Archive for October, 2008
Bubble Wrapped Kids
Halloween has got some of us all reflecting on our childhoods when we would gather with our friends and run around the neighborhood in our plastic masks. Or like the times my friends and I would play baseball using the four street corners as bases. Today people would hardly let their kids walk to a […]
31Oct2008 | Cole James | Comments Off on Bubble Wrapped Kids | ContinuedEagleburger Says Palin Isn’t Ready Yet
By Julie Bosman BREEZEWOOD, Pa. — Has the list of former secretaries of state supporting the Republican ticket been whittled down to four? In an interview on National Public Radio on Thursday, Lawrence Eagleburger, who served during the second term of President George H.W. Bush, was asked if Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is prepared […]
31Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Eagleburger Says Palin Isn’t Ready Yet | ContinuedTragic Leaps of Emotional Logic
There is something terribly wrong in our country. Leaps of logic are flying in random patterns of chaos. The other day there was a letter to the editor in our local paper that stated emphatically that Barack Obama is a Muslim – the evidence, Obama’s middle name and his father was from Africa. What is […]
31Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 4 comments | ContinuedYou’re for Obama or You’re Racist
With the possibility of having our first black President, Democrats are doing everything they can to help Obama win. They have brought voters out in record numbers, have rallied all across America and have done so with the use of fear. It seems that the easiest way to snag voters is to paint the opposition […]
30Oct2008 | Cole James | 4 comments | ContinuedBarack Obama – The Color of Water
These are troubling times of war and of economic despair. Yet there is a sense of hope. 50 million people in this country lack health care. Yet there is a sense of hope. We speak of immigration as if we are talking about cattle. Yet there is a sense of hope. Hope transcends troubles. Hope […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 9 comments | ContinuedPartisan pollsters disagree on WH race
by Frank James There’s been a good back and forth this week between Democratic and Republican pollsters. Stan Greenberg of Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner, a Democratic pollster, sent out his own analysis of the presidential race this afternoon, to counter one distributed earlier in the week by Bill McInturff, official pollster for Sen. John McCain’s campaign. […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Partisan pollsters disagree on WH race | ContinuedMcCain in the Gutter
By Joe Klein There is so much desperate, crapulous spew from the McCain campaign right now that it’s hard to keep track of it all–but this ad, via Andrew Sullivan, marks some sort of low. Yet again–in a last, desperate attempt to scare the elderly Jews of Florida–McCain posits Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the “leader” of […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on McCain in the Gutter | ContinuedCall Him John the Careless
Thursday, October 30, 2008; Page A23 From the invasion of Iraq to the selection of Sarah Palin, carelessness has characterized recent episodes of faux conservatism. Tuesday’s probable repudiation of the Republican Party will punish characteristics displayed in the campaign’s closing days. Some polls show that Palin has become an even heavier weight in John McCain’s […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Call Him John the Careless | ContinuedWhich Came First? Religion or Depression
There’s a cartoon with a chicken and an egg in bed together. The chicken is smoking a cigarette with a very satisfied expression on his face, and the egg is restless and disgruntled. The caption above the egg says, “Well, I guess that answers the question.” That’s how I think of the relationship between depression […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Which Came First? Religion or Depression | ContinuedParsing the (Tracking) Poll: October Surprise
Although there are only two days left in October, there are still many people in the political world waiting for an “October Surprise” — some sort of game-changing event in the final moment before the general election that could fundamentally alter the race between Barack Obama and John McCain. Four years ago, that “surprise” was […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Parsing the (Tracking) Poll: October Surprise | ContinuedBill Clinton and Barack Obama, Together at Last
By Jeff Zeleny Bill Clinton and Barack ObamaPresident Bill Clinton and Senator Barack Obama campaigned together for the first time Wednesday night in Kissimmee, Fla. (Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times) KISSIMMEE, Fla. – On a chilly Florida night, former President Bill Clinton warmly embraced Senator Barack Obama as a fresh leader for a new […]
30Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Together at Last | ContinuedSenator Obama, To Sir With Love
Senator Obama, Thank you. You have brought a sense of hope to this country, nay – to this world. It seems so long since we felt hope. On September 11, 2001, the rooster crowed. A new age was upon us but the world was slow to awaken. Stumbling in the early morning darkness we knocked […]
29Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 9 comments | ContinuedMcCain has a Plumber; Obama has an Army
Or, rather, an Air Force pilot: The convention in Denver was Mr. Finan’s introduction to big-time politics, and he quickly found himself doing broadcast interviews for the first time. Between events he and about 25 other Iraq and Afghanistan veterans became like a small platoon. They slept on supporters’ floors. They hung out. And they […]
29Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on McCain has a Plumber; Obama has an Army | ContinuedJoe You-Know-Who Gets a Manager
By Larry Rohter If he gets his way, Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, also known as “Joe the Plumber,” plans to enjoy a lot more than just 15 minutes of fame. Two weeks after emerging as the Republican Party’s favorite proxy for the American working man, Mr. Wurzelbacher has signed a management deal meant to keep him […]
29Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Joe You-Know-Who Gets a Manager | ContinuedThe Blurry View Of Barack Obama’s Religion
Barack Obama has said, many times and in no uncertain terms, “I am a Christian.” He has been on the cover of Sojourner’d magazine, a Christian publication. His former pastor, The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, was in the spotlight for some unseemly comments about patriotism (among other things), but Reverend Wright was clearly a Christian preacher. […]
29Oct2008 | bryan | 2 comments | ContinuedObama’s Best Chance – Palin’s Example
The opportunity for the White House increased dramatically with the McCain choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Initially Palin energized what the Republicans call their base. She did and she does energize those people and that is exactly what is wrong with the Republican Party. Check out the latest Obama advertisement: Plain represents […]
29Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | ContinuedAxelrod: Obama TV Show to Focus on ‘Where He Wants to Lead’
By Robert Barnes NORFOLK — Barack Obama’s 30-minute informercial airing Wednesday night will feature vignettes of people and families whom Obama has met during his nearly two-year campaign, and it will include a live component from a campaign rally in Florida, campaign sources said tonight. “Barack Obama: American Stories” is the name of the unusual […]
29Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Axelrod: Obama TV Show to Focus on ‘Where He Wants to Lead’ | ContinuedNew Obama Ad Hits McCain’s Choice of Palin
By Kate Phillips The Obama-Biden campaign has directly singled out Senator John McCain’s choice of a running mate — using footage of Gov. Sarah Palin as she winks — in a new commercial that questions the Republican ticket’s preparedness on economic issues. Called “His Choice,” the ad plays music as comments by Mr. McCain on […]
29Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Vindication of Howard Dean
Markos Moulitsas has a post today about the vindication of Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy. He’s right. When Dean launched the project, many thought it was foolhardy. As late as October 2006, top Dem strategists and elected officials were bemoaning the way Dean had spread the party’s money around instead of concentrating it on targets of […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Vindication of Howard Dean | ContinuedRNC Borrows $5 Million For Senate Races
The Republican National Committee has taken out a $5 million line of credit to help fund last minute efforts to keep Senate Democrats from winning a filibuster-proof 60 seat majority, according to an official with the committee. Of the $5 million, $2 million is being directly transferred to the National Republican Senatorial Committee while $3 […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on RNC Borrows $5 Million For Senate Races | ContinuedTell Me I Am Not Conservative
Yikes – someone called me a conservative, how disgusting. I said something about living within our means and the guy in the checkout line at Wal Mart called me a conservative – as if there was something wrong with me. He was buying some tabloid magazines – I don’t know if that means he is […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | ContinuedMcCain’s Spiritual Guide – Inciting Hatred
John McCain’s Republican Party is attacking Barack Obama this week with advertisements highlighting the loony Reverend Jeremiah Wright. McCain has said that he would not go there – and now claims he can’t control independent groups. We are talking about the Republican National Committee. John McCain is the standard bearer of his party. John McCain […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 3 comments | ContinuedRebuilding the Kansas City Chiefs
Every 10 years or so, professional sports teams go into rebuilding modes. When teams are saying rebuilding, it means out with the old in with the new. Aging players are let go, traded or benched for the new fresh stock of prospective rookies. The New England Patriots have been successful in building their team from […]
28Oct2008 | Cole James | 1 comment | ContinuedLooking Ahead to Harry Potter
Truly, Harry Potter is one of the great stories of our generation. In a culture that is disconnected with a sense of a meta-narrative, Harry Potter gives us a glimpse into what it means to be shaped by the power of story. What is it about this story specifically that has captured our cultured and […]
28Oct2008 | bryan | Comments Off on Looking Ahead to Harry Potter | ContinuedHealing Before Empowering
Christianity is good for both men and women, even when it does not empower us. Americans often carry the illusion that empowering a person is always a good thing, but a moment of reflection clears up that optimistic fantasy. Bad people should not be empowered and good people already are. Jesus Christ provides a way […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Healing Before Empowering | ContinuedEvangelicals on Nov. 4: Four Predictions
One week until Election Day. Time to start making predictions on the basis of the Faith and Values story lines we have been pursuing since the Summer of 2007. Today, the Evangelicals (tomorrow Jews): A higher percentage of Evangelicals will vote for Obama than voted for Kerry: I would mortgage the house on this one […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Evangelicals on Nov. 4: Four Predictions | ContinuedMcCain Calls for Stevens to Resign
By Michael Falcone Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, called for the resignation of his longtime colleague, Senator Ted Stevens, who was convicted on Monday of seven felony counts related to violations of federal ethics laws. Despite the verdict, Mr. Stevens reiterated his innocence on Monday and vowed to not only keep his Senate […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on McCain Calls for Stevens to Resign | ContinuedThe Pollster WaPo-ABC Track: Early Birds for Obama
By Jon Cohen and Jennifer Agiesta More than twelve million voters have already cast ballots in the presidential contest, according to one estimate, and new data from the Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll shows these voters breaking Democratic by a wide margin. Among those who said they have already voted at an early voting location […]
28Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Pollster WaPo-ABC Track: Early Birds for Obama | ContinuedIs McCain a Natural Blonde
John McCain has had so many gaffes this year that some of the boys down at the Bait Shop are wondering if he is a natural Blond. We did not think much of this talk until Elizabeth Horseback went on the Campaign stump for McCain and Palin. That about sealed the deal. She wrote the […]
27Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Is McCain a Natural Blonde | ContinuedThrift Stores-Savings and Charity
Over the course of this year we have seen everything go up in price. Gas has hit over four dollars per gallon and the price milk is up 30%. With rising energy costs, living expenses and the high rate of unemployment, we are all searching for ways to cut costs. Thrift stores can be a […]
27Oct2008 | Cole James | Comments Off on Thrift Stores-Savings and Charity | ContinuedMcCain Has Found His Voice, But It Is Too Late
The McCain campaign has finally found their voice – their message. McCain is beginning to hammer on the economy. Their campaign is minimizing Bill Ayers (it was not working), minimizing commander in chief questions (it was not working), minimizing Iraq war strategies (it was not working). McCain is finally talking about fiscal ideology. But it […]
27Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on McCain Has Found His Voice, But It Is Too Late | ContinuedUpdated Fix Electoral Map Picks: An Obama Landslide
<p><strong>><a href=’http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/’>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a></strong> – Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.</p> Barack Obama stands on the cusp of an electoral vote blowout over John McCain with just eight days left in the 2008 general election. On our latest Fix electoral map, we have Obama at 349 electoral votes — his […]
27Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Updated Fix Electoral Map Picks: An Obama Landslide | ContinuedRethinking the Notion of Political Dominance
By John Harwood It would be remarkable, in any year, for a black Democratic candidate for president to be ahead in polls one week before Election Day. Even more remarkable is that it’s happening this year. In 2004, after President Bush won re-election with expanded Republican majorities in Congress, academics, journalists and party strategists wondered […]
26Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Rethinking the Notion of Political Dominance | ContinuedMissourians For Obama
Is it Missourians or Missourites? We never know. We live in Punkin Center, Missouri, and we are voting for that Chicago politician, Barack Obama. Generally we don’t take much to Chicago politicians, but this fella seems different. Down the road in St. Joe the Newspaper just came out for that McCain boy. We figured they […]
26Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 2 comments | ContinuedRepublicans, Intellectual or Joe Six-Pack
Is there something wrong with being intellectual? There was a time when Republicans were proud of their position on advancing education, proud of elite education, proud that America offered educational opportunities to all. But something has gone wrong. The Republicans of the past thirty years have discredited thier greatest strength – the opportunity of America. […]
26Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Republicans, Intellectual or Joe Six-Pack | ContinuedMcCain Cites ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ (He’d Be Truman)
By Larry Rohter Dewey Defeats Truman(Photo: Byron Rollis/Associated Press, 1948) MESILLA, N.M. — There have been moments in this hard-fought presidential campaign when Senator John McCain has seemed to find his much younger Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, rather presumptuous and cocksure. That was the impression he left at some of the debates, and on […]
26Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on McCain Cites ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ (He’d Be Truman) | ContinuedThere Are People In This World Other Than Americans.
No words can match the music and the images. Just Bang the Drums Slowly. We in America should remember in these sad times that we are not alone on this planet. Neither are we more deserving than any other people. All of the people of the earth are spiritual equals.
25Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on There Are People In This World Other Than Americans. | ContinuedThoughts On Original Sin
Some Jungian analysts suggest that original sin relates to family of origin.The idea is in order to be ‘saved’ from the original sin one must escape the dysfunction of one’s family of origin. Original ‘sin,’ as defined by theologians, takes many different forms. We are born with the sin of Adam, for instance. Or we […]
25Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | ContinuedTesting John McCain and Barack Obama
John McCain is beginning his campaign rallies with: “Do we want a President who will be tested? My friends, I have been tested many times and I have the scars to prove it.” Not so fast big shooter. Your scars are not very flattering. Much like a sporting event, where people are tested on the […]
25Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 1 comment | ContinuedParsing the (Tracking) Poll: Feeling Voters’ Pain
One of the essential character traits in any successful politician is an ability — whether real or feigned — to connect with the hopes and fears of the average voter. Voters tend to like to vote for politicians that they believe are extraordinary (whether that means in terms of charisma, brain power of some other […]
25Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Parsing the (Tracking) Poll: Feeling Voters’ Pain | ContinuedThe Saturday Word: Back on the Trail
Today, both presidential candidates will spend time in New Mexico. With Senator Barack Obama returning to the mainland late last night from his visit with his gravely ill grandmother in Hawaii, his campaign has released a two-minute advertisement in which he speaks directly to voters. In it, he says: “At this defining moment in our […]
25Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Saturday Word: Back on the Trail | ContinuedLincoln’s Rhetorical Flourishes, Shame on McCain/Palin
The idea of responding to Sarh Palin is contemptible. Responding to McCain is bad enough. But McCain has put the country in this position – and respond we must. The latest attack by Palin is to suggest in a demeaning manner that Barack Obama “… knows something about rhetorical flourishes.” Be whatever you want, Sarah […]
24Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Lincoln’s Rhetorical Flourishes, Shame on McCain/Palin | ContinuedFalse Attack Latest In McCain Camp Disgust
This story is just disgusting. Even more so because it was promoted and encouraged by the McCain Camp. This disturbance is a direct result of McCain’s use of the Dark Arts of Rovian Politics. McCain and Palin and their Republican cronies have stooped to hate speech, lies, threats, and now fake stories to try to […]
24Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 8 comments | ContinuedThe Root of Obama’s Calm is Humility
Why is Barack Obama so calm. People have been throwing rocks at him for two years that we know about – and he smiles and nods his head, he remains calm. The world of finance collapses and Obama remains calm. John McCain calls him a Muslim terrorist and he remains calm. What is going on […]
24Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | 8 comments | ContinuedTaxes Are Inherently Socialistic
Taxes. No one likes them, no one agrees on equal distribution, no one wants them raised – but we all agree that they are necessary and useful. How insane is that? Taxes are inherently socialistic – they inherently redistribute the wealth. From the U. S. Department of the Treasury: “The federal, state, and local tax […]
24Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Taxes Are Inherently Socialistic | ContinuedThe Day The Earth Stood Still
November 4, 2008, the earth will stand still. There are moments in human history when all people of all nations stop – they pause their lives – they watch. Sometimes we are captivated in hopeful anticipation, other times frozen in fear and awe. September 11, 2001 was a day of fear and awe. July 20, […]
24Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Day The Earth Stood Still | ContinuedThe Early Word: A Way for McCain
By Michael Falcone Though pollsters and pundits may forecast dwindling options for the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, with 11 days to go The Times’s Adam Nagourney throws some cold water on the notion that the presidential race is over: “The McCain campaign is roughly in the position where Vice President Gore was running […]
24Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on The Early Word: A Way for McCain | ContinuedMr. Greenspan Goes to Washington, Shock and Disbelief
Alan Greenspan goes to Washington. And this time he sounds more like Jimmy Stewart as the naive Boy Scout leader who is appointed to the Senate in the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” The Jimmy Stewart character is a Boy Scout, full of innocence, always hopeful, and believing in the honesty of others. He […]
23Oct2008 | Ohg Rea Tone | Comments Off on Mr. Greenspan Goes to Washington, Shock and Disbelief | Continued