Barack Obama, socialist-communist-stalinist?

The far right opposition has attempted to tar Barack Obama with a wide range of labels now. Left-wing, terrorist, America-hater, revolutionary, Muslim, radical, Arab, rookie, opportunist, and in the last couple of weeks, socialist. And in the desperate last 12 days to the election, some folks on the deranged right are using the word "communist." The communist accusation has recently gone mainstream, after earlier being largely confined to far right wacko blogs and web sites. The G.I.S. on Obama+Communist turns up 3,700,000 hits (a few of which direct to All This Is That).

Communist? You have to wonder what 1950's bomb shelter these morons have crawled out from. Now, blinking into the daylight after all these years, the best they can do is lob communist? I heard Mark Levin today go so far as to call him part of that communist sub-specialty--Stalinist!

Largely ignored this last week or so is the comprehensive--and damning--Rolling Stone article on John McCain's character, "Make Believe Maverick." I highly recommend you read this article if you are considering voting for John McCain. And if you're not voting for McCain, it's still worth a read, if only to confirm your inner wisdom and superior judgment of character!

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The Weekly World News is back!

After going belly-up over a year ago, my favorite tabloid is back. For now, the Weekly World News is publishing online only. Here are a couple of photos from resurrected News. The one above is an alien endorsing Obama for President, and the one below is Sarah Palin after she bagged a Sasquatch.

An interesting meme making the internet rounds: McCain v. Obama -- what if?

This meme is circulating all around the internet right now. . .

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?
(The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn’t read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama’s family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization inInternational Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Education isn’t everything & there is no doubt that experience can get you to high places, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

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POTUS 15: President James Buchanan, The Man Who Left A Divided Country And War For Abraham Lincoln

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James Buchanan rose from the state legislature to representative, senator and cabinet member. He made a run at the White House in 1844, 1848, and 1852 before finally winning in 1856.

In the 1850s, the question of slavery divided the United States. People hoped that the new President, "Old Buck," was the man to prevent a national crisis. He failed miserably. During his administration, the Union broke apart, and when he left office, civil war was just around the corner.

By 1856, the debates over slavery had reached hysterical intensity, with abolitionists and proslavery forces alike advocating violence and resorting to it frequently.

Two days after Buchanan's inauguration, the Supreme Court announced the Dred Scott decision. Influenced by the new President's pro-southern interests, the Court ruled that because slaves (and former slaves) were not citizens, they had no right to sue for freedom. The court also invalidated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery in the portion of the Louisiana Purchase above 36 degrees latitude. Republicans denounced the decision and vowed to repudiate it.

America was hopelessly divided. The Republicans were anti-slavery Northerners, and the Democrats, mostly were the southerners and their northern states' right allies.

In 1859, John Brown seized the southern town of Harpers Ferry in Virginia in an attempt to spark an uprising of slaves. Brown was captured and hanged but this only fanned the flames.

The Democratic Party finally broke in two. Abraham Lincoln, an unknown lawyer from the insurgents--yes!, the Republican Party---won the White House. The election of a Northerner opposed to slavery outside the south was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Six weeks after Abraham Lincoln's election, South Carolina left the Union, and six other states soon followed. Lame Duck Buchanan did nothing to stop the secessions, which strengthened the young Confederacy and gave seceding states time to set up a government.

Buchanan was eager to depart the White House before the real disaster. On leaving office, he saw only close friends until his death in 1868.
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Poem: Why are bubbles round?

1
Bubbles are round because Mother Earth
And the moon are round,

Because the sea-tumbled grey and green pebbles
Are round, and the clock,

Compass, sextant, disk, L.E.D.,
And ring of fire, are round.

2
Bubbles are round because water molecules
Are attracted downward and inward,

Creating a fragile skin of surface tension
That cradles water like a baby.

3
Bubbles are round because tension
Draws the water into its most compact shape

And the most compact shape—
On this planet—is a ball.
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Jack Brummet poem: The Resurrection

He was ready to live again
Even if living just meant running
To keep ahead of the ghosts.
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A well-ventilated road sign from Wasilla, Alaska

I don't know which is more disturbing: the sign or the bullet-holes. To be fair, 'though, this doesn't just happen in Wasilla. One of my friends from Alaska says that every sign in the state--from Ketchikan to Point Barrow--is also well perforated with bullet-holes.

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Dead Bear In North Carolina dumped at school and covered in Obama signs

This is a really weird story from the Associated Press today. . .

CULLOWHEE, N.C. (AP) — Police at Western Carolina University and wildlife officials were investigating the discovery early Monday of a dead bear cub draped with a pair of Barack Obama campaign signs.

Leila Tvedt, associate vice chancellor for public relations, said Monday night that maintenance workers found the 75-pound bear cub shot to death in front of the school's administration building at the entrance to campus. The Obama yard signs were stapled together and placed over the bear's head, Tvedt said.

The bear had been shot in the head, Tvedt said.

"Western Carolina University deplores the inappropriate behavior that has led to this troubling incident," Tvedt said. "We cannot speculate on the motives of the people involved nor who those people might be. Campus police are cooperating fully with authorities to investigate this matter."

Bear season is under way in western North Carolina.
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POTUS 14 - President Franklin Pierce, the handsomest President

Click President Franklin Pierce to enlarge

The 14th President, Franklin Pierce, a Democrat, was considered a very handsome man in his time.







Today Pierce is remembered mainly for not being remembered. He presided from 1853-57 over very tranquil times (which turned out to be the calm before the storm...but isn't that always the story?). President Pierce's Vice President William R. King died one month after his inauguration; Pierce had no Vice President during most of his term. He only governed for one term, and according to some sources, is considered one of the worst Presidents of all time.
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Alien Lore No. 140: UFO and jet in near-miss over London

Recently released British UFO/alien files tell the tale of how a passenger jet on its landing approach at Heathrow International Airport had a near collision with a UFO.

An Alitalia jet Captain, Achille Zaghetti, was at 22,000 feet when he saw a brown, 10 foot-long, missile-shaped object a quarter mile above him. “At once I said, ‘Look out’ to my co-pilot, who looked and saw what I’d seen.”

Air traffic controllers that night reported a UFO on their screens. The incident in 1991 over Lydd, Kent, was investigated — but after ruling out a missile, weather balloon (shades of Roswell!), or stray space rocket, the encounter was shelved.

“As soon as the object crossed us I asked to the ACC (area control centre) operator if he saw something on his screen and he answered 'I see an unknown target 10nm (nautical miles) behind you’,” said the Pilot Zaghetti.

Another document describes Southern TV broadcasting a story about a 14-year-old boy who reported seeing a missile that very night, flying at low level before climbing through the clouds and disappearing.

Radar images show the UFO was initially thought to be a cruise missile. . .but it was quickly determined this was not a military weapon.

By July 2 a report concluded that the object had not come from the Army firing ranges in the Lydd area and that there was no known “space-related activity” that night.

An anonymous Whitehall official wrote: “It is our intention to treat this sighting like that of any other Unidentified Flying Object and therefore we will not be undertaking any further investigation.”

There were, however, other incidents recorded the same year: 1) In June 1991, four passengers on a Dan Air 737 saw a “wingless projectile” pass beneath the aircraft as it climbed from Gatwick Airport; 2) on July 15, the pilot of a Britannia Airways 737 reported seeing a “small black lozenge-shaped object” travelling at speed as they approached Gatwick. Neither of these incidents were heavily investigated and all three were more or less forgotten.

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Rod Stewart music video: Every Picture Tells A Story (with lyrics) & why Rod Stewart matters

We don't think about it much anymore, with all that's transpired, but for a few albums in the early 70's, Rod Stewart totally crushed it. I was lucky enough to see one of their great shows in Seattle in 1972. Their drunken, rocking, pulsing music filled the Seattle Center arena to the rafters. I've seen a lot of shows and this had to be one of the top ten ever in terms of energy and having every single member of the audience on their feet for two and a half hours. . .

Every Picture Tells A Story
by Rod Stewart and Ron Wood


Spent some time feelin inferior
Standing in front of my mirror
Combed my hair in a thousand ways
But I came out looking just the same

Daddy said, son, you better see the world
I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave
But remember one thing don't lose your head
To a woman that ll spend your bread
So I got out

Paris was a place you could hide away
If you felt you didn't fit in
French police wouldn't give me no peace
They claimed I was a nasty person
Down along the left bank minding my own
Was knocked down by a human stampede
Got arrested for inciting a peaceful riot
When all I wanted was a cup of tea
I was accused
I moved on

Down in Rome I wasn't getting enough
Of the things that keeps a young man alive
My body stunk but I kept my funk
At a time when I was right out of luck
Getting desperate indeed I was
Looking like a tourist attraction
Oh my dear I better get out of here
for the Vatican don't give no sanction
I wasnt ready for that, no no

I moved right out east yeah!
On the Peking ferry I was feeling merry
Sailing on my way back here
I fell in love with a slit eyed lady
By the light of an eastern moon
Shanghai Lil never used the pill
She claimed that it just ain't natural
She took me up on deck and bit my neck
Oh people I was glad I found her
Oh yeah I was glad I found her

I firmly believe that I didn't need anyone but me
I sincerely thought I was so complete
Look how wrong you can be

The women Ive known I wouldn't let tie my shoe
They wouldn't give you the time of day
But the slit eyed lady knocked me off my feet
God I was glad I found her
And if they had the words I could tell to you
To help you on the way down the road
I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats
cause its all been said before
Make the best out of the bad just laugh it off
You didn't have to come here anyway
So remember, every picture tells a story don't it

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Senator John Kerry muses on underwear, speculating he might go without, and says John McCain eschews boxers or briefs and chooses Depends®

Over the weekend, John Kerry was talking to the press corps, expounding on what it's like to be under the fifth estate microscope. . .

"I don't know if any of you know what it's like. I do, obviously," he said. "I've been asked all of those brilliant questions that were repeated this year."

"Barack got asked the famous boxers or briefs question," Kerry went on. "I was tempted to say commando."

Senator Kerry said Barack Obama successfully parried that question but that in his answer, John McCain, had some problems.

"Then they asked McCain and McCain said, ‘Depends,'" Kerry said to laughter from the crowd.
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When pigs fly: the Salt Lake City Tribune endorses Obama!

Along with other 'papers that endorsed George W. Bush in the past, the Salt Lake Tribune has endorsed Barack Obama for President. They join the ranks of the former Bush endorsing Seattle Times, The Denver Post, Austin Statesman American, Houston Chronicle, the South Carolina State, and The Chicago Tribune (who have NEVER endorsed a Democrat in their 160 years).

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Walk On by Neil Young

Walk On by Neil Young, from the odd and strangely mixed album On The Beach.

If you are intrepid, check out the circumstances of the recording of this album, when Neil was under the influence of the bizarre Rusty Kershaw. . .


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Painting: Senator Obama poster

click to enlarge
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