Absentee and recounts

It could get messy. If the election is close, if there are recounts, there will be howls, protests, and conspiracy theories, to say nothing of sex, lies and video tape and the main stream media pushing for their guy. Here's how a U. of I. professor of political science, Brian Gaines, sees it:

The extremely tight 2000 election, and resulting dispute over the Florida recount, raised some uncomfortable questions about the U.S. voting system. Have we adequately addressed those concerns? Are there other potential issues or controversies waiting in the wings in the event of another close contest?

"Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a fool-proof electoral system. Blunders and fraud can creep into many different stages, from ballot design, to eligibility screening, to tabulation. Recounts often reveal serious problems. New Mexico's handling of the 2000 presidential election was a shambles, but the state was spared scrutiny because all eyes were on Florida. Washington state had an orderly, uncontroversial recount in its U.S. Senate race that year. The secretary of state crowed that his state managed recounts properly, so watching them was "like watching grass grow." Four years later, his successor oversaw a tumultuous triple recount in which new, previously overlooked ballots emerged late in the process, reversing the outcome. I'll hope for a controversy-free election, but if it is as close as I expect, there will probably be serious problems somewhere. Personally, I worry about the huge growth of absentee voting. Hardly anyone ever points out that absentee ballots defy modern practice by not being secret. Secret ballots emerged in the 19th century as the main device to prevent vote buying and intimidation of voters. We've quietly rolled back that reform in the interest of boosting turnout, on the assumption that decentralized, non-secret ballots are secure. I'm not confident that's right, and I expect a blow up over systematic abuse of absentee ballots by some campaign one of these days."

Then add all the motor-voter, convict voting rights (Democrats want these votes) and soldiers stationed abroad (Republicans want these included), the elder vote who wants to vote at home, all the questioned residency of college students voting for the first time, and we may not know for months who the next president is. These folks don't necessarily turn up in the polls we are reading day to day. The fact that these aren't "secret" will probably be an issue to keep lawyers employed for months, if one party or the other makes an issue. Also, we can expect to see dead people voting again in certain large blue cities as well as large turnouts of confused voters who can't read or figure out the ballots and so someone will demand a recount. Not the whole state, but just certain precincts or counties with identifiable blocks of voters. When it rains or gets cold in Ohio in November (that's a lot, folks), or when the lines are long and the polls close, or if certain people feel intimidated because of the neighborhood or the church where they vote, of if the community organizers from ACORN messed up, or the media talking heads guess it wrong too early, it will be the Republicans fault. About that, I have little doubt.

David Axelrod makes Karl Rove look like Snow White

So says one reader of this BusinessWeek article about the brains behind the Obama campaign, David Axelrod.

David Axelrod has long been known for his political magic. Through his AKP&D Message & Media consultancy, the campaign veteran has advised a succession of Democratic candidates since 1985, and he's now chief strategist for Senator Barack Obama's bid for President. But on the down low, Axelrod moonlights in the private sector.

From the same River North address, Axelrod operates a second business, ASK Public Strategies, that discreetly plots strategy and advertising campaigns for corporate clients to tilt public opinion their way.

And maybe it was a joke, but another reader left a comment asking for "a great infumercial telling what a community organizer is."

More scarce than a banned book?

The Obama nation; leftist politics and the cult of personality is a very scarce book in Ohio libraries, one of the most critical states in the election. At UAPL, there have been 18 requests for the one title that is circulating, and as near as I can tell from the record, there are 2 more copies in various stages of slowly, slowly dressing and primping to come out of the backroom and basement. God forbid that a library director or collection head should ever anticipate a need based on the cultural and social make-up of the community who pays her salary!

Not much chance that these requests will be filled before the election, is there? Also, hundreds, maybe thousands of regular readers are like me and just don't place a hold when they see the line--it's no different than the line at the restaurant or bank. You just leave. But librarians have their rules. Yes, indeedy. 1) buy slowly when you have the magic number of requests you can't fill; and 2)quickly swamp your shelves with anti-Bush books, even the most obscure and non-reviewed.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (suburbs of Cleveland) has 31 copies, none of them available; Columbus Public Library owns 56 copies with 148 requests. Ohio State has zero copies, but that doesn't surprise me. I mean, young people don't vote, right? It tends to a 100 or so scholarly titles like Bush's brain, All the President's spin, and Bushwacked plus two titles on impeaching him in the Law Library and eleven lauditory titles about Obama.

Banned Books Week (BBW), sponsored by the useless American Library Association which has never been able to get librarians a middle-class wage, is coming up--last week in September. Remember, folks. It all starts with what isn't purchased, not with complaints from the library users. Librarians politically are more liberal than the ACLU, Hollywood, and MoveOn dot org combined. For every registered Republican librarian, there are 223 Democrat librarians to out-buy them. Library purchases are critical to the success of a title. The chances of a conservative book getting to the new bookshelves are slim to none unless you request it. And even then, the chances aren't good. Librarians would rather be left behind than choose right.

What some people say

Some say Sarah Palin doesn’t have enough experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Others say Obama has no experience to be the heartbeat of the presidency. She at least probably won’t make this mistake, having been in the executive office of our largest state. This was mentioned by Paul Feldman, a WSJ reader.

In his speech last week “he listed lots of “I will” statements but most of those things are prerogatives of the Congress, not the president.”

Maybe if he’d spent more time in the Senate and less on the road running to leave that job, he’d know that?

An Ohio Democrat, Kathy Dunn, says there’s no comparison between Hillary and Sarah. Agreed! Governor Palin got where she is without riding her husband’s coat tails, she’s not a lawyer, didn’t go to a private girl’s school, and wouldn’t have carpetbagged her way into office, as Hillary did in 2000 looking for an open Senate seat since there wasn‘t one in Arkansas.

Al Hubbard says that Americans are wiser than they are given credit.

“They seem to know that if you restrict supply and tax production, prices go up.”

But Al, that gives Washington more reasons to bail out the voters to build a bigger, more helpless base!

Ellen Goodman compared Bristol Palin to Jamie Lynn Spears and calls Sarah Palin a bridge to nowhere. If both teens had been pro-abortion and acted on those values, Goodman would have been applauding.

Does Ellen know Biden and Obama both voted for “the bridge to nowhere.” Governor Palin stopped them.


" ’I kissed a girl and I liked it;’ Then I went to Hell" is a church sign in Columbus referring to a tune by Katy Perry about lesbian love. Equality Ohio has identified 300 churches in Ohio that welcome gays. Must be a part of that whopping 8% of the population that belongs to Main Line protestant denominations. Nothing is killing Protestantism like the incessant pressure from liberal members to ordain and marry gays. My church welcomes gays too--and the divorced and shacking up, and the embezzlers and wife beaters, and the druggies and alcoholics, the gossips and snipers. God doesn’t grade on a curve, but gays will need to go elsewhere to marry. I’m sure there are ELCA pastors in Ohio who will violate their ordination oath, or whatever that is called--or do violence to the meaning of marriage in scripture. But it won’t happen at UALC (3 campuses, new service times).

Not even Bill Ayers, Obama’s mentor, used this excuse

Two men charged with the beating death of a homeless man with a baseball bat to the head repeatedly, say they “never meant any serious harm.” Contrast this lame excuse with Bill Ayers saying his bombing of the capital didn’t do enough (as reported in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001) “I wish we’d done more,” he complained.

84.7% of the U.S. population is covered by health insurance, which obviously is no guarantee that you’ll survive a trip to the hospital. 2,000,000 people acquire bacterial infections in U.S. hospitals each year, and 90,000 of those patients die as a result. (Seen in WSJ )

I see that Chicago children are boycotting their schools this week. A little help from a community organizer, I suspect, because usually children don't think these things up. What happened to all those millions that Bill Ayers poured into Obama’s career to look into the school problems in Chicago? Wasn’t anything corrected during Obama‘s leadership from 1995-1999 of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, and sitting on the Board of CAC until 2001?

Equal pay for equal work? Is that tired canard coming up again? Yes, ladies when you also relocate as often as men, publish as much as men, join as many organizations, play as much golf (yuk) with your enemies and friends, and learn to negotiate your FIRST salary (on which all else builds), and don't stop out for 4 or 5 years, then we’ll talk equal work.

In March 2005, what about unequal pay among women workers of different ethnicity?: "A white woman with a bachelor's degree typically earned nearly $37,800 in 2003, compared with nearly $43,700 for a college-educated Asian woman and $41,100 for a college-educated black woman, according to data being released Monday by the Census Bureau. Hispanic women took home slightly less at $37,600 a year."

Did you hear that John Edwards is charging more now for speaking engagements than before the scandal. Well, he does have an ill wife and three frightened children to support. Speaking of multiple homes. . .

That tingly guy, Chris Matthews on August 10 (video) "called the question, “What has he done?”, a show-stopper. No one could point to a single effective action Obama has taken to cross the aisle, while everyone acknowledged that John McCain has taken actual risks to do so. David Brooks tells the room that Republican Senators and staffers insist that Hillary Clinton works across the aisle and keeps communication open, but Obama has never bothered to do that, and both Democrats and Republicans on the Hill agree on his arrogance." from Hot Air. So why is Obama and staff outraged to be the butt of do-nothing jokes at the Republican Convention?

Would you hire this candidate?

At AIA Archiblog Nick Ruehl, an architect and mayor, was blogging about what he saw and heard at the conventions, and compared the candidates’ speeches to how architects try to sell themselves to potential clients.

"We are constantly trying to find folks who will vote for us. We (or our marketers) write all kinds of words and phrases that try to explain who we are, what we will do, how we will do it, and what we’ve done it in the past. We add our best graphics, shake and bake and put it out there for all to see. When we make it through to the interview shortlist, we refine our message, dress the part, and make the pitch.

How does that selection committee make a decision? Based on some rational, objective, weighted criteria that flows through a spreadsheet to a final score? Based on our relationship that we have developed with the prospective client? Based on the network of relationships that our prospective client has with our current or past clients? Style? Attitude? Our past work?"

. . . "the election will ultimately be won on which candidate is trusted most by the voters. I said that I believed people hire their architect because they trust him. Joe was quick to say that he would hire an architect for his home because the architect is more creative than he. He would look at the architect’s past work, check references, and see if the architect performed relative to schedule. He really placed a high priority on creativity.

As we drilled down a little more, I asked him if he thought it was important that the architect he would hire reflected the client’s spirit or his own? He talked about needs (space) and then continued on with comments about volume, light, exterior connection, interior design, etc. I then asked him if he would hire an architect that he didn’t trust to reflect his spirit. His eyebrows rose again.

So, whom do you trust to be America’s lead architect for the next 4 years?”

I’ve seen a lot of marketing in my 48 year connection on the sidelines of architecture. As a sole practitioner since 1994, my husband did almost no marketing (we paid for a yellow pages one line entry), it was all done word of mouth, people seeing the finished product and liking it, reputation, showing up at the selection process, his honesty and trustworthiness, and working with a younger developer early on who had promise and more connections to the building industry. His final (we think) home in Lakeside is getting so much attention for a beautiful, spacious design on a tiny lot (33'), that he's getting calls to come out of retirement. In fact, I remember when that client called two years ago--I first told her he had retired, but I passed her phone number on to my husband. She had seen another house he'd done. Fortunately, she was more desperate for a good architect, than he was for retirement.

When my husband was a partner in a larger firm, one of his partners responsibilities was to beat the bushes for “votes,” and he worked his network of social organizations like symphony, arts memberships, clubs, temple, churches, former clients and family contacts (he had several generations of family in Columbus and his father had also been an architect). What Ruehl doesn't mention (maybe because he isn't old enough), eventually that type of marketing winds down--everyone in your network is probably your age, unless you have a huge marketing arm (my husband's former firm probably only had 20 employees). Everyone, even architects, run after the "youth vote," which is why there are so many forgettable, awful boxes and baubles sitting around our cities and vacation communities passing for good design.

So I'd look at past work. That's why Mr. Ruehl, I'm by passing the flash and clever marketing and voting for past record and yes, how he touched my spirit. McCain's speech was not highly rated Thursday night, and he followed a line up of some of the worst speakers in the Republican party. But I have a confession. I hate campaign speeches, and Governor Palin's and John McCain's were the first convention acceptance speeches I'd ever watched since 1956 when I knew I was going to write a school paper on it (my parents didn't have TV--don't remember where I watched it).

McCain and I don't agree on immigration and the global warming hype, but his speech Thursday at the convention was the first time I'd ever actually listened to him, consequently there wasn't "too much Vietnam," as some have complained. (My children are 40 and Vietnam was ancient history to them in school; I'm sure they couldn't place it on a time line of the 20th century.) I was deeply moved by his account of how he had changed from a self-centered, risk-taking fly boy into a man who was broken, but saved by his love for country and his comrades who helped him survive torture, unset bones, and starvation. It wasn't his description of torture, because he barely touched that. It was the remarkable change in him. I've never been asked to risk anything, have never encountered any of the sacrifices he's made. Maybe that's why he touched my spirit.

I want someone better than me to lead the country. Obama's not that person. Obama's just a younger, smart alecky me. I'm voting McCain, not because of Sarah Palin, although she's the reason I tuned in, but because he touched my spirit.

Same ol', same ol'

Obama's education plan is business as usual says World Magazine. Just more billions thrown at even younger children.

Since Congress passed the first Elementary and Secondary Schools Act in 1965, every president has offered his signature education proposal. Carter promised to establish a federal Department of Education (and did); Reagan threatened to abolish the same (and didn't). Bush I had his Goals 2000, Clinton his Improving America's Schools act, Bush II his No Child Left Behind. Education reform has become such a fixture of the campaign season no one seems to wonder why education still needs reforming—didn't we already do that? In government bureaucracies, "reform" usually means something other than reform. Obama's plan is no exception.

In all Fairness

Nancy Pelosi plans to strip you of your right to hear an alternate view to the Obamedia, and the DBS (Democrat Broadcast System). I don’t think she plans this for the left wing press, however. Today I picked up a copy of The Free Press, published by the Columbus Insitute for Contemporary Journalism, which according to the verso of the cover is “a 501(c)3 nonprofit tax-exempt organization, whose mission is to conduct, sponsor, encourage and support journalistic activity, including research, investigation, writing, publication and distribution of materials that addres contemporary social issues.” That’s a lie, or course, it’s beyond muckraking, in fact, gives that fine 19th century tradition a bad name. Now why is there no call for these rags to be balanced? Is it because no one reads anymore? I picked it up at my local library, which feels a strong need to stock free-circs but not Christian or conservative magazines and books.

I'm a wife, mother, daughter, sister, retiree, Christian, conservative, friend, volunteer, painter, blogger, Lutheran, and an educated female, and there's not one thing in this publication for me! It's pure trash. But I think they should be allowed to publish their demands for impeaching Bush, digging up Columbus to find the original tracks for mass transit that were buried in a conspiracy, lies about an oil shortage, homage to Algore, quotes from Greenpeace, and a whole 2 pages of jokes by Cynthia McKinney, and Obama's inability to escape his race (has anyone but him mentioned it?). Oops. I just saw something I liked. An advertisement about voting with a paper ballot. That would be good.

Freepers, creepers,
Where’d you get those bleepers?
Whoppers, bloopers,
Where’d you get those lies?

Gosh, all mighty
Why y’all up tighty?
Commies, Marxists
Speaking lies to power.

Here's a REAL community organizer

No kidding. I wasn't even looking for him, but I recognized the description from the stunning resumes of other COs most recently in the news.

"Through his remarkable ability to master languages, media and ideas, his insights into the importance of organization and social sructures, and his intuitive grasp of the needs and possibilities of his era, he was able to forge an alliance between thought and action which made his name a wonder of its age."

No, it wasn't Obama in late 20th century, it was John Calvin in the 16th century. "A life of John Calvin," by Alister E. McGrath, Basil Blackwell, 1990, preface. But why go for reformer when you're already the Messiah?

Cindy McCain was very impressive

She's not accustomed to giving speeches, but I thought she was terrific. Check it out.

Todd Palin introduced Cindy at a lunch on Thursday, according to WSJ. He said, "If someone had told me 10 days ago that I would be introducing Cindy MCain, I would have thought that they were a little nuts," Mr. Palin said to big applause. "But then, if I had a crystal ball a few years ago, I might have asked more questions when Sarah decided to join the PTA."

What we missed five years ago

Five years ago we travelled to California and back on Amtrak to celebrate the 90th birthday of my husband's father, returning to Ohio shortly after Labor Day. We saw the Grand Canyon and Glacier Park (plus a whole lot of scenery you can only see from the train) and all the fabulous California stuff. Unfortunately, Glacier was having huge forest fires. Here's what we missed--at Bonita's site.

The Cellophane House

And for their next trick. The environmentalists and green design folks will probably try to foist this one on us, which truly exceeds the awful boxes that the USSR threw up in the mid-20th century to demonstrate their political theory, pizzazz, and how much they cared.

“The Cellophane House is a dwelling designed for mass-customization and minimal environmental impact, modular on a room-to-room basis and as an entire unit. It’s composed of 85-90 percent recycled material and its component parts are largely assembled off-site. It may be the tightest synthesis yet of Modernism’s dreams of orderly and egalitarian dwellings with the sustainable ideals of the current era.” Photo and story from AIArchitect This Week.

And what happens when you convince the general population to not be wasteful and the price of "recycled materials" soars? Or when bio-fuel hybrid efficient cars cause the government to lose gas taxes? Or when there are fewer dump trucks going to the landfill (a story in our local papers)? Well, guess what? The price of whatever you have left--materials, fees and taxes--just goes up.

Luther or Calvin

I always score higher as a Calvinist than a Lutheran on these internet quizes, so I thought I'd better look into it. Grace Brethren has purchased the church building up the road about 1/2 mile--it is a grand daughter of my "home" denomination, Church of the Brethren (Anabaptist--left the progressive Brethren in the 1930s which developed from an earlier 19th century split) but I think it's basically Baptist in theology and style with some dispensationalism on the side. Is that Calvin? Maybe someone could clarify this for me.

Today I pick up:

The following items, which you requested, are now available and being held for you at the library.
Author: Luther, Martin, 1483-1546.
Title: Martin Luther's basic theological writings / edited by Timothy F. Lull ; foreword by Jaroslav Pelikan.
Call Number: 230.41 Lu c. 1
Item Class: 28 Day Circ

Author: McGrath, Alister E., 1953-
Title: A life of John Calvin : a study of the shaping of Western culture / Alister E. McGrath.
Call Number: B Calvin c. 1
Item Class: 28 Day Circ

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

At our home on Lake Erie this summer, it seemed all we heard about was Mayor Kilpatrick. Folks, this wasn't just about sex, as you might read in an AP story.

"Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice on Thursday morning. Kilpatrick will forfeit his office and serve 120 days in jail, ending a scandal that began when the Detroit Free Press published raunchy text messages between Kilpatrick and his ex-chief of staff. Messages proving that, in spite of Kilpatrick's testimony during a civil lawsuit, the pair had, in fact, been knocking boots.

As much as Detroiters are relieved to be rid of their lubricious, dissembling mayor, Barack Obama has to be even more relieved." Story

Was it only this past May Obama was in Detroit seeking support of this super delegate?

OBAMA: So I want to first of all acknowledge your great mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, who has been...(APPLAUSE)
... on the frontlines -- has been on the frontlines doing an outstanding job of gathering together the leadership at every level in Detroit to bring about the kind of renaissance that all of us anticipate for this great city.

And he is a leader not just here in Detroit, not just in Michigan, but all across the country. People look to him. We know that he is going to be doing astounding things for many years to come.

And so I'm grateful to call him a friend and a colleague. And I'm looking forward to a lengthy collaboration in terms of making sure that Detroit does well in the future." Obama speech in Detroit in May, Right Michigan

More smears, but who’s counting?

I take most of my blog entries and links from journalists writing for real newspapers (or their blogs), even the ones I don't like (NYT, WaPo, LA Times) but increasingly the MSM is going to the hyperbologs for their sources. Crazy, innit? I'm just an elderblogger and I find better sources than trained, whipper-snapper journalists. Soledad of CNN has 4 children, I've heard (possibly gossip). I wonder why she isn’t at home with the kids? She’s obviously a bit addled by the responsibilities of a 24 hour news channel.

“I just watched CNN's Soledad O'Brien sandbag former White House Communications Director Nicole Wallace by asking her how Sarah Palin can claim to be a defender of special needs children when she cut the budget for that Alaska office by 62 percent. Wallace wasn't familiar with the charge -- which isn't surprising, since it's only being made on DailyKos and another liberal site. (Tip for Ms. O'Brien: DailyKos is not a reliable news site.)

This charge is based on looking at the budget for Alaska's Special Education Service Agency for 2007-2009. In fact, the December 2006 budget document that they cite would have been prepared by the outgoing administration -- that of Republican Frank Murkowski, whom Palin defeated.

What's gone unmentioned is that Palin signed into law a dramatic reform of the state's education financing system that equalizes aid to rural and urban districts, while significantly increasing funding for special needs students." More details at Weekly Standard Blog

Just what is a community organizer?

It got some laughs last night at the Republican Convention--that much ballyhooed resume filler. But it’s not really that funny. ACORN is no joke. Obama's job is outlined at Windy Citizen who says “community organizer” has more in common with the “brutal contact sport of Chicago politics than it does with any kind of charitable act, such as serving food to homeless people.” Saul Alinsky was the Godfather of community organizers.

“One of the most important lessons that Alinsky taught community organizers is not to rely on high-minded ideals like "brotherly-love or "the common good" to get people to fight for particular goals. Instead, as a community organizer you are always looking for ways to appeal directly to a person's self-interest, whatever that may be. This is not to say ideals do not matter to community organizers. But at the end of the day, an ideal is only as good as what it can help you accomplish.

So, if you are a community organizer and want to organize an area, you first try to meet with as many indigenous leaders as possible, the kinds of men and women who populate neighborhood churches and civic groups that others will listen to and naturally follow. The purpose of these one-on-one meetings is not to become their friend. You want to find out what their self-interest is so you can use it. This includes milking their personal connections to expand your base of support. As a community organizer, the sole source of your power is your relationships. And the more people you have in your pocket, the more likely it is that you can use them to get what your base wants.”

"This is also what most coverage of Obama's days as a community organizer fails to appreciate. For whether you are an Alinksy-schooled community organizer or a Chicago politician, you are a student of power. If you have survived long enough to succeed in either position, like Obama has, you have learned not to worry so much about the power you have. What keeps you up at night is the power you do not have. In community organizing and politics, you know the only thing that can hurt you is what you cannot control.[like Gov. Palin?]" John Maki, Windy Citizen

Obama's blog is run by Sam Graham-Felsen, an avowed Marxist who writes for socialist and marxist publications, but apparently not often enough to earn a living which is why he's on Obama's payroll, blogging. Anyway, today's entry is supposed to be an answer to just what is a community organizer. David Plouffe his Campaign Manager says he helped people who were out of work. Well, gee whiz, I did that in 1983 through JTPA. I'll have to go back and look at my resume--I don't think I had any indoctrination in political theory or methods.

"The transition of the old Democratic Party to what exists today should not surprise or confound conservatives. Nor should Alinsky's tactics seem foreign. After all, for nearly 40 years, Republicans and the conservative agenda have been getting hammered by the left through the successful use of Alinsky tactics.

In that cause, radicals and the liberal-left gravitated toward the print and electronic media, toward the university professorate and the law. The left, consciously or unconsciously, adopted Alinsky's rules. The impact changed the nature of the Democratic Party and the direction of the United States. Increasingly, the left is succeeding in changing the nature of the Republican Party as well.

Suffice to say the greatest change has taken place in the relationship between the state and the individual. America is rapidly descending from a representative Constitutional Republic to a collectivist empire controlled by elites of one sort or another." Saul Alinsky and DNC Corruption

Update: USAToday rushes to defend the honor of Barack Obama, who is hurt and angry that his "community organizer" position was a joke at the convention. You know folks, the Obama people started this by denigrating her position as mayor when McCain first announced his choice. As James Taranto noted: "Obama spokesman Bill Burton quickly denounced McCain for proposing to put "the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency." This took a degree of chutzpah, since the Democrats have just spent four days touting Obama's experience as a "community organizer" as a central qualification to put him no heartbeats away. Even after listening to those speeches, we're still not sure what a "community organizer" is."

If you can't stand the heat, Team Obama, stay out of this lady's kitchen.

Granny Gloria

Daniel Henninger observed today that "Gloria Steinem is 74. Sarah Palin is 44. Times change." Gloria seems to think this choice for VP was a ploy to get Hillary's supporters. Says Hillary and Sarah "only share a chromosome." Like they're the only women (or men) who matter. I guess she never thought about the millions of conservatives like me who haven't had anyone on the ballot since Reagan. The millions of families who are middle class and work for a living and can't identify with the elitists on the ballot and don't want their taxes raised. The millions of families who don't want us to abandon our allies. The millions of families who have members who need special care but don't want to dispose of them. Hey, I didn't even get to vote for Reagan because I was a Democrat in those days and didn't like him. So when I vote the McCain-Palin ticket, it will be the first time I ever voted for a conservative at the national level. Like many conservatives, there was a really good chance I was going to sit this one out. McCain made a good choice.

How the liberal media treated a Bush daughter

About a year ago, I blogged about first daughter's new book on AIDS. Here's what liberals thought of her effort.

Jenna Bush's book for young people

Jenna Bush has authored a book "Ana's Story; a Journey of Hope" (HarperCollins, 2007, 209 pp. $18.99). It is non-fiction, for teenagers and about AIDS, is based on 6 months of conversations with women and children with HIV or AIDS when the president's daughter was working with UNICEF. It was reviewed, probably reluctantly, by Bob Minzesheimer in USAToday. In general, he was positive, pointing out it was easy to read with 35 pages of sources addressing common myths about AIDS and HIV. The paper edition differed from the online version. In paper he wrote that it doesn't address how much U.S. support should go to organizations that distribute condoms as opposed to religious groups that promote only abstinence. How picky is that? Reviewers and talking heads always want the book they themselves didn't make the effort to write and publish. I wonder if Minzesheimer would board an airplane that had the same failure rate as condoms?

In another column this reviewer points out that when Oprah even mentions a title (Eat, pray, love; Middlesex) it leap frogs to the top of the best seller list. That won't happen to a book by a conservative, even if the topic is one of her favorites.

The commenters at the revised online article are the usual collection of Bush-haters and author-wannabees complaining about favoritism. They are well worth reading for their ignorance, pomposity and narrowmindedness, just in case you'd forgotten how green the left is. If even five young people read this book and decide that HIV is probably something in their future if they don't change their lifestyle, she will have achieved her goal.

Speaking of AIDS and abstinence, The invisible cure: Africa, the West and the fight against AIDS by Helen Epstein (Farrar Straus & Girous, 2007) reports on the Uganda campaign of "zero grazing," "love faithfully," and "sticking to one partner," later known as ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms). Uganda's decrease in HIV began in the late 1980s, and its approach became standard policy for the USAID and President Bush's PEPFAR. Uganda experienced an unprecedented decrease in HIV during the 1990s. The US policy experienced howls of protest and outrage because of its religious implications. However, "an increasing number of scientists have concluded that an ABC approach is supported by scientific evidence . . . 1) condom use hasn't been effective in epidemic areas (they are used inconsistantly and create more risk taking) and 2) number of partners and overlapping relationships is the key to increase or decrease in spreading sexual diseases. Epstein says multiple concurrent relationships create the "super highways of hyperepidemics," and casual sex constitutes the "on-ramps." The reviewer (JAMA, August 6, 2008, pp. 587-589) reports that Epstein challenges many sterotypes and myths about Africans.

Liberals can't tell snarl from snark

The woman they love to hate. This piece by a female, liberal journalist [Hillary Chabot] shows what we can expect from the media.

"A feisty Sarah Palin charged straight at Barack Obama last night as the virtually unknown governor of Alaska transformed herself into John McCain’s snarling campaign pit bull last night before cheering delegates and the eyes of the nation at the Republican convention."

I watched the whole speech. She was charming and direct; she pulled no punches; she built on the jokes told by Giuliani and Huckabee, both entertaining speakers. And worst of all for liberals, socialists and marxists, she told the truth. She smacked back at Obama's staff and his allies in the media unkind, belittling remarks about her town, her experience and her state. She put the MSM on notice that they weren't going to tell her what to do because she wasn't going through that sorority pledging process, or show up at their parties, so they could just go find some other gal who cared. Oooo, that must have smarted. This was no snarl, but it was the truth told with a smile and a sparkle in her eye.

This [Barack Obama] is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word “victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign,” the combative Palin said.

“But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?

“The answer is to make government bigger, take more of your money, give you more orders from Washington and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy, our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, he wants to forfeit.”

Here's a good example of the press misstating and misinformation:

"She leaned heavily on her own biography, introducing her husband, Todd, as a commercial fisherman, a union member, a world-champion snowmobile racer and an Eskimo. She described herself as a mom-turned-politician with the "same challenges and the same joys" as other families." WaPo

She specifically said his heritage was Yup'ik, not Eskimo (Todd Palin's grandmother), at least to my ears, and called her husband a snow machine champion. Maybe those are little slip ups, maybe not. The news is all about slant.

Snarls are for Jeremiah Wright; attacks are for Bill Ayers and the Weathermen. Governor Palin is just a sweet little lady with a lace glove across the face when the big boys get too close compared to Obama's friends and mentors. But sometimes the truth hurts.

What do Alaskans think of Governor Palin?

Deb Frost writes at American Daughter her opinion

She has EXECTUTIVE experience *running a government* (something NONE of the other candidates can actually boast, even John McCain) as Governor of Alaska and got there by defeating the *incumbent* Republican Governor, who was definitely part of the ‘old school’ and who WAS very much in the pocket of the big oil companies. We in Alaska wanted change – and we got it in the person of Sarah Palin!

Sarah Palin is everything she looks to be and more. Her approval rating as Governor of Alaska has been as high as 95% and is currently leveled out consistently in the upper 80 percentile throughout the state (and in both parties) - the HIGHEST approval rating of ANY sitting Governor.

Sarah has been turning around corruption in the Legislature of Alaska - turning things on their ear for that matter; cutting spending in spite of the increased income the state is currently receiving due to the high oil prices - she has insisted on putting a huge amount of the ‘windfall’ into savings for the future rather than spending, spending, spending - and has insisted from the get-go on what she refers to as ‘honest, ethical and transparent governing’ - no more closed door meetings and dealings - the big oil companies thought she would be a pushover and have learned better to their chagrin.

She understands the ‘real people’ and the economic issues we all face (Alaskans along with the rest of the country) - she was one of ‘us’ not long ago. Rather than passing useless ‘laws’ or throwing money at pet projects, she (most recently) temporarily suspended the state gas tax (on gasoline at the pumps, fuel oil and natural gas for homes, etc.) and has ordered checks issued to ALL residents of Alaska this fall in an attempt to assist with the burden of high fuel costs for the upcoming winter. I could go on and on, but that’s enough for now. She isn’t doing these things to be popular – she is doing it because her constituents are HURTING financially and she can help.

She became Governor of Alaska by defeating the Incumbent Republican Governor and doing it *without* the money or the support of the Republican Party, which was amazing in itself - and she won by a landslide. The ‘powers that be’ at that time totally underestimated Sarah and learned better the hard way. She has done exactly what she claimed she was going to do and is just as popular today as the day she was elected - perhaps more so since even the Democrats up here seem to like her - she works well with both sides in the Legislature here.

No wonder our leftist media are quaking in their high heel sneakers.

Now about those tax increases promised by Obama

"Now our opponents tell you not to worry about their tax increases.

They tell you they are not going to tax your family.

No, they’re just going to tax “businesses!” So unless you buy something from a “business,” like groceries or clothes or gasoline … or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small “business,” don’t worry … it’s not going to affect you.

They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the “other” side of the bucket! That’s their idea of tax reform." Fred Thompson at the Republican Convention

And then that experience issue

MSNBC's Ron Allen asks Gingrich about the speeches and then makes the mistake of asking him about the experience of Sarah Palin. Newt Gingrich clobbers him with a comparison of the experience of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama. [Paraphrase] A terrific rallying symbol for women, for young people. Her resume is stronger than Obama's--she's been a real mayor, he wasn't; a real governor; he wasn't; she's fought corruption; he hasn't; she took on her own party. What has Obama done, tell me one thing? (reporter didn't answer). From USA Today blog: Gingrich said that if Gov. Sarah Palin's two years of experience as a governor and a decade of experience before that as a local politician are issues, "then Obama ought to resign from the (Democratic) ticket." The Democrat's experience, in his view, isn't as deep as Palin's because Obama has never been in an executive position.

How the media spin family problems--when it's not their own candidate

"The MSNBC panel is piling on Pat Buchanan for saying that Sarah Palin is a dynamite choice by McCain. The entire panel including Chris Matthews is clearly going to do anything they can to keep alive the vetting process, the baby situations, and the “inexperience” of Palin. They implicitly understand that the pick is good but they know that it is their job to see the McCain ticket fail. Meanwhile they continue to say nothing of Obama’s close friendship to terrorist William Ayers or Tony Rezko. We also hear nothing of Joe Biden’s son and brother being named as defendants in a hedge fund scam. Nothing."

How liberal and feminists journalists are squealing "no fair" because they didn't know See today's Wall Street Journal

Here is a sampler of media comment on Governor Palin this week:

- Eleanor Clift, the McLaughlin Group: "If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in many places across newsrooms."

- Sally Quinn, Newsweek: "It is a political gimmick . . . I find it insulting to women, to the Republican party, and to the country."

- E.J. Dionne, Washington Post: "Palin is, if anything, less qualified for the vice presidency (and the presidency) than [Harriet] Miers was for the court. But there is one big difference: Palin passes all the right-wing litmus tests."

- Maureen Dowd, New York Times: "They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West."

- Ruth Marcus, Washington Post: "But as a parent in the media, I also know that the Palins assumed this risk. Anyone who watched coverage of the Bush twins' barroom exploits knew that the avert-your-eyes stance toward candidates' children has its limits."

- Charlie Cook, Beltway pundit, on PBS's "Charlie Rose": "I had a friend that had a young person tell them that they had three interviews to get a job as a server at Ruby Tuesday! So this is like putting a whole -- for someone that hasn't played on a national -- Geraldine Ferraro had more -- Dan Quayle had undergone more scrutiny, had played on a bigger stage than this. This is putting an enormous risk on someone he didn't know. And he has to just pray that it works!"

How former Clintonites and Obama supporters see her

"US Weekly magazine, the tabloid published by Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner. That cover shows a smiling Sarah Palin, holding her youngest son Trig. The screaming headline: "Babies, Lies and Scandal: John McCain's Vice President."

Wenner has contributed $5300 to Obama's campaign since 2007." Weekly Standard

And the NYT and WSJ, who couldn't find a thing to say about John Edward's affair until he confessed, have managed multiple stories about Palin's children. I think NYT had 3 on the front page yesterday, and today WSJ has 3 negative and 1 neutral spread from A1 to A5.

These people are so pathetic, I just may donate to the McCain Palin campaign. I grew up in a small town, and I can assure you everyone in their home town knew about Bristol, but because they didn't know in New Yawk City, she wasn't vetted.