Three Things

1.  Today is the runoff election in GA for the Senate seat.  Help support Jim Martin!

2.  Bush admin has apparently hidden "big government" amidst contractors.

3.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mumbai Tragedy

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Stuff to Read - Friday

Keep up on the MN recount results for the Senate race between Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Dem challenger Al Franken. As of this hour, Coleman is ahead by 136 votes.

hee hee: Obama Puppy Drama

The Bush Admin has been holding 5 Algerians at Gitmo since 2001 but a federal judge ruled yesterday that there is no case (and never has been one) against the men and they should be released. The Bush Admin has freed ZERO Gitmo prisoners when judges have ordered their release so this is probably a somewhat hollow victory. Their best bet, along with all the other prisoners there, will be January 20 when President-Elect Obama, who has promised to close Gitmo, takes office.

Bizarro Reads

Is anyone minding the store over at Newsweek?

Phyllis Schlafly lets the wacky fly:

The third group that Republicans lost in 2008 was unmarried women. By a colossal 40-plus point spread, unmarried women voted for Barack Obama by 70 percent to 29 percent. 
   
One explanation is economic: The women who cast off husbands look to Big Brother Government to support them. They vote for the party that promises more benefits from the Welfare State. 
   
The other explanation is social: The feminists have carried on a 40-year campaign to destroy marriage and what they deride as the patriarchy. They want to replace it with a matriarchy. 
   
In the 1970s, the feminists achieved unilateral divorce on demand from state legislatures, unilateral abortion on demand from the courts, and unilateral control over children in the welfare class by taxpayer handouts to women that made husbands and fathers unnecessary. 
   

The feminists have continued their campaign against marriage through Joe Biden's favorite legislation, the Violence Against Women Act, which provides a billion dollars a year to feminist centers to promote divorce and oppose reconciliation. The act is based on feminist ideology that women are naturally victims entitled to tax-paid legal and financial assistance, while men are naturally batterers who are not entitled even to due process protections.

The San Diego Union-Tribune printed this Letter to the Editor last week:

Veterans, active duty, retired military – alarm, alarm! President-elect Obama is proposing a National Security Force with allegiance (pay, benefits provided by the executive branch) to him. 

C'mon, some really bad guys have tried that in the past and we know where that went. Not while I draw a breath! 

Stuff to Read

There is still hope that Sarah "I exonerated myself of corruption" Palin will be prevented from appointing herself to replace Sen. Ted "Damn, why didn't I think of that?" Stevens because they are still counting ballots up there in that Alaska, and Stevens' opponent Mark Begich is in the lead.

Recommended for not only a great title but a substantive look at the GOP's prospects: The Next RNC Chair: Captain Of The GOP Titanic?

The NY Times reports that Dan Rather continues to pursue possible Republican influence behind the CBS inquiry which led to his resignation.

President-Elect Obama Links

Not sure when Obama is planning the ninja overtake of the country where we all have to burn our flags, become Muslims and start having abortions, but in the meantime:

Barack Obama's new website

A pdf worth clicking to see how the Obama administration views the US Government.

And from Bark Obama (yeah, we're still going!), a political cartoon with an agenda.

Quickies

ha ha

RCP has AZ in the "Leaning McCain" column.  Wow.

Flip-Flop:  Republicans now for busing school kids!

Stuff to Read and Sign

I'm not sure I can give a summary of this - it's too surreal - but you can read about a McCain-Palin rally in VA Beach here.

Color of Change is asking for signatures on an open letter to McCain-Palin, part of which reads:

Today, we're standing together as Americans of all political persuasions to express our deep concern that the decisions of your campaign are contributing to a dangerous atmosphere of paranoia, division, and hate that, as we have already seen, has the potential to seriously harm our country and its progress.

HuffPo reports that the lobbyist McCain hired to head his transition team used to lobby for Hussein - not the middle name Hussein - the actual dictator. I guess it's a good thing that transition team prolly isn't going to be needed.

Stuff to Read

The thrill of irony and the agony of shooting yourself in da feet:



(John McCain at a 2006 event sponsored by his BFF, ACORN)

Salon has a good piece up investigating Palin's ties to the radical Alaska Independence Party (Warning: Leave the lights on.)



Hillary "We so stole your chant thingy and made it better" Clinton: Jobs, Baby, Jobs - O yes she did.

Stuff to Read and Look at

The Village Voice has a lengthy piece investigating the political career of Sarah Palin. It includes her extensive ties to Senator Ted Stevens (R - AK), lobbyists and big oil, as well as an interesting bit about the mystery "buddies" Todd Palin claims helped him build their house for free.


File under Just for Fun:

Is Barack Obama Muslin?

Yes We Can (Hold Babies)

Yes We Can Has


And lastly, file under Wingnuttery:

Stuff to Read While Waiting for the Troopergate Report

The Troopergate report is due out tomorrow.  In the meantime, Todd Palin submitted his written deposition to investigators yesterday and it was immediately leaked to the press.  Andrew Halcro goes over the deposition here.

HuffPo reports that Obama's got a solid team in place for transition should he win in November.  McCain - not so much.  Maybe he should suspend his campaign in order to get going on this task.

TPM's got a new Obama ad criticizing McCain's shiny new mortgage plan which went over like a lead balloon after he unveiled it during Tuesday night's debate.

Sunday Reading

A diary on dKos talks about an "unsung moment of the debate" and fair warning: it's a humbling, I've-got-something-in-my-eye moment.

A conservative columnist hopes Palin will bow out gracefully, before it's too late.

And on Bark Obama!, guess who was on the cover of Life in September 2004?

Stuff to Read

Speculation on why, when Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the city billed victims for their own rape kits:

The rape kits that Sarah Palin had a direct role in forcing women to pay for
contained emergency contraception.

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Who ever knew that politics in Alaska was so interesting?

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And - thank goodness - a Layman's Explanation of AIG vs Bear vs Lehmann