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The Republicans: A shattered party

The findings of the Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll on self-identified Republicans confirms much of what many already thought, a party being taken down a horrible road. (for the record while Daily Kos is a Democratic blog, Research 2000 is a non-biased, renown polling organization used by both parties, which is why you don't hear much rumble from the other side)

When Barack Obama visited the House Republican Retreat on January 29, 2010, it was certainly a first in groundbreaking television but it was what he said, directly to the Republicans which holds true to the poll. He told them that what they said or let remain said, as a party, has consequences. The consequences allows them not to vote on legislation, even if they agree with parts of it, because of the fear if they do vote, that the far right in their party will primary them and it will have consequences. The violent and untrue rhetoric has consequences which will allow them not to govern or even do business with him. All of this was correct and you see it all through the polling.

The Republican Party is running in 2010 on the hope that they can retake the House of Representatives; to do this is to do nothing. What Barack Obama did at their retreat was to unveil to the American Public what the Republican Party is all about.

Not much.

For bi-partisanship to work, and I have no problem with it, must be a two way communication. What the Republican Party has done is vote no to everything, even on a principled financial part of who they are, "to pay for things as you go", in other words not to even vote for the PAYGO system to be reinstalled for fiscal responsibility in congress. A system that Republicans have been harboring for years that need to be reinstalled, instead was voted NAY down party lines in the senate. That was a joke.

Beating the Republicans won't be difficult, they have reneged on who they principally are. With the public outraged at gridlock, this should be a prime moment for Democrats to govern, but they must act like leaders, first.

If the Democrats want to remain in power, a few things must occur:

* A Jobs Bill must pass congress and force the Republicans to vote on not helping Americans get back to work

* The Democrats must show some leadership and stop acting afraid of their own shadows

* If these Democrats want to remain in charge, they must act like they ARE in charge.

* Barack Obama must finally realize that HE is in charge of the Democratic Party

* Barack Obama must show LEADERSHIP and demand ACTION in what he says from now on

Right now the energy is on the Republican side, lead by the divisive Teabaggers. This ilk is part of the problem of the Republican Party, but that is their problem. Our problem is having a Democratic majority that has not produce NOTHING in huge legislative gains for the American Public to take notice.

2009 was a waste and we see it. Let us not even talk health care, which was botched by the inactivity of the White House and the capitulation of the Democratic Senate. But 2010 is very winnable, look at who we have to run against. But, if we cannot win against the Republican Party, then we don't deserve to be in charge. Simple as that.

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Markos over @ Daily Kos made Tom Tancredo storm off The Ed Schulz Show!!! Touche!!! (video)

MSNBC Video

A few minutes ago on The Ed Show, Tom Tancredo tried to make the case against government health care by claiming that the Veterans Administration is unpopular with U.S. military veterans. The only problem for him was that he was up against Markos...who is one of those veterans, unlike Tancredo, a pro-Vietnam War chickenhawk who got a 1-Y deferment.

When Markos pointed out that Tancredo was (a) wrong about the Veterans Administration and (b) not qualified to speak for veterans, Tancredo exploded in anger, demanding an apology. Markos did not oblige, and Tancredo stormed off the set.

LOL - Kos just made Tancredo take his ball and go home on TV
Chickenhawk Tancredo storms off set after Markos confronts him on veterans health care
PRICELESS

The funniest thing about this exchange is Tancredo talking about Veterans, thus not KNOWING that Markos is a VETERAN. Beautiful.

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Democratic voter turnout declines (Video)

From Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

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Is Obama going to dis the Netroots? (Video)

Yep, he used us up good. We wanted to be used, he was the "Change Guy". We have been patient with many things that we have not agreed with Obama on and held our fire. But, health care reform, a signature issue in the Democratic Party, number 2 behind Iraq, many are not going to take it.

Will we help him in 2012 if he goes the Blue Dog, Rahm Emanuel route? Maybe, we will give him a vote, but getting fired up and ready to go, he will have to go find some more folks for that one.

And remember, the far left was for "single payer" the mainstream DEMOCRATIC PARTY wants the public option. Obama, we hope you are hearing us. From the Ed Show on MSNBC.

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The DLC reinventing themselves....

I am glad that we have some folks on the left that are seeing this health care battle with eyes wide open, crystal clear. Slinkerwink, threw a diary up on Daily Kos about the DLC front, "Third Way."

I can not even start about the DLC and how their influence in Democratic politics have demised the party to nothingness, at one point. We all know that Bill and Hillary Clinton were influenced by the incremental thinking and constant give away to the other side from the DLC, which also did not help Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Democrats have seen this show and we got nothing from it. The DLC was rebuked during Barack Obama's run for the presidency and rightly so. But power is a bitch and when you want to be a player, again, you create these fronts or "think tanks."

As we move into the final make-or-break months of the health care debate, every progressive should, in the James Carville tradition, put a simple warning on the wall: Do not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. While many are fighting passionately for one particular policy proposal, such as a public plan, it would be tragic to allow the inclusion or exclusion of any single element to derail reform.

Boy, the Republicans are loving this article. What is completely a joke is that "Third Way" actually calls itself "progressive", and I ask WHERE. This health care fight was already compromised by the removal of single payer off the table. Many democrats, independents and republicans accepted that, but want and demand a public option.

Americans have every right to be skeptical of the insurance industry and congress. Why? Because the insurance industry and congress are working in tandem motion, they practically and literally OWE each other. I don't expect not one Republican vote for any health care reform, it is not coming, but I do expect Democrats in congress to do the right thing and vote the public option through.

It is organizations, or fronts, like "Third Way" that makes many on the left fight harder. Why should we compromise, reject, throw away the public option? It is a great idea, a plan already working for federal employees, the very plan that congress enjoys. I have YET, heard a reasonable explanation why the American public should not pool our resources together to get affordable, cost efficient and quality health care. Hell, this is not free, we are PAYING for it, but since it is the public versus the private insurance companies, this is where we see these weak as water politicians trying to explain to the public why we should continue with these private insurance companies and opt out of the public option.

The left is not going to have it, and many who voted across party lines for Barack Obama, who campaigned on this very isssue, is not going to have it. While we are witnessing the largest MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN against health care reform in history, we all know what is at stake.

President Obama will have to draw his line in the sand and he will have to stand on it. Many have concerns about where he stands because of all the bad communication coming from this White House and Democratic surrogates. Right now many are confused, uncertain and not sure which way this health care reform will go. One thing that is perfectly clear, the Republicans are not voting for squat. One thing that is perfectly clear, these negotiations are worthless with the Republicans. And one thing is perfectly clear, if we don't see a solid, robust public option coming out of this health care bill, the Democrats and Obama can kiss 2010 and on goodbye. In fact, it will be the rebirth of the Republican Party, a party that ran on nothing, but was able to wield its minor power into possible majority power again.

And that will be the Democrats fault.

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Daily Kos polls the "Death Panel" controversy

One thing is clear, Obama Administration needs to clear up the misinformation. The "unsure" number is too high for my take. Also, it is obvious that the government will force seniors to a death panel is bogus and the public is not buying it.

Read it all here

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This is why we need health care reform: I Was Just Denied a Needed Test by my Insurance Co

This is a diary from Daily Kos. From an individual who HAS health care. His family has had a history of heart problems, with most of them dying at an early age from a heart attack. His doctor sent him immediately to a cardiologist, the cardiologist scheduled a nuclear stress test which would give a clear picture of the heart and any blockages. Guess what happened? The insurance company MADE THE DECISION that he did not need it. Is this the type of health care we want in this country? An insurance bean counter deciding a procedure over a cardiologist? CHANGE IS NEEDED.

I am a 46 year old man with a family history of early death as a result of heart attacks. I am of normal weight and exercise a few days a week. I have been having a problem breathing properly after even moderate exertion. My general practioner was concerned enough to refer me to a cardiologist and even demanded that I see the cardiologist on the day of my yearly physical.

The cardiologist was able to see me and suggested a nuclear stress test which would give a clear picture of the heart and any blockages. He suggested that my symptoms and family history were significant enough to warrant that test. My grandfather was dead at 50 of a heart attack, his son dead at 43 of a heart attack and his grandson also dead at 43 of a heart attack. That history coupled with my recent poor breathing was alarming enough to demand the test.

Today they called and cancelled the test. It seems my carrier Aetna does not believe I need the test and have denied the claim. I was told by the doctor's office that since I had not had any haert events that they would not cover this. In essence I had not had a heart attack yet so this test was not necessary.

This is the health care system in America today and yet we have these town hall morons screaming about rationing of health care. What the hell do you call what they just did to me? Does anyone think the government would have denied this test?

My grandmother had a saying "An empty can makes the loudest noise" and seeing these uninformed town hall morons killing our nations first real chance at reform is infuriating. It seems loud and stupid wins over reason and the insurance companies laugh all the way to the bank and people like me wait to have a heart event so that I can get the needed tests, that is if I live after the event.

I know this is a short diary but my experience is the same as millions of Americans at the mercy of profit driven insurance companies. It is stories like mine that need to be told. Now I will walk around not really knowing if I am OK and my first indication that I am not could very well be my last but hey some pig at Aetna just received a bonus to deny me care.

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Glenn Beck's advertisers are backing away -- help us increase the pressure

Last week, after Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist" who has a "deep-seated hatred for white people," we asked ColorOfChange members to call on Beck's advertisers to pull their funding from his show. More than 50,000 people have already joined the call, and today we have great news to report -- advertisers are starting to listen:

Three companies who run ads during Glenn Beck -- NexisLexis-owned Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance -- today distanced themselves from Beck. LexisNexis has pulled its advertising from Beck and says it has no plans to advertise on the program in the future. Both Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance called the Beck advertising placements an error that they would correct.

Since we released our statement announcing the news this morning, another company, S.C. Johnson (Pledge, Ziplock, Off!) told us that it was a mistake for their ads to be running on Beck's show, and that they'd make sure it wouldn't happen again in the future. (UPDATE: Our contact at S.C. Johnson wanted us to clarify that they have had no knowledge of their ad running on the Glenn Beck show (they wanted to verify this for themselves), and if it did happen, it was not something they requested.)

This is great progress, and it shows how effective it can be when thousands of people tell advertisers not to support this kind of hateful rhetoric. Now we need to step up the pressure on Beck's other advertisers. While Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance were quick to respond, many others have avoided answering us, or refused to budge. We're currently in conversations with advertisers, and the more people they see joining this campaign, the more reason they'll have to listen.

If you haven't done so already, please sign our petition to Beck's advertisers, and ask your friends and family to do the same. Moving forward, we'll keep you informed about effective ways you can pressure the advertisers to withdraw their support from Beck's show.



Here's what Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble, and Progressive Insurance told us this week:

"Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention," said John Michaels, Senior Communications Manager at LexisNexis in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "We have suspended further advertising during Mr. Beck's program."

"We have no plans to continue advertising on Mr. Beck's show," Michaels continued in another email.

When executives at Procter & Gamble were contacted by ColorOfChange.org, they said that any ads run during Glenn Beck were run by mistake, and that they would correct the problem going forward.

"No P&G ads should have appeared on this program in the first place," said Martha Depenbrock, Brand Building Stakeholder Relations for Procter & Gamble in an email. "To be clear, if any of our advertising appeared on the Glenn Beck show, it was in error and we appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention. We will do what we can to see that it doesn't happen again."

Since we released our statement announcing the news this morning, another company, S.C. Johnson (Pledge, Ziplock, Off!) told us that it was a mistake for their ads to be running on Beck's show, and that they'd make sure it wouldn't happen again in the future.

This is great progress, and it shows how effective it can be when thousands of people tell advertisers not to support this kind of hateful rhetoric. Now we need to step up the pressure on Beck's other advertisers. While Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance were quick to respond, many others have avoided answering us, or refused to budge. We're currently in conversations with advertisers, and the more people they see joining this campaign, the more reason they'll have to listen.

If you haven't done so already, please sign our petition to Beck's advertisers, and ask your friends and family to do the same. Moving forward, we'll keep you informed about effective ways you can pressure the advertisers to withdraw their support from Beck's show.

Progressive Insurance said any ads running during Glenn Beck were a mistake by Fox News Channel -- a mistake they have asked the network to fix immediately.

"Our (advertising) order specifies no Glenn Beck," said Linda J. Harris, Media Director at Progressive Insurance in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "We have confirmed with the network that our spots should not be running there," Harris said in a later email.

The decision by these three advertisers to distance themselves from Beck should help increase the pressure on others. The writing is on the wall -- Beck should not have the backing of mainstream advertisers. If we keep the pressure on, we believe we can seriously threaten his platform.

Please join us.

Cross-posted @ Huffington Post, Daily Kos, jack and jill politics, and Firedoglake

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Birthers destroying the Republican Party (Video)

The downward beat goes on for the Republican Party....from Countdown with Keith Olbermann.....



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Obama Movie....inspired by students....(Video)

This is why the Obama Campaign will go down in history as not only the most well run or funded, but the one campaign that people got INVOLVED and they went to VOTE, especially the young folk. Inspired by teacherken's students for a final project, originally posted over @ Daily Kos.



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Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General, Approved Torture Months Before Memos Written

When it rains, it pours.

When you lie, it eventually comes out.

Here it comes....from Daily Kos, via NPR....GOP explain this one...

NPR is reporting that Alberto Gonzales while the White House Atty, not the Atty Gen, was approving the Torture of Abu Zubaydah months before the Aug. Torture Memos were even written. It appears the ACLU has the proof from a ongoing court case.

The source says nearly every day, Mitchell would sit at his computer and write a top secret cable to the CIA’s counterterrorism center. Each day, Mitchell would request permission to use enhanced interrogation techniques on Zubaydah. The source says the CIA would then forward the request to the White House, where White House counsel Alberto Gonzales would sign off on the technique. That would provide the Administration’s legal blessing for Mitchell to increase the pressure on Zubaydah in the next interrogation.

Late May 19, the CIA sent the ACLU a spreadsheet as part of a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act. The log shows the number of top secret cables that went from Zubaydah’s black site prison to CIA headquarters each day. Through the spring and summer of 2002, the log shows someone sent headquarters several cables a day.

I don't care what the Obama White House wants to do or say, this torture crap and what the Bush Administration did will not go away.

Read more from McJoan of Daily Kos, here.

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Michael Steele says, "Obama's bankrupting the country" (Video)

Steele also says, the "GOP is BACK!!!"

From BarbinMD over at Daily Kos:

"We are going to take this President on with class, we are going to take this President on with dignity," Steele will say. "This will be a very sharp and marked contrast to the shabby and classless way that the Democrats and the far left spoke of the last President."

The RNC meeting wraps up on Wednesday with a scheduled vote on a controversial resolution that calls on Democrats to rename their party the "Democrat Socialist Party."

Damn, class and dignity? What a joke!!! Did King Rush, Hannity, Michael Savage get the memo? I doubt it.

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Let's talk about that good ol' boy, Senator Jeff Sessions

Yes, billmon posted a diary on Daily Kos yesterday focusing on the greatest hits of that wonderful Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions.

Why the focus? Well, his bigoted ways speaks for itself. And let us not forget that he is going to replace the New Democratic Senator Arlen Specter as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee choice. This very committee that confirms President Obama's supreme court justice. (the emphasis in bold is mine)

Republicans are set to name conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama as their point man on President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, signaling that they won't shy away from a protracted fight despite risks of being cast as obstructionist.

Sessions' ascension as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee comes more than 20 years after the panel rejected him for his own federal judgeship during the Reagan administration over concerns that he was hostile toward civil rights and was racially insensitive.

Yes, racially insensitive. He is just that and let's look at his greatest hits.

Senate Democrats tracked down a career Justice Department employee named J. Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU ) "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people." In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groups could be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy.

OK. Let the ball roll...

Another damaging witness--a black former assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama named Thomas Figures--testified that, during a 1981 murder investigation involving the Ku Klux Klan, Sessions was heard by several colleagues commenting that he "used to think they [the Klan] were OK" until he found out some of them were "pot smokers."

Ummmmm. OK, it is heating up.....

Sessions was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. The year before his nomination to federal court, he had unsuccessfully prosecuted three civil rights workers--including Albert Turner, a former aide to Martin Luther King Jr.--on a tenuous case of voter fraud. The three had been working in the "Black Belt" counties of Alabama, which, after years of voting white, had begun to swing toward black candidates as voter registration drives brought in more black voters. Sessions's focus on these counties to the exclusion of others caused an uproar among civil rights leaders, especially after hours of interrogating black absentee voters produced only 14 allegedly tampered ballots out of more than 1.7 million cast in the state in the 1984 election. The activists, known as the Marion Three, were acquitted in four hours and became a cause c?l?bre. Civil rights groups charged that Sessions had been looking for voter fraud in the black community and overlooking the same violations among whites, at least partly to help reelect his friend Senator Denton.

Wow, cherry picking at its finest......

Figures didn't see it that way. Sessions, he said, had called him "boy" and, after overhearing him chastise a secretary, warned him to "be careful what you say to white folks." Figures echoed Hebert's claims, saying he too had heard Sessions call various civil rights organizations, including the National Council of Churches and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, "un-American." Sessions denied the accusations but again admitted to frequently joking in an off-color sort of way. In his defense, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times.

Lastly, not a racist.

Folks, he is a racist and one that was voted by Alabama and now will challenge the nominee that Obama picks for the supreme court. Let's be blunt, folks don't go around stating things like this unless they BELIEVE IT and Sessions does, he is the worst of what this country is all about and does not represent what this country is moving forward to.

Sessions is the poster boy for Republican politics in the south and unfortunately for the Republican Party is the image that many view right now. The bigoted, racist part of the Republican Party. Is this party all of this? No, of course not, but it is the likes of Sessions and their mouthpiece of Limbaugh that has painted that party's image.

Sessions is an abomination, period.

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The hate against Mexicans continues, as Cenk Uygur points out....(Video)

An excellent diary by Cenk Uygur on Daily Kos.

It reveals the continuing problem that the Republican brand has on this country, especially towards persons of color.



Jay Severin a right winged talk show host was suspended in Boston from WTKK-FM. The quotes from Cenk's diary are unbelievable, really unbelievable. This touches to the heart of the problem with Republicans, whose party is not diverse or inclusive, at least to the person on the outside looking in. If this party continues to have this attached to them, they will be in the wilderness for a very long time. It was persons of COLOR that gave Obama his victory and much due to heavy Hispanic voting. So, right wingers, continue on.....

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Call me Condi, "The Torture Queen"

Yes, although former Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice told congress last year that she had basically nothing to do with the torture techniques used on the Arab detainees, the torture memos reveal otherwise.

Yes, Queen of Torture's fingerprints are all over this, as well.

Then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice verbally OK'd the CIA's request to subject alleged al-Qaida terrorist Abu Zubaydah to waterboarding in July 2002, a decision memorialized a few days later in a secret memo that the Obama administration declassified last week.

Rice's role was detailed in a narrative released Wednesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee. It provides the most detailed timeline yet for how the CIA's harsh interrogation program was conceived and approved at the highest levels in the Bush White House.

The new timeline shows that Rice played a greater role than she admitted last fall in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The narrative also shows that dissenting legal views about the severe interrogation methods were brushed aside repeatedly.

But even the new timeline has yet to resolve the central question of who inside the Bush administration first broached the idea of using waterboarding and other brutal tactics against terror detainees in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The Intelligence Committee's timeline comes a day after the Senate Armed Services Committee released an exhaustive report detailing direct links between the CIA's harsh interrogation program and abuses of prisoners at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in Afghanistan and at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Ah, yes, Condi is now trying to cover that ass, as indicated by davidkc over at Daily Kos:

Watching Rachel Maddow interview Philip Zelikow, a top State Department lawyer under Condoleezza Rice, about his recent decision to go public about his 2005 memo showing that he seriously questioned the Bush adminstration's legal arguments for the use of torture, I couldn't help but think that was nothing more, and nothing less, than an attempt to cover his ass and that of former boss Rice, now that it looks like loyal Bushies might, um, go to jail over this matter. And tonight we find out why Condi has decided that she needs to go into serious CYA mode. The Washington Post has a new story up on its website showing that Rice played a key early role, much more so than previously known, in Bushco's approval of torture.

Everyone who had anything to do with torturing inside that Bush White House need to lawyer up.

Lastly, I agree with Joe Scarborough on morning joe, release all the memos. Right now the right wingers are stating that these torture techniques work, but in the end it did not. If these techniques worked, Usama Bin Laden would be in federal prison right now, and we all know that he is not. And Joe Scarborough, the issue is that torture is illegal and the Bush Administration broke the law here in the United States and internationally. The question is not to pick and choose what you may constitute as torture, in the end torture is that torture.

The torture wheel is continuing to spin....

Source

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They Hate Him Because He Is "Black"

This is a must read by Turkana, posted @ Daily Kos. Gives many something to think about and pause. We all know this teabaggin' was a veil reason to rally in contempt against Barack Obama. The thing is this, blatant, outright hate does not wear well on television. Don't believe me? Ask John McCain or Sarah Palin. Their rallies brought the hate out in full force, but it was America who sat and watched and made the decision, "enough of that noise", and voted Obama. Lastly, this is not aimed at the Republicans or GOP, most of them are not on the hate page, but it is that other 1/3 that is running around in that party that makes them more yesterday than ever before. This is 2009, not 1959.

P.S. Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, his birth certificate has been on line since 2008, but again some bottom feeders will never accept fact, as we see from a teabaggin' protest below.

I deliberately use the word black rather than the words African American. The latter lacks the proper emotional value. It is cultural and geographical. The former is visceral. Bigotry is not subtle. It is primal. It is not about ideas. It is irrational.

He is smarter and more educated and more articulate than they. A self-made man, he represents everything they would claim to value. But he looks different, to them. They hate him because he looks different. They hate him because he is dark. In "Western" "Culture," the very words black and dark have powerfully negative value. They often are used as synonyms for the sinister.

They hated President Clinton, and tried to destroy him. But one of their elected governors didn't talk secession. They didn't talk revolution. They didn't attempt (and miserably fail) to launch nationwide protests against him. Bill Clinton was a lot of things. He was not black.

President Obama is no crazy liberal. He is increasing defense spending. Even Alan Greenspan is suggesting economic solutions more akin to "socialism." Gun lovers have nothing to fear. On policy grounds, we crazy liberals have been criticizing him from day one. The radical right have been lambasting him. With the nation fighting two wars and an economic meltdown, they openly hope he fails. But they are not about policy. They are about hatred. And they hate Obama as they have never hated any president. It's not complicated.

The Department of Homeland Security just warned:

Right-wing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters, and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning.

"Extremist" is now a corporate media phenomenon. Glenn Beck? Rush Limbaugh? Ann Coulter? Bill O'Reilly? Faux News?

They hate him not because of policy or politics. They hate him because of who he is. Not like them. By the color of his skin. It's time to stop pretending or excusing or evading the obvious. They hate him because he is black!

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Rihanna, Chris Brown and CNNs Irresponsble Comments

Before I went to bed last night, I viewed a video from Daily Kos about the Rihanna, Chris Brown domestic abuse incident.

I have been quiet about this pretty much, until now.

Being a woman it is unconscionable to imagine any man hitting me or beating me for whatever the argument or beef is about. I guess my parents, especially my father, instilled that I was a jewel and that no man had a right to stop my thinking process, belittle me, nor hit me at will. My brothers, though growing up as a kid with them, were a pain in the "you know what" at times, would never allow a boy, man to put their hands on their sister. So, growing up with these images I just did not deal with it. I dated a man when I lived in California who was wonderful, when sober, but was one of those who could not handle his liquor and it did not take much. An incident happened as we were leaving some friends home after a get together, as I was putting the keys into the car he slapped my face and I don't even know why. After dropping him off at home, making sure he got in his apartment, I did not see him again. Sure, he kept calling, dropping by my work, even stopped by my place so I finally agreed to see him. I told him that his irresponsibility in relations to his drinking was hard enough, but when he slapped me for no reason, that was it. The sad thing is though he apologized he told me that he did not even remember doing this. Moving on from him was the right decision.

Rihanna and Chris Brown are young people. She is 20 and he is 19, both hot in the R&B and Hip-Hop musical scenario. They look great together, a younger version of Jay-Z and Beyonce. They are pop sweethearts. Only their back story is a pretty grave one.

At this point it does not matter who hit whom first, unless it was necessary to protect your life, in which this was not the case. Chris Brown allegedly balled his fist up and assaulted his girlfriend, Rihanna, supposedly over another woman he was seeing. This could have been handled differently, Chris Brown, the man, could have thrown the keys in the street and walked away from Rihanna while calling the police if it was necessary. But he became angry and assaulted her. His anger overtook his judgment, when he realized the gravity he ran away from the scene as others called the police. That is what happened.

I believe Brown did assault Rihanna because you do not release a statement of apology if nothing was done. It is all good, but the damage is done and possibly for his career. Some think this is an "in the moment" situation and that Chris Brown will be OK. I don't think so. Brown has to work with the many people that have worked with Rihanna in the music industry and right now many are not on the "Brown Bandwagon". Brown was promoted as a clean kid, a potential superstar, but now is relegated to a woman beater. It is what it is.

The LAPD's total irresponsibility of protecting the victim, Rihanna, by having the photo of her damaged face released via TMZ makes many squirm. The police are to protect the identity of the victim, not allow the media to run rampant. Whoever is responsible for this should be fired. The legal view is that it just may help Brown if this goes to trial (which I doubt), but damages him professionally in the eyes of those viewing that photo.

CNNs irresponsible coverage of the Rihanna/Brown situation.

CHETRY: Also the questions for her moving forward. I mean does she want, you know, the stigma moving forward as a one-time victim of abuse, if this indeed turns out to be proven?

GUEST: Yeah, that's right. And it, you know, it sort of marks her career that she'll just be remembered for this rather than her own talents.

Does she want to be remembered as a victim of a one-time abuse? WTF? Stigma? Was Rihanna to blame for having her boyfriend assault her, as he did? Did she ask for it? CNN needs to read the 2009 memo, not the one from 1979. There is no stigma to any woman being assaulted, beaten by her spouse or mate. If anything, the view is looked upon badly for the assaulter not the victim.

Finally, it is sad that many teens are blaming Rihanna for what happened to her and state that dating violence is normal. Is this what the thinking process for younger generations of women is reduced to? It is ok for your boyfriend to beat you? That you deserved it?

Ed Loos, a junior at Lake Forest High School, said a common reaction among students to Chris Brown's alleged attack on Rihanna goes something like this: "Ha! She probably did something to provoke it."

In Chicago, Sullivan High School sophomore Adeola Matanmi has heard the same.

"People said, 'I would have punched her around too,' " Matanmi said. "And these were girls!"

As allegations of battery swirl around the famous couple, experts on domestic violence say the response from teenagers just a few years younger shows the desperate need to educate this age group about dating violence.

Their acceptance, or even approval, of abuse in romantic relationships is not a universal reaction. But it comes at a time when 1 in 10 teenagers has suffered such abuse and females ages 16 to 24 experience the highest rates of any age group, research shows.

Domestic violence is the number one under the radar assault against women. It is complicated and has various moving parts, but the one thing that is rampant in all cases is the lack of self confidence the woman has during this ordeal. No woman should believe or feel that is "alright" or that it was "my fault" justifying what your man has done to you. It is violence and it is wrong. As many feel compassion for Rihanna, she as a woman has a lot of work to do, starting with believing in her self-worth. And Chris Brown? He has a lot of genuine work to do to become a real man, of the non-violent type, but right now he only cares about saving his career.



Source
h/t Daily Kos

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Live Streaming of Election Results

kos over at Daily Kos has a great tool, live streaming of election results.

Click here.

Also, Election Guide, here.



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Obama Evening Wrap Up....Polls.....

obama in nyc with mayor bloomberg for 9/11 memorial

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Polls

Daily Kos has commissioned Research 2000 or R2000 for daily tracking poll results, such as Gallup and Rasmussen. The difference is the poll will be published without any bullshit attached. You will see the break down and can make your own opinion from there. In other words, no spin.

Right now this race is a dead heat. Make no mistake about it. We need all hands on deck and you can start by looking to your left, under "About Barack" and get involved in this campaign.

I am a firm believer that you can win only so much with the "air war", meaning ads on TV, but in the end it is about targeting your voters, getting them to the polls. If you are an early voter state, get them to the polls, sooner versus later.

This race will be won on the ground. Period.

Daily Kos has also commissioned for battleground states. The first one is North Carolina. It appears this poll is in alignment with SUSA, which has an almost 20 point swing to McCain. But PPP and other North Carolina polls have it a dead heat. In other words, somewhere in the middle but we are behind. North Carolina is an early voting state, get those folks to the polls ASAP.

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Obama's statement on 9/11

Today, we honor the memory of the lives that were lost on September 11, 2001, and grieve with the families and friends who lost someone they loved in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We will never forget those who died. We will always remember the extraordinary efforts of our firefighters, police and emergency responders, and those who sacrificed their own lives on Flight 93 to protect their fellow Americans. And we give thanks for the Americans defending us every day in our communities at home, and in our military abroad.

On 9/11, Americans across our great country came together to stand with the families of the victims, to donate blood, to give to charity, and to say a prayer for our country. Let us renew that spirit of service and that sense of common purpose. Let us remember that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large, and must be brought to justice. Let us resolve to defeat terrorist networks, defend the American homeland, stand up for the enduring American values that we cherish, and seek a new birth of freedom at home and around the world.

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Voter Suppression Alert

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.

State election rules allow parties to assign “election challengers” to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they “have a good reason to believe” that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a “true resident of the city or township.”

The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

One expert questioned the legality of the tactic. continue

I hope the Obama Campaign has lawyers in all these SWING STATES, because this is not just going to happen in Michigan, expect it in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, etc. This is as scummy as it gets.

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and......................

Full video of Barack on David Letterman

Former Aide Says Palin Isn't Up To The Job

Purchase the Obama Campaign Book, "Change We Can Believe In"

McCain finally answers some questions -- or tries to answer some questions. He's terrible.

ABC News: Palin says war with Russia may be necessary.

Frameshop: The Winning Frame has Emerged by Jeffrey Feldman



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