THE OIL CATASTROPHE: the murky truth unfolds

Michael T. Klare, Nation defense correspondent, is professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and writes for the NATION Magazine (www.thenation.com)


It's hard to grasp the magnitude of the ecological catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill. At this point no one is certain how much oil is pouring from the well into the surrounding ocean. BP, adopting an early government estimate, has claimed that it amounts to a mere 5,000 barrels a day, but some scientists say the amount is closer to 60,000 or 70,000 barrels. Taking the lesser of these estimates, that would translate into the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez spill every four days. Given that this has been going on for five weeks at the time of this writing, the gulf has by now absorbed nine such spill equivalents, with more to come. But picturing the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill—until now the largest in US waters—and multiplying by nine does not begin to convey the scale of the disaster. For the first time in history, oil is pouring into the deep currents of a semi-enclosed sea, poisoning the water and depriving it of oxygen so that entire classes of marine species are at risk of annihilation. It is as if an underwater neutron bomb has struck the Gulf of Mexico, causing little apparent damage on the surface but destroying the living creatures below.

Who bears responsibility for this unmitigated catastrophe? What should be done in response?

Beginning with the first question, it is evident that a host of actors bear responsibility, from the drilling managers aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig to the BP officials who oversaw their work to the government regulators who awarded the corporations blanket waivers to ignore required environmental assessments. But, as in all matters that derive from broad strokes of policy, this disaster bears the imprint of the ultimate deciders: presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

What can be determined from the information available is that the April 20 explosion occurred because BP managers were in a hurry to seal off the well so they could move the rig (which BP leased from Transocean for $500,000 per day) to another drilling location. To speed up the move, BP's managers evidently approved the risky exit procedure that led to the lethal explosion. At one level, then, responsibility can be laid at the feet of the managers involved in that decision as well as of Cameron International, the manufacturer of the rig's blowout preventer, which appears to have been defective. These managers operated in a corporate culture that favored productivity and profit over safety and environmental protection.

BP, which has boasted of its success in boosting oil production in the gulf, has a sordid history when it comes to safety. Last October it was fined $87 million by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to correct safety problems discovered after a 2005 explosion that killed fifteen workers at BP's Texas City refinery—the largest such fine ever levied by OSHA. Like other firms operating in the gulf, BP has also sought a blanket exemption from requirements that it conduct an environmental impact assessment for each new offshore well it drills.

But corporate officials and their parent companies did not operate in a political vacuum. BP and its subcontractors were able to drill in this location, some forty miles off the Louisiana shore, because the government, first under Bush and then under Obama, has been keen to increase production in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Ever since it became clear, in the 1990s, that oil output at Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska was in irreversible decline and that no other onshore location in the continental United States could provide increased levels of petroleum, the government has sought to boost output from the deepwater gulf to moderate the nation's growing dependence on imported energy. To that end, the Bush administration proposed to open up new areas for drilling, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental Shelf, and to facilitate the efforts of giant energy firms to exploit these resources.

Bush was never able to persuade Congress to approve drilling in ANWR. But he did succeed in expanding drilling in other areas, including the deepwater gulf. Bush's principal instrument in these endeavors was the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the branch of the Interior Department responsible for providing leases for offshore drilling as well as collecting the fees and royalties the companies paid for operating in federal waters.

Intended largely to promote offshore drilling, the MMS was also responsible for ensuring that all such operations complied with the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws. Full adherence to these laws could have slowed the expansion of drilling or blocked it altogether—but the MMS provided the leases without making the companies, including BP, obtain required environmental permits. MMS officials routinely ignored warnings from the agency's own scientists and from those at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that this sort of deepwater drilling posed a risk of massive oil spills with devastating consequences for protected marine species. Such preferential treatment for industry is hardly surprising, given the cozy—in some cases criminal—relationships that developed between senior MMS officials and their corporate counterparts.

Enter the Obama administration. Obama has been deeply critical of his predecessor's environmental policies and has promised to place fresh emphasis on developing alternative fuels—but he has shown little inclination to reverse the nation's growing reliance on offshore oil. As it did under Bush, the MMS has continued to award leases for offshore drilling in the gulf without requiring environmental scrutiny. In October the agency gave Shell Oil preliminary approval to drill in the Beaufort Sea, off Alaska's northern coast, despite warnings from scientists within and outside the agency that any spill in these far northern waters would have catastrophic environmental repercussions. Then on March 30—three weeks before the Deepwater Horizon disaster—Obama announced he would permit offshore drilling in additional areas of the gulf as well as in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas above Alaska and off the East Coast. Although Obama supposedly took this step in part to win support from Senate Republicans for the proposed climate-protection bill, it also reflects his belief, inherited from Bush, that the United States must produce more domestic oil to reduce its reliance on imports.

Since the gulf explosion, the administration has taken several halfhearted steps to slow the drive for increased deepwater drilling. It placed a moratorium on awarding new offshore leases, although the MMS reportedly has continued to give these away. It has also announced plans to break up the MMS into several independent agencies—with separate bodies responsible for awarding leases, collecting revenues and providing environmental oversight—in order to prevent a future conflict of interest. All these bodies, however, will remain within the Interior Department, and it is unclear if the White House really has the will to curb risky offshore drilling.

What can we learn from all this? It should be obvious that merely tightening safety and environmental procedures on offshore rigs will not be enough to prevent further environmental ruin. As long as the major energy firms continue to rest future profits on wells in ever-deeper waters—and government regulators collude with them in this—more catastrophes are inevitable. Clearly, it's policy that has to change, not its implementation.

To prevent more ecological disasters, President Obama has to acknowledge the fallacy of his offshore-drilling plan and place a moratorium on all drilling in the Arctic, the Atlantic and new areas of the Gulf of Mexico while the government and industry determine whether it will ever be safe to operate in these waters. As BP's inept response to the crisis shows, the giant firms lack the capacity to control leaks in deep offshore waters, and so any approval of new wells in the gulf must be contingent on developing safety and cleanup technologies equal to the task. In the meantime, every effort must be made to speed the introduction of alternative fuels that pose fewer threats to the natural environment.


Michael T. Klare


May 27, 2010 | This article appeared in the June 14, 2010 edition of The Nation.

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Here are two other interesting perspectives; one on the event itself and the other on the clean-up process. And again I recommend that you all learn of the close connections between BP and Government Sachs. And as to Government Sachs and the Obama administration, study the Chicago gang's Shore Bank (controlled by GS and connected to just about everyone in the Obama administration). Shore Bank is also connected to BP.

http://www.naturalnews.com/028898_British_Petroleum_Gulf_Coast.html

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/gulf_oil_spill_222.html

http://knowledgecreatespower.blogspot.com/2010/05/shore-bank-obamas-moth...

http://www.examiner.com/x-15898-Cincinnati-Conservative-Examiner~y2010m5...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/05/21/the_shady_shorebank...

http://www.suntimes.com/business/2273772,goldman-sachs-saves-shore-bank-...

http://www.chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/05/goldman-sachs-interest-in...

http://seekingalpha.com/article/206438-the-shorebank-rescue

And you wonder why Obama is fiddling while the Gulf burns?
5. posted by: coach-1640280 at 06/01/2010 @ 2:43pm

Dealing with BP

BP is a business oligarchy . BP’s unions are elected oligarchies. Government safety regulators are bureaucratic oligarchy. All three oligarchies failed, 11 died, and the Gulf of Mexico is turning into a tar pit. All three oligarchies must be fired. Here’s how.

BP is stripped of corporate legality. A new BP enterprise is formed consisting of a “second chamber” of governance as check and balance to BP traditional corporate management. A sortition chamber of employees is empowered with half the governing influence of the BP board. A two chamber, two approval, congress-like governance is initiated. New board and corporate officers are not part of the sortitioned chamber. The details of reorganization are responsibility of the justice department.

This business model benefits from the advantages of an oligarchy and democracy. This structure is not entirely “union/employee” and not entirely “management”. It is a functioning hybrid taking advantage of oligarchy and democratic strengths.

This business model is revolutionary reform of corporate business structure. All BP employees should immediately boycott/strike BP and demand half vote representation on the BP governing board to stop the murder of employees.

With death tolls, it’s time for a revolution. It’s not time for tired oligarchy legal battles endlessly cluttering the courts. Criminal action is demanded. Fines are demanded. Large settlements are demanded. Revolutionary corporate reform must also be demanded to create lasting change that cuts deeply to the problem. Profound corporate reform guarantees victims and families meaning for their sacrifice.

If oligarchy won’t go to democracy. Bring democracy to oligarchy.

Citizen is coach to team democracy. Coach is responsible for success. It’s your call, coach.
http://coach-1640280.newsvine.com/

DYAN KANE faces her DEMONS in "INKUBUS"

While BP, the demon gods of oil, greed and profit, try to salvage their slimy image while the biggest man-made ecological disaster plays itself out in the Gulf of Mexico, and oily, dead whales, birds and other innocent sea life wash ashore, I play a fictional character, Dr. Emily Winstrom, in a psychological thriller/horror film entitled "INKUBUS", now shooting in Cranston, Rhode Island. This being the last day of his 100 year life cycle, INKUBUS, a supernatural demon (played by Robert Englund of Freddie Krueger fame) must plant his seed in a human, then play a few more mind games before gruesomely mutilating all the police officers he's trapped inside a run down Cranston police station.

My only gripe with the script is that the location should have been changed to the BP Oil headquarters.


("INKUBUS", directed by Glenn Ciano, written by Carl DuPre, starring Robert Englund, William Forsythe, Michael Cerrone, Joey Fatone, and Dyan Kane. A Verdi/Corrente Production)

BLOG ACTION DAY: EARTH

Today is Blog Action Day. All over the globe, bloggers are writing about the environment and global warming.

To kick my butt into gear, I watched Disney's amazing documentary, "EARTH" last night. This film was prepared and shot over many years, with the input of extraordinarily gifted and talented filmmakers and others who contributed their expertise. The cinemetography is incredible! "EARTH" was shot in many different countries, in the North and South Pole, over (and under) the oceans, across the Serenghetti and many other amazing locales.
If there is a film that can show future generations what this magnificent planet had to offer in terms of the sheer magnitude of lifeforms our precious Mother Earth sustained for billions of years BEFORE humans and Global Warming destroyed life as we know it, "EARTH" is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT FILMS to be passed along.

Visually, the entire film, underscored by an epic soundtrack, was magnificent, enthralling, thrilling.

The most moving segment captured the struggle for Wild African Elephant herds trekking thousands of miles through desert, drought and sandstorms for water. Shot from above, witnessing the sheer willpower of these magnificent creatures slowly, exhaustively making their way along ancient, desert pathways to life-sustaining water holes, (which are becoming increasingly scarcer) was emotionally heartwrenching to watch. We humans caused these droughts. We humans are responsible for the fact that now, 1/3 of the earth is desert. Later, upon finding a small waterhole to stave off sure death from dehydration, the elephants must share it with an equally famished Lion Pride, who wait patiently for cover of night to gang up on a weakened baby elephant for dinner, while the mother and her herd clan can only look on, powerless, defenseless in the pitch black night.

Another equally devastating moment involved a lone polar bear, having to swim dozens if not hundreds of miles in search of seals to eat. An amazing overhead shot showed the ease with which this HUGE Father Polar Bear swam in the icy waters, ever so gracefully navigating around and beneath pieces of broken glacial ice. Polar bears are losing ice shelves to hunt seals from earlier every year due to Global Warming, so they must swim longer distances now. Finally, the bear beaches himself on a rocky sea coast with hundreds of supersized walruses. He's lost half his body weight by now. So weakened and famished is he from his long swim/hunt, he lacks the strength to make a successful go at one of the pups, and simply lays down to die, surrounded by the entire clan of Walrus onlookers.

Rent this film. The magic of our earth and the life on it as we float ever so miraculously inside our universe is awesome. Nature is truly majestic. I'm mourning it's end - and ours. Though I know that somehow, the meek - I'm talking about Nature - will inherit the earth long after the scourge - that would be us - is gone.

Obama: What REALLY Scares Them (Us?)

I'm reprinting this from an email I received. Food for thought...--Dyan

SCOFFLAW NATION
by Dale Lockwood


I’ve been busting my brain trying to figure out what it is about this Administration that has so many people pissed off. Racism can’t be the whole story, though I’m sure it plays some part. I can’t believe that the GOP or special interests have conspired to create this situation. It seems more like they’re riding it, not guiding it. The gun fanatics and tea baggers and birthers are actually INVENTING reasons to complain. The President has not even mentioned “gun control” or “amnesty”, but he’s accused of planning for it. They’re sure he wants to raise their taxes; contrary to anything he says or does. They buy into, repeat and refuse to reconsider the most outlandish misrepresentations. Why?


It occurred to me of late that there is a significant thread in the tapestry of President Obama’s agenda that hasn’t been examined closely. It appears in his health care reform outlines when he promises to help cover costs by eliminating fraud and waste in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It appears in his plans for the financial industry, which involve new and improved regulations and reformed regulatory agencies. It’s sure to appear in the debate over immigration when we ask how it is that millions of people live in the U.S. illegally in spite of clear rules, and how to correct that. And it is the unspoken subtext to his promise to make government more effective and efficient, not just bigger. How many times has he talked about a new era of personal responsibility?


The thread has a simple title: EFFECTIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT.


Picture, if you will, a frontier town out west with a sheriff who has looked the other way for years while the land barons, outlaws and drifters have had it their own way hereabouts. They’ve kept him supplied with whisky and women while ignoring the laws he’s supposed to enforce, profiting handsomely at the expense of the common folk.


Well, things get out of hand, people complain to the Territorial Governor, who fires the sheriff and his deputies and appoints a new one. The new guy is an idealist, very smart and brave, good with a gun; his deputies are behind him 100%. Some of the outlaws put up a front at first, but soon clear out. The drifters play it cool, fading into the background, while the barons shake the new man’s hand and promise to play by the rules while opening up lines of communication to the Governor.


The regular folks are pleased as punch at first, but they soon realize that the new sheriff means to hold EVERYBODY to the law, not just the bad guys. “Mend your fences, clean out your privies regular, control your animals and send your kids to the schoolmarm. That schoolmarm better be teachin’ right, too, ‘cause that’s the law. Barkeep: make sure your saloon is clean. Blacksmith: Safety first.”


Be careful what you wish for. “He who has never sinned… “


I wonder how many readers here have fudged a little bit on their tax returns?


How many, at some point in their lives, have collected unemployment for a few weeks while pretending to look for work?


How many have managed to drive without auto insurance for a while?


How many blessed with excellent health have avoided the expense of health insurance their entire lives? The reform bills under consideration in Congress aim to change all that. How does it make you feel?


And how many have elderly parents with a little too much money in the bank to qualify for Medicare. What do you do? If you take steps to correct that, you are defrauding the government. Watch out. The new sheriff will be looking for you.


Perhaps it’s not a question of enhancing fairness in our society. It’s a question of changing the BOUNDRIES OF ENFORCEMENT that people are afraid of. We’re used to what we can get away with, and maybe a lot of people are worried that the new deputies in town will reach down far enough to draw some brighter lines, catching some ordinary folks who KNOW they’ve been cheating the system.


I think we can agree that advantage taking -- “gaming the system” -- is a common occurrence, to say the least. Would it be fair to say that we are a nation of scofflaws, or that we live in a scofflaw world? If prices are regulated, black markets arise. If campaign finance rules are adjusted, players find ways around them. If tax loopholes are closed, accountants search for new ones. And if we’re far enough down the pecking order, we mostly count on flying under the radar in any case.


It’s human nature, and history is rich with examples. Remember Prohibition?


The recent tragic news of a murdered census taker makes some sense in this light. The poor victim was not an armed game warden or ATF agent. But he was WORKING FOR THE GUV’MINT! A FED! Some ignorant savage decided a census taker was no better than a cop. They had something to hide, perhaps, and the census is no less than an attempt to keep tabs and deny their right to… something. During the days of bootlegging, the enemy was the "revenooer". Are we regressing to the days of Jim Crow in more ways than one?


Reconsider the outcome of the Somali pirate drama back in April. And what about Obama’s cool dispatch of a pesky fly during an interview back in June. The first made his supporters swell with pride. The second made us laugh out loud. But maybe… just maybe… some folks are not so much IMPRESSED with such displays of competence as they are INTIMIDATED. The perplexingly negative response to the Presidents address to the nation’s school children might have been an expression of this unease. Perhaps his articulate displays of intelligence, good humor and capacity – the things we admire most in him – are prone to provoking a disquieting fear in others. Do some citizens PREFER clumsy, indifferent leadership? Does it make them feel more secure as they go about cheating the system?


This is not to say that there’s anything reasoned and rational about this response. Much of it is subliminal, insensible. But that just makes it more apt in explaining the town hall shouting and ludicrous references to Nazis and Commies. We invent targets for our anger when we can’t identify or admit to what it is we’re REALLY afraid of.


Historians have suggested there is a vein of mistrust for intellectuals in the American electorate. My theory is that Obama is provoking that mistrust in a big way by being too savvy and sophisticated. I’ve suggested that his constancy in addressing the public on all the important issues we face is consistent with good leadership, but I couldn’t fathom the unreasoning populist backlash. My scofflaw hypothesis can’t be the whole story, of course, but I wonder if it plays a part in popular resistance to the change he has promised.


At the risk of offending those who consider themselves pure and law-abiding, I venture to say that everyone sins now and again. The President is calling us out. But lots of people might be bothered by evidence that the new sheriff is a capable man, good with a gun. Maybe too good…

GOT OBAMA'S BACK???

Now that he's President, it's no time to roll over and fall asleep. The honeymoon has passed. 1/20/09 left us reeling, but now, we are drifting. Time to wake up and smell the garbage, hurling from the mouths of the Right daily. Their objective: to see Obama fail at ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, even if it means we, the American people who have no - or flawed - health insurance CONTINUE TO HAVE THE SAME. It's a crime, and each and every Republican (and Blue Dog) receiving kickbacks (yes, I used that word) from the Insurance Companies to trip us up should be voted out of office, or better, REMOVED, FINED AND FORCED TO WORK AT MCDONALD'S FOR ONE YEAR - if they can find one that's hiring.

It's time we step back into action. Let's get back into campaign mode once again. Phonebank. Call your representatives to keep the public option on the table, Descend upon your local senator's office and demand he/she take immediate action to keep the Public Option on the table. Email the media and tell give them a piece of your mind. Show up at town hall meetings armed with INTELLIGENT INFORMATION and present it RESPECTFULLY and ARTICULATELY, when one of the hateful fearmongers opens their fat traps. In short, DO SOMETHING. Or else, this health reform will not pass with the Public Option in it, and we will have only ourselves to blame.

THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF.

F***ING BUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!! by Dyan Kane & Robert Redford

Bush is going out with a vengeance. In 8 years, he has worked ceaselessly to undo 30 years of environmental protections for short term financial gain that benefits himself and his friends, and in his last 57 days of quackery, he is going for the gold. WE MUST WRITE ANYONE WE CAN IN LOCAL OR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RIGHT NOW AND STOP HIM BY CONSENSUS. BUT WE MUST DO IT NOW. WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER to SPEAK OUT.

Part of the change Americans just voted for in overwhelming numbers was to move away from the failed energy philosophy of "drill, baby, drill" to a more farsighted strategy, emphasized by Barack Obama, based on clean, renewable energy and efficiency. Yet on the very day that we raised our voices for change, the Bush administration dragged us in the opposite direction.

The Bureau of Land Management cynically chose November 4 to announce a last-minute plan to lease huge swaths of majestic wilderness in eastern Utah for oil and gas extraction one month before President-elect Obama takes office.

As its clock runs out, the Bush administration also is trying to open-up drilling all over the Rockies and Alaska, to green-light oil shale leasing, and to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Though sad, it's no surprise, coming as it does from the same crowd that designed a misguided national energy policy in secret meetings with the oil, gas and coal industries.

The BLM didn't just try to slip the audacious Utah lease maneuver past the American people on an historic election day, it actually hid the ball from its sister agency, the National Park Service, and then rejected the Service's request for more time to review the scheme.

Among the 360,000 acres to be auctioned for industrial development is pristine land near Canyonlands National Park, adjacent to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument. This Christmas gift to the dirty fuel industry includes parts of Desolation Canyon, named in 1869 by the explorer John Wesley Powell, which has been proposed for national park status. In fact, the BLM itself described Desolation Canyon nine years ago as "a place where a visitor can experience true solitude -- where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape."

Words alone cannot do justice to the beauty of these places, but they do capture the absurdity of the Bush plan. Oil and gas drilling in Desolation Canyon? Industrial development along the meandering Green River? The thought makes one wince.

The Obama transition team already has signaled its opposition to the leases, and said that once in office the Obama administration will try to reverse them. Let's hope that's possible. Utah's eastern expanse is one of America's few remaining wilderness treasures. It's our land, it's our legacy, but will it still be here for our children and grandchildren? We made our wishes about that known loudly and clearly on election day.

We voted to take control of our own destiny by breaking our addiction to dirty fuels. We voted to re-power America with clean energy from wind, solar and geothermal power. We voted to use of our greatest resource, American ingenuity, to build economic, energy and climate security, and to preserve our natural heritage. Yes we did. And yes we can.

Robert Redford, an actor, director and environmental activist, is a Trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and is the founder of Sundance, in Utah.

This post also appears on NRDC's Greenlight blog.

* Barack Obama

Part of the change Americans just voted for in overwhelming numbers was to move away from the failed energy philosophy of "drill, baby, drill" to a more farsighted strategy, emphasized by Barack Obama...
Part of the change Americans just voted for in overwhelming numbers was to move away from the failed energy philosophy of "drill, baby, drill" to a more farsighted strategy, emphasized by Barack Obama...
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by Dyan Kane



Need I say more????

THE SIMMERING POT of RASCISM

by Dyan Kane

Under the happy-shiny-people facade, behind the American flag, beyond the embarassing debacle of American Slavery and mob lynchings, white people are on the move. Caucasians flock to tanning beds and spray-on booths All across America, thousands of Angloes tip-toe to cosmetic treatment facilities, injecting fat & silicon into their thin lips, flabby asses and saggy boobs. White M.C.'s weave and bob behind the the 1's & 2's. They do the gangstah lean behind the wheels of their tinted-windowed, gas guzzling Hummers, bobbing their heads a bit behind the beat, covered in bling, rims a-rollin', emulating their heroes PDiddy and JayZ, 50-Cent and the most authentic thief of all, Eminem. White American Idols bounce like Beyonce, throwin' down their best Marvin Gaye trill ripoff. White "So Ya Think You can Dance" contestants break out their hottest Mary J Blige street moves.

And then there's John McCain, who's stolen every single Obama word, thought and campaign strategy.
Wanna Be's: white folk stealing Black Thunder, then renaming it white lightning. And out there in the "flyover" states, some of our white folk, under the McPalin touteledge, now claim John McCain's credo as their own: "we have (Obama) right where we want him". Gosh darn, do they sorta mean, like, in the crosshairs of a rifle?

Wouldn't that be convenient for the McPalin gang.

Step right up, hurry hurry! See their true colors lurch and splay in an 11th hour, desperate attempt to run rings around and beyond one of the greatest minds this country has ever produced, A BLACK MAN, god forbid!! Rascist Fearmongering is what the Bush/Cheney/Rove administration did so well. It is why we are here now. And John McCain, the wildest in the West, tops them all off.

Did you see that elderly, overweight, white-haired, white woman at last week's McCain Rally, the one who told John McCain "I don't trust Obama, he's an Arab." At first I thought it was Barbara Bush! How quickly we forget that the Bush Dynasty has been in bed with Saudi Arabian Oil Sheiks - "Arabs" - for decades? And wasn't it a group of "Arabs", Saudi "Arabs" who pulled off 9/11? If that's not palling around with terrorists....but don't let me get started.

At this point, McCain had been told (warned?) to back off attacking Obama with rascist innuendoes, and to tell his sheeps that no, no, Mr. Obama is a Christian, a family man, an honorable man. The secret code, however, has already been transmitted: if my loose lips sink ships, you get it, and so be it (wink wink). And this knowledge he winkingly bestowed on his supporters, who booed and yelled things like "Obama is a Terroist" and "Kill him!"

And so, my friends, the nighttime huddles have begun in Podunk Trailerpark, USA. What can we expect? Most Americans have never left their own STATE let alone visit a foreign country. Most Americans have never enjoyed a qualitative education (a tactic which keeps us sheepheads in a constant state of ignorance, despite having internet factchecking sources at our fingertips). Thus, what do normal average Americans really know about Socialism, Marxism, Capitalism, the French, Saudi Arabians, and the Bush Dynasty?? What IS the diff between a Sunni and a Shiite? If we knew anything about the Muslim faith, would we be more tolerant? What do we really know about the history of our own Christian faith? Who amongst us has read the bible cover to cover??

But we're quick to accept that brown skin equals trouble. That we sure do believe is fact.
Jesus had brown skin. But again, I digress...

McCain has stirred the pot, and it's a-boilin'. He says he wants to turn down the flame now, let it simmer, and focus on the economy (stupid).

I smell gas. The pilot on that old oven is out. It's been out for quite some time. All someone's got to do is light a match now and run. That's what John McPalin is doing.

The fact is, anyone can be iced anytime, anywhere. But oh yeah, we'd have to know history to figure that out.

So now the fuse is lit, and John McCain has hightailed it back to the economy, winking and smiling all the way. With 3 weeks left and Obama up 10-20 points, it's anyone's guess how far he'll go...to go out with a bang.

PS: If you want to fact check a few of John McCain's skeletons see:

Kemper/Marley
Cindy McCain
Budweiser Beer
George Soros
The U.S. Council for World Freedom
The Keating 5

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Then vote "That one" on Nov. 4th.

Mr. McCain: You Sure You Want To Go There?

by Dyan Kane


Even though Obama is sure to clinch this deal, McPalin is inciting violence against our next President that is SO rascist to the core, he should be disqualified from continuing his campaign.
After Barack does win, there will be no honeymoon. With world markets imploding, of course, it will be all his fault.

McPalin's rally dogs are asking: Mr. McCain, why won't you talk about the Obama/Ayers connection?

Because to open that Pandora's box would let us all in on McCain's skeleton closet.

Google:
1. United Freedom Council
2. Kemper/McCain/Cindy McCain
3. Marley/McCain/Cindy McCain
4. Keating 5
5. George Soros

These are some, not all, of McCain's ghosts. He is alot more dangerous for our country and for the world than Bush ever was.

This does not even broach the subject of his health. He's had 4 Melonomas, the last was stage 2 or 3, a very deadly cancer that, at 72, should disqualify him from running.

Mr. McCain has never known joblessness, hunger, poverty. He has 7 or 8 homes and 13 cars. He is running for President out of pure ego, and wants to go down in history as having "President of the United States" on the books. He has no desire to serve the people. He is in it for power and ego. Period. And in losing to Barack Obama, he will tear this country apart, and incite violence against Obama that may lead us into a civil war. WHY THE MEDIA ISN'T OUTING HIS CONNECTIONS TO THE ABOVE, lord only knows...

KOYANISQUAATSI

Conservationists have taken the first detailed look at the world's mammals in more than a decade, and the news isn't good.

"Our results paint a bleak picture of the global status of mammals worldwide," the team led by Jan Schipper of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, concluded.

"We estimate that one in four species is threatened with extinction and that the population of one in two is declining," the researchers said in a report to be published Friday in the journal Science. The findings were being released Monday at the IUCN meeting in Barcelona, Spain.

"I think the bottom line is, what kind of a world do you want to leave for your children," Andrew Smith, a professor in the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences, said in a telephone interview.

"How impoverished we would be if we lost 25 percent of the world's mammals," said Smith, one of more than 100 co-authors of the report.

"Within our lifetime hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live," added Julia Marton-Lefevre, IUCN director general. "We must now set clear targets for the future to reverse this trend to ensure that our enduring legacy is not to wipe out many of our closest relatives."

The IUCN describes itself as the world's oldest and largest global environmental network. It is made up of more than 1,000 government and nongovernment organizations and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. The research for the report took five years and involved more than 1,700 scientists around the world.

The report updates the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species, which overall includes 44,838 species, of which 16,928 are threatened with extinction. Of these, 3,246 are in the highest category of threat, critically endangered, 4,770 are endangered and 8,912 are vulnerable to extinction. The IUCN estimated that 76 mammal species have gone extinct since 1500.

While the new report estimated that one-in-four mammals is threatened with extinction, the actual numbers listed were 1,141 out of 5,487 species. That comes out to 20.8 percent, closer to one in five.

However, the researchers noted that there were several hundred species about which they don't have enough data to classify. They believe that the lack of information about those animals indicates that they exist in such small numbers that many could be endangered, raising the total to 25 percent or higher, Smith explained.

Among the mammals particularly in danger are primates, used for bush meat in parts of Africa and facing major loss of habitat in Southeast Asia, Smith noted.

The report also notes unusually high threats to tapirs, hippos, bears, pigs and hogs, while among the less threatened are moles, opossums and free-tailed bats.

In general, larger mammals were found to be more threatened than smaller ones. Larger species tend to have lower population densities, grow more slowly and have larger home ranges.

For land species, habitat loss is a major threat across the tropics, including deforestation in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Hunting is having devastating effects in Asia, but African and South American species are also affected.

For marine mammals the major threat is accidental death, especially fisheries by-catch and vessel strike.

Climate change is also affecting sea ice dependent species such as polar bears and harp seals.

Even though most of the world has been explored, new mammal species continue to be discovered. This year's species total of 5,487 is up 19 percent since 1992.

Many newly discovered species are among those that are not well documented, living in regions in need of future research such as tropical forests in West Africa and Borneo. Marine mammals are not as well studied as land mammals and are more difficult to survey.

While it raises concerns, the new analysis isn't all bad news. It found about five percent of currently threatened mammals showing signs of recovery.

The black-footed ferret moved from extinct in the wild to endangered after a successful reintroduction by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in eight western states from 1991-2008. Also, wild horses moved from extinct in the wild in 1996 to critically endangered this year after successful reintroductions started in Mongolia in the early 1990s.

In addition to raising concern about mammals, new additions to the IUCN Red List include:

• Indian tarantulas, sought by collectors and threatened by the international pet trade.

• The Rameshwaram parachute spider has been listed as critically endangered due to habitat loss.

• The squaretail coral grouper from the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific has been listed as vulnerable because it has become a luxury food.

• In Costa Rica, Holdridge's toad moved from critically endangered to extinct, as it has not been seen since 1986 despite intensive surveys.

• La Palma giant lizard, found on the Canary Island of La Palma and thought to have become extinct in the last 500 years, was rediscovered last year and is now listed as critically endangered.

IUCN also said it is issuing a Sampled Red List Index, developed in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London. The index takes a random sample of species from a taxonomic group to calculate the trends in extinction risk within that group. It can be used to calculate trends much like an exit poll from a voting station.

___

Associated Press writer Daniel Woolls in Madrid, Spain, contributed to this report.

___

AS OF TODAY, OBAMA IS AHEAD IN ELECTORAL VOTES IN 3 CRITICAL STATES

Peanuts? Popcorn?? What will the McCain/Rove enterprise try to pull NOW?? Remember how Madonna reinvented herself over and over, creating hype that, to this day, keeps her in the news? Well, McCain must have her publicity agent working his campaign overtime. (Or maybe Rove was hers??) With issues like Global Warming and the collapse of world markets HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, nailing the highest office in the world is not fluff. Let's make no mistake in underestimating Senator McCain's desperation to nail down his old dream of being President of the U.S. He will morph into whatever strangeling that appeals to United Sheeps of America, those easily bedazzled by American Idol and Amazing Race-type reality TV. Maybe a whole new career's in the Mc-making! After all, the secret to a good screenplay or TV script is "what happens next?". right? Will "McCAIN - The Man behind the Man behind the Man" be coming soon to a THEATRE NEAR YOU?

Stay tuned.

**************************************************************************************************

WASHINGTON - Recently trailing or tied, Democrat Barack Obama now leads Republican John McCain in a trio of the most critical, vote-rich states five weeks before the election, according to presidential poll results released Wednesday.
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The Democrat's support jumped to 50 percent or above in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania in Quinnipiac University surveys taken during the weekend — after the opening presidential debate and during Monday's dramatic stock market plunge as the House rejected a $700 billion financial bailout plan.

Combined, these states offer 68 of the 270 electoral votes needed for victory on Election Day, Nov. 4.

Pollsters attributed Obama's improved standing to the public's general approval of his debate performance, antipathy toward GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and heightened confidence in the Illinois senator's ability to handle the economic crisis.

The fresh polling is the latest troublesome turn for McCain, the Arizona senator who is trying to regain control of the campaign conversation amid increasingly difficult circumstances for Republicans. It comes on the eve of a debate between Palin and her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, and as the financial crisis shapes the presidential race in unpredictable ways.

For now and probably for the next month, the race will be entirely about who can best handle an economy in peril.

The war in Iraq, national security and foreign policy issues — McCain's strengths — have largely fallen by the wayside as each campaign tries to chart a course to the presidency in extraordinarily choppy economic waters.

The new surveys show Obama leading McCain in Florida 51 percent to 43 percent, in Ohio 50 percent to 42 percent and in Pennsylvania 54 percent to 39 percent.

Since 1960, no president has been elected without winning two of those three states.

The results are notable because they show Obama in a strong position in the pair of states that put Bush in the White House in 2000 and kept him there four years later — Florida and Ohio, with 27 and 20 electoral votes, respectively.

Obama has been struggling to break into a comfortable lead in both states; for weeks he had been mostly about even with McCain in Ohio while lagging for months in Florida, even after being the only candidate on the air and spending some $8 million on advertising.

Pennsylvania, with 21 electoral votes, is a different story.

Obama is trying to hang onto the state Democrat John Kerry won four years ago, though McCain has mounted a stiff challenge as he seeks to benefit from his rival's trouble with working-class voters who question his liberal voting record and, perhaps, his race.

The telephone polls, which were taken before and after last week's McCain-Obama debate, have margins of error ranging from plus or minus 2.8 percentage points to plus or minus 3.4 points.

BAILOUT: WE THE PEOPLE HAVE 72 HOURS to MAKE IT RIGHT

Friends,

B4 you read this, ask yourself: if this is such a crisis, why have all who celebrate Rosh Hashanah in Washington left town and gone home for holiday? Take a moment and really think about the answer to that question.................................................ok?.................Now read on.

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions."

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Why am I bringing this up? What's this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it's because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage "crisis" may never have happened.

This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something -- NOW! Here's what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they've made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we'll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say "NO!" If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NO

Impalin' Palin

by Dyan Kane

Why we are not in the streets protesting?? Because the internet has made it easier for people like me (and Ian, below) to vent to whomever is reading. We sit on our lazy asses and blog, instead of cramming the streets of Washington, D.C.

This bailout is just as much OUR fault as it is the folks we let get away with it. But who has time to keep up with all these criminals???

Again, McCain has us focussed on Palin issues long enough and hard enough to turn our heads away from the real crisis in his campaign: his lagging numbers, the failing economy ala GOP. What rabbit will he pull out of his hat this time?

This is the government's version of "Noises Off", just substitute any character in that script for players the in McCain's Campaign. Better still: SNL 's next Palin/Couric skit: Couric is not the only one wearing an earpiece. Ala Brando's final days, Palin is wired, cheat cheats are pasted to studio walls, cameras, tables, post-its stuck to her fingertips AND SHE STILL CAN'T GET IT RIGHT!! All comics everywhere are thanking their lucky Hollywood Walk of Fame Stars that McPalin exists.

Let's get serious, folks, this stuff is dangerous.

This is the rabbit Johnnie Mac will pull out of his cowboy hat this time: (I got money on this one, folks): HEADLINES! BREAKING NEWS! Palin's son gets "shot" in Iraq. (not really, but who will know???)

Then Johnnie can slip Mitt Romney in on Nov 3rd. By then, we'll be in Iran. Petraeus will have Bin Laden on ice somewhere in Pakistan (if he doesn't already). Or we'll have another 9/11-ish strike here in a town near you. Or worse, he'll just resort to taking out the enemy, his enemy, the enemy of his people. I'll leave that l'il tidbit to you to figure out.

====================================================================================

by Ian Gurvitz


Bye, Sarah. After the latest Katie Couric interview/non-sequitur festival, Ms. Squawking Points has officially outed herself as way too much of an imbecile to keep on the ticket. Even with those furtive glances down at her cheat sheets, she still couldn't cobble together a coherent response to any question, let alone the one asked by Ms. Couric about the bailout. "It's the economics...and the job creation...and the trade...which we can't look at as scary..." Holy fucking crap. Unless McCain's handlers are equally as imbecilic, which is possible but not likely, they must realize the spin cycle on this one is broken and there's no time to call tech support or send her back to the factory. She's gone before the Veep debate.

There's no way in hell they're not behind closed doors crafting her exit strategy. Among the choices: family emergency, sick kid, husband has heart attack, most likely at the same Alaska hospital where she gave birth. But, I don't think they'll go this way. It's too thin. I think the only way here is to destroy her. The evidence is already floating on the periphery: Troopergate, the bridges and roads to Nowhere, her friend the witch doctor, I see Russia from my house, the alleged affair with the husband's co-worker, the Miss Alaska swimsuit footage. Instead of pushing it away as unsubstantiated allegations, tawdry rumor and cheap shots, they just have to take the opposite approach and subtly allow it to get to the forefront while offering the illusion of a defense. Just get out the evidence and let the media poke holes in the boat. Then, once she's good and debased, debunked, and humiliated, other than from opening her mouth and attempting to speak sentences that attach to one another to form coherent thoughts, she will withdraw from the ticket for the good of the party and the country. There's no way they put her in the room with Biden. It's suicide. Which would be fine with me. Kill the monsters any way you can. But these people are not suicidal. Evil. Just not suicidal.

The question is: who's the replacement and what's the new story? Giuliani? The two tough guys hit the road? Keeping America safe? No, he scares people. Lieberman? No. Even though they've been holding hands all week in D.C., he's still a Jew and other than as bit players in The End Times Theatre production of Apocalypse Soon, the base don't like Jews. Huckabee? Possible. Though I think it's Romney. Former governor, so he's got the experience thing. Mormon, which sort of covers the base. But most of all, the business thing. With the economy going to shit, and Johnny Mac's economic credibility as thin as Freddie Mac's, he'll bring on the business guy, who can talk economics. Plus, he's got relative youth, hair, the big Osmond-looking family. The picture will work. And he's already been on the big stage. No learning curve. He's ready to lie on Day 1.

So...Goodnight, Sarah. Have a nice trip back to Alaska. The wolves will be nervous. But the rest of us may rest a bit easier. Though, I would've given anything to see that debate.

R.I.P. PAUL NEWMAN

by Dyan Kane

This beautiful September Saturday morning, I kissed my dog Max hello, poured a cup of joe, and logged onto my Yahoo account. News items pop up: Obama vs McCain. Iraq. Markets crashing. Frozen credit. Housing crisis. Joblessness. Then, I saw the saddest headlines: Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at 83.

I gasped. Well, he had a wonderful life, an extraordinary career, and he leaves behind a rich legacy of film work. Not to mention his pasta sauce, salad dressing, and cookies!

I began reading the AP article, but the words blurred as I teared up.

I feel like I grew up with Paul Newman. He was like some long lost relative: out there somewhere, but you sense he's always THERE, and no worries, you'll see him again someday soon. The guy whose line "what we have here is a failure to communicate" goes down in history with "STELLAHHHHH!!!!" and "Go ahead, make my day". I watched his movies at home with my family, in better days when politicians seemed to have more honor and Al Quaeda was the name of the town car mechanic down the street from my grandmother's house, where I grew up listening to Andy Williams and Ray Charles records on a Sunday morning after church, the smell of hot apple pie and lasagna wafting through the house, the table being set for Sunday dinner.

Paul Newman had the kind of legendary career actors and actresses like myself aspire to. A great looking, charismatic guy, Newman could have easily made it on his looks alone. But he was blessed (or cursed) with the heart and mind of a real method actor, the kind whose process involves painstaking excavation - with a scalpel - of the soul of the character on the page AS WELL AS OWN, culminating in sterling portrayals that are truthful, layered, understated and nuanced - characters who live on to become CLASSIC in our memories. He rubbed elbows with HUGE stars, lived the glamorous life, yet he never phoned it in, he always BROUGHT THE WORK TO THE TABLE.

From his earlier roles in "The Sting" and "Butch Cassidy..." to later, more mature roles in "The Verdict" and one of my favorites, "Road to Perdition", Newman allowed us little peeks into his own persona. An extremely private man, his characters were never overshadowed by his own personality, as is often the case in today's Hollywood. Anyone who pursues the craft of acting for long periods of time learns that achieving Newman's industry status AND artistic integrity is no easy task.

He's been quoted saying thing's like "it took me so long to make it, I forgot what I started for" and "once you find the NERVE of the character, you can then build the rest around that". Both tidbits have resonated with me at different points in my career endeavors. I'm just sorry I never had a chance to meet him or work with him.

Maybe if I run out and buy a package of Newman's Own Ginger Cookies and eat them very, very slowly, he'll stay with me a just little while longer.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
Saturday September 27 9:16 AM ET

Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.

Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.

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He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."

Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting."

He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in "The Long Hot Summer," and Newman directed her in several films, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie"

With his strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue eyes, Newman was a heartthrob just as likely to play against his looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers. "I was always a character actor," he once said. "I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."

Newman had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens of millions to charities through his food company and setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil rights, he was so famously liberal that he ended up on President Nixon's "enemies list," one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say.

A screen legend by his mid-40s, he waited a long time for his first competitive Oscar, winning in 1987 for "The Color of Money," a reprise of the role of pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, whom Newman portrayed in the 1961 film "The Hustler."

Newman delivered a magnetic performance in "The Hustler," playing a smooth-talking, whiskey-chugging pool shark who takes on Minnesota Fats played by Jackie Gleason and becomes entangled with a gambler played by George C. Scott. In the sequel directed by Scorsese "Fast Eddie" is no longer the high-stakes hustler he once was, but rather an aging liquor salesman who takes a young pool player (Cruise) under his wing before making a comeback.

He won an honorary Oscar in 1986 "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft." In 1994, he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his charitable work.

His most recent academy nod was a supporting actor nomination for the 2002 film "Road to Perdition." One of Newman's nominations was as a producer; the other nine were in acting categories. (Jack Nicholson holds the record among actors for Oscar nominations, with 12; actress Meryl Streep has had 14.)

As he passed his 80th birthday, he remained in demand, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 2005 HBO drama "Empire Falls" and providing the voice of a crusty 1951 car in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit, "Cars."

But in May 2007, he told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had given up acting, though he intended to remain active in charity projects. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," he said. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me."

He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a bitter, alcoholic former star athlete in the 1958 film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Elizabeth Taylor played his unhappy wife and Burl Ives his wealthy, domineering father in Tennessee Williams' harrowing drama, which was given an upbeat ending for the screen.

In "Cool Hand Luke," he was nominated for his gritty role as a rebellious inmate in a brutal Southern prison. The movie was one of the biggest hits of 1967 and included a tagline, delivered one time by Newman and one time by prison warden Strother Martin, that helped define the generation gap, "What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate."

Newman's hair was graying, but he was as gourgeous as ever and on the verge of his greatest popular success. In 1969, Newman teamed with Redford for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a comic Western about two outlaws running out of time. Newman paired with Redford again in 1973 in "The Sting," a comedy about two Depression-era con men. Both were multiple Oscar winners and huge hits, irreverent, unforgettable pairings of two of the best-looking actors of their time.

Newman also turned to producing and directing. In 1968, he directed "Rachel, Rachel," a film about a lonely spinster's rebirth. The movie received four Oscar nominations, including Newman, for producer of a best motion picture, and Woodward, for best actress. The film earned Newman the best director award from the New York Film Critics.

In the 1970s, Newman, admittedly bored with acting, became fascinated with auto racing, a sport he studied when he starred in the 1972 film, "Winning." After turning professional in 1977, Newman and his driving team made strong showings in several major races, including fifth place in Daytona in 1977 and second place in the Le Mans in 1979.

"Racing is the best way I know to get away from all the rubbish of Hollywood," he told People magazine in 1979.

Despite his love of race cars, Newman continued to make movies and continued to pile up Oscar nominations, his looks remarkably intact, his acting becoming more subtle, nothing like the mannered method performances of his early years, when he was sometimes dismissed as a Brando imitator. "It takes a long time for an actor to develop the assurance that the trim, silver-haired Paul Newman has acquired," Pauline Kael wrote of him in the early 1980s.

In 1982, he got his Oscar fifth nomination for his portrayal of an honest businessman persecuted by an irresponsible reporter in "Absence of Malice." The following year, he got his sixth for playing a down-and-out alcoholic attorney in "The Verdict."

In 1995, he was nominated for his slyest, most understated work yet, the town curmudgeon and deadbeat in "Nobody's Fool." New York Times critic Caryn James found his acting "without cheap sentiment and self-pity," and observed, "It says everything about Mr. Newman's performance, the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given, that you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking as Paul Newman ended up this way."

Newman, who shunned Hollywood life, was reluctant to give interviews and usually refused to sign autographs because he found the majesty of the act offensive, according to one friend.

He also claimed that he never read reviews of his movies.

"If they're good you get a fat head and if they're bad you're depressed for three weeks," he said.

Off the screen, Newman had a taste for beer and was known for his practical jokes. He once had a Porsche installed in Redford's hallway crushed and covered with ribbons.

"I think that my sense of humor is the only thing that keeps me sane," he told Newsweek magazine in a 1994 interview.

In 1982, Newman and his Westport neighbor, writer A.E. Hotchner, started a company to market Newman's original oil-and-vinegar dressing. Newman's Own, which began as a joke, grew into a multimillion-dollar business selling popcorn, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and other foods. All of the company's profits are donated to charities. By 2007, the company had donated more than $175 million, according to its Web site.

In 1988, Newman founded a camp in northeastern Connecticut for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He went on to establish similar camps in several other states and in Europe.

He and Woodward bought an 18th century farmhouse in Westport, where they raised their three daughters, Elinor "Nell," Melissa and Clea.

Newman had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, from a previous marriage to Jacqueline Witte.

Scott died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. After his only son's death, Newman established the Scott Newman Foundation to finance the production of anti-drug films for children.

Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of two boys of Arthur S. Newman, a partner in a sporting goods store, and Theresa Fetzer Newman.

He was raised in the affluent suburb of Shaker Heights, where he was encouraged him to pursue his interest in the arts by his mother and his uncle Joseph Newman, a well-known Ohio poet and journalist.

Following World War II service in the Navy, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he got a degree in English and was active in student productions.

He later studied at Yale University's School of Drama, then headed to New York to work in theater and television, his classmates at the famed Actor's Studio including Brando, James Dean and Karl Malden. His breakthrough was enabled by tragedy: Dean, scheduled to star as the disfigured boxer in a television adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler," died in a car crash in 1955. His role was taken by Newman, then a little-known performer.

Newman started in movies the year before, in "The Silver Chalice," a costume film he so despised that he took out an ad in Variety to apologize. By 1958, he had won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the shiftless Ben Quick in "The Long Hot Summer."

In December 1994, about a month before his 70th birthday, he told Newsweek magazine he had changed little with age.

"I'm not mellower, I'm not less angry, I'm not less self-critical, I'm not less tenacious," he said. "Maybe the best part is that your liver can't handle those beers at noon anymore," he said.

Newman is survived by his wife, five children, two grandsons and his older brother Arthur.

The "WE DESERVE IT DIVIDEND": Socialism Becomes Us

by Dyan Kane

Hi Pals,

This email was sent to me by BIRK, the brother of a close friend of mine. To most Americans, especially right wing neo cons, this solution will scare the be-Jesus out of everyone. Are we turning socialist=marxist=communist=China=French????? OMIGODFORBID!!! What's the world coming to??

The only thing that surprises me is that we aren't rioting in the streets EVERY DAY!!!

But then again, aren't we ALLl to blame for this debacle???

Here's BIRK's plan:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.
Instead,

I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a "We
Deserve It Dividend."

To make the math simple, let's assume there are
200,000,000 bonafide U.S.

Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +- counting
every man, woman and child.

So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..
So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals
$425,000.00. My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
"WE DESERVE IT DIVIDEND".

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.

So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to
pay $127,500.00 in taxes.

That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means
that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.

A husband and wife team has $595,000.00. What would you do with
$297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.

Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads Put away
money for college - it'll be there Save in a bank - create money to
loan to entrepreneurs.

Buy a new car - create jobs Invest in the market - capital drives
growth Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care
improves Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else Remember
this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost
their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is
cutting back. And, of course, for those serving in our Armed
Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really
do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ("vote buy") economic
incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If
we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail outevery adult
U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts.
Let AIG go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters
cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale. We deserve it and
AIG doesn't. Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never
work." But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic
Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC.

And remember, The Birk Plan only really costs $59.5 Billion
because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Kindest personal regards, Birk , A Creative Guy
& Citizen of the Republic

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your
pals as it's either good for a laugh or a tear or a very
sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!!

HUMANE SOCIETY ENDORSES OBAMA/BIDEN!!

by Dyan Kane

Animals have no laws, no guns, no money market accounts. They have no religious beliefs. Yet most wild animals are going extinct because of human activity on the planet.
Animals are the ones who suffer because humans are supposedly "top of the food chain". After the crash this week followed by the Bush Bail-out scheme, I think of that old joke: what'd'ya call a bunch of lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean? A good start. Now that's the kind of "food chain" I'm talking about. Let me explain.

Last week, a producer friend of mine invited me to join his "money" people at a local bar. I sat across the table from an entertainment lawyer. We'll call him "Rad". Rad had a face that resembled a younger Rodney Dangerfield, especially the popping eyeballs. He was your typical stocky, cocky, macho motor-mouth asshole. When he found out I was producing the animal rights segment of my friend's pilot series, he wasted no time sadistically bragging about his hunting skills in explicit detail: how he gets up at 4am and sneaks out to his spot in the woods. How he waits for hours, for just the right moment.
"It's not easy, waiting", he says.
He continues to pontificate: How wild animals must be culled or they'll overpopulate and starve to death. "We're actually helping them stay healthy!"
"Never mind that human overpopulation causes us to are encroach on THEIR territory?" I asked.
"Look, it's me in a house, or an animal in his territory. What's it gonna be? I'll tell ya. ME in a HOUSE."
"But, how can you point a rifle at an innocent, unarmed, unsuspecting Mother Deer, who is maybe out foraging for her calf, and just pull the trigger?"
He blabbered on: How animal defense mechanisms - sense of hearing and smell - allow them to escape unscathed most times. He bragged about not using lead bullets. He argued that men are hunters by nature, that a fresh kill produces fresh meat, as opposed to store bought; that factory farming is abusive and slaughtered farm animals are filled with antibiotics and unsafe for human consumption. As long as hunters hunt in designated areas during hunting season, all's fair game. His nostrils began to flare, his eyes bulged even more. His lips pulled back into a sneer, and out of his throat, a deep devilish laugh bellowed.
He found out I'd rescued a Thoroughbred Mare, and that I advocate against horse slaughter for Europeon food consumption by petitioning and calling my congressional and senatorial reps.
"I've tried horse meat, too", he rambled on. "And I love it. Tastes like steak. Put a slab of meat in front of me any day."
Still smiling, I took both both my index fingers and held them up.
"Look!" I said to him, waving my fingers at him. Then I stuck them in my ears. Didn't stop Rad. He blabbered harder, breaking a sweat. I started to Hum. Loudly. He laughed.
"If I ever fell in love with a man, and I found out he hunted, I'd leave hin in a heartbeat." I said, after we toasted with $12 bottled water.
"Guess we'll never fall in love. Or maybe someone like you can change a man like me".
I stared at his bulging stomach and wondered about intestinal undigested meat putrification. I wondered if he was alone with no date because intestinal parasites caused him to fart alot. I flashed to us trying to have sex, me on top of this massive mound of flesh, unable to go for the gold because I just couldn't properly position myself for insertion.
When my focus returned to his eyes, he was still smiling at me.
"Lets face it" he said, "we humans are---"
"--the scourge of the earth." I quickly finished for him. He lit a cigarette and blew smoke rings. I said my Hollywood goodbyes and returned home, where my "pit-bull" Max greeted me at the door with tail a-wagging, big smile on his face. Oh yeah, Rad also hates pit bulls. Thinks they should all be killed.

I share this with you because this man represents the NRA monsters out there lurking in the shadows. And if Palin gets into office, decades of advancements made by animal advocates will be pushed backwards.

Today, I checked my email. The Humane Society Legislative Fund Endorses the Obama-Biden ticket because they both fight for animal rights.

On the email sent to me, (but not on the pasted copy below), Ms. Palin has just finished hunting, and is bent over her quarry - a once mighty, noble and majestic Moose. Did she say a prayer before she murdered one of God's innocent creatures. How can she reconcile hunting innocent animals with her anti-abortion stance???

Pull the trigger on a moose. Shoot an Iraqi citizen. Put your finger on a button. Drop a bomb on a country. In my world, it's all one in the same.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From:
"Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics"

Humane Society Legislative Fund Endorses Obama-Biden

Posted: 22 Sep 2008 12:54 PM CDT

One of the guiding principles of the Humane Society Legislative Fund is that we evaluate candidates based on a single criterion: where they stand on animal protection policies. We don’t make decisions based on party affiliation, or any other social issue, or even how many pets they have. We care about their views and actions on the major policy debates relating to animal welfare.

It stirs controversy to get involved in candidate elections. But we believe that candidates for office and current lawmakers must be held accountable, or they will see the animal protection movement as a largely irrelevant political constituency. In order to have good laws, we need good lawmakers, and involvement in elections is an essential strategy for any serious social movement, including our cause.

While we’ve endorsed hundreds of congressional candidates for election, both Democrats and Republicans, we’ve never before endorsed a presidential candidate. We have members on the left, in the center, and on the right, and we knew it could be controversial to choose either party’s candidate for the top office in the nation. But in an era of sweeping presidential power, we must weigh in on this most important political race in the country. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option for us.

Obama I’m proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors—which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans—has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is the better choice on animal protection, and we urge all voters who care about the humane treatment of animals, no matter what their party affiliation, to vote for them.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been a solid supporter of animal protection at both the state and federal levels. As an Illinois state senator, he backed at least a dozen animal protection laws, including those to strengthen the penalties for animal cruelty, to help animal shelters, to promote spaying and neutering, and to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. In the U.S. Senate, he has consistently co-sponsored multiple bills to combat animal fighting and horse slaughter, and has supported efforts to increase funding for adequate enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and federal laws to combat animal fighting and puppy mills.

In his response to the HSLF questionnaire, he pledged support for nearly every animal protection bill currently pending in Congress, and said he will work with executive agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior to make their policies more humane. He wrote of the important role animals play in our lives, as companions in our homes, as wildlife in their own environments, and as service animals working with law enforcement and assisting persons with disabilities. He also commented on the broader links between animal cruelty and violence in society.

Obama has even on occasion highlighted animal protection issues on the campaign trail, and has spoken publicly about his support for animal protection. In reaction to the investigation showing the abuse of sick and crippled cows which earlier this year led to the largest meat recall in U.S. history, he issued a statement saying “that the mistreatment of downed cows is unacceptable and poses a serious threat to public health.” He is featured in Jana Kohl’s book about puppy mills, A Rare Breed of Love, with a photo of Obama holding Baby (shown above), the three-legged poodle rescued from an abusive puppy mill operation, and his political mentor, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), is the author of the latest federal bill to crack down on puppy mills.

Obamabiden2 Importantly, Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) has been a stalwart friend of animal welfare advocates in the Senate, and has received high marks year after year on the Humane Scorecard. Biden has not only supported animal protection legislation during his career, but has also led the fight on important issues. He was the co-author with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the 108th Congress on legislation to ban the netting of dolphins by commercial tuna fishermen. He was the lead author of a bill in the 107th Congress to prohibit trophy hunting of captive exotic mammals in fenced enclosures, and he successfully passed the bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On the Republican ticket, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has also supported some animal protection bills in Congress, but has been inattentive or opposed to others. He has voted for and co-sponsored legislation to stop horse slaughter, and voted to eliminate a $2 million subsidy for the luxury fur coat industry. But he has largely been absent on other issues, and has failed to co-sponsor a large number of priority bills or sign onto animal protection letters that have had broad support in the Senate.

The McCain campaign did not fill out the HSLF presidential questionnaire, and has also not issued any public statements on animal welfare issues. He was silent during the downed animal scandal and beef recall, which played out during a high-point in the primary fight. Yet he did speak at the NRA convention earlier this year, and is the keynote speaker this weekend in Columbus, Ohio, at the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance rally—an extremist organization that defends the trophy hunting of threatened polar bears and captive shooting of tame animals inside fenced pens.

While McCain’s positions on animal protection have been lukewarm, his choice of running mate cemented our decision to oppose his ticket. Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-Alaska) retrograde policies on animal welfare and conservation have led to an all-out war on Alaska’s wolves and other creatures. Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States.

Palin2 Palin engineered a campaign of shooting predators from airplanes and helicopters, in order to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. She offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals, even though Alaska voters had twice approved a ban on the practice. This year, the issue was up again for a vote of the people, and Palin led the fight against it—in fact, she helped to spend $400,000 of public funds to defeat the initiative.

What’s more, when the Bush Administration announced its decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Palin filed a lawsuit to reverse that decision. She said it’s the “wrong move” to protect polar bears, even though their habitat is shrinking and ice floes are vanishing due to global warming.

The choice for animals is especially clear now that Palin is in the mix. If Palin is put in a position to succeed McCain, it could mean rolling back decades of progress on animal issues.

Voters who care about protecting wildlife from inhumane and unsporting abuses, enforcing the laws that combat large-scale cruelties like dogfighting and puppy mills, providing humane treatment of animals in agriculture, and addressing other challenges that face animals in our nation, must become active over the next six weeks to elect a president and vice president who share our values. Please spread the word, and tell friends and family members that an honest assessment of the records of the two presidential tickets leads to the inescapable conclusion that Obama-Biden is the choice for humane-minded voters.

I COPIED THIS S.F. ARTICLE, cuz I couldn't have said it better

by Dyan Kane, sort of.....



Every thoughtful or liberal or intuitive or open-minded white woman I know worth her vagina monologue and her self-determination and two centuries of nonstop striving for equal rights and sexual freedom and exhaustive patriarchal unshackling is right now openly horrified, appalled at what the addition of shrill PTA hockey-mom Sarah Palin seems to have done for the soggy, comatose McCain campaign -- that is, make it not merely remotely interesting and melodramatic, but aggressively hostile to, well, to all intelligent women everywhere.


Truly, among women in the know and especially among those who fought so hard to bring Hillary Clinton to the brink of history, nausea and a general recoiling appear to be the universal reactions to Palin's sudden presence on the national stage, stemming straight from the idea that there's even a slight chance in hell such an antagonistic, anti-female politico could be within a 72-year-old heartbeat of becoming the most powerful and iconic woman of all time.
They say: You've got to be kidding me. They say: This is what we get? This could be our historic role model? Two hundred years (OK, more like 2000) of struggle, only to have this nasty caricature of femininity try to hijack and mock and undermine it all?
It cannot be true, they say. The universe must joking, would not dare dump such a homophobic, Creationist evangelical nutball on us, this anti-choice, God-pandering woman who's the inverse of Hillary, this woman of deep inexperience who abhors birth control and supports abstinence education and shoots exhausted wolves from helicopters and hates polar bears and actually stands for everything progressive women have resented since the first pope Swift-Boated Eve.
But now, the truly bizarre part. Despite this defiant outcry, a great many pundits and reports have suggested that, just after the Palin VP announcement, a sizable chunk of predominantly white women nevertheless abandoned their tentative support for Obama and leapt into the lyin' arms of McCain, presumably simply because of Palin's gender and PTA momhood.
And thus did the harrowing wail go out: WTF? Could it be true? Are cadres of formerly Obama-leaning white women really so enchanted by Palin's gender and motherhood status that they openly ignore the fact that she basically wants to shove women's rights back about five decades? Can it be so simple, crude, sad?
Let us analyze. Let me, being a straight white male and therefore only capable of gazing in awe at the spectacle that is the indecipherable female intuitive response, foolishly attempt to decipher some of it anyway, and explain why in hell some women might jump to Palin, despite the fact that she essentially hates them. Shall we begin?
"She's one of us." This was the resounding quote from many deer-in-the-Palin-headlights fans, a bizarre, dangerous sentiment that echoes the blue-collar Midwest's blind love of George W. Bush, simply because he came across as the kind of simple-minded aw-shucks guy you'd want to have a beer with, never you mind that giant silver spoon sticking out of his mouth or that giant daddy's-boy chip on his droopy shoulders.
Is this all it is? Does "one of us" merely mean white women really believe Palin could, if McCain didn't survive his first term, effectively lead the most powerful, flawed, complicated nation on the planet merely because she's a hard-workin' mom with moxie, that she's managed to raise a gaggle of strangely named kids who hunt and don't believe in evolution and get pregnant before they're old enough to buy a pack of Marlboros?
Or does it mean they agree with Palin about not giving a damn for equal pay, or honest sex education, or separation of church and state, or alternative energy, or a woman's right to choose, or their own daughters' rights if they get knocked up after being raped or incested? Nah, that can't be it.
Maybe we're just not used to seeing the female voting demographic depicted this way. Truly, it's usually men who are the knuckleheaded ones, who will flip their vote merely over a single inconsequential issue ("I like everything about Obama except he supports gun control, and I love my guns, so I guess I gotta go for McCain"). Women, according to the eternal mythology, are no such dupes, and choose more wisely, from deeper intuition, instinct. Right?
Wrong. Maybe this is our simple summary, the blaring headline we should be reading in the wake of recent events. "Easily duped Palin supporters prove: Some white women are just as dumb as men." Is that all it is? Maybe so.
Ah, but there is good news. It appears the bloom is already off the McPalin rose, the baby bump she gave McCain is already gone, as everyone from here to Wasilla is sick to death of hearing about her. Every day that goes by it comes clearer that the Sarah juggernaut is no juggernaut at all but merely an increasingly disturbing PR stunt, and a bit of a disgrace for John McCain himself, whose once-noble aura of integrity and class has essentially vanished.
A potent backlash is coming fast. Actually, it began almost immediately, just after the Republican National Convention, when the GOP cheerfully announced they'd raised a whopping one million bucks in the 24 hours following Palin's speech, so inspired was the heavily drugged conservative base by her teleprompter-reading skills (she didn't write a single word of her own speech, of course; it came from a former Bushite, well before she was the VP pick).
Well, gosh. Really? A million? Wow.
But then Obama's campaign issued a statement of their own. Turns out they'd raised a bit money in the exact same time frame, a rather impressive outpouring of cash from all those on the left who could be heard screaming "oh my God no way in hell" to their TV screens as Palin's finger jabbed at the heart of all that's right and good with the world. The amount Obama raised in the same 24 hours? $10 million. Well now.
How much of that staggering amount came from the newly galvanized, infuriated female populace from the left who see right through Palin's shrill charade and damn well recognize an imposter in their midst, it's impossible to tell. But I think it's a damn safe bet to assume, they are legion.
And let me tell you, they are pissed.

PRES ELECT OBAMA: PLEASE READ & HEED

> Obama and The Palin Effect
>
> From: Deepak Chopra | Posted: Friday, September 5th, 2008
>
> Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national
> psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly
> illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the
> Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she
> outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given
> her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing.
> Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the
> job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City . By
> comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin's
> pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal
> goes deeper.
>
> She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding
> his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In
> psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides
> out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with
> qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence,
> selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans,
> Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He
> is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that
> stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly
> clear, I am not maki ng a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama
> is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on
> the scene.)
>
> I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not
> welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful
> here to understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov.
> Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their
> resistance to change and a higher vision.
>
> Look at what she stands for:
>
> --Small town values -- a denial of America 's global role, a return to
> petty, small-minded parochialism.
>
> --Ignorance of world affairs -- a repudiation of the need to repair
> America 's image abroad.
>
> --Family values -- a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim
> for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't
> need to be heeded.
>
> --Rigid stands on guns and abortion -- a scornful repudiation that
> these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
>
> --Patriotism -- the usual fallback in a failed war.
>
> --"Reform" -- an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out
> corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who
> doesn't fit your ideology.
>
> Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which
> has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical,
> that minorities and immigrants, being different from "us" pure
> American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much
> effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches
> under the banners of "I'm all right, Jack," and "Why change?
> Everything's OK as it is." The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is
> a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple
> pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist
> progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who
> stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting
> against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national
> elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility
> to change, and narrow-mindedness.
>
> Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum.
> The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives
> possess a shadow -- we all do. So what comes next is a contest between
> the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or
> has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best
> thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light,
> which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect
> another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the
> reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we
> are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.
>
>



G