I will start the post by pasting the conclusion also as an introduction...

"Cheney is alive today despite a lifetime spent trying to deprive the needy of basic human rights such as health care. Yet his continued survival shows both the impotency of his attempts and the potency of the American health-care system, a lumbering bureaucracy no doubt, but one that blindly cares for big-hearted Joes as well as heartless Dicks."

He’s had five heart attacks, and could soon seek a transplant. Dr. Kent Sepkowitz on the extraordinary history of Dick’s ticker—and how government health care keeps him alive.

Thursday’s news that former Vice President Dick Cheney had received a left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, is the latest installment in America’s longest-running medical drama, a story extending back to 1978, when Cheney had his first of five heart attacks. With the insertion of the LVAD, Cheney has completed a rare quadrifecta of heart procedures, costing about a half of million dollars in all—and led left-wingers, cardiologists, and left-wing cardiologists to wonder how a man with such a bad metaphoric and anatomic heart can keep on kicking. Or as Firesign Theater once famously asked of George Tirebiter, "How does an old man like you stay alive?"

But before going to the actuarial tables, we need to review his truly remarkable medical history—keeping in mind all the while that what we know about Dick and his heart is of uncertain accuracy. After all, Cheney is a maniacally secretive man famous for such tours de force as stonewalling attempts to discover what his National Energy Policy Development Group, aka the energy task force, was up to in the early months of his vice presidency. So it does seem rather odd that the one set of facts he actually is entitled by law to keep his trap shut about—his medical history—is the only area for which he readily has given up total unfiltered information.

Cheney’s miraculous longevity is… exhibit A in the argument for intrusive and overarching government programs to ensure the public’s health.

The heart has four main parts, each relatively independent of the other, each with its unique roster of ailments and remedies. Cheney has had serious problems with three of them. First there are the valves, those mechanical open-close governors of forward blood flow. People with valve problems develop heart murmurs and may eventually need valve replacement. To date, this is the only part of Cheney’s heart still in tip-top shape.

Next is the wiring, the nerves that control rate and rhythm, referred to as the conducting system. Dick, alas, has had some difficulties here. There are two basic flavors of heart rhythm problems—“atrial,” including the common condition atrial fibrillation; or ventricular, which may manifest as the often-fatal ventricular tachycardia, or, worse yet, ventricular fibrillation. Cheney has required electrical shocks twice for the atrial problem (not cheap) and in 2001 implantation of an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) (call it $25,000-$30,000) to respond to any ventricular turbulence.

The third component of the average heart is the set of coronary arteries, the blood vessels that feed blood to the heart itself. Trouble here can require coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, which Cheney underwent in 1988; he received a quadruple bypass, probably reflecting the widespread nature of his arterial narrowing ($100,000 to $200,000). In 2000, at the height of the Florida non-recount, one of these arteries clotted off, resulting in his fourth heart attack and the need for a stent—a stiff pipe placed to pry the artery open and maintain its capacity (also not cheap).

Finally, this month, he needed help to treat the fourth component of the heart: the muscle. The heart muscle does what the heart does—it pumps blood forward. When the heart can no longer do this adequately, the condition is called heart failure. And in the last few months, Cheney has developed intractable heart failure. The best remedy for severe heart failure is a heart transplant, which, according to the Los Angeles Times, Cheney is considering. But for those who need help before a heart is available, or for whom a transplant is too risky, we have a gizmo called the left ventricular assist device, a $200,000 item. The LVAD is a cumbersome almost-artificial heart that requires the recipient to wear heavy batteries, a shoulder sling with various parts, tubes going through the chest and into the heart and abdomen, and other substantial inconveniences. It helps push a portion of the heart’s blood forward, doing the work the failing ventricle no longer can accomplish. Once used only to stabilize people awaiting heart transplant, it now is referred to, not ironically, as a “destination therapy”—the exact intervention that you want, not the half-assed loaner you are stuck with till the real McCoy arrives.

So there you have it: the curious case of Cheney and his Wondrous Heart. But what about the basic question from above: Why on earth is anyone with this cardiac history still alive? Could it be some odd demonic possession or other explanation better suited for True Blood than for the medical textbooks?

Six years ago, the doctor and medical historian Howard Markel, writing in The Atlantic, assembled seven fancy cardiologists and discussed Anonymous Patient C’s medical history with them; all were surprised that he was still puttering along, and even more surprised to then be informed that he was at the time their vice president. Stated most simply, he should have died long, long ago. Most people with his heart, his weight and sedentary habits, his history of cigarette smoking and who knows what else already have heard the bell toll. But not Cheney—pointing out that, though useful to define national trends, population-based statistics are completely useless for predicting the fate of an individual. The extremely unlikely happens every day, all of the time: Just as it’s the rare person who wins the lottery, or is struck by lightning, or rolls snake eyes 50 times in a row, so too does a bad guy with a worse heart beat all the odds to stay alive.

Oil baron, draft dodger, professional paranoid, and all-around Blue Meanie, Cheney’s miraculous longevity is nothing so much as the happy product of the heavily tax-subsidized and regulated American health-care system, exhibit A in the argument for intrusive and overarching government programs to ensure the public’s health. Though the free-marketeers would argue the exact opposite—that the invention of such sci-fi devices as the LVAD are the product of unfettered capitalism—this completely ignores the reality of how such inventions are tested, monitored, and reviewed. Devices are studied in hospitals propped up by Medicaid and Medicare dollars organized by doctors funded by federal grants. Patient safety is assured by government bean-counters spread throughout windowless Washington offices via a process that is noticeable only when it fails—when, for example, a pacemaker is found to be defective, or a medication proves toxic.

Cheney is alive today despite a lifetime spent trying to deprive the needy of basic human rights such as health care. Yet his continued survival shows both the impotency of his attempts and the potency of the American health-care system, a lumbering bureaucracy no doubt, but one that blindly cares for big-hearted Joes as well as heartless Dicks.

Kent Sepkowitz is an infectious disease specialist in New York City. He has contributed to The New York Times, Slate, and, oh-so-briefly, O Magazine. He also writes academic medical articles that are at times pretty tough sledding.

Yes, it is the Metem, the black-puddin, the low-mein, the mutton curry, the cook-up done with 5 different peas, the split peas soup, the bajhee with shrimp 7 dhal, the pelau with chicken and the roast beef/steak & fried chicken.

It is Christmas/Easter/Pagwah and Cuffy day, and we all had it off. We all loved it, but then we (many) left but the culture is still there in america, canada and all over the world. Most Guyanese are a pride and joy to these other lands , but it was the begining that made us what we are.

Please note that i never once strayed from that & never once said that the bacchanal that is Caribana is culture.

In England, Curry is the national dish, but some might take offense to that. Why? Why not embrace the good from all cultures and reject the bad. That is what Guyana was and that is what Guyana should be.

We embraced everything and took the best parts & learned from them. We were not handcuffed by religion/Burnham or Cheddi. We progressed because we were smarter that any one ideology.

In the near future, Guyana will become more important, due to land mass, Agriculture and secular habits(which is a code for religion not in government).

Guyana is the only West Indian country that does not rely on Tourism, and had one of the highest literacy rates in the entire world, when you & i was young.

People from all over the Caribbean used to come looking for work in Guyana. In the future, water and natural resources are going to become even more a prize for the powerful few. I hope that Guyana is not sold to the highest bidder.

So we all had to go through Jim Reeves on a Sunday, but i thought he was too square, like John Wayne. But i never equated him to America. It was the 'Clethro Kid' & BBC that informed us of news abroad.

In those days, we read Newsweek and Time magazine, but i can tell you that i have long since abandoned propaganda & opted for specific news on the Internet.

But of course, you have to know where to look , for that is also controlled by.... You guessed it!

Now if your were to put in the mass indoctrination of Zion Hollywood, which your rightest hate; that would not be allowed.

For you see, there are people /nations that see through the farce that is american democracy. But you live there & spew out hatred for people that have more rights to live there, over you-an immigrant & a joke!

I have no wish to get into american politics, except to say that it is all controlled by Isreal. I dare anyone of you and even the american or israeli government to debate this fact, known throughout the world.

As a result, the 'american dream' broadcasted daily is finished, but it really never was. In a country of 300 million, one expects a few souls to shine.

You do not know it but the black people in America are actually your friend, but then wanton racism never had no real plan.

Let your advisors like Pallin.bush/limbaugh/o'reilly and all the zionist think tanks in america mobilise you to bomb iran & the China.

After all you had your king Bush for 8 years, but don't seem to blame him for anything, just the black man, surrounded by Zion, your masters.

Regan increased the american national deficit by 1 trillion & King Bush by 2 trillion. But Obama is to blame.

This website is called 'GT -LIME'and is primarily based on Guyanese and Guyana. I have no interest to bash america, for Guyana never needed them and most of this world.

My interest is making sure that you/zion do not gain any foot hold in Guyana, Go and make your troubles somewhere else.

And let me tell you something else, not provided by your zion -owned media: America cannot attack Iran & neither can Isreal, for the massacre of 6 million Iranians will not allow you to reign supreme.

Attack China and America will have those poor downtrodden killing by hand the zionist upper class. Gas will be $150 a gallon and 50 milliom more americans will be unemployed. That is if China does not retaliate for Zion trying to make Chinese slaves again.

So go back to your militia men camp, but make sure that it is internal, for the world had seen enough of 'zion america's good intentions', and we do not want it.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - They've been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement--and for having the audacity to oppose the policies of the nation's first black president. "I've been told I hate myself. I've been called an Uncle Tom. I've been told I'm a spook at the door," said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a group of black conservatives who support free market principles and limited government.

"Black Republicans find themselves always having to prove who they are. Because the assumption is the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks," he said.

Johnson and other black conservatives say they were drawn to the tea party movement because of what they consider its commonsense fiscal values of controlled spending, less taxes and smaller government. The fact that they're black--or that most tea partyers are white--should have nothing to do with it, they say.

"You have to be honest and true to yourself. What am I supposed to do, vote Democratic just to be popular? Just to fit in?" asked Clifton Bazar, a 45-year-old New Jersey freelance photographer and conservative blogger.

Opponents have branded the tea party as a group of racists hiding behind economic concerns--and reports that some tea partyers were lobbing racist slurs at black congressmen during last month's heated health care vote give them ammunition.

But these black conservatives don't consider racism representative of the movement as a whole--or race a reason to support it.

Angela McGlowan, a black congressional candidate from Mississippi, said her tea party involvement is "not about a black or white issue."

"It's not even about Republican or Democrat, from my standpoint," she told The Associated Press. "All of us are taxed too much."

Still, she's in the minority. As a nascent grassroots movement with no registration or formal structure, there are no racial demographics available for the tea party movement; it's believed to include only a small number of blacks and Hispanics.

Some black conservatives credit President Barack Obama's election--and their distaste for his policies--with inspiring them and motivating dozens of black Republicans to plan political runs in November.

For black candidates like McGlowan, tea party events are a way to reach out to voters of all races with her conservative message.

"I'm so proud to be a part of this movement! I want to tell you that a lot of people underestimate you guys," the former national political commentator for Fox News told the cheering crowd at a tea party rally in Nashville, Tenn., in February.

Tea party voters represent a new model for these black conservatives--away from the black, liberal Democratic base located primarily in cities, and toward a black and white conservative base that extends into the suburbs.

Black voters have overwhelmingly backed Democratic candidates, support that has only grown in recent years. In 2004, presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry won 88 percent of the black vote; four years later, 95 percent of black voters cast ballots for Obama.

Black conservatives don't want to have to apologize for their divergent views.

"I've gotten the statement, 'How can you not support the brother?'" said David Webb, an organizer of New York City's Tea Party 365, Inc. movement and a conservative radio personality.

Since Obama's election, Webb said some black conservatives have even resorted to hiding their political views.

"I know of people who would play the (liberal) role publicly, but have their private opinions," he said. "They don't agree with the policy but they have to work, live and exist in the community ... Why can't we speak openly and honestly if we disagree?"

Among the 37 black Republicans running for U.S. House and Senate seats in November is Charles Lollar of Maryland's 5th District.

A tea party supporter running against House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Lollar says he's finding support in unexpected places.

The 38-year-old U.S. Marine Corps reservist recently walked into a bar in southern Maryland decorated with a Confederate flag. It gave his wife Rosha pause.

"I said, 'You know what, honey? Many, many of our Southern citizens came together under that flag for the purpose of keeping their family and their state together,'" Lollar recalled. "The flag is not what you're to fear. It's the stupidity behind the flag that is a problem. I don't think we'll find that in here. Let's go ahead in."

Once inside, they were treated to a pig roast, a motorcycle rally--and presented with $5,000 in contributions for his campaign.

McGlowan, one of three GOP candidates in north Mississippi's 1st District primary, seeks a seat held since 2008 by Democrat Travis Childers. The National Republican Congressional Committee has supported Alan Nunnelee, chairman of the state Senate Appropriations Committee, who is also pursuing tea party voters.

McGlowan believes the tea party movement has been unfairly portrayed as monolithically white, male and middle-aged, though she acknowledged blacks and Hispanics are a minority at most events.

Racist protest signs at some tea party rallies and recent reports by U.S. Reps. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Barney Frank, D-Mass., that tea partyers shouted racial and anti-gay slurs at them have raised allegations of racism in the tea party movement.

Black members of the movement say it is not inherently racist, and some question the reported slurs. "You would think--something that offensive--you would think someone got video of it," Bazar, the conservative blogger, said.

"Just because you have one nut case, it doesn't automatically equate that you've got an organization that espouses (racism) as a sane belief," Johnson said.

Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, suggested a bit of caution.

"I'm sure the reason that (black conservatives) are involved is that from an ideological perspective, they agree," said Shelton. "But when those kinds of things happen, it is very important to be careful of the company that you keep."

___

Associated Press writers Brian Witte in Maryland and Emily Wagster Pettus in Mississippi contributed to this report.

LINK::http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9ETR1380&show_article=1

Do it for pallin or usa and i will do it for the rest of the world. But no cops. Okay.

They came to America to escape the hardship that was their existence, much like most people do, still today. But the question really is: What makes people have to leave their lands of birth?

For you; it is because the white man is a god. For me it is because the white man now with the zionists in control, want to re-thief all that was stolen before. Do you know why?

It is because their own plan of world domination, which had to include the systematic dumming of the west's children has backfired. 'We will preach democracy, and free armies but make it so that the masses only way up is to join the army. That is if they want to progress in the 'western dream'.

No education or very little and drugs and hatred for all, even though most of the new people are brothers/sisters of the re-newed colonial push.

Today, Hillary Clinton, one of the biggest Zionists spoke to Aipac, the government of America, and said that; 'we cannot protect you indefinitely'.

The singular truth is that America could never protect their hegemony over this world, for all the chips were with Zionism/Capitalism-where paper money & electronic ponzi schemes is what is the basis of the western civilizations. Slave or cheapest of labour, but human beings deserve more, because there is only one prince charles-A sad reflection on whiteness and your bosses will agree. For the people that have shown the most contempt for the west, in which they have thrived, is your bosses.

Credit card debt/mortgage debt and all things debt, whilst you and the rest have nothing else but to blame China, for you ill fortune.

Remember these words: If Israel attack Iran, America is completely & totally finished. Now they are many in good ole us that have this crazy dream that somehow you will be able to kill all human beings on this planet earth.

No Chinese/black/native/indian/south american/caribbean/asia /muslims is going back to be servants for anything west, and more importantly under the racist/immoral & self proclaimed 'chosen few'. That is your boss, but not ours.

They continue to stream out of Russia, into Israel and immediately out to CANADA & THE REST OF THE WEST.

I borrowed Karl Marx's manifesto, and found it wanting, not because he was a jew, but because he was talking of a time when jews did not fully control the finances of the west. In reference to Hitler; one day soon he will be acknowledged as a seer for the west, for he got rid of Rothschild/bear sterns/goldman sachs and all the rest. The !@#$ that plagues this world, but it is your !@#$. The very same things that Charles Dickens( the greatest western author) spoke of. The greed and systemic group hegemony, directed at controlling others, for their avaricious greed.

That nonsense you listen to from right wing racist evangelists about Israel is only because Israel gets 50 billion us taxpayers money, and turn and spend it to control you. Bribing them snake oil salesmen, who have no idea where Iraq is.

Growing up in Guyana, we went to Roman catholic schools which told all of us that jews killed christ, but more importantly was that jews do not believe that christ ever came to this earth.

Now Muslims believe in Christ and believe that Muhammad is the third prophet. Christianity and Islam is not only closer but in lockstep with what christians are led to believe.

The only country in this entire world where jews have managed to twist wrong into right and truth become false is where you reside. Good Luck.

It must be a truly glorious experience to be without the attributes of a fully developed, functioning cerebrum. "Objective reality" is, in effect, the reason your frontal lobe is consistently crashing into the inner walls of your cranium.....just above your eyebrows. The back-firing neurons are causing significant build up of gunk and assorted toxins, which are affecting your right hand.

I actually find this whole back and forth to be very entertaining, and interesting at the same time. I am amazed at your vast knowledge of historical data, but somewhere between the motor and sensory cortex you seem to have a lump....the size of a tamarind seed. Your inability to process information and ideas is cause for concern my friend.

Europeans came to America for various reasons, mostly because of persecution from radical thinkers like yourself. Where do you keep your copy of 'the communist manifesto'? In the bathroom magazine rack? didn't marx predict the world would be socialist? isn't it ironic that europe has failed miserably at socialism? because of the communists, who would rather face starvation than objective reality? how many Russians felt the need to work harder after stalin fixed the prices for their crops? Communism takes away incentive from the individual. Humans are not sheep, and we sure as hell hate to be corralled by some sheep dog preaching his holier than thou horse excrement.

I wonder if you knew that Hitler hated the zionists also? Of course there is democracy in voting for Hamas or Hezbollah. It just shows how some people actually hate peace. I guess Arafat was a zionist also? cause he never held any democratic elective processes. He just perpetually begged the western countries for money while the Palestinian children played in the sewage along the dirt road leading to his mansion. he had to keep this hate thing alive didn't he? it's like Al Sharpton....he needs hate to live the life he lives. These types of humanoids are parasites.

I never knew that 'doctors without borders' members had electronic eavesdropping devices built into their stethoscopes. You learn something new every day. It makes me shudder to think of what might be in their turkey basters....

Norman McLean deh in kabul now? ...rass!!

Israel will most likely have to bomb Iran's nuclear installations, just like they did to Saddam. pity they didn't take out his stash of mustard gas that he had....before he destroyed all those civilian Kurds.

komrade....good night and please don't let anyone hear you talking in yuh sleep eh...cause you might wake up in a padded room. Don't worry they might use black leatherette instead of white....I know you have a problem with the reflections from the light....eh.

Is it Zion's right to control all white people, and if that is good for you; it must be good for the rest of the world that happens to be the vast majority of human beings. Or do they not count, because they 'breed' like rabbits, but your pope wants no birth control or your born again christians or Zion leaders, so that cheap labour is always available, to mow, tend to and clean your masters gated communities.

The French Revolution happened hundred of years ago, and long before the boston tea party, where americans refused to pay more taxes to the british. Is that not 'leftist' in your thinking or is it only america that knows what is best for everyone.

The europeans came to america because they were disenfranchised from their own countries in europe. They learned from the native Indians how to survive winters, store grain and plant. They then systematically went about killing all the Indians, but they never would have, were it not for the gatling gun (sub machine), and small pox and all the rest of the diseases that white man destroyed the indians with.

America's rise to power is directly proportional to the two world wars in Europe, and the fact that they stole the biggest land mass that the war did not affect. After WW2, and brimming with all the scientists of europe, including the jews that built the atom bomb, america went on a systematic , brutalized and hegemonic new imperialistic pursuit of creating wars, killing heads of states, toppling governments & producing what this world is today. Garbage.

A truly democratic system is the election won by Hamas in Palestine or Hezbollah in Lebanon, but your racist evil leaders twist the word democracy to suit what they tell you; is your needs.

France with their revolution has a 5 ft jew from Hungary called Sarkozy, and kirschner as foreign affairs minister-A 'doctor without borders ngo spy for Zion America" until he said that he wanted to attack Iran, and his status was elevated amongst you/Israel , but cautioned by the rest of the world. You might wonder why Russia would kick out 'doctors without borders or all of your zion /evangelical do goodders'?

So what you are left with is a country that was run by zionists , with no concern for you or yours. They just have fed you hatred to feed on when the going gets tough.The beat up each other doctrine. That is why you need to go to Afghanistan, you and your Guyanese generals in the us army.

I got news for you, for that mantra that america was/is great is only sounded by america, for even though tony blair (an mi-5 spy) led britain in lockstep with Zion Messiah Bush; most english would beat you senseless for waving around that joke. In Israel they would probably honor you, but then it is the size of a ? But getting bigger everyday, but very much dependent on where or how you fare. Doomed to cease to exist someday, and the whole non-nonsensical- self chosen accolades, just a short passage of time, except for their killing and enslavement of an entire populous, born on lands they claim, as a result of jewish folklore, absolute nonsense.

Massa, if there was ww3, america and israel would cease to exist, for what your bosses never told you, or don't know is that the entire rest of the world is against you.

If Israel attack Iran; america is going to be like a country in africa. But then Africa might just rise up and that is a great thing. They are not going to attack Iran & neither is america, but do not blame Omama. Your understanding of what is democracy reveals your intellect.

The leftist radical is inspired first and foremost by the french revolution without even realizing it. Deeply dissatisfied by the status quo of any kind, he projects his existential rage onto the world at large, "the system".... "the State" (just or unjust) and "the man" or "Zionist"

Modern liberals claim to be ideologically descended from 'the Enlightenment', and believe themselves to be the pinnacle of the "liberal" values of emancipation and equality. Yet the dismissal of human nature and the value of the individual, that arose through "liberalism's" fusion with secularization during the influence of Darwinism, mutated the Christian utopian strain of liberalism into a call for Obamanation to create a heaven on earth. Farrahkhan comes to mind....but he's muslim.....

On the contrary, there has never been and can never be a utopian fulfillment of socialism..... therefore in doctrine and in practice, communism is the forcible implementation of socialism, with that comes this blatant disregard for reality.

A truly democratic system must, and shall always respect the right of each individual. This is what made america great my friend. Not these modern day progressives we have elected to office who blatantly abuse and disregard the constitution of the country they swore on to upkeep. I may be stupid, that is your individual right to express. I also wish we, as a people didn't have to leave our homes to come argue over these people who we elect to look out for our well being. may you find peace and tranquility under the nearest sycamore tree....om shanti...ommmm

You are a poster boy for America & Canada but you and your us army buddies ain't welcome in Guyana, anymore!

Don't worry about China or Iran, but just fix america. And stop that ridiculous nonsense that you think that you pass off for knowledge. You must be a pinnacle for american hegemony, but the zionists did not teach you well. But then again most of their recruits are racist morons with sadistic tendencies, much like their masters. Devoid of any real grasp of historical facts. Just like they want it.

If people like you are all they recruit; it is only a matter of time before all you desire turns to dust. But then you and your jewish led bible white inspirations have had it good up to now.

Abusing all the children in all the countries, in the name of...... No wonder you hate the Chinese or 'chinee' as you put it for dismissing you as an evil intrinsic.

Your last writing ' get with the program" show that not only you have no feelings towards others humans, but revel in the suffering of humanity. Something your god bush 2, never once thought about.

Rhamn Emanuel & Charles Schumer having differences? You got to be kidding. You obviously do not know who your daddy is. Ply that to the 56% americans that do not know where Iraq is on a map, BUT NOT TO US, MEANING PEOPLE ON THE OUTSIDE. Zion = Zion. Rhamn = Schumer.

God bless amreica and god bless you. You have no idea how st.. you are, but i absoutely sure you are surrounded by like individuals. Go you self chosen ones and

p.s. Blackwater Inc offering white/catholic/ jew/gentliles and the rest of the coalition $100,000 plus to go and kill Taliban, who are born in Afghanistan, in Alfganishtan.

By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- With $100-a-barrel here for now, Goldman Sachs says $200 a barrel could be a reality in the not-too-distant future in the case of a "major disruption."

Goldman on Friday also boosted by $10 the low end of its 2008-2012 projected range for crude to $60 a barrel -- significantly lower than current prices, to be sure, but a possible mark for oil if "normalized" trends return to the marketplace.

With the dollar's fall continuing and financial markets roiled by the credit crunch, commodities like oil have been drawing the fancy of increasing numbers of investors. Accordingly, Wall Street firms have been eager to adjust forecasts to incorporate fresh data on the global economy and energy supplies.

Goldman analysts Arjun Murti, Kevin Koh and Michele della Vigna said prices have advanced more quickly than Goldman had forecast back in 2005, when it predicted a range of $50 to $105 a barrel as part of its "super-spike" oil theory.

"We characterized the upper end of the band as more likely to be driven by geopolitical turmoil and that recession was a key risk to our view," the analysts said. "In fact, oil prices have reached $100 a barrel without extraordinary turmoil, and the U.S. currently appears to be in recession."

Tacking on $15 a barrel to all of its oil estimates, Goldman now sees average selling prices of $95 a barrel for 2008, $105 a barrel for 2009 and $110 a barrel for 2010. The high end of its range is now $135 a barrel -- but Goldman hinted that prices could be headed even higher.

Evil/greedy wall street people? or just instruments of change? How much money did they give Obama? Don't answer, cause nothing matters anymore. We are in essence screwed in these united states. You will see how many companies will move overseas if this health care farce is passed on a sunday night......starting with caterpillar. The problem with liberals is they see big business as the evil/greedy ones.....Chavez is no different than Obama. Think about it.

"question 8.....oil prices soared when Goldman sachs said it would ....you ever wonder why they still solvent and the others had to beg Obamsy fuh money? That whole oil thing was fixed to make bush look bad. put dat in yuh pipe and smoke it."   

then on 3/20 you said this:   "I said they 'predicted' and caused a run on the market."

This much I will say my little brain suggests to me that there is a very big difference between these two words "soared" and "predicted"    

It stands to reason that you will not answer my questions and I am happy to hear you have some convictions by which you live.  Trust me I have no fear of discussion either.  Knowledge can be had from constructive discussion if you keep an open mind but obviously you don't appear to believe the same instead you rant and rave then you make the following statements which confirms confusion in thought:

 "For the life of me I can not understand why we, as very conservative Guyanese migrated to America to become so slanted in our views about conservatism."     AND  "I can tell any one of you that I stand for what I believe."    AND THIS "That's why most people do not discuss politics, for fear of being ostracized."

I rest my case.

Most of us did not know what was going on in Washington when we migrated here. We knew nothing of the legislative process. We didn't know about the back room deals going on. We didn't know about things like the Community Reinvestment Act enacted in 1977 under Carter and all the sneaky crap they have been doing behind our backs since. They had such a good thing going for themselves until they started to expose themselves for all of America to see. Bush is to blame for this by not using a truly conservative approach to truly conservative policies, and the resulting disasters for being too Liberal in the face of the democratic opposition during that time. I am not going to be answering no long list of questions. Some people see what they want to see. For the life of me I can not understand why we, as very conservative Guyanese migrated to America to become so slanted in our views about conservatism. I guess some of us got caught up in the American dream....according to what group you felt more comfortable with, based on your experiences. I can tell any one of you that I stand for what I believe. Even at the expense of losing some people I thought were friends....regardless of political views. That's why most people do not discuss politics, for fear of being ostracized. One 'friend' of mine said once he couldn't be friends with 'so-and-so' anymore because he was a "BUSHY"....that made me realize what a bunch of jackasses some of us Guyanese are.....so of course you know what I did right? I got out my ole crank that my father used on his morris oxford....It's been a couple of years since I even seen the guy.....he knows who he is.

JT,  I had hoped my questions would have allowed you to understand your statement re: "balanced budget" but obviously not.   So let me see if I can try a different approach:  your statement "Goldman Sachs fix the oil prices to make Bush look bad"  Then based on that argument one can assume oil prices soared thus allowing Alaska to benefit coupled with the fact that Alaska must have gained a surplus from profit tax on oil companies.   So It seems Goldman Sachs action worked for Alaska.  

But what about the following:
a)   operating budget?  
b)   gas prices?
c)   costs for oil and groceries?
d)  their infrastructure?
e)  school system?
f)   health care system?
g)  do you suppose they are behind in internet service and cell phone service?

So tell me.   What is the aim of government policy with respect to a balanced budget?

Imagine the west trying now, with China owning enough nuclear power to blow your red-neck- moon-shine/bog trodden and promised land (not for you) to smithereens.

Today, Zion professors are asking Canada to join in the protest for China to devalue it's currency, so that the democrats can show, they are doing something. This is not good for China, for they played by all the free trade rules, but the west that enslaved coloured people, play by different rules.

China must also be forced to put some racist/religious & western sanction on Iran, because you and yours have decided that Zion Israel is your boss, so why not the inferior Chinese acquiesce/submit to Zion Inc?

Well, the answer really is that despite all the sh..t, we grew up with, this garbage has only been around since the west took gunpowder from China, put it into a gun and stole the world. Oh! with Jesus as the Justice, but if you really knew the bible; you would see that Islam is a brother of the Christian fate, not your bosses Zion- who do not believe that Christ ever came , and are awaiting his coming. Enough of the Jewish folklore, taken from centuries of all the Egyptian civilizations , including the 10 commandments. I actually researched this & dare anyone to challenge me.

So, you tell China to join in Iran sanctions, similar to Bill Clinton 10 years that killed 1 million Iraqi children (figures from the west). Then you bomb them for 3 weeks nonstop, with the weapons of mass precision/democracy. Oh, the west tells China; 'we will guarantee oil from Saudi Arabia. But China 10,000 years old say No!

Today, American professors are asking Canada to join in the protest of pushing China to re-value their currency. You owe China 2 Trillion dollars that your Zionist hedge fund specialists never had no intention of honoring.

You spit on Russia, but at the same time tell them things like 'you are white and part of Europe', so we together will put the Chinese in place.

Zion is all over India, cajoling the Indian sentiment to be akin to the white man, and leading them on a path of conflict with China.

They, with their so-called democracy have no problem with three quarters of their population living in dire poverty, and neither does Zion Inc that loves the illegals from Mexico to tend to their lawns/toilets/and moronic kids.

A long while ago, a Chinese General put it bluntly. 'You will be received by a formation of bees swarming".

You see China has absolutely no reason to be subservient to Israel. You do because they control you. But they are all over, because they own you.

Guyana is not for sale to these people, for there is a feeling that someday soon, we all will be free from Zion Inc. The next ww3 will surely free us from this evil, and god got nothing to do with it.

Most obviously; your america has been a comedy of errors, and people do laugh, except that your trigger happy fingers kill millions of innocent people, much more than Hitler ever did.

But to forget all that has gone on, and blame Obama for your shortcomings, not only in an absurd way , devoid of any sound rationale or alternative is racist in it's very core. That is why people like you need to go to the war front, for after all that is what they teach you.

To hate the 'sand niggers'(like LG put it some years ago) or the rag-heads, and think of it as a video game, as you kill whole families & destroy a civilization that was 9000 years old, compared to 160 years of killing native Americans, your self adoration of 'god bless us' is astounding.Glad to hear you have found a cave in which to fester. The language you use on another thread talking about the Chinese people as 'Chinee'or Coolies has shown you to be what you are.

That is okay in america, but i don't care which us general/s is your friend, for you are not a Guyanese. It took a b-grade Austrian actor in California, to tell america some truth. It took a mixed black American to salvage some dignity for america, under the most trying of circumstances.

You and your fools prefer to chant for more war, but obama has fulfilled every covenant to the bosses in Israel. You just don't know.

What he has expended is what king Bush never had at the end of the reign. The people that control the finances of the west also control the military in the united states.These few people have no interest in you me or the lantin post outside. When things get really bad they whip you up to attack what is your neighbor and brother in similar circumstance.Pitting one against the other.

In IRAQ, It is now Sunni against Shiites, but they were all living together, peacefully/intermarried and co-existing before you brought your weapons of massp recision/democracy. I gain strength from my convictions by seeing the brothers every day hooked up with the Blondest of blondes.

Your women seem to know that we are all equal or maybe not so equal, so why don't you?

For the record: If Israel attacks Iran, America is doomed. If America attacks China; America is doomed, and what is left will reap havoc on the Zionists in their gated communities, ALL OVER THE WORLD. Israel bombed the living hell out of Lebanon and Hizbullah beat the !@#$ out of them. They have the same conscription problem that america use to have , except that america has 14 % unemployment, but you all pay for all of israel folks, their subsistence and condominium, and food. Gone is the myth of the IDF, for bullies are cowards.

I have no doubt that america with israel will use a nuclear bomb, but the remnants will destroy all of zion and racist white hegemony. Mark My words.

Question 1....about 3/4 million people.

question 2....a bloated budget is something like wah Califoprnia got...like wah new yark gat...like wah jersey gat....like wah michigan gat...like wah illinois gat....and when Obamsy done wid we we gon have a real bloated budget of about two effin trillion ....yuh wan me fuh name mo liberal run states fuh demonstrate wah is a bloated budget?

question 3....private and public funding? I am guessing there will be tolls nah? Are you still one of those with this 'bridge to nowhere' crap? how many people lived in staten island when they built the verrazano? How many people live in berbice? You think a bridge over the orinoco would be a bridge to nowhere?

question 4.....an earmark?....I had plenty of dat in my second standard exercise book. I think an earmark is money appropriated to a specific project by congress rather than through a competitive grant process overseen by the Executive Branch agencies. No wonder byrd from virginia even has pork barrels in his back yard....collusion and hand wash hand mek dutty water syndrome.

question 5....I doan know rass what is the matter with you? You mean to tell me you google a whole setta stupitness bout palin fuh wuk me nerves?

question 6...again me nah know....jeez.

question 7.....about 90 % ????? what's your point wid all dese questions?Jersey ot cranberries coming out we ears....

question 8.....oil prices soared when Goldman sachs said it would ....you ever wonder why they still solvent and the others had to beg Obamsy fuh money? That whole oil thing was fixed to make bush look bad. put dat in yuh pipe and smoke it.

You see even the BBC and them all are owned by the same entities, that you so love and praise or ridicule, except that you see things in a layer that is at best -rudimentary. They, the Zion owners give you that to fume and fret and oppose your neighbour, when both of you are up against the same sh..! That actually shows your intellect, but it's is very hurtful for you to know that Burnham is not to blame for you.

It might not be your fault, but your mother might be to blame or the fools, in your new life away from Guyana, providing you with their white racists reasoning, forgetting King Bush's destruction of whole countries & the suffering left for those not killed, under the pretext of spreading Democracy with weapons of mass democracy.

You Massa belong in Kandahar province, in Afghanistan. I want to mobilize all you zIONIST/Christian/white/Jews to spread the word, as your Portuguese ancestors have done, killing millions and thieving lands that you never had no right to, and never will.

I want you and all your red-neck friends & controller Zionists to pick up a gun and go to Iraq or Afghanistan. Now that might quench your thirst for blood, but then after the satiation of your desire to kill; ask yourself what else?

I accept the term of Socialist and Liberal, but only if it has nothing to do with American concepts. You have a ZIONIST DICTATORSHIP, WITH A MILITARY A CLOSE SECOND. All we ask is that you keep it to yourself, for nobody else needs anything from you. Most certainly not the 'weapons of mass democracy'!

Self praise was never no recommendation but you people just don't get it.

JT, since I broached the subject re: Sarah Palin I will respond to your comment regarding the "balanced budget"

Here are my questions with respect to your statement of “balanced budget”

1)      What is the population of Alaska?

2)      What is a bloated budget?

3)      Do you know who financed the Knik Crossing bridge?

4)      What are earmarks?  Which other state in America matches Alaska’s earmarks budget?

5)      Who was responsible for Palin’s legislative achievements in 2007 and 2008?

6)      Who worked on the ethics bill that she supported?

7)      What percentage of oil revenue do you suppose compensates for Alaska’s budget?

8)      When did the oil prices soar?

I leave it to you to determine the credibility of the information you are disseminating.   

To Bob Marley's 'Zion Train'- The term Zion is used very frequently by black people in religious terms. It is absolutely wrongly used for it is a racist entity, with absolutely no interest in the well being of blacks, Indians , Chinese or Whites for that matter. The Bilderberg group is a Zionist entity, that does not seek to destroy the American dollar. It enforces the hegemonic role that the US dollar has played, and is directly tied to the financing of this world, by western interests for western interests alone.

The only thing that Obama did was to introduce a Health care bill that would encompass many more millions of Americans that have none. They would not even give that to him, at the detriment to American society.

You and others forget that Obama's election gave America a lot of time and a pass to serious issues that arose under King Bush. The world gave Obama a chance, and rightly so because he was black, or mixed with black. But more than that, we all had enough of the WARRING PSYCHOPATHIC NATURE of Bush, and that includes the majority of whites in Europe.

So Obama gave billions to wall street to prop up the institutions that belong to the Bilderberg group. He did not close Guantanamo and increased the war in Afghanistan. No troops have left Iraq & none in the foreseeable future. He now is at war with the Chinese and is covering all the bases for war with Iran.

This has caused the 500 million muslims to forget all that he said, riled up South America and enflamed tensions in China and Asia.

Just tell me, minus the health care bill which is so watered down, what else he could have done that was not conservative?

Of course, all these policies, like Bush, will only lead to the rapid disintegration of America. Rome lasted several hundred years, because it was sensitive to all the people's culture that it took over. Boorish America always tells it's own people how great they are , and how good they are, and how much responsibility they have to subjugate other races or countries.

This was always only for the sake of the top few-Bilderberg group etc.. So China/Iran or whatever is to blame for the demise of America, whipping up people like you & sarah pallin to tell you ' the right way'.

I always wished that people like you would get your wish an put pallin and mccain in power, but you got Obama. That slowed the decay!

It is only time deferred, but Iran is not Iraq and WW3 is around the corner. Only Nuke option left. What is left of america will be rightfully taken over by the coloured people that have been suffering these 300 years. 300 DOLLAR A BARREL FOR OIL, and America with all it's companies outside the land (america) having to ACCEPT the laws of the those countries, and the Zionists running into hiding (those that manage to), never to return to squeeze the sweat/blood & toil of the innocent, done for centuries.

General Powell said to Zion King Bush;'If you break Iraq you have to own it"! That was not entirely accurate. If you break these countries , that you have done, to fix it will break America, as is happening. But to leave it means you don't own it, which you need to exist.

The strong arm tactics that you say that Obama used is just actually common sense-telling the sarah pallin's what the reality really is of America.

But on, in the death dance of american governance, where the senators and house are all controlled by financial and Israel lobbyists, that only see a future , in terms of their own life-paid for -bought for, change is really no-change. But there is no doubt that this foolhardy existence is doomed to failure, and the squandering of a country as large as America, with all the benefits of two world wars and infinite resources, will go down as one of the world's dumbest society's.

Hey JT, You see the "mask" on the flyer this year..? There will be lots of "fingas" behind many masks and best of all, they all come with a different "persona".  I know you like that and I  have a "mask" specially for you...lol .

The GT Lime  "posts" on this website is the sole use of the administrators who try to keep us updated on many  threads seen here that we find news worthy, informative, interesting, funny and relevant to any discussion without "prejudice"....That is GT Lime .

This politics, this politics..  it sure keeps the world turning....lol

Peace & love

MarkyMark

JT, you never cease to amuse me, and yes I must admit the pictures are beautiful.  However, I am still waiting for the facts.  Right now all I see is an attempt to use language effectively and pursuasively.  I have also concluded that you will remain in America with all its flaws and possibly through a second term of our wonderful black President.  Unless of course you support Sarah Palin...

Also, for the record there is absolutely no shame in being a republican or a democrat and we should be able to discuss, intelligently, any issue facing America with respect but discussion brings a responsibility to state facts not sling mud with no proof.  

I am looking for a class mate of  mine from St. Joseph High School in Guyana we attended school in the late 60"s.  Her name is Patricia Henderson (Muriel).  She has 2 brothers, a younger one by the name of Paul Henderson who attended St. Stanislaus College and an older brother Douglas.  She moved to London Ontario, Canada in 1977.  I lost touch with her and have been looking for her ever since.  If you have any info, I would be eternally grateful.  I can be reached @ jin_fredericks@hotmail.com ,thanks for any help ....JInette Fredericks(Ali)

What you do not know or cannot comprehend is that he actually is a Zionist first, and American-a distinct second.

So-called Conservative Brooks wanted the election to be won by 'Hillary', not Mccain, because 'they' all new that king bush's zion inspired neo-colonial ventures had not reaped the benefits that they so loudly proclaimed.

"Flowers in Baghdad & Afghanistan", and the boss israel in charge of 500 Million muslims and their historical/birthplace & geographical lands.

Obama was ALLOWED to be elected because 'they' had gone too far, with nothing to show for it, and Obama had, through the Internet, mobilised millions of Americans, on a platform of change.

It was those displaced millions of Americans that were protesting Zion Inc that convinced the powers: That Obama would be the chosen one, instead of Hillary. Billy went mad as you all know and 'true colours' were displayed.

Obama is a singular man that played politics ( American) to get where he is today. But just the names of the people around him, can display just who is in charge. He never stood a chance, because despite being handcuffed/blindfolded & turned on his head, the right extreme want to blame him for everything.

How soon the 10 trillion dollar fiasco to take over the middle east and control the sale of oil, and impose israel slave lords on all muslims, by the new chosen king herod/bush is forgotten!

The same people who control the finances with the same votes on foreign policy. LOOK up the word Democracy, and you will find out that it has absolutely nothing to do with America.

There is no such thing as a liberal in government in America. Get it through your head!

David Brooks  approach appears to be neither liberal or conservative, but quite interesting.

"Who is Barack Obama?

David Brooks

The Conversation

David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns.

If you ask a conservative Republican, you are likely to hear that Obama is a skilled politician who campaigned as a centrist but is governing as a big-government liberal. He plays by ruthless, Chicago politics rules. He is arrogant toward foes, condescending toward allies and runs a partisan political machine.

If you ask a liberal Democrat, you are likely to hear that Obama is an inspiring but overly intellectual leader who has trouble making up his mind and fighting for his positions. He has not defined a clear mission. He has allowed the Republicans to dominate debate. He is too quick to compromise and too cerebral to push things through.

You’ll notice first that these two viewpoints are diametrically opposed. You’ll, observe, second, that they are entirely predictable. Political partisans always imagine the other side is ruthlessly effective and that the public would be with them if only their side had better messaging. And finally, you’ll notice that both views distort reality. They tell you more about the information cocoons that partisans live in these days than about Obama himself.

The fact is, Obama is as he always has been, a center-left pragmatic reformer. Every time he tries to articulate a grand philosophy — from his book “The Audacity of Hope” to his joint-session health care speech last September — he always describes a moderately activist government restrained by a sense of trade-offs. He always uses the same on-the-one-hand-on-the-other sentence structure. Government should address problems without interfering with the dynamism of the market.

He has tried to find this balance in a town without an organized center — in a town in which liberals chair the main committees and small-government conservatives lead the opposition. He has tried to do it in a context maximally inhospitable to his aims.

But he has done it with tremendous tenacity. Readers of this column know that I’ve been critical on health care and other matters. Obama is four clicks to my left on most issues. He is inadequate on the greatest moral challenge of our day: the $9.7 trillion in new debt being created this decade. He has misread the country, imagining a hunger for federal activism that doesn’t exist. But he is still the most realistic and reasonable major player in Washington.

Liberals are wrong to call him weak and indecisive. He’s just not always pursuing their aims. Conservatives are wrong to call him a big-government liberal. That’s just not a fair reading of his agenda.

Take health care. He has pushed a program that expands coverage, creates exchanges and moderately tinkers with the status quo — too moderately to restrain costs. To call this an orthodox liberal plan is an absurdity. It more closely resembles the center-left deals cut by Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, or Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney. Obama has pushed this program with a tenacity unmatched in modern political history; with more tenacity than Bill Clinton pushed his health care plan or George W. Bush pushed Social Security reform.

Take education. Obama has taken on a Democratic constituency, the teachers’ unions, with a courage not seen since George W. Bush took on the anti-immigration forces in his own party. In a remarkable speech on March 1, he went straight at the guardians of the status quo by calling for the removal of failing teachers in failing schools. Obama has been the most determined education reformer in the modern presidency.

Take foreign policy. To the consternation of many on the left, Obama has continued about 80 percent of the policies of the second Bush term. Obama conducted a long review of the Afghan policy and was genuinely moved by the evidence. He has emerged as a liberal hawk, pursuing victory in Iraq and adopting an Afghan surge that has already utterly transformed the momentum in that war. The Taliban is now in retreat and its leaders are being assassinated or captured at a steady rate.

Take finance. Obama and Tim Geithner are vilified on the left as craven to Wall Street and on the right as clueless bureaucrats who know nothing about how markets function. But they have tried with halting success to find a center-left set of restraints to provide some stability to market operations.

In a sensible country, people would see Obama as a president trying to define a modern brand of moderate progressivism. In a sensible country, Obama would be able to clearly define this project without fear of offending the people he needs to get legislation passed. But we don’t live in that country. We live in a country in which many people live in information cocoons in which they only talk to members of their own party and read blogs of their own sect. They come away with perceptions fundamentally at odds with reality, fundamentally misunderstanding the man in the Oval Office."

Food for thought for those of you who care about American politics.

The Populist Addiction

Politics, some believe, is the organization of hatreds. The people who try to divide society on the basis of ethnicity we call racists. The people who try to divide it on the basis of religion we call sectarians. The people who try to divide it on the basis of social class we call either populists or elitists.

Skip to next paragraph

David Brooks

 

These two attitudes — populism and elitism — seem different, but they’re really mirror images of one another. They both assume a country fundamentally divided. They both describe politics as a class struggle between the enlightened and the corrupt, the pure and the betrayers.
Both attitudes will always be with us, but these days populism is in vogue. The Republicans have their populists. Sarah Palin has been known to divide the country between the real Americans and the cultural elites. And the Democrats have their populists. Since the defeat in Massachusetts, many Democrats have apparently decided that their party has to mimic the rhetoric of John Edwards’s presidential campaign. They’ve taken to dividing the country into two supposedly separate groups — real Americans who live on Main Street and the insidious interests of Wall Street.
It’s easy to see why politicians would be drawn to the populist pose. First, it makes everything so simple. The economic crisis was caused by a complex web of factors, including global imbalances caused by the rise of China. But with the populist narrative, you can just blame Goldman Sachs.
Second, it absolves voters of responsibility for their problems. Over the past few years, many investment bankers behaved like idiots, but so did average Americans, racking up unprecedented levels of personal debt. With the populist narrative, you can accuse the former and absolve the latter.
Third, populism is popular with the ruling class. Ever since I started covering politics, the Democratic ruling class has been driven by one fantasy: that voters will get so furious at people with M.B.A.’s that they will hand power to people with Ph.D.’s. The Republican ruling class has been driven by the fantasy that voters will get so furious at people with Ph.D.’s that they will hand power to people with M.B.A.’s. Members of the ruling class love populism because they think it will help their section of the elite gain power.
So it’s easy to see the seductiveness of populism. Nonetheless, it nearly always fails. The history of populism, going back to William Jennings Bryan, is generally a history of defeat.
That’s because voters aren’t as stupid as the populists imagine. Voters are capable of holding two ideas in their heads at one time: First, that the rich and the powerful do rig the game in their own favor; and second, that simply bashing the rich and the powerful will still not solve the country’s problems.
Political populists never get that second point. They can’t seem to grasp that a politics based on punishing the elites won’t produce a better-educated work force, more investment, more innovation or any of the other things required for progress and growth.
In fact, this country was built by anti-populists. It was built by people like Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln who rejected the idea that the national economy is fundamentally divided along class lines. They rejected the zero-sum mentality that is at the heart of populism, the belief that economics is a struggle over finite spoils. Instead, they believed in a united national economy — one interlocking system of labor, trade and investment.
Hamilton championed capital markets and Lincoln championed banks, not because they loved traders and bankers. They did it because they knew a vibrant capitalist economy would maximize opportunity for poor boys like themselves. They were willing to tolerate the excesses of traders because they understood that no institution is more likely to channel opportunity to new groups and new people than vigorous financial markets.
In their view, government’s role was not to side with one faction or to wage class war. It was to rouse the energy and industry of people at all levels. It was to enhance competition and make it fair — to make sure that no group, high or low, is able to erect barriers that would deprive Americans of an open field and a fair chance. Theirs was a philosophy that celebrated development, mobility and work, wherever those things might be generated.
The populists have an Us versus Them mentality. If they continue their random attacks on enterprise and capital, they will only increase the pervasive feeling of uncertainty, which is now the single biggest factor in holding back investment, job creation and growth. They will end up discrediting good policies (the Obama bank reforms are quite sensible) because they will persuade the country that the government is in the hands of reckless Huey Longs.
They will have traded dynamic optimism, which always wins, for combative divisiveness, which always loses.

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, 
 
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am." 
 
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude. 
 
"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be an Obama Democrat." 
 
"I am,"replied the man. "How did you know?" 
 
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me." 
 
The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Republican." 
 
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?" 
 
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault." 

Obama advises caution in what kids put on Facebook.   I think this goes for all of us. 

Sen. Arlen Specter to Switch Parties

Tuesday 28 April 2009

by: Chris Cillizza  | 

 

Sen. Arlen Specter announces that he will change party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. (Photo: AP)

   Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.

    Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next senator from Minnesota. (Former senator Norm Coleman is appealing Franken's victory in the state Supreme Court.)

    "I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said Specter in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election."

    He added: "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

    President Obama was informed of Specter's decision at around 10:25 a.m., according to White House officials, and reached out to the senator minutes later to tell him "you have my full support," and we are "thrilled to have you."

    Specter as a Democrat would also fundamentally alter the 2010 calculus in Pennsylvania as he was expected to face a difficult primary challenge next year from former Rep. Pat Toomey. The only announced Democrat in the race is former National Constitution Center head Joe Torsella although several other candidates are looking at the race.

    The precariousness of Specter's political position -- a Republican in a Democratic-leaning state -- was on display earlier this year when he was one of three GOP senators to back President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan. That vote was strongly condemned by conservative Republicans and Toomey used that vote as the launching pad for his candidacy.

    Because of the shrinking Republican vote in the state, Specter was seen as a dead man walking politically in the primary with polling showing him trailing Toomey by ten or more points. The bar for Specter to run as an independent was also extremely high due to the rules governing such a third party candidacy.

    That left a Democratic candidacy as Specter's best option if he wanted to remain in the Senate beyond 2010.

By Jack Cafferty
Special to CNN

Jack Cafferty says Michelle Obama understands that the White House is the "people's house."

NEW YORK (CNN) -- I think I am developing a crush on America's first lady. Michelle Obama is more compelling than her husband. He's good, but she's utterly fascinating.

Mrs. Obama has blown away the stale air in a White House musty from eight years of the Bushes. It's like the sun came out and a fresh spring breeze began wafting through the open windows.

It's the people's house, and Michelle Obama totally gets it. So much so that she has taken to inviting people in from the streets to see her home. Nice touch -- one completely lacking in her recent predecessors.

Watch her when she visits a local school and you see the warmth and affection she instantly triggers in people. Kids are pretty much totally honest with very good BS-detectors. If they sense you're a phony, forget it. But around the first lady, they want to hug her and laugh with her and tell her stories.

You can see the same qualities these kids recognize in her daughters. She is the consummate mother as evidenced by the poised, polite smiling children she and her husband are raising. I have four daughters, and trust me -- they don't turn out like the Obama children without devoted parents.

New to the Washington neighborhood, Michelle Obama has taken it upon herself to go around and introduce herself to the people in the various agencies of government. When's the last time a first lady did that? I don't ever remember it before. And during her visits she listens rather than lectures. And people respond to her.

She was raised on the south side of Chicago by blue-collar parents. She went to Princeton University, and Harvard Law School. But in many ways she's still a kid from the south side of Chicago, and that's what makes her special. She knows exactly who she is.

The Obamas bring a humanity and humility to their tasks which sets them far apart from the run-of-the mill phonies who populate Washington. It's exactly what the doctor ordered for this wounded nation.

Michelle Obama's unassuming, but dead-on, sense of style has the fashion press gushing all over itself.

Her arms are becoming the stuff of legend. Who appears sleeveless on the cover of Vogue, let alone in front of a joint session of Congress while her husband delivers one of the most important speeches of his life? And the reviews were rave.

Cindi Leive, the editor of Glamour magazine gushed, "Oh my god! The first lady has bare arms in Congress in February at night!" If she keeps it up, Seventh Avenue will soon stop making women's clothes with sleeves.

Ok, I admit it. When it comes to the first lady, I'm smitten.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jack Cafferty

Black Women in the New Obama Administration

New Obama Administration members Desiree Rogers and Valerie Jarrett with Linda Rice Johnson of Ebony Magazine (left-to-right) at a social event. Rogers and Jarrett will be part of the Obama White House team.

ELECTORAL VOTES - (270 NEEDED TO WIN)

10:02 pm - If Senator Obama gets two of these states at 7pm the race is going to be very easy - Florida, Indiana or Virginia.  Virginia appears to be leaning his way.  Indiana and Florida are toss ups right now

The states in BOLD will likely go to McCain - no surprise there. However, no more bold states the best ground strategy will prevail.

8:30pm - Florida looks like it bent over for Obama but I am holding off until I have more information.

ELECTORAL VOTES - (270 NEEDED TO WIN)

1:00 p.m - If Senator Obama gets two of these states at 7pm the race is going to be very easy - Florida, Indiana or Virginia.  Virginia appears to be leaning his way.  Indiana and Florida are toss ups right now

The states in BOLD will likely go to McCain - no surprise there.

8:30pm - Florida looks like it bent over for Obama but I am holding off until I have more information.

May I report from Georgia, where we had early voting and long miserable lines, that I was able to get to the poll at 5:30am this morning and to my surprise once the polling station opened at 7am things ran smoothly and I was in and out in an hour.  Not sure what to make of that if anything at all, other than to say Georgia is hopeful of an Obama win.

Hearing miserable stories from New Jersey and New York.  I hope the voters are smart enough to insist on getting ballots they can write in so they can move the process along.

To my American limers, please do your civil duty and go out and vote and make nothing of the time.  Take a book, your ipod, or phone.  It is worth it and necessary. 

A good day to all.

I early voted yesterday and it was quite an experience since I ended up going to 2 different locations for time related reasons. The local Winter Park Library was my first option which had a 2-3 hr line back up and so while in line waiting my cell phone told me that the local supervisor's office of elections for my county was only a 30 minute wait and 20 minutes from the local library. My cell phone converstion was overheard by a few folks who followed me over to the electiond office which only took 45 minute from line up to out the door with my "I voted " sticker seen here. The interesting thing was the magnitude of the lines at both places were equally matched but the supporters for McCain or Obama were more abvious to me at the libraray and so I was not as "talkative" as I was with those that I met at the elections office later... 

It was truly amazing to see how many of the YOUNGER generation were in line and am happy to say that my son also casted his first vote for his candidate of choice ,which I am very proud of him for and he did it on his own time. Good job Adrian.

In 2 days we will have a new President and regardless of the winner, there is a huge task ahead for that person on so many issues , starting with the economy, to the war, health care and all else that effects each and eveyone of us personally and so I can only pray that the best man wins and know that I did my part.

Peace ,

Mark

This is why we need to love everybody and stop this nonsense of discrimination because you never know who is going to show up for dinner.  Well in this case a family reunion....

Some of McCain's black relatives support Obama

BY ELGIN JONES

In the rural Teoc community of Carroll County, Miss., where the ancestors of Sen. John McCain owned enslaved Africans on a plantation, black, white and mixed-race family members unite every two years for their Coming Home Reunion, on the land where the plantation operated. Some of McCain’s black family members say they are not sure exactly where they fall on the family tree, but they do know this: They are either descendants of the McCain family slaves, or of children the McCains fathered with their slaves. White and black members of the McCain family have met on the plantation several times over the last 15 years, but one invited guest has been conspicuously absent: Sen. John Sidney McCain. “Why he hasn’t come is anybody’s guess,” said Charles McCain Jr., 60, a distant cousin of John McCain who is black. “I think the best I can come up with, is that he doesn’t have time, or he has just distanced himself, or it doesn’t mean that much to him.” Other relatives are not as generous. Lillie McCain, 56, another distant cousin of John McCain who is black, said the Republican presidential nominee is trying to hide his past, and refuses to accept the family’s history. “After hearing him in 2000 claim his family never owned slaves, I sent him an email,” she recalled. “I told him no matter how much he denies it, it will not make it untrue, and he should accept this and embrace it.” She said the senator never responded to her email. Although Charles is uncertain who will get his vote for president, several of John McCain’s black and white relatives are supporting his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama. “I am absolutely supporting Obama, and it’s not because he’s black. It’s because he is the best person at this time in our history,” said Lillie McCain, a professor of psychology at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan. “We simply need to look at the economy, and McCain’s campaign does not take us there,” said Joyce McCain, Lillie’s sister, a retired engineering manager with General Motors who lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan. “He is my cousin, but we are in dire times right now and people are hurting. Sen. Obama is clearly the best choice to be president.’’ Charles McCain and his wife, Theresa, who still live in Teoc, started the reunions over a decade ago. Charles is the deacon of Mitchell Springs Baptist Church, the only black house of worship in the area. When Theresa McCain started the family reunions in the late 1980s or early ‘90s (neither he nor his wife is sure of the exact starting date), only black family members attended. But as word spread about the gatherings, white members of the McCain family got involved. Today, the reunion has expanded to the point where it is becoming a community event. The reunion’s website, teocfamilyreunion.ning.com, has pictures, postings and other information about the family gatherings. While Sen. McCain’s brother, Joe, and many of his other white relatives attend the reunions, family members say Sen. McCain has never acknowledged them, or even responded to their invitations. “Well, a lot of the people who had moved away and were living up north, would send money to help us maintain the church,” said Theresa McCain, 62. “Myself and others began inviting them back home for picnics, just to show our appreciation.” The McCain campaign did not respond to repeated questions about John McCain’s black relatives, or about his relatives of both races who support Obama. Pablo Carrillo, a media liaison with the McCain campaign, said the senator was aware of his African-American relatives, but asked the reporter to put his questions into writing, and that someone would get back to him. After the reporter sent questions in writing, and made repeated follow-up phone calls, neither Sen. McCain nor anyone else from the campaign responded. Based on information obtained by the South Florida Times, the senator has numerous black and mixed-raced relatives who were born on, or in, the area of the McCain plantation. The mixed races in the family can be traced back to the rural Teoc community of Carroll County, Miss., where his family owned slaves. Sen. John McCain’s great, great grandfather, William Alexander McCain (1812-1863), fought for the Confederacy and owned a 2,000-acre plantation named Waverly in Teoc. The family dealt in the slave trade, and, according to official records, held at least 52 slaves on the family’s plantation. The enslaved Africans were likely used as servants, for labor, and for breeding more slaves. William McCain’s son, and Sen. John McCain’s great grandfather, John Sidney McCain (1851-1934), eventually assumed the duty of running the family’s plantation. W.A. “Bill” McCain IV, a white McCain cousin, and his wife Edwina, are the current owners of the land. Both told the South Florida Times that they attend the reunions. They also said the McCain campaign had asked them not to speak to the media about the reunions, or about why the senator has never acknowledged the family gatherings. In addition to distancing himself from his black family members, John McCain has taken several positions on issues that have put him at odds with members of the larger black community. While running for the Republican Party nomination in 2000, he sided with protesters who were calling for the rebel battle flag to be removed from the South Carolina statehouse, only to alter that position later. "Some view it as a symbol of slavery. Others view it as a symbol of heritage,” John McCain said of the flag. "Personally, I see the battle flag as a symbol of heritage. I have ancestors who have fought for the Confederacy, none of whom owned slaves. I believe they fought honorably.’’ Novelist Elizabeth Spencer, another white cousin of John McCain, noted the slaves the family owned in the family’s memoirs, Landscapes of the Heart. Sen. McCain has acknowledged reading the book, but claims to have only glossed over entries about their slaves. “That’s crazy,” said Spencer, who also attends the reunions in Teoc. “No one had to tell us, because we all knew about the slaves. I may not vote, because I don’t want anyone to think that I have an issue with John, but I don’t want to see him become president because I think Obama is entirely adequate, and it’s time for a Democrat.’’ Spencer acknowledged donating money to the Obama campaign and to what she called “Democratic causes.” Sen. John McCain was born in 1936 at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station, a segregated military installation in the Panama Canal, where his father was stationed in the U.S. Navy. His family returned to the states shortly after his birth; where he went on to attend segregated schools in the Teoc community and elsewhere around the country. He served in the Navy, where he was a prisoner of war during Vietnam, before being released and eventually running for Congress. After he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, McCain voted against the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday in 1983. When he arrived in the U.S. Senate in 1986, he joined North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms in opposing the holiday again, and voted in 1994 to cut funding to the commission that marketed it. John McCain also aligned himself with former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham. Mecham was the governor in McCain’s home state of Arizona from January 1987 to April 1988, when he was impeached and removed from office for campaign finance violations. As a state senator and governor, Mecham publicly used racial slurs against black people and other minorities. He was also a member of the John Birch Society, which opposes civil rights legislation. In 1986, Mecham campaigned for governor on a promise to rescind the state’s recognition of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which he did in 1987. Earlier this year, during the 40th anniversary recognition of King’s assassination, McCain, by this time a presidential candidate, said he was wrong for opposing the national King  holiday. Politics in America has long been steeped in the dynamics of the country’s myriad cultures, diverse ethnicities, and varying religious beliefs. Several of Sen. McCain’s black relatives say Obama’s candidacy represents progress. “He is denying his black and white relatives in Teoc,” said Joyce McCain, 54. “I think he may not want the country to know his family’s full history, but times have changed and we need to move on, and that’s why I’m supporting Obama.” EJones@sfltimes.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Photo: Lillie McCain, left, and her husband, Jack Vickers, right, pose with Joe McCain, center, during this year’s family reunion.

And then in comes "Joe the Plumber".     Is there really more to this fellow as reported in the CBS report following????

Joe Wurzelbacher, the plumber so often referred to by Sen. John McCain in the third and final debate had better learn to shut his mouth. The more he speaks publicly, the more he looks like the GOP plant liberal blogs are starting to claim that he is. Watch him calling Social Security a "joke" on YouTube:

I'm no fan of tax hikes, but even I recognize Social Security is no "joke." It has single-handedly lifted millions of elderly and disabled Americans out of poverty and turned America's elderly from the most impoverished age demographic to one with an income more in line with that of working families.

Joe the Plumber so loves media attention, he's drawing pro-Obama bloggers to question his authenticity as an undecided voter:

Joe has been on so many right wing talk shows it appears pretty obvious that this is a coordinated attempt to pull a last second 'tax and spend' haymaker. Family Security Matters, a wingnut security policy thinktank, has the first interview with Joe after this Obama encounter. Hmmm. What's the chance that a group like this gets the first interview with this alleged 'undecided voter'?

Other blogs say Wurzelbacher may be related to Charles Keating of the Keating Five and that his father is a major Republican donor:

Joe the Plumber, the star of tonight's debate, may have a very interesting connection to John McCain. In fact, Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher) of Cincinnati, Ohio may be related to one Robert Wurzelbacher of Cincinnati, Ohio, who happens to be Charles Keating's son-in-law. Robert Wurzelbacher was implicated in the Keating 5 scandal, and sentenced to 40 months in prison in 1993. Wurzelbacher is also a huge Republican donor.

Keep watching this story because if it proves true that "Joe the Plumber" is the wealthy, Republican regular the liberal blogs are claiming he is, the McCain campaign could go down as the most corrupt and inept in history.

Enjoy!

A Woman's Worth                                                         

 We've come a long way baby                                               

 Tuesday, September 09, 2008                                             

 By Goldie Taylor  

 I have been a mother all of my adult life.  A single working mother. I  

 put off dating, took menial jobs far beneath my qualifications and baked

 my share of ginger bread cookies for PTA Night, all so that three       

 incredible children could have better. I chose their lives over mine.  I

 don't have to tell you that it wasn't easy. Unfortunately, my story, our

 story, is not unique.

 We slept in cars, bought groceries with food stamps and prayed for a    

 better day.  When that wasn't enough, I put myself through school at    

 Emory University and took a part-time job as a staff writer at the      

 Atlanta Journal Constitution.  That was over a decade ago.              

 Along the way, things got better. I've been an executive at two Fortune 

 500 companies and a practice director at two multinational public       

 relations firms. Today, I own an advertising agency and I've authored   

 two novels.  A third and fourth are on the way, God willing. All of this

 was possible because somebody laid a brick or two on the road for me.

 A few weeks ago, I woke in tears.  It was my 40th birthday and certainly

 not a time for sadness.  Rather, I cried in joy because for the first   

 time I realized and could embrace the value of the struggle.  The bright

 little girl, who once cried in my arms because we didn't know where we  

 were going to live, was headed off to Brown University   The small boy  

 who had been the "man of the house" far too soon was now truly a man.   

 And the tiny, angelic baby who had come to this world precious and      

 innocent just 15 months after him was now a 16 year old girl headed out 

 to her first job interview.  

 For all of this, maybe I should be proud of a woman like Sarah Palin.   

 Maybe, just maybe, I should be rejoicing in John McCain's selected      

 running mate.  But I am not. I'm not a "bed wetting liberal" nor am I a "right-wing zealot." What I am is a working mother.  And I cry foul.

                                  

 I won't, for a moment, denigrate her experience or lob spit balls at her

 family.  I will, though, take issue with what she knows.  Or more       

 succinctly, what she does not know.  Living in Alaska, I'm not sure how

 much she knows about the people living in inner city Baltimore.  I     

 don't know how much she cares about the 125 murders this summer in      

 Chicago.  I have no idea what she believes about HIV/ AIDS and the     

 havoc it wrecks on Black women or the cancer rates in East St. Louis.  

 She hasn't said nary a word about Hurricane Katrina or the infant       

 mortality rates in Appalachia.

 I do know that she's a life-time member of the NRA, a proponent of      

 individuals who wielded the very weapons that killed my father and      

 brother. I do know that she “lives really close to Russia,” but I'm not

 so certain she is ready for Putin. I know she wanted to ban books for   

 public libraries and sex education in schools, but that her 17 year old 

 is pregnant and preparing for a shotgun wedding.  I know that she loves 

 her husband enough to allow him (and probably did herself) use her      

 office to settle a personal score--one that the McCain campaign would   

 now like to cover in under a blanket of Juneau snow.  I know that the   

 Alaska Independent Party, and its secessionist platform, was enticing   

 enough for her to attend its conference (and for her husband to become a

 card carrying member).  Does she love her country? I'm sure.  Enough to 

 support those who want to leave it.  

 But I have no earthly idea what she knows (or could possibly know) about

 national domestic policy or foreign diplomacy.  For all of her working  

 class values, she never once mentioned the Middle Class in her diatribe 

 that mocked her opponent's experience. Having been the mayor of Wasilla 

 (pop. 6,000 at the time) and governor of Alaska (a state a smaller than 

 the county I live in) for a little over a year, she felt she was        

 qualified to do that. And obviously, so did John McCain.                

 If she's qualified, then so am I.   

 But in this country I love, she has been afforded the ability to run.   

 The very constitution she says doesn't apply to the men at Guantanamo   

 says she can.  But this is about more than that.   As Gloria Steinem said in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial,  "Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a  new pie."  

 The good news is thanks to Shirley Chisholm, Elizabeth Cady Stanton,    

 Angela Davis, Condoleeza Rice, Anita Hill, Madeline Albright, Maxine    

 Waters, Kathleen Sebelius, Hilary Rodham Clinton and a slew of others,  

 there are 18 million proverbial cracks in the ceiling. Our collective   

 political and economic power is due to the strides (and leaps) they, and

 others, took on my behalf. 

 I am grateful.  I am deeply humbled to stand on the bricks they'd laid  

 before me.  But, whatever our struggle was (and is) that last thing I want is to be patronized.  Just as I cannot support just any African American who     

 decides to offer themselves up for public service, I will not toss my   

 vote to someone just because we share the same chromosome mix. To do so 

 would dishonor the vow I made to my children, to myself. I did not vote 

 for Al Sharpton, wasn't old enough (nor would I have) voted for Jesse   

 Jackson and I certainly will not support Sarah Palin.  Identity         

 politics, especially in this case, are a sham of the worst order. 

 When I cast my vote, it will be for people who will lay more bricks for 

 people like me.  It will be for people who will put diplomacy before    

 war, challenge us all to provide healthcare for the sick, help another  

 child go to college, and check the special interests in Washington  

 This fall, I'm not looking for a woman. I'm looking for a brick layer.      

 I could care less if that person hasn't spent "enough" time in           

 Washington or can "properly field dress a moose". I could care less if  

 that person likes hockey, soccer, football or table tennis.  I could    

 care less if they graduated from Harvard or the University of Iowa.    

 I'm a Christian, but I could care less if they are down with            

 Deuteronomy, Leviticus or Numbers. I want them to uphold the            

 Constitution.   

 So no, I will not sit idly by as they attempt to suspend habeas corpus  

 at Guantanamo Bay, engage wiretaps on American citizens without a       

 warrant, and hide behind executive privilege when they are caught firing

 attorney generals based on how well they tow the Republican line.  I    

 won't let them cost us $12 billion a month fighting a war that should   

 have never been authorized and never been waged.  Not while working     

 people lose their homes to predatory lenders and watch as we bail out   

 the financial institutions that created the housing crisis.   

 I will not, in the name of history, vote for a woman like Sarah Palin   

 who does not share my values.  But here’s what I will do.                   

 I will continue raising money for Barack Obama. I will get on the phone 

 again and call people in distant states I've never met. I will e-mail,  

 call, and knock on doors until the final vote is cast. I do this, not   

 because he shares my skin, but because I admire his principals and he   

 shares my values. I do this because Barack Obama is more than a         

 community organizer, he is a bricklayer. And he sees -- just as he sees 

 the light in Michelle's eyes -- my struggle, my worth as a woman. 

A bit from KnowledgeNews. 

"We asked Aristotle, how should those politicians on the podium try to persuade? He told us that, aside from "tortures, depositions, and the like," there are only three ways: logos, pathos, and ethos. In English, you might say logic, emotion, and character. Put it all together, and you get a reasonable argument, passionately made, by a person you trust.

1. Logos

Logic is an obvious one. After all, who isn't a sucker for irrefutable facts, verifiable numbers, and the inexorable march of reason across the course of a well-constructed speech? In fact, for many thinkers, including Aristotle's mentor, Plato, logos is the only legitimate way to win friends and influence people. The rest is sophistry.

Logos was even more persuasive to ancient Greek philosophers, because they had a pretty expansive notion of what logos was. It could be the simple reason in the words of a speech, or it could mean the supreme reason of the universe, which all rational appeals naturally plugged into.

2. Pathos

Still, unlike old Plato, Aristotle was willing to look beyond strictly rational appeals. He recognized that people "do not give judgment in the same way when aggrieved as when pleased"--especially, he snobbily wrote, "audiences of limited intellectual scope and limited capacity to follow an extended chain of reasoning."

Enter pathos. Let's face it, said Aristotle. If you really want to persuade people, sometimes you have to resort to emotional appeals. It's why campaigns try to wrap themselves in the flag and make you fear the other guy. It's why a winning smile and puppy-dog eyes work magic in getting your way. It's why lawyers have the saying "If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If the law is on your side, pound the law. If neither is, pound the table."

Of course, emotional appeals can take more subtle forms, too. Aristotle pointed out that eloquence itself is a kind of emotional persuasion. "Style makes the matter more persuasive," he wrote, "for the mind is tricked as though the speaker were telling the truth."

3. Ethos

For a reason-loving philosopher like Aristotle, admitting the power of pathos had to be hard enough. But he goes even further with ethos. "Character," he wrote, "contains almost the strongest proof of all."

Quite simply, it matters who's trying to persuade you. If the person trying to sway you shows "common sense, virtue, and goodwill" (for Aristotle, an ethical trifecta), then really, aren't you more likely to believe what that person says? Aristotle thought so, and so thought that persuasive attempts must work to "establish the speaker himself as being of a certain type"--namely, the type of person you'll believe.

Sometimes ethos is the only thing that matters. If, based on arcane medical tests, one doctor says you need immediate surgery, and another says you don't, how are you going to decide--except by judging who seems more credible? Similarly, lawyers put dueling experts on the stand, and politicians put dueling wonks on TV. Their reasons are obscure and technical, and only ethos makes the sale. That's why the old vaudeville philosophers used to say, "If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made."

Written by M. Himick

JT: Yes I still have my balls and while I don't mind playing I prefer to use minimum effort to achieve maximum results.....follow my crap....stay well 

Did Cheney matter? To me no. Did Edwards matter? No. Does anybody teach 4th graders the list of VP's from G.W through G.W.B? Do I need to explain the "woman with balls" concept? Did you put away yours and decided to not play anymore? if you and the other liberals want to talk experience for the job, I have a list of the people with their amount of Qualified Experience:

#1 - John McCain
#2 - Joe Biden
#3 - Sarah Palin
#4 - Barack Obama

 I've seen countless Obama supporters regurgitating the same talking points from HQ......and the "huffington" post. One about experience goes something like this..... "Sarah Palin has no foreign policy experience and so thus is not qualified to be VP, because she'd be only a heartbeat away from being President." Assuming this is true, though I don't, but assuming it's true then why aren't these same people demanding that Barack Obama immediately withdraw and let Hillary Rotten Clinton aka Her Thighness run in his place?

On what she has done other than turn a few heads.....

She has a better record protecting Alaskan fishing and oil rights against the Russians than the State department
She's the only one of the Final Four that's held EXECUTIVE OFFICE of any kind. Senators can almost always duck down and do the "present" vote, rather than taking a stand. Executives can't do that. 
As Governor of Alaska she 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.  
Polls have shown that there is a 20%to 25% of the Hillary supporters base that had already decided to vote for Mc Cain instead of the Democrat ticket before the choice of Sarah Palin. This was due to their disenchantment with the DNC's bad treatment of Hillary, and their lack of support for Obama. The Mc Cain campaign is not stupid enough, as you suggest, to think that it's going to get a lot more female Hillary supporters by selecting Palin, as if women who supported Hillary are only going to vote on the basis of gender.
Two years as Governor of a state is far more 'experience' than 143 days in the senate with a 'present' vote. She was mayor of wasilla for eight years, Turned it into the 4th largest city in Alaska. I don't even think George Washington had an approval rating of 95% at any time! She obviously has done something right. Margaret Thatcher had to answer these same questions also. it doesn't matter anymore, 4 more years of the Republicans, then she runs in 2012 against Hillary. guess who wins then? You are smart enough to figure that one out......

JT, I would love to respond in detail to your email but how can one take you seriously when you make such simplistic statements like "Biden and Palin does not matter".   Did Cheney not matter?   Let me caution you that while Palin is a beautiful woman she is not going to get McCain Hillary's 18,000 votes.  Hillary's supporters are much too brilliant to buy into that superficial nonsense. 

Nonetheless, you are correct there are those of us who make things happen and those of us who talk about making things happen.  The more important question is which category do you fall into?  While you are at it please also tell me something worthy about Palin that you think I should take under consideration.  Only a few days into acceptance of the position and the crap is starting to unfold but nonetheless who cares she is a beautiful woman with balls (what does that mean) and now we play dolly house.   

Shakespeare was sure as hell not referring to Obamsy.
Yes we do recognise the state of Alaska, what is the joke? Just like we still recognise hawaii, the problem is we need to see a valid birth certificate to prove we were born in Alaska, hawaii and the Us zone of the panama canal. mcCain Just like kenneth clark who was born there had legal US citizenship. yes we do recognise Alaska. And some smartass comments from one of the prominent feminists of this site just reeks of hipocrasy to me. No matter who he chose, the end result would have been the same. The fact is he stole Obamsy's thunder, he have y'all liberals reeling in shock. So bring on the negative campaigning to show us all you are for 'change'. yeah change, picking an old man who has more years in the senate than Obamsy has out of diapers! 'Change' in the way the liberals attack a woman just because she is a woman who is beautiful, but holds her own among any liberal wussy men you guys put up to run for president.. I guess paris Hilton is not a woman who is beautiful, or madonna with her washed up political bullsiht is the sharpest tool in your liberal shed. Don't forget, we are not voting for Palin nor Biden. So the 'experience garbage don't look good coming from you activists of 'change'. This woman has more balls than all the last four democrats who ran for president. not even including jimmy carter.

There  are 3 types of people....those who make things happen....those who watch things happen....and those who ask "what da **** happened!" pick your category, liberals !!!

Yes I have posted the following but don't believe it.  Who is she? Other than a beauty queen or runner up or something along those lines.   She lives in Alaska.  Do we still recognize that state????   Alright just kidding.  Oh boy this voter who votes for candidates and issues rather than on the basis of a political ideology or partisanship does have a lot to ramble about on Sunday.

Somebody please tell me the following is a joke, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee.  Believe me when I say I like both Senators and have a lot of respect for McCain but in the last few months he surely tarnished his image with me and now to pick this woman after accusing Obama of being inexperienced is sad to say the least.   What a nightmare for the republican camp.

"DENVER - John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, two senior campaign officials told The Associated Press on Friday. A formal announcement was expected within a few hours at a campaign rally in swing-state Ohio. "

In parting, I must say I am enjoying the goings on, on all the political threads. 

A wonderful day to all and for those of you wonderful people in New York, have a wonderful safe Labor Day weekend.

SOME ARE BORN GREAT,SOME ACHIEVE GREATNESS AND SOME HAVE GREATNESS THRUST UPON THEM..........William Shakespeare

Obama was born great...........a very special human being on his way to doing great things

I really cant accept this "nomination" because there is a better man running now and this "GT Banna" is for Obama !

"Obama Ya'll" !

http://www.inews3.com/play.php?first=Mark&last=Bannister

Chicago Annenberg Challenge Shutdown?
A cover-up in the making?

By Stanley Kurtz

The problem of Barack Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers will not go away. Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn were terrorists for the notorious Weather Underground during the turbulent 1960s, turning fugitive when a bomb — designed to kill army officers in New Jersey — accidentally exploded in a New York townhouse. Prior to that, Ayers and his cohorts succeeded in bombing the Pentagon. Ayers and Dohrn remain unrepentant for their terrorist past. Ayers was pictured in a 2001 article for Chicago magazine, stomping on an American flag, and told the New York Times just before 9/11 that the notion of the United States as a just and fair and decent place “makes me want to puke.” Although Obama actually launched his political career at an event at Ayers’s and Dohrn’s home, Obama has dismissed Ayers as just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood,” and “not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.” For his part, Ayers refuses to discuss his relationship with Obama. Although the press has been notably lax about pursuing the matter, the full story of the Obama-Ayers relationship calls the truth of Obama’s account seriously into question. When Obama made his first run for political office, articles in both the Chicago Defender and the Hyde Park Herald featured among his qualifications his position as chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation where Ayers was a founder and guiding force. Obama assumed the Annenberg board chairmanship only months before his first run for office, and almost certainly received the job at the behest of Bill Ayers. During Obama’s time as Annenberg board chairman, Ayers’s own education projects received substantial funding. Indeed, during its first year, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge struggled with significant concerns about possible conflicts of interest. With a writ to aid Chicago’s public schools, the Annenberg challenge played a deeply political role in Chicago’s education wars, and as Annenberg board chairman, Obama clearly aligned himself with Ayers’s radical views on education issues. With Obama heading up the board and Ayers heading up the other key operating body of the Annenberg Challenge, the two would necessarily have had a close working relationship for years (therefore “exchanging ideas on a regular basis”). So when Ayers and Dorhn hosted that kickoff for the first Obama campaign, it was not a random happenstance, but merely further evidence of a close and ongoing political partnership. Of course, all of this clearly contradicts Obama’s dismissal of the significance of his relationship with Ayers.

The whole story is available here, that's if you feel so inclined to educate yourselves on this 'man' you would blindly vote for. _nationalreview.com/%3fq=MTgwZTVmN2QyNzk2MmUxMzA5OTg0ODZlM2Y2OGI0NDM=

Show me where Stalin is buried and I'll show you a Communist Plot

You can pretend to be serious; you can't pretend to be witty.
 -- Sacha Guitry

He's funny. Wow, is he funny, yet his humor is serious. That's talent, my friend, to actually be funny, with a compelling purpose. Meet Oleg Atbashian, a former agitprop artist from the Soviet Union. The posters, the banners, the slogans. He's one of the many people who created the Soviet Union's symbols and political sloganeering, all that Workers Paradise stuff we hated, the kind of cliched posters Barack Obama's campaign is producing. It's true the left relies on symbolism over substance. They have to. It's all they have. Symbols, speeches, posters, politically correct language and harangues.

" .. When he arrived in the U.S., Atbashian was puzzled by the "level of delusional affection for all things Left among the liberal intellectual elites who take America's exclusive well-being for granted. At the time Oleg dismissed this "delusional affection" as silly and of little consequence."

I spoke with Atbashian by telephone, and his work for the Party ought to send a chill up your spine. He said he immediately recognized Obama's work with ACORN, where Barack was a 'community organizer'. From the description of Obama's ACORN job Oleg snorted and said, "For all intents and purposes that's the same job as a Party Organizer."