Say Anything Blog

By John Stephenson

The left really thought they had something to sink Sarah Palin for good! Wow! Look! We have youtube videos and members of a “fringe” state’s rights group that wants to secede that state Sarah was a member! Look! There she is actually talking with them at a meeting! Despite their candidate remained a member of a racist “God damn America” church for twenty years and only quit after enormous political pressure; and despite their candidate for president remains good friends with an unrepentant, America hating domestic terrorist that bombed the Pentagon and is still proud of it, they were eager to put the label of America hater around Sarah’s neck! There was only one little snag. Their accusations were unfounded, without evidence, and ultimately untrue! She has been a Republican since 1982!

While the press scrambles to report on the process by which Governor Palin was offered the second spot on the Republican ticket, New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller has opted instead to make up her own version of events. As the AP reports, “Sarah Palin voluntarily told John McCain’s campaign about her pregnant teenage daughter and her husband’s 2-decade-old DUI arrest during questioning as part of the Republican’s vice presidential search, the lawyer who conducted the background review said.” Yet according to Bumiller, yesterday’s disclosures “called into question” how thoroughly Governor Palin had been vetted. Why the discrepancy? It seems one reporter actually reported the story, while Bumiller made up her own. …
And Bumiller writes that Governor Palin “was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party.” Not true, and unsourced. Governor Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982.

The source given by commenters here was ABC’s Jake Tapper. Well, he’s got a follow-up they should read.

A day after ABC News requested a response from Palin as to whether she was ever a member of the AIP, McCain campain spox Brian Rogers told ABC News that Clark’s “allegations are false.”
“Governor Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982,” Rogers says, providing some voter registration documentation showing her to be a Republican. “As you know, if she changed her registration, there would have been some record of it. There isn’t.”
Rogers says the McCain campaign provided ABC News with all the voter registration information that exists. Rogers says that Palin didn’t attend the AIP convention in 1994, “but she visited them when they had their convention in Wasilla in 2000 as a courtesy since she was mayor.”
He would not comment as to why AIP officials are so convinced Palin was a member of their party. When asked if Palin ever identified herself as a member of the AIP, Rogers said, “No, she’s a lifelong Republican.”

[...]

The lying lefties are caught again.

The boyfriend of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s unwed, pregnant daughter will join the family of the Republican vice presidential candidate at the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Levi Johnston’s mother said her 18-year-old son left Alaska on Tuesday morning to join the Palin family at the convention where Sen. John McCain will officially receive the Republican nomination for president. The boy’s mother, Sherry Johnston, said there had been no pressure put on her son to marry 17-year-old Bristol Palin and the two teens had made plans to wed before it was known she was pregnant.

“This is just a bonus,” Johnston said.

I will give another $50 to the McCain/Palin Presidential fund if Johnston just hauls of and punches the first ignorant questions by an MSM reporter. That would raise the roof.....

Randall Hoven

While you might have been pre-occupied with Labor Day celebrations or political conventions, there have been a few other things going on in the world.  If I didn’t know better, I’d say we are closing in on victory in Iraq, the US economy is growing even faster than it was growing when people thought it wasn’t, Anthropogenic Global Warming is being debunked and things just seem to be going our way.

Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century, Drop in solar activity has potential effect for climate on earth, 9/1/08

US Military Returns Control of Anbar to Iraqis, 9/1/08

Petraeus submitted report on troop cuts, The top US commander in Iraq has given his military superiors and Defense Secretary Robert Gates his initial recommendation on when to resume US troop withdrawal and at what pace, 8/30/08

Former Marine acquitted in Iraqi detainee deaths, 8/29/08

Second-quarter growth revised significantly higher, Expansion in US GDP pegged at 3.3%, 8/28/08

Jobless claims ease for 3rd week, Number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell for the third week straight, 8/28/08

Russia Under Pressure, Has Little World Support, NPR, 8/28/08

[...]

And if Michael Moore thinks God reveals His plan to him via Hurricane Gustav , he might ask himself why it hit Cuba full force but missed New Orleans.

Lest we forget amidst the propaganda blitz from the MSM…

Jerome J. Schmitt

Those familiar with ABC News This Week panel discussion know that most Sundays the reliably-liberal Cokie Roberts joins George Stephanopoulos and Sam Donaldson to triple-team the lone conservative, George Will (ABC’s idea of fair & balanced).  Consequently, I was surprised to see Ms. Roberts, one of the grand-dames of mainstream television broadcast news, take center stage on Sunday to vigorously defend Governor Sarah Palin against attempts to dismiss her candidacy prematurely. George Will hardly said a word, leaving Ms. Roberts to do the heavy lifting on behalf of a Republican.

Ms. Roberts repeated her performance last night on PBS’s Charlie Rose.  Although not actually endorsing Sarah Palin, Ms. Roberts almost bristles at liberal concoctions designed to dismiss her qualifications before the Governor has had a chance to make her case to the American public.

Could the Palin candidacy be instigating a split in the ordinarily-monolithic liberal mainstream media? Dennis Sevakis already noted that Maria Bartiromo was positively effusive over Sarah Palin’s qualifications on Meet the Press this past Sunday. 

[...]

This is just the beginning.

The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years: an entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being noted.

The event is significant as many climatologists now believe solar magnetic activity – which determines the number of sunspots—is an influencing factor for climate on earth.
. Sunspot data has been collected since 1749.
In the past 1000 years, three previous such events—the Dalton, Maunder, and Spörer Minimums, have all led to rapid cooling. One was large enough to be called a “mini ice age”.

Sun+Makes+History+First+Spotless+Month+in+a+Century

Why do they hate America?

Why is the gop VP nominee a member of this anti American hate group?

Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain’s presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

“This election is not about issues,” said Davis. “This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.”

Obama: I have more experience than Palin

This man is an idiot to even attempt to compare his experience with Governor Sarah Palin. He not once mentions her two years of executive experience as Governor, only her role as mayor of a small town. But if he wants to play that futile game, Sarah Palin had more executive experience as the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Barack Hussein Obama has had in his entire life. And as Governor...she hits a home run!!!

50 employees - please...she’s Executive of a state three times the size of California and twice the size of Texas. Sarah Palin has an approval rating in the 90’s which is unheard of in any state of the union! She promised to end corruption in state government, cut spending, and provide accountability. She kept EVERYONE of those promises, which is unheard of for any politician!

BHO and the Democratic Party are in panic mode and it’s laughable that he would have the audacity to classify running around the world giving inane empty speeches and basking in the glow of celebrity fluff and media adoration for 18 months, as experience. His senate experience is a joke too and he knows it, so he’s grasping at straws and looking extremely foolish.

“Brilliant!” “Electrifying!” “Energizing” are terms to describe Governor Sarah Palin. But even more than those things she is MORE than experienced and qualified.

Palin is probably one of the most experienced governors on energy issues, while Obama´s energy policy revolves around inflating your tires. Her goal is to make this country energy independent and free from the stranglehold of our enemies. She fought corruption of the “big boys club” in Alaska and won! She has served 13 years in elected office, even more in government leadership positions, and has accumulated executive experience both at the municipal and state levels. She has served as president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors and as Governor she is commander of Alaska´s National Guard. Barack Obama cannot dare to claim as much experience as Sarah Palin. There is no comparison. And if Barack Hussein Obama truly believes she lacks the qualifications to be president, he should seriously rethink his own candidacy and step down.

BHO is more than an “empty suit” - he obviously has the lights on, but no one’s home! Probably smoking crack has fried his brain! You know what they say, “Once a Crackhead, always a Crackhead” and that’s who the liberals want running this country. He is a joke and running scared...the Democrats are digging and digging to find something...ANYTHING...to overturn the electrifying excitement Governor Sarah Palin has brought to this election!

Amazing, they’re running in attack mode against the Vice Presidential running mate instead of the Presidential candidate now! What a hoot! They are scared spit-less!!!...and I love it!

GO MCCAIN*PALIN

In all the arguing over who has more executive experience--a bayou bait shop owner, Sarah Palin, or Barack Obama--one thing seems to be lost to me.

Specifically, exactly how much experience in government do we want?  Do we really want someone who has gotten used to the horse trading, backroom deals, and vote-buying that characterize our legislatures and executive branches, or would it be better to have someone come in and say “what on earth is going on here?”

Maybe the latter guy (or gal) would run into too many problems due to a lack of experience.  On the other hand, maybe they would have the ability to see the screw-ups that have become a part of standard operating procedure in DC, and maybe they’d have a chance to fix them.

At least, they’d have a chance if they figured out who was leaking everything to the NY Times and Washington Post.  But that’s another issue.

I find it unsettling, disconcerting, alarming and confusing that in the first Presidential election to ever hold a female on a major party ticket, we are saddled with such an incongruous dud as Palin.  Seeing a woman possibly on her way to the White House should be a time for celebration and commemoration for women’s rights. Instead we are offered this insular, intolerant, out- of - date woman to be our hope for the future of women in the United States. 
In an era when women are increasingly faced with such gender specific issues as an escalating AIDS epidemic in females, and rises in teen pregnancy, it’s abhorrent and sad that a woman who has the potential to be so influential, so inspirational; has the makings of a political candidate that could set back the women’s right movement decades.
Palin’s anti-abortion stance stands to revoke a women’s right to choose.  Why have we as educated, progressive women fought so long to achieve this right?  Why would we want undo the toil and strife that so many grass roots and capitol hill feminists have dedicated years of struggle and ferocious fight into creating a nation where we have the right to choose weather our bodies are to bear children or not. 
Why I ask would Palin do such a thing.  Is it her religious up bringing? Is it the relatively remote and ultra-conservative state in which she lives.  I’d be interested to see if her views remained the same if she were to spend time in say, North Philadelphia with masses of over burdened, undereducated, underfunded, single women whom she proposes shall no longer have the, “right to choose.”
Why wouldn’t a sophisticated woman, such as Palin, seek to give these woman the right to divest them selves of any undo burdens.  I personally believe children are a blessing but when lack of knowledge and ignorance are at epidemic proportions in many inner cities why would Palin seek to perpetuate such instances. 
This brings me to my next major point of discord with Palin’s feminist or lack of feminist platform.  She takes the firm stance that teaching teens abstinence is the only acceptable form of preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancies’.  While I am a huge promoter of teaching teens the importance of abstinence; it is easily reflected in the pregnancy of Palin’s own unwed pregnant teen daughter; that this is an extremely ignorant and dangerous stance. 
Of course abstinence in teens and unfit parents is the most desired form of prevention. It must be taught collectively though, along with information regarding condoms, and birth control.  This and only this will allow our nation to tackle our over whelming, ever increasing, dearth of unwanted pregnancies and STD afflicted women.  Most of these pregnancies, may I add, reported by under educated women, whom by Palin’s way of governing would remain so. 
In 2008 it was reported that the largest number of persons affected by the AIDS virus, in the United States, were black women under the age of 28.  By Palin’s policies it reasons to be seen as a guarantee that this number will only increase. 
Why would such a woman of authority and influence not see her position as a gift to the women of the US. A gift she could use to educate women on the choices available to them, the sex education services and methods of prevention that would help to ensure the future health of US women as a whole and the healthy choices available to us. A gift of opportunity to perpetuate and advance the movements of so many devoted feminists before us.

Indeed!

Heh:

Obama Begs Palin: Don’t Punish Bristol with a Baby

by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 52 Comments

(2008-09-01) — As news broke of the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s eldest daughter, Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama pleaded with the GOP vice presidential candidate not to be too harsh with her daughter, who plans to marry the father of the child.

“Gov. Palin,” said Sen. Obama addressing himself to her personally, “you tried to teach your daughter about morals and values, but she made a mistake, and she shouldn’t be punished with a baby.”

As a goodwill gesture, Sen. Obama offered to pay for Bristol Palin’s abortion “at any time between now and the scheduled moment of birth.”

Indeed.

Evidently, punishing Georgia for its attempted retaking of its own breakaway provinces is not enough, nor the recognition of the breakaway provinces, nor merging them into Russia (see how neatly seizing another countries provinces can be finessed?) nor the continued occupation of Georgia, to include the strategically-vital sea port of Poti, is not enough—now Russia’s figure head president declares the Georgian president, Saakashvili a walking corpse.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday he no longer considers his counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili to be Georgia’s leader, charging in an interview that Saakashvili is a “political corpse.”

”For us, the present Georgian regime has collapsed. President Saakashvili no longer exists in our eyes. He is a political corpse,” Medvedev said.

Medvedev was responding to a question from a journalist from Italian station RAI on Russia’s possible participation in a conference on the Caucasus in Rome in the coming weeks where Saakashvili would participate.

Medvedev said in the interview broadcast on Russian television that Moscow was ready to hold talks with the international community “on all sorts of questions, including post-conflict resolution in the region” of the Caucasus.

“But we would like the international community to remember who began the aggression and who is responsible for people’s deaths,” he said.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said last month that Italy intended to host an international conference on the Caucasus in Rome in October.

In an interview published Monday, Frattini said he would go to Russia and Georgia this week in a bid to ease hostilities between the two neighbours.

Medvedev also said Tuesday that Moscow did not fear being expelled from the Group of Eight industrialised nations over the Georgian crisis, as has been suggested by some in the West.

The Kremlin leader said the suggestions were being made in relation to the upcoming presidential election in the United States.

US Republican candidate John McCain has fiercely condemned Russia’s actions in its conflict with Georgia, and demanded that Moscow be barred from the G8 rich nations club as punishment.

“The calls that are being heard, I explain them exclusively by the American electoral technology as a way of raising popularity based on conflict,” Medvedev said in the interview.

He further said NATO “would lose more” than Moscow by breaking relations with Russia.

“We do not see anything dramatic, anything complicated in the suspension of relations (with NATO) if our partners desire it,” said Medvedev. “But it seems that they would lose more.”

Russia sent tanks and troops into Georgia on August 8, a day after Georgia launched an offensive to regain control of breakaway South Ossetia.

Moscow halted its offensive after five days but refused to withdraw all its troops, saying they are on a peacekeeping mission. Georgia has labelled them an occupation force.

Evidently, the former (?) Soviet country of Russia feels itself being encircled by Nato and is lashing out and until there are some viable methods of bringing it to heel, the Neo-Soviet rampage will continue.

Related Links

Leaders try to stop Russia colliding with West

Russia threatens military action against Czech Republic

Russia Threatens U.S. Over Missile Deal

Hours after the signing, Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned that Moscow’s response would go beyond diplomacy. The system to be based in Poland lacks “any target other than Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles,” it said in a statement, contending the U.S. system “will be broadened and modernized.”

“In this case Russia will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic” channels, it said without elaborating.

Russia threatens nuclear attack on Ukraine

Mr Putin has condemned Washington’s plans to include Poland and the Czech Republic in a missile defence shield as a “new phase in the arms race”.

Russia fears the shield will threaten its national security and tip strategic military balance in Europe.

“The goal [of the missile shield] is to neutralise our nuclear capabilities,” said Mr Putin.

”This would prompt Russia to take retaliatory action.”

And this, although from 2004, and from the World Socialist Website, many aspects of this article seem to presage events now unfolding.

The Caucasus powder keg: Russia threatens military interventions

Russian General accusses Balkan countries for arming Georgia

Moscow accuses Israel of arming Georgia - day before Assad arrives for big arms purchases

Russia’s Medvedev: U.S. aid ships arming Georgia

Russian Foreign Minister Accuses NATO Of Arming Georgia

Putin Accuses U.S. In Georgia War

One characteristic of Russia that goes back hundreds, if not thousands, of years is that of paranoia.  Putin and his sock-puppet figurehead of a president are sounding increasingly unhinged in their scattergun accusations against every Bogeyman of the old Soviets and have demonstrated their willingness to lash out in the form of military attacks.

Still...

While there seems to be little militarily that the West can muster against Russia right now, and any hope of action through the UN impossible due to Russia’s veto power, something must be done, and done quickly.

And as important as it is that something be done (most likely economic and trade sanctions) , it must be done carefully.

I noticed that gas is down today, however, I am wondering why the station owners here in Grand Forks, ND haven’t lowered the price of gas yet? They sure hurried to raise the price of gas last week when Gustov was making it’s way towards land.

By ALEX KENNEDY SINGAPORE (AP) By ALEX KENNEDY SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices fell below $106 a barrel Tuesday in Asia - $10 below its close Friday before the Labor Day weekend - as investors shifted their focus to slowing global demand after worries about Hurricane Gustav subsided.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery was trading at $106.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midafternoon in Singapore, and at one point dropped as low as $105.46.

On Monday, when U.S. trading was closed for Labor Day, the contract had plunged $4.34 to $111.12 a barrel in late electronic trading. On Friday, the contract settled at $115.46 a barrel.

Traders were relieved that Gustav weakened as it approached the offshore oil rigs and Louisiana refineries, and appeared to have caused less damage than expected in New Orleans and surrounding areas.

But they quickly turned their attention to slowing global economic growth, speculating that will dampen demand for crude oil, even in developing countries such as China and India.

“The market continues to be weighed down by worries of a global economic downturn and slowing oil demand in developing markets,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. “Action by OPEC and supply side concerns should put a backstop to any sharp price drop.”

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet Sept. 9 and has indicated it may take action to defend the $100 a barrel level.

There was some disruption to oil supplies as oil companies shut down production and evacuated facilities ahead of the storm. Altogether, about 2.4 million barrels of refining capacity had been halted, roughly 15 percent of the U.S. total, according to figures from Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. (MHP) The Gulf Coast is home to nearly half of the nation’s refining capacity.

It could be a day or more before oil and natural gas companies can assess the damage to their drilling and refining installations. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said as much as 20 percent of oil and gas production that was stopped because of Gustav could be restored by this weekend, stressing that it was a rough estimate.

Traders are also keeping an eye on other storms brewing in the region.

Hurricane Hanna was predicted to come ashore in Georgia and South Carolina late in the week, and Tropical Storm Ike formed late Monday in the Atlantic Ocean and may become a hurricane in the next 36 hours as it approached the Bahamas.

“September is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. After Gustav, there are two more now on the radar screen. The storms are likely to provide some upside risks to the oil futures market,” Shum said.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 15.44 cents to $3.0375 a gallon, while gasoline prices lost 16.92 cents to $2.685 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 47.3 cents to $7.472 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, October Brent crude was down $2.01 to $107.40 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6817602

Here’s the text, for those of you who don’t want to give DU any hits:

Today, I am ashamed to be a DU member


I’ve been here a long time. Not a prolific poster, but a prolific reader. And from what I’ve read today, I don’t belong here anymore.

Women being bashed for their right to choose having a family and a career with the support of their spouse.

Women being called sluts, bimbos and brood mares.

Women having their appearance dissected and witchhunts for compromising photos.

Innocent young girls being slandered with rumors & innuendos.

Enough. I want to win. But I don’t want to win this way. And if you do, then I don’t want any part of it.

America speaks.  Obama needs to do a whole lot more ass-covering, IMO.