Bad Deeds for 9-3-2008

Sarah Palin Confuses Our Troops With the Blues Brothers: ” Our national leaders are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God” – Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord. “Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God,” she exhorted the congregants. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”

The pastor of Palin’s church has preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq were part of a “world war” over the Christian faith, one in which Jesus Christ had called upon believers to be willing to sacrifice their lives; and said that Jesus “operated from that position of war mode.”

Sarah Palin Tried to Ban Books From the Library When She Was Mayor; Threatened Librarian – [Former mayor] John Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor.

Palin injected big-time politics into a small-town local race. “It was always a nonpartisan job,” Stein says. “But with her, the state GOP came in and started affecting the race.” While Palin often describes that race as having been a fight against the old boys’ club, Stein says she made sure the campaign hinged on issues like gun owners’ rights and her opposition to abortion (Stein is pro-choice). “It got to the extent that — I don’t remember who it was now — but some national antiabortion outfit sent little pink cards to voters in Wasilla endorsing her,” he says.

Vicki Naegele was the managing editor of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman at the time. “[Stein] figured he was just going to run your average, friendly small-town race,” she recalls, “but it turned into something much different than that.” Naegele held the same conservative Christian beliefs as Palin but didn’t think they had any place in local politics.

“I just thought, That’s ridiculous, she should concentrate on roads, not abortion,” says Naegele.

John McCain’s Campaign Manager Says, “This election is not about issues.” – Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain’s presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Washington Post editors this morning. “This election is not about issues,” said Davis. In reaction to Rick Davis’ comments about the election not being about issues, Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe released the following statement: “We appreciate Senator McCain’s campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change.”

Sarah Palin Cut $1.1 Million From Funding for Teen Moms in Need – Alaska Governor and McCain vice presidential pick Sarah Palin, whose 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant outside wedlock, earlier this year used a line-item veto to cut $1.1 million (more than 20 percent) for Covenant House Alaska.

Covenant House Alaska, the affected organization which serves to assist homeless and runaway youth, runs Passage House, a transitional living program with 24-hour support staff that provides housing, along with up to eighteen months of assistance in building parenting, money management and job skills, with aims to help teen parents prepare for the “real world.”

“We work with parenting teens to help them become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families,” reads the Passage House webpage. “Our goal is to assist young mothers in developing skills such as healthy parenting, money management, priority setting, housing acquisition and social skills development.”

“The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” Gov. Palin told Eagle Forum Alaska in a 2006 questionnaire in an expression of support for “abstinence-only” sex education.

Alberto Gonzales Mishandled Classified Data on Terrorists – Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales mishandled highly classified notes about a secret counterterror program, but not on purpose, according to a memo by his legal team. The memo, obtained by The Associated Press, acknowledges that Gonzales improperly stored notes about the program and might have taken them home at one point. Removing secret documents from specially secured rooms violates government policy.

Peaceful Protesters Arrested at Republican National Convention; Some Arrested at Their Homes Before the Convention Began – Pre-convention home raids conducted in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area over the weekend included the headquarters of anarchist organization RNC Welcoming Committee and a “hippie house” inhabited by members of Food Not Bombs. Dozens were detained and six arrested.

Reports of mass arrests continue. On Tuesday, at least three people were arrested during a march of nearly a thousand organized by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. This follows numerous Monday occurrences, which include the arrest of an Associated Press photographer and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman , along with 139 felony charges issued among nearly 300 demonstrators, whose arrests were made with such chemical aids as pepper spray and tear gas.

McCain Put Off Big Decision, Rushed to Judgment – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday.

In the first and most telling executive decision of his potential presidency, John McCain makes a rash, reckless decision that, God forbid he falls ill while in office, will be disastrous for this country. Is that the kind of judgment we need in the White House for another four years?

McCain had three months free to do whatever- to fund raise, to campaign, to make the case for himself, to shore up the base, to work on the platform, and, presumably, to begin vetting his running partner.

What, then, did the McCain team do with the extra three months they had to choose their candidate? Beats me, but it sure as hell was not a careful examination of Sarah Palin. What’s even worse is that despite all the evidence proving the McCain did a [very]-poor job of vetting Palin, McCain still insists that the background check was thorough and he’s pleased with the results.

McCain’s Mother Laments at Republican Convention: ‘They won’t let me talk’ – The Republican message-men have forced their candidate to stick to the script, so are they keeping his mother away from any open microphones, according to Sirius Radio’s Michelangelo Signorile.

“They won’t let me be interviewed,” McCain lamented to the radio host who approached her Tuesday during the Republican convention in St. Paul. “They won’t let me talk.”

RAW STORY obtained audio of Signorile’s aborted interview attempt, which demonstrated the extent to which message control is the name of the game at the GOP’s gathering in Minnesota.

The host wasn’t even inquiring about anything controversial: “What is it like for you this week?” he asked as McCain’s handlers shuffled her away. In a blog post about the incident, Signorile described McCain’s facial expression as “pained” and said she looked at him “helplessly, pleadingly,” as she was led away for a photo-op alongside would-be First Lady Cindy McCain.

Earlier this year, she let slip her true feelings about the Republican party base her son is now reaching out to in his quest for the White House.

“Holding their nose, they’re going to have to take him,” McCain said in January before the son she still refers to as “Johnny” emerged as the GOP nominee.

“I’m really popping off,” the elder McCain continued, “but he worked like a dog to get Bush reelected. He’s backed Bush in everything except Rumsfeld. … And I’ve never seen any public recognition of the work that he’s done for the Republican Party.”

McCain Campaign Using Stall Tactics to Delay Release of Palin Investigation Report – The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin says the McCain campaign is using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31, four days before the November election. “It’s likely to be damaging to the Governor’s administration,” said Senator Hollis French, the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation of claims that Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired.

Joe Liberman Says We Should Just Assume the Best and Nothing Bad Will Happen – When asked by Andrea Mitchell whether or not Sarah Palin is qualified to be President should something happen to John McCain, Lieberman offers perhaps the least convincing “endorsement” imaginable.

Mitchell: “Do you feel Sarah Palin is qualified to be commander-in-chief if, God forbid, something should happen to John McCain?”

Lieberman: “Well, you know….let’s assume the best. John’s in great shape, he’s gonna be the president and let’s assume that nothing bad will happen. Why should we? But if it does…yes, she’ll be ready.”

Sarah Palin Says She Hasn’t Focused Much on the War in Iraq – The following is from an interview in Alaska Business Monthly published March 1, 2008:

Alaska Business Monthly: We’ve lost a lot of Alaska’s military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe.

Giant Canadian Ice Shelf Breaks Away – A massive 19-square-mile (55-square-km) ice shelf in Canada’s northern Arctic has broken away and is floating in the Arctic Ocean, the latest sign of rapid climate change in the remote region, a team of scientists said on Tuesday. They said the Markham Ice Shelf — one of just five remaining ice shelves in the Arctic — split away from Ellesmere Island in early August. They also said two large chunks totaling 47 square miles had broken off the nearby Serson Ice Shelf, reducing it in size by 60 percent. “These substantial calving events underscore the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic,” said Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario.

Regards,

Jim
Will you listen to your hopes or your fears?