It would appear that I'm not the only one crying foul at the alleged Failout yesterday. Read El Rushbo's God Bless the Republicans - he's just a tad more well-spoken than I am. And maybe a little bit smarter.
Maybe.
An informed voter is not only a wise voter, he or she is probably also a good American. In this regard, the press has always been the cornerstone in the foundation of American democracy … that is, until the press became such an advocate of socialism and liberal politics that it can no longer be relied upon to convey "fair and balanced" information. Despite having authored two autobiographies, Barack Obama has never written about his most important executive experience. From 1995 to 1999, he led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), and remained on the board until 2001. The group poured more than $100 million into the hands of community organizers and radical education activists.
If we cannot obtain the truth about our politicians from an unencumbered press, then we'll form a cooperative to distribute information independently.
Stanley Kurtz is a journalist and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Mr. Kurtz' article in the Wall Street Journal explains why Barack Obama is untrustworthy for the office of the President of the United States. He lacks integrity … and if it is one thing we do not need in the White House, it is yet another dishonest politician.
Mr. Kurtz writes:
The CAC was the brainchild of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground in the 1960s. Among other feats, Mr. Ayers and his cohorts bombed the Pentagon, and he has never expressed regret for his actions. Barack Obama's first run for the Illinois State Senate was launched at a 1995 gathering at Mr. Ayers's home.
The Obama campaign has struggled to downplay that association. Last April, Sen. Obama dismissed Mr. Ayers as just "a guy who lives in my neighborhood," and "not somebody who I exchange ideas with on a regular basis." Yet documents in the CAC archives make clear that Mr. Ayers and Mr. Obama were partners in the CAC. Those archives are housed in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago and I've recently spent days looking through them.
The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created ostensibly to improve Chicago's public schools. The funding came from a national education initiative by Ambassador Walter Annenberg. In early 1995, Mr. Obama was appointed the first
chairman of the board, which handled fiscal matters. Mr. Ayers co-chaired the
foundation's other key body, the "Collaborative," which shaped education policy.
The CAC's basic functioning has long been known, because its annual reports, evaluations and some board minutes were public. But the Daley archive contains additional board minutes, the Collaborative minutes, and documentation on the groups that CAC funded and rejected. The Daley archives show that Mr. Obama and Mr. Ayers worked as a team to advance the CAC agenda.
One unsettled question is how Mr. Obama, a former community organizer fresh out of law school, could vault to the top of a new foundation? In response to my questions, the Obama campaign issued a statement saying that Mr. Ayers had
nothing to do with Obama's "recruitment" to the board. The statement says
Deborah Leff and Patricia Albjerg Graham (presidents of other foundations)
recruited him. Yet the archives show that, along with Ms. Leff and Ms. Graham,
Mr. Ayers was one of a working group of five who assembled the initial board in
1994. Mr. Ayers founded CAC and was its guiding spirit. No one would have been
appointed the CAC chairman without his approval.
The CAC's agenda flowed from Mr. Ayers's educational philosophy, which called for infusing students and their parents with a radical political commitment, and which downplayed achievement tests in favor of activism. In the mid-1960s, Mr. Ayers taught at a radical alternative school, and served as a community organizer in Cleveland's ghetto.
In works like "City Kids, City Teachers" and "Teaching the Personal and the Political," Mr. Ayers wrote that teachers should be community organizers dedicated to provoking resistance to American racism and oppression. His preferred alternative? "I'm a radical, Leftist, small 'c' communist," Mr. Ayers said in an interview in Ron Chepesiuk's, "Sixties Radicals," at about the same time Mr. Ayers was forming CAC.
CAC translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice. Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with "external partners," which actually got the money. Proposals from groups focused on math/science achievement were turned down. Instead, CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or Acorn).
Mr. Obama once conducted "leadership training" seminars with Acorn, and Acorn members also served as volunteers in Mr. Obama's early campaigns. External
partners like the South Shore African Village Collaborative and the Dual Language Exchange focused more on political consciousness, Afrocentricity, and bilingualism than traditional education. CAC's in-house evaluators comprehensively studied the effects of its grants on the test scores of Chicago public-school students. They found no evidence of educational improvement.
CAC also funded programs designed to promote "leadership" among parents. Ostensibly this was to enable parents to advocate on behalf of their children's education. In practice, it meant funding Mr. Obama's alma mater, the Developing Communities Project, to recruit parents to its overall political agenda. CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents "organized" by community groups might be viewed by school principals "as a political threat." Mr. Obama arranged meetings with the Collaborative to smooth out Mr. Weber's objections.
The Daley documents show that Mr. Ayers sat as an ex-officio member of the board Mr. Obama chaired through CAC's first year. He also served on the board's governance committee with Mr. Obama, and worked with him to craft CAC bylaws. Mr. Ayers made presentations to board meetings chaired by Mr. Obama. Mr. Ayers spoke for the Collaborative before the board. Likewise, Mr. Obama
periodically spoke for the board at meetings of the Collaborative.
The Obama campaign notes that Mr. Ayers attended only six board meetings, and stresses that the Collaborative lost its "operational role" at CAC after the first year. Yet the Collaborative was demoted to a strictly advisory role largely because of ethical concerns, since the projects of Collaborative members were receiving grants. CAC's own evaluators noted that project accountability was hampered by the board's reluctance to break away from grant decisions made in 1995. So even after Mr. Ayers's formal sway declined, the board largely adhered to the grant program he had put in place.
Mr. Ayers's defenders claim that he has redeemed himself with public-spirited education work. That claim is hard to swallow if you understand that he views his education work as an effort to stoke resistance to an oppressive American system. He likes to stress that he learned of his first teaching job while in jail for a draft-board sit-in. For Mr. Ayers, teaching and his 1960s radicalism are two sides of the same coin.
Mr. Ayers is the founder of the "small schools" movement (heavily funded by CAC), in which individual schools built around specific political themes push students to "confront issues of inequity, war, and violence." He believes teacher education programs should serve as "sites of resistance" to an oppressive system. (His teacher-training programs were also CAC funded.) The point, says Mr. Ayers in his "Teaching Toward Freedom," is to "teach against oppression," against America's history of evil and racism, thereby forcing social transformation.
The Obama campaign has cried foul when Bill Ayers comes up, claiming "guilt by association." Yet the issue here isn't guilt by association; it's guilt by participation. As CAC chairman, Mr. Obama was lending moral and financial support to Mr. Ayers and his radical circle. That is a story even if Mr. Ayers had never planted a single bomb 40 years ago.
To say Mr. Obama is not ready for the presidency is a gross understatement. It is not simply that he lacks experience … it is also that he repudiates traditional American values and culture by embracing Marxist ideology, has been an acolyte of black racist theology, cuddled up with the anarchist activism of Saul Alinski, and even worse … the man is simply and irrevocably dishonest. There is nothing about Barack Obama that may cause us to think he honors American tradition, or share with us our time-honored values.
If the American people elect this man to the presidency, he will certainly destroy the cultural and political fabric of the United States, and when he has finished his work, none of us will recognize what he has left behind: the People's Socialist Republic of the United States.
Even though Nancy Pelosi and her cohort Barney Frank are trying their damndest to pin the Failout on republicans who "got their feelings hurt," maybe Barney should have a little meeting with members of his own committe first.
Twelve of the 37 democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee voted against the bill.
Try as they might, democrats can't pin this on partisan politics. They have the majority in the house, and had this been a good bill in the first place, they should have been able to get the votes necessary to pass it from their own party alone.
I'm calling bullshit on this one. Sounds like a partisan set-up to me.
Note the "motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to
without objection." If the Democrats had wanted this to pass, they would not
have said that. The procedural guts of this is that any vote in the House can be
"reconsidered" by a motion to reconsider that is in order from a member of the
prevailing side for two legislative days. By tabling this, that option is off
the table.
The simplest option for Pelosi would have been to wait an hour,
watch the markets collapse for a while, scare 12 Democrats and hold a revote.
Surely some Republicans would have participated in this.
Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats had a way to win
this vote today. Either out of incompetence or strategy, they walked away from
that opportunity.
Want to know how your representative(s) voted? Here's the roll call:
H R 3997 RECORDED VOTE 29-Sep-2008 2:07 PM
AYES
Democratic 140
Republican 65
NOES
Democrat 95
Republican 133
NOT VOTING
Republican 1
TOTALS
AYES 205
NOES 228
QUESTION: On Concurring in Senate Amendment With An Amendment
BILL TITLE: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide earnings assistance and tax relief to members of the uniformed services, volunteer firefighters, and Peace Corps volunteers, and for other purposes
Ackerman D NY legislator Aye
Allen D ME legislator Aye
Andrews D NJ legislator Aye
Arcuri D NY legislator Aye
Baird D WA legislator Aye
Baldwin D WI legislator Aye
Bean D IL legislator Aye
Berman D CA legislator Aye
Berry D AR legislator Aye
Bishop (GA) D GA legislator Aye
Bishop (NY) D NY legislator Aye
Boren D OK legislator Aye
Boswell D IA legislator Aye
Boucher D VA legislator Aye
Boyd (FL) D FL legislator Aye
Brady (PA) D PA legislator Aye
Brown, Corrine D FL legislator Aye
Capps D CA legislator Aye
Capuano D MA legislator Aye
Cardoza D CA legislator Aye
Carnahan D MO legislator Aye
Clarke D NY legislator Aye
Clyburn D SC legislator Aye
Cohen D TN legislator Aye
Cooper D TN legislator Aye
Costa D CA legislator Aye
Cramer D AL legislator Aye
Crowley D NY legislator Aye
Davis (AL) D AL legislator Aye
Davis (CA) D CA legislator Aye
Davis (IL) D IL legislator Aye
DeGette D CO legislator Aye
DeLauro D CT legislator Aye
Dicks D WA legislator Aye
Dingell D MI legislator Aye
Donnelly D IN legislator Aye
Doyle D PA legislator Aye
Edwards (TX) D TX legislator Aye
Ellison D MN legislator Aye
Ellsworth D IN legislator Aye
Emanuel D IL legislator Aye
Engel D NY legislator Aye
Eshoo D CA legislator Aye
Etheridge D NC legislator Aye
Farr D CA legislator Aye
Fattah D PA legislator Aye
Foster D IL legislator Aye
Frank (MA) D MA legislator Aye
Gonzalez D TX legislator Aye
Gordon D TN legislator Aye
Gutierrez D IL legislator Aye
Hall (NY) D NY legislator Aye
Hare D IL legislator Aye
Harman D CA legislator Aye
Hastings (FL) D FL legislator Aye
Higgins D NY legislator Aye
Hinojosa D TX legislator Aye
Holt D NJ legislator Aye
Honda D CA legislator Aye
Hooley D OR legislator Aye
Hoyer D MD legislator Aye
Israel D NY legislator Aye
Johnson, E. B. D TX legislator Aye
Kanjorski D PA legislator Aye
Kennedy D RI legislator Aye
Kildee D MI legislator Aye
Kind D WI legislator Aye
Klein (FL) D FL legislator Aye
Langevin D RI legislator Aye
Larsen (WA) D WA legislator Aye
Larson (CT) D CT legislator Aye
Levin D MI legislator Aye
Loebsack D IA legislator Aye
Lofgren, Zoe D CA legislator Aye
Lowey D NY legislator Aye
Mahoney (FL) D FL legislator Aye
Maloney (NY) D NY legislator Aye
Markey D MA legislator Aye
Marshall D GA legislator Aye
Matsui D CA legislator Aye
McCarthy (NY) D NY legislator Aye
McCollum (MN) D MN legislator Aye
McDermott D WA legislator Aye
McGovern D MA legislator Aye
McNerney D CA legislator Aye
McNulty D NY legislator Aye
Meek (FL) D FL legislator Aye
Meeks (NY) D NY legislator Aye
Melancon D LA legislator Aye
Miller (NC) D NC legislator Aye
Miller, George D CA legislator Aye
Mollohan D WV legislator Aye
Moore (KS) D KS legislator Aye
Moore (WI) D WI legislator Aye
Moran (VA) D VA legislator Aye
Murphy (CT) D CT legislator Aye
Murphy, Patrick D PA legislator Aye
Murtha D PA legislator Aye
Nadler D NY legislator Aye
Neal (MA) D MA legislator Aye
Oberstar D MN legislator Aye
Obey D WI legislator Aye
Olver D MA legislator Aye
Pallone D NJ legislator Aye
Pelosi D CA speaker Aye
Perlmutter D CO legislator Aye
Pomeroy D ND legislator Aye
Price (NC) D NC legislator Aye
Rahall D WV legislator Aye
Rangel D NY legislator Aye
Reyes D TX legislator Aye
Richardson D CA legislator Aye
Ross D AR legislator Aye
Ruppersberger D MD legislator Aye
Ryan (OH) D OH legislator Aye
Sarbanes D MD legislator Aye
Schakowsky D IL legislator Aye
Schwartz D PA legislator Aye
Sestak D PA legislator Aye
Sires D NJ legislator Aye
Skelton D MO legislator Aye
Slaughter D NY legislator Aye
Smith (WA) D WA legislator Aye
Snyder D AR legislator Aye
Space D OH legislator Aye
Speier D CA legislator Aye
Spratt D SC legislator Aye
Tanner D TN legislator Aye
Tauscher D CA legislator Aye
Towns D NY legislator Aye
Tsongas D MA legislator Aye
Van Hollen D MD legislator Aye
Velazquez D NY legislator Aye
Wasserman Schultz D FL legislator Aye
Waters D CA legislator Aye
Watt D NC legislator Aye
Waxman D CA legislator Aye
Weiner D NY legislator Aye
Wexler D FL legislator Aye
Wilson (OH) D OH legislator Aye
Bachus R AL legislator Aye
Blunt R MO legislator Aye
Boehner R OH legislator Aye
Bonner R AL legislator Aye
Bono Mack R CA legislator Aye
Boozman R AR legislator Aye
Brady (TX) R TX legislator Aye
Brown (SC) R SC legislator Aye
Calvert R CA legislator Aye
Camp (MI) R MI legislator Aye
Campbell (CA) R CA legislator Aye
Cannon R UT legislator Aye
Cantor R VA legislator Aye
Castle R DE legislator Aye
Cole (OK) R OK legislator Aye
Crenshaw R FL legislator Aye
Cubin R WY legislator Aye
Davis, Tom R VA legislator Aye
Dreier R CA legislator Aye
Ehlers R MI legislator Aye
Emerson R MO legislator Aye
Everett R AL legislator Aye
Ferguson R NJ legislator Aye
Fossella R NY legislator Aye
Gilchrest R MD legislator Aye
Granger R TX legislator Aye
Herger R CA legislator Aye
Hobson R OH legislator Aye
Inglis (SC) R SC legislator Aye
King (NY) R NY legislator Aye
Kirk R IL legislator Aye
Kline (MN) R MN legislator Aye
LaHood R IL legislator Aye
Lewis (CA) R CA legislator Aye
Lewis (KY) R KY legislator Aye
Lungren, Daniel E. R CA legislator Aye
McCrery R LA legislator Aye
McHugh R NY legislator Aye
McKeon R CA legislator Aye
Miller, Gary R CA legislator Aye
Peterson (PA) R PA legislator Aye
Pickering R MS legislator Aye
Porter R NV legislator Aye
Pryce (OH) R OH legislator Aye
Putnam R FL legislator Aye
Radanovich R CA legislator Aye
Regula R OH legislator Aye
Reynolds R NY legislator Aye
Rogers (AL) R AL legislator Aye
Rogers (KY) R KY legislator Aye
Ryan (WI) R WI legislator Aye
Saxton R NJ legislator Aye
Sessions R TX legislator Aye
Shays R CT legislator Aye
Simpson R ID legislator Aye
Smith (TX) R TX legislator Aye
Souder R IN legislator Aye
Tancredo R CO legislator Aye
Upton R MI legislator Aye
Walden (OR) R OR legislator Aye
Walsh (NY) R NY legislator Aye
Weldon (FL) R FL legislator Aye
Wilson (NM) R NM legislator Aye
Wilson (SC) R SC legislator Aye
Wolf R VA legislator Aye
Abercrombie D HI legislator No
Altmire D PA legislator No
Baca D CA legislator No
Barrow D GA legislator No
Becerra D CA legislator No
Berkley D NV legislator No
Blumenauer D OR legislator No
Boyda (KS) D KS legislator No
Braley (IA) D IA legislator No
Butterfield D NC legislator No
Carney D PA legislator No
Carson D IN legislator No
Castor D FL legislator No
Cazayoux D LA legislator No
Chandler D KY legislator No
Childers D MS legislator No
Clay D MO legislator No
Cleaver D MO legislator No
Conyers D MI legislator No
Costello D IL legislator No
Courtney D CT legislator No
Cuellar D TX legislator No
Cummings D MD legislator No
Davis, Lincoln D TN legislator No
DeFazio D OR legislator No
Delahunt D MA legislator No
Doggett D TX legislator No
Edwards (MD) D MD legislator No
Filner D CA legislator No
Giffords D AZ legislator No
Gillibrand D NY legislator No
Green, Al D TX legislator No
Green, Gene D TX legislator No
Grijalva D AZ legislator No
Herseth Sandlin D SD legislator No
Hill D IN legislator No
Hinchey D NY legislator No
Hirono D HI legislator No
Hodes D NH legislator No
Holden D PA legislator No
Inslee D WA legislator No
Jackson (IL) D IL legislator No
Jackson-Lee (TX) D TX legislator No
Jefferson D LA legislator No
Johnson (GA) D GA legislator No
Kagen D WI legislator No
Kaptur D OH legislator No
Kilpatrick D MI legislator No
Kucinich D OH legislator No
Lampson D TX legislator No
Lee D CA legislator No
Lewis (GA) D GA legislator No
Lipinski D IL legislator No
Lynch D MA legislator No
Matheson D UT legislator No
McIntyre D NC legislator No
Michaud D ME legislator No
Mitchell D AZ legislator No
Napolitano D CA legislator No
Ortiz D TX legislator No
Pascrell D NJ legislator No
Pastor D AZ legislator No
Payne D NJ legislator No
Peterson (MN) D MN legislator No
Rodriguez D TX legislator No
Rothman D NJ legislator No
Roybal-Allard D CA legislator No
Rush D IL legislator No
Salazar D CO legislator No
Sanchez, Linda T. D CA legislator No
Sanchez, Loretta D CA legislator No
Schiff D CA legislator No
Scott (GA) D GA legislator No
Scott (VA) D VA legislator No
Serrano D NY legislator No
Shea-Porter D NH legislator No
Sherman D CA legislator No
Shuler D NC legislator No
Solis D CA legislator No
Stark D CA legislator No
Stupak D MI legislator No
Sutton D OH legislator No
Taylor D MS legislator No
Thompson (CA) D CA legislator No
Thompson (MS) D MS legislator No
Tierney D MA legislator No
Udall (CO) D CO legislator No
Udall (NM) D NM legislator No
Visclosky D IN legislator No
Walz (MN) D MN legislator No
Watson D CA legislator No
Welch (VT) D VT legislator No
Woolsey D CA legislator No
Wu D OR legislator No
Yarmuth D KY legislator No
Aderholt R AL legislator No
Akin R MO legislator No
Alexander R LA legislator No
Bachmann R MN legislator No
Barrett (SC) R SC legislator No
Bartlett (MD) R MD legislator No
Barton (TX) R TX legislator No
Biggert R IL legislator No
Bilbray R CA legislator No
Bilirakis R FL legislator No
Bishop (UT) R UT legislator No
Blackburn R TN legislator No
Boustany R LA legislator No
Broun (GA) R GA legislator No
Brown-Waite, Ginny R FL legislator No
Buchanan R FL legislator No
Burgess R TX legislator No
Burton (IN) R IN legislator No
Buyer R IN legislator No
Capito R WV legislator No
Carter R TX legislator No
Chabot R OH legislator No
Coble R NC legislator No
Conaway R TX legislator No
Culberson R TX legislator No
Davis (KY) R KY legislator No
Davis, David R TN legislator No
Deal (GA) R GA legislator No
Dent R PA legislator No
Diaz-Balart, L. R FL legislator No
Diaz-Balart, M. R FL legislator No
Doolittle R CA legislator No
Drake R VA legislator No
Duncan R TN legislator No
English (PA) R PA legislator No
Fallin R OK legislator No
Feeney R FL legislator No
Flake R AZ legislator No
Forbes R VA legislator No
Fortenberry R NE legislator No
Foxx R NC legislator No
Franks (AZ) R AZ legislator No
Frelinghuysen R NJ legislator No
Gallegly R CA legislator No
Garrett (NJ) R NJ legislator No
Gerlach R PA legislator No
Gingrey R GA legislator No
Gohmert R TX legislator No
Goode R VA legislator No
Goodlatte R VA legislator No
Graves R MO legislator No
Hall (TX) R TX legislator No
Hastings (WA) R WA legislator No
Hayes R NC legislator No
Heller R NV legislator No
Hensarling R TX legislator No
Hoekstra R MI legislator No
Hulshof R MO legislator No
Hunter R CA legislator No
Issa R CA legislator No
Johnson (IL) R IL legislator No
Johnson, Sam R TX legislator No
Jones (NC) R NC legislator No
Jordan R OH legislator No
Keller R FL legislator No
King (IA) R IA legislator No
Kingston R GA legislator No
Knollenberg R MI legislator No
Kuhl (NY) R NY legislator No
Lamborn R CO legislator No
Latham R IA legislator No
LaTourette R OH legislator No
Latta R OH legislator No
Linder R GA legislator No
LoBiondo R NJ legislator No
Lucas R OK legislator No
Mack R FL legislator No
Manzullo R IL legislator No
Marchant R TX legislator No
McCarthy (CA) R CA legislator No
McCaul (TX) R TX legislator No
McCotter R MI legislator No
McHenry R NC legislator No
McMorris Rodgers R WA legislator No
Mica R FL legislator No
Miller (FL) R FL legislator No
Miller (MI) R MI legislator No
Moran (KS) R KS legislator No
Murphy, Tim R PA legislator No
Musgrave R CO legislator No
Myrick R NC legislator No
Neugebauer R TX legislator No
Nunes R CA legislator No
Paul R TX legislator No
Pearce R NM legislator No
Pence R IN legislator No
Petri R WI legislator No
Pitts R PA legislator No
Platts R PA legislator No
Poe R TX legislator No
Price (GA) R GA legislator No
Ramstad R MN legislator No
Rehberg R MT legislator No
Reichert R WA legislator No
Renzi R AZ legislator No
Rogers (MI) R MI legislator No
Rohrabacher R CA legislator No
Ros-Lehtinen R FL legislator No
Roskam R IL legislator No
Royce R CA legislator No
Sali R ID legislator No
Scalise R LA legislator No
Schmidt R OH legislator No
Sensenbrenner R WI legislator No
Shadegg R AZ legislator No
Shimkus R IL legislator No
Shuster R PA legislator No
Smith (NE) R NE legislator No
Smith (NJ) R NJ legislator No
Stearns R FL legislator No
Sullivan R OK legislator No
Terry R NE legislator No
Thornberry R TX legislator No
Tiahrt R KS legislator No
Tiberi R OH legislator No
Turner R OH legislator No
Walberg R MI legislator No
Wamp R TN legislator No
Westmoreland R GA legislator No
Whitfield (KY) R KY legislator No
Wittman (VA) R VA legislator No
Young (AK) R AK legislator No
Young (FL) R FL legislator No
Weller R IL legislator Not Voting
From No Quarter today:
"Two weeks ago I published an article on my blog entitled, “THE X FACTOR.” The article went viral and is posted on dozens of blogs. I have received over 1,000 emails commenting on my position as a liberal Democrat voting for McCain-Palin. Most of the emails agreed with my position, but others called me Benedict Arnold, Lipstick Lady or Bill O’Reilly’s new squeeze. My loyalty to the progressive women’s movement has been challenged because I have chosen to try a different approach to fight for women’s rights. I want to start by squashing all rumors. No I am not stupid. No I am not a closet Republican. And yes I understand the possible implications on Roe v. Wade by supporting a McCain-Palin ticket. ..."
Read the rest of Dr. Lynette Long's post here.
Today, The Skeptical Optimist has done the best job by far breaking down the flow of funds within the proposed bailout plan. I'm not 100% sure that this will work, but it's more information than what's being spread by the mainstream media.
Check out his post here.
Click here for an updated side-by-side comparison of the economic rescue legislation put together by the Leader’s office. At this point, the schedule for this bill is unclear.
I'll post more as information becomes available.
Following is an email written by Republican Leader John Boehner to Speaker Nancy Pelosi with the outline of the Republican's proposed Economic Rescue Plan. I find it interesting that he made sure to point out that, as far as Republicans were concerned, there never was any "deal."
- + - + - + - + - + - + -
When you're learning to face the path at your pace, every choice is worth your while.
I'm surrounded by members of the opposite sex. At home, at the office, with most of my clients, you name it. Honestly, it doesn't really bother me and in fact, I've kind of come to like it. I'm generally more comfortable dealing with men anyway.
In my office building, I am one of three women. Yep, that's it. The rest are men. And that's fine. That cluster of buildings mainly caters to independent reps, satellite offices, and other small businesses like mine, so it's pretty easy to know or at least recognize everyone. There are a set of restrooms on each floor and, as I am the only woman on the second floor, I am also generally the only one using the that floor's Ladies Room.
A couple of months ago, I came in on a Monday morning as usual, dropped my things at my desk, turned on my computer and walked across the hall to the restroom to find the sink full of blue colored paint water, and blue streaks of paint gracing the handle of the door.
WTF?
I considered going over to the landlord's office to complain, but seeing as I kind of feel like I'm ALWAYS the one to complain about something (the a/c isn't working right, that jackass' truck is blocking the door, is it REALLY ok for someone to be bringing their dog to work and letting it bark incessantly? Y'know, the usual...), I figured I'd clean it up and let it go.
That was until later that day when I was walking down to pick up my mail and saw this lawyer's door open down the hall from mine. Painted brand new beautiful blue. And he is most definitely not a woman - at least as far as I can tell anyway.
Ok, first of all - leaving that mess in the sink and paint smears all over the place? Seriously? What, do you still live with your mother for crying out loud? And second - could you not take the THREE extra steps to the Mens Room? It's right next door, asshole. I was pissed.
So, like any passive aggressive person would do, I put up a sign. Yes, that was my ingenius solution. I printed out a sign on pink paper (hah!) and hung it up on the mirror that said something about it being really disrespectful of the other tenants to leave the bathroom in that kind of state, and a not so subtle reminder of the fact that THIS IS THE LADIES ROOM!
I left the sign up for a couple of days. I even passed Messy Lawyer Dude in the hall a couple of times, and was actually thinking he might say something ... I dunno, maybe I was expecting an apology. Right. After what seemed like a reasonable amount of time had passed, I took the sign down and thought that was that.
Last week, I visited the restroom again. And no, I don't have some sort of problem - it's only a couple of times a day. I drink a lot of water, ok? Sheesh! ANYWAY, I go to sit down and ... the toilet seat was up.
Are you kidding me?
After the initial OHMYGODIMGOINGTOFUCKINGKILLTHISJACKASS, I slammed the seat down with my foot, because .... well, ewww. I have everybody well trained at home, mm'kay? As I tried to not charge down the hall with my stapler raised in ready position to teach Messy Lawyer Dude a lesson, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was just a mistake, right? Maybe .... ooh, I know. Maybe somebody's female client had been in, and used the bathroom and needed to dump something. Or throw up. Whatever.
It should probably come as no surprise to you that I have used the bathroom every day since then, and every day have found that damn toilet seat up at least once. So before I either make an ass of myself or do something that gets me either kicked out the office space entirely or incarcerated, please help me out.
Please either give me great words of wisdom O Great Blogosphere on
One Two
put on my shoes.
Three Four
head out the door.
Five Six
pick up sticks.
Seven Eight
lay them straight.
Nine Ten
burn 'em all for two whole days straight in a giant bonfire to get rid of a yard full of broken limbs and downed trees from a stupid hurricane in the middle of damn Ohio.
La la la ....
I've been hearing some comments about John McCain that are ... well ... disturbing. The worst of which was this afternoon on a popular talk radio show. The caller actually had the audacity to say that the reason he was voting for Obama was because - get this now - because McCain broke under Vietnamese torture. Yes, that's right, because John McCain has admitted both in interviews and his book that he gave in to torture beyond anything you or I can imagine and gave up the name and position of his ship, he could not possibly be trusted with the White House - at least according to this jackass of a caller.
Are you kidding me??
If you have watched any of the interviews or speeches McCain has given, it obvious to ANYONE that, to this day, he probably considers that his biggest failure. I've got news for you, Jackass Caller - everyone has their breaking point. McCain withstood more than most, I'm sure. And just because some men died under other torture methods without divulging information does not make McCain less of a hero, less of a leader, less of a man. (As an aside, the radio show's host took this opportunity to point out the other obvious lesson from this - in his words, "torture works.")
As many of my democrat friends have repeatedly pointed out, being a war hero does not make a person qualified to run a country. And on that point, I agree.
HOWEVER.
Being a war hero of John McCain's caliber speaks to his character. Experience aside, policy aside, THAT is a huge difference between McCain and Obama. Everywhere you look, there are people who know John McCain - men who served with him, fellow congressmen, business people, you name it - these people are everywhere, speaking about who John McCain IS. Not the issues, but who he IS. I'm not saying issues aren't important, because they are, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here. And all of these character witnesses say the same thing. That you always know where you stand with McCain, that he is nothing if not consistent, that no one can doubt his patriotism, that he is honest, that he learns from his mistakes - that he has character. Which begs the question ....
Where are Obama's character witnesses?
I haven't seen any of them.
Now, I've seen "supporters" and whatnot, but I have not seen a single interview with anyone from Obama's past talking about who he IS. I've seen videos on what he did, what he wants to do, and what he wants us to think he stands for. But where are the people who can tell us about who Obama really is? That's what I want to see. If you can find one, link it up in the comments.
I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the character bashing by people who don't even know John McCain. I don't personally know Obama, and frankly I don't really want to, but because I don't know him, I don't feel I have the right to judge him personally. I don't like his ideas, but again - not talking about that here. I'm sure as hell not going to call him or his supporters names. Or make fun of their accents or hair style or take shots at their families. Is that really the face of the democrat party?
I've stopped commenting on liberal blogs, bantering with twitter dems, and so forth. People that I respected even though we had different opinions and desires have spewed such vile words at me and other conservative bloggers that I can't even fathom how they get through their daily lives with so much hatred in their minds. I don't mean to imply that there have no harsh words spoken by Republicans or conservatives, but there is just this hateful stereotype being flung at conservatives (bloggers and unbloggers alike) by our liberal counterparts that seems much more prevalent, and I am simply stunned.
Just in case any of them are reading now, let me clear a couple of things up for you.
Just because I don't want Barack Obama in the White House, does not mean I am a racist. I don't care if whoever leads this country is black, white, green, yellow or purple. I just don't want it to be Obama. Don't make that more than it is.
Being a Republican does not make me uneducated. I have a college degree, from a private university. I am a small business owner in the financial sector with several respected professional designations. In other words, I know my shit so don't tell me how Obama's tax plan is going to be good for the economy.
I don't live in a trailer. I actually live in a fairly wealthy suburb in a pretty nice house.
Being a gun owner does not make me a "redneck" or a crazy fanatic. It just means I can shoot your ass and still not break a nail.
Because I support a VP candidate who happens to be a conservative female with a family does not make me anti-feminism. Honestly, what better portrait of women's rights can you get than a woman in that position with a sound marriage and children. What part of that is not "having it all?"
According to our government, I am not "middle class" and guess what? You probably aren't either. Making a lot of money as a business owner doesn't make me a tightwad, it just makes me YOUR BOSS. You know, the person who when subjected to those extra taxes Obama wants to levy is going to have to cut your pay or buy less supplies from the company your husband owns or LAY YOU OFF because I can't afford you or your health care anymore? Yep - that's me.
Just because I don't want my government dictating who and what I should support does not make me selfish or unpatriotic. Unlike Joe Biden, I give a good share of my income every year to charities and other organizations - without being told when and how much.
Having a conservative Christian faith does not make me stupid. It's called FAITH for a reason, dumbass. Otherwise, it would be called research.
And the latest?
You'd be hard pressed to find someone that knows me who thinks I'm white trash. I wrap my garbage in white bags, so technically I HAVE white trash, but no ... not me. Nor do I dress like a porn star - although my husband might not mind that so much. Or maybe Ann Taylor came out with a new line and I missed it.
Heather Mallick, you my dear, really ARE a pig in lipstick.
Dear Mother of my son's friend,
I'm so glad your sweet little oversized angel was available to play when we called this morning. It's been a tough couple of days, what with the storms and power outages resulting in school cancellations and all. No, I didn't mind one bit inviting what amounted to half the kids' classes over to play - after all, I wasn't getting any work done anyway, and what's another couple or 10 mild mannered monkeys?
And I really REALLY want to thank you for the GIGANTIC BAG OF CRACK SKITTLES you sent with your son to share. Because now? Now I have them all locked in the basement while I rock slowly back and forth in the fetal position and listen to them bounce off the fucking walls.
My lovingly prepared gourmet sugar-free lunch of PBJs, Sponge Bob Cheez-Its, grapes and water was only slightly overshadowed by that red bag of kiddy catnip on the counter, that may as well have been lighted up and blinking like the Vegas strip. Hopefully the one little girl that we have over doesn't start pole dancing.
But really, it's not a problem. I'll just make sure the next time Youngest Child goes to your house to play that I set him up with a central line of pixie sticks before he gets there.
Sincerely,
Lizzi
Picking up mid-conversation, just like my ears did:
" ... just like you and Daddy got married on the beach. Y'know ... oh! Like Shrek and Fiona were on the beach, and she was a hooker, I mean ogre ... "
I'm not even going to ask.
We were house shopping that year. That morning, I drove down what is now our street, past what is now our home. It was a pretty fall day, and I was dreaming and hoping, making silent wishful plans for the future. Why I was out that early, that day, I don't remember.
When we got home, I flipped on the TV - Arthur, I think - and went about cleaning up the kitchen. The kids were chattering about on the floor in front of the TV. All was right with the world, with my world.
Then the phone rang.
"Hi honey." I answered, after glancing at the caller ID.
Are you watching TV?
"The kids are. Why?"
You need to turn on the news.
I flipped the channel, and quickly shushed Oldest Child as he started to object.
"Oh my God. What happened?"
My husband filled me in as I watched. He had to go, so we ended the call, but I couldn't make myself change the channel. I saw the second tower fall right in front of my eyes, as the reporter ran for cover.
The phone rang again.
I'm not sure what all is going on, but I just heard over our secure channel about something at the Cleveland airport. I don't know if it's a bomb or another crash or what, but something's happening there. I'm going to see what I can find out, and I'll call you back.
Our family owns farm land south of us here in northeast Ohio, and it's not only a refuge for us to come together as a family and relax and enjoy eachother, but also a refuge if "anything" were to ever happen. While I watched the horror unfold in front of us on TV, it had never crossed my mind that something could happen more close to home until that second phone call.
If something is actually going on there, I'll let you know and I want you to take the kids and go, ok? I'll meet you there.
I turned back to the TV and sat transfixed, tears pouring down my face. Oldest Child snuggled himself into my lap from time to time, and it was all I could do to let him go whenever he squirmed away to go play. I should have been preparing, just in case, or doing ... something. But I couldn't make myself move.
Rrrrrr! Pppkkkkboom!
The sounds of Oldest Child playing behind me on the floor woke my awestruck gaze away from the TV. My stomach turned over when I saw him taking his matchbox cars and slamming them into a tower of legos.
We did not lose anyone personally on September 11th, 2001. And I can't imagine the pain inflicted on those who did. Please know that our hearts and prayers will forever be with you, your families, and your loved ones who were lost that day.
Where were you when the world stopped turning, that September day?
Other September 11th memorial posts at these fine blogs:
I have one question for Senator Biden about his interview on Meet The Press yesterday. If you haven't seen it, you can watch it here. G'head, I'll wait.
Wow, good for you Joe.
A tidbit of kudos to you for saying that YOU believe that life begins at conception.
And I find it somewhat honorable, albeit completely unbelievable as a democrat, that you say you don't want to impose your personal religious beliefs on others. Great, because freedom of religion is part of what our country was founded on. However, it was NOT founded on freedom FROM religion, nor freedom from values or ethics. If our society were to utterly abandon all civility on this particular issue and allow abortion, which, according to your claimed beliefs is the equivalent of murder, solely on the basis of religious difference, why in the world do we have such gutteral outcries towards those who commit "crimes" for their non-Christian or atheistic faiths?
It wasn't very long ago that there was a so-called "honor killing" in the United States, committed by a man of muslim faith. That type of act is so vile to me, that I can't even begin to wrap my head around the idea of it. But you know what? Those men are doing something to honor their belief system, foreign as it may be to most of us. To them, they are committing no crime. So, Senator Biden, I ask you - if it is not up to us, as a nation founded on Christian values, to impose our personal beliefs on things as basic and instinctual as the sanctity of human life, WHY are these men being prosecuted? According to you, they've done nothing wrong. In fact, why have laws against murder at all?
And, why the recent outpouring of generalized disgust at the polygamist ranch in Texas? Hell, according to all the members I saw interviewed (robots as they were), and the little bit of reading I did to try to understand their faith, it should be completely within their rights to marry off girls at any age, right? Statutory rape laws shouldn't apply to them, should they? And if they believed that what we would see as child abuse was part of their religion, then hey - who are we to stop them?
Ooooh, and how about Satanists? Holy cow (no pun intended), that pretty much leaves the door wide open for them!
Senator Biden, if you believe that life begins at conception, as you said you did, then how can you possibly rationalize murder in that instance, but not others? How can you pick and choose which part of the laws apply to which people and when?
Last I checked, that was God's job.
Starting my new tennis clinic next week and being that I haven't played in like 15 years, I want to ... um ... not suck. And being that that's probably not possible, I want to at least LOOK like I don't suck. Because as any girl knows, it's not just how you play the game but how you look playing the game that counts.
So I'm shopping - not that that's anything new, but I am shopping with a purpose. I need a new racquet, right? And of course some supercute tennis outfits, but for today I am starting with a racquet.
So when shopping online for a tennis racquet, it is very VERY important to NOT type www.dicks.com when what you are really looking for is www.dickssportinggoods.com. Because God only knows what will happen when I start searching the FAQs for information about grips.
This has been a public service announcement. That is all.
"Hey mamma, guess what?"
What honey?
"Today at school, a bunch of kids were talking about why they wanted Barack Obama to be president."
Oh yeah? What were they saying?
"Probably just stuff they heard their parents saying. Nothing really."
(Holding my tongue BIG TIME!)
"I went up to them and asked them why. Y'know, why they thought he should be president? And do you know what they said?"
What, honey?
"They didn't know. But you know what? If somebody asks me why I think John McCain should be president, I can tell them. He's a hero, and he's done GREAT stuff that I don't think you can learn about in school. He's one of my heros, that's why."
Yep, even a ten year old gets it.
When Oldest Child was little, he was ... well, he was perfect. I mean perfect. He had a pretty rough start early on - preemie and some health issues as a result. He couldn't manage the texture of anything more solid than baby food til he was a little over two years old. People used to ask me how many babies I had when I was buying those little jars by the caseload to keep up with his ever increasing appetite. I was convinced I was going to be sending them off to college with him, to be honest. But he was amazing. He never misbehaved, hardly ever cried, was cuter than should be allowed, slept like he should, was so easy going, and of course I took all of that to mean that I was just The Best Mother Evah. You should all bow down to my perfectness. At playgroups, I silently looked down my nose at those other mothers and their less-than-perfect prodgenies when it was time to go and their children CRIED! Can you imagine? Or when they wouldn't share a favorite toy. I KNOW! It HAD to be the parenting. I mean, normal children don't act like that, right? Sheesh! Parenting is SO easy when you just do it right.
** You can rest assured, that since Oldest Child is now almost eleven, I have since seen the many sides of non-perfect in him! **
That all changed on one dark and gloomy night. Ok, maybe it was an afternoon, but I'm sure it was stormy, or at least partly cloudy with maybe a little breeze. Whatever. I was pregnant with Youngest Child and I was probably giving my sister one of those You-Only-WISH-You-Were-As-Good-A-Parent-As-Me looks while watching her with her son, and she turned to me and said (insert Psycho music here - ree ree ree ree ree) "you just wait. This kid (pointing to my baby bump) is going to be payback."
And the curse was born.
Youngest Child also came a little early, but without the health concerns like we experienced with his brother. He came home with us right on time, without any returning hospital visits - although it didn't take long for me to secretly wish I could return him. Youngest Child cried. ALL. THE. TIME. He never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time. He hated the car. And the stroller. And the Snugglie. I bought special bottles, fancy colic cures, made baby food, read every psychobabble baby book I could get my hands on. When he wouldn't sleep in his crib, I borrowed a friend's Moses Basket only to find that he was allergic to the fibers.
And my sister laughed. Not at his troubles, no no. At mine. In fact she still laughs when I share the daily struggles of Youngest Child. Granted, the problems are definitely easier. He finally started sleeping through the night - when he was THREE. He still has melt downs more than I would like, but we've managed to get those to what I consider a reasonable level for a seven year old. For a long time, we just dealt with Youngest Child. By that, I mean we gave him a ton of excuses to act like a brat. Youngest Child was "different" you see, (hah!) and we were just a tad tired, so he got away with a lot - mostly just to keep him quiet and so WE didn't have to deal with anything. It wasn't too much of a leap to get him from a difficult baby to a difficult kid. The problem then was that a lot of his bad behavior was from our bad habits. And we knew WE had to fix that.
So life for Youngest Child has been rough the past year or so, and I think we've made major headway.
Except for one thing.
Even though we make sure he uses the bathroom right before going to bed, and don't let him have much to drink after dinner, if we don't take him to the bathroom again before we turn in at night, 9 times out of 1o he will wet the bed. Not only that, (probably a remnant of the "OMG do NOT wake that child up!" days), we carry him to the bathroom without actually waking him and stand him in front of the toilet to go. Of course, being that he's a seven year old BOY, if we don't also AIM for him, he'll firehose all over the bathroom. Even when he was a toddler, and we used pull-ups, he would somehow end up peeing all over the bed, while the pull-up remained virtually dry. Now, I know we shouldn't still be doing this, but I can't figure out the solution.
When we were at the doctor's office earlier this year for something minor and totally unrelated, I mentioned something about my back being sore and most likely from carrying Youngest to the bathroom at night, the doctor gave me that look. The look that said You-Only-WISH-You-Were-As-Good-A-Parent-As-Me. Dude, I know that look. I invented that look. And besides, I've seen it a LOT in the last seven years.
Since I'm sure you all have perfect children, and have never EVER received that look, I will play upon your sympathies for those of us with monsters and hope you have some suggestions.
Although I'm contemplating just covering his room in plastic and letting him go at it.
