SO WHAT EXACTLY QUALIFIES AS "REAL AMERICA" FOR THE SAKE OF CERTAIN REMARKS MADE BY GOP VICE-PRESIDENTIAL WANNABE SARAH PALIN, as noted thusly by The Huffington Post's Sam Stein:

The McCain campaign is seeking to clarify a remark reported from a Sarah Palin fundraiser in North Carolina yesterday in which the Alaska Governor declared that she loved to visit the "pro-America" areas of the country -- implying, implicitly, that there were some parts of the United States she viewed as not pro-America.

The reporter who broke the story, the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin, sends over the following, extended quote from a more detailed version of the pool report.

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

Not sure how much this helps Palin out. Is the VP candidate saying that small towns are more authentically American than, say, suburbia or cities?

As Eilperin writes: "The upshot? Washington D.C. is neither 'real America' or 'pro-America.' Other parts of the nation? It's unclear, but if you live in a small town, you're probably patriotic from Palin's point of view."

18 hours old

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more the engrish!

IF EVER THERE WAS A POSITIVE TO COME OUT OF THE PERIOD OF ABUSE AND MALTREATMENT I SUFFERED WITH EAU CLAIRE COUNTY (WI) DAY TREATMENT in 1980-81, by way of a misguided referral interstate for Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services by the Minnesota agency (which I will elaborate on shortly), it would have to be my being all the more a freethinker.

One who refuses to accept the status quo as the only logical answer for everything, especially when coming from conservative-leaning channels who see ignorance and stupidity (or, in Orwellian Newspeak, being "goodthoughtful"--i.e., accepting a hard-wired orthodoxy to the prevailing line as second nature) as being virtuous.

One choosing not to see the world through a badly-focused, rose-coloured lens of conservative Weltanschauung seeing America as the world and all else as Threats to Morals and Decency as much as Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Pecuilar Among the Nations.

One subscribing to the perfectly logical belief that Silence=Acceptance in justifying speaking out and challenging what is wrong or otherwise flawed, perhaps fatally, and in my own way.

Even if it sometimes means using colourful or otherwise antiquated dictionary words and expressions to make clear my point ("Can't as for  those of shining … it increases those of the bull which it can misguide glaringly," to use an Engrish adaptation of a T-shirt slogan from the early 1980's), or allusions to old-time radio programmes, Hanna-Barbera animations, the Muppets and suchlike.

Interestingly enough, the same period of my being subjected to abuse serving as a "blessing in disguise" to explain my opinionated nature was the same that saw the Religiopolitical Right first come to notoriety, aided and abetted by their dearest droog and patron saint, Ronald Reagan, holding Presidential office. And such can also explain my distrust for such trying to intermarry Church and State all the more, as if contending that the notion of America being a White Christian Nation is "unwritten tradition" which we should recognise "as of right."

=============

AS FOR THE UNFORTUNATE REFERRAL INTERSTATE BY MINNESOTA VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION FOLLOWING MY 1980 GRADUATION FROM HIGH SCHOOL, it should be noted that my having a preexisting mental disability dictated, in effect, the mere formality of referral to VR to determine fitness and eligibility for Social Security benefits.

Including an approriate period of testing and evaluation in the shelterted-workshop system to see whether such would be fit and proper in my instance.

As I still recall it, foster-siblings I resided with as I appoached graduation from high school were somehow "advising" me, based on such information they got on the latrine wireless (as it were), that my case for VR could be referred interstate, and they had the lawful right and power to do so. Which had me wondering if such was legal, let alone knowing what rights I had or who to contact in case problems arose--or, for that matter, receiving proper advice to the effect that I would be subject to the laws and policies of the state where I was being referred for further services and why they could not place me in approriate services in Minnesota.

In retrospect, I should have been advised more clearly beforehand as to:

• whether they had conducted careful and approriate research into close-by facilities in Minnesota, particularly so from the standpoint of whether they had timely vacancies;
• what prevented referral to Minnesota-based programmes @ the time, essentially dictating referral interstate under the circumstances (the only explanation I was given was that a Minneapolis testing centre that VR was looking @ was "in a very bad neighbourhood" by small-town/rural standards);
• the fact I would be covered under the laws of the state where my case was being referred in case of criminal incidents or other serious problems, and who I should contact back in Minnesota in case problems developed;
• what rights I had as a consequence of referral to programmes located interstate; and
• whether the facility/ies I would be referred to met accepted Minnesota standards for quality of care.

Which, in any case, would be enough to pave the way for such serious psychoemotional abuse precluding my ability to hold down steady employment to this day. And for which, howbeit unsuccessfully, I have tried to pray petition VR and the prevailing agencies having purview for the VR scheme--and, to some extent, the agency responsible for the Day Treatment Programme--for compensation with respect to damages caused by:

• emotional and psychological harm ensuing from the overly abusive therapy I was made to go through, especially considering the want of compassion and dignity employed (in particular, the frequent and uncalled-for use of bad words by counselling and therapy staff) as translated into my being unable to, and incapable of, find and hold down good work;
• lack of due regard in seeking out other close-by testing and jobs-training facilities in Minnesota for timely vacacies (as opposed to extended waitlists) apropos testing and evaluation;
• the reckless and arbitrary referral to facilities interstate without first exercising due care and skill in researching their fitness and compliance with prevailing Minnesota standards for VR clients, as well as checking nearby facilities in Minnesota for vacancies within reasonable and timely limits;
• failure to check out patterns of abuse or harm vis-a-vis other clients as were likewise referred interstate;
• failure to advise me beforehand of certain rights and responsibilities as a byproduct of my referral interstate, or advise me of approriate contacts back in Minnesota in case problems were to develop on my part; and
• negligence in exercising due care and skill on the part of such counsellors assigned my case in relation to the preceding.

(One reason given for the agencies' reluctance in considering compensation claims was because such were filed well past the seven-year deadline, after which files were routinely deleted in line with official rules and policy. In my defence, I will say that such was complicated by my being under such an extent of medication with sedating and otherwise mentally-damaging effects during the interim, which was seen as being "complementary" to psychiatric observation through the local Mental Health Centre.)

Nonetheless, I feel I am still entitled to substantial compensation for such misadventures in official negligence and poor judgement as translated into abuse which, in its turn, precluded fitness for employment, even if such occured over 25 years previous.

=============

AND NOW, AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN OF GERMAN JEWS WHO WERE DEPRIVED OF GERMAN CITIZENSHIP AND BIRTHRIGHT under the Nazi regime's policies known collectively as the Nuremburg Laws:

You may be entitled to German citizenship, including a European Passport, thanks to a new German Government renaturalisation programme serving in atonement for past anti-Semitic policy.

If you would like further information, please contact @ your earliest opportunity:

German Citizenship Project
Fridman Law Group
287 Spring St.
New York, NY 10013-1406

You can also call a/c 646-468-7316 during regular business hours. 

more the engrish!

WITH NEARLY A FORTNIGHT TO GO BEFORE IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE MAKING THE FINAL CHOICE on the path America must take between Freedom and Happiness for the 21st century, it's emerging that the Religiopolitical Right and their friends among the Dregs of Society are resorting to Drastic Measures for "winning of hearts and minds" into four more years of failed socioeconomic policy in the name of "saving America from herself" by keeping America a White Christian Nation not unlike apartheid South Africa in its zenith.

Some interesting details from Right Wing Watch, for starters:

Does anyone else get the sense that the Religious Right is starting to get a bit terrified about what the election has in store for them and their agenda?

Please vote! Our children's future depends on it!

In my 70 years, I have never seen an election where coverage was so one-sided and biased or where censorship by the liberal media was so widely practiced and where media coverage was so slanted as I have seen in this election process. Their plan is working. The only chance conservatives have is to make sure they care enough to vote.

If the liberals win the upcoming election, America as we have known it will no longer exist. This country that we love, founded on Judeo-Christian values, will cease to exist and will be replaced by a secular state hostile to Christianity. This “city set on a hill” which our forefathers founded, will go dark. The damage will be deep and long lasting. It cannot be turned around in the next election, or the one after that, or by any election in the future. The damage will be permanent. That is why it is so important for you to vote and to encourage friends and family to vote. This is one election where your vote really counts.

=============

Earlier today we noted the American Family Association starting to panic over the possibility of an Obama presidency, declaring that “if the liberals win the upcoming election, America as we have known it will no longer exist.”

And it is starting to look as if abject terror is slowly overtaking the entire Religious Right movement.  For instance, Sarah Posner points us to this post from Stephen Strang proclaiming, in all seriousness, that “life as we know it will end if Obama is elected”:

[P]eople who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms. Christianity is already persona non grata in academia and in the liberal media. People such as Bill Maher and Michael Moore, who hate God and God's people, will think the election verifies that the nation as a whole believes as they do and will jump for glee. Meanwhile, Christians seem almost asleep. There is no outcry!

And here is Rick Scarborough warning of dire consequences for Christians if Obama is elected:

"I think what you'll see is Barack Obama solidifying power in short order, either through the legislative process with hate crimes legislation. And then he'll turn on talk radio with reenactment of the 'Fairness Doctrine.' I'm not so sure he'll wait for an act of Congress. I think he'll do some of this with unconstitutional but never challenged executive orders, but he will silence his critics within days," he explains. "One thing you can always count on is [that] liberals, unlike conservatives, know how to use power -- and they will use it swiftly and decisively. And all I can say is heaven help us if this man becomes president of the United States."

Scarborough contends Obama is a committed socialist who intends to radically transform the United States.

David Corn has a good post up on the MoJo Blog detailing the varying last-minute attacks the Right is throwing at Obama right now, ranging from “Obama is a commie who hates the rich and wants to kill the American Dream” to “Obama will destroy Christianity in the United States and enslave you within an Islamic dictatorship.”

And speaking of the so-called "American Family Association" whipping up the old weeping and wailing and boohoohooing about This Country That We Love being in danger: Doesn't this smack of apartheid South African appeals to fear over what might happen if apartheid were to suddenly collapse, especially so the Loss of White Afrikaner Honour and Pride?

=============

ANOTHER UNLIKELY PROPAGATOR OF PLAYING TO THE CRUDEST OF PREJUDICES AND IGNORANCE FOR THE SAKE OF INDECISION 2008 happens to be the Ku Klux Klan: Folders promoting same have been used over recent days as a wrapper for copies of Oklahoma's Ada Evening News, much to the chagrin of the gazetta's publishers and the district attorney of Pontotoc County (of which Ada is shire town), who is considering Hate Crimes charges against such responsible.

(The Klan, for its part, tries washing its hands, Pilate-stylee, of responsibility for what happens to its brochures as are downloaded and reprinted off their website. Which doesn't sit well with the publishers of the Evening News, who are prepared to file charges of Unlawful Distribution against such involved.)

Your Correspondent, though, is grateful that readers thereof are consigning such garbage to the most approriate place therefor: the recycling bin.

*************

more animals

IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING ABOUT THE RELEVANCE THEREOF, WE MAY BE ALL THE CLOSER TO HIGH-SPEED RAIL SERVICE BETWEEN CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE, MADISON AND THE TWIN CITIES within measurable distance thanks to freshly-signed legislation authorising funds for track upgrades and equipment that will allow for high-speed passenger rail:

• between Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison in three years' time; and
• continuing onward to the Twin Cities (via Wisconsin Dells, LaCrosse and Winona in five years' time.

Which, once the service is up to full strength, will see six return trips ever day @ top speeds of 100 mph or thereabouts. But will it play in LaCrosse?

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READERS, TRY TO SPOT THE CODE, WEASEL AND "DOG-WHISTLE" TERMS IN THE FOLLOWING TRANSCRIPT OF REMARKS (VIA CROOKS AND LIARS) from Rush Limbaugh's radio programme of Tuesday the 14th as suggests that blacks are somehow secretly preparing for the imminence of what white supremacists call RAHOWA (RAcial HOly WAr):

From the time of my birth, 57 years ago, to today, this country has grown and expanded, prosperity has opened its doors for more and more people around the world, not just people born in this country. We know the stories of Asians emigrating and running rings around people born in this country academically in California. We know all about the immigration, legal and illegal, to get into the country. We know that the standard of living has risen. We know that technological advancement is going along at light speed. And yet during this period of time, whether it be the last 57 years or be it the last 20 years, it seems that a majority of the black population has remained angry, frustrated, and behind. They've been left behind. They are acting like they've been left behind, and of course we've heard that this is because of racism, natural systemic institutional racism in America, that we are unfair, that this country is just horrible and rotten.

You ever ask yourself how it is that people not even born here can come here and in a few short years begin prospering in school, their own business or what have you, yet people who are born in this country somehow have been raised to hate it, to think they're still back in the days of slavery. I actually think, after studying all this ACORN stuff and reading what Stanley Kurtz has written about this, I actually believe that what has taken place here in addition to liberal Democrat legislation, such as the Great Society and the war on poverty, which a lot of people will now acknowledge really busted up the black family by the government taking the place of the husband and father, free to roam around and bear no responsibility. The mother remained the mother, she got the financial assistance from this legislation, from the federal government. The federal government became the father. The father didn't have to hang around in order for the kids to be okay, depending on how you define okay. But as you study more and more of this ACORN stuff, you find that it has been part of an entire movement that has been going on for two, maybe three decades, right under our noses.

We thought that it was just liberal welfare policies and all that that kept blacks from progressing while other minorities grew and prospered, but no, it is these wackos from Bill Ayers to Jeremiah Wright to other anti-American Afrocentric black liberation theologists with ACORN, and Barack Obama is smack dab in the middle of it, they have been training young black kids to hate, hate, hate this country, and they trained their parents before that to hate, hate, hate this country. It was a movement. It was a Bill Ayers, anti-capitalist, anti-American educational movement. ACORN is how it was implemented, right under our noses. They're doing far more, folks, than just cheating when it comes to elections and registration. They are in deep in this mortgage crisis. ACORN and Obama and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the Democrat Party, have their fingerprints all over the subprime mortgage crisis. The whole concept of affordable housing was people that can't afford a mortgage are going to get one, because America is unfair.

It has been a movement, it has been a religion, and Obama and Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers were all up to their big ears in it.

Which should be enough for the REAL "Right-Thinking Americans" amongst us to take this self-annointed "Truth Detector" to task for what essentially borders on incitement to insurrection or violence in especially the emotionally-unstable among his audience of Angry White Men Eating Krispy Kreme Donuts to the Point of Gluttonry.

The kind who may unconsciously be allying themselves with the Dregs of Society who associate with racists, white supremaists and apologists for apartheid South Africa--or, to paraphrase Stewie Griffin, "the kind of idiots you see @ Taco Bell @ one in the morning! The guys who just whiffed their way down the bar skank ladder, and then some!! (Especialy if such Dregs of Society tend to be alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers, chronic spendthrifts, spousal and/or child abusers, sex fiends or maniacs or suffer from certain emotional disorders making them unable to face Reality.)

=============

STICKING WITH THE APPEALS TO LATENT AND CRUDE RACISM FOR THE MOMENT, YOUR CORRESPONDENT CAN JUST IMAGINE the white-supremacist community calling for a Global Day of Solidarity with the Oppressed and Persecuted Afrikaner Peoples of South Africa coincident with the traditional Day of the Vow holiday on 16 December, commemorating a supposed Voortrekker victory against a massed Zulu army in 1838 (itself commemorated by the Voortrekker Memorial outside Pretoria).

And expect among the highlights nothing less than a manufactured display of vitriolic white-supremacist emotion in form of a recitation (in the original Afrikaans) of The Vow prior to combat (via Wikipedia):

Hier staan ons voor die Heilige God van hemel en aarde om ´n gelofte aan Hom te doen, dat, as Hy ons sal beskerm en ons vyand in ons hand sal gee, ons die dag en datum elke jaar as ´n dankdag soos ´n Sabbat sal deurbring; en dat ons ´n huis tot Sy eer sal oprig waar dit Hom behaag, en dat ons ook aan ons kinders sal sê dat hulle met ons daarin moet deel tot nagedagtenis ook vir die opkomende geslagte. Want die eer van Sy naam sal verheerlik word deur die roem en die eer van oorwinning aan Hom te gee.

Which, in English translation, is as thus:

Here we stand before the Holy God of heaven and earth, to make a vow to Him that, if He will protect us and give our enemy into our hand, we shall keep this day and date every year as a day of thanksgiving like a sabbath, and that we shall erect a house to His Honour wherever it should please Him, and that we also will tell our children that they should share in that with us in memory for future generations. For the honour of His Name will be glorified by giving Him the fame and honour for the victory.

As well as "freewill offerings" expected to go to causes expected to assist in the "evacuation" as "religiopolitical refugees" of the Afrikaner populace "from danger of further persecution," and resettled in the hope of reclaiming their past desire of being honest and simple farmers and pastoralists--only to wind up diverting funds to "other, more pressing causes" without prior notice, and trying to keep the whole a secret.  

=============

AS IF RUSH LIMBAUGH'S POSSIBLE USE OF DOG-WHISTLE CALLS TO ARMS IN THE NAME OF G-D, COUNTRY AND "RACIAL HONOUR" WEREN'T DISGUSTING ENOUGH, consider where the Anti-Defamation League is spotting fresh patterns in anti-Semitic conspiracies seeking to cash in on the current or otherwise imminent socioeconomic meltdown, which, if History is any barometer, is prime time for anti-Semitic propaganda @ its crudest, targeting especially such Who Should Know Better:

Conspiracy theories linking Jews and Israel to the global financial meltdown are taking on global reach as the financial crisis on Wall Street continues to affect markets around the world.

According to Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which first reported a spike in anti-Semitic postings on U.S. financial Web sites, "anti-Jewish invective and conspiracy theories are spreading globally" in European and Latin American countries and the Middle East as a result of the global economic crisis.

 

One widely circulated conspiracy theory suggests that "$400 billion in funds was secretly transferred to Israeli banks" just prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other major investment banks.  Launched on an anti-Semitic Web site sponsored by a Washington, DC-based Holocaust denial publication, the false rumor has ricocheted across the Internet and around the world, appearing on numerous Web sites and comment boards with few questioning its veracity or citing its origins.

 

"One disturbing side effect to the global economic meltdown is the resurgence of the Big Lie," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "Anti-Jewish invective and conspiracy theories are spreading globally.  While it is still early, we know from experience what can happen when anti-Jewish myths gain a foothold and move from the far fringes into the mainstream."

 

Mr. Foxman pointed to similarities between the "$400 billion" conspiracy theory and the myth that spread around the world after 9/11 -- that "4,000 Jews" did not report for work the day of the attack on the World Trade Center – which is today believed by many around the world.  "Whenever world events are difficult to explain or understand, Jews are the most convenient scapegoat," said Mr. Foxman.

 

"This belief that only Jews could be responsible for something so catastrophic and damaging to the global economy plays directly into some of the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes," said Mr. Foxman. "The idea that there is Jewish control of the banking system and the world economy has its antecedents in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Nazi-era propaganda."

 

International Response: Europe and Latin America

Anti-Semitic expressions in response to the financial crisis are spreading in European and Latin American countries, with many appearing on Web sites as articles or comments from unidentified individuals who are angry and seeking to place blame for the spreading impact of the crisis.  Some are accompanied by vicious anti-Semitic caricatures and images.

 

The following is a snapshot of the global anti-Semitic reaction that has emerged as a result of the ongoing financial crisis as compiled by ADL:

• United Kingdom: The Web site of the mainstream British newspaper, The Independent, featured in its comments section a post by a visitor identifying himself as "Errol Flynn" that repeated the claim about the alleged $400 billion transfer from Lehman Brothers to Israeli banks.  In response to a second article on the economic crisis, another reader commented, "So the banks used to be Jewish-owned … has anything changed?"  Both posts were eventually removed by the site's administrators.

• Russia: The Web site of Pravda newspaper published an article arguing that French, German and Italian leaders are advocating a bailout of European banks to benefit "Rothschild, Kuhn Loeb, and other banking magnates," a reference to well-known Jewish banking families.  The article continued, "The trouble is most of Europe is sick of their Zionist puppet governments, the wrecking of the universities and the flood of third world immigration.  Another Hitler, running a united Europe, could be elected in a heartbeat."

• Germany: Some discussion forums and blogs made casual linkage between the crisis and Jews or repeated anti-Semitic stereotypes of the "money-savvy" and "financially dominating Jew."  One comment on Ariva.de, an independent provider of financial news, stated: "When it comes to money Jews are always in the say."

• Spain: Op-eds making reference to Jews and the financial crisis appeared in the newspaper El Pais.  While the articles did not directly accuse Jews of causing the crisis, the comments section following the articles contained several anti-Semitic entries.  One writer declared, "The crisis is not a financial problem but an economic one … it is what is behind this gruesome scene of savage capitalism of the Zionist students of Milton Friedman." Additionally, several financial Web sites featured articles with anti-Jewish themes, including one stating that "Lehman's management board is made up of Jews who were only interested in results no matter at what price." (Cincodias.com).

• Venezuela: The host of a virulently anti-Semitic radio program claims that the fact that the U.S. Congress recessed for the Jewish High Holidays after voting on the $700 billion bailout proposal was evidence "that the U.S. government is controlled by the Jewish lobby."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Come to think of it, how many prominent and powerful GOP politicos here in the "morally superior" United States have interconnexions themselves vis-a-vis racists, white supremacists, Christian Reconstructionists, anti-Semitic elements, apologists for apartheid South Africa and suchlike among those who "just whiffed their way down the bar skank ladder" thanks to alcohol and Certain Explicit Sexual Practices That Some Readers May Find Offensive? Something worth thinking about there....

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NO DOUBT THE CHAMPERS CORKS ARE POPPING WHOLESALE @ FOX PROLEFEED TODAY ON THE NEWS THAT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting enquiries into so-called "voter registration fraud" by the activist organisation ACORN over voter-registry drives in four states which were suspected to be "contaminated" to the point of "undermining electoral integrity and purity" come Indecision proper.

Never mind that the "contamination" in question involved voter-registry documents which contained fictitious names or characters, even with the laws in some states requiring third-party voter-registry campaigns to turn in all registrations collected on a timely basis (even if ACORN's staffers flagged such looking suspicious).

Which has Your Correspondent wondering if Fox Prolefeed, in league with their Neoconservative droogs, wants electoral franchise restricted all the more to white male European-American Low Church Christians owning real property on Free and Clear Title "to protect electoral purity and integrity"--in other words, maintain one-party rule from everlasting to everlasting, even playing word games to excuse what amounts to dictatorship with weasel words like "Unitary Executive Privilege" to excuse reducing the Presidential role to a superdivine "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" who, for all we know, is probably drunk, stoned or otherwise mentally unstable.

Methinks the whole smells of politically-motivated dirty tricks reeking of disenfranchisement. Especially of the poor and National Minorities.

=============

NO WONDER THE NEOCON/FASCISTI MOVEMENT IS AFRAID OF RAHOWA, AND WILL STOP @ NOTHING TO "PREEMPT" IT IN THE NAME OF "RACE HONOUR" most misguided--as witness this exchange transcribed by Media Matters for America from Bill Cunningham's nationally-syndicated talkback show of the 10th (originating from WLW Cincinnati for and on behalf of Clear Channel-owned or -controlled stations):

CUNNINGHAM: What are you going to do if he loses, Miss C?

MISS C: He won't lose.

CUNNINGHAM: If he loses, are you gonna burn down this town?

MISS C: There's too many good white people tired of white men.

CUNNINGHAM: White people are tired of white men?

MISS C: Yes. Yes. We've had 43 white men presidents, and we're in the lowest point of history. Our stock markets, our money, home foreclosures -- white people cannot lead -- white men. Now it's time for them to get out the way.

[...]

CUNNINGHAM: Will this town burn down if he loses?

CO-HOST: I don't know. What do you think?

CUNNINGHAM: Yeah. I think there will be 100 cities burning if Barack loses. Yeah, that's what the black intelligentsia says.

[...]

ERIC DETERS (700 WLW radio host): Is it true, Willie, that you've been playing this Flavor Flav. Is he really in charge of the Inaugural?

CUNNINGHAM: Yeah. Flavor Flav, 50 Cent, and Diddy.

DETERS: Oh my God.

CUNNINGHAM: It's going to be the best Inaugural. Normally you wear - you wear, you know, black tails, white -- this is going to be a rap concert. I mean, it's going to be the best ever.

Which is enough to wonder if the Ku Kluxer crowd is preparing for coded instructions to move in as agents provocateur to provoke rioting and civil disorder "just in case."

=============

MEANWHILE, IN KEEPING WITH THE BELIEF THAT "IT'S A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL," and that global events may have some interesting insight for us "morally superior" Americans in especially interesting times such as these, the BBC is reporting on the findings of a Kenyan Government tribunal into the notorious post-election violence earlier this year:

An international tribunal should be set up in Kenya to try those implicated in clashes after December's disputed poll, an inquiry into the violence says.

The commission found that in some areas, the violence was planned and organised with the support of politicians and businessmen.

It said if no tribunal was formed a sealed list of those responsible would go to the International Criminal Court.

More than 1,500 people were killed and some 300,000 more fled their homes.

The BBC's Peter Greste in the capital, Nairobi, says the political split after December's elections became an ethnic one, and Kenya neared a civil war.

President Mwai Kibaki and then-opposition leader Mr Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing deal in February, forming a coalition government.

The commission of inquiry was appointed following recommendations by the international mediation team lead by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Its report was presented to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga and will be made public immediately.

Mr Annan is expected back in the country to receive the report on Friday.

On Tuesday, the cabinet said it would implement the recommendations of another inquiry into electoral fraud which called for a radical overhaul of the electoral commission.

[***]

What started as spontaneous violent reaction to the perceived rigging of elections, later evolved into well-organised and co-ordinated attacks on members of President Kibaki's community and Party of National Unity (PNU), he said.

"These were systematic attacks on Kenyans based on their ethnicity and their political leanings... Guilty by association was the guiding force behind the deadly revenge attacks," he said.

The commission would give Mr Annan a sealed list of names of prominent politicians, businessmen and a section of the police force who were behind the violence and supporting evidence, Justice Waki said.

If an international tribunal was not created, the list would be handed over to the ICC in The Hague.

The commission found that the police force and other security organs were overwhelmed by the scale of violence and failed to act.

"This free-for-all was made possible by lawlessness stemming from an apparent collapse of state institutions and security forces," Justice Waki said.

The report also noted that the security forces failed to act on actionable intelligence on the likelihood of violence and other early warning signs.

[***]

Human rights groups say that in the past, the government has tended to ignore the findings of similar inquiries.

But they warn that the government cannot afford to do that this time round, if it wants to avoid another blood-bath.

Hassan Omar, the vice-chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, said the "big fish" had to be held accountable.

"We need to end the culture of impunity in Kenya," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"The country needs to come to terms with its past. They need to afford some level of justice to those who are the victims."

Insightful ... and @ once a warning about the potential for what could happen after Indecision 2008 in case certain Dregs of Society continue to act as if they had an ur-Soverign Immunity to pervert and manipulate electoral purity and integrity.

Hence, a reminder to remain all the more vigilant for warning signs of electoral interference and intimidation, especially such tending to the anonymous or coming from groups with patriotic-sounding or otherwise "feel-good" names with what turns out being mail drops such as FedEx Office, The UPS Store, Mail Boxes Etc., Mail & More and suchlike which (in theory) allow for privacy being protected. And report on any such timely to law-enforcement agencies, not to mention the Election Protection Hotline on freecall 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

Remember: Intimidation of voters, or interference with voter registry campaigns, is a penal offense, no matter how low or crude it may get. And if evidence exists that such intimidation campaigns are racially targeted, enhanced penalties may apply @ the court's discretion.

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EN 'N DING MAAR: Even with John McCain's using a deceptively-smooth tone and nuance of voice in campaign appearences, there's always the danger for such concealing sinister intentions which may prove dangerous in and of themselves.

Consider Keith "Countdown" Olbermann's comments from the other night as suggested where The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, in the interest of preserving the peace, safety and good order of the Nation, should suspend his campaign (hat tip to Brilliant at Breakfast):

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To whom it may concern:

It is rather unfortunate for your ilk (and you no doubt know who you are) to accuse anyone and everyone suspected of supporting "liberal" or "secular-progressive" causes or movements, and/or their articles of faith, as being "Communists" or "Communist sympathisers" without any proof or substantiation, in the Joe McCarthy stylee back in the 1950's.

Which, in the end, would turn out to be his own undoing, especially after the CBS News programme See It Now devoted the entire 9 April 1954 broadcast to depicting the Real Sen. McCarthy (a Republican from Little Chute, Wisconsin, know)--as a drunken boaster, for one, not to mention rather fast and loose with the facts. Which, in the end, would be a setup for his own undoing in the nationally-televised Army-McCathy Hearings in the summer of 1954, finally unravelling when he was asked on live television "Have you no sense of Decency, Sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of Decency?" and he tried to evade the issue--but to no avail.

By that fall, there was talk in the Senate of a censure motion against McCarthy--which occured on November 9th that year, voting 67-22 to censure Sen. McCarthy for "conduct tending to bring the Senate into dishonour or disrepute" in the name of anti-Communism. And it would be his political death knell, eventually succumbing to liver disease brought on by years of heavy drinking on May 4, 1957.

Which I have presented in the interest of History Lesson.

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AGAINST THIS BACKDROP, THEN, AND IN VIEW OF WHAT AMOUNTS TO A WOEFUL LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON YOUR PART on what exactly "Communist," "Communism" and "Liberal" mean in their meanings captured standard, permit me to enlighten you--even if it means such amounts, in your own view, to infection with a Loathsome Disease--as to the meaning of "Communist," which has both a noun and adjective sense.

As a noun, "Communist" is defined thus:

1. (initial capital letter) A member of the Communist Party or movement.
2. An advocate of Communism.
3. A person regarded as supporting politically leftist or otherwise subversive causes.
4. (initial capital letter) A Communard.

As an adjective, meanwhile, "Communist" is defined thus:

1. (initial capital letter) Of or pertaining to the Communist Party or Communism in general.
2. Pertaining to communists or communism.

Meanwhile, "Communism" is this defined, as a noun throughout:

1. A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
2. (often initial capital letter) A system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
3. (initial capital letter) The principles and practices of the Communist party. 
4. Communalism.

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I WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THE POINT OF THE LEADING IMAGE TO THIS BLOG ITEM in view of my being under such circumstances which preclude my being able to hold down a traditional 9-to-5 position, let alone some having "advised" in past that persons in circumstances such as mine (i.e., receiving targeted jobs assistance) should consider applying for later-shift positions where "greatest need" exists to fill vacancies, in turn translating into better pay and benefits thanks to "shift differentials."

Meanwhile, on to business:

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SO MUCH FOR THE GOP'S SEEING IN THE ACTIVIST GROUP ACORN SOME CLASS OF A "BLACK BEAST" "UNDERMINING ELECTORAL INTEGRITY AND PURITY" though their voter-registration initiatives that the GOP and their media lackeys (Fox Prolefeed especially) are seeing as favouring the Democrats all the more: Firedog Lake makes note of how the GOP and ACORN may actually be all the closer than most realise thus: 

Republicans are trying to pretend ACORN is part of some grand Democratic conspiracy. What are they actually doing? Registering new voters - the horror, the horror.

Most hypocritically Republicans have been working with ACORN for years. Earlier today I posted a picture of John McCain at an ACORN rally. (Here is another one on the left.) According to a Miami-Dade Community College press release,

The rally will feature sponsors of the bill, prominent leaders representing various constituencies, and immigrants themselves. Sen. John McCain, chief co-sponsor of the legislation, will be the main speaker.” The release notes the event “is being sponsored by the New American Opportunity Campaign (NAOC), a coalition of local and national advocacy organizations, in partnership with ACORN.

And according to the Sun-Sentinel, McCain was the “principal speaker” at the “immigration reform town hall rally” organized by “the Archdiocese of Miami, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, ACORN, People for the American Way, and the Service Employees International.”

Why would McCain speak at such an event? Maybe because ACORN was backing his immigration bill. The ACORN website states,

"Fortunately, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have introduced a good immigration reform  bill, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S. 1033).” ACORN “strongly supports this bill and will work hard to make it become law.”

John McCain Wasn't alone among Republicans who have worked with ACORN. Texas Governor Rick Perry worked closely with the group.

According to the Houston Chronicle,

the Houston chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has raised its profile and earned the respect of local officials.” The article notes, “the group's proudest moment came last week when Gov.  Rick Perry signed a bill that makes important changes in the use of contracts-for-deed, a form of home lending that withholds a title from buyers until they have fully paid their loan.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist? He wasn't "bothered’ by  ACORN FL registration efforts and even signed a voting rights bill promoted by ACORN. According to the Orlando Sentinel,

Both Gov. Charlie Crist and Secretary of State Kurt Browning have said they don’t mind ACORN being active in Florida’s election process. When reporters asked Crist if there was a problem with ACORN here, he said, ‘No.’

The New York Times reported, ACORN supported a law signed by Governor Crist which,

changed the rules last year to restore the voting rights of about 112,000 former convicts.

And according to Governor Crist's own website, Laura Goodhue, ACORN’s Florida policy director, and Travis Munnerlyn, an ACORN member, contributed to the agenda and presented for the Governor’s “H.O.P.E.” task force.

Chris Shays? He supports ACORN too.  Shays put out a press release stating,

Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT) today announced the availability of free tax assistance for low- and moderate-income residents of Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford.

ACORN is among the centers recommended by Shays.

Michael Bloomberg?  He kissed ACORN’s New York leader while announcing an affordable housing plan. The scandalous moment was caught on film.

What was all the excitement about?  According to the July 1, 2005 edition of City Limits,

Bloomberg finally made good on a decades-old promise to include affordable housing in the development--though, as Alyssa Katz reports, it took an army of organizers to get there. The real prize for the mayor graces our cover: a warm smooch from ACORN's Bertha Lewis for his modest plan to protect or create 65,000 affordable units.

And when Bloomberg visited New Orleans, the Times-Picayune notes the

only time on his schedule when the public can see him will be at the 10:30 a.m. dedication of the ACORN Community Center at 1024 Elysian Fields Ave.

Arnold Schwarzenegger? According to the San Francisco Chronicle on 7/9/08, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB1137, a bill designed to help California homeowners avoid foreclosure.” He was joined by “members of community group ACORN, which helped draft the measure.

And the Mercury News reported the governor signed three copies of SB 1137, giving one to Perata, one to Dellums and one to a beaming Dorothy Hicks, an east Oakland resident and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) activist.

Senator Mel Martinez even awarded a grant to ACORN:

According to the Times-Picayune on 10/3/03 the

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez recently announced that his agency has awarded grants to Xavier and Tulane universities as well as ACORN and the city of New Orleans. The money will be spent to remove lead, educate the public about the dangers of lead-based paint and support research.

Tim Pawlenty sign into law a bill partially drafted by ACORN. According to the Northwestern Financial Review,

The legislature passed two bills designed to help home-buyers get a fair deal on their mortgages. Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the first bill April 20 and was set to sign the second bill as this issue goes to press.” The article notes, “The legislation was drafted according to recommendations made by a predatory lending study group established by Swanson prior to the legislative session. The study group contained representatives from the banking industry and the mortgage brokers association, as well as consumer advocates from organizations such as Illegal Aid and ACORN.

Even Mitt signed into law a bill supported by ACORN. According to the South Coast Today, Governor Mitt Romney signed a law that “cracked down on the practice of ‘loan flipping.’” The article notes state legislator John Quinn, who authored the bill, held “nearly two-years-plus of hearings and meetings” with ACORN and that ACORN supported the final bill.

And of course Joe Lieberman has met with ACORN. According to the Washington Daybook on 02/09/06, Joe Lieberman met with members of the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association.

Somehow, the GOP and their propaganda droogs have yet to "get the message" manifest in the old proverb about "let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

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AND TALK ABOUT SUGAR-COATED FLATTERY IN FORM OF "FEEL-GOOD," PATRIOTIC-SOUNDING NAMES FOR VIRTUALLY EVERY RECENT INITIATIVE OF JOHN McCAIN'S in trying to salvage what little support remains for him in the final run to Indecision 2008 among especially "home folks" types, as AllSpinZone's Steven Reynolds discusseth:

McCain has announced where the next “surge” is going to be, and it appears he will not put David Petraeus in charge. No, McCain isn’t going to replicate the surge from Iraq to Afghanistan, nor is he going to surge us into a confrontation with Iran. Well, that’s not what he announced today, anyway. He announced a new economic plan, just 21 days before the election, and according to CNN.com he’s calling it the “Pension and Family Security Plan,” to join last week’s “American Homeownership Resurgence Plan.” Note the martial language they use to promote this stuff, evidently hoping to cash in on a subject they think the American people feel confident in Mr. McCain, foreign policy. Why the heck doesn’t he just call for the creation a new agency, the “Department of Home Security” or use one of those nifty Bush-era slogans like “Operation Homeownership Freedom,” or something like that. Seems a bit all hat and no cattle to me.

McCain has failed here once again, appealing to the people with false labels that are far more marketing slogans than real solutions. But we’ll know that in a couple days when he comes out with yet another economic plan, which will be followed by another still, until about three months from now when he finally gets it right by supporting Obama’s plan from his seat in the Senate. Please, someone tell John McCain that panicky repackaging of the same old same old just isn’t going to cut it in this election? Then again, let him do as he must do, and leave the rest of us alone.

I envision the debate going something like this:

McCain: The people deserve my Homeownership Resurgence Plan, and they deserve to be protected by my Pension and Family Security Plan. . .

Obama: I believe Mr. McCain is a good man who is trying nearly every day to define another package to help Americans. Still, even after several revisions of John McCain’s visions for our economic future, the centerpiece is that John McCain still wants to give hundreds of billions of tax breaks to oil companies and the wealthiest of the wealthy, while taxing the health benefits of middle class America. We could call one of these plans “The Sweet Potato Pie Renewal Act,” but the title of the plan still means that average people will be his second priority compared to the most wealthy people in this country.

McCain, channeling Homer Simpson: Mmmm! Pie!!

Of course, that confrontation won’t happen, but John McCain has telegraphed his punch for tomorrow night’s debate at Hofstra University. Remember when Barack Obama talked about how John McCain wouldn’t address him face to face about William Ayers? That was then, and this is now. McCain says here he’ll bring it up, in an interview with KMOX in St. Louis. McCain’s spokesperson, Tucker Bounds indicates McCain will bring up William Ayers at the debate, too. As reported by Seth Colter Walls at Huffington Post:

After being asked by a Fox News host whether the lack of any mention of William Ayers during today’s speeches from McCain and Palin meant that “the gloves [are] going back on” after a week of tough attacks, Bounds rejected the idea.

“I don’t think so at all… If you see some of the advertising coming from the RNC today, which we stand behind, and some of advertising that we’ll see going forward,” Bounds said, hinting at another onslaught of Ayers material still to come.

When asked if McCain plans to “go after” Obama on these topics this Wednesday, Bounds added: “So much of a debate is determined by the moderator and the questions that are posed to the candidates. I expect it could come up and I expect John McCain will ask Barack Obama to speak truthfully about his relationship with friend and unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. I think that voters deserve to know, deserve to vet these candidates to the fullest extent… Certainly, Bill Ayers raises questions. Certainly, Tony Rezko raises questions.”

The reason McCain himself has allowed surrogates to attack on the so-called character issues, rather than going out there himself 24/7 on them, is because Americans don’t like personal attacks, and are far more interested in solutions to problems than the barely disguised conspiracy theories that those personal attacks really are. If his aides persuade McCain to bring up William Ayers in front of a huge national audience, he will be sorry for it because of the effect in the polls. Oh, McCain should fire all of his campaign staff in that event. Because here’s the thing — Obama will handle such attacks smoothly and with dignity.

McCain was whining in just the last debate that he though Barack Obama was telegraphing his punches by announcing military policies as concerns going after Osama bin Laden. I’m thinking McCain meant that one shouldn’t alert the other side to any strategy in advance. Oops! That’s what he and Tucker Bounds just did!

We’re going to see a new economic strategy every day for the next three weeks from the McCain campaign, and each one will have a silly patriotic name dreamed up by refugees of the Bush White House. We’re also going to see some lame sparring that will border on the embarrassing for Mr. McCain tomorrow in the debate if he decides to go after Barack Obama on trivialities in this time of economic peril. This is just pathetic.

And remember, boys and girls, the McCain/Palin ticket's articles of faith insist that free-market capitalism--"pure" free-market capitalism, to be precise--is, was and will forever be the Great White Father, the Shining Hope and Beacon for the Lower Classes Heretofore Enslaved into Helpless Dependency Upon State Welfare and its Socialistic Tendencies, among other cheap platitudes in the vein of North Korean propaganda's hagiographic lavishing of "Eternal Leader" Kim Il Sung and "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il.