Please don’t quit Gov. Palin

Who will we make fun of?

LATimes:

Palin Claimed Dinosaurs And People Coexisted

Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago — about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct — the teacher said.

In a widely-circulated interview, Matt Damon said of Palin, “I need to know if she really think that dinosaurs were here 4000 years ago. I want to know that, I really do. Because she’s gonna have the nuclear codes.”

After conducting a college band and watching Palin deliver a commencement address to a small group of home-schooled students in June 1997, Wasilla resident Philip Munger said, he asked the young mayor about her religious beliefs.

Palin told him that “dinosaurs and humans walked the Earth at the same time,” Munger said. When he asked her about prehistoric fossils and tracks dating back millions of years, Palin said “she had seen pictures of human footprints inside the tracks,” recalled Munger, who teaches music at the University of Alaska in Anchorage and has regularly criticized Palin in recent years on his liberal political blog, called Progressive Alaska.

The idea of a “young Earth” — that God created the Earth about 6,000 years ago, and dinosaurs and humans coexisted early on — is a popular strain of creationism.

McCain takes credit for bailout, then bill doesn’t pass

It’s all in the timing…

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

Shortly before the vote, McCain had bragged about his involvement and mocked Sen. Barack Obama for staying on the sidelines.

“I’ve never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I’m not going to stop now,” McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. “Sen. Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn’t want to get involved. Then he was monitoring the situation.”
McCain, grinning, flashed a sarcastic thumbs up.

Doug Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s senior policy adviser, told reporters on a conference call that McCain “dedicated the past week” to addressing the problem but made “a conscious decision not to attract attention to John McCain.”

“He’s made dozens of calls,” Holtz-Eakin said.

Asked if McCain bears any responsibility for the bill’s failure, Holtz-Eakin said McCain “improved it greatly — took the lead in the need for taxpayer protections.”
“It’s really Sen. McCain who got all parties around a table to hammer out a deal that hopefully is in the best interests of the American taxpayer.”

way to go Johnny…

House GOP puts re-election first, country second and your 401(k) last

23/6: House Republicans, who had previously committed to voting “yea” on the bailout, voted “no” after Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi slammed the Bush administration during her speech on the floor:

“They claim to be free market advocates when it’s really an anything-goes mentality: No regulation, no supervision, no discipline. And if you fail, you will have a golden parachute and the taxpayer will bail you out. Those days are over. The party is over.”

Said GOP Rep. John Boehner, “We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House.”

Aww, poor baby. The wee granny from San Francisco made you cry? She hurted your fee-wings?

We are both terrified and thrilled this bill did not pass. Terrified because in hours our credit will freeze, and tomorrow, we will be blogging naked from a free wifi park. Thrilled because this is another nail in the coffin that is Bush’s legacy and, by extension, McCain’s campaign.

It’s not all bad, America. The Palin-Other Guy debate is in three days.

33 fringe “pastors” make no difference in what is the law

33 pastors were to make pointed recommendations about political candidates Sunday, an effort orchestrated by the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund. No one really has to wonder what candidates they would choose…

This fringe pseudo-legal group plans to send copies of the pastors’ sermons to the IRS with hope of setting off a legal fight and abolishing restrictions on church involvement in politics. Critics, and the general public call it unnecessary, insulting, divisive and unlikely to succeed. Most people realize that these are fringe groups trying desperately to get attention.

Congress amended the tax code in 1954 to state that certain nonprofit groups, including secular charities and places of worship, can lose their tax-exempt status for intervening in a campaign involving candidates.

Because the pastors were speaking in their official capacity as clergy, the sermons are clear violations of IRS rules, said Robert Tuttle, a professor of law and religion at George Washington University. But even if the IRS rises to the bait and a legal fight ensues, Tuttle said there’s “virtually no chance” courts will strike down the prohibition. Sad as it is that these people would abuse their positions as so called “spiritual” leaders.

Under the IRS code, places of worship can distribute voter guides, run nonpartisan voter registration drives and hold forums on issues, among other things. However, they cannot endorse a candidate, and their political activity cannot be biased for or against a candidate, directly or indirectly – a sometimes murky line.

Opposition to Sunday’s sermon initiative was understandable. Obviously no mainstream churches were involved. A United Church of Christ minister in Ohio rallied other religious leaders to file a complaint with the IRS. Roman Catholic Archbishop John Favalora of Miami wrote that the archdiocese abides by IRS rules in part because “we can do a lot for our communities with the money we save by being tax-exempt.”

Three former IRS officials also asked the agency to investigate the initiative, questioning the ethics of lawyers asking ministers to break the law.

The simple fact is that two-thirds of adults oppose political endorsements from churches and other places of worship and 52 percent want them out of politics altogether, according to a survey last month from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The people of these congregations should realize that they are being manipulated, but of course one has to wonder what brings them to these fringe places in the first place. Small “box” for small minded people that unfortunately have been brought up in a small minded environment and are scared of anything they cannot understand. The hard answer would be to think and search and expand, the easy answer is to hide in the box with only those that conform. Lemmings, sheep, it doesn’t matter what you call them, they are scared and are listening to people in power preaching fear.

“It is good public policy that in exchange for the valuable privilege of a tax exemption, you cannot turn your church or charity into a political action committee,” said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Church and State, which intends to report the participating churches to the IRS, along with any other churches acting independently.

Ignore these groups…ignore these people. Just be careful. These are people that will do anything in the name of their fear. What law will they break next?

Turkish singer defiant in court

BBC: A popular Turkish singer has defended public statements that Turkey’s long conflict with Kurdish rebels needs a solution – not more deaths.

Bulent Ersoy made her comments at a court hearing in Istanbul, after being charged with attempting to turn the public against military service.

The transsexual singer also suggested that if she had a son she would not send him to fight.

If found guilty, she faces up to four-and-a-half years in prison.

Ms Ersoy made her comments about Turkey’s powerful military on television last February.

The Turkish army was conducting a major operation against the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq at the time.

Some 40,000 people have died since the conflict with the PKK began in 1984.

Defiant stance

Ms Ersoy arrived at court in her usual, flamboyant style – dressed in white flowing linen, golden gem-studded sandals and matching accessories, says the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford, who was present at the trial. photographers surrounded her, a few supporters held up signs reading Long live the Diva, our correspondent says.

The prosecutor accuses Bulent Ersoy of making dangerous propaganda for the PKK, describing military service as the “sacred duty” of every Turk.

But Ms Ersoy told the judge she had committed no crime.

The singer said she stood by her words and her right to express her thoughts freely – as a loyal citizen of her country.

“Even if they hang me, I’ll keep talking,” she said.

It was a defiant stance, but this case has exposed the limits on free speech in Turkey once again – a country whose military remains extremely powerful, its reputation and actions protected from criticism by law, our correspondent says.

Ms Ersoy did not show up in court when the trial opened in June, saying she had to attend a concert.

‘Risky business’

Ms Ersoy is Turkey’s best known diva, adored across the country, our correspondent says.

She was already one of the country’s most popular male singers when in 1981 she underwent a sex change operation.

But questioning the Turkish military can be a risky business, our correspondent says.

Article 318 of the penal code – dissuading people from military service – is frequently used by the military against its critics.

Meanwhile critics say a separate article, making it a crime to insult the Turkish nation and its institutions, is used to stifle free speech.