The Strangest And Weirdest Things

Needing a break from bashing the very strange campaign for President of Sarah Palin (and John McCain of course), I thought I'd try to make a few people laugh with some of the even stranger goings on that have happened around the country recently. Believing that it would take forever to compile a list of truly magnificent idiocy, I was surprised at just how many truly weird people and events happen nearly every day. Only in America.

First, there's the case of the Piggy Bank Burglar of Wilson, Wisconsin. Apparently desperate for some spare change, he broke into a home and emptied twenty dollars in change from the piggy bank of a sleeping two year old girl. Busted by the mother of the child, he ran off, only to get caught by DNA evidence he left behind in the form of blood after he cut himself on a window screen gaining entry to the house. Sentenced to six years in prison due to a lengthy criminal record, America's piggy banks are safe for at least the next few years. Too bad we can't say the same about our Treasury.

Knoxville police received an hilarious 911 call from a would be museum burglar who jammed himself into the ventilation shaft attempting to get into the museum. When rescue personnel extracted the witless wonder, he told police that he wasn't trying to steal anything, he was actually on a mission to defuse a bomb that had been placed inside the museum.

I think God may have frowned down upon the wheelchair bound man who, along with his brother in law, were on their way to church in Cedar City, Utah. An argument broke out between the men on the way to worship, and the man in the wheelchair just lost it. He pulled a ball point pen from his pocket and proceeded to stab his brother in law in the face. While he was driving.

A free living 40 year old man in Tallahassee, Florida got the shock of his life when he discovered that police don't appreciate residents walking their dog in the nude. When approached by officers, the man reportedly said that Allah had told him to watch a Bruce Willis movie and then walk his dog naked. faster than you can say "Don't tase me bro", the naked man was zapped and is now resting quietly at the local mental health facility.

Maybe there's something in the water down in Florida, but a woman with her three kids in the car with her suddenly turned to her children and asked them if they thought they had enough faith to keep an approaching bicycle rider from being run over. When the children didn't answer, the woman ran the poor bicyclist down. She then stopped her SUV, stripped off all her clothes, ran around the crime scene ranting and raving, stole another car that had stopped to help, and promptly drove the car into a ditch. Police say she appeared to be under the influence of some type of drug. Good deduction Sherlock.

In what can only be described as the beginning of the second civil war, the town of Fraiser, Colorado is suing International Falls, Minnesota over which city should be called 'America's Icebox'. An earlier lawsuit resulted in the town of International Falls paying Fraiser the sum of $2,000 in order to trademark the name. When the trademark renewal time came and passed, Fraiser sued again. International Falls claims they will never back down this time, with residents saying that it's bad enough they have to live in the frozen God forsaken place and that the least they can get out of it is a recognizable trademarked name. (Just give Fraiser the extortion money already!)

In the University of Texas' Jester Hall (Really! That's the name!), 26 teen aged cheerleaders had to be extracted from an elevator that broke down. Taking 25 minutes to get the doors open, one fainted and two others had to be treated for shock at the scene. Apparently cheerleaders in Texas can not read the elevator signs that warn in big red letters " No More Than 15 People May Enter This Elevator At A Time".

In little Valentine, Nebraska, one man is attempting to make the town live up to it's name. Spreading Vaseline or baby oil on his bare buttocks and groin area, the sneaky streaker presses his well oiled parts against storefront and church windows in order to, ahh, leave his mark so to say. Obviously not a total nut case, the man stops his activities during the winter months, but is right back at it as soon as the weather warms up. (Are you telling me that in a town the size of Valentine, no one notices some greased up naked guy running around at night?)

A Correyville Ohio woman has been charged with aggravated assault for trying to force a peanut into the mouth of a neighbor she was having a dispute with. Before trying to force the peanut into the other woman's mouth, she allegedly threw a handful of peanuts at her neighbor who claims to be allergic to the nuts. ( Police Officer Skippy was over in a jiffy, explaining that the woman's husband, Mr. Planters, was having an affair with the neighbor, Mrs. Nutella. Both are said to belong to a group trying to draft Jimmy Carter for President.)

In Seattle, a man will be spending the next 12 years asking himself what he was thinking when he lured his blindfolded wife into their garage, telling her he had turned it into a haunted house. Once inside, she allowed her husband to handcuff her, thinking it to be a part of the charade, then walked up the steps of a ladder. Hubby then took a prepared noose and slipped it around wifey's neck and pushed. After she lost consciousness, he released her, feeling remorse he claims, and begged her not to call the cops. He told her that after a year and a half of marriage, he felt trapped, and figured this idea was better than a divorce. Not buying it, the woman called police, but my question would be: Woman, have YOU been to see a shrink?

And finally we turn our attention back to the economy. President Bush's recent 'stimulus' package of rebate checks had a very unusual consequence. So many people spent their rebate checks on pornographic web site memberships that the Adult Internet Market Research Company says they saw an immediate 20-30% increase of adult pay site membership increases right after the stimulus checks went out. I guess many curiosity seekers don't realize there are about 10 million free porn sites on the web.

So that's the state of America today. People literally losing their minds, some having fun at the expense of others, and others just, well, I don't know what the hell they're doing, but I imagine they must derive some sort of pleasure from it. As for me, I have to go now. I just saw an article about having sex with a squid, and I'm, um, er, going to do some research, yeah, that's it, research on the subject and get back to you. Have fun today.

Mr. Bush, Can You Explain A Few Things?

Watching three of the five largest investment banks in America either collapse or be bailed out to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, it crossed my mind today that this very same White House has time and time again slashed the piddly little budgets for the most vulnerable Americans of all. Namely the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the veteran, and the homeless.

Mr. Bush, can you explain to the nation why it seems to us Lilliputians that you have once again bent us over and fornicated us, and that when you were done, you allowed your Wall Street crime partners to use us all also? How could it be that when people were screaming from the roof tops that this was going to occur more than a year ago, we were labeled tin foil hatters? Could it be that during that year of further short selling of stocks, your cronies were able to rape the economy and make off with untold wealth? Is that why the Wall Street Journal was not worried in the slightest? because this was the plan all along? You know, to steal as much money as possible on your administration's way out the door, calling it a saving of the economy, when in reality it is little more than a strong arm robbery occurring right in front of everyone's faces?

Mr. Bush, can you please explain to our veterans that you sent off to fight in a false war why it is that you have consistently slashed funding for their health care, housing for their families while they were stationed overseas, and why you even managed to get your Pentagon lap dogs to declare that veterans benefits were "hurtful to our national security"? Why in Feb. of 2008, there wasn't enough money for the V.A., with you slashing the budget for the agency once again?

Mr. Bush, can you explain to us what would have happened to Social Security accounts had you gotten your way and privatized yet another social safety net program? Isn't it true that the entire program would be in complete collapse, with almost half of Social Security recipients losing virtually all of their benefits? Why in the world, do you think, that your successor, John McCain, is still advocating for the privatization of the only source of income for millions upon millions of our seniors?

Mr. Bush, how can it be possible that it's alright to allow the Federal Reserve Bank to print up money made up of thin air to bail out your friends, but yet again this year you cut the budget for education grants? What is backing up this miracle money, or haven't you figured out yet that this 'bailout' is going to cause inflation on a scale that will destroy many more American households?

Mr. Bush, why did you put forth yet another budget this year that slashed funding for housing programs, Americans with HIV, Medicaid, the Center For Disease Control, homeless shelters, food banks, child care assistance for single working parents, and yet there seemed to be a ton of money for corporate welfare programs that weren't cut at all, but actually had their share of the tax burden cut again?

Mr. Bush, can you explain to the residents of Nashville why they must endure the indignity of a virtual tent city near the outskirts of town? Or why this many years after the horror of hurricane Katrina, people are living in a tent city under a highway overpass? For that matter, explain to the people of Southern California why in Ontario there is a massive shanty town that consists of almost 1,000 people who have lost their homes, and why there are children being allowed to live in squalor and despair. Seattle may not have a tent city per se, but they sure have their own shanty town in the form of a 'car camp' for those fortunate enough to have been able to retain their vehicles during their own personal financial melt down. As a matter of fact, the Ballard area of the city is seeking out ways to build more camps due to the unusually high amounts of people needing a place to park their car to sleep at night.

Mr. Bush, do you have any words of comfort for the people of Oregon's Dignity Village, another Hooverville made up of a patchwork of tents and trailers? Is there a bail out in the works for them, or will you once more turn a blind eye to the suffering of your countrymen, even as you give away our nation's treasure to corporations once more?

Mr. Bush, as the victims of yet another hellish hurricane recoil at finding out their homes are completely gone, that they have lost everything they have ever worked for, and now live in temporary shelters with no plan in place to get them permanent housing, what is your economic stimulus plan to help them put their lives back together?

Mr. Bush, why is the silence so deafening when the subject of those who have lost their homes comes up, and why can't you find the money to help the newly homeless get themselves and their children off of the streets? Is it that you want to be known as the worst President in the history of our nation? The President who made Herbert Hoover the model for how he ran our country? A President so detached from the suffering of every day Americans, that he can cynically give a trillion more dollars to corporate interests that are not even American companies any more, (they're multi-nationals), but who will not turn to the nation and say that you are going to help the homeless, the poor , the sick, and the veterans of America as much as you've helped fatten the coffers of your corporate friends?

And knowing all of this Mr. Bush, how is it that you can expect reasonable people to vote into office your protege', John McCain, who is in a large way directly responsible for allowing this financial collapse to occur? Who even now lies about his position on the Commerce Committee, avoids any discussion of his role in the collapse of the Savings and Loan banks during the Keating 5 scandal he was embroiled in, and who can't remember that Spain is an ally of the U.S.?

Lastly Mr. Bush, you should remember this as you sit in your church pew and act as though you are a pious and devoted man of God. You should remember that you were supposed to help the poor, the weak, the sick, and the elderly, and that you did NONE of them. You gave the entire store away, you have turned the U.S. into a banana republic, and you have crushed the hopes and dreams of millions upon millions of Americans. May you rot in hell sir...................

There's A Break In The Heartland

With the economy in shambles, with the candidates for President jousting over who is to blame, with Americans from all walks of life worrying about spiraling prices of food and gasoline, and with the U.S. infrastructure in the Midwest literally crumbling before our very eyes, the once assured red states in America's Heartland are slowly but surely creeping ever closer to going blue come November.

In Nebraska, a state that is continuously placed squarely in the McCain column by television political pundits, Republican lawmakers are in open revolt over the pick of Sarah Palin for Vice President. Senator Chuck Hagel has denounced the choice, saying that John McCain and Republican operatives who claim that Palin is qualified to be Vice President are 'stretching'.

The significance of that statement to Nebraskans should not be underestimated. For one thing, Nebraska is not an all or nothing state as many pundits seem to make it appear. The state's electoral votes are split into three districts, with the area comprised of Omaha proper having one electoral vote, Lincoln and surrounding counties have two, and points west of Grand Rapids holding two votes. Omaha and Lincoln are already in the bag for Obama, giving him 3 electoral votes right off the bat, and the rest of the state west of Lincoln has a much different demographic than it did even in 2004. There are many Hispanic voters in that area now, making the once 'safe' red state of Nebraska up for grabs. And finally, surrounding states look towards Nebraska to see what they're going to do, then mostly follow suit.

In Kansas, another red state stronghold, Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius has been campaigning hard for the Obama campaign, pointing out that Obama's mother was born in that state and the changing demographics there can most certainly put that state into play. Kansas City, Kansas. Wichita, Manhattan, Lawrence, Topeka, all have larger Democratic constituencies than in 2004.

In Missouri, a state that pundits keep punting around like a football, voters in Kansas City, Missouri are overwhelmingly Obama supporters. St. Louis, Springfield and many smaller cities along the I-44 and I-70 corridor are falling into the Obama column, which would make Missouri much more likely to vote Democratic.

In Ohio, once the purging of voters is complete and the attempt to steal that state again is thwarted due to overwhelming vigilance on the part of voting rights groups, at the end of the day, there will still be many more Obama supporters than McCain/Palin ones, and pundits may want to get on this bandwagon now, and just place Ohio in the blue column.

Interestingly, even though Montana has Democratic Senators, a Democratic Governor, and the populace has been consistently leaning towards Democratic ideals, the pundits keep claiming the state for the McCain campaign. But if one gets down to the local level, areas such as Missoula, Billings, Butte, and Helena, the areas with the greatest concentration of people, are all going for Obama. Hence, Montana goes into the Obama column.

Colorado. Does anyone truly believe that there is some sort of 'race' for this state? Maybe in times past, but with high levels of registered Democrats in Denver, Colorado Springs and much of the I-25 corridor, this one should be an easy call for even the most jaded of talking heads.

New Mexico is a toss up state? Very funny. In what universe?

Minnesota is most certainly going to vote Democratic, as well as Wisconsin and hard hit Michigan. All this talk of hard fought battles is just that, talk. Political pundits use 'polls' and don't actually research local newspapers to read the comment sections and the editorials that are all in favor of Barak Obama.

This break from the Republican Party by the people of America's Heartland is going to be the final straw for the McCain campaign and they know it. Toss up states? Pennsylvania, and that's only barely. North Dakota, another state already given away to McCain is actually a toss up state. New Mexico, still a toss up, will eventually fall into the Obama column, as will Nevada. The truth is, even states such as South Dakota are in play, and Democrats should react aqccordingly.

So what does all of this mean? It means that all of the arguing, all of the political punditry, and all of the lies of the Republican Party are for naught. This election is already over, the final nail in the right wing coffin being the collapse of the economy that they completely deregulated, while allowing for bridges, roads, waterways, and all manner of infrastructure to fall apart when they held sway in the Congress for twelve years. All of the bluster, all of the finger pointing at the Democrats, and all of the bald faced lies of the Republicans do not change the fact that every domestic spending program put forth by the Democrats was blocked by them, every warning about Wall Street firms was ignored by them, the surge did not work, with the Sunnis ready to rejoin Al-Quaida, and everything that is wrong with this country is the Republican's fault, and the American people know it.

Ican't see Russia from where my house is, but I can see the Heartland of America. I'm no political pundit, but I can and do read editorials from newspapers all over the country. It's a hobby. Come November 4th, the Republican Party and the political pundits are in for a shock. In what is shaping up to be the largest landslide in American history, the Republican lie machine is being laughed at. And when the Heartland red states are running for the door and waving Obama banners, the time of the neo-cons is finally over. Not a moment too soon.

U.S. Media Must Stop Pandering To McCain Campaign

On all of the major news networks, for at least the recent past, has covered the campaign of John McCain almost exclusively, as though Barak Obama had decided to end his own campaign.

Every single day, CNN has spent all of it's time speaking exclusively to McCain campaign spokes people, openly pandering to them in ways that make knowledgeable viewers blush. Allowing all of the Republican talking points and wild accusations to go unchallenged, they mention the Obama campaign briefly as an after thought. Between Blitzer and Dobbs, they should just allow Rupert Murdoch to run their station. The only saving grace for CNN is Campbell Brown.

Speaking of Fox News, if it can be called a news channel, all one is allowed to see there is the John McCain Show. Viewers are treated to the vitriol of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, two of the biggest liars ever allowed to call themselves mainstream media personalities. The entire network is a veritable den of snakes, an illegal extension of the Republican Party, and whose fair and balanced logo could be easily seen as a school yard bully beating up smaller children.

Even MSNBC has begun pandering to the McCain campaign recently. All day long, we are treated to a virtual who's who of Republican liars, who are allowed to spew their propaganda unchallenged, and which is then what the casual viewer believes. Scarborough and Matthews are clearly biased in favor of Mccain, although to be fair, Scarborough would be biased for Richard Nixon were he to come back from the dead. It's only when night time falls that the Obama campaign gets any balanced coverage, ie; Countdown and The Rachel Maddow Show.

The myth of media bias towards the Obama campaign is just that, a myth. Between Rush Limbaugh's three hour tirade, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, and all of the other right wing talk show and talk radio hosts, there's at least a five to one ratio of talking points favorable to the McCain campaign. The most recent example would be the fact that whenever McCain or Palin give a speech, it's covered from beginning to end most of the time. Obama gets about five minutes into a speech and the network cuts away to talk to a Republican propogandist.

Even the so called mainstream coverage has become so biased that it's almost impossible not to notice. Make believe 'political analysts' on all of the major networks have all thrown out the subtle 'Obama doesn't have much experience' lie, and allowed the thought to be reinforced by Republican operatives time and time again. Bill Schneider for instance has repeatedly thrown the question out there asking whether Obama's four years in the U.S. Senate was enough experience for him to be President, as well as questioning whether voters could overcome his being black.

T.J. Holmes did the exact same thing when he said that Americans were going to have a hard time voting for someone with virtually no foreign policy experience, and the sentiment has been picked up and repeated like a mantra by every single U.S. media outlet over and over again.

By contrast, John McCain has enjoyed nothing but high praise from all of the media outlets for what NBC's Brian Williams said was McCain's “vast foreign policy expertise and credibility on national security.” The sentiment was echoed in Newsweek, when they claimed that no one could question John McCain's foreign policy credentials. But yet, even after McCain showed his ineptness in just that very same arena of foreign policy, by his not knowing which countries bordered which, he was given a pass by the media. Or when McCain claimed that Shiite Iran was backing the Sunnis in Iraq, the media covered it as though it were some sort of small gaffe instead of the clear indication that Mccain had no idea of what he was talking about. Even Joe Lieberman had to correct him in one instance.

Or we can look at the media's extensive coverage of the non story about Barak Obama's connection to Tony Rezco. Practically called a criminal by the mainstream media until Obama could prove his innocence, Republicans to this day use Rezco as a talking point and the media never calls them on it. The flip side of that coin is so obvious, and with the economy collapsing all around us, the media has become so remiss in it's duty that it could be called criminal. They refuse to bring up John McCain's involvement in the collapse of Lincoln Savings and Loan, or the corruption that was involved and of which John McCain was a key player in, namely the infamous Keating 5 scandal. It's almost as though it never happened.

Bill Ayers of the 1960's Weather Underground was vaguely acquainted with Obama in Chicago and the press trumpeted the right wing propaganda line that Obama had ties to terrorists. Once again, it took ridicule of the entire situation for the story to die down, but yet, that very same media makes absolutely no mention of McCain's proud announcement that terrorist and criminal Oliver North of the Iran-Contra scandal had endorsed him for President. North killed more civilians than any Weather Underground could have ever dreamed of.

No mention is made of the association of John McCain with G. Gordon Liddy. McCain beamed as Liddy endorsed him, even though Liddy was a key player in the Watergate scandal and has called for his listeners to kill federal agents on his talk radio show.

When Obama opted out of public campaign financing, the media condemned him as one voice. But when McCain broke the law and a legally binding promise to accept public financing for his campaign, he was given another pass by the fourth estate. It's become almost a joke that the press allows John McCain's campaign to use his P.O.W. days as his credentials to run the country. As though he were the Vietnam War's ONLY prisoner of war.

It boils down to this and the U.S. media had better start paying attention. John McCain stands for the total destruction of the United States of America, and his sidekick is a far right wing nut job, who would love nothing more than to have a shot at starting a war with Russia to usher in the Rapture. The Fourth Estate has to stop pandering to this campaign, period. Stop allowing them to spew lies on national television.

The McCain campaign throws out an accusation of media bias, declares a no interview policy, and the networks fall all over each other to get back into favor with a campaign they should just ignore. Because when the Iraq war began, every single major network anchor and reporter sat in front of Americans and said that even though they try to be unbiased in their reporting, they wanted America to win of course. This is the same exact situation. This is a war for the survival of our nation, and by favoring McCain and the Republican Party, they are drawing voters to his side. When they allow the likes of Sarah Palin to hijack the news cycles for more than a week, they harm the electoral process. When they allow the Republicans to repeat lie after lie after lie every day, even when it's known they are lying, the media is complicit in perpetuating those lies. It is time for the media in our country to recognize that our survival is at stake and act like patriotic Americans, and help the rest of us save our country, end of story.

The Greatest Show On Earth

Barnum and Bailey could never have conceived a greater or more entertaining venue in all of their years of traveling circus days. With their high flying trapeze artists and animal acts, the stuff of legends was born through their vision of how dazzling the masses should look.

But never in a million years would they have ever thought that they could be upstaged by the American Idol mentality that has taken over the political arena, most notably the current race for the Oval Office.

We've got a dancer vs. a sleight of hand artist. A beauty queen vs. a one liner comedy act. We've enjoyed singers of songs and actors of outrage on both sides of the side splitting soap opera that has so captivated a nation that they have no idea of what they are voting for or voting against any more.

In the still most powerful country to ever grace the world stage, there are hucksters of distraction everywhere, dazzling us with tales found to be untrue, but told again any way in the exact same fashion, as though no one had caught them lying in the first place. Like a three card monte game, the stories are moved swiftly through the media, spinning round and round, nuanced by talking heads into important issues, when in reality, the talking points have nothing to do with the ability to run our country.

There used to be a time in America when if a politician who was running for higher office was caught bald faced lying to the people, they'd be hounded so badly by the press, and humiliated publicly to the point that they'd be forced to drop out of the race, and hide their head in the sand until the storm of controversy had blown over. Not so any more. Now, the politicos hold the press in their pockets. They wine them and dine them, and invite them to exclusive parties. rubbing shoulders and glad handing celebrities, the media becomes light headed with giddiness.

Having made 'friends' with certain candidates, it then becomes difficult to be objective and dig deep for the truth, even when they know for a fact that what they are putting forth as the truth is nothing but more lies spewing forth from the candidates' mouths. Complicit in the carnival atmosphere, the clowns whirl and do somersaults for the politicians who are best placed to further a media career.

Faltering economy on the verge of complete collapse? Hey! look over here! Watch the candidate eat pie with the locals! Dead soldiers arriving from war zones they claim to be placated? No problem! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat! Homelessness growing, poverty at an all time high? Well, Geez, that's terrible, but watch the beauty queen strut across the stage to the cheers of adoring fans that have no idea that she hates everything you stand for! Rising unemployment and food prices spiralling out of control? Don't you worry because Tada! We just cut taxes for the richest 1% of the country again! Follow the flashing lights and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. That rabbit hole is off limits to the public.

Does this sound sarcastic and angry? Good. It's meant to sound that way. Americans are so unplugged as to what is really going on, and the powers that be are utterly dependent on an uninformed populace to get away with their dog and pony show politics. They present us with a shiny little ball on a chain, swinging it back and forth, back and forth, until everyone is asleep and lulled into a false sense of security. The man behind the curtain? Oh. Well, that's, er, that's just the shadow of the moon you're seeing, pay no attention. When in reality, it's that shadow that has caused us to forget exactly what we are supposed to be thinking about this election season.

We're supposed to be looking to see who will bring change to the failed and destructive policies of the past decade. We should be looking at the current White House and the squatters who still reside there and thinking about the loss of civil liberties, the lies, the wars, the poverty and the death caused by those people. And about who in this race wishes to go even further than Bush and Cheney's maniacal plans. Who will stop the madness, and get things back under control, and who is actually partly responsible for the current crisis with his voting along with Bush almost all of the time. Who has as his advisers, the exact same people who advised the current regime. Or who can and will usher in an era of change, responsibility, and prosperity for all.

That's the choice we truly have to make and make it right now. Do we want to talk about what the real issues that are facing us are all about? Or do we want to watch the greatest show on earth continue, one that is a bridge to nowhere, and will lead us full circle four years from now, in a worse situation than before, involved in God knows how many more wars, with a completely shut off from the public government, and more jobs shipped overseas? It is incumbent upon every patriot in America to stand up and demand answers to our questions. To not allow candidates to refuse to speak to the People's questions, or if they do, to reject them out right.

Because we are not running an American Idol show here. We are voting for the office of the President of the United States, and for those who would rather watch the circus act, and end up with another administration that rapes your wallets and pocketbooks, you'll have only yourself to blame. The rest of us have to get on every message board, every media site, every chat room and social networking place and get the message across. The message is very simple and goes something like this: They are at it again. They are lying and distorting facts to steal another election, and have hypnotized you, so wake up, get back in the game, or get left behind.

Now, bring the clowns back out. I could use a good laugh............................

Was Russian/Georgian War McCain's Doing?

If this were a trial, and John McCain and his advisers, including Randy Scheunemann, the McCain campaign guru who is the founder of Orion Strategies, the lobbying firm for the country of Georgia were the defendants of that trial, for criminal conspiracy,there would be enough circumstantial evidence to convict them.

No one wants to talk about it. Certainly not the government in power at the moment, because McCain represents their last best hope for the continuation of the failed policies of the past eight years. Not the media, because the gutless wonders of the MSM don't even have the guts to say the word liar in the same sentence as McCain or his lying little barker Sarah Palin. So we'll have to examine some very interesting tidbits that happened before, during and after the events that ended up with thousands of people dead and wounded, and around 100,000 people left homeless.

It has been widely reported in the media (because they were told so by the McCain campaign), that Scheunemann stopped lobbying for the country of Georgia in March, 2008. But records show that Scheunemann was still working for Orion as late as the end of May, 2008. Having received close to a million dollars for his work on behalf of the government of Georgia, he was also listed as an agent of a foreign government. Scheunemann has been around the U.S. political scene for a long time now. Having worked as an adviser to Bob Dole during his Presidential run, then advising Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott before going to work for the Mercury Group, the 'change' campaign running now doesn't really like to talk about the fact that in 2000, Scheunemann worked on John McCain's failed campaign.

After that debacle, he went back to lobbying, ending up with a seat at the Project For A New American Century, or PNAC. McCain also doesn't want you to know that 9 days after 9/11, it was Scheunemann and the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq formed by Scheunemann that lobbied President Bush for an invasion of Iraq.

Working closely with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Scheunemann lobbied Congress and the Bush administration to further the Georgian desire to become part of both NATO and the European Union. The Senator he worked most closely with was none other than John McCain. During the time that Scheunemann worked for the country of Georgia, ethnic cleansing was taking place, instigated by the government in Tbilisi, who started the national rallying cry of "Georgia For Georgians Only!" Ossetians were pushed into the enclave provinces of North and South Ossetia and basically told they were less than citizens of the country of Georgia. During the entire time of the Bush administration's courting og Georgia and John McCain's sudden concern for the status of Georgia in the E.U. and NATO, persecution of non Georgians became the norm.

2008. The two provinces of Ossetia and Abkhazia have become so hostile to the central government in Tblisi that they claim status of independence, with Russia allowing the free flow of people and goods from the provinces in and out of Russia. Going so far as to issue passports for the residents of the breakaway provinces, the Russians let it be known in no uncertain terms of the consequences of an attempted invasion by the Georgian government of Mikheil Saakashvili. Also warned by the United States State Department and Secretary Rice herself not to provoke the Russians, the situation seemed to be settled for the foreseeable future.

But yet, against all reason and common sense, Georgia invaded Ossetia on August 8th, killing 2,000 civilians by estimates from humanitarian groups. Saying they were merely trying to reclaim territory owned by Georgia, the ethnic cleansing began anew. With shocking speed and ferocity, Russian forces came to the defense of the Ossetian people, moving with breakneck speed to demolish the puny military forces of Georgia, and retaking all of Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Even as the Russian and some European media were reporting on the genocide being committed by the Georgians during their invasion, John McCain swiftly moved to the international spotlight in backing the Georgian actions and condemning Russia. In direct contradiction of the stated policy of the current administration, McCain, needing to gather his right wing base, began his very own foreign policy, issuing dire warnings to the Russians. The resulting flip flop by the Bush administration was stunning in and of itself, but in an election year, with McCain as their Party candidate, they had no choice but to go along. Stepped up missile shield deployment to Poland, and bellicose statements by administration officials have caused the neo-cons wettest dream to come true. A restarting of the Cold War.

With Scheunemann being in constant contact with Georgian President Saakashvili, he arranged a telephone conference with John McCain on April 17th, 2008. At that time Scheunemann was still a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government and a McCain campaign adviser. The conversation between the men is not known, nor would anyone expect McCain to admit it, but it seems to be fairly clear that a green light was given for an invasion, due to the Georgian military's preparations immediately after. Given McCain's constant contact with the Office of the Vice-President before the Georgians invaded, one can assume that Darth Cheney must have given McCain the green light also. Those pipelines transporting oil are much too lucrative to Cheney's Halliburton.

It would not be unprecedented in American politics for a Presidential candidate to author overseas events to suit their needs of the moment. Ronald Reagan convinced the Iranians to hold on to the hostages until after the election by promising them arms. Dwight Eisenhower, in order to placate Joe McCarthy and the far right wing, convinced the Hungarian people to revolt, insinuating that the United States was ready to come to their aid. When the uprising and brutal repression came, the U.S. sat idly by. And now, by John McCAin's own admission, he had other candid conversations with the Georgian President who after the Russians expelled them from Ossetia, made clear his displeasure with John McCain after McCain's bellicose speech, saying he expected action, not words.

That's almost as good as telling the world that for all of the money his government had paid to the lobbyist Scheunemann, and for all of the cash he will rake in from Orion after the election, Saakashvili had expected a military response by the United States after the Russians moved in, and was a little bit angry that he had been taken to the cleaners. That he had done his part to help McCain with the far right of the Republican Party, and now McCain wasn't holding up his end of the bargain. Perhaps the Georgian President was given the impression that a U.S. Senator had the authority to go to war.

We are now in a posture of anger and cold shoulder with the Russians. Our relations have come to a halt, and there are bombers in the air at all times on both sides. Because of this, John McCain has a lot of explaining to do about all of those phone calls to the Georgian president. What did he assure them of? Don't even try to say he was talking about the weather. What was paid lobbyist Scheunemann's role in the entire affair?

And since we know we are not going to get answers to these questions, we had better start thinking about the implications of having all of Bush's people back in the government come January, with McCain as the titular head. The Cold Warriors of the Nixon years that have stuck around just behind the curtain all these years have achieved their goal of destroying Reagan's glasnost and pushed the U.S. into a Cold War posture once more. Do we really wish to have the sneaky back room deals about war and peace to make a comeback in American politics? Do we want a pliable President in the form of an elder statesman who may not make it through one term, only to leave the country in the hands of a political neophyte? One who has already stated that she would start a shooting war with Russia? And do we want in office someone who would use a foreign government's desire to retake parts of their country and turn it into a blood bath for his own political gain?

Some will say that this never happened. But ask yourself about how many positions that John McCain has completely reversed himself on in order to pander to one segment of society. How he lies and distorts the truth about virtually everything, and then come back and read this again. Hopefully it will open your eyes to a larger picture of who this candidate is, who his best buddies are, and what could conceivably happen were he to assume the Oval Office. Forget the lipstick, the bridge to nowhere, and the troopergate story. What we should and must understand is that despite the mantel of maverick and agent of change, John McCain has shown us who he truly is, and that's an agent provocateur.

The Bush Administration-Year One

Americans knew they were in for a long road back in January of 2001. Having just been through a grueling election that ended with the Supreme Court packed with friends of his father appointing him to be President of the United States, George Bush's official motorcade was forced to speed to the inauguration through throngs of angry, egg throwing protesters. Protesters that the U.S. media never showed us, and made seem as though all had gone well as George W. Bush was sworn into office.

The inaugural speech was riddled with references to God, angels leading the nation and how we, as Americans, were responsible to care for the poor. He said "Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do. I can pledge our nation to a goal. When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side."

Alas, although making for good sound bites during that speech and his State of the Union address the following week, Bush set to work right from the outset to do all he could to screw the poor, and then set his sights on the middle class. Slashing budgets for social safety net programs almost with the lazze faire of a butcher chopping meat in his shop, the Bush Doctrine of giveaways to his rich friends and corporations was underway. Quietly signing legislation passed by the Republican controlled Congress to privatize Medicaid, the program designed to provide the poor with medical coverage, the Republicans, with Bush leading the charge, managed to make it impossible for the poor to go to their doctors, while at the same time adding more middlemen in the form of insurance companies now being in charge of all decision making for the program itself.

Wielding that pen while the media, being exhausted from having to cover the stolen election, decided to take some time off and not report on the programs the Bushies were tearing apart, nor the corporate welfare increases going into effect, tired Bush himself out so much that vacations became the norm. He vacationed 54 days before August of 2001, when USA Today questioned whether or not his next vacation, a month long jaunt to Crawford, Texas was a wise decision.

And vacation the President did. On August 6th, 2001, Bush received the Presidential Daily Briefing report entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike inside U.S.". The report was the result of a crescendo of reports from intelligence sources all over the world. Sources from Israel, who arguably has the very best apparatus for garnering intelligence in the entire world, the Russians, the Syrians, and the European intelligence community. Despite the fact that the PDB was the end result of blaring warnings being issued from all over the world since may of 2001, the Bush administration saw fit to ignore them all and continued to fish in Texas, while Cheney vacationed in Wyoming.

No one needs to be reminded as to the horrible events of 9/11. The images of bodies falling or people jumping to escape the flames are forever seared into our souls. Buildings falling, screams and wails echoing off of New York's concrete canyons, and the sobering pictures of a mayor of a major American city running the streets because he had no where else to go will haunt us forever, and be the rallying cry against the Republican Party for eternity. Almost immediately after the events of 9/11, the Republicans desperately attempted to lay the blame at the feet of the previous administration, knowing full well that the outgoing Clinton people gave the incoming Bush administration so much information on the Bin Laden threat, that Bush CHOSE TO IGNORE, that the lewdness of their failure to act became a rallying cry to those who believed the only possible explanation was complicity on the part of Bush and his people.

9/11 happened after the Bush administration had been in power for eight months, twenty per cent through their first term, and yet, to this day, they admit no responsibility. But at every turn, they try to claim the events of that day as their own personal rallying cry for war, for the stripping of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all Americans, and the excuse to close all government oversight off from the public.

In the aftermath of 9/11, we now know that the Bush administration had plans already drawn up for a war with Iraq, even though Iraq had nothing to do with the events of that day. John McCain blatantly connected Iraq to the Anthrax attacks, saying that Iraq was the second phase of operations after Afghanistan, whom we invaded in reply to the Taliban's refusal to hand over Bin Laden without evidence. To this day, no evidence has been offered, and Bin Laden is on no FBI most wanted list due to lack of that evidence.

While Bush was busy laying out plans for the Iraqi invasion, John McCain was busy running around the country saying things like the U.S. Congress should bring out their dead after the Anthrax scare, that after we got done with the Middle East, the people there could go back to selling camels or whatever it is they do over there, and that the world would know who was boss after we had taken over Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. He also promised that Bin Laden would be dead by Halloween of that year.

But what should really scare the hell out of everyone about John McCain and Sarah Palin was McCain's support for the last minute changes that Bush sought to insert into Congress's use of force authorization back in 2001. Just seconds before the Congress was to vote, Bush sought to add wording to the bill that said he had authority to use the military within the borders of the United States, against U.S. citizens! Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Leader said : "Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words 'in the United States and' after 'appropriate force' in the agreed-upon text. This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas -- where we all understood he wanted authority to act -- but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused." ...

In November of 2001, Bush was absolutely gleeful because of the new acquiescence of the media. Not daring to question anything the monster in chief did, Bush began to issue a series of Presidential Directives. Cloaking them carefully at first to be directed against only non citizens, we all know about the later tossing out of Habeus Corpus, the Posse Comitatus, the declaration in the Patriot Acts that U.S. citizens could now be charged with domestic terrorism for attending or planning protest marches, and all manner of expansions of police powers in direct violation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. No one said anything, because of the Rove campaign to paint anyone who dared to question the President as an enemy of the state. They backed up their words by getting well known and respected journalists fired for asking too many questions.

In December of 2001, Bush restarted the Cold War with Russia by announcing that the United States was pulling out of the ABM Treaty. And then making it seem as though the Russians were the bad guys. Ten years of glasnost and gains wiped out by a neo-fascist group of people determined to feed the military/industrial complex no matter what.

But the most egregious statement that has ever left the lying mouth of George Bush came when he was asked by a reporter at a Christmas party the Bushes were at in 2001. Expecting to get a solemn response from the Commander In Chief, who had just been witness to the events of 9/11, the aftermath and the invasion of Afghanistan. A reaction to the suffering of the entire American nation and the fears and worries of a people unsure what the future was going to hold. Asking the Bushes how they were feeling that Christmas season, George W. Bush did not hesitate to answer that he was feeling fantastic and having the time of his life.

Still want more of the same? Or does beating your head against the wall appeal to you? The above is only a taste of what our country will endure under a McCain/Palin administration. Those two will make Bush and Cheney seem like Alvin and the Chip Monks when they bomb bomb bomb Iran, destroy all domestic social safety net programs, drill baby drill everywhere that they suspect may have oil, and if the 'executive privilege' claims being made not two months before the election are any indication, we're in for a hellish nightmare. Forget the die hard neo-cons and fascists who will back McCain.Palin no matter what, much the same way they still claim Bush/Cheney was the greatest Presidency of all time. These people don't care about you, the country, or the rule of law. They care about ripping off the nation for every last dime it has, then getting out, leaving the corporations in charge and Americans living like the paupers during the time of their other hero, Herbert Hoover.

Just as Bush did during his first year in office, McCain would completely eviscerate the remaining Bill Of Rights, since McCain agreed with Bush that Americans had too many rights and voted along with Bush not 90%, but 95% of the time, and 100% of the time in 2008. Don't fall for their lies and smear campaigns yet again. They speak of being religious, but bear in mind that the devil's greatest trick was to make you believe that he did not exist. The Republicans' greatest trick and in particular the new Karl Rove driven campaign of the hiding from the media McCain/Palin campaign is that they aren't really corporate shills and lobbyists, but reformers.