Another McCain Flip-Flop (and not the cool sandal kind!)

I can't decide if McCain is stupid or senile...maybe it's a combination of both. This is regarding the ad he is running (showing in NM, I believe), blaming Obama for the high gas prices. Now THAT takes some balls, considering his buddy Bush has been running the country for the last seven years!

Another Dishonest McCain Ad (from DailyKos)
by BarbinMD
Tue Jul 22, 2008 at 06:50:12 AM PDT


John McCain has often said that he would run a respectful campaign, but he never said anything about running an honest one. His latest ad:

"Gas prices — $4, $5, no end in sight, because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil. Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?"

A photograph of Obama appears on the stage as a voiceover of a crowd chants: "Obama, Obama, Obama!"

Really? Did John McCain forget what he said two weeks ago?

"Let me give you a little straight talk on energy. Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, not yesterday, thirty years."

Did he forget what he said two months ago?

"With those resources, which would take years to develop, you would only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels," McCain said when asked about offshore drilling.

Did he forget that his own campaign said:

"...allowing new offshore drilling would have no immediate impact on supplies or gas prices."

Did he forget all that or is he just lying?

For your consideration...Vincent Van Gogh

"I wish they would only take me as I am." ---Vincent Van Gogh

For Your Consideration...Mistakes

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."

---Elbert Hubbard

"Never say 'oops.' Always say, 'Ah, interesting!'

---Unknown

Randomness re: deficit and war

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 20 Jul 2008 at 08:28:03 PM GMT is: 9,523,064,965,628.63 .

The estimated population of the United States is 304,391,410, so each citizen's share of this debt is $31,285.59. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of$1.74 billion per day since September 28, 2007! http://brillig.com/debt_clock/

"OLDER MEN DECLARE WAR. BUT IT IS YOUTH THAT MUST FIGHT AND DIE. AND IT IS YOUTH WHO MUST INHERIT THE TRIBULATION, THE SORROW, AND THE TRIUMPHS THAT ARE THE AFTERMATH OF WAR." ---Herbert Hoover

"WHAT IF SOMEBODY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME? LIFE WOULD RING THE BELLS OF ECSTASY AND FOREVER BE ITSELF AGAIN." ---Allen Ginsberg

So far the cost of the Iraq War is $611.5 billion. It is estimated the cost will eventually exceed $3 trillion, which is a conservative estimate.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/gallery/251007war_costs/ - It's staggering what that much money could buy...check it out.

http://www.afsc.org/cost/banners.htm

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/10/the_real_cost_o.php

(From The Washington Post, March 9, 2008)

"President Bush tried to sell the American people on the idea that we could have a war with little or no economic sacrifice. Even after the United States went to war, Bush and Congress cut taxes, especially on the rich -- even though the United States already had a massive deficit. So the war had to be funded by more borrowing (our greatest indebtedness is to Japan and China). By the end of the Bush administration, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus the cumulative interest on the increased borrowing used to fund them, will have added about $1 trillion to the national debt.

The long-term burden of paying for the conflicts will curtail the country's ability to tackle other urgent problems, no matter who wins the presidency in November. Our vast and growing indebtedness inevitably makes it harder to afford new health-care plans, make large-scale repairs to crumbling roads and bridges, or build better-equipped schools. Already, the escalating cost of the wars has crowded out spending on virtually all other discretionary federal programs, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration the Environmental Protection Agency, and federal aid to states and cities, all of which have been scaled back significantly since the invasion of Iraq."

(From "The Opportunity Cost of War" tompaine.com, Sep 28, 2006)

"Every dollar spent on the Iraq War is a dollar we cannot spend on addressing other priorities, whether abroad or at home. Economists call this an ‘opportunity cost.’ But all of these dollars are dollars that could have been directed toward meeting other needs and investing in our future. In fact, that amount of money could have provided health care coverage for all uninsured children for as long as the Iraq War has lasted; provided four-year scholarships (tuition and fees) to a public university for all of this year’s graduating seniors; built half a million affordable housing units; fully-funded the amount the Coast Guard estimated is needed for port security; tripled the energy conservation budget in the U.S. Department of Energy; and still enough would be left over to reduce this year’s budget deficit by one-third.

After three and a half years of the Iraq War, much has happened in the U.S. that speaks to our elected officials’ priorities. During the same period of time, the number and percentage of people without health insurance—private, government or otherwise—has risen. Many more are under-insured and have large out-of-pocket costs for health care. A recent study found that half of all bankruptcies filed were at least in part due to unaffordable health care bills.

The poverty rate continues to hover around 12 percent, more than a third of which are children. The median household income and median family income have declined and stagnated. The jobs that have been gained since the last recession are primarily low wage. Meanwhile, income inequality has grown. The share of income going to the “bottom” four-fifths of all families has declined, while the wealthiest one-fifth of families’ share has increased.

Yet, since the Iraq War began, no event speaks more about the divestment in our infrastructure and in our families than Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane exposed the poverty that exists in this nation of wealth. But the hurricane also exposed what happens when we neglect our infrastructure."

U.S. Military Deaths (Iraq) 4124

U.S. Military Wounded (Iraq) 30409

Iraqi Civilian Deaths 151000

"Excess" Iraqi Deaths 655000

And last, but certainly not least, John McCain's opinion on the war (Mother Jones, Jan 3, 2008):

"The United States military could stay in Iraq for "maybe a hundred years" and that "would be fine with me," John McCain told two hundred or so people at a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, on Thursday evening. Toward the end of this session, which was being held shortly before the Iowa caucuses were to start, McCain was confronted by Dave Tiffany, who calls himself a "full-time antiwar activist." In a heated exchange, Tiffany told McCain that he had looked at McCain's campaign website and had found no indication of how long McCain was willing to keep U.S. troops in Iraq. Arguing that George W. Bush's escalation of troops has led to a decline in U.S. casualties, McCain noted that the United States still maintains troops in South Korea and Japan. He said he had no objection to U.S. soldiers staying in Iraq for decades, "as long as Americans are not being injured, harmed or killed."

After the event ended, I asked McCain about his "hundred years" comment, and he reaffirmed the remark, excitedly declaring that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for "a thousand years" or "a million years," as far as he was concerned..."

Gee...I wonder how we'll afford that???

Racism, or is it?

I am proud of the way I have changed as a person in the last few years. Not that I wasn't already a pretty great gal (wink, wink), but we can always grow for the better. I grew up in a very "racist" family, my parents were raised in the South, in a period that is not the best representation of America. So, the area that I have grown in considerably and been the most proud of is realizing that most of us are the same person inside regardless of our skin color/race. Well, with that said, I realize that I still might have a little way to go!

We had a show in a city that is very racially diverse...nothing wrong with that, a lot of Asian, Philippine, African, and East Indian people who have immigrated from their respective countries for a chance at a better life. It's a great thing that they are able to make a new life in a new country, and admirable that they would leave their homeland to start over in a country of strangers. However, there is something I don't get about that. If you are leaving a country in search of a better life, fleeing from oppression and poverty wouldnt you want to assimilate yourself to the ways of the country you were immigrating to? Wouldn't you want to leave the "old" ways behind? I can understand holding onto some traditions and customs, within reason, but at the same time, adopting and adapting to the country you are now calling "home."

Which brings me to a sticky point! If you're moving to an English speaking country, shouldn't you make an effort to speak/learn English, at least in public situations? Especially if you are the second or third generation born into the "new" country? We don't live in a third world mentality, either....bartering and deal making aren't a way of life in civilized nations. Obviously, I dealt with these two things a LOT these last several days, and it really, really got the best of me!

McCain

Well, since I am on a political kind of roll, I might as well keep it going.

So you say you're voting for John McCain, because you just can't bring yourself to vote for a black guy with big ears and a funny name? "Well, he's a Muslim, he's too Liberal, his wife is too mouthy...blah, blah, blah." Let's step into the world of reality, and out of the world of shallowness for a moment, shall we? If you're a female, consider these few (but not all, by far) points about John McCain:

He has consistently voted against women's issues. In fact, he has a received a "zero" rating from Planned Parenthood. http://www.womenforbarackobama.com/McCain.html You can read it for yourself.

He wants to overturn Roe v Wade, and will have the power to appoint Supreme Court Justices who will do so. While abortion is a horrible thing, it is still a woman's right to decide.

He makes jokes about rape, one of the most horrible and degrading things that can happen to a woman (or man).

He calls his wife a c*nt in front of reporters. (I would kick his teeth down his throat).

During his time in a Vietnamese prison camp, his first wife was seriously injured in a car wreck. She was disfigured, and walked with a limp...upon returning to the US, he left his wife for a girl 18 years younger than him, who was a beer heiress with a lot of money, whom he married one month after his divorce was final.

He doesn't think birth control should be covered by your insurance (if you're lucky enough to afford it), but by all means it should cover Viagra (how else can he keep a woman 18 years his junior satisfied?).

His wife stole medications from her non-profit relief organization, and managed to avoid jail time (how fortunate for her).

His wife's company, one of the largest Annheiser Busch distributors in the US, regularly lobbies against Mother's Against Drunk Driving.

Can you say Keating Five scandal? Look it up if you want to know what it is.

These are just small glitches in McCain's "armour." Seriously, how could you vote for this man?

Pathetic Billboard

Don't know how many of you have read the story behind this billboard, so, I will share it with you. It is in Orlando, Florida, and was put up by right wing hack, Mike Meehan. It features the burning Twin Towers on 9/11, and says, "Please don't vote for a Democrat."

Well, you know how we Democrats just love terrorists! Isn't that the stupidest thing you have ever seen? Now correct me if I'm wrong, (which I'm not, so don't bother), but didn't we have a Republican president, a Republican Congress, and a Republican Senate when 9/11 occurred? Yeah, I thought so....and that would make his point WHAT? Nothing, except to strike up fear, which is what the Republicans are good at...fear mongering...they've brought it to new heights.

How this guy can use such a horrible time in American history for a political wedge is beyond me. But the Republicans have, with success...they did it in 2004...telling Americans that if they elected a Democrat for President that there would be more terrorist attacks...saying that Democrats aren't patriotic, and don't love America because so many were against (and rightly so) the occupation of Iraq. Now, Barack isn't patriotic because he doesn't wear a 10 cent flag lapel pin made in China. It's enough to make a sane and rational person puke!

Sadly, some will buy into this. Forget the shambles our country is in...and if you do vote Republican, well, you deserve to be associated with guys like Mike Meehan.

Public Transportation

Adrienne told me I need to write a blog so she can have something to read. I haven't done that yet, because I've been unable to put a coherent thought together. Didn't watch TV, surf the net, or read a newspaper for 12 days, so I'm kinda out of touch with the world, and still kinda tired. It was work, work, work, sleep...

I did get to experience, first hand, the thrills of public transportation. Rather than face all of the traffic and parking nightmares, we took the train to our show, $2.50 each way, per person, exact change required. Park and ride. Parking was the key issue. For all of the promotion/hype that public transportation receives, all of the benefits it provides, the system is sorely lacking in parking spots. The lot we used had over 1300 spaces, and good luck finding one...we did get a parking ticket one day, after a bit of creativity on Nicol's part. The trains are clean in the morning, and if you get on at an early stop, you might actually get a seat. The 20 minute ride into downtown did give me time to enjoy listening to my MP3 player...almost everyone had one; it wasn't a bad way to start the morning.

The trip at night was a different story...jam packed, half (maybe 3/4) full of drunks, and losers. That's the downside of public transportation...having to witness, and be thrown into the middle of all the stupidity that is prevalent in the human race!

In this city of over one million people, there is a long way to go before PT is an accepted form of travel. More cars on the train, covering more of the city, and wayyyyyy more parking. Until they get a handle on this, and make it easier for people, there will be less incentive to use public transportation. It's a great idea....

A picture is worth...

Is there a better reason NOT to vote for this man???? A picture is worth a thousand words.