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you should have moved to alaska!
The downside of Governor Palin's nomination is that it ends any criticism McCain could make about Obama's qualifications. Luckily, liberals keep making it an issue. And by continuing to make it an issue, they unwittingly are comparing their nominee for President with the Republican candidate for Vice President, thus dragging him down.
You make some big jumps to conclusions there. I'm not sure exactly what "fundie gibberish" is. I used to think I knew what a fundamentalist was, at least according to the definition among Christians. I since have learned that, to most liberals, any person who believes in orthodox doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus or literal resurrection is a "fundamentalist," not just the people who believe that the earth was created 6000 years ago, that a global flood created all geological phenomena, etc. So I'm never sure what is and what is not "gibberish."
It is not proven that teenage pregnancy rates are going up. It is proven that teenage birth rates are going up since 2006. Birth rates are a function of the number of pregnancies as well as the rate of things that end pregnancies, such as abortions and miscarriages. Please cite evidence that the increase is not due to a reduction in abortions or miscarriages among teens.
I would like to see the evidence that teaching creationism in schools is causing us to fall behind in R&D. That statement demonstrates blindness to actually pertinent issues like poverty, the collapse of families, corruption in schools, and the general loss of work ethic in the culture driving students away from hard subjects like science and engineering that don't equate to quick wealth. I don't wish to defend young-earth creationism or flood geology since I don't believe in them. But you take your point too far.
Calling Palin a hypocrite because her daughter got pregnant is vile. Do you not have any children? Did you know that even though you might raise your children a certain way, they actually make their own choices? Do you think children are marionettes? I've had that same situation take place in my extended family and if you said to my face that that aunt and uncle were hypocrites, you would be left bleeding. Every time a liberal says what you said there, it adds a vote to McCain's tally.
I will make the same request to you that I made to clambake. Every day between now and the election, inform ten undecided female voters that should their children do something against their mothers' values and beliefs, it makes the mothers hypocrites. Please do that, and specifically tell them your support for Obama makes you think that way.
That is all political doublespeak right there. Every person in national politics is "remarkably driven;" otherwise, they wouldn't be there. Of course she left a "wake" of bodies behind; several high-ranking Republicans in Alaska despise her because she didn't go along with the crony system. Does not actually govern that well? Apparently Alaskans disagree. Remarkably incurious? How do you know? Because she wasn't busy devising a plan for troop withdrawals from Iraq as part of her gubernatorial duties?
I disagree. If you repeat those comments to enough women, your personal abstinence will be virtually guaranteed.
I concur.
Why don't we talk about Joe Biden's son, the lobbist. Now being sued along with Biden's brother. Read all about it.
washingtonpost.com > Politics > Elections
Biden's Son, Brother Named in Two Suits
A son and a brother of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) are accused in two lawsuits of defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge fund deal that went sour, court records show.
The Democratic vice presidential candidate's son Hunter, 38, and brother James, 59, assert instead that their former partner defrauded them by misrepresenting his experience in the hedge fund industry and recommending that they hire a lawyer with felony convictions.
The legal actions have been playing out in New York State Supreme Court since 2007, and they focus on Hunter and James Biden's involvement in Paradigm Companies LLC, a hedge fund group. Hunter Biden, a Washington lobbyist, briefly served as president of the firm.
A lawsuit filed by their former partner Anthony Lo o Jr. asserts in court papers that the deal was crafted to get Hunter Biden out of lobbying because his father was concerned about the impact it would have on his bid for the White House. Biden was running for the Democratic nomination at the time the suit was filed.
Hunter Biden was made president with an annual salary of $1.2 million, despite his inexperience in the hedge fund industry, the lawsuit said. Before that, he had been part of the Washington law firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, which earned $1.76 million in lobbying revenue in the first half of 2006, according to Congressional Quarterly's CQ MoneyLine. One of its biggest clients is the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys, a District-based group representing law firms specializing in investment and corporate law.
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Hunter Biden is one of many children and relatives of prominent members of Congress who have made their careers as lobbyists. He returned to lobbying after less than a year with Paradigm.
Lo o's lawsuit alleges that James Biden called him in January 2006 to arrange a job for Hunter Biden. It says James Biden told him that his brother (Sen. Biden) "was concerned with the impact that Hunter's lobbying activities might have on his expected campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination," and, "Biden told Lo o that, in light of these concerns, his brother had asked him to seek Lo o's assistance in finding employment for Hunter in a non-lobbying capacity."
Lo o does not provide any direct evidence of the senator's involvement and offers no witnesses to the assertion.
The campaign of Sens. Barack Obama and Biden declined to comment on the case, referring questions to Nicholas Gravante Jr., a lawyer representing Hunter and James Biden. Gravante said assertions that Joseph Biden told his brother he was concerned about his son's lobbying are "absolutely false."
"This lawsuit has nothing to do with Joe Biden, and there is absolutely no truth to those allegations," Gravante said. "It is a business dispute between former partners. The suit is baseless."
Brian C. Wille, an attorney for Lo o, said the lawsuit alleges no wrongdoing by Sen. Biden, only that his concerns set in motion the business deal.
"There was a concern that Hunter Biden's role as a lobbyist would have an impact on the senator's proposed presidential run," Wille said. "That's what James Biden told Mr. Lo o. . . . Was it true? Who knows? There is no allegation the senator was involved in any of these events."
In an affidavit, Hunter Biden said his father had nothing to do with the deal and that it is Lo o who swindled the Bidens.
He said Lo o lied about being a "fully licensed and accredited securities professional" with hedge fund experience.
In addition, he said Lo o recommended a lawyer to vet the business deal who was under investigation and was ultimately convicted on several felony charges of conspiracy and wire and mail fraud in a scheme to steal millions from a computer company.
In the hedge fund business deal, Lo o and the Bidens created a company called LLB Holdings USA and together agreed to pay $21.3 million for 54 percent interest in Paradigm.
In the lawsuit, Lo o said that soon after creating LLB, the Bidens crafted a "secret deal" to create their own company that was designed to buy out his shares in Paradigm for a low rate, to which he agreed. He said he knew nothing of the secret deal until later and now believes he was defrauded out of millions of dollars and his share in the company.
In the second lawsuit against the Bidens, which was filed in June, Lo o is also named as a defendant. Stephane Farouze, now an executive with Deutsche Bank, seeks $10 million, saying the Bidens and Lo o promised to buy his shares in the hedge fund company but reneged.
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Link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...02200.html?dbk
Leave Biden's chldren out of it!! Hypocrite.
A politician who is related to a lobbyist . . . wow! You don't hear about that very often.
Or the fact that Obama got some earmarks for that Son, the lobbyist.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...082603894.html
I was referring to a working lobbyist. Who happens to have a father who is
a senator. And get earmarks from their running mate.
Nobody gives a about that. The earmarks Palin was able to secure made the the Washington Post as well:
Palin's Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds
By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 2, 2008; A01
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 1 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group.
There was $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, $900,000 for sewer repairs, and $15 million for a rail project -- all intended to benefit Palin's town, Wasilla, located about 45 miles north of Anchorage.
In introducing Palin as his running mate on Friday, Sen. John McCain cast her as a compatriot in his battle against wasteful federal spending. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, hailed Palin as a politician "with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies -- someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who's stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money."
McCain's crusade against earmarks -- federal spending sought by members of Congress to benefit specific projects -- has been a hallmark of his campaign. He has said earmarks are wasteful and are often inserted into bills with little oversight, sometimes by a single powerful lawmaker.
Palin has also railed against earmarks, touting her opposition to a $223 million bridge in the state as a prime credential for the vice presidential nomination. "As governor, I've stood up to the old politics-as-usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-ol'-boy network," she said Friday.
As mayor of Wasilla, however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage-based law firm with close ties to Alaska's most senior Republicans: Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts. The Wasilla account was handled by the former chief of staff to Stevens, Steven W. Silver, who is a partner in the firm.
Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996 on a campaign theme of "a time for change." According to a review of congressional spending by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, Wasilla did not receive any federal earmarks in the first few years of Palin's tenure.
Senate records show that Silver's firm began working for Palin in early 2000, just as federal money began flowing.
In fiscal 2000, Wasilla received a $1 million earmark, tucked into a transportation appropriations bill, for a rail and bus project in the town. And in the winter of 2000, Palin appeared before congressional appropriations committees to seek earmarks, according to a report in the Anchorage Daily News.
Palin and the Wasilla City Council increased Silver's fee from $24,000 to $36,000 a year by 2001, Senate records show.
Soon after, the city benefited from additional earmarks: $500,000 for a mental health center, $500,000 for the purchase of federal land and $450,000 to rehabilitate an agricultural processing facility. Then there was the $15 million rail project, intended to connect Wasilla with the town of Girdwood, where Stevens has a house.
The Washington trip is now an annual event for Wasilla officials.
In fiscal year 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks -- about $1,000 in federal money for every resident. By contrast, Boise, Idaho -- which has more than 190,000 residents -- received $6.9 million in earmarks in fiscal 2008.
All told, Wasilla benefited from $26.9 million in earmarks in Palin's final four years in office.
"She certainly wasn't shy about putting the old-boy network to use to bring home millions of dollars," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "She's a little more savvy to the ways of Washington than she's let on."
Silver, reached by phone at his Vienna home, declined to comment. Wasilla's town offices were closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
Maria Comella, Palin's campaign spokeswoman, said Palin sought the Wasilla earmarks because she was "working in the best interests of Alaska, working within the confines of the current system."
Palin became a staunch reform advocate after her 2003 appointment to the state's Oil and Gas Commission. She accused another commissioner -- Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich -- of raising campaign contributions from industries he was regulating. "She realized that the environment around her was no longer what it once was, and elected officials were abusing their power," Comella said.
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, used to secure earmarks for public nonprofits in Illinois, but he announced last year that he would no longer seek earmarks for any en y. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), Obama's running mate, co-sponsored $85.6 million in earmarks for 2008, according to one study.
The Palin earmarks came when Stevens was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Young was a senior member of the House transportation committee.
In hiring Silver, Wasilla found someone who was a member of each lawmaker's inner circle. Silver has donated at least $11,400 to Stevens's political committees and $10,000 to Young's reelection committee in the past decade, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Sliver's firm employed Stevens's son, Ben Stevens, in the late 1990s as a federal lobbyist, according to multiple media accounts. Ben Stevens was not listed on lobbying disclosure forms as having worked on Wasilla earmarks.
The firm became ensnared in the wide-ranging federal investigation of corruption by Alaska Republican officials. Federal agents reviewed records about its other municipal clients, as well as fishing companies represented by Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh that were close to Ben Stevens.
The investigation has increasingly focused on Veco, a now-defunct energy services company whose chief executive, Bill Allen Jr., pleaded guilty in May 2007 to bribing Alaska officials.
Ted Stevens is awaiting trial on charges that he accepted more than $250,000 in unreported gifts from Allen. Ben Stevens, who has not been charged, has been identified in court do ents as having accepted more than $240,000 in consulting payments in exchange for legislative favors while he served in the state Senate.
A Veco executive testified last year in a criminal trial that Allen had ordered him to arrange annual fundraisers for Young. The congressman has not been charged with any crimes.
After becoming governor, Palin became a critic of Young and the Stevenses. She endorsed Young's opponent in a Republican primary last week that is still too close to call, and last year she demanded Ben Stevens's resignation as Alaska's member of the Republican National Committee. She has also criticized Ted Stevens.
In addition, Palin has reversed course on at least one major earmark: After initially supporting the $223 million bridge, which was to connect the town of Ketchikan with a remote island, she reversed course last year and canceled the project because of cost overruns. Critics have dubbed the project the "Bridge to Nowhere."
But her administration remains eager for many other earmarks.
In February, Palin's office sent Sen. Stevens a 70-page memo outlining almost $200 million worth of new funding requests for Alaska.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews
Just as I ought to have bought Wal Mart stock the moment Clinton was elected, and oil stocks when Bush/McCain got in, I'm doing some research, and investing in the biggest public company Biden's boy represents.
Republicans deride Democrats as mindless automatons who are only guided by iden y politics. Republicans cynically play iden y politics when the opportunity arrises. Democrats fail to live down you your expectations of them, so you get all indignant.
Hilarious.
Mark Whitaker on MSNBC just disclosed that according to McCain's own timeline that the Palin children were flown into Ohio under the pretense that they would be joining their parents for an anniversary celebration and were not told about the VP announcement until Friday morning, the morning of the announcement. Evidently, the entire thing was kept under wraps for purposes of secrecy and surprise.
I wonder how much of a discussion they had as a family about the national spotlight being on Bristol and her pregnancy....
I would guess plenty, but in the guise at the state level instead of the national level.
Had to prepare for that anyway, right?
No, no, no... they were fully vetted, including family and extended business dealings. You're quite wrong.
Yes, because the Anchorage Daily Journal and KTTU in Juneau compare to CNN, The New York Times, and Time Magazine.
Does it matter?
Big or small, it's the spotlight!
C'mon man. You don't think it matters whether your personal life is displayed on your local television station or whether it's discussed for days on the 24-hour cable news networks, The View, Larry King Live, The Daily Show, The New York Times, USA Today...etc?
Once it goes past the people you know, the rest doesn't matter.C'mon man. You don't think it matters whether your personal life is displayed on your local television station or whether it's discussed for days on the 24-hour cable news networks, The View, Larry King Live, The Daily Show, The New York Times, USA Today...etc?
You mean Bank of America?
I would say that is their business.
I can't say I'm terribly happy with the Biden pick. I think he represents more what should be changed. The relatively unexperienced Obama picking Biden was like the relatively unexperienced G. W. Bush picking Cheney. It helps to calm fears about inexperience more than helping the message of the candidate. The experience of Cheney and Rumsfeld and Powell didn't seem to help their judgment much though.
Which finally gets me to my point. Judgment trumps experience in this election, which is why Obama beat Clinton. And making personal judgment an issue is behind all the uproar. Rush and Hannity and Coulter and seemingly every visible GOPer in existence have beaten on the Democrats over and over on this, so the criticism on Palin and McCain can't be terribly surprising.
Biden won't have nearly the power over Obama that Cheney had over Bush. Biden is there as a general advisor, but Obama has a much stronger personality. Watch the 60 Minutes interview from Sunday - it's on CBS online - with them together. Their interaction is interesting, just for chemistry, but there's a part where Obama says, "I like Joe being blunt. He's blunt when he's right and he's blunt when he's wrong." Because he's never deceptive.
This was in discussing Biden's support of the Iraq Resolution, which Obama did not support and knew would lead immediately to war. Obama was directly saying Biden was wrong, and Biden was not offended. There's clearly an alpha dog there.
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