to see Nov 8th.

It seems to be the silly season in politics.

The negative campaigning is getting to me.

to be especially disgusting.

  Anyone that has served his country should not be subject to slander just because they choose to be a democrat.

The Swiftboaters have morphed into pacs with other names, but their goal is the same, be a part of the "Republican Collective" or your are a traiter to the military.

And now we can look forward to the constant harping on the media and Nancy Pelosi.

We will be hearing how slanted the media is, and the goal of the propaganda machine seems to be, ALL of the Media is wrong. All of the media is against us,

"the republican collective". The media is poltically motiviated and Nancy Pelosi is a socialist who will raise your taxes.

I listen to CSpan in the mornings, and you can always tell the wingers, that listen to the collective right wing noise machine, they all say the exact same thing. Nancy Pelosi and the media never reports anything correctly.

IN other words, don't believe your eyes, believe what we tell you. Bush recently had a private meeting with his favorite propaganda artists to tell them how to spin it. Really! Why is the oval office not open to the public, but just the likes of Hannity and friends. Colmes was not in attendance.

Bush Firms Up Support for Collective Right Wing Radio

The effort will peak on Oct. 24, when the administration will hold something of a talk-radio summit meeting, inviting dozens of hosts to set up booths on the White House grounds, where top cabinet officials are expected to sit for interviews.

  We learn that the President courted the religous right to run as the Pastor in Cheif for the Evangelical vote, now we learn that he is the Director of Right Wing Talk Radio. I find this all to be a little unfair and unbalanced. But thankfully Fox's ratings are plummeting down 35%, while Olbermans are up about 60%. So hopefully this fake out reality with the noise machine won't work.

becomes competitive after GOP Willie Hortons the Dem Candidate .

Democrat Deval Patrick, the black former chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under President Clinton, appeared to be coasting to victory in his gubernatorial campaign against Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey. After the September primary, Patrick boasted a lead of more than 30 points in some polls. And Healey was making little headway portraying herself as a change agent given that four GOP governors-including incumbent Mitt Romney, who isn't seeking re-election so he can focus on his presidential aspirations—have held the top job on Beacon Hill since 1990.

So in recent weeks, the GOP’s turned to “Willie Hortonizing” Patrick. He’s been linked—through both Healey-endorsed Republican ads and anonymous new leaks—to three convicted criminals, one a family member. The names the GOP wants voters to remember in November are Carl Ray Songer, Benjamin LaGuer and Bernard Sigh. The plan might be working: a recent poll shows Patrick’s lead has shrunk to 13 points. And Healey, who has a Ph.D. in criminology, is married to one of the wealthiest businessmen in the state, providing her with seemingly unlimited resources to keep up the fire. (Asked about their ad campaigns, Stuart Stevens, a Healey campaign consultant, said, “There are legitimate differences on crime and we’re going to talk about them.”)

I am now inspired to donate to Wes Clark's stop the Swiftboating Pac!!!

I have commanded troops in wartime, and I can assure you:  bullets don't distinguish between Democrats and Republicans.  In today's world, if you wear the uniform, you are on the front lines.

It's time to send a message to Republicans that we're not going to sit still while they wave the flag with one hand and attack our veterans with the other.

Thank you  reaffirming my conviction that republicans will do anything to win, including slime you who have served.

And for anyone captured in the field, may god bless you and offer you a safe return home so you can be defiled by the Republican party if you run for office, is that what you are saying Ender. Righto! Let the chips fall where they may.

My hope is that in 08 Wes Clark will be the Secretary of Defense and I am sure I am not alone.

hehe

“Willie Hortonizing”

heh

just like a good little Republican soldier.

Students being trained to fight back against armed school shooters

http://articles.news...

Sometimes it really is like a whole other country.

Granted in an actual Columbine situation sure they are better off...

But how many more minor incidents are there for every Columbine?  I'm guessing that just about every High School in america has at least one handgun in it in the hands of a student on any given day (and some of course have many).  Teaching kids to attack someone with a gun may escalate some of these situations from "Hey look what I swiped from my mom's room" to "Two killed in accidental school shooting today.  Film at 11."

I really don't know whether it'd work out better or not but seems like it should be studied first to make sure it won't just make the situation worse.

And as always prevention is so much more effective than intervention.

from the Plank:

Here's what John McCain had to say today about how he'd react if the Democrats take the Senate:

"I think I'd just commit suicide."

The sad thing is that it still wouldn't be enough for the GOP base.

--Jason Zengerle

http://www.tnr.com/b...

It's funny because it's true.

Then he has humility, he's "normal".

When he, Warner & Graham held up the just signed "Throw Away the Constitution bill", I gave them credit.  Credit they didn't deserve.  They held up a bill, supposubly on the merits of not allowing us to torture others.  They then produced a bill that was even more draconian, even worse than the one they held up.

That conversation with St. Peter at the gate is going to be VERY interesting when their times come.

No, I may like McCain on a person level.  But I don't feel he has integrity.  I'll never vote for him.  On that note, I probably have something in common with Ender, but for different reasons.

have commercials every break in CO.  Others are a little less frequent, but it does get annoying.

Sometimes, depending on my mood, I find them slightly entertaining.  One candidate will pick out the worst photo available of his/her opponent, frame it in black and red or some morbid color scheme, and have like jail bars behind it, then reference something like taxes.  It makes no sense, but I guess it is intended to paint the ugliest psychological picture of the opposition.

I just wish candidates would focus on what they are going to do instead of the dirty, negative campaigning of look-what-my-opponent-will-do-if-elected/distortion of record tactics.  Gets old.

even when the girl I really liked said it. Such things bug me when pronounced :)

even as an English instructor, I butcher the language all the time.  I am by no means a wizard with the language.  I guarantee that most of my longer posts have multiple errors in them.  I read them later in the evening and cringe.  I really should put them through a grammar/spelling check or save them for two hours before posting to gain enough objectivity to view it in a distanced way.  I constantly shake my head at my writing and question why any university gave me a master's.  As I said before, if my studnets get a hold of this site, I'm done for.

I am always surprised at this one.

I am sure I butcher the language as well, plus I have an accent. Though I kinda like it when people correct me (which is rare because most people have much less of a clue than I do when it comes to the english language).

I butcher my writing a lot more than I do speech (I think).

and sometimes noticeable only on certain words. When I am nervous, it can become more pronounced or at least very obvious that I was not born here.

I can also change my voice slightly to a more enunciated/exaggerated version that changes the accent and can make it tougher to detect that I am a foreigner :) But I almost never do that.

That said my accent bears no audible connection to the regular Russian accents.

Alright good night, it's really late :)

between Perlmetter and Ricky this evening.

NYTimes, LA Times, and the Japanese press (???) were all there! Cool!

Ed wiped Ricky's you know what. Much more self assured and knowledgable. Hammering on checks and balances, and abuse of executive authority.

Rick doesn't even look like he believes what he is saying anymore. Saying we have got to work together and in the next breath attacking the courts, the media and the democrats. Sheesh!

Much louder noises for Ed.

It is different to see it in person and Ed does have a presence.

There is a lot running on Angie so I am rooting for her big time. But some days, it just gets numbing.

(Me & Spec share the same state so sorry to those of you who don't live in Colorado)

Try this one from Alabama's lieutenant governor's race between Republican Luther Strange and Democrat Jim Folsom Jr.

Who needs decent roads and schools?

I remember when California used to be ranked in the top 10 of the nations schools and universities.  Prop 13 kissed that good by.

Me?  I want a balanced budget.  That means BOTH balancing the spending with the income.

Suggesting it is is the same as saying you can't say you don't like (fill in the blank of whatever).  There was no threat.  There was no denigration. 

But I also know several University professors.  They'd be the first to admit that many of their co-workers are socialized at Jr High level.

I remember when California used to be ranked in the top 10 of the nations schools and universities.  Prop 13 kissed that good by.

Huh?  Despite Prop 13, California still has *VERY* high taxes.

9.3% income tax on all income over $41K, 10.3% income tax over $1M.  You don't get *ANY* break for long-term capital gains -- capital gains are taxed the same as income.  CA also has a state AMT.

8.84% corporate income tax.

Sales tax varies by county but 8.25% in my county, and in some places it's even higher.

Property taxes may be capped by Prop 13 but with CA's high housing values, it's still a significant amount, especially for new homebuyers who haven't had their old valuations locked in for 20+ years.  Prop 13 is a great deal for people who've owned their home for a long time, and a terrible deal for new buyers.

This state is run by the politically unchallengeable public employee unions, like the prison guards who earn 6 figure salaries and get ultra-generous retirement benefits on top of that.  They spend tens or even hundreds of millions every election promoting *even higher* taxes and spending (99% goes to Democrats, and they always back liberals over moderates, e.g. Angelides over Westly) and scream bloody murder if you try to make even the tiniest cuts or do anything that would even slightly reduce their political power over the state.

And apparently this is still not enough: in June a defeated ballot proposition called for hiking income taxes by 1.7% for everyone making $400K or more a year (a tax hike proposal that many Democrats have been trying to push through the Legislature for *years* now).  That would put CA's top income tax rate at 12%.  Never mind that even the current 9.3% for $41K in income and up is the third highest in the nation; that it will soon be the second highest in the nation (Rhode Island passed an income tax cut recently); and that rich people already flee the state in droves to take up residence in Nevada, Texas, or elsewhere.

Who needs decent roads and schools?

It's not for lack of tax dollars that our roads and schools are falling apart.  It's because the tax dollars we *are* paying (and believe me, we're paying a LOT of them -- and spending even more, i.e., we're still running deficits) are being spent so ineffectively.  It is a full-fledged case of government incompetence.

If you want to learn how California politics works, I strongly recommend reading the many Dan Walters columns in the Sacramento Bee (available online for free).