GOTOV

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What are you doing here?

Seriously.

Get out and vote for Barack. 34 states let you vote early.

Get out and make phone calls. Get out and go door-to-door. Get out and go to your local Obama/Dem headquarters and pitch in and help 'em out.

Get out and wear your Obama button, your Obama tee-shirt, your Obama cap...strike up a conversation in a pizza takeout line. Talk to the folks you meet walkin' your dog. Don't let one opportunity pass by.

Pour it on. Nobody's working harder, thinking more, doing more than Barack Obama...but let's all make sure he's leading a campaign of working, thinking, doing voters who are ready to roll up our sleeves and make America happen again. Just as this campaign has.

Go on, get outa here.... GOTOV. Get Out The Obama Vote.
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Race Card Politics

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Ari says it a tad more subtly than I replied to him over at Oxdown--good on ya, Ari, for the screen grab.

My take:

When you choose to play the race card… When you choose the staff who have a history of playing the race card…

You are a racist, John McCain.
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Ari's got the picture at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette... now everybody's got the picture... of John McCain.

Props to the Phillies

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Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies, winners of the 2008 World Series. Here in Prairie Country, where Fargo is the home of 61-in-61--"some say" still baseball's homerun king, Roger Maris--we take our baseball seriously.

To the roster of homegrown baseball stars Darin Erstad and Rick Helling, now is added Phillies catcher Chris Coste.

You do Fargo-Moorhead and your hometown team, the RedHawks, proud.

Winners never quit.
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The War of the Rogueses

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As the intramural fingerpointing ratchets up between McCain and Palin factions, some say this pair are like the ultimate bad, bad, bad divorce.

And some say, they deserve each other.

Little did McCain know, when he started preachin' the gospel of "the other," the fearmongering of "them" vs. us, when Palin started talkin' up the real and the anti-...just what a cosmic joke ol' karma would have in store.
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As for the rest of us...GOTV, GOTV, GOTV....
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Politics Free Zone

.Don't worry, little fella...that white stuff's gonna melt away and there's sunshine ahead.
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A puppy of many colors just seemed appropriate right now. Doncha think?
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In Memoriam: Tony Hillerman

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He was as spare and elegant in his storytelling as a sunrise over the high desert of New Mexico where his roots ran deep.

The mystery writer Tony Hillerman died Sunday at 83 due to, well, there's a medical name, but I prefer to think of it as a rich and well-lived life that finally reached the last page.

Hillerman, honored by Mystery Writers of America as a Grand Master, transcended the mystery genre with his stories of Leaphorn and Chee and their Navajo environs.

He was, in the words of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson this morning on the Imus Show, an accessible guy whom Richardson valued for his dedication to the state. And Imus noted that when he wanted to find an early Hillerman mystery, Imus was able to just pick up the phone and give him a call.

Listening to him weave his stories with his thoughts on the writing process at a writers' conference in Santa Fe some years back, I was struck by how in tandem his verbal and his written "voices" were.

His heroes were ordinary law enforcement, doing yeoman's work. Not razzle-dazzle pyrotechnic hot dogs. Just ordinary Joes who knew their value to their communities. There is honor in that.

Honors were many for Hillerman--military as well as literary for the old veteran. The New Mexico flag will fly at half-staff, said Richardson.

But the greatest honor would be if you would pick up a Hillerman mystery and immerse yourself in the stark beauty of his world. I'll bet your library or bookstore has a bunch of 'em just waiting for you.
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Lieberman = Tessio

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Once there was an iconic movie, The Godfather, which played out in grand scale the struggles of good and evil, strong vs weak, smart vs stupid.

Tessio, they say, did the "smart" thing...taking sides against The Godfather. Betraying the Corleone family to ally with Tataglia for the opportunistic "winning" side. Except, Michael turned out to be not just a kid to be patted on the cheek and dismissed.

In a political sense, the same story is playing out as Joe Lieberman now starts talking about how much he "respects" Barack Obama. Larger minds than mine will decide Lieberman's political fate, but I'd proffer that the just end to this current political epic for Joe Lieberman will be to sleep with the political fishes.
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Full Court Pressler

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Just because you've always voted Republican, doesn't mean you can't vote for change, vote for Obama, this year. Just because you vote for Obama doesn't mean you can't go back to your Republican party and help reform it back into something resembling fiscal and other sanity after this year.

Just ask former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler, the first Vienam Vet to serve in the Senate. This year, Politico reports, Pressler is voting for Obama...and has contributed $500 to his campaign.

The list keeps getting longer and longer.

And maybe that's as much an anti-McCain, anti-Palin, anti-Republican vote this year as a vote for Obama. Pressler does say that McCain's reaction to the financial crisis sure gave him pause.

But reality is, when Obama talks about these United States of America....it starts in the voting booth...for everyone.
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(crossposted at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

Remember History...or Repeat It

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Just remember, when George W. Bush dawdled and partied while the City of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were deluged by Katrina, who he was partying with...and who was partying with him.
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Strib De-frocked

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Once there was a truly great newspaper in Minnesota.

Then it got bought out.

And purged its best talent and kept the execrable.

Now, it's just another right-leaning, truth-suppressing, slanted rag of yellow journalism.

Media Matters has part of the tale.
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If Coleman and Bachmann and McCain or any of 'em win on November 4, it'll be due in sizeable part to the abysmal failure of what was once iconic journalism in the Land of Sky Blue Waters.
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(h/t Atrios for the signpost; crossposted at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)
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Andy, Opie and The Fonz

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I've been looking at some interesting endorsements for Obama of late. You know the ones. Susan Eisenhower, Colin Powell, CC Goldwater, former Minnesota Governor Arnie Carlson...Republicans all.

But here's the endorsement that really sums up spirit of what all the endorsements mean in one sentimental package.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Hey, it beats Pinochet for McCain....
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Postcards from America

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Crooks & Liars cues us in to a great opportunity. From sea to shining sea and all the way across it, we can show some love to Barack Obama's grandmama, who is dealing with very serious health circumstances.

The Senator will be flying to visit her, but we can lift his wings with our own expressions of caring.

As C&L notes, please, send postcards rather than envelope/cards for ease of relaying our warm wishes.

Send to:

Mrs. Madelyn Dunham
c/o Obama for America
Honolulu Headquarters
1050 Ala Moana Blvd Ste D2690
Honolulu, HI 96814

I'll be sending my own grandmama to grandmama message today...one of the highlights of my year was introducing Barack to my five-year-old grandson in Grand Forks at the ND Dem-NPL convention.

I owe Madelyn Dunham a great big thank you for all her years of lovin' and rearin' the man who inspires so many, especially a starry-eyed little boy.
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P.S. No postcard? No excuses! Print out a favorite scene or family picture on card stock or photo paper and there's your postcard. A 4x6 card is only 27 cents postage. Warm some hearts today...the Obamas, yours, and mine.
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(crossposted at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

Grandparents = Love

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Don't miss this marvelous blog commentary about Barack Obama's [white] grandparents -- and all the people who have made acts of courage an everyday process. From the Atlantic, this deserves the widest possible circulation. Please do the link, read it and pass it forward....

This one's for grandparents everywhere... and especially for their grandchildren. Much love to mine.

Gramma for Obama.

"I'm the King. You're Nothing...."

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This is a pure, unabashed love letter to the geniuses at The Daily Show.

Last night, we saw firsthand more actual in-depth investigative journalism and news analysis through their comedy prism than the rest of the cable and network newsbots have given us for months.

Which brings me to Ralph Kramden. If you've never seen the Golden Age comedy genius of The Honeymooners, you've missed iconic television.

Ralph, the forever dreaming bus driver, was always brought back down to earth by his wife, Alice. There's a whole lotta Ralphs in the country these days, easily beguiled by schemes--like oh, say, trickle-down Reaganomics. One wishes a lot more of the Joe-the-Plumbers these days would have Alices in their lives.

Among the classic moments of the scarce 39 episodes was one where Ralph revs himself up and blusters at his wife, Alice:

I'm the king...you're nothing. The king. You're nothing....
He paces around their tiny flat, arms flailing. Building himself up more and more.

Alice watches him with long suffering patience.

Well, then, that would make you the king of nothing.

We see a whole lotta Ralphitude out of the Republicans these days. But unlike Gleason's character, this isn't a role for them. A few Alice types have emerged. Colin Powell among them.

Rumor is there are a bunch of other Republicans sharing Powell's views, but not willing to speak out. Shame on them.

McCain and his campaign are going out of their way to appeal to the Inner Ralph Kramden these days. Divisive, distorting, and attacking. Because what he has to offer is same ol' same ol'.

And when we can't count on the traditional news media to cut through the political spin with facts rather than endlessly playing over and over the same distorted attacks from McCain [yes, I am listening to McCain on CNN as I type, why do you ask...]....

Then we do, yes, turn to the comedians. Like Jon Stewart's smackdown of the Photeny Palin Truth Squadders Nancy Pfotenhauer, Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann.

And speaking of Sarah Palin... did you see Jason Jones' on the scene reporting from Wasilla? The interview with the current mayor of the community that provides no city services... No education services... No...

Well, see it for yourself. 'cause Sarah Palin... and John McCain... Now there's the king of nothing.
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(crossposted at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

The Long Road

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Obama campaign announces that the Senator will suspend his campaigning to make the long flight home to Hawaii where his grandmother is gravely ill.

We pray he makes it in time.

And Cokie and Rush can just keep their traps shut.
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"Share the Wealth"

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McCain and Palin havin' their say this morning, mocking Barack Obama's comment to "Joe the Faux" that it's about time we share the wealth of this nation.

Now, not being of the sheep persuasion, I don't buy the argument that we should keep following the "piss on us" concept of economics that is Republican trickle-down dogma.

And I've read the stats that show America currently has the greatest disparity of wealth between John McCain's bazillionaire base and the rest of America. And we're falling behind the rest of the world...in education, in healthcare, in too many ways.

And I've read the headline about the bonuses being handed out right now for the beneficiaries of the $700 billion bailout that both candidates voted for.

We've had too much wealth redistribution upwards under Republican orthodoxy. Long past time for some Reformation... and you can call it "socialism" if you've a mind to. I call it fairness... and common sense... oh, and while you're at it, real Jesus.
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UPDATE: Nobel winner Paul Krugman cuts through the McCain malarkey on the economy like a plumber cuts through, well, Republican sludge...

Whatever Means Necessary....

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I remember reading about Cindy McCain telling her adopted daughter, Bridget, who was deeply hurt by the slurs of South Carolina 2000 that it was politics. Nasty business, but politics.

Maybe that level of tolerance of vile tactics, the "good man" rationalizing using any means necessary just to survive, is what informs the current strategery of the McCain campaign.

Maybe he tells himself it's like back in the years in 'Nam, when yes, he did sign papers against America while a POW. You do anything necessary just to survive.

Unless you don't.

Joe Klein's commentary on John McCain's friendship with David Ifshin, an anti-Vietnam war protestor, "McCain's Radical Pal," is telling. That friendship was far closer than any serving-on-a-board-together collegiality by Obama and William Ayers. But what if it were an identical level of friendship.

Like the dark characters of the Bush Administration, notably Dick Cheney, and the callow, unethical charlatans of Republican consultancy, notably Karl Rove and his acolytes, there is evident in McCain these days a willingness to rationalize that anything goes.

That dishonor--breaking the Honor Conduct code of the Naval Academy and the naval tradition of the McCain family--is situational and acceptable in furtherance of the goal...survival.

Survival of a campaign mired in sleaze and smear. But the McCains' self-denial tells them that's okay. It can be washed off. It can be made right...once the election is over.

After all, it's just politics.
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Minnesota Should Be Mortified

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If you haven't seen Michelle Bachmann on her crazy-woman rant yet, give a listen at the MSNBC Hardball webpage, courtesy Thinkprogress.

Michelle Bachmann, previously best known as the "Gropa from Minnesota," is also a member of Palin's "truth squad" in the state of Minnesota.

Joe McCarthyism may have crept from Wisconsin into the Minnesota Congressional District which sent Michelle Bachmann to Congress, but we're keeping 'em at bay: we voted today.

Michelle Bachmann said publicly what John McCain's robocalls are saying secretly in the shadows.

Shame on John McCain. Shame on Sarah Palin. Shame on Michelle Bachmann.

And shame on all of us if any of these people are ever elected or re-elected to any public office in America again.].

Michelle Bachmann, best known as the "Gropa from Minnesota," is also a member of Palin's "truth squad" in the state of Minnesota.

Joe McCarthyism may have crept from Wisconsin into the Minnesota Congressional District which sent Michelle Bachmann to Congress, but we're keeping 'em at bay: we voted today.

Michelle Bachmann said publicly what John McCain's robocalls are saying secretly in the shadows.

Shame on John McCain. Shame on Sarah Palin. Shame on Michelle Bachmann.

And shame on all of us if any of these people are ever elected or re-elected to any public office in America again.
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Buy American...from Wall Street to Wal-Mart

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This morning in the New York Times, Warren Buffett makes the case for investing now in American stocks.

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.
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To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Buying American takes some doing these days. Just last weekend, I wove through the road construction and asphalt trucks of l'il ol' Park Rapids, Minnesota for a rare visit to the local Wal-Mart in search of something I knew I couldn't find in the other smaller stores of the community.

While there, I decided to look for a new juice container.

I'm pragmatic about my fears. I don't worry about boogey-men popping out from behind the tall timbers. The only orange alert is the color of the tamaracks.

I don't shy away from paying my taxes....just how do folks think that road construction and those asphalt trucks get paid for, anyway? I just want to be sure that when I do pay those taxes, the money's spent responsibly, wisely and prudently. So reading that one of John McCain's chief fundraisers is under investigation for war profiteering...now that's something I fear. And that's something I expect the government I'm paying for to do something about...to protect this country and to protect my family.

And when I see economist Joseph Stiglitz telling Colbert about how global corporations have figured out how to bill bilk the American taxpayer out of gazillions of dollars doing things like truckin' sand from Kuwait to Iraq. What, said Colbert, they don't have enough sand in Iraq?

Yeah, sometimes I wonder if we should be learning from history not just by reading Orwell's 1984, but we should also be reconnecting with Milo Minderbender in Catch-22.

But back to storing stuff in plastic made in China. You see, I worry about that. Plastic, any plastic, gives me pause. And, yes, I did see The Graduate in original release. But sorry, plastic don't float my boat. So there I was in Wal-Mart. Looking for a glass juice container. Not made in China.

And I found it. Anchor-Hocking, said the label. Made in America. By a good ol' American company that's been around since long before I was writing ad copy for the housewares sales at the regional hardware and sports chain where I started biz writing.

Nice to see an old friend.

So there's a couple of new glass carafe-shaped pitchers ready for juice and iced tea in the tall timber now.

And if you are willing to do a little extra work, make a little extra effort, you, too, can "buy American" and invest in putting this country back on its feet.
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McCain "Tongues" Obama

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Yes, this is a Reuters photo. No, it is not photoshopped.
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Speechless.

Joe the Plant?

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So, was Joe the Plumber a set-up to give McCain a gimmick at last night's debate? Interesting to watch McCain bring up the erstwhile questioner of Barack Obama's tax policy. But as the hours continue, more questions than answers are emerging.

Like just how close Joe the Plumber's ties may be to the McCain campaign... Andrew Sullivan starts makin' some dots at his blog, The Daily Dish. Joe the registered Republican.... Joe the relative of Charles Keating's son-in-law....

Funny how those same ol' names keep poppin' up in the same ol' same ol' campaign.
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Prairie Insta-Poll - Debate 3

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Obama = Steady as he goes.
McCain = Agitated Petulant.

Yes, Virginia....

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Polling showing that traditionally Red State Virginia is now leaning to Obama, per a breaking news story on CNN.

Yes, there is....

Prairie Thought for Today

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Inspired by the Republicans' current conflation-station scheme to ratchet up the base by screaming "voter fraud" when it's actually voter registration fraud...

No, I don't believe Santa Claus, Minnie Mouse, Conan the Barbarian, or Freckles the cat are going to turn up at a polling place near you. Now do you? Really?

Don't hand me a mud pie and tell me it's my Gramma's lemon meringue....

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Battleground North Dakota

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Right after the Republican convention, the poll numbers leaped for John McCain and Barack Obama shuttered his North Dakota offices to disperse his paid staff into Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Reality has returned.

This morning, the leading newspaper instate, The Forum [Fargo] blasted a nearly full-page feature headlined: Obama Leads in ND.

The polling margin is tight -- Obama-45%, McCain-43%, with 12% Undecided. But within those numbers are some startling--for North Dakota--statistics. Like, 17% of those who self-identify as strong Republicans plan to vote for Obama. 40% of those who self-identify as independents plan to vote for Obama.

Right here in my own neighborhood, traditionally a Republican neighborhood, we've been trending Democratic for a couple of decades. This year, there's more "Sarah!" signs [2] than McCain signs [1].

And Obama signs are popping up on almost every block. A testimony to the candidate and a motivated grassroots operation in-state and elsewhere.

We are all battleground states now.... except for the ones Obama has already locked up.

Vote absentee early if you can...and on Election Day pitch in: GOTV, GOTV, GOTV.

Prisoner of....

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More and more, John McCain is looking like a prisoner of slimeball rightwing political "consultants" and cronies and "conservative" voices of the Atwater-Rovian School of sleazeball politics. Delivering hostage tapes of lies to appease those who control him.

At least that's the only possible alternative explanation to John McCain being so desperate and covetous of winning the Presidency that he will stoop to any vile tactic of race-baiting and inciting hatred and anger in the crowds who attend rallies to hear his and, even more, Sarah Palin's scathing and disingenuous attacks on Barack Obama.

Attacks that are joined by the likes of Cindy McCain and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Some company to keep.

Even as he calls McCain to account, though, Frank Rich like too many of his fellow reporters and opiners gives him a pass--and a benefit of the doubt that McCain no longer deserves.

The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder.

Friday in Lakeville, Minnesota, McCain grudgingly responded to one of Minnesota's lesser nice [shorter: Lice] citizen's attack on Obama as an "Arab" by saying that Obama was a decent family man, a citizen, that they had disagreements.....

Now, maybe McCain had an epiphany and realized he needed to pull back from the rants and rousing of the rabble. Or maybe not.

Because just moments from that comment, McCain was attacking Obama as someone who never worked across the aisle. A flat-out bald-faced thou-shalt-bear-no-false-witness lie that would come as a surprise to Senator Dick Lugar [R-IN] and Senator Tom Coburn [R-OK]...for starters.

But then, when McCain signed on with the merchants of hate and gambled on Palin the Barbarian, he signed away his Honor Conduct.
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UPDATE: Garrison Keillor has thoughtful words for real honor conduct. And Matt Tiabbi dons his hazmat suit to delve into the world of Rove.
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[crossposted at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette]

Thought for Today

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Just remember, President Eisenhower never said: beware the earmark-industrial complex....

John McCain and Company, when they aren't whipping their followers into hate-filled panicked frenzy, are holier than thou about the earmark.

What do they call that boneyard in his backyard? Oh, that's right. Important military spending.

Wonder how John McCain would do on the military-industrial boondoggle build stuff that won't ever be used scale these days?

The Soviet Union imploded itself on the arms race. Are we headed down the same ol' same ol' track?

Puppy Love

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Yes, I saw the debate. Of course Obama won. And McCain just made himself look more bad, that one. Somebody once said if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. No, John McCain, you can't have mine.

But a dog would serve you a lot better than the corrupt and corrosive cronies you've chosen to surround yourself with these days. Just sayin'.
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Prairie's Reading: A Conservative for Obama

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A while back, reader Melody asked in an email for suggestions on how to talk to Republicans and conservatives about why it's important, this year, to vote for Barack Obama and his message of change we need.

That's a question that's been raised in other blogs, as well, so when a friend sent me Wick Allison's commentary "A Conservative for Obama" I sought out the source so I could share it with all of you.

The only way we are going to achieve transforming change instead of more of the same ol' same ol' is to persuade everyone that it is more important, this year, that we work together than that we work at cross purposes.

The rest is so much chaff. But chaff can get in your eyes and be enough of an irritant to blind people to the over-arching work that lies ahead.

So take a moment to read Allison's commentary, and then ask yourselves, who have I been trying to reach that I haven't yet persuaded. Maybe hearing it from one of their own will make the difference. Because this year, we can't afford to leave any voter behind.

Follow the Money

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A short history of Keating Five...and John McCain's career-long drive to deregulate everything in sight.

Too complicated you say? Who can follow it?

Well, consider this...deregulation and total nonregulation of the swaps market [a phony dodge that offered insurance on risky investments that wasn't called insurance, therefore wasn't regulated] is how the whole frackin' planet got into this financial mess.

So take a little trip down memory lane with the re-doubtable Senator John McCain.

And ask yourself, hasn't he done enough damage already to the economy of America...and the planet?

Hate Talk Express

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We've been hearing little belches of bile of late from the McCain team of desperation. You know, that anti-Muslim DVD that's been tidily tucked into midsized newspapers around the country. The one I will give no further press by naming or linking. You know it's out there.

Speaking of out there, since the veep debate something else has been "out there"--the hate talk machine is starting to ratchet up. Oh, my yes. Sarah Palin's leadin' the charge, callin' Obama unAmerican and unpatriotic, and associatin' with characters like William Ayers.

Interesting, coming from a woman who's in bed--literally and figuratively--with Alaska-firsters, who want to separate that state from the rest of the Union.

Not to be outdone, Senator Joe Lieberlouse, CT for Joe, this morning on Faux "News" carried the baton a little further forward about Obama's "questionable associations." Hmmmm, Joe, seems to me you were one of those questionable associations, y'know, bein' his Senate mentor and all.

Say it ain't so, Joe.

Gee, that sounds familiar. Now where have I heard that before?

Now lots of folks aren't taking kindly to this "guilt by association" stuff. Like Paul Begala, this morning on Meet the Press, pointing out that John McCain has his own "questionable associations"--with the extremist, racist, anti-Semitic U.S. Council for World Freedom.

John McCain sat on the board of a very right-wing organization. It was the U.S. Council for World Freedom. It was chaired by a guy named John Singlaub, who wound up involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. It was an ultraconservative right-wing group. The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981, when McCain was on the board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League, the parent organization, which ADL said, “has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and Anti-Semites.”

Which I suppose you could dismiss as so much ancient history. Except that right now the McCain camp is having to do damage control for John's own brother Joe likening Northern Virginia to a hotbed of commies.

So when Sarah Palin used that "say it ain't so, Joe" line the other night...do you suppose she was maybe mixin' up her Joes?
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"No bias, no bull."

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Wow, imagine if this catches on. Campbell Brown proposes a no-idiots zone:

“As journalists, and certainly for me over the last few years, we’ve gotten overly obsessed with parity, especially when we’re covering politics,” Ms. Brown said. “We kept making sure each candidate got equal time — to the point that it got ridiculous in a way.”

“So when you have Candidate A saying the sky is blue, and Candidate B saying it’s a cloudy day, I look outside and I see, well, it’s a cloudy day,” she said. “I should be able to tell my viewers, ‘Candidate A is wrong, Candidate B is right.’ And not have to say, ‘Well, you decide.’ Then it would be like I’m an idiot. And I’d be treating the audience like idiots.”

Away Space

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Cold

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Conservative family values on display courtesy William F. and Christopher Buckley. Personal responsibility? Nah, nevah heard of it. Contempt and disdain? Not half so much you've shown to William F.'s grandson as the world should show to you. Doubtless Tucker [go ahead, pick any of 'em] and Billy Kristol find it amusing. How 'bout you, MoDo?

Some legacy...medieval.
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crossposted at firedoglake's new Oxdown Gazette

America, this is your 3 a.m. wake-up call

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When John McCain said he saw his "soulmate" in Sarah Palin, was this what he had in mind?
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There is a Season

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We're kickin' back for a few days in Prairie Country...fresh posts if any will be intermittent. We're remembering our dear friend Marley, reflecting on the state of our lives and our world. Change is in full flower here in Prairie Country.

Trees that were green just two days ago are flush now with scarlet and gold.

Kind of the state of the world these days. We are green-to-the-gills with sickness over the choppy seas of the last almost eight years. Facing choices between the scarlet of a hotheaded war drum pounder. Or the gold of a champion who's trained and worked and grown into the role of leadership and community organizing that this nation so desperately will need.

I'm goin' with the gold. And leavin' the drumming to the ruffed grouse outside my window this morning.

Sarah Susanka articulates the importance of an away place as splendidly as any I've ever read. Whether it's a room, or a grove, or a city park path, find yourself an away space and pause a bit to contemplate just where we have been. And where we are headed.

Then take a deep breath. And take some time to work for the world as you want it to be.

And I'll see you back here again soon.