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Joe the Plumber

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After “Joe the Plumber” got mentioned over 20 times in the debate, the media is now obsessed with him, I guess because anything’s better than talking about the issues. McCain brought him up because Joe had asked Obama if he was going to stop him from purchasing his boss’ $250,000 plumbing business by raising his taxes. This has upset him so much that he is denouncing Obama as a “socialist.” Both conservatives and the media has affixed themselves to him because he seems to symbolize your average middle class “Joe”. But there’s a couple of problems:

1) His name isn’t Joe.
2) He isn’t a plumber.
3) He doesn’t have the money to buy the business.
and
4) According to some tax analysts, if his gross receipts from his business is $250,000 — and not his taxable income — then he would not have to pay higher taxes under Mr. Obama’s plan, and probably would be eligible for a tax cut.

One thing was true though. He doesn’t like to pay taxes. He still owes the state over $1,000 in back taxes.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJsPHiQlgYvAsrHz9mvHJlezQJLwD93RSUA00

Infomericals are Not News

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I got sent another one of these “news articles” that attempt to discredit alternative energy:

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=PR&date=20081016&id=9284042

>An analysis by the American Council for Capital Formation and the National Association of Manufacturers shows that if the U.S. had adopted the federal Lieberman/Warner bill (S.2191 with its target of reducing GHGs by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and by 70 percent by 2050), California would have lost income and jobs

Both of these are lobbyist groups that takes money from Exxon. ACCF has collected over a million dollars from Exxon.

http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=77

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Association_of_Manufacturers

> “The facts remain as relevant today as they did two years ago, AB 32 will result in a lot of economic pain for Californians,” Dr. Thorning said. “The cap and trade system will cause ‘leakage’ of industry to states and countries with no mandatory emission caps resulting in job losses and higher energy prices. This is a high price tag to pay for no net reduction in greenhouse gases.”

How can “leakage” create no net reduction in greenhouse gasses unless 100% of it leaks? Of course, Thorning was against Kyoto, and now he’s using the fact that we’re not in Kyoto to make the argument that its stupid for California to lose out to the rest of America.

>”Energy use and economic growth go hand in hand, so helping the developing world improve access to cleaner, more abundant energy should be our focus. Reducing emissions in the developed countries should not take priority over maintaining the strong economic growth necessary to keeping California one of the key engines for global economic growth,” concluded Thorning.

How are we supposed to be helping the developing world improve access to clean energy if we can’t do it ourselves?

Nothing in that email even attempts to address the loss of GDP due to global warming or what money could be made from creating a new market. All it says is underfunded clean energy is not as profitable as over-funded dirty energy. Maybe instead of funding these “nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations” that say alternative energy is bunk along side all those commercials to convince people that they are investing a lot in alternative energy, they should just be using all that money to just invest in alternative energy.

McCain’s Assassin Friend

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Here’s an excerpt from a MediaMatters article:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200810100015?f=h_top

Let’s start with Bill Ayers, since the news media have spent much of the week obliging McCain’s efforts to make him the focus of the campaign. As an activist in the 1960s — when Barack Obama was a young child — Bill Ayers was a member of the Weathermen, a group of radical activists who launched a series of violent demonstrations and bombings in protest of the Vietnam War. Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago and a school reform advocate. During Obama’s first campaign, Ayers hosted a coffee for him, and the two men have served together on the board of a school reform effort funded by a foundation chaired by Leonore Annenberg, who has endorsed John McCain. The New York Times concluded that Obama and Ayers “do not appear to have been close,” and Obama has denounced Ayers’ actions as a member of the Weathermen.

A search* of the Nexis database found that more than 4,500 news reports so far this year have mentioned Obama and Ayers — more than 1,800 this week alone.

Now: G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy served four and a half years in prison for his role in the break-ins at the Watergate and at Daniel Ellsberg’s psychologist’s office. He has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in “if necessary.” He plotted to kill journalist Jack Anderson. He plotted with a “gangland figure” to murder Howard Hunt in order to thwart an investigation. He plotted to firebomb the Brookings Institution. He used Nazi terminology to outline a plan to kidnap “leftist guerillas” at the 1972 GOP convention. And Liddy’s bad acts were not confined to the early 1970s. In the 1990s, he instructed his radio audience on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents (“Go for a head shot; they’re going to be wearing bulletproof vests.” In case anyone missed the subtlety of his point, Liddy also insisted: “Kill the sons of bitches.”) During Bill Clinton’s presidency, Liddy boasted that he named his shooting targets after the Clintons.

What does Liddy have to do with the presidential election? As Media Matters has noted:

Liddy has donated $5,000 to McCain’s campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February 2008. In addition, McCain has appeared on Liddy’s radio show during the presidential campaign, including as recently as May. An online video labeled, “John McCain On The G. Gordon Liddy Show 11/8/07,” includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom Liddy described as an “old friend.” During the segment, McCain praised Liddy’s “adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great,” said he was “proud” of Liddy, and said that “it’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program.”

McCain even backed Liddy’s son’s congressional bid in 2000 — a campaign that relied heavily on the elder Liddy’s history.

To sum up: John McCain is “proud” of his “old friend” Gordon Liddy — an old friend who plotted to kill one of the most respected journalists in American history, and who urged listeners to kill federal agents and advised them on how to do so. McCain campaigned for Liddy’s son, and Liddy has even hosted a fundraiser for McCain at his home.

So McCain’s relationship with Liddy is pretty much a direct parallel to Obama’s relationship with Ayers. Except that McCain and Liddy have apparently spent time together more recently than Obama and Ayers. And Liddy’s extremist activities continued well into the 1990s, at least. And Liddy says he and McCain are “old friends,” while The New York Times says Obama and Ayers aren’t close. And Obama has never said Ayers adheres to “the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.” Other than all that, it’s a direct parallel.

Yet even as they obsess over Barack Obama and Bill Ayers — just as the McCain campaign tells them to — the news media have all but ignored John McCain’s close ties to Gordon Liddy. A Nexis search** finds fewer than 100 news reports that have mentioned McCain and Liddy this year.

As Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman — who has criticized Obama’s relationship with Ayers — has noted:

Liddy, now a conservative radio host, has never expressed regret for this attempt to subvert the Constitution. Nor has he developed any respect for the law. … Yet none of this bothers McCain. Liddy has contributed thousands of dollars to his campaigns, held a fundraiser for McCain at his home and hosted the senator on his radio show, where McCain said, “I’m proud of you.” Exactly which part of Liddy’s record is McCain proud of?

While Obama has gotten lots of scrutiny for his connection to Ayers, McCain has never had to explain his association with Liddy. If he can’t defend it, he should admit as much. And if he thinks he can defend it, let him.

To repeat:

* 2008 news reports that mention Obama and Ayers: more than 4,500.

* 2008 news reports that mention McCain and Liddy: fewer than 100.

Incredibly, The Atlantic’s Ambinder today suggests that the media have not covered Ayers: “To truly drive Ayers into the public conversation, to trick what they consider an irredeemably biased press corps into biting, McCain has three vehicles gassed up and ready to go. … So far, McCain has done none of those things.” There are 1,800 Nexis hits for Barack Obama and Bill Ayers in the past week, and yet Marc Ambinder thinks the media have not bitten on the Ayers “story” — and that McCain, who is running ads about Ayers, isn’t “really serious” about pushing it, anyway. Even Steve Schmidt would likely be too embarrassed to try to claim that the media have not covered Bill Ayers.

Incidentally, Ambinder doesn’t seem to have ever mentioned McCain’s relationship to Liddy.

Not only have the media avoided stand-alone reports on McCain and Liddy, they consistently fail to bring up the connection when reporting on McCain’s attacks on Obama’s ties to Ayers, or in interviews with McCain staff who bring up Ayers. The McCain/Liddy relationship is such an obvious parallel — except arguably much worse — that it’s hard to imagine how any evenhanded journalist could possibly justify ignoring it. Yet it happens again and again. And, needless to say, McCain aides do not get badgered about Liddy the way Time’s Mark Halperin badgered Obama aide Robert Gibbs about Ayers.

Just this morning, NBC’s Chuck Todd said he is “sure” Ayers will come up during the final presidential debate next week, adding that moderator Bob Schieffer “may feel no choice but to bring it up” in light of the “TV ads” the McCain campaign and Republican National Committee are running. Setting aside the absurdity of the suggestion that a debate moderator is compelled to bring up a topic simply because John McCain is running ads about it, if Schieffer does ask about Ayers, basic fairness demands that he ask McCain about Liddy as well.

OK … moving on. How about controversial religious figures? Earlier this year, Media Matters showed that The New York Times and The Washington Post had published a total of 161 articles, editorials, and opinion pieces that mentioned Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright — and only 12 that mentioned John McCain and John Hagee. That disparity wasn’t unique to the Times and the Post — and it hasn’t evened out over time.

161 to 12.

Land deals? Barack Obama once bought a parcel of land from a controversial donor named Tony Rezko. Obama paid more than the land’s assessed value — but that hasn’t stopped the news media from suggesting Obama had an improper relationship with Rezko.

Comparatively little attention has been paid to John McCain’s relationship with real estate developer Donald Diamond. Diamond, a co-chair of McCain’s campaign finance committee, has raised more than $250,000 for McCain’s presidential bid and is a “close personal friend” and longtime political patron. For his part, McCain has sponsored two bills sought by Diamond that helped the developer gain what The New York Times described as “millions of dollars and thousands of acres” of land. And McCain helped Diamond buy another parcel of land from the U.S. Army — a deal that helped Diamond turn a $20 million profit. The Washington Post and USA Today have identified other land deals McCain has facilitated as senator that have benefited some of his biggest donors and fundraisers.

Yet a Media Matters review last month found that five national newspapers had run a total of 39 articles, editorials, and opinion pieces that mentioned Obama and Rezko — but only seven that mentioned McCain and his donors’ land deals:

[S]ince The New York Times’ initial April 22 article [about McCain and Diamond], the land deals have been mentioned in only six additional news articles, editorials, or opinion pieces in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, or The Washington Post, and have yet to be mentioned on any evening network news program. By contrast, during the same time period, 39 news articles, editorials, or opinion pieces in those papers have collectively mentioned Obama and Rezko; and the evening news broadcasts have collectively mentioned Obama and Rezko in five reports.

39 to 7.

Terrorists and Secessionists

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“The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government.”

“My government is my worst enemy. I’m going to fight them with any means at hand.”

Sound like Rev. Wright? Bill Ayers? Try Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaskan Separatist Party that Todd Palin was a member of for 6 to 7 years. The AIP founder made the comment in 1991, in an interview that’s now housed at the Oral History Program in the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Two years later, Vogler was scheduled to denounce America as a tyranny before the U.N. His sponsors? The Islamic Republic of Iran. But before he took the world stage, he was killed by a fellow seccessionist. Here’s another quote from Vogler:

“And I won’t be buried under their damn flag… I’ll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home.”

Vogler advocated renouncing allegiance to the United States. In the course of denouncing Federal regulation over land, he said:

“And then you get mad. And you say, the hell with them. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska.”

This is the same group Sarah Palin recorded an address for the convention, saying “Keep up the good work”, and now she’s complaining about Obama “palling around” with Ayers. By “palling around”, she of course means being a part of a mainstream (not “radical” as falsely stated by a McCain ad) education committee supported by a Republican governor, with local civil leaders on the board, which included Ayers as well as a former Nixon administration official who has contributed to McCain’s campaign.

Let’s compare these to the infamous Rev. Wright quotes:

“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people,” he said in a 2003 sermon. “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”

In addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda’s attacks because of its own terrorism.

“We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye,” Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost,” he told his congregation.

Well, John Kerry’s 1989 Committe report concluded that members of the U.S. State Department “provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking… and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers.” And I’ve heard the conservative mantra of “…then build bigger prisons.”

Wright accuses people who say “God Bless America” as worshipping country over God. I’ve been told this is unchristian. I find it to be uniquely Christian. Before Constantine fuzed Orthodox Christianity into the Eastern Roman Empire, Christians were unique among their fellow Jews and Romans in refusing to ally themselves with either the authorities of Rome or Judea. Most religious people today make the mistake of combining the two and kids are even forced in our schools to “pray” to the idol of Lady Liberty with their hands over our hearts in the droning chant typical of brainwashing. Vogler though, along with those who follow him, only wish to replace the American flag with the Alaskan one, even if it means getting founding from Iran to denounce America as a tyrany before the U.N. Considering the historic injustice perpetuated on African Americans, it’s no surprise to me that there are “black separatist” groups. But the idea that Palin’s husband wants Alaska to separate when his wife is taking in all these huge Federal earmarks is ridiculous.

The references to Hiroshima, Palestinians, and South Africa will no doubt piss off conseravtives, but I find these controversies far more open to interpretation than most of the stuff I read from the conservative Human Events newsletter. He’s obviously a conspiracy theorist. But unlike the author of the bestselling book “Obama Nation,” who thinks the Bush Administration caused 9/11, at least Wright is fighting against the side he believes to be perpetrating mass injustice on the population.

Anyone who watched or read Obama’s speech about “A More Perfect Union” knows that he has a completely different worldview than Wright:

“On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

“I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.”

“But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.”

……

“But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.”

Do you think the AIP does charity work? Somehow I doubt it. Here’s the full speech:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/18/text-of-obamas-speech-a-more-perfect-union/?mod=googlenews_wsj

Maybe this seems to be too far a reach since this is the Vice President’s husband, not the President. But the problem with this objection is McCain could die while in office. If McCain croaks, Palin will be president, and there is a good chance that Todd could become the “shadow president”, just as some have referred to him as the “shadow governor”. The latest ethics panel that found Sarah Palin violated ethics laws and abused her power as governor also pointed out that Todd was heavily involved. An article from globeandmail.com says:

>According to those close to the administration, he attending meetings, sat in on interviews, made phone calls to lawmakers to express his support for his wife’s issues and was copied in on staff e-mails.

>He has been referred to as the “shadow governor” and The New York Times reported that his constant involvement in state business prompted some of the staff in the governor’s office to begin asking, “What would Todd do?” when faced with decisions that would affect his wife’s agenda.

This is not something from the distant past either. Max Blumenthal writes:

“Extremists Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll helped launch Palin’s political career in Alaska, and in return had influence over policy. “Her door was open,” says Chryson — and still is.”

…

“Palin backed [former Alaska Independence party chairman, Mark] Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution’s language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as “Black Helicopter Steve,” to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. “Every time I showed up her door was open,” said Chryson. “And that policy continued when she became governor.” …

Chryson further streamlined the AIP’s platform by softening its secessionist language. Instead of calling for immediate separation from the Uni ted States, the platform now demands a vote on independence. Yet Chryson maintains that his party remains committed to full independence. “The Alaskan Independence Party has got links to almost every independence-minded movement in the world,” Chryson exclaimed. “And Alaska is not the only place that’s about separation. There’s at least 30 different states that are talking about some type of separation from the United States.”

Even Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley and author of “Thank You for Smoking”, has written an article denouncing Palin and arguing for the “conservative case for Obama”.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/aip_founder_professed_hatred_f.php

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/he_lied_about_bill_ayers.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081010.CAMPAIGNPALIN10/TPStory/International

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27105917/
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-10/the-conservative-case-for-obama

Financial Crisis Links

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Make-Believe Maverick
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick/print

Frank Says GOP Housing Attacks Racially Motivated
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93LAKT01&show_article=1

Media Matters Defends Barney Frank
http://mediamatters.org/items/200810010014?f=s_search

Ron Paul Backs Up Barney Frank as He Denegrates the Fed

Buchanan Questions if Victory is Possible in Afghanistan
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28896

Lehman CEO Knocked Out in Gym
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081006150152.aspx

Jim Cramer on the Economic Crisis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SptB3STL5rs