That’s the scary thing – the viewpoints expressed aren’t at all unique.

From an overjoyed MSDNCNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27238980

Kenya seeks big airport for Obama

Kenyan MPs have called for an airport in the west of the country to be upgraded for Air Force One in case Barack Obama wins the US elections.

Mr Obama’s father was born in Nyanza Province and the MPs say the local Kisumu airport should be expanded in case he wants to visit.

The Illinois senator is a local hero in his father’s homeland, where a local beer has been named after him.

Mr Obama has never lived in Kenya and he has visited just three times.

The MPs from Nyanza Province said it was clear that Mr Obama was going to clinch the US presidency, the private Nairobi Star newspaper reported.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7674202.stm

Thats right folks, pack it in. No reason to vote on Nov. 4. Obama has already won. The newsman told me so, oh, and so did the Kenyan MPs.

Prospects grow for a Democratic sweep from the White House to Capitol Hill

By Frank Davies

With Barack Obama surging in the presidential race and his party’s congressional candidates also on the rise, Democrats are facing the giddy prospect of a hold on government for the first time in 14 years — and possibly their strongest election performance in decades.

Some Democrats this week are whispering the “L” word (as in landslide) and Republicans are increasingly gloomy about the presidential and congressional races.

“It’s almost too late for John McCain now,” said John Feehery, a GOP strategist who worked for House Speaker Dennis Hastert when Republicans were in charge. “He made some serious mistakes, and he was just blown away by this financial tsunami.”

Pollsters and analysts say the financial meltdown in recent weeks has boosted Obama and hurt Republicans in Congress. A New York Times/CBS poll released Monday showed 52 percent with a favorable view of the Democratic Party and 37 percent with a favorable view of the GOP.

According to recent polls, Obama leads in such battleground states as Virginia, Colorado, Florida and Ohio — which all went for President Bush in 2004 — and is competitive in several GOP strongholds, including North Carolina and Indiana.

Tom Mann, an author and analyst with the Brookings Institution who has tracked many elections, sees Obama on course to win the popular vote by 5 or 6 percentage points, with an electoral vote total of about 350 (270 are needed to win). He also sees major gains for Democrats in Congress.

Election experts warn that most races tend to tighten toward the end — and that unforeseeable developments, some sort of “October surprise” or a major misstep by Obama could revive McCain’s hopes.

The last time Democrats captured the presidency and Congress was 1992, but Bill Clinton took less than 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race, and Democrats lost one Senate seat and nine House seats. When Jimmy Carter won a narrow victory in 1976, Democrats gained one House seat and the Senate was unchanged.

“There is no contemporary example of Democrats coming into the White House and pulling in substantial numbers in both House and Senate,” Mann said. “You’d have to go back to Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s.”

Many analysts and strategists of both parties said McCain did not score a decisive win in the final presidential debate Wednesday night, so it will not change the dynamic of a race moving in Obama’s direction. …

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10739050

Guess I’ll have to find something else to do with that hour November 4.

No point in wasting gas going to the polls…

The Murky News helpfully added:

In California, Obama’s popularity and the worsening economy have put some GOP seats once considered safe in danger, said Allan Hoffenblum, former GOP strategist. He said Reps. David Dreier, Dana Rohrabacher and Brian Bilbray, all from Southern California, could be vulnerable.

“Obama is surging again, so there could be a surprise (GOP loss) here and there,” Hoffenblum said.

Fighting the Democratic tide presents Republicans with some difficult choices. With Obama outspending McCain, the GOP nominee has been relying on party funds for some ads, and last month the Republican National Committee raised $66 million.

But some Republicans want party leaders to funnel that new money to endangered senators instead of helping McCain, much as the party did in 1996, when GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole’s chances dwindled.

“The RNC may decide to concentrate on shoring up some senators and try to avoid a complete disaster,” Feehery said.

Personally, and in all seriousness, I’m expecting an Obama win and at least 60 Democratic seats in the Senate with a similar opposition-proof majority in the House.

Sad, but true.

Palin’s even visiting near me next week, but I figure I may as well just wait to see if she runs in 2012 or if the same idiots who gave us McCain this year will consider her “too right wing.”

Hopefully by that time whatever party replaces the Republicans following their slide to insignificance of late (abandoning all your principles will do that) will be up and running…

Obama moves into GOP states after final debate

By Christopher Wills

Leading in polls and exuding confidence after last night’s debate, Democrat Barack Obama is edging into traditionally GOP states — now including West Virginia — as Republican John McCain looks to protect his turf less than three weeks before the election.

On the heels of the campaign’s final debate, the Democrat is launching TV ads in West Virginia, which George W. Bush won four years ago and hadn’t been on the list of target states until recently, according to two Democrats with knowledge of the strategy.

Obama lost West Virginia’s Democratic primary to Hillary Rodham Clinton by 41 percent last May as he struggled to win over working-class whites. But Democrats say the economic turmoil in the hard-hit state and TV ads Obama has been running in its neighbors have made West Virginia competitive. These Democrats spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering the campaign.

They say Obama’s campaign also is considering pouring money into reliably Republican Kentucky and may yet return to the airwaves in North Dakota and Georgia. Those are two states Obama had tried to put in play over the summer, but he pulled out when they appeared out of reach.

The Illinois senator sounded increasingly optimistic at a breakfast fundraiser at the New York City Metropolitan Club.

“We now have 19 days,” Obama said. “We are now 19 days not from the end but from the beginning. The amount of work that is going to be involved for the next president is going to be extraordinary.”

But, he said, for anyone getting cocky or giddy, “two words for you: New Hampshire. I’ve been in these positions before where we were favored and the press starts getting carried away, and we end up getting spanked.” Obama won the Iowa caucuses, only to lose to Clinton in New Hampshire in the primary.

McCain, for his part, was returning to the argument that Obama’s credentials are too thin for the White House, his campaign and the Republican National Committee releasing ads focusing on experience and judgment. …

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....146D98.DTL

From the Madison, WI Capital Times:

Emotions run high over sheriff’s policy on undocumented inmates

By Pat Schneider

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney ran into a buzz saw of opposition Wednesday to his policy of notifying federal immigration authorities about undocumented inmates at the jail.

A dozen people spoke and another two dozen registered in opposition to the policy at a meeting of the Dane County Equal Opportunity Commission. Critics said the sheriff’s practice bred distrust of the Sheriff’s Office in the Latino community, who now shy away from contacting any law enforcement officer.

Notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the presence of undocumented immigrants in the Dane County Jail — a practice Mahoney concedes is not required by law but says he instituted at the request of ICE — has put the sheriff at odds with the Latino community and raised broader concerns of racial profiling. Controversy over the practice that Mahoney instituted after his election in 2006 erupted earlier this year after ICE beefed up its ranks and began picking up more undocumented immigrants held in local jails.

“The sheriff is operating in a vigilante fashion, and I think it should stop,” said Janet Parker of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. “I have faith it will stop with the next election.”

One family made emotional pleas for the release of a member now being held for federal authorities and likely deportation.
“I feel like my son is being treated like a criminal, when he is just charged with a driving infraction,” a weeping Graciela Gudino said through an interpreter.

Gudino’s son, Sergio Pelayo-Gudino of Madison, will be put on an immigration hold at the jail upon completion of his sentence for a second conviction of operating under the influence, Mahoney told the family after the meeting. …

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/309817

So it’s bad enough this woman’s son was found driving drunk for the second time endangering everyone else on the road, but he of course is a criminal as he is here in violation of immigration laws.

Nah, can’t enforce that.

Really. In theory.

From the way, way far left Madison, WI Capital Times:

RNC launches negative robo calls campaign

By Samara Kalk Derby

The John McCain-Sarah Palin presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee began a negative robo call campaign Thursday attempting to strengthen a tenuous link between Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and former radical Bill Ayers.

The call, which has been received locally, goes like this: “Hello. I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC, You need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home, and killed Americans.”

It continues: “Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country.”

The attack attempts to switch the focus from the real issue — the economy, says the state Obama camp.

“McCain’s campaign has admitted that the economy is a losing issue for them, so he’s chosen to launch dishonorable and dishonest attacks like this,” said Obama Campaign for Change Wisconsin spokesman Matt Lehrich.

“No amount of scare tactics and false attacks will hide the fact that John McCain can’t defend the fact that he’s voted with George Bush’s disastrous policies 90 percent of the time and will continue the same Bush-McCain economic policies American families can’t afford,” Lehrich said.

Meanwhile, Kirsten Kukowski, communications director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, defended the auto calls.

“We’re calling into question Barack Obama’s judgment on who he surrounds himself with, people like Bill Ayers and Rev. (Jeremiah) Wright, because the voters need to know that he is associating himself with some people who have questionable backgrounds, have said and done questionable things,” she said. …

http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/309912

Once again, not an editorial, a “news” story by an “unbiased” reporter.

From the Washington Post:

Robert Duvall, Bare-Lipped Pit Bull

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts

Hey, Robert Duvall, tell us how you really feel! The Oscar winner took the stage to introduce Sarah Palin at a $1,500-a-head GOP fundraiser Monday at the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner — but first he took the opportunity to name names and settle scores.

“It bothers me that certain people in the Republican Party are attacking the McCain-Palin ticket,” he said, according to a pool report. “Like the super-nerd George — what’s his name? George Wills[sic] . . . and Tommy Thompson. The original block of wood.”

He continued: “And on the other side of the aisle, you have some pretty despicable people.” Duvall called out liberal NYT columnist Frank Rich, a former theater critic: “He knew nothing about acting.” Then there was the time he met Gloria Steinem: “She totally ignored the woman standing behind me. Totally ignored her. So much for her feminism.” Duvall was more restrained when it came to Barack Obama: “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve got to keep this guy out of the White House.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....03270.html

Wow… good for him.

Stutter or epithet: you make the call.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQOtnPd8gJo

I dont know if you read this Bob, but all that “red neck” sheriff did, and you werent there fat boy, was say his full name. Period.”

That’s probably some black hooker’s STD talking through Mr. Bechel.

From the AP:

RNC out of Wisconsin, Maine; focuses on red states

By Jim Kuhnhenn

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee is halting presidential ads in Wisconsin and Maine, turning much of its attention to usually Republican states where GOP nominee John McCain shows signs of faltering.

The party’s independent ad operation is doubling its budget to about $10 million and focusing on crucial states such as Colorado, Missouri, Indiana and Virginia where Democrat Barack Obama has established a foothold, according to a Republican strategist familiar with presidential ad placements.

Florida and North Carolina have also been in the RNC ad mix. Pennsylvania is the only Democratic leaning swing state apparently left in the party’s ad campaign.

The shift in advertising resources suggests that the RNC has decided to focus on defending reliably Republican-voting states against Obama’s onslaught of advertising. Flush with money, Obama is outspending the joint efforts of the Republican Party and the McCain campaign by more than 2-1.

While a pullout from Wisconsin is a significant strategic move, it does not represent a full GOP retreat from the state. McCain’s campaign has notified Wisconsin stations that it planned to continue to buy air time through Oct. 26.

Like McCain, the RNC’s independent ad operation has targeted Obama with critical ads.

The Republican Party has been helping McCain through various means. It had been spending more than $5 million a week on ads independently of the campaign. It also has teamed up with the campaign to run combined ads whose costs are split by the campaign and the RNC in certain situations allowed by federal election law.

Only the independent RNC spots will be affected by Wednesday’s decision to shift ad spending.

Wisconsin has been a seriously contested state in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Democrats won narrowly in six of them. Al Gore and John Kerry barely edged out George Bush in the 2000 and the 2004 elections.

A poll in Wisconsin by Quinnipiac University of New York for The Wall Street Journal and the Web site of The Washington Post, taken after last week’s presidential debate, had Obama at 54 percent and McCain at 37 percent.

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/309721

17 points and gaining… not good.

Hip-Hop-Dancing Colin Powell Fuels Speculation He’ll Endorse Obama

Colin Powell showed off his hip-hop moves at an ‘Africa Rising’ celebration in London Tuesday, fueling speculation that the former secretary of state is about to endorse Barack Obama for president.

Colin Powell has his dancing shoes on, fueling speculation that he’s gearing up to do the Obama Two-Step.

The normally staid former U.S. secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff performed an impromptu hip-hop dance alongside well-known rap stars Tuesday following a speech at a festival in London celebrating African-American music and fashion.

His address at the “Africa Rising” celebration inside London’s Royal Albert Hall fueled speculation that an endorsement of Barack Obama is imminent.

Powell — who has yet to back a candidate — told the audience: “I stand before you as an African-American. Many people have said to me you became secretary of state of the USA, is it still necessary to say that you are an African American or that you are black? And I say yes, so that we can remind our children.”

“It took a lot of people struggling to bring me to this point in history,” Powell told the audience. “I didn’t just drop out of the sky. People came from my continent in chains.”

Powell has said in the past that he has been hesitant to make an endorsement until he hears more from both candidates.

Political pundits have speculated that his endorsement might come shortly after Wednesday night’s presidential debate at Hofstra University, during which both Obama and John McCain will square off on domestic issues.

Many political analysts — including Zbigniew Brzezinski, Robert Novak and William Kristol — have predicted that Powell, who was secretary of state under President Bush, will back the Democrat in the race.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2.....dorsement/

Personally, I’d be shocked if he didn’t endorse Obama – and I would have said the same thing in January. Or 2007.

Probably not, but still…

From Television Week:

PTC Uses Kids as Human Shields

By Josef Adalian

Last week, I called up several high-ranking TV executives in order to get their opinions of the Parents Television Council. I asked one to tell me the first word that came to mind when they thought of the watchdog organization.

“Vomit,” the executive said.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I feel, too.

Such a reaction might seem extreme. After all, the PTC sells itself as an advocacy organization looking to defend little ones from harmful images. The motto on its Web site reads, “Because our children are watching.”

Unfortunately, the PTC’s actions and words too often have indicated that its real mission includes pushing for government-sanctioned censorship of the media and the elimination of any and all programming that conflicts with its far-right social and political philosophies.

What’s more, rather than working with networks to figure out ways to increase family-friendly programming and offer true protection to children, the PTC is obsessed with denouncing shows clearly aimed at adult audiences.

The PTC doesn’t want to make TV safe for kids. It wants to make it safe only for those shows that fit into its narrowly constructed worldview of what constitutes acceptable TV. And when it identifies programming that doesn’t mesh with its agenda, the PTC goes into overdrive whipping up its base to take action.

“All they’re about is fund raising and court cases,” said one network executive who, like everyone interviewed for this column, spoke only on the condition of anonymity. “They would rather curse the darkness than light a candle.”

Consider: This summer, the PTC called on CBS affiliates to pre-empt the network’s “Swingtown” — even though the show aired in the last hour of prime time across the country. “‘Swingtown’ undermines the institutions of marriage and family,” the PTC said in calling for its boycott. “This show should not be on broadcast television — period.”

It doesn’t matter that “Swingtown” contained no obscene language or nudity. The fact that CBS aired the show at 10 p.m. in most of the country is irrelevant. Adult viewers simply shouldn’t be able to watch this show, period, according to the cultural crusaders of the PTC.

In fairness, the PTC also wants to cleanse the airwaves of anything it deems too violent. Or even just icky. The season premiere of Fox’s “Fringe” was labeled the “worst TV show of the week” by the group because of an opening scene involving some flesh-melting.

Attempts to honor our nation’s troops can also meet with disapproval from the PTC. It declared ABC’s Sept. 7 special “America United” one its “worst” shows because the broadcast — rated TV-14 by the network — contained some randy humor, an appearance by a scantily clad Pamela Anderson and a performance by Snoop Dogg.

“They’re trying to sanitize television to match up with their view of what’s appropriate,” one network insider told me. “I don’t think that’s quite what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they talked about freedom of speech.”

What’s most irksome — and dangerous — about the PTC is the way it uses children as human shields to hide its real agenda.

There’s nothing wrong with any person or group declaring their disgust with what’s on the small screen. It’s part of what I do for a living, after all.

But the PTC is being morally and intellectually dishonest by pretending that it’s simply trying to protect kids.

How are children helped when the PTC spends so much of its time railing against shows that clearly aren’t intended for their eyes? How are America’s families strengthened by an organization that wastes its time ginning up bogus outrage over a half-second shot of a penis on “Survivor” that could only be seen by viewers watching in HD and using the freeze-frame function of their DVRs?

If the PTC really cared about kids, they’d spend as much time coaching parents on how new technologies can help them monitor their kids’ viewing as they do trying to censor networks.

Instead, the PTC regularly twists the technicalities of decades-old obscenity regulations to force networks to spend millions defending programming that is very clearly not obscene. And in recent years, the organization has even started challenging cable, doing all it can to defame shows with even an ounce of edge. …

http://www.tvweek.com/news/200.....kids_a.php

Just wow.

There are just so many levels here it’s hard to know where to start?

But just the easiest one of all – could you imagine what Thomas Jefferson would have thought had he sat down to an evening of wife-swapping promiscuous sex on CBS’ Swingtown? Or the profanity on many “entertainment” programs? Or the graphic violence on Fox?

Do you like how programs are apparently OK as long as they don’t contain explicit nudity?

Or how the industry itself or high minded folks like Adalian are apparently the best judges as to what is or is not “obscene?”

Or, my favorite of all, how it’s right-wing groups who are described as “All they’re about is fund raising and court cases?”

All far too easy.

But this is what Hollywood thinks of you.

Garlic for cows may save planet

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21.....4#27179914

Here’s a little humor.