List five political reasons you have to be thankful for this season.

1) Barack Obama is the President Elect.  Like him or not, which I do, I am thankful America has grown to a point where someone other than a good ol’ white boy can become president.  yes there are those who are still racists and there always will be, but this does show a change in America’s attitude towards race just since I became a voting adult back in 1992.

2) We are at the end of era for Republicans.  Republicans, or as they are more properly rethuglicans, are no longer going to be able to push America around like mob bosses preying on the weak using fear and intimidation to push through their own machinations.

3) The economy is finally showing its true self now that the Bush lie machine is breaking down.

4) Our local School Levy passed.  No matter comes down from on high in regards to education local school levies are the most important indicator of how much support a district has from its community.  When the people no longer see any value in the local schools it is time to start looking elsewhere for your family.

5) There is an end to all the damned political commercials.

The Digg Story you are most thankful to see this morning:

• http://digg.com/politics/Florida_s_Gay_Adoption_Ban_Overturned

• Judge over turns Florida’s Gay adoption ban

Random act of SEO kindness: Link to 4 blog posts of people you don’t know.

• The Mormon Cult
• The 6 Things Meme
• Bush Filling Science Slots With Unqualified People
• A Science Fiction Thanksgiving

This Meme was submitted to Memes For Blogs and was published on 11-27-08

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Thankfully Roman Heleniak is right and we are nearly done with Dick Cheney’s second term.
Hammond Daily Star Online - Columnists

Just off the Turnip Truck: Here’s mud in your eye

By Roman Heleniak

Friday, October 31, 2008 10:17 AM CDT

We are in the last throes —Super Dick Cheney’s term — of the long, long presidential campaign, one that the talking heads claim has been marred by “negative” campaigning. Furthermore, they assert that the slanderous attacks have encouraged easily excited kooks to commit acts of violence or stupidity.

First, is the reaction of some McCain/Palin supporters to the strong words voiced by their candidates. Shouts of “kill him” or “traitor” have been heard at GOP rallies, along with orchestrated boos and cheers. Obama’s crowds also engage in jeering on cue, although no shouts of “kill McCain” have been heard. Sarah is much too valuable to the Democrats to wish her any harm. Some youthful Obama supporters were caught destroying McCain signs and were chased off by the property owner wielding a gun.

The actions of the young chumps mentioned above have been matched somewhat by unstable conservatives. For example, a young McCain supporter claimed that she was robbed and assaulted by a “large black man” who when he saw her car festooned with McCain signs, carved a “B” on her cheek. The story had all the elements that give right wingers nightmares: an innocent young white woman, a menacing black man, and violence. Alas, before the incident could gain any traction, the police exposed the woman’s story as hoax. For one thing the B was carved backwards on her cheek, suggesting that she did it to herself while looking into a mirror. Old Turnip wonders why no one suggested that the B might have stood for Bush, a more deserving villain than Obama.

Next, we have the saga of two young white guys who are described as “skinhead Nazis.” While there is no evidence that these two fools are McCain supporters or that they are news junkies, they appear to be motivated enough to have plotted the assassination of Barrack Obama. The dysfunctional duo hatched a wild plan to don white tuxedos and high silk hats and drive their Nazi-Mobile into an Obama rally firing away at black people until they could put Obama in their sights. They had just enough sense to know that they would not survive this caper. Old Turnip is perplexed as to why two idiots would concoct such a misadventure or to why skinhead Nazi ideas appeal to them. Their stupidity, however, reaffirms Turnip’s contention that young men should not be allowed to drive until they are 25 years old or serving in the military.
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This writer does not think that the level of slime in this campaign is anything special. In fact, he does not believe that all political attacks are really “negative.” McCain deriding Obama’s energy policy is a legitimate tactic; questioning his ancestry would not be. The media deserve to be criticized for not noting the difference between vile Rove/Bush-type of slime slinging and political discourse.

Additionally, the level of mudslinging by McCain and Obama is mild compared to previous presidential campaigns. In 1800, Federalists denounced Jefferson as the anti-Christ; in 1828, opponents branded Andrew Jackson’s mother a common whore; in 1860 and 1864 Abraham Lincoln was described as a baboon. In 2004, swift voters questioned John Kerry’s three Purple Hearts. So McCain calling Obama a “socialist” is tame stuff.

Turnip concedes that the Obama-loving media have given the Illinois senator somewhat of a free pass on his negative campaigning. They’ve ignored Obama’s extremely slanderous attack on the Arizona senator, perhaps one of the most vicious personal attacks in recent political history. Senator Obama, gasp, has described the Arizona senator as another George W. Bush. How foul.

Make certain to vote for one of the two scoundrels on Tuesday.

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In Some respects I am really glad to see early voting done.  It goes a long way to making voting easier for many many people.  on the other hand knowing that the vote is well underway weeks if not months earlier than the election means that the stupid things your candidate does or when the skeletons come out of the closet you can’t rethink your decision to vote for the other guy (or woman as the case may be).

54 percent of Fayette voters went early | The Citizen Online

Fri, 10/31/2008 - 4:48pm

By: The Citizen

Data doesn’t include today’s figures; no early voting Monday

As of the end of business Thursday, more than half of Fayette County’s eligible voters have done their civic duty, elections officials reported.

The actual percentage was 53.7 percent, as 37,845 voters through Thursday have continued to take advantage of early voting. This week voters could choose from three precincts: one in Peachtree City, Tyrone and Fayetteville.

But there will be no early voting Monday, as mandated per state law. That break is designed to give elections officials a chance to prepare for the traditional election day in which all of Fayette’s 36 precincts will be up and running.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at all precincts.

Through Thursday afternoon, several precincts have led the way in early voters, said Elections Office Brenda Jones.

The Europe precinct in north Fayette County has already voted 1,509 of its 2,500 voters and the Spring Hill precinct in south Fayetteville has voted 1,622 of its 2,800 voters, Jones said.

In Tyrone, the Sandy Creek precinct has seen 1,604 of its 3,400 voters cast ballots already, Jones said.

Elections officials are expected to work through the weekend in preparation for election day Tuesday.

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Jonesboro Sun

Street chief quits after probe

BY KEITH INMAN

JONESBORO — Tony Davis, Jonesboro’s street superintendent, resigned effective Wednesday after being cleared in a fraud investigation.

His resignation letter didn’t state a reason for leaving, but Gloria Roark, the city’s human resources director, acknowledged “there were some issues with Tony’s performance.”

The letter indicated he would be on administrative leave with pay for the next two weeks and receive pay for 60 hours of accrued vacation time. Davis worked for the city since late January, moving here from northwest Arkansas.

On Oct. 6 Public Works Director Erick Woodruff requested an investigation into possible fraud. Jonesboro Detective Jason Simpkins concluded there had been no criminal violations.

Davis said Wednesday afternoon he had not seen the report.

At issue was a “flower fund” maintained for the benefit of Street and Sanitation Department employees. The fund is independent from city government, Simpkins said in his investigative report.

“Mr. Woodruff reported several deposits, which were deposited into the City of Jonesboro Flower Fund by Mr. Davis’ department,” dating back since March 20, Simpkins wrote. The deposits totaled $3,003.67. The deposit slips had been signed by both Davis and Sanitation Superintendent Royce Leonard, Simpkins said.

Most of the money came from the sale of scrap material, such as old culverts and large pieces of metal that had been replaced in city streets, according to Simpkins’ report.

Woodruff also gave Simpkins seven checks, totaling $4,975.20 from Hummelstein’s metal recycling business that had not yet been deposited into the fund.

Simpkins’ report indicated that Woodruff questioned Davis about the checks and that Davis told him he had Hummelstein’s write the checks separately in order to keep the money from having to be deposited into the city’s Street Fund.

Simpkins concluded that no single person benefited from the transactions.

“The money, which was received from Hummelstein’s, has been accounted for in the flower fund account,” Simpkins said. “The money deposited equals the money listed on the deposit slips. At this time, it appears that the items brought to Hummelstein’s may have possibly included items used in culverts, and in street repair. The money received from Hummelstein’s appears to have been deposited into the flower fund account, when it should have been deposited into the account for the City of Jonesboro Street Department.”

In closing the case, Simpkins referred the issue back to the city administration as a personnel matter.

Davis said the flower fund had been in existence long before he came to Jonesboro.

“As far as I’ve been told, it’s a legitimate fund,” Davis said. He added that Woodruff had withdrawn money from the same bank account for employee dinners.

He declined further comment.

More involved in departure

Woodruff said late Wednesday he had not made any withdrawals from the flower fund. He added that there was more involved in Davis’ departure. Woodruff said he had always believed the independent fund only contained proceeds from vending machines. When he learned in April that scrap metal from a bridge replacement on North Culberhouse Street had been recycled, with proceeds going into the flower fund, Woodruff said he asked Finance Director Jim Barksdale about the practice. Barksdale told him proceeds from recycled metal should be placed either in the Street Fund or General Fund.

Woodruff said he then instructed Davis to transfer that money from the flower fund into city coffers. When he learned that Davis had continued the practice in subsequent months, Woodruff said he requested the investigation.

“Before any action was taken regarding Tony Davis, he resigned,” Woodruff said.

Woodruff said he believes the practice of selling scrap metal and placing it into the flower fund began under a previous administration and involved scrap metal retrieved from the city’s landfill. He said he can’t undo what was done under a previous administration.

“Yes, there was a problem, I’ve addressed it, and I’ve corrected it,” Woodruff said.

Woodruff said Leonard faces no repercussions from the flower fund deposits.

inman@jonesborosun.com

Post 18 of 100 of Brad’s Tiny World Scribefire Challenge.

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In typical fashion we find President George W Bush trying to improve his popularity within his own party rather than doing what is right for the country or the world.  We were prepared to send in diplomats, something advocated by Barack Obama, but then Bush had to reconsider now that the GOP is down in the polls across the country.

AP Exclusive: US won’t put diplomats in Iran - Yahoo! News
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has shelved plans to set up a diplomatic outpost in Iran, in part over fears it could affect the U.S. presidential race or be interpreted as political meddling, The Associated Press has learned.

The proposal to send U.S. diplomats to Tehran for the first time in three decades attracted great attention when it was first floated seriously over the summer but has now been placed on indefinite hold as November’s election nears and Iran continues to defy demands to halt suspect nuclear activities, officials told the AP.

In the end this will be remembered as just one more failure of the Bush presidency. When we had the opportunity to directly influence a country through non lethal means something the opposition party has been recommending for a very long time, he turned his back on it in favor of Republican party unity.

In many ways I have to laugh at the Republican strategy when it comes to diplomacy with the likes of Iran, North Korea and Cuba. They are out there dick waving shouting mine is bigger than yours and don’t you dare piss us off. It strikes me as odd for several reasons. First, I know the GOP is mostly made up of good ol’ boys who think peeing for distance should be an Olympic sport, but for the most part they are so homophobic that even metaphorically whipping it out near others poses a challenge. Then shouting mine is bigger than yours, and I am prepared to prove, should never be done by a party so willing to compromise their publicly stated values for their personal gains, these are the type of people who will bet against themselves and then take a dive to win the bet. Nor should the party so willing to lose be shouting mine is bigger than yours considering their opponent.  He doesn’t back down when called out or forget how he answered a question the week before because it was convenient.

In the end even a plain simple hockey mom from Alaska ought to be able to understand that our diplomatic strategies for these countries has failed.  If she is half the mother she claims to be, which I doubt since all of her kids have been taken care of by nannies from birth, she would tell you that you just can’t ignore bad behavior and hope it goes away.  You have to treat your disobedient children (or countries) with a certain amount of respect and work to change the behavior anyway you can.  She would also know anytime you think you can treat them like a dog by ignoring them for bad behavior or kick them out of frustration, just like a dog it will come back to bite you in the ass.

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Just A Sarah Palin couldn’t tell you where she got her news from she also can’t even name a Supreme Court decision other than Roe v Wade. you would have thought that the McCain camp would have at the very least prepped her for this question. Let’s here the queen of the non answer in her own words. (Joe Biden responds firsts to the question)

Watch CBS Videos Online

To be perfectly fair, she actually can’t name any she disagrees with. That however does say a lot right there, since I can’t imagine how many times the Supreme Court has ruled against Bush recently on the the matter of presidential powers. Even if she couldn’t name them by name I would have thought she could have at the very least said that recent one that did this. Maybe a little honesty about blanking on the name was a little much to ask for from the GOP firecracker. Maybe if her energy was spent being being humble rather flashy she wouldn’t come off looking like such an idiot. Of course to be fair she might really be as dopey as she sounds.

How many of you can name more than Roe v Wade? if you graduated from high school you should at the very least know the following even if you don’t know the significance of the case.

Dred Scott v. Sandford
Brown v. Board of Education
Plessy v. Ferguson
Schenck v. United States
Miranda v. Arizona

Anyone who wants to be President of The United States or VP should at the very least know Korematsu vs. United States concerning the executive orders.

Last but not least you would have thought someone so strong in their pro-life stance would also be able to tell you about Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Stenberg v. Carhart, or Gonzales v. Carhart all of which deal with abortion. No, Sarah Palin couldn’t even tell you about these. She doesn’t have to be a legal scholar to be the vice president, but you most certainly should know about the cases important to any cause you claim to hold as dearly as she does pro-life. As it stands she doesn’t know enough to graduate from most high school government classes, and probably not even the eight grade or fifth grade levels of US history, yet she claims to be ready to be our Vice President.

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Sarah Palin on global warming: Humans might be partly to blame | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

Sarah Palin, who has struck many as a refreshing break from politicians-as-usual, seemed to do Thursday what politicians usually do as their horizons expand — moderate a previous position on a controversial subject.

WTF?  I will get around to discussing this new position of hers later. Right now I have to ask what they are smoking at the LA Times and can I have some?  Sarah Palin is anything but a break from politics as normal, which is why she is the darling of so many doe eyed republicans with hearts of stone and brains of mush.  She is incapable of compromise, reckless, abusive of power, and a bold faced liar.  This is not “a refreshing break from politicians-as-usual” this is hard core GOP Guerrilla tactics.  Sarah Palin may even one day out do the GOP’s beloved Dick on that ground.  Wow, i still can’t believe a newspaper like the LA times would string together the thought that Sarah Palin was any different than any other GOP nut job. WTF?

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US Rep. Tubbs Jones of Ohio in critical condition

By M.R. KROPKO – 11 hours ago

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, had a brain hemorrhage and was in critical condition with limited brain function, a doctor said Wednesday.

Tubbs Jones, 58, suffered the hemorrhage while driving her car in Cleveland Heights on Tuesday, said Dr. Gus Kious, president of Huron Hospital in East Cleveland. The congresswoman had been driving erratically and her vehicle crossed lanes of traffic before coming to a stop, police said.

Despite not being a represented by Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, I feel my state has certainly lost a powerful advocate.

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Yes, a war criminal has been arrested, and no it isn’t George W Bush.

(CNN) –Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been arrested after more than a decade as a fugitive from war crimes charges, the U.N. tribunal that charged him announced today. Karadzic, 63, was the Serb political leader

When it is all said and done will we ever charge Bush for what he has done. Many have come forward even the Red Cross and called W a war criminal. Will we ever bring him to task for his crimes? Will we ever take responsibility as a nation for letting him get away with it? Or will the next president who ever it is pardon him and say let the past be the past?

What will history say about us, if we don’t take action?

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Today was a good day for Barack Obama. Not only is he out seeing the world and showing his support. World leaders like Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki praise his forward visionary thinking. Then with nothing they could say bad about him or his plan today The White House emailed the press corps telling them how much they seem to support him too. I think someone wants to keep their job into the next administration.

CRAWFORD, TX (CNN) – An embarrassing slip up for the White House press office Saturday, when an aide hit the wrong button and mistakenly sent to the news media a Reuters article saying Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki backs presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s troop withdrawal plan.

Ouch! No response to this high praise has been given by the McCain camp. I wonder why.

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