sources to defend us. I guess we will just have to do it ourselves person to person and on the internet.

Now Corny Wants to Take Credit for The New GI Bill

From today's Center for American Progress Briefing:
After voting against Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) GI Bill, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) now "has the gall to try and take credit for its passage." Brandon Friedman of VoteVets.org writes, "It is an admirable attempt at spin, however. Either way, the troops know Cornyn is a flip-flopper who supports them when it's politically expedient."

The Horror in Iraq Continues Despite McCain's Claims

John McClaim's continuing statements that we are achieving "victory" in Iraq defy rationality and the truth on the ground. Can you tell he was an advocate for Vietnam? One would have thought that he had learned his lesson there. But, no, he simply has to appeal to his misinformed and belligerent base that can't bother with the facts. The real danger is that McClaim continues to have a residue of respect for once fighting the administration's lackeys on Iraq and other issues. Unfortunately, that man is buried underneath at least 6 feet of dirty lies, misinformation and his own denial of his former embodiment as a man who at least had a little integrity. May that former soul rest in peace.

The Facts:

• We still have 150,000 troops and over 100,000 private contractors in Iraq
• 30,000 Private Contractors are replacing troops and fighting a parallel war
• Random genocide with Sunni vs Shia and Shia vs Shia violence continues
  
• Sunni vs Shia violence is occurring in Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Nigeria
• The Iraqi's political progress is basically non-existent
  

Juan Cole details the fundamental failure of the "surge" in today's Informed Comment here is an excerpt:

"The law revising treatment of former Baathists, which Bush and McCain had hailed as meeting a "benchmark" for political progress in Iraq, has never been implemented. The law is so ambiguous that how it is put into effect would determine if it could actually reduce the resentments of Sunni ex-Baathists. It was denounced when it was passed this winter by ex-Baathists such as Iyad Allawi and Salih Mutlak in the Iraqi parliament, which I thought a bad sign.

Although this important Reuters story is itself a refutation of the whole Kagan-Bush-McCain victory narrative of the "surge" or troop escalation, it will not even be mentioned on American television. The troop escalation had been intended to lead to political reconciliation, not just to temporarily tamp down violence in some neighborhoods. In fact, it led to a massive ethnic cleansing of Baghdad's Sunnis. There is no evidence that most of the Sunni Awakening Councils, who take money from the US to fight the Salafi Jihadis, are eager to reconcile with al-Maliki's government, by the way."

For a taste of what is really still happening in Iraq take a look at this interview with Laura Logan from last night's Daily Show.

My first State Democratic Convention, what an experience!

Bic Asberry, Wally Wadsworth and Jeanine Allen all tried to tell me what to expect at my first state convention but it was still a shock and a thrill. Sitting for hours at a time listening to debate on resolutions that were going to be referred to the SDEC anyway seemed to go on forever. The food was horrible, the weather was suffocating, the Austin Convention Center seemed to have been built by a confused sadist and after hearing the same speech repeated 20 or 30 times it did get old. But there were many thrills and highlights that made the trip worthwhile.

There were estimated to be 15-20,000 people in attendance and when we all cheered at once it shook the building. Nancy Sanchez was our designated cheerleader and she did a terrific job of it too.

Our Delegation came away with quite a few feathers in our hat. Phillip Borawski was elected as a member of the Permanent Resolution Committee and spent almost two completes days from early in the morning to late in the evening working on that vital committee. And amazingly Brandi Richards was elected as an Obama Delegate to the Democratic national Convention in Denver. Way to go Brandi! I was elected as what is called the Director position over the 10 County Chairs in Senate District 2. That position also makes me a member of the prestigious State Democratic Executive Committee. We are all honored to represent Rockwall Democrats in these three influential positions.

Harold Partain did a fantastic job of getting us all accounted for and keeping us together as a delegation. I think the vast majority of our delegates were there for most of the polled votes, though several alternates were elevated to full delegate status on Saturday.

The highlight for me was hearing Chelsea Clinton speak. She was poised, articulate and very warm. She spoke about her mother’s courageous campaign but pledged her and her mom’s full enthusiastic support of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. I swear there was some kind of light shining around that brilliant young woman.

Barack sent the Governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, to speak on his behalf. Governor Kaine is a rising star in the Democratic Party. A graduate of Harvard Law School, his law practice in Virginia for 17 years specialized in representing people who had been denied housing opportunities because of race or disability. He did a good job of focusing our collective eyes on the prize of the presidency and the work we have ahead of us to capture it for Senator Obama.

Another highlight was hearing State Representative and Lt. Colonel in the National Guard Rick Noriega. Click here to see the YouTube video. Noriega joined the United States Army in 1979 in the wake of the Iran hostage crisis. He became a Lt. Colonel in the Texas Army National Guard, and most recently served in the War in Afghanistan that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks.

On his return from Afghanistan, Mayor Bill White requested that Noriega command the evacuee shelter operation at the George Brown Convention Center, where he oversaw thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Rick is the Democratic Candidate running against Little Johnny Cornyn who has never met a corporation he didn’t love or an environmental protection law that he liked. Cornyn votes for billions and billions in war funding without blinking an eye and goes apoplectic at the thought of spending millions on the elderly or poor children. His most recent stomach turning stand was to oppose the New GI Bill giving the 1.5 million Iraq an Afghanistan veterans a decent chance at a quality education. I guess Corny doesn’t think these men and women who have spent multiple tours risking their lives, their limbs, their brains and their souls have sacrificed enough to earn a good college education.

There are several polls that put Noriega in a dead heat with John Cornyn. Cornyn has big corporation donors, but we can beat him with grassroots activism.

Boyd Richie was re-elected as Democratic Party Chair. Early in the convention he gave a rousing welcoming speech to all of us. He also showed us a new video that will be aired on TV called By The Numbers that dramatically shows how the tide is turning against the Republicans all over Texas and the nation.

Kirk Watson was the Convention Chair and did a great job. He is a former Mayor of Austin and a current Texas State Senator from the 14^th District. Kirk is a rising star in the Democratic Party and after hearing his speech and witnessing his mastery of the convention process it is easy to see why.

There was some kind of mix up so that Glenn Melancon didn’t get a chance to speak but I think he too is a rising star in our party and you can see a video of him speaking here. Glenn can beat Ralph Hall if we can get a turnout in November like we did in the primary. That means we have a real shot at replacing someone who has gone along with every Whitehouse decision in lock step fashion. Ralph Hall, a veteran of WWII who went to college on the original GI Bill, voted against the New GI Bill too. I still can’t figure that one out.

There were many more speakers who repeated the message to us that we CAN take back Texas and Washington this year. We have great candidates and a growing grass roots organization all over Texas. Let’s get moving and take back our State and our Country! I am excited and ready to move.

A weekley roundup of liberal Texas blogs

I though I would change things up a little today and do my own personal round up of Liberal Texas blogs.
Brains and Eggs has questions for Boyd Richie which are rather pointed and direct about how he has managed the party recently. Included is an accusation that he had Ron Kirk tell a women who is running for State Chair that if she did her superdelegate status would be lost.

Meanwhile Texas Kaos has important info re Texas Democratic State Convention.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram had an article this weekend that details how the Texas Sunset Commission is recommending that The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) be placed under a conservator's management since the leaders of the department seemed to have taken a bad trip to exotic (foreign owned) tollway island and drank the cool aid.

Vince from Capitol Annex reviews the Texas Legislative Study Group’s excellent recommendations concerning what the Texas Legislature needs to do to improve higher education.

The burning question at Doing My Part For The Left is will Republicans return Rev, Hagee’s hate money.

For more tidbits check out:

Texas Progressive Alliance Blog Round-Up: June 2, 2008 (Pre-Convention Edition!) at Capital Annex

If any of you have news about the issues or processes that will be going on at the State Convention later this week, please post them in the comments section.