Author: Brian

This is a story from the Norwegian newspaper VG.
This is the link to the translation of this story.

ÅSGÅRDSTRAND (VG): Mary was a newlywed and ready to move to Norway, but was stopped at the airport because she didn’t have enough money for the trip. Then a stranger turned up and paid for her.

I started to cry, tears were pouring down my face and I had no idea what to do. Then I heard a gentle and friendly voice behind me saying, That’s OK, I’ll pay for her.

Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.

He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.

He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

The piece of paper said ‘Barack Obama’

MI5 intelligence service to monitor the chat, e-mail, browsing and telephone of every person in Britain. Three billion e-mails every day!

every call
every text
every email

Oh, go read the entire post.

She is only on the ticket as a result of the scheming ideas of rich old white men, being no more worthy to them than the cocktail waitress who just brought over the latest round of drinks. She’s a political pet to men and nature, unconsciously spitting out her lines about being a proud American and how evil her opponent is because that’s what she’s to do. When you see her speak you realize she could do no other.

The author studies George W. Bush. His thesis as a PhD student at the University of Canberra was “based around attempting to understand how he envisaged the idea of freedom a word you find in just about every speech he’s given as president since 9/11”.

He continues:

Bush always represented to me a uniquely American Story. A puzzle to try and figure out. A tragic tale unfolding before our eyes. Palin’s story is simple farce. Hers is not an American Story. America’s real story is one of self-creation. Of making and remaking onself, that is why the opportunity, freedom, and independence matter. Because they allow for people to make and remake something of themselves in spite the circumstances. Bush did, Palin never has and probably never will. Hers is not an American story.

Is this the first mainstream media piece to stop carrying water for McCain?

Douglass K. Daniel is an editor at the Washington bureau of The Associated Press.

John McCain occasionally looks back on decisions with regret. He has apologized for opposing a holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. He has apologized for refusing to call for the removal of a Confederate flag from South Carolina’s Capitol.

Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as “not like us” is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.

Most troubling, however, is how allowing racism to creep into the discussion serves McCain’s purpose so well.

As the fallout from Wright’s sermons showed earlier this year, forcing Obama to abandon issues to talk about race leads to unresolved arguments about America’s promise to treat all people equally.

When the 2008 campaign is over McCain might regret Sarah Palin.

If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.

Rudyard Kipling:
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man –
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began –
That the Dog return to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of … terror and slaughter return!

Roger Cohen is looking at the terrible requirement to be serious, asking us why we tolerate tiny politics in a continuing danger.

The United States is often an unwelcoming place these days. But as Bill Clinton said last week, the country is more inspiring with the “power of our example” than with “the example of our power.”

Roger Cohen explores another important question too: How home became homeland.

The 20th Century was not easy.
It was a century of war.
We triumph from it.
We carry its trauma too.

I’m asking, “What would we be after a century of peace?”

This person Sarah Palin has no restraint of honor and our press is failing to put a liar down.

She said in the TV debate’ “When I and others in the legislature found out that we had some millions of dollars in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars.”

She did not. In fact she opposed leaving Sudan. Her office sent this statement to quash the vote in Alaska, “The legislation is well-intended, and the desire to make a difference is noble, but mixing moral and political agendas at the expense of our citizens’ financial security is not a good combination.” [Daily Dish]

Republicans bear the brunt of the blame for a damaged economy. In the most recent Washington Post-ABC News national poll, more than half of all voters said they were ‘very concerned’ that the failure of the first bailout vote would cause a ‘severe economic decline.’ By a ratio of 2 to 1, they blamed the defeat on Republicans.

…
Obama is not left. Utopian, cornucopian Republican free-marketers hate economics and replace it with magical thinking. The whole government dominated by these Utopians. It’s quite understandable that economists would migrate to Obama. Obama’s economic and tax plans would be better for the economy than McCain’s.

…
Economists to have a healthy respect for empirical evidence. The Republican Party’s economic and fiscal policy over the last couple decades has seriously diverged from actual “free market” principles. Republican economic dogma is based on 50 year-old models (at best) that don’t reflect current thinking.

…
It’s time for our proudly free-market American pundits to realize they were never the smartest guys in the room. They just caught a case of hubris and crashed our economy.

…
The major difference between the hard sciences and economics is the large degree of complexity and uncertainty in the latter. The greater the uncertainty, the easier it is for the frauds, charlatans and self-serving fundamentalists to exploit.

A survey of the National Bureau of Economic Research, America’s premier association of applied academic economists, published at The Economist.

The detailed responses are bad news for Mr McCain. Eighty per cent of respondents and no fewer than 71% of those say Mr Obama has a better grasp of economics. Even among Republicans Mr Obama has the edge: 46% versus 23% say Mr Obama has the better grasp of the subject.

Sunday Times:
Britain’s most senior military commander in Afghanistan has warned that the war against the Taliban cannot be won.
“We want to change the nature of the debate from one where disputes are settled through the barrel of the gun to one where it is done through negotiations.”

“If the Taliban were prepared to sit on the other side of the table and talk about a political settlement, then that’s precisely the sort of progress that concludes insurgencies like this. That shouldn’t make people uncomfortable.”

Citizen K on the VP debate:

Chris Matthews compared Sarah Palin to a spelling bee contestant. I agree, with one addition: Instead of spelling the word she was given, she spelled any word she felt like spelling.

Moderator Gwen Ifill didn’t ask her whether she believes that human beings and dinosaurs inhabited this planet simultaneously only 6,000 years ago.

Why debate?

Cut, Kill, Dig, Drill by Jonathan Raban

Poujadism flourished most vigorously in the last years of the French Fourth Republic and articulated the economic interests and grievances of shop keepers and other proprietor-managers of small businesses facing economic and social change. The movement’s main revendication was of lower taxes; ideologically, the movement was corporatist, denouncing of the political, journalistic establishment; later, the movement grew increasingly nationalist and xenophobic and critical of parliamentary institutions.

The word poujadisme now has in France the general meaning of some political ideology that articulates the fears of some part of the population facing social or economic change, and that blame the problems on the “establishment” and the political system.

Palin the Poujadist

Everyone should learn this as quickly as possible! It’s been said, “This election is going to hinge on Ohio hockey moms who read the London Review of Books.”

Make-Believe Maverick

“A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty.”

In its broad strokes, McCain’s life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers’ powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives’ evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

Comment at Metafilter

How long does America expect the far-right wing of the GOP and religious fundamentalists to keep things afloat? We’re starting to see blowback from all these failed policies and instead of questioning the policies we are supposed to question the players and the system.

The problem is the GOP is too far to the right.

I’m not buying the problem lies with “both parties.” The problem lies with one party.

What are we supposed to do to reclaim freedom?

We need to understand that we are bombarded with both fake patriotism and fake democracy. Only then can we get to the real American mandate.

The key ways, the phrases and metaphors, in which we are often asked to think about America tend to make us stupid, complacent, and inert. They are also, if you go back to what the great Americans wished us to identify as love of country, just plain wrong. Today, politicians often ask us to think of ourselves as a kind of “chosen people” by birthright: “Our nation is chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world,” as George W. Bush asserted during the 2000 election campaign.

Over the past four decades, patriotism was often defined as uncritical support for U.S. policies–such as the Vietnam War-era bumper sticker MY COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG. Patriotism was also branded as support for U.S. militarism, whatever the context or conflict or cost. Sometimes patriotism was identified with “Christian America” and sometimes even as direct evangelism in the context of statecraft. Finally patriotism was rebranded as the active silencing of dissent. John McCain, for instance, whose campaign messaging in 2008 was grounded in a theme of patriotism, recently called in public for members of MoveOn.org to be kicked out of the country. But all these rebrandings of patriotism would have dismayed the great Americans who had all at various times criticized U.S. military actions, U.S. policies, the establishment of any state religion, and most of all, criticized those who would silence disagreeing voices and dissent.

How did “patriotism” become so dumbed down?

Don’t move. The world needs less of your mind.

A mere 35,000+ have viewed this video. Not enough. Not nearly enough.

Bush in the debates of 2000 saying almost the exact same talking points Sarah Palin uses in the 2008 debate.

PALIN: “We’re known for putting partisan politics aside to just get the job done.”

BUSH: “In order to get something done on behalf of the people, you have to put partisanship aside…”

PALIN: “He’s proposing a $5,000 tax credit for families so that they can get out there, and they can purchase their own coverage, and that’s a smart thing to do.”

BUSH: “We need a $2,000 credit, rebate for people, working people that don’t have insurance, they can get in the marketplace and start purchasing insurance.”

PALIN: “But there are real changes going on in our climate, and I don’t want to argue about the causes.”

BUSH: “I — of course there’s a lot — look, global warming needs to be taken very seriously, and I take it seriously. But science, there’s a lot — there’s differing opinions.”

I know it’s not plagiarism – passing off of another person’s work as one’s own. In campaigning, candidates may rely on slogans and planks, but these are public and generally not hiding as one’s owns thoughts.

The Latin word plaga referred to a hunting net or snare which was used for capturing game, termed plagium. By extension, this word was also used for the crime of kidnapping children or freemen and selling them as slaves, the kidnapper being called a plagiarius.

A poet about A.D. 103, used plagiarius to refer to “a literary thief or plagiarist”.

Or looking at selecting Sarah in another way, define:shil.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GMww19uz4Y&hl=en&fs=1]

Three things every voter should
know about John McCain

Easy to navigate critique. Not exhaustive but clear.

Anyone leaning Republican should go here.

How dumb are we?
…the governor of Helmand, Afghanistan’s largest poppy-producing province, says that this year he is determined to beat the illicit crop, which is a major source of money for drug lords and insurgents alike.

To do that, the governor plans to try something that has worked in other parts of Afghanistan… persuade farmers not to plant poppies at all!!

Easy enough??

He says it will take new seeds for farmers, new roads to get their legal crops to the market, reconstruction money, strict enforcement of laws against poppy growing and, perhaps most difficult of all, the elimination of the official corruption that has fueled the drug trade.

So far, Mangal has secured over $8 million from the United States and Britain for seeds and fertilizer for 26,000 farmers.

$8 Million?
An overlooked item in a budget of $10 billion a month?

The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to “engage and inspire” the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.

If, as President Reagan said, “America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere,” we must raise the bar, not lower it. After almost eight years of George W. Bush, we can see very clearly the problems that a less-than-knowledgeable leader can cause. If America is going to be a beacon, the lights must at least be on.

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

“You can fool some of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time. That’s usually enough.” – Milton Berle

Greatest crisis since the Great Depression?

Clearly, the economic situation isn’t great but keep these statistics in mind: during the Great Depression GDP fell 30%, unemployment exceeded 20%, wholesale prices declined 33% and industrial production plummeted close to 50%.

The latest complete information available showed real GDP up 2.8% on an annualized basis in the second quarter, the unemployment rate at 6.1%, wholesale prices up 9.6% from 12 months ago, and industrial production down just 1.5% from 12 months ago.

Any attempt to draw comparisons between the current economic environment and the Great Depression is utter nonsense.

What is known of the current situation is that unemployment is rising, consumer spending is sluggish, industrial production is slipping, and housing remains in a slump.

Export growth, however, has been strong, business investment has been rather resilient, and the government… well, the government continues to spend.

[from briefing.com – “top site from Wall Street professionals”]

The biggest explosion is not a bomb. It’s our spectrum.

Do you know the 1996 Telecommunications Act? Were you there in 1934 for the Communications Act? Did one thousand lives thank you for the Radio Act of 1912 when their ship missed a storm?

I bet you don’t know communication is a transportation industry? Then you don’t know society.

Ask John McCain. He’ll keep you confused.

You don’t know the spectrum is yours.

It’s not cable. It’s not rules.

It’s law. We own it.

Not once have today’s seers said what I saw with my own eyes.

I’m almost sixty. I’ve met many many people in my life and, unusually, I took most into politics and belief. I’ve learned what good is and what bad can do. I can judge this clearly. Some of us dilute, too many take, and a few destroy. But please, my friends are friends and my fellow souls are true and good.

Then why is it the best of us can become the worst of us? Why the wealthy keep and why the eager cheat? Why is treachery so common in the poor on the corner where trust is better? Why are pennies important to the comfortable? Why is betrayal uncovered in the dark? Why are talents wasted or skill withheld or guile copied or weakness gilded? These are not God’s questions. These are mine and yours.

I don’t see sincerity in Sarah. I see a novice taken far. This is a good thing but not a leader. This is enriching and could be warm, if enrichment and warmth were offered. One night, the siren. The other, unkempt. There is this high point in all of us, but a leader keeps it, and keeps it not for rank but for us.

So many eye to eye miracles I’ve shared and gripped hands in true alliance. So many good wits traded and pledged to honor, good works, fair exchange, to a fist I won’t tell you, but not pride to war nor did I ever take need to blood. What I see is grand and great and infinite humanity. I do not see argument across a border nor corruption through a door nor sixpacks in the kitchen. I do not see prize and privy. I look for needing me and hope for it and make it ready. I do not make appointments with the arrogant. I do not intrude on fair and loving. A nod can say all I need to know. A night can be forever when we talk.

These days, our politicians take everything and leave too little. I am not deciding whether they meet an enemy or favor a friend or hide a gift. I am not voting for their integrity or honesty or clarity or teamwork. What leader asks if not already all these things? If I want their arrangements, I don’t want their community. If I want their audacity, I don’t want their argument. If I want their bravery, I don’t want their war.

Not once are today’s planks sturdy for all of us and if not for all us why?

Not once are today’s promises for all of us and if not for all of us why?

Not once do today’s small triumphs bring us to our feet and never to our need. We are not Angels on a pin and today’s framed and focused stump are tiny and false and cannot fit our nation.

Jefferson did and Lincoln tried and Franklin tied us back together but Reagan didn’t free us and Bush has burned us and we are beginning our nation again.

Elections are not a battle front and it’s not power we’re selecting. Fill those halls until they are ours again. Respect the players and the arguments so then greater candidates will be discovered. Raise up the issues so then we lift our representatives. Then out the tired and the stupid and the selfish until we have the enduring on top. Gather until all of us are governing. Then sweep away the fraud. Take the resolute and the devout so then throw out the lazy and the lucky.

Be tradition by becoming it.

Stand on hills until they’re mountains and be American again.

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today. But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received a $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.

Investment Advice by Bill Hicks.

There’s so much on the table that silly arousal or old maxim won’t fix. But politicians are never better than where we take them.

If you flip channels, can you count the number of times media anchors, field reporters or bowtie pundits told you the House of Representatives junked the first vote on the bailout because constituents raised all holy hell?

That’s wrong.
Our calls and letters were 45%-38% in favor of the bailout bill.