Obama on Warren

McCain defends Palin

12/16/08
McCain defends Palin

Video by DANIEL BUCKLEY

U.S. Senator John McCain (Republican, Arizona) defends his former running mate, Sarah Palin and explains his decision not to come out in favor of her for a presidential run just yet.

The comments came at the 12/16/08 Tucson Citizen editorial board meeting with the former presidential candidate.

Click here to play video.

Fetal development

Bishops Approve Blessing for Child in the Womb

USCCB News Release
08-171
November 11, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BALTIMORE—The U.S. bishops approved the Order for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb for use in the dioceses of the United States with a 223-1 vote November 11, at their General Assembly in Baltimore. The bishops also approved a Spanish version of the blessing with a 224-0 vote.

The Blessing of a Child in the Womb was prepared by the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities after receiving requests from dioceses for such a blessing and not finding an existing blessing for a newly conceived child. In March, 2008 a blessing was prepared and submitted to the Committee on Divine Worship. The proposed blessing is distinct from the Blessing of Parents before Childbirth found in the Book of Blessings.

The Blessing of a Child in the Womb Within Mass and Outside Mass, in English and in Spanish, upon recognitio by the Congregation on Divine Worship and the Sacraments in Rome for use in the dioceses of the United States of America, will be included in future editions of the Book of Blessings (de Benedictionibus) when the text is revised.

http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-171.shtml

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Here's a good way to get ready for the Thanksgiving spirit!

Here's the problem, people!

IOUSA the Movie!

Palin unscripted

(KTUU Alaska 11/12/2008, 32 min. Q/A)

Palin also talked about why it seemed she was kept away from the national media during the beginning of her campaign.

"I'm not going to say anything negative about the strategy of the campaign, because it was such a positive experience, and I will never say anything negative about John McCain and the people who he surrounded himself with. He had very sharp and professional and experienced people around him in the campaign.

"I do though believe that they were surprised at my desire to be out there speaking to Americans, speaking to Alaskans -- the only way you can do that is through reporters, of course -- and I think they were surprised.

"I think Kyle (Hopkins, a local reporter) called me once on my cell phone, and they were like, ‘A reporter's got your cell phone number?' And I said, ‘That's the way we roll in Alaska, yeah.' I talk to reporters every single day, and I think they were surprised at that -- that that was my desire, to be able to reach out and speak to more people through the media. That took some getting used to."

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?s=9319769

A view of the economy from a year ago

A lot of people probably wish they had watched this interview a little more than a year ago.



The market has been silently falling since 2001. Prechter explains.

The Aftermath

Here's one man's opinion.

President-Elect Barack Obama in Chicago

McCain's speech

The only man who could have beat Obama!

Three-year-old Sarah Palin fan says "You BETCHA!"

McCain on SNL

If this is true, this Democrat will be famous next week

What is going on here? Is he a citizen or not? I guess we're off to the Supreme Court since Obama will not release his records.

40 Days for Life (prayer and action, day 40)

Links:
Prayers (day 40)

From the blog:

A woman regrets her abortion:

DAY 35: Healing following abortion

She is well acquainted with the abortion facility where the 40 Days for Life vigil is taking place. She had an abortion there several months ago.

She told us how she was ambivalent about her abortion decision and had gone back and forth between the abortion facility and the crisis pregnancy center just down the road.

At that time she had been given a diagnosis of HIV and the abortion facility convinced her that her only option was to abort to avoid passing the deadly virus to her baby. Even though her husband objected, she initially consented to the abortion.

She was well into her second trimester and would need the two-day procedure for her abortion. She wanted time to think but the staff insisted she stay for the abortion and tricked her into doing the entire procedure in one day.

Meanwhile her husband was doing every thing he could to talk to her and get her out of the abortion facility but the staff locked him out and forced her to turn off her cell phone so he couldn’t communicate with her.

With the abortion completed she left and was later rechecked for HIV. It was found that there had been some mistake at the lab and she had been given a false positive report for HIV.

Today God has given her a healthy pregnancy — twins! — a renewed marriage commitment and some good lawyers to bring prosecution against the abortionist and his staff. She freely admits that these are all good things but nothing will bring back the child she has lost to abortion.

DAY 34: Total of 384 saved… and counting!

The latest tally of confirmed lives saved as a result of this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign is up to…

…384!!

Here are just a few of those stories:

“Another turnaround!” notes Major in Huntsville, Alabama. “That makes six here since 40 Days for Life started. This one was 18 to 20 weeks into her pregnancy. Please pray for her!”

“A pregnant woman came to speak to me after having left the abortion clinic,” said Joanne at 40 Days for Life in Providence, Rhode Island. “She changed her mind because people were praying outside. She has decided to have the baby.”

A couple spoke to a 40 Days for Life volunteer outside the abortion facility in Louisville, Kentucky, then went in. A while later, they two came back out and the man said, “You got to me. We couldn’t do it!” Jenny said there is so much to be thankful for. “Isn’t it so humbling that God has called us to be a part of this?”

Luke in South Bend, Indiana tells of praying at the 40 Days for Life vigil on a day he was tired, hungry and really looking forward to taking a break. About that time, a woman drove up and asked if he worked at the abortion center. “No, I’m working for the Lord,” he said, “and praying.”

The woman told Luke she was under extreme pressure to have an abortion, and then asked him, “Can I have your advice? What do you think I should do?”

Luke prayed for the Holy Spirit to give him the right words. He then asked the woman, “Who gave you this child?” Those were indeed the right words; she responded, “God did.”

He asked her how she could reject such a gift. She thought about that for a moment and said, “You’re right. I could never have an abortion.” Luke told her she could find help at the nearby pregnancy resource center, and then she drove away.

“I broke down and cried for joy,” he said. “Blessed be God forever!”

DAY 22: UNBELIEVABLE — 268!!

Our twelve dynamic presenters — national and local leaders — poured out an hour and 25 minutes of hope-filled success reports from across North America…

…and we shared the breaking news about the number of confirmed lives saved during the first half of this fall’s 40 Days for Life campaign:

268!!

This call contained such vital information for this crucial moment in history — that we quickly worked to post the entire recording online, and it’s now ready for you!

You, your friends, and family members can listen via streaming web audio or download the MP3 file to your iPod or computer (even if you only have a dial-up Internet connection). Just go to:

http://www.instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=4586745

If you are sick of hearing all the negative news every time you turn on the radio or television and want to get a renewed sense of HOPE — then you need to listen to the recording of this call in the next 24 hours.

I have NEVER been more optimistic than I am today!

At a number of vigil locations, the night shift is also known as the Knight shift — men of the Knights of Columbus are signing up for the nighttime hours.
(read the rest here)

DAY 16: Encouraging news
October 8th, 2008

Amy in San Antonio tells of a man who came out of the donut shop across the street from the 40 Days for Life vigil and went over to where people were praying. “I just want you to know that you are making a difference,” he said.

Some time earlier, his granddaughter had come to this exact clinic for an abortion and — because people were praying on the sidewalk outside — she changed her mind. “He thanked us for his grandson Adrian,” said Amy.

“This is the second story we have heard in recent months of a new grandfather thanking us for his grandchild,” she said. “Abortion doesn’t just affect the mother, father and child. It affects the grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles — and on and on. When your prayers go up to save a child from abortion you are also working to save an entire family from the tragedy of abortion.”

DAY 14: The impact spreads:
October 6th, 2008

After yesterday’s report of 89 lives saved during this fall’s 40 Days for Life, more success stories have flooded in from across North America over the last 24 hours bringing the total now up to 113!!

From the Reflections (day 11):

When a former abortionist and post-abortive woman, Carol Everett, was asked what turned her heart from death to life in Christ, she replied, "It was unconditional love" shown by a man who prayed daily for her in front of the facility where she worked.

He told Carol that "God had sent him" because there was someone in there that God wanted out. She left 27 days later and now serves as Christ's ambassador to help others.

Blog

From blog DAY 2: “We saved our first baby!”

This Fall, from September 24 - November 2, 170 cities in 45 states will be joining together for the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history -- the 40 Days for Life campaign.

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life effort that consists of:

40 days of prayer and fasting
40 days of peaceful vigil
40 days of community outreach

-----

In the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008, two nationally coordinated 40 Days for Life campaigns mobilized people of faith and conscience in 139 cities across 43 states.

During these unified efforts, participants witnessed countless blessings from God:

-- Over 150,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion

-- More than 35,000 people have taken to the streets, forming peaceful 40-day prayer vigils outside of Planned Parenthood centers and abortion facilities

-- Reports from around the country document that more than 500 lives have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about

-- Five abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry

-- Two Planned Parenthood facilities abruptly stopped performing abortions and another abortion facility completely shut down following a local 40 Days for Life

After 35 years of legalized abortion in America, many people of faith are experiencing a renewed sense of HOPE!

http://www.40daysforlife.com/about.cfm?selected=history

What is Harry Dent saying today?

I haven't heard a demographic analysis from anyone else during this recent crisis. This gives some food for thought. Be safe and be well! Love, Mike

What they were saying 2 years ago

Art Laffer and Peter Schiff go at it about the prospects for the economy in Oct. 2006

Palin answers negative interviewer

FYI Obama TV show

Sarah Palin sings Happy Birthday to her mom

Fred Thompson on Obama

MSNBC: On the Record with McCain, Palin

MSNBC: Gov. Palin: "My Life is an Open Book"

Obama on raising capital gains taxes

Shop and Compare: Obama, McCain, Ron Paul

Governor Palin appears on SNL

"Highly NOT recommended by nine-year-olds."

Novena for Faithful Citizenship [election prayer]

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
help us to conquer the menace of evil,
which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today,
and whose immeasurable effects
already weigh down upon our modern world
and seem to block the paths toward the future.
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction,
from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against human life from its very beginning,
deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of
the children of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national
and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God,
deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God,
deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil,
deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit,
deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ,
this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings,
laden with the sufferings of whole societies.
Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin:
individual sin and the “sin of the world,”
sin in all its manifestations.

Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world
the infinite saving power of the redemption:
the power of merciful love.

May it put a stop to evil.
May it transform consciences.
May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope.

ALL: Amen.

Text of Novena | Prayer

http://www. faithfulcitizenship.org/resources/podcasts

Included in the above link are:

Catholic Social Teaching Principles Podcasts

Catholic social teaching is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. Modern Catholic social teaching has been articulated through a tradition of papal, conciliar, and episcopal documents, and the depth and richness of this tradition can be understood best through a direct reading of these documents.

In our Catholic Social Teaching Principles Podcasts , Paulist Father Larry Rice reflects briefly on the major themes of Catholic social teaching, and how they should shape our lives as citizens of the world and as people of God....

Topics:

Option for the Poor
Peace and Disarmament
Political Participation
Role of Government
Social Justice
Stewardship of Creation
Common Good
Dignity of the Human Person
Economic Justice
Global Solidarity
Individual's Rights

It may be time to study some history

lest we're prone to repeat it...

Joe to the rescue part II

Joe's take on the election and the role of government

Joe the Plumber - to the rescue!

And I thought he lacked talent

I always thought a real sense of humor was an indispensible quality in a leader. I may have mis-understimated McCain, in W' Bush lingo. McCain still has it! at least a bit of wit. Maybe he has more redeeming qualities than I had suspected. Love, Mike

What's been going on with our economy ?

Grassroots Films

Is this corruption ?

Everyone shares some blame, but...

Interesting video

"BTW I'm Voting For Mccain/Palin"

McCain: I want everyone to be respectful

Sarah Palin, Freed?

By Perry Bacon Jr.

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- After delivering scripted speeches for much of her candidacy and avoiding contact with reporters, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spent about a dozen minutes chatting with the press on her campaign plane tonight -- the first time she has done so as a vice presidential candidate.

It may not quite be letting Sarah be Sarah, as some of her supporters have urged, but it was the most open that she has been on the campaign trail so far.

And, as she traveled through Florida the past couple of days, Palin also spoke to two local television stations. The other three candidates running for national office do this nearly every day, but not Palin -- until this week.

On her campaign plane, she took repeated questions about her emphasis the last few days on William Ayers, the 1960s radical who hosted an event for Barack Obama in 1995 but is not a close adviser to the Democratic nominee. As in her debate performance, she had a turn of phrase she kept repeating, arguing Obama's association with Ayers raised questions about his "judgment" and "forthrightness."

Asked if she was saying Obama was "dishonest," she returned to her theme.

"I'm not saying that he's dishonest," Palin said on the flight from Pensacola, Fla., to Greenville, "but in terms of judgment and in terms of being able to answer questions forthrightly, it has two different parts to this, that judgment and that truthfulness and just being able to answer very candidly a simple question about when did you know him, how did you know him, has been there been an association continued since '02 or '05. We've heard a couple of different stories. I think it's relevant."

She batted back questions about whether Americans were tired of divisive politics and wanted to hear more about the economy by saying Obama's comments about Ayers were related to those issues.

"It makes you wonder about the forthrightedness, the truthfulness of the plans that he is telling America in regards to the economic recovery because that is first and foremost on American's minds," she said.

In her conversation with reporters, Palin also explained her husband Todd's decision to testify in the investigation into her firing of the Alaska director of public safety, who had refused to fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

"Nobody has anything to hide," she said. "Nobody's done anything wrong."

The governor referred to the incident as "Tasergate," referring to allegations that her former brother-in-law used a taser on his 11-year-old stepson, instead of what her critics call "Troopergate."

Asked if she would appear on Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey, who even Obama has noted shares a strong resemblance to the Palin, the Alaska governor smiled.

"She's a hoot and she's so talented and it would be fun to either imitate her or keep on giving her more material and keep her in business," Palin said....

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/08/sarah_palin_freed.html

"Who Is The Real Barack Obama?"

Obama repeatedly promised “fundamental change” in the second debate, but otherwise portrayed himself as the embodiment of moderation, nay, even a kind of conservatism. In his own telling, he wants to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, reduce spending, preserve but improve the current health-care system and win the war in Afghanistan while prudently drawing down troops in Iraq.

In the first debate, he said John McCain was “absolutely right” about the need for more government accountability, for fewer earmarks and for spending cuts, and about the success of the surge in reducing violence in Iraq and the danger of a nuclear Iran. At times, he seemed determined to be the first presidential candidate to win a debate on the basis of sheer agreeability.

The Democrats are on the verge of a strange victory. If Obama is elected, they will arguably have won the most left-wing government in American history. FDR and LBJ had raging Democratic majorities in Congress early in their presidencies, with which they forged massive increases in the size of government. But that was before the post-Vietnam culture revolution in the Democratic Party that produced a leftward lurch on social issues and a reflexive hostility to American power. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton also had Democratic majorities, but they both consistently ran as, and had records as, Southern moderates.

But no one can know whether Obama is the leftist his associations suggest, or the irenic uniter of his iconic 2004 convention speech; whether he’s the down-the-line liberal who kowtowed to the base of his own party in the Democratic primaries, or the pragmatist who readjusted to the center as soon as enthralled liberals handed him the nomination. The consistent line running through his career is opportunism, a willingness to accommodate whoever - Bill Ayers or the swing voter in Ohio - can help him up the next rung in his ladder of ambition at any juncture.

When McCain asks, “Who is the real Barack Obama?” it is taken as a desperate smear. But it’s a question even Democrats don’t know how to answer. We’ll find out with more certainty only if Obama is elected and has to make tough governing choices. Until then - no sudden moves.

By Rich Lowry, National Review
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/10/opinion/main4513379.shtml

"Ayers Controversy First Smoldered, Now Flares Bright"

... The Ayers-Obama story has taken many twists as it moved from a topic in right-leaning media circles earlier this year to its recent prominence in the Republican ticket’s campaign.

As late as February, discussion seemed limited to the political blogosphere. Conservative talk-show hosts such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh also began giving attention to the Ayers-Obama ties, and momentum picked up.

The story jumped prominently into the media mainstream when George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked Sen. Obama about it during an April 16 Democratic debate in Philadelphia.

Sen. Obama, in the nationally broadcast debate, downplayed their connection, referring to Mr. Ayers as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” and “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.” He would later more explicitly condemn Mr. Ayers’ past actions.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Obama’s last remaining rival for the party’s presidential nomination, said that the question was legitimate, and she predicted: “I think that this is an issue that, certainly, the Republicans will be raising.”

In fact, four days later, Sen. McCain appeared on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” and said Sen. Obama’s connection to Mr. Ayers was “open to question.”

Hitting a Plateau

At that point, the flap over the Obama-Ayers connection appeared to plateau....

“If Hillary brought it up, it gives McCain more justification,” Mr. Edsall said, “that ‘we’re just raising a point a Democrat raised.’ ”

To be sure, the issue never really disappeared.

During the summer, two critics of Sen. Obama published books about him, devoting some of their pages to the Ayers-Obama issue—and ending up on the New York Times bestseller list.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/10/15/08ayers_ep.h28.html

Related: "When It Comes to Ayers, It is Participation that Matters"

McCain campaign outlines mortgage-rescue plan

Carolyn Said, SF Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 9, 2008

Sen. John McCain's plan to help people avoid foreclosure drew praise from liberals for tackling the problem's source, while conservatives called it a government subsidy of irresponsible lenders and borrowers.

During Tuesday's presidential debate, McCain, the Republican nominee, said he would order the Treasury secretary "to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate (them) at the new value of those homes, at the diminished value of those homes."

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain's senior domestic policy adviser, said on Wednesday that McCain's plan calls for the government to pay full face value for troubled mortgages on properties that are now worth less than the loans. That's a big distinction from a congressional plan that took effect on Oct. 1 and requires lenders to take a significant loss, reducing the loan values to 90 percent of the homes' current appraised values. Another key difference: Congress' plan requires homeowners who receive a refinanced loan to share any future appreciation in home value with the government; McCain's plan does not.

Holtz-Eakin said that under McCain's plan, homeowners would get new fixed-rate mortgages based on the homes' current value with an interest rate of about 5 percent, a percentage point less than the average current rate. The government would pay the difference between the original mortgage amount and what the homes are now worth.
Avoiding foreclosure

Holtz-Eakin said the goal is to directly help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosures and their damaging effects on neighborhoods, as well as to stabilize the values of homes and mortgage-backed securities....

The McCain campaign said the plan's $300 billion cost would come out of existing appropriations - the $700 bailout bill and the $300 billion Congress allocated this summer for a plan called Help for Homeowners, to be run by the Federal Housing Administration.

"Is it expensive?" McCain said during the debate. "Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy, and we've got to give some trust and confidence back to America."...

McCain's plan

-- The government would purchase mortgages at their full face value.

-- Borrowers would refinance mortgages with fixed-rate loans for the homes' current market value at interest rates about 5 percent.

-- Eligible borrowers must live in the home, have made a down payment and not have falsified information to get the original loan.

-- $300 billion cost would come from the $700 billion bailout plan and the $300 billion Help for Homeowners FHA refinance program.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/09/BU9B13DNI7.DTL

Not everyone is impressed with the Bailout plan

Palin's "Nobody's Dummy"

Liberals underestimate Sarah Palin's vitality and -- yes -- smarts at their own peril. ...

By Camille Paglia

... Yes, both Todd and Sarah Palin, whom most people in the U.S. and abroad had never even heard of until six weeks ago, have emerged as powerful new symbols of a revived contemporary feminism. That the macho Todd, with his champion athleticism and working-class cred, can so amiably cradle babies and care for children is a huge step forward in American sexual symbolism.

Although nothing will sway my vote for Obama, I continue to enjoy Sarah Palin's performance on the national stage. During her vice-presidential debate last week with Joe Biden (whose conspiratorial smiles with moderator Gwen Ifill were outrageous and condescending toward his opponent), I laughed heartily at Palin's digs and slams and marveled at the way she slowly took over the entire event. I was sorry when it ended! But Biden wasn't -- judging by his Gore-like sighs and his slow sinking like a punctured blimp. Of course Biden won on points, but TV (a visual medium) never cares about that.

The mountain of rubbish poured out about Palin over the past month would rival Everest. What a disgrace for our jabbering army of liberal journalists and commentators, too many of whom behaved like snippy jackasses. The bourgeois conventionalism and rank snobbery of these alleged humanitarians stank up the place. As for Palin's brutally edited interviews with Charlie Gibson and that viper, Katie Couric, don't we all know that the best bits ended up on the cutting-room floor? Something has gone seriously wrong with Democratic ideology, which seems to have become a candied set of holier-than-thou bromides attached like tutti-frutti to a quivering green Jell-O mold of adolescent sentimentality.

And where is all that lurid sexual fantasy coming from? When I watch Sarah Palin, I don't think sex -- I think Amazon warrior! I admire her competitive spirit and her exuberant vitality, which borders on the supernormal. The question that keeps popping up for me is whether Palin, who was born in Idaho, could possibly be part Native American (as we know her husband is), which sometimes seems suggested by her strong facial contours. I have felt that same extraordinary energy and hyper-alertness billowing out from other women with Native American ancestry -- including two overpowering celebrity icons with whom I have worked.

One of the most idiotic allegations batting around out there among urban media insiders is that Palin is "dumb." Are they kidding? What level of stupidity is now par for the course in those musty circles? (The value of Ivy League degrees, like sub-prime mortgages, has certainly been plummeting. As a Yale Ph.D., I have a perfect right to my scorn.) People who can't see how smart Palin is are trapped in their own narrow parochialism -- the tedious, hackneyed forms of their upper-middle-class syntax and vocabulary.

As someone whose first seven years were spent among Italian-American immigrants (I never met an elderly person who spoke English until we moved from Endicott to rural Oxford, New York, when I was in first grade), I am very used to understanding meaning through what might seem to others to be outlandish or fractured variations on standard English. Furthermore, I have spent virtually my entire teaching career (nearly four decades) in arts colleges, where the expressiveness of highly talented students in dance, music and the visual arts takes a hundred different forms. Finally, as a lover of poetry (my last book was about that), I savor every kind of experimentation with standard English -- beginning with Shakespeare, who was the greatest improviser of them all at a time when there were no grammar rules.

Many others listening to Sarah Palin at her debate went into conniptions about what they assailed as her incoherence or incompetence. But I was never in doubt about what she intended at any given moment. On the contrary, I was admiring not only her always shapely and syncopated syllables but the innate structures of her discourse -- which did seem to fly by in fragments at times but are plainly ready to be filled with deeper policy knowledge, as she gains it (hopefully over the next eight years of the Obama presidencies). This is a tremendously talented politician whose moment has not yet come. That she holds views completely opposed to mine is irrelevant.

Even if she disappears from the scene forever after a McCain defeat, Palin will still have made an enormous and lasting contribution to feminism. As I said in my last column, Palin has made the biggest step forward in reshaping the persona of female authority since Madonna danced her dominatrix way through the shattered puritan barricades of the feminist establishment....

The next phase of feminism must circle back and reappropriate the ancient persona of the mother — without losing career ambition or power of assertion. Betty Friedan, who had first attacked the cult of postwar domesticity, had long warned second-wave feminists such as Gloria Steinem about the damaging exclusion of homemakers from their value system. The animus of liberal feminists toward religion must also end (I am speaking as an atheist). Feminism must reexamine all of its assumptions, including its death grip on abortion, if it wishes to survive.

The hysterical emotionalism and eruptions of amoral malice at the arrival of Sarah Palin exposed the weaknesses and limitations of current feminism. But I am convinced that Palin’s bracing mix of male and female voices, as well as her grounding in frontier grit and audacity, will prove to be a galvanizing influence on aspiring Democratic women politicians too, from the municipal level on up. Palin has shown a brand-new way of defining female ambition — without losing femininity, spontaneity or humor. She’s no pre-programmed wonk of the backstage Hillary Clinton school; she’s pugnacious and self-created, the product of no educational or political elite — which is why her outsider style has been so hard for media lemmings to comprehend. And by the way, I think Tina Fey’s witty impersonations of Palin have been fabulous. But while Fey has nailed Palin’s cadences and charm, she can’t capture the energy, which is a force of nature....

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/10/08/palin/index1.html

Shelly Mandell, president of LA NOW endorses Palin

Palin was introduced by Shelly Mandell, president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Organization for Women, who described herself as a lifelong Democrat.

In rarity for a Republican event, Mandell bragged about her efforts campaigning for the failed Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and her support for Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984.

"I know Sarah Palin cares about women's rights," Mandell said. "As vice president, she will fight for you. She cares about our children and she cares about women's lives."
(Fox news LA)

CARSON, Calif., 4 October 2008 -- This is not typical Republican territory, but Sarah Palin temporarily changed the demographics Saturday by filling the Home Depot Center with more than 13,000 enthusiastic supporters. The unusual location was matched with a surprise introduction by Shelly Mandell, president of the National Association of Women (NOW) Los Angeles chapter. "I'm proud to support Sarah Palin...a woman who will fight for woman's rights, a woman who will fight for the middle class" she said. "Sarah Palin has what it takes to lead [the] charge...This is what a feminist looks like"

Ms. Mandell made it clear she was speaking as an individual and not as a representative of NOW, which has officially endorsed Barack Obama for president. Palin took the stage with a less rigid interpretation, however, as she thanked Mandell for both the "introduction" and "endorsement" from the self-proclaimed life-long Democrat.
(Huffington Post)

"Is Palin Ready to be Vice President (President)"

Video poster included this commentary:

Is Palin ready to lead?

John McCain's surprise selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate raises two obvious questions: What does she do for McCain's chances of winning? And, more important, what would she do for America if elected?

As for the first question, most of the instant analysis focused on Palin's potential to attract votes from Hillary Clinton's disaffected core. But Palin's staunchly conservative views on abortion, gun control and teaching creationism in schools make her an unlikely fit for those voters.

More plausibly, McCain saw Palin as a way to energize evangelical Christians in the Republican base while appealing to white female independents, a key voting bloc that makes up about 14% of the electorate and has been evenly divided in polls between McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. As a fresh face from outside Washington with a reputation as a reformer, Palin helps burnish McCain's credentials as a maverick in a year when voters want change.

As for the second question, which goes to the heart of whether Palin is qualified to take over the presidency, the available evidence gives us significant pause.

McCain and his supporters point to Palin's "executive experience" as a small-city mayor and, for the past two years, governor of Alaska. But the type of experience that matters most in the White House is the deep knowledge that can inform key decisions and responses to crises.

Here, Palin faces a steep learning curve. As governor, she has had little reason to involve herself with many domestic policy issues apart from energy. She has had no reason to become versed in foreign policy and national security issues. She will have to take a crash course in these subjects while enduring the baptism by fire that a condensed presidential election season will present. Monday's disclosure that her unmarried teenage daughter is pregnant is an example of the intense scrutiny the process generates.

The argument that Palin's résumé is as strong as, if not stronger than, Obama's is not particularly reassuring. The two are different shades of green.

Obama served eight years in the Illinois Senate and has been in the U.S. Senate for less than four. Unlike Palin, though, he spent the past year and a half answering the question about his fitness by immersing himself in issues and winning a grueling series of primary contests that involved dozens of debates, months of negative campaigning and numerous controversies about his background and associations.

Palin might still be able to establish her big-league credentials, but the window of opportunity is small and closing fast. The election is just nine weeks from today. In that time, she will have to introduce herself to the voters — and to McCain, whom she met only twice before Friday's announcement.

Given that McCain has described his Democratic opponent as unready to lead and called the fight against Islamic extremism as "the transcendent challenge of our time," his choice of Palin is puzzling.

At this week's GOP convention and in the weeks that follow, Palin will face a barrage of additional questions about her ability to grasp the issues and perform under trying circumstances. How she answers them will help determine whether her selection was a stroke of brilliance or a reckless gamble.
Posted at 12:21 AM/ET, September 02, 2008 in Election 2008 - Editorial, People - Editorial, USA TODAY

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/09/is-palin-ready.html

Barack Obama Promises to Sign FOCA

"Sarah Palin Leaves Protester Speechless in Florida!!"

HT Hillary Clinton Forum

"Sarah Palin visits the Bay Area"

(video here)

BURLINGAME, CA (KGO) -- A large crowd of supporters and protestors of Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin turned out on the Peninsula for the Republican vice presidential candidate's only Bay Area appearance.

Just before arriving at a Bay Area fundraiser, Palin defended her comments made on Saturday when she accused Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of consorting with a terrorist.

"I think it's fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career in this guy's living room. And he, of course, being associated with that group, a known domestic terrorist group," Palin said Palin was referring to Obama's ties with Bill Ayers. Ayers was a founder of the Weather Underground, a radical group during the Vietnam War era. Obama was eight years old during that time. The senator and Ayers now live near each other in Chicago and both worked together at the same Chicago charity in the mid 1990s.

Sunday morning, Palin arrived for a fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame. The streets were lined with a few hundred equally divided and vocal Obama and McCain supporters. Obama supporters thought that Palin's attack Saturday was a sign of McCain's failing campaign.

"I think it's a desperation attack on Obama," said Kathy Lanahan, an Obama supporter.

"It's not an attack. It's an expression of 'we gotta know who we're supporting,'" said McCain supporter Leo Locayo who believes Palin was correct in her criticism of Obama's associations.

Sunday's event was attended by some 600 to 800 people. Locayo says this event will line the Republican coffers for the few weeks left of the race.

"I won't give you a figure, but it's in the millions and it's necessary to take the message to the people and that's what it's all about," said Locayo ...

From a commentor on the article:
... It might be responsible to mention that Obama and Ayres worked together for several years in Chicago at the Woods Fund and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in the 1990's. Ayres, unrepentant, re-asserted his terrorist leanings in 2001, on Sep 11 after the WTC bombings where he stated that he regretted not having done enough (bombings). Quite an omission.

"Palin's Presence Shatters Fund-Raising Record in California"

Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin touched down in San Francisco on Sunday and arrived at a record-shattering fund-raiser at the Hyatt Hotel near the airport.

She was greeted by several dozen protestors, or as I can them “Palin Pouters.”

It was the usual suspects, Code Pinkos, MoveOn.org types as well as a few dopes just out to get their mugs on TV.

On the other side of the street, McCain/Palin supporters turned out. And they outnumbered the “Palin Pouters” 5 to 1. Maybe more.

They were happy warriors for the GOP. They laughed, smiled, and chanted USA USA USA and switched over to SARAH SARAH SARAH.

Inside the hotel, 1500 well-heeled Republican donors had brunch, and waited for Sarah. And waited. Finally, she took the stage.

The McCain campaign raised big $$$ at this fund-raiser, some say it totaled more than two million bucks, which broke the record for a GOP fund-raiser in California. Sarah Palin can pack them in!

The funniest line of the day came when Governor Palin confided to the crowd that a lot of people asked her why she did “so lousy with Katie Couric?”

She replied “it was job security for Tina Fey.” That brought a huge laugh.

Palin had the crowd eating out of her hand. She was given standing o’s several times. Everyone was happy to see her, and she was happy to see us. We watched a supremely confident woman, dressed in a dark quasi military sheath, decorated by a rhinestone ARMY insignia to honor her son Track, who is now in Iraq.

Here is a picture of Elizabeth Myers, of San Jose. She invited me to be her guest, alongwith Brian Sussman of KSFO, and Catherine Moy, Executive Director of Move America Forward. I am very grateful she did. Elizabeth is a gracious and warm woman.

(click for photos)
Melanie Morgan, SF radio and TV

Biden Palin Debate

(The rest is here.)

CNN Money

Two views of bail-out. There still seems to be a bit of tension.

Freedom of Choice Act [tramples states' rights]

"The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do."
-- Senator Barack Obama, speaking to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, July 17, 2007
(from National Right to Life website)

"Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)
Following the Supreme Court's closely divided and bitter decision upholding the Federal Abortion Ban, it is clear that the right to choose is facing a new level of assault. That's why the pro-choice community is working to guarantee the right to choose through the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) – a measure that will codify Roe v. Wade and guarantee the right to choose for future generations of women."
(from NARAL Pro-Choice America website)

If FOCA was passed it would automatically overturn:
-- State abortion reporting requirements in all 50 states
-- Forty-four states' laws concerning parental involvement
-- Forty states' laws on restricting later-term abortions
-- Forty-six states' conscience protection laws for individual health care providers
-- Twenty-seven states' conscience protection laws for institutions
-- Thirty-eight states' bans on partial-birth abortions
-- Thirty-three states' laws on requiring counseling before an abortion
-- Sixteen states' laws concerning ultrasounds before an abortion
("Freedom of Choice Act Would Remove All Limitations on Abortions")

Text of HR 1964 (Freedom of Choice Act)

All Cosponsors from All States
Bill Name: "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA)
Bill Number: H.R.1964
(here are the 105 (1 R, 104 D) Co-sponsors of the bill)
[You can send a message to them at link above]

Summary:

Sponsored by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA), the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA) would invalidate any federal, state, or local government law, regulation, policy, or action that would "deny or interfere with" a woman's access to abortion prior to "viability," or which would "discriminate against the exercise of" this right in the regulation or provision of any "benefits, facilities, services, or information."

This ban would apply absolutely prior to fetal "viability," and also apply after "viability" to any abortion sought on grounds of "health," which is not defined in the bill and which therefore would include any physical or emotional factor whatsoever.

Although sometimes referred to as a bill to "codify Roe v. Wade," this is misleading, because -- the sponsors of the bill have acknowledged that it would invalidate many laws that have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court under Roe v. Wade, including laws restricting government funding of abortion, limits on abortion in public or military faclities, full-disclosure counseling requirements, and bans on partial-birth abortion.

It would also invalidate all laws requiring parental or judicial notification or consent for abortions performed on minors, laws that permit health care providers to opt out of participation in abortion on conscience grounds, laws prohibiting non-physicians from performing abortions, and waiting periods.
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=9653451&size=full

The Senate has introduced a version too:
Senate bill #S. 1173:
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=9668701&size=full

(Senate bill text)

Excerpt from "Freedom of Choice Act Would Remove All Limitations on Abortions":

When a candidate pledges to ... "sign immediately upon taking office" - the Freedom of Choice Act, Catholics and all people of good will have cause to question the sincerity of the candidate's determination to reduce abortions, when these already existing limits have caused a decrease of more than 100,000 abortions each year....

If FOCA was passed it would automatically overturn:

-- State abortion reporting requirements in all 50 states
-- Forty-four states' laws concerning parental involvement
-- Forty states' laws on restricting later-term abortions
-- Forty-six states' conscience protection laws for individual health care providers
-- Twenty-seven states' conscience protection laws for institutions
-- Thirty-eight states' bans on partial-birth abortions
-- Thirty-three states' laws on requiring counseling before an abortion
-- Sixteen states' laws concerning ultrasounds before an abortion

There is evidence of a very significant reduction of reported abortions, particularly among teens, through the passage of parental involvement laws and the use of ultrasounds. The August, 2008, report of the Alan Guttmacher Institute notes the greatest decline in abortions over the last 30 years is among teens, attributable in large part to the above restrictions, as well as a later initiation of sexual activity....

-- Bishop Robert W. Finn
Kansas City-St. Joseph

I'm amazed how much the Bishops are speaking out

This is in regards to a Marriage amendment in AZ

Yet of Little Faith - Colbert on the Economy

Hat tip to dot Commonweal.

Thank You, House Republicans [Mark R. Levin]

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Thank You, House Republicans [Mark R. Levin]

I have read the posts here and elsewhere. Sometimes these things are made to look more complicated than they really are. From an economic perspective, if the problem is liquidity and credit, there simply is no need for the federal government to assume massive amounts of debt on its book by assuming loans in anticipation that their holders or borrowers will default. This seems to me like a brand new expanse of government power that is not justified (if it ever is) by the arguments made on its behalf. The government controls monetary policy through supply and interest rates, among other things. It can further ease money supply and credit, thereby increasing the flow of capital. The government controls tax policy. It can increase liquidity and the flow of new money into the economy both from within the country and from foreign sources by eliminating the corporate income tax and the capital gains tax even on a mid-term basis. No matter what is done, some financial institutions will fail, as they did in the 1981-82 recession and have since. And the Fed and Treasury and other instrumentalities of government will have to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether to intervene and how to intervene. They will also have to determine whether other policies require modifying, such as the McCain proposal today, in which he suggests increasing federal insurance for individual depositors from $100,000 to $250,000. Other smart suggestions include modifying the mark-to-market rule requiring financial institutions to downgrade the valuation of assets. If the goal is to prevent panic in the economy by investors and depositors, then increase credit, liquidity, and the flow of capital, and deal with problem institutions that are significant enough in size that their demise could resonate to the wider economy. But the Soviet-style, top-down five year plan a la Paulson's proposal, and to a significant extent the proposal that was voted down yesterday, could easily do more damage to both the economy and our governmental structure. So, in this respect, I must depart from NRO's editorial.

Also, count me among those few here who want to thank the House Republicans for taking a bold stand against what had been a stampede on a scale I have never before witnessed on matters of huge consequence. Conservatism is more than a quaint belief-system to be embraced and debated over donuts at Starbucks. It is more than a list of talking points. It is the foundation of the civil society. The liberal uses crises, real or manufactured, to expand the power of government at the expense of the individual and private property. He has spent, in earnest, 70 years evading the Constitution's limits on governmental power. If conservatives don't stand up to this, who will? If they don't offer serious alternatives that address the current circumstances AND defend the founding principles, who will? The House Republicans have done both. And I, for one, thank them.

Incidentally, if you want to buy a home or car today you can. And if your credit is decent, you can get loans at a good rate. Last week we were told that if a deal was not struck by last Friday, our economy would collapse. It has not. That is not to say the evidence of economic troubles or worse should be ignored. It is to say that now is a time for reasoned decisions based on tried and true principles, not for abandoning them. I notice that the socialist, who, for the last 30 years, has insisted that private institutions make risky loans based on non-economic factors, still has not abandoned his policies. Socialism does not work. We shouldn't support more of it.


09/30 11:07 AM

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Attack! Our politicians at work! Time for the good old practice of Tar and Feathering !

More on the Banking Disaster

Here's more on the roles in oversight of Freddie and Fannie.

The brewing of the financial collapse from the housing bubble and burst

I hope this doesn't offend as it is partisan, but contains a lot of facts that are pertinent. Where would you disagree with these issues?

Moral Response to Financial Crisis from US Bishops

WASHINGTON-Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, urged the Bush Administration and Congress, September 26, to consider the moral aspects of the current financial crisis.

He stressed responsibility, accountability, awareness of advantages and limitations of the market, solidarity, subsidiarity and the common good, in the search for just and effective responses to the economic turmoil, while considering its human impact and ethical dimensions.

The text of the letter follows.

September 26, 2008

Dear Secretary Paulson, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner:

The economic crisis facing our nation is both terribly disturbing and enormously complicated. I write to offer the prayers of the U.S. Catholic Bishops and express the concerns of our Conference as you face difficult choices on how to limit the damage and move forward with prudence and justice. As pastors and teachers, my brother bishops and I do not bring technical expertise to these complicated matters. However, we believe our faith and moral principles can help guide the search for just and effective responses to the economic turmoil threatening our people.

• Human and Moral Dimensions: This crisis involves far more than just economic or technical matters, but has enormous human impact and clear ethical dimensions which should be at the center of debate and decisions on how to move forward. Families are losing their homes. Retirement savings are at risk. People are losing jobs and benefits. Economic arrangements, structures and remedies should have as a fundamental purpose safeguarding human life and dignity. The scandalous search for excessive economic rewards even to the point of dangerous speculation that exacerbates the pain and losses of the more vulnerable are egregious examples of an economic ethic that places economic gain above all other values. This ignores the impact of economic decisions on the lives of real people as well as the ethical dimension of the choices we make and the moral responsibility we have for their effect on people.

• Responsibility and Accountability: Clearly, effective measures are required which address and alter the behaviors, practices and misjudgments that led to this crisis. Sadly, greed, speculation, exploitation of vulnerable people and dishonest practices helped to bring about this serious situation. Many blameless and vulnerable people have been and will be harmed. Those who directly contributed to this crisis or profited from it should not be rewarded or escape accountability for the harm they have done. Any response of government ought to seek greater responsibility, accountability and transparency in both economic and public life.

• Advantages and Limitations of the Market: Pope John Paul II pointed out that “the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs…But there are many human needs which find no place on the market. It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied.” Both public and private institutions have failed in responding to fundamental human needs. A new sense of responsibility on the part of all should include a renewal of instruments of monitoring and correction within economic institutions and the financial industry as well as effective public regulation and protection to the extent this may be clearly necessary.

• Solidarity and the Common Good: The principle of solidarity reminds us that we are in this together and warns us that concern for narrow interests alone can make things worse. The principle of solidarity commits us to the pursuit of the common good, not the search for partisan gain or economic advantage. Protection of the vulnerable – workers, business owners, homeowners, renters, and stockholders – must be included in the commitment to protect economic institutions. As Church leaders we ask that you give proper priority to the poor and the most vulnerable.

• Subsidiarity: Subsidiarity places a responsibility on the private actors and institutions to accept their own obligations. If they do not do so, then the larger entities, including the government, will have to step in to do what private institutions will have failed to do.

This is a challenging time for our nation. Everyone who carries responsibility should exercise it according to their respective roles and with a great sensitivity to reforming practices and setting forth new guidelines that will serve all people, all institutions of the economy and the common good of the people as a nation. This includes not just the leaders of the economic life of our country. It means the political leaders and all those whose own expertise can contribute to a resolution of the current situation.

Our Catholic tradition calls for a “society of work, enterprise and participation” which “is not directed against the market, but demands that the market be appropriately controlled by the forces of society and by the state to assure that the basic needs of the whole society are satisfied” (Centesimus Annus). These words of John Paul II should be adopted as a standard for all those who carry this responsibility for our nation, the world and the common good of all.

Sincerely,

Most Reverend William F. Murphy
Bishop of Rockville Centre
Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and
Human Development

There's more trouble than the Bailout fiasco

I'm with Ron Paul on this one.

Roubini Call Bailout a Disgrace

Roubini has been pretty direct about this all along. We'll see if he's just a pessimest or if he's more honest about the trouble than anyone else.

Pelosi's Pep talk for historic bailout vote

In a stunning moment of bipartisanship, Pelosi rallies the troops from both sides of the aisles...NOT!



Pelosi making history; good job!

Another success, 40 Days for Life (updated)

5 babies saved Saturday in LA:
From blog: DAY 7: A star appears…

"John Anthony is helping lead the 40 Days for Life vigil at Family Planning Associates, the busiest abortion facility in Los Angeles. He knew Saturday would be a difficult day, and was praying as many volunteers as possible would be on hand to stand witness.

Those prayers were answered — and then some — with the arrival of actor Eduardo Verastegui, the start of the movie Bella, and several of his friends.

“Eduardo arrived a little after 8 am and did not stop counseling, praying and encouraging women to choose life for their babies — with love, tenderness, humility and compassion — until a little after noon,” John Anthony said. “God is good — five babies were saved that morning!”

But that isn’t the end of the story. John Anthony said it wasn’t just abortion-minded mothers that caught Eduardo’s attention. “The day had a dramatic ending when eight nurses from the clinic came outside to meet Eduardo!” He spoke with the nurses and gave them copies of his new Spanish language pro-life video, “Dura Realidad.”

---

UPDATE: so far 48 babies saved!
From blog: DAY 6: 48 and counting…

"One of the many inspiring stories I heard while out here was from Josh Brahm, the dynamic young man who is coordinating the 40 Days for Life campaign in Fresno, California. Josh shared a story with me that I’d like to share with you.

Here it is in his own words…

I stood outside of Planned Parenthood for about 6 and a half hours today, most of those hours alongside my wife, who is 9 months pregnant. A young, attractive girl started walking toward me from the Planned Parenthood driveway. I smiled at her thinking she was a Planned Parenthood employee.

The young woman said she wanted to ask me some questions, and I told her that I’d be glad to answer any questions she could think of. She asked why we were out here. At that point I knew she wasn’t a Planned Parenthood employee, because she would have known exactly why we’re out here! I told her that we were there to peacefully pray for an end to abortion. I introduced myself and asked for her name, and she shook my hand saying her name was Ashley.

Then she said, “Well, I changed my mind.” I figured maybe she had become pro-life, so I asked her what she meant by that. Ashley responded, “I was going to have an abortion, but I’m not going to now.” My eyes widened, I gave her a huge smile and told her that she was my new favorite person! (Except for my wife, of course!)

Ashley explained further that she saw a news story on TV about us this morning and knew she couldn’t have an abortion. I hadn’t seen that coverage yet, so I asked her what it was about the story that changed her mind. She said that she saw men and women praying and holding signs and Bibles, and she knew that she couldn’t go through with the abortion.

Ashley is 16 years old and 5 weeks pregnant. Her parents wanted her to have the abortion and have now kicked her out of their house and taken her cell phone. She’s living with a friend now. I began to tell Ashley about the local pregnancy care center and how much help we personally can offer her as well. I told her, “You’re not alone.”

Josh, thanks to you and your wife for faithfully leading this effort in Fresno, and Ashley — I was so honored to get to meet you while there. Your courage is truly inspiring.

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad!"

Yours for Life,

David Bereit
National Campaign Director
40 Days for Life

DAY 5: God is at work!