TIGblogs - clarita zarate's TIGBlog

10 Things You Should Know About McCain

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:01:00 EDT

Ten Things You Should Know About John McCain
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”

5. The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.

6. He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”
10. If John McCain were to win the presidency, he would be the oldest man elected to a first term.

Obama Art , 'Clairtas gallery'

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:29:00 EDT

If you go to 'claritas gallery' here on tig you will see an exhibit called 'Obama Art'. Click on it and you will see my Obama art. I know you will like it!

On singing 'Grigore Lese'

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:25:00 EDT

A quote on singing words of ' Gigore Lese'

"What is the singing?...

The singing is a necessity. If a man does not sing he dies. It is a grace, it is a transcendental custom,
it is a chance from God.
THe most beautiful lines ever spoken about music are the following:

"It is a blessing that I know how to sing,
For I'm quiet my heart.
Songs are made to quiet yourself
For worried man."

Grigore Lese

A Song by Carolyn SLoan

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:14:00 EDT

This is a poem I like about singing written by Carolyn SLoan

A Song

I sang a song yesterday.
I thought I sang it well.
The notes were all in tune.
The phrases smooth and uninterrupted by unconscious breaths.
I varied the rhythms and spoke the words clearly.
I anticipated each key change.
My voice was warm and moved effortlessly through each rise and
fall of the melody.
When I finished, I was sure I'd told the story well and communicated
my interpretation.
But I did not experience a feeling.
My heart remained unchanged.
I was unmoved.
My soul still yearned for expression.
Despite my efforts,
I realized I had not sung at all.
The music, it seemed, slept quietly beside me,
patiently waiting to be awakened.
I decided to start again.
This time I did not listen.
I did not watch.
I did not think.
This time I willingly vanished.
This time I became...
a song.
Carolyn Sloan

travelforchange/helpful link

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:25:00 EDT

http://www.travelforchange.org/

A comment from someone who used travelforchange........

I just want to second Patrice's notice. I heard of travelforchange.org
just before Labor Day and signed up with a request for travel to
Orlando. I got a sponsor within 3 days, paying for my travel with her
frequent flyer miles. And an organizer with Orlando4Obama is providing
housing for me for the week near their office with other campaign
workers. This is a good thing!

- Eric

TravelForChange connects http://www.travelforchange.org/volunteers working for change with

Sponsor
Volunteer
FAQ
Links
Contac

sponsors who can help to send them to the states that will help Obama win this election. The battleground states are: Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

On this website verified volunteers post profiles, explaining when, where and why they are traveling for the general election this year. Sponsors can browse those profiles and connect directly with a volunteer.

We ask our sponsors to buy an airline ticket in a volunteer's name. Frequent flyer miles are a great way to do this! In most frequent flyer programs 25,000 miles can buy a roundtrip ticket anywhere in the United States — see the FAQ for more information.

TravelForChange is the project of four graduates of Stanford University, with a lot of great ideas and support from volunteers also working for San Francisco for Obama.

We have found sponsors for 37 volunteers so far!

I want to go to:
I want to sponsor someone's travel
recent hopefuls
Elizabeth Kim is trying to get from New Haven, CT to Denver, CO
Donald DePasquale is trying to get from Newcastle, CA to Orlando, FL
Cat Forrester is trying to get from San Francisco, CA to Pittsburgh, PA
Nancy Goodban is trying to get from San Francisco, CA to Columbus, OH
Will Greene is trying to get from Palo Alto, CA to Boulder , CO
Phylis Bruno is trying to get from New York, NY to City, NV
Eric B Lind is trying to get from Quito, Ecuador, AZ to Boulder, CO
Hardy Wronske Regina O'Brien is trying to get from Los Angeles, CA to Kansas City, MO
Yancy Davis is trying to get from Plymouth, MA to Kansas City, MO
Sponsor
Volunteer
FAQ
Links
Contact

Obama website devoted to Obama news

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:49:00 EDT

Hey folks, I'm starting a new Obama website devoted to Obama news.

www.obamatimes.com

please take a look and give me any suggestions you might have for how I can
improve the site functionality or articles and news to post. There are
likely a few mistakes since it's just up and running, but I hope to get the
kinks worked out soon.

Steven Guess

Letter to SF Chronicle about Rove

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:29:00 EDT

Letter my husband wrote to The San Francisco Chroniclel:

Editor -

The news that Karl Rove is now a member of the McCain/Palin campaign team should have
all Americans who still hold out hope that our democracy is not already damaged beyond repair seriously alarmed.
This guy was the architect of the Bush "victories" in 2000 and 2004 in which dirty tricks were key.
In addition, he was a major player in the Jack Abramoff and Scooter Libby scandals, among others.
Yet he was given virtual immunity from any potential criminal charges by Bush.
America - 8 years later - still has NO reliable mechanism in place to insure the integrity of our elections.
They have gotten away with it twice. What possible guarantee do we have that they will not do it again?

Barry Finnerty

Stolen elections/Check out this petition!

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:26:00 EDT

Check out this petition!

http://www.democrats.com/no-stolen-election-2008?
I signed "No Stolen Election 2008"

As the election draws closer, a quiet battle is raging all across America -- the
battle to protect our votes. Republican operatives are working overtime to
manipulate the election, using tactics right out of Karl Rove's playbook.

Their goal: suppress Democratic voters, disenfranchise poor and minority
citizens, do whatever it takes to get John McCain and Sarah Palin in the White
House. ¬†

We all remember the Florida 2000 debacle. Katherine Harris handed the election
to George W. Bush with her voter list "purges" and her crooked recounts. We
can't let it happen again.

This petition is sponsored by the Secretary of State Project, an independent
progressive organization devoted to electing Secretaries of State who will count
every vote.

http://www.democrats.com/no-stolen-election-2008?

Thank You

Peace network

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:11:00 EDT

From: "Peace network"
Subject: Fw: Sponsor
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 19:45:56 +0000
Dear friend we are looking NOW for national and international: partners,
sponsors, grants and supporters for the projects:
I. For helping children and orphans
1.. Long Distance adoption project
It is our intent to continue helping children from two orphanages located
in two major cities in the Republic of Moldova. We are continually seeking
sponsors who would be willing to provide monthly financial support to one or
more orphaned children in Moldova. Termed "adoptive parents", the sponsors are
requested to send money to assist individual "adopted children" from the orphanages. This would enable the orphans, who receive only a weak support from
the state, to receive greater benefits through the support offered by their
"adoptive parents". This aid would allow for the provision of clothing, school
supplies, medical care and the satisfaction of all the child's basic needs. This
program is a long-term project and is still developing.
For photos of prospective supportable orphans please contact the
director, Nicolae Cirpala at irff@pisem.net
Join this project by sponsorship or volunteer work here:

http://www.irffmd.net/public/long_distance_adoption_project.html
The Children's planet project
Beginning in January, the main goal of this project is to educate the
young generation in the spirit of care for everything which represents life on
earth and to prevent global warming. This project, which will be divided into
two parts, will involve both the planting of trees to improve the local
environment and the participation in the annual ‚ÄòChildren‚Äôs Planet‚Äô
festival at the National Palace.

Support the festival here:

http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html 3. The festival Flower of peace
This event will take place at the National Palace on September 21 and will
be dedicated to the International Day of Peace. At the festival young talents
from all over the world including, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania will perform. Partners: 1. The Women's Federation for Peace,2. Silver bells Organization.
Support the festival here:

http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html

II. For helping youth INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEERS ACADEMY

1. Community Service Projects
As part of the 'Youth Change the World' initiative which represents a
network of 40 youth clubs from different localities of the Republic of Moldova,
our intent is to perform community service and ecological projects in all the
localities involved in our initiative during this spring. This project will
culminate in a large scale ecological project.

Join by supporting here:

http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html

2. "The impact of youth in mass-media for peace" project
This project, which will be held in the summer of 2008, will include
trainings, a summer camp workshop, community service projects and media summer
schools on various topics, ending with the Media Festival dedicated to the
International Youth Day.
3. The Voice of Community project
Together with Radio Singera we are planning on launching the "Voice of the
community" radio program. This will represent a range of weekly broadcasts
oriented toward serving the communities of approximately 100000 radio listeners,
including those in the capital city.
Add you support here:
http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html
III. For helping families and elders
1. The project for micro financing of the family businesses
This project, which will begin in June, will consist of diagnostic and
consultancy support for the micro financing of family businesses and will end
in an international conference where the code of ethics for business will be
signed and awards will be offered for the best family businesses from the
Republic of Moldova.
Join it: http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html
2. The Health Expo
This project will involve cooperation between traditional and
nontraditional medicine and will present the Health Expo, with the participation
of 100 physicians, 100 NGOs, 200 medicine students and 100 peer-educators from
the country.
Invest in health:
http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html
3. Monthly peace building conferences and projects
According to our established plans, it is our intent to organize monthly
meetings and projects regarding the creation of a 'culture of peace'. Well known
personalities from the scientific, cultural and mass-media spheres, to name a
few, will be invited. These meetings and peacebuilding projects will result in
an important scientific conference at the end of the year called "Family and the
culture of peace in the Republic of Moldova" and BIG International Peace
Festival.
For this project we are looking for: national and international partners,
sponsors, participants, volunteers and supporters. Contact us for details at:
irff@pisem.net
Invest in peace building here:
http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html
Contact us for more info about becoming partners, sponsors, participants,
volunteers, grants and supporters for our projects: Tel/Fax
(37322)73-83-30,Mob.(373)69-00-63-51,
or just join by monthly or single donations for the projects with any
amount here: http://www.irffmd.net/public/make_a_donation.html
Announcements:
fast-paced non-profit organization for our Volunteer and training program:
"Today‚Äôs Youth- Tomorrow‚Äôs Leaders"-2008
We are looking for youths who are able to take initiative and have good
written and verbal communication skills. This program will assist you in
developing and practicing your leadership abilities..
Participants from our country and abroad will have the possibility to
participate on our projects as volunteers.
This is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn more about peace
building, meet members of the nonprofit community in Moldova and learn about the
logistics of a membership organization.
Next program's are:
-Project proposals
-Photo/video
- Promote youself throw you oun newsletter
- English
Monthly program fee for international participants is ‚Ç¨30
Application: You may join the program any month by e-mailing your
participation confirmation by the 1st day of the month to Cirpala Nicolae,

Program Coordinator at irff@pisem.net , and the completed application
form.
Application form:
1. Please describe your motivation to participate on our program:
2. Shortly describe your past experience in similar programs:
3. State your opinion about the benefits of the contribution given by
volunteers in society:
Name:
Email:
Messenger: (skype, yahoo, etc.)
Please go to our FORUM from the home page of our web for any questions,
suggestions, comments and info.
2 A. F. IRFF ONLUS is seeking year around youth for internship
applications to work for our rapidly growing, fast-paced non-profit
organization. We are looking for youth who is able to take initiative, and has
good written and verbal communication skills. No phone calls please. Email or
mail resume, cover letter, Curriculum Vitae, education and professional,
experience to Cirpala Nicolae, Program Coordinator at irff@pisem.net More on
www.irffmd.net
3. Ajuta sinistratii inundatiilor in Moldova / Help victims of floods in
Moldova

Rom: Guvernul a deschis conturi bancare pe care oamenii pot
transfera bani pentru a-i ajuta pe cei care au avut de suferit in urma
inundatiilor.
1) √én lei moldovene≈üti

Beneficiar: Ministerul Finan≈£elor al Republicii Moldova ‚Äì
Trezoreria CentralƒÉ
Contul beneficiarului: 3357003
Codul fiscal al beneficiarului: 1006601000037
Contul trezorerial: 460100000000002
Banca beneficiarului: Ministerul Finantelor Trezoreria Centrala

Codul bƒÉncii: TREZMD2X
Destina≈£ia plƒÉ≈£ii: Lichidarea consecin≈£elor inunda≈£iilor 2008
2) √én dolari SUA (USD)
Beneficiar: Ministerul Finan≈£elor ‚Äì Trezoreria CentralƒÉ
Contul beneficiarului: 3261584015
Codul fiscal al beneficiarului: 1006601000037
Banca beneficiarului: Banca Na≈£ionalƒÉ a Moldovei
SWIFT: NBMDMD2X
Contul corespondent al BNM: Federal Rezerve Bank, NY, SWIFT: FRNY US
33, account no. 021087125
Destina≈£ia plƒÉ≈£ii: Lichidarea consecin≈£elor inunda≈£iilor 2008
460100000000002 (contul trezorerial)
3) √én EURO (EUR)
Beneficiar: Ministerul Finantelor al Republicii Moldova ‚Äì
Trezoreria Centrala
Contul beneficiarului: 3261797815
Codul fiscal al beneficiarului: 1006601000037

Banca beneficiarului: Banca Nationala a Moldovei
SWIFT: NBMDMD2X

Contul corespondent al BNM: De Nederlandsche Bank N. V., Amsterdam,
SWIFT: FLOR NL 2A, account no. ‚Äì 060.01.26.226

Destina≈£ia plƒÉ≈£ii: Lichidarea consecin≈£elor inunda≈£iilor 2008
460100000000002 (contul trezorerial)
Si Mitropolia Basarabiei a deschis un cont bancar pentru sinistrati:
BC ‚ÄùVictoriabank‚Äù S.A.
Cod bancar 280101416
Cont MDL 22510000186757

De asemenea, doritorii pot acorda ajutoarele materiale, √Æ
mbrƒÉcƒÉminte ≈üi obiecte de primƒÉ necesitate, prin intermediul Agen≈£iei
Rezerve Materiale, Achizi≈£ii Publice ≈üi Ajutoare Umanitare pe adresa:
Republica Moldova, mun.Chi≈üinƒÉu, str.Columna, 118/1. Telefon de contact:
24-33-66
Eng: The government has opened bank accounts that people can transfer
money to assist those who had suffered after the flood.
1) In MDL
Beneficiary: Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova - > Central Treasury
The beneficiary: 3357003
Fiscal Code of the beneficiary: 1006601000037
The trezorerial: 460100000000002
Bank beneficiary: Ministry of Finance Central Treasury
Bank code: TREZMD2X
The destination of payment: Liquidation of the 2008 floods

2) In U.S. dollars (USD)
Beneficiary: Ministry of Finance - Central Treasury
The beneficiary: 3261584015
Fiscal Code of the beneficiary: 1006601000037
Bank beneficiary: National Bank of Moldova
SWIFT: NBMDMD2X
The correspondent for the NBM: Federal Reserves Bank, NY, SWIFT:
FRNY U.S. 33, account no. 021087125
The destination of payment: Validation of the consequences of floods
in 2008 460100000000002 (trezorerial account)

3) Euro (EUR)
Beneficiary: Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova -
Central Treasury
The beneficiary: 3261797815
Fiscal Code of the beneficiary: 1006601000037
Bank beneficiary: National Bank of Moldova
SWIFT: NBMDMD2X
The correspondent for the NBM: De Nederlandsche Bank NV, Amsterdam,
SWIFT: FLOR NL 2A, account no. -- 060.01.26.226
The destination of payment: Validation of the consequences of floods
in 2008 460100000000002 (trezorerial account)

And Metropolis of Bessarabia opened a bank account for sinistrati:

BC "Victoriabank" S.A.
Banking Code 280101416
MDL Account 22510000186757

You also may wish to help with aid materials, clothing and articles
of first necessity, through Agency, Public and Humanitarian Aid address:
Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, str.Columna, 118 / 1. Telephone contact: 24-33-66

Briefly:

International Relief and Friendship Foundation Moldova:
Help orphans live and study just for a 1Euro/day:
http://www.irffmd.net/public/long_distance_adoption_project.html

Year around Youth and volunteers programs and projects, Internship:
http://www.irffmd.net/public/events_archive_2006.html

Latest worldwide grants news:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/1GRANTS/
Supporter of UN MDGs, Global Peace Festival and UPF:
http://www.irffmd.net/public/planned_projects.html
Peace building projects:
http://www.irffmd.net/public/news_2006_peace_flower_music_festival.html
Join our networks:

1. JOIN 1grants

Network for the latest news about: grants, sponsors, fellowship,
donations, awards.

First network where nonprofits and profits could meet for the sake
of society.

National, European, International grants news. Networlding people
and organizations from reach and pour countries for mutual understanding, peace
and prosperity.
Supporter of UN millennium development goals.

2.YOUTH NETWORK
1TSL-subscribe@yahoogroupscom
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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3.MEDIA NETWORK
1media-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
----------------------------------------------
4.PEACE NETWORK

Eng: Universal Peace Network
Supporter of UN millennium development goals.
We constantly help orphans, children, youth, families, organizations and
communities- Relief and Friendship Moldova

Related Link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pacea21/

Post message: pacea21@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:
pacea21-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe:
pacea21-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: pacea21-owner@yahoogroups.com
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5.1ENVIRONMENT

1ENVIRONMENT@yahoogroups.com
1ENVIRONMENT-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
1ENVIRONMENT-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: 1ENVIRONMENT-owner@yahoogroups.com

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6. 1HEALTH

Post message: 1HEALTH@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: 1HEALTH-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: 1HEALTH-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: 1HEALTH-owner@yahoogroups.com
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7.jobs worldwide group.
-
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO ANYBODY WHO MAY BE INTERESTED,
THANK YOU.

Relief and Friendship Moldova Team - Join an international forerunner of
leaders, who by living for the greater good, are transforming the world to be
one worldwide family of humankind under God to live in peace and prosperity.
Through relief and friendship, we constantly help orphans, children, youth,
families, and communities.
DONATE to the # 1 CHARITY www.irffmd.net !

macain/sarah article [great comment]

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:55:00 EDT

http://www.truthout.org/article/palin-and-mccains-shotgun-marriage
The reason that McCain and
Sun, 09/07/2008 - 17:47 — LClark (not verified)
The reason that McCain and Palin can stand there and spew the garbage that they do without the slightest concern for the repercussions is that they already know what the outcome will be. They know that the plan to steal this election is already in operation and they're banking on it. The republican party doesn't play by democratic rules--the speeches and posturing are just a dog-and-pony show to help distract the press and the voters from noticing that THE THEFT OF AMERICA IS IN PROGRESS NOW. Which should be front page news. The more stupid and outrageous they are, the more press time they take up and the more people's attention is diverted from the real election process--purging voter lists, pre-loading electronic voting machines with McCain votes, creating "bugs" in the counting software, bribing election personnel, disenfranchising as many as possible who would vote democratic. So we need to pay less attention to the illusory face of Oz and more to the operations of the man behind the curtain... I think the american voters have been given short shrift of late. It isn't that we're stupid--anyone with even half a functioning marble can see that what Obama proposes would be good for American and what McCain represents (he hasn't bothered to propose anything) would be a final resounding flush toward sending everything we care about (planet included) down the toilet--it's that our democracy well... it isn't one anymore.

Palin and McCain's Shotgun Marriage

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:51:00 EDT

http://www.truthout.org/article/palin-and-mccains-shotgun-marriage
Sunday 07 September 2008
by: Frank Rich, The New York Times

Sarah Palin makes John McCain look even older than he is. And he seemed more than willing to play that part on Thursday night. By the time he slogged through his nearly 50-minute acceptance speech - longer even than Barack Obama's - you half-expected some brazen younger Republican (Mitt Romney, perhaps?) to dash onstage to give him a gold watch and the bum's rush.

Still, attention must be paid. McCain's address, though largely a repetitive slew of stump-speech lines and worn G.O.P. orthodoxy, reminded us of what we once liked about the guy: his aspirations to bipartisanship, his heroic service in Vietnam, his twinkle. He took his (often inaccurate) swipes at Obama, but, in winning contrast to Palin and Rudy Giuliani, he wasn't smug or nasty.

The only problem, of course, is that the entire thing was a sham.

As is nakedly evident, the speech's central argument, that the 72-year-old McCain will magically morph into a powerful change agent as president, is a non sequitur. In his 26 years in Washington, most of it with a Republican in the White House and roughly half of it with Republicans in charge of Congress, he was better at lecturing his party about reform than leading a reform movement. G.O.P. corruption and governmental dysfunction only grew. So did his cynical flip-flops on the most destructive policies of the president who remained nameless Thursday night. (In the G.O.P., Bush love is now the second most popular love that dare not speak its name.)

Even more fraudulent, if that's possible, is the contrast between McCain's platonic presentation of his personal code of honor and the man he has become. He always puts his country first, he told us: 'I've been called a maverick.' If there was any doubt that that McCain has fled, confirmation arrived with his last-minute embrace of Sarah Palin.

We still don't know a lot about Palin except that she's better at delivering a speech than McCain and that she defends her own pregnant daughter's right to privacy even as she would have the government intrude to police the reproductive choices of all other women. Most of the rest of the biography supplied by her and the McCain camp is fiction.

She didn't say 'no thanks' to the 'Bridge to Nowhere' until after Congress had already abandoned it but given Alaska a blank check for $223 million in taxpayers' money anyway. Far from rejecting federal pork, she hired lobbyists to secure her town a disproportionate share of earmarks ($1,000 per resident in 2002, 20 times the per capita average in other states). Though McCain claimed 'she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,' she has never issued a single command as head of the Alaska National Guard. As for her 'executive experience' as mayor, she told her hometown paper in Wasilla, Alaska, in 1996, the year of her election: 'It's not rocket science. It's $6 million and 53 employees.' Her much-advertised crusade against officials abusing their office is now compromised by a bipartisan ethics investigation into charges that she did the same.

How long before we learn she never shot a moose?

Given the actuarial odds that could make Palin our 45th president, it would be helpful to know who this mystery woman actually is. Meanwhile, two eternal axioms of our politics remain in place. Americans vote for the top of the ticket, not the bottom. And in judging the top of the ticket, voters look first at the candidates' maiden executive decision, their selection of running mates. Whatever we do and don't know about Palin's character at this point, there is no ambiguity in what her ascent tells us about McCain's character and potential presidency.

He wanted to choose the pro-abortion-rights Joe Lieberman as his vice president. If he were still a true maverick, he would have done so. But instead he chose partisanship and politics over country. 'God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man,' said the shafted Lieberman in his own tedious convention speech last week. What a pathetic dupe. McCain is now the man of James Dobson and Tony Perkins. The 'no surrender' warrior surrendered to the agents of intolerance not just by dumping his pal for Palin but by moving so far to the right on abortion that even Cindy McCain seemed unaware of his radical shift when being interviewed by Katie Couric last week.

That ideological sellout, unfortunately, was not the worst leadership trait the last-minute vice presidential pick revealed about McCain. His speed-dating of Palin reaffirmed a more dangerous personality tic that has dogged his entire career. His decision-making process is impetuous and, in its Bush-like preference for gut instinct over facts, potentially reckless.

As The New York Times reported last Tuesday, Palin was sloppily vetted, at best. McCain operatives and some of their press surrogates responded to this revelation by trying to discredit The Times article. After all, The Washington Post had cited McCain aides (including his campaign manager, Rick Davis) last weekend to assure us that Palin had a 'full vetting process.' She had been subjected to 'an F.B.I. background check,' we were told, and 'the McCain camp had reviewed everything it could find on her.'

The Times had it right. The McCain campaign's claims of a 'full vetting process' for Palin were as much a lie as the biographical details they've invented for her. There was no F.B.I. background check. The Times found no evidence that a McCain representative spoke to anyone in the State Legislature or business community. Nor did anyone talk to the fired state public safety commissioner at the center of the Palin ethics investigation. No McCain researcher even bothered to consult the relevant back issues of the Wasilla paper. Apparently when McCain said in June that his vice presidential vetting process was basically 'a Google,' he wasn't joking.

This is a roll of the dice beyond even Bill Clinton's imagination. 'Often my haste is a mistake,' McCain conceded in his 2002 memoir, 'but I live with the consequences without complaint.' Well, maybe it's fine if he wants to live with the consequences, but what about his country? Should the unexamined Palin prove unfit to serve at the pinnacle of American power, it will be too late for the rest of us to complain.

We've already seen where such visceral decision-making by McCain can lead. In October 2001, he speculated that Saddam Hussein might have been behind the anthrax attacks in America. That same month he out-Cheneyed Cheney in his repeated public insistence that Iraq had a role in 9/11 - even after both American and foreign intelligence services found that unlikely. He was similarly rash in his reading of the supposed evidence of Saddam's W.M.D. and in his estimate of the number of troops needed to occupy Iraq. (McCain told MSNBC in late 2001 that we could do with fewer than 100,000.) It wasn't until months after 'Mission Accomplished' that he called for more American forces to be tossed into the bloodbath. The whole fiasco might have been prevented had he listened to those like Gen. Eric Shinseki who faulted the Rumsfeld war plan from the start.

In other words, McCain's hasty vetting of Palin was all too reminiscent of his grave dereliction of due diligence on the war. He has been no less hasty in implying that we might somehow ride to the military rescue of Georgia ('Today, we are all Georgians') or in reaffirming as late as December 2007 that the crumbling anti-democratic regime of Pervez Musharraf deserved 'the benefit of the doubt' even as it was enabling the resurgence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. McCain's blanket endorsement of Bush administration policy in Pakistan could have consequences for years to come.

'This election is not about issues' so much as the candidates' images, said the McCain campaign manager, Davis, in one of the season's most notable pronouncements. Going into the Republican convention, we thought we knew what he meant: the McCain strategy is about tearing down Obama. But last week made clear that the McCain campaign will be equally ruthless about deflecting attention from its own candidate's deterioration.
Palin and McCain's Shotgun Marriage

Sunday 07 September 2008

»

by: Frank Rich, The New York Times

What was most striking about McCain's acceptance speech is that it had almost nothing in common with the strident right-wing convention that preceded it. We were pointedly given a rerun of McCain 2000 - cobbled together from scraps of the old Straight Talk repertory. The ensuing tedium was in all likelihood intentional. It's in the campaign's interest that we nod off and assume McCain is unchanged in 2008.

That's why the Palin choice was brilliant politics - not because it rallied the G.O.P.'s shrinking religious-right base. America loves nothing more than a new celebrity face, and the talking heads marched in lock step last week to proclaim her a star. Palin is a high-energy distraction from the top of the ticket, even if the provenance of her stardom is in itself a reflection of exactly what's frightening about the top of the ticket.

By hurling charges of sexism and elitism at any easily cowed journalist who raises a question about Palin, McCain operatives are hoping to ensure that whatever happened in Alaska with Sarah Palin stays in Alaska. Given how little vetting McCain himself has received this year - and that only 58 days remain until Nov. 4 - they just might pull it off.

Grizzly Politics

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 00:11:00 EDT

believes grizzly bears should be killed. She wants to pass a law that allows aerial
killing of wolves. Buffalo steak is an all time favorite meal.
The republican bait now is the Catholic church.
Middle class Americans and Latins are the target and the great majority of them are Catholic. These are people who are faithful to the Catholic church who rules with the flesh of Christ bleeding over a cross. If you are well informed you know that the Catholic Church has been paid to write history for generations. The history books are full of lies about our ancestors.
Palin, A woman strongly disliked by animal lovers, who is pro life
but loves the sport of hunting is appealing to Catholics. She believes in sending young men to war. She caters to those with handicapped children by putting on a big show starring her mongoloid child and her pregnant daughter with her boyfriend who doesn't want kids. The entertainment is not complete without the appearance of a Native American Indian and African American man who join them in their all American front to keep people from thinking. Take the words away and the great spectacle they put on has no real connection to the heart of man. Again people are being driven by superficial means.
I believe we can be clever enough to blow their cover as long as we
remain connected in heart and spirit with one another.
Love is thicker than blood

Global Fund for Indigenous People

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:35:00 EDT

Permanent URL for this page: http://go.worldbank.org/8CXAXYWB

Global Fund for Indigenous Peoples

The Global Fund for Indigenous Peoples is the newest World Bank initiative that aims to directly assist Indigenous Peoples.

The Global Fund will support three activities:

1) The Grants Facility for Indigenous Peoples provides small grants directly to Indigenous Peoples' organizations to support implementation of sustainable development projects and programs based on their cultural preferences.

2) Capacity Building for Indigenous Leaders in the Andean region of South America is a pilot program designed to strengthen the indigenous organizations of the Andean countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela).

3) Financial support for the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will assist the Permanent Forum to promote a global partnership among Indigenous Peoples, the UN system, the Bank and other donors.

Houses out of garbage!!!

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:04:00 EDT

If you want to see some beautiful sustainable homes follow this link. THis man is known for making homes out of trash.
http://www.earthship.net/

Obama, young people, and immigrants.

Fri, 23 May 2008 11:36:00 EDT

Yesterday on the way home from school I saw an large griup of high school students filling an entire block.
It was Berkeley high school which is a very well known
throughout the country. All tyoung teenagers long
to go there.
What I saw when I looked closer was a majority of the young people holding hands
all the way around the block. Many were holding up signs and they were from all
different cultures. The protest focused on Hispanic I think because many signs
were in Spanish. The teachers were also participating in the the rally.
They were protesting against immigrants getting deported.
It made me think of Obama and the very first debate,
when Hillary made the comment {and I never forgot it], "Immigrants are a problem
for African Americans". Obama answered, "I don't think so". I was so proud of
him!!! At that very moment I knew Hillary was faking and, of course, I already
knew Obama was real. He was the reason to begin with I even watched the debates.
I believe Obama is very important to young people everywhere. I believe he has a genuine concern for immigrants all over the world.

42 USA presidents are related #43 didn't know his father

Sun, 04 May 2008 18:28:00 EDT

To read more about this follow this link:
http://inaaronsopinion.blogspot.com/2005/12/us-president-william-j-rockefeller.html
BLOODLINES

In the "The Biggest Secret" we learned that all 42 of the 43 U.S. Presidents have all been related to one another (at least distantly). However, Bill Clinton having been number US President number 42, did not even know who his father was, until the record showed up several decades later? David Icke is absolutely correct in his statement that all 41 Presidents of the United States have been directly related to one another. This has been confirmed by a genealogical organization known as Burke's Pearage, and Gary Boyd from the New England Historical Society, William Jefferson Clinton is the one that who somehow does not fit.

You see Bill Clinton was born to Virginia Dellcassidy and William Jefferson Blythe III. At some time in the 1940's Bill Clinton's mother had either divorced William Jefferson Blythe III or he passed on. So in 1946, when she married Roger Clinton, they changed his name to Clinton from Blythe.

A must read for those of US who still give some semblance of an interest

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:35:00 EDT

this guy has a way with words! -

Fastened to a Dying Animal

By Phil Rockstroh
April 29, 2008

Here in this crumbling empire once known as the American Republic,
here in a nation that, at present, for all practical purposes, only
produces Cheetos and killer drones, whose architecture is being
winnowed down to thriving rural meth houses and foreclosed upon
suburban mchouses, whose corrupt corporate culture has bequeathed
upon our suffering planet dying oceans and the hyper-caffeinated
tsunami of Red Bull Capitalism -- the essential question confronts us
-- how does one retain (not retail) one's humanity amid the
catastrophic machinery and inane accouterment of our age?

"Show your wounds," exhorted the late 20th Century artist Joseph
Boyce. The wound becomes the womb, poets tell us.

Out of painful truth, beauty is born. But, antithetical to the
orthodoxies of consumer capitalism, there are no shortcuts.

According to legend, Faust sold his soul for a glimpse of eternal
beauty and the hidden knowledge of the world. Sadly, we've done
likewise (but worse, pathetically) for a glimpse of Paris Hilton's
privileged (but hardly gated and guarded) cooter.

Here, now, sprawled upon the detritus of our dignity, we are
confronted by the exponential dynamics of decay known as the U.S.
Presidential Election cycle. In this, all three corporate candidates
are of little use to us.

Although all three have done very well for themselves by the present
and prevailing arrangement known as Disaster Capitalism.

What motivation do they have to change the system by which they've
thrived? McCain, Clinton, and Obama must serve the interests of the
corrupt corporate class -- or else they would be marginalized.

Paradoxically, as we have witnessed, as of late, if they make even
the most minute rumblings to the contrary -- as for example,
blundering into a steaming pile of the obvious such as the
observation that the battered laboring class of the nation might be
embittered by their lot --- they risk political immolation by being
labeled an elitist.

Of course, Obama is an elitist. (As are Clinton and McCain.)

And he has been put on notice by the Powers That Be that they have no
problem with him being among their ranks, as long as he doesn't go
rattling off at the mouth about those the rigged system benefits and
those it kicks daily in the gut.

Because in a political culture as far down the rabbit hole as is this
one, the surest way to be branded an elitist is to refuse to serve
the elite. (Not that Obama threatened any such thing.)

This is the modus operandi of the lacquered, autoerotic dudes and
dolls of the corporate media and the K Street cash-flushed phonies of
the American political classes: Pose as protecters of the beer-bleary
multitudes, as, all the while, carrying vintage Cabernet for a
privileged few.

This is not a situation fraught with layers of ambiguity in which any
deeper meaning can be mined: Below the corporate media's electronic
cloud of nebulous phoniness lies a dense core of calcified phoniness.

Thus it is difficult not to harbor contempt for this cartel of
narcissistic strivers who have networked the nation into a perpetual
state of cataclysmic ignorance.

Seemingly, their creed is: Let the ignorant multitudes languish on
the low nutrient, junk news we serve them from the drive thru windows
of our corporate media outlets, while the political and business
elite cannibalize what is left of the republic.

The ongoing tragedy in Iraq and the ecological and economic turmoil
roiling the globe are consequences of the domination-driven mindset
that the mainstream media protects. Ergo, increasingly violent
responses from outside forces, both of the human and natural variety,
are rising across the planet.

America, many shocks and sorrows are coming soon (probably sooner
than you think) to that vacuous bubble known as "your way of life."

It should be increasingly clear to see that the corporate media's job
has never been to be unbiased chroniclers of the events and
circumstances of a free republic.

Rather, they are active agents serving to protect and promulgate the
pernicious myths of free market capitalism. And they are a highly
partisan lot.

Moreover, they have been highly successful in their mission. Hence,
our lives, both inner and outer, have been conquered and colonized by
the corporate empire, and a resultant forced occupation dominates our
days determining the trajectory of our brief lives upon this earth.

"[S]ick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity."
-- W.B. Yeats

Yet, we, against all evidence, believe we are free actors in a
spontaneous, unfolding democratic drama. When, in reality, we have
been cast as dehumanized supernumeraries in a lethal farce that
renders all concerned both oppressor and oppressed.

This is the central paradox that binds us. And it is why the average
American cannot see our imperial occupation of Iraq and our
increasingly dangerous belligerence towards Iran for what it is.

How can we have a modicum of empathy for the people of Iraq when we
refuse to even glimpse our own degraded condition and our complicity
therein?

"God Damn America," the people of Sadr City must rage, as the bombs
shake their homes and tear the flesh from their friends and family.

"God Damn, America," I mutter, echoing the good Reverend Wright, as I
witness the indifference of the American people to the war crimes
committed by our nation's leaders.

By the insidious technique of propaganda by omission, the public has
been manipulated into a state approaching criminal obliviousness.

"What is this crazy talk about the calamity of class stratification
that defines and divides the nation, and what sort of demented,
leftist loser would even raise the topic among decent company?" our
present mandarins of media scoff when the topic of class inequity is
broached.

Add to that, the ongoing ruse of the ceaseless dissemination of fear
perfected by the right-wing media noise machine and then parroted in
the mainstream media that goes something like the following:

"There are evil entities afoot in the nation known as radical
liberals who scheme to take away your guns and give them to
islamofascist terrorists so that those agents of Satan over at
Planned Parenthood will be free to rip fetuses from their mothers
wombs in order to expose the unborn to porn."

This is the reason for the cacophony of inanity that dominates the
coverage of the political events of our time: It serves as white
noise that drowns out unpleasant truths. It is the mood music piped
into our national bubble.

Accordingly, trivial and specious narratives drive and dominate our
national political debate and it has, as a consequence, rendered the
nation's public too shallow to even apprehend the extent of the
damage inflicted by official treachery, professional cupidity, and
the degree of their own degradation therein.

Otherwise, the collective psyche of the nation would be shaken to the
core. Tragically, there is no longer any core to be found.

There is merely the surface sheen of the American bubblescape ... its
surface taut with inner tension as it is stretched to its limits, as,
all the while, reality bristles ever closer to its over-stretched skin.

Phil Rockstroh, a self-described, auto-didactic, gasbag monologist,
is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He
may be contacted at phil@philrockstroh.com Visit Phil's website,
http://philrockstroh.com/

THIS REALLY HAPPENED

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:12:00 EDT

THIS REALLY HAPPENED

Was it life's craziness
or was it simply destiny
after ten days' eternity
forever was here for infinity
but you won't believe me will you?

The songs in my head
ran circles in the rooms
tears barked at the walls
my heart's beating
froze inside the mirror
believe it or not
it's true!

Pinned by thoughts
my eyes locked on the melting roof
stardust hit my brain
a rose cursed the rain!
I am wondering...
are you still there?

then the waters of nothing grew still
a blank screen flashed over the entire surface
a whirlpool yelled out "You're already dead!"
a split second laughed:
"that is the funniest thing I have ever heard!"
he laughed until he burst into colors
and the world started over anew
but you don't believe me

do you?

by Clarita Zarate

30 sec videos you will like!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:31:00 EDT

Follow this link:
http://www.obamain30seconds.org/
I think anyone can vote on these 30 second videos. Some of them will make you cry. Some of them will make you laugh. You will like all of them and go back for more!

my dear ones

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:45:00 EDT

I am so touched that you are inspired by me. It is an honor to have friends like you. People who uplift one another is what tig is made of. Genuine people with hearts full of love that care about others. I can never be thankful enough for being part of this wonderful family!

San francisco Chronicle/Barack Obama

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:07:00 EDT

Thanks, Obama, for giving us 'it' back

Mark Morford

* The very best thing about Barack Obama - No, not that. Or that o...
04/04/2008

Nope, it's not what you might think. The best thing about Barack Obama has almost nothing to do with him as a person or as a leader or even as Oh My God the First Black President, Who Could Really Change Everything. It's not even the wondrous oratory power or the charisma or the sweet sense of deeper change.

There is, I think, something more. Something richer. And it's rather surprising.

See, I've read the profiles and the liberal fawnings and the intelligent analysis, the attempted takedowns and the right-wing smears, all the valiant attempts to dig up something dirty or problematic or frightening about Obama and his family, his past, his middle name, his beliefs and his pastor and his favorite flavor of ice cream - attempts that, rather amusingly, have all failed.

I've read, too, the glut of wonderment, how Obama is this generation's JFK, how he makes Hillary's brand of retro cronyist politics feel like the equivalent of rubbing salt on a paper cut. He is, they say, that once-in-a-lifetime candidate, a fantastically rare mix of intelligence, consistency, inspiration, hope, charisma, humanity, articulateness and an almost shocking lack of manipulation and sheen (well, relatively speaking), all packaged in a strikingly handsome unit in whose closet apparently live almost no skeletons at all.
Stewart stunned

I also nodded in agreement when snark-master Jon Stewart appeared slightly stunned as he pointed out, just following Obama's remarkable speech on race in America, that at long last, here was a top-tier politician who dared to speak to us as if we're adults. It is downright jarring.

And I even think it is a good thing that Obama is untested and inexperienced in the higher and more dire realms of government, just the kind of wild card we crave and need, given how he shows absolutely zero signs that he'd screw it up, not to mention how the last thing anyone really wants is more of the same old-school, inbred stuff we've had for decades.

Still, this wasn't what riveted me the most about Obama.

Initially, I thought the most impressive aspect of Obama's run was how the guy made it this far at all. That someone of his caliber and obvious intelligence could survive what has become a brutal political system and still emerge into the international spotlight as not insane, not possessing that creepy demonic gleam shared by so many politicos (Hi, Sen. McCain!) that suggests they've had souls eaten whole by the same scabrous trolls of greed and war and corruption that birthed two Bushes and gave Clinton that nearly intolerable aura of ego and slickness.

See, I've long believed that, if nearly eight years of the world's worst president has taught us anything, it's that the American political system has moved well beyond merely deeply flawed and broken and sad, and is now wholly rotted, a moral wasteland barely suitable even for cockroaches and leeches and Rick Santorum. I thought George W. Bush had actually managed to do the impossible: make an already defective system truly unbearable and toxic to all decent human life.

And I'm happy to report that the fact that Obama exists at this stage of the game is proving me very wrong indeed.

But I'll even take it a step further. Because the greatest thing about Obama isn't really about Obama at all, per se. It's actually about, well, us.

This is the great revelation: We've still got it. The collective unconscious, the deep sense of inner wisdom, that intuitive knowing that borders on a kind of mystical proficiency, where millions of people can actually look beyond rhetoric and media spin and merely feel the presence of something great in the room? Yep, still there. Who knew?

This is what I hear most from relatives and readers and friends and newborn activists who were never activists before: Obama speaks to the intuition. It's about the sixth sense. It's not so much what he says or how he behaves in the debates or the policy wonking or the "Change" banners or any of the tangible factors - although those have proved to be remarkably positive, too.

It's this: People feel it. They hear an Obama speech or read the articles or talk to like-minded folk and they squint and weigh everything and get that look on their face that says, you know what? This guy gets it. He feels right. It's not a trick of light. It's not the usual spin and manipulation and fakery. There is actual meat on this bone. What a thing.
The cynical attitude

Of course, I have plenty of readers who are die-hard cynics and jaded anarchists who say it's all just another vicious ploy, that all candidates at this level are essentially the same, all abhorrent simply by default because when you reach that stage of the game there is simply no way to avoid deep corruption and rampant lies. They tell me that even just to write a column like this is to buy into the revolting corporate-military machine.

After all, once the vipers of big money and big oil and military spending and corporate cronyism get their fangs sunk in, it's pretty much "game over" for any candidate's remaining integrity. Has Mr. Perfect Obama spoken out against the insidious Patriot Act or taken on the absurd farm subsidies or talked up issues of global warming? No, he has not. As nice and smart as he may be, strip away all the fawning and the oratory tricks and give him a year in office and boom, just another corrupted, compromised former visionary. Right?

Whatever. I'm not buying it. At least, not yet. For the moment, I trust the collective intuition. I trust the widespread sense, not merely of hope and change but of collective wisdom swimming though the air like an electrical surge between every smart, creative person on the planet right now, a bolt of energy that says hey, we're still together. We've still got it.

And Obama? He gets it, too. He may have kindled it anew, all by himself. Either way, it's back. And it's powerful. And that, to me, is the most hopeful thing of all.

-- Mark Morford

This article appeared on page E - 13 of the San Francisco Chronicle

10 things to know about John McCain

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:23:00 EDT

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. H e voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his camp aign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0--yes, zero--from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10
John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be. Please help get the word out--forward this email to your personal network.

Sources:
1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC Ne ws, April 3, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html

"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/

2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103sid=aF28rSCtk0ZMrefer=us

"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/

4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008
http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007

"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/

6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80

"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087sid=aHMiDVYaXZFMrefer=home

7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022

"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/

8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/

"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251

9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/jo hn-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/

"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/
10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/

Great sayings

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:14:00 EDT

"Success is a journey, not a destination." - Ben Sweetland

"What's best in music is not to be found in the notes." - Gustav Mahler

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their life by altering their attitudes." - William James

"All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident." - Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." - John F. Kennedy

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizen's can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

"The person who moves mountains begins by carrying away small stones." - William Faulkner

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." - Philo

Bill Richardson Endorses Barack Obama

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:02:00 EDT

Former Candidate Bill Richardson Endorses Barack Obama
>
> In a move that could affect the Democratic Party nomination for the
> presidency, former Clinton Secretary of Energy, and New Mexico Governor Bill
> Richardson (D-NM) announced his endorsement for Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).
> When asked why he is supporting Obama, Richardson stated, "We are blessed to
> have two great American leaders and great Democrats running for President.
> My affection and admiration for Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton
> will never waver. It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting
> amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will face against
> John McCain in the fall. The 1990's were a decade of peace and prosperity
> because of the competent and enlightened leadership of the Clinton
> administration, but it is now time for a new generation of leadership to
> lead America forward. Barack Obama will be a historic and a great President,
> who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together
> as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad".
>
> Citing the recent speech by Barack Obama regarding race, Richardson stated,
> "Earlier this week, Senator Barack Obama gave an historic speech that
> addressed the issue of race with the eloquence, sincerity, and optimism we
> have come to expect of him. He inspired us by reminding us of the awesome
> potential residing in our own responsibility. He asked us to rise above our
> racially divided past, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the
> work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us
> together.As a Hispanic, I was particularly touched by his words. I have been
> troubled by the demonization of immigrants--specifically Hispanics-- by too
> many in this country. Hate crimes against Hispanics are rising as a direct
> result and now, in tough economic times, people look for scapegoats and I
> fear that people will continue to exploit our racial differences--and place
> blame on others not like them. We all know the real culprit -- the
> disastrous economic policies of the Bush Administration!"
>
> When asked about what traits drew Richardson to the Obama campaign,
> "Senator Obama has started a discussion in this country long overdue and
> rejects the politics of pitting race against race. He understands clearly
> that only by bringing people together, only by bridging our differences can
> we all succeed together as Americans.His words are those of a courageous,
> thoughtful and inspiring leader, who understands that a house divided
> against itself cannot stand. And, after nearly eight years of George W.
> Bush, we desperately need such a leader". In terms of Senator Obama's
> policies, Richardson stated, "To reverse the disastrous policies of the last
> seven years, rebuild our economy, address the housing and mortgage crisis,
> bring our troops home from Iraq and restore America's international
> standing, we need a President who can bring us together as a nation so we
> can confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad".
>
> As to rumors of a possible vice-presidential nomination or a possible
> Cabinet position, Richardson would only state, "During the past year, I got
> to know Senator Obama as we campaigned against each other for the
> Presidency, and I felt a kinship with him because we both grew up between
> words, in a sense, living both abroad and here in America. In part because
> of these experiences, Barack and I share a deep sense of our nation's
> special responsibilities in the world".
>
> -Jose Ricardo G. Bondoc www.sfnewsfeed.us
>
>
>
>
>
> _____

I really love this site!!!

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:33:00 EDT

Because the people from all over the world are so beautiful and good to me!!!!! They care about each other and want to help make this a better world.

Thank you beautiful people!!!
And thank you to the people who started tig and those who keep it going!!!
Clarita