Rudy's Robo Call

This is the robo call Kristin received from Rudy GuilianiHi, this is Rudy Giuliani, and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee because you need to know that Barack Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers.
It's true, I read Obama's words myself. And recently, Congressional liberals introduced a bill to eliminate mandatory prison sentences for violent criminals -- trying to give liberal judges the power to decide whether criminals are sent to jail or set free. With priorities like these, we just can't trust the inexperience and judgment of Barack Obama and his liberal allies. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain-Palin 2008 at 866 558 5591.


Note that Rudy claims Obama "opposes mandatory prison sentences" for rapists and murders, Rudy is actually referring to Obama's opposition to specific mandatory minimum sentences. By dropping the word "minimum," he's insinuating that Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences in general.

Campaign Accessories, Jeff Larson And Greene County

Carson and Larson

Does the name Jeff Larson sound familiar? It should. Larson is the Karl Rove protégé who’s a principal in the robocalling firm of FLS Connect (the “FLS” stands for Tony Feather, Jeff Larson, and Tom Syndhorst, all veteran Republican political operatives). Larson’s firm is the same one that launched the scurrilous robocalls against John McCain in 2000, and that McCain has now hired to make robocalls connecting Barack Obama to Bill Ayers. Evidently, Larson also has quite the eye for women’s fashion. Even hateful liberals would have to admit that Palin dresses awfully nicely.

For the whole story link here.

FLS Connect, Yeah, they're the guys who make those nasty robo calls. Did you get one? Kristin got two more of them today, saying how nasty Obama is--the calls don't talk up McCain, they talk down Obama. She saved them on her machine. I will try to get them up on here.

Mark my words: FLS Connect will be making lots of robo calls into Greene County homes again this election and they won't just be for McCain/Palin.

A Respectable Republican Cloth Coat

$150,000 For Clothes? One Hundred And Fifty Thousand Dollars For Clothes? Dang, My House Only Cost $80,000

Sarah Palin and the RNC spent spent almost twice as much money on clothes for her and her family since McCain selected her as his VP choice in late August than I paid for my house

$80,000 spent on house
$150,000 spent on clothes
From MSNBC's First Read:

McCain's Palin Problem: Speaking of Palin, her numbers have plummeted in our poll. For the first time, she has a net-negative fav/unfav rating (38%-47%), the only principal to carry that distinction.

What's more, 55% think she's unqualified to serve as president if the need arises, which is a troublesome number given McCain's age. (Have worries about McCain's age risen because of Palin? Seems to be the case). In fact, her qualifications to be president rank as voters' top concern about a McCain presidency -- ahead of continuing Bush's policies. (Who would have ever thought that Palin would be a bigger problem for McCain than Bush would?)

And while inexperience turns out to be voters' top concern about an Obama presidency, it's probably not helpful to the McCain camp that inexperience is now a liability for its ticket, too.

If these poll numbers weren't bad enough for Palin, now comes a Politico report noting that the RNC spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize her at high-end stores like Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue -- a story that could further add to the perception that Palin isn't a serious candidate.

The campaign released a statement last night that seemed to confirm the report: "With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses. It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

A few questions here from NBC's Andrea Mitchell: Did the campaign announce that she was donating to clothes to charity because there's a potential tax problem here? And is Palin permitted to accept these kinds of gifts under Alaska ethics laws

Riding The Bus Through The Years.....

Airstream and Suburban, Kansas, Summer 2008
New Year's Eve 2006 Bus
New Year's Eve 2007 Bus
New Year's Eve 2008 Bus
New Year's Eve 2009 Bus
New Year's Eve 2010 Bus
Christmas 2005 Bus
Christmas 2006 Bus
Christmas 2008 Bus
Christmas 2009 Bus
Corn Maze Bus
Precious Moments Bus 1
Precious Moments Bus 2
Halloween Bus 2006
Mr. Peabody's Private School For The Extremely Clever Bus
Ernie's Festival Bus
Birthday Bus
Float Trip Bus
High School Hippy Daze Bus
Irish Couch Potatoes Girls Precision Marching Band and Drill Team Tour Bus
Parkview Viking Football Bus
Well Travelled Bus
Naked Bus
Partisan Bus 1
Partisan Bus 2
Partisan Bus 3
Snow Bus
Parade Bus

The Kurlee's, Sean And Tracy And The Durham's, Stanley and Madeline

Meet Tracy Kurlee and her husband Sean:
And now, meet Stanley and Madeline Durham:

...I was looking at this picture of Obama's grandparents and thinking how much he looks like his grandfather. And suddenly, for whatever reason, I was struck by the fact that they had made the decision to love their daughter, no matter what, and love their grandson, no matter what. I'd bet money that they never even thought of themselves as courageous, that they didn't give much thought to the broader struggles in the the world at the time. They were just doing what right, honorable people do. But the fact is that, in the 60s, you could be disowned for falling in love with a black woman or black man. There is a reason why we have a long history of publicly biracial black people, but not so much of publicly biracial white people.

We often give a pass to racists by noting that they were "of their times." Fair enough, and I know Hawaii was a different beast, but still, today, let us speak of people who were ahead of their times, who were outside of their times. Let us remember that Barack Obama learned the great lessons of life from courageous white people. Let us speak of those who do what normal, right people should always do when faced with a child--commit an act love. Here's to doing the right thing.

ETHICS COMMISSION DISMISSES COMPLAINT AGAINST LEE

Greene County Circuit Clerk Candidate Jim Lee always believed he was correct in following the directives he received from the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC).

He was right. Today Lee received a letter signed by Stacey Heislen, interim Executive Director of the MEC dismissing the complaint filed against him.

Earlier this month, Lee's campaign finance record was questioned when a Republican activist lodged a complaint against him with the MEC.

The complaint alleged Lee hadn't filed necessary finance reports with the commission. But the candidate pointed to a letter from the MEC stating he wasn't required to file with the state.

The MEC agreed with Lee, saying in their letter of October 15, 2008: “From the facts presented, the Commission voted to dismiss this case.”

According to Missouri State Law, the Commission shall dismiss any complaint lacking any basis in fact or law which is frivolous in nature.

The complainer told the News-Leader and local bloggers that his motive was to get Lee kicked out of the race, or at least cause him some embarrassment.

Lee said campaign tactics like those used against him don’t sit well with Ozark voters.

“Here I am focusing on how I can run the clerk’s office with the integrity and positive leadership we all expect and want from a Circuit Clerk while my opponent and his campaign are only interested in embarrassing me. I’m not keeping track of what my opponent and his campaign are doing but it certainly doesn’t appear to be very dignified.”

Missouri Law says that any person who submits a frivolous complaint can be held liable for actual and compensatory damages to the alleged violator for holding the alleged violator before the public in a false light.

Pink Jeeps

My brother Ed, who lives in Daytona Beach, traded his way into a CJ-5 for his son. Ed's blog is here. As I understand the story, our older brother Bob found an old jeep and purchased the jeep for Ed's daughter Taylor. So now Ed's boy and girl both have Jeeps.

My brother John, who lives in Ormond Beach which is next to Daytona Beach, chronicles the saga of the pink jeep. John's blog is here. John doesn't have a Jeep. "He likes station wagons", said the fat lady as she kissed the pig.

Anyhow, here are some pink Jeeps for Taylor!

For What It's Worth.....

I Like Giraffes Too, But Not This Much....I Bet She's In Demand At Children's Parties!