The thing is as president, Obama or any other, he or she has to be able to confront those persons with our exact objections and have them say right to our president, for instance, that Israel has no right to exist. And make sure they know by the words of our president that the U.S. will absolutely destroy their nation if they act on that statement. I do not want in any way that exchange to occur except up close and personal. Just so they know they have no choice except to abandon that position. That is why I would prefer our president to have no preconditions. If they say no and it ends right there so be it. That is their choice. But they need to know beyond any doubt the consequences of that choice. And it is my opinion you don't make that staement through the media or other channels.

I just am so sick and tired of listening to people say it is wrong to talk to Iran or other countries without preconditions. How in the hell do they expect there to be a frank dialog if we demand things before we even have a single word.
 
And what of our supposed 'allies' like Pakistan where the other day five women were simply killed, three daughters and two of their mothers, because the daughters wanted to have a choice of who they would marry. And this practice was argued in and supported by more than one member of the Pakistani parliament. I don't hear any of the people complaining about what Obama might do saying even one word about nations we sell weapons to while turning a blind eye to their non-existent human rights policies. I honestly would expect the president of the U.S. to break off political ties with any country that in their national assembly were debating and insisting upon the retention of such barbaric customs. How can we call people like that allies? It would be hard to find any Americans who want friends who have social customs such as that. But this is what we have and it's purely because of arms sales that we have such stupid policies.
 
McCain and Palin want to continue this stupid war without regard to the idiotic 'preconditions' it requires of us.

Thanks, but no thanks.

There will be a dem house and senate and McCain would likely face a very militant opposing majority in both houses. He won't be able to do squat without them. And I suspect if he steps over the line (tramples it?) like Bush has done congress will assert itself immediately. And Palin won't be able to help him in the senate very much because of numbers and because she has little first hand knowledge of day-to-day senate operations. There is also the possibility that Palin, having driven her party to the right, may end up costing republicans more seats than a less controversial VP might have. She assures the GOP of their base but at the expense of possible crossovers and independents going the other way. And in the house I doubt Pelosi will survive as the speaker. Look for the house to pick someone who is ready, willing and even happy to rumble.

The conservative rhetoric has risen to a deafening crescendo. It has become impossible to examine what is going on in the McCain camp and not see the extreme push to the right. This is breathtaking to watch.

I'm trying to gauge the possibilities of the republicans laying and winning such a wager and find myself at a loss to evaluate the strategy. In my mind the risk they are taking seems preposterous but at the same time I am cognizant of what it would portend should McCain actually win in November.

The republican wager has raised the stakes to the point where a republican win would absolutely devastate the country.
 
Democrats really need to understand what a republican win would mean and take very seriously what a negative outcome that would be.
 
You could kiss freedom goodbye. Government intrusion into our lives would be derigeur like you could not imagine.

And forget about the intrusion of religion on government. It would absolutely become integral to the running of the nation.

The deregulation of big business would go unchecked and unfurl a horde of abuses on consumers that would make what has already occurred pale by comparison.

If you think our foreign policy is unhappily received now, just wat and see what would happen under a McCain presidency.

Roe vs Wade would be history.

Further attempts of the U.S. to use our dwindling economic power to bully foreign powers would end in a mass exodus of foreign investment and a crash of U.S. currency.

Domestic surveillance and militaristic conduct by law enforcement would be completely out of control.

I really think all these things are absolutely predictable outcomes of a republican win. This may sound alarmist but it is a very logical product of what is being espoused at the republican convention.
 
A republican win would provide them affirmation of their policies of the last eight years and allow them to totally disregard the fact that the outcomes of the Bush presidency have irreparably harmed the nation.

As reported all over the blogosphere we got to watch and listen to all manner of hysteria and falsehoods from GOP regulars.

The common theme has been to attack Obama in an unscrupulous fashion and ignore the Bush and republican record or present that record in a misleading or false way.

I really hope people are watching this charade unfold. I find it hard to believe voters aren't going to see the conflict between what is being said and what actually occurred. You would have to be comatose not to recognize the mountain of BS the republicans are shoveling. Somewhere along the line republicans are going to be held accountable. Statistical probabilities are not in the republican favor. Their lies will eventually topple one by one and crush whole lying bunch under the weight of their misdeeds. They can't change this happening because it's a natural occurrence that is mathematically unalterable.

There is a downside though. They will have really messed up the country along the way. Once upon a time this could not have happened, at least not with the consequences of today. But with the MSM being fully owned and controlled by corporate America the threshold that would normally trigger an appropriate public response is much higher. The media filter on what's reported and how it's reported alters the equation that governs the public response.
 
This is our computer age at work and being abused in ways that we have not taken into account or thought to regulate. The collection and analysis of so much information is bound to have been abused. Government in general and republicans in particular along with their corporate partners haven't missed a beat in that regard.

Our political process is transforming into one big analytical process, excrutiatingly examined by MBA's and marketing types, leading them to precisely focus resources in a way that allows to modify the outcome like never before. I've no doubt they measure the effect of the bullshit (lies) and numerically gauge the net result without regard to the ethical implications. Exactly like in public speaking where it is stipulated to know your audience, the persons doing this behind the scenes know their audience in ways we can only speculate upon.

What this means for Americans is very clear. Like never before it demands our undivided attention and participation. This is more than problematic. To say that Americans are bored to death with this takes on a truly scary literal meaning.

I was reading Joshua's column from today reflecting on the limitied potential for Palin being removed from the republican ticket. Frankly there is no way, and Josh correctly states what a disaster it would be for McCain.

Although selecting Palin has been widely viewed as a mistake McCain cannot back away from his choice. Changing your mind on every position you have taken on every issue could be overlooked. But throwing Palin overboard would be crash and burn. Big time. One possible outcome is in the House of Representatives, Democratic gains would increase more than they already probably will but the Senate could end up in play for a 60 vote majority if McCain changes his mind on this. Republican voters just wouldn't go to the polls or even worse, vote for Obama just out of spite. Wingers would be really pissed. Just think of the entertainment value if Palin is canned. It'd be an absolute freak show.

Alaska is reputed to be the most tax friendly state in the nation.

The Town of Wasilla reports a town budget for both FY07 and FY08 in the range of 13M. The town was also the recipient of 26M in earmarks from Congress.

This would lead one to conclude that perhaps all the remaining states are essentially paying for Alaska. Supposedly local sales tax and property tax makes up for the difference in the way Alaska levies taxes. However I suspect there is something fishy about the overall strategy of taxation. If what we see here is typical there is little doubt that a disproportionate number of taxpayer dollars goes to the state of Alaska while state and local taxes are notably less than many states in the lower 48.

We all know there is no free lunch and in the end somebody pays. In the case of Alaska it would appear that maybe residents in the lower 48 are the payees.
 
And what would happen to all the revenue generated if drilling were opened up in those areas that are currently under dispute. If Alaska is such an attractive economic climate for energy production (drilling) then there better be a comensurate modification of distribution of federal dollars were that to occur. Or is this just another scam like so many others when it comes to the production of petro products. 

SP needs to come to grips with the fact that oil is a finite resource. Her judgement is clouded by the economic aspect of energy provisioning. Sun, wind etc aren't subject to the limits of the availibility of oil. We need to make a major investment  in alternative energy sources. It is beyond obvious our energy profile must be changed if we have any expectation of solving our energy dilemma. Efforts to alter this have been continuously hampered by Bush and republicans and SP wants to continue along this same wrong course for reasons that are all too obvious. Her judgement is irrefutably unsound in ths regard and is corrupt in ways that we are all too aware of. Her argument is so unethical and untruthful it punches you right in the face. Though unmanly, I want to punch her right back for lying directly to my face. And just for the record I would so like to do the same to Bush and Cheney.

So how does a seventeen year old daughter become pregnant in this day and age? Please don't laugh because I'm clearly not referring to the biological aspect of what has now become public.

As a parent it becamse quite clear when our daughter became sexually active and my wife and I made certain that what has happened to the Palin family and specifically to Bristol didn't happen to our daughter. Human nature being what it is I think it foolish to try and modify somehting that is hopelessly unalterable. The next best and realistic choice is access to birth control.

I don't know if SP was cognizant of her daughters activities or if she approves of birth control. In either of these two cases SP and her husband clearly dropped the ball.

For whatever reason if SP can't safeguard her family and exercise sound judgement in something that is very much her responsibility neither she nor McCain has any right to ask Americans to make her the VP of this country.
 
Personally I don't want a VP who carries around a bagfull of biases that cloud his or her judgement or who is afraid to objectively address tough issues or who is unaware of what is actually happening around them. SP could well influence the lives of, not one American, but all of America. SP needs a reality check because her views just don't stack up to the facts.

The proper term for what is being displayed by the McCain campaign and republicans in general is schizophrenic. This is a party coming apart at the seams. Even the spinmeisters are going in varied directions with no apparent course in mind. It's just full steam ahead just for the sake of appearances.

This truly mimics what has been going on since day one of the Bush administration. Full steam ahead with little thought to where they were taking the country or if it was a good idea to be going 'there'. Having stripped away the urgency of events such as 9/11 or Katrina we see revealed the hollowness of purpose. Bush was absent any idea of how to lead in those situations and McCain is showing himself to be of the same stripe. McCain has demonstrated his ineptitude time after time. His pick for VP has confirmed for us his woefull lack of qualifications to lead the nation.

It is comedic to listen to McCain tout the qualifications of Palin to lead the nation. Or to examine the comparative skills and experience of Biden. It's hard to imagine a greater contrast for the VP slot. Yet McCain is unabashedly making this comparison with little regard for the absurdity of his claim. This is a fantasy that brings to mind the housing meltdown where borrowers were sold a bill of goods that was hopelessly unable to deliver on the promise. Can there be any doubt that scheme after scheme hatched by republicans has produced little else than failure. The attainment of national goals remains a far off point on the horizon. Does anyone really think we have any chance of drilling our way to energy independence? Or that pursuing a petro based future is an intelligent use of our nations technological or human resource? And what of the ruse that Iraq was about terrorism as opposed to what Americans have come to understand as being umistakably about oil?

Republicans have given us nothing but failed policies offered as very certain solutions to goals that were purely an expansion of republican political and ideological concepts. It is absolutely impossible to mistake or confuse republican goals with those of the average working American. What republicans seek is strikingly at odds with what we are truly seeking and the sooner the nation abandons everything republicans are doing and have done the better off we'll be.