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John McCains RNC Speech

post from Moue Magazine on 05 September 2008 02:43:32 PM. © Moue Magazine

I’m posting the video of John McCain’s RNC with the disclaimer that i am not responsible for any injuries you sustain from falling asleep and whacking your head on your computer desk. This has everything one could predict for a McCain RNC[...]

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http://mouemagazine.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/john-mccains-rnc-speech/

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Question of the Day--Speechifying Edition

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 05 September 2008 02:39:33 PM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

Does it seem like we've already done this question?

Okay, okay, I'll admit I stole the title from the questionpuzzled gave us on Wednesday. When I saw her title, I thought I knew what the question would be, and I was thinking it was a good one.

As it turns out, of course, I was way off, but I'm going to ask the question I thought she was asking, with a couple of bonus questions.

When was the last time you had to get up and talk to a group of people?
Are you comfortable with public speaking or do you avoid it at all costs?
What are the things that most annoy you in a speech?

Not counting teaching, I think the last time I had to get up and talk to a group of people was part of my volunteer work (Oh my gosh! I knew I couldn't be as selfish as I looked when answering the volunteerism qotd! Whew.) as a recruiter for Teach For America. That job basically consisted of going around to colleges and presenting the program to kids who were interested and answering any questions. Nothing too exciting.

I'm reasonably comfortable with public speaking; I don't go out of my way to avoid it, though I don't know that I'd do well making my living that way. (I mean, I know teaching is that, but I'd have a harder time talking in front of groups of strangers day in and day out.)

My speech pet peeves--I hate it when people over- or misuse "literally." Random "ums" drive me crazy, though I've been known to um a bit myself, or say "know what I mean?" like a tic. Also, I get disproportionately upset when people run over their allotted time. I usually quit listening at that point, out of spite. Of course that usually ends up hurting me and not the speaker, so I'm working on that.

***
So tell me about the last time you did some talking to a group? Even if you have to go back to a junior high book report, I want to know!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.myleftwing.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=22841

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MCCAIN'S A HIT!

post from Ezra Klein on 05 September 2008 02:39:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

The Nielsen ratings for the final night of the RNC are out and it looks like McCain topped the charts:Nielsen just released the ratings for Day 4 of the GOP convention. Among the highlights: * More than half a million more people watched John[...]

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http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name
=mccains_a_hit

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TrooperGate Report Will Be Released 3 Weeks Early

post from TalkLeft on 05 September 2008 02:38:00 PM. © TalkLeft

And it's unlikely to be favorable to Gov. Sarah Palin.

ABC News has exclusively learned that Alaska Senator Hollis French will announce today that he is moving up the release date of his investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired. The results of the investigation were originally scheduled for release Oct. 31 but will now come almost three weeks earlier, according to sources.

More...

The announcement is set for 9 a.m. AKDT time.
The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin had accused the McCain campaign of using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31, four days before the November election.

"It's likely to be damaging to the Governor's administration," said Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, appointed the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation.

The radical right won't care if Palin's image as a high-minded reformer and competent executive is tarnished. I think the rest of America will care, just as it will care about other hypocritical actions of Gov. Palin that may be revealed as the campaign progresses.

The selection of Gov. Sarah Palin shows John McCain's failure to properly vet her and his bad judgment. He went for a Hail Mary pass to save his fledgling campaign and he put the interests of the radical right ahead of the interests of our country. That's not what a hero does. His hero days are long behind him. He sold us out.

Let the chips fall where they may. McCain, regardless of his years of service, does not deserve to be our President.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/384376347/3407

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Naw, the McCain’s Aren’t Elitist

post from All Spin Zone on 05 September 2008 02:36:00 PM. © All Spin Zone

Doesn’t everyone has multiple Versache designs hanging in the walk-in closets of their doublewides, and various Tiffany and Chanel pieces laying in jewelry trays in the powder room? Cindy does:

Vanity Fair editors estimated that McCain’s fierce saffron shirt dress with the popped collar, diamond earrings, four-strand pearl necklace, white Chanel watch and strappy shoes totaled up to $313,100…

Cindy and John McCain: Just. Regular. Folk.

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http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/09/05/naw-the-mccains-arent-elitist/

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Republicans steal property ... And, threaten the
future ...

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 05 September 2008 02:35:40 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

The McCain campaign and Republican Party have both been aggressive in their use of music, clips from movies, etc without, it seems, even bothering to seek copyright permission despite the promise "to protect the creative industires from privacy." They[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/385108351/showDiary.do

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For The Fifth Time, McCain Campaign Illegally
Uses Artists’ Copyrighted Music

post from Think Progress on 05 September 2008 02:32:00 PM. © Think Progress

Last night at the conclusion of the GOP convention, the Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign blasted the song “Barracuda” by Heart. The tune is meant to be a theme song for Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), whose high school nickname was reportedly “Sarah Barracuda.” Watch a clip of Republicans rocking out to the song:

video details and more

The problem is that the McCain campaign never obtained legal permission to use the song. Heart’s representative issued a statement:

The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission. We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored.

Last month, McCain released his technology policy, in which he promised to “protect the creative industries from piracy.” Yet as ThinkProgress has reported previously, McCain has infringed on artists’ copyrights on at least four other occasions:

- In August, singer Jackson Browne sued the McCain campaign and the Ohio Republican Party for copyright infringement because his song ?Running on Empty? was used in an ad by the state party. Browne?s lawyers said that ?McCain and his campaign were well aware of? this fact.
? In August, the McCain campaign re-cut a web ad after comedian Mike Myers?s publicist complained about the use of footage of Myers and fellow Saturday Night Live alum Dana Carvey?s “Wayne?s World” characters.
? In July, the McCain campaign had to pull and re-cut a web ad after Frankie Valli?s record label, the Warner Music Group, asserted its copyright claims over the use of the song ?Can?t Take My Eyes Off Of You.?
? Earlier this year, the copyright owners for the ?Rocky? theme song ?telephoned the McCain campaign to politely complain it was being used without permission.?

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/05/mccain-barracuda/

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PANHANDLING.

post from Ezra Klein on 05 September 2008 02:26:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

There's a lot of anecdote in this article on panhandling, so it's a bit hard to know how seriously to take much of it. But in DC at least, the wry style of panhandling -- "I won't lie, I need a drink" -- seems to have gone out of vogue, and we've moved[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name
=post_9

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CNN reporter Jack Cafferty's Wife Carol Passed
Away This Morning

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 05 September 2008 02:26:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Wow, very sad. From CNN:

Jack Cafferty isn?t here today for the Cafferty File because of some tragic news.

His wife of 35 years, Carol, passed away unexpectedly this morning. Carol was everything to Jack. The dedication of his book reads, ?for Carol, my wife, my life.?

Jack wrote about how she was the inspiration for him to get sober and straighten up his life: ?In all the years that we?ve been married, she has always brought to the table her unshakable grounding in something a lot more real than being on television or being recognized in the corner drugstore. She has been my rock, having done a magnificent job of keeping me from getting full of helium and drifting off the surface of the earth? She was all the incentive I needed to make painful but transforming changes ? to get sober and stop smoking. I knew that I?d lose her if I didn?t. She?s an amazing woman who simply wasn?t worth losing.?

One story Jack loves to tell is how he and Carol met ? when he was a local news anchor in Kansas City. They started to meet regularly for a quick meal between his shows and became good friends. Whenever Jack had to leave, his exit line was ?We?d better wrap this up. Got to get back to the station.? One night Carol finally asked, ?What kind of a gas station do you work at? You?re always wearing a tie.?

Jack explained it was a television station. He loved the fact that she had no clue and couldn?t care less that he had been on air there every night for four years. He later described that as one of his life?s ?twenty-four-carat moments? that made his heart soar. He said to himself then that he might marry her because ?it can?t get any more honest and pure than that.?

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/384557791/cnn-reporter-jack-caffert
ys-wife-carol.html

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Lawmakers To Issue Subpoenas, But Not For Palin,
on Trooper-Gate

Despite stone-walling from Sarah Palin, Alaska legislators aren't backing down in their quest to uncover what happened in Trooper-Gate.

The bipartisan committee overseeing the investigation announced today in a press release that they're moving up the date that they release the results of their investigation by three weeks, meaning it should come out in early October. The commitee, led by Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat also announced that it would meet on September 12 to issue subpoenas in the case.

But according to the release, Palin herself will not be subpoenaed. The committee still holds out hope that she will talk to indepedendent investigator Steven Branchflower voluntarily.

"We also discussed and agreed amongst ourselves that no subpoena will be issued for the Governor," said
Representative Nancy Dahlstrom, R-Eagle River. "She has told the public that she intends to cooperate with
the investigation, indeed, she has told the public that she welcomes the investigation and I have every faith
that she means it. If necessary we can send Mr. Branchflower to wherever the Governor is, or she can give
her statement to him over the telephone, whatever is most convenient for her. We recognize that her
schedule is extremely busy, and we want to accommodate that."

French had initially indicated that subpoenas likely wouldn't be necessary, since Palin had pledged her full cooperation. But earlier this week, Palin's lawyer warned that unless the case were handed over to the state personnel board -- whose three members are appointed by the governor -- Palin would not be made available to testify. And according to the release: This week, seven key witnesses informed Mr. Branchflower through their attorneys that they would not provide depositions. Their depositions, which had been agreed to and scheduled earlier with Mr. Branchflower, were cancelled within the last 72 hours."

The case centers on allegations by former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan that he was fired because of his reluctance to fire a state trooper, Jim Wooten, who was divorced from Palin's sister and was embroiled in a family dispute with the Palins. Palin has denied her personal involvement in the effort to have Wooten fired, though emails from Palin provided Wednesday night by Monegan to the Washington Post show that in February 2007 she complained to Monegan that Wooten was still employed.

Speaking to ABC News, French accused the McCain-Palin campaign of using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing the results of the probe by October 31st -- just four days before the election.

The issuance of subpoenas will need to be voted on by the full Judiciary Comittee, which is composed of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats. In late July, the Committee voted 12-0 to hire an independent investigator to look into the affair.

It's worth noting that the legislature doesn't have the power to compel witnesses to be deposed by Branchflower. Rather, it can require them to testify, under oath, at public hearings.