Pallin Returns To Form

So much for being the reformer and maverick....gonna change how things were done in Washington huh, shake up the establishment, eh, not likely......

Palin also said she would not call on Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to resign, although last month, before his re-election bid, she said he should "step aside" and "play a very statesmanlike role in this now." Stevens, 84, was found guilty on seven counts of trying to hide more than $250,000 in free home renovations and other gifts that he received from a wealthy oil contractor.
Three days after the election, Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, is about 3,500 votes ahead of Democratic challenger Mark Begich with thousands of absentee ballots to be counted in the next two weeks.
Said Palin on Friday: "The Alaska voters have spoken and me not be a dictator, won't be telling anyone what to do."



Huh? "Me not be a dictator" how about 'me not worried about having a felon represent us'?!! So much for the lipstick wearing pitbull. Pallin is a Republican lap dog.

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republican, U.S.presidential election, Sarah Pallin, Alaska, Ted Stevens, U.S. Senate,

McCain A Socialist

Call this a case of the pot calling the kettle black, McCain calls Obama's economic policies socialist Yesterday on Meet the Press McCain admited his own home mortgage buy back plan originated in the 1930's under FDR, and was originally proposed by Hillary Clinton. Now who is a socialist?

MR. BROKAW: But there, there is this continuing use...
SEN. McCAIN: ...I feel that...
MR. BROKAW: ...of the phrase "socialism." How would you describe the $700 billion bailout that has the United States government buying shares in American banks, in effect nationalizing those banks to a degree, and even your own mortgage plan of spending $300 billion to buy bad mortgages from banks, having taxpayers who have done the responsible thing, in effect, subsidize people who've done the dumb or wrong thing?
SEN. McCAIN: Because we are in a financial crisis of monumental proportions. The role of government is to intervene when a nation is in crisis. A homeowner's loan corporation was instituted in the Great Depression. They went out and they bought people's mortgages, and, over time, people were able, then, to pay back those mortgages. And the Treasury actually made some money.
This Treasury in this administration is spending its time bailing out the banks. The cause of the crisis was the housing crisis, as we know. And how--home values, as long as they continue to decline, then we're not going to see a turnaround in this economy. A lot of other things have to happen, have to happen, but at least let's understand that we ought to keep people in their homes. That's the American dream. And they say now that maybe they're going to address that problem. Let's address it first. And so when a, when a nation is in crisis, that's when a government has to intervene.
Now, a lot of the times you were talking about, 2004, other times, times were pretty good overall. You had different--you have to have different roles of government in different times. I'm a fundamentally--obviously, a strong conservative. But when we're in a crisis of this nature, that's when government has to help. That's, that's what, that's what our fundamental belief--the reason why we have governments. In times of crisis, we go in and we try and help the people, especially in this situation where they're the, the victim of a drive-by shooting by excess, greed and corruption in Washington and Wall Street. And again, I and others said we have to have legislation to rein it in. Senator Obama didn't lift a finger.
MR. BROKAW: Well, you did--you made your comments about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the time of the accounting issue, when that was first raised. Can you cite a time...
SEN. McCAIN: In, in reality, we, we proposed legislation and made a statement that said, "Look, it's not just the accounting, this whole process is going to lead to disaster." I'd be glad to provide you with the letter.
MR. BROKAW: Let me ask you quickly about your $300 billion bailout of, of mortgages.
SEN. McCAIN: Hm.
MR. BROKAW: Some people have said, look, if there's a homeowner out there who's done the irresponsible thing...
SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.
MR. BROKAW: ...and a bank is looking at that foreclosure and saying, "Hey, I don't have to work this out. I can just get the government to pick it up," why should a taxpayer in Waterloo, Iowa, or in Akron, Ohio, have to subsidize somebody who has done the dumb, wrong thing?
SEN. McCAIN: Well, in simplest terms, if their neighbor next door throws the keys in the living room floor and leaves, then the value of their home is going to dramatically decrease as well. And again, this has been done before. As I said, during the Great Depression and...
MR. BROKAW: And that's when Republicans called it socialism under FDR.
SEN. McCAIN: Well, look, in the Great Depression, there were some things that worked and some things that didn't work. But for the government to do nothing in the face of a massive crisis of proportions that we have not seen, I mean, it's hard for us to imagine how, in, in retrospect, how serious the Great Depression was, but the fact is that Senator Obama, by the way, opposes that, that; and I want to use some of the $750 billion to go and buy those mortgages and that, I think, will stabilize the market. It's not the only thing that needs to be done, but I think it's a vital first step so Americans can realize the American dream.


SEE:
No Austrians In Foxholes

tags
Great Depression, John McCain, market crash, free trade, Republicans, recession,

Link Byfield's New Party

Living off the avails of his Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy, which arose from the corpse of the politically and fiscally bankrupt Alberta Report, Link Byfield has decided that being an elected Senator in Waiting is not enough. So he and some pals have formed a new Right Wing Rump Party.

Whats interesting is that all these neo-con wannabe Reform Parties in Alberta seem to come from or originate in Calgary. The largest American city north of the 49th parallel. Which explains their Republican agenda.

A Canadian development without a direct parallel in Australia was the key role
played by “Calgary School” political scientists in new right party politics and freemarket think tanks like the Fraser Institute. In Australia a number of economists have played a prominent role in promoting public choice frames of analysis, but largely via think tanks rather than through direct involvement in party politics.

Members of the Calgary School reproduce the main features of US right-wing
anti-elite discourse, including a contrast between elite fashions and mainstream
traditional values, a campaign against the tyranny of political correctness, and an
attack on self-styled equality seekers—feminists, anti-poverty groups, the gayrightsmovement, natives and other ethnic and racial minorities.

To be honest they should quit calling themselves Albertans or Party of Alberta and call themselves what they are; the Calgary Republican Lobby. Since many of them believe Ronald Reagan Was Better Than Trudeau.

Background of Albertans

Many Albertans have immigrated from the United States. The energy industry, as well as the ranching industry, has attracted many Americans. Attacking Americans attacks the family background of many Albertans. Prominent Albertans have American roots. Senator Ted Morton is originally from California. MP Myron Thompson is from the U.S..

Their appeal is limited to the Americanized Albertans who live in Southern Alberta. So they don't even appeal to the Lougheed liberals who made the PC's the Party of Calgary. And they don't appeal to urban voters.

And they certainly don't appeal to Northern Albertans who make Redmonton their capital.




SEE:

Not Before Alberta Votes

Link Byfield Goes AA

Mr Harper Forgets Redmonton

Leo Strauss and the Calgary School

Mormonism Cult of the Political Right

Creationism Is Not Science

Reform Party of Alberta

Return of the Socreds

Aboriginal Property Rights

Shop Keepers Liberty

Alberta Separatism Not Quite Stamped Out

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Liberal Republicans

From last nights Republican Presidential Candidates debate there were detectable liberal tendencies.

This gives a new meaning to neo-liberal as Republican candidates move left. Making them sound like Canadian liberal social democrats.

Brownback Is Pro-Labor Union!!!! In Iran that is...

And Mike Hucakbee embraced the social gospel....from the right

"Many of us who are pro-life, quite frankly, I think, have made the mistake of giving people the impression that pro-life means we care intensely about people as long as that child is in the womb. But beyond the gestation period, we've not demonstrated as demonstrably as we should that we respect life at all levels, not just during pregnancy. We shouldn't allow a child to live under a bridge or in the back seat of a car. We shouldn't be satisfied that elderly people are being abused and neglected in nursing homes."

Ron Paul sounds like Jack Layton.....

TEXAS REP. RON PAUL called pre-emptive war the most pressing moral issue in the United States: "I do not believe that's part of the American tradition. We, in the past, have always declared war in defense of our liberties or go to aid somebody ... And now, tonight, we hear that we're not even willing to remove from the table a pre-emptive nuclear strike against a country that has done no harm to us directly and is no threat."

You can't tell the difference between the players without a program....

Obama, Brownback want Iran divestment

Congressman Duncan Hunter contested the myth that the reason to import foreign workers is because American workers don't want to do these menial jobs. He sounded like AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

“If you had your way with immigration who would fill the jobs that no one wants?” asked Tom Fahey of the New Hampshire Union Leader. Hunter referred back to the employment “sweep” in a meat packing plant in Iowa. “There were American citizens lined up the next day to get their jobs back at $18 bucks an hour” said Hunter.

And of course Rudy Gulliani cannot hide his very Canadian view on abortion.

'My view on abortion is that it's wrong,' he said, 'but that ultimately government should not be enforcing that decision on a woman.'

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Ron Paul

Even the Democratic Candidates for President have not been this radical when it comes to the war in Iraq. Ron Paul is the self styled 'Libertarian' candidate in the Republican Primaries. He is not as libertarian when it comes to other issues like abortion, gay rights, or immigration.

Of course he has as much chance as the Democratic libertarian Dennis Kucinich does.

This is from the last Republican candidates debate.

Ron Paul

Voted against use of military force in Iraq. Supports withdrawing troops from Iraq, but opposed war spending bill which included a plan to withdraw most U.S. troops by March 2008. Calls for repealing authority given to the president in 2002 Iraq war authorization vote. Opposed Bush plan to increase the number of American troops in Iraq. Says military victory in Iraq is "unattainable."

You’d abolish the Department of Homeland Security in the middle of a war?

Ron Paul: We were already spending billions of dollars on homeland security prior to 9/11 and it didn’t prevent the attacks; inefficiency was the problem. Adding another huge, expensive, inefficient level of bureaucracy makes things worse.

You’re the only one on this stage who opposes the war. Are you out of step with your party, and why are you seeking its nomination?

Ron Paul: The Republican Party has lost its way. The conservative wing was always anti-interventionist: Taft was against NATO; Bush ran on a promise of a humble foreign policy, anti-nation-building, anti-global-policing; Republicans were elected to end the Korean and Vietnam wars; it’s the Constitutional position; the founders’ advice was to pursue friendship with other nations but avoid entangling alliances. We should negotiate, talk, trade with other countries; we lost 60,000 soldiers in Vietnam and lost the war, and now we invest there. We shouldn’t go to war so carelessly.

Follow-up: Is noninterventionism still a viable position after 9/11?

Ron Paul: 9/11 was a response to our previous interventions. We’d been bombing Iraq for a decade; we’re now building 14 permanent bases there and an embassy bigger than the Vatican. If China were doing this in the Gulf of Mexico we’d be upset.

Follow-up: Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attacks?

Ron Paul: I suggest we believe their reasons are what they say they are; also bin Laden says he’s delighted our soldiers are over there where they can be targeted more easily.

Giuliani intervenes: As NYC mayor during 9/11, I’ve never before heard such a shocking claim that we invited 9/11 and I ask Ron Paul to withdraw it or clarify whether he believes it.

Ron Paul: I believe the CIA is correct when it warns us about blowback. We overthrew the Iranian government in 1953 and their taking the hostages was the reaction. This dynamic persists and we ignore it at our risk. They’re not attacking us because we’re rich and free, they’re attacking us because we’re over there.

(Later on Tancredo also attacked Paul, saying that regardless of what our foreign policy was or whether Israel existed, the terrorists would still attack us because they view it as a religious imperative. Paul did not have a chance to respond.)

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President Of The Free World

This is why the Republicans will not win the Presidential election in 2008.

They are all white guys in suits.


Representative Duncan Hunter of California, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, Representative Thomas Tancredo of Colorado, former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Senator John McCain of Arizona

While the Democrats represent the diversity of America and the rest of the world.

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/The Associated Press Presidential hopefuls shake hands Thursday following the first Democratic presidential primary debate of the 2008 election hosted by the South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C. From left are New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.


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Lou Dobbs New Enemy: The Church

Lou Dobbs has discovered political secularism. In his continuing nativist war on 'illegal aliens' and illegal immigrants, Lou has recently discovered that Christians in America are a political lobby.

During a gushing interview with Chris Hitchens over his new book on Atheism, God Is Not Great, Hitchens sucked up to nativist Dobbs and asked him to pin the American flag pin to his sport coat collar, since he had just become an official American, the love affair between these two nationalist populist pedagogues was thus sealed.

Lou Dobbs loved him. Lou Dobbs made an appeal to his listeners for the book God is Not Great, "I read it, and I strongly recommend you do too. Terrific book....".

Hitchens does come over as a bit toad-like, possibly smelling of martinis and cigarettes, but he will move some books with this lengthy and sympathetic interview.

Hitchens is likewise a sort of conservative, supporting the Iraq War, for example. He mentioned that he had just become an American citizen, which will have a nice appeal for the flag-waving old school conservatives that watch Lou Dobbs on CNN. (A bit of a joke I suppose for Dobbs' usual anti-illegal immigrant audience that instead of illegal immigration of hispanics they get a legally immigrated atheist).

And following his 'conversion' to radical secularism, not quite atheism just good old American deism, Lou has expanded his populist nativist war on 'aliens' to include institutional Christianity, the very base of the Republican right. But of course for Lou the bad Churches are the liberal ones that support amnesty.

DOBBS: Coming up here next, another religious group all but declares that God wants amnesty for as many as 20 million illegal aliens. Holy mackerel. Is the separation of church and state dead in this country?

We'll have that special report.

And outrage after a pro-amnesty group gives illegal aliens instructions on how to circumvent our immigration laws.

DOBBS: The nation's religious leaders tonight bypassing the notion of separation of church and state. In fact they're lobbying Washington and lobbying hard for amnesty for illegal aliens, both on the pulpit and by direct mail.

Lisa Sylvester reports now on the campaign by the Catholic Church and other Christian churches to influence if not direct the Senate debate on amnesty legislation. Casey Wian reports on a renewed call for amnesty from Cardinal Roger Mahony and the mayor of Los Angeles.
SYLVESTER (on camera): Church leaders may be pushing for amnesty but a Zogby poll from last year asks the members of the Christian faith if they supported a get tough approach to illegal immigration. That is, securing the border and doing employment checks. Seventy- five percent of Protestants responded that was a good or very good idea. Seventy-seven percent of born-again Christians also agreed and 66 percent of Catholics also backed tougher enforcement measures.

So Lou, it appears that there's a bit of a disconnect between church leaders and church goers on this issue. Lou?

DOBBS: And there's just as large, if not a larger disconnect between our political elites and American citizens on the same issue. Did you, by any chance ask why in the world this reverend would suggest that this is a choice between Jesus Christ and Lou Dobbs?

SYLVESTER: I think he was trying make the point that it's one or the other. But clearly he was being a little facetious.

DOBBS: I hope so. Because -- When these folks start talking -- suggesting that God tells them not to worry about border security and not to worry about illegal immigration, and -- you know, I start worrying a little bit about the secular interests of this country. Any discussion about separation of church and state for crying out loud?

SYLVESTER: That line does seem to be very blurred on this issue. Now the church feels like it's essentially their mandate to protect the poor but it is clearly written in scripture that it is also the mandate of Christians to respect the rule of law. Romans 13.

DOBBS: Well, I am impressed with the citation, I couldn't have done as well but I appreciate you doing so.

Lisa Sylvester, thank you very much.

In Los Angeles, renewed calls tonight for amnesty for illegal aliens. Cardinal Roger Mahony and the mayor of Los Angeles making the push at a special mass held yesterday.

DOBBS: Well, I think that the good cardinal should check out Lisa Sylvester's citation of Romans. There's something to me -- I'll put it this way -- inappropriate about con founding, confusing and conflating religion and secular issues such as politics and the law of the land.

This is, to me, inexplicable and very troubling. I suspect a lot of other folks, as matter of fact, given those surveys about the disconnect between the membership of the Protestant churches and the membership of the Catholic churches both, I think a lot of people have to be deeply troubled.

So if Lou is upset as he was yesterday about Christians pushing their agenda for amnesty for migrant workers in the U.S. what does he have to say about Roe Vs. Wade?

Giuliani had difficulty answering questions about abortion, especially when moderator Chris Matthews asked the candidates whether Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, should be repealed. Though everyone before him answered yes unequivocally, Giuliani said tepidly: "It would be OK."

"OK to repeal?" Matthews asked.

"It would be OK to repeal," Giuliani said. "It would be OK also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision."

Actually, Giuliani did give a real answer later, when he said he does not like abortion, but "since it is an issue of conscience, I would respect a woman's right to make a different choice." Too bad it took so long.

Or the fact that three Republican Candidates for President said they did not believe in Science!

It ought to count as a national embarrassment not just that the 10 Republican presidential aspirants were asked in their first debate whether they believe in evolution but, worse, that the question was called for. And worst of all, that three testified to their disbelief.

Upon being asked if anyone on the stage “does not believe in evolution,” Senator Sam Brownback, Former Governor Mike Huckabee, and Representative Tom Tancredo raised their hands. That alone should spell an immediate end to their respective candidacies. It indicates that their minds have been so thoroughly poisoned by religious literalism - truly fundamentalism of the most dangerous kind - that they have lost touch with reality.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Lou has made the step towards democratic secularism, now he has to understand that it is not just a matter of separating Church and State, but of recognizing the American libertarian ideal; No God, No Master, and now add to that; No One Is Illegal. Dobbs needs to abandon his nativism since America was founded on the migrant labour of indentured servitude and slavery.

No doubt you've seen car stickers of the American flag along with the irritating words, "God Bless America." Well, I propose a better phrase that actually represents the original United States government.

The words, "No Gods, No Masters," originates from Margaret Sanger from the title of an article about birth control. It fits because nowhere in the Constitution does it mention deities, or masters. Our government derives from We the People not by gods, kings, or masters but by the very mortal citizens of the United States.

SEE:

American Polytheism

Creationism=Paganism

Secular Democracy

Migration

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migrant workers,, immigrants, temporary workers, nannies, farm workers,labour, labor, employment, slavery,

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My Favorite Conservative

Comes from south of the border. Well duh. It is none other than John McLaughlin. The master of the quick quip. Host of the McLaughlin Group on PBS. The original Hardball discussion group.

McLaughlin remains a consistent libertarian in the face of populist and demagogic conservatism. He understands that capitalism demands a social democratic infrastructure to survive while advocating for individual liberty. A classic liberal.

His predictions are usually right on when it comes to realpolitik. On a scale of 1-10, one being political oblivion of being on Fox, ten being 'metaphysical certitude', I give McLaughlin a ten.

Industrial Revolution III Here's what George Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, says, slightly redacted: Health care is in need of an industrial revolution. To reform health-care delivery, to improve its quality, to stabilize its costs, we must have access to data, reliable data, shared data. The only viable source of data is the computer. Patients' medical records need to be computerized. A well-connected, fully interoperable computerized system should be a major government goal, with appropriate funding to support it. For scale, we should think in terms of the Hill-Burton Act that gave us a national infrastructure of hospitals. The equivalent of that federal transformation, and others like it, must be undertaken now towards our health-care system. Medicare must step up to the plate to provide the funding that, over the course of the next half-decade, will completely wire U.S. health care. Health-care electronic connectivity is essential. Paper kills.

John McLaughlin It is a central pillar. If you don It is a central pillar. If you don't have the data, you cannot evolve public policy. -John McLaughlin 't have the data, you cannot evolve public policy.

Also see:

Mr. Conservative

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