Losing Bingo Squares

If you had "Maverick" or "Palin" on your Bingo card for last nights debate- you were out of luck. Perhaps Tina Fey's last parody saved us from the Maverick crap.

Did anyone else notice that McCain seem to age over the 90 minute debate? He appeared to be physically limping by the end. And what was up with the furious note taking? He had his Sharpie out before the first question was asked.

Pulpit Freedom Sunday

Alliance of Right Wing Nutjobs and Round Churches stage a tax exempt circus

LA Times: Beware the bully pulpit
NY Times: Ministers to Defy IRS

What we aren't hearing about....

... The McCain health plan would treat employer-paid health benefits as income that employees would have to pay taxes on.

Hope and Ick

DHP shared this gem: Women against Sarah Palin. The diversity of the voices on this blog are pretty impressive. Very hopeful that so many folks see through Palin.

And for the most anti-woman Palin policy of the week: I nominate the practice of charging victims for rape kits. Ick.

Candidates on Service

If you missed the televised coverage, here are 8 video segments letting the 2 candidates say their piece on national service, following up on the issue of TIME that promoted national service.

I'm biased, but I thought McCain was creepy, off-message, and avoided articulating any specifics, while Obama eloquently spoke about his superior knowledge and specific plans regarding the issue while reaching out to say that government and military service are equally important as community service. I did think that the interview questions left much to be desired; I thought they were biased towards Obama's views and also let the candidates talk about whatever they wanted.

$1 Billion Wish List

What could America do with $1 billion dollars...my rough estimate of what will be raised and spent on the presidential race (open to more accurate figures here):

Reduce this year's contribution to the deficit
Buy 10,000 prosthetics for Iraqi war veterans
Seed the National Housing Trust Fund
Add $3 to everyone's stimulus check
Incentivize wind energy
Shore up our Social Security savings

Links

Steinem Op Ed: Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton.
And why we heart Jon Stewart:

Full Jails in St Paul

I saw a stat on the news last night that almost 300 people had been arrested at the RNC on Monday compared to 150 all week at the DNC. And then I just got this action alert about Democracy Now Journalist Arrest.

Palin on the Rocks

I am not really a fan of Drinking Liberally since their juvenile attacks on RC back in 2006 but I happen to catch this one in my junk inbox today and thought it was clever.

Palin on the Rocks: The Official Drinking Liberally Sarah Palin Convention
Speech Drinking Game

Take a Sip when She Says:
- faith
- Barack Obama
- abortion
- pregnancy
- She claims that "the media" is attacking her family
- She makes reference to being governor of Alaska
- She talks about the sanctity of life
- She makes a positive reference to Hillary Clinton
- She mentions Cindy McCain

Take a Gulp when:
- She claims that "the Democrats/Democrat party" is attacking her
party
- She makes reference to being a beauty queen
- She uses a down-homey aphorism
- She makes a positive reference to Geraldine Ferraro
- She calls Obama a Muslim
- She references her relationship with God
- She mentions the lack of a vetting process

Chug when:
- She claims that Joe Biden is attacking her family
- She makes reference to being a tv sports anchor
- She says that she "won't apologize" for something (e.g. her family, being
who she is, being a christian, etc.)
- She makes a positive reference to Gloria Steinem

Celebratory Toast if:
- She forgets a line/stumbles through a line
- She tries a joke about her inexperience

Finish Your Drink if:
- She is replaced by Phyllis Schlafly
- She mentions VPILF
- She claims that Barack Obama is attacking her family
- She makes reference to being a secessionist and/or under
investigation
- She makes a positive reference to Andrea Dworkin

Other people's posts

Propagandist Complains of Propaganda
How 90s of Them
Rove & Stephanopoulos

Check Your Facts on the Race

Check your political facts here.

Non-legal ID Drivers Licenses to Illegal Immigrants?

Plan to Provide Illegal Immigrants with Driver's Licenses Stirs Debate

I think Tancrazy's wall is truly crazy and I do certainly think we need to find a way to be welcoming to others, but...driver's licenses to illegal immigrants...SERIOUSLY???

EVEN BETTER are the reasons why. "They're driving on our streets so we should be sure they know how to drive." REALLY? Cause they're doing a stellar job of training the legal drivers? REALLY?!?!? OMG!!!

Ahhh, but reason #2 is even BETTER. Terrorism. That's right, getting illegal immigrants to register for a driver's license is a good way to prevent terrorism. Oh, and it's not amnesty, but those who register don't have to worry about being deported (even terrorists...the government just wants to know who they are.)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention...these aren't to be considered legal ID, because, of course, they're issued to illegal immigrants. The police in Tennessee said if the government issues it, it's legal ID, regardless of what it says. So Tennessee didn't do it. Apparently New York doesn't get that concept. Scary when the south makes more sense, huh.

I could go on and on and on and on about this completely George Bush-like insane idea, but I won't, for now...

...playing for October-November...

In this special comment on President Bush’s surprise visit to Iraq “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann says President Bush is “playing us” on the state of the war in Iraq and when the troops will come home.

Like a broken record....

Sen Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom...

Hmmm. I don't think I like this.

You know, I thought this day would make me a lot happier. But instead, I'm a little nervous. I mean Karl Rove was safely tucked away for the next year and a half tanking Shrubs approval ratings and screwing over everyday Americans. And then he was going to be done. I can only hope that it will come out in the next few days that he's been caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl, because otherwise he seems free to design the next Republican come-back and that scares the *shit* out of me. That is, free, once he finishes his vacation with W on the ranch. Good god, they really do sleep together.

What the blogs are sayin'.
Huffington Post
Wonkette
DailyKos

Scooter Libby's Independence Day comes early

Bush commutes Libby's sentence

Another job for the "4th branch"- advocating for sentence commutes & pardons

“This decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security cements the legacy of an Administration characterized by a politics of cynicism and division, one that has consistently placed itself and its ideology above the law." -Senator Barack Obama

Poll: What should the 4th Branch of our government be tasked with?

I'm sure there are some tasks we could assign to the newly created 4th branch of government....after all, there are many inefficiencies in the work of the other three. Perhaps reallocating some of their functional tasks would create a more productive system. Let's see...how about:

- creating a priority funding order for all government functions so that important things like healthcare receive more money than less important things such as killing foreigners (okay, okay, not very objective);

- setting up a Newcomers Club to greet new arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border and provide one-stop shopping for governmental services;

- investigating frivolous junkets taken at taxpayer expense and creating a travel service where people can sign up to take similar trips at politicians' expense

What are your ideas??

Forget 4th meal...

... it's 4th branch. Daily Show & Colbert Report are both having a blast mocking Cheney's claim that the VP is not part of the executive branch.

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/?lnk=v&ml_video=89059

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/?lnk=v&ml_video=89061

No bong hits 4 Jesus

There were several Court rulings today:

-Corporations and labor unions wide latitude in airing advertisements close to elections (oh joy. more swiftboating)
-Students' speech rights limited (no bong hits 4 Jesus)
-No taxpayer challenge to the Bush administration's initiative encouraging faith-based groups to apply for federal grants

Scooter to the Slammer, Davids to Divorce

Scooter to the Slammer

June 5, 2007 · I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison for obstruction of justice and perjury in the investigation into the leak of a CIA operation officer's identity.

Libby is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair, although he has maintained his innocence...

Does anyone remember how long the reporter who protected his source stayed in jail?
Perhaps Scooter & Paris could share a "special needs" cell?

Davids to Divorce

"Curb Your Enthusiasm creator and star Larry David and his wife, eco-activist Laurie David, have split after 14 years of marriage, a rep for the couple confirms..."

How long until the supermarket checkout mags ask, "Did Laurie David leave her husband for Sheryl Crow?"