Author: Robert Barrimond

FactCheck.org: Off Base on Sex Ed

FactCheck.org: Off Base on Sex Ed:

“A McCain-Palin campaign ad claims Obama’s ‘one accomplishment’ in the area of education was ‘legislation to teach ‘comprehensive sex education’ to kindergarteners.’ But the claim is simply false, and it dates back to Alan Keyes’ failed race against Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004.”

(Via FactCheck.org.)

It’s getting to the point where I’m having trouble keeping up. It seems obvious to me that the McCain has little of fact to support it’s campaign. Here’s an important quote from Obama when debating Keyes:

We have a existing law that mandates sex education in the schools. We want to make sure that it’s medically accurate and age-appropriate. Now, I’ll give you an example, because I have a six-year-old daughter and a three-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean. And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age. So, that’s the kind of stuff that I was talking about in that piece of legislation.

Damn right I would want that taught to my child. It’s getting so, that I’m cussin’!

Palin’s Pipeline Is Years From Being a Reality – NYTimes.com

Palin’s Pipeline Is Years From Being a Reality – NYTimes.com:

“The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin’s relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built, and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs.
Contributing to the project’s uncertainty is Ms. Palin’s antagonistic relationship with the major oil companies that control Alaska’s untapped gas reserves.”

(Via NY Times.)

Palin trying to get it coming and going I guess. Pun intended.
I have a question for the GOP: Instead of making bogus claims about Palin as a reformer on earmarks, why not play this up? It fits the image. Methinks, Big Oil has something to do with that.

FactCheck.org: McCain-Palin Distorts Our Finding

FactCheck.org: McCain-Palin Distorts Our Finding:

“A McCain-Palin ad has FactCheck.org calling Obama’s attacks on Palin ‘absolutely false’ and ‘misleading.’ That’s what we said, but it wasn’t about Obama.
Our article criticized anonymous e-mail falsehoods and bogus claims about Palin posted around the Internet. We have no evidence that any of the claims we found to be false came from the Obama campaign.
The McCain-Palin ad also twists a quote from a Wall Street Journal columnist. He said the Obama camp had sent a team to Alaska to ‘dig into her record and background.’ The ad quotes the WSJ as saying the team was sent to ‘dig dirt.’
Update, Sept. 10: Furthermore, the Obama campaign insists that no researchers have been sent to Alaska and that the Journal owes them a correction.”

(Via FactCheck.org.)

If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, then blind them with …

Community is the Opposite of Poverty

CNA – Documents:

“Someone once said that the opposite of poverty is not property. Rather, the opposite of both poverty and property is community.”

(Via Catholic News Agency.)

At the recommendation of a friend, I read this homily. Pass it on to the hardhearted.

How the GOP Does Choice

Skip to Jon’s question on Bristol’s “decision” at 4:05. Outrageous.

Sharing Prosperity: Obama’s Economic Plan for Small Business

Obama does have quite the plan. It is a mixed bag to be sure, as anything political would be, but it is both a sound and refreshingly moral plan to help this economy work for all Americans.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama once spoke to CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo about the economy. Bartiromo made the usual comments an ideologically minded supply-sider might make, and Obama true to form, struck his usual centrist tone:

The one thing you can be assured of is I’m not going to be making these [economic] decisions based on ideology. I’m not a dogmatist…I believe in the market. I believe in entrepreneurship. I believe in opportunity. I believe in capitalism. And I want to do what works, but what I want to make sure of is it works for all America and not just a small sliver of America.

Obama does have quite the plan. It is a mixed bag to be sure, as anything political would be, but it is both a sound and refreshingly moral plan to help this economy work for all Americans. Instead of government spending per se, it consists of government investment, a key distinction from leftist ideological choices. It provides for targeted tax relief to the engines of our economy: the consumer and the more importantly small business. As a progressive he includes union protection, but departs from political pandering and opts for sensible regulation. See a pattern? I’ve said to my progressive/liberal friends that if they don’t get a pro-business, pro-growth policy that expresses their ideals and values, they might was well pack it in to conservatives whose policies smack of trickle down, faith based “economics.” No government in a free economy creates jobs. Businesses do and they don’t do so out of charity or good will. They do so out of necessity or incentive. So there has to be a system of carrots and sticks, that forces them to, as Taylor put it, “share in the surplus.” So to create jobs, you have to be pro-business in some way, and refreshingly Obama does not disappoint. More on this later.

Continue reading “Sharing Prosperity: Obama’s Economic Plan for Small Business”

Op-Ed Columnist – Palin and McCain’s Shotgun Marriage – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist – Palin and McCain’s Shotgun Marriage – Op-Ed – NYTimes.com:

“Still, attention must be paid. McCain’s address, though largely a repetitive slew of stump-speech lines and worn G.O.P. orthodoxy, reminded us of what we once liked about the guy: his aspirations to bipartisanship, his heroic service in Vietnam, his twinkle. He took his (often inaccurate) swipes at Obama, but, in winning contrast to Palin and Rudy Giuliani, he wasn’t smug or nasty.
The only problem, of course, is that the entire thing was a sham.”

(Via NY Times.)

Ouch.

msnbc.com video: Biden on the Iraqi surge

msnbc.com video: Biden on the Iraqi surge:

(Via MSNBC.com.)

Now I know why he picked this guy, whoa. Zero hesitation and command of the details. Ideology? Nope.

msnbc.com video: Biden on religion, abortion

msnbc.com video: Biden on religion, abortion:

(Via MSNBC.com.)

Good answer. I wonder if the bishop would deny leadership to those pro-death penalty Republicans? The Church teaches against that too. I have no love for that hypocrisy.

After a Night of Drunken Partying…

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Mom flashes the lights!