Dept. of Not Wanting to Belong to any Club that Would Have Someone Like Me as a Member. . .

Tim of Tim and Trevor Christian. They're on a mission from god to warn all playa haters of the pending apocalypse.

NOTE: While pretty much everything I write and think is bitter and hate-filled, this one promises to be especially brutal. Carbon based life forms are strongly cautioned, and urged to go read something nicer…like maybe the “Love Is . . .” cartoons or theNancy comic strip…..but for more on Tim and Trevor Christian, and their boycott of the Bill Maher film Religulous, go to The Rapture Right.

Well, I got kicked out of another place again. Where it was is not important. What is important is that I am embarrassed that I was not able to explain clearly enough (apparently) that the sick and twisted irrational hatred I feel for Clarence Thomas is personal, and not because of his race. I mean, come on! Lots of people hate on Clarence Thomas, because there’s so much there to be hating on.

Uncle Ruckus, from the comic strip "The
Boondocks."

This all began when I wrote something snide about Clarence, and someone who will go nameless (mainly because I now hate that person too) took me to task, asserting that people who were critical of President Obama said something similar, because people who say things like that (ie you and those people) hate African Americans. Well, not being the sharpest bulb in the bulb drawer, it took me a couple of minutes to figure out that I had just been insulted. So, I wrote back, explaining why I despised Clarence Thomas, mentioned a few books I had read, and insisted there was plenty about Clarence for player haters of all stripes.

I may have said something especially pointed about Clarence Thomas in that second go round—it may have been that I said that I thought Clarence is a “lying hypocritical fucking son of a bitch bastard--not to mention immoral,” but I’m not sure. I know I said that in the third go round. But I can’t remember if I amped it that much in the second. If I didn’t, I’m sure I meant to, and it was just an oversight on my part. Well, my nemesis AGAIN reminded what people said about “a black man” becoming president, and how it was irresponsible and racially insensitive for me to use such language in regards to Clarence Thomas. 

"Justice" Clarence Thomas--oh wait. Am I
getting mixed up again?

By now, I’m on my fourth return of this particular volley, and I'm pretty steamed. So, I answered the charge that using bad language (like calling a sitting US Supreme Court Justice a “lying hypocritical fucking son of a bitch bastard—not to mention immoral”) is bad, by asking “Even if he IS a lying hypocritical fucking son of a bitch bastard--not to mention immoral? I ask for information purposes only.” Cf Cohen v. California, 403 US 15 (1971) (Harlan, J.) (“Fuck the Draft” is protected speech, as “One man’s (sic) vulgarity is another’s lyric”). In the same post, I also used the phrase “lying hypocritical fucking son of a bitch bastard—not to mention immoral” three times in one sentence. And it went downhill from there—mainly because I can be a pretty lyrical guy.

And that, sports fans, is when I got sent home with the note “Does not play well with others.”

What does all this mean--besides the fact I hate Clarence Thomas. I do and that's great... But why do I really hate the guy? I mean BESIDES the fact he’s a lying hypocritical fucking son of a bitch bastard--not to mention immoral. Well, all you kids out there probably don't remember, but back in the day, during Clarence’s confirmation hearings, Clarence insisted that he had no opinion on anything at any time, never discussed Roe v. Wade or what qualified as a fundamental right under the constitution with anyone ever, had a great grandfather, and would never forget his roots (to coin a phrase) once he was on the Supreme Court. An angry John Lewis (D. fifth district, Ga) responded to this crap that he (Lewis) also had a hell of grandfather, but that didn’t make Lewis qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. Clarence didn’t care, and apparently, neither did the Senate--so Clarence was well on his way to confirmation.

Then, National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg flashed a story about one Anita Hill, and how when both Clarence and Ms. Hill worked at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Clarence sexually harassed her. Senator Joe Biden, head of the Judiciary Committee, then held a bizarre circus (and I do mean "circus," not series) of hearings on October 11, 12, and 13 1991, where Clarence was allowed to say pretty much whatever he wanted, including that he (Clarence) was the victim of a “high tech lynching.” 

Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats. "No Clarence--not THAT kind of 'Hustler'!"

Clarence still was able to get his confirmation, and has gone on to be a complete embarrassment not only to his grandfather’s memory—but to all carbon based life forms in general. But Clarence does have one saving grace: he’s stupid and lazy. 

How did I come to this opinion? Well, there’s The Complete Transcripts of the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill Hearings, Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson’s “Strange Justice,” an excellent collection of essays edited by Toni Morrison “Race-ing Justice, En-gender-ing Power,” and Ms. Hill’s own book “Speaking Truth to Power.” Not to mention Clarence’s on going insistence that he can’t find a right to privacy in the constitution (maybe under the couch, but he’s not sure).

In a word: the guy’s a dick, and that’s why I hate him. But do I hate him, wholly independent of race? No. I am one of those liberals who thinks that race will always be a factor anytime anywhere. Is part of the extreme contempt I have for Clarence Thomas due to the fact Clarence is an African American? Yes, and here's why. First, Clarence claims to have been a lifelong opponent of affirmative action. Which is fine—lots of people hate affirmative action. However, those people generally are not working at the EEOC, ENFORCING affirmative action regulations—not to mention, the fact that Clarence would never have been admitted to Yale Law School BUT FOR the affirmative action program that Yale had at the time (but no longer). What is wrong with this picture?

Second, Clarence was an asshole to a large number of women (at the EEOC none the less). When he got taken to task, his response was to play the race card, and claim he was the victim of a "high tech lynching"--his phrase. What? As opposed to the “low tech” lynchings of Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Viola Liuzzo etc etc? Even if Clarence was right (and he wasn’t) that he (Clarence) was the victim of the Unrepresentative Eastern Liberal Media Establishment (the UELME), how could he have the audacity to equate that (on any level) with the brutal murders of civil rights workers?

Finally, Clarence swore in his confirmation hearings that not only did he have no opinion on anything whatsoever, he would also be sure to remember the poor and opposed—just like his Grandfather taught him. Too bad in Clarence’s mind that means standing next to the electric chair and yelling “Hit ‘em again warden! He’s still twitching!” And for anyone who doubts that Clarence is any less the twisted, bitter little jerk who sees himself as the victim of all, here’s Marie Cocco review of Clarence’s little book. And I had forgotten what the New York Times editorial board had to say about Clarence, calling him The Angriest Justice.

So—I hate Clarence Thomas. Do I hate him because he is African American? No. It’s personal when I call him a lying hypocritical fucking son of a bitch bastard--not to mention immoral. But why can’t I explain that? How can I make myself clearer? I was humiliated.

But then, a secular humanist angel comes to me, and says “Bill baby—they think you have an unreasoning hated towards African Americans. You know that’s not true. You have an unreasoning hatred towards all kinds of people….You hate everything!” The clouds broke, the sun shone through, I put on the Grateful Dead tune “Touch of Grey,” and started to draw up a list of people I hate on because they too are lying hypocritical fucking sons of a bitch bastards--not to mention immoral cf Huey Freeman’s “Hate Book,” The Boondocks. It’s morning in Amerika (to coin a phrase).

Zell Miller. I'd say something nasty here, 
but I just can't think of anything--though
I do hate the guy.

A. Zell Miller

An easy choice, because everyone hates this former Senator from Georgia. Miller, a “Democrat” (not unlike the “froot” in “Froot Loops”) was known for his close working relationship with fellow Senator Saxby Chambliss, after Chambliss defeated incumbent Max Cleland. Miller (apparently) was untroubled by Chambliss’s persistent attacks on Senator Cleland’s patriotism—despite Cleland having left three of his four limbs in Vietnam while serving in the military. Miller later volunteered to be a keynote speaker at the 2004 GOP Convention (one of the sleaziest ever), and then went on to famously challenge Chris Mathews to a duel when Miller appeared on the show Hard Ball.

Diana Dors. She has nothing to so with 
this hissy fit, but if you're going to complain
like I am, you better have at least one
person show up in opera gloves.

B. Orin Hatch

Another obvious choice. Hatch made a name for himself by doing everything humanly possible to block any judicial nomination President Clinton even considered—only to take extreme offense later when anyone objected to the woefully unqualified partisan hacks George W. Bush tried to stick on the federal bench. During the Clarence Thomas hearings, Hatch also claimed he discovered the “source” of Ms. Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment. Ms. Hill testified that Clarence once said to her something about a public hair in a glass of cola. Hatch then produced a similar line in William Blatty’s 1971 novel “The Exorcist.” Ah HA! And a moron says what? (okay. I made that up).

Again, everyone knows Senator Hatch is just a partisan hack. During the Iran-Contra hearings, columnist Art Buchwald wrote that the best time to go to the toilet was when Senator Hatch was questioning Oliver North.








C. Arlen Spector

I KNOW this is Phil and not Arlen, and that
I've used this pic before...but, oh that hair
....and to wear it like that to court. His
poor lawyer.

While not an obvious choice, he clearly is a sentimental favorite of mine as a lying hypocritical fucking son of a bitch bastard--not to mention immoral, mainly for Spector’s antics during the Clarence hearings. Just my personal opinion, but I doubt that Clarence would have been confirmed, but for the particularly vicious and insulting attacks that Spector directed at Ms. Hill (although the incompetent way that Senator Biden ran the hearing probably helped even more). 

Some might criticize Senator Spector for his authorship of the “magic bullet” theory in the Kennedy assassination (as Oliver Stone did in the film JFK). I am not one of them. I went to the film JFK like Fox “I Want to Believe” Mulder—only to find myself saying “oh oh” a lot. I just couldn't believe. Intrigued, I read Gerald Posner’s “Case Closed,” and found the book convincing. So, I’m giving Spector a clean bill of health for his work on the Warren Commission.

Spector also behaved appropriately (if not admirably) in going after Alberto Gonzales’s repeated assertions that nothing inappropriate happened under Gonzales’s watch—followed by Gonzales insisting he had no memory of the events he (Gonzales) was vouching for.

Still—given Spector’s abominable actions in favor of Clarence, and his general all around greasy opportunism, he qualifies for the list. Which brings us to…

Alberto Gonzales. He probably read
Jimmy Carter's book "Why Not the Best?"
upside down, so Gonzales became
determined to do the opposite of Carter's
recommendations.

D. Alberto Gonzales

I’ve written on George W. Bush’s friend “Al” elsewhere, how under the Gonzales watch, people longed for the morally upright and principled leadership that John Mitchell brought to Nixon’s Department of Justice. Alberto Gonzales was such an abomination, that (in my personal opinion) insufficient anger at the first Hispanic attorney general is disrespectful to the Latino community as a whole.







E. Samuel Pierce

Ms. Tina Louise (of Gilligan's island fame).
This is a still from the film "Armoured
Command" (I am not making that up).

Sammy’s name is not as familiar as it once was, with him having died in 2000. But back in the day, he was Reagan’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and by many accounts being groomed to replace an ailing Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court. But while Justice Marshall could not hang on long enough to keep Clarence off the court, we all know that Justice Marshall is now in secular humanist heaven for keeping Sam Pierce off the Court (plus for writing World Wide Volkswagon, and a few other things). How good a HUD Secretary was Pierce? He was the only member of Reagan’s cabinet to serve the whole of both terms, and under Pierce’s watch HUD appropriations for low-income housing were cut by nearly half and funding all but ended for new housing construction, cited from the Wikipedia article on Pierce.

But you know Reagan appreciated his guy—kind of. At a June 1981 luncheon of Mayors in Washington DC, Reagan thought Pierce was one of the mayors, and greeted him “Hello Mr. Mayor.” I hate when that happens. After Pierce left office, an independent counsel found Pierce’s HUD riddled with corruption, and several of Pierce’s lieutenants wound up doing time. Pierce himself managed to dodge the bullet, though—although when called to testify, Pierce invoked the fifth amendment to protect himself against self-incrimination, becoming the first cabinet member to do so since the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Jean Kirkpatrick. "Better dead than
nationally sovereign--no wait, that didn't
come out right....."

F. Jean Kirkpatrick

An old cold warrior hypocrite, renowned for her insane delusions about communism and her defense of fascism. She wins special notice for her particularly despicable actions during the genocidal wars in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras (she was on the “genocide” side). Jean was also a vocal supporter of what she called “authoritarian regimes,” which while brutally repressive, still clung to traditional family values (I am not making that up). One time after she wrote some stupid article or made some idiotic speech about the military dictatorship in Argentina, Jacobo Timerman (himself a victim of torture and the author of “Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number”) responded by how the Argentine military respected family values by torturing families together, in full view of each other’s misery.



G. Henry Kissinger

If you have to ask, nothing I can tell you will matter. Let’s just say that I believe the existence of Don King, Henry Kissinger, and George Steinbrenner is unanswerable proof as of the non-existence of an omnipotent, just god.

Just say no to Baby Jesus--and YES to 
Aquarius!

H. Nancy Reagan

Another personal favorite, despite the fact I am in awe of her ability to be the darling of religious fundamentalists AND at the same time an ardent disciple of astrology. 

But Nancy gets special consideration for being the poster child of a drug campaign unprecedented in its idiocy and irresponsibility. “Just Say No” became the Reagan administration’s “solution” to the drug crisis, featuring a smiling picture of Nancy. Why? Because pictures of Nancy were lots cheaper than say TREATMENT PROGRAMS (which were slashed under Reagan’s watch). The hypocrisy went even further. While preaching the “War on Drugs" out of one side of its mouth, the Reagan administration out the other mouth side was slashing funds targeted at drug enforcement and interdiction. Not that the latter mattered, as the film “Traffic” correctly pointed out: even if the drug cartels had as much as 80% of their dope seized, they’d still be making a whale of a profit.

I know this is Jane Russell and not Katherine
Harris. But did you really want to see
another picture of Katherine Harris? I
didn't.

I. Katherine Harris

Secretary of State for Florida in 2000, and also co-chair to George W. Bush for President (Florida) Committee. No conflict of interest there. I would argue she was probably the single most responsible person for making sure that George W. Bush was awarded Florida’s delegate votes in the electoral college (and the Presidency), despite the fact that by any measure, more people in Florida voted for Al Gore.

J. Full House (the television show)

I can’t help it—I just really, really hate that show. I try to explain why here....But not very successfully.

K. Ken Starr, Henry Hyde, Jim Sensenbrenner, Bill Collum, George Gekas, Charles Canady, Steve Buyer, Ed Bryant, Steve Chabot, Bob Barr, Asa Hutchinson, Chris Cannon, James Rogan, Lindsey Graham, and Ken Starr

I'd have a crack here about the hypocrisy
of fundamentalists--like Opus Dei--but
I think I'll just let it slide

The GOP House managers who prosecuted the fiasco known as the impeachment of President Clinton for invading a fellow member nation of the UN with cooked data on WMD and faked connections with international terrorists—no wait, it was that other thing.

Ken Starr gets mentioned twice for being twice the bastard.

L. Pierce Butler, Willis Van Devanter, George Sutherland, and James McReynolds

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—OLD SCHOOL!

M. Antonin “Fat Tony” Scalia, Clarence “Long Dong” Thomas, John “Tiberius—I WISH” Roberts, Samuel “Little Fat Tony” Alito

The new Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—but they try harder!



Well? How’s that? Enough proof to show that I hate lots of people for lots of reasons?

“Bill, I'm sorry, but I agree with [an idiot who will go nameless, just because Bill prefers it that way] that this is racist stuff. Knock it off, or stay off my comment threads.”

Bummer. Well, there’s always Mitch McConnell, Buckley v. Valeo, Morse v. Fredrick, people who think they believe strongly in the ten commandments without knowing them or the fact there is no agreement as to what they are, disco, mushy over-cooked brussel sprouts…..

I better get busy; I’ve got a lot of playa hating to do. 

The Other America of Sarah Palin

While watching the October 2 2008 Vice Presidential Debate, I found myself thinking about Michael Harrington and his landmark book "The Other America." For Mr. Harrington, 1960's America was in danger of dividing in two: a nation of rich, and a nation of poor. Nearly fifty years later, America is dividing again, but along different lines: one nation is concerned about the future, while the other is proud to be a flock of morons. Welcome to Sarah Palin's America.

Michael Harrington. In some ways, it's just as well he is dead, because if he had lived to see what's happening now, it'd have killed him.

The one moment that told you everything you needed to know about this "debate" was when Senator Joe Biden briefly took Governor Palin to task for wholly ignoring moderator and interlocutor Gwen Ifill's question. Governor Palin then responded to Ms. Ifill's next question by saying that she was not going to answer questions in a way that Senator Biden or even the moderator may want, 'because she didn't have to.' And Sarah was right. For anyone troubled in anyway by the banal, nonsensical, and pretty much wholly unresponsive nature of her answers—frankly, the Governor couldn't care less. She wasn't talking to you.

For Governor Palin's America, 'it doesn't matter if human activity causes climate change—we just need to fight it.' That's also the America where Governor Palin can spend an entire debate talking about 1) drilling for oil to make America 'energy independent,' 2) increasing government regulation to punish 'predatory lenders' who created the current crisis on Wall Street, and 3) getting government 'out of the way' so private industry can grow—regardless of what question she is asked, or noticing any contradiction between points two and three, or how nonsensical point one is.

'Say it ain't so, Joe. There you go again, looking backwards,' Governor Palin said, apropos of nothing. But that's Sarah Palin: She looks FORWARD, not BACK. Why? Because looking forward means never having to say you're sorry. Sadly, it also means you won't be responsible for anything either.

'Shoeless' Joe Jackson. Not even Mr. Jackson could say THAT wasn't so.

When the New York Times points out the inconsistencies and (frankly) the lies from the McCain-Palin Campaign, the Forward Looking McCain apparachniki can simply dismiss any criticism by claiming that the Times is 'in the tank' for Senator Obama. Anyone who actually READS the Times may be outraged—but who cares? The people in Governor Palin's America (having never read the paper) know the Times is part of the Unrepresentative Liberal Eastern Elitist Media Establishment ie in the tank for Obama.

What really matters is Governor Palin's sharp ability to read a teleprompter (making her Charlie McCarthy to the teleprompter's Edgar Bergan), coupled with a willingness to promise her people they not only can have it all, they DESERVE to have it all. If Sarah Palin talks in meaningless and vacuous platitudes that lack the depth and substance of an average soda pop commercial—so much the better.

Sarah Palin (left) with teleprompter.

So what if I explode with rage to the point of a brain aneurysm. Who cares? I see Governor Palin as the least qualified vice presidential candidate in the history, who prides herself in leaping at the chance to be Number Two without giving the matter any consideration ie 'blinking.' I'm not going to like her, regardless of what she says. But the Other America, they see someone who is just like them: charming, unaffected, not contaminated by the corruption of Washington. Someone who is 'real.' So what if she can't tell Ms. Courric the name of any newspaper or magazine she reads, or explain why Alaska's geographic location gives her 'foreign policy experience'? Lots of people have trouble answering questions off the cuff, as Ms. Palin's defenders will defend. And the fact that Governor Palin refuses to face any real press interviews, that doesn't make her unqualified to be President. Look at the horrible attacks from the press on her poor pregnant daughter! What matters is that Governor Palin is going to bring some of that good ol' fashioned Wasilla Main Street common sense to Washington—whatever that means.

Humpty Dumpty, in Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking Glass,' insisted that he could make any word mean what he wanted the word to mean, because it was 'a question of who was master—that's all.' Humpty may have been the master of all things linguistic, but it took the Grand Old Party to master history. For example, Senator McCain says that the next President is not going to have to worry about how we got into Iraq; the President is going to have to worry about how we're going to get out, while preserving peace with honour (to coin a phrase). John McCain doesn't bother dismissing the past as yesterday's news. Why should he, when making up his own reality—just by Looking Forward--is so much easier?

Which America do you belong to? Here's a hint: if you think the debacle that is the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can come to any kind of resolution wholly independent of how they started, then you're one of the flock of morons. Sorry.

Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, trying to decide who's master--that's all.

Never looking backward also allows Sarah Palin, a conservative Republican, denounce Washington 'partisan bickering' with a clear conscience. The fact her political party used Ms. Paula Jones in a wholly frivolous civil lawsuit as a political attack on the sitting President, and later impeached the President for the first time in the history of our nation (over nothing) is irrelevant. (Quick: what were the charges for President Clinton's impeachment? If you guessed it was because of his relationship with Ms. Monica Lewinsky, you're wrong). For Governor Palin, though, it's like it never happened.

What else never happened? Within days of President Bush officially taking office, the air waves were filled on how the outgoing Clinton team had sabotaged the White House, extensively damaging the wiring and physical structure of the building. The stories of misconduct were so severe, an outraged Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga) demanded an investigation, with criminal indictments of the miscreants—until an embarrassed Congressman Barr discovered none of the stories were true.

Congressman Bob Barr, one of the first to introduce the expression "D'OH!" to political parlance.

Or there's the fiasco of Bill Frist's Senate, with the unprecedented exclusion of Democrats. For example, the GOP majority scheduled hearings, refusing to tell Democrats the times and location. That was the same GOP Congress notorious for its unwillingness to deal with any issues of substance, and yet brought the government to a halt over the Terri Schavio fiasco.

Then there's the party of Senator Orin Hatch (Hypocrite--UT), who spent the entire Clinton administration trying to prevent the appointment of any federal judges. During the Bush II administration, Senator Hatch became furious if a Senator raised an objection to some of the unqualified partisan hacks President Bush nominated to the federal bench. And guess which political party destroyed the Department of Justice, to the point that Ms. Monica Goodling (armed with a grant of immunity) testified how it was her job to break the law ensuring 'non-political' hirees were political enough. The entire upper echelon of the Department of Justice, from Alberto Gonzales on down, has resigned in disgrace, all for illegal partisan political activity. So much for McCain-Palin being the "party of change."

Senator Orin Hatch. "Remember kids-- Don't do as I say OR do!"

Come on now: how can you be the 'Party of change,' when you've held the Presidency twenty of the last twenty-eight years, and at least one (if not both) branches of Congress eighteen out of the last twenty years? Here's a hint: saying "Say it ain't so Joe and there you go again looking backwards," that's not going to cut it.

You say toe-may-to, I say ta-mat-o as the song goes: isn't one person's 'inexperience' really just another person's 'breath of fresh air.' In the end, isn't this just all a difference of opinion? Can't we all just get along? In a word: no.

Of course, I am Chicken Little, kvetching about how the sky is falling. But don't tell me that the Democrats in general and Bill Clinton is particular have 'done the same thing.' No one, at least not since President Andrew Jackson, has bled the nation the way George W. Bush's party has in the name of partisanship. What we're seeing now is qualitatively different, and not just in the halls of government.

Mr. Harrington's concern about the division of American society has come true with a vengeance. Mr. Bill Bishop has carefully documented in his book, 'The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded Americans is Tearing Us Apart" (Houghton Mifflin 2008), how our mobile society has replicated our political divisions as geographic divisions. Neighborhoods, formerly divided by race and class, are now further subdivided by background, education, political inclination, and social outlook: self described liberals live with liberals; conservatives with conservatives. And never the twain need meet.

The division of America has led to America's electoral college system embracing the philosophy of Mr. Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders American football club: Just win, baby.

Mr. Al Davis. "Just win Florida, Virgina, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri . . . Oh, you know what I mean, baby!"

By way of illustration: on the Monday following the Friday where the US Congress pledged a $700 billion USD line of credit to prop up a failing Wall Street, the American stock market at one point plunges 800 points, then rallies, but still the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes under the 10,000 point mark—for the first time in over four years. Senator McCain and Sarah Palin respond by insisting Senator Obama has too many 'character issues' to be President. Why? Because Moron America can understand 'character' easier than the collapse of the economy. After all, 'good character' doesn't cost anything, as opposed to the $700 billion USD bailout that may not even be enough.

The stakes, both nationally and internationally, are simply too high to dick around pandering to the shallow and stupid (to coin another phrase).

Here's what I mean. President Ronald Reagan entered the Presidency a federal debt that was already so large that just thinking about it made conservative economists bleed freely from every orifice. Eight years later, President Reagan left a debt greater than that of all his predecessors combined. But Reagan's record didn't last long. President George H.W. Bush in four years left a federal debt greater than all of HIS predecessors combined. Under President Clinton, the debt briefly leveled off, with the occasional balancing of the budget. Now, President George W. Bush has shattered all previous debt records, coupled with an 'off budget' $560 billion USD (and counting) Iraq war, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and now a $700 billion USD bail out to Wall Street.

Any political candidate who says the words 'tax cut' (unless it's preceded by 'forget about any'), that candidate is dangerously irresponsible. The bigger the promise of less taxes, the greater the level of dishonesty.

And that's still not the worst. Because of man-made climate change, the planet is facing the sixth global extinction, with 50% percent of the life forms on earth extinct by the end of the 21sr century. Chanting 'Drill, Baby Drill!'—that's not helping Governor Palin's America does have within its grasp the ability to turn our planet as barren and uninhabitable as Mars.

Last Presidential candidate of DoDo Party. "Drill Baby Drill!" was their campaign slogan.

Senator Biden, Gwen Ifill, and the America's willfully ignorant will not hold Governor Palin accountable. They won't even make her answer the questions. It's high time the Other Other America, the America that is not Sarah Palin's, starts not only demanding answers, but the right answers. As President Bush so eloquently warned us: "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me again, won't get fooled again."

Ida Lupino. She has nothing to do with this article, but I was feeling depressed.