We have heard a lot in these past months about earmarks and pork in Congressional legislation, or, for that matter, state legislation as well.  It’s as though earmarks has become a dirty word, and some candidates, who have had no reservations about voting for bills filled with earmarks during their terms, suddenly seem to have found them unconscionable.

     An earmark, of course, is a portion of a bill which is earmarked for a specific purpose, usually outside the purview of the pending bill.  Ity can come in the form of an amendment or additional clause.  It is defined as a designation of funds for a specific purpose.  For instance, the infamous “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska was an described as an earmark by the under-indictment Senator Ted Stevens.  It was something he wanted to provide for his constitutents even though it was senseless.  Actually, it was not an earmark.  It was an example of “pork” in a legislative bill.  “Pork” is a device used by politicians who tack provisions onto a bill which provide patronage for their constituents in the form of money, jobs or favors.  Pork is usually representative of an unnecessary use of government funds as a reward, rather than earmarking something for a legitimate public purpose.

     The Democratic Congress sought legislation this past session which would identify the legislator who introduced a provision in a bill, so that he/she could be identified, particularly to determine whether there was a legitimate public need for the provision, or whether it fell into the “pork” category.  Thus, money for bridges or other necessary public uses are earmarks, as opposed to gratuitous pork.

     How disingenuous then, for some legislators — particularly when elections are around the corner — to pledge never to engage in voting for earmarks.  They fail to distinguish between the legitimate needs of their areas, or the waste of public funds by providing unneeded pork.  Pledging never to vote in favor of an earmark is electoral pandering to the public, much the same as a “no new taxes” pledge, and then condoning an increase in fees, assessments and levies which accomplish by the back door what a tax increase — often needed for an emergency or a necessary public improvement — would have accomplished by being honest with the voters.

     Beware the candidate who tries to proclaim his/her piety with a pledge of no earmarks, with the same caution as believing the medicine man at the carnivals of days past.

     One had to laugh when McCain (Bush Light) dubbed Obama an elitist.  The most troubling thing about McCain not being able to answer how many homes he and his trophy wife own, is not merely his senility.  It’s the disingenuous characterization of an opponent which shows the soul, or lack of soul of this man who would be king.  Whether it’s seven homes or ten, no difference.  McCain didn’t have a clue, any more than whether their value was 20 million or two cents, and his characterization of middle class as having wealth of $5 million just indicates how out of touch he is, just as the failure to pay taxes on one of the California condos is another example of irresponsibility of the rich who can’t equate with those of us slogging through tough times.   He’s they guy who flies around in one of his wife’s airplanes, who was born to privilege, who finished next to the bottom of his class at the naval academy, who crashed multiple planes on the decks of carriers, who dumped his ailing first wife for a ringing cash register, who railed against lobbyists and whose campaign is stacked with and controlled by them, who doesn’t even know enough about geography to know which country borders which in the Middle East, who accused Obama of unbridled ambition when he spoke of his own ambition to become President almost a decade ago as an asset (and can you imagine a candidate for that office who is not ambitious?), who told a touching war story at the recent forum only to be unmasked as having stolen same from a famous Russian author, who needs Joe Lieberman (Quisling) at his ear to correct his daily gaffs, who can make light and sing about bombing Iran, who doesn’t care if the conflict in Iraq lasts another one hundred years as long as it meets his definition of “victory”, who would reinstitute the draft according to his own statements, who is an alumnus of the Keating Five scandal, who has voted against veterans’ benefits and educational opportunities, who advocates drilling for oil as though it offers instant salvation to our energy woes even though drilling rigs are booked up for the next three years, even though any relief could be a decade away, even though petroleum companies have 68 million acres leased where they’re not drilling and are anxious to despoil our entire environment, who is famous for his volatile and insensitive temper (I wonder what they’ve got him on for the campaign), who denigrated his wife in public with the most vile of epithets, who has never held a “real” job for any length of time, and who is totally out of touch with reality and what the average American endures on a daily basis, who blames the mortgage crisis on the victims, who thinks the economy is doing just fine, who can’t remember from one day to the next what he has said and changes his core beliefs on a daily basis — and this man has the tenacity to mischaracterize Obama.  A Mc Cain presidency would make us lonesome for George W.  Heaven help us!

     Priscilla Lord Faris, a name that will live in Minnesota election infamy, if you will, and whose sole contribution to democracy has been the savaging of Al Franken in the most despicable and spurious manner (see our earlier article) because she decided he couldn’t win over the Minnesota electorate, now admits that Norm Coleman is a friend.  Surprise!  If it walks like a skunk, smells like a skunk…

     Tim Pawlenty and I have a wide philosophical and political gulf between us.  When he opposed light rail as a legislator, I favored it.  I felt it was inappropriate for anyone running for office to take a “no new taxes” pledge because it left them in an inflexible position, thought that it was a mistake to veto a badly needed Transportation Bill in 2007, and so on. 

      That said, Tim Pawlenty is heads and shoulders above any of the other prospective candidates being put forward as possible McCain Vice-Presidential choices.  Not only does his youth offset Mcain’s long in the tooth appearance, but Pawlenty is intelligent, smooth, articulate, has a lovely and presentable family, and brings evangelical credentials which McCain sorely needs.  In addition, he can probably cut into Obama’s Minnesota vote, looking at it realistically.

     If there was any doubt as to how far Pawlenty has come, one only had to listen to his presentation before the National Press Club last week.  He gave an excellent and flawless presentation, was fully prepared to field questions after the speech, quick on his feet and with a sense of humor.  Pawlenty has positioned himself well, and while we’re still not on the same page with regard to our beliefs, McCain can only be enhanced by choosing the Minnesota Governor for his team.

JOHN EDWARDS

     The angst which John Edwards, and unfortunately his family as well, are enduring, is a personal tragedy.  He is not the first, nor will he  be the last, public figure to be tarred with the stigma of infidelity.  We can run down the list of politicians, from Clinton to McCain, from Eisenhower to Kennedy, from Guiliani to Nelson Rockefeller to Spitzer, and find the tawdry, the unfaithfulness, the scandalous rumors.  But then there are the lies, and the lies are harder to swallow.  If you lied about one thing, would you hesitate to lie about another?  About your principles?  You ideals?  Your vision for the future?  What about consideration for the political party whose nomination you sought?  Knowing what he knew, and what was on the verge of being disclosed, how could he have possibly continued to seek the nomination?  Didn’t he give a whit about the beliefs and faith of his followers in him and what he espoused?  That’s the unconscionable part, not the affair.

     Elizabeth Edwards has endured much over these last few years, and to all outward appearances, she deserved better.  We  never know what really goes on inside a relationship, but Mrs. Edwards, who has battled cancer so valiantly, and the Edwards children, who apparently idolized their father, are surely victims.  But they should be left alone to deal with their problem, and not be plastered on the front pages or the scandal sheets, or the intrusions of so many TV shows which thrive on this type of personal misery.  On the other hand, she apparently knew of this “relationship” since 2006.  How could she allow this falsehood to be perpetrated on the country, if in fact she did know?  Where is the good faith on the part of the Edwards’?  There is none. 

     John Edwards is yet another idol with clay feet.  It doesn’t make the ideals he espoused any less important, nor does it take away from the good he accomplished, but it tarnishes the man, and his image.  Saying he was narcissistic and self-centered is not nearly enough.  He owes his supporters, myself included, and those who put their faith in him, more.  Much more.  That is the least he can do before he slinks into the past.

     But enough about the Bush Administration….

      Chutzpah, for those living in a glass bubble, is described as a brazen or galling statement.  So when I heard McCain’s challenge to Obama today, after he accused Obama of giving up on the energy bill, to “come back into town and come back to work,”  I was speechless (which is not easy for me).  McCain, talking about going back to work?  McCain, who doesn’t like to work weekends?  McCain, who had the worst attendance record in Congress this past session (even worse than Sen. Tim Johnson who was recovering from a brain tumor)?  McCain, who spouts his support of veteran’s and voted nine times to oppose relief for veterans and couldn’t even bother to show up to vote on the Veteran’s Bill of Rights (which he chose not to sign on to as an endorser)?  McCain, who talks about solutions to the energy crisis, and was AWOL, as usual, on the votes on renewable energy and the vote to roll back the uuconscionable tax breaks for big oil (who happen to be big McC contributors)?  McCain, who missed vote after vote?  Gimme a break!

     Entertainer Bernie Mac and Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman were both injured over the weekend in separate incidents.  So explain to me, if you can,  why Google’s headline was “Obama Backers Bernie Mac and Morgan Freeman both Hospitalized”.  What the hell does the fact that they are allegedly Obama backers have to do with anything?  Is it relevant to the story? No.  Was Obama even remotely involved with either incident?  No.  But both injured men are black, and I see this as just another yellow journalism example of playing the race card, in a surreptitious way, by injecting it into a story where it is completely irrelevant.  If it’s not, I’d love to have Google explain it to me.

     Now let’s see if I’ve got this straight…”I do like his (Franken’s) politics” but you’re “very concerned about what Minnesotans are telling me” about the Franken campaign.  So you’re challenging him to make the real battle — against Norm Coleman — easier.  And if the Captain of the Titanic instructed the helmsman to plow straight into the iceberg that probably would have made things easier, too.  Collosal chutzpah, ma’am.

     So you’re raising $1.5 to $2 million to run against Franken in the same vein.  How about if you had volunteered for the campaign he’s been running for several years, to give some of this vaunted advice — because I’m sure that serving on the Sunfish Lake City Council led you to face the same caliber of problems that this nation is facing — and donated those millions to helping him fight the good fight, the real fight?

     When you speak of having “heard from a lot of Democrats” about running, I’m sure that those people, undoubtedly friends and well-wishers (I certainly never received an inquiry about your campaign, nor have “a lot of Democrats that I know”) conducted the same scientific polls that national polling organizations have run to determine the closeness of the Franken-Coleman campaign, to lead to your  conclusion. 

     While you’ve been sitting in your cushy law office for the past several years, Franken happened to be visiting Iraq and Afghanistan, putting his life on the line, with the sole motive of entertaining our brave troops, but I suppose the danger of an angry client telephone call equates with that.  No?  By the way, what is your position on the war?  For that matter, on anything?  Do you have a position, have you studied the issues, have you written articles, have you appeared before groups in support of…anything political over the last half dozen years?  Even a zoning variance?

     And when Al Franken was raising money to supply troops with equipment that the Bush Administration failed to give them before sending them into harm’s way, where were you?  Were you aboard that train?  Did you contribute, since you seem able to raise multi-millions for your own belated effort to enter the primary, what have you offered in support of our men and women in battle? 

     I am a firm believer in the primary process — but for people who are not self-aggrandizing narcissists, and who have subjected them to the political process.  Franken has visited every county in the state in the last several years.  How many have you visited?  Franken has supped at so many chicken dinners to help raise money for Minnesota candidates, that his close advisers were afraid he’d grow feathers.  And you?  There were people who walked the streets and put their names forward before the caucuses, then went to local conventions and the state convention.  And you?  You were probably home supping on pate, and figuring how to throw harpoons.  Have you even canvassed and knocked on the doors of your well-heeled Sunfish Lake community?

     Al Franken has worked hard, not only campaigning, but on his Air America radio show (did you ever listen?  ever call in?) to solidify his positions which are now well known.  And he’s straight forward with what he stands for.  And you?  No, I found your words disingenuous and your campaign engendered by the basest of motivations, i.e., I’ve come not to praise Franken, but to bury him.  You are shameless.

     Lest you think I am a Franken syncophant, I never endorsed him before the State convention (that’s where the party activists, loyalists and workers go to select their candidates, in case you didn’t know), and spent many years in politics (in another state) learning the importance of loyalty to one’s party.  Do I always vote a straight line?  No.  But I don’t sit on the sidelines until the game is almost over, and try to get credit for what the team has done.  That’s much more the tactics of “W” and McCain…and you.

     I see from your Findlaw profile that one of the things you do is specialize in animal bites.  Jackal, anyone?

      We have had nothing from the Bush Administration for seven and a half years except secrets and lies.  They lied us into war, went after the wrong “evil-doers”, are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, have destroyed our economy, diminished our standing in the world,  favored the top one per cent to the detriment of the other 99, emasculated the Bill of Rights at every turn, tried to destroy the concept and intent of the Constitution and turn us into an Executive Branch of government only; I can go on and on.  Unfortunately, John McCain dances to the same drummer.  If we’re going to save this nation, there is only one vote in November — Obama.

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