Maybe it's not very nice to poke fun at Sarah Palin...

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...but, apparently, it's a lot of fun.

The New Yorker has a great cover today poking fun at Sarah Palin's foreign policy experience. The Huffington Post writes about it here. (I know, I'm alienating conservative readers everywhere right now....a bit ironic actually...)

The Christian Science Monitor (which occasionally has good reporting) did what I think is a really thoughtful and objective story on the upcoming VP Debate and whether or not Palin has any chances at all. Of course, they also posted a link to a hilarious Sarah Palin Fictional Quote Generator. Good Stuff.

"It's Alaska that has to be considered also to help shore up our economy."

- Sarah Palin Fictional Quote Generator v1.0

Tina Fey Really Does a Perfect Sarah Palin - Updated

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At one point in the following SNL skit, she even quotes Sarah Palin word for word:

CNN points it out here:


For those that missed the SNL skit with Hillary and Sarah from a couple of weeks ago, here it is: (this is also hilarious)


Incidentally, you can view the actual Sarah Palin interviews with Katie Couric here:


Sarah Palin Interview with Katie Couric - Part I


Sarah Palin Interview with Katie Couric - Part II plus A Small Section With Henry Kissinger

Update -
After all the flack they've been receiving over the last few days concerning the Katie Couric / Sarah Palin interview above, it is shocking that they would bring Palin back onto the same show for yet another interview! Less shocking, however, is the fact that, this time, she brings "daddy" McCain along to complain about "gotcha" journalism.


Sarah Palin and McCain on a new interview with Katie Couric

"Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe, don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck."

- Sarah Palin (taken from wikiquote.org)

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska."

- Sarah Palin - during her Katie Curic interview (September 25, 2008)(taken from wikiquote.org)

Update to the Josh Howard Story

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Mark Cuban has posted(updated link to cache after Cuban took the post down) some of the more "fantastic" (sarcasm) e-mails he has received concerning the Josh Howard story. It's horrifying how racist this country is. Of course, Mark also posted their real e-mail address, too. Go Mark!

From: “Billy Leto”
To: mark.cuban@dallasmavs.com
Date: 09/18/2008 09:20 AM
Subject: are you kidding me?
MC,
Tell Howard that him and Hussein Obama can go to another country and live if they don’t want to support our symbol of freedom.–
Billy


From: Donald Joy
To: mark.cuban@dallasmavs.com
Date: 09/18/2008 09:20 AM
Subject: Howard’s(and the rest of them) anti-American, thuggish remarks/attitude
These black criminals that you people coddle and cultivate are the reason why I no longer watch/follow professional sports. Sickening.
From: Larry Smith
To:
Date: 09/17/2008 08:51 PM
Subject: Your boy
You need to get rid of your nigger howard before you go down with him!


From: “Manuel Rodriguez”
Cc:
Date: 09/17/2008 10:09 PM
Subject: Maverick Josh Howard

You better get that piece of work out of your team for talking and disrespecting the national anthem or you are going to pay the price for it….. What kind of org. allows a looser and an idiot play for them? You are so low you make me vomit!!!! If you allow a hate of America play for your team, you also Hate AMERICA. GET OUT OF HERE!!!!

Have a Blessed Day:

Manuel A. Rodriguez

- A Sample of some of the more "colorful" e-mails on Cuban's blog. (emphasis added to some of the more colorful words/phrases) Disgusting.

Thoughts on Josh Howard's Big Fat "Unpatriotic" Mouth and Why People Are Mad For All the Wrong Reasons

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Ick, over at Ick's corner, posted a thoughtful commentary on Josh Howard's recent gaffe in front of a cellphone camera concerning The Star Spangled Banner:



This started a long thread on comments concerning his patriotism and whether or not he should of said that since he is, essentially, a role model for children. After posting a couple of times in that heated conversation, I decided I would take my comments, and repost them here with mild editing (just to glue them together a bit so they stand on their own.) To give a quick lead up, here is liverdamage's post to which I was primarily responding to. (I was also, of course, responding to Ick's initial post as well)

I’m about to get flamed harsh here:

Am I going to be the only person who supports political dissent? Freedom of speech, freedom of expression?

Not legally being allowed to say something that offends someone else? Where the hell is that line drawn?

A league wide ethics panel? Imposing conduct on LEGAL beliefs? This is not a drug policy or code of conduct based on ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. This is forcing a person to relinquish his rights in order to work.

I fully support total individual freedom (so long as it doesn’t impede anyone else’s) and capitalism. Capitalism is the great regulator. Josh Howard can disrespect the national anthem… and there will be consequences for his actions. Are you going to purchase merchandise from companies he sponsors? His choices will cost him at at least 10 million in advertising revenue alone.

He has the right to express his opinions. I am choosing to express my opinion that he is an idiot, and I will not be buying from anyone he sponsors. If he offends me more, I will not be watching Mavs games until he is off the roster… even more personally offensive, NBA games all together.

Every individual has power and freedom. I suggest you use it, instead of bitching and asking for social regulation.


- liverdamage (posted with permission)

So, that being said, here is my commentary on the importance of political dissent:

What ever happened to support of political dissent? Is patriotism in a democracy demonstrated through a 100% capitulation to the views disseminated by the government in charge? Is patriotism demonstrated by holding your hand over your heart and taking off your hat during a song? Is it at its fullest in reciting a pledge which we’ve been mindlessly saying since we were kindergartners? No.

In a democracy, political dissent is vital to survival. Without political dissent, the George W. Bushes and John McCains of the world will lead us into a 1984esque world where the government watches us pee in public bathrooms to make sure that we don’t litter.

Mankind has an inherent sense of morality that often governs our senses of what is right and wrong. Governments take advantage of that at an early age to coach us into believing that we must always follow the band, wagon and all. Are you as American as Apple Pie?

Next time you get all uppity about someone’s political opinion being different from yours (maybe Josh sees the Star Spangled banner ceremony as just that: a ceremony. Something he is forced to go through every time he plays), you need to remember: Our country was founded on political dissent. Our country was founded on the idea that we have the right to abstain from these ceremonies and rituals when we want to. That’s what freedom is all about. Our forefathers knew that, and had a marvelous plan laid out to bring that realization to the people. Now, more than 225 years later, we see how corruption and greed try to obfuscate that plan with ceremony, and we run right along with it.

Liverdamage is right about another thing, too. Josh will suffer the consequences for his words. We all do. That doesn’t mean he loves the U.S. and less. It just means he thinks the ceremony is dumb. Do you agree?

Do we have the moral and legal authority to question Josh Howard’s statement?

Maybe a better way of putting it is: Where do you get off saying he has to censor himself in order to work? The general sentiment seems to be: Josh Howard shouldn’t have the right to say these things because they offend us and he’s in the public spotlight!! Doesn’t that sentiment walk in firm opposition to freedom of speech?

Did I even mention anything about what Josh Howard said being illegal? No. I suggested that the government wants you to treat it as such. They are getting exactly that.

You’re job in a democracy is to question the authority of the government in every circumstance. Democracy is based on the idea that WE should be in charge of it. The truth of this situation is such that the government has participated in brainwashing us into mindless patriotism, and have then redefined patriotism to be something that, in a democracy, it is not. In a democracy, it is patriotic to question the government. In democracy, it is patriotic to oppose policies we disagree with. Anti-war protests are patriotic because they are actually the demonstration of the will of the people to change the course of the country.

What Josh Howard said might be more patriotic than not. His example might actually be positive in that it encourages people to speak out their opinions, and not to hide them because the vocal majority disagrees. That’s a positive lesson for our children.

I never said that Josh Howard was going to jail. I only said that we have a problem here in that the flames of the mob are being fanned. I suggest they are being fanned improperly.


- Kelly

A quick followup to all of that: I actually DO have a problem with Josh Howard's rant. But it's not for purposes of political dissent. I think they were racist and dumb. My problem is not that he feels like he doesn't have to participate in the Star Spangled Banner, but, rather, that he feels he doesn't have to participate because he is black. A black American is just as much of an American as a white one. That is where I become offended by his words.

"The Star-Spangled Banner’ is going on. I don’t celebrate this [expletive]. I’m black."

- Josh Howard of the Dallas Mavericks

Another of McCain's Lies

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Do you want to elect someone who not only resorts to such dishonest tactics, but also does so by attacking legislation meant to protect children from sexual predators? Planned Parenthood has come out with an ad addressing McCain's lies on this matter. First though, the blatantly false ad from McCain:


and here's Planned Parenthood's response:

1110 Vermont Ave, NW Suite 300 Washington, DC 20005 · PHONE: 202.973.4800 · www.plannedparenthoodaction.org
McCain-Palin 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, VA 22215
FAX: 703-752-2515
Delivered via Fax, email, and postal mail
Sept. 11, 2008

Dear Steve Schmidt/McCain-Palin campaign,
I am writing to ask that the McCain campaign immediately take down your false and misleading ad attacking Senator Obama for his support of a bill that would have helped protect young children from sexual predators.
This ad is a misleading attack on Senator Obama AND on the substance of the bill itself. As one of many organizations the supported the bill, we are outraged that the McCain campaign would seek to play political games with children’s health and safety. We are also disappointed that Senator McCain has reneged on his own promise to refrain from such tactics. In 2003, Planned Parenthood worked with Illinois state legislators to introduce the bill highlighted in Senator McCain’s negative ad. The bill, SB 99, would have taught kindergartners how to recognize inappropriate touching and how to defend against sexual predators. In addition, the bill “was supported by a coalition of education and public health organizations, including the
Illinois Parent Teacher Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Illinois Public Health Association and the Illinois Education Association.” (New York Times, 9/11/08) Bill SB 99 of the 2003 Illinois Legislative session explicitly states, “Course material and instruction shall teach pupils to not make unwanted physical and verbal sexual advances and how to say no to unwanted sexual advances and shall include information about verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment, including without limitation nonconsensual sexual advances, nonconsensual physical sexual contact, and rape by an acquaintance.” Several analyses and fact checks of the McCain campaign’s attack ad have criticized the ad, and found that it is a “factual failure” and “seriously distort(s) the record.” The New York Times: McCain’s ad “distorts” Obama’s record: The New York Times reports that McCain’s ad “severely distorts” Obama’s record and is “recycling old and discredited arguments.” The Times goes on to report that “The advertisement, then, also misrepresents what
the bill meant by “comprehensive.” The instruction the bill required was comprehensive in that it called for a curriculum that went from kindergarten and through high school, not in the sense that kindergarteners would have been fully exposed to the entire gamut of sex-related issues.” [The New York Times, 9/11/08]
The Washington Post: The McCain ad “fails test”: The Washington Post examined the “education” ad created by McCain and said that political ads “should not misrepresent the record of the other side and should clearly distinguish quotes from non-partisan news sources from standard political rhetoric. The McCain ‘education’ ad fails this test.” [The Washington Post, 9/11/08] Factcheck.org: McCain ad is a “Factual Failure”: Factcheck.org writes, “A McCain-Palin campaign ad claims Obama's ‘one accomplishment’ in the area of education was ‘legislation to teach “comprehensive sex education” to kindergarteners.’ But the claim is simply false, and it dates back to Alan Keyes' failed race against Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004. Obama, contrary to the ad's insinuation, does not support explicit sex education for kindergarteners. And the bill, which would have allowed only ‘age appropriate’ material and a no-questions-asked optout policy for parents, was not his accomplishment to claim in any case, since he was not even a cosponsor – and the bill never left the state Senate.” [Factcheck.org; 9/10/08] Congressional Quartely: McCain makes “dubious” claims about Obama’s character. CQ writes, “McCain appears to be banking on the assumption that he has enough credibility with voters that he can maintain their faith in his character even if he makes dubious claims about Obama's…. [T]he underlying suggestion of ‘Education’ -- that Obama favors teaching 5-yearolds the kind of sex ed taught to high school students -- is a significant stretch.” [CQ, 9/11/08] We all want to protect our children, and we should be able to agree not to politicize issues that are critical to the safety and well-being of our children. That is why Senator Obama supported this bill. With that in mind, I respectfully ask that the McCain campaign stop airing this misleading attack ad on Senator Obama’s education record, and on the bill itself.

Sincerely,
Cecile Richards
President
Planned Parenthood Action Fund

- letter from Planned Parenthood chief Cecile Richards - text taken from Ben Smith's Blog: Planned Parenthood defends Obama, attacks McCain

So, we're going to be moving...

In two weeks, Lilly and I will be leaving behind the apartment I have been living in for the past 5 or 6 years. (I think it's about 5 1/2). We're looking forward to it. Lilly is especially looking forward to it. I don't think she's ever really liked it here that much. We're going to see a drastic drop in our rent from this, and we'll be moving into a house that also house that also shelters a few of our friends from church and bible study. It's a quadplex, and it's apparently obtained a reputation for being known as "The Faith House". (the name comes from the church that owns the property)

We're both really hoping that this will help us out a lot financially. Rent here in The Village just kept going up, up, up... So, please be praying for us as we go through the next couple of weeks of moving, stress, etc. (Did I mention the Pontiac isn't working?). Now is one time when I really miss my old suburban.

"Meow"

- Rajah

Too Important to Pass Up...

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Journalists are being arrested and peaceful, lawful protests are being prevented up in St. Paul, MN as the RNC gets into full swing. Here are some links:

St. Paul Mayor and Media Mum on Journalism Crackdown - Timothy Karr - Huggington Post

Two J-Students and Adviser Still Jailed In RNC Protests - Associated Press

And this is a video:

"Amy Goodman, the host of "Democracy Now!," a nationally syndicated public radio and television program, says she was arrested Monday despite clearly identifying herself as a journalist.

Goodman says she had just heard two of her producers had been arrested and she ran up to a police line to inquire about her colleagues. She says the seemingly simple act got her arrested, too."

- Amy Goodman's arrest: When journalists are the story

These are scary times, people.

Of course, there is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country that allowed the police to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your email communications; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to hold people in jail indefinitely based on what they write or think, or based on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, then the government would no doubt discover and arrest more terrorists. But that probably would not be a country in which we would want to live. And that would not be a country for which we could, in good conscience, ask our young people to fight and die. In short, that would not be America.

- Russ Feingold - The only senator to vote against the Patriot Act - quoted here in a statement in the US Senate on the USA-PATRIOT Act

Mobile blogging

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So, I now have the ability to blog from my iPhone. Lot's of fun.

(I've come back in and touched it up of course...)