vice president

What We Lost 10 Years Ago Today

The news is full of coverage of the anniversary of 9/11. You can change the channel without being reminded of what happened 10 years ago today. It was one of the most tragic days in American history and one none of us will ever forget.

And while we spend the day remembering this anniversary, let’s not lose sight of what else we lost on this day 10 years ago – America.

Since 9/11 this country has become increasingly more divided. We got a severely broken government that can’t operate due to partisan bickering. We saw the birth of this not long after the attacks 10 years ago. The Bush administration became hell bent on attacking a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, Iraq. People who disagreed with that war were called terrorists or even accused of treason. This wasn’t limited to bars or living rooms. We even heard the vice-President of the country, Dick Cheney, as well as other officials from the administration and politicians use the same harsh language against those opposed to Iraq.

That’s right – 9/11 changed America and not for the better. We became a nation where disagreeing with the President was tantamount to wanting to overthrow the government. We had a government turn to the same thinking as the Middle Eastern governments we were going after. Freedom started a quick death on that day and America is worst off because of it.

Media

OMG: Obama Wants To Hide EVERYTHING From You!

The Washington Times has this "end of transparency" headline up right now:

White House to cut access to half of federal websites

Which starts with:

As part of the Obama administration’s campaign to promote transparency, the White House announced today it intends to eliminate the public’s access to half of the federal government’s websites within the next year.

That's a great paragraph for those who can't handle reading whole articles, or those who might only see it in a feed reader. Of course once you get past that headline and first paragraph, you see something much different:

The White House said there are nearly 2,000 websites operated by the federal government, which it said confuses people.

“With so many separate sites, Americans often do not know where to turn for information,” the office of Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. said in a statement. “The administration will immediately put a halt to the creation of new websites. The administration will also shut down or consolidate 25% of the 2,000 sites over the next few months and set a goal of cutting the number of separate, standalone sites in half over the next year.”

It called the campaign of winnowing access to government web sites part of the president’s campaign “targeting duplication and waste.” The administration did not give an estimate of how much money it believes could be saved by halving the government’s Internet sites.

So the White House isn't going rogue and blocking the public from all kinds of government websites, but rather they are combining some of the over 2,000 federal websites to make things easier to find and to cut spending.

Politics

The Tea Party Still <3 Government Spending

Again – anyone that voted for these people under the assumption that they would “cut government waste” was suckered in big time:

Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.

According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.

"It's disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt," said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. "There's going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks."

In founding the caucus in July, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said she was giving voice to Americans who were sick of government over-spending.

At least the Democrats have the balls to admit they like earmarks. Michele Bachmann and her Tea Bagging ilk can’t even do that. Instead they chose to be the top hypocrites on the Hill.

News

Beau Biden Suffers Minor Stroke

The son of the vice-President has suffered a mild stroke according to the White House. Doctor’s are expecting Biden’s oldest son to fully recover. Please keep them in your thoughts.

Media

I Guess Murdoch Isn’t In Charge Of His Own Company

Last week Rupert Murdoch said that FOX shouldn’t be promoting the Tea Party. I guess FOX missed that memo. All day FOX has been broadcasting from the Tea Party in D.C. and then tonight you get this:

Jessica Brown reports from outside Fifth Third arena, where the Tea Party rally/Sean Hannity show taping will be held:

Justin Binik-Thomas, Vice President of National Affairs and Strategy for the Cincinnati Tea Party confirmed that the Sean Hannity show will now be a live show at 9 p.m. rather than a taped show at 6 p.m. The book signing will still begin at 4:30 p.m. The Tea Party speakers will be moved up to 6 p.m.

Yup – Hannity will be live from right here in Cincinnati tonight at a Tea Party rally. So much for what Murdoch said.

Science

Gallup: Majority Wants Health Care Bill Suspended

Gallup has a new poll out showing that a majority of Americans wants Congress to suspend the current health care legislation:

These results are not shocking, but I really wish Gallup would have thrown in the third option of having no reform at all. If that were the case then the 39% would still be there, but then we would see a split in the second column, probably along the lines of 35%/20%. It would just be really interesting to see the number of Americans who don’t want any reform at all. Even Cheney had 20% of the country who approved of him as vice-President.

Interesting Timing

The news that a judge has allowed the case of Jamie Leigh Jones against Halliburton/KBR to move forward has come at a very interesting time.

Jones has accused co-workers at Halliburton/KBR of kidnapping and rape. Normally you would think this kind of case would immediately become a prosecutorial matter, yet Halliburton was able to stop Jones from doing anything saying she had to go through “arbitration”.

So what makes the timing so interesting? Well Halliburton/KBR receives billions in taxpayer dollars, a far cry more than ACORN ever has. Not once did we hear any Republicans demand that taxpayer money be cut off from the company. Not once!

This is a case of a company that has apparently tried to cover up a brutal gang raping of one of their female employees. That is a lot worse than anything ACORN is being accused of, yet the Republicans find this totally disgusting action acceptable.

And again – the right is trying to make President Obama out like he is the founder and CEO of ACORN. No he isn’t, but remember who the CEO of Halliburton was? Dick Cheney, right before he became vice-president. And as vice-president he made millions off of his stock options from Halliburton – stock that went up because of the Iraq War.

Deep Thought

It’s a bad thing that Bill Clinton makes money from foreign countries while his wife is Secretary of State, yet it was perfectly fine for Dick Cheney to increase his wealth exponentially from war profiteering Halliburton, while he was vice-President and pushing for more wars. How many have been killed by Clinton’s work?

How Much Would VP Palin Cost This Country?

Seriously. The vice-President makes $208,000 a year. Palin's two month spending spree cost $150,000. Doing the simple math, that comes out to $900,000 a year.. But that isn't all. Now it turns out the McCain campaign spent $22,800 in only two weeks for Palin's makeup stylist. Let's do the math:
Clothing and accessories $75,000 per month
Makeup: $45,600 per month
----------------------------------------
Total yearly appearance expenses: $1,447,200
Yearly salary: $208,000
Deficit: $1,239,200

If this lady wins she will bankrupt our nation in bling!

More Like Bush Than You Think

And this time we aren't talking about John McCain, but rather his running mate:

No wonder GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin harbors such hostility toward the mainstream media: her staff imposes limits on her access to it.

During a fundraiser here that raised $800,000 last night, Palin admitted that her aides often dissuade her from tuning into televised coverage of the presidential campaign.

Remember when Katrina hit and Bush didn't respond? A large part of the blame for that was due to Bush not watching the news. If Palin can't handle the news from the campaign trail, then how could she be expected to handle the news as vice-President, or even President? This is just another example of how unqualified this woman is to be President.

The Big Difference

Ryan Lizza has a great piece up about the Democratic ticket. This part really caught my eye:

Biden consulted with his closest political advisers, including Ted Kaufman, Mike Donilon, and John Marttila, all of whom have been with him since the early days of his career. “They convinced me that I could have more influence on policy as a Vice-President with Barack,” Biden said. “And so the bottom line of all of this is that I said, ‘Barack, look, if you’re going to ask me to do this, please don’t ask me for any reason other than that you respect my judgment. If you’re asking me to join you to help govern, and not just help you get elected, then I’m interested. If you’re asking me to help you get elected, I can do that other ways, but I don’t want to be a Vice-President who is not part of the major decisions you make.’ ”

Now could you imagine Sarah "what does the vice-President do?" Palin making such a educated and well thought out decision as this?

Palin Scared Of Biden?

If she is too afraid of Biden, how can she stand up to world leaders?

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

The wrangling was chiefly between the McCain-Palin camp and the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which is sponsoring the forums.

I believe this is a first in history - a candidate scared to debate. The Obama campaign really needs to push this out there to show how unprepared of a pick John McCain made.

Paying To Get Raped - The Sarah Palin Chronicles

She don't believe women who become pregnant after being raped should be allowed to have an abortion. Right - that is a view shared by quiet a few wingnuts in this country. But what about having to pay for forensic evidence collection after you been raped? Well Sarah Palin thinks you, the victim, should have to pay for that collection.

Of everything we have heard about Sarah Palin, this has to be the most disgusting. Expecting victims of violent crimes to pay in order to have their attacker captured. The cost is approximately $1,000 for these kits. This bodes the question; how many rapes does Wasilla, Alaska see a year? I mean this town, which has received far more federal money than any other town it's size, can't afford to cough up a grand for this test? I thought government was supposed to be for the people. Apparently not.

The media needs to pick up on this more and get Palin on camera answering questions about this. The issue goes right to the heart of judgment, which is one of the top qualifications to become vice-President. I don't care if the media is shunned by McCain/Palin. They are still out in public speaking and people need to just start shouting, "Why did you charge rape victims for evidence collection?" over and over again. She must be force to answer and the American public is entitled to know the answer. If she doesn't answer then the American public are entitled to know that also.

Palin Doesn't Even Understand Freddie And Fannie?

And they want this idiot to be our vice-President?

Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."

The economy is issue number 1 with voters and Sarah Palin just made a massive gaffe. Bundle that with Phil "whiners" Gramm and you got the making of an excellent campaign commercial. We need some good ads out by the Obama campaign and the script was just started - thanks to the ineptness of Sarah Palin.

Bomb Bomb Bomb McCain

It seems like the general consensus amongst the pundits regarding John's big moment is the same feeling I had watching it - yawn. He didn't lay out a single policy, and instead stayed on his "change" platform. Funny - it seems like every Republican has said that since I can remember.

As matter of fact I didn't hear any policy come out of this convention. Instead it was a bunch of promises, with no roads on how to complete them. Something else I noticed missing - immigration. I guess that problem has been solved, because the Republicans sure seem to be ignoring it now.

It was just another Republican convention. Palin was the big winner of it, but as the media reminded us so well when Biden was picked, you're not voting for the vice-President, you are voting for the President.