“She got up, she was very visibly pregnant, and it’s really it’s a problem because she’s about seven months pregnant, it’s her first pregnancy, and she and the baby’s father aren’t married, and before two billion people, Natalie Portman says, ‘Oh I want to thank my love and he’s given me the most wonderful gift,’” Huckabee told Medved, per the liberal group MediaMatters. “He didn’t give her the most wonderful gift, which would be a wedding ring! And it just seems to me that sending that kind of message is problematic.”

It seems he’s getting a head start on the rest of the republican pack by trying to stay in the news by shoving his foot in his mouth. He’s obviously banking on the A.D.D of this country for all his over the top talking points. But in fairness he responded to the latest vollies toward him on his apparent “attack” of Portman.

“Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby’s father,” Huckabee said. “My comments were about the statistical reality that most single moms are very poor, under-educated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death. That’s the story that we’re not seeing, and it’s unfortunate that society often glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.”

I know I’m generally a left of the isle guy. But this backward ass, puritanical thinking isn’t going to move the country or society forward. We are an evolving species. We grow and change and adapt to our environment. His pandering the the religious right with statements like this only show how he’s more interested in staying in the news and the publics eye, even if it is for outlandish things. It’s pure politics at it’s most disgusting.

you can read the entire article by clicking here.

CHANGES ARE COMING

Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come.

1. The Post Office.  Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.

2. The Check.   Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

3. The Newspaper.  The younger generation simply doesn’t read the newspaper. They certainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. The Book.  You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can’t wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you’re holding a gadget instead of a book.

5. The Land Line Telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don’t need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they’ve always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.

6. Music. This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It’s the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is “catalog items,” meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, “Appetite for Self-Destruction” by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, “Before the Music Dies.”

7. Television. Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they’re playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It’s time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. The “Things” That You Own. Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in “the cloud.” Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest “cloud services.” That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.

In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That’s the good news. But, will you actually own any of this “stuff” or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big “Poof?” Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

9. Privacy. If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That’s gone. It’s been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, “They” know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. And “They” will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again. All we will have that can’t be changed are memories.

19 Facts About The Deindustrialization Of  America That Will Blow Your Mind

The  United States is rapidly becoming the very first “post-industrial” nation on the globe. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at which  America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing. It was  America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. It was  America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles to televisions to airplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed  Germany and  Japan in World War II.

But now we are witnessing the deindustrialization of  America . Tens of thousands of factories have left the  United States in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the same time period. The  United States has become a nation that consumes everything in sight and yet produces increasingly little. Do you know what our biggest export is today? Waste paper. Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest of the world as we voraciously blow our money on whatever the rest of the world wants to sell to us.

The  United States has become bloated and spoiled and our economy is now just a shadow of what it once was. Once upon a time  America could literally out produce the rest of the world combined. Today that is no longer true, but Americans sure do consume more than anyone else in the world. If the deindustrialization of  America continues at this current pace, what possible kind of a future are we going to be leaving to our children?

Any great nation throughout history has been great at making things. So if the  United States continues to allow its manufacturing base to erode at a staggering pace how in the world can the  U.S. continue to consider itself to be a great nation? We have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world in an effort to maintain a very high standard of living, but the current state of affairs is not anywhere close to sustainable. Every single month  America goes into more debt and every single month  America gets poorer.

So, what happens when the debt bubble pops?

The deindustrialization of the  United States should be a top concern for every man, woman and child in the country. But sadly, most Americans do not have any idea what is going on around them.

For people like that, take this article and print it out and hand it to them. Perhaps what they will read below will shock them badly enough to awaken them from their slumber.

Here are 19 stunning facts about the deindustrialization of  America :

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.

#2 Dell Inc., one of  America ’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in  China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large  U.S. manufacturing facility in  Winston-Salem ,  North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the  United States ? Zero.

#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.

#6 As of the end of July, the  U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.

#7 The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.

#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period,  U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.

#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of  U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.

#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in  St. Paul ,  Minnesota . Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in  Minnesota does not fit in with Ford’s new “global” manufacturing strategy.

#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.

#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#14 In 2001, the  United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.

#15 Manufacturing employment in the  U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products.    Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.

#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the  United States .

#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the  U.S. economy by the year 2040.

#19 The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.

So, how many tens of thousands more factories do we need to lose before we do something about it?

How many millions more Americans are going to become unemployed before we all admit that we have a very, very serious problem on our hands?

How many more trillions of dollars are going to leave the country before we realize that we are losing wealth at a pace that is killing our economy?

How many once great manufacturing cities are going to become rotting war zones like  Detroit before we understand that we are committing national economic suicide?

The deindustrialization of  America is a national crisis. It needs to be treated like one.

And to underscore the above: 11/9/10: The largest private employer in Saginaw, Michigan will soon be the city government of Beijing, as a 104-year-old unit of General Motors will be sold to new owners from China. The $450M purchase received little attention this summer, but it is a landmark deal – the first time Chinese investors have bought a U.S.  industrial operation of such scale and history.

original article: http://www.rense.com/general92/goodbye.htm

Bill, I hope you actually watched the entire video before you spewed your agenda riddled diatribe. Not that I actually think you would ever find my little blog, or even care about it, but just in case you haven’t actually seen the entirety of Eminems video I added it here for your viewing pleasure. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now as you can see Eminem makes fun of ALOT of people in the video and Sarah Palin takes up maybe 20-30 seconds of the 4 minute 40 second video. Jessica Simpson, Amy Whinehouse, Kim Kardashian, Star Trek and some people I don’t recognize (I’m so uncool…). While I don’t particularly like the song or the video I can see it’s obvious attempt to parody society’s placing of certain things/people etc on a pedestal. We as a society tend to elevate people to a stature that can be comical at times. His song and video depict this. He uses his platform to send his message to his audience. Just like Bill O’Reilly uses his platform to send his message to his audience. By the way, I agree with Eminem COMPLETELY. His message is true and on target, but I will save my op-ed piece about societies woes for a later article. 

By the way here is the segment from Bill O’Reilly about Eminem and the “liberal media.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bill, why don’t you have any patience or acceptance for views that differ from yours? Maybe that’s because you think you’re always right and everyone should think like you. There’s a name for people like that Bill, but I’m sure you know that already. Bill, why aren’t you just as enraged that Eminem made fun of the other women in the video? Maybe it’s because they aren’t the little darlings of the right wing. Bill, why do you feel the need to belittle someone for the kind of music they like and listen to? Maybe it’s because you can be a self righteous, elitist most times. Bill, do you consider yourself a journalist? I don’t. I think you’re right wing loud mouth with a TV show. Before you get your red frilly panties in a knot Bill, I know you’re not the only one. It’s done on the left also. Journalism has changed and now we’re inundated with opinions, personal agendas etc from our tv personalities. Yes I find it hard to call what you, and others do, journalism. But them again here I am giving my opinion and the only difference is I’m not getting paid huge amounts of money to do it. Anyone hiring?

If you haven’t heard, “Joe the Plumber,” aka Samuel Wurzelbacher, had a book signing gig in Washington D.C. over the weekend. The short story is it was a complete and utter flop. His book titled “Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream,” was supposed to be his big hit, his payday… I guess. But as it turns out it was just another poor attempt by an attention whore to make money off the public. In all fairness he’s just trying to ride out the wave created for him by John McCain. You remember John don’t you? He’s the guy who paraded Wurzelbacher around with him during the Presidential campaign. He did this along side his other ‘gimmick,’ Sarah Palin.

I’m torn as to what to call this guy. His name is Sam Wurzelbacher. He picked up his new nickname “Joe the Plumber” during a contentious presidential race where he was used – poorly I might add – by John McCain in his sad attempt at becoming the next leader of the free world. Personally I’m glad John McCain Lost. I mean if he thought these gimmicks (Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin) were the best he had to offer, then it’s a damn good thing he’s back in his old job. But I digress.

The Republican party is really lost at the moment. They’re floundering badly. John McCain had a shot at the election when he was selling us his experience over Barack Obama. His long service to this country. He lost it when he went with Palin and Joe the Plumber. Ever since then it was not only over for him but for the Grand ‘ol Party. They can’t seem to figure out who the hell they are, what they’re about and who can be a respectable spokesperson for them. As a group they’re laughable right now. From Bobby Jindal’s speech after President Obama’s first address to the joint houses, to having Joe the Plumber as a featured speaker at CPAC the other night. OMG – REALLY!? If you want to be taken seriously guys stop parading these parodies of life in front of the world. Come on now. I know there are SOME smart, intellectual people in the GOP that can be a better representation of the party… there has to be!

Here is a quote from an article in the Huffington Post website from November 2008. The quote is Joe the Plumber answering some questions:

“Everyone came at me to write a book. They had dollar signs in their eyes. ’101 Things Joe the Plumber Knows’ or some stupid s— like that. Excuse me, I am sorry,” he said. “You know I will get behind something solid, but I won’t get behind fluff. I won’t cash in, and when people do read the book they will figure out that I didn’t cash in. At least I hope they figure that out.”
The book, called “Joe the Plumber — Fighting for the American Dream,” is to be released by a group called PearlGate Publishing and other small publishing houses.
“I am not going to a conglomerate that way we actually can get the economy jump started. Like there is five publishing companies in Michigan. There’s a couple down in Texas. They are small ones that can handle like 10 or 15,000 copies. I can go to a big one that could handle a million or two. But they don’t need the help. They are already rich. So that’s spreading the wealth to me,” he said.

I literally laughed when I read that as you no doubt are doing right now. He doesn’t want to sound like he’s “cashing in” yet he writes a book because “everyone” was telling him it was a good idea. Psst… they were wrong dude! Also, don’t fool yourself Sam, you didn’t go to a “conglomerate” publishing house because they knew it would be a complete failure and probably wanted no part of the ‘deal.’ Apparently your decision make process needs as much work as John McCain’s.

Here’s a video clip of Keith Olberman’s response to Joe the Plumber’s appearance at CPAC. Gotta love Keith…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hey Joe the Plumber/Sam Wurzelbacher – Go Away! Go back to what you were doing BEFORE this new persona Joe the Plumber was created for political gain. You were a fictitious character that was used as a pawn in the biggest and most manipulative industry in the world… POLITICS. Oh, and did you really say you would consider running for President in “6 years?” Here’s a free tip… the next Presidential election is in 4 years. Seriously Sam, stop and regain some dignity will ya? Don’t go writing books about your 15 minutes. No one cares, really.

There are also other points raised about her desire to emulate Angelina Jolie. So much so that she has undergone plastic surgery to LOOK more like her. Reminds me of Michael Jackson’s abtuse desire to look like Diana Ross. For the record Nadya says she’s never had plastic surgery and Angelina Jolie has no part in her decision to have more kids.

Here are some photos of Nadya from an article from The Huffington Post.

before the octuplets and a side by side of her and Angelina Jolie.

Now, my personal opinion about this whole thing, in case it’s not obvious enough to you yet, is that she is a completely unfit person to be a mother of one let alone fourteen! Mark my words, this woman has some kind of mental health issues. It’s disgusting what she’s doing AND getting away with. She even has a website where she asks for money!!! Holy cow she has some really big balls doesn’t she? No, I’m not putting the link to it here. She doesn’t deserve a penny from anyone. She needs a psychiatrist, not government help to pay for her misguided life choices. A person who has plastic surgery to LOOK like a famous person is goofy enough, but when you add in the fact that she’s now responsible for 14 children AND she’s broke, unemployed AND unemployable, you have a certifiable nut case. What needs to happen is California needs to take away ALL of her kids and put them up for adoption.

Nadya – I call BULLS*T my dear. You need to seek help, get a job and a life. I’ll give you some credit though. You made it to prime time, albiet as a pathetic, wannabe, selfish, scammer. Good luck with that.

A high school girls basketball coach was fired because his team beat another team 100-0. Did you get that? FIRED! You know why too… I don’t have to tell you, but I will. Because some pansy asses felt he was ‘running up the score’ and it’s not fair to the other team to lose like that. Here’s an excerpt from the article and a  link to the complete article for you to chew over when you have the time.

DALLAS — The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize “for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.”

Kyle Queal, the headmaster for Covenant School, said in The Dallas Morning News online edition that he could not answer if the firing was a direct result of coach Micah Grimes‘ e-mail disagreeing with administrators who called the blowout “shameful.”

Queal did not immediately answer phone messages or e-mail from The Associated Press.

On its Web site last week, Covenant, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. “It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition,” said the statement, signed by Queal and board chair Todd Doshier.

Grimes, who has been criticized for letting the game get so far out of hand, made it clear in the e-mail Sunday to the newspaper that he does not agree with his school’s assessment.

“In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed,” Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. “We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.”

Unapologetic coach of 100-0 win fired by school

If were not careful, and we follow the lead of all this over the top political correctness, we run the risk becoming a nation of lame ass, whiny people. Listen up people. If you lose you LOSE! If the other team is that much better than you (or you suck so bad) that you lose by that much, then so be it. Holy crap! The man gets fired because his team beat the pants off the other team? What in the hell are we teaching our youth with such an attitude? Is it fair to do what he did? Hell yes it is. He let his girls play their hearts out and they did just that. Why should they have toned down their play? Really, I dare you to give me a good reason. You can’t and you know it. Any argument for that garbage attitude just shows the dumbing down of our society. Well, not exactly but you get my point. They played with respect and didn’t taunt the other team. They didn’t play with poor sportsmanship, yet some would have them stop playing their best just to take care not to hurt the feelings of the other team. Who knows what the other team felt? I have always been an athletic person and was very competitive. When I played or competed with others I expected them to ALWAYS bring their A-Game no matter what. If they “played down” to me I wasn’t getting the truth out of them, myself or the competition.

What are we teaching our kids about the real world when we do things like this. Kids need to learn teh world doesn’t care if they “tried” or they “did their best.” The world will crush those people who are used to being handled with kid gloves their whole life. The world isn’t always “fair” and really what is fair anyway? We need to let little Johnny fall, scrape his knee, cry, get hurt and grow from it – learn from it. We can’t protect kids from everything and we certainly do them a dis-service by molly-coddling them. We can’t insulate them from the world. Everyone has to live in it and interact with ALL aspects of life.

… ok, sorry for the rant. Just had to get that off my chest.

This can potentially be a big problem. Not the bailout, but what happens if they’re NOT bailed out. The obvious implications range from direct affect of the employees who were not the orchestrators of the bad company business plan, and further down the road to suppliers of the automakers who can’t sell their widgets and beyond. There is certainly a lot of blame to go around. It’s easy to point the finger at the high level executives who mismanaged the company so badly that it’s all about to crumble into ashes. Those same executives who flew to Washington to ask for billions in bailout money, all flew on private jets to the tune of $20,000 per person! Listen. I know people out there can afford that kind of luxury and I applaud them for it. But if you’re flying somewhere to beg for money because you screwed up your company, and you fly on a private plane at the cost of $20K a head, you have some pretty damn big balls! I bet those are company jets. If they were personal jets it’s one thing, but I doubt it.

The executives aren’t the only people to blame for this mess though. Take a good look at the UAW. The United Auto Workers Union. Here you have a group that looks out for the employees and makes sure they get the most they can out of the employer. Unions in the past did a very good job of forcing employers to change bad working condition, pay them properly, give them health benefits etc. The problem now is that they continually try to suck the company dry. They do this while the executives try to set things to their benefit. It’s a major tug of war with both sides playing hardball. The unions have a very strong lobby. They’re very influential when it comes time to vote.

Here’s the problem as I see it. They both need each other to have a successful, viable company. They both need to work together so they ALL have jobs tomorrow. I’ll bet dollars to donuts that is the main underlying problem with the auto industry in this country. They need to start viewing their relationship as partners and not adversarial. I heard yesterday on the news a UAW representative said something to the affect “We’re willing to acquiesce a little to help things along.”  I wanted to reach through the screen and slap this guy in the head. I have news for the UAW… YOU HAVE NO CHOICE! you are not in the position now to be willing to acquiesce “a little” for the greater good. If you want a job tomorrow you HAVE TO make changes and give back some. American Airlines did it and stayed out of bankruptcy and didn’t go running to uncle Sam for a loan. All the Pilots, Flight Attendants and ground crew unions went to their people and they all took cuts in pay, worked longer hours etc. They changed their business model and now they’re operating without taxpayers help. They are far from being free and clear of troubles, but they’re handling it themselves… ALL of them.

The mind set needs to change in the auto industry as it does in society in general. In general we have this me first, at all cost attitude and that’s going be our downfall if things don’t change and change fast. Look at things in a global perspective. Our economy starts to dive and the world economy follows. Before you start thinking we’re the lynch pin for the world, forget it. Get over yourself. We are part of something much larger than just ourselves and when we all start to realize that and work with that in mind we can truly start to grow and advance in a reasonable, safe and solid way. So far we were building a beautiful house on a substandard foundation. The form over function theory never works.

After readiing and hearing a lot on this latest economic crisis and thinking about it, I’ve come to the conclusion that we should NOT bail out GM, Ford and Chrysler. I know there are workers who will be directly affected and lose jobs. Some are only qualified to do those jobs they lose. I know. But giving the big 3 money doesn’t fix the problem. We all learn from our failures. Isn’t that why we don’t fix everything for our children? Don’t we let them fall and get themselves back up on their own at some point? These are adults we’re talking about. There’s a lesson in each tough time we face. We grow through our tribulations. Times have changed and the mentality of society needs to change along with it. Bankruptcy isn’t the end of business. It’s just a restructuring of business. Maybe that’s exactly what they need because obviously what they were doing all along hasn’t been working lately.

What do you think? Should we bailout GM, Ford and Chrysler?

Let’s start with Sarah Palin. I have to say she did so much better this time around than she has done in the last couple of public interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. Of course the bar was so low that so long as she didn’t faint up there she would have done better. But Thursday night she sounded more comfortable with the situation and ready to answer questions…. sort of anyway. She was still reading from prepared speeches, all night long. Let’s forget all the Republican spin jobs about Sarah Palin. She is remarkably and undeniably unprepared for the job of Vice President. I know this may sound like more of a personal attack on the woman but it’s not meant that way. She is awful! Pathetic! Really people, wake up! “I may not answer the question the way you want, but I’m going to talk directly to the American people and tell them about my qualifications…. smile… wink…” Really? I mean REALLY?! That’s her answer. I’ll hand it to her. At least she had the balls to tell everyone straight out that she doesn’t have a direct answer to the questions so instead she’s going to just ramble about something else and give us her resume. When she said that I literally dropped and shook my head. I couldn’t believe she said that out loud.

I don’t know about you guys but quite frankly I’m so tired of all the small little quips, grins, winks, got’cha’s, wit’cha’s and shout out’s to a 3rd grade class. Yeah, that all screams Vice President to me. And if I hear her say “we’re the mavericks” one more time I’m going to throw my 6-pack at my TV.  Look haven’t we had enough of the country bumkin persona for the last 8 years? Hasn’t watching George W. Bush, a man would probably invented beer pong, with his head bob, crooked smile, winks, leaning on the podium and bastardization of the English language embarrassed you enough yet? I’m sorry folks. I don’t want another “chum” in the white house… even if it is for vice president. I don’t want someone who has a “first dude” in the house. That kind of folksie crap works well for the small town, community feel. Hell, I live in a small town and I know the mayor and the people on the city council personally. I get it on that level. But for the job of VP, you better have a hell of a lot more bullets in the chamber than just ‘saying’ you appeal to the average Joe. You better appeal to heads of nations and other international figures. You better come across knowledgeable about foreign affairs, economic trends, social implications, historical events, supreme court rulings and know more than how to gut a moose (do people gut moose?). In her defense I don’t particularly care if she remembered what she read on a daily basis. We all mis-speak at times or even forget things when put on the spot. I do believe she has been over handled by the McCain camp. They’ve pumped her full of information and rehearsed her to the point she’s ready to bust. She has nothing to say about herself really so they’re using smoke and mirrors and redirection in hopes we can be duped like we were with George W. Bush. Most of all her answers are John McCain says, does, did, will do etc. Doesn’t she have anything of her own to say or do? Apparently not. Maybe she’ll be ready and back in the future to run for president. Maybe even against Hillary Clinton. Never mind, Hillary will bury her in her sleep. I’m looking at the big picture here and all I see is a plastic singing Bass mounted on the wall. 

Joe Biden – gotta love him. This is the man who perfected the saying “Open mouth, insert foot.” Not to mince words, EVER, he showed a huge amount of restraint Thursday night. So much so I thought he was flat in the first half of the debate. It just wasn’t Joe. That may have been a good thing though. He did pick up and showed a bit of who he really is after that. Not much but some. He did fall real flat with his snide attack about the “ultimate bridge to no where.” It’s readily apparent the people are growing tired of negative attacks. I know that was tame for him but he really needs to stay away from those childish tactics. He should leave those things to those who have nothing else to offer. It’s understandable coming from someone with no experience or knowledge, sad but it’s still understandable. He’s the elder statesman and he needs to act like it. Besides that comment I thought he handled himself perfectly. He walked that fine line with the grace of a Flying Wallenda. He completely destroyed her when it came to foreign policy. He knows so much and had all kinds of facts at the ready. He better know all that stuff though. He’s been in the Senate longer than John McCain. He was affable, knowledgeable and sincere. Joe Biden won that debate hands down. 

In the end we’re voting for the top of the ticket. We’re voting for Barack Obama or John McCain. They’re the ones who will lead us into the next decade. The VP choice isn’t a small choice though. Their choice in VP running mates shows what they were thinking. Who they want and need next to them to lead our country. It shows a certain judgement and character. Joe Biden as a choice shows to me that Barack wanted someone more experienced than himself. Someone who knows the country, it’s recent history, foreign leaders, economic issues and global trends. Sarah Palin as a choice shows to me that John wanted someone to satisfy his religious republican base. Someone who could potentially get the female vote that would have gone with Hillary Clinton. Someone who could give a spark to his failing campaign. Let’s see now… who was thinking “Country First” with that choice? Easy one… Barack Obama. Let’s not forget the other question. What happens if the unthinkable occurs and the president dies in office. Who do you REALLY think is ready to be President of the United States of America?

On one side you have Joe Biden, the democratic VP nominee.

Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there for ten years prior to moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969 and was elected to a county council in 1970. Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972, and became the fifth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2002, and has served for the sixth-longest period among current senators.

Biden is a long-time member and current chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. His strong advocacy helped bring about U.S. military assistance and intervention during the Bosnian War. He initially supported the Iraq War, but later proposed resolutions to alter U.S. strategy there. He has served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dealing with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties, and led creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and Violence Against Women Act. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Long time Senator. Knows foreign affairs like the back of his hand. Loads of experience in Washington. Has had tremendous exposure internationally. Has a tendency to speak his mind, even when it’s political suicide. He just doesn’t have the restraint some other politicians have when it comes to saying what he wants. I personally applaud him for it. And it’s fun to watch too. 

On the other side you have Sarah Palin, the republican VP nominee. 

Palin attended Wasilla High School in Wasilla, located 29 miles (47 km) north of the city of Anchorage.^[9] She was the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at the school and the point guard and captain of the school’s girls’ basketball team. She helped the team win the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds of the game, despite having an ankle stress fracture. She earned the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” because of her intense play.^[10]

Palin attended several colleges and universities. In 1982, she enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College but left after her first semester. She transferred toNorth Idaho community college, where she spent two semesters as a general studies major. From there, she transferred to the University of Idahofor two semesters.^[11][12] During this time Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant beauty contest,^[13][14] then finished third (second runner-up) in theMiss Alaska pageant,^[15][16] at which she won a college scholarship and the “Miss Congeniality” award.^[17] She then left the University of Idaho and attended Matanuska-Susitna community college in Alaska for one term. The next year she returned to the University of Idaho where she spent three semesters completing her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987.^[11][12]

Started her political career in 1992 on the city council. Was elected Mayor of Wasilla in 1996, Lieutenant Governor 2002, Governor 2006. Got the nicname “Sarah Barracuda” because of her intense play as point guard for her high schools girls basketball team. Won the Ms. Wasilla Beauty Pageant. 

Personally I think Joe Biden is unfairly going to be in a no win situation. First of all the bar is set so low for Sarah Palin. It’s of her own doing.  Because of the VERY few open interviews she’s done since being presented at the RNC and totally bombing in each of them. I think the country has gotten tired of her smart assed one liners. Those are cute but get old real fast especially when you keep repeating them. Let’s forget the VP should have some political knowledge and substance, which we have yet to see from her. She’s good at attacking, making cute little sound bites and easy on the eyes, but at the end of the day she still needs to prove she’s up for the second highest office in the country. I personally doubt it very much. Secondly Joe can’t go after her without people saying he’s sexist. He can’t push the issue that he’s more experienced than her because then he’s talking down to her. Total crap in my opinion. She has stepped into the big leagues and it’s time for her to take the shots for herself. Hold her own. People say she can. They say she has done it before when she won the Governor position in Alaska. Maybe she does have “it” in terms of toughness. Maybe it did show in Alaska. But she knew Alaska very well. So far she hasn’t shown she knows anything outside of Alaska and that can be a big problem when going up against Joe Biden. I don’t want to see the “Pitbull with Lipstick.” That’s NOT what we need representing our country. I want to see a person who can step into the Oval Office if needed and run our country like an intelligent, worldly person. 

What do you think?

As the night moves along Jim Lehrer tells both candidates to address each other. He does this many times trying to get a dialog going between the two. In short Obama did and McCain did not. Barrack Obama tried to speak directly to John McCain on many occasions. McCain on the other hand never… NEVER once even looked at Brarack Obama. John McCain ALWAYS spoke about him as if he weren’t there. I’m not sure if that was a tactic that his handlers told him to adopt or not. I always had great respect for John McCain when he WAS a maverick in the senate and even lately after he sold out his “maverick” status to get the nomination. I watched John McCain say he was going to run a respectable campaign against Barrack Obama then watched as his commercials got more and more negative and stretched the truth far and wide. Yes Barrack Obama did the same thing but he didn’t ride in on his white horse like McCain did. Then he chooses Sarah Palin as his running mate simply to satisfy his religious base. If he were STILL the maverick, he would have chosen one of the two people he wanted to, Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge. But no. He sells out and goes for such an obvious political choice that even his republican friends were shaking their heads. I let all that go. It’s the way every presidential campaign has gone for a very long time. The McCain uses the economic crisis as a political tool. EVERYONE involved said they didn’t want that to happen. NO ONE wanted to insert presidential politics into the resolution process of the bail out discussions. No one except for John McCain. I guess his failing numbers in the polls changes his character. Then comes the debate and John McCain acts with such disdain and disrespect for Barrack Obama. It was pathetic. It was gross. It was shameful. He even looked like he was enjoying it. One time he actually turned his back toward Barrack to answer a question!

Listen up John McCain! As far as I’m concerned you have lost all credibility with your actions during this campaign. The debate Friday night was the absolute last straw. What ever you were thinking it would look like you were wrong! You looked like a child. You want to call Senator Obama an elitist and you act like the biggest snob on the planet! Mr McCain, you owe Barrack an apology. You owe your supporters an apology. You owe the American people an apology. Your actions and demeanor are not fitting of a man of your position. You should be better than that. I guess you’re not though are you? You keep spewing how you’re the one who can reach across the isle and work with everyone. Yet you can’t even look at the other man on the same stage as you? You are pathetic John McCain. You have shown how shallow you are and what depths you will go to to win this election. Very sad, especially coming from the John McCain I was voting for in 2000. Where did he go? Please tell us, where did THAT John McCain go?

Barrack Obama was poised, respectful, well spoken all evening. I think he did miss an opportunity that evening though. As John McCain dug a huge whole for himself by his disdainful ignoring of Barrack, Senator Obama should have said something like “John, you can ignore me here on stage, not look at me, speak like I’m not even here, BUT know one thing sir. I AM HERE and I’m not going anywhere.” That would have slammed the lid on McCain’s campaign coffin and nailed it shut. If I saw it I know Barrack saw it and probably wanted to say something. If he did and decided not to, maybe he thought he was taking the high road. Maybe he did. I can’t hold my tongue like that. Good thing I’m not running for president.