Cruel and Illogical Twits:

Reagan was right! LOL!

Blueberry — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:14:30 EDT

"I will feel equality has arrived when we can elect to office women who are as incompetent as some of the men who are already there." Maureen Reagan

Is God sending the Republicans a message with Gustav???

Gretchen — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:54:59 EDT

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

This storm should hit right in the middle of the Republican Convention-- I think the message is clear!!! The Republicans needed a strong reminder of Katrina and their FAILURES!!!

My prayers and thoughts are with those preparing for this big storm--

What did you see?

Mark in LA — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:42:03 EDT

I am not talking about Obama's speech, which was the best political speech I've ever seen. No, this blog is in reference to the attendees of the Democratic National Convention.
I saw America, in all its beauty and diversity.
Now, I am going to go out on a limb and make a prediction, though the limb is very thick and sturdy, so my confidence is high.
When the RNC is televised, for all the world to see, our television screens will reflect what the Republican Party is trending towards: The Southern White Christian Fundamentalist Party.
I'm going with America.

PS: It's good to be back AnneK. That's for the welcome,

Here ya go

Arius — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:27:38 EDT

Churchill

Arius — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:20:47 EDT

Winston Churchill said that you can count on America doing the right thing, but only after all the other options have been tried.

Well, I submit to you that over the last 8 years, we have tried every other option. It is time for us to do the right thing.

Shut your festering gob you tit! Your type makes me puke! You vacuous toffee-nosed malodorous pervert!

Arius — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:49:18 EDT

I came to Partybuilder for an argument, only to discover this is Abuse. Anyone know where room 12A is?

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

AnneK — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:33:53 EDT

It was a dark and stormy night....

A couple of hundred years ago, a bunch of guys had a crazy idea about starting a new kind of government that would be run by representatives chosen from among the common people. They thought that people should be free to live their own lives as they saw best, to make their own choices free from too much government control, to worship in whatever faith they believed - or none at all, and to have the opportunity to pursue whatever education and career the felt called to pursue.

We've improved very little on their original ideas. We've done some work to make sure that ALL people get those same freedoms, and to define and protect a few other things that weren't mentioned in the beginning..... but on the whole, we're their living legacy. And now we have a choice.

On the one hand, we - as a nation - can make the safe choice. We *could* elect an old soldier who will surround himself with people who are willing to chip away at our own freedoms and sacrifice the dreams of our people in order to "protect" us from undefinable dangers and fears. People who are willing to make our choices for us because they KNOW what is better for us, and also what is "right" for us. They know it's better to sacrifice a woman's life than to kill an unborn child. They know it's better to go to war to protect the country's interests than to pursue diplomacy. They know that marriage is between a man and a woman. They know that the more secure future lies in protecting the interests of huge corporations rather than in trusting average people. They seem to know a lot....

On the other hand, we could choose a young guy who is an unknown. We aren't sure who he'll surround himself with, but it's a safe bet they won't be anything like what we've seen before. They'll have *gasp* new ideas. They'll take us in *shudder* new directions. He actually has the audacity (wait for it....) to suggest that the one most powerful, and most important treasure that our heritage has given us is our hope. When my Great-great-great-grandfather stepped off the boat from Ireland as a poor teenage boy, that was ALL he had. The clothes on his back and the hope that in a free country he could build a life and a family. It worked. It turns out that was all he really needed to have. That and the courage needed to head off into an uncertain future and believe in yourself to find the way.

I pray that come November, America is STILL the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

What Planet do you Live On?

Mark in LA — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:43:26 EDT

Paul Begala and I don't always see eye to eye. But on one big, recent issue we have been in complete agreement: the need for Democrats to attack. For weeks, I have been advising, no, pleading for Barack to carry the fight to John McCain. http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/markhainds/gGxY8B

Damn the high road, McCain was sawing on Barack's Achilles tendon while our nominee was standing above the fray, talking about the issues. It's time to break the bottom off a Budweiser longneck and get to slashing.

The central thesis of the Republican's campaign is a hypothetical: A Democrat may do something bad in foreign or domestic policy.

For eight years, the GOP worked at odds with every principle they professed to hold dear. With control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, the GOP:
Turned the biggest dollar surplus in history into the biggest dollar deficit in history. Tripled the national debt. Wiped out half the value of the US dollar, and ballooned the size of the federal government. This list goes on ad infinetum.

We are not running on a hypothetical. We are running on reality - a fact based reality. Not the ideology based fantasy-world where the Republicans dwell.

The central thesis of our campaign is change. Change from eight years Republican Hell.

What planet do you live on?

If it is Earth - vote Democrat.

Time for some Campaignin'!

Blueberry — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:33:52 EDT

Oh, another lovely satire from our good friends at JibJab.....

http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

The Devil Sent Tornadoes

Mark in LA — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:27:30 EDT

The sirens woke us sometime a little after 4:00 AM on Monday, August 25th, 2008.
Tropical Storm Fay was making sure we didn't forget her. If you are not from the Gulf Coast, you may not understand that the damage inflicted by a weather event is not always correlated with the intensity of the storm.

Inquiring minds want to know... How many people on this site have been called for a poll???

Gretchen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:06:47 EDT

I was reading both AnneK and Liz's post and was wondering.... Has anyone here on this site been called for a national poll on this year's general election. I keep on reading about all of these polls BUT I don't know anyone who has been called...

So I was wondering if anyone here has been polled??? If not who is getting these calls???

McCain called in sick today from campaigning-- Has "foot in mouth" disease...

Gretchen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:25:24 EDT

John, took the day off today from campaigning today... probably to recover from "foot in mouth" disease-- His staff probably spent the day educating him about his own personal finances/estate so if asked he wouldn't have to depend on them for an answer...

Hopefully they educated him about how to answer the question about who is rich... $5 million per year is a little above what MOST people consider rich... He has admitted on several occasions that he is not very knowledgeable about economics-- WOW he really showed us how uneducated he really is... Maybe it is Cindy who manages the McCain economics...

It is just amazing to me how out of touch this man is from the "real" world... AND it was exposed by a simple question about his own finances... Most Americans are struggling with ONE house...

Who is the elitist??? That is the question... I think McCain's answer was loud and clear!!! I think there is no cure for this disease of his-- think that foot is wedged in there pretty far!!

When McCain looses (sic) see below...

Gretchen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:29:30 EDT

Do you think he will know where home is??? OR do you think he will need to depend on his staff for guidance??? I HOPE they have the answer!!! McCain obviously doesn't know!!

Maybe his ''rich" friends-- those making $5 million per year can help!!!

Can the man be more out of touch??? If he isn't educated about his OWN finances How the HELL does he think he can manage the U.S. Economy??? If there are any Rep trolls online now-- Please feel FREE to educate me on this one!!

Thanks, g.

Correcting for Inaccuracy in Polls May be Inaccurate

AnneK — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:01:24 EDT

As has been pointed out many times throught this presidential campaign season, polls are inaccurate. We get that. The reason that many people have blogged about going back to before the Iowa Caucus is that pollsters such as Rasmutten only dial land lines. So at best, the polls ONLY represent the opinions of randomly selected Americans who have land line telephones with listed numbers.

It's all well and good to point out that fact as a potential source of poll inaccuracy, but some go further to provide the demographics of people who are NOT being reached because of the land line issue, and to suggest that it is valid to correct the poll in a certain direction and by a certain amount - based on information NOT gathered.

I'm willing, for the sake of argument, because I have nothing better to do for the next 10 minutes, to assume that you can legitimately correct gathered information based on NON gathered information... I would STILL argue against a valid correction based on simply the land line error and nothing else. I'd say it's REALLY difficult to accurately poll people in Florida and Ohio who will become confused at the voting booth and vote for a can of beans for President, later claiming they couldn't understand the ballot. That's gotta be like, close to a 5% correction. I'd say it's pretty darned difficult to accurately correct for the the voting dead - Democrats who will vote in November despite being incorporeal. I expect they're planning to come out in numbers this year. I'd give that a 3% correction. And here's perhaps my favorite, I doubt if everyone answering pollsters are being 100% honest. Look, it's the age of telemarketers and other unsolicited phonecallers troubling us at the LEAST convenient times with things that "will only take a minute." There are people who will participate JUST for the opportunity of screwing with poll results as payback for the intrusion. I'd call that at least a 2% correction. Then there's a random, let's say... 5% correction needed for all the other possible errors that I didn't think of.

Let's work the math. I've heard people say 8% for the landlines, plus another 15% for the other things I mentioned.... multiply by 2 just cause it sounds good, and take the square root because I know how to do that too, and you come up with a number THAT MEANS NOTHING!!!

You can't adjust gathered information based on non gathered information.

There Can Be Only One

AnneK — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:32:27 EDT

Sorry guys, but I couldn't help myself. The quote from the famous Highlander movie, "There can be only one", seems to be the understanding that some people have of the office of POTUS. Ready? Here it is. The President of the United States is simply a representative of the people. He or she is a member of a political party. The party has an ideology.

We need something much bigger than an individual in the White House come next year. Barack Obama cannot solve America's problems alone. No single individual can. No single individual has ever "run" this nation. The Democratic party is made up of a lot of people. And there are a lot of highly educated people near the top who are doing a lot of thinking about how to solve things. It is safe, I think, to assume that no matter which of our candidates had been our nominee, they would listening to Dr Dean, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy - while he can still advise, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, and many more. There may be one individual that occupies the position of POTUS, but make no mistake that the executive branch is still a TEAM EFFORT.

Compare the team I just mentioned to the current Republican Team: Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Libby, Gonzales, Rehnquist, .... and of course, heckuva job Brownie...

George W Bush, while an epic failure in his own right, could not possibly have achieved so much fail in the last 8 years without a really great support system.

We need the entire support system that will stand in the background behind the Democratic nominee.

OBAMA ANNOUNCES THAT TIM KAINE OF VA IS HIS RUNNING MATE!

Arius — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:13:45 EDT

That's what I think the headline will read when he finally decides on a VP. But we all know all the obvious candidates. Are there any dark horse candidates that haven't been discussed much in the media?

Nunn
Kaine
Sebelius
Bayh
Clark
Clinton

Who else is on the list, not just the short-list?

Obama to text his supporters first with VP choice...

Gretchen — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:20:36 EDT

If you want to be one of the first to know text 62262. He will text everyone with his choice before he makes a formal announcement...

How exciting!!!

g.

Best-selling gift idea for partybuilder denizens

Arius — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:51:46 EDT

I am Spartacus!

Blueberry — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:43:18 EDT

For the record, I deleted my own blog after being digusted by the exchange that went on. I had just come back from the Obama office when I saw what had happened to my blog in support of Shop....what a damn shame and waste of blog space. THEN, I go have dinner, spend some time with the family and come back to be notified of another huge cat fight.....plus, I'm now accused of being a Republican! LOL! Too funny...too sad...oh, so typical.

Sunday morning in sunny Reno......

Blueberry — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:14:13 EDT

8/17/08 Reno Gazette Journal link to article and audio of full speech with question and answer period. He was strong, honest and forthright that our country needs some work. What a wonderful way to spend a sunny Sunday morning!

P.S. That's me in the red hat! :)