Obama's Speech

Obama gave his historical acceptance speech on Thursday and it was really something. Not quite in the class of the best of JFK or MLK, but close. What I liked the most is he took a very tough attitude against McCain and Bush. There is one part where he does a litany of Bush debacles then, very forcefully says; "ENOUGH!" That seems to be most people's favorite part. My favorite is when he is talking about McCain's judgment, but you can read the whole speech if you want on Obama's site:

"But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time?"

To me that pretty much counters anything McCain has ever said in his life, let alone during this campaign. There can be no clearer statement of McCain's inability to lead than saying he thought the worst president in history was right 90% of the time.

And what a pleasure it was to see a Democrat fighting back for a change, instead of caving into the Republicans.

They are saying he got a big bounce from all this and went from a tie with McCain to having an 8 point lead, but all these polls have been all over the place so I don't think we can tell much about anything from them. The media just quotes whichever poll fits their particular point at the moment.

So I have to say I'm an Obama supporter again despite my early disappointments. If he can simply change direction that is enough reason to vote for him. Or if he can get significant health care reform done, that will be enough.

Martin Luther King

This seems like a good time for all of us to listen "I Have a Dream" again. As many times as I've heard this it still gives me chills when I hear it. How different this country would be if Jack, Bobby and mMrtin hadn't been cut down in their prime.

What the Media Doesn't Show You

Think we are seeing the real convention? No, we are seeing what the corporate media wants to show us, and this is true even of my favorites, MSNBC with Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. But let me remind everyone what a great source YouTube is for things like this. I was thinking last night how much I'd like to hear Dennis Kucinich speak but thought they wouldn't let him because those in charge of the Democrats are scared of him. I was also pissed that Keith and Matthews went on and on while I could see Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer speaking in the background with no sound. Well, here are both speeches.

Hillary at the Convention

Yesterday Hillary spoke. It was long awaited and many felt this was the speech that was needed to unite the party. Everyone seemed concerned about it but I wasn't, she's a pro.

And she absolutely blew the whole place away, her speech absolutely perfect in every detail, the best she's ever given, I think. She not only firmly supported Obama and said he must get into the White House for any of her issues to be addressed, but she managed to blast Bush and McCain, as well as make herself look good. It was as if she wanted to let everyone know what they were missing by not having her as the candidate.

But she was quite clear on her support of Obama, nearly putting it as a betrayal of her to allow McCain to become president. She didn't say it directly but it was a strong under current. Anyone who supported her and will now vote for McCain is an idiot who is beyond redemption.

I feel a little sad, though. The fact is she would have been a great candidate and if she had run at any other time, or if Obama had not been there, she would have been a lock for getting the Democratic presidential nomination. But Obama was there and ran a better campaign than Hillary did. Her's was dysfunctional, his was brilliant.

I'm not sure we ended up with the best candidate, but that's the way it worked out and we have to go forward with what we have.

Birthday Yesterday

Turned 55 yesterday. There is a certain unreality in the concept of me being that old, just doesn't seem right, but there it is. Darcy was feeling better than usual and we went out to dinner for the first time in many months, that was lots of fun. It's amazing how much we can miss the simple things. She also got me the next 2 books in the Dresden series, yum.

Then we went home and watched the Democratic Convention. How thoughtful of them to hold it on my birthday like that. That was a lot of fun too. It was great seeing Teddy Kennedy up there looking strong and coherent, that might be the the last such speech we ever see. I don't remember a thing he said but that really wasn't what was important, now was it?

Then Michelle Obama came on and made her speech. I thought it was bad theater to have her come on after Teddy, how does someone top that? He rocked the room just by showing up. But I didn't need to worry, she was fantastic. Every part of the speech was perfect, I thought. Strong and intelligent, while still being warm and embracing to all those listening. I hope this puts a more human face on the Obama family and even those still nurturing bitterness over Hillary, or nurturing a life long racism, will be able to embrace them, and allow them to vote for Obama for president.

Tomorrow Hillary takes the stage and I sure hope she knocks it out of the park too and brings all her PUMA's into the fold.

IDIOT PUMAS

A PUMA is a rabid Hillary supporter, it stands for Party Unity My Ass. These people are unbelievably stupid if they vote for John McCain Here is an article called When PUMAS Attack by by georgia10:

John McCain's new ad features PUMA extraordinaire, Debra Bartoshevich, proclaiming that she's a "Hillary Clinton Democrat" who will be voting for John McCain:

She claims in the ad that "lots of Democrats will vote McCain" and then tries to assure voters that "it's ok -- really." Bartoshevich, who was a delegate, was stripped of delegate status. This is the second McCain ad targeted to petulant Clinton voters.

Leaving aside the irony of calling yourself a "Hillary Clinton Democrat" and then voting for someone diametrically opposed to what Democrats--including Hillary Clinton--stand for, McCain's attempt to win this race by targeting Clinton voters is quite revealing.

It is simply amazing that anyone who could support Hillary and her positions on the issues could possibly vote for McCain, who doesn't hold ANY of the same positions, who is, in fact, against everything Hillary stands for. So any of these PUMAS who vote for McCain are betraying Hillary. I can't even begin to imagine what these people are thinking.

Here on the ground in Denver, you would be hard pressed to find someone who is willing to vote for John McCain in the fall. Sure, the place is teeming with people who voted for Hillary, but the general consenus here is that we need to get a Democrat into the White House. Period.

That won't stop television reporters from flocking to the rare PUMA in the streets wearing a Hillary or Bust t-shirt. But the force of these individuals here at the convention isn't as compelling as the media make it out to be. While PUMAs may think they're here to roar for Hillary only, in the midst of all of this energy for Obama and the Democratic Party, PUMA whining is nothing more than a barely audible meow.

I've long suspected this whole thing is being created more by the media than something real. Sure, there are nutcases in every situation but they are a small minority. No true Hillary supporter could possibly vote for McCain, no matter how upset they are by her losing.

Joe Biden

So Obama has made his choice for Vice President. Is it a good one? Yeah, I think so, better than anyone else available, that's for sure. While I like Hillary she brings too much baggage - especially Bill. Bayh and Kaine were just too weak and too unknown. Biden brings a lot of weight, more so than even Hillary. But I've heard some of his history that has really impressed me.

He was first elected to the Senate when he was 29 years old (he's now 65). A major achievement for a guy from a working class family. And even today he is the least wealthy Senator, which means he hasn't been in it for the money.

Before he even took the oath of office his family was in a car crash, his wife and daughter were both killed and his 2 sons were hurt. He was going to drop out of the Senate but the leadership talked him out of it. But the one thing he did was take the train home every night to Delaware so he would be there with his sons when everyone got up in the morning. Five years later he remarried and had another daughter and continued to take the train home every night to this day. And one of his sons is about to deploy to Iraq.

Now that is one hell of a story.

House . . .um - Houses?

Poor John, can’t remember how many houses he has. Everybody who has ever forgotten how many houses they own please raise their hands. And so the true elitist is discovered. No one except the Ultra Rich forgets how many houses they own. McCain was born into an Admiral’s family and so was a person of privilege from the beginning. Then in the 70’s he dumped his first wife and married the younger, and very rich, Cindy. So he has really been up in the clouds ever since. Really think he can understand the problems of you and me and everyone else living normal lives? Of course the economy seems fine to him, no way one of his 7 (maybe 8) houses will ever be repossessed. Gas prices? Do you really think this guy has ever pumped his own gas in many years?

Then there is Obama, father leaves when he is 2 so he is raised by a single mom, and later by his grandparents. Nothing elitist there. He worked his way through college and law school and he and Michelle managed to pay off their student loans not too long ago. That’s because he wrote a few books so some money was coming in and they are doing very well. Worth about $2 million last I heard. Pretty damn good for a kid with humble beginnings, but he’s talented. Sure, he’s special in the fact that he is very smart and worked his way up to a nice life, but if he wasn’t special he wouldn’t be a presidential candidate at the age of 47.

But he is not that far from his roots and is less of an Elitist than anyone who has ever run for president in my lifetime. He is as close to a “regular guy” as we are ever going to get for the job. The biggest elitist to run? George Bush. Born into a very rich and very politically powerful family, he never worked a day in his life. He was just good with his "Aw shucks" act.

Still Sick But Not Smoking

My ribs still hurt really bad and I'm coughing like crazy. By the time 5 pm rolls by I am so tired I can hardly move. I was awakened at 2 am last night by a violent coughing fit that lasted at least 10 minutes and disrupted my sleep.

But I haven't had a cigarette since last Friday. That's pretty damn good for me. Even better, I've actually lost weight while I've been cutting back on smoking, really unheard of. The Chantix has killed my appetite far more than curbing my desire to smoke. If I hadn't gotten the pneumonia I probably wouldn't have quite at all.

So I'm still limping forward, waiting for my lungs to clear and my ribs to stop hurting. Even just one of those would be good. At least I know how many houses I own, which is more than McCain can say. What a senile old fool he is.

And how great is it to be Michael Phelps right now? Talk about being on top of the world, 23 years old, feeling good because he is in fantastic shape, and the greatest Olympian of all time with the most Gold medals total and most gold medals at a single Olympics. I hear he will soon be worth $40 million.

A 3D Guernica

An intrepid young artist named Lena Gieseke decided to take Picasso's painting Guernica and turn it into a 3D image. One has to be amazed at the audacity of taking on such a project but she not only did it but succeeded brilliantly. She made a movie of it where the camera moves in and out of the 3D model, it's really quite spectacular. But rather than me bather on about it you should go to the web site and look for yourself, as well as read why Lena did it in her own words. But first, I wanted to present an image of the original.

A 3D Exploration of Picasso's Guernica

Pain at 10

On a scale from one to 10, that is. I now know what that feels like and it happened so oddly. I've had pneumonia for 4 weeks now and hurt my ribs by coughing too much. While that is annoying that isn't the ten. I was laying down and found that is the worst thing for the rib pain, so naturally I sat up - that's when it happened.

I felt a ripping jolt of pain right in the center of my right ribcage, just below my nipple. I had gotten out of bed and I fell to my knees, draped my torso over the bed, grabbed the bedsheets and screamed in agony. I simply couldn't do anything else. And not like a littl girl eaither, like a wounded bear. Darcy was looking at me with great concern and wanted to call 911 or drive me over to the hospital. I said absolutely not (when I could breath again), there is nothing they can do for rib injuries except give me pain killers and tell me to take it easy. And I wasn't going to sit in the ER for 6 hours just to hear that.

I put an ice pack on immediately but that made it much worse, so I put a heating pad on and that was better. This was Wednesday and I feel no better today, but I know these things take a long time to heal. The worst part is that my lungs are still trying to cough out the pneumonia, but a breath too deep really hurts and so does a cough of any kind. I have to get up and stand next to the bed, lean over with palms on the bed and cough that way. It's the only position that isn't too painful. If I'm at the computer I stand up and put my hands of the chair arms, that works too.

The pain relievers help some but not a lot. But the stuff that is supposed to loosen the mucus is great, especially in double doses. And I can't lay down flat on the bed, because the pain is horrendous. I have shoulders and head propped up quite a bit and have to lay on that but I have a hard time sleeping like that. Normally I sleep on my side or face down, hard to sleep face up. So last night in my sleep I tried to turn over at least half a dozen times then was awakened by the pain. Bad night.

And Darcy is in the hospital, took herself over to the ER Thursday night because she felt awful and has been there since. They did dialysis on her because she's been too sick to go over there by herself. She also fell and hurt her foot so she wants that looked at, and she needs the fluid sucked out of her belly. Anyone familiar with liver problems will know what I mean.

Maybe the universe really is out to get us.

Bullying and Intimidation

"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century."

Look at that sentence carefully, might it be Ted Kennedy talking to Bush about his foreign policy? Or the head of just about any other country on earth talking to Bush. No, the above was said by Bush to Putin about his invasion of Georgia. Yes, really, George Bush actually said the above and was able to keep a straight face.

And if Putin doesn't listen to Bush what is George going to do about it? We no longer have a military that can engage any where in the world no matter what the reason. You heard Barack Obama, it will take 16 months to pull our troops out of Iraq and that's only if everything goes perfectly. Then the troops would have to be re-equiped to be employed elsewhere, because all of our equipment - costing billions of dollars - is useless from all those years in the desert and we will just leave it there. And guess what? No one thought ahead in the Bush administration (hard to believe, eh?) and companies haven't been churning out replacements like crazy. They have for some but not enough to reoutfit our entire military.

I know! We can just send Blackwater over there, no need for any of Bush's people to do any planning or anything, they find that kind of thing really taxing. And so what if the cost of a mercenary army is 10 times what our actual army costs, heck, that's what the government is for; making a few very rich people very, VERY rich. At least, that's what the neocons think a government is all about. And paying billions of tax dollars to rebuild the infrastructure of countries we've bombed, too. After all if we used that money to actually rebuild the infrastructure here Americans would become soft socialists instead of hardened individuals. Those still left alive, that is. Evolution at work.

I was just astonished by Bush saying such a thing to anyone. Has he looked in a mirror lately? I constantly get the impression that Bush thinks rules don't apply to him, even his own rules. He can do whatever he wants and it's nothing like whatever anyone else does.

Heck of an August

I’ve always been fond of August because that’s when my birthday is. And this year the Democratic Party decided to celebrate it by having their presidential convention start on it on the 25th. That was really nice of them and I promise to watch (which I would have done anyway).

But this is a busy, busy month this year, a pure joy for news junkies like me. First, there is the Olympics starting 08-08-08. I’ve long been fond of the Olympics, which I’ve always thought was strange because I’ve never been a sports person, don’t like watching and never, even as a kid, liked doing them. I got hooked on football due to living in Seattle for 4 years, where on every Monday during the fall all anybody talked about was the Seahawks game on Sunday. So I started watching just so I could talk to people on Mondays and I’ve been hooked ever since. Have no real interest in sports other than that, except the Olympics. Weird, but there it is.

And this year is special because it’s in China! This truly momentous. I’m half expecting some kind of weird event or disaster to happen that captures world attention. And I mean something as huge as the Palestinians taking the Israeli athletes hostage in the ’76 Munich Olympics. In the meantime I’m going to root for Michael Phelps to win all 8 of his Olympic Gold’s to beat Mark Spitz’s record from 1972, cause after the Olympics Spitz proved to be an asshole. And for Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor in Beach Volleyball who have won 103 sets in a row, not to mention the Gold in the last Olympics.

This weekend was a tremendous news cycle, Olympic opening ceremonies starting on Friday. The Olympics simply being in China is a huge news story, but it doesn’t end there. On Saturday a crazed Chinese man knifes a couple of Americans and their guide, then throws himself off the tower they were on. The man dies, his wife and the guide are in the hospital listed as critical. And if that isn’t enough for news junkies Georgia invades South Ossetia, a territory that had broken away from them, then Russia invades Georgia! This is HUGE international incident that involves us because we support Georgia and have been prodding Russia quite dangerously lately. One of those prodding’s was helping Georgia.

So with all this crazy stuff going on what is on all the news and talk shows on TV for the entire weekend? That John Edwards admits to having an affair. Why is this so much bigger news than all of the above? TV news people (except for Keith Olbermann) just suck badly. But we chose a profit based media who only want to do the stories that will give them ratings.

Edwards is a major disappointment to me, though. I was supporting him before he dropped out and thought he was the best choice of them all by far, but now he has ended his political career, as well as Elizabeth’s budding career as a political analyst. Lots of people say why is McCain getting a free pass on his affair? Because it was over 30 years ago, he married the woman (this often seems to make adultery OK) and the press like him too much to keep bringing up that old story that will make him look bad.

But still, Edwards’ affair is a different animal. We all forgave Bill Clinton of his early affairs back in 1992 and voted for him anyway. That’s because he sort of confessed, said it was personal and Hillary forgave him, and a lot of people never liked Hillary so they didn’t care. In this case Elizabeth is so well liked she is probably better liked than John. And she had breast cancer and beat it, only to have it come back at the beginning of John’s presidential bid and they decided to go forward anyway. Edwards brought Elizabeth into his campaign, made her a part of it, along with his relationship with her. Then he had the nerve to lie directly to reporters several times when asked about the alleged affair as report by the National Enquirer. All of this is what will end his career, not the affair by itself.

I’m not surprised by Edwards’ affair, I knew something was wrong for a long time. He quit the race too soon, and then seemed to disappear, keeping a low profile until coming out and endorsing Obama. Then he disappeared again and was not discussed as a VP possibility by anyone. There could be all kinds of reason the pundits wouldn’t think he was the top contender, but they would still talk about him and his chances. But no, it was as if he didn’t exist. So he won’t be the VP, he won’t even be invited to the convention, and Obama will not appoint him to anything at all.

The part that amazes me is that Elizabeth apparently knew about this affair before they ever started the race for the presidential primary but still agreed he should go for it. I could see John doing this because his ego was way too large for his own good, but I would have thought Elizabeth had better sense.

If We Drill in the U.S., We Don't Get the Oil

I'm about to do a rare thing, paste an entire post from someone else here. It's fairly short but the reason I'm doing it is that the guy agrees with me on where the oil goes, that it's not American oil but goes on the world market. Just so everyone knows I don't make this stuff up:

One thing has been driving me crazy about this drilling debate -- everyone seems to assume that if we drill for oil in the US, that we will get the oil. And hence, we won't be dependent on foreign oil anymore. But we won't get anything, Exxon-Mobil will. The oil that comes from that drilling will not be United States property (Republicans aren't suggesting we nationalize the oil companies, are they?). It will be the property of whichever oil company got the rights to that contract. They can then sell it to whoever they like -- and they will. They will sell it on the world market, so the Chinese will have just as much access to the oil that comes out of the coast of Florida as we will. The Democrats have done a decent job of beating back the argument that this will effect prices in the short run, or even in the long run. But no one has addressed the point above. The Republicans make it seem like we won't be dependent on foreign oil -- and that prices will go down in the US -- if we have our own oil. But it won't be ours. And it will be sold on the world market, so its effect on global oil prices will be even smaller. When we ask the question of whether there should be drilling off the coast of Florida or in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, we should ask the question this way -- would you be comfortable with the Chinese or the Germans or Russians or the Saudis drilling on American land? Because for all intents and purposes, they will be. Large multi-national firms like Exxon-Mobil are not US property. They sell to the world and their allegiance is to corporate profits. So, when they drill, they drill for the whole world, not just us. Some might find that heart-warming, but it certainly has nothing to do with the US having more oil or lower prices.

EXPLOITING BUSH

Which means Bush exploiting us, his entire run as president has ALL
been about exploitation. He is the reverse Robin Hood, stealing from
the poor (and middle class) and giving to the rich. The amazing part is
how obvious he has been and how few have called him on it. But now we have a caller who doesn't hold back - Hillary! In an article she says:

In the past few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded. One of these companies, former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, has used offshore tax havens to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes. To no one's surprise, instead of cracking down on KBR, the Bush administration has rewarded the company in April of this year with a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq.

Too bad she doesn't mention Halliburton skipping off to Dubai. I think any company that leaves America should no longer get government contracts, but Halliburton still has one that is cost plus 10%. Are you clear on what that means? Halliburton merely has to submit an expense report, they then get all that money plus 10% profit. So their motivation is to spend as much money as they possibly can on every project in order to make more profit. It's the kind of deal every business would dream of.

There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation under the Bush administration. The examples of the waste, fraud and abuse are legion -- from KBR performing shoddy electrical work in Iraq that has resulted in the electrocution of our military personnel according to Pentagon and Congressional investigators, to the firing of an Army official who dared to refuse a $1 billion payout for questionable charges to the same company.

KBR is responsible for the deaths of over a dozen military men fighting in Iraq by electrocuting them in poor built showers. I am not kidding even though I know that sounds unbelievable, but that is what America has become, the land where corporations rule and can get away with anything. Imagine this during WWII, people would be going to jail. She goes on to talk about how much money we can get back in government coffers simply by putting a stop to this abuse, no need for tax increases at all:

While touting fiscal responsibility, President Bush and his administration have lined the pockets of political cronies like Halliburton and Blackwater. While calling for earmark reform, the president has allowed no-bid and questionable contracting throughout the federal government to dwarf earmark spending by a 10-to-1 ratio.

If we're going to get serious about putting our nation's fiscal house in order, let's talk about putting an end to billions in no-bid contract awards to unaccountable contractors. Let's talk about the number of lucrative contracts and bonuses being paid for duties never performed, promises never fulfilled, and contracts falsely described as complete. And let's talk about reforming the federal contracting system so that we can take on the real waste, fraud and abuse in our federalgovernment.

I won't go into details but everyone should follow the link and read the whole article. As I was reading it I was thinking about how light weight all the VP candidates for Obama are that the press has been batting around. Only Hillary brings serious chops to the table. There has also been a rumor that she is suddenly high up on the short list again, so maybe Obama is starting to see that too. Each candidate might bring in his state, maybe, or white people, maybe. But Hillary is the only candidate who had 18 million people vote for her. This is not a maybe, this is hard fact.

And the traditional role of the VP candidate is as the attack dog that the presidential candidate can't be. We all know Hillary would be great at that. And Obama could give her special projects to take care of so he doesn't need to worry about them. He could hand over the whole health care mess, or set her up to deal with the corruption she talks about in the article. Hell, she can do both. Imagine her as Obama's Dick Cheney, the idea is positively scary.

The more I think about it the more I like it.

THE TRUTH ABOUT OFF-SHORE DRILLING

The truth is simple - the oil companies are lying and trying to scam the public, like they've always done. We can go all the way back to the beginning of Bush's presidency when they wanted to drill ANWR in Alaska. Did you know that there is already drilling going on by American oil companies (which are really international companies these days, no longer American) in Alaska? Where does that oil go? Directly to China and Japan because they pay better, none of it is coming down here to America. Nothing drilled in ANWR will come to us either.

Let's be very clear, there is no such thing as "domestic" oil, all oil now goes on the global market and is not kept in our country even if drilled here. So off-shore drilling or ANWR drilling will do little to ease US gas prices, it will only bring down oil prices the equivalent of pennies per gallon. But the oil companies will make some big bucks, which is why they want to do it. They care nothing for the country, only lining their own pockets. And apparently the same goes for John McCain, who is pushing off-shore drilling because the oil companies are donating big bucks to his campaign. After all, look what Bush has done for them, each quarter is a new record in company profits - for any company in the history of the world. Keep in mind those numbers are not what they brought in but PROFIT, what is left over after all expenses.

The story of Katrina causing no oil spills is just a flat out lie, there were millions of gallons spilled into the Gulf during the hurricane, so the idea that off-shore drilling is environmentally safe is a total fantasy.

And if they got the approval to drill tomorrow not a single drop of oil will reach any market for 10 years. Takes a lot of time to build those things, and isn't it odd the that oil companies have leases that allow drilling in thousands of sites in America right now, and have had them for years, yet leaves them untouched.

Get it straight, there is no cure for gas prices and never will be. Prices will keep going up forever. Sure, we will get some dips, it just dropped below $120 per barrel today, but those will be only temporary and short lived. The fact is that demand for oil is continuing to rise around the world, China alone has rising demands that would drive up prices in the long term even if no one else was demanding more oil.

The only way we can be independent from foreign oil is to come up with new energy sources, that is our ONLY course. And if we were doing it right we should have enough of that going on in ten years we wouldn’t need the oil from any of those off-shore sites the oil companies want so badly. Whatever money is spent on building the platforms would be much better spent funding new energy. And let’s not forget conservation. Right now the single most powerful and cost effective way of dealing with energy is for us to use it more efficiently. Simply lowering the speed limit to 55 mph on all highways would do a hell of a lot more than off-shore drilling ever will.

And let’s finish this off with a final number, 1%. What is that for? That is the percentage of their budget the oil companies are spending on research for alternative energy sources. They spend more money on TV ads to tell you how much they are doing than on actual research.

Arrogant or Uppity?

The horrible crime Obama has been accused of this week is of being arrogant. In case it's not clear to everyone, this is just downright stupid. Nobody runs for president who isn't arrogant and if you look back on the last 50 years of presidential elections you'll see that the more arrogant of the two was usually elected.

So why are people saying this? The most ridiculous charge this week is that Obama is too thin to be president. Anybody with a brain must be hitting their foreheads against their computer desk right now. Can it get any more stupid?

But there is a reason for this, it is subtle code, meant for those who don't even realize it is code. It's for those people just very slightly bigoted, so slight that they would tell you, with great anger, that they were NOT a bigot and how dare you if you asked them. But deep down all these messages about what Obama is says to the primitive part of our brains that he's different, he's not really like us, and the different is always feared in that reptile brain we all still have.

Most people won't fall for this, but some will, and they keep hammering and hammering so that people will get more and more concerned about Obama as the election gets closer. They won't really understand why he makes them uncomfortable, because most people are not in to self examination. And it won't take a lot, just enough to push the election towards McCain a bit and the Republican operatives will tweak the voting machines enough to steal the election.

Obama IS arrogant AND uppity, and that's just the way it should be. So is John McCain but that's OK because he's white.