Palin might invoke 'Pallin' around with Kali' surprise

Heidi Klum (the model) was dressed for Halloween as the fearsome Indian goddess Kali (the celestial consort of Lord Shiva). Just a couple of days back, Ms. Klum made news by endorsing Barack Obama for President. Here is why I am little scared with these two otherwise inane developments...

I am concerned that this Halloween costume gag might be used by the spinmeisters at the McCain / Palin camp to now state conclusively that Sen. Obama is now pallin' around with mythological Hindu goddesses who brandish fearsome weapons of mass destruction emanating from multiple upper limb like extremities thus invoking and fortifying all the negative images, ideas and thoughts that the McCain camp has put into middle America about Sen. Obama.

Of course, I am only kidding. Nevertheless, this does highlight the puerile nature of the campaign that the McCain/Palin camp have conducted thus far. As easy as it has been for Heidi to transform herself into this blue skinned goddesses holding a severed head, the McSame camp had tried their best to cast Sen. Obama variously as a closet terrorist, foreign policy newbie, baby killer, gay activist, supporter for introducing porn to preteens, Iran pal, embryo extinguisher, firebrand Muslim, fire breathing preacher's best friend and finally when nothing else seemed to stick, a naive socialist.

It is only in our best interests to go out and vote for whoever you think is going to build this country going forward. My choice is clear. Make yours tomorrow. We must, as a nation, make sure that we just go out and vote tomorrow - even if that is the only one thing that you accomplish tomorrow - even if it means hiring that babysitter - even if it means driving 50 miles to the nearest polling booth - even if it means waiting at the polling booth because they take 2 hours in ascertaining your identity - even if it means you will lose out on a wage earning day - this election is too important for any one to pass up - for our futures, for our children's futures and for the future of the world at large!! Of course, in the end we get what we collectively deserve.

More pictures of the deadly Ms. Klum here.

Martin Luther King recalling when he first became painfully aware of prejudice:

When I was 14, I had travelled from Atlanta to Dublin, Georgia, with a dear teacher of mine, Mrs. Bradley; she's dead now. I had participated there in a oratorial contest sponsored by the Negro Elks. It turned out to be a memorable day, for I had succeeded in winning the contest. My subject, I recall, ironically enough, was "The Negro and the Constitution." Anyway, that night Mrs. Bradley and I were on a bus returning to Atlanta, and at a small town along the way some white passengers boarded the bus, and the white driver ordered us to get up and give the whites our seats. We didn't move quickly enough to suit him; so began cursing us, calling us "black sons of bitches." I intended to stay right in the seat, but Mrs. Bradley finally urged me up, saying we had to obey the law. And so we stood up in the aisle for the 90 miles to Atlanta. That night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life.

- published in a Jan 65' Playboy interview with Martin Luther King.

Edward Winkleman unloads on the McCain/Palin race baiting.

Below the belt

First they tried the elitist track, then the inexperienced track - neither really seemed to stick to Obama's public perceptions. This was especially when his opponent, Sen. McCain was seen to be the ultimate elitist and the years of McCain's experience in the Senate seems to have come to nought. Now desperate, they are trying the terrorist track.

In this video here, Obama says it like it is and explains the facts (in his words). Essentially, he tells us that he sat on the same school board with an individual who did some bad things when Obama was 8 years old. Yes, when Obama was 8 years old.

Ayers is a guy who engaged in some despicable acts forty years ago when I was 8 years old. By the time I met him 10 or 15 years ago he was a college Professor of Education at the University of Illinois and we served on a school reform board together. A board by the way that was funded by Walter Annenberg who had been an ambassador and close friend of Ronald Regan's. So, I have talked to him about school reform issues, and the notion that somehow he has been involved in my campaign, that he has been advisor of mine, that I have palled around with a terrorist, all these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points. You know, look, I can handle these attacks with the remaining four weeks, but it is certainly not serving our democracy. We need to be having a debate about how we are going to yank ourselves out of a very difficult situation and that is what I am going to spend my time talking about...

Gail Collins of the Times analyzes the Ayers connection to Obama and warns us of the slippery slope the nation will go down as the McCain camp rolls out the 'guilt by perceived association' strategy.

When I was a teenager, Charles Keating came to my Catholic girls high school in Cincinnati in his capacity as the founder of Citizens for Decent Literature, an anti-pornography group. His theme was the evil of wearing shorts in the summertime. Keating said he knew a young mother who took her child for a walk while wearing Bermuda shorts. A motorist, overwhelmed with lust at the sight of the back of her uncovered calves, lost control of his car and slammed into them. Everybody was killed, and it was all her fault. We were then asked to sign pledge cards promising to conform to standards of modesty that would have satisfied the Taliban.
If Barack Obama is responsible for the Weather Underground, and if the mother in Bermuda shorts was responsible for the car crash, I am pretty sure that I am on the hook as well.

Lighter note

A video library of Gov. Palin's greatest hits that feature a witch doctor blessing her to visions of Putin rearing his head over the US airspace. The potential for this kind of stuff from the wrinkle/wink team is astounding considering that the wrinkle and the wink were anointed as a team just a couple of months ago...

Will the real McCain please stand up?

About a year back, McCain said that homeowners were responsible for their own futures and they were primarily to blame for bad investment decisions taken during the purchase of their homes. Yesterday, McCain proposed a $300 billion bailout for homeowners and a sketchy plan for buying up distressed mortgages. So, he is now for government backed spending before he was against it?

A couple of weeks back McCain said that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. That same day in the afternoon he said that the economy is on the brink of a collapse. He flip flopped from being a believer in the strength of our economy before he came against it in the same day! All of his life, McCain has been a deregulator and believer in the fundamentally flawed assumption that the free markets know best. Now he is an ardent supporter of tightly regulated markets. Which one does he really believe in? I think there is a clear credibility problem.

While he is busy abandoning the 'free markets know best' principle by the wayside as it starts to become an inappropriate calling card, he is planning on reviving the same failed principles to our health care. He plans on forking out $2500 to individual Americans per year hoping that this is going to cover the rising individual healthcare costs. Added to the healthcare proposal are plans on deregulating the entire health care industry. Now that we have failed utterly with the deregulation of the financial services industry, let us try and apply the same failed deregulation policies to our health. Will the real McCain please stand up?

Watching the debates yesterday, I noticed a wheezing, breathless, cantankerous old man barely managing to latch onto questions and mounting vapid combative responses at the debate yesterday. Maybe this is the real McCain.

Oh, I forgot to add. It was clear that Obama won the debate.

Pitiful Pitbull

Keith Olberman’s on-screen kinetic energy is a bit too much for me to handle, but his convincing rebuttal yesterday of Gov. Sarah 'pitbull' Palin’s insinuation that Sen. Obama is pallin’ around with terrorists (it does not get more desperate that that) is worth the ten minutes.

The latest New Yorker cover is memorable.

"They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." - 'POTUS is only a heartbeat away' contender...

Head of Skate

McCain was for debating before being against it after which he now seems to be for it.

In addition to inventing the Blackberry, McCain also is said to be involved in time travel.