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10/31/2008

Happy Halloween, all you fellow heathens who are, at this late hour, probably pilfering your own kid's candy score.

John Cleese and I have much in common. Neither of us want a leader with whom we can "sit down and have a beer." We both want a leader who is smarter, more educated, better traveled and better read than ourselves. Cleese makes a deliciously wonderful point about guilt by association, and how it can be turned around quite easily on the accuser. Kind of like McCain - gee, seems McCain helped fund Rashid Khalidi's organization in the 90's, but now all of a sudden Khalidi, a respected university professor, is a "terrorist" whom Obama pals around with. Crikey.

The video is a bit long, but well worth it. Cleese is his usually dry, hilarious self. Enjoy:

This is the Bee, signing off to go chow on the toddler's halloween candy. I saw that look - well, I can't very well give a toddler pop-rocks and jawbreakers, now, can I? Can't have it going to waste, can I? We are in a rec-depression, dontchaknow.

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10/29/2008

The Bee does not, as a rule, cry. It's a man's world still, and crying does nothing but buy a woman derision from other women who do not cry and that askance look from men that says "you're an idiot." Like Robert DeNiro said in Analyze This: Look at me, crying...slap a pair of tits on me, I'd be a woman.

Watching Barak Obama's 30 minute ad tonight, though, I actually cried. I know, I couldn't believe it either. Why was I crying? I'm still trying to sort through that myself. Maybe it's because for the last eight years, we have had a gibbering idiot playacting at leading this country. Maybe it's because for the past eight years, we have had Darth Cheney opining malignantly about walking on the "dark side." And walk on the dark side we have, every one of us, thanks to these guys. We have seen the wackos on the religious right put the country in a stranglehold of bigoted and reprehensibly backwards beliefs that to any thinking person are about as appealing as snake-handling. We have seen the constitution thrown into the toilet in favor of "free speech zones" so our poor little president would not have his feelings hurt by protesters. We have seen the rule of law thrown into the toilet along with a few copies of the Koran with every single attempt to rationalize rendition and the use of torture. We have seen the economy go down the toilet in just the last month - even though this has been coming for years, and those who warned of this meltdown of nuclear proportions were drummed out of the public eye as nutters. To recap, the country is in a veritable toilet. However, However...

Maybe it was because for the first time in my lifetime, I saw an honest to goodness good man speaking out to the american people. I saw true hope, true regard and true understanding of the problems that face this country. He may not know everything, but he surrounds himself with the people who are experts in their field. For example, Warren Buffett for economic knowledge, to which I say: Please, Please when you are elected, name Buffett as the Sec Treas - Buffett will make the government so rich, none of us will need to pay taxes anymore. Obama speaks like the proverbial warrior poet - he speaks for me and he does a damn fine job of it. I believe that he understands the importance of the rule of law and of restoring america's moral position in the world. He is a reasonable man and in my book, that makes him worth his weight in gold. It has been so many years since America has seen a man like this run for the highest office in the land. It feels like it is alright to hope again, to be a dreamer again and to let ourselves envision a country where once again the hand is held out to help the downtrodden rise up from their circumstances, where once again the worker matters, where once again education is not something to be criticized as "elitist" and where no child really will be left behind.

For the past few weeks, we have seen McCain and Palin say nothing constructive, give no plans for the future of this country and why is that? Because they don't have one. All they have is trash-talk about Obama. What is with the McCain campaign's increasingly nasty robo-calls?

Speaking of robo-calls, it seems that in Indiana, robo-calls are illegal, as they should be everywhere - I cannot think of anything more annoying than picking up the phone, saying hello, and a computer voice starts yammering in my ear. Well, in Indiana, McCain had to hire a telemarketing firm to blabber his negative attack-ads into the phone. Only, the telemarketers at the call center of AmeriCall, refused. Yes, they refused. They were told by their supervisors that if they didn't make the calls and read the script, they could go home without pay. At least 40 telemarketers did just that. They stood tall and refused to read a script that they found reprehensible. They lost a day's pay, but they stood by their convictions. And the 40 telemarketers in the call center of AmeriCall in Hobart, Indiana, qualify as the Bee's favorite Americans of the week.

postscript: The whiners of the week award goes to Fox News, which spent it's headlines today whining about Obama's "infomercial," yet had no problem accepting his money to run it on their own network. Whine, whine, whine.

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10/26/2008

I was watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC Friday night, and she was discussing McCain's closing strategy. It seemed to be a big deal that in Denver, he had 4,000 people show up to cheer him on. Sounded pretty impressive.

Until today, when in Denver,Colorado, over 100,000 showed up to hear the man speak. Now THAT is impressive. Move over, republicans, there's a new sheriff in town.

Now, if you thought that was pretty good, here's one better - in Albuquerque, New Mexico, over 45,000 showed up to see Obama. According to the Albuquerque news outlet KRQE, the numbers are in question, but estimates are from 1,000 to 3,000 showed up to see McCain. Evidently the polls show McCain as being up 2 points in New Mexico. Well, maybe he is, and maybe he isn't.

The Bee says SWEEEEEEEET! We just might win this thing.

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10/26/2008

The Republican National Committee has been roundly and soundly chastised recently in the press, on the blogs and even by yours truly, for spending $150,000 on Palin & Clan's wardrobes, makeup, shoes, handbags and all the accessorized baggage of a woman who doesn't understand that dropping a G on a suit does not make one worthy. Actions, words and deeds make one worthy. The dressing is irrelevant.

McCain says that $50,000 worth of the clothes have been given back. What? You 'gave it back'? Was it a gift? Was it a loan from Saks? How about the makeup that the "makeup artiste" who made $28,000 in the first two weeks of October made? Did she give that back?

If it seems that McCain cannot win, that is because he can't. The man is so woefully out of touch with reason, decency and the so-called "middle america" that he doesn't have a clue how stupid it sounds when he says they "gave it back."

Did they get a full refund, or store credit?? Enquiring minds want to know...

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10/23/2008

Want to know the other difference between Obama and McPalin?

McPalin spent $150,000 on a campaign wardrobe for Palin, from stores like Saks, Nieman Marcus, and Macy's. How many kids who might die from tooth infections could get dental work with $150k? How many people could get health insurance for a year with $150K? How many teachers could be given stipends so they didn't have to buy the the magic markers for their class out of their own pocket? How many firefighters could be given raises so they can afford to live in the community they serve? How many EMTs? How many Iraq Vets could be given the treatment for PTSD that the Republicans have voted against funding the VA for? How many single mothers could be given reasonable daycare so they could work? $150K doesn't sound like much to a republican, but let me tell you - that's the difference between this democrat and the republicans - $150K is a LOT of money to me, and I can think of a hell of a lot of better things to spend that kind of money on than duds for a ineffective, silly, inexperienced, unteachable, insult to women in general like Sarah Palin. And I've got a $10 bill in my pocket that says these clothes will be hanging in her closet still a year from now. McPalin says the clothing will go to charity. Probably Bristol Palin's own personal charity. And they have the nerve to call us elitist? My wardrobe comes from House of Target, and Walmart. I don't need a G on a suit to prove I'm worthy.

On the other hand, check out Obama's shoes:

This man has taste, and class.

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10/23/2008

Do you know what the difference is between Obama and McPalin? Well, this video, shot yesterday in my own City of Richmond, Virginia speaks volumes. Obama is about uniting this country to solve our problems. McPalin is about scaring us all to death with visions of terrorists dancing in our heads. Enough. This is the guy I want:

Obama telling us that if we believe in ourselves, if we fight with him, if we believe we can build a better america, then it is possible. All McPalin can come up with is "Obama is a terrorist." That's not a plan, and it's not acceptable. Not with the problems facing this country right now. We all know that the #1 cause of divorce is money problems. What do you think that the money problems plaguing this nation, and the rest of the world, will do to us? It will turn us on each other. Obama, I really do believe, may be the one person who can say to us, as FDR and Kennedy said before, to stop looking out for our personal selves, and start looking out for each other.

McPalin, meanwhile, prattle on about "washed up terrorists" and lie through their scaly teeth about every single thing that crosses their poor excuses for minds, and think that is what people want to hear. The only people who want to hear that anymore are the lowest common denominator that shows up at their rallies - the assholes who scream "kill him." Lowest Common Denominator.

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10/19/2008

John McCain. What can I say? He's a nutter. He still thinks he made a great decision by picking Sarah "not-so-barracuda" Palin as his running mate. Colin Powell this morning on Meet the Press, while tossing his long republican hat into Obama's ring, said about Palin that "I don't believe (Palin) is ready to be President of the United States.

Today McCain said about Palin that"She has excited and energized our base. She is a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America. She has a wonderful family. She's a reformer. She's a conservative. She's the best thing that could have happened to my campaign and to America,"

Which Liberal Feminist Agenda would that be? The one where women are desperately trying to hold onto every shred of control we have over our own bodies? Or was it the one waged early in the 20th century to get women the most basic right and duty of American citizenry - the right to vote? Or the one in the 60's where women fought for the right to equal pay - a right that has yet to manifest itself in reality? Was that the liberal agenda he referred to? Or the sacrifices and fights women have made a waged for 100 years in this country in order for little Sarah Palin, who has yet to be asked a difficult question by any of the members of this so-called "liberal elite media," to be allowed at all to even run for office, much less to hold public office?

Or is it the Liberal Feminist Agenda of the multitudes of women around this country of all ages, all backgrounds and all ideological beliefs who have discarded McCain as utterly ignorant of the needs of women and just about everyone else in this country who actually works for an honest days living, much less his running mate who dismisses those needs?

And McCain, while saying he "loves being the underdog" and then in the same breath says "You know, every time that I've gotten ahead, somehow I've messed it up,"does NOT inspire confidence. If the not-so-great Senator from the Great State of Arizona admits he's messed up his campaign, even in a joking manner (which I have, for the sake of my own sanity, assume that was his intent), how much could he mess up this country if allowed to do so?

Plenty, ladies and gents, plenty. Bush may have driven this country into the ground over the past 8 years with attacks on the constitution (successful - FISA being but one example), attacks on the regulation of the financial and stock markets (any look at CNN or MSNBC on any weekday will show you that those also were successful, woefully so) and attacks on the rule of law (rendition ring a bell??). John McCain could very well cover the grave. Think I'm being histrionic? Look at the 2005 posts in my archives, or in the archives of any of the links over to the left, and see how much worse it really has gotten with Bush in office for 8 LONG years now, and then come tell me I'm being hysterical.

CNN in the article linked above says that national polls show Obama leading McCain by 6 points. FiveThirtyEight concurs. Hope is still alive and well that the republicans can be beaten back under the rock they came from.

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10/16/2008

Thank goodness it's over. The final debate was last night, and boy, o boy, what a day today was. The stock market tanked and rallied again (it does that about every 15 minutes now, it seems).

Joe Plumber - does McCain even know this guys last name? Oh, and he's not even licensed to be a plumber. I think he's a plant. A republican plant.

John McCain is running new ads, showing an empty mock-up of an Oval Office, charging that Obama isn't ready for his first really big crisis - a economic meltdown that will only get worse between now and inauguration day. Want to know what the Bee thinks? Obama might not be ready, but Warren Buffett sure as hell is, and Obama already has been dropping hints that The Warren just might be pegged as the next Secretary of the Treasury. Hell, with Warren Buffett on board to make the government rich, we might not have to pay any taxes at all in a few years. Ain't it a grand dream?

But, back to the debate. McCain: disgruntled, testy, crotchety, snarky, whining, wheedling and time-stealing rude old man. Obama: Shaft, sans leather trench coat. Cool, confident and in the words of Denny Crane, ready to Lock and Load. This is one cool guy, you have to admit. Speaking of admitting it, did you know that over at Fox News, more than 80% of voters on their online poll said Obama won that debate. That's saying something.

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10/13/2008

Last night, someone stole my Obama For President yard sign. They didn't just hit my house, they hit every house in the neighborhood that boasted an Obama yard sign. Talk about pathetic - that's the party of values? Since when is Common Thievery a value?? The joke is on them, though. I just received my 2nd yard sign in the mail Friday, and did not have a chance to put it up yet. I put it up today. If it disappears, I'll just trot on over to my local Obama campaign headquarters, donate a 5-spot and get another. And another. And another. They can take my sign, but they can't take my vote.

On to other matters: WebMD likes Obama's healthcare plan much more than they like McCain's. McCain's will leave, in 10 years, 67 million americans uninsured and will cost 1.3 Trillion bucks. Obama's will leave half as many, 33 million, uninsured for only .3 trillion dollars more. Cost effective strategies say that Obama's plan is the better plan, duh.

And, on to polls: According to the Washington Post today, Obama is up ten points over McCain. This ain't from FiveThirtyEight, folks, this is from the newspaper who took down Richard Nixon and then, at least in part, sucked BushCo's tailpipe for the past 8 years.

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10/11/2008

Sarah Palin's campaign released their official findings Friday that she did not overstep her gubernatorial bounds in Troopergate. The campaign conducted its own investigation, and found her to have no culpability.

Well, the investigation in Alaska found that she did indeed abuse her powers as Governor when she and her husband Todd Palin badgered subordinates to have her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job as a State Trooper.

Am I the only one who finds it unbearbly disingenous that the campaign said she did no wrong, only to have the real investigators say she did abuse her powers? Since when does telling a blatant lie 5,000 times make it true?

Meanwhile, the McCain campaign is going down in the flames of its own negativity. This guy has allowed his campaign to degenerate into such a slack-jaw snivel-fest that he is being compared to George Wallace in the vehemently racial and inciteful tones his rallies are taking. Of Course, Little John is just outraged and wants Barak Obama to get on tv and tell everyone how wonderful John McCain really is, which is just pathetic. Someone at a Palin rally got so worked up at her lies and general bullshit about Obama that some idiot in the audience screamed "Kill him!"

Enough - time for a breather. When Palin has people so worked up, and these are obviously people who cannot think for themselves or they wouldn't get so worked up by her nonsensical excuse for discourse, that they are screaming to lynch a presidential candidate, then Palin needs to stand back and think about what damage she is doing - not to Obama, but to this country. The last of the Jim Crow laws were only repealed 30 years ago. The Civil War was only fought 140 years ago. The Sons of the Confederate Veterans was at the booth next to McCain's campaign booth at the Virginia State Fair, in Richmond VA - yes, the former capital of the confederacy. Racism is still alive and well, unfortunately. McCain can say "hey, that's not fair!!!" when he's likened to Wallace, former Governor of Alabama and key figure in the backlash against desegregation efforts and the Civil Rights fight in general. This guy was governor of Alabama as late as 1987. Jesse Helms just died recently - a raving lunatic of a extreme right-wing bigot, who was also a North Carolina Senator until 2003. I normally would say "people change," but these guys did not change their views one damned iota over their overly long lifetimes. What is truly amazing to me, and heartening, is that a black man in 2008 can not only become a presidential nominee, but he has a hell of a good shot at winning. I find that to be a sign that maybe, just maybe, the Jesse Helms' and the George Wallace's are finally fully in their well-deserved graves on their way out of the public consciousness. Maybe, just maybe, this country is beginning to turn from its horribly misguided and misused ways. Maybe, just maybe, the opening lines from the Declaration of Independence which state that "all men are created equal" is finally beginning to be understood and lived by. It has been a long time coming, but it is time.

So here is my message to John McCain: you and your "pit bull" are starting to sound a LOT like Wallace, a LOT like Helms, and a LOT like the followers of that ilk who frequent your rallies. When they are screaming to lynch "that one," then you have crossed the line in your blitzkrieg style of discourse. Don't cry foul when someone likens you to the anti-civil rights patriarchs such as Wallace and Helms, because the shoe fits. It fits better than a Prada. You can't yell "fire!" in a crowded movie theater because someone might get killed, and you cannot get your mindless followers worked up to the point that they scream "kill him" because someone just might take that seriously and do it. Mr. McCain, you've got plenty enough blood on your hands from every Bush measure in Iraq that you supported and even sold - you don't need the blood of your opponent on your hands too, so back the hell off already and tell your minions to take a pill. Take one yourself. Might do you some good.

And, on to Wall Street - after the rollercoaster ride yesterday, and Thursday, and Wednesday, and hell, all week long, what is there to say? How about taking a cue from Russia, and closing down Wall Street for a couple of days, to allow everyone some thinking time and a cooling off period? Hey, Russia did it. It can't hurt.

I personally think that would allow time for some maintenance crews to come into the stock exchange and put a little valium in the water coolers.

And was I the only person who noticed during BushCo's little "pep talk" yesterday about how the government could and would solve the problem of destabilization of the entire planetary economy, the Dow tanked a couple of hundred points? The funny thing was, when Obama was shown on newscasts also speaking about the destabilization of the local universe, the Dow shot up a couple of hundred points. Oh, and it tends to tank again when McCain is shown speaking about the economy.

I find that telling on mutiple levels.

GOBAMA!

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10/8/2008

The debate last night between Obama and McCain. What a show! McCain was one of the rudest, most disrepectful asses I've seen yet. I don't think it would come as much of a suprise if we found that he was simply peeved that he had to share stage space with a black guy who he referred to as "that one." Oh, and Cafepress is already selling "I'm voting for 'that one'" t-shirts - gotta love capitalism.

At one point, early on, the camera angle had to be changed, because while Obama was talking, McCain was wandering around the back of the stage like an alzheimer's patient lost in Manhattan.

Today's polls on various sites are telling. On MSNBC.com, Obama won the debate according to over 87% of respondents. CNN also has Obama as the winner per their online poll. Fox News didn't even bother to post a simple "click it" poll. Probably because after the VP debate, their own poll showed Biden at winning the debate by 57%. Today, Fox posted a "comments" section to pick the winner, on a blog page, with over 38,000 comments as of 5:30 p.m. e.s.t. Disingenous, at best.

Today, I overheard people around the day-job building expressing their dislike of McCain's rudeness, and saying that Obama was reasonable, respectful of McCain and the audience. One woman said that she heard McCain tell an audience member that "you probably never even heard of Freddie or Fannie before all of this."

Guess again, Mr. McCain - just because you never heard of them before this mess, doesn't mean the rest of us are so out of touch.

Here's my guess: The stock market here and abroad will continue it's Jekyll and Hyde routine daily until November 4. On November 4, Obama will be elected, and on November 5, the markets will start to calm down.

I'll put money on it. McCain will lose this election, thank whatever supreme power there may possibly be in the universe, because we can't afford 4 more years of a doddering fool.

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10/7/2008

Here's my wish list for the debate tonight:

1. John McCain's head explodes finally. It looked like it would last debate - he got mighty red in the face on a few occasions. 2. Obama does NOT let McCain get off topic, and the topic is: The Economy!! When McCain tries to start the smear crap he and Palin have been spouting all week, Obama says "That's nice, now how about the economy, John?"

It's a short list, but I think I'm actually in the majority. We americans want to hear how our country is going to be pulled out of the god-awful mess it's in economically, and we don't want to hear bullying and lies and "he said she said." So, Obama needs to be his usual "No Drama Obama" and not let McCain off of the economic subject, at all. Hammer hammer hammer.

The New York Times predicts that the audience, who will be posing the questions to the candidates, are going to want to hear about the economy, too. The talking heads think that the town-hall meeting is McCain's strongest method of debating. I think it might just sink his ship tonight.

So, that's wish list item #3: Sink McCain's ship, once and for all.

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10/5/2008

Evidently Sarah Palin is considered so sad and pathetic by the McCain campaign staff, and by extension McCain himself, that she is not consulted, or even told personally, that the campaign will shut down operations in Michigan and concede the state to Obama. They also evidently did not give her Nutty John's personal cell phone number, either. In the following video, Palin goes against the McCain Grain and says that she and "todd" want to go to Michigan to try to save the state by dodging missile wrenches thrown by historically pissed off american auto-workers in a car factory. She says, and I quote "... I read that this mornin' also, I fired off a quick email..."

A quick email? She doesn't have his number? She doesn't have the campaign managers phone number? She READ that? They didn't even bother themselves to tell her personally, by phone, or even in an email? And didn't John McCain say he doesn't even know how to use email?

They trust this woman about as far as they can throw her, and for you non-southerners, that's not very far at all. But John McCain expects the rest of the country to trust her judgement and composure, when he himself clearly does not?

The Horror, the Hubris, the Idiots!!!

I am truly looking forward to November 4, when Obama whoops the tar out of McCain, and Palin can go back to the obscurity of the Alaska governorship.

Oh, and here's the video, enjoy!

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10/4/08

CNN today says that the mastermind of al Qaeda in Iraq is dead, according to coalition forces.

So, when do we get Osama Bin Laden's head on a platter? Oh, wait, I forgot - around 2003 Bush said he's not our primary objective anymore. Makes sense. In LaLaLand.

I haven't heard McCain say one word about taking out Bin Laden. I have heard Obama say we'll finish the manhunt. Fine. IF Bin Laden is still alive. I don't believe he is. I took the hint from Bush that he's no longer the prime objective, and inferred that Bin Laden is no longer among the living.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

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After staying up waaaayyyy too late Thursday night (the Bee is most definitely not a night owl), I decided that yes, I have been completely right about Sarah Palin all along - all cutsyisms and mannerisms and quirky-isms and no substance whatsoever.

At least twice, Biden had to correct her on the "obama voted against funding the troops" snot that McCain even had the sense to drop after he was smacked down on it by Obama last week. This woman obviously doesn't learn on the first try.

All you republicans out there: You should be outraged that McCain thought so little of this country that he picked this wackadoo as a running mate just to make you think you're being a wonderful person by voting for a woman. You've been fooled. Again. He picked about the dumbest barbie-doll he could possibly find.

It must be terrible to be constantly treated like an idiot by your party leaders.

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10/1/2008

Ok, I can't take anymore - this is the JOKE that McCain has foisted upon the entire nation, and I can't take it ANYMORE. I am sooooo over Sarah Palin. The woman can't even tell Katie Couric what newspaper or magazines she reads - because she doesn't READ! At least George Bush admitted it.

But then, to go on to try to turn it around on Katie Couric, by accusing Couric of insinuating that Alaska has no reading material - enough! The disingenuity of this woman is simply astounding. But again, at least George Bush admitted that he never reads.

Go ahead, watch if you must, but I hold no liability for spewed lunches.

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