Sarah Palin gave a nice speech last night at the RNC, but to get the real, true, "unplugged" Sarah, you must watch the video at the link below of her talking at her church in which she grew up (she was baptized there), the Wasilla Assembly of God:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html

Religion is the basis of her policies, since she thinks that the Iraq War is part of "God's" plan:

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Does America really want this totally unqualified - albeit very nice - religious woman to be one heartbeat away from the Oval Office?

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Tags: Iraq War, Sarah Palin, Wasillia Assembly of God

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From The Atlantic:

"The best way to handle a proposed vice presidential nominee who has not been tested in national or big-state politics or high appointive office -- and I have the obvious benefit of hindsight -- is to float the name a few weeks before the convention and let the games begin. By opening gavel, the candidate will have run the gauntlet of press scrutiny or opposition research, or have dropped out. This approach wouldn’t necessarily work in a contested convention, and, unfortunately, it eliminates the drama of dropping the name at the convention. But it would pretty well guarantee that the news from the convention would not be dominated by questions about the vice presidential selection."

Who wrote this "Guide to Choosing a VP?" None other than Reagan Consigliere, James Baker, in his book, Work Hard, Study...and Keep Out of Politics!

Do you think McCain's campaign should have read the book?

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Tags: James Baker, John McCain, Republican party, VP pick

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Check out the shocking video below of Amy Goodman, anchor of the award-winning DemocracyNow!, being arrested at the RNC:

From a DemocracyNow! press release:

Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

And what on earth could they have been doing which resulted in this?

All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar's violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, "I'm Press! Press!," resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman’s arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.

In case you don't know who Amy Goodman is:

Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism’s top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and the subsequent criminal charges and threat of charges are a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists.

Watch DemocracyNow! to follow the repercussions of these illegal arrests...

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Tags: Amy Goodman, DemocracyNow!, RNC, Twin Cities

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Well, we now have the biggest gamble by a presidential candidate in probably 100 years: McCain picks Palin from Alaska to be his running mate. Less than two years ago she was only a mayor of a small town of 7,000 in our 49th state, and next year she could be President Palin -- an incredibly scary thought and and incredibly irresponsible pick by McCain.

Just check out this clip of McCain's campaign surrogate trying to come up with some example, any example, of her foreign policy experience. Beware - it's painful:

It goes on from there, with Palin herself weighing in on her thoughts on Iraq:

Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.

It goes on and on and on...Incredibly surreal. And incredibly irresponsible by McCain. Will Americans see it this way?

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Tags: McCain, Palin, VP pick

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Here's a very interesting story from inside "The Awakening," our government-sponsored work program in Iraq that has been bribing former Sunni insurgents to be our friends:

Mr Ahmed and his buddies work for about $230 a month guarding one of several dozen checkpoints in his hometown. Fluorescent yellow sashes identify them as SOIs -- 'Sons of Iraq' -- the name given by the US military to the largely Sunni militia they created to help drive out al Qa'eda.

There are more than 90,000 SOIs -- a force of untrained, armed, minimally employed young men which the United States cannot disband and the Iraqi government is reluctant to embrace.

The movement started as the Sahwa -- the Awakening -- in al Anbar, in western Iraq, when tribal leaders facing increased challenges from al Qa'eda two years ago turned against the people they had been harboring.

As US and Iraqi troops surged in and around Baghdad last year, other Sunni leaders threatened by extremists realized that aligning themselves with coalition forces could give them back some of the power they had lost.

Some military strategists believe US forces could not have stabilised Iraq without the help of tens of thousands of Sunnis unexpectedly turning against al Qa'eda.

...through the bribes we've been paying them, for sure...

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Tags: al Qa'eda, Iraq, Petraeus, The Awakening

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Indeed, our very own government says that what John McCain suffered in Vietnam is not defined as torture. Andrew Sullivan makes a very good point:

It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.

Cheney denies that McCain was tortured; as does Bush. So do John Yoo and David Addington and George Tenet. In the one indisputably authentic version of the story of a Vietnamese guard showing compassion, McCain talks of the agony of long-time standing. A quarter century later, Don Rumsfeld was putting his signature to memos lengthening the agony of "long-time standing" that victims of Bush's torture regime would have to endure. These torture techniques are, according to the president of the United States, merely "enhanced interrogation."

So, when American soldiers suffer the same fate in some future war (or next week in Iraq or Afghanistan), we as the people of this nation cannot complain that they are being tortured. Why? Because our own government, that we elected, says it is not torture.

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Tags: Bush, Cheney, McCain, torture, Vietnam

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It's been a week since the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and we now have the historical achievement of Michael Phelps' winning of 8 gold medals in 2008. This marker will probably not be matched ever, or if so, in a very, very long time, especially considering that it's been 36 years since Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals in the '72 Olympics.

It was striking that in one interview Phelps gave he mentions the power of imagination and the role it played in making his dream real. His coach also mentioned that he always stressed to Phelps how important imagination was in his pursuit of his dream. It's a deep concept, that none other than Albert Einstein stressed in a famous interview: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

In the arts, too, of course, this concept of imagination is central to making real a vision, be it in painting, dance, music, literature, etc. So here you have imagination as central to creating something new - in the Olympics, in Science, and in the Arts.

Now, if we could only get our leaders to imagine a new world order full of peace and green energy, with universal health care and prosperity for all, we might be able to achieve something. Remember - things only got this way because of humans and they can change because of humans...and our imaginations...

Rick Anderson over at The Whispering Crane Institute has similar comments...

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Tags: Albert Einstein, imagination, Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, olympics

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Recent Entries

Palin testafyin' in her church...
The Best Way to Choose a VP.
Amy Goodman, from DemocracyNow!, arrested at the RNC
The Palin Pick: Surreal and Scary
Inside Iraq: The militia that won't go away.
Bush says McCain was not tortured in Vietnam.
Imagination is more important than knowledge: The Greatest Olympian of All Time!!
Olympic Hubris
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