Before her meteoric rise to political success as governor, just two short years ago Sarah Palin was the mayor of Wasilla. I had a good chuckle at MSN.com's claim that she had been the mayor of "Wasilla City".
It is not a city. Just Wasilla. Wasilla is the heart of the Alaska "Bible belt" and Sarah was raised amongst the tribe that believes creationism should be taught in our public schools, homosexuality is a sin, and life begins at conception. She's a gun-toting, hang 'em high conservative. Remember…this is where her approval ratings come from.
TOP TEN REASONS SARAH PALIN SHOULD NOT BE ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT
1: Palin opposes a woman's right to choose what to do with her own body, opposing the right to an abortion even for rape victims.
2: Palin believes that Creationism should be taught in public schools, which runs both counter to well-settled evolutionary science, and to the Constitutional separation of church and state.
3: Palin is a global warming denier, who (as with her views on evolution) has expressed skepticism about the well-settled science.
4: Palin opposes listing polar bears as an endangered species, because it means oil and gas companies might have to be just a little bit careful out there.
5: Palin is rabidly dedicated to drilling in the Artic wildlife refuge, known as ANWR.
6: Palin is in the midst of a growing ethics scandal, involving the alleged abuse of her gubernatorial power to punish a State Trooper who is her sister's ex-husband, firing a State Commissioner who refused to go along.
7: Palin called Hillary Clinton a "whiner", even as she cynically tries to woo Clinton voters to the McCain ticket.
8: Palin has very little experience for the Vice Presidential job, serving less than two years so far of her first term as Governor of a state with fewer residents than Fort Worth, Texas. (Previously, she was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, pop. 8,500.)
9: Palin has no foreign policy experience at all, so little in fact that her supporters are reduced to citing Alaska's proximity to Russia.
10: Palin is virtually untested, unvetted and unknown to Americans, a fact which throws into relief the hypocrisy of the many unfair criticisms leveled at Barack Obama during this campaign.
BONUS REASON, 11: Palin only recently said that she doesn't even know what the job entails, saying on the CNBC show Kudlow and Co. that: "[A]s for that V.P. talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day?" (July 2008)
McCain’s choice SUX
Current mood: aggravated
Category: News and Politics
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 29, 2008
Shocking Choice by John McCain
WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.
"Senator McCain's choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.
"Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska's coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.
"This is Senator McCain's first significant choice in building his executive team and it's a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain's commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil."
The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org) provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.
be good children and do what your teacher tells you to
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers
"One reason I like to highlight reading is, reading is the beginnings of the ability to be a good student. And if you can't read, it's going to be hard to realize dreams. It's going to be hard to go to college. So when your teachers say read --- you ought to listen to her."
George W. Bush February 8, 2001
Maybe if you learn to read and write you can be the President, but it doesn't appear to be a job requirement. It is more likely that any stupid fuck can get elected so long as his family is rich.
Getting to know you
Current mood: drained
Category: Blogging
How well do you think you know your friends?
Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your family & friends. Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to your friends including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known! Here are the questions and my responses:
1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00
2. Diamonds or pearls? Pearls
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Wanted (Angelina Jolie is smoking hot)
4. What is your favorite TV show? Dexter
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Coffee… and more coffee
6. What is your middle name? M.....
7. What food do you dislike? Red Meat
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Black Rain
9. What kind of car do you drive? Sport Trac
10. Favorite sandwich? Veggie Wrap
11. What characteristic do you despise? Entitlement mentality
12. Favorite item of clothing? dresses
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Prince Edward Island
14. What are your siblings' names? Lori, Rick, Lynda, Shirley and Randy
15. Where would you like to go when you retire? Prince Edward Island
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? My 40th
17. Cake Frosting: Butter Cream or Whipped Cream? Butter cream
18. Furthest place you are sending this? The Internet
19. Person you expect to send it back first? Donna
20. When is your birthday? October 38
21. Morning person or a night person? Night
22. What is your shoe size? 6
23. Pets? Little Bear, Dammit Dogg, Miss Kitty and Nuisance
24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I am waiting for my result for the CADC exam
25. What did you want to be when you were little? Pilot
26. How are you today? Tired
27. What is your favorite flower? Lilac
28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? July 1st
29. What are you listening to right now? Sirens
30. What was the last thing you ate? Veggie sandwith on 12 grain bread
31. Do you wish on stars? Yes, every night
32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? BLACK
33. How is the weather right now? comfortable
34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Troy
35. Favorite soft drink? YUCK
36. Favorite restaurant? Ruby Tuesday
37. Hair color? RED
38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Grown Ups
39. Summer or winter? summer
40. Favorite Dessert? Brownie sundae
41. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate
42. Coffee or tea? coffee
43. Do you want your friends to email you back? Well yeah
44. When was the last time you cried? Every morning
Mental Health week
Current mood: aggravated
Category: Blogging
MENTAL HOSPITAL PHONE MENU
Hello and thank you for calling The State Mental Hospital. Please select from the following options menu:
If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.
If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.
If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6.
If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can trace yourcall.
If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be forwarded to the Mother Ship.
If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.
If you are manic-depre ssive, it doesn't matter which number you press, nothing will make you happy anyway.
If you are dyslexic, press 9696969696969696.
If you are bipolar, please leave a message after the beep or before the beep or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.
If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.
If you have low self-esteem, please hang up; our operators are too busy to talk with you.
If you are menopausal, put the gun down, hang up, turn on the fan, lie down and cry. You won't be crazy forever.
If you are blonde, don't press any buttons, you'll just mess it up.
This coming week is National Mental Health Care week. You can do your part by remembering to contact at least one unstable person to show you care. (Well, my job is done. Your turn...)
You are about to be asked to take a larger role in a group, and this will be very welcome news. You have been waiting to take on more responsibilities for a long time, and now it's your time to really shine and show them how it's done! You can make a huge impact on the status quo right from the start, because your style is so much different from everyone else's. So just be yourself and manage things the way you always imagined you would. It's like a dream is coming true.
This is all very interesting as we were just informed of some significant restructuring of the way things are going to work at "good ole" J house today. Regardless of how things shake up I am still going to go for my Master's Degree, I'm pretty much committed now. Or maybe I should be committed??? HUMMM
Cinco De Mayo
Current mood: blustery
Category: Blogging
The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.
So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well? Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.
The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left. The French, however, had different ideas.
Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire. His name was Maximilian; his wife, Carolota. Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War.
The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.
Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.
General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.
When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.
Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.
It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862. But who knows?
In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S. Armed Forces. As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America.
Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty. There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. VIVA! el CINCO DE MAYO!!
"I don't see many shades of gray in the war and terror. Either you're with us or you're against us. And it's a struggle between good and it's a struggle between evil."
George W. Bush February 8, 2002 Speaking in Denver, CO at the 2002 Cattle Industry Annual Convention. (Source: C-SPAN
Here's the way I see it, Mr Bush, the struggle between good and evil starts with YOU and probably never ends as there nobody worth voting for ready to take your place!
amused
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