Holy Crap..

Probably more than you wanted to know about how corrupt John McCain is.

http://therealmccain.com/

Karl Rove even thinks McCain is getting sleezy... boy.. THAT's bad.

When Karl Rove is saying your political ads have gone too far, you know you must be doing something dishonest.

The former Bush chief strategist, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said that John McCain had stretched the truth in his recent round of attacks against Barack Obama, in the process opening up the Arizonan to a round of effective counter-attacks.

"McCain has gone in his ads one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test," said Rove. "Both campaigns ought to be careful about... there ought to be an adult who says: 'Do we really need to go that far in this ad? Don't we make our point and get broader acceptance and deny the opposition an opportunity to attack us if we don't include that one little last tweak in the ad?'"

Watch:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/14/karl-rove-mccains-ads-hav_n_126280.html

Oh great, she's a book burner too.

via Bilerico.com

More information is coming out about Palin and her quest to ban books from the Wasilla Library during her time as Mayor. A New York Times article details disturbing information about Palin's push for censorship of books she considered "immoral". Care to guess the focus of her ire?

"Daddy's Roommate", a book that helps kids understand same-sex families.

Laura Chase, the campaign manager during Palin's first run for mayor in 1996, as well as Palin's mayoral predecessor John Stein, both confirmed that she pushed to have the book removed from the library because it "didn't belong there." Ms. Chase read the book, found it inoffensive, and suggested Palin read it. Palin's response was that she "didn't need to read that stuff."

Here's the full excerpt from the article:

Witnesses and contemporary news accounts say Ms. Palin asked the librarian about removing books from the shelves. The McCain-Palin presidential campaign says Ms. Palin never advocated censorship.

But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book "Daddy's Roommate" on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it.

"Sarah said she didn't need to read that stuff," Ms. Chase said. "It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn't even read it."

"I'm still proud of Sarah," she added, "but she scares the bejeebers out of me."

She scares the bejeebers out of me too.

Palin was well-known for inserting her religious beliefs into her governing, and this dangerous censorship is a prime example. Her blind push to rid a library of a book she never even read, simply because it mentions gay people, is disturbing to say the least.

And not only did Palin want the book banned, but when the librarian refused, she tried to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor. Palin reversed course on the librarian's dismissal after a local outcry, and later said the discussions about banning books were "rhetorical."

"Rhetorical"? To me, this kind of dangerous censorship, and the ensuing political payback for those not towing the line, is one of the biggest indicators of Palin's value's and governing style. To me Palin isn't just the "unqualified moose-hunter" or any of the other jokes made about her. She is a dangerous religious zealot who seeks to enforce her views on everyone she governs.

And she might be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Here's a report from ABC about Palin's book banning efforts:

Tina Fey gets rave reviews and did Sarah watch?

Live From New York, It's Sarah (Tiny Fey) Palin!

September 14, 2008 8:48 AM

ABC News' David Wright and Alyssa Litoff Report: As comedienne Tina Fey debuted her impression of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, the governor and her staff were watching from 30,000 feet.

Palin was on board her campaign jet flying from Reno to Denver as 11:30 PM Eastern rolled around. But the show was available on the Jetblue charter's satellite TV system.

Standing alongside SNL cast member Amy Poehler who was impersonating Hillary Clinton, Fey's Palin extolled her foreign policy expertise in a flat midwestern accent: "I can see Russia from my house!"

There were howls of laughter from the sizeable press corps covering Palin's first foray on the campaign trail without her running man as a chaperone.

But, from the front of the plane, silence. The flight attendants assured us Palin and her entourage were watching. What she thought, though, is anybody's guess.

Palin has yet to say so much as hello to the press corps.

The campaign is doing its best to keep Palin well away from inquisitive reporters, going so far as to book the press corps into a separate hotel from the candidate.

--

The press is eating up the skit, too. The Chicago Tribune is asking, "Did Tina Fey out-Palin Palin?" The TV critic at the Orlando Sentintinel says, "Michael Phelps was the host, but Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were the stars."

This review on the website ComedyCentric really nailed it for me: "While Fey mimicked Palin’s painfully clueless, space-cadet deportment to perfection, her fellow Baby Mama star Amy Poehler did an ace version of Democrat Hillary Clinton that made the Republican look like an amateur at Happy Hour onscreen. I guess many would argue real life is about the same."

Who names their kids like this?

Check out the Sarah Palin baby name generator. Plug in your name to find out what she would call you were you to have been born to her (ugh!). Track, Trig, Bristol, Piper, Willow, and… YOU!

http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html

McCain is a liar. Plain and simple.

Tina Fey does Palin.. CLASSIC!!!

If you have trouble viewing the above clip, visit: 

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

So the hard questions now come from THE VIEW???

Watch recap and video clips from the toughest questions McCain has gotten lately... from the ladies of THE VIEW of all people!

WATCH / READ

Watch Barbara, Joy and Whoopi throw some hard balls.

More Funnies...

What? She's the nominee?

Honor Killings Persist in "Man's World"

By NBC News’ Shahid Qazi and Carol Grisanti

BABAKOT, Pakistan – In a tangle of bushes and trees outside a remote village in southwest Pakistan, six close male relatives of three teenage girls dug a 4-foot wide by 6-foot deep ditch, on a sweltering night in mid-July, and allegedly buried the girls alive.

The girls' crime: they dared to defy the will of their fathers and the customs of their tribe and choose their own husbands. The mother of one of the girls and the aunt of another were shot and killed while begging for the girls’ lives, according to local media reports.

(READ)

Obama set to make SNL appearance Saturday

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Hillary Clinton's SNL appearance last year may have changed the dynamic of the primary race.

(CNN) — Barack Obama may appear with Sarah Palin Saturday night — a look-alike of the Alaska governor, that is.

Obama is set to make a cameo appearance on the season premiere of NBC's Saturday Night Live, his second appearance on the sketch comedy show.

The surprise appearance was first reported by People Magazine. It remains unclear exactly what Obama will do on the show — but there’s a chance it could have something to do with the political world's latest superstar and headline-grabber.

Meanwhile, SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels is staying mum on who will portray Palin, but he told reporters in a conference call Thursday discussions are ongoing with Tina Fey, the SNL alum who some say bears a striking resemblance to the Alaska governor.

He also said he's hoping to tap former SNL cast member Maya Rudolph to play Michelle Obama.

The show has already left a mark on this election season, widely crediting with helping soften Hillary Clinton’s image during the New York senator's cameo last February. A series of sketches last season portraying members of the media in love with Obama were also credited with raising a general perception of unfair coverage of the two Democratic presidential contenders.

Drill Drill Drill

Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following about Sarah Palin

Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008

OMG.. these are hilarious!

Governor Sarah Palin, Republican Vice Presidential candidate, will be vlogging throughout the campaign. Her first vlog was leaked to the press by unknown sources




MORE...

Check out Sarah Palin's other vlogs at http://www.youtube.com/SaraBenincasa

Biden: This is sweet.

Biden: Second wife 'restored my life' after tragedy

(CNN) — An emotional Joe Biden told CNN’s Amy Boudreau his wife Jill “restored my life” after the death of his wife and infant daughter in an accident.

“I asked her once not long before our wedding how she could marry me knowing how much –” the Delaware senator said said, and paused for several seconds.

“…Knowing how much I adored Amelia. And she didn’t hesitate. She said, quote, That’s the reason I can marry you, she told me. Anybody who loved that deeply once can do it again.

“That’s when I realized exactly how much Jill’s love had done for me – it had given me permission to be me again.”

Biden paused again to collect himself. “God, I’m sorry,” he said. “But she did, I mean she restored my life. I know that sounds corny but she really did.”

Watch Abby Boudreau’s full interview with the Democratic vice presidential nominee this weekend on CNN

Key West Judge Rules Florida's Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional

A Monroe County Circuit Court judge has ruled Florida's ban on adoption by gay people is unconstitutional. The order allows an openly gay Key West foster parent to adopt a 13-year-old boy with learning disabilities and special needs he has raised since 2001. (read more!)

It's strange that The Daily Show does a better job covering the news that NEWS NETWORKS!

The Daily Show delivers again!

John McCain Is Not George Bush, Sarah Palin Is

Alec Baldwin, Huffington Post

I thought McCain was the next Bush. I said so, like countless others, on this blog. More war. More debt while keeping taxes low and mocking the Democrats who want to pay down that debt. No vision regarding the energy issue. Or education. Or health care. More fear. Less solutions. No call for sacrifice where it really counts in terms of America's consumption. More favored treatment for American corporations. More foxes called to guard the henhouse in terms of our government's regulatory stewardship. And on and on. The Bush Nightmare, chapter three.

But McCain is not Bush. No matter what you think of McCain, you can't pin that on him. Now Palin? Palin is Bush. What helped propel Bush into the White House was not only some effective electoral nullification. It was his lack of a record in public office. The governorship of Texas is one of the more ceremonial of all the governorships in this country. The state legislature calls the shots. Bush came into power with less foreign policy experience than Barack Obama has now. And was "elected" to two terms. Bush had no foreign policy record to examine. He had only his father's rich friends and their stranglehold on the Republican National Committee to call upon. It proved to be more than enough.

Bush was elected and, of course, allowed a cast of neocon savages to take over from there. We knew next to nothing about Bush and even less about how Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Ashcroft, Gonzalez, Paddington, Bolton, et al would manage the world post 9/11.

We know nothing about Sarah Palin. Nothing. Which is not anywhere near enough information to elevate her to the position whereby she would succeed McCain if he died in office or suffered a catastrophic illness. At 72 years of age and in questionable health, McCain's fitness to coach a high school football team would be in doubt, let alone the grueling reality of the presidency of this country.

John McCain is, statistically, more likely to die or suffer some catastrophic illness during his first term than any other man that has sought the office. Who would succeed him? George Bush would succeed him. Someone with no record. No experience. Only question marks. Everywhere. Forget about the fact that Palin looks a lot like a really attractive TV star I know. Underneath all the Tina, she's George.

Michael Moore's new film

Come watch the trailer for the new Michael Moore movie entitled "Slacker Uprising". You will be able to download the entire movie for free on September 23rd if you sign up!

http://slackeruprising.com

Keith Olbermann Apologizes For RNC's Graphic 9/11 Tribute (VIDEO)

A visibly upset Keith Olbermann apologized to viewers Thursday night for the graphic 9/11 tribute played in the lead-up to John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

Olbermann said of the video:

"If at this late date, any television network had, of its own accord, shown that much video tape and that much graphic video tape of 9/11...it, we, would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that video tape the way I did, I apologize. It is a subject of great pain, for many of us still, and it was probably not appropriate to be shown."

Watch Olbermann's reaction:

(click here to see both the RNS video and Keith's reaction)

Heart condemns McCain-Palin use of 'Barracuda'

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — Blasting through the Republican convention hall is the 1977 hit "Barracuda" by rock band Heart.

It's a shout-out to Sarah Palin. When she played basketball in high school, the soon-to-be Republican vice presidential nominee earned the nickname "Sarah barracuda" for her fierce competitiveness.

Some of her opponents revived the "Sarah barracuda" nickname after she became mayor of her hometown, Wasilla, in 1996, defeating a three-term incumbent.

UPDATE: Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart said Thursday night that Universal Music Publishing and Sony BMG have sent a cease and desist notice to the McCain-Palin campaign over their use of 'Barracuda.'

"We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We
hope our wishes will be honored," the group said in a statement that said they "condemn" the use of the song at the Republican convention.

Gotta love John Stewart!!

Harvey Milk - the movie. Staring Sean Penn

Palin: wrong woman, wrong message

Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

By Gloria Steinem
September 4, 2008, la times

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.


Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

This is not to beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.

Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.

Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.

So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband.

Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest.

Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.

And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.

This could be huge.

Gloria Steinem is an author, feminist organizer and co-founder of the Women's Media Center. She supported Hillary Clinton and is now supporting Barack Obama.

HILARIOUS!!

Democrats can give a speech!

In case you missed any of the speeches, rewatch them here:

Commentary: Is McCain out of his mind?

(CNN) -- John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls "a checkup from the neck up."
By Paul Begala

In choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate he is not thinking "outside the box," as some have said. More like out of his mind.

Palin a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain's age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.

In choosing this featherweight, McCain passed over Tom Ridge, a decorated combat hero, a Cabinet secretary and the former two-term governor of the large, complex state of Pennsylvania.

He passed over Mitt Romney, who ran a big state, Massachusetts; a big company, Bain Capital; and a big event, the Olympics.

He passed over Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas senator who is knowledgeable about the military, good on television, and -- obviously -- a woman.

He passed over Joe Lieberman, his best friend in the Senate and fellow Iraq Kool-Aid drinker.

He passed over former congressman, trade negotiator and budget director Rob Portman.

And he also passed over Mike Huckabee, the governor of Arkansas.

For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.

BREAKING NEWS

People For the American Way Mourns Del Martin, Equal Rights Pioneer.

http://www.eqca.org/site/pp.asp?c=kuLRJ9MRKrH&b=4445141



Barack on the passing of activist and pioneer Del Martin
By Jamie Citron - Aug 27th, 2008 at 6:30 pm EDT


It was with heavy hearts that we learned that civil rights activist and pioneer Del Martin passed away. Senator Barack Obama made the following statement on her passing:

“Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear that Del Martin had passed. Del committed her life to fighting discrimination and promoting equality. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her spouse Phyllis Lyon, and all those who were touched by her life.”

And she did it all IN PAIN

Dara Torres underwent shoulder surgery today.

Olympic swimmer Dara Torres undergoes surgery to repair shoulder injury
Doctor removing arthritic area of right collarbone
Pain nearly kept her from competing in Beijing Olympics
Relief should be nearly instant, recovery quick, doctor says

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/08/27/torres.surgery/index.html?iref=newssearch

Hillary's Tribute Video

This was the video that introduced Hillary at the DNC. I liked it.

Hillary hits it out of the park! Go Girl!

Watch her speech: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/08/26/sot.hillary.entire.cnn

Wake Up America!

Watch Dennis Kucinich's speech today.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/08/26/sot.dnc.kucinich.wake.up.cnn

Just an average Joe.

Obama finally chose his VP pick today in Senator Joe Biden. The uncensored, down-to-earth, not afraid to fight, Joe Biden. I think it's a great choice.

--

Biden gave a fiery speech in which he praised Obama and criticized McCain, saying "these times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader." Biden also emphasized the importance of this election: "This is no ordinary time, this is no ordinary election."

From the AP - Barack Obama introduced Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware on Saturday as a man "ready to step in and be president," and the newly minted running mate quickly turned his campaign debut into a slashing attack on Republicans seeking four more years in the White House.


Sen. John McCain would have to "figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at" when considering his own economic future, said Biden, jabbing at the man he called his personal friend.

It was a reference to McCain's recent inartful admission that he was not sure how many homes he owns.

Before a vast crowd spilling out from the front of the Old State Capitol, Obama said Biden was "what many others pretend to be -- a statesman with sound judgment who doesn't have to hide behind bluster to keep America strong."

Democrats coalesced quickly around Obama's selection of the 65-year-old veteran of three decades in the Senate -- a choice meant to provide foreign policy heft to the party's ticket for the fall campaign against McCain and the Republicans.

Obama made a symbolic choice for the ticket's first joint appearance.

(READ MORE)

The official wedding photos are out. Awwww.....

YOU AND ME AND PEOPLE MAKES 20

With the exception of a rogue pair of quotation marks unleashed by CNN ("Ellen DeGeneres 'marries' Portia Rossi"), the whole world seemed full of nothing but praise and well-wishes for the world's most famous lesbian couple, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who got married last weekend in an intimate ceremony at their home in Los Angeles.

And by "intimate," I mean 19 of their closest friends and family and, of course, People magazine. (READ MORE)

7 Houses ????? Yeah.. he understands me.

"Caroline: Pull a Cheney!"

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

"Caroline: Pull a Cheney!" An Open Letter to Caroline Kennedy (head of the Obama VP search team) from Michael Moore

Dear Caroline,

We've never met, so I hope you don't find this letter too presumptuous or inappropriate. As its contents involve the public's business, I am sending this to you via the public on the Internet. I knew your brother John. He was a great guy, and I know he would've had a ball during this thrilling and historic election year. We all miss him dearly.

Barack Obama selected you to head up his search for a vice presidential candidate. It appears we may be just days (hours?) away from learning who that choice will be.

The media is reporting that Senator Obama has narrowed his alternatives to three men: Joe Biden, Evan Bayh and Tim Kaine. They're all decent fellows, but they are far from the core of what the Obama campaign has been about: Change. Real change. Out with the old. And don't invade countries that pose no threat to us.

Senators Biden and Bayh voted for that invasion and that war, the war Barack ran against, the war Barack reminded us was the big difference between him and Senator Clinton because she voted for the war and he spoke out against it while running for Senate (a brave and bold thing to do back in 2002).

For Obama to place either of these senators on the ticket would be a huge blow to the millions that chose him in the primaries over Hillary. He will undercut one of the strongest advantages he has over the Hundred-Year War senator, Mr. McCain. By anointing a VP who did what McCain did in throwing us into this war, Mr. Obama will lose the moral high ground in the debates.

As for Governor Kaine of Virginia, his big problem is, well, Obama's big problem -- who is he? The toughest thing Barack has had to overcome -- and it will continue to be his biggest obstacle -- is that too many of the voters simply don't know him well enough to vote for him. The fact that Obama is new to the scene is both one of his most attractive qualities AND his biggest drawback. Too many Americans, who on the surface seem to like Barack Obama, just don't feel comfortable voting for someone who hasn't been on the national scene very long. It's a comfort level thing, and it may be just what keeps Obama from winning in November ("I'd rather vote for the devil I know than the devil I don't know").

What Obama needs is a vice presidential candidate who is NOT a professional politician, but someone who is well-known and beloved by people across the political spectrum; someone who, like Obama, spoke out against the war; someone who has a good and generous heart, who will be cheered by the rest of the world; someone whom we've known and loved and admired all our lives and who has dedicated her life to public service and to the greater good for all.

That person, Caroline, is you.

I cannot think of a more winning ticket than one that reads: "OBAMA-KENNEDY."

Caroline, I know that nominating yourself is the furthest idea from your mind and not consistent with who you are, but there would be some poetic justice to such an action. Just think, eight years after the last head of a vice presidential search team looked far and wide for a VP -- and then picked himself (a move topped only by his hubris to then lead the country to near ruin while in office) -- along comes Caroline Kennedy to return the favor with far different results, a vice president who helps restore America to its goodness and greatness.

Caroline, you are one of the most beloved and respected women in this country, and you have been so admired throughout your life. You chose a life outside of politics, to work for charities and schools, to write and lecture, to raise a wonderful family. But you did not choose to lead a private life. You have traveled the world and met with its leaders, giving you much experience on the world stage, a stage you have been on since you were a little girl.

The nation has, remarkably (considering our fascination with celebrity), left you alone and let you live your life in peace. (It's like, long ago, we all collectively agreed that, with her father tragically gone, a man who died because he wanted to serve his country, we would look out for her, we would wish for her to be happy and well, and we would have her back. But we would let her be.)

Now, I am breaking this unwritten code and asking you to come forward and help us in our hour of need. So many families are hurting, losing their homes, going bankrupt with health care bills, seeing their public schools in shambles and living with this war without end. This is a historic year for women, from Hillary's candidacy to the numerous women running for the House and Senate. This is the year that a woman should be on the Democratic ticket. This is the year that both names on that ticket should be people OUTSIDE the party machine. This is the year millions of independents and, yes, millions of Republicans are looking for something new and fresh and bold (and you are the Kennedy Republicans would vote for!).

This is the moment, Caroline. Seize it! And Barack, if you're reading this, you probably know that she is far too humble and decent to nominate herself. So step up and surprise us again. Step up and be different than every politician we have witnessed in our lifetime. Keep the passion burning amongst the young people and others who have been energized by your unexpected, unpredicted, against-all-odds candidacy that has ignited and inspired a nation. Do it for all those reasons. Make Caroline Kennedy your VP. "Obama-Kennedy." Wow, does that sound so cool.

Caroline, thanks for letting me intrude on your life. How wonderful it will be to have a vice president who will respect the Constitution, who will support (instead of control) her president, who will never let her staff out a CIA agent, and who will never tell her country that she is "currently residing in an undisclosed location."

Say it one more time: "OBAMA-KENNEDY." A move like that might send a message to the country that the Democrats would actually like to win an election for once.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

Rachel Maddow Becomes First Out Lesbian to Host Prime-Time News Show

I knew this was coming when she started filling in for Keith Olbermann.  

--

AfterEllen.com

Openly gay political commentator Rachel Maddow, 35, is getting her own prime-time show on MSNBC, the cable news channel confirmed on Tuesday.

"This just completes our prime-time lineup," MSNBC President Phil Griffin told the New York Times.

Beginning Sept. 8, Maddow will replace commentator Dan Abrams in the 9 p.m. time slot. Her show will initially focus on the presidential race but will become more of a general news program after the election.

"This is great," Maddow told the Times. "Getting a regular cable show is something I’ve wanted."

Maddow will be the first out lesbian to host a prime-time news or political commentary show on American television, and one of the very few women ever to do so. MSNBC does not have any other news or political commentary shows hosted by women.

(READ MORE)

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi Officially Married

America's current reigning celebrity lesbian couple were officially — and legally — married this weekend.

"Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi were married tonight in an intimate ceremony at their home in Los Angeles," their spokesperson told People magazine late Saturday.

De Rossi, 35, wore a backless, light pink dress, and DeGeneres, 50, wore pants, a button-down shirt and vest, all in white, according to Us magazine. Both outfits were designed by Zac Posen.

(READ STORY)

Legendary Torres defies odds, age

BEIJING -- Let's start by dispelling some rumors about Dara Torres. She hasn't been talking to the Chinese gymnastics team about age manipulation. She didn't jam the info computers in Beijing with page 457 of her swim résumé. She hasn't reserved a place to jump into the 2047 World Championships to celebrate her 80th birthday when her grandkids could be coaching her.

But let's also confirm this about the amazing 41-year-old Torres: Her two silver medals on Sunday in the swimming competition are a resounding victory for the masters' set, the over-40s who, at least in Torres' sport, are expected to get the nice going-away watch even before their 30th birthdays. If Jason Lezak, at 32, can joke that in swimming terms he's ready for AARP, Torres should be in her category of AANGTBRP: (American Association of Never Going to be a Retired Person).

Torres led for most of the 50-meter freestyle on Sunday, before being out-touched by Germany's Britta Steffen 24.06 seconds to 24.07. She came back shortly after and anchored the 4x100-meter medley team to second place behind heavily favored Australia. With her silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay, she now has 12 Olympic medals -- four of every color from a total of five Games. It's a good bet that some people of a certain age who were clapping in their living rooms were also dusting off their jogging shoes and looking for their tennis racquets. "If that's so, it's great," the new mom said afterwards. "If this helps anyone out there who is in their middle-aged years and has put off what they wanted to do because they thought they were too old or because they have a child, and that they can't balance what they want to do with being a parent, then that's great. What I've done is show them that they can do it."

Torres has been doing it since the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where she won a gold medal on the U.S. 4x100-meter freestyle relay team when she was just 17. That was five Olympic teams ago. Back then, disco was barely dead, Miami Vice was in vogue, Al Gore was still figuring out the Internet and Lionel Richie and Van Halen were going to No. 1 with songs like "Hello" and "Jump" that had very few other lyrics. And here's the most telling reference: Michael Phelps, the all-time leader in Olympic gold medals with 14, was not even born. A full three-quarters of Torres' 2008 female teammates weren't, either.

"For so long in this sport," said Natalie Coughlin, one of Torres' older teammates, at 26, "it was thought that if you're getting to 16, 17 or 18, you're getting to the end of your career. Dara has done a fantastic job in proving that you can continue to improve and that women can have children and get back into the sport. She has gotten rid of a mythology in swimming that has been there for so long." Torres is affectionately known as Mom and Legend to her teammates.
Yes, doping rumors have dogged her for years, but Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, points out that Torres is constantly modernizing her stroke, updating her technique more readily than her 20-year-old rivals who, by comparison, are more set in their technical ways. Her improvement curve is still changing, he says, because she is, too. If Torres is indeed thriving on spinach and fruit shakes, it is time to break out the line from When Harry Met Sally: "I'll have what she's having."

Consider what a difficult double she had on Sunday, as much mentally as physically. At 10:40 a.m. Beijing time, she left the awards stand, wearing the silver medal from the 50 free, a race she came within a fingernail of winning. In that time, she fought the temptation to review the race and review her career, because she still had one more race to swim with her teammates. Then she posed for pictures for photographers, tossed her flowers into the stands at 10:41, posed for some more pictures and apologized for running off to the ready room at 10:42. At that point, the announcer began introducing the swimmers for the medley relay. As her teammates walked onto the pool deck, waiting for her to join them, Torres placed her medal inside and skipped back toward Lane 4. The unofficial count of elapsed time between leaving the pool deck from an emotional ceremony and skipping back onto it to race again was 54 seconds. Of the eight women swimming the freestyle legs on their relay teams, Torres recorded the fastest split, at 52.27 seconds, but it wasn't enough to catch Australia's Libby Trickett, who had jumped in with a sizeable lead.

As she left the pool to wait for her second medal, Torres was actually answering questions from her rivals, Trickett and Steffen, about childbirth, at one point mimicking the actual procedure right in the ready room. In Beijing, the mom has lived up to both her nicknames and her legend.

Funnies

VIEW LOTS MORE HERE

Holy Crap

Russian Judge Rules Sexual Harassment Is Okay As It Ensures Survival Of Human Race
Huffington Post | August 5, 2008 02:06 PM

A woman seeking to become only the third woman ever to successfully bring a sexual harassment case in Russia was dealt a shocking rebuke when the judge threw out her case, ruling that sexual harassment is actually necessary for the survival of the human race:

She alleged she had been locked out of her office after she refused to have intimate relations with her 47-year-old boss.

"He always demanded that female workers signalled to him with their eyes that they desperately wanted to be laid on the boardroom table as soon as he gave the word," she earlier told the court. "I didn't realise at first that he wasn't speaking metaphorically."

The judge said he threw out the case not through lack of evidence but because the employer had acted gallantly rather than criminally.

"If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children," the judge ruled.

Foreign Policy's blog notes that while Russia has made it a major priority to reverse the nation's population decline, this is perhaps not the best way to go about it, considering how dismal working conditions are for Russian women already:

According to a recent survey, 100 percent of female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 percent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven percent claimed to have been raped.

Sitting On Up To $79 Billion In Unspent Cash

The soaring price of oil will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year's end an American federal oversight agency has concluded in an analysis released on Tuesday.

The unspent windfall, which covers surpluses from oil sales from 2005 through 2008, appears likely to put an uncomfortable new focus on the approximately $48 billion in American taxpayer money devoted to rebuilding Iraq since the American-led invasion.

(READ)

Helen Mirren brings sexy back to 60

Helen Mirren is sexy. This isn't my opinion; this is empirical fact. It's just one of life's great truths. It's like the rise and fall of the tide every day — dependable yet still, somehow, magical. What's that? Evidence? You demand proof? Behold, Helen and her itsy, bitsy, teenie weenie. Sure, it's not a yellow polka-dot one, but it is unmistakably a bikini. And, wow, is it ever sexy. (MORE)

Prepare to be Bitch Slapped

Gay women of the world, I would like you to sit down. Find some place comfortable and a chair you've never fallen out of. Make sure no one important is nearby like, say, a boss or a principal or that coworker who is continually stealing your stapler as a passive-aggressive play for your job. Also, just in case, please consider placing pillows on the floor. The pillows will serve a dual purpose since they can muffle your squeals of delight. Are you ready, are you sure? OK, here goes.

Bitch Slap - Trailer
by ohmygore

READ MORE

Former ladies of "Saturday Night Live" will rule the tube (again)

There was so much exciting information spinning out of the TCA press tour last week that it was kind of like being on a 12-day sugar buzz — especially because so much of the news revolved around some of my favorite former Saturday Night Live ladies. Let me condense a week's worth of information for you: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Molly Shannon will be lining up side-by-side with their own NBC comedies this year. (READ)

THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF TEST

Throughout the 2008 election, the question that's been raised is whether Barack Obama can pass the Commander in Chief Test... well, we think it's only fair that both candidates be put to the test.

TV Alert: "Saving Grace" returns for more sin and salvation

I finally jumped on the band wagon and started watching "Saving Grace" this season... and .. um.. WOW. Talk about a fast paced, cool show. Holly Hunter as a kick-ass cop with a troubled past, an angel and killer cast. You MUST give it a try. Read more over on AfterEllen:

Grace
Uploaded by tehdownloads

Are you ready to embrace your Grace? The hit cable drama Saving Grace returns tonight to TNT and with it comes the hardest working, hardest drinking, hardest partying, hardest hitting female detective on television. A bold statement, sure, but this is Holly Hunter we're talking about. Don't make her to pull out the Oscar, because she can. Plus, what other Academy Award-winner poses with a barbed wire fence? (READ)

Wow.. listen to this!

David Attenborough presents the amazing lyre bird, which mimics the calls of other birds - and chainsaws and camera shutters - in this video clip from The Life of Birds. This clever creature is one of the most impressive and funny in nature, with unbelievable sounds to match the beautiful pictures. This is live animal photography at its very best!

VIEW VIDEO

If you didn't already love Heinz

Another great photo/story...

 Tori (L) and Kate Kendall, who already share the same last name, hold their five-month-old baby Zadie while being are joined in wedlock as the era of same-sex marriage begins in California, June 17, 2008 in West Hollywood, California

(READ MORE)

Video: Al Gore Endorses Obama

I LOVE Al Gore!

After 55 years together, they finally say "I do"

Lesbian rights activists Phyllis Lyon, 84, right, and Del Martin, 87, are among the first to exchange vows as California becomes the second state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. (more)


Another story on them (Lesbian pioneers wed at San Francisco City Hall)

If the above photo doesn't touch your heart, I don't know what does. 

Al Gore to endorse Obama

From CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand

(CNN) — After remaining neutral throughout the Democratic primary season, former Vice President Al Gore is officially backing Barack Obama's presidential run, and will appear with him at a Michigan campaign event Monday night.

"A few hours from now I will step on stage in Detroit, Michigan to announce my support for Senator Barack Obama," said the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee in a fundraising e-mail sent to supporters Monday. "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected President of the United States."

Former presidential candidate John Edwards also announced his decision to endorse Obama at a rally in the crucial fall swing state.

I'm not the only one.

I used to love, LOVE Keith Olbermann. Then he started slamming Hillary. And as a Hillary supporter, I was hurt. He's suppose to attack the OTHER side.. the McCains and Bushs.. not OUR girl. It got so bad, I stopped watching.. I started going to CNN instead. I used to love his Special Comments.. but now it seems he is turning into a version of Bill O'Reilly of the left. Since ratings will probably follow I doubt he'll come back to us. Sad.

Tim Russert on Olbermann:
As Russert put it to me shortly before his death, "Keith and I have each carved out our roles in this vast information spectrum." He continued, "What cable emphasizes, more and more, is opinion, or even advocacy. Whether it's Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann or Lou Dobbs, that's what that particular platform or venue does. It's not what I do. What I do is different. I try very, very hard not to come up and say to people, 'This is what I believe,' or 'This is good,' or 'This is bad.' But, rather, 'This is what I'm learning in my reporting,' or 'This is what my analysis shows based on my reporting.' And as long as I can do that I'm very, very comfortable. And nobody has asked me to do anything but that."

Tom Brokaw On Olbermann (and Chris Matthews):
Brokaw says he sometimes feels that he has been cast in the role of hall monitor at NBC News; if so, his charges have kept him busy. The day after the New Hampshire primary, Matthews asserted that Hillary Clinton owed her election as senator to public sympathy for her in light of her husband's sexual peccadilloes. "It was completely out of line," Brokaw says. "And Keith took it to another level" with his "shut the hell up" commentary.

MSNBC executive on Olbermann's relationship with Clinton supporters:
"It was, like, you meet a guy and you fall in love with him, and he's funny and he's clever and he's witty, and he's all these great things," Griffin said of the relationship between Olbermann and the Clinton supporters among his viewers. "And then you commit yourself to him, and he turns out to be a jerk and difficult and brutal. And that is how the Hillary viewers see him. It's true. But I do think they're going to come back. There's nowhere else to go."

Reasons to vote Republican

John Cusack Gives the Bush-McCain Challenge

Gas Prices

"I endorse him and throw my full support behind him"

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her pioneering campaign for the presidency on Saturday and summoned supporters to use "our energy, our passion, our strength" to put Barack Obama in the White House. (READ/WATCH)

Jeremy Gerard: "A Great Speech"...

Hilary Rosen: "Cemented Her Place In History"

Thank you Hillary.

America's 40 Years War at an End

How fitting--even how poetic--it is that Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination during the week in which we mark the fortieth anniversary of the death of Robert F. Kennedy. This harmonic convergence has deep significance.

These events may come to be seen as the bookends of the second American civil war, a war that has divided the nation and been a dominant force in our politics for four decades. There is genuine reason to hope that 2008 will bring at last an armistice--maybe even a lasting peace--in America's Forty Years War, the internal conflict more commonly known as the Culture Wars, which began in 1968. (MORE)

ok, so he's our guy. Let the love begin.

I looked at a mountain of pics from Tuesday's decisive night, and kept coming back to this one.

First, I appreciate the color of Michelle's dress, reprising -- at least to me -- the '04 conclusion that America (in contrast to the hyper-polarized red state/blue state dichotomy perpetuated by the media) is actually a lot more purple.

I also appreciate Michelle's proud, private, knowing, understated, intimate and unselfconscious expression, as well as the lack of tension in each partner's body. Observing them these many months, it is evident to me that the Obamas' ability to remain so relaxed is a natural expression of confidence.

Mostly though, I tried (fruitlessly) to imagine John and Cindy or Bill and Hillary celebrating the impending nomination with a fist bump, illuminating the fact that, as much as anything, the gesture -- just like this outcome -- is truly a generational thing.

via HuffingtonPost

According to Carrie Bradshaw...

Enjoy yourself, that's what your 20's are for. Your 30's are to learn the lessons. Your 40's are to pay for the drinks.

I like this...

Celebrating Gay Pride Month: In a statement on Sunday, Hillary recognized June as Gay Pride Month and stressed her commitment to the LGBT community: “America deserves a President who appeals to the best in each of us, not the worst; a President who values and respects all Americans and treats all Americans equally no matter who they are or who they love. That is truly the promise of America.”

Hillary has been talking to the gay community from day one. Obama only at the last minute and only in one statement. I think he'd shelf our cause in the appearance of "compromise".

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I had a gay kid say to me the other day, 'Men and women on death row can marry people on the outside. They're allowed to get married. And gays want the same rights as people on death row.' I thought that was pretty good thinking … It's just an interesting thing that gays don't have the same rights as people on death row.”

— Bisexual gossip columnist Liz Smith during a joint blog post with actress Candice Bergen and newswoman Lesley Stahl on their website, wowowow.com

McCain on the Ellen show talking about same-sex marriage.

McCain opposes gay marriage
Sen. John McCain tells Ellen DeGeneres why he opposes same-sex marriage

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/05/22/sot.mccain.on.ellen.cnn

California wins same-sex marraige

Same-gender Couples Win Freedom to Marry

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released the following statement today regarding the state Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage:

“I respect the Court’s decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling. Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.” (READ)

Mr. President, the war isn’t about you — or golf

Olbermann: Bush's claim he gave up game to honor dead GIs is ludicrous

SPECIAL COMMENT By Keith Olbermann

President Bush has resorted anew to the sleaziest fear-mongering and mass manipulation of an administration and public life dedicated to realizing the lowest of our expectations. And he has now applied these poisons to the 2008 presidential election, on behalf of the party at whose center he and John McCain lurk. (READ/WATCH)

Something light...

I got the opportunity to hear Madeleine Albright speak last week in support of Hillary. I think she's brilliant and funny. (She even signed a book for me)

Here's a fun interview of her on GMA about her signature brooches! Enjoy!

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4791645&affil=whas

I favor Hillary.. but still... this is funny.

These aren't new but I still get a kick out of them.

THINK EQUAL

Go get em Hillary... she talks with the devil.

part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=uQnQjV4sovE

part 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nr23bb4EDGw

part 4: http://youtube.com/watch?v=npeT8-Hv_sc

Happy Mothers Day!

North Pole Could Be Ice Free in 2008

abcnews.go.com, April 27, 2008

You know when climate change is biting hard when instead of a vast expanse of snow the North Pole is a vast expanse of water. This year, for the first time, Arctic scientists are preparing for that possibility.

"The set-up for this summer is disturbing," says Mark Serreze, of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). A number of factors have this year led to most of the Arctic ice being thin and vulnerable as it enters its summer melting season. (READ)

What Does a President Really Do All Day?

Sunday, April 27, 2008; Washington Post

A simple and deceptively tricky question: What does a president do?

If you had to put together the Help Wanted ad for the position of chief executive, what would you write? Something like: "CEO needed to supervise 3 million employees. Must be at least 35, native-born, willing to work at home. Spectacular public failures likely."  (READ)

The Messiah Wears No Clothes

Bilerico.com, Filed by: Jerame Davis
April 27, 2008 4:24 PM

Indiana has become the center of the universe thanks to the red hot contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I cannot recall the national interest in what Indiana has to say about the presidential race ever reaching this point. The commercials, the radio ads, the unending rallies and press conferences. And the mail.

In fact, campaign mail is a big part of what I want to focus on. I believe one of the reasons Obama has gotten such a pass on the "negativity factor" is that the mainstream media (MSM) hasn't bothered to look at his direct mail. (READ)

What would you do?

20/20s Gay Public Displays of Affection Draw Police and Glares

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Primetime/WhatWouldYouDo/

White Men

Huffington Post by NORA EPHRON

Here's another thing I don't like about this primary: now that there are only two Democratic candidates, it's suddenly horribly absolutely crystal-clear that this is an election about gender and race. This may have always been true, but weeks ago it wasn't so obvious -- once upon a time there were eight candidates, and although six of them withered away, their presence in the campaign managed to obscure things. Even around the time of Ohio, when there were primarily three candidates, the outlines were still murky, because Edwards was still in there, picking up votes from all sectors.

But now there are two and we're facing Pennsylvania and whom are we kidding? This is an election about whether the people of Pennsylvania hate blacks more than they hate women. And when I say people, I don't mean people, I mean white men. How ironic is this? After all this time, after all these stupid articles about how powerless white men are and how they can't even get into college because of overachieving women and affirmative action and mean lady teachers who expected them to sit still in the third grade even thought they were all suffering from terminal attention deficit disorder -- after all this, they turn out (surprise!) to have all the power. (As they always did, by the way; I hope you didn't believe any of those articles.)

To put it bluntly, the next president will be elected by them: the outcome of Tuesday's primary will depend on whether they go for Hillary or Obama, and the outcome of the general election will depend on whether enough of them vote for McCain. A lot of them will: white men cannot be relied on, as all of us know who have spent a lifetime dating them. And McCain is an attractive candidate, particularly because of the Torture Thing. As for the Democratic hope that McCain's temper will be a problem, don't bet on it. A lot of white men have terrible tempers, and what's more, they think it's normal and sort of attractive.

If Hillary pulls it out in Pennsylvania, and she could, and if she follows it up in Indiana, she can make a credible case that she deserves to be the candidate; these last primaries will show which of the two Democratic candidates is better at overcoming the bias of a vast chunk of the population that has never in its history had to vote for anyone but a candidate who could have been their father or their brother or their son, and who has never had to think of the president of the United States as anyone other than someone they might have been had circumstances been just slightly different.

Hillary's case is not an attractive one, because what she'll essentially be saying (and has been saying, although very carefully) is that she can attract more racist white male voters than Obama can. Nonetheless, and as I said, she has a case.

I spent the weekend listening to one commentator after another saying that Obama has it locked up, it's a done deal. I dunno. Hillary is the true whack-a-mole and if she survives on Tuesday, it will be a whole new ballgame. And it will be all because of white men.

Joe Scarborough Walks Off MSNBC's "Race To The White House" After Exchange With Rachel Maddow

Update from MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines to Huffington Post:
"Joe didn't walk off. He chose not to participate in the final couple of minutes of the discussion because he felt the conversation didn't fit his role as a political analyst."

Previously:
Did Joe Scarborough walk out of David Gregory's show "Race to the White House" Thursday night on MSNBC? It seems that way by the video below. Joe was a panelist on the show along with Air America's Rachel Maddow, CNBC's John Harwood and former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.

The panel was discussing the effect of Sen. Obama's personal and professional relationships on his campaign when Rachel and Joe disagreed. Joe started to challenge Rachel's argument that relationships only become an issue when a political opponent makes them an issue, but she cut him off, "Let me make my point and then you can dismiss me." She then finished with an example of a McCain campaign co-chair in Florida's bathroom activities.

After a commercial break, Joe prefaced his rebuttal to Rachel's point by saying "I don't engage in Crossfire-type debates and certainly I don't want to talk about what people do in bathrooms." When he finished speaking, and after David Gregory had shut Joe vs. Rachel down, John Harrow came on camera. Then, viewers can hear Joe taking off his microphone (2:47 into the below video). When the panel picture came back, no Joe.

Watch Rachel and Joe make their points, hear Joe unplug, and then (after a jump) see the panel after Joe has gone:  (WATCH VIDEO)

Will Ferrell Brings Back Bush Impersonation, Slams Jon Stewart

Will Ferrell dusted off his George W. Bush impersonation Sunday night to raise money for autism education. The cause, Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Benefit For Autism Education," was started by "Saturday Night Live" writer Robert Smigel, whose son is autistic. Ferrell, as Bush, shared reflections of his legacy with host Jon Stewart.

Gay couples face higher tax bills

MOUNT LAUREL, New Jersey (AP) -- For gay couples, the April 15 tax filing deadline can be a reminder of the disparities they face, even in a nation that is becoming more accepting of same-sex couples.
art.gay.taxes.ap.jpg

Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey at their civil union ceremony in 2007.

Gay couples often pay higher taxes because they don't get the federal tax benefits that go with marriage. And for couples in state-sanctioned domestic partnerships, civil unions or same-sex marriages, filing federal income taxes can involve doing three sets of paperwork instead of one.

"It's a significant financial disability," said Beth Asaro, who last year entered into one of New Jersey's first legally recognized civil unions.

While the debate over government recognition of gay marriage is a political hot-button with arguments about morality, civil rights and tradition, the tax issue is a mostly practical one for hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples.

Most states ban gay marriage and don't recognize same-sex unions in any way. Only in Massachusetts can gay couples legally marry. Since 1997, nine other states and Washington D.C. started offering civil unions or domestic partnerships that give some or all the legal protections of marriage.

Those protections include allowing gay couples to file state taxes jointly -- and potentially save them money. But they can also make tax filing more complicated for the couples.

That's because the state protections do not help with federal taxes. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, the government defines marriage as being allowed only between a man and a woman.

"You're running one household," said John Traier, a partner in the Butler, New Jersey, accounting firm Hammond & Traier. "But the federal government and a lot of states treat them as two households." (MORE)

Margaret Cho -- These Christian Groups Have Lost Their Minds

Yes, I'm a dork and you can be too.

Ok, after all this talk about the Sci-Fi series "BattleStar Galactica" being the best show on television and all the hooplah on the beginning of the fourth season, I headed over to the Sci Fi Channel's website and found this hilarious "get all caught up" movie.

http://www.scifi.com/index.php?clip=frak

After watching this, I bought the first season on DVD.. watched it.. loved it and ordered season two. Enjoy the recap movie.. it's a hoot.

'Sex And The City' Movie: Secrets, Details And An Exclusive Look

There's a moment in the new "Sex and the City" movie, The Post has learned, when Carrie Bradshaw is lounging in a cliff-top Mexican villa, overlooking a breathtaking view of the ocean, with her pink Swarovski-encrusted cellphone in hand. She's checking her voice mail.

First message.

It's from Big, who, as many know by now, actually has a name: John James Preston.

"Babe," he says affectionately, before saying he needs to talk to her urgently.

In a moment of pure impulsiveness, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) throws her phone off the cliff. It goes sailing through the air, with the sun sparkling off the crystals as it falls into the ocean.

It's ludicrous. It's exciting. It's over-the-top.

And it's achieving what many in the film industry believed impossible just a few years ago: building a cinematic fantasy that's bigger than Big. (READ MORE)

Why.. hello.

The Starbucks economy

Forget about the millions of foreclosures, rising unemployment, gas and food price inflation -- you want to know how to tell the economy is really tanking?

Americans are cutting back on their morning lattes at Starbucks.

This tidbit comes to us from Time Magazine's Justin Fox, who writes in his "Curious Capitalist blog " that during a visit to Time's corporate offices on Monday, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said "For the first time in our history as a company, we have negative traffic this year vs. last."

New information from Al Gore

In Al Gore's brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of "generational mission" -- the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement -- to set it right. Gore's stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates' climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future. (WATCH VIDEO)

"Sex and the City" and the Photoshop

As the Sex and the City movie fast approaches (May 30, have you circled the day on your calendar with a big red pen yet?), new photos of the fabulous foursome have been released to promote the premiere. The ladies look like no time has passed since they first began sipping cosmos together on-screen a decade ago. Ah, Hollywood magic. Still, some news outlets are expressing surprise that the actresses may have been digitally enhanced in the promo pictures. Um, duh? (READ MORE)