McCain's Vice President: Just Don't Pick Cheney!

One of These Three? Where's Huckabee?
...And Where's the Logic?

I fell sorry for John McCain. Obama had some incredibly dynamic people to chose his running mate from. They all had the potential to unite the party. Yes, even Hillary. The decision of Joe Biden was, after analysis, very wise and thought out, reflecting Obama's personality as well as his intentions.

But what or whom is McCain going to settle for? And he HAS to settle for someone less than popular: Romney? Lieberman? PAWLENTY??? And there's been no mention of Huckabee. Why not? I wonder...

O.K., sticking to the top three:

Romney is a little bit too risky. The whole question of his Mormonism distances him from many people. His wealth also works against him: McCain (or rather, Cindy) has enough money as it is: how many houses does Romney own? With him, the party will certainly seem plutocratic. McCain may try to mold himself into "man of the people," but Bush already tried that. Didn't really work. He couldn't channel Will Rogers.

Lieberman is the meek-sounding hawk people can't just pin down: he's given an 88% approval from the Human Rights Campaign, but he's against same-sex marriage. His stance on abortion is rather wishy-washy. The strongly Republican NRA hates him. McCain's "maverick" image is slipping and he may want to shore it up with another maverick, but Lieberman has still too much Democratic dust on his coattails.

Who the hell is Pawlenty? The Washington Post has called him the most conservative Minnesota governor since Governor Theodore Christianson in the 1920s. He ran his gubernatorial campaign on the premise of a balanced budget. He slashed government spending to the point of damaging its infrastructure. His appointments for health commissioner and transportation have been disastrous (literally). Although he swore he would never raise taxes, he placed high fees on government agencies and services (like university fees). He won his second term by 1% of the vote.

Added to these three is the speculation that McCain has considered picking a running mate who is primarily pro-choice! McCain has too many sides to his party to make happy, but choosing a pro-choice vice-presidential candidate would spell disaster for his Republican campaign.

Now, if he were a Democrat...

So, Romney, Lieberman, or Pawlenty?
For the Republican Party, it may be "None of the Above." For McCain, it might be "who should I be stuck with?"

Just a thought.

The Passing of Del Martin: One of "Those Lesbians!" Whom The Christian Right Fought For Over 60 Years!

And the Christian Right thinks we have no commitment to each other! Readers: I just received this email about the passing of Del Martin yesterday. She will be so missed because she was so loved! Dear Friend, In Memory of Del Martin 1921 - 2008 To day, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community lost an iconic leader and a beloved friend. Del Martin, 87, passed away in San Francisco with Phyllis Lyon, her lifelong partner and spouse, by her side. Del was one of the nation's first and most visible lesbian rights activists who dedicated her life to combating homophobia, sexism, violence and racism. Del's many contributions to the LGBT movement will resonate for decades to come. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were the first gay or lesbian couple to be legally married in Northern California, on June 16, 2008 after 55 years together. As was her wish, in lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to honor Del's life and commitment by defeating the California marriage ban. To make a gift, please click here: http://www.NoOnProp8.com/contribute With Del's passing, we mourn the loss of a champion not only for LGBT rights, but also for the basic human rights due to all people. Del will always be an inspiration to those of us who follow the path to equality she blazed. We sincerely thank her for this final, selfless contribution to the rights that she and Phyllis fought so long for. Del, we will miss you. Sincerely, Dale Kelly Bankhead Campaign Manager No On 8, Equality For All

California's Christofascists Are On the Warpath!!

And They Want More Than Just Our Scalps!
They Want Our Dignity, Our Rights AND Our Souls!

The very moment anyone creates an "us" and "them" situation, they open the door to hate. Too simple? Maybe, but there are people who avoid that situation by accepting and including everyone and there are those who fan the flames of hatred by segregating people and actively labeling people as outcasts or "lepers". It's an open or closed heart thing. It's an open or closed mind thing.

What about associations and clubs? Some clubs are formed to assemble people with common interests. But other clubs are formed to keep people out. Kids have done the latter since the dawn of time: "Keep out" and "members ONLY" were common when I was a kid and I'll bet they're still around now. In a sense, gangs are violent clubs.

Religion can be both inclusive or exclusive. It cannot, however, be both at the same time: you're either "in" or you're "out". You either believe a certain doctrine or you don't. If you don't toe the line and do everything exactly as your leader tells you, or a higher power tells your leader who tells you, you are a sinner...or an apostate... or an atheist...or a "poor, confused" person to be pitied. Or, as Rick Warren would tell you: "unchurched."

The most hypocritical phrase uttered in the next coming weeks will be "but we're not bigots or homophobes! That's what THEY want you to think!" But in the situation of same-sex marriage, it will certainly be "give 'em an inch, they'll take a yard." Bigotry will not stop with the passage of a proposition to "protect" marriage.

Civil unions will be next. Ballot initiatives will crop up to eradicate them. Donations will pour in from outside each and every state to help support those initiatives.

"But we're not bigots or homophobes!"

Propositions will be passed to give "faith-based initiatives" more money. Religious institutions will be given a mandate in hiring and firing. "You're not one of us. You're not part of the club!"

"But we're not bigots or homophobes!"

People will be afraid to come out of the closet more than ever.

"But we're not bigots or homophobes!"

Laws will be passed making certain actions a crime or re-instating old laws.

"But we're not bigots or homophobes!"

And as men and women all over our country are being bashed and killed, we will still hear: "But we're not bigots or homophobes!"

Just a thought.

If you want to help stop the "slippery slope" before it starts, please vote NO on Proposition 8. If you're not in California, go to this site and find out how you can help.

www.NoOnProp8.com

If The Gun's Smoking, Hurry Up and Put Handcuffs On 'Em!!

From today's Washington Independent:

The district court’s July 31 ruling compells Harriet Miers, the former top White House counsel, to honor a House Judiciary Committee subpoena to give sworn, public testimony. The judiciary committee has for more than a year demanded Miers discuss White House involvement about the dismissal of nine U.S. Attorneys. The committee has also subpoenaed documents from White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten on the attorney firings.

This could also affect those other "executive privilege" cowards Rove, Mukasey and Johnson. It might even affect "W" himself.

I must say that it will be very entertaining to see Miers testify. She did, after all, say that George Bush was "the most brilliant" man she'd ever met. It could well be that the clowns will have the center ring for a change - something they've deserved for a long time.

If McCain Can Distance Himself From Parsley and Hagee, Why Not Scheunemann?

Is John McCain
Clueless
ON ALL COUNTS?

So John McCain doesn't know how many houses he has. Fine. He doesn't know about the doctrines of Rod Parsley or John Hagee. O.K. Now he seems to know nothing about one of his top advisers. He's looking clueless.

We've talked about Randy Scheunemann - Sen. John McCain foreign policy adviser- before, but let's recap:

Schueneman's scorecard to date:

• President of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq created by Project for New American Century
• Board member of New American Century
• Former Security Aide for Trent Lott
• Associated with Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi
• Adviser to former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
• Co-owner of Washington Lobbying firm Orion Strategies which lobbied for Caspian Alliance and the NRA
• Paid lobbyist (5 yrs) for Stephen Payne who is being investigated for soliciting meetings with Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice in exchange for donations to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
• Registered lobbyist for the Republic of Georgia and under a $200,000 contract when Presidential hopeful John McCain was encouraged to speak to Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili

NOW THE LATEST:

In 2007, when Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), introduced a bill prohibiting gun sales to suspected terrorists, Schuenemann lobbied against the bill on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (a gun-maker’s association).

Hinting at yet another conflict of interest, the McCain campaign “refused to answer questions about whether the senator supports or opposes the White House plan to close the loophole” giving expanded gun rights to terrorists, reports Newsweek.

John McCain doesn't seem to know anything about the people who endorse him nor about the people who are his advisers.

Clueless.

Just a thought.

And if he's gonna be "McSame",
he's certainly gonna be CLUELESS.

It's Idaho For Crissakes!

One Hallmark Card You Won't See... In Idaho!

Last week, Hallmark began producing greeting cards that recognize the unions between same-sex couples. Soon after, the American Family Association announced that it was launching a protest of Hallmark, claiming that the company was “promoting a lifestyle” that is “unhealthy.” Now, the AP is reporting that seven Hallmark stores in Idaho are refusing to carry the new same-sex marriage card.

C'mon people! We're talking IDAHO! The state's so backward even Bo Gritz was forced to leave it for Nevada!

And Idaho Senator Larry Craig...need we say more?

The American Family Association also has a rather jaundiced view against gays: In 2007, the AFA spoke out against IKEA for featuring homosexual families in their television ads.

(NOTE: The founder of the AFA, David Wildman, has been cited by The Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress as extremely anti-Semitic and the California AFA leader, Scott Lively, is co-founder of Watchmen on the Walls, an extremist group that promotes violence against gays)

Michelle Obama and the WOW Factor: Is She TOO Intelligent?

O.K., most of us (I'm including Republicans and Christofascists in this too) agree that Michelle Obama is not just a good speaker, but a GREAT speaker. As a consequence, however, her intelligence, came through as well. The American public has long had a love/hate relationship with very intelligent people: they are keenly suspicious of them. Intelligent people (and intellectuals - a slight difference there) are set aside by their intelligence - or, rather, set ABOVE others in their intelligence. One of the reasons we have such a dimwit of a president is that people thought that Al Gore was too intelligent for them. Bush's (fake) folksy stance seemed more familiar. The guy's been trying to channel Will Rogers now for eight years. It's a good thing Will is dead, or he wouldn't take kindly to the insult. It's correct to say that Michelle Obama won many, many African-American hearts (and voters) because she addressed 50% of the speech to them - in a positive way. So far, the Obama campaign has been at least 75% positive. That might change. Let's hope not. McCain has run some very negative ads and here's what he said tonight on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno:

McCain: Look, we all don’t like negative ads. I thought the ads we put up were an attempt to be humorous — and I thought they were very funny — and also differentiate between Sen. Obama. I think that the tone of this campaign is very rough, I think we all agree

HUMOROUS? Senator McCain, humor in a presidential campaign cannot be handled lightly. Mark Twain told us that the most effective weapon in the world is humor. Treating a serious situation (like the election of a president) with humor smacks of carelessness - like a kid playing with matches or knives. And I haven't yet run across anyone who thought your campaign ads were funny. Paris Hilton certainly didn't appreciate one, because it belittled her. And she shot back - with real humor, and a great amount of style.

Michelle Obama has style as well, but it's a style comfortable with intelligence: graduate of Princeton, Juris Doctor from Harward Law School, Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, 58th of "The Harvard 100," a list of the prior year's most influential Harvard alumni (Her husband was listed as #4)

Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote about one speech of hers in Iowa,

"Michelle was a firebrand, expressing a determined passion for her husband's campaign, talking straight from the heart with eloquence and intelligence."

Again, the "I" word.

God, this is going to be a frustrating race!

Just a thought.

Watch this video about how FOX "News" treats Michelle Obama. They must really despise her intelligence.