From the Wall Street Journal: Record Contradicts Palin's "Bridge" Claims

Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the McCain campaign continues to assert that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the federal government "thanks but no thanks" to the now-famous bridge to an island in her home state.

From LATimes.com: New election low: distorting the fact-checking

News outlets and independent truth squads seem to agree that the McCain camp's distortions on Barack Obama have gone too far.

I think we're all used to some bending of the truth in politics, but I think the blatant lies told by McCain and Palin have gone too far.  And it's not just me saying it.  Hopefully, the public will see through it, but once we again, we did vote Bush/Cheney for a second term after it was known that they had mislead the public about the Iraq war.

From NYTimes.com: Yes We Can

Mr. Gore's focus is primarily on solar, wind and geothermal energy. His belief is that a dramatic, wholesale transition to these abundant and renewable sources of energy is not just doable, but essential.

My view of Mr. Gore's passionate engagement with some of the biggest issues of our time is that he is offering us the kind of vision and sense of urgency that has been so lacking in the presidential campaigns. But the tendency in a society that is skeptical, if not phobic, about anything progressive has been to dismiss his large ideas and wise counsel, as George H. W. Bush once did by deriding him as "ozone man."

The naysayers will tell you that once again Al Gore is dreaming, that the costs of his visionary energy challenge are too high, the technological obstacles too tough, the timeline too short and the political lift much too heavy.
...

When exactly was it that the U.S. became a can't-do society? It wasn't at the very beginning when 13 ragamuffin colonies went to war against the world's mightiest empire. It wasn't during World War II when Japan and Nazi Germany had to be fought simultaneously. It wasn't in the postwar period that gave us the Marshall Plan and a robust G.I. Bill and the interstate highway system and the space program and the civil rights movement and the women's movement and the greatest society the world had ever known.

Bob Herbert has hit the nail on the head with this insightful op-ed piece.  What happened to having goals and striving to accomplish them?  I feel like we've adopted a siege mentality to all things.  This has to change.

Forget the John McCain soundboard of the previous post.  This George W. Bush soundboard of quotes is classic!

From Dallasnews.com: Folks duped by 'Borat' creator Sacha Baron Cohen in Carrollton are really mad

Last week, at one of those big office parks on International Parkway, a whole bunch of people got really mad.

So mad, in fact, that dozens stormed out of a television taping - even though each had been paid $50 cash for agreeing to be an audience member of what promoters referred to vaguely as a new talk show.

The object of their anger? Well, that was the secret, and apparently few of them knew the identity of the character who got so deeply under their skin and wouldn't let go. His name is Sacha Baron Cohen, who, when it comes to comedy, is a mastermind of ambush humor.

Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius at creating humor mostly with unexpected participants by exposing their racism, homophobia, and just plain ignorance.  This time Cohen is creating havoc not as Borat, but as Bruno, the gay Austrian fashion model from his Ali G show.  Cohen has an incredible ability to stay in character and improvise no matter how funny or awkward the situation gets.

I'm amazed that Cohen can still pull this off, even as a new character without people realizing what is going on.

WCPO Channel 9 Cincinnati covered the third in a series of discussion of the Bodies the Exhibition.  This discussion took place last night at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

While useful, I feel like the structure of the forums prevented an effective discussion to take place.  Instead of having the parties in dispute involved, the activists and the Cincinnati Museum Center, the forums relied on discussions from third parties to make arguments about the issues.

While this made for a civil discussion, beating around the bush doesn't get to the heart of the matter.  I believe that a lot of the attendees expected someone from the Cincinnati Museum Center to answer questions, but the Cincinnati Museum Center never had a desire for a true dialog.  They joined the forums as a sponsor, but was more of a reluctant participant.

For example, last night there were no signs at the Cincinnati Museum Center for the discussion, employees weren't told about it, and zero advertising on the Museum Center's website.  There was a printed out sign for a wedding reception, but they couldn't print a sign for the forum?

If the Cincinnati Museum Center wanted a discussion, they could have organized a forum at any time to answer the questions of the public.  But, they have not chosen to do so.  All we get are statements from Premier, and vague references to documents that are never shown.  Trust us, they say.  We know what trust is worth when dealing with money and profit.  Nothing.

The Cincinnati Museum Center has consistently said that if new information were revealed, they would review the situation.  Any such review should be in a public forum and include members of the community and not their stacked "ethics" panel.  My impressions from speaking to members of the "ethics" panel was that evidence against the exhibit was not shown and that the "ethics" panel was chosen for their endorsement value.  No Chinese community leaders were asked to be part of this "ethics" panel.

Anytime the Cincinnati Museum Center wants to have a dialog or re-examine the issues, there are plenty of us who are willing to participate.  But, I don't believe that the Cincinnati Museum Center is willing to examine the truth critically.  Their motive is money and with the flux in the Ohio Attorney General's office, there's little chance anything will happen before this show closes.  Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Museum Center continues to profit of the bodies of possible tortured and executed prisoners.

Video coverage of the Bodies Discussion from WCPO Channel 9 News

For some reason, the video doesn't work in Mac Safari, but it does work in Mac Firefox

From WCPO.com: Debate Goes On Over 'Bodies: The Exhibition' (written version)

From CNN.com: Hello Kitty named Japan tourism ambassador

Hello Kitty, Japan's ubiquitous ambassador of cute, has built up an impressive resume over the years. Global marketing phenom. Fashion diva. Pop culture icon.

Now the moonfaced feline can add "government envoy" to the list.

Why is Hello Kitty settling for tourism ambassador?  We should hire her to finish out George W. Bush's term.  She'd probably do a better job getting the Saudis to pump more oil, bring peace to the Middle East, and finding Osama bin Laden.

Reaction from Hello Kitty Hell.

This is a classic article from the NYTimes.com about how candidate George W. Bush would lower gasoline costs!

Article referenced in DaringFireball: Political Capital

From NYTimes.com: THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE TEXAS GOVERNOR; Bush Would Use Power of Persuasion to Raise Oil Supply

Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.

''I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply,'' Mr. Bush, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, told reporters here today. ''Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot.''

Well, the Saudis clarified today, the amount of political capital that George W. Bush has built up.  Zero, Nada, Zippo!

Asked why the Clinton administration had not been able to use the power of personal persuasion, Mr. Bush said: ''The fundamental question is, 'Will I be a successful president when it comes to foreign policy?' ''

He went on to suggest, as he did in answer to other questions, that voters should simply trust him.

''I will be,'' he said in answer to his own question about whether he would be a successful president. ''But until I'm the president, it's going to be hard for me to verify that I think I'll be more effective.''

Trust him.  Aaaaaaaaaah!

Mr. Bush dismissed Mr. Lehane's comments, saying, ''It's frankly the type of politics people in America are sick of, this kind of finger pointing, calling names and trying to divert attention.''

Well, we've had 8 years of finger pointing, calling names, and trying to divert attention.  And yes, we're still sick of it.

From the NYTimes.com: Bush in Saudi Arabia to Make Oil Plea

With the price of oil hitting record highs, President Bush will use a private visit to King Abdullah's ranch here Friday to make a second attempt to persuade the Saudi government to increase oil production so that American consumers can get some relief at the gasoline pump.

When Mr. Bush was last here in January, a similar request caused him some embarrassment. The president asked the Saudi oil minister to increase production, and was publicly rebuffed. He then took up the matter with the king, but the conversation did not get very far.

From NYTimes.com: Bush Rebuffed on Oil Plea in Saudi Arabia

This is a total embarrassment, that the President of the United States goes into a country, hat in hand and gets totally rebuffed.  This is the legacy of our failed energy and foreign policies.

From NYTimes.com: McCain: Troops May Be Home by 2013

Reading the text of McCain's speech, I'm reminded of the South Park episode with the Underwear Gnomes.  The gnomes stole underwear from kids because it was part of the plan shown below.

None of the Gnomes knew what Phase 2 was.

McCain in his speech sees a future through his leadership where we've:

Won the war in Iraq
Osama Bin Laden captured or killed
Inflation is low
World food crisis is ended
Reduced obesity in kids
Reduced dependence on foreign oil

And a lot, lot more.

To me, it fits the Gnome plan as follows:

Phase 1: Elect John McCain
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: War is won in Iraq, Economy is roaring, Obesity is conquered, etc.

Lots of nice Phase 3 stuff here.  But is there a Phase 2?  It's clear in the Bush Administration, there was no Phase 2.  I'm not certain if McCain has a realistic Phase 2 either, especially for Iraq.  Or Inflation, or reducing obesity in kids.

I know it's the nature of politics that we're voting more for the person than a concrete plan.  All the candidates have lacked specificity in their Phase 2, especially for Iraq.  I just am extremely skeptical about anyone claiming that we can somehow "win" the war in Iraq in the traditional sense that McCain is claiming that we'll be able to do in 5 short years.

Text of McCain's actual speech.