|
|
Just the facts, Ma'am... ...just the facts. Hot on the heels of wannabe VP Sarah Palin's speech at the RNC last night came this article by the Associated Press reporter Jim Kuhnhenn, which I feel absolutely necessary to reproduce in its entirety: By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters truth about enzyte held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth. Some examples: PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere." THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere." PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate." THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation. PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars." THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded. Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families. He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise. MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson. THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population. MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC. THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations. FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States." THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries. FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin." THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate. Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report. Lawd, but I love a good rebuttal! Jim Kuhnhenn, wherever you are, you should treat yourself to steak and a BJ today. By golly, you've earned it.
Click here to read more posted by Avatar at 11:39 AM | 2 people gave in to the urge to respond This one reminds me of Cold War imagery: Labels: cockblogging wednesday
Click here to read more posted by Avatar at 10:38 AM | 4 people gave in to the urge to respond Gawd, y'all are a loyal and affectionate bunch! Like Grampa said in the comments, I'm alive and doing alright (most of the time). Insert "focus shifts", "demands on my time", "real life got in the way" and other standard blogger disclaimers here, since one thing that annoys me is blogging about why one isn't blogging. I've got (good, bad, boring... who knows?) stories in the pipeline. I'm excited to get back to journaling my exploits and strife, but it will have to wait until I'm in a place where I can devote more than a minuscule amount of my attention to this. So I'll be around, for sure, but at this point, I'm not making any promises. Not yet. Thank you to everyone who has inquired, commented, e-mailed, IM-ed... you're great people. Really. Color me impressed. But more than that, I'm grateful. You guys are my silent (and not-so-silent) therapists. Sometimes you criticize, sometimes you coddle, sometimes you chalk me up as delusional, sometimes you encourage, and sometimes you give tough love. But you always listen. (Well, read). All that said, I think you're all terrific people, and I count myself lucky to have such wonderful readers. I truly do appreciate you all for participating, and I adore you all. Except the assholes, naturally. That's all for now... I'll soon set up a notify list for those who want to be alerted when I'm back up and running.
Click here to read more posted by Avatar at 8:02 PM | 8 people gave in to the urge to respond What do you mean the feast is over? I just sat down. Everyone else has had their fill, so why can't I? ...and why is my face flushed? What do you mean the dance is over? I just put my shoes on. ...and why does my chest feel so tight? What do you mean the show is over? I just got here. ...and why do my eyes sting? It never fails. But this time, I wasn't looking for an out. I poked no holes. I didn't self-sabotage, though I had to remind myself not to. Things felt different this time: stronger, mutual, more real. I didn't want to admit it, but the truth was undeniable: I fell, and I fell hard. Very hard. Through an unfathomably difficult 4 week stretch, I worried we wouldn't last, but prayed silently that we would. And we did. I looked forward to every time I saw him. The sound of his voice never failed to put a smile on my face. Every time I doubted his intentions, the universe would correct itself, and out of the blue, a reach would appear. "Just thinking about you," he'd say. "Thought you might like this." And this evening, I smack myself in the head for allowing myself to feel that way. I know better. I've always known better. I'm just that sort of level-headed: I know I don't deserve love. I know my life is not fair. I know I'll never be happy in a relationship. I knew all that going in, yet I allowed myself to forget it all anyway. And now that the inevitable has come to pass, I hate myself even more for having believed, even for a second, that I could ever truly be happy. I should have never gotten emotionally involved. I should have never allowed myself to care. I should have never confided, laughed, or shared. So many stringent rules a cautious person should have adhered to, and in my bliss-blinded folly, I defied every last one. And just as one might have predicted, it all came crashing down. It hasn't hit the floor yet, but in 24 days it will. I curse the calendar. I curse the clocks. I curse time itself for being so goddamned inflexible. But most of all, I curse myself for foolishly succumbing to the sweetness, the seductiveness, the siren song of so-called love. And so the countdown begins. My hands hurt. My head hurts. My eyes hurt. But I need to let it out. I need to purge my body of these feelings, as sadness alone is too much for me to bear. As I write, I try my damnedest to exorcise the heartbreak, hoping against hope that the pain transfers. I desperately want to stop hurting. I type through the tears in a vain attempt at therapy. Heavy droplets fall onto the keys as I fumble my words. I try to regain composure but it's too much to bear. I dissolve into a puddle of potent grief, and my sadness echoes off the walls surrounding me. |