The Audacity of Dope

Along with all her other moral standings that I find reprehensible, one thing I really despise about Sarah Palin is that she’s such a staunch supporter of the NRA and hunting. I’ve always been an animal lover and sympathetic to animal activism, so I can’t agree with anyone who enjoys hunting or fishing for entertainment. Theoretically, if you’re killing a creature for sustenance, I can live with that. If you’re just murdering creatures for entertainment, I think there’s something seriously wrong with you.

Also, I find it curious that a lot of hunters are also ultra-religious, when the Bible clearly states “thou shall not kill.” How do they justify that? Don’t animals have souls just like we do? How can they claim to follow the word of God when they can’t even follow the Commandments?

This woman cannot be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Hahahaha sonned. I love when the hypocrisy of these morons is pointed out so clearly. In their defense, “they are lying sacks of sh*t.”  Well said John.

Plain and simple, the Republicans took to the stage last night and lied through their teeth to the American people. It’s pretty shocking and despicable when the Associated Press (a news service based on reporting facts, not opinion) has to take you to task for some of your inaccuracies. Here are just a few of the examples:

Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

Some examples:

PALIN: “I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere.”

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a “bridge to nowhere.”

PALIN: “There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate.”

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: “The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.”

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama’s plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain’s plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: “She’s been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America’s energy supply … She’s responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s energy supply. I’m entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain’s phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she’s no more “responsible” for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: “She’s the commander of the Alaska National Guard. … She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under “federal status,” which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska’s national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin “got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States.”

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor’s election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: “We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin.”

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

Source.

Keep this in mind when McCain hobbles on stage tonight and spews some more falsehoods.

As I’m watching this horribly embarrassing Republican National Convention (the co-chair just called Sarah Palin “Sarah Pawlenty”…Freudian slip much?), I can’t believe these people even exist. Aside from the fact that I disagree with most of their core values, some of these people are downright crazy. That includes Mrs. Palin, who is clearly the worst Vice Presidential candidate ever selected. The Daily Kos posted up a long list of reasons why, so go ahead and get familiar with this woman right here.

Some of my favorites include believing that creationism should be taught in science class, fighting to remove polar bears from the endangered species list so she can drill more in Alaska, and leaving the tiny town of Wasilla in economic tatters after her mayoral stint. I’m not even going to talk about the idiocy of being anti-choice and anti-sex ed in schools when your own underage daughter is pregnant. How’d that whole abstinence thing work out for ya?

I could go on and on (…and on and on and on), but this is just ridiculous.

Earlier today, Barack campaigned in Virginia and talked about McCain’s recent delusional comments. The Republicans have based their whole attack around this false premise that Obama is an “elitist,” or worse, an “other.” Keep in mind, McCain, just like Bush, Clinton, etc., is the product of an elite family from birth. Obama, on the other hand, grew up in a single parent home and was even on food stamps at one point. He worked incredibly hard to get where he is, without the help of a family name. McCain finished 894th in a class of 899 in college, and only got into the Navy because his father and grandfather were four star generals. Despite the Obamas recent financial success, their net worth is about 1/10th of McCain and his wife. Who is more likely to be an “elitist?”

But I digress, because I think it’s actually a pointless debate to have. All presidential candidates better be elite, but it’s clear they want to avoid the negative “elitist” tag. This is because every politician tries to pander to the lowest common denominator: the American moron. We have so many of them in this country, if you can paint your opponent as scary or different, you can generally win. However, McCain’s elitist attacks may start to backfire if he continues his string of recent hits:

• Saying the economy has done well under Bush the last 8 years.
• The man who wrote all McCain’s economic policies, Phil Gramm, declaring we’re a “nation of whiners” and the recent economic trouble is all mental.
• Deciding at the Saddleback Church conference last weekend that in order to be rich, you need to be making around 5 million dollars a year. (CNN’s Jack Cafferty also commented on McCain’s scary performance here.)
• And his most recent gem, not being able to remember how many houses he owns.

You know, here’s a new rule: If you don’t know how many houses you own, first off, you’re a moron, and secondly, you can’t be president. Simple as that.

Oh, and to answer the question, McCain’s campaign released a statement saying “at least 4.”  Closer inspection puts the number at 7. What morons.

swagged.

After all his breathtaking performances so far, there was never a doubt that Usain Bolt would win the 200m sprint.  The only question was would he be able to break Michael Johnson’s legendary record?  Well, after smashing the competition yet again, the answer was an emphatic yes.  Bolt ran a 19.30, edging Johnson’s 19.32, and cemented himself as the premier sprinter in the world…and perhaps all-time.

As usual, NBC’s lockdown on the video is obnoxious, but you can watch it on their site here.  International people can check out this bootleg while it’s still up.

O.O.O. (other Olympic observations) from the last few days:

• They did Spearmon and Martina dirty by disqualifying them in that 200m sprint for stepping on the lane lines.  Rules are rules I guess, but Walter Dix summed it up when his private comments got picked up by the cameras after he was awarded a medal…”I still lost.”  What a conflicted feeling.
• Taylor, Clement, and Jackson sweeping the 400m hurdles for America was a great moment.
• Heartbreak for Liu Xiang.  Even more for Lolo Jones.
• I’m glad Shawn Johnson managed to snag a gold on the balance beam.  She deserved one and it would have been a shame if she finished without the top prize.
• Why are you supposed to be 16 in gymnastics, but there are 14 and 15 year old divers?
• Did CBC really tell me that Wang Xin is 4’6″ and weighs 62 pounds?  No wonder she’s a good diver…it’s impossible for her to make a splash.
• Speaking of tiny divers, Haley Ishimatsu missing on her last attempt and failing to qualify for the finals was real sad.  Watching her try to fight tears (at the end of this clip) was damn near heartbreaking.  Andrea Kramer’s interview was cold too…very unfair to put a 15 year old through that.
• He Chong and Alexandre Despatie killed it in diving.  These Chinese gymnasts and divers are unbelievable.
• I respect water polo players, but that sport is awful to watch.  Just brutal.
• Two other sports that absolutely suck are synchronized swimming and speedwalking.  Yeah, those speedwalkers go pretty fast, but you know how they could go even faster?  By running.  GTFOH.  And these events get to stay in the Games while baseball and softball are ending after this year?  Blasphemy.
• The “Redeem Team” is playing better than I expected.  Let’s do this fellas.
• Hey, 2 days since a racist picture has surfaced.  We’re on a roll!
• Misty May-Treanor is a beast and Walsh ain’t so bad herself.  That final was intense.
• LOL @ having whitewater and flatwater rafting be broadcast next to each other.  One looks bad ass, the other looks boring as hell.
• I thought ‘table tennis’ players got all defensive when you called it ‘ping pong’?
• Matthias Steiner winning a gold for his late wife was the most tearjerking moment of the Games so far.  Well done, big man.
• Natalie du Toit competing as an amputee is incredibly inspirational.
• The man appointed the “world’s greatest athlete” by the Wall Street Journal, Roman Sebrle, is struggling in the decathlon.  I guess that title could go to your head kinda easily.  Bryan Clay from the US is killing after 3 events, but we have a ways to go.  Besides, the world’s greatest athlete is Lebron, hands down.
• One more time, say it with me people: “bei” – “jing”

Members of Argentina’s women’s soccer team have become the latest group of athletes to be caught striking this racist pose. The picture, apparently taken in preparation for the Beijing Games, just leaked and you can read the details here. It’s not even surprising at this point, just disappointing that ignorance is so common. Luckily, this team lost all their games and crashed out of the tournament quickly. Hopefully they’ll learn a lesson from the off the field controversy too.

I got word that the Republican National Committee’s official website doesn’t even make one reference to their own presidential nominee on the front page, so I checked it out and grabbed a screenshot.  This is hilarious.  The Republicans know McCain is an awful candidate and brings absolutely nothing to the table, so they’ve just decided to try to attack Barack.  What happened to all that talk about McLame and the RNC running a straightforward, respectable campaign?  If that’s the case, you might want to showcase some of your own positions and ideas on the site, rather than use it to try to tear down someone else…especially when you fail at that too.

LOL @ this.  Get better RNC.

Move over Pau Gasol, the 2008 Federation Cup Spanish Tennis team now has their own racist controversy. Gawker posted up this picture, apparently hosted on the official Spanish Tennis Federation’s site right here. I assume that link will be taken down shortly, but perhaps they’ll leave it up and try to defend this one too.

“Some of my best friends in Toronto are from China” – Jose Calderon (actual quote)

Oh, well in thaaaaaaaat case.

Perhaps the blog is getting a little serious lately, but it’s important.  As I’ve watched the Olympics every night this past week, it’s been great to see athletes from all over the world come together and put our petty differences aside.  Unfortunately, these moments are really just brief respites from the daily onslaught of ignorance and animosity that normally pervades societies all over the globe.  Inspired by the controversy over the Spanish basketball teams, Complex Magazine (the fine folks who brought you the fine Cassie photoshoot) ranked a few other recent anti-asian examples.  Check ’em out right here.

In a related topic, I recently read a great piece by Matt Bai in the New York Times, where he asked if Obama represented “the end of Black Politics.”  Peep it here.

The uneducated will see Obama’s ascension to the highest rank in the United States as a sign that racism has disappeared in our country, but that’s obviously not the case.  Intelligent people will surely agree that it’s a step in the right direction, but I worry that our society, and especially our media, will focus solely on white/black interaction.  If we do that, we’ll continue to overlook the shockingly prevalent racism towards Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.-Americans that exists all around us.  If it’s not ok to use racist images and terminology attacking black people in our media, why do we let it pass when it’s aimed at other groups?  It’s unacceptable, and we all need to start calling attention to it when we see it.  If someone says something ignorant, call them on it.  If you see an offensive commercial, complain and spread the word.  We have the power and obligation to demand better from ourselves.

Shout to Yang Wei for killing it in the all around gymnastics competition last night, and shout to Info for the Complex post.