Search Results for 'aF'

[HT]

angelescrest: pull the other one, it’s got bells on. As I mentioned, there are other (Obama) signs on the street that have been untouched for MONTHS. Odd that your hypothetical children would decide to start marauding on a Friday evening, a full four hours after they got off from school, and only pick McCain signs, though…

Interesting that you referred to the individuals responsible as “criminals”, because I didn’t. However, upon reflection I do note that they are interfering with my First Amendment rights, which probably is a criminal offense.

My intention is to put the sign up again, and catch them in the act the next time. At which point there will be enough evidence to convince even you, Mr. (or Ms.) Junior Prosecutor. Digital camera (or webcam) pictures available for any prosecutor (and website) that might be interested.

HP: thank you for your very kind offer. I have actually been a McCain supporter since 2000, though. But the sign that was smashed down was only damaged, not destroyed, and I have been able to repair it, so no replacement is necessary.

[Caduceus]

I knew a 23 year old mother who took care of her sick mom, four dogs and two cats, her new born child and worked.

I do not have to feel sorry for a person who’d rather give their pet away, rather than clean up after it.

[HT]

Would just like to add. This afternoon, put up a McCain sign in my front yard. Within TWO HOURS, it had been smashed down.

By way of contrast, I have left my neighbor’s Obama sign up and undisturbed for a couple of months.

Very classy, Obama supporters. That’s real support for democracy you’re showing there…but my sign goes up again tomorrow, only when I can keep an eye on it, of course. Since I now know I can’t trust you to be civil, I’ll be on my guard. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, etc. I’ll probably add a webcam soon, too, and hope to nab the sucker(s) in the act next time.

Expect future updates, on this and other blogs.

[Huindekmi]

Sorry, localman. This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s being pushed forward by both parties in Alaska…

Republican Lyda Green, the president of the state Senate who happens to represent Wasilla, said she expects there will be pressure to drop the investigation.

“I would assume that at a point in the not-too-distant future — perhaps after the convention’s over — I will be approached and asked to cease or cancel the ongoings of the special investigation or wait on it or something,” she said, “but it’s in place.”

Green said she will personally make sure the special investigation goes forward. She said she’s just trying to get at the truth — and she laughs off accusations by some Alaskans that she’s jealous, or that she wants to sabotage Palin.

[walfredo]

I don’t think there is anything “wrong” with going to 6 state and/or community colleges for undergraduate school. I went to 5 myself… She really does appeal to aveage (okay below average) Americans from all walks…

What it probably says, is that at a young age she did not have a strong direction or career path in mind, and was probably a tad bit impulsive. Her first school was UH in Hilo, which she left after 2 weeks when she realized it rained everyday (that is McCain caliber vetting)! Then she transferred to a school on the nice side of the island.

It does seem strange that the McCain camp would not know this as part of there vetting process, and I think it speaks directly to his lack of judgement and decision making ability to be president. At least calling the schools might have been worthwhile…

[villagegreen]

NR- I think you’re comparing two different types of ‘experience.’ I think Obama may not have as much experience in Washington as some, but he’s got plenty of other experience.

He was raised without a father and worked his way up and graduated from a great University. He’s seen the world traveling outside the U.S. In his 8 years in the Illinois State Senate he passed bills on various issues including health care, poverty, crime, the environment, and ethics. As U.S. Senator, he’s held assignments on Senate committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans’ Affairs, as well as Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He’s made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He’s worked with people from many walks of life and seems to undertand their struggles and has fresh ideas for improving their lives.

On the other hand you have Sarah Palin who bounced around from school to school, didn’t have a passport until last year, was runner-up in the Miss Alaska Beauty pageant, bankrupted a small town in Alaska as mayor, and has been Governer for a year and half of a state with a total population of 600,000 (about the size of Seattle).

Her biggest claim to fame seems to be that she raised taxes on oil drilling and was able to send everyone in the state a check. Great, that’s exactly what we need to fix our global and economic problems. Let’s let big oil run rampant as long as I get a check for a hundred bucks at the end of the year.

[WSMom]

The next morning after Obama’s acceptance speech, I called my mom to see if she had tuned in…she said, “I just couldn’t, it made me too nervous, I’m so worried someone’s going to shoot him.” At the time I thought she was being overly sensitive. Now I just feel a bit sick to my stomach.

I intend to pray for the well being and safety of Sen. Obama and his family.

[GenHillOne]

“ABC News has exclusively learned that Alaska Senator Hollis French will announce today that he is moving up the release date of his investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired. The results of the investigation were originally scheduled for release Oct. 31 but will now come almost three weeks earlier, according to sources.”

[roundthesound]

My neighbor came home last night when she saw the city had put one of those ‘no parking’ signs for car free Alki day at the end of her driveway she became furious. She stopped her car in the middle of the road blocking traffic while she got out and threw the sign at the end of my driveway almost hitting my car. The no parking sign is now lying in 2 pieces at the end of my driveway. She then proceeded to start yelling at me like I had put it there, maybe she hadn’t noticed the 400 other no parking signs up and down the street. She told me she was going to call the cops and then she stormed inside.

I wonder if this is what the mayor had in mind when he planned these car free days to bring the community together? Not even 5 minutes earlier my other neighbors and I had discussed the BBQ and pool party we are planning for Sunday so I wasn’t sure to add this comment to the crazy neighbor thread or the car free Alki Day thread.

BTW, if your trying to promote people to use the bus and walk you might want to choose a road that actually has a year-round bus, not just the WT shuttle, that runs on Sundays…

[condodweller]

The unattractive appearance may seem charming passing by, I am not sure why. If you live by it, and experience the murky after-hours activities there, it is quite another matter.

I do not propose we look like Bellevue, but a place should look as though the merchants and residents care enough about the area to maintain it in an orderly manner. It does not take a lot of money, just a caring attitude.

A hardware/construction supplier need not be a blight on the surrounding area, Copeland Lumber in Rainier Vallery is testimony to that.

[PatriciaB]

I am a single mother. I am attending Grad school so that I can create a better life for my daughter and myself. I am seeking more than just a roof over my head, I want to create a nurturing home. I am searching for a reasonably priced small house or apartment. I desire to live in West Seattle so that my daughter can experience all the beauty and benefits of such a warm and friendly community. My parents live in the 98116 district. I would like to be close to them so that they can assist with after school care.

I am a responsible and respectful tenant. I am committed to being part of a community and to raising my daughter in a positive and loving environment. If you can help, please contact me.

[CP]

I think for better or worse this forum has challenged my ideas, reaffirmed a lot of things, made me question a lot of things and has gotten me riled up about something and we ALL need that every once in a while. I think that this forum and all of its manifestations have been great for getting people interested in the debate and I really appreciate that!

True there are snide comments here and there, but I think most of us can take it as long as it doesn’t get personal. Blogging and discussing politics is not for the weak of heart, but like MissK said, we can’t come in here believing we can change votes – but we can challenge thinking and that’s valuable in this day and age.

[WSMom]

I am disheartened that anyone in America found Palin’s speech compelling. After the 2004 election I realized that there are a lot of folks out there willing to believe rhetoric over facts, style over substance.

Only one piece of news made me chuckle this morn. Seattle’s own Wilson sisters have this to say: “Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.” If you read the lyrics, the irony is clear…

Album: Road Home (1995)

so this aint the end- i saw you again – today

I had to turn my heart away

you smiled like the sun- kisses for everyone

and tales- it never fails!

you are lying so low in the weeds

i bet you are going to ambush me

you would´ve me down, down, down, down on my knees

oh wouldn´t you, barracuda?

OH!

back over time when we were all trying for free

You met The porpoise & me

no right, no wrong, you are selling a song- a name

whisper game

and if the real thing don´t do the trick

you better make up smth quick

you going to burn, burn, burn, burn, burn it to the wick

ooooh, barracuda!

OH!

´sell me sell you´ the porpoise said

dive down deep down, deeper than

you.. i think that you got the blues too

all that night & all the next

swam without looking back

made for the western pools- silly, silly fools!

the real thing don´t do the trick, no?

you better make up something quick

you going to burn, burn, burn, burn it to the wick

ahh, barra- barracuda!

[JenV]

Palin’s Lies:

PALIN: “I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere.”

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a “bridge to nowhere.”

PALIN: “There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate.”

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: “The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.”

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama’s plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain’s plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

The AP report also showed how Palin’s champions have exaggerated the Alaskan governor’s ‘acheivements’:

MCCAIN: “She’s been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America’s energy supply … She’s responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s energy supply. I’m entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain’s phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she’s no more “responsible” for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: “She’s the commander of the Alaska National Guard. … She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under “federal status,” which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska’s national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin “got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States.”

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor’s election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: “We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin.”

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

[JoB]

charlabob…

I agree that the term family values has been used by the right wing as an artificial construct…

but like most words, i believe it has multiple meanings for individuals.

We are going to be bombarded by this term for the next few months whether we like it or not. We can choose to let the right define it for us.. and let them determine our conversation… or we can define it for ourselves and create conversation.

I love words and phrases and the stories people tell with them… and i am tired of this make believe notion that democrats are without family values…

It’s a great tactic for politically dehumanizing us… but only if we allow the dehumanization to stand.

When Republicans can claim political bias at the valid concern raised by some about the priorities of our new Republican vice presidential candidate where the well being of her teenage pregnant daughter is concerned…

while at the same time lauding their candidate’s family values because her teenage daughter is marrying the teenage father of her child… a young man whose page on facebook proclaimed he didn’t want kids, didn’t want to get married and was just out to have fun before it was taken down…

the term has clearly been perverted. Unless we redefine the term, it has no real meaning.

family values are not something you claim, they are something you live. family values are something that all of us share.. republicans and democrats alike.

i am not interested in the political definition of family values.. i am interested in the personal definition and how that definition affects the way we view life.

[JoB]

Right now she looks pretty impressive because she is scripted.

i know that Biden is going to be in a tough place with her because at least during the debates he is going to have to be careful about his one line zingers… they are going to have to lob at McCain not Palin and at issues not Palin or he is going to come off as a mean old guy taking advantage of a younger woman.

and i know that so far the republicans have been able to orchestrate the “debates” in such a way that there were only canned questions and canned answers.. even in the supposedly unscripted discussion that happened at one of the religious venues where Obama spoke candidly and McCain delivered predigested bits of campaign rhetoric in response to questions he had already heard.

but if she wants to play the woman card, she is going to have to go out into the real world and take her turn at some of the women’s talk shows where they won’t have the disadvantage of seeming to be mean to the poor little woman.

women watch those shows… and enjoy the hosts exposing insincerity.

We will know a lot about media bias after seeing how those shows treat Sarah Palin. I am encouraged by the CBS fact check this morning.. but not lulled into complacence.

I am sure she will come off well after the debates in the televised one liners because those will be written for her…

but Biden is pretty good at that himself while still giving an answer with some depth.

I don’t write her off.. but i do think her appeal is vastly overrated…

it’s time democrats took back the national conversation.. and that conversation should be about issues.

[JoB]

Caduceus..

i know you state you are not interested in economics… as you know how to get money.. but do you care how much of the money you get is taken away from you?

New Resident stated..

“The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been largely absorbed in a relatively small increase in the defense budget (to 4.1% of GDP in 2006 from 3.8% in 1995). A much higher proportion of U.S. income was devoted to the military during World War II and the Korean War.” – WS”

what she failed to mention is that the money to pay for this war is all borrowed money.. and guess who will get to pay it back?

War is expensive .. in all ways.

I too would like to know what about McCain is worth the lives it wastes now, the damage to our international reputation and the future taxes we will have to pay for it.

I just don’t see it.

[JoB]

more perspective..

CBS does some fact checking

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/02/eveningnews/main4408870.shtml

turns out she was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it.. (somehow that phrase seems oddly familiar.. i know it will come to me … )…in fact, congress killed it before she came out against it…

and.. the state kept the money for other transportation projects.. which it needed since she chose to rebate excess monies to residents.

earmarks too were fine when she was mayor of Wasila.. and the state has more than a few dollars from earmarks already mapped out for 2009.

She was for them before she was against them.. hmmm there goes that echo again.

so.. what earmarks was she against? That list should make interesting reading.

as for Monegan.. she now claims she fired him for financial reasons…

I can’t wait for a closer look at that one since by her own admission her staff made calls putting pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten before he was “offered another job” which he declined… and there was an investigation before she was named for the top job… probably not much of a political witch hunt.

hmmm.. financial reason?

and then she tried to hire a replacement who she knew was was dealing with sexual harassment charges…

that was such a sound decision that she backed off when the opposition got vocal.

It looks to me like she isn’t such a good decision maker.. but is a great justifier after she figures out which train is leaving the station.

Haven’t we just had 8 years of this?

I think she was getting off easy when all anyone was talking about was her pregnancies and her parenting skills.

[BobLoblaw]

I have to admit we make them take the bus in the afternoon as an exercise in learning some independence after driving them to and fro for years. Little did I know they would be learning this much. :-)

[cjboffoli]

Let me just qualify that I did not go in there looking for white glove service. And I can certainly appreciate the potential charm in a bunch of ornery old guys. I’ve been in my fair share of hardware stores and lumber yards. In fact, the disordered jumble of Alki Lumber reminds me of a place called Spag’s Supply that I used to frequent back East. I only went in because my builder told me they repaired/replaced Milgard screens. My problem was the way they ignored me (in favor of watching TV) when I walked in. And then they said they’d call me about the screens and they never did. They quoted me a price on screens and said the frames would be remade. And then when I went back in there to retrieve them I saw that they were the same old frames and they were double the price quoted. I’m happy to hear that others in West Seattle have had good experiences at Alki Lumber. After this experience I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.

[charlabob]

What I really mind are words I want to use a lot and can’t because I’m not sure which one to use. My favorite example:

Baited versus bated breath:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/56550.html

I come down on the side of “bated” — because I have to go with the Bard over Harry Potter.

I can never remember how to spell “weird” and I want to use it at least 50 times a day. I had to expand my flaky memory to “i before e except after c and except in your favorite word, weird”

[charlabob]

Much to my amazement, I agree that NR wasn’t necessarily out of bounds. She didn’t say, “Too bad the people here don’t live up to that.” (I reread her post, after Cad’s defense.) I think we all read that into what she said, not without reason. But she didn’t say it and what she said can’t be dismissed.

[charlabob]

I’ve looked at family from both sides now, and well, the best of all is a blended family of choice and of origin. (What the HELL is she talking about???)

I became an orphan when I was 26 — only child, both ‘rents dead. Divorced at 28 and that family divorced me at the same time. From then on, I created and was part of families of choice — people who felt close to and cared about each other. We celebrated holidays, mourned tragedies and in general took care of each other. That’s family.

We didn’t accept everything each other did — but we accepted each other, even when we screwed up — that would be the “hate the sin, love the sinner” deal. Within very broad bounds, we agreed about politics and music (liking Abba and Neil Diamond was acceptable — being a Reagan Democrat wasn’t).

Then I remarried and became part of a large cranky loving disfunctional family — all the mandatory drama, feuds, gossip, and affection most people grow up with came to me late in life. I felt like an anthropologist or zoologist, studying an exotic species. Suddenly, when I wasn’t looking, I was one of them. They surrounded me (with love and snark and demands that I choose sides..the usual). The only difference was a few people were suspected (by me) of being R’s with bad taste in music. But they were family, dammit. For a few years, we celebrated holidays, triumphs, etc with them.

The bob half wasn’t used to getting to choose his family–I introduced him to that concept. A few key member of *my* extended family had drifted to Seattle, so when we came here that family started up again, with Bob as the new, though a bit old, kid.

Now our family is big, noisy, loving, snarky, dramatic and comprised of blood and water? “relatives”. We’ve blended the choice and the origin.

Family is what and who you make it. Who you *feel* like giving to and who you *can* take from or ask *for* something. They’re people who share and tolerate your outlook on the world. There could be people reading this now who are on their way to being part of the family and don’t even know it :-)

Now that I think of it, that’s probably also my definition of love.

[Caduceus]

I don’t think NR’s post was snarky at all.

What she said is entirely true.

Although after reading the debate and going back I was enable to see some possibility of trying to take a jab at someone but I HIGHLY doubt that that was the case.

I think a family can be extended to anyone you spend a considerable amount of time with, including even a internet forum.

And we know NR gets heated in political debates but to assume she’s carrying over a grudge into a neutral thread is a little inappropriate, imo.

[JanS]

so..Sarah “Palin transferred to North Idaho College, a two-year school in Coeur d’Alene, about 30 miles east of Spokane. She attended the college as a general studies major for two semesters, in spring 1983 and fall 1983, spokeswoman Stacy Hudson said.”

and 2 semesters there ( no graduation, it seems, as none was stated by the source) gets her “Prior to her selection by McCain, the North Idaho College Alumni Association notified Palin in June she would be the recipient of its 2008-2009 Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award.”

Ya know…I could have discovered a cure for cancer later in life, but I still didn’t graduate from my chosen college (after 3 years of attendance, including summers), and I doubt that they consider me an alumnus, or would name me a distinguished alumnus at any point in time (umm..had less than a 2.0 GPA when they requested that I leave – lol)