George Bush Globally Shunned...

I had to post this video... it's SO SAD.... but it's more of a damnrightyoufuckingdeservethatshit kind of sad! The most hated man in the civilized world: George Bush

And here's my proof:

Progressives know what is right... but do 'we' know how to play the game?

Listen, I don't even know if I can necessarily label myself a "Progressive". The reason being is that most progressives I know, whose blogs I read, whose podcasts I download, whose meetings I attend; are simply some of the most brilliant individuals I have ever met. Individuals who are passionate about changing the world and who have an unwavering command of both language and history. I've definitely got the passion part covered, but I guess we all need to start somewhere right?

That said, as an American ex-pat--with a unique experience--I can't understand why Progressives cannot appreciate Barack Obama. Before he has even started, many are talking, blogging, and podcasting away about him in a negative light. The reasons? He's pro-war, pro-capitalism, pro-death penalty, pro-Israeli lobbying machine (Rahm Emanuel anyone?) and anti-gay marriage (I'm sure there is more to add to the list).

Even though these are all reasons I completely agree with (aside from the Israeli issue--as I am still studying this issue). I disagree with the tone of the very progressives I look up to. The fact of the matter is this: I am a strong advocate for Human Rights--a true egalitarianist. I believe that all people should be treated equally--regardless of race, heritage, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, illness, etc. I am (now) anti-war and I am anti-death penalty. But here's the thing, when it comes to Barack Obama, the fact of the matter is that he IS American. And I am not exactly sure everyone really knows what that means.

What does it mean? If you are well versed in American culture, you'll know that Americans are indoctrinated with "Americanism" at a very young age. Americanism is something I would describe as a sense of immense pride, entitlement, and arrogance having to do with nothing other than the fact that you were born in a particular place--which happens to be called the United States of America. It doesn't matter if you're white, black, hispanic, poor, rich, educated, or a drop out. Most all Americans wear their sense of pride on their arm like a tattoo--no matter what the government has done or failed to do for you. Americans are simply very proud to hold that title, because they are taught to be proud of it.

It's something we were taught in kindergarten as we stood EACH AND EVERY DAY to say the pledge of alligence, for 13 years until we finished high school. It's the way that Americans were only taught about American history and never about the history of the world--but through only very brief fly-bys. It's the way parts were left out--like the way the government spent decades oppressing Black Americans, or the way Japanese Americans were placed in quazi-concentration camps, or even the parts that talk about the slaughtering of Native Americans, or the fact that the US dropped more than a couple of atom bombs on innocent people in Japan--nah, we didn't focus on that. We learned about the victories, the great accomplishments of our fore fathers, the amazing American inventors, the millionaires, and the innovators. We learned about the amazing non-violent activists like Martin Luther King and Ghandi--we never learned about Malcolm X. Somehow we managed to skip over that stuff.

Every year we celebrated--in a big, elaborate fashion--the 4th of July; Independance day, everyone had that day off. We even celebrated the guy who founded the United States by complete accident--Christopher Columbus. Living in the United States, no matter how abused you actually were, was sold as a priviledge. We were a melting pot and we understood that people from all over the world, who had it much worse, risked their lives to live there, to be around us, and we were proud of that. 20-plus years of indoctrination is really hard to wash off... believe me.

Naturally, there are many who were lucky enough to learn a different way of thinking--a more progressive world view. This difference in thinking was likely due to a role model, or an awakening of some sort that they were fortunate enough to encounter. For many it was war that changed them, or it was the civil rights struggle, or the struggle of being a Gay American--those who weren't giddy with Americanism had likely experienced oppression and they sought to fight against it. However, for the most part, most Americans never got there. And many are still nowhere near.

To be honest, for most of my life, I was a completely different person than I am today. It took a blantent and painful swipe of human & civil rights, by the United States government, for me to truly "awaken". But the truth remains, for the longest time I was just like most Americans. I was like the American that thought war is a normal "American" activity--as our history teachers so proudly highlighted. The American that thought capitalism is the tool that will set the world free (laugh out loud). I even believed, for twently some odd years, that I was actually free...most Americans still believe this. Now, when I look back, it is painfully obvious to me I was indoctrinated--with no hope of realizing any different reality because there was no reason for me to question it.

If you take what I've said into consideration and apply it accordingly to Americans in general and to Barack Obama who is also American, how can you not look at him through respectful eyes--when he is clearly of good intent? After experiencing the contrary for 8 years, how can we as progressives openly complain about things that are beyond the comprehension of many Americans? The truth is most Americans think war is justifyable. Most Americans also think capitalism is fine and dandy--most can't even consider an alternative, as they were never truly taught any. Think about it. If being American means you've been indoctrinated with Americanism for your entire life, how does one expect the American public to elect someone like Ralph Nader; who presents solutions that are alien to the way most Americans think--even if those solutions are the right ones?

And in conclusion, consider this: Barack Obama is a man of color. A man who was in close acquaintance with a person like Jeremiah Wright (J.W. is not who the media says he is, you should read about him). A man who has been to Kenya to visit siblings that live in shacks. A man who is from a background which deviates drastically from that of the average American President. Honestly...What makes you think he's not just playing the game? What makes you think he's so middle of the road? Clearly he's brilliant--just use the campaign he just ran as proof...Even if he's playing no game at all, and he's just an American who has good intentions...he's still American. See what I'm saying?

Voting for a candidate like Ralph Nader and then complaining about why no else is voting for him gets us nowhere. Recognizing why no one votes for candidates like Ralph Nader and then figuring out how to educate a nation of people who think like Americans makes more sense and is equally as futile. But I'm no Pulitzer Prize Winner so what the eff do I know right?

So I ask this: Even though Progressives know what is right... do we know how to play the game?

...I had to sit still... so I could take it all in...here is the re-cap.

Apologies for the giant blog-pause that I took this week.

To be honest, I am still recovering from Obama's win this past Tuesday. And while we're on an honesty kick, I should let you know that I really did not think he was going to be elected. Somewhere, at the very front and center of my consciousness, I truly did not believe the media was being truthful in its polling or its reporting. Instead, I listened faithfully to the progressive media outlets--who were faithfully reporting cases of voter purging, voter caging, brigades of soldiers on-call for the upcoming riots, fields of fema coffins...ALL very TRUE, yet fear inducing enough to stress me out for a decade!

Call me cynical, pessimistic, skeptical, distrustful, contemptuous--your choice really--the truth is after two stolen elections, eight years of Bush, a war for the sake of capitalism, torture of innocent individuals, the slaughtering of THOUSANDS of innocent Iraqi's and Afghanis, not to mention my own personal exodus from my homeland (due solely to many of the political reasons stated above)... how could anyone really expect me, of all people, to believe America would make a good choice

So, in the end...I was wrong. THANK GOD!

I spent Tuesday night with some of the best and most brilliant people I know; as I decided to make an event of the evening (Aparrently politics = party in my book). We all huddled together in a pub and many of my friends experienced the part of my life that I usually reserve for my blog and for the like-minded (politically charged) people in my life. In any case, it turned out to be one of the most incredible and memorable nights of my life... here's why:

1) If your friends like you enough, they'll party with you over politics

My friends, who don't exactly follow politics with the same fervor, came out--on a Tuesday night--to watch the American election...in Canada. I was very appreciative of their in-person-support. And I love them for it.

2) 10th Grade Logic Question: Barack Obama won AND Barack Obama is a bi-racial American. Why does that matter if and only if Barack Obama is a bi-racial American? (remember that shit? I hated logic!)

Here's why: in 1954, the United States government passed legislation to end segregation. However, in 1964, ten years later, people were still killing one another over race related issues. In addition to being shot with fire hoses and attacked with dogs for protesting, many black Americans were still unable to vote at that time--they had little to no civil rights and it was because of a government that failed to treat black Americans like Americans. That was only 44 years ago. In less than half of a lifetime, Americans, by an overwhelming majority, have elected a black president. This is a BEAUTIFUL reality! (I had originally said it was incredible, but it is actually beautiful. Think about it.)

As someone who personally grew up in an ethnic household with two parents that both personally experienced racism and discrimination--this means the world to me. It means that America is finally growing up. In my opinion, when a nation recognizes all of its citizens and the people of its land as HUMAN BEINGS, it is STEP ONE towards becoming a true nation. (Considering this as the first step, is actually an over statement on my part due to the current treatment of Mexicans and homosexuals in the US---but it's a baby step and definitely a step in the right direction). I am happy beyond belief that for once the true character of an individual is what people are basing their votes upon as opposed to the color of one's skin or the descent of their ancestors.

It also meant a lot to me because, plain and simply, the better guy beat the bad guy! Here's the thing about Obama, he's not exactly a liberal. He's liberal when you compare him to American politicians and you take into consideration how far right America has crept... but in the grand scheme of reality--he's still pro-war, pro-patriot act, anti gay marriage, and pro-capitalism--all things liberals disagree with. Many progressives think he is not much different than anyone else... I beg to differ and think he's a big step up from the alternative. The fact of the matter is when you compare the choices, he was hands down the best choice. And to the Progressives of the world: When you're talking about the United States... think baby steps! I'm from there, and even I know that baby steps are a big deal!

...back to the recap:

When they announced that Obama won, I still couldn't believe it--I kept saying: "it's only a projection"... however I soon received a text from a friend, whose father is an editor at The New York Times. The text said that the paper had just sent to print the issue declaring Obama's as the winner. I guess that sealed the deal. We were all jumping up and down, cheering, hugging... it was fantastic!

3) It was like my favorite team just won the Stanley Cup and I don't even like hockey!!!

After the announcement, we all headed down to Dundas Square. The rumor was they were going to show Obama's speech on a big screen in the square... Unfortunately, that was a rumor. Instead, when we arrived, we joined into a great celebration of people dancing and singing and hugging and cheering... my partner and I just kept looking at one another in awe... It was like nothing we'd ever seen before. In the states, people only cheer like that when sports teams win. It made my little, hippie, heart melt!

4) And the grand finale--Typsy Tears of Joy!

We headed to the Imperial Pub to watch the new "President Elect" give his speech. I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly didn't expect the 1992 television set with volume lower than the iPod blasting out of a meathead's ears at the gym! About 150 people where watching with their necks strained forward, shushing the few drunkards in the room who were being rowdy. I was surprised and reassured by the business-like tone of his speech and I was touched by the restored hope that seemed to be pouring from the public. I think I even shed a couple of tears when I looked into the eyes of a fellow New Yorker who happened to be in the vicinity... but I am sure that was due, in part, to my good old friends: Guinness, Maudite, and Keiths...
It was a good night for so many reasons, well four reasons actually.

So here's the question everyone is asking:

Will Barack Obama CHANGE anything? It's a fantasy of mine that he's a hell of a lot more liberal than he lead us to believe--and, once in office, he actually becomes a liberal! In my opinion, that would be an excellent deception... it would be exactly like G-Dub, except the reciprocal!

The reality is he likely won't change much... we'll all just have to wait and see. I'm truly hoping to see what he'll do about green technologies... We NEED to start focusing on the environment, and if that is all we get out of him, I know for sure that is far better than what the alternative would have been.

So here's to change...
cheers.

...got hope?

A friend today said: "have faith woman!", as yet again I began to babble about a stolen election, riots, maybe even martial law come Wednesday.

Am I hopelessly pessimistic? Why can't I seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel? Why aren't I drunk with Blue-State Giddiness knowing that Obama is ahead in the polls? Well it could be one of two things: because I'm currently listening to Deathcab for Cutie... or, because I've been hoping for a long time now that people would wake-up and take it to the streets. Impeach a couple of neocons, fight to end the war(s), make sure our government is doing the right thing, wake up from the consumerist-coma we've been in for the past 10 years...

We haven't awoken yet.

I hope with all of my heart that I am wrong. Dead wrong. I hope Barack Obama becomes the next President of the United States. That he fights for human rights, peace, equality--all of the great things he has been promising for the past year that he's been campaigning...

On Tuesday night, I will watch, with hopeful-faithfulness (a Bushism I think), as the USA elects its next president.

So, here's to having a little bit of faith...and a nice, cold beer while I'm at it!

If you too are having trouble staying hopeful, Check this out...

Cheers,
E

...if it made you think...

Read this blog... IT'S AMAZING!!

Shelly, from CitizenAgainstLies.com, wrote an amazing Blog about the MTV spots which were run on MTV last summer (see below or click above). I'm glad she did... we need to get the word out--even if we are wrong. The possibility that we could be right (which truly does exist) far outweighs the consequences of being wrong.

MTV warns the public about Martial Law and Concentration camps... Whaaaaaaat?

OK... when I first watched the video below--which you will soon click on and watch--I was in utter shock and disbelief.

So take a look and I'll tell you what I think...



I often go off on these wild tangents when I talk about the United States government and my disdain for it's blatant acts of dishonesty--its achievements in stripping Americans of their rights--USA Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, Preemptive Raids on activists--the incredible amount of power the Bush Administration has managed to secure for itself by use of stolen elections and staged events, and of course the obvious and nauseating control over the media it has managed to seize.

Without fail, each and every time I speak my mind and express my fears over a Government-Gone-Wild , I am called a conspiracy theorist--which is the equivalent of being called a "silly child". And though it is frustrating to hear this very common reaction--there is no doubt in my mind that there is plenty of truth to what I am trying to tell you. I am trying to tell you, in the simplest of words that the United States Government is not finished plotting and practicing the evil deeds it began to commit in 2001.

Their track record says it all:

• using tragedy to gain power -- 9/11 and most recently the tanking of the economy
  
• using ruthless propaganda and flat out lies--where do I begin? Weapons of Mass Destruction, Sadam Husseins ties with Al Queida, or the McCain Campaign calling Obama a terrorist?
• Torture? WTF!
• The Military Stop-Loss policy--a secret way for the government to use and reuse and then reuse troops.... over and over...
• Preemptive War, preemptive raids, survaillance of citizens
  
• allowing and even encouraging racism and hate speech at rallies and elsewhere
  
• controlling the media--Fox News, is this what we call respectable journalism?
  
• a questionable aliance with the Bin Laden family which was (suspiciously) NEVER legally, publically, questioned by congress. Where is Kenneth Star?
• ENRON?
  
• lying about a $700 billion dollar Bailout Bill--which according to MANY economists, was unnecessary and misused; as there was plenty of hidden agenda contained inside of a bill, comprised of hundreds of pages, that Senate only had hours to read and then vote upon
  
• stolen elections of the past (hanging chads anyone?) and more recently, countless reports from all over the nation of people being purged from the voter roles and voter caging

Let's face it, these guys--the Bush Administration, the One-Percenters, the Neocons--are plotting some serious, Voldemort-Style, world domination and it's obvious (to me at least) that they plan on gaining it by any means necessary.

The fact of the matter is, and not to scare the shit out of anyone, but this is REALLY happening. It's not a movie, it's not a commercial in a movie--it's a real commercial that was run in the United States by MTV. Can you believe that? A commercial comparing today to the days of Holocaust... this is real.

So instead of remaining in your current state of blissful-ignoring (i.e. denial) Let's try to think of what we can do to stop it! We can stop this from happening--whether it's on the horizon or not.

Check out this book: "Give me Liberty: A Handbook For American Revolutionaries", by Naomi Wolf. The book was written with the intention of helping us to fight the power and keep our freedom. After all, if it happens in the US... whose to say they'll respect the borders and let Canada live freely? What's the likelihood with Harper in charge?

My point is this: how can it be "conspiracy theory" if MTV is saying it too? It doesn't get more Mainstream than that. Think about it.




**Link to Citizen Against Lies. I sent this link to Shelly, who writes this blog, and she was just as astonished by the video as I was. She said she would post on it tonight and it will definitely be interesting to learn her point of view.

...best thing EVER...

MORE talk of a stolen election...

On Citizen Against Lies there is an investigative report by Rolling Stone Magazine about stolen votes in the US. It claims that the vote has already been stolen by the GOP. According to this article, there are 9 different ways that the GOP plans to "steal votes". A portion of the article is listed below as well as a 2-Part related video by Greg Palast of the BBC--it's not the best, but I will to do some more investigating to learn more about this... Read below and tell me what you're thinking. If you find any additional information, please send it my way!

There is no doubt that there is something sketchy going on... so let's get to the bottom of it!

-E

From Rolling Stone Magazine:

"I don't think the Democrats get it," says John Boyd, a voting-rights attorney in Albuquerque who has taken on the Republican Party for impeding access to the ballot. "All these new rules and games are turning voting into an obstacle course that could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states."







UPDATE: this information is EVERYWHERE... take your pick:

PBS on "voter caging":


MSNBC--Keith Olbermann on "voter caging":

... on a humorous note...

This is a must watch! Here's Obama & McCain roasting one another at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner...

What did you think? I thought Obama was funnier... AND less rude... To be fair, I've posted both videos... decide for yourself.

...in case you haven't felt disgusted yet today...

Just when you thought you've seen it all, Americans from the Midwest are here, on camera, to prove you wrong!

Here is a video, sent to me by a coworker, that was passed on to him by a friend. It is a video, posted on YouTube by Aljazeera Television, interviewing Americans at a Sara Palin rally in Ohio (take notice of all of the SUVs). Not only is this video disturbing, but it is also sad and terrifying. How is it even possible that racism, ignorance, and plain disregard for other human beings exists so openly in the United States--at a Republican Rally for the Vice Presidential Candidate nonetheless.

I am ashamed to be American after watching this video and I thank God to have been born in a blue state, with liberal-minded parents... Honestly, thanks be to God! Yes, that's right, I believe in God--AND a woman's right to choose, and gay marriage, and heterosexual marriage, and sports, and progressive politics, and environmentalism, and sex before marriage, and divorce, and condoms, and birth control, and wearing mini skirts, and education, and immigration reform, and election reform, and investing in Green Technologies, and rebuilding New Orleans--as far as I'm concerned one thing has NOTHING to do with the other.

I pray to God regularly and I believe that belief systems are personal and individual--not something to be forced on to others. The belief in God, religion, and the likes are meant to be sources of goodness and hope in one's life. They are ways for the individual to find quiet strength in all situations--they are never political and they are not the same for everyone. It is individual. Believing in a God, praying, practicing a religion, shit... even practicing yoga is about finding the good in yourself and attempting to make yourself the best person possible. The act of gaining more followers for your way of thinking does not get you points--Religion is not a sport and God is not the coach looking at his lineup!

Honestly, if "being filled with the holy spirit" means encouraging, condoning, and rallying hate... then Sara Palin and the people in this video (and anyone else who thinks this way) can take the holy spirit and shove him where the sun doesn't shine. If that offends you, I apologize.

In Conclusion, I don't know how many times I have to say this but... RELIGION AND POLITICS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ONE ANOTHER... If you want to live in a holy land, then move your ass to Vatican City. The United States was founded in order for people to be free to believe what they like without the government oppressing or imposing on their beliefs. It is the beauty of our Bill of Rights, currently being eroded by a neo-con agenda. Religion is INDIVIDUAL... simple as that. IT'S INDIVIDUAL.
Rant over and out.




SIDE NOTE: Ironically, I would bet you any amount of money that these people would lose it if they knew Aljazeera that was interviewing them... funny eh?

And PS. to the old woman with the Cosby sweater: It's quite possible that you indeed can be considered as "trash" by some haters out there. And believe me, it has nothing to do with the fact that you're white. I can assure you that Barack Obama does not hate white people--what does "white people" even mean anyway?

More comments please!

Thanks Manny

CAPTION THIS PICTURE CONTEST- 10-16-08

and the winner is:
CARL ROVE: "Oh No!!! I need more Polyjuice Potion!"

is there a chance that the media might start telling the truth for once.......

A friend of mine, a New Yorker, sent me the following article. It's a piece from Rolling Stone Magazine where the author, Tim Dickinson, exposes John McCain in a way no major media outlet has done before. I have seen and heard such commentary on left-wing blogs and podcast but never from a main stream publication such as RSM.

I find it quite interesting. And it makes me wonder how much is really on the line when it comes to this election. Think about it.

In the past decade, the media has had information that it has failed to release--for example, the truth about 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, Colin Powell, and Ken Lay--to name a few. It makes me wonder: is this election important enough to make people start paying attention? Are people beginning to demand the truth; fact check their politicians; ask pointed, intelligent questions; demand more from the media? .... a little spark of hope is arising inside of me

Give this article a read. It's a bit long, but it's insightful and it makes you wonder what the hell is going on. How are these guys able to trick us and lie the way they do? Why do we let them and how can we get the truth?


Make-Believe Maverick

A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty

TIM DICKINSON

Posted Oct 16, 2008 7:00 PM

At Fort McNair, an army base located along the Potomac River in the nation's capital, a chance reunion takes place one day between two former POWs. It's the spring of 1974, and Navy commander John Sidney McCain III has returned home from the experience in Hanoi that, according to legend, transformed him from a callow and reckless youth into a serious man of patriotism and purpose. Walking along the grounds at Fort McNair, McCain runs into John Dramesi, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was also imprisoned and tortured in Vietnam.

McCain is studying at the National War College, a prestigious graduate program he had to pull strings with the Secretary of the Navy to get into. Dramesi is enrolled, on his own merit, at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in the building next door.

There's a distance between the two men that belies their shared experience in North Vietnam — call it an honor gap. Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

On the grounds between the two brick colleges, the chitchat between the scion of four-star admirals and the son of a prizefighter turns to their academic travels; both colleges sponsor a trip abroad for young officers to network with military and political leaders in a distant corner of the globe.

"I'm going to the Middle East," Dramesi says. "Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran."

"Why are you going to the Middle East?" McCain asks, dismissively.

"It's a place we're probably going to have some problems," Dramesi says.

"Why? Where are you going to, John?"

"Oh, I'm going to Rio."

"What the hell are you going to Rio for?"

McCain, a married father of three, shrugs.

"I got a better chance of getting laid."

Dramesi, who went on to serve as chief war planner for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of a wing of the Strategic Air Command, was not surprised. "McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man," Dramesi says today. "But he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in."

McCAIN FIRST

This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather.

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

This, of course, is not the story McCain tells about himself. Few politicians have so actively, or successfully, crafted their own myth of greatness. In McCain's version of his life, he is a prodigal son who, steeled by his brutal internment in Vietnam, learned to put "country first." Remade by the Keating Five scandal that nearly wrecked his career, the story goes, McCain re-emerged as a "reformer" and a "maverick," righteously eschewing anything that "might even tangentially be construed as a less than proper use of my office."

It's a myth McCain has cultivated throughout his decades in Washington. But during the course of this year's campaign, the mask has slipped. "Let's face it," says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn't bend his principles for politics. That's just not true."

We have now watched McCain run twice for president. The first time he positioned himself as a principled centrist and decried the politics of Karl Rove and the influence of the religious right, imploring voters to judge candidates "by the example we set, by the way we conduct our campaigns, by the way we personally practice politics." After he lost in 2000, he jagged hard to the left — breaking with the president over taxes, drilling, judicial appointments, even flirting with joining the Democratic Party.

In his current campaign, however, McCain has become the kind of politician he ran against in 2000. He has embraced those he once denounced as "agents of intolerance," promised more drilling and deeper tax cuts, even compromised his vaunted opposition to torture. Intent on winning the presidency at all costs, he has reassembled the very team that so viciously smeared him and his family eight years ago, selecting as his running mate a born-again moose hunter whose only qualification for office is her ability to electrify Rove's base. And he has engaged in a "practice of politics" so deceptive that even Rove himself has denounced it, saying that the outright lies in McCain's campaign ads go "too far" and fail the "truth test."

The missing piece of this puzzle, says a former McCain confidant who has fallen out with the senator over his neoconservatism, is a third, never realized, campaign that McCain intended to run against Bush in 2004. "McCain wanted a rematch, based on ethics, campaign finance and Enron — the corrupt relationship between Bush's team and the corporate sector," says the former friend, a prominent conservative thinker with whom McCain shared his plans over the course of several dinners in 2001. "But when 9/11 happened, McCain saw his chance to challenge Bush again was robbed. He saw 9/11 gave Bush and his failed presidency a second life. He saw Bush and Cheney's ability to draw stark contrasts between black and white, villains and good guys. And that's why McCain changed." (The McCain campaign did not respond to numerous requests for comment from Rolling Stone.)

Indeed, many leading Republicans who once admired McCain see his recent contortions to appease the GOP base as the undoing of a maverick. "John McCain's ambition overrode his basic character," says Rita Hauser, who served on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2001 to 2004. But the truth of the matter is that ambition is John McCain's basic character. Seen in the sweep of his seven-decade personal history, his pandering to the right is consistent with the only constant in his life: doing what's best for himself. To put the matter squarely: John McCain is his own special interest.

"John has made a pact with the devil," says Lincoln Chafee, the former GOP senator, who has been appalled at his one-time colleague's readiness to sacrifice principle for power. Chafee and McCain were the only Republicans to vote against the Bush tax cuts. They locked arms in opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And they worked together in the "Gang of 14," which blocked some of Bush's worst judges from the federal bench.

"On all three — sadly, sadly, sadly — McCain has flip-flopped," Chafee says. And forget all the "Country First" sloganeering, he adds. "McCain is putting himself first. He's putting himself first in blinking neon lights."

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the revolution will not be televised...

I just got finished watching the US Vice Presidential Debate and I'm disappointed. I'm angry that Joe Biden didn't make Palin look like the idiot she truly is--there were so many opportunities where he could have simply buried her. How many times can a person honestly repeat themselves? She is an embarrassment. How many times can she use the state of Alaska as an example? There are 50 other states with much larger populations and vastly different needs and problems--how is the state of Alaska the answer to every question pertaining to a nation of 50 other states? When did "hockey moms" become the priority voting group in the United States? When the did hockey become the most popular sport in the United States? Every buzz word that she used; every attempt at Neurolinguistic programming made me nauseous with the reality that there are people out there who would actually believe her. People who would actually think she was making good points. It made me cringe with anger as she stood up there regurgitating the ideology of white, male, neo-con, capitalists who have been in charge for centuries, making desperate attempts to de-educate, oppress, and discriminate against humans they consider of lesser value.

Is she a "maverick"? I laugh: No...she's a disaster.

I'm looking forward to Saturday Night in hopes that Tina Fey (a true modern feminist) will, once again, show the stupidity and naivety of a women who is doing nothing short of shattering the work of our mothers and grandmothers who fought for the many rights we take advantage of today--rights that Palin herself took advantage of as she stood smugly and ignorantly, smiling and WINKING on that podium tonight. It will be interesting to see what happens to her when she's through selling her soul.

If you're reading this, if you're a woman or a girl, if you're a man or a boy who believes in equality and human rights--make sure that you get out there and make your voice heard. It's more than just getting out and voting. Start paying attention.... really START PAYING ATTENTION.

This is not the time to be focused on your iLife, while listening to your iPod and watching The Hills--our future is on the line here. We--the little people, the poor, the "middle class"--WE outnumber the ones in power, yet we continue to take their abuse.


Start paying attention and be ready because the revolution will not be televised.