World News Korner

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

To help him deliver his closing argument to voters in one of the country's most contentious Senate races, Republican candidate Dan Sullivan is bringing a political odd couple to Alaska.

Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 nominee and tacit head of the party's establishment, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a tea party firebrand, are both jetting to the Last Frontier to boost Sullivan in the runup to Election Day.

Sullivan, campaigning to unseat Sen. Mark Begich (D), will spend this Saturday and Sunday flying around the state with Cruz. The two will headline get-out-the-vote rallies in four of the state's main population areas -- Anchorage, the Mat-Su Valley, Fairbanks and the Kenai Peninsula -- according to a Sullivan campaign source who requested anonymity because the events have not yet been announced.

Next Monday, on the eve of the election, Romney will hold a rally with Sullivan as well as Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) in the Anchorage area, the source said.

"Sniff sniff" is that desperation I smell?

I'm sorry but when you are being beaten up for relying on millions of dollars of out of state money to finance your campaign, and having advertisements made on your behalf featuring political heavyweights from the Bush administration, how in the hell does it help you to have the last failed GOP presidential candidate and the head nut from the GOP looney bin fly up to give you support?

Yes I realize that Mitt Romney won Alaska in the 2012 election, but I also know that since then he has become a pitiful shadow of his formal self, who was at that time a pitiful shadow of Ronald Reagen.

As for Ted Cruz, I think the only place in the state where he would be welcomed with open arms is in a thirty mile circumference around the home of a certain half term Governor who I am sure is getting ready to cook up that one moose chili recipe she knows in anticipation of his arrival.

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So you guys might remember that I posted some soundcloud audio clips from the Kenny Pick show talking about he Palin's drunken brawl over the weekend.

They included Track Palin's "Super Swearing Cut" and "Thonghazi." Both of which were highly entertaining.

Well apparently somebody who was listening took great umbrage at the show's depiction of the family, and in particular Bristol Palin. See if this person, starting around 4:40, sounds familiar.

Oh yeah, I would recognize that brand of insanity just about anywhere.

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Courtesy of USA Today:

"The best way to protect Americans from Ebola is to stop the outbreak at its source," Obama said in an East Room ceremony honoring doctors and nurses who have been or are going to West Africa.

"If we are not dealing with this problem there, it will come here," Obama said.

The president lauded his guests for their "sense of duty," and of "serving a cause greater than themselves." He called them "shock troops" who should be applauded.

"And when they come home," Obama said. "they deserve to be treated properly. They deserve to be treated like the heroes that they are."

Obama and aides have criticized New Jersey, New York and Illinois over quarantine policies for returning workers.

These doctors and nurses can help explain the challenge of Ebola to Americans, and how to beat it. "We respond with common sense and skill and courage," he said, and not "fear," "hysteria" or "misinformation."

Obama seemed to nearly choke up as he discussed his frustration with state officials who have called for quarantines of health care workers from Africa.

"I put those on notice who think that we should hide from these problems," Obama said. "That's not who we are, that's not who I am, that's not who these folks are. This is America, and we do things differently."

I listened to this speech live earlier today during the Alex Wagner show, and I was incredibly proud of my President for standing up to the Right Wing over this issue.

I especially loved this part:

"The reason I am so proud of this country is because when there are times when we need to step up and do the right thing, we do the right thing. That's who we are. That's what we do. No other nation is doing as much to help in West Africa as the United States of America. When I hear people talking about American leadership...and then are promoting policies that would avoid leadership...and have us running in the opposite direction...and hiding under the covers, it makes me a little frustrated."

That must be the very definition of an understatement.

His cool, calm, and intellectual response to this issue stands in stark contrast to the fear mongering, the sky is falling, hysterics of those on the Right.

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Courtesy of Slate:

According to a six-month-long investigation conducted by Greg Palast for Al Jazeera, “voting officials in 27 states, almost all of them Republicans, have launched what is threatening to become a massive purge of black, Hispanic, and Asian-American voters. Already, tens of thousands have been removed from voter rolls in battleground states, and the numbers are set to climb.”

Specifically, officials have a master list of 6.9 million suspected “potential double voters.” And in Virginia, Georgia, and Washington the lists are “heavily over-weighted with names such as Jackson, Garcia, Patel, and Kim,” all common to Democratic-leaning minority groups.

The process for checking those names, a computer program called Crosscheck—touted by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a vocal supporter for voter identification—is incredibly inaccurate. “The actual lists,” notes Al Jazeera America, “show that not only are middle names mismatched, and suffix discrepancies ignored, even conflicting birthdates are disregarded. Moreover, Crosscheck deliberately ignores any Social Security mismatches, in the few instances when the numbers are even collected.”

Given the tight races in Georgia and other battleground states, even a small number of false positives could turn the tide of an election, giving a strong advantage to Republican candidates for statewide and congressional offices.

In Georgia they simply misplace voter registrations that they don't want to accept:

On Tuesday, Judge Christopher Brasher of the Fulton County Superior Court denied a petition from civil rights advocates to force Georgia’s Secretary of State to process an estimated 40,000 voter registrations that have gone missing from the public database.

All of that bullshit the conservatives have been throwing around about voter fraud, and the need for stricter restrictions at the polls, was all to lay the groundwork for crap like this.

You know there are a whole lot of reasons to vote for the Democrats in this next election. But perhaps one of the best is because they respect EVERY American's right to vote, and rather than attempt to suppress any group's ability to cast their ballot, they work overtime to make it easy for all of us.

I for one am beyond fed up with this underhanded shit.

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Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan vetoed a recently approved ban on metal palisade fences Tuesday, referring to it as “government intrusion.”

The ban, approved by the Anchorage Assembly in a 6-5 vote last week, was essentially a moose-protection measure. South Anchorage's Jennifer Johnston proposed it at the request of constituents who were alarmed by reports and photos of moose gored on sharp pales.

“While the ordinance is well-intentioned, the cost/benefit analysis does not warrant this level of government intrusion,” Sullivan wrote in his veto message.

Biologists have estimated that between two and four moose a year are gored on the fences, an incidence that Sullivan referred to as “very, very low.” The fence ban was supported by Anchorage area state wildlife biologist Jessy Coltrane, who testified at the Assembly hearing last week and said the moose gorings were both traumatic and preventable.

In his veto message, Sullivan wrote that the total financial impact to property owners outweighed the benefits of “saving a few moose.”

We talk so much about the Dan Sullivan running against Mark Begich for his Senate seat, that we often forget about another equally unlikeable Dan Sullivan who is the current Mayor of Anchorage, and who is also running with Sean Parnell as a potential Lt. Governor.

By the way one thing that almost all Anchorage citizens agree with is that they love having wildlife in their city. It is just one of those things that makes us especially unique.

And I can tell you right now that to most of us there is virtually NO financial burden that would outweigh the benefits of "saving a few moose."

I see this yet another black mark against the Parnell/Sullivan ticket. As if they needed any more of those.

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Courtesy of KTNV:

Las Vegas police were called to the home of former Major League Baseball outfielder Jose Canseco on Tuesday afternoon after an accidental shooting.

Police said Canseco accidentally shot himself in the hand and was transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Officers said he was cleaning his handgun and didn't realize it was loaded. The gun went off, badly injuring one of the fingers on his left hand.

His fiance leila Knight spoke with KTNV-TV Channel 13 Action News on Tuesday evening, and said she was in the kitchen when she heard the shot. She told Action News that Canseco visited the gun range last week and forgot there was still a bullet left in the gun.

It is not known if Canseco's finger had to be amputated. He was released from the hospital early Wednesday morning.

You probably all know Conseco best for his tell all book about his steroid use and rock star lifestyle.

Gee he drove a sports car, used steroids, AND carries a gun with him everywhere he goes.

Really working hard to resist the urge to state the obvious.

But hey don't forget, the only thing that stops a bad finger, is a good finger on the trigger of a gun.

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Deputy Jeremy Martin

Courtesy of Raw Story:

A New Mexico sheriff’s deputy shot and killed another deputy during a drunken argument after transporting a prisoner out of state.

Police said two Santa Fe County deputies were returning from the transfer when they rented a hotel room at 4 p.m. Monday in Las Cruces, reported the Albuquerque Journal.

The deputies later went to Dublin’s Street Pub, where they began arguing after drinking alcohol.

Police said the argument escalated when the deputies returned to their seventh-floor hotel room, and one of them attempted to flee to an elevator.

Deputy Tai Chan fatally shot Deputy Jeremy Martin several times in the back and arms with a semi-automatic gun, police said.

The 29-year-old Martin was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

You know the NRA is always saying that gun deaths are the result of criminals getting access to guns and not something that "good guys" with guns are ever involved in.

Wrong!

After all these are trained individuals who are suppose to be the very definition of the "good guys with a gun."

The fact is that reasonable people sometimes get unreasonable, especially when drinking, and the presence of a firearms can often mean that a simple shoving match, or exchange of punches, can instead become the taking of a life.

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Courtesy of the Facebook page for a woman whose icy disposition kills viruses on contact:

I enjoyed talking On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, and you can catch the replay of it later tonight. In discussing the response to Ebola, I made the point that every crisis will be capitalized on by a liberal federal government as an excuse to expand government authority. (Does she mean like the Bush administration did in response to terrorism? The Right Wing has predicted that Obama would do this since his inauguration, so far nothing.) The Obama administration made clear early on that they abide by the Alinsky tactic to “never let a crisis go to waste.” (Once again, a false allegation.) The latest crisis has been drummed up by their incompetent reaction to the spread of Ebola. The purpose of any crisis for them is to ultimately exert more control over people as more Americans become fearful; the "solution" they'll offer will be another false big government promise: "Hey, little people, just give up more freedom in exchange for our promise of a little security!" Obviously with this Washington liberal M.O. we are losing both. (She does realize that what she is describing above is EXACTLY what Chris Christie did to a nurse, even though she does NOT fall into the high risk group requiring quarantine, right?)

We do need to keep each level of government accountable. I agree with state governors who are filling this Obama leadership void and setting rules to tackle Ebola because the leader of the country cannot do it (Does she not know that we only have one confirmed case of Ebola in this country? How much better could this be handled?), and the 10th Amendment protects states rights in a case like this. But beware of allowing any level of government (especially the federal government) even an inch more power over the people. Liberals can turn that inch into the LAST mile toward statism. That's why politics must be excised from the Ebola issue, and the medical and scientific community must be listened to by the Obama Administration. They MUST put Americans first, and we must not buy into any hysteria as we calmly yet aggressively keep the Ebola virus out of our country.

- Sarah Palin

Okay once again the main group of individuals using the Ebola virus for political purposes are the conservatives.

The CDC has very definite guidelines on how to handle this disease and the reason such a federal agency exists is to fight panic, and to keep local politicians from using fear to manipulate their constituents. Which is exactly what we see some politicians, and Fox News, doing right now.

Besides Palin knows less about this than she does foreign relations, economics, or even parenting. And that is REALLY saying something.

She is simply being used as one more yapping mongrel attempting to fill the air with white noise to keep Americans from hearing any truth which might quiet their fears.

Remember unafraid people are less likely to vote Republican.

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