Good Morning Blue Texan,

am I to understand Austin is to host a very special guest today ?

I hope everyone stays safe.
It’s 5 AM on the left coast I and I at work, heading out to a job.
HAPPY LABOR DAY.

The journalist need to start asking those who have been arrested/raided what political party they belong to. I would be interested to see if there is a pattern. Otherwise, in light of the arrests, political leanings are a non issue.

My guess, not one Republican will be found in cuffs…

Oh no you dont. You’re not catching McPOW eating cake while New Orleans drowns. He will pretend to care for a while and breath a sigh of relief for the excuse to shuck bush/cheney.

The Anchorage Daily News has a large story on the Bridge to Nowhere flip flop, and it’s not sitting well with some of the folks back home:

In September, 2006, Palin showed up in Ketchikan on her gubernatorial campaign and said the bridge was essential for the town’s prosperity.

She said she could feel the town’s pain at being derided as a “nowhere” by prominent politicians, noting that her home town, Wasilla, had recently been insulted by the state Senate president, Ben Stevens.

“OK, you’ve got Valley trash [ed. AK slang for Palin’s region of the state] standing here in the middle of nowhere,” Palin said, according to an account in the Ketchikan Daily News. “I think we’re going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project.”

One year later, Ketchikan’s Republican leaders said they were blindsided by Palin’s decision to pull the plug.

Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Saturday that as projected costs for the Ketchikan bridge rose to nearly $400 million, administration officials were telling Ketchikan that the project looked less likely. Local leaders shouldn’t have been surprised when Palin announced she was turning to less-costly alternatives, Leighow said. Indeed, Leighow produced a report quoting Palin, late in the governor’s race, indicating she would also consider alternatives to a bridge.

CHANGE OF VIEW

Andrew Halcro, who ran against Palin in 2006, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Palin changed her views after she was elected to make a national splash.

Mayor Weinstein said many residents remain irked by Palin’s failure to come to Ketchikan since that time to defend her decision — despite promises that she would.

Weinstein may be especially sore — he helped run the local campaign of Palin’s 2006 Democratic rival, Tony Knowles. But comments this week from area Republicans show bitterness there too.

Bert Stedman, a Sitka Republican who represents Ketchikan in the state Senate, told the Ketchikan Daily News he was proud to see Palin picked for the vice-president’s role, but disheartened by her reference to the bridge.

“In the role of governor, she should be pursuing a transportation policy that benefits the state of Alaska, (rather than) pandering to the southern 48,” he said.

Businessman Mike Elerding, who helped run Palin’s local campaign for governor, told the paper he would have a hard time voting for the McCain ticket because of Palin’s subsequent neglect of Ketchikan and her flip-flop on the “Ralph Bartholomew Veterans Memorial Bridge.”

(Emphasis added)

Truthiness hurts.

Commander McStorm

Couple of things on my mind.

(1) The media are going to be seriously bent out of shape if Gustav is not a total disaster. They’ve succeeded in pimping this hurricane as a catastrophe of epic proportions while somehow largely bypassing the human catastrophe. The PTSD, among other things.

(2) St. Paul and Minneapolis. I have read so many conflicting stories, even now I’m not certain what’s happening/happened in my home towns. Later this morning, MinnPost (an online newspaper, peopled by the finest journalists in the Twin Cities) will help me get a better handle on this. But I’m tellin’ ya that something is rotten in the state of Minnesota.

(3) I cannot tell you (so why am I trying?) how delighted I am that Junior and Darth will not be coming here. Almost makes the air breatheable again.

(4) Good morning.

For some reason thuggish police raids in Minneapolis remind me of the hilarious scene from The Gulag Archipelago: some communist (Stalin?) gave a political speech and everyone was afraid to be the first to stop clapping, for fear of being arrested. The clapping went on and on, and finally an old man was exhausted and stopped. Everyone was relieved to be able to stop. Then the man was arrested!

The Pukes always try to portray Democrats as Marxists but they are a lot more like Marxists than us. We should be the ones calling them “card-carrying Republicans”.

Amy Goodman just showed an interview she did of Jon Stewart. In wrapping up, she said: “That was an interview with Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, next to the baggage complaint, um, claim, …”

I decided with the Sarah Palin choice to boldly go where no man has gone before and of course got kicked in the nuts for it. Read more. http://www.tagg-lines.com/2008.....ndard.html

Good mornin’, Barbara from upriver a piece. And the rest of you firepups, too. Concerned for our neighbors down at the mouth of the river….

Macabre karma swirlin’…Katrina, now Gustav, and in between the 35W bridge.

But L’il Joey Lie-bee and his “co-chair” Susan Collins, they don’ need no steenkin’ oversight.

Is L’il Lie-bee’s speech cancelled or postponed?

Levees will be breached, says MSNBC.

Brownie on MSNBC

Heckuva comment, Raven.

Isn’t it how amazing that Rs who should isolate themselves in shame are, instead, eager to revel in glory for their failures. I never cease to be amazed.

Headline at the Washington Post: This Time, There Won’t Be Cake.

On the day Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans three years ago, President Bush was in the midst of a working vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., and the storm did little to change his schedule.
This Story

*
Evacuating… and Staying Put in New Orleans
*
As Gustav Nears, GOP Changes Course
*
Opening Day Is Abbreviated; Bush, Cheney Won’t Appear
*
Hospitals Evacuating High-Risk Patients
*
This Time, There Won’t Be Cake
*
In Cuba, Flooding But No Deaths
*
In New Orleans, Wariness About Rebuilding Again
*
College Students Flee New Orleans Ahead of Storm
*
Gustav Evacuation
*
MAP: Protection Status
*
Maryland National Guard Helicopter Crew on Storm Duty
*
Map: Hurricane Gustov Nears Landfall

View All Items in This Story
View Only Top Items in This Story

He traveled to Arizona, where he shared a birthday cake with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). He gave a speech at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club, where he talked at length about Medicare and Iraq but offered just a few words on Katrina. He posed for a photo holding a guitar and standing next to someone wearing a sombrero.

It was a public relations fiasco. The White House is eager to avoid such mistakes this time around. . . .

But the picture with the story is worth a thousand words: McCain watching Bush suck the icing off his thumb.

Hiya, Raven!

While the Rethugs and their allies beat the oil war drums, they are incompetent to make government work. Infrastructure suffering. People suffering.

Saw a headline late last night in the Toronto Star that Canadian Forces was sending a C-17 to evacuate medically vulnerable.

America as a country is vulnerable…but the Rethugs party on….except for the photo-ops.

Talking Points Memo Overview:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsme.....new-an.php

The baby was born on April 18, 2008.

A month earlier, this photo of the Governor is taken at the airport. Is that the face of a woman who is expecting a baby? Note that her neck and face show NO signs of water retention or weight gain. NONE. Rut Roh!

http://www.polartrec.com/node/3944

Gov. Palin’s Doctor (or Bristol’s Doctor?):
Dr. Johnson is ” the region’s “expert” in child and adult sexual abuse testing” according to news articles from 2002 and her Zoom Info profile. She is listed as the “Founder” of the county “Sexual Assault Response Team” (2001/2002) also as a practicing MD.

When Gov Palin got back to Anchorage she drove over an hour to Palmer/Wasilla past the 2 regional facilities that have NICU and proper staff to deal with preemies(Lungs et al) and Downs syndrome complications (heart et al).

In fact Dr. Johnson’s practice group is listed as - Providence Matanuska Healthcare in her Healthgrades profile. Providence has a number of facilities in AK from local clinics to major hospitals.

Providence in Anchorage is apparently one of the 2 facilities that has NICU et al for preemies and Downs babies in Anchorage. As mentioned before it is 6 miles from the airport.

The hospital’s baby picture page for April 18 does not list the birth or show a picture. This may mean nothing due the celebrity of the baby or its Downs Syndrome.

A logical question for sheer safety sake for any delivery - let alone the Governor of the state - would be why then did Dr, Johnson not meet Palin in Anchorage at the Providence facility (where she is on staff) and deliver the baby there instead of an additional hour drive to a local, more out of the way hospital, close to the Palin home with no NICU?

Dr. Johnson who delivered the child at Mat Su Regional is no longer on staff at that facility. Another odd coincidence since on 2007 she was not only on staff but listed as Medical Director.

Question: Why would the Governor use the Founder of the County’s “Sexual Assault Response Team” as her OBGYN? Why would Bristol if in fact the baby is hers?

The baby is not the Governor’s. It seems the daughter may have been a victim…and remains one today.

Truth matters.

evidence of an attempted coverup:

original page with caption:

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska.....83-t3.html

Same page with newly-altered caption – backdated to 2006:

http://www.adn.com/photos/v-ga.....87-t3.html

Bristol before pregnancy:
http://i430.photobucket.com/al.....ct0210.jpg

Bristol about 3-4 months pregnant:
http://i430.photobucket.com/al.....iliate.jpg

Side by side comparison – first pregnancy vs. 5th
http://i33.tinypic.com/mt70d4.jpg

March 14, 2008 photo of Palin (one month prior to birth of baby):
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska.....19-t3.html

Bristol at VP announcement holding baby:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi.....family.jpg

The “Immaculate Delivery?”

Check out this site:
http://www.bristolpalinpregnant.com/

and this:
http://alaskapodshow.com/index.....au-alaska/

Then read this
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/.....rspective/

Palin during her 1st pregnancy:
http://www.dailykos.com/commen.....1609#c1609

http://yourfreepress.blogspot......-buzz.html

http://digg.com/political_opin.....otos_Video

http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....486/580223
http://img524.imageshack.us/im.....prokr3.jpg

http://gov.state.ak.us/photos/.....de_v01.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/al.....family.jpg

http://209.85.173.104/search?h.....;q=cache%3

She wouldn’t be a candidate for R veep if she didn’t abuse her power to intimidate her enemies and lie at every opportunity.

I hope this whole Gustav thing blows up in McC’S face I guess sound bites and getting elected are all he really cares about –so much for compationate conservatisism

Compassionate conservatism died the day W was elected. It was just a propaganda ploy.

Leave Sarah alo-o-o-o-o-one!

Yep: going to visit the centers where some of the evacuees are, along with Sen, KBH, then on to San Antonio to look at the Gustav operations. Show and Tell for the Pres.

truth matters. this election is about the truth.

I’d like to see this thing investigated by theMSM but I doubt it will happen.And of course no MSm will report on it unless and until they have absolute proof!

I always seem to forget DN starts at 8 a.m. (too busy chatting at the Lake or watching C-Span for as much time as the stomach will allow). Looks like Free Speech TV *is* running the expanded second hour this morning; luckily, both FSTV and LinkTV run it at additional times during the day. :-)

eCAHN - 27’s for you.

Good morning.

The media will be bent out of shape if Gustav is not a total disaster. Yep. Like they were bent out of shape that Billary didn’t wreck the DNC, or Obama didn’t screw up his Mile High speech, or hordes of leftists didn’t riot in the streets of Denver. Ghouls.

As per MSNBC - Gustav lowered to cat 2.

Barbara,

50,000 marchers expected today. and in case you missed it, here are 400 Veterans for Peace marching yesterday . . .was wondering if a certain ‘Flamethrower’ was among them.

Veterans For Peace

proof may be hard to come by medical records are confidential

On friday Siun did an excellent piece on Palins siding with the mining interests agaist the clean water initiative in violation of state law.
Her utilization of state funds for this was ultimately rebuked by the court and the state was forced to take down a web site. We should not forget this lesson as to how Palin’s strategies are exactly in keeping with McBush, Cheney, Rumsfeld etc

this is what i have suspected from the beginning of this story last weekend. what i know about self righteous christians, and iseem to know more than i’d like to, is that they will do ANYTHING to appear ok, moral and ‘normal’ to the outside world, anything.

Ditto. I often get carried away here & forget to put up DN. Then try to catch up later.

I’m off as coffee’s gone.

Hope Gustav spares life.

Thank goodness for the damn Canadians.

Blackmail is one of the most effective tools in foreign espionage. The leaders of this country must not be subject to blackmail. Installing a leader who would go to these lengths to conceal a dark secret virtually ensures the prospect of future blackmail.

This is not a personal issue. This is a national security issue.

That is why the truth matters.

Aaacck!

Sorry about that mess — I thought I snipped out the extraneous stuff from that cut-and-paste . . .

Preview is my friend.
Preview is my friend . . .

Check this out for a good laugh

Juno

Sarah will fit right in in present day Washington,maybe McC did know what he was doing

thanks. am up for a little speaking truth to power today - a coupla ‘masked’ Rethugs, commemorating a special day with a bedsheet reading

Let ‘Em Eat Cake !!

ooh, maybe we can borrow the teenager’s guitar :D

If it looks good it must be good,just don’t look under the hood!!

Laura on ABC…everything going well.

Laura and Ms Cindy are going to the breakfast with LA delegation. Very excited about Sarah…We admire her, strong women, sound judgement. That’s what Laura thinks.

Did you know that nine of the Vets for Peace were arrested for turning left onto St. Peter Street and bypassing a barricade? Ewwwwww . . . . dangerous folks, those vets.

The Goddess of the Lake has a post up over at the Campaign Silo on the Minnesota Police State.

I think I saw a crawl that Sarah conversation is the Oprah topic this afternoon. Caught the end of it.

Wow..you certainly pulled this together. There is absolutely no doubt. But we’ve got two issues here — she’s obviously been lying (to protect her daughter’s reputation? to protect HER own political future?). This is not 1962..or even 1972 — shoot, I’m old enough to remember people in my highschool mysteriously ‘leaving’, ‘going to visit an aunt’, etc. We’ve just been through Brittany Spears’ 16 year old sister having a baby, in full view, with 24/7 media coverage. So, what’s the deal? The good governor was afraid that her daughter’s pregnancy would harm her political aspirations? Was this kid being given proper pre-natal care? Obviously, they had her taken to an out of the way hospital(and with poor facilities, too)to keep things quiet. I have very vivid memories from my time on a news daily in Upstate NY in 1974 that it was well known that an extremely ambitious upstate mayor used to have his wife flown to out of state and out of the way hospitals to get her face fixed after he’d beaten her up.

Krugman on Gustav.

Mostly for the poor, beleaguered NOLA residents, but also for the fortunes of the Pugs, I am deeply hoping that Gustav just totally peters our, leaving Junior, Granddad and Barbie, et al standing all by themselves on the empty streets. Fabulous image.

Hey, g’morning, Prairie. We have to figure out how to get together one of these days, life permitting.

Would the governors insurance pay for this type of medical attention for the daughter

Jesus, I thought you’d been troll hunting.

OK I am a believer. But besides being a liar, is there any political hay to be made?

How about “this is where being inflexible on choice gets you; painted into a corner by your own lies.”

What he’s pulled together are a bunch of blogs screaming about the pregnancy. That’s not proof of squat.

It’s not about making “political hay” from my perspective.

You have to see the big picture here.

What did Rove know and when did he know it? With the resources of the entire Shadow Government at McCain/Rove’s disposal, we must ask ourselves - did they know, or did they not know?

If they knew, then Palin is positively a strawman selection - NOT their final pick for VP…and they did all this on purpose.

If they really didn’t know, then the blogosphere should be in charge of US Intelligence under a McCain Administration, because in no time flat, it figured this out.

Putting forth a strawman prior to your actual choice is strategically brilliant. It takes all the steam out of the pressure cooker before removing the lid. You gain the benefit of hearing the entire political debate on both sides of the issue, such that when you put forth your ACTUAL choice (who looks sooooo much better by comparison), you already have the message framed to appease your own constituents and answer your critics.

Bernard Kerick for Homeland Security Director?

Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice?

Sarah Palin for Vice President of the United States?

Who? What??? Get real.

Behold a pattern

You haven’t watched the video or looked at the photos. These are visual evidence. You are entitled to draw your own conclusions AFTER looking at them with your own eyes.

Swiftboating the medium (and the messengers) is a Rovian tactic.

And the effectiveness of abstinence only approach to sex ed

Sorry..I was looking at the photographs.

I’ve seen the pictures and heard the interviews. You got nothing but speculation. I wouldn’t waste my time swiftboating you.

Why do I have the idea about Gov. Palin that all her choices are predicated on her outrageous personal ambition?

http://www.adn.com/front/story/382864.html

I think this Alaska Daily News story raises questions about her judgement. I’m maintaining an open mind about the whole “daughter is real mother” aspect.

That was their excuse for impeaching Clinton. And it’s a stretch at best.

I think we can justify going after Palin on the basis that that’s the way politics is played and there’s no reason we should unilaterally disarm. So there’s nothing wrong with going after her on personal issues, but I would be careful about playing the “blackmail’ card.

I’m all for going after her for her judgment, etc, but I’m not climbing aboard the BabyGate Train until I see some irrefutable proof of the accusation. Even with that I’d be more comfortable linking it to her judgment rather than some wild-eyed personal attack. Far as I’m concerned continuing to harp on the baby thing without solid proof is nothing more than attention seeking behaviour on the part of the proponents.

I’m old fashioned. Innocent until proven guilty.

Emphasis on proven guilty.