NYT: Obama Plans Sharper Tone as Party Frets

We shall see.

Read the rest of this post...

Darn Facts and Figures

They're always getting in the way.

If Bay Buchanan's performance on CNN tonight was any indication, expect conservatives to flood the news tomorrow with exclamations of Sarah's success:

"She's very real. Sure, she hasn't traveled overseas to meet these foreign leaders, but that's not what Americans are looking for. She's absolutely correct. They want somebody who they relate to, who's hearing them. They're sick and tired of those people in Washington who may know lots of facts and figures and meet lots of people but fail to respond to the American people's needs."

To his credit, Robert Zimmerman fired back:

"That's always a danger, Bay, when people know facts and figures. It's always a danger when we have leaders that know facts and figures. That really does get in the way of setting up sound policy."

I don't have a clip or a link for you. I was so shocked in the moment that I rewound the DVR and transcribed it myself. Read the rest of this post...

Washington Post on Cindy McCain's drug addiction

Well, the story that seemed to have been banned earlier today is finally out. But it's not on the Washington Post's Web site. It's on the Web site of some paper called The Herald, that I've never heard of. Wondering if this is a mistake that it got out. But this is the story. Read the rest of this post...

AP pans Palin's interview today with Charlie Gibson

A rather blistering report from the Associated Press on how well Sarah Palin did today with Charlie Gibson. I'm gonna guess that we're going to see far less of Palin, and far more "you're all sexists!" ads, in the future after the McCain campaign reads this review. Sarah Palin has only just begun to serve as the most important human shield in all of American history. Here's the intro to AP's story:

John McCain running mate Sarah Palin sought Thursday to defend her qualifications but struggled with foreign policy, unable to describe President Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against threatening nations and acknowledging she's never met a foreign head of state.

The Republican vice presidential nominee told Charles Gibson of ABC News in her first televised interview since being named to the GOP ticket that "I'm ready" to be president if called upon. However, she sidestepped on whether she had the national security credentials needed to be commander in chief.

It gets worse from there. Read the rest of this post...

New McCain ad paints Palin as massive victim of sexism. FactCheck.org says the entire ad is one big lie.

McCain needs to be shut down on this sexism crap. First off, Sarah Palin needs to be asked if it's sexism or not. If she says it is, then she needs to explain why she belittled Hillary for crying sexism, saying that no woman candidate should claim such a thing. And if she says it's isn't, then the media needs to hound John McCain for the next 50-some days as to why he's become such a huge, cynical liar. McCain is now outright lying, each day, in more and more ads, all of them bigger lies than the previous. The media knows it. They're calling McCain on it. But now it's the media's duty to do the larger stories. The stories about why McCain is doing this. The stories about how McCain is no longer a maverick, and now is just another slimy, dishonorable man desperate to become president before he's too old. And it's Barack Obama's job to shut McCain down, now, before these daily lies become one big Swift Boat. Because they're heading that direction, fast.

Read the rest of this post...

Palin agrees with Obama, and not McCain, on going into Pakistan to catch terrorists

Oops. It seems that Sarah Palin today agreed with Barack Obama's position on chasing terrorists into Pakistan, with or without the permission of the Pakistani government. She told ABC's Charlie Gibson that "all options are on the table" when pressed about this very question. Charlie was tricking her, and she didn't know it, because she knows nothing about foreign policy or national politics. If she had, she'd have known that Gibson was really asking her if she agreed with Obama or McCain. Palin, stupidly, faked her answer, and agreed with Obama.

First, here is what Obama said earlier this year:

“Let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains, that murdered 3,000 Americans,” he said, continuing with resolve: “If we have actionable intelligence about high-valued terrorist targets and President Musharraf will not act, we will.”

Here is what McCain had to say about Obama:

Obama at the time was talking about attacking known al-Qaeda terrorist targets, not suggesting mounting an attack on the country or government of Pakistan. Still, he caught flak shortly thereafter from some on both sides of the aisle for discussing the merits of attacking a sovereign ally.

And McCain saw no distinction, while speaking with reporters, today. “That’s still bombing Pakistan,” he said when pressed on the topic. McCain then sidestepped, discussing the merits of diplomacy. “The first thing you do is you don’t tell people what you’re going to do; you make plans, and you work with the other country that is your ally and friend, which Pakistan is.”

Here is what Palin said, in the video below:

"If there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend."

Now watch Palin today tell Charlie Gibson the same thing, that she basically agrees with Obama that going into Pakistan, or "bombing Pakistan" as McCain calls it, is on the table. Oops. Also, note in this video that Palin has no idea what the Bush doctrine is, so she tries to fake it. It's painful.

Read the rest of this post...

Arianna: Obama needs to embrace some 'righteous rage'

Arianna Huffington today on Obama:

Now, as the crises facing our country intensify, and the campaign McCain is running becomes sleazier and more trivial, it's time for Obama to unleash his inner Atticus [Finch, from "To Kill a Mockingbirg"] -- or at least the key element of Finch that Obama seems reluctant to embrace: righteous rage.

"Finch had the riotous fire of all the great prophets in the Judeo-Christian tradition," John Cusack told me during our back-and-forth email conversation of the last few days. "He unleashes that fire in his final, great courtroom speech. If he didn't, if he refused to unleash his anger and contempt at the horror and immorality of racism, he would prove himself to be an unemotional man unworthy of our love and respect. Obama has waited long enough to show us this side of himself. Besides, we need to know that he can be a mean motherfucker if he wants this job."
....
To fully become the transformational leader we need, Obama must demonstrate to the American people his capacity for indignation -- for the kind of ferocious passion that fueled King and Nelson Mandela. He has to fight fire with fire, and wield anger in the service of what right, true, and good. The fierce urgency of now demands nothing less.

Read the rest of this post...

Remember, folks, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia

It helps if you pay attention to the hand gestures.

Read the rest of this post...

McCain opposed Biden's legislation to stop charging rape victims for sexual assault exams

Okay, this issue gets bigger by the hour. John reported on it first, days ago. Finally in the past 24 hours, the corporate media got wind of it (what, not reading our AMERICAblog are we?). Now, the issue has moved beyond just Sarah Palin charging rape victims for rape kits (i.e., intrusive forensic rape exams, exams that are needed to prove the rape and find the rapist). It now involves McCain and Joe Biden.

One would think that the Obama/Biden campaign would have blown this issue up by now - kind of a no-brainer, as John explained this morning. For Christ sakes, the McCain campaign turned that "lipstick on a pig" line into a two-day story -- and it was about nothing. This is a real issue that affects the health and safety of women in America. It's real, it's creepy as hell, and McCain and Palin are on the record on the wrong side. The very wrong side or a horrible issue. An issue that jeopardizes the very relationship with women that McCain and Palin are trying to build by repeatedly accusing Obama of being a 'sexist', among other things. Again, kind of a no-brainer.

Biden has been a champion in the effort to end domestic violence. I know this first-hand from my work on the Board of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Biden championed the effort to stop charging rape victims for exams after they'd been sexually assaulted.

John McCain voted against Biden's efforts -- repeatedly. Like his running mate, John McCain wanted to charge rape victims for exams.

Jed has uncovered the details:

In 1994, John McCain voted against legislation -- pushed through Congress by Joe Biden -- that helped put an end to the practice of charging rape victims for sexual assault exams.

Twisted as it may sound, charging victims for a forensic exam was a real problem. For example, as AMERICAblog has documented (and the media is now reporting), when Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the town charged rape victims for the exams.

Biden's legislation required that state, local, and Indian governments provide the rape exams to victims free of charge as a condition of receiving federal funds under the Violence Against Women Act. In 2000, Alaska finally passed state legislation in order to qualify for federal funding.

McCain not only opposed Biden's legislation, but also has voted against funding it as recently as October 2007.

Read the rest of this post...

No politics on 9/11 -- except Sarah Palin's disrepectful interview on ABC

All day long, we kept hearing that the presidential campaigns were honoring 9/11 by avoiding politics.

Why did Sarah Palin violate the "no politics on 9/11" rule? I mean, she could have done the ABC interview any day -- yet, she chose 9/11. Her blatant disrespect for this date should not go unchallenged.

I know it's ok if you're a Republican, but imagine the screeching we'd hear if one of the Democrats did one of the biggest political interviews of their career on this day. The traditional media would be in a frenzy. In fact, Jed reports that CNN was in a frenzy trying to figure out where Michelle Obama was today. See, for them, that's an issue. Sarah Palin violating the rule, not an issue. Read the rest of this post...

VIDEO: Sarah Palin on declaring war on Russia... "perhaps so!"

Watch the video. Check out how she says "perhaps so!" when asked if her policies might lead America to have to declare war on Russia. She scoffs when she's saying it. She's not giving a scholarly answer about NATO treaty commitments, she's scoffing and saying the equivalent of "you betcha I may declare war on Russia, buster - bring it on!." Watch it. Extra credit for her throwing in the "I live close to Russia" baloney.

Read the rest of this post...

Josh Marshall on Palin's threat to declare war on Russia

Talking Points Memo:

Wow, going to war with Russia might be necessary if Russia invades another one of the former states of the Soviet Union. So says Sarah Palin. War with Russia over Armenia? If Russia and Georgia go at it again? War between the US and Russia sure would be a positive development for the US. And sort of shows the consequences of taking a freshman governor with no experience in foreign policy and giving her a ten day crash course with Randy Scheunemann and the rest of John McCain's neocon brain trust that got booted from the Bush inner circle for being too nutty.

Late Update: Do we all understand now why former Sen. Chafee (R-RI) called her a "cocky whacko" earlier this week

Read the rest of this post...

BREAKING: Palin threatens to declare war on Russia

Sarah Palin today threatened to declare war on Russia if they invade Georgia, the country that hired John McCain's top foreign policy aide as a lobbyist.

When asked by Gibson if under the NATO treaty, the U.S. would have to go to war if Russia again invaded Georgia, Palin responded: "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help....

Palin advocated the accession of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, meaning that if attacked again in the future, the United States would be bound to go to war....

Palin, who obtained her first passport this year and who has served just two years as Alaska's governor, told Gibson that she was up to the challenge of being Sen. John McCain's vice president.

Georgia is also the country that John McCain recently declared "we are all Georgians." These people are nuts. Oh, and don't forget, as McCain said today, Russia is her strong suit - she lives next door, you know - and she's threatening to declare to war on Russia. This is her strong suit, and she's threatening to declare war. We're screwed, people. Read the rest of this post...

Petraeus contradicts Palin on Iraq

Oops. I guess Sarah Palin will have to retake her "My First Iraq 101" class the McCain campaign gave her this week. From Greg Sargent:

One of the McCain campaign's chief assaults on Barack Obama is that McCain is insisting that the troops return only after "victory" in Iraq, while Obama refuses to use that word -- a position the McCain forces describe as tantamount to wanting to lose.

But it turns out that none other than General Petraeus may now be refusing to use the word "victory," too.

In an interview with the BBC, Petraeus said he didn't know if he could promise "victory," said he didn't know if he would ever even use that word, and suggested that using it is irresponsible.

So Petraeus says that Palin has no idea what she's talking about. During her convention speech, which was written by John McCain's people. McCain must have approved the speech. So in fact, Petraeus is saying that John McCain has no idea what he's talking about when it comes to demanding we use the word "victory" in Iraq.

See, when you hire somebody for the second highest office in the land, and only vet their teleprompter one-liner skills, you're bound to have a few blips along the way. Blips like not understanding Iraq. Little things like that. I'm sure McCain can update Palin's teleprompter so that in the unfortunate event that she becomes president any time soon - McCain is 72 and has had 4 bouts of cancer - at least she can sound presidential even though she's utterly unqualified to lead America in a time of war. Yet again, John McCain's faltering judgment is aired for all to see. Read the rest of this post...

Former GOP Senator: Palin is a "cocky wacko"

Here we go, now McCain is going to call his former fellow Republican Senator a "sexist." You just wait. And if he does, someone needs to ask McCain if calling a man a "cocky wacko" is acceptable. Because I suspect it is.

Sarah Palin is playing the victim, and I doubt her phony victim status is helping women. Then again, I suspect that helping women isn't exactly John McCain's goal here. McCain picked Palin, well, it's not really clear why he picked her. He didn't vet her, he had other more qualified men and women he could have chosen, but he picked an unqualified neophyte and decided to put her a breath away from the presidency during war time because the religious right demanded it and McCain chickened out. John McCain failed his first major test of his possible presidency. So all McCain can do now is use Sarah Palin as his own personal human shield, and deflect any attack on him or her with the phony "sexism" line, pretending he's the next Gloria Steinem or Eleanor Smeal.

And Senator, I've met Eleanor Smeal, I interviewed Eleanor Smeal. Eleanor Smeal rocked my world. Senator McCain, you're no Ellie Smeal. Read the rest of this post...

Proof of why John McCain is no longer permitted near the press. He's gotten old, fast.

McCain is barely coherent in this interview that Joe posted earlier. He looks terrible, sounds worse, and repeats the weird line about Palin being a national security expert because she lives close to Russia. That's as ridiculous as Joe and me claiming that because we live near the Chinese Embassy we're China experts.

But what's more important is that in watching this video you can see why the McCain campaign doesn't let Mccain talk to the press any more. Why the McCain campaign is using Sarah Palin as a virtual human shield for John McCain, bringing her to every event to deflect attention away from McCain. Why the McCain campaign is bringing up so many distracting issues like lipstick and pigs and lies about the Bridge to Nowhere. They're desperately trying to deflect our attention away from the fact that John McCain got old some time in the last year or so, he's no longer the quick, smart, energetic man he once was. And it would scare the voters to see what he's become. So they hide him. Yes, you'll notice that later on in the interview, when McCain gets angry, he kind of wakes up and his answers become more coherent. Sometimes McCain is his old self, albeit an older version, but lots of times he's someone else entirely. Are we really going to have a president who's coherent and alert half the time, but the other half is confused, bumbling, and somewhat incoherent?

CBS News' blog picks up on the video, and eviscerates McCain for it.

[REPORTER] "Well, you say you're sure she has the experience, but again, I'm just asking for an example," Caldwell said. "What experience does she have in the field of national security?" McCain responded:

[MCCAIN] "Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. She's a governor of a state where 20% of America's energy supply comes from there. And we all know that energy is a critical and vital national security issue. We've got to stop sending $700 billion of American money to countries that don't like us very much. She's very well versed on that issue."And, uh, she also happens to represent, be governor of a state that's right next to Russia. She understands Russia."

I'm afraid this is just embarrassingly incoherent. First, the notion that Palin's proximity to Russia counts as national security experience continues to be unusually stupid, even for McCain.

Second, "Energy" is not a response to the question, "What experience does she have in the field of national security?"

And third, to insist, publicly and on the record, that Sarah Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America" is, quite literally, laughable. We are, after all, talking about a politician who isn't sure about the human impact on global warming, and hasn't demonstrated any real expertise on the issue. Ever.

Read the rest of this post...

Is the Washington Post hiding a major corruption story about John McCain and his wife's drug use?

UPDATE: The story has been published, kind of.

Go to Google. Type in the name "gosinski." Look at the sixth result.



John Mccain abused his power to keep it a.... secret, perhaps? This isn't a story about the wife, it's a story about the Senator possibly using his office to obstruct justice for personal gain. Sounds a lot like Troopergate in fact. Definitely a story.

But when you click the link and go to the Washington Post's Web site, there's nothing there, just a blank template with no content.



So why did the Washington Post seemingly pull a very damning story about John McCain? Did the McCain campaign threaten not to invite them to any more barbeques? Read the rest of this post...

US News weighs in on Palin charging rape victims for rape kits

It's a story, folks. Let's see if any "professional Democrats" (the ones paid to actually do something) jump on this or miss another chance to expose Palin and McCain. Then again, perhaps they prefer talking about lipstick, pigs, and whether Barack Obama believes six year olds should be taught sex. Here's what US News had to say:

If on her watch Sarah Palin allowed women to be charged for rape kits, she has some serious explaining to do.

The Anchorage Daily News and McClatchy weigh in too:

"There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla," Knowles said.

Only town in Alaska to choose tax cuts over rape victims, Sarah Palin's Wasilla. Nah, nothing to see here. Read the rest of this post...

More media pick up on story that Palin charged rape victims for rape kits

She's a barracuda all right. What a great issue to explode and showcase how bad McCain and Palin really are. How extreme she truly is. How anti-women they really are. What a great issue to make McCain cringe. To drive a wedge between him and women and independents. To put McCain and Palin on the side of rapists versus rape victims. To change the discussion of the entire week from lipstick and fish to a real issue that scares the hell out of women, and men, across America.

I mean, the reason the city didn't pick up the charge of the rape kits is because they were more interested in keeping taxes low. Yes, when given the choice between a tax cut and helping rape victims, Palin chose tax cuts. Hmmm... tax cuts. Is that an issue John McCain will be talking about? Would it be worthwhile to link any discussion of John McCain's tax cuts to the issue of rape? Would that freak McCain out on one of his key GOP talking points? Yes it would. How about turning Palin's barracuda name around on her - she's a barracuda all right. Think this is an issue that might be worth jumping on, considering the only messages we've been able to get out all week are that we don't hate women and we wish John McCain would stop being mean to us?

Now imagine what Karl Rove would do with this issue had it been Joe Biden who charged women for rape kits. It will be telling to see what the Obama campaign does with this.

In 2000, Alaska lawmakers learned that rural police agencies had been billing rape victims or their insurance companies $500 to $1,200 for the costs of the forensic medical examinations used to gather evidence. They quickly passed a law prohibiting the practice.

According to the sponsor, Democrat Eric Croft, the law was aimed in part at Wasilla, where now-Gov. Sarah Palin was mayor. When it was signed, Wasilla's police chief expressed displeasure.

"In the past, we've charged the cost of exams to the victims' insurance company when possible," then-chief Charlie Fannon told the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, the local newspaper. "I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer."

Now that Palin is the Republican nominee for vice president, Democrats such as former Alaska governor Tony Knowles — who signed the rape-kit bill into law and was defeated by Palin in 2006 — are raising the issue to question Palin's commitment to women's issues and crime victims. Palin appointed Fannon after firing his predecessor shortly after she took office in 1996.

Read the rest of this post...

Washington Post: McCain's 'Education' Ad is Dishonest, Deceptive

That's the headline in the print edition. Again, it's "McCain's 'Education' Spot is Dishonest, Decpetive."

Pretty tough.

Online. Not so much. The headline for the same article at washingtonpost.com is "McCain attacks on education."

Same conclusion:

Read the rest of this post...

McCain finally answers some questions -- or tries to answer some questions. He's terrible.

NOTE FROM JOHN: Watch McCain about a minute and a half into the tape, when he's asked what National Security credentials Sarah Palin has. He replies "energy." The reporter goes, no, I asked you about national security. McCain then says that Alaska is close to Russia. They're amazing.

Watch this interview of John McCain on WCSH in Portland, Maine. McCain is clueless. Clueless about his v.p. No wonder the McCain campaign doesn't want McCain answering questions. He can't.

Nice work by Rob Caldwell. The McCain campaign thinks the local reporters will only throw softballs. Actually, it's the national reporters, like ABC's Charlie Gibson, who throw the softballs. Read the rest of this post...

VoteVets: McCain means the draft

Well, McCain means the draft only if you can believe John McCain:



Great ad. I trust VoteVets over McCain any day. Read the rest of this post...

9/11 Anniversary Open Thread

MSNBC TV is re-running their NBC News coverage from 9/11/01 - it's truly surreal to see the coverage like this, as if it were happening all over again. The fear in the reporter's voices, the confusion, shock, and the horror as the day unfolds.

This is a very emotional day for those who lost loved ones or knew those who did. The impact of 9/11 on the psyche of our country was enormous. We lost something substantial and tangible that day. Was it our optimism or our naivete? What did we learn from 9/11?

When I watch this coverage and think about the seven years that followed, I don't know that we as a nation learned much. And to think about the last two weeks of this presidential campaign - and the pablum that has stood in for a real campaign for the leader of our country - it's pathetic.

Stop talking about f'ing lipstick and take this election seriously.


Please share your own 9/11 thoughts in the comments. Read the rest of this post...

Someone needs to tell McCain's v.p. that McCain's campaign is run by powerful Washington lobbyists

Clearly, no one has had time to brief Sarah Palin on any issues. She keeps giving the same speech, with the same lies, over and over. Yesterday in Virginia, she reiterated one of the whoppers that's become part of her stump speech, "He doesn't run with the Washington herd." She is, of course, referring to John McCain.

Has John McCain introduced his v.p. pick to the lobbyists who are running their campaign? McCain's campaign is controlled by that "Washington herd." McCain is controlled by them. Someone should brief Sarah Palin on these people who manage the McCain operation. After all, she works for them now, too:

* Rick Davis, campaign manager, has lobbied for Airborne Express and DHL on their controversial merger deal, as well as telecom companies Bell South/SBC and Verizon.

* Charlie Black, senior advisor, lobbied for more than 100 clients, including Yukos Oil and Freddie Mac.

* Randy Scheunemann's lobbying clients have included BP Amoco and the NRA.

* Nancy Pfotenhauer, senior policy advisor, is a former Koch Industries lobbyist.

* Frank Donatelli, the McCain campaign's director at the RNC, has had 70 clients including PHARMA, Pfizer and Exxon Mobil.

* John Green, congressional liaison, has lobbied for at least 150 clients, including insurance industry trade groups, predatory lender Ameriquest, Chevron Texaco, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

* Wayne Berman, campaign vice-chair, finance co-chair, and advisor has also lobbied for almost 100 clients, including Ameriquest, Fannie Mae, the National Rifle Association and American Health Insurance Plans.

Those people are THE Washington herd. Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Today, as you know, is September 11th.

Your thoughts and commentary? Read the rest of this post...

Palin's "pipeline" success story, not so successful

Who ever would have guessed that yet another of Sarah Palin's pet projects failed to live up to the glorious story that she repeated? Many believe that even with the signed paperwork deal, this project will never happen. This is becoming a familiar trend and it also explains why she is avoiding the media. It also explains why John McCain is afraid to speak with the media because they may ask questions and - gasp! - ask for proof. Repeating lies and exaggerations on the stump has nothing to do with being a maverick but it has everything to do with business as usual among the GOP. How long will the media allow McCain-Palin to continue?

Stretching more than 1,700 miles, it would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states and be the largest private-sector infrastructure project on the continent. Palin has asserted the pipeline will help lead America toward energy independence.

But while she was effective in attracting developers to a project that eluded Alaska governors for decades, an examination of the project found she has overstated both the progress that has been made and the certainty of success.

The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away, and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama slams “inappropriate windfall payments” for Freddie/Fannie execs

And he's right. It's bad enough watching the other failed executives walk away with money in light of the extraordinary actions by the US taxpayer. The idea of two complete failures, who pushed out numbers to make a bad situation appear better, walking away with a few dozen million dollars while everyone else is picking up the tab is sickening. (Whoever updated that contract in July to guarantee more money also deserves to be sacked immediately.)

Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, asked that any “inappropriate windfall payments” to the chief executives and senior managers of those agencies be voided, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the new regulator for Fannie and Freddie.

Together, Daniel H. Mudd of Fannie Mae and Richard F. Syron of Freddie Mac are eligible for as much as $24 million in severance, retirement benefits and deferred compensation.

“Under no circumstances should the executives of these institutions earn a windfall at a time when the U.S. Treasury has taken unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer resources,” Mr. Obama wrote.

Read the rest of this post...

Wall Street write downs and losses done*

*Except for Lehman's $3.9 billion loss. How many times are we going to hear this story after Wall Street reports? Let's see who will be the next to be the "last" to report bad business. Read the rest of this post...

Let Detroit fund its own damned projects

For decades, Big Auto has fought environmental laws and beaten down attempts to modernize the US industry to produce more fuel efficient cars. They sell fuel efficient cars overseas but always find reasons why they can't sell them in the US. Now that their brilliant plan to only produce gas hogs has failed, look who is lining up for $50 billion worth of help, as if there's cash laying around for the taking. If we were to prop up these colossal failures, we ought to insist that they are truly on the cutting edge of environmental, safety and efficiency and not just up to our backwards current standards. Otherwise, why bother?

What is also puzzling is Chrysler asking to be involved in a bailout. Chrysler was saved by the American taxpayer in the past, then sold off to the German car maker Daimler-Benz before being sold to one of the richest private equity firms in the US, Cerberus Capital Management. The private equity folks add big names to their boards and have deep pockets thanks to tax laws that help them avoid paying their fair share of taxes like everyone else. Cerberus Capital Management purchased Chrysler barely over one year ago so why do taxpayers owe anything to this company? Cerberus obviously is doing well, so let them fund *normal* business expenses.

Detroit still believes that it's 1950, when they dominated many aspects of the economy. In 2008 the majority of Americans work for small businesses so why not make a business decision and do more to promote small business? Investing more in Detroit without multiple strings is a waste of taxpayer money and time. Until Detroit - at least Ford and GM, to hell with Chrysler - can show serious progress on fuel efficiency, environment and new jobs in the US there's no reason to throw more money and hope that it somehow all works out. They made their bad business decisions to the detriment of the US economy so now it's our turn to make a sound business decision. Read the rest of this post...

Why John McCain doesn't get the risk sexual predators pose to children

A reader writes:

"John McCain thinks that teaching young children how to avoid being victims of sexual predators is the same as teaching them how to have sex. John McCain is from a generation that didnt realize that sexual predators are out there. And he clearly doesn't watch Dateline's To Catch a Predator. He's out of touch with the frightening reality that today's parents face. Our children live in a dangerous world. If John McCain doesn't understand that fact then he's going to have a tough time protecting our kids."

She's referring to McCain attacking Obama last night for being in favor of teaching children how to avoid sexual abuse. McCain said that it's the same thing as teaching kids sex. Read the rest of this post...