The Military/Industrial Complex; The Real Power in DC

Please read the article found here. The Voice has been writing for quite a long time that there is likely to be little change in the influence of the military/industrial complex no matter who wins the White House this time around. The same is likely true of Congress.

These people are enormously powerful, and use their vast wealth to secure support of most all politicians.

As always, if you don't understand something, follow the money. There's money in war.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Rovian Tactics Ride Again

Here's a classic example of the kind of tactics employed by the McCain campaign. It comes right out of the Rove play book, which Steve Schmidt, Rove's protege and McCain's campaign chairman, now coaches from.

In this Washington Monthly piece Obama is labeled a hypocrite. Anyone who ever tried to cross a Rove backed politician has always been hit with the very same accusations of which the politician-accuser is clearly guilty.

The hands down champ of hypocrisy in this campaign is McCain himself, as evidenced again by his phony claims and posturing; the most recent being the holier than thou "suspension" of his campaign last week, and his grand standing in DC. As Eugene Washington of WaPo wrote, he dramatically parachuted into Washington to "save the unimperiled".

It was a cynical attempt to take credit for fixing the Wall Street mess which he helped create through his long standing opposition to regulating the financial industry, leaving the Wall Street con men to play the game without referees or umpires, at the expense of Americans and others who must count on having honest fiduciaries handling their savings and investments.

In the absence of authorities as watchdogs stores are looted in devastating storms, and investors are fleeced in an unregulated market.

Hypocrisy, thy name is McCain.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Stuck in the Rut of Experience

Here is a piece by Ruth Marcus, generally considered to be a Conservative leaning columnist, expressing the spreading exasperation associated with McCain/Palin.

She highlights McCain's falling back on his experience as justification for being President, and his hammering Obama for his lack of experience. Then he choses Palin as his running mate. Hello?

The Voice has frequently had to deal with people who have claimed that their best credential is, say, forty years experience. An effective rebuttal often is, 'Yes, but for you, it's ten years experience repeated three times'.

That's McCain

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Words Matter

David Brooks of the NYTimes, in writing today about the House leadership, poses the question, "but did it occur to any of them that it might be hard to pass a bill fairly described as a bailout to Wall Street?".

Ya think?


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Palin Is Not A Laughing Matter

Here's a link to an article about Palin's religious beliefs and stance. Many of us have enjoyed the ridicule she's been subjected to, but she is not a laughing matter. She's as serious as a heart attack.

Here's hoping the VP debate this Thursday night exposes her for what she really is, more than a hockey mom, much more.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Who Knows What to Think?

Here's a link to a piece by Michael Moore on the bailout thing. Moore is a controversial figure, to say the least. The bailout is a controversial issue, to say the least. I don't know what to believe, but my gut says I'm glad it didn't pass today.

Straighten me out if you can.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

James Carroll

As usual Carroll gets it right by articulating the issues better than anyone else I'm aware of.

Read him here.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Sarah Palin; Trojan Horse?

Here's an amusing article. I especially enjoyed it because it includes a phony and bogus personality profile, purportedly based on Jungian personality theory, as measured by the Myers, Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI), a psychological inventory which I am trained, approved and qualified to administer and interpret. I have used it in my consulting practice for almost twenty years.

Though it's a tongue in cheek assessment of Palin it appears to attempt a plausible interpretation of her ESFJ type, one of sixteen types into which the MBTI sorts an inventory of personality preferences, as measured by responses to about one hundred questions.

The piece has at least two fallacies, which I strongly suspect are known to the writer. One, he labels Palin an ESFJ, an Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging type, by observing her behavior, not actual responses to the MBTI. But it's a tongue in cheek evaluation, not meant to be a serious, scientific interpretation. Second, the behavior of Palin as an ESFJ type as described by the writer is quite negative, unattractive and problematic, not the behavior of an ESFJ at his or her best.

Clearly the writer, a Salon.com advice columnist, is making a biased judgment. An authentic personality profile of an ESFJ as measured by responses to the MBTI emphasizes positive behaviors associated with that type.

For example, I have a good friend, the pastor of the church I attend, who is an ESFJ, as actually measured by her responses to the MBTI and her agreement that it is an accurate assessment of her preferences. When she is at her best, she is outgoing, down to earth and practical, warm and positive in her relationships and uses her judgment and organizational skills for the benefit of those on her staff, in her congregation and in the community at large.

Had the writer actually meant his interpretation to be taken seriously he would likely be castigated by people knowledgable about the MBTI, and ridiculed as a Charlatan.

But he's having fun ridiculing Palin. Nobody deserves it more.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Rocks of Ages

What does a large boulder, observed to be peculiarly and awkwardly out of place, have in common with John McCain?

They're both Glacial Erratics.

They've both been around a long time, really old, find themselves where they are today as a result of their susceptibility to unplanned course corrections and have no problem with flattening whatever they roll over.

Consider this an open thread, and feel free to use the comment link below to add to the analogy should you stumble upon another example of erratic behavior shared by both rocks of ages.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

McCain/Palin: The Costume Party Ticket

Here is a link to an article about Palin and Mining in Alaska. I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment on the merits of the case for mining or not mining, though I'm inclined to side with protecting the environment which the proposed legislation was designed to do.

What I found interesting is that Palin, like McCain, "suspended" her role as Governor in order to express her personal opinion that the initiative should be defeated in favor of the mining people.
She said something about taking her Governor's hat off in order to express her "personal" opinion.

A critic observed that the position of Governor is not a costume which you can wear or not wear as it suits you. You're either the Governor or you're not.

Last week McCain decided he was not a candidate for President, by "suspending" his campaign in order to parachute into DC to save the day for the "unimperiled" as Gene Washington of WaPo pithily observed. In other words he, like Palin, took off his Candidate hat in order to say, do, be whatever he thought he needed to embrace for political purposes.

I like the costume reference, and with these two, clearly theirs is a clown suit.

The New York Times: A Grand Slam

Here is a link to the front page of the New York Times' web site.

Rarely does a single publication which offers opinions hit a grand slam by publishing five, yes five, excellent opinion pieces. Today's Times loaded the bases and then hit one out of the park. (Yes I know, the baseball metaphor doesn't account for scoring five runs with one swing.)

The Voice urges you to read them all: Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman, Nicholas Kristof and the paper's own Editorial. Look in the upper right corner of the screen for the listings, or scroll down on the left side to "Opinion".

And as always, leave a comment at the bottom of the Voice's blog post if you're moved to respond. Simply click on Comments, and follow the instructions.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Fey as Palin on SNL, Take Two

In case you missed it here's a link.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

"Like Casanova Coming Out For Chastity"

Don't you just love Garrison Keillor? Read his latest here. It's also in today's, Sunday's, Cape Cod Times, which is a reprint of his Wednesday column on Salon where this link takes you.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Not a Delicate Flower

Here is a piece about how Palin should be treated. My sentiments exactly.

I think Joe Biden should address this right off, at the beginning of the VP debate, if the GOPhers ever permit it to happen.

He should ask for agreement to the fact that both Palin and he are big girls and boys who have tossed their hats into the ring of a major prize contest, and there should be no holds barred, no punches pulled, no hitting below the belt. He needs to do this very carefully so as not to be seen as a misogynist, patriarchal bully, but at the same time reiterate what the authors of this attached piece are insisting. She is no delicate flower.

Palin's history has it that she is very capable of heavy handedness in the political ring, willing to deck anyone who opposes her. She can't have it both ways.

Shake hands and come out fighting.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Palin According to Taibbi

I've hesitated to provide a link to a piece by Matt Taibbi because of some pretty crude language in it. But that is part of the writer's style. He's known for it, as a writer for Rolling Stone.

However his message is important, and I agree with what he has written. It is about frustration with the level of thinking, if one could call it that, of a substantial portion of the American voting public.

Here is a link to this particular piece. In it Taibbi is a voice crying out about the phenomenon that is Sarah Palin.

However I believe it's important to view Palin as merely the current catalyst for energizing a frighteningly large, gullible and manipulable segment of the American electorate.

This is the crowd which Karl Rove knows how to hook. He mastered his skills in the direct mail business, marketing products through the use of exaggerated claims and misinformation, if not out right lies. These are the same people who often continue to harbor prejudices, only slightly buried. Palin has tapped into these prejudices, some racial and ethnic, some religious, some cultural as in small town, just plain folks vs metropolitan so-called elite, "real people" versus "phonies" so to speak.

Rove and his proteges know how to convince people actually to vote against their own interests.

That is the real danger he and his right wing nuts pose.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Win/Lose, Another Hobgoblin of Little Minds

Here's a piece on the debate last night. It's actually a report on what a number of political analyst junkies thought of the various comments by each candidate on a number of issues. It has value as an analysis, though the analysts' comments, for the most part, reflect their personal agendas and biases.

It's the title of the piece that chafes me. It's about who won or lost. Using a war time analogy, one can win a battle and lose the war, lose a battle and win the war, etc..

I'll reserve judgement on winning or losing for the morning of November 5th, and who really wins or loses will be the American people.

Until then, it's only about what they, the candidates, say and whether you like or don't like it. They've already qualified for the post season which is a winner take all final contest on November 4th. The debates are just workouts, training, running through plays and scimmages, to which the public is invited, kind of like pre-season contests, to stretch the sports metaphor even more.

Of course little minds need to think win/lose, often at the expense of focusing on the content of what's said in the debates. The media knows that; thus the emphasis on who won and who lost.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Uncommitted Voters

Here's a piece reporting on polls of uncommitted voters after last night's debate.

I wonder about uncommitted voters at this time in the campaign.

I've known people who can't make up their minds. Some just don't like to. Some, like those in such polls, are prone to blowing in the wind, going in whatever direction the latest wind takes them. Some actually lack good judgment.

One wonders how they will choose in the voting booth, assuming they actually decide to vote. Maybe they are the reason we see hoards of people outside the voting places with signs and placards. Maybe they flip a coin, assuming they have any coins to rub together.

Some have worked for me, and their career prospects tanked.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Faint Praise

Here is a link to a report on what Bill Clinton has been saying publicly about Obama. It does seem like damning with faint praise.

We keep reading that BC is going to hit the campaign trail for Obama. So far it's more talk than action. He seems to be inventing reasons why he has had to delay it. Today it's religious holidays. Next it could be Columbus Day, followed by Halloween.

It's hard not to believe that if Obama loses the election the Clintons will actually be relieved. She might have to wait eight years to run again. If there's anyone who wants to be president more than McCain it's got to be Hillary.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Transparent Hypocrite

Here is the Politico piece, found on the Drudge Report, of McCain saying he will attend the debate tonight. He realized he has to since Obama was going to have the stage to himself, free to skewer McCain for his grand standing, drama dripping appeal to the gullible that he was actually suspending his campaign to work on the country's financial problem. Country before self? Baloney. He merely changed the venue of his campaign to DC, where he wanted to divert attention from Obama to himself and his image of the week.

There seems to be no end to what McCain will say, do or be to divert attention from his failing campaign for the White House.

The transparency of his hypocrisy is self evident.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Reality Check

Steve Benen at Washington Monthly has shared Kathleen Parker's reality check on Palin. Parker, as Benen reminds us "is not exactly a moderate".

This piece speaks for itself.



Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Will the Real John McCain Please Stand Up

The media today is chock full of commentary on John McCain and his riding to the rescue of the "unimperiled", as Eugene Robinson so pithily wrote.

Here is yet another excellent appraisal of McCain's attempt to change the venue of his campaign, knowing he can't change the subject, the issues about which he is being raked over the coals by Obama.

Suspending his campaign? "Baloney", to use David Brooks' word in the NYTimes today to label the Democrats' claim that today's McCain is the real McCain.

McCain falling back in the polls late in the campaign, and, as Charles Krauthammer so cynically recommended the public do about the Wall Street crisis in today's WaPo, he has to "do what it takes".

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Sack Him!

As is so often the case, EJ Dionne has called it right.

Read his analysis of McCain's jumping into the game in the fourth quarter with a clean uniform, pretending to be the quarterback who saves the day. I hope it doesn't take too long before the guys who have rolled in the mud, sack him, take him down and dirty him up. He deserves nothing less.

This, contrary to David Brooks' partisan blathering, is the real John McCain; the grandstander, the shoot first, ask questions later cowboy, the embracer of those he once accurately called "agents of intolerance", the narcissist who has come to realize that he's losing the battle of his life, his fight for the White House. He'll say anything, do anything, be anything he deems necessary in an attempt to avoid defeat. He defines everything in life as victory or defeat, a black and white mentality. He, like Bush, doesn't do nuance.

That kind of man should never be allowed within a mile of the office of the President of the United States, and the nuclear codes which go with that office. He must be stopped.

Sack him!

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Here is a link to a column by Tony Blankley of the Washington Times. It's followed by predictable right wingnut comments.

Also predictable is the need for the far right to associate liberal thinking with Nazi Germany propaganda even though the comparison is ludicrous on its surface.

I am posting this on my blog for its educational value to those of us who might not often read right wing publications like the Washington Times. Like many things one reads these days this one would be hilarious if it weren't about something so seriously important.

Perhaps the most egregious examples in this piece of making stuff up is the claim that Obama needs to stammer and stutter before "getting out a sentence fragment or two". One wonders if Blankley bothered to watch Obama's acceptance speech as just one example of his extraordinary ability to articulate his message.

Apparently the irony inherent in his rant escapes Blankley's attention that, while he is condemning the media for not telling the truth, he who occupies a high level position for a major publication is guilty of the very same sin.

Classic: The Pot Calls the Kettle Black.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Palin On Her Foreign Policy Credentials

Here is a link to Palin telling Couric about her creds in foreign policy.

You can't make this stuff up. No wonder McCain wants to preempt the VP debate by trying to reschedule tomorrow's debate with Obama.

Soon we'll be told that Palin is camping out at an undisclosed location. Sounds kind of like a witness protection program.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

McCain: Strategist or Tactician?

It's becoming more and more obvious, that McCain's experience, if not nature, leads him to seek immediate solutions to a problem, often at the sacrifice of big picture, long range planning and implementation. He often relies on that preference to take credit for things he didn't really fight for, at the expense of the grunts who did.

Here, by example, is a case in point.

Soldiers in actual combat often survive by quickly adapting to new threats via short term changes in tactics. McCain honed these skills as a combat soldier. He might say, "I'm up to my ass in alligators. I ain't got time to drain the swamp". His own language gives him away. He is fond of claiming to be a "foot soldier in the Reagan revolution". No matter what you thought of Reagan, he was a leader, not a foot soldier.

This week, once again, he has demonstrated his natural and skilled preference for a short term tactical solution to the problem of survival in his battle for the White House by making the quick and tactical move of trying to cancel the long planned debate this Friday in favor of showing up in DC to grand stand in the Senate over the so-called bail out proposal.

Obama has successfully countered this obvious ploy by McCain to get photo ops and dramatic press by ridiculing him, observing that the President of the United States must deal with many issues simultaneously, not go off half cocked with a whim of the week. Obama insists that the debate be held as scheduled, sticking to the agreed upon game plan.

McCain got his good soldier basic training at boot camp. Obama got his leadership education as a Community Organizer in the Chicago theatre. That is no small difference.

McCain gets off on the unexpected, urgent and dramatic. Witness his out of the blue choice of Palin, and now his sudden and dramatic insistence that the bail out proposal trumps his commitment to debate Obama this Friday. His transparent agenda includes rescheduling the debate to the day of the planned VP debate, realizing that Palin, like Cheney, must be kept at an undisclosed location. Too clever by half. Like Bush and Cheney, McCain treats us citizens as if we are all idiots.

In stark contrast to the tactician, the strategist focuses on the big picture, understands how all the tactical pieces interact and develops an overall game plan which allows for adjustments if and when they are called for. A clear example of Obama's strategic approach and talent is seen when one observes the complex and well managed campaign he has developed and implemented.

The strategist might say to the tactician, "You can't see the forest for the trees".

The President of the United States must be a strategist, who surrounds himself with those of other talents, including tacticians.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Ghost Writing for McCain

If there's any truth to this I am genuinely alarmed. If you're not worried you don't know what's going on.

Was it Red Skelton who used to say on the radio years ago, "What a revoltin' development this is."?

Rove, direct mail advertising, McCain lies; all of a piece.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Who Left the Building?

In this piece Eugene Robinson of WaPo writes today that in the eigth year of the Bush administration "adult supervision left the building long ago".

The topic is the financial meltdown.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Makes Sense to Me

Here is a link to a most sensible piece by Mark Shields. We know him from his pithy comments in his appearances on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Personally, I think he gets it right. We're all some combination of conservative and liberal. Shields tells us how that is.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Speaking Up

Minstrel Boy asked, "Who will speak up for a corporal and his dad?"

Here is a link to the story he's talking about.

Minstrel Boy lost his son in Iraq, who is buried at Arlington. He knows whereof he speaks.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Wonders Never Cease

Whoa. That's a link to a George Will column in today's WaPo. I never thought I would read such by George.

Wonders Never Cease. I kept expecting him to criticize McCain, but in the end find a way to bolster him up.

But the last paragraph is impressive.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Arm, Arm, Arm the World

Here is an article which articulates with specifics the robust health of defense contractors, and the likelihood that they can look forward to staying healthy.

The author points to the fact that neither McCain nor Obama have talked about cutting back on arms sales.

I've said for some time now that I don't believe we will see much of that so called Change when it comes to the military/industrial complex, regardless of who wins the election in November. As for the Congress, ditto.

If you don't understand, follow the money.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Goad Them

Here is a good example of goading and ridiculing McCain and his staffers.

And here is another.

Obama and all of us who support him should do all we can to ridicule McCain and his staff, by exposing them for what they are, bald faced liars.

Goading them might actually result in McCain really losing it, showing his temper, the way he has so often when someone gets under his skin. He needs to be exposed as the man he truly is, or has at least become; a crotchety old curmudgeon who flies off the handle, and who should never be allowed to come anywhere near the big red button.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Now THERE'S a Rally

Check this out. A friend sent this to me. We're wondering why we didn't hear about this in the main stream media.

Consider this an open thread. Would love to hear your comments.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Works For Me!

Here is Paul Krugman's well thought out advice to Congress regarding the financial crisis.

I like the part which addresses the need to have ownership in the institutions which receive the needed capital infusion. That's capitalism, unlike Paulson's plan which is essentially socialism for the failed capitalists.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Cherished Principles

Bill Kristol's two cents contribution to the financial mess includes a most telling phrase.

"What are cherished principles for but to be violated in emergencies?"

He speaks for all neocons, especially John McCain who has violated all his so-called cherished principles in the emergency he faces, his fear of losing his bid to be president.

Read the entire piece here if you like.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Religious Intolerance as a Cover for Racism

Here is an insightful and troubling column from Nicholas Kristof of the NYTimes.

Many have been writing about Obama's vulnerability to racial prejudice, but Kristof exposes the right wing religious zealots for spreading lies about Obama's religion as a cover for deep seated racial prejudice. He makes the observation that it's more acceptable to speak out against another's religious preferences than it is to denigrate those of a different race.

This column has generated almost 900 comments so far. Some might think we shouldn't talk about it because it might make the problem worse. I think we need to talk about it non stop going forward, because it is the proverbial elephant in the room, that which nobody wants to acknowledge.

Leanderthal, Lighhouse Keeper

A Human Disgrace

Here is another link to an article about racial prejudice and Obama's candidacy.

The results of an AP/Yahoo poll indicate that prejudice against blacks is very real, and that Obama will suffer from it.

This is far more than sad. It's a continuing tragedy. The result of this human frailty is likely to be the election of McCain as the next president, a man of Faustian morals, who has betrayed his own integrity; a proven liar, flip flopper, whose desire to be president is so unbounded that he's willing to say anything, do anything, smear anybody who gets in his way. Whose temper is demonstrably shorted fused and who leaps before he looks.

His latest ad depicts Obama and Raines, two black men accused of making millions in the financial markets, followed by the sad and troubled face of a white woman; a completely transparent racial slur.

It's completely over-the-top shameful and hateful. McCain knows that he can't win without pandering to the basest of human prejudices. He was sunk by such in 2000 at the hands of Rove, and now embraces Rovian nastiness for his own selfish benefit.

McCain is a warrior by nature, training and profession, with a take no prisoners, victory at any cost approach to war.

This guy could have his finger on the big red button. We must not let that happen.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Vicious Racism, Thinly Veiled if not Transparent

Here is a video of an ad McCain is about to release. It shows Obama and Raines, two black men, accused of manipulating financial markets, making millions, and followed by a picture of a sad looking white woman whose described as being abused by, guess who.

The Obama/Raines connection was debunked days ago, but McCain isn't interested in truth. He makes up his own.

This is McCain, the real John McCain. He is willing to do anything, say anything in his desparate desire to be President. He must be stopped.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Risk/Reward

Clearly the risk is Main Street's, the reward is Wall Street's. So what else is new?

Read all about it here. Pay particular attention to Bush's tax payer risk comment, and Obama's comment about protection for families. What else do you need to know about where things stand?

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Racism and the Election

Here is a friend's contribution to my blog post request for thoughts on racism and the election.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper


This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “f***’n’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their f****n' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot sh**” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Denial,The River

McCain talked about the border between Iraq and Pakistan, which would be Iran, as Jon Stewart reminded him, and he talked about Spain being a Latin American country.

Perhaps he thinks Denial really IS a river in Egypt.

I think the guy who called McCain's campaign The Antiques Road Show got it right.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper,

Conservative Journalists and McCain

Ruth Marcus, of the Washington Post, is by most standards a journalist of the Conservative persuasion. Here she has come to admit that McCain's dishonesty has caused her to lose faith in him as worthy of being President.

Check out Brooks, Will and Krauthammer for other recent writings of a similar nature by Conservative journalists.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Referees Needed to Keep the Game Honest

Here is a link to an excellent short piece on the financial market's need for referees to keep the games honest.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Is Race the Elephant in the Room?

Here are two links to articles in the news today which address the issue of racism as it might affect Barack's chance to be elected.

First is about remarks by Kansas Governor Sebelius .

Second is about comments by CNN's Jack Cafferty.

I have been concerned about this from the beginning of the campaign, and am tempted to agree with Cafferty' s assertion that it helps explain why the polls are so close.

Many years ago I lived and worked in Atlanta, GA during the time Lester Maddox was elected Governor of the State of Georgia. His symbol was an ax handle. He redefined racial prejudice. He won handily.

The curious thing was that it was almost impossible to find anyone who admitted to voting for him. It's not polite to admit to prejudice publicly, but in the privacy of the voting booth _______?

I would very much like to hear from the Voice's readers about this.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Shot Down Again

Here is a video which is tantamount to McCain being shot down again.

Have you noticed how the media has started using the word lie to describe a McCain attack? It seems to have started after Obama himself called two attacks lies.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practise to deceive." Sir Walter Scott. (The spelling is the author's.)

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Race and Race

This is such an important piece that words fail me in trying to describe it.

PLEASE read it!


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Going Out of Business Sale; Everything Must Go

The Voice has been saying for a long time now that the military/industrial complex is so well established that it's more powerful than any administration, regardless of which party is in power. Here is a piece about that, this time with the GOP in power.

The military spokesperson says it's all about making for a more secure world.

Bull!

It's all about the neo-cons arming all sides of disputes around the world to fan the flames of ethnic hatred, preparing the battlefields of the future.

If the Dems win in November they likely can reverse some laws and regulations put into place by the Bush people.

But what can they do, if they even want to, to halt the sale and shipment of arms agreed to under Bush?

The big bucks are made in war.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Myth of the Wisdom of the Electorate

Here is a link to an article in WaPo about the ability of the American voter to make informed choices.

In a recent post I mentioned that Karl Rove knows gullible.

Here's some evidence to support that opinion.

It's a problem.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Here is an email from my dear friend Frank Fowles, Amherst '39. This guy is so sharp and articulate, but then he's Amherst.

I haven't answered your manifesto of Sept. 6, because I haven't been able to find the words to do so. This morning I have received a copy of a brief essay that seems to me to express part of what I would like to say. I am copying that at the end of this message.
This is indeed a crisis in the history of this country, perhaps as important as the Civil War. It's really a contest between two radically different views of life that now have come into focus so clearly they can't be missed, if you really want to look. I think Chopra's essay gives one interpretation of that crisis. There are of course others. The point however is that the issues are bigger than the individuals carrying the torches. I console myself in my helplessness by understanding that. I don't mean that we shouldn't address the issues and express opinions, but after that the only recourse is in the Serenity Prayer, lest we go nuts coping with idiocy.

"Things are in the saddle and ride mankind." Emerson wrote that a long time ago. It is certainly pertinent right now.
Frank

Obama and the Palin Effect
by Deepak Chopra

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroringthe national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This isperfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the
Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoesformer Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligentparochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska hasfewer than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to thescale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, RudyGiuliani is a towering international figure.

Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal
goes deeper. She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence hisshadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride.
In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides
out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities
we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness,
and suspicion of 'the other.'

For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they
don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher
selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind.(Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact
that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his
arrival on the scene.)

I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome
by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to
understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a
rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance tochange and a higher vision.
Look at what she stands for:
* Small town values - a nostaligic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
* Ignorance of world affairs - a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.
* Family values - a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be needed.
* Rigid stands on guns and abortion - a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
* Patriotism - the usual fallback in a failed war.
* 'Reform' - an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.
Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from 'us' pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of 'I'm all right, Jack,' and 'Why change?
Everything's OK as it is.' The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who standon the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility tochange, and narrow-mindedness. Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow - we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

And in the seventh year---

Today's must read, II. Roger Cohen is a brilliant writer, and his column in today's NYT is more proof of that fact.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Gail Collins on Democrat Misery

Today's must read. The most salient point is the Electoral College impact.

I love Gail Collins.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Uppity

The word "uppity" is being thrown around quite a lot lately, as a thinly veiled racist insult to Obama.

I lived and worked in Atlanta, GA for 26 years, and the only use of the word "uppity" in that state and all of the deep south was to characterize actions and behavior of a black person not knowing his or her place, a second rate and servile citizen , according to the person who uttered that awful term, "Uppity Nigger!"

It is racism pure and simple, and it is being used in GOP attack ads on Obama. It is the lowest form of character assassination, which, still unfortunately, touches that deeply held prejudice in our country.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Much More Than a Hockey Mom, Much More

Here is a link to an article about Palin's view of wildlife. It sickens me that this woman is being heralded as worthy of any elected office, let alone V.P. of this country, and a heartbeat away from being President for God's sake.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Garrison Keillor

Please read Garrison Keillor's latest column, Plenty of "misdirection in Minnesota".

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

The Voice Also Rants

To All I've sent this to: This is a highly partisan letter to the Obama campaign urging them on to kick the GOPhers out of office. You who are still drinking the Rove Kool Aid may not want to read further. I have no hope of changing your mind. I don't care if this irritates you, since I have been angry for the past eight years, and am immune to criticism from people who are so gullible as to have believed Rove twice. Many of those who will be irritated are likely to be in my own family. I'm not talking about love here. I'm talking about kicking out of office the war criminals who have damaged our country so badly during the past eight years. Rant if you like. I couldn't care less.

TO Obama and the Campaign:

I continue to wonder what you guys are going to do to break the statistical ties in the polls. By all rights Obama should be leading 2 to 1. Is it hidden racism? Is it the experience thing? With 80% of those polled saying that the country is headed in the wrong direction, and that reaction is based on the last several years, what gives? I have made modest donations from my SS income, the only income I have in disabled retirement. I'll keep trying to do it as I can, but with the gas prices, food prices through the roof on this administration's watch I have to be careful.

I used to believe that the American voters, as a huge and diverse group ultimately got it right. Until Karl Rove.

The judgment of much of the electorate seems to be such that nastiness works, that duplicity works, good cop bad cop stuff works. McCain is trying play good cop, Palin and the other shit slingers are playing bad cop. It's shameful behavior, but it seems that half of those polled are buying it, and that much of the shit thrown against the wall sticks.

Rove knows gullible.

How are you going to use Joe Biden for the next eight weeks? He should go after his "friend" John McCain tooth and nail, head to head, toe to toe, and gear up to paint Palin as a joke in terms of being ready on day one or day 500 to be President. He can point to McCain's confusion about geo-politics, as in when he actually talked about the problems on the border between Iraq and Pakistan. As Jon Stewart said, "Uh, that would be Iran".

He can cite examples of McCain's temper and impulsive decision making, as when he knuckled under Rove's nixing his wish to choose Lieberman for VP and took all thoughtful people of both parties by surprise in suddenly betting on a mare he had only met once. He can cite some Republican members of Congress who have said things like, "I cringe when I think of him as President", and "The idea that he could have his hands on the nuclear button frightens me." He has to do this without appearing to a bully and a misogynist.

Obama needs to stay on platform topics and peoples' economic problems and needs. He also should be free to discredit Lieberman as a lying SOB, out for himself, by airing Lieberman's praising of Obama four years ago; Romney as today's Music Man, Giuliani as a joke whose grammar and syntax are limited to a verb, a noun and 911. Biden can also claim that McCain's grammar and syntax are limited to a verb a noun and POW.

You have to expose these guys as the jokes they are and drive home the contrast to the ethical, reputable, honest people of integrity that you are. Say it and say it over and over again. If the opposition has taken off the gloves you must if it has any chance of being a fair fight. Don't take a knife to a gun fight. You've chosen to go into the ring in which the fight is on. You have to be as well trained and in shape as your opponent. In addition to the physical stamina both you and your opponents have demonstrated to go fifteen rounds, you have to match them in emotional, philosophical, ideological stamina. So far you are back pedaling, avoiding contact, on the defensive. At this point you can only count on the fight judges, the American people, to call it a draw, a split decision. You need people in your corner who can get you up for the last few rounds, 60 days till the end of the fight. Watch some Rocky movies, I know, I know it seems hokie, cynical, dishonest and abandonment of all those values you and we share. But you just have to understand that those and a few bucks might get you a latte, but will not get you the White House.

I do not say this lightly or casually. As an athlete and team member I experienced coming close to losing now and then and did lose a few times by playing the other team's game. When we pulled it out we found a way to thwart their strength and re-establish our own. If the other guys were faster, we stopped running with them, and played slow and oppressive defense. When the other team fouled without being caught we decided to foul, gambling that we wouldn't be caught either by referees who had shown us what they tolerated.

When engaging in competition there is a need to evaluate the strengths and vulnerabilities of three participants; the two competitors and the referees. In elections the refs are the voters.

As to issues that influence the American voter,remember that Bush I lost reelection when the economy was in the tank, even though he had been credited with leading a large coalition of friendlies which drove Saddam out of Kuwait and chased him back to Baghdad. The criminal genius of the players today understand that in defeating Saddam Bush I changed the landscape of the needs of Americans. The fear factor was off the stage, and the pocket book factor was front and center.

Rove,Cheney,McCain/Bush haven't forgotten that. They have no desire to take the fear card off the table, because if they do the voters will relax about terrorism and complain about the strain on their pocketbooks.

Why else would we encourage Georgia to take on Russia, why else would Cheney go to Georgia and taunt the Russian Bear, why else would there be so much talk of impending attacks against Iran by us or the Israelis, why else would Rice go to make nice with gaddaffi, why else would we be told that troop withdrawal from Iraq was put on hold, why else would be told that things in Afghanistan are deteriorating, and that the Taliban are regrouping, why else would we be told continuously that we can't abandon Israel in its hour of need against Palestinian terrorism, an hour of need that has been hyped for all the years since the Holocaust of WW II. Why else are we told to deep six our intelligence, our reason, our judgment about this manufactured conflict?

Those whose behavior is consistent with the behavior of those called neocons, are not patriots of any nation in the sense of "give me liberty or give me death".
The meaning and connotation of the word "patriot" includes meaning or connotation consistent with the behavior of one who puts country above all else. McCain's speech was all about his self-belief that he is not his own man, but he is his country's man. What conceit, what arrogance, what hubris!

Rove's background, skills and experience are in the direct mail field. If there's a more misleading, cynical, dishonest form of communication out there I'd be surprised. Used cars sales I guess. Schmidt is using his mentor's tactics, Some people are just wired wrong, and sleep well in spite of it.

Repetition is the not so secret tactic of advertising, and subliminal wish for it all to be simple as black and white is its strategy. Rove did it in 2000 and 2004, in the face of damning reality, and won. He can do it again, as the man behind the curtain.

One of the human instincts which has helped our species survive is the fight or flight instinct. It requires fear to be invoked. Rove is the best at the advertising of repetitive fear mongering, and by inducing people to believe that it will all be made simple for them, if they keep the GOPhers in office.

Today's David Brooks piece in the Times especially galled me. After acknowledging that "McCain's politics are not there yet", "there" being of substance, he actually wrote that McCain has "proven and evident integrity" and has "the heart of an insurgent". The cynical ,dishonest and dearth of integrity gets a pass from even a Times columnist.

I've written on my blog, leesvoicecryinginthewilderness.blogspot.com many times that Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line. Brooks, like the previous GOP candidates know how to fall in line, knowing where their bread is buttered.

A great way for Hillary to fall in line is for her to take on Palin, who's been quoted as calling Hillary a whiner earlier in the primary campaigns.

The GOPhers real message to the citizens is, "You're on your own". Katrina drove that home. Tax breaks for wealthiest drove that home. There are many other examples. Dems real message is, We fight for justice", which includes safety nets for folks when they've done all they could and still need help.

I don't want you guys and gals to lose your own integrity, but I do want you to state your truth, not in an abstract way, but by quoting the GOPhers in their lies and contrasting those lies to your truths. Tim Russert did a good job of that. Sorry he's not here to help.

Sorry this is so long, but I lacked the time to make it shorter(paraphrase) Blaise Pascal

----- Original Message -----
From: David Plouffe, BarackObama.com
To: Lee Lindeman
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 4:19 PM
Subject: [SPAM] What you didn't see this week
Lee --John McCain and the Republicans had all week to make their case -- and they didn't do it.The whole Republican convention went by without offering a single idea about how to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.People noticed. In the last 24 hours, more people donated to this campaign for the first time than ever before. Thank you for responding so strongly. Barack is making clear what this election should be about. At a campaign stop in Pennsylvania yesterday, he spoke out about exactly what we didn't hear at the Republican convention.You can help make sure Barack's message of change is heard loud and clear. Will you watch the video and make a donation of $25 or more today?
We learned just this morning that unemployment jumped to its highest rate in five years, and our economy lost 605,000 jobs this year alone -- at a time when John McCain believes that the fundamentals of our economy are "strong."John McCain can talk all he wants about change, but he has voted with George W. Bush more than 90 percent of the time, and Americans aren't buying it. Here are a few of the responses we received from voters who watched the Republican convention:
"This is one Republican for Obama that knows 100% now that I made the right choice and will in November vote for Obama-Biden." -- Bev from Georgia"Republicans like Palin, Giuliani, and Romney can engage in red-meat partisan vitriol all they want, right out of the Karl Rove playbook, but this isn't 2000 or 2004. Americans now have seen the full impact of GOP policies on their pocketbook." -- Rick from Colorado"What the Republicans displayed ... is more of the same old thing -- unproductive politics. I hope and pray that the American voters will see through this and realize that we need a different mindset and approach if we are ever going to get things done in Washington." -- Patricia from KansasWatch Barack's response to the Republican convention, and join these folks in supporting real solutions and making sure Americans far and wide know what's at stake:https://donate.barackobama.com/realissuesThanks for everything you're doing,DavidDavid PlouffeCampaign ManagerObama for America


Paid for by Obama for America
This email was sent to: spooklee537@gmail.com
To unsubscribe, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscribe

For Your Reading Pleasure, Pain and/or Disgust

This just a general recommendation of The Washington Monthly Political Animal blog. On a daily basis it's a good source for Progressive ideas and responses to Regressive claims and attacks.

Find it here. The first few posts today are good examples.


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Kevin Drum on John McCain

Kevin Drum, formerly with Washington Monthly and now blogging for Mother Jones, has written the best I've read on McCain's "character". Here is a link to it.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Speaks For Itself

Here is a link to the NYTimes editorial on McCain's acceptance speech.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Authenticity, Honesty, Honor

My last post was entitled Authenticity.

Please read this, a link to which is here.

I really wish I could just say, I rest my case, but there are too
many closed minded people who might vote based on what
they chose to believe, not based on reality and facts.

Last night a small town mayor, who has occupied the office
of Governor of Alaska for less than half a term read a speech
which was written for her by her GOP handlers. The only thing
one can say about her is that she is pretty good at making a speech,
even one written by others who coached her to say what she believes
in such a way as to come across as authentic in her support of
GOP talking points, and GOP attacks and sarcasm directed at
the truly authentic, honest and honorable candidates of the
Democratic Party.

If I were a prosecutor seeking the truth I would have liked to rest
my case against her as today's female version of the Music Man, who
cons the locals into believing him, Right Here In River City.

Unfortunately she has been given the stage to con millions of people
into believing her and, also unfortunately, there are many of those
millions who want to and likely will, unless she is exposed as the
con artist she really is.

I am an obscure blogger whose opinions won't be read far and wide.

I do recommend for your enlightenment these more widely read progressive leaning opinions,
columns and blogs. Gail Collins, NYT, Kevin Drum, Mother Jones, The Old New Englander, Blogspot.com, Truth Out, Truth Dig, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Huffington Post, Minstrel Boy, Washington Monthly, James Carroll, Boston Globe. EJ Dionne, WaPo, Roger Cohen, NYT, Michael Kinsley, WaPo, among others.

I also read and recommend regressive leaning sources which include, David Brooks, NYT, The Drudge Report, among a short list of others, who from time to time write as if they are intelligent human beings trying to understand.

I have given up on those whose writings demonstrate that, though they have brains, they have
chosen to use them in support of their prejudices, which requires no risk of being thought of as intelligent. Examples include Charles Krauthammer, all Fox News talking heads, Karl Rove, all Bushes, all Bush Cabinet member, one possible exception being SecDef Gates.

I ask you please to check out your gut feeling about the Music Man factor when you listen to what all of these people are preaching to you; those on the progressive list, those on the regressive list and those on the prejudicial list.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Authenticity

I just watched a News Hour segment of an interview with Cindy McCain by Judy Woodruff.


Mrs. McCain stayed on her talking points message, that the election is not about issues, but is about experience, authenticity and values of the candidates. It's the third of these so called qualifications, the values thing, which the GOPhers hope will embrace and energize the fundamentalist, far right base element of today's version of the Republican Party.



They have to do what they can to deflect the attention of the voters from the economy which is causing voters grief, the wars of choice which have taken the lives of countless people, the health care unaffordability for countless Americans, for starters.



Senator McCain wants us to belief that he's one of us, the patriotic American, who sacrificed for all of us, and who paid for that in his POW torture. That was long ago, and however we should honor him his time in captivity, he has rebounded to be a wealthy old man who is being kept by a wealthy, sexy blond who inherited millions from her family's beer distribution business.



I like beer. I don't find fault with those who make money in the sale of it.



But don't tell me and don't believe, that he, she and they are more down earth, patriotic, American story examples than Barack and Michele, Joe and Jill.


The spin, the propaganda of today's Republican Party is far removed from the approach of the Republican Party with which my mother and dad identified years ago.

Being thought of as a Republican was good in my early world. Conservative actually meant being careful, as in look before you leap, take care of your own, be careful with your money, don't spend on needs beyond what you can pay for. The exceptions included assuming a mortgage to finance the American Dream of one's own home. The lender and the borrower worked out the payment schedule which the payer could make, and which the lender could accept for a reasonable profit.


It was not a perfect world, but it worked. Some people had much more money than others, a reality of life, but they found a way to work it out for their mutual benefit.


When you think about for whom you will vote in November, please ask yourself who is the more responsible for violating the social compact, those who have the financial leverage, or those who relied on them to use it responsibly, carefully.

Conservative used to be admired as a virtue, but now is associated with those who claim to be inspired and motivated by their version of God to punish the Infidel, those who reject the scriptures of the Bible and or the Koran as literal truths.

These people are known as Fundamentalists, whether Christian, Jews or Muslims. They have in common a belief that their scriptures are actually the literal word of God, and that the fact that human beings wrote them down is not a problem since they believe that they were inpired by God to write them down in a kind of automatic writing which God initiated and energized.





Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

Read It And Weep, Or Cry, Or Laugh

For your reading pleasure, pain or laughter here is a link to a review of McCain's selection for VP.

Your choice.

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper