"A Message adapted and updated from Mr. John Cleese:

To the Citizens of the United States of America:

In light of the strong possibility you are about to elect an elderly gentleman with a bad temper and a lady who thinks she can run foreign policy because she can see Russia from her house as President and President-In-Waiting of the USA and thus to risk Life As We Know It for everyone else on the Planet, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy). She won't actually be in charge, but she'll greet foreign leaders as necessary and not put her foot in it or vomit on anyone at a state dinner.

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. You aren't very good at elections, and unlike the ATM's from the same manufacturer, your voting machines don't give receipts. So Prime Minister Brown will instead choose someone who does not have his or her hand in the till and has significant experience in running Big Things. You have not had one of those for almost a decade and trust me, it is a big plus. And there won't be any of that hanging chad nonsense and the three hour wait for voting while poor or black.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. They have given away too much of your money already to rescue incompetent business executives and soon your American Dollars will resemble Zimbabwean Dollars in total worthlessness. There is no free lunch you know. Although we originally let you get away with secession because King George was robbing you blind, recent events demonstrate that your present leaders are doing much worse things and unfortunately you have not noticed.

A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether more than half of you still believe Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. Information to the contrary will again be provided by the rest of the world and we request you read it this time and refrain from invading the wrong country ever again if you possibly can.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

1. Then look up aluminum, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as "favour" and "neighbour." Likewise, you will learn to spell "doughnut" without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise.

Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up "vocabulary").

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter "u" and the elimination of -ize. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. But we have a lot of Bank Holidays you will enjoy instead. In our country we still have several banks.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.

Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline), roughly $9 per US gallon. Get used to it. Your driving armoured cars to buy groceries is unnecessary, boorish and killing the planet.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar. And the term Freedom Fries will not be used in future. Lets remember the French were right and you were wrong, though it pains me to say so.

11. We will require that people running things, like your government, are at least moderately competent and not related by blood or bribes to those who benefit from their decisions. We know it makes you more cozy when your leaders know as little as you do, but, honestly, it is short sighted: you need doctors who know more about medicine, pilots who know more about flying and leaders who know more about leading.

12. We respectfully request you give up this notion that Politics is Entertainment, and that very complicated things have to be explained to you in less than fifteen seconds. If you wanted to have a democracy, honestly, you really should have taken the time to understand things a bit before you voted. May I suggest the startling notion that politicians don't need to look good to do a good job? And it really is acceptable if they are a bit boring, so long as they do their homework. It's especially important as evidently you have not done yours. Poor old Al Gore and John Kerry. And by the way, are you happy now that you chose a Governor for California based on his teeth?

13. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth -- see what it did for them.

14. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie McDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

15. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby -- the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

16. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first in their country. The seven out of ten who don't own a passport will need to get one first.

17. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

18. An Internal Revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776). Although this will raise your taxes, remember that the Neoconservatives will no longer be robbing you blind and so your Dollars will stop shrinking. Didn't you know that inflation and government bailouts of huge companies were really paid for by you? We must do something about your educational system. What on earth is going on over there? Are you oblivious to the crushing debt you are leaving your children? You might as well throttle them now.

19. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 PM with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

God Save the Queen. At least God won't instruct your President to invade any more wrong countries."


SOURCE



YES! BRILLIANCE. Please, take us! 

...except for the banning of American made cars {I get 30+ miles to the gallon in my American made car. Take all the Hummers and run over the dumb ass civilians that think that's an everyday mode of transportation and I'll laugh with you...but you can't have my Chevy.} and the roundabouts - those are obnoxious...even for the British...and I'll have none of it. Otherwise I'll comply completely!

"Everybody has just gone nuts," said Mike Williams, executive director of the Tennessee Petroleum Council.

He said he has no idea about the origin of a rumor that there was going to be no gas in Nashville. One reporter called him, saying she had heard that Nashville would be without gas within the hour, he said.

Hearing the rumor, drivers rushed to fill their cars and trucks.

CNN called 13 Nashville gas stations at random. Only two reported having gas, and one said it was almost out. The stations said they were being told they would not get more until Monday or Tuesday.

Katie Givens Kime, visiting from Atlanta, Georgia, was trying to fill up her tank for the trip home when she ran into trouble -- when she was already low on gas.

"We panicked and looked online," she said. "And holy cow, there is no gas in the city. ... It has definitely gripped the city, for sure."

One store clerk told her there was no way she could get gas to go back home, she said.

Williams said some drivers were following gas trucks to see where they were headed, and lines at some stations were a mile long. Fuel was continuing to enter the city, however, as pipelines were working and barges were coming in.

He likened it to Southerners rushing out to stock up on bread and milk when they hear it might snow. As stations began running low, the situation snowballed, he said.

One station reported selling as much gas Friday as it usually does in a weekend, Williams said.

The phenomenon seemed to be isolated to the Nashville area, he said.

Givens Kime said she found a station online that still had gas and waited more than an hour to pump it.

"People were freaked out," she said. A "renegade bunch" of men helped direct traffic to and from the pumps, even taking drivers' cash inside for them. She described people filling cans and other containers as well as cars.

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin’s church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

“You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

Palin’s conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain’s candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.

Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the “Love Won Out” Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.

Palin, campaigning with McCain in the Midwest on Friday, has not publicly expressed a view on the so-called “pray away the gay” movement. Larry Kroon, senior pastor at Palin’s church, was not available to discuss the matter Friday, said a church worker who declined to give her name.

Gay activists in Alaska said Palin has not worked actively against their interests, but early in her administration she supported a bill to overrule a court decision to block state benefits for gay partners of public employees. At the time, less than one-half of 1 percent of state employees had applied for the benefits, which were ordered by a 2005 ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court.

Palin reversed her position and vetoed the bill after the state attorney general said it was unconstitutional. But her reluctant support didn’t win fans among Alaska’s gay population, said Scott Turner, a gay activist in Anchorage.

“Less than 1 percent of state employees would even apply for benefits, so why make a big deal out of such a small number?” he said.

“I think gay Republicans are going to run away” if Palin supports efforts like the prayers to convert gays, said Wayne Besen, founder of the New York-based Truth Wins Out, a gay rights advocacy group. Besen called on Palin to publicly express her views now that she’s a vice presidential nominee.

“People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House,” he said."


SOURCE


"Pray away the gay!" lol, Palin. Making my day EVERY day without even trying! 

Also, "gay Republicans"? How does that happen? Talk about self hatred...

"(CNN) – Barack Obama's campaign says it has raised more than $8 million from over 130,000 donors following Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday night.

The campaign also says it is on track to raise $10 million before John McCain takes the podium at the Republican National Convention tonight."


SOURCE


LMAO. Way to go, Palin. Way to freakin' go! 
 

The following comment was pulled from the Washington Independent, and comes straight from the mouth of one Anne Kilkenny, a citizen of Wasilla who has followed the politics of her community very closely for years, and seems to be one of the most informed citizens in regards to who Sarah Palin really is, and what she stands for.

It was originally posted on Livejournal HERE and I’m sharing it again so that I can add my own emphasis.
 

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

Thanks,
Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on afirst name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of theresidents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice andwon't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe". 

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She's smart.

 Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than theybenefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to thecommunity but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing fromthe library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin'sattempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust theLibrarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimandedfor sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

 Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined). 

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”. 

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliatedthem. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community andexperienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

 As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

 Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked toglobal warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams frompollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

 However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT

•“Hockey mom”: true for a few years

•“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since

•“NRA supporter”: absolutely true

•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).

•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.

•“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation

•“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.

•political maverick: not at all

•gutsy: absolutely!

•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.

•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no

•”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.

•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!

•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Builtstreets to early 20th century standards.

•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents

•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.

•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim

that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?


First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly,I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". IFew people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

 Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am nofool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

 Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

 Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.


CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers. You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

Anne Kilkenny

August 31, 2008

"August 29, 2008

Statement of NOW PAC Chair Kim Gandy on the Selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's Vice Presidential Pick

Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest.

Gov. Palin may be the second woman vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket, but she is not the right woman. Sadly, she is a woman who opposes women's rights, just like John McCain.

The fact that Palin is a mother of five who has a 4-month-old baby, a woman who is juggling work and family responsibilities, will speak to many women. But will Palin speak FOR women? Based on her record and her stated positions, the answer is clearly No.

In a gubernatorial debate, Palin stated emphatically that her opposition to abortion was so great, so total, that even if her teenage daughter was impregnated by a rapist, she would "choose life" -- meaning apparently that she would not permit her daughter to have an abortion.

Palin also had to withdraw her appointment of a top public safety commissioner who had been reprimanded for sexual harassment, although Palin had been warned about his background through letters by the sexual harassment complainant.

What McCain does not understand is that women supported Hillary Clinton not just because she was a woman, but because she was a champion on their issues. They will surely not find Sarah Palin to be an advocate for women.

Sen. Joe Biden is the VP candidate who appeals to women, with his authorship and championing of landmark domestic violence legislation, support for pay equity, and advocacy for women around the world.

Finally, as the chair of NOW's Political Action Committee, I am frequently asked whether NOW supports women candidates just because they are women. This gives me an opportunity to once again answer that question with an emphatic 'No.' We recognize the importance of having women's rights supporters at every level but, like Sarah Palin, not every woman supports women's rights."


SOURCE


While I may have had my issues with the National Organization of Women in the past, they certianly got this one right...for all the above reasons.

Palin is a brilliant but *insane* choice for McCain who is SERIOUSLY grasping at straws at this point. There seems to be some disturbingly brilliant people behind the scenes at the McCain camp considering the fact that much of the general voting public *will* just be interested in the fact that there's a woman on the ticket and not where she stands on the issues.

Personally, even though I see the brilliance of this campaign move, I'm rather insulted that McCain and his cronies think that Sarah Palin even shares an electoral reality with Hillary Clinton. The beliefs I hold that have created a deep adoration for Hillary Clinton are the same beliefs that give me the desire to set people like Sarah Palin on fire. I'm really not so much concerned with the fact that she has a vagina...Palin is literally standing on McCain's ancient right-wing shoulders patching Hillary's 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling. For Christ's sake, she's even against a woman's right to choose in cases of rape and incest! 

No...just no. This insanity needs to end now. There are actually people out there - pissed off Democrats - Hillary supporters that are still seriously considering voting McCain to spite the party. These people need their heads examined. For God's sake, just stay home on election day. Hillary will not be impressed by your vote for McCain/Palin...she'll be oppressed by it...and so will you.

Some Republicans have dubbed the setting -- complete with its Greek-styled columns -- the "Temple of Obama," suggesting it's symbolic of a man who is more of a celebrity than a political leader.

On its Web site, the Republican National Committee runs a feature about Obama called "Audacity Watch," which includes a link to an unflattering tabloid article about the "Obama temple."

The Web site for the campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain promotes a mocking video about Obama, called, "The One -- Road to Denver." Some bloggers have also weighed in, poking fun at Obama."

Stephanie's friendship meant the world to us, a friendship that deepened through every trial and challenge. We could always count on her to be a shoulder on which to lean, an ear to bend, a voice to reassure. Over the course of many years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side-unwavering, indefatigable.

It was that fighting spirit-safely stowed behind her disarming smile, backed by so much integrity and fiery intelligence-that allowed Stephanie to rise from modest beginnings, to succeed in public service, to become a one-woman force for progress in our country.

All of us who were lucky to know her and love her can only hope now to live like her-to be as passionate, loyal, hard charging, and joyful in life's pursuits.

Stephanie was one of a kind. We will miss our friend always."

SOURCE

She suffered the aneurysm Tuesday evening while driving in her home district in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, a statement from her office said.

She was rushed to East Cleveland's Huron Hospital, where a team of doctors determined Wednesday morning that she had "very limited brain function," said Dr. Gus Kious, the hospital's chief of staff.

Wednesday afternoon, before Tubbs Jones died, Kious said that the aneurysm "an inaccessible part of her brain" and that she was in critical condition.

The congresswoman had a full day of activity Tuesday, according to the statement from her office, "including planning for an upcoming forum on electoral reform, scheduled for September 4, 2008, at Cleveland State University."

Tubbs Jones was a Democratic superdelegate and one of Hillary Clinton's most ardent supporters. She was scheduled to attend the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver, Colorado.

She was an early supporter of Clinton's White House bid but endorsed Barack Obama in June after the New York senator bowed out of the race.

"Since June, Senators Obama and Clinton have been working together to ensure a Democratic victory this November," said the campaigns in a joint statement. "They are both committed to winning back the White House and to to ensuring that the voices of all 35 million people who participated in this historic primary election are respected and heard in Denver.

"To honor and celebrate these voices and votes, both Senator Obama's and Senator Clinton's names will be placed in nomination."

The release said Obama’s campaign encouraged the move to promote party unity, and recognize Clinton's status as the first woman to compete in every presidential primary.

“I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion,” said Obama in the statement, which also quoted Clinton saying that “with every voice heard and the Party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama President of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again.”

A Democratic source with knowledge of the discussions says that the process was not a negotiation – that both sides came to a mutual decision that the move was the best path.

A Democratic Party operative familiar with convention plans says the move would bring "peace in the kingdom." The source adds that the Obama campaign "always knew it would probably have to happen."

"They have known since the day she dropped out that she wanted this 'for history,'" says the operative.

The announcement follows a string of recent reports that die-hard supporters of Hillary Clinton were planning to protest in Denver if her name were not placed into nomination, and a roll call vote held that would allow the New York senator's delegates to vote for her

Chairman Bill Gwatney died at 3:59 Wednesday afternoon after a gunman entered his Little Rock office and shot him several times in the upper body, Little Rock Police Lt. Terry Hastings said.

Authorities confirmed the news shortly after former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton released a statement expressing their condolences.

"We are deeply saddened by the news that Bill Gwatney has passed away," the former governor and first lady of Arkansas said. "His leadership and commitment to Arkansas and this country have always inspired us and those who had the opportunity to know him."

The shooting suspect, a white male in his fifties, also died Wednesday afternoon after a police chase ended in gunfire, Hastings said.

Authorities are working to confirm his identity, but Hastings said there was no indication that he was a former employee. He said police were investigating possible motives, as well as why the suspect went into the Arkansas Baptist State Convention brandishing a gun.

CNN affilliates KARK and KTHV identified the gunman as Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, Arkansas.

The suspect walked into the downtown headquarters, near the state Capitol building, before noon.

The gunman said he was interested in volunteering, said Sam Higginbotham, a 17-year-old volunteer at the headquarters, The Associated Press reported.

"That was obviously a lie," Higginbotham said, the AP reported.

The man asked for Gwatney and spoke with another employee before pushing his way into his office and pulling a gun on Gwatney, Hastings said.

A woman in a nearby business told KTHV that Gwatney's assistant came in and asked her to call police.

"I thought maybe someone had gotten hit by a car," said Sarah Lee, who works at a florist's shop. "She was just shaking really bad." But then the woman said that Gwatney had been shot and that three shots had been fired, Lee said.

After the shooting, the suspect entered a nearby Arkansas Baptist State Convention pointed a gun at an employee.

The man was "white as a sheet," convention official Dan Jordan said.

"I've heard he said something do to about losing a job. ... He didn't threaten anyone." The man left through the front door shortly afterward, he said.

A vehicle description was provided to police, Hastings said, and officers found it. A chase involving Little Rock police, Arkansas State Police and the Grant County Sheriff's Office ended about 20 miles south of Little Rock, where the suspect was shot and taken into custody, he said.

Police said the suspect drove into a ditch and around a set of spike strips in an attempt to evade police.

Authorities from Grant County said they used a "precision mobilization technique" to hit the vehicle from behind and ram it into another unit.

The man then got out of his vehicle and began shooting at officers, who returned fire.

In Sheridan, Arkansas, where the chase ended, a crowd gathered near the suspect's blue pickup as police cordoned off the area with yellow crime-scene tape. What appeared to be bullet holes could be seen in the truck's windshield.

Police did not confirm Gwatney's identity until he died, but the Clintons released a statement earlier Wednesday that suggested Gwatney was involved.

"We are stunned and shaken by today's shooting at the Arkansas Democratic Party where our good friend and fellow Democrat Bill Gwatney was critically wounded," they said.

"Bill is not only a strong chairman of Arkansas' Democratic Party, but he is also a cherished friend and confidante. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bill and his family today and we wish him a quick recovery," they said.

The Democratic National Committee also issued a statement Wednesday that identified Gwatney.

"This senseless tragedy comes as a shock to all of us," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in a written statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Chairman Gwatney and his family and we pray for his full and speedy recovery.""

SOURCE

Dude, you don't shoot Democrats when you're pissed off over loosing your job.

Also, lmao @ the Clintons breaking the story. Keep on keepin' on, kids.

Opening ceremonies last week of the 2008 Olympic Summer Games were lauded as the most spectacular in history, with pyrotechnics blasting from the top of Beijing, China's National Stadium and a synchronized fireworks display firing off across the capital.

What has been mostly absent from Beijing, however, are protests. Although a unified China is the image that country's government is eager to portray, many human rights groups allege that China has orchestrated a massive cover-up.

Beyond human rights, questions remain about whether China has kept its promises to the world to improve in two other major areas of reform: freedom of the press and pollution cleanup.

Human rights

"In the run up to the Olympics, it seems that Chinese authorities are so obsessed with projecting an image of 'stability' and 'harmony' ... that they have really come down quite hard on human right's activists and lawyers," said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director for Amnesty International.

In its report "The People's Republic of China: The Olympics Countdown -- Broken Promises," Amnesty International details what it calls a systematic persecution of dissident voices in Beijing and throughout China.

"The Chinese authorities have used the Olympics and the cleanup before the Olympics as an excuse to maintain and extend a draconian detention system that they had called re-education through labor," Zarifi said. "What that really means is that they're punished through forced labor to be taught a lesson ... and thousands of people who have ordinary complaints or demand reforms of the Chinese government have instead been rounded up."

The Amnesty report cites other human rights violations leading up to the Olympics. Amnesty accuses the Chinese government of using surveillance and detention to pursue family members of activists and blocking protesters from traveling to the capital city from other areas, such as China's Sichuan province, which was devastated by an earthquake in May that claimed the lives of nearly 70,000 people.

The Chinese foreign ministry criticized the Amnesy International report, saying it had a biased attitude toward China.

Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao was quoted by China Daily in a news briefing saying, "We hope [Amnesty International] can take off the colored glasses it has worn for many years and see China in an objective way."

Beijing secured the Olympics in 2001 amid some controversy, with a tacit acknowledgment of concerns over its record on human rights, press freedom and environmental pollution. Even the day before the host city was announced, Wang Wei, then secretary general of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee, said China was committed to change.

"We are confident that the games coming to China not only promote our economy but also enhance all social conditions, including education, health and human rights," Wang said. "We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China."

Press freedom

However, it was quite a different story for reporters as they arrived at the Olympic press center in Beijing. They discovered that many Web sites had been blocked, such as those with information about Tiananmen Square protests, Tibet, Taiwan or the Dalai Lama.

Internet sites are severely regulated throughout China, and limited access to some of the sites was granted only after reporters complained to the IOC.

The same official who assured the international media of "complete freedom" in 2001 took a somewhat different tone last week.

"Yes, we promised to provide free access to the Internet, except for a few [Web sites] that would jeopardize our national security and would not be good for the healthy growth of our young people," said Wang, who is now the executive vice president of Beijing's Olympic organizing committee.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Wang said, "As in any other country, there are some kinds of limitations ... however, I think we are going to provide sufficient access for the media to cover the games."

Critics of China's policy on a free press said the problems run much deeper than the lack of access to some Web sites from the Olympic Village.

"China's political reality is a place where no freedom of expression will really be allowable ... this goes for the Chinese people and the foreign journalists," said Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California, Berkeley. "[China] is always afraid that if it lets its own people speak freely and spontaneously organize by itself, the Chinese communist party could be endangered or even be threatened."

Foreign journalists in China for the Olympics complain that access to report on anything that extends beyond sporting events has been severely limited. Xiao points to the recent beating and detention of two Japanese journalists who were investigating an alleged terrorist attack in northwestern China as a sign of a government that is not used to a free press.

"They also feel since they got the Olympics, the world is coming anyway by this point, they can just do what they want and just let the world tolerate rather than have to fundamentally change their own behavior," Xiao said.

Chinese officials later apologized for the beating incident.

Pollution

A third major commitment by China in its Olympic bid was to clean up pollution in Beijing. Although government readings on pollution have gone down in the years since China won the bid, they still routinely far exceed World Health Organization guidelines. And at least one American-based environmental consultant believes that China has purposely manipulated its own pollution statistics to give a false impression that more progress has been made.

"Beijing's public air quality reporting has been a misinformation campaign," said Steven Q. Andrews, author of a scientific report on China's air quality and two opinion-editorials on the topic for the Asian edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Andrews cites the closure of two air quality monitoring stations in heavily trafficked areas of Beijing in 2006 as the reason why the number of "Blue Sky days" increased in the past two years.

The Blue Sky program was instituted by the governments in major cities across China as a system to measure acceptable levels of pollution. The criteria for a "Blue Sky day" are still below what many industrialized countries consider good air quality.

When the program was launched in 1998, Beijing had only 100 "Blue Sky days," but last year, that figure rose to 246, a report the Chinese state media hailed as a major improvement.

When asked about the allegations that air quality monitoring stations were shut down, Du Shaozhong, the deputy head of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said, "this phenomenon does not exist," according to Time magazine.

Chinese officials did not respond to CNN's request for an interview.

Despite official assurances that the air is safe for competition, athletes and fans have expressed concern over the thick smog covering the entire city.

The American Lung Association went so far as to issue a warning to those attending the games. "Individuals traveling to the 2008 Olympic Summer Games should plan and prepare for the high levels of outdoor pollutant in Beijing ... [and] limit or avoid outdoor exercise," it said.

Beyond highlighting the discrepancies between China's promises and actual reform, critics interviewed by CNN about all three major areas shared one common sentiment: disappointment.

"This is really a significant opportunity lost for the Chinese government to show to the world that they really trust their own people ... a sign of a China that is ready to take its place in the first ranks in the nations of the world," said Amnesty International's Zarifi."

SOURCE

Amnesty's report on China's broken promises.

Steven Andrews' report on China's air pollution. (PDF)

More about the Japanese Reporters that were detained and beaten.

...so, China sucks...they deny it...and the whole rest of the world knows they're basically full of shit. This is not news. It does not belong on CNN's front page. Next, please!

And there it was, right by the cash register, with a headline across the top of the cover promising the latest details of a story the Enquirer broke months ago.

John Edwards had initially dismissed the Enquirer's allegations of an extramarital affair as "tabloid trash." A saw mill worker's son who was himself once dismissed as "poor white trash," he should have been more cautious about underestimating those who are dismissed out of hand as inferiors.”

 ...

“The Enquirer reporters actually do report. John Edwards learned that when he sought to slip into the Beverly Hilton Hotel to see his paramour and found himself cornered in the men's room.

The Enquirer reporters would have been within their rights to ask him, "Who's the trash now?"”

SOURCE

Talk about your political suicide! What the hell, Johnny Sunshine?! Your wife has terminal cancer, at least wait until she dies before you go sleeping around. As for Elizabeth herself, the fact that she *is* dying is not an excuse for supporting her husband's bid for President on the platform of being a moral family man even after she knew about the affair. Ugh, on both accounts.

Todd and Barbara Bachman of Lakeville, Minnesota, were attacked at the Drum Tower, an ancient monument in downtown Beijing, the IOC and Chinese authorities said.

Todd Bachman was the father-in-law of U.S. Olympic men's indoor volleyball head coach Hugh McCutcheon. McCutcheon's wife, 2004 U.S. Olympic women's indoor volleyball player Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon, was with her parents when they were attacked, but she was not hurt, the IOC said.

The attack happened around noon at the Drum Tower, a popular tourist site, China's official news agency Xinhua reported.

The assailant, a 47-year-old man from Hangzhou in eastern China, jumped to his death from the tower after the attack, authorities said.

"It is impossible to describe the depth of our sadness and shock in this tragic hour," said U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth. "Our delegation comes to the Games as a family, and when one member of our family suffers a loss, we all grieve with them. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with the Bachman and McCutcheon families."

President Bush, who is in Beijing for the Games, said he and his wife, Laura, were saddened by the attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. And the United States government has offered to provide any assistance the family needs," Bush said.

Keith Walendowski has been charged with felony possession of a short-barreled shotgun or rifle and misdemeanor disorderly conduct while armed.

According to the criminal complaint, Walendowski says he was angry because his Lawn Boy wouldn't start Wednesday morning.

He told police: "I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want."

A woman who lives at Walendowski's house reported the incident. She says he was intoxicated.

Walendowski could face up to an $11,000 fine and six years and three months in prison if convicted.

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three Air Force officers fell asleep while in control of an electronic component that contained old launch codes for nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, a violation of procedure, Air Force officials said Thursday.

The Air Force said the launch codes had been deactivated before the incident, but it was still a violation of protocol, prompting an investigation.

It is the fourth incident in the past year involving problems with secure handling of components of America's nuclear weapons.

The incident occurred July 12, during the changing out of components used to facilitate secure communications between an underground missile-control facility and missile silos near Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, according to Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman for the Air Force Space Command in Colorado.

A code component was removed from the equipment at the remote missile-control facility and replaced with a new code component. That made the old component inoperable, but an Air Force source said old launch codes were still contained in the part.

Under standard procedure, the four-officer crew of the facility is supposed to keep the component secure until it is returned to the base. Ford said the crew took the component to a building above the facility and locked the component in a lockbox.

Then, three of the four crew members fell asleep.

This violated Air Force procedure, which calls for at least two of the crew members to remain awake while in control of the component. At the time they were asleep, the crew and the component were in a locked building that is guarded by at least one armed airman at all times.

It is believed that the airmen were asleep for about 45 minutes or so, according to Air Force officials.

The component was later returned to the Minot base, and the investigations of procedural violations were started by Missile Command, Space Command, the 20th Air Force and the National Security Agency.

The investigation revealed the codes were not compromised, according to the Air Force. The codes had remained secured, and the crew was inside an area protected by Air Force security at all times, the investigation concluded.

The incident, which was first made public by the Project on Government Oversight, was the fourth misstep involving the handling of America's nuclear weapons in the past year.

Last summer, a B-52 flew from Minot AFB to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana carrying six nuclear warheads that were not supposed to leave Minot. The crew of the bomber did not know that it was carrying nuclear missiles.

In March, the Department of Defense discovered that nuclear triggers had been mistakenly sent to Taiwan and left there for 18 months before being returned to the United States.