Pakistan Wins In Suicide Bomb Race, Euro Bank Failures, UN Meeting This Friday!

Dana Milbank
Paul Krugman

"At the cusp of the 2012 race, we have a classic cultural collision between a skinny Eastern egghead lawyer who’s inept in Washington gunfights and a pistol-totin’, lethal-injectin’, square-shouldered cowboy who has no patience for book learnin’." - Maureen Dowd

"The occupational hazard of democracy is know-nothing voters. It shouldn’t be know-nothing candidates." - Maureen Dowd

I begin with some random facts culled from the weekend. The first is from the Asian Times. With all of the media's attention to the suicide bombings over the past few years, you'd think that Iraq or Afghanistan has a lock on bitter and disillusioned people, and you'd be wrong. The winner, is: "Pakistan suffered one suicide bombing before 9/11 - and 4,808 deaths in 303 attacks since." Pakistanis should spend less time worrying whether Westerners like or dislike them so much, and more time wondering why they hate each other...

Another congressional study report, released last Friday, put a conservative estimate the amount of money wasted during the last 10 years hiring third party contractors at $60 billion. We sent 260,000 non-military individuals to Iraq and Afghanistan at a cost of $206 billion. That's almost a billion dollars per person. No wonder why everyone and their second cousin has been trying to set up shop in Washington DC and Virginia, it's been the only section creating jobs... There has been almost no oversight or accounting where the money goes, so stealing and bribery has become the normal way that Americans do business, just ask your elected Republican representative...


It's estimated that 750,000 people will die in Somalia from starvation, most of them children. The saddest thing is that most of these people are beyond saving, their bodies have shut down past the point of being able to be revived without serious damage... For those who feel that the less government there is the better we all off will be, then consider Somalia. The US could easily be devolving into a feral state, ruled by religious extremist warlords, more concerned over getting a buck than saving anyone besides themselves. The Buddha asked what is the price of compassion, one that we should constantly be asking ourselves...

There are 47 major banks in europe that are on the brink of bankruptcy, they might be considered too big to fail. There is less regulation than here in the US, because most governments are run by right wing conservatives. Loans to banks exceed their deposits by 6 percent, with French banks running at 19 percent, and Greek banks over 32 percent. The financial institutions that sell credit insurance are in a lot of trouble if those banks went belly up, creating another crisis similar to what Goldman Sachs and AIG created here for us. And, to further reciprocate the love, it will affect our banking system also... We have had 80 banks go bankrupt since 2009, but they weren't big enough, so we let them fail.

In 1947 the UN OK'd the partitioning of the land of Palestine, creating the nation of Israel. It was assumed that both partitions would organize themselves, then apply for admission as separate memberships. Israel did just that, applying in 1948. In two days the Palestinian Authority is finally getting around to applying, with the US threatening to veto. This will signal the end of US influence in the Middle East, especially if Turkey and Egypt bond as economic partners. Saudi Arabia has already said that it would seek to punish or lessen US interests if we vetoed, the first thing would be to kick out all of the CIA contractors in Yemen. So be careful what you ask for, or deny to others, another lesson from the Buddha, the Bible, and the Koran...

Will Iran Ever Set Free The Timberland Two? Will Mahmoud And Hillary Ever Become BFF's?

Jennifer Rubin
David Ignatius

"Michele Bachmann is for people who find Sarah Palin too intellectual. She is pure. She is always completely fact-free. She said the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly until they got rid of slavery. So from now on Thomas Jefferson’s slaves will be known as friends with benefits." – Bill Maher, on Jay Leno

"President Obama described himself as an eternal optimist. He then explained that he's the kind of person that sees the country as 'half employed.'" – Conan O'Brien

"A man wearing an Obama mask robbed a bank. Either that or Obama has an exciting new plan to reduce the deficit." – Conan O'Brien

The two US hikers who were recently sentenced to eight years jail time for spying in Iran have been used as a political football for the past two years. The three factors punting them around the field have been the religious ayatollahs, the military Revolutionary Guard, and the current government of friends and cronies surrounding the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal were about to be sentenced, Mr Ahmadinejad tried to use his influence to get a light sentencing, with an eye of eventually releasing them "on humanitarian ground." The ayatollahs pretty much control the judiciary, and didn't appreciate his meddling, hence the eight year sentence.

Two days ago, Anne Curry asked him about the fate of the two hikers. Ahmahdinejad replied that they would probably be released by Thursday. This was assumed to be a stunt to create some instant goodwill for his annual pilgrimage to New York City and the UN general assembly. Today, the Iranian judiciary denied that they would be released anytime soon, that reports were still under review. One possibility under review was that the hikers would be released if a $500,000 bribe per person was given to the judiciary.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, or if Shane and Joshua will ever see the sky outside of an Iranian jail cell for awhile? Will it take sending someone like Bill Clinton to Tehran to razzle dazzle the rubes, or will the hardliners mellow out once Ahmadinejad leaves the country? Perhaps Mahmoud will ask for asylum after giving his speech to the UN, or he might become the new BFF of the US State Dept, and together the two of them will solve the Syrian problem and the Palestinian situation. It may not be that far-fetched because Ahmadinejad is actually considered a moderate in Iran, A moderate who cheats at elections, but that is just age-old tradition, doesn't everyone in Asia and Africa cheat at elections?
Surrounded by enemies at home, he could easily turn to an outside source for n ally.

As for the two hikers, I don't believe that they were actual spies, just very stupid young men. what gives any weight to the spy story, is that the four young people were living in Damascus, trying to make a living that included independent journalism. They decided to fly to Turkey and to travel into Iraqi Kurdestan. The Kurds had been advertising for tourists to see "the other Iraq," and even made commercials that aired on CNN. Near the Iranian border was a famous waterfall and picnic spot that our intrepid hikers decided to visit. The fourth member of their group was sick and decided to stay at the hotel they were staying in during that fateful day. Despite signs posted at the hotel to beware and not go over the border, three of our hikers did just that while exploring the paths above the waterfall. Whether they were tricked across the border or not depends on whom you wish to believe...

The hot ticket next week won't be the next Republican debate, rather it will be the General Assembly of the UN. I keep getting conflicting stories if Mahmoud Abbas will petition the Security Council for recognition or not. The US and Israel don't want this to happen, and I've read that neither does Hamas, though they haven't given any coherent reason. So, the Security council route may have been nixed, but admitting Palestine as an observing nation to the General Assembly will most assuredly happen.

Protests and rioting is expected to happen in Gaza, Jordan, and possibly Egypt and Turkey. Israel already has allowed riot gear to be sold to the Palestinian Authority, and what a distraction it all will make, so that the world might ignore the monsoon flooding now happening in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, with the horrible loss of life being revisited on the region...

Also, next week the new book on Sarah Palin will be published by Joe McGuinness, called The Rogue. It's already drawing press and criticism from people who haven't read it. Joe dishes dirt on affairs, scandals, and a whole lot more that he obtained while living next door to the Palins in Wasilla, Alaska. And the best part is that it wasn't ghost-written...

“People around here don’t give a shit about Sarah anymore. They’re burned out on all her drama.”

— current Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, from THE ROGUE, by Joe McGinniss.

Making It Past 9/11

Turki al-Faisal
Benny Morris

"Earlier this evening President Obama gave his big jobs speech. So what we had tonight was a guy whose job nobody approves of, giving a speech about jobs that don't exist, to people who don't have any jobs. So it's a real positive, uplifting..." –Jay Leno

"According to the latest L.A. Times poll, 75% of Californians believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. And 60% of Californians are so disillusioned, they're thinking about moving back to Mexico." –Jay Leno

"I don't get why everyone is hung up about getting jobs. Isn't it better to stay up until 4:00 in the morning watching reruns of 'Sanford and Son?'" –Jimmy Kimmel

Prince Turki al-Faisal was the Saudi ambassador to the US during the Bush administrations, and is telling the US to sit up and pay attention to the Palestinian effort to get recognition as a state through the UN. either come up with a better plan to get both sides back into negotiation, or step aside and let European allies and members of the Arab League flex their influence. No disrespect, but we may lose Saudi Arabia as an ally in the Middle East, including Iraq. It does seem like Obama has lost his will to fight injustice, after his spat with Israel's Netanyu and the grinding wear and tear of the conservatives here at home. It remains to be seen if Hamas can keep the more radical elements from shooting rockets into Israel on Friday nights, and learn to play with the big boys... It also remains to be seen if Israel can stop pissing off its neighbors. They might end up making a few bombing raids on Iran, just to relieve its frustration...


On September 10, visitors to New York City were welcomed by the sight of armed men stalking the streets, looking for trouble, the fabled threat from al-Qaeda. We no longer have to tell you what the threat is, we can give a vague reference and then flood the streets with cops, like any other military dictatorship... Get used to seeing sights like this, as we devolve further towards becoming a third-world country...

 I made it through 9/11 without getting too depressed. I didn't watch any of the memorial shows made for television with their watered down facts and recurring visions of those planes hitting the twin towers. I turned off the sound on my TV set and watched football while also reading a book. Polls have said that about 1/3 of the American population doesn't believe in the official version of 9/11 events, that questions and conspiracy theories still float through the aether, no matter how often pundits try to debunk and discredit them. The families of the 9/11 victims posed 400 questions for the 9/11 commission to investigate and answer; it looked at about 20 of them. Here is a link to the top 40 questions that were ignored by the 9/11 commission. Most are very common questions, like how did the government come up with the names of the 19 terrorists? A simple disclosure of information could resolve so much, especially when it came up with the list really quickly. Unfortunately, we cannot go to the families and check any of the information about the named terrorists, because their families, their uncles and cousins are no longer among the living, thanks to Saudi intelligence... Here are the questions about the financial transactions that were made, and asking who made them and who profited from them? :

"Insider Trading
a. Unknown speculators allegedly used foreknowledge of the Sept. 11th events to profiteer on many markets internationally - including but not limited to "put options" placed to short-sell the two airlines, WTC tenants, and WTC re-insurance companies in Chicago and London.
b. In addition, suspicious monetary transactions worth hundreds of millions were conducted through offices at the Twin Towers during the actual attacks.
c. Initial reports on these trades were suppressed and forgotten, and only years later did the 9/11 Commission and SEC provide a partial, but untenable explanation for only a small number of transactions (covering only the airline put options through the Chicago Board of Exchange)."

What bothered me the most is how, through the media, we keep trying to re-write the script of history, that events happened in this order, and the meanings we carried away are these... And enjoy your loss of privacy rights and that freedom thingy that the tea parties keep harping on... So much of the grieving was a private affair, that it seemed sacrilegious to film it:

I hope that Barack Obama can get his mojo back and start leading the country once again, despite the major efforts to discredit his every thought and utterance. Maybe he will end up his term paraphrasing old ideas from the GOP, using their own words as the Gorgon's head to deflect the slings and arrows... It would be a shame if our election of Barack Obama, which was done in a spasm of hope and inspiration, ends up without meaning, leaving an empty, grey-haired, cynical shell of a human being. The process in Washington DC is cruel and chews up ideals like crunchy granola for breakfast...

GOP Debate and Obama's Speech

Richard Clarke
Gail Collins
Eugene Robinson

"The oil industry said if they were allowed to drill more, they could create over a million new jobs. Of course most of those jobs would be cleaning oil off ducks." – Conan O'Brien

"The Republican debate was on earlier tonight. Side effects may include nausea, vomiting and sexual dysfunction." – David Letterman

"Sunday is the 10th anniversary of 9/11, which means it can only be another 5 years before we discover Saddam Hussein’s WMDs." – Stephen Colbert

David Letterman's "Top Ten Ways The United States Postal Service Can Turn Things Around"

10. Change name to UPS
9. Invent a stamp that licks back
8. Add wacky sound effects for mailboxes
7. Alter mail trucks to look like Millennium Falcon from 'Star Wars'
6. If your letter isn't delivered in 30 minutes or less, it's free
5. Bedazzled uniforms
4. New hit reality show: 'Real Mailmen of New Jersey'
3. Customers can now pay with gas or grass
2. Take the Packers and give three and a half tomorrow night
1. Ten cent surcharge to deliver my hate mail — you'll make millions

“I kind of feel like a piñata here at the party."

The weeks dramatic events are over, and my sense of cynicism for the political process is still intact. The Republican candidates debate yesterday did not inspire. There were more fakes and dodging answering questions than the Packer's running backs and wide receivers, even from the so-called straight shooter, Ron Paul. From now on, the debates should be conducted by the reporters from Univision, who care about getting an actual answer from the two-faced SOB's on stage. To get rid of the stupid and softball questions, we should start including a mixture of professionals from different fields. Instead of letting economic issues be summarized as: more tax cuts will solve everything, why not have an economist like Paul Krugman or Bruce Bartlett probe Mit's or Michele's policies and plans...

The consensus among the press and pundits is that Mit Romney and Rick Perry have emerged as the front-runners, and the rest are a bunch of whiny losers. But if either one becomes the Republican candidate, it will gurantee that Barack Obama will win re-election. The ugly truth is that Mit won't win because he is a Mormon. Despite the large amount of "I Am A Mormon" propaganda being put out, if Mormonism is scrutinized on the national level, folks will find out what a crock of crazy fiction that old con man Joseph smith assembled... Rick Perry, who used to be a Democrat, is unbelievable as a tea party fanatic, so he is an opportunist. He is the reason that Texas may swing Democratic in the next election, or so my family members from Austin tell me...

One of the highlights for me was when Michele Bachmann claimed that she could bring gasoline prices down to $2 per gallon. I guess she's become a tea party socialist, because the only way a president can affect gas prices is to socialize all of the oil companies. Rick and Mit will grant many more offshore drilling permits, but that just allows the oil companies to bring more oil to be sold on the world market, we don't even get to bid first. There hasn't been a new oil refinery built in the US in over 20 years, and we are running at 3/4 capacity. The ability to refine oil into gas has nothing to do with the price you pay at the pump. If it were, prices should have gone down to 35 cents per gallon, not well over $3...


The GOP was wise enough to not schedule a rebuttal after Obama's speech on job creation policies, but they did let individual congressmen grouse and bitch and moan. They have a negative enough image as the party that doesn't care about the middle class and poor folks, purposely letting our economy sink into another depression for the sake of trying to win another election. Besides, no-one has successfully described how a tax cut can create more jobs, unless you are dealing with imaginary numbers, where two negatives create a positive... Since half of Obama's jobs plan consists of ideas that are Republican retreads, it's safe to say that something will get passed before the end of the year. If Obama was really serious beyond using this evening for a re-election speech, he should have had legislation ready to go, that would be introduced in Congress tomorrow morning, to show that he is really a decision maker... The only thing that could ruin Obama's re-election is if there weren't any jobs created during the next few months and we sink back into a recession, like the rest of the world...

Will Perry Be A No-Show? UN Running Out Of Food As Somalian Famine Spreads

Joe Nocera
Mike Lofgren

"I read Dick Cheney's book. I don’t want to ruin it for anybody, but in the final chapter he kills Harry Potter. If you want the book, in the bookstore go past the self-help section. It’s in the self-serving section." – Jay Leno

"Michele Bachmann is publishing her memoir. Why can't we pray that away?" – David Letterman

"The CIA is hoping Moammar Gadhafi's weapons don't fall into the wrong hands. Weren't they already in the wrong hands?" – David Letterman

If you do nothing else, read the link at the top to Mike Lofgren's article in truthout.org. Mike is a 26 year veteran, writing on national security issues from the GOP's perspective. He got sooooo tired of the cynical way that politics is manipulated from the conservative side, that he retired and penned this article. If you have read my blog over the past couple of years, none of his revelations will come as a surprise to you. From my perspective, it's always nice to have my opinions validated by others...

Tomorrow is the Republican candidates debate from California. It's the one that Obama was forced to postpone his speech to Congress on jobs policy. Fox News probably will not air it because it's sponsored by MSNBC. It will be the first time that Rick Perry has participated in a candidate's forum and debate, so we will see if he can hack it on the national level, and if his fellow poseurs turn and attack him like the weasels they are. They might draw straws, rigging it so that just Michele Bachmann gets to rip into Mr Perry. A good drinking game would be that everyone has to take a shot whenever something mean and derogatory is said during the debate, but that might leave you staggering and incoherent after the first 10 minutes... I'm checking my schedule to make sure there isn't a re-run of Hawaii 5-0 or Storage Wars...

There is nothing more heart-wrenching than watching a country starving to death from famine conditions. It's usually black or dark-skinned countries that suffer the most, because of lack of a sufficient amount of food and aid. The UN is having a hard time keeping food in reserve for the coming monsoon season, which previously affected Pakistan, India, and China. The cost of basic food staples has tripled this year alone. Today, the UN announced that the famine that has affected Somalia is spreading across the country, and about half of the population cannot get enough to eat, most of them children: "... officials warning that 750,000 people could die in the next few months unless aid efforts were scaled up. A combination of drought, war, restrictions on aid groups and years of chaos have pushed four million Somalis — more than half the population — into “crisis,” according to the United Nations. Agricultural production is just a quarter of what it normally is, and food prices continue to soar."

“We can’t give an exact figure, but we can say tens of thousands of people have died over the last three to four months, over half of whom are children. That translates into hundreds a day.”

Somalia hasn't had a functioning government for over 30 years, and is among the poorest. what little resources are ripped off, and then we have pirates, not to mention radical Islamic extremist rebels who have taken over half of the country. The rebels weren't letting the UN or Red Cross distribute food in their areas; now they let them in and take most of the foodstuff. That the UN sees this as an acceptable way to do business tells a lot.

Another sad fact is that you never hear about the Red Crescent or Islamic nations coming to the rescue of their darker brothers in religion. Look at the plight of Palestinian refugees, who were forced out of Israel and into camps in Lebanon and Syria 60 and 30 years ago. Many of those camps are still there. without plumbing, running water, or electricity. Both Lebanon and syria have refused to give citizenship or the same rights that their citizens enjoy to the refugees, nor has any economic help been given to the elderly and infirm. The refugees are also a sticking point in Israeli - Palestinian negotiations, with Israel not wanting to let them return to Israel, especially after all this time... No matter what results from Palestine being recognized by the UN, or the Arab Spring turns out in Syria and Lebanon, these poor refugees will get the short end of the stick. Allah may be compassionate, but his believers may not...

Saif In Charge, Let's Give Greece To Israel, Another Crazed Conservative

Paul Krugman

"If you like light summer reading, Dick Cheney's memoir came out at midnight . In Washington, D.C. this is like a 'Harry Potter' book coming out. There were long lines of bald old men outside bookstores, putting electrodes on each other's nipples." – Craig Ferguson

"Reviewers say Cheney's book shows a new sensitive side and reaches out to his former enemies. Ha ha! No, he goes after his enemies like they're lawyers on a quail hunt. He blasted Rumsfeld and Colin Powell and even President Bush's dog Barney. He says, 'That dirty bastard was leaving dirt bombs all over the White House, and so was Barney.'" – Craig Ferguson

Well, let's see who hates each other right now... A family spokesman for the Qaddafi family called reporters, saying that NATO should negotiate with the family over ruling Libya, or there will be guerilla warfare similar to what has happened in Iraq for the last 10 years. This has been interpreted as eldest son Saif al-Islam jockeying for some kind of position in the next government, or at least secure his personal fortune so he will be able to spend it freely. Anyway, there is a narrow window of opportunity being offered, or else...

"Within even a few weeks, a few months, even a couple of years, we will have Libya back."

The UN released a report on the Israeli raid and subsequent deaths of nine Turkish citizens, when a peace flotilla attempted to broach the blockade of Gaza. The report said that the Israeli blockade is within its rights and is legal, but that the Israeli marines used excessive force. Ever since this incident occurred, turkey has wanted an apology from Israel, but the Netanyahu administration has said that it only apologizes to Egypt, and not to Turkey. Turkey had criticized Israel earlier for its military raid into Gaza, so nowIsrael will only show contempt towards their former friend. Today, Turkey withdrew all staff from Israel in protest...

Israel's philosophy is to be the meanest, toughest hombre in this one-horse town, always over-react to discourage future acts of defiance. It's an understandable attitude if you are etching out territory in a hostile environment. Which is why I have a solution for both Israel and the Middle East and the current European economic problems:

The richer nations in the European Union, which means Germany, see themselves as having to pay for the problems their poorer brethren have gotten themselves into. They refer to those problem nation-states as "the olive zone." To ease their pain, they could give these olive producing countries to Israel, and Israel could get out of the Middle East. We'd have to make up certain myths about how Greece was really the home of the Jews, due to a mistake in cartography by early mapmakers, or some such story... Not as unbelievable as the myth that a bunch of white people of Eastern European ancestry actually had ethnic roots in Palestine... History is what you make it, and myths only have strength as long as people believe them...

Other countries not on speaking terms are Iran and Russia. A few years ago Iran bought and paid for some Russian missiles, because Iran could only figure out how to build short-range ones. Russia got caught trying to sneak some of those missiles in a ship carrying lumber, and concocted a wild story that the ship was hijacked by disgruntled homegrown criminals or terrorists or patriots, take your pick. Benjamin Netanyahu then flew to Moscowand asked Dmitri Medvedev not to deliver the missiles, which he agreed to.

Now Iran is suing Russia for breach of contract in international court, and it remains to be seen if it will get the rest of the missiles. Russia says it will have to wait until international sanctions have been lifted, we are merely pawns in this and there are no refunds... The Ayatollah just can't get no respect...

From Russia, With Love

Ahh, me. If there is anyone left who wonders why the Republican Party is bereft of morals and in a dissolute stage, they only have to go to the World Net Daily website. there you can find writers such as: "Conservative columnist Matthew Vadum is just going to come right out and say it: registering the poor to vote is un-American and "like handing out burglary tools to criminals."


"It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote," Vadum, the author of a book published by World Net Daily that attacks the now-defunct community organizing group ACORN, writes in a column for the American Thinker.


"Encouraging those who burden society to participate in elections isn't about helping the poor," Vadum writes. "It's about helping the poor to help themselves to others' money. It's about raw so-called social justice. It's about moving America ever farther away from the small-government ideals of the Founding Fathers." (From TPM)

China Finds Jose Cuervo, Michele and Sarah, Smarter Than A Sixth Grader?

Ayad Allawi
Robert Kennedy

"Let Libya be engulfed in flames," - M Qaddafi

It looks like neither the US or the EU will be leading the way out of the current global economic crisis. Major European banks, yep, those that are considered "too big to fail," are still lobbying for more relaxed regulations, along with their American counterparts. To counter the pressure, citizen groups have suggested that the first $26 million of each banking loss come out of the CEO's paycheck... It was revealed yesterday that over 25 top US companies pay their CEO's more than they pay in income tax. The kicker is, most of these CEO's aren't smarter or more talented than you or me; the biggest decision the CEO of General Mills has had to make was determining the amount of sugar to put on your kids cereals...

So, the marketing of upscale goods is on an upswing in China and Asia, especially those parts that get US economic aid. Asia Times reports that: "China is second only to the United States for sales of Mercedes, Jaguars, Land Rovers and similar up-market cars while branded luxury bags, shoes and similar affluent appurtenances are selling so well that many of their makers are listing on the Hong Kong Exchange to tap local enthusiasm." Tequila companies have opened marketing offices in Shanghai. The bad part to this is having a nation think that Jose Cuervo is top notch tequila. The good part is that the Chinese can't produce a cheap tequila knockoff...

A recent report from the bi-partisan Wartime Contracting Commission said that the process of giving contracts to third party companies in a war zone is fraught with waste, abuse, and fraud, almost on the level of FEMA contracts to Rosemary Barbour... I've been posting this for over a year now, it's good to have it officially validated. The commission goes on to say that these types of abuses will continue on indefinitely into whatever war zone we interject ourselves, unless Congress acts quickly to change to contracting laws. There isn't any way to oversee the projects paid for, or trace the flow of the money to see where it goes, so a lot of it ends up in the Kabul Bank or Dick Cheney's trust account at Halliburton, or ends up paying for some retired general's farm in Virginia... Some of the money goes to fund our enemies in Afghanistan, we are the insurgents second largest funding source after the heroin poppy. Afghan warlords threaten violence to a subcontractor unless they are paid for protection, causing the subcontractor to ask for a few million more. Or, you can just fly in pallets of $100 bills in cash, like Paul Bremer did in Iraq, then pretend that he didn't recall where it all went... Or, it could be worse, if they were administered by the UN; then they'd be trading more than food for sex...

Michele Bachmann will be coming out with her memoirs in November. I believe that is also when Sarah Palin's next book is due, Tea Party for Dummies... I don't know why we consider someone an author who has used a ghost writer to actually write their book. Talking into a tape recorder for five hours makes you resemble Barbara Cartland more than an actual writer. We need a new section in the library and on bookshelves for these fake books, perhaps Revisionist History?

I'm waiting to see both Michele and Sarah together, where they are asked easy questions about history, geography, and foreign policy, if only they'd sign on to the next season of Who's Smarter Than a Sixth Grader?, or to revise it for the current political scene, Who's Smarter Than a Texas High Schooler? Texas has one of the highest drop out rates in the country, which is sad because the Texas school system does a poor job of educating their kids, anyway. When my sister's grandkids were going to school here in Colorado, they were having a hard time and getting C's and D's. When they went back to Texas, they didn't have to worry much about homework, and are cruising through with A's and B's... I think one reason that Rick Perry has jumped into the national spotlight is because the stagelights are growing dim for him in Texas. People are tired of the way he does business and his mean, bragging personal style. Hey Rick, you used federal stimulus money to balance your state budget how many times???

"Why should I go and do something like that? But the Lord says, 'Be submissive wives; you are to be submissive to your husbands." -Rep Michele Bachmann

"Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too" -Rep Michele Bachmann

"I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?" -Rep. Michelle Bachmann

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed." -Sarah Palin

"But obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies." --Sarah Palin

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn't that ironic?" --Sarah Palin