Melhi Ink

2010

2009-04-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

I don't care if it's too soon, I'm officially endorsing Alexi Giannoulias for Senator in 2010.

Io! Saturnalia!! 2008

2008-12-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

Today kicks off the week-long Saturnalia and thus I extend my usual traditional Saturnalia greetings: Io! Saturnalia, cast off your toga! (or for you modern celebrants, Io! Saturnalia! Toga! Toga! Toga!

Normally, I revise the same snarky little cease-fire in the war on Christmas Saturnalia message and repost it. But, I thought this year, instead, I'd post a piece I wrote on the Saturnalia, last year, that I published on Qassia.

Enjoy!

Mel.

Io! Saturnalia!! Cast Off Your Toga!!!
by Melhi

"Cast off your toga" is an ancient addendum to the greeting "Io Saturnalia," that would have been extended at or just prior to the beginning of the Saturnalia. But, did it mean what so many assume it did, today? Was the Saturnalia really just a week long sexual orgy as so many believe? If not, what was it?

Several years ago, I read a journal or letter or diary from ancient Rome wherein the author described returning home, in a (dark or somber?) mood, at the start of the Saturnalia and as he met his fellow Romans in the street, they called out this greeting, "Io Saturnalia! Cast off your
toga!" As he made his way through the street, that he was met with the greeting by each jubilant passerby, brightened his mood and put him in the celebratory spirit. In the piece, he extolled on how wonderful it was to return home from such a journey at the Saturnalia and how it renewed the spirit...
not that dissimilar from reading a similar diary passage of someone returning home at Christmas and feeling renewed by it, nowadays.

"Cast off your toga" did not mean "get naked" as many assume -- they weren't naked under their togas anyway, so that would just be silly -- it basically meant something more along the lines of, "it's time to make merry" within the context that made the toga inappropriate to the celebration.

The toga had a lot of "importance" and meaning, different togas were for different people or occasions and meant different things. Slaves, foreigners and ex patriots weren't allowed to wear them, at all. As the "fashion" trended heavier and looser, over time, they became too cumbersome to wear in battle -- so soldiers did not wear them and the toga became a symbol and even a word for peace. Togas were too cumbersome to wear when doing physical labor, such as farm work, so they were also associated with loftier or more civil pursuits. They weren't practical around the house, so they were associated with one's public or "official" presence, etc. In a way, it was the 3 piece business suit and tie, of its day.

The whole role switching & "lord of misrule" turning society/civility on its ear custom, coupled with the fact that it would have been difficult to make so merry as was made for Saturnalia in a heavy, loosely wrapped woolen toga, made it highly inappropriate dress for the occasion of celebrating the Saturnalia. Thus, only prostitutes and convicted adulteresses would have worn the toga during the Saturnalia.

Those who might read a more sexual meaning into the greeting, due to a belief that the Saturnalia was a week long omni-sexual orgy, gay orgy and/or celebration of pedophilic depravity and debauchery should note that sexuality, too, was viewed quite differently, in that ancient time and culture.

Excepting those periods of ancient Roman history when same-gender relations were condemned as being too Greek-like (Greek men were seen as effeminite, dirty, lazy and impotent by their Roman conquerors,) they were open and very widely accepted as just part and parcel of everyday life.

There were no words in the language to distinguish homosexuality, heterosexuality or bisexuality from one another. Homosexuality existed, certainly, but it was uncommon. Heterosexuality existed, too, but was just as uncommon. Bisexuality, not monosexuality, was the norm through the bulk of the Roman Republic from the early period through the late. The graphic record of this, from Rome, is considerably sparser than that from Greece, but the literary record is just as prolific. Of the first dozen or so emperors of Rome, all male, most had husbands -- that's right, legally wed same gendered couples -- and only one of the first few emperors kept exclusively to female partners.

Pederasty/pedophilia, was seen as a dirty Greek practice and forbidden, early on in the Roman Republic. A similar, socially accepted or even expected practice emerged that involved relations with slaves, of either gender -- the slave was a legitimate sex partner, but being less worthy than a Roman citizen, the slave had to be a "bottom" and the citizen had to be a "top." Not that anyone followed that rule... and there was, indeed, a word used to distinguish male citizens who not only took the passive role but purposely tried to make themselves more attractive to "tops" or worse, to boys, by taking on a more feminine appearance and mannerisms -- it was the same word as that for eunichs.

Pederasty went in and out of social acceptance (or perhaps more accurately, societal tolerance) through the mid to late Republic, but even during periods of its highest acceptance, it was hotly debated, publically derided and seen by many as nasty and wrong. The periods of acceptance, from what little I've been able to piece together from what I've read, seem to have a direct correlation to whether the emperor or others of great importance/influence at that time were engaging in pedophilia.

Curiously, and there's not a lot out there that I"ve found to read on the subject so this may not have actually been the case -- it seems that the biggest literary proponents of male pedophilia and of effeminite passivity with both adult slaves and boys, were also the most harshly condemning of
sexual relations between consenting adult females.

The Saturnalia celebration was not just a big gay pedophile sex free-for all as so many wrongly assume and as "Church" has intentionally rewritten into the history.

Sexual prohibitions were, indeed, lifted durning the Saturnalia, but prohibitions weren't what they are, today, and were, instead, things like a citizen being the bottom to a slave's top... a lot of what went on,
sexually, during the Saturnalia was also going on, sexually, on any given Tuesday. "Orgies" as per the modern group-sex meaning were a much greater part of or maybe even the central focus of other holiday celebrations in ancient Rome, particularly those honoring the goddesses.

During the Saturnalia, the role reversal theme extended to cross dressing by both men and women (another lifted sexual prohibition) and there's said to have been some traditional processional or
parade involving a large phallus -- question is, was that to represent "depraved" sex or was it to
represent that fertility would begin to return with the waxing sun of the solstice? Or did it begin with a meaning that was lost as it became just part of the annual tradition, as has become the case with so
many of our borrowed or converted trappings?

Sex was a part of the celebration and it certainly wasn't as hidden as the hookups at the annual office Christmas parties are today... but sex wasn't as hidden or restricted in that society on any given
Tuesday as it is in this one, either. Sex is viewed, largely, through Christian eyes, now --
it wasn't then.

The Saturnalia was not just one celebration, but a series of separate celebrations within the larger celebration and one of these separate celebrations was a night dedicated to the childen... they were spoiled and lavished with gifts, they got to role-reverse with the adults... Unfortunately, from some of the discussions I've read on various religious forums... it seems that somehow those two separate parts of the celebration got twisted into one sick version. It's not clear whether this was an intentional corruption of the history or just ignorance and/or intellectual lethargy regarding history. Either way, this alternate version is actively being passed along or handed down as the true history of that holiday... contrary to the surviving literary record of the time, and usually laced with vehement, sometimes angry, disclaimers that no tradition of a modern Christmas was carried forward from the ancient Saturnalia.

Even the word "orgy" does not mean, today, what it once meant. The Christian church intentionally made the word "orgy" synonymous with "Saturnalia," but at that time, the word "orgy" meant "secret worship." The word gradually came to mean what it does, today, specifically because of the church's pre-occupation with sex and the idea that all secret or private worshipping, if not all worship outside Christianity, must involve something not only sexual but, by their definition, sexually depraved. (A particularly curious mindset, given that Christ dictated, in the Christian Bible, that Christian worship should be secret or private, in nature: Pray not thou in the streets... ...go secretly into thine closet...)

As per the modern meaning of "orgy" it's probably a more fitting description of the Greek counterpart to Saturnalia... Dionysia, which (I've read considerably less about, so am not as confident I have it right) was a fertility based celebration, at which you would have had your fill of both phallic shaped cakes/treats and group sex, there would have been a big wooden penis paraded through the street and a special phallus song would have been sung.

Sidenote: I've also seen mention of an all-female sexual December celebration, but a mention is about all I've ever seen and I don't remember, off hand, what it was called, to try to research for more information on it.

Imagine if our modern Christmas carried any of the traditions of Dionysia forward... Condoms hung by the vagina shaped fireplace opening with care, presents tucked neatly under the big wooden Christmas Penis all a-twinkle in colored lights and tinsel, anatomically exaggerated Gingerbread men.
Oh and I don't even want to THINK about what Santa's costume might be... but I suspect it might look a lot like Borat's neon green man-thong thing only red and trimmed in fur.. *shudder.* Sounds pretty depraved compared to our modern fir trees (which were carried from the Saturnalia,) velvet Christmas stockings and anatomically challenged gingerbread men, doesn't it?

But, if you're looking for true, sick, twisted, "Saturnalia" depravity... it actually does exist in the historical record... at least, by MY definition of sick, twisted and depraved. To find it, though, you'll have to fast forward from Ancient Rome to the new and improved, under new Christian management, Saturnalia v 2.0 of the 15th through at least 19th centuries and get a load of the traditions Pope John Paul II started in the 15th century. He was a real piece of work, that one.... and apparantly a couple hundred years or so of his successors were cut from the same holy cloth as he.

Which do we really find more depraved, today -- filling a hollow statue of Saturn with fresh olive oil, loosing the ties that bind the statue's feet and seating his effigy at the feasting table to pretend he's dining with us mere mortals, as was the custom of the ancient Saturnalia OR rounding up all the Jews, stripping them naked, forcing them to gorge themselves beyond full and then run, stumbling over one another, through crowded streets lined with good Christians who take merry delight in hurling rocks and rotten food at them to further their humiliation, as was the custom of the Christian Saturnalia revival?

Most of us would probably assume that our various modern December holiday celebration customs will seem respectable, normal and wholesome, to people looking back on us, centuries from now. But, we cannot know or even guess how the historical record of our time and culture will have have been misinterpreted or corrupted, by then, or how what is perfectly normal and innocent to us, today, might be seen through the eyes of tomorrow's cultures.

E. Pluribus Unum

2008-11-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

E. Pluribus Unum

It's been a long time coming, but at last our nation is whole and we the people, for whom this great nation of promise and plenty is of, by and for, are one people, created equal.

For the last several years, far too many of us, myself included, have been told we're not as American as "them", not American enough, not real Americans.

Our love of country was derided as we were told we are not patriotic enough or not patriotic at all. We've been told that we are anti-American, pro-terrorist and traitors.

The faithful among us who shared a faith with those separating us from the herd were told we are not religious enough, somehow not as favored by God. The faithful among us who hold at the core of our souls a faith that differs from those separating us from the herd were told we are not religious, that our God(s) are evil and that we are a danger to our country, to the world and to all that is good. Those among us who are not among the faithful were told that we are the most dangerous of all - that we are evil incarnate, servants of Satan or Satan, himself.

We have been told that our morals are immoral or amoral, that our values are valueless and costly, that our dreams, realized, would be the foundation of a nightmarish reality for all.

We have been blamed for everything from terrorist attacks to hurricanes to wild fires... and told these things, whether acts of men or acts of nature, were God's judgement of and punishment for our wickedness.

Those of us who fought for rights and freedoms long denied or fought to protect and retain rights and freedoms hard won were told if we did not like the changes they had made, were making or wanted to make -- we should leave this country.

Many among us, far too many, have endured these things through multiple generations that stretch back through the centuries, back farther even than our founding fathers' promise upon birthing this great nation, that we are all created equal, that this is our nation, that it was created and exists of us, by us and for us.

Over the centuries, through the generations, countless Americans, both those deemed less worthy by some of their fellow countrymen and those who were not themselves deemed less worthy but who could not live with the injustice and wrong of lifting up some Americans by holding down others have stood up, raised their voices, worked, fought, served, sacrificed, suffered and even died to make good on the promises made to them and to all of us by our founding fathers... the names and contributions of some have become great in history, the names and contributions of most are not recorded in the history books. The contributions of all are among the strongest threads in the grand tapestry of our past, our present and our future.

In the last few weeks, at early voting locations, on mail-in ballots and in the election day voting booths, Americans, by the millions, put their hands up and said, "No more! We are not 'us' and 'them,' we are one people. This is not my country or their country, it is our country. There is no real America and phony America - there is only the United States and the united people of America."

Today, I'm not fighting back the tears, but letting them flow freely and my dearest wish is one it's not possible to make true: that I could reach back through time to tell every person whose contributions led to this day that it was not in vain, that this sunrise did come and to thank them and to thank every person who voted for the promise this day makes good on and to thank Barack Obama for welcoming us into the fold for the first time or back into the fold after being cast out for a time.

I am an American, a real American, no better or worse or more or less than any other American, but equal -- and damn, it feels good.

Birthplace of a Political Career

2008-10-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering Sarah Palin's words... (paraphrased) "Obama launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist and we're expected to believe he didn't know it? He had sat on a committee with the guy!"

The reason I've pondered this is because of the first person who offered to hold a fundraising coffee in her own living room, for my first bid for office in 2006. I'd known who she was since I was in Jr. High, because she was a teacher and she coached the pom squad at the high school. Everybody knew her. She was never one of my own teachers, so I never officially met her back then. But, it was a small town and a small school district, so I knew who she was and later learned that she remembered vaguely knowing who I was.

My first encounter with her, in a political sense, was, coincidentally enough, at a Barack the Vote event hosted in her living room.

I had attended that event for two reasons -- the first being the most obvious -- I was a supporter of Barack's Senate campaign. But I attended with an ulterior motive. The local party chair and much of the committee was to be there and I wanted to observe them in their natural habitat, without the committee/gallery split making my observation so obvious.

I'd been in e-mail contact with the chair of the local party for a few weeks, I'd spoken at length with a couple of precinct committee members in the party and I was in the process of determining whether I was ready to join my efforts with the party in a more "official" way and I was also trying to decide whether getting involved with the local party was the right path for me to take in that regard.

Prior to that event, I'd been "lone wolfing" it as an underground grass roots pro-labor liberal/dem for many years... writing and releasing anonymous political and labor humor pieces into the wild and letting them take on lives of their own, keeping up with current events, learning how the government functions and how it doesn't, talking with people, learning about mine and other parties, choosing carefully which "letter to the editor" local battles to take-on so as to not be a regular in the paper (becoming a regular contributer is the fast track to being read ONLY by the choir you're preaching to, which is a pointless exercise for an unpaid contributer.) Etc.

I liked what I saw and I started my time with them in the gallery as a volunteer "activist" in the local party. At first, I attended only when their meetings didn't conflict with my schedule. Over the next year or so, their importance in my scheduling priorities increased such that I rarely miss a meeting and shortly into my regular attendance, I accepted an appointed position as committeman of the precinct I'd grown up in, which had been vacant for some years.

It was upon accepting the committeeman appointment that I began sitting on committee with the aforementioned woman who'd hosted the Barack event. As an officer in the party and as one of the four precinct committeemen in the district I reside in, she later became a strong supporter of and offered to host a similar fundraising event for my own campaign. These events are known, at least in my little nook of the prairie, as "coffee"s.

She's still an officer and committeeman, I'm still a committeeman, thus I still sit on committee with her. But, what do I know about her? What have I learned about her in my time working with her on the committee? Not a whole lot. Almost nothing, really. Our personal lives really have nothing to do with the agenda points we cover between gavels. Pleasantries exchanged on either side of the gavels are just that -- pleasantries... "how was your weekend," "how do the (kids/grandkids) like school this year" "did you hear so-and-so passed away?"

The committee of the local Democrat Party is not the only committee I sit on or that I have ever attended, with regularity. Most of the people who've sat on committee with me or who've sat on committees I attended regularly in-gallery couldn't tell you how many kids I have, much less tell you the names of my husband and each of my children. Many of them, on the two committees I sit on right now, call me "Michelle" -- which is not my name -- I can only assume that I must look like a Michelle. My present is almost entirely unknown to most of them. My past is definitely a complete unknown to them. I could be anyone. The same is true in reverse, except that I know their first names... and that is only because I suck with names and thus intentionally worked hard at memorizing their names from the roll calls of meeting minutes.

But, back to the topic at hand...

I know the woman who offered to host that coffee for me had been an active Dem for a long time and I know that she worked, locally, for the JFK campaign. I don't know if she was active before that. I assume because she's a strong partisan Democrat, but I don't know conclusively, that she's been active in every Democratic campaign to appear on her ballot since then.

Was she an anti-war activist? Was she anti-war at all? I have no idea.

To be fair, neither did/does she know that I was against the Vietnam war...as a VERY small child, (note: I'm younger than both Palin and Obama,)who was in the process of being informed and shaped by the world going on around me -- a world I haven't been able to take my eyes or mind away from, since I first opened my eyes to it.

Could my strong supporter have been part of some subversive politically motivated underground group at some time in her past? I strongly doubt it, but the fact is... I have no clue. I'm just assuming. She seems very nice and she's never discussed bomb making techniques in my presence, but the news has taught us that it's almost always the ones the neighbors would have least suspected, right? So, who knows?

The fact is, I didn't run a background check on her... or on anyone else I've sat around a committee table with or on any of the people who supported my campaign -- nor will I. ...And, to my knowledge, none of them has ever run a background check on me. It's just not a common practice... and frankly, volunteers are too hard to come by for a new face and name on the ballot, to look that gift horse in the mouth with that kind of paranoia and suspicion. I doubt Ms. Palin demonstrated that level of suspicion in regards to her own early supporters.

I declined this woman's offer to host a coffee for me because of the small size of my campaign and the short time remaining before the election. But, I accepted her equally generous offer to host a strategy meeting of the Precinct committeeman in my district. Together, the five of us worked around her kitchen table for the better part of an evening, working the phones to get sign locations, signing up volunteers to work phone lists for me, etc. The local Chair also stopped in to check on our progress and help for a short time. I showed them the mailers I was about to send out and the fliers for the second knocking/littering of my district and they gave some valuable input, some of which I incorporated, some of which I did not. It was, far and away, the singlemost productive evening in my campaign.

I didn't win my election. I did, however, get 40% in a district where 16% would have been great for any Democrat, but particularly for a previously unknown Dem. I'm very proud of that accomplishment and I also know it was due only in part to my own hard work -- I didn't do it and absolutely could not have done it alone. I owe a lot to those who volunteered to help me -- particularly that one woman who first offered to host a fundraiser coffee for me and later helped to organize my campaign and secure the help I needed. As an unknown and an upstart, I was lucky to have any volunteers at all... and I have to say, I had the best.

But, in the event I later learn that she's not the wonderful, law abiding person she appears to be, I have to ask myself... what time and what place is to be credited with the launch of my political "career" - did I launch it in her home? I cannot answer this question without acknowledging my keen awareness that, even if I never run for office, again, my political "career" is not nearly over.

Did I launch it around the kitchen table of this woman whose political history I know almost nothing about on that night we strategised for my campaign with a group of people I know even less about?

Did I launch it when I became an official member of the local party committee, of which she is not only a fellow member, but an officer?

Did I launch it in her living room at a Barack the Vote event she hosted in 2004?

Did I launch it long before I met her, with my first letter to the editor or the first humor piece I wrote and sent circulating in the wild?

Or was it longer ago?

Did I launch it in the arms of my mother and father, before my earliest memories kick in... observing, asking about and figuring out the world going on around me and finding my own place in it?

Did I launch it watching the news I begged my parents to let me watch even as a toddler and caring deeply about what I saw and heard?

Did I launch it in Kindergarten when so many of my classmates show-n-tell was a military photo of a dad they'd never met who was about to return from 'Nam or did I launch it a week later on the reading rug as my classmates and I comforted them and dried their tears, when the dad they couldn't wait to meet only a week before turned out to be a funny smelling awkward stranger who was probably even more confused and afraid of them as they were of him?

Did I launch it when I began to speak or when I began to read or when I began to write?

The answer is so easy and obvious to me and I would bet my last dollar the same answer is true for both major party candidates for the Presidency...

I launched my political "career," dangling upside down from my ankles as I drew my first breath to cry out in protest of the stinging slap to my ass. ...And I'll likely end it when I draw my last breath.

Wrong on Iraq and Ruthless Ambition

2008-10-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

He Votes To Condone Domestic Terrorism -- TWICE

2008-10-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

Apparantly, some deadly domestic terrorism isn't so bad and should be given a pass...

Pallin' Around With Terrorists...

2008-10-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

...and terrorist organizations. The founder of this anti-American terrorist organization was murdered in a plastic explosives sale gone bad:

Pre-Debate Confab?!?!

2008-10-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

Something my husband noticed during Tuesday night's debate prompted me to go looking for video footage... and sure enough, I found it! I first broke this story, yesterday, on Twitter.

Footage of McCain and Brokaw, backstage together, getting ready for the debate in Nashville:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uklTrLopQ8

Palin Pallin' Around With Terrorists

2008-10-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

People in glass igloos shouldn't throw bombs doncha know... Palin's been tryin', gosh diddly darn, to link Obama to domestic terrorism, God bless her... a reformed 60s radical who sat on a charity board w/ that dad-blasted America hatin' Obama and who once held a little fundraisin' shindig, of his own darned accord, also, for one of Barack's campaigns, dog-gone him! Throngs of Palin's loyal everyday Joe Sixpack Hockey Mom supporters (a surprin'ly large contingent of cross dressin' supporters for the red ticket, also) are now wavin' sticks, also and demandin' for Obama to be killed... yes, KILLED... whilst threatenin', also, to mete out the same common sense small town justice, also, on the (every other Tuesday?) black camera operators & soundmen who are doin' their jobs with the press, also, to publicize the PALIN/mcwhatshisname campaign so the conservative base doesn't do somethin' silly-willy like forget McNutter exists and like learn anythin' about and then vote, also, for that radical rascal Bob Barr, dad-gum him, also.

But does Palin have any domestic terrorist ties of her own? You betcha! So does that snuggly wuggly first dude of hers, Todd Palin. I'd rant about their close, current terrorist ties, also, but that dag-blasted Keith Olberman, also, beat me to it, ding dang him, saved my cutesy wutesy fingertips, also, the additional dang diddly callouses, also, God bless him, also.

Enjoy:

Economic Call To Action....

2008-09-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

MUCH cheaper than $700B, actually addresses the specific issues that brought the situtation to seemingly sudden critical mass and might actually work... complete with talking points to use when you contact your Senators and Congressman in D.C.

Dave Ramsey - Economic Cleanup

Get to it America, it's still our country and that $700B is OUR money they're playing with!

I've Got Your Bailout, Right Here, Buddy!

2008-09-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

They lobbied for an unregulated free market and they got it. Now that their market has spoken and they don't like what it has to say, they want to saddle us and countless generations of our proginy with the bill for their failure. We paid for their success, I'll be god damned if we should have to pay for their failures, too!

Let the bitches fail... at least for a little while.

Let Americans see the results of the rampant, unregulated conglomerism so many were conned into believing was best for us, so it's at least a few decades until we're so easily conned into believing anything but runny, diseased shit will ever trickle down from the wealthy to those of us who break our backs everyday making them wealthy.

Don't hide it. It needs to be seen.

95 Democrats and 133 Republicans were on OUR side, today... even if Congressional Minority Leader Boehner called the motives of some of those Republicans into question, by suggesting they were merely having a hissy fit over something Speaker Pelosi said.

Find out where YOUR Congressman stood on sticking you and your children and grandchildren with the bailout bill, today --

Congressional Roll Call - Bailout Bill

It may or may not be a partisan battle on the hill, but out here in the grass, it's a class war and the numbers are on our side.

Funny

2008-09-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

What Are They Smokin'?

2008-09-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not running for office and I'm not on Obama's campaign payroll. I don't have to stay on any message or play nice with more of the same old bullshit McCain or lies through her lipstick Palin.

All of these down and dirty campaign slogans are available on t-shirts, bumperstickers, buttons, hats, undies and other swag. Get 'em before ruthless ambition Palin clears Yawn McAncient out of her way, like she did Stevens, when she was considering a Senate run and her predecessors in both the Alaskan governor's office and the Mayoral seat of Wasilla. Ahhhh... I can smell whistle blowing, scandal and disgrace in the air, already... ohhh... and is that a hint of resignation or impeachment I detect in that delicious aroma?

OMFG...

2008-09-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

If you're a woman who still thinks Palin is swell... you need to read this news piece from 2000, when Palin was mayor of Wassila and the town's policy was to bill rape victims for the rape exam and processing of the rape kit.

www.frontiersman.com

That's change we don't want brought to the "outside."

MIA Candidates

2008-09-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Which candidate is more likely to show up for work and which is more likely to go on brush clearing expeditions?

Missed Votes 110th (current) Congress:
110th Vote Missers

McCain - missed 408 votes -- cast 231 votes - missed 63.8%
Ranked 1st of 100, in number of missed votes in the 110th Congress

Obama - missed 291 votes -- cast 348 votes - missed 45.5%
Ranked 3rd of 100, in number of missed votes in the 110th Congress

Some will gasp that the candidate who had his party's nomination in the bag fairly early on missed so many more votes than the candidate who was still in a tight race to the bitter end. Others will point out that both men were engaged in primary races and that it would be more fair to compare their records in the 109th Congress. So, without further ado...
109th Congress
109th Vote Missers

McCain - missed 58 votes -- cast 587 votes - missed 9%
Ranked 4th of 100, in number of missed votes in the 109th Congress

Obama - missed 11 votes -- cast 634 votes - missed 1.7%
Ranked 54th of 100, in number of missed votes in the 109th Congress

More Observations of the Surreal...

2008-09-08T20:22:00.001-07:00

The Alaskan Queen of earmarks is co-running on an anti-earmark platform?

She's STILL touting herself as anti-choice and anti-abortion after telling the press, in no uncertain terms, that keeping the baby was her underage, unwed daughter's CHOICE and drove the point home that she was pro-her-daughter-having-that-choice by adding that she's proud of her daughter's choice?

Etc., etc., etc... Ooooh, LOTS of etcetera!

...And people are actually buying her act? Seriously?!
OMFGawww...

Promoting Change Is One Thing...

2008-09-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

As Palin has repeated, ad nauseum, there are, indeed, some in politics who use change to promote their careers and some who use their careers to promote change.

But, she's leaving out a very important group that exists both inside and outside of the political arena...

...Those who, like Barack Obama, use their lives to EFFECT change.

2008-09-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

In an exquisitely brilliant move by former Heart guitarist Roger Fisher, the McCain campaign is helping to fund the Obama campaign through its use of Heart's song "Barracuda" (co-written by Fisher.) McCain is using the song, legally, against the wishes of the band, under a blanket license fee. Fisher, a Barack supporter, is donating a portion of all royalties he receives from the McCain campaign's use of the song to the Obama campaign.

Daily Kos article

Plane-Gate

2008-09-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

By now, you've no doubt heard the stumping about how Sarah Palin saved Alaskan taxpayers millions of dollars selling the Governor's luxury jet on E-bay, for a profit. Weeeelll... that's not exactly how it went down.

She did TRY to sell the jet on E-bay. But, it didn't sell there. It was sold PRIVATELY, at a LOSS of about $650,000.

Further, it wasn't used solely and frivolously to jet Alaskan Governors from the hockey game to the local pizza joint up the street. It was used to shuttle Alaska's prison inmates to and from the penitentiary, something that still has to be done and which someone's tax dollars has to pay for.

Alaskan prisoners are now transported via private airlines, at the expense of EVERY American taxpayer.

So, technically, Governor Palin did, indeed, relieve Alaskan's the burden of taking responsibility for a necessary state expense... by shifting the burden of this expense on to all of "outsiders" as Palin and other Alaskans refer to those of us Americans who aren't Alaskans.

In other news...

The Republican party has purchased and pimped out a special jet to transport Ms. Palin around the country for the duration of the campaign. The plane, an Embraer E190 to be operated by JetBlue, seats 100, has been "pimped out" with a new paint job, roomier first class and a press compartment! It's snazzy!

Which state's hard working, honest, salt of the Earth people, just like Palin grew up with, had their jobs held secure and helped stimulate the American economy through the honor of manufacturing this jet for the Republican party, the McCain campaign and Ms. Palin's travel comfort?

None of them. The jet was manufactured in Brazil.

Responsibilities...

2008-09-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Palin: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities,"

Palin's actual responsibilities upon assuming the Mayoral seat over a town with a population of (then) approximately 5,000?

1. Create and fill City Administrator position
2. Hand bulk of daily responsibilities over to the new City Administrator -- so that taxpayers are paying the Mayoral stipend PLUS a City Admin's salary & burden rate to get the same work out of two people they'd previously gotten out of one.

Ahhhh... No wonder Palin leapt at the Veep offer after learning that all the Veep does is sit around waiting to either cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate or for the President to die!

Does she have the experience necessary to sit around twiddling her fingers while other people tend to the actual responsibilites of governing our great nation? As much as I hate to admit it, I have to give her credit where it's due... I can't think of anyone I've heard might have or even should have made either candidate's long list who is more experienced for that role than she.

Heckuva job, Johnnie Mac! After 8 long years of seeing important positions filled by wholly unqualified individuals, you've proven yourself a maverick willing to find just the right person for the job.

Surreality

2008-09-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

Just some random observations of surreal phenomenon...

Ok, so the message is that we should vote for McCain because he's not afraid to vote against the Republicans... which is the same as saying that we should vote for someone who will vote with Democrats. Sooo... basically, they're saying we should vote for a Democrat.

President and Mrs. Bush each saying, separately, that we should vote for McCain because he's the real candidate of change? OMFG... how bizarre was that? Do they realize that it's Dubya & Co. everyone wants a change from? Unreal to see George W. Bush basically saying "I suck and everything I touched turned to s**t. You should vote for John, because he's nothing like me." Guess who's even less like you, Georgie boy... Barack Obama.

The vetting of Palin basically consisted of a 70 question survey, having staff members Google her to see if anything bad would turn up and meeting with her just one time. Then, we're told that being mayor of a town that's even smaller than the one I live in and less than half a term as Governor of a state with a smaller population than some of the CITIES in my state and that her state happens to be closer to Russia than my state makes her more experienced and qualified to be President than... well, pretty much anyone who's ever run for President, including the two major party candidates currently vying for the job. WTF? I cannot be alone in imagining a private pre-pick convo over cigars and drinks that went something like this...

"We've got this spin thing down. Some of the stuff we managed to sell to the American people just blows me away."

"No kidding! I wonder just HOW ridiculous we could get and still successfully spin it."

"OMG... I just had the funniest idea... you know that 'long list' we've been paring down, well..."

People are scratching their heads about why we're not hearing from the RNC Convention speakers what McCain wants to do about any of the major issues of the day? Really? After almost 8 years of "fend for yourselves, peons" Republican policy people still seriously expect Republicans to have anything at all on a list of things they want to do for the American people?

Palin's apparant shock at the sexism she's facing -- especially after her "suck it up and quit whining" comments directed at Hillary? So, she's just waking up to sexism, huh? Well, welcome to the world in progress, sweety.

Oh and is she aware she's not topping the ticket or running for any office? She keeps saying things like "my opponent" and "my running mate." It's really creepy.

My schedule beckons, so there's time for just one more...

I was predicting a ratings-draw pick weeks ago and joking about possibilities for such a pick. (Credit where it's due: Palin's MUCH funnier than the names I came up with.) Even with that mission accomplished and the media paying more attention to McCain's runnning mate than to "Meh"Cain, everybody's STILL talking about Obama... the Democrats AND the Republicans... indicating that both sides know Obama still owns this race.

Surprise!!

2008-09-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

McCain's choice of Gov. Palin for his running mate was, in and of itself, a surprise.

Shortly after the announcement, much of America was surprised to learn of allegations of and investigation into alleged abuse of power by Gov. Palin (aka TrooperGate.)

A few days after that, shortly after Hurricane Gustav made landfall on our Gulf Coast, Americans were again surprised with the announcement that pro-abstinence / anti-sex Palin's unmarried high school student teen daughter is five months pregnant.

Shortly after that, we were promised there'd be no more surprises...

Well... don't put your party hats and noisemakers away just yet folks, because... SURPRISE!

"WASHINGTON — GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin accepted at least $4,500 in campaign contributions in the same fundraising scheme at the center of a public corruption scandal that led to the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens."

You can read the full story on a variety of liberal, neutral and conservative news sites and blogs, including FOX News

Open Letter To the Media

2008-09-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Media,

I thought it might interest you to know that Palin's candidacy for Vice President has NOT been a lightning rod, as reported, ad nauseum, by you, all day long.

This is because she's not a candidate. There's no such thing as a candidacy for Vice President, in either major party. Palin is not vying for any office, much less that of Vice President of the United States. She is the running mate of Presidential Candidate John McCain. Her presence on HIS ticket has been a lightning rod. Whether she will assume the office of Vice President is solely contingent on whether McCain wins his campaign for the Presidency.

This is something any school child knows. So, if you could stop insulting me, your audience, by wrongly assuming I'm less educated than a six year old and also stop making your anchors look like uneducated morons, that would be really, really cool of you.

Thanks,
Melhi.

And the times keep on a changin'

2008-09-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

It seems like only yesterday the kids of politicians were off limits.

Today, the McCain campaign is trotting out Gov. Palin's underage daughter's baby-daddy for photo ops.

What a fortunate people we are to live in a nation and a time with no more pressing issues of the day than to give everyone a good gander at the kid who's been banging Gov. Palin's daughter.

My How Times Change...

2008-09-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

It seems like only a few short months ago that America was questioning whether an accomplished, experienced woman with a lengthy resume of qualifications could lead our nation.

Today, there's no question that an inexperienced woman with a short resume is infinitely more qualified to lead the nation than the two men vying for the job of President, put together.

It seems like only a few years ago that John McCain said of President Clinton's then teen-aged daughter Chelsea that she was "ugly" because "Janet Reno is her father."

Today... McCain has declared families, especially the children of anyone spinning a platform that co-opts "family values," off-limits.

It seems like only a few days ago that evil, sex crazed liberals were accused of teaching their children to have rampant unprotected sex through a a sex ed curriculum not strictly limited to abstinence, but inclusive of birth control & STD prevention, in our public schools.

Today... there's a newfound awareness among the righteous that teens will be teens, there's a pride in unprotected teen sex... teen pregnancy is awesome!

It seems like only a few years ago McCain was having a party complete with cake and a photo-op with Dubya while our gulf coast was destroyed and a horrified nation watched helplessly as New Orleans drowned... and it seems like such a short time ago that McCain warned and repeatedly voted against spending money on relief for hurricane victims or the rebuilding of the coast. It seems like only days ago that hurricane relief and rebuilding the gulf coast were not among McCain's agenda.

But now, he's taken off his Republican hat to don his American hat... (clarifying that the two are, indeed, mutually exclusive as has long been suspected.)