Many Republican Voters May Be Sitting Out The Election

Some interesting voter trends are developing across the nation so far among the early voting. And one trend that is emerging is a lower than usual Republican turnout where it appears that many Republicans may be sitting out this election and that John McCain has failed to really excite the more traditional Republican base of support or prove his absurd claims against Barack Obama.

In Oregon, Republican Party officials are alarmed that in traditionally strongly Republican Eastern Oregon, the voter turnout among the registered Republicans is lagging sharping in mail-in voting. The hopes of Republican Senator Gordon Smith who is locked in a very tight race with Democratic challenger, Jeff Merkley depend heavily on bringing out his Eastern Oregon Republican home regional vote base. Yesterday, more bad news for the Republicans came in a mock poll among school students who have narrowly chosen George Bush twice before in 2000 and 2004, but Barack Obama crushed McCain by 39 points yesterday, while Merkley won by a narrower 11 point lead over Smith. Traditionally families with children tend to be somewhat more conservative than the single unmarried voters due to past security issues or "family values" issues for some reason. But now economic problems have mostly replaced any security or "family values" concerns of many voters.

Traditionally, while Republicans tend to do quite well among those that mail-in ballots nationally and other absentee voting, the new trend of early voters seems to be tilting sharply towards the Democrats in many parts of the nation. For example, in North Carolina, 60% of the early voters have been Democrats in this state that has tended Republican ever since the Barry Goldwater era. Only 24% of the early voters have been registered Republicans so far in North Carolina.

A further problem for John McCain is that among the 21% or more of voters who have already voted, Barack Obama may hold a 9% or better lead so far. Unless McCain is able to turn out his base of voters, which he is still having problems doing due to much weaker Republican organization compared to the well run Obama and Democratic organization, McCain will still lose, and can lose big in the electoral college, with one former "Red" state after another slipping from McCain's fingers.

Also bad For McCain, Sarah Palin has also failed to prove to be the big conservative base motivating force that he hoped that she would prove to be. She has proven to be yet another right wing intellectual lightweight like Dan Quayle. John McCain really needed a conservative running mate with the intelligence of a George Will, and instead his choice of Palin has only hurt with many voters and really has brought out little of the conservative base for the most part except for a few Evangelical right wingers or others due to the abortion issue or her support for a constitutional ban on Gay marriage. And rumors of internal campaign infighting, finger-pointing, and Palin going off script and acting too independent, where the colorful if not, wacky Palin is often a bigger story than the more colorless John McCain. Likely many will blame Palin for McCain's likely loss this Tuesday, but the problems for the troubled McCain Campaign really run much deeper than just that.

The fact of the matter is that unlike most Republican bloggers, who tend to more ideological and take more unreasonably hard right views on many issues, many actual Republican voters are more mainstream persons with more reasonable views. And many of these voters sort of like Barack Obama, even if they prefer to vote for John McCain, and many think that Mr. Obama has many great traits that they expect in a great and effective president.

This is good, because Mr. Obama will need to pull the nation together if elected and needs broad support to enact policies to rebuild the American economy and make the country a success story once again. Mr. Obama is a special candidate with the potential to be a very great president, and while the election could actually be close if many former George Bush voters move from undecided to McCain rather than Obama, many state polls still suggest serious problems for McCain among the Republican base who are hurting from this bad economy just like anyone else is. Not everyone owns a Wall Street bank for a living, or is a high roller of some type. And during a bad economy, most voters will seriously consider voting their pocketbook values.

Big Banks Banking On McCain

Employees of many of the major banks and other financial institutions that will benefit the most from the $700 billion dollar bailout package that John McCain voted for are also among his biggest campaign contributors by far according to FEC records. And even though the U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into any possible financial fraud that may have caused at least part of the huge financial crisis, major banks and other big money Wall Street contributors may be counting on a weaker Justice Department under McCain rule to go easy on any wrongdoing investigations by investing millions of dollars in his campaign.

So far employees at Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup, Inc., Morgan Stanley, J.P., Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Chase & Co., have consistently been among the top fives groups of donors to the McCain Campaign according to FEC records. These same five large financial groups are also five of the largest firms to benefit the most from the $700 billion dollar bailout package that John McCain voted for.

While John McCain and his running mate continue to claim to be "reformers" or "mavericks" to crowds along the campaign trail, the fact of the matter is that these campaign appearances are largely funded with campaign donations from many of the same Wall Street firms that will most benefit from McCain's vote on the bailout bill. Rather than being a "reformer" in any real sense of the word, McCain is simply just another example of a long-time, 26 year Washington insider politician who is kept in office by large donors who also stand to benefit the most from his continued support and votes in Washington.

McCain's involvement with convicted racketeer Charles Keating and the $126 billion dollar savings and loan crisis during the 1980's where McCain and his wife accepted many jet trips to a resort built by Keating from stolen bank funds as gifts, and then approached federal banking regulators to go easy on any investigation of banking fraud of Keating seems to have an eerie similarity to McCain's current bankrolling by some big Wall Street donors who might find themselves subjects of federal Justice Department investigations that McCain might also be able to calm down as president by appointments of Justice officials who will ignore major examples of wrongdoing. It is just another example of appointing the fox to guard the hen house.

The reality is that it will take a microscope to find any real evidence of John McCain as any type of meaningful "reformer" of any real substance. All signs are that the big donors who benefit the most from John McCain's support in Washington donate the most to his campaign efforts, and any firms that could potentially be the subject of any Justice Department investigations may also benefit the most by electing a McCain government which could tone down or circumvent any investigations into financial wrongdoing investigations. For McCain, it's simply business as usual back in Washington. And for any average citizen who votes for McCain, well they get to pay the $700 billion dollar bill to bail out his big donor pals on Wall Street.

Deflation A Sure Sign Of A Deeply Troubled Economy

Under normal circumstances the steep drop in world oil prices would be a positive signal and would have the effect of creating a sharp boost for the economy by freeing up billions of dollars that would normally be spent on energy sector costs almost like the $700 billion dollar bailout of the troubled financial segments in the U.S. should eventually accomplish. However, such a sharp drop in oil prices, as well as falling prices in many other sectors is actually part of a frightening financial problem that is identical to the same economic problem during the Great Depression that took place after the 1929 American stock market crash, deflation.

Deflation occurs in a very sick economic environment when consumer spending has dried up due to a lack of cash in the hands of the consumer market, high unemployment, and also a landscape of businesses where demand for goods are so low that cutting prices just in order to survive in business becomes a life or death necessity.

A direct parallel was during the Great Depression when 78rpm records that once sold for an average price of $1 each where replaced with new Depression era records with a lower price of just 10cents each that where made from far cheaper materials including more rag, paper and shellac content. These Depression era records were known for their rough and noisy playback compared to the far better quality preDepression recordings, but these lower priced recordings did manage to keep some companies in the American record business around to survive the Depression.

Other American companies managed to survive the Depression in other interesting ways. The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg automobile company which built high priced luxury automobiles watched their sales collapse as even the normally wealthy buyers were unable to purchase their higher priced luxury products, but only managed to survive with the help of Roosevelt-era government purchase efforts to buy massive amounts of kitchen cabinets from this company which was forced to sharply curtail automobile production in favor of retooling their production lines into building household items such as the kitchen cabinets for new government programs to build new homes and get the housing market back up and running again. FANNIE MAE, the home loan giant was a creation of the Roosevelt Administration that helped to provide loans so that American consumers could purchase homes and get this sector of the American economy up and running again after the steep crash during the Republican Hoover Administration.

The Obama Administration will likely have to follow many of the examples of the Roosevelt era and offer a number of unique partnerships with key industry sectors as well as propose a number of new temporary spending programs that create jobs to get unemployment down, and money back into the hands of consumers to get the economy rolling again. Even his middle class tax break proposals seem to follow along these same lines of Roosevelt-era reasoning of getting money back into the hands of consumers to stop the economic free-fall that the Bush Administration allowed to creep up and now grow so out of control.

Little doubt the economy will actually tend to worsen for at least a few months into any new administration. However, compared to the expected relative inactivity of a McCain Administration to attempt bold new plans to rescue the American economy, the Obama plans to rescue the American economy should move relatively quickly with a cooperative senate and congress both in Democratic hands to quickly respond positively to the serious economic issues at hand.

Just this week, John McCain's own advisor on automotive industry issues claimed that the American automobile industry cannot be rescued from "their own bad decisions". However that is not a realistic outlook when millions of American jobs are somehow related to the American automobile industry at some level including manufacturing, parts or dealerships. And indeed, it is also the American automobile industry that is vital to the nation's defense needs as well. While the McCain Campaign has sent mixed signals on the extent to which they would work to ensure that the American automobile survives, still McCain's own philosophy of occasional stubborness and noncooperation makes McCain a risky choice in acting as a reliable partner to ensure the survival of this key American economy segment.

Barack Obama appears to be by far the safer choice on economic issues and much more likely to work in a centrist manner with all economic segments to get the American economy back up and running once again and money into the hands of consumers. By comparison, the worse thing that the voters could do is give John McCain or the Republicans yet another chance to further sink the economy. Under the Bush Administration there was a mandate to make the economy strong during this eight years of rule, which didn't happen, and instead most Americans are now somehow touched by all of the current serious economic problems.

Karl Rove's Website Has Obama Leading Electoral Vote By 306 To 157

Republican political strategist Karl Rove may be as close to a political insider with the very best polling date and internal campaign polls of nearly any political observer there is. Rove's latest data from his website has Obama leading in the electoral college by 306-157 over John McCain with several states with 75 electoral votes listed in the tossup category.

In the tossup category are states such as Indiana with 11 electoral votes where Rove has Obama with a narrow 2 point lead. Florida's 27 votes are also listed in the tossup category, with Obama leading by 2 points. Nevada's 5 electoral votes are listed as a tossup as well, with Obama leading by 3 points. And North Carolina's 15 electoral votes are considered a tossup with another narrow 2 point Obama lead. And both Missouri with 11 electoral votes and North Dakota with three electoral votes are considered tossup states with a point Obama lead. The only tossup state leans towards John McCain is Montana with just 3 electoral votes and McCain with a tiny 3 point advantage according to Karl Rove's website.

The fact of the matter is that John McCain may well be on the verge of a huge electoral vote loss even if the actual popular vote only by just a few percentage points. And there has been some remarkable stability among some polls such as Rasmussen where Obama has ranged between four to eight points for 32 straight days, and the McCain Campaign has failed to change the dynamics of this race or find a single issue that has really worked for them. In fact, Rasmussen even finds that the Bill Ayers issue has hurt the McCain Campaign far more than Obama.

Time is quickly running out for the McCain Campaign. They have run a very poor campaign, failed to find any good central issues to lure most voters, and have been swimming uphill in a political landscape contaminated by anger against an unpopular George Bush as well a public concern for all of the bad economic news.

However, some polling done by the Zogby organization suggests things are trending towards John McCain with a new poll putting the election within just five points, which seems to be similar to the latest Rasmussen results. So it may be up to the Obama Campaign to both get out the vote as well as to close the deal with their paid 30 minute address program this week. So while things certainly look bad for the McCain Campaign, there are enough concerns for the Obama Campaign to yet consider.

The fact of the matter is that this thing isn't over until all the votes are counted.

Great Halloween Videos: SIDE SHO

Here's a film that sure would like to be THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, TRAILER PARK OF TERROR, or a few other better films, but certainly isn't. But on the other hand it's a pretty fair slice of slasher film horror garbage that will entertain you just enough for Halloween eve.

A suburban family decides to take in an off the beaten path old Side Show on a Southern Road and instead ends up becoming victims of inbred screwballs from a long-forgotten Southern prison camp who continue to live there. And the family faces horror after after horror for making their bad choice to visit this broken-down off road tourist attraction.

By the way, SHO is short for SHOW, because the "W" is missing on the broken down sign on this long run down tourist trap attraction.

Certainly not any great film by any means, yet creepy enough to satisfy most viewers. Verdict: Fair+

Great Halloween Videos: TRAPPED ASHES

Even though TRAPPED ASHES was actually filmed in 2006, only more recently has this pretty entertaining horror tale anthology be seen on DVD and at video rental stores. And with some great talents like director Ken Russell involved, you know that this is a great effort.

This film can be roughly compared to some classic films such as the 1972 British horror anthology film TALES FROM THE CRYPT where some persons with sordid lives become trapped and the horror of their lives is revealed to all present. In this way both films are morality tales, yet with several stories to choose from, both films offer a wide variety of tales tailored to different tastes for the viewer. And TRAPPED ASHES uses different directors such as Ken Russell for different segments as well some Japanese talents, creating a unique and largely successful throwback to the old 1970's horror anthology films like TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

While combining some well known actors like Henry Gibson and John Saxon on one hand, TRAPPED ASHES also brings in a bit more erotic material than most horror genre films generally do these days. There is a more heavy sexual content in this film, making it more adult in taste for sure, yet the stories are creepy and strange enough to satisfy almost any true horror flick fan. And the Japanese influence adds a special flavor to this film which goes in a little less for gore than it does some unique content and ideas that are fresh.

In short, TRAPPED ASHES will delight you. It's a great Halloween season flick, and well worth a watch in this season of creepy films, wild costumes and candy. Verdict:Good

The News For The McCain Campaign Just Keeps Growing Worse

Well, if anything the news for the McCain Campaign has been nothing but bad for the last three days starting with all of the revelations of the huge clothes and makeup budget for Sarah Palin, and news yesterday that Sarah Palin's makeup artist is now the highest paid McCain Campaign staffer earning far more than any strategist or economic policy staffer by far. Not only does Sarah Palin's expensive tastes in $2,500 blouses and $75.000 one day shopping sprees at Sach's Fifth Avenue seem like an abuse of the intentions of GOP donors, but it puts some real chill between many women voters and the McCain Campaign as being nothing like them and not feeling their pain in this bad economy.

But the bad news for McCain doesn't just stop there. Yesterday it was revealed that McCain volunteer, Ashley Todd, made up the racist story that she was robbed and attacked by an African American man with an Obama bumper sticker on his car. This only brought more disgrace to the McCain Campaign on top of the Sarah Palin story about her high priced taste in clothes and makeup.

But the problems didn't just don't end there either. John McCain's brother, Joe McCain, made a crazy call to 9/11 complaining about traffic conditions near his home and sweared at the operator, and then promptly resigned his position with the McCain Campaign yesterday after the disgrace he caused by his erratic and goofy behavior.

And word is a new NEWSWEEK poll has McCain down by 13 points, while both Rasmussen and Gallup both have McCain losing ground and falling behind by 8 points.

The fact of the matter is that this campaign by John McCain has simply been the very worst presidential campaign probably ever run. The McCain Campaign has never really had a real central message, it's ads have been attacked as largely misleading or false by truth squads, and the campaign has been plagued by one goofy personality after another including Sarah Palin's own inability to answer interviews with intelligent answers as well as John McCain's own angry and erratic debate performances.

In short, so far this McCain Campaign has made the disastrous presidential campaigns of both George McGovern and Michael Dukakis look almost masterful by comparison. It is highly likely the actual vote will reflect this awfulness and this election is unlikely to be all that close as some polls might have once suggested. But Obama voters cannot take this for granted. The biggest surprise would be a victory by McCain after this worst possible effort. That would be a huge shocker.

Great Halloween Videos: TRAILER PARK OF TERROR

If you have the stomach for a great sick Halloween video, then you can't go wrong with the absolutely outrageous and thoroughly trashy TRAILER PARK OF TERROR DVD which is fresh out on the market and available for both sale and rental right in time for Halloween. The DVD includes both the R rated theatrical version as well as an even worse Unrated version.

Boy oh boy, is this an outrageous film. It's based off the Imperium Comics series in which a trashy young thing, Norma, wants revenge on her trailer camp neighbors after her boyfriend is accidentally killed during a fight with the a couple of the trailer park weirdos. Norma meets up with the devil on the highway, who is played by country music star Trace Adkins, who supplies her with an semiautomatic weapon, and she goes on a killing spree in the trailer park. Then after taking every life she blows herself up and destroys the trailer park in a fiery propane explosion.

But the story sure doesn't end there. At least ten years later, a group of troubled teenagers led by a youth pastor who is taking them to a Bible camp to reform their ways has an accident with the church van on the highway, and the only help nearby is the trailer park which mysteriously reappears from all the destruction, and Norma who is now a few years older appears just as pretty as before, yet strangely creepy. Soon the horrible truth reviews itself that Norma is leading a group of living dead at the trailer park who murder the teenagers in grisly and disgusting fashions.

And Norma's seeming beauty is merely a collection of faces and constant repairs she must perform on herself to appear beautiful as she is a horribly disfigured and an insane murderous personality.

This is one sick puppy of a movie. And if you can hold down your lunch during scenes like one zombie making beef jerky out of a teenager, makes for great creepy gross-out Halloween fun for sure. This movie is so outrageous and over the top that it's actually great fun and a perverse classic of sorts. Above average darn good fun. Good+

Herbert Hoover's Great Grand-Daughter Advises GOP On Economics & Politics

No figure of the last 100 years of American history has been more disgraced with causing the destruction of the American economy than Herbert Hoover, yet the GOP is employing the great grand-daughter of Hoover, Margaret Hoover, to advise the party on both politics and economics.

Hoover, 31. has only a B.A. in Spanish Language Literature, and no real background in economics or history, yet speaks in Stalinesque revisionist terms about the accepted history of The Great Depression, claiming that The New Deal didn't work, even though it brought employment back to millions, restored prosperity to the nation, and made America strong enough to win WWII. The fact of the matter is that American industry was so damaged by the Hoover Depression that the Allies might well have lost WWII to the Axis forces if Roosevelt, the Democrats and the NEW DEAL had not strengthened the American economy by the late 30's.

Interestingly, it was the prejudice against voting for the Roman Catholic Governor of New York, Democrat Alfred Smith, that helped to elect Hoover in 1928. Hoover managed to take the prosperity of America in 1928 and allow the near complete collapse of many banks as well as the stock market. Suicides were at record levels and despair swept the nation as the life savings of many Americans were gone overnight. Yet GOP strategist, Margaret Hoover, still champions her great grand-father and in a revisionist manner still attacks the policies of The New Deal.

Roosevelt instituted programs to protect the bank savings of customers by creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, helped to fight stock market fraud by creation of the Securities And Exchange Commission, as well as created Social Security, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Federal Housing Administration and Fannie Mae. Roosevelt got money back into hands of millions of unemployed workers by programs such as the WPA and the NRA(National Recovery Act). Yet according to air-headed historical revisionists like Margaret Hoover, the New Deal didn't work, despite historical evidence to the contrary.

Hoover is like another Sarah Palin, who argues for absurd viewpoints, despite lacking the education to back up her points with any real authority. If anything she is the perfect match for a GOP that is ripe with intellectual bankruptcy and few answers to many problems problems. The fact of the matter is that Fannie Mae and other Roosevelt-era programs allowed persons to buy homes and got the American economy going again once Roosevelt got Americans back to work and with some money in their pockets again. But it has been Republican attempts at deregulation, especially during the Reagan-era that has only weakened so many good regulations of both the New Deal and LBJ's Great Society.

The fact of the matter is that the Bush Administration has allowed the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression to develop once again. The major automakers are laying off thousands more workers as automobile sales are fallen through the floor and General Motors and Chrysler may be forced into some sort of quick business arrangement to even stay in the car business within the next few days. Home foreclosures are up 71% over one year ago in some parts of the United States

And Hoover is a critic of the LBJ-era Great Society programs as well, despite all evidence that Medicare and Medicaid have proven great social benefit to society and minority communities have seen great upward mobility and more racial equality.

It is the height of both ignorance and arrogance for some like Hoover to continue to argue on behalf of the failed history of her disgraced great grand-father, Herbert Hoover, and conservative policies that haven't worked and only brought great economic damage to the nation.

On Friday, world stock markets took another huge hit. Yet millions will still vote for the failed Republican policies and to continue what isn't working. The only real questions remaining are whether a wiser majority will vote for change or not, or McCain will be a third term of the failed Bush Administration and continue the current economic malaise or not.

Great Stage Performances By African American Presidents Pave The Way For Obama Presidency

A number of strong and dignified African American actors have played presidents over the years on both the small and big screen, warming the general American electorate for the day in which an African American would actually become the nation's first elected African American president.

One of the strongest of the screen presidential performances was by actor Dennis Haysbert as President David Palmer in FOX's 24, as a highly principled man who carried his office with real authority and great dignity, and perhaps one of the strongest screen portrayals by any actor ever of a fictional president ever. Dennis Haysbert seems to have so much self-confidence and authority any time that he speaks that it would not be all that hard to imagine him actually becoming president some day. He has a great voice and just carries lots of screen charisma and was a great role model for a screen portrayal of an African American president. FOX could not have found a stronger actor for the president's role in 24. Haysbert is a real natural in any acting challenge and a born leader.

In DEEP IMPACT, the great veteran actor Morgan Freeman might have played the role of a president under intense pressure as the world faced an asteroid impact with an embattled nature. But it was the concern of a pensive and wise president who was deeply upset of the looming loss of life from the asteroid disaster. Morgan Freeman is a great national treasure as an actor, and he carries so much weight to any role in which he acts.

In the french science fiction film, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, former wrestler Tom Lister, Jr. turned in a fine performance as President Lindberg who sought to protect the world from disaster by a collision from the Black Planet. It was a pretty strong performance by an unlikely actor who played a president in fairly credible fashion.

In the Irving Wallace authored, THE MAN, African American Vice President Douglas Dillman ascends to the presidency after the death of the traditional White president, but confronts a largely racist U.S. The great actor James Earl Jones, who has one of the best voices in all of film history plays this role with his usual great skills. However this role was hardly the more relaxed racial tensions role of later African American fictional presidents and is a far more dated example of the past nature of racial tensions in the U.S. THE MAN was written in the era when books such as HOW TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD were a subject of much discussion and racial tensions and segregation still plagued the U.S.

Some top leaders like General Colin Powell who became Secretary Of State as well as Dr. Condoleezza Rice who is the current Secretary Of State also strongly helped many Americans to accept the notion of an African American actually becoming president. Both top government officials have gained so much cross-party respect from voters that they both no doubt also helped to pave the way for a strong African American candidate to be seen as a credible choice for president despite a real shortage of African American senators and governors currently in office.

Far beyond race, Senator Barack Obama is a political phenomenon who not only won election to the senate by a landslide, and quickly was viewed as rising presidential material by a growing number of voters who were drawn to his charisma, intelligence and leadership abilities. But during the three debates with long-time Senator John McCain, Obama proved a cool calmness and presidential abilities and grasp of the issues just as strong as any screen president ever, Black or White, where Obama is being judged by most voters on his strengths he brings to the presidency and not his skin color.

Barack Obama has all of the traits required to be a great president in the same vein of charisma like a John Kennedy, and a return to Camelot. And it looks likely that a strong majority of voters want such a return to hope, and Barack Obama may well be on the verge of playing the greatest role of a president by an African American ever.

Al Qaeda Website Endorses John McCain As Their Best Terrorist Weapon To Ruin U.S.

After Barack Obama gained the influential endorsement of General Colin Powell and many major newspapers including the CHICAGO TRIBUNE which hasn't endorsed a Democrat for president in 150 years, John McCain recieved an embarrassing endorsement from a shadowy Al Qaeda website which endorsed McCain as their best hope to see America's economy ruined.

The tiny Al Qaeda terrorist network organization has suffered heavy military losses at the hands of military action in Afghanistan, Pakistan and even Iraq, and is now largely only able to afford small symbolic actions such as making threatening messages on some shadowy website that they purchase that spring up and disappear overnight. However the Al Qaeda endorsement of John McCain can't be very helpful to him. If terrorists think that McCain is such a crappy candidate that he is as good as another 9/11 attack, then that's a pretty bad endorsement.

Since Al Qaeda is unable to organize any terrorist attacks much farther geographically than parts of the Mideast or Northern Africa any longer due to serious military losses of their soldiers, they simply attempt to impact elections in Western nations now. In 2004, John Kerry might have narrowly lost the election to George Bush because Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden issued a message right before the election, creating some voter fear in the U.S. and no doubt shifting some votes to Bush. However, it was really a sign of Al Qaeda weakness that they could not organize any terrorist attack in the U.S., so instead the terrorist organization figured that the re-election of George Bush would do the most damage to the U.S. And they were correct. Today the stock market is down roughly another 500 points and the American economy is in complete ruins due the Bush Administration's mismanagement of the economy. Even Al Qaeda couldn't wreck the American that bad after the 9/11 attack.

It is a pretty good sign that Al Qaeda is a largely broken organization that since 2004 it only has George Bush or John McCain to rely on as their terrorist weapons. However, George Bush has been able to do far more economic destruction to the U.S. then Al qaeda could ever able to achieve in their wildest wicked imaginations. And Al Qaeda views McCain as more of the same, besides his erratic temperament and his his incompetent sidekick Sarah Palin how is completely unqualified to be president.

John McCain's erratic warlike instincts could also help to worsen relations with Russia or other nations as well as well, instead of working to reverse America's slide in foreign relations under Bush. McCain could involve this nation in both military and economic dramas both. You can see this coming all the way up Broadway. It only takes half a mind to vote for McCain and continue this damage to the U.S. Half a mind indeed. Voting for McCain is easier than thinking.

Al Qaeda is highly unlikely to be able to stage any significant terrorist actions in the U.S. because of all of the improved security arrangements at airports and other areas and all the military damage done to their organization and their leadership losses. It is pretty pathetic that now John McCain and Sarah Palin are now considered the best weapons that Al Qaeda has left. But it's also a good sign that Al Qaeda has suffered significantly. And Barack Obama plans continue the battle against these lawless terrorists in both Afghanistan and Pakistan until they no longer threaten the U.S., even with weapons like John McCain or Sarah Palin.

A Taxing Question?

Most Republicans politicians are running antitax ads once again this election season, yet almost none of them actually specify just what taxes they would actually cut if they were elected to office. It is their typical vague message they run out year after year with no specifics. And I can't ever actually remember taxes actually falling whenever the Republicans have been in power either.

Yesterday I received the property tax bill for one of the homes, it was for nearly $5,000. At first that looked like a major eye-popping chunk of change. But then I read through the statement to see what I was paying for, and it sure seemed like this bill is paying for a lot of good things for my local community. So my question is what programs would Republican politicians like to actually cut?

Portland Community College taxes are just $58 of this tax bill. Portland School District taxes are $1,075. And other educational taxes are around $358. In addition there is some construction bonds for new buildings at the community college that amounts to another $45. American students already rank far below many students in Asia in math and other skills, so investing in education seems more than worthwhile investment for American society and my local community. What would Republican politicians want to cut here? Teachers? Schools? Books? Reading? Writing?

$540 goes to a pension fund for firemen and police. But hey, these brave guys protect the community, and never balk at helping to rescue anyone from a dangerous situation. I don't mind paying them a retirement when they grow old. They deserve it. Do Republican politicians want to cut there?

There's a library tax that amounts to $184. But I love books and libraries. Any the district libraries had to already cut back hours because of funding problems. Where do some Republican politicians want to save taxes here? Cut down on open hours, library branches, or books?

There's a zoo tax that's part of Metro to feed the animals, provide them health care and a clean and healthy living environment. Where do some Republican politicians want to cut here? Stop feeding the animals?

What about water development? Should humans stop drinking water?


What about at the federal level? Should defense spending stop? Should the federal government stop support for federal highway funds? Should federal programs to aid those with Down Syndrome stop?

The John McCain Campaign and many other Republican politicians rant on and on about taxes. And while taxes certainly seem high enough for most persons, you look at what they pay for and what they receive, and for the most part, you get a pretty safe and decent environment and United States community to live in. These Republican politicos almost never name any specifics in what they would cut. It is their typical vague generic campaign issue. And when some suggest that perhaps those with extreme high incomes should pay slightly more of their fair share so that the elderly, handicapped or working poor can get a small tax break they scream like banshees like Sarah Palin that that's "Socialist" or "redistributing the wealth" akin to some radical policy by a Fidel Castro or a Pol Pot or something.

The problem with so many politicians from America's #2 political party is that they never really have learned to run a government anytime they've actually been elected to office. They talk an awful lot about taxes, yet support programs like the grossly failed missile defense notion where after nearly 30 years of spending $100 billion dollars has produced just 10 operational Missile Interceptors capable of shooting down maybe 5 nuclear missiles when some states like Russia have as many as 5,518 nuclear warheads, but could deploy as many as 8,000 warheads if they need them. And Iraq has swallowed up hundreds of billions more dollars.

Republican politicians complain about the small things like that program to provide some health care for poor children like SCHIP, and instead defend the murderous tobacco industry from a small tax to pay for children's health problems that they have a major hand in causing.

Republican politicians like to spend the taxpayers money like drunken sailors on shore leave on big and wacky abuses of America's military like the elective war in Iraq or military technology that doesn't work, but then complain about small programs that actually benefit real citizens.

I guess you could call it a taxing question.

The Return Of The Know Nothing Party

The really annoying ongoing issue with the McCain Campaign and especially their attack dog, Sarah Palin, is their naked appeal to the old "know nothing" coalition that has unfortunately plagued American politics since the 1850's. Instead of making this election a learning experience for the voters where issues are more clearly explained and understood, this election has instead been lowered down to a level of mere dirt ignorance by both Sarah Palin and the McCain Campaign who have deliberately misrepresented issues, positions, and resorted to cheap name calling shots that are hardly any more socially advanced than some 2nd graders on the schoolyard exchanging childish insults.

The appeal to "Joe The Unlicensed Plumber" last week by the McCain Campaign was an appeal to some ignorant working class reactionaries who don't want to understand either the issues or their class position in American society. The American working class reactionary movement is based nearly equally on both prejudice as well as ignorance, and is a sharp contrast to those working people who are struggling to get ahead and who vote their pocketbook and seek to understand the issues. The worst of socially irresponsible big corporations and others certainly benefit when those like "Joe The unlicensed Plumber" are willing to carry their water for them and vote for their class interests rather than their own interests.

Palin continues to call Obama a "Socialist" in her stump speeches merely because he would like to go back to the 1990's 39% tax level compared to the slightly smaller 36% rate currently. Palin never notes that the Obama plan leaves those business interests with net higher incomes with plenty of room to take advantage of new tax breaks by adding new employees or keeping jobs in the U.S.. There is more than enough room for higher income earners to actually cut their taxes under the Obama plan if they so wish. Further any tax increase would have to pass congress, which is probably unlikely to do so for at this time to stimulate the economy and new investment so even a modest tax rate increase from 36-39% for high income earners may actually be very unlikely to ever become law for some time.

The McCain-Palin ticket is simply more of the same old tired and failed Republican policies that have wrecked the economy so far and brought millions of Americans unemployment, poverty, home foreclosures and debt problems. The McCain Campaign's fondness hope is that voters don't understand issues, and this campaign is doing it's very best to cloud and obscure the issues as it possibly can.

Colin Powell's Endorsement Of Barack Obama Proves A Consensus For A Moderate Government And Foreign Policy Ready To Regain World Respect

Former Secretary Of State and Former General Colin Powell's endorsement Of Barack Obama is an important message to the nation that Barack Obama will have a centrist moderate government that is trustworthy by bringing in a wide cross-section of the most talented and wise leaders to tackle the critical problems that face the nation. It is a sure sign that Barack Obama has built bridges of support that transcend party lines to attract such a talented and wise leader such as Gen. Powell who had grave misgivings about America's road to war in Iraq in 2003 and the failures of the Bush Administration in so many other critical areas such as dealing with Iran. It is sure sign that Barack Obama is not only far more trustworthy on foreign policy matters than John McCain, but also that he will bring in important consultants from all political viewpoints and develop a centrist foreign policy that will once again strengthen America's image abroad. It's sure sign that America will rebound in world respect with Barack Obama's steady leadership in foreign policy.

There are few acts that are as reassuring than Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama. Colin Powell is a political moderate who is one of America's most wise leaders by far. By including important leaders like this in his foreign policy consultations, Barack Obama has proven that his government will only act wisely in critical foreign policy decisions and will only provide a steady hand of moderate and centrist consensus leadership if some crisis situation should arise.

Unfortunately, John McCain's three failing debate performances just did not display that same steady hand of leadership that Americans would expect in a president. By contrast, Barack Obama's calm and steady demeanor well proves his presidential qualities and calm ability to deal with any issues. What the American public saw in Barack Obama was a steady and calm leader more than able to deal with any problem that faces the U.S. in the next four years.

But Barack Obama brings so much more as well. There's his superior intelligence along with his occasional keen sense of wit and charm that only reminds many of us so well of the intelligence, wit and charm of President John Kennedy. And Barack Obama seemed to grow with every debate performance into someone more and more presidential each time out. Even many of John McCain's voters could see the extremely impressive leadership skills in Barack Obama and a sense of his destiny to become a great American leader.

As the American economy slips into crisis mode and some of the most dangerous days may lay ahead, it is so important to change direction from the failed Republican economic policies common to both George Bush and John McCain. Barack Obama has among his friends and advisors some of the greatest economic minds in the nation such as those like billionaire Warren Buffet who knows more than a thing or two about how the economy works. Counting on the wise advice of economic sages like this proves that Barack Obama will bring in the very best minds to fix the economy.

Barack Obama will masterfully deal with both the economy and foreign policy, unlike John McCain who will only continue what isn't working in these areas. Barack Obama's change in these areas is a change for the best, not just a change for the sake of change.

Colin Powell's endorsement is sure sign that the keys to the kingdom are in good hands with Barack Obama at the helm. It is a sure endorsement of the leader most qualified to be president by far.

Barack Obama has a destiny to be a great president. Make room on Mt. Rushmore.

Erratic Polls Indicate Don't Measure For The White House Drapes Just Yet.

Earlier in the week some pretty strong polling numbers sure looked strong for Barack Obama, but then even with another losing debate performance on Wednesday evening by John McCain and continued economic problems, some other polling organization numbers now show a shocking trend of the race tightening once again with Rasmussen now indicating John McCain only 4 points behind and gaining a few points over the last few days. Even more shocking is one Gallup poll this week that had Obama only leading by a mere 3 points when a poll of likely voters was considered.

The fact of the matter may be that a number of Republican ads running around the country may be selling a misleading message to voters that their taxes will rise if the Democrats are elected even though the Obama Campaign has only proposed a modest small tax increase of just 3% on those earning in excess of $250,000 a year to restore some tax fairness which is also only a return to the same tax levels for higher income earners of 39% during the Clinton economic boom years in the 1990's. The current tax percentage is 36% on incomes over $250,000. However, the Obama plan still offers higher income earners new opportunities for tax credits and breaks if they will hire new employees or keep jobs in the U.S. So ample opportunity to shield income from higher taxes is also built into the Obama plans that did not exist in the Clinton years.

Surprisingly, Republicans could pull still this election out even with all the baggage of George Bush and a serious economic crisis if Democratic turnout is lower than expected, or if too many voters expect Obama to win and don't bother to vote. It is certainly possible that some of the reporting from CNN may have overstated any slight Obama advantage right now, and this could make some voters feel that their votes may not count. In fact, every vote might well count, and this election may tighten to a near tie by election day. Even after strong debate performances, the Obama numbers seem to soften up after a few days and the race tightens each time. McCain unfortunately has more than enough days left in this election cycle to still pull out a win based on the past history of the polls. Even if the race tightens by one point every two days. that is unfortunately more than enough time for McCain to pull even and win.

By all means this should be an election that the Republicans should lose. 8 years of George Bush and all the serious economic news should be a shocking wake-up call to voters to change direction. But they may not. McCain still could win and Republican candidates still have the potential to do far better than expected in congressional and other races. In fact, the latest Gallup poll out just today indicates a narrow Democratic advantage for congressional candidates of just 51-45%, which hardly proves any American electorate tidal wave of support in favor of change despite shocking and historically awful conditions with the economy. This close number is indeed a surprising statistic.

While the McCain campaign seems awful in every regard, including the lack of a clear central message, screwball issues like Bill Ayers instead of clearly addressing the economy concerns of voters, a questionable vice presidential choice, and a candidate both old and somewhat erratic at times, there is still the strong possibility this simply awful campaign could still pull out an election victory.

In the end, it is also not known whether there is a still something known as the "Bradley effect" as well. African American candidate Tom Bradley was clearly ahead in public opinion polls in the governor's race in California in 1982, but then surprisingly lost the election. Pollsters were dumbfounded how many voters would mislead the pollsters which candidate that they actually supported and then voted against the African American candidate for reasons apparently no better than that of race. It was a shocking result that really disappointed many on how race relations still lag in the U.S. It is also a huge unknown equation in the this presidential race as well. Could a candidate as good as Barack Obama still lose the election after winning every debate, acting more presidential than John McCain, having clear issues and campaign messages, more campaign money to spend, and a far superior campaign organization as well as leading poll numbers. If the McCain Campaign wins despite all these factors it will be a shocking message to not only this nation, but the world community at large that even a superior effort by an African American is simply not good enough yet in a nation with lagging social advancement on race issues.

Mr. Obama seeks to judged on the basis of his character and his talents, yet it will be very disappointing if it appears that race still matters more over these other traits thought important for an effective president. The election needs to appear as fair no matter who wins. Any sense of any standard any less than this will be very destructive to the already tarnished world image of the U.S.

The world image of the U.S. has already taken a huge hit under George Bush. Even Russia is viewing the U.S. as largely an irrelevant world power and has sent out signals that it wishes more direct relations with Europe instead. And the current economic crisis, largely viewed as a problem of the U.S. that has impacted the larger world economy has not been very helpful to the American world image on top of the frictions of an unpopular Bush foreign policy.

Indeed, this election should stand as real watershed that indicates a strong voter preference for a change of direction. But it may not be.

Ohio has chosen the winner in every presidential election since 1964 and one new poll from Rasmussen has this state now tied between Obama and McCain. This is very significant because the actual vote from Ohio often reflects the real national vote percentages very closely. If the current opinion polls from Ohio have this election tied, then it very well may be nationally as well despite perceptions of Obama as the clear front-runner by many in the public and media. If this isn't a wake-up call for high voter turnout for change, then I don't know what is. After 8 years of George Bush, and all the problems it has brought, voters may actually choose more of the same with John McCain. Believe it or not.

John McCain Can't Tell The Difference Between Autism And Down Syndrome, And Doesn't Care

John McCain managed yet another confused and angry debate performance on Wednesday night that will give the fact checkers days and days of work sorting out all the confused facts and other nonsense. One of the most silly of which was McCain's claimed new-found passion for autism. McCain claimed that Sarah Palin's young son suffers from autism. The truth is that he has Down Syndrome.

In his 26 years in Washington, McCain has never proven any real commitment to those with special needs. By contrast with his background as a civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama has championed the rights of many persons including those with disabilities and his campaign website features a detailed platform of providing both funds as well as legal reforms to remove educational and employment barriers to the handicapped and disabled.

The fact of the matter is that John McCain doesn't know the difference between autism, Down Syndrome, or any other major disability or challenge that many American families face or has ever proven any great commitment to these persons ever. If anything McCain has often voting with the Republican majority that killed funding to many special needs programs.

In fact, one organization, the Children's Defense Fund Action Council rates McCain as the worst U.S. senator for the needs of American children. McCain couldn't bring bring himself to impose a small tax on the murderous tobacco industry to pay for children's health care when he voted against the SCHIP bill for example. And McCain was often too cowardly to take a position on killing the funding for many other issues involving children and instead "present" on a number of critical issues in his recent senate career. McCain didn't want to go on record hurting the needs of the disabled or other children with special needs, so instead took the coward's way out by an unusually large number of "present" votes because he knew that he was running for president and it would look better on paper than a series of "no" votes, such as McCain's cowardly pandering to the tobacco industry which is directly responsible for causing a number of serious health problems for infants and small children including SIDS, asthma, ear infections, respiratory infections, pneumonia and cancer.

It is no wonder that McCain cannot tell the difference between autism and Down Syndrome. Unlike Mr. Obama who has a clear record of support for those with disabilities and other special needs, McCain simply doesn't care that one disability is any different than any another. Autism only came up in Wednesday night's debate so that McCain could help to obscure his shabby little record in regards to 26 years of neglecting the needs of children and those with disabling conditions in Washington.

McCain's sudden claimed concerned for those with autism was purely political in nature. There was nothing genuine about it. John McCain's 26 years in Washington on children's issues is his real record, not some phony new found concern for children that he suddenly picked up on the way to the debate studio.

Obama's Surging Campaign Now Leads Electoral Vote By 369-169

The economic bad news just keeps translating into more and more bad news for the McCain Campaign which has wasted days with mean-spirited absurd conspiracy theory attacks on Senator Obama while the Obama Campaign has gained critical ground with independent voters and trust over the pressing economic issues which have been dominating the top concerns of voters. The result is that the Obama Campaign now leads the McCain effort by a huge 369-169 advantage according to Scott Elliot's reputable ELECTION PROJECTION political analysis site.

ELECTION PROJECTION also now views Obama as leading McCain by 53.15 to 44.85% in popular vote projections. A new CBS poll has things even worse with Obama surging to a 14 point lead of 53 to 39% over McCain.

John McCain has one last chance to gain ground in tonight's critical last debate performance. However, so far the McCain-Palin ticket has lost the last three debates according to most public polling data. Tonight's event may be the last hurrah for John McCain, and his last good chance to present himself to a wider national audience before his election hopes tank and he enters the history books as the biggest GOP loser since Barry Goldwater's crushing loss in 1964. Ironically, McCain has always compared himself to Goldwater, both being Arizona GOP conservatives who seemed out of step with the current political climate, and potentially both historic big losers.

If the Obama popular vote advantage holds up to current projection levels, Obama could pull along many states formerly carried by George Bush in 2000 and 2004, including Florida, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Missouri, Nevada and Colorado as well as the states that went from Gore to Bush in 2004, which includes Iowa and New Mexico. Some states such as Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio often are weather-vane states that vote with the winning candidate. In fact, it is usually Ohio that determines the winner in every election since 1964. JFK's loss in 1960 was the last time this state did not vote with the winning candidate.

Obama could pull along many Democratic candidates for the senate and congress as well and have a strong working majority for at least until the 2010 midterm elections to rebound the economy and restore America's tarnished international image. It will also give the GOP some time to soul-search for a new direction to their party after bringing economic disaster to the nation with economics that didn't work and a foreign policy that bogged the U.S. down in the Iraq War mess.

The Democrats may be on the verge of their best opportunity to prove themselves as the party in clear power since FDR and the Democrats gained a big win to help the nation recover from the Hoover-Republican Great Depression of the 1930's. This becomes an awesome responsibilty for the Democrats to offer some real results and leaves the Republicans on the sidelines to develop some new leadership and new direction as the party outside of the main Washington power circles.

The real long-term problem is that voters often become complacent with economic prosperity and take it for granted during extended periods of economic growth. The economy was very strong during the Clinton years after it declined sharply during the first Bush Administration, however many voters abandoned Al Gore's efforts to continue that success due to the personal conduct disgust with Bill Clinton, only resulting in the narrow 2000 election win by the younger Bush and years of lost jobs to outsourcing, war and now a serious worldwide economic downturn largely blamed on the lack of economic direction by the Bush Administration for the U.S. George Bush was incidentally the first American president with an MBA degree, yet only once the economy hit critical skids and the stock market lost huge amounts of dollars did the Bush Administration take emergency measures to prevent more bank and Wall Street collapses.

So far this election looks like it will be a weather-vane for the voters to change direction once again and restore a Democratic Administration to power that can once again strengthen the economy and act as a serious repudiation of the failed Republican policies that let the American public down so badly.

Pensively, comic Bill Maher has even joked about the bad state of the economy during the closing days of the Bush Administration as being his last big screw-up on the way out and leaving the White House burning down in flames behind him on the way out. That's a big problem for John McCain to overcome and a large reason why he currently trails so badly in the latest polls and may headed towards a loss of historic proportions.

McCain and Palin's John Birch Society Connections. Palin Quotes From Extremist Who Encouraged The RFK Assassination.

Both John McCain and Sarah Palin have clear ties to the far right John Birch Society organization. McCain used to attend John Birch Society meetings in the Phoenix, Arizona area and is well known to local John Birch Society members in that area's chapter. And Sarah Palin has been featured in the John Birch Society publication, THE NEW AMERICAN Magazine before. Both McCain and Palin may even be full fledged dues paying members of the John Birch Society as well.

It is little wonder that both John McCain and Sarah Palin have also run a far right campaign that makes up absurd conspiracy theory smears such as the nutty Bill Ayers/terrorism conspiracy story simply because both Barack Obama and Ayers once served on the same school board. What this half-baked conspiracy tale fails to mention is that others such as the very conservative editor of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, a newspaper that hasn't endorsed a Democrat in 150 years also served on the same same school board with Obama and Ayers at the time. That Chicago school board comprised a cross section of both conservatives and progressives, and was hardly any haven for radicals as the absurd McCain/Palin conspiracy lies falsely continue to claim.

However, like any true John Bircher, both McCain and Palin deal in half truth conspiracy theories while the Obama Campaign deals with real issues like the serious economic problems hitting the American economy. With their common connections to the John Birch Society, both John McCain and Sarah Palin are exactly the same extremist mindset of this organization which has a history of making up such misleading conspiracy attacks on many moderate political figures ever since it was started by political extremist founder Robert Welch in the 1950's at the height of "Red" scare paranoia. John McCain's vote against the Martin Luther King Holiday was exactly from what you'd expect from anyone connected to an organization that that has always falsely claimed that King was a Communist for decades. And McCain's votes against civil rights legislation are exactly in line with Birch Society doctrines as well.

Palin was also once connected to the extremist separatist Alaska Independence Party and extremist founder Mark Chyrson. During her Republican Convention Vice Presidential Acceptance Speech, no one in the popular media bothered to research the fact that Palin made a quote from racist and fascist leaning political extremist, Westbrook Pegler, about American small towns. The quote, which was, "We grow good people people in small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity" seemed harmless enough. But what Palin didn't quote was the more typical remarks of Pegler which often compared Jews to "geese" or his 1965 quote which encouraged the assassination of Robert Kennedy, when he proclaimed that, "some White patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies". Quoting such an extremist tells anyone volumes about the sort of reading material that Palin enjoys. Little doubt THE TURNER DIARIES and other right wing extremist works find residence in the Palin family library. Palin is no, "aw schucks" mainstream small town politician by any means. She's as extremist as they come.

One common place for many John Birch Society chapters to recruit new members is at gun shows. Their radical anti-government political philosophy has a real appeal to right wing political extremists who frequent gun shows and sometimes hoard guns or build bombs preparing for claimed future antigovernment wars, race wars, domestic terrorism or other crazed reasons.

And the McCain family background has no doubt primed McCain to be sympathetic to such rightwing guns and bombs political extremism. John McCain's family roots go back to a Caroll County Mississippi, where McCain's great grandfather, William Alexander McCain owned 52 slaves and died fighting for the confederate Army against the United States Government Army. For many generations, far right politics, racism, and military service has been in the bloodline of McCain family. But John McCain masks this record for the most part, only playing up the military service portion, quieting down the slave ownership and centuries of racism and right wing political extremism.

A new poll from ABC News finds that many Americans now view McCain as a risky choice for president. Certainly he is. Our nation cannot afford a president and vice president both closely tied to a far right organization like the John Birch Society or in other ways connected with other anti-government extremists or even those who advocated for the assassination of RFK or other lawless acts of violence. Both McCain and Palin are political extremists, closely connected to political extremists and organizations, give political extremist speeches, and attract political extremist audiences. These are not the sort of people who should lead America now or ever.

Both McCain and Palin deserve to lose the election for the common good of America.

Obama Devoted To Improved Lives For Disabled Workers

One important area that Senator Barack Obama is devoted to that has received little press attention is his strong commitment to disabled workers. There are currently as many as fifty four million Americans who suffer from disabling medical or physical condition that severely limit their full employment potential or ability to earn a decent living. And the average household income level for households with non-disabled workers is $65,400 a year compared to a lagging average household income for disabled workers of just $36,300, with millions falling below the federal poverty line, despite the fact that congress passed The Americans With Disabilities Act back seventeen years ago to promote more employment opportunities for the disabled.

While John McCain's economics and budget priorities continue to support huge corporate tax breaks for oil companies and other wealthy industries and cuts in social service programs to offset this massive corporate welfare giveaway to the big corporations, Obama's economic policies are aimed at investment in America's middle class, creating new employment opportunities and improving the employment opportunities for persons like the disabled whose income and lifestyles often lag with increased costs of living and increased energy costs.

Unfortunately, it is often wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan that are also increasing the number of American workers with serious employment disabilities. And Barack Obama's policy goals are aimed at providing critical employment programs and opportunities for these workers who have suffered disabling injuries as a result of their military service.

Another critical area of improving the living conditions for disabled workers is providing educational opportunities for disabled persons so that they can find employment opportunities. Barack Obama is a strong supporter of full funding for IDEAL(Individuals With Disabilities Education Act). Although the bill faced significant Republican opposition in the house with 171 votes against the bill, it still passed both the house and senate and was signed by President Bush. But it will take a strong president like Barack Obama to ensure that the legislation is fully funded and implemented.

Many high school students with disabilities face significant financial problems affording a college education along with many other students from homes with modest means. Barack Obama supports a new proposal to allow a new $4,000 dollar college education tax credit proposal that would help all students afford an education, not just those with a disabling condition.

Barack Obama also strongly supports increased funding for community colleges and plans a new federal support partnership to improve the expansion of community colleges to provide more educational opportunities for more disabled students including veterans wounded in war.

In addition, Barack Obama supports many more new proposals and new programs to aid those with autism, mental illness and in need of health care funds regardless of their ability to earn an income. With his background as a civil rights attorney, Barack Obama has a proven record of fighting on behalf of those with disabilities or other victims of workplace discrimination.

In some cases, John McCain may have supported some of the same legislation as Barack Obama. However, Obama's commitment to the disabled is a major part of his plans as president and his website contains a lengthy explanation of his commitment as being a president who will seriously address the employment opportunity roadblocks that hinder the ability of the disabled to earn a decent living. In an Obama Administration, all Americans will move ahead, not just a few corporations like John McCain seems to strongly advocate tax breaks or other special benefits for.

McCain Supporters Hang Obama Effigy From Tree To Racially Intimidate Minorities

In an ugly act of racial and political intimidation, four supporters sympathetic to John McCain who are students at the the small Christian George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon, confessed to hanging a life-sized Obama effigy from a tree at the entrance of the college with the words, "Act 6 Reject" scrawled on the figure. The Act 6 program is a minority scholarship program.

The goal of those that hung the life-sized cardboard figure of Barack Obama effigy seemed pretty clearly aimed at both intimidating any supporters of Barack Obama and also making any minority students feel unwelcome and unsafe at the college. It was like posting a death threat to any Obama supporters or to any minorities that they are not welcome at the Christian college and should leave for their safety. It is closely related to terrorism in attempting to incite fear to control others.

Administrators were outraged at this disgusting display of racial and political intimidation and held an event at the school's chapel to address this outrageous hate act. And the FBI is actively investigating the act of racial prejudice and may file federal charges against the four students who are currently under suspension from the school.

So far the McCain-Palin Campaign has been silent on this hate crime act. But both McCain and Palin are on record as opposing hate crimes laws at both state and federal levels. Both have a clear of record of weakness when it comes to support for prosecuting those who use racial intimidation or death threats against minorities. It seems highly unlikely that anyone from the McCain Campaign will offer any statement condemning this hate crime.

John McCain has continued to compare himself to Barry Goldwater over the years. However, during the 1964 campaign it was Barry Goldwater's vice presidential candidate, William Miller who accepted the support of the Ku Klux Klan during the campaign, creating an embarrassing situation for Goldwater that year which was just another factor in his landslide loss that year.

With his opposition to the Martin Luther King Holiday, civil rights legislation and hate crimes laws, John McCain has one of the worst records of any GOP candidate for president in many years on combating racism in America. It is hard to imagine that such a candidate is running in the party of Abraham Lincoln who was so devoted to racial justice for all Americans. And the racist incident at George Fox university is just an ugly reminder of the shallow reason that a few supporters are drawn to John McCain.

But one major Oregon Republican seems to have stepped up to make a strong statement perhaps inspired by this hate crime. Republican Senator Gordon Smith has begun airing new ads last week that show his bipartisan support with Senator Edward Kennedy for supporting increased penalties for hate crimes. Senator Smith represents the broad number of decent Republicans who reject hate crimes, racial violence or using racist effigy figures to intimidate minorities or Obama supporters.

While some supporters of John McCain such as the racists who hung the Obama effigy may want to make this election a referendum on race, the Obama Campaign has always taken the high road in this campaign, making this election about the economy, character and issues. That's where most Americans are and will be on election day as well.

Washington Governor's Race Likely Hangs On Strong Obama Vote

Christine Gregoire became the Governor of Washington state in 2004 after just a bare 129 vote win after three recounts producing different results by machine and by hand and a discovered box of ballots from the Seattle area that had been lost that was left out of the first machine count on election night. A later Republican Party lawsuit aimed at overturning the election produced four letters by felons who claimed that they voted for Republican Dino Rossi, so the judge removed these four votes from Rossi, but did not invalidate the election.

This year, the drama looks almost as thick once again. Once again Governor Gregoire is facing a virtually tied race with Rossi, where some polls have Rossi up by two points, some have Gregoire up by two points, or have both dead even.

In polls, Senator Obama may lead from 9-13 points, but so far his coattails haven't helped her as much as she really needs. She is indeed the one rare case where a Democratic governor incumbent may be in serious political trouble.

In four years, Gregoire's approval rating hardly ever exceeded the 48-50% mark. And some of her tax proposals such as a gas tax to repair Washington roads have not been popular with the voters. It has probably been little issues like this more than anything that have made Gregoire a personality that has not been pleasing to most in Washington, even though it is a very "blue" state.

This is one critical race that may be decided the strength of the Obama vote. Only a strong Obama win may be enough to save this Democratic governor who has just never been quite able to seal the deal with many voters in her state. Of any governors race this year, the Washington one is the one to watch. The Democratic Party needs to turn out a strong Obama vote and have few defections to Rossi to pull this one out or else lose. This is once again another cliffhanger.

The 1948 Salsbury Scooter

Here's a really strange motor scooter design of a very rare 1948 Salsbury motor scooter.

Not only is the size very large and cumbersome looking, but the very strange styling makes it very unmainstream, even by 1940's standards. Some scooters of this era were real basic transportation in their styling approach, while this design really went in to for the large body design and the wild by comparison. If any of these still exist today, then they surely have to be very rare collector's gems for sure and very valuable.

New Analysis Has Obama Leading McCain By 353 To 185 In Electoral Votes

One of the best election analysis sites has to be Scott Elliot's ELECTION PROJECTION. And his latest analysis of the likely electoral vote breakdown has Senator Obama leading John McCain by crushing total of 353 to 185, far exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed for election.

Thurday's night's vice presidential debate is unlikely to help McCain very much even though Sarah Palin had a stronger than expected performance as most debate viewers still viewed Senator Biden as the winner of the debate and far more presidential. This is only likely to continue the Obama momentum towards a building electoral vote landslide and a strong and growing popular vote. More and more Senator Obama is viewed as both presidential and the likely winner by a growing number of voters.

McCain's only best hopes to turn around his shrinking presidential hopes seem to be in strong debate performances in the final two debates. But likely McCain's strongest opportunity was in the first debate with such heavy foreign policy content, and Senator Obama was able to hold up well enough with many voters as well as to clearly win the economic policy portion of the debate that McCain's best hope has probably already since passed away. Senator Obama only had to prove that he had a decent grasp of foreign policy and could be a credible choice, and certainly managed that in the debate.

Up until recently, the only state that John Kerry won in 2004 that Obama might have lost was New Hampshire. But new polls place this state over in Obama's column. In Addition, Obama is ahead in Iowa and New Mexico, two states that John Kerry lost in 2004, but Al Gore won in 2000.

But what is disastrous to McCain's fainting hopes of winning this election is that Senator Obama has a growing hope of winning in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Nevada and Ohio. Since 1964, Ohio has always voted for the winning presidential candidate, making it a true weathervane state.

What is probably most troubling to McCain is that his margin is way down is some reliability Republican leaning states like Indiana where McCain is barely running ahead. Missouri is another state on the bubble where McCain is only hanging on to a slender lead. Even in tiny normally Republican leaning states like Montana, McCain only has single digit leads, as is just barely hanging on to hopes of not losing the election by a massive electoral vote landslide where states that supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 abandon McCain in 2008.

The McCain Campaign will be hard pressed to spend money in a number of normally safe Republican strongholds just to hang on to those states. At the same time the Obama Campaign has the luxury to spend $40 million in attempts to win to take Florida, as well as to challenge in a number of stronger more traditionally Republican bases such as Virginia and Colorado. And any loss by McCain in North Carolina would only add to an election day electoral vote disaster. McCain needs a solid South to win the election, and the loss of either Virginia or North Carolina probably puts the White House out of reach for McCain. McCain simply cannot win the election if both Virginia and North Carolina slip away from him. There simply is not the electoral votes somewhere else to make up for that loss.

No doubt about it, the McCain Campaign is facing a rising tide of bad news. Sagging poll numbers, must win states slipping away, and a growing voter consensus that Barack Obama would make a better president than McCain. Unless something real unexpected develops to boost McCain, and soon, his hopes of being elected president in November are quickly fading away and turning into dust.

Hollywood's Own October Surprises

Both conservative and liberal leaning Hollywood filmmakers are hoping to sway the November election with a couple of films that they hope will become their own "October Surprise". However, it is highly unlikely that either film will pack theatres and both will likely be quick to end up on DVDs that will make better Frisbees than anything. Unfortunately both a film by Oliver Stone about George Bush entitled "W" and an antiMichael Moore film, AN AMERICAN CAROL, really seem to miss their mark by miles.

Both films attempt to use some sense of larger than life parody, exaggeration and comedy, especially the conservative leaning antiMichael Moore film, which falls into the shallow one note attacks of many conservatives who accuse others of not being patriotic or use shallow one inch deep personal attacks rather than intellectualize the arguments of their political rivals.

Where the antiMichael Moore film goes horribly wrong is the absurd assumption that Michael Moore is antiAmerican and not patriotic. The real Michael Moore may be left leaning politically, but that hardly means that he would support doing away with the 4th of July like the outrageous character in the film. The real Michael Moore is mainly a consumer advocate concerned with the public abuses by some large corporations or some lawmakers who are pawns of these corporate swindlers. And the cast of AN AMERICAN CAROL which includes some like Bill O'Reilly are hardly widely considered as masters of comedy by any means. And the Michael Moorelike character in the film is played by Kevin Farley, the younger and far less talented brother of the late comic, Chris Farley. Other than bringing in gross obesity to the role, Farley really brings in little to the film.

Producer/Director David Zucker used to be known for some pretty good comedy gems like AIRPLANE! or the Leslie Nielsen NAKED GUN films. And the aging Leslie Neilsen does play some small role in this film. But it hardly holds a stick to these past achievements by an means. And with a cast of fellow conservative leaning actors like Kelsey Grammer, Trace Adkins, Jon Voight and Dennis Hopper, the Republican leaning Zucker has really tipped his hand from making films for all viewers, producing a biased right leaning personal attack on Moore and a pointless political propaganda film that absolutely misses the moral calling that draws the real life Moore to produce films attacking corporate corruption and naked greed.

It's almost like 1950's type redbaiting to continue to attack the patriotism of many liberals or even leftists, yet this is also part of this film's shallow attack on Moore. The real Michael Moore was brought up in a good Irish Catholic family where he once considered becoming a Catholic priest. It is this moral background deeply embedded in his early Catholic faith that has most encouraged Moore's battle at what he most likely considers to be corporate immorality and sin that has most likely inspired his moral crusades against corporate sins in the health care industry and other areas. Zucker's mindless film never digs this deep by any means, instead showcases the grossly overweight and talentless Farley as a complete boob who hates America. Simply outrageous trash can material at it's very best.

Liberal leaning, conspiracy theorist filmmaker, Oliver Stone's W film has some faults of it's own as well. Oliver Stone is indeed a top flight filmmaker compared to Zucker who mainly uses endless sight gags in many of his films thinly glued together with a lightweight premise. Zucker uses a premise, any premise in fact, just to hang a few jokes and sight gags on. But Oliver Stone is by contrast a real and true and complete filmmaker who is certainly capable of making a great film if the subject is right.

The main problem with W is that this film is way too late to do any good. Oliver Stone really needed to make this film way back in 2000 to do any real good for the country. But even at it's best, Stone's film goes way over the top highlighting the drunken and reckless cowboy personality of George Bush that the American voters really needed to consider before voting in the 2000 election. Now at it's best, the film about W only hopes to bring down John McCain with some hope of guilt by association with Bush and his reckless and failed presidency. Certainly there was little to expect from some former drunk who was also a cocaine abuser to be a great leader. But really what's the point now? The public is sick of Bush for the most part, and he's a largely an irrelevant personality except for the fact that McCain belongs to the same party and stupidly supported most of Bush's nonsense agenda. But if voters haven't made this connection as of yet after 8 years of near nonstop Three Stoogery, then it is highly unlikely that Stone's film will suddenly make that impression now. Stone's film will only reconfirm what those who dislike the Bush policies already believe and probably not bring in any new converts this late in the game. Why make this film now?

The Iraq War, the declining economy, attacks on civil liberties, all of the problems brought on by the grossly failed Bush presidency is about to be as to be expected. There was never any hope or potential for Bush considering what was there. His feet just never reached the pedals as a friend of mine liked to say. And John McCain supported a good 90% of this nonsense. But likely too few voters will view this W film, and it is slightly far fetched for Stone to hope to tar up McCain with this film which is probably not Stone's finest work by any means.

Likely both W and AN AMERICAN CAROL will be also-ran films at the movie box offices. Neither will probably stand the test of time as great films by any means, with both films seeming more like seasonal election year garbage almost like the gut of poor grade horror films that hit the box offices around Halloween season or some poor attempts to exploit the Christmas season with one lousy Santa Claus film after another stinking up the box office.

If anything, about the only significant meaning of these two films may be lousy election year propaganda films becoming a new box office marketing phenomenon from now on. And that's not saying too much. For a fact, neither W or AN AMERICAL CAROL are CITIZEN KANE. Both are far closer to PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE.