Sunday, October 19, 2008

Truest statement of the week

This truest statement has been deleted by Ty on 1-15-09.

Why? The man has revealed himself to be a racist. We are deleting him and are sorry that we did not grasp sooner he was a racist.

Truest statement of the week II


-- gqmartinez' "Unfounded Allegations" (Corrente).

Truest statement of the week III

There's no Democrat in the presidential race, sadly.

-- Mike (Mikey Likes It) upon viewing "The debate."

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday. The most difficult edition we've ever done.

First, thank you to Dallas for his work on this edition and the following also worked on it:

Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,

So what happened this edition?

The good news, Dona quit smoking. The time could have been better selected news was she decided to quit Saturday morning and it wasn't pretty Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Congratulations to Dona for sticking to it. When Ty learned Saturday morning about Dona's decision, he gave up sweets. We hope, like Bully Boy, he will go back on them because he was very, very tense. Ava and C.I. (who showed up late) walked in to say it was like being trapped in the epsiode of Kate & Allie.

Showed up late? They and Jess went to a party. The plan was they'd do their TV piece and actually have some time off. Didn't happen. I (Jim) will explain as we go through.

Truest statement of the week -- Joe Cannon and an easy pick.

"Truest statement of the week II" -- something worth pondering.

****Truest statement of the week III -- C.I. here butting into Jim's note. Mike's statement was supposed to be included as a truest. Ava, Jess and I were at a party in the early hours of the writing edition and it was said to be chaotic during that time so that's probably how Mike got overlooked. I've added it. 10-20-2008.***********

The Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-whore movement (Ava & C.I.) -- This is the editorial. We had no editorial. We had pretty much of nothing. Again, happy for Dona (please, I'm engaged to the woman) but not the best time to decide to stop smoking. Dona was climbing the walls and very little help at all. Jess proposed making the entire edition just this: "Dona's quit smoking. Have a good week." And maybe we should have? Ava and C.I. said, "We are not writing an editorial about Nader or McKinney or whatever, we're too damn tired." I said I'd gladly take whatever we could get. Thank you to Ava and C.I. for this piece.

TV: The fakes -- We raided Ava and C.I.'s TV commentary for another piece and weren't able to finish it. So we raided for no reason. Even so, what they have is a very strong commentary and probably the best thing in the entire edition.

Urban Guerilla warfare -- Short piece! One of the few that worked.

Movie quotes -- Jess, Mike and I came up with the idea for this. Pretty much everything was falling apart. This one worked.

Remember New Hampshire! -- Ava and C.I. got to work editing the three pieces we thought we'd written without them and Jess. We'd written two pieces. This one and . . .

We chose our side and we're sticking -- this one. C.I. and Jess argued this could be the editorial with minimal tweaking but Ava and I disagreed.

CBS try something different -- Ava and C.I. didn't work on this at all. Jess didn't. If you want a good idea of what the edition was like -- and why most pieces were beyond posting, read this. Were it not about The New Adventures of Old Christine (with a link!), it wouldn't go up.

Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Ruth, Betty, Rebecca, Marcia, Kat, Wally and Cedric worked on this and we thank them.

So that's the edition. I am very proud of Dona for making it through 26 hours without a cigarette. I do wish we'd chosen a better time to do it. Or that she and I had excused ourselves from the edition. If we'd planned ahead of time, Jess, Ava and C.I. could have steered. (Ty couldn't steer this weekend because, again, for solidarity, he gave up sugar this weekend.) I've never seen so much defocusing or time wasted. On the up, it showed that Dona's steady hand is always doing more than most of us realize. Hopefully, there's something you like this week.

If not, oh well.

See you next weekend. (Remember, Mike breaks down the editions on Monday as his site. You'll want to read his take on the madness of this writing edition.)



"This is what hypocrisy looks like," Gloria Steinem declares to cheering. "We've been lying to ourselves for so long, who would know?"

That hasn't yet taken place but it conceivably could.

Barack supporters in Philadelphia take to wearing t-shirts that announce Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a c**t and where are the feminist 'leaders'?

Oh, that's right, they've decided that despite Governor Palin self-describing as a feminist, they don't have to stamp her membership card or let into the tent.


Not only that, they can boo and hiss her. They can (and have) used sexist language to attack her and they think they can do so with no fall out.

"Let's stone her, old style!" was the cry in Philadelphia.

But no one's overly concerned about that. No one's overly concerned about the woman who was attacked by a Barack groupie.

You have encouraged it, you have aided it.

You've done so in service of a bi-racial dick. Who knew you were all so into head?

A number of you allowed Hillary to be attacked (and a number of you joined in on those attacks). Now it's Governor Palin that's being attacked.

Failed leadership better damn well grasp the message sent.

The message sent to young girls is that women will be attacked regardless. Right or left, they will be attacked, they will be torn apart.

The message sent to society as a whole is that it's perfectly okay to rip apart women.

Failed leadership better grasp that their desire to drop to their knees for Barack may have been their own personal choice but they've made sure it was about all women.

Women have looked in vain for the 'leader' who will call out the attacks on Palin.

The message sent is that: You're only a feminist if you're pro-choice and a Democrat.

That's not the message you've sent over the years or the message you've allowed. In fact, you've bent over backwards to claim any woman with even a tiny bit of popularity as a feminist. In many instances, this led to huge embarrassments.

A look at the 30th anniversary issue of Ms. magazine (with Steinem on the cover) will provide you with many details about feminism; however, the idea that pro-choice and Democrat are required stances is not among the details given. Hey, look, page 34, it's Ani DiFranco explaining it: "My idea of feminism is self-determination; every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do." If you didn't think DiFranco's take was valid, you shouldn't have printed it -- or, in this case, reprinted it. Along with re-running it in the 2002 30th anniversary issue, they also ran it originally in 1996.

A number of women, such as Robin Morgan, rightly saw the sexism aimed at Hillary. Why Robin or anyone else thinks they should be given a pass for using sexism (and lies) to destroy a woman is beyond us. If Robin truly mistakes her own actions regarding Palin as feminism, she's living in self-denial.

This could have and should have been a great year for women.

All it really did was demonstrate how prevalent sexism was in our society and how we have cowards in leadership.

Oh, sure, for Hillary, a few of them will step up to the line and call out the attacks. But for Palin?

Michelle Obama is not a feminist. Michelle Obama attacked Hillary for his Bill's long ago affair. Michelle Obama explained that she might agree with a few feminist ideas but she wasn't a feminist.

By contrast, Sarah Palin is a feminist and proudly announces it.

Somehow feminist 'leaders' are so f**king screwed up, they honestly believe they owe it to the woman who sneers at feminism (Michelle) to stand up for her.

Which is how we get (Democratic) Women's Media Center and all the other useless outlets and 'leaders' fretting over an illustrated cover of Michelle -- which had no sexist drawing -- but it's fine and dandy that a woman governor is targeted with t-shirts calling her a "c**t".

(Democratic) Women's Media Center self-servingly announced "Sexism May Sell But We Aren't Buying It" -- yet, they've gone on to do just that.

It's time leadership started looking at their own very real failures and started taking some accountability.

Their failure to speak out loudly and early at the start of the year allowed the attacks on Hillary to thrive. Their failure to speak out against the attacks on Palin continues to put all women at risk.

As a young woman at a group we spoke to in Santa Monica Friday put it, "I'm sick to hell of do as I say, not as I whore feminism."

We're sick of it too. We're also sick of 'leaders' who refused to grab this moment to congratulate Palin, to speak of the run in terms of being proud and to note that feminism comes in many, many varieties.

Funny because doing the above would have put feminism front and center and, silly us, we thought that was the point of feminism.

Instead, a number of women offered catty attacks, just the sort of stereotypical bullshit that so many detractors always expect from feminism. Thanks for proving them right, 'leadership.'

The reality is that there is no leadership at the top of the movement, there is no direction either. It's beyond time for certain women to step the hell down. They've contributed all they can and are doing nothing now except damaging the movement.

That would include Robin Morgan who somehow got it in her head that it was okay to attack Palin with lies. Apparently, Robin doesn't actually disagree with Sarah Palin's record. If she did, she could make the case against Palin on the governor's record. Instead, Robin needed to create and invent things that just did not happen.


Or take last week's debate. Reading (Democratic) Women's Media Center's 'coverage,' you might have thought Barack was channeling Sarah Weddington. Of course, he wasn't. But someone decided sucking up to the phallus was more important than informing women. From Thursday's "Iraq snapshot:"


In a world that valued women, in a movement that valued women, the above would be discussed freely. Instead, to find that reality, you have to rely on a highly limited number of resources -- you'll note that Ms., Feminist Majority Foundation, Women's Media Center and NOW aren't among those you can count on.

TV: The fakes

Last night Governor Sarah Palin appeared in the opening skit(s) of Saturday Night Live. Tina Fey, was present, doing her poor impersonation and something interesting happened. Many things actually but let's just zoom in on the fact that Governor Palin and Tina as Palin never shared the stage. No, that is not usual for Saturday Night Live -- in fact, it has never happened. If you don't mind them being "worsts," there were a lot of first racked up last week.


Certainly the crap Pravda on the Hudson served up Thursday qualifies among the worst of the week. That's when Amy Goodman & Co. decided it was time to recreate Wednesday's night's debate between GOP presidential candidate John McCain and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. We have no idea why Juan Gonzalez stated early in the broadcast, "During the debate, the Iraq war was barely mentioned. The war in Afghanistan never came up." There was no reason for those topics. They were covered in the other two debates. CBS News' Bob Schieffer's fifth sentence Wednesday night was, "The subject is domestic policy." That was the subject and the candidates (invited) had agreed to it ahead of time.

We have no idea what was confusing about one debate focusing on domestic issues? We also have no idea how the garbage Democracy Now! offered was supposed to helpful or informative.

Goody stated that Bob Barr (Libertarian Party presidential candidate) and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party's presidential candidate) had been invited but were unable to participate. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader and Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney were able to participate.

"Participate in what?" should have been the question asked.

They weren't allowed to have a debate, Cynthia and Ralph. They were part of some weird 'post-modern' art show. As usual, Goody spliced in responses from the Wednesday night McCain-Obama debate into the 'proceedings.' Apparently, that wasn't enough, she also had to include lengthy bits from Wednesday night's moderator Schieffer.

Did anyone need to hear Barack or McCain again? Hell no. 56.5 million was the number of people who tuned in (that doesn't include PBS viewers) to watch the McCain-Obama debate last week according to Nielsen.

Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney were excluded from the so-called 'presidential' debates. And, pay attention Goody, this would have been Ralph and Cynthia's first debate -- had they been allowed to debate. At the start of the year, a California event was billed as a Green Party debate. Cynthia took part in the panel and Ralph was supposed to but rules and regulations required him to instead make an address after the panel concluded. This would have been the first debate between Nader and McKinney. That would have been worth watching.

Instead, Goody again stole the format from someone else and manipulated it for her -- not the candidates -- own benefit. Let's start with credit where it's due, Jurgen Vsych made the documentary Ralph Nader Crashes the Two Parties in 2004. That election year, Ralph was also excluded. So what Vsych did was take footage of a 2004 debate with John Kerry (Dem) and what's-his-name (Rep) and film Ralph with his own responses which she then spliced into her film. So credit where it's due.

Thursday on Democracy Now!, there was no need for splicing. Two presidential candidates were present, two more had been invited but weren't able to participate. Two candidates is enough for a debate. Instead of letting them debate, the program put forward the opinion that Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader just don't matter.

How so?

Take Amy's cutting them off with "Time's up." That may seem to make sense until you grasp that she played clips of Obama and McCain and, for the record, Bob Schieffer did not cut them off (though he needed to). So while Ralph and Cynthia were held to a time limit, Goody had no problem playing clips where Barack or McCain yammered on and on endlessly.

Cynthia and Ralph were, in fact, penalized for participating. Thursday morning they were held to a standard that the McCain-Obama were not. And no one was supposed to notice?

Were we also not supposed to notice that neither Amy Goodman or Juan Gonzalez came up with one damn question? They just grabbed Bob Schieffer's. Correction, they grabbed some of Bob's.

Amy Goodman is of course the woman who thinks smut-merchant Larry F**nt is someone to be 'down' with and his trashy porno mag (H**tler) is something to write for. So it's probably no surprise that the issue of abortion wasn't addressed.

Excuse us, it wasn't addressed by Amy Goodman. Bob asked it in the McCain-Obama debate. But no one thought it was worth including for Ralph or Cynthia?

Let's give you an example of the kind of crap Goody included instead:

Alright, we're going to move to another question, and the topic is leadership in this campaign. Both of you pledged to take the high road in this campaign, yet it has turned very nasty. Senator Obama, your campaign has used words like "erratic," "out of touch," "lie," "angry," "losing his bearings," to describe Senator McCain. Senator McCain, your commercials have included words like "disrespectful," "dangerous," "dishonorable," "he lied." Your running mate said he "palled around with terrorists." Are each of you tonight willing to sit at this table and say to each other's face what your campaigns and the people in your campaigns have said about each other? And, Senator McCain, you're first.

That's Bob Schiffer and while he could ask that question or not of McCain and Obama, Goody had no business replaying it on Democracy Now! to put it to Cynthia and Ralph.

But what you have to grasp is: It's not about Cynthia and Ralph.

It was about Amy tossing on whatever remained of her reputation to yet again promote Barack.

Cynthia and Ralph have not gone 'negative' on one another. There was no point in wasting their time with this bulls**t. But Amy was hoping she could force them to defend Barack and condemn John McCain. Why? Didn't she already make that clear a few weeks back when (out of nowhere) she started asking Ralph if he would urge his voters to abandon his campaign and vote for Barack in battle ground states.

Amy Goodman brings Ralph or Cynthia (or both) on only as props to advance Barack's campaign. You can tell in what she asks and what she doesn't.

There was no point in asking Cynthia and Ralph to comment on what McCain and Obama say about one another. But Goody was able to get Matt Gonzalez to provide cover for Barack during the Democratic Party primaries and she was hoping to do the same again Thursday morning.

Ralph took the bait and responded. Cynthia McKinney ignored it and we applaud for refusing to rally around a White man who instigated more serious acts of violence than have the still persecuted Black Panthers. If you're not getting how that was the point or how Cynthia and Ralph were besides the point in Goody's mind, let's focus on that moment. Goody plays Bob asking the question about 'negative' campaigns. She then shows film of McCain and Obama's response. Ralph and Cynthia are each asked to speak and are both told there two minutes is up. Do we move to the next question?

Hell f**king no. We go to more film clips of Barack from the debate insisting that Billy Ayers is just a so sweet Barack could suck the sugar out of Billy's ass, time permitting.

"That's two minutes, Cynthia McKinney," piped Amy. "Ralph Nader, that's your two minutes," she insisted next. But there was time to roll clip on Barack.

There was never time to fact check but those like Amy aren't interested in facts, they're interested in propaganda and lies. They're interested in trickery and deceit because they can't win on an even playing field (or they fear they can't), so they resort to non-stop lying.

Abortion there wasn't time for. But Amy Goodman wanted to bore the country with what do Ralph and Cynthia think about Barack? Do they really, really like him? Are they into him?

Please, she reduced them to nothings. She cast them in the roles of a Greek chorus at best, glorified extras at worst. That was her entire point.

Repeating, at least 56.5 million saw the McCain-Obama debate last week. There was no need to offer clips of that debate when Ralph and Cynthia could have had their own lively debate. Instead, they were required to wait around while Amy Goomdan made like Nina Blackwood playing 'hot' videos from the MTV basement.

It was embarrassing. But completely expected from The People's Republic of Brooklyn's Amy Goodman. Wednesday's actual debate was probably the strongest of the three and the embarrassment there was Barack's.

Rebecca's noted that Barack doesn't benefit from the sit-down format and he did look back in it. To his credit (actually his team), that haughty head back pose was kept in storage. But someone told him to grin instead and it did not go unnoticed. We think that Laura Taylor (Ambler, Penn) said it best in Friday's New York Times, "I was also a little upset at Mr. Obama's condescending smile, all the time acting as if he was so much smarter. He needs to act a little more mature." In fairness to Barack, like many a model, he's learned the art of smiling with only the lower facial muscles. While that does cut down on creating new wrinkles around the eyes, it also tends to leave many feeling that your smile is less than genuine.

Less than genuine is how Barack came off as he yet again avoided telling the American people what the fines would be under his insurance (for children) program. He side-stepped the issue and was allowed to. He should have been called on it. But he was allowed to lie over and over and he did. He is the young high schooler soon to accidentally run over a classmate following a drunken binge. And the press has to take accountability for all the ways in which they've spoiled him. To our surprise, one actually voiced that reality, "The 'mainstream' media, or what is left of it, has favored and fawned over Obama from the start--even before the current parade of official endorsements. Much of the coverage has been egregiously slanted." That's Howard Fineman of Newsweek.

Howard Fineman was the rare bright spot last week. We're back to SNL. Govenor Palin, the GOP vice presidential candidate, came out during Weekend Update, sat down at the desk and announced she couldn't do the agreed upon skit. At which point, Amy Polar Bear did a rap as if she were Palin while Seth and Palin chair danced. Sorry, Sarah, you got punked.

Yes, you knew what you were in was a skit. But SNL fans? Not the brightest -- and certainly not the best. By Monday morning, on college campuses, the word will be "Amy did some funny rap and, check it, she had to because Palin comes out on camera and bails!" Again, Sarah was punked. It was a set up.

Prior to that, Palin participated in the opening which was actually a series of sketches. First up, Ugly Girl Tina Fey was impersonating Palin. That seemed to go on and on -- and it's never been that funny to begin with. Then Palin was shown watching Fey on the monitor with Lorne. Mark Wahlberg comes through the hall looking for Andy. Alec Baldwin shows up in the hall insisting that Tina can't play 'that woman.' Lorne explains to Alec that he's standing with Palin, not Tina Fey. Alec makes a line to her and then walks off with her only to warn Tina Fey that Palin's there.

What did we explain with respect to Saturday Night Live last April? You blink, you lose the laugh.

Those tuning in for Palin were expecting to see a skit with Tina Fey and Sarah Palin. It never happened. And, Palin hung around for the entire show. She attempted to approach Fey after host Josh Brolin gave the thank yous -- but Fey avoided her.

We'd love to believe the guilt was getting to Tina but we were told the real reason is that the point we've made here was made a few times too often around Tina: Governor Palin is a beautiful woman. Tina? Freshly scrubbed on a good day. So Tina is said to have avoided standing next to Palin on camera so that the obvious comparison couldn't be made.

We asked, "Didn't Palin come on the show hoping to do a bit with Tina? Sort of like the bit Hillary did with Amy when Amy was imitating Hillary?" Yeah, that was what Palin wanted but Tina Fey's not just a bad actress, she's also a coward and the coward couldn't face Palin. If you caught the show and are thinking, "This is just like a running gag they had with Mark Wahlberg and Andy." Yeah. Sketch comedy imitates life or bad TV.

"Did you notice how clenched Tina was?" We didn't make that observation, it was made by a writer with SNL to us. And, in response, yes we did. We also noticed that something as simple as walking across the stage was beyond Fey's acting capabilities. Our friend expects Tina to show up shortly with jokes and ideas and "blah, blah, f**king blah but reality is Tina choked." That is reality. He is correct.

Poor Tina Fey, not a good sport and playing one was far beyond her limited acting capabilities. Let's hope 30 Rock's a hit for her this year because that's really the only role she has left to play. Even "Lorne's pet" is a role that comes with an expiration date (when 30 Rock gets cancelled). We think 'social critic' has already expired for Tina. When you're too damn cowardly to do a bit with the woman you've ridden to fame, you don't look brave, you don't look strong. You look like the little pip-squeak you are. Or maybe, like so much else to be found on TV these days, you just looked like a fake.

Urban Guerilla warfare

He had not come to San Francisco just to become a floating hippie. He had an explicit political goal, and a congressional report described it accurately when it referred to Weatherman's "intention to build a small, tough, paramilitary organization designed to carry out urban guerilla warfare to bring about the revolution."

-- Thai Jones, A Radical Line: From the Labor Movement to the Weather Underground, One Family's Century of Conscience, pp. 215.

"He" is Jeff Jones and we've noted Thai's amazing book here before (first back in May 2005,
"Books: Five Books, Five Minutes"). As Bill Ayers embarrasses himself attempting to interest a studio in Fugitive Days, we'd suggest Jones actually has a story worth filming. It's certainly a book worth reading (we also think Ayers' book is worth reading -- but there's no movie in his cerebral passages -- deep on philosophy and short on action).

The excerpt above was chosen because it is the missing element in the garbage that passes for a discussion of Weather.

Movie quotes

Trivia? Below are lines from ten films. Test your knowledge. After the ten quotes, before the answers, there is a listing of the ten films.

1) "It didn't stop. It didn't stop."

2) "Baby, you take yourself out of the game. You start talking about puppy dogs and ice cream, of course it's gonna be on the friend tip."

3) "It's a pro-acid, ex-felon, kind of nonsmoking house."

4) "I mean, let's face it, your mom was no Sharon Stone."

5) "No. I never loved you, Walter. Not you, or anybody else. I'm rotten to the heart. I used you, just as you said. That's all you ever meant to me -- until a minute ago."

6) "Put. The candle. Back."

7) "They'd put you in jail, eh? Well, historically, you'd be in very good company. That's what my husband used to say when we were in the French Underground dealing with the Gestapo. Would you like to do a little raking?"

8) "Please, let me talk to you. Let me explain what's been going on. I can't stay too long here. They'll be coming, looking for me. Dr Hill? Dr Hill, there's a plot -- I know that sounds crazy. You're probably thinking, 'This girl has flipped.' But I haven't flipped, Dr Hill, I swear, by all the saints. There are plots against people, aren't there?"


10) "I'll know you've lied to me . . . all along. I'll know you're incapable of love. That'll help me -- not now, but eventually."

For those who need a cheat sheet, the films above are Shampoo, Scream, Suddenly, Double Indemnity, Casino Royale, Flirting With Disaster, Swingers, Rosemary's Baby, Young Frankenstein and Harold & Maude.


1) Frank Sinatra, Suddenly.

2) Vince Vaughn, Swingers.

3) Tea Leoni, Flirting With Disaster.

4) Matthew Lillard, Scream.

5) Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity.

6) -- either Gene Wilder or Terri Garr is acceptable, Young Frankenstein.

7) Ruth Gordon, Harold & Maude.

8) Mia Farrow, Rosemary's Baby.

9) Daniel Craig, Casino Royale.

10) Goldie Hawn, Shampoo.

Remember New Hampshire!

Forget "Remember The Maine!" Those worried about the election would do well to instead remember New Hampshire.

That's the state Barack was supposed to win. Win big. It was going to be the death of Hillary as the likes of Matthew Rothschild noted gleefully. But, thing is, the press was completely wrong.

Now some Natural Born Liars can't face reality. That's how you get Mark Crispin Miller making an ass out of himself and guaranteeing that no one in the real press will ever take him seriously again. Here's a little tip, when you want to effect change on some issue, you really can't be seen as a Crazy Ass Lunatic and still be a go-to for the press. Marky didn't like the results, Marky went boo-hoo. Marky insisted he knew, knew, there was voter fraud in New Hampshire. Strangely, Marky Crispy Mills only saw 'fraud' when his object of lust came up short. Another way you reveal yourself to be someone the mainstream press can't trust.


There was no theft in New Hampshire, Hillary won. She won and the press got it wrong. As happened repeatedly throughout the Democratic Party primaries. It was over, cried the press, she needs to drop out, and the reality was Hillary kept winning.

To 'water down' those wins, it was necessary to insist that there was something wrong with the people who voted for Hillary. They weren't educated or educated enough, they didn't make enough money, they were this, they were that and, of course, they were racists.

No, they were and are American citizens. And it was apparently too much to expect that they would be treated with the respect and dignity they deserved. The things that were said about these voters, the things that continue to be said about these voters, go a long ways towards explaining why the left is so damn ineffectual. They stereotype people they don't even know and they honestly all need to be knocked off their high horses.

So there are two aspects above that you need to pay attention.

Before the voting, _____ can't win, Barack has it sewn up. After the voting, "Stupid people! Poor people! Racists!"

We're in the first stage nationally. We may or may not reach the second stage.

In the first stage, we're told that Barack's winning, he's unstoppable.

But that's not true. It wasn't true when they kept insisting he'd win the states that -- when the votes were counted -- Hillary won.

It's a psy-ops operation, plain and simple. They're attempting to convince America that Barack will win. Now it didn't work on Kentucky voters or West Virginia voters. But they're damn sure it's going to work in the general election.

Reality, the Democratic base -- told by Donna Brazile to "stay home" -- still isn't behind Barack.

They won't be. They've been called dumb, they've been told that they're racists. Now Uppity Closeted Communists in NYC -- Whiteys, you know who you are -- may think that works but it doesn't.

Unlike the Amy Goodmans, your average voter can't be intimidated into silence because they're not hiding anything. It really doesn't matter in their lives if, for example, Pacifica's forced to explain not just their books (and where all that money has gone). For the non-cowards with nothing to hide, insults and badgering doesn't result in, "Thank you for abusing me! I will vote for Barack now! I wasn't going to but your months and months of calling me a racists and stupid convinced me!"

It doesn't work that way. You insult someone, you can forget their vote. It's a political basic. It's why politicians do not go out of their way to be offensive.

Barack's run an offensive, sexist, homophobic and racist campaign.

The idea that there is no fallout for that is a fairytale.

Of course there's a fallout. How much is the question?

And no one knows because the polls are screwed as a result of the non-stop race card, as a result of telling people they are racists if they don't support Barack. After you've turned that into the narrative, you really can't expect people to honestly respond to pollsters.

With Barack Obama and John McCain right now, the race is tied. Most reporters know it (pollsters damn well know it). But each day is about the psy-ops operation of convincing you that Barack's leading.

Which is why you get worthless 'national' polls.

Reality: The US does not elect by popular vote. On that basis alone, a 'national' poll is meaningless. (The electoral college elects the president.)

Reality: The sample size is too small to actually represent a national population.

We understand readers are concerned but we would ask you to go back to the primaries and remember this same game was played on you then.

Barack is neck-and-neck and his campaign knows that. There is no determining the election by polls (and his campaign also knows that).

This is a psy-ops effort to supress voting for other candidates, to convince their supporters there's no chance, that it's all over.

The problem it creates for Barack is that it can leave his supporters over-confident and, as he well knows, he can't afford even a slim percent of those assuming they don't have to show up and vote for him. Which is why he gave his confusing speech last week on this topic.

Because there's no record for Barack to run on, because there's no accomplishments he can point to, he's been forced to run a campaign on image. It's been one non-stop psy-ops operation.

As you hear that it's a done deal repeatedly over the next weeks, there is no done deal. There is no 'appointed president by the press' clause of the Constitution.

It's a close race and no one knows the winner. If they did, we wouldn't waste all that money on an election and the Barack campaign certainly wouldn't be wasting all the money on advertising.
Or as Riverdaughter (The Confluence) put it last week, "If he were doing that well, the upcoming psychological warfare would be unneccesary. So, please stop the annoying pro-Obama blather. We aren't buying it and we don't care. "

And never forget you have choices.


Barack Obama is not the only dance partner. You have Bob Barr (Libertarian Party presidential candidate), Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party's presidential candidate), Ralph Nader (independent presidential candidate) and Cynthia McKinney (Green Party presidential candidate). You can even vote for John McCain (the Republican presidential candidate).


We chose our side and we're sticking

The e-mails come in regularly. They've been coming in for some time. Calling out the sell-outs. Months ago, Taylor Marsh, cribbing from our own Mike?, went from her I'm-an-American-first stance (which didn't allow her to support Barack) to selling out like she was still in the porn industry. We think that was the first big turn which readers pointed out.

But in varying degrees, various "stalwarts" have proven themselves to be as spineless as any Congressional Democrat.

And each week, the e-mails note another sell-out and fear we're next.

We are not endorsing Barack Obama, none of us are voting for him.

We do not support:

*Homophobia (as a campaign strategy or at all)

*Sexism (ibid)

*Destruction of the public finance system

*War Hawks who pass themselves off as Doves

*Liars (and bad ones, at that)

And the list could go on and on. Barack's a liar, he's a damn liar. Everything about him is a lie and we do mean "everything."

Now a Jeralyn or a Marsh might need to peddle it so the Blogger Boiz keep on loving them but we don't give a damn.

We have always taken a stand and stuck with it. Not for popularity but because the times require standing up.

What has the left's biggest complaint been for the last four years (longer actually)? That Congressional Dems cave. They cave and then they cave again. And these people who think they can hold someone accountable but do their own caving? They're hypocrites.

We understand the fear/concern in the e-mails because a number of sellouts exist. Including last week's sellout who will, no doubt, yet again, insist he never did anything such thing and, goodness me, he's just opposed, OPPOSED TO BARACK. He's against him, when he's not for him, apparently.

There was also the embarrassment that was Ron Jacobs.

But the point e-mail after e-mail makes is: Don't sell us out.

We get that.

We thought it was implied as well as explained here.

Certainly, Ava, C.I. and Elaine have stated way back that they would never vote for Barack Obama.

But the e-mails last week were in high volume and we spent a good portion of this writing edition reviewing them.

For any readers with doubt: No member of Third or community member participating in the writing of this edition will vote for Barack Obama.

Not happening.


We understand your concerns as so many waiver and so many have sold out.

But we're not wavering. We're not caving.

As John Mellencamp once sang, "You got to stand for something, or you're going to fall for anything."

We understand the concerns and we'll be addressing them in other features this edition but, relax, we don't sell our souls out.

CBS try something different

The New Adventures of Old Christine is an Emmy winning sitcom which has been all over the CBS schedule and currently leads off Wednesday's prime time lineup. So far it's doing better than expected in its new slot and online viewing of episodes (click here) are also on the rise. Hopefully that will hold but CBS could be increasing their lead and helping their line up right now, if they gave a damn.

Each week, Ava and C.I. cover TV here. They've been doing it since early 2005. We know our intended audience, the audience Ava and C.I. always factored in: the people who can't go dashing off to the movies, the young parents who have to depend upon TV to provide the entertainment and the escape.

Saturday's is a dead zone. CBS airs repeats (and 48 Hours) and those repeats are crime dramas (aired too early for the hours they replay in -- if anyone wants to notice). The new sitcom Worst Week is struggling in the ratings. The Big Bang Theory could do be better. So why is CBS wasting every Saturday night promoting (by re-airing) Criminal Minds and CSI: New York?

We tossed it back out to longterm readers last month, would they whether see the "Crimetime" programming or the sitcoms?

No one wants to watch Crimetime and none do. "We flip on PBS," wrote Kayla. "There's not generally much worth watching but I'm not going to have those crime scenes on the screen while our kids are walking in and out." Stu and Linda pop in "an old video -- videotape" for the same reason: "Our kids are now seven and eight and the blood and glimpses of corpse nudity isn't really something we want to expose our children too. So we skip the 'Crimetime' dramas and watch a movie. It's really too bad because NBC is offering the same sort of garbage as CBS."

Over and over again, we heard no one wants to sit through that crap. Now some will -- the same ones who sat through Walker Texas Ranger on CBS weekends not all that long ago. We think it is outrageous that the big three cannot schedule seven nights worth of new programming. But if Saturday's just your repeat day, we think it's time for a change.

Specifically, the first two hours of prime time Saturday is a sitcom bloc. It kicks off with The Big Bang Theory, goes into Gary Unmarried, followed by The New Adventures of Old Christine and ending with Worst Week.

Gary Unmarried and Worst Week are new to CBS this fall. They could use the promotion, expecially Gary Unmarried which is actually funny. It also can pump up the ratings for The Big Bang Theory and The New Adventures of Old Christine in the same way that sitcoms have seen increases when their syndicated episodes begin airing.

Crimetime Saturday? That's needed for what damn reason? Because NBC offers the same thing and CBS can't think for themselves and pray viewers can't?



"I Hate The War" -- C.I. really didn't have a topic for what ended up being the most requested highlight of the week and, in fact, when Rebecca teased during the roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin about it, C.I. said, "I'm slapping something together and going to sleep. I don't think there's a topic, it'll probably be a link-fest. I'm tired." It didn't work out that way. Read it and enjoy.

"The Party From Hell" -- Betinna finds a party is thrown at her place. Oh yeah, and her husband has an announcement.

"Mushroom Green Beans in the Kitchen" -- Trina's offering up a recipe from the infamous Maggie. (Kat's friend, infamous from Kat's site and Kat's CD reviews.)

"Barack cultist beats up woman" -- So the man broke the second sign and used the stick to beat the woman? Change you can prosecute.

Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Private Dancer Bambi" -- Isaiah's very popular comic on 'fundraiser' Barack.

"Interview with C.I." -- Mike interviews C.I. Another section of the interview runs in Mike's column in today's Polly's Brew.

"The failure of 'feminist' 'leadership'" -- Forget London Bridge, try feminist leadership! Falling down, falling down . . . Kat explains why.

"women don't work (he said it)" -- Senator 'Sweetie' will never be called out by the aged cheerleaders like Robin Morgan.

"Barack's imitation-rock concert" & "THIS JUST IN! BARACK'S SHLOCK ROCK!" -- But Barack can count on the equivalent of cover bands to pimp him.

"Why the 'one' will not get my vote" -- Ruth keeps it real simple in her explanation for why Barack and her vote never shall meet.

"ms. magazine gets punked by donna brazile" -- Rebecca encourages everyone to have a good laugh as Brazile stabs Ms.

"Censorship at Dissident Voice" -- Mike covers the latest at Dissident Voice. Consider this an update piece.

"debate (mccain won)," "John McCain had the best line in the debate," "Barack ignores the infamous t-shirt," "The hypocrites,""The mandate?," "The debate," "Barack doesn't call out t-shirt" and "THIS JUST IN! BARACK'S 'ISSUES'!" -- Debate night. Some followed it, some like Marcia opined, basically, Get a life.

"The Common Ills" -- Elaine wrote this the week before last and we highlighted it last Sunday; however, we weren't aware of how much Jim loved this post. He ended up mentioning just that in last week's "A note to our readers." We figured we'd make a point to highlight it again.
Creative Commons License
Poll1 { display:none; }