VIEWPOINT: A Mighty Wind blows through UPDATE #45 - CBC APOLOGY

[Catty1]

Apparently a number of folks in the US are really angry about this article written by Canadian CBC columnist Heather Mallick (it's been on Yahoo News for a couple of days now ;) ). So I will post and THEN read it.

Any thoughts?
************************************************** ***********************
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/09/05/f-vp-mallick.html
VIEWPOINT
Heather Mallick
A Mighty Wind blows through Republican convention
Last Updated: Friday, September 5, 2008 | 8:48 PM ET
By Heather Mallick, special to CBC News

I assume John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential partner in a fit of pique because the Republican money men refused to let him have the stuffed male shirt he really wanted. She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right.

So why do it?

It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman. They're unfamiliar with our true natures. Do they think vaginas call out to each other in the jungle night? I mean, I know men have their secret meetings at which they pledge to do manly things, like being irresponsible with their semen and postponing household repairs with glue and used matches. Guys will be guys, obviously.

But do they not know that women have been trained to resent other women and that they only learn to suppress this by constantly berating themselves and reading columns like this one? I'm a feminist who understands that women can nurse terrible and delicate woman hatred.

Palin was not a sure choice, not even for the stolidly Republican ladies branch of Citizens for a Tackier America. No, she isn't even female really. She's a type, and she comes in male form too.

John Doyle, the cleverest critic in Canada, comes right out and calls Palin an Alaska hillbilly. Damn his eyes, I wish I'd had the wit to come up with it first. It's safer than "white trash" but I'll pluck safety out of the nettle danger. Or something.

Doyle's job includes watching a lot of reality television and he's well-versed in the backstory. White trash — not trailer trash, that's something different — is rural, loud, proudly unlettered (like Bush himself), suspicious of the urban, frankly disbelieving of the foreign, and a fan of the American cliché of authenticity. The semiotics are pure Palin: a sturdy body, clothes that are clinging yet boxy and a voice that could peel the plastic seal off your new microwave.
'Turn your guns on Levi, ma'am'

Palin has a toned-down version of the porn actress look favoured by this decade's woman, the overtreated hair, puffy lips and permanently alarmed expression. Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the "pramface." Husband Todd looks like a roughneck; Track, heading off to Iraq, appears terrified. They claim to be family obsessed while being studiously terrible at parenting. What normal father would want Levi "I'm a fuckin' redneck" Johnson prodding his daughter?

I know that I have an attachment to children that verges on the irrational, but why don't the Palins? I'm not the one preaching homespun values but I'd destroy that ratboy before I'd let him get within scenting range of my daughter again, and so would you. Palin's e-mails about the brother-in-law she tried to get fired as a state trooper are fizzing with rage and revenge. Turn your guns on Levi, ma'am.

Palin has it all, along with being vicious and profoundly dishonest. Just hours after her first convention speech, the Associated Press did a good fast listing of her untruths and I won't dwell on them.

I did promise to watch the entire convention so you wouldn't have to, but I discovered a neat trick. I switched between the convention and the 2003 folk music mockumentary A Mighty Wind on Bravo.

They were indistinguishable. Click on a nervous wreck with deeply strange hair doing a monologue on society today and where it all went wrong. Are you watching Christian belter Aaron Tippin singing Where the Stars and Stripes and Eagle Fly in the Xcel Centre in St. Paul or the actors from Spinal Tap remixing the 1966 version of Potato's in the Paddy Wagon?

Who delivered this line: "To do then now would be retro. To do then then was very now-tro, if you will." Was it Rev. James Dobson of Focus on the Family talking about Bristol Palin's shotgun wedding or was it a flashback to the Kingston Trio?

The conventioneers are nothing like the rich men who run the party, and that's the mystery of the hick vote. They'd be much better served by the Democrats. I know Thomas Frank answered this in What's the Matter with Kansas?; I know that red states vote Republican on social issues to give themselves the only self-esteem available to their broken, economically abused existence.
Lie works for Palin

But surely they know Barack Obama is not planning to finish off the ordinary hillbilly when he adjusts tax rates. He's going to raise taxes on the top 2% of Americans and that doesn't include anyone at the convention beyond the Bushes and McCains and random party management. So why cheer Palin when she claims otherwise?

Is it racism? I'm told that it is, although I find racism so appalling that I have difficulty identifying it. It is more likely the dearly held Republican notion that any American can become violently rich, as rich as those hedge funders in Greenwich, Conn., who buy $40-million mansions unseen and have their topiary shaped in the form of musical notes.

When Palin and Rudy Giuliani sneered at Obama's years of "community organizing" — they said it like "rectal fissure" — the audience ewww-ed with them. Republicans dream of a personal future that involves only household staff, not equals who need to be persuaded to vote.

So I'm trying to imagine the pain of realizing, as they all must at some point, that it is not going to happen for them. It's the green light at the end of the dock. It's the ship that never comes in, gals, as Palin would put it. But she won't because the lie works for her. It helps her scramble, without compassion, above all those other tense no-hoper ladies in the audience.

American politics isn't short of smart women. Susan Eisenhower, Ike's granddaughter, who just endorsed Obama, made an extraordinary speech at the Democratic convention (and a terrific casual appearance on The Colbert Report as Palin was speaking). The Republican party has already consumed nearly all of its moderate "seed corn," she said aptly. Time to start again.

Eisenhower, a scholar and journalist, has a point. Or am I only saying that because she's part of the thoughtful demographic that I'm trying to reach here? Think, Heather, think like a Republican! The Skeptics, shall I call them, are my base, and I'll pander to them as ardently as the Republican patriarchs tease their white female marginals.

This Week

Mad Men is scaring me (AMC on Sunday nights). What has Matthew Weiner, a writer from The Sopranos, created, a period soap opera about reality and façade or a horror series on a localized war between men and women? Was Episode 6 of Season 2 a costume drama about the Madonna/whore complex or the operatic rendition of one simple thing, human cruelty?

Or maybe I'm seeing too much into it and it's just a sexed-up version of the Republican convention.

[RICHARD]

Two things to really be angry about.

I'd be bitter if I was stuck in between The Lower 48 and the Alaska-billy group. One can kick her arse and the other could, well, Kick her arse.

The other thing? How does she get the little tail on the 'c' in facade...

See, I can't do it!

==================

I hope this poor "feminist" gets some help.

You know the difference between a Pitbull and an angry feminist is?

You'd rather try to put lipstick on the Pit, And you wouldn't chance rabies.

IF anything, now more than ever, I want to see JM and SP win for one simple fact.


I want to watch people roll up into little balls and roll around on the dirt. The efing hatred that some people have in their hearts must be toxic. And I hope it is.

The feminist who wrote this piece must be sucking on pennies to get such a bad taste in her mouth.

It's very funny to watch and read some of the shenanigans that people will write about others, I wonder if they could stand up to the same scrutiny?


The object to writing a good smear piece is to be witty, clever with words and able to convey a amount of 'dirty prose' that is fit for the reader.

---------------

Watch!

Heather Malick might want to check her seat for her next airplane flight.
It seems that Heather wanted a first class seat on the broom she took last time she traveled. I understand her anger now. I'd be upset if I had a broom stuck in my bum-I mean where would you sit? That would make any feminist an angry one...

See no need to name call when you can insinuate bad things about people.
She's not even classy enough to be sly and funny.


If she is a Canuckian?

If she was nice we would let her be a U.S. citizen.

Now?, she's still welcome here.
We have better health insurance so she can get a shrink and maybe work out some of that hate and agression.

You know? I'd be mad if we had to try and pick from alllllllllll the candidates they have up there in their next election. It's hard enough to choose from the two dopes we have down here.:rolleyes:


I don't see any harm in her piece, It's just words and sometimes words have two meanings, like the word feminist is code for "I hate everybody".

[Puckstop31]

LOL

Angry? Not in the least. Surprised? Not in the least. I've know for a long time that people like the author of this joke do not understand people like me... The "white trash", the "hick." I see it a good thing that she (and people like her) under estimate "us".

"Reality" TV is her source? BWHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!

She is also wrong about Mrs. Palin shoring up the "white trash" vote. She brought a lot of people like ME, back to McCain/Palin. I was going to vote for Bob Barr until she was chosen. She is the closest thing to a Libertarian running.

If I were Canadian, I would be ashamed of this "piece". It's rather, sad, ya know?

[Medusa]

No matter how well educated, when a person resorts to name calling and/or vulgarities, it reveals their lack of vocabulary and intelligence and, sadly, their upbringing. She apparently lacks the intelligence and originality to phrase things any other way. Misogyny is not limited to males.

[Catty1]

Thanks for the feedback. I just wouldn't have the perspective from a US point of view...and when I read in Yahoo news that quite a few folks were upset with this - and there was no name mentioned - I thought it might be one of our TV or radio commentators.

I was a bit surprised to see it was Heather. She writes some very intelligent and great articles. Why she got her knickers in a knot over this is beyond me.

Also - it seems it was written right after the Republican convention where Sarah's VP candidacy was announced. I wonder if Heather would change her tune now.

If she writes and comment or etc in response, I'll post it.

[Catty1]

The Alaskan who went 'outside'

Sarah Palin's Wasilla is beyond small-town. The woman who could be president is someone with no grasp of the wider world

Heather Mallick
Guardian Unlimited
September 5, 2008

I was born in a northern Canadian settlement so small it was accessible most of the year only by a Bombardier, a sort of huge military tank built for passengers. It was like a transport plane, a big iron bulb with caterpillar tracks. I swear we had a paddle-steamer for supplies in the summer.

Take that, Sarah Palin. The place was six times smaller than Wasilla, Alaska, the town that birthed John McCain's strange vice-presidential "soulmate", as weird as that disconnected eerie smile that floats on his face as he stands next to her.

My credentials are solid; Palin cannot out-hick me. Until I fled at 18, I never lived in a northern town of more than 12,000 people. My towns were full of Sarah Palins. These types are fine, such as they are, until they leave town and turn fraudulent. They label themselves "the salt of the earth". It's when they try to make that a qualification for a greater glory that things turn unpleasant.

I never claimed a higher moral standing for coming from a great big empty on the map. Small towns are places that smart people escape from, for privacy, for variety, for intellect, for survival. Palin should have stayed home.

Canada has lots of hockey moms. They're called Fran and Nancy. They have cruel haircuts and their voices shake the rafters of the rink as their rink-rats play. How can I translate the hearty, jollying-along Palin for British audiences? She's a working class Joan Hunter Dunn. It's those volleyball shoulders and field-hockey thighs, the energy, the bullying, and the utter self-confidence in every lie she tells.

Salt-of-the-earthers don't lie! But Palins do. I watched Palin last night, my mouth open, my eyeballs drying out, my hand making shaky notes. I read them aghast.

Did she really joke, "You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick."?

Did she just blow kisses to the audience?

Did she just say, "We need to produce more of our own oil and gas. Take it from a gal who knows the North Slope. We've got lots of both."?

Yes, she did lie about billion-gallon slurps of oil and gas available for Americans to blow, about her support of Alaska's notorious pork-barrel "bridge to nowhere", about which particular citizens will see tax increases under Obama (only the richest, and she knows that).

She also lied when she slobbered over small-town folks (an American version of British farm life, except British farmers have a point). The granite honesty of hicks is a cliche, a fantasy, a meme of American life, as much as the working-class solidarity of Tony Blair was in 1997, and where did that get anyone?

But most of all, she lied about the north and the virtues it supposedly confers on citizens. Canadians watch this with horror. To us, Alaska is the back of beyond. Americans feel the same way. Alaskans are a bunch of Ted Stevens, that enraged screaming old senator who explained that the internet was not a big truck, it was more like a "bunch of tubes". He was arrested and charged with taking bribes, but handily won the August senatorial primary.

We love our own north to the point of covering our eyes and humming as it melts (yesterday the BBC headlined the collapse of Canada's ice shelves; Canadian papers and websites missed the story) but Alaska is different from our north. We share a 1,500-mile border with a frontier state full of drunks and crazy people, of the blight that cheap-built structures bring to a glorious landscape. Canadian firms invest billions in the place and mine its ores. One hundred thousand Canadians visit Alaska every year, and we like to pass by in cruise ships. But it never goes further than that. Alaska is our redneck cousin, our Yukon territory forms a blessed buffer zone, and thank God he never visits. Alaska is the end of the line.

Palin got her first passport last year. (Americans didn't need a passport to enter Canada until recently). She seems to have visited us precisely once, not surprisingly since Alaskans regularly refer to the rest of the world as "outside". We are so foreign to her, this woman who might become US president.

What is native to her is smugness, her certainty that what's good for Wasilla is good for the world in all its infinite variety. It's a variety that Palin will never begin to grasp.

[Lady's Human]

It's amazing that someone who spews that amount of poisonous rhetoric has any audience, let alone an international audience.

[sparks19]

Hmmm funny. I don't know any hockey moms named fran or nancy with cruel haircuts... those are reserved for soccer moms :p

She mentions in the first article that women are trained to hate each other... I can see that was a very successful lesson in her life as I see nothing but hatred coming from her words. She's angry and it seems that she is most angry about the fact that Palin is a woman.

Smart people move away from small towns? Well if moving away from a small town turns you into a bitter, angry "journalist" I will stick with small towns :D

I enjoy reading articles that are witty and clever but this one comes across like a temper tantrum lol. perhaps her mother should step in, take her hand and tell her that if she cannot behave in public she will turn this car around and go home.

[RICHARD]

Palin got her first passport last year. (Americans didn't need a passport to enter Canada until recently). She seems to have visited us precisely once, not surprisingly since Alaskans regularly refer to the rest of the world as "outside". We are so foreign to her, this woman who might become US president.



Present company excluded.....

NO WONDER SHE ONLY VISITED ONCE. With an attitiude like that I wouldn't want to venture any kind of contact with Ms. Mallick.

And why the a-holery about blowing a kiss to the audience?

It must be that Heather must have been the last one picked on the school ground. That kind of hate and resentment needs YEARS to percolate to the top.

Of course, stupidity and angst aren't two things you want to be known for, as a writer you'd like to have a way with words, beguiling and charming, informative and sharp.....well, I give her the 'sharp' part.....

This idiot must have holes in her cheeks with a tongue like that. We'll just sit here and giggle a bit and then wonder how that got past the editors of her column then wonder how anyone smart enough to be published can be so wickedly stupid to put her thong on backwards.

She'll walk around for most of the day wondering why it chafes so much and never realize that she's got it on wrong. :rolleyes:

[Sevaede]

That is sad, really.

Although, I did have to chuckle about "vaginas calling out to to each other". :eek::D

[sparks19]

LMFAO @ A-holery.

[RICHARD]

http://www.canadafreepress.com/images/uploads/heather-mallick.jpg


This is what an angry feminist looks like.

A little LIPSTICK -LOL, staying away from THAT joke.
Pearls and a little smirk into the lense?


YOU STILL HAVE UBER BIATCH!
I must apologize, A backwards thong isn't the problem this woman has.

It's underwear bought at the local Home Depot. I never knew feminists wore sandpaper panties.:rolleyes:

It's sanded down any femininity, soul and girl parts that she owned before.

[jazzcat]

What do they call the female version of penis envy?

What a sophomoric piece of drivel!

[sparks19]

OUCH... sandpaper underwear would really hurt lol.

[RICHARD]

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5098



Not all agree.



Spark,

You can use a-holery anytime you want.

And the sandpaper undies explains why she has a problem with va-jay-jays calling out to each other. I think it has to do with not owning one or having it sanded off.:confused:

[phesina]

Oh my goodness!

[Marigold2]

The semiotics are pure Palin: a sturdy body, clothes that are clinging yet boxy and a voice that could peel the plastic seal off your new microwave.
I am sorry but this part had me laughing for a good couple of minutes, why, because it's so true.
Her voice makes my cats scream in pain every time.

[Lady's Human]

BTW, it's a great article......not one iota of substance, personal attacks...a fine example of modern journalism.

Kudos to the CBC for showing rural America what you really think of us.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Well, sadly there is a bit of truth in the article: lots of women will vote for McCain because he picked a woman VP.

And as for Obama raising taxes on the rich, who else could he tax? I'm already 130% below the poverty level. :p

[Lady's Human]

Sen. Obama has vowed to let the Bush tax cut package lapse. This would effectively raise my Federal tax bill by about $2000. I'm not rich. His statements about no tax hikes on people who make under $250K /year are deceptive at best, as he has also pledged to let the current tax cut package lapse.

[lizbud]

BTW, it's a great article......not one iota of substance, personal attacks...a fine example of modern journalism.




Yeah, kinda reminds me of some posts right here in the DH.( No substance,
personal attacks) et al. You didn't say a word then so why complain now?


How about a few opinions from Palin's home state...The Anchorage Daily
News for example.


Abdication by Palin
When did the McCain campaign take over the governor's office?

Published: September 20th, 2008 12:53 AM
Last Modified: September 20th, 2008 02:47 AM

Gov. Sarah Palin has surrendered important gubernatorial duties to the Republican presidential campaign. McCain staff are handling public and press questions about actions she has taken as governor. The governor who said, "Hold me accountable," is hiding behind the hired guns of the McCain campaign to avoid accountability.

Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?

A press conference Thursday showed how skewed Alaska's relationship with its own governor has become.

McCain-Palin campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan announced that Todd Palin will not comply with a subpoena to testify about his role in Troopergate, the Legislature's investigation into whether Palin abused her power in forcing out former public safety commissioner Walt Monegan.

O'Callaghan also announced that Alaska's governor is "unlikely" to cooperate with the investigation by the Alaska Legislature about questionable conduct by Alaska's chief executive.

Monday, he and campaign sidekick Meg Stapleton stood before Alaskans and defended the official personnel decision by Alaska's governor to fire Alaska's public safety commissioner. ABC News reported that Gov. Palin's official press secretary, Bill McAllister, paid by the state of Alaska, didn't even know the McCain staffers were meeting the press to defend his boss.


Is the McCain campaign telling Alaskans that Alaska's governor can't handle her own defense in front of her own Alaska constituents?

Way back when, before John McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential running mate, Palin promised to cooperate with the investigation.

Now she won't utter a peep about it to Alaskans. Nor will her husband, Todd, who definitely needs to explain his role in Troopergate.

Instead, Alaskans have to sit back and listen to John McCain's campaign operatives handling inquiries about what Alaska's governor did while governing Alaska. Residents of any state would be offended to see their governor cede such a fundamental, day-to-day governmental responsibility to a partisan politician from another state. It's especially offensive to Alaskans.

O'Callaghan said Todd Palin objects to the subpoena because the Legislature's investigation "has been subjected to complete partisanship." That's the kind of dizzying spin that Washington has perfected. It is the McCain-Palin campaign that has worked overtime to politicize the entire matter in a transparent attempt to justify the stonewalling.

Futile as the request may be, we encourage Gov. Palin to stand up to McCain's handlers and be personally accountable for her administration's response to Troopergate. She is the governor of Alaska, not John McCain or Ed O'Callaghan.

BOTTOM LINE: Official state business -- like Troopergate -- should be handled by the governor of the state, not by McCain presidential campaign operatives.

[lizbud]

The semiotics are pure Palin: a sturdy body, clothes that are clinging yet boxy and a voice that could peel the plastic seal off your new microwave.
I am sorry but this part had me laughing for a good couple of minutes, why, because it's so true.
Her voice makes my cats scream in pain every time.


:D So true.

[Lady's Human]

Liz, there's a large difference between our sparring in the dog house and someone being paid by CBC to be a columnist.

We're not getting paid for our discussions in the dog house, while she is being paid by the CBC for her efforts, which amount to a poorly written diatribe against the rural US.

[Catty1]

If you go to post #15, the link Richard has there goes to a page with a "contact Heather" link near the bottom of the article.

When I read this, I thought she was REALLY left-wing...but that viciousness is quite uncalled for.

I went back through her columns to see if she had responded to any of the criticism. I found one where she is talking about how McCain cannot use a computer. Less harsh, but still kind of pointless.

Have at 'er!

ETA: She has a husband named Charles. AND, the version of the same article that went to the Guardian in the UK is really interesting in its differences...kind of an insult to her fellow Canadians as well.:rolleyes:

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I found one where she is talking about how McCain cannot use a computer. Less harsh, but still kind of pointless.

Pointless but true none the less. ;) :)

Question: should the next president be not only to answer the phone at 3 am, but text message and email as well?

[Lady's Human]

I couldn't care less whether the next president can drive a car, use a cell phone, text message....etc.

We're not picking the coolest kid on the block.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I couldn't care less whether the next president can drive a car, use a cell phone, text message....etc.

We're not picking the coolest kid on the block.

We aren't? Then why all the Sara Palin fuss?

[lizbud]

Liz, there's a large difference between our sparring in the dog house and someone being paid by CBC to be a columnist.

We're not getting paid for our discussions in the dog house, while she is being paid by the CBC for her efforts, which amount to a poorly written diatribe against the rural US.


It's either correct to use personal attacks when debating a point, or it isn't.

[Lady's Human]

If you want to call all issues black and white, fine.

How do you defend your absolute apoplexy over the Patriot act, when now you support another law which would do worse (allowing completely warrantless searches over the internet) in the interests of the children?

Either you're for civil liberties, or you're against them.

[Lady's Human]

As to all the Gov. Palin fuss, she's the VP candidate for a major political party.

I don't care about her clothes, glasses, hair, cell phone, or any of the rest of the crap the media has been covering.

[RICHARD]

Palin abdicates her seat with the state?

What about senators who step into office then go off running for a presidency?

-------------

Poor HUsband, can you imagine parking your tush at the dinner table when that shrew has a bad day? Either he was drunk, has low self-esteem or was knocked out when he proposed to her-betcha she kept her maiden name too!


If I was a woman I'd stop with the "talking Va-jay-jays" thoughts.

I know for a fact they don't talk.

But you can hear the ocean if you close your eyes and are reallllllllly quiet.:confused:

-----------

DID ANYONE SEE THE INTERVIEW WITH HER EX BIL?


THIS FN AH admitted to tasering his 10 year old because he asked for it. Literally! THere were also charges about alcohol abuse while on duty.

THe moron shows up with a union rep to an interview-no knock on the rep-but don't you show up with a lawyer?

HE was candid and did admit to tasering the kid and the alcohol stories.

Really, there is nothing wrong with tasering a kid or getting involved with alcohol whil you are on duty as a cop.

It's all part of life in Hillbilly Town, Alaska.

[Puckstop31]

If you want to call all issues black and white, fine.

How do you defend your absolute apoplexy over the Patriot act, when now you support another law which would do worse (allowing completely warrantless searches over the internet) in the interests of the children?

Either you're for civil liberties, or you're against them.

BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

:D

Somehow I knew Liz would post that article when I saw it on Drudge. Although I am a bit shocked she could not see this retort coming.

[lizbud]

We aren't? Then why all the Sara Palin fuss?


Good one momo.:)

[lizbud]

If you want to call all issues black and white, fine.

How do you defend your absolute apoplexy over the Patriot act, when now you support another law which would do worse (allowing completely warrantless searches over the internet) in the interests of the children?

Either you're for civil liberties, or you're against them.


You have mentioned "warrantless searches" several times but have yet
to show me where this exists in the language of that bill.

[Lady's Human]

Read the bill.....

It mentions in several areas monitoring the internet activities of suspects, but nowhere does it define how one becomes a suspect.

It redefines parts of US Law to prohibit the transmission of "images of child abuse" but nowhere does it define what abuse is considered under the law.

Never would I give the federal government that authority.

However, given the nature of packet switching communications networks and the overly broad nature of the application of the interstate commerce clause, the law is really a moot point. All internet traffic by nature is interstate, and therefore regulated under federal, and not state, laws.

[RICHARD]

I can't stress the idea of 'when the zapato fits' enough.

If someone molests a child relative then posts photos of the crime on the 'net'.

If someone hacks your personal email account.

If someone steals your credit card account numbers or money.

If someone hacks your phone account and puts crazy charges on your number.

If someone hacks the computer at work and you have to lose money, work overtime or ????.

What is the first thing you do? You call on god and all the saints to fix the problem. Should that problem be traced to a person, you want that person to be held accountable for their actions/mischief.

So.........
You don't want the government to have any way to look at the internet or the transactions there of.

Bills, rules and laws are always written in a general sense to keep from having tons of pages of stupid rules everytime a different case comes up.

Just like the little jerkwad who argued every single point in my Poli-Sci classes.

I'll repeat this until I am blue in the face.

Should we get another terrorist attack on U.S. soil and it's coordinated thru cell phones, email or electronic messaging-People will scream about how the government did not do a good enough job monitoring the WWW for clues.

So how do we want it?

Other than the stupid things we use the internet for, why are we so scared about what we send out?

We laugh at Mohammed in Africa trying to scam a few bucks via email, we delete those messages without a thought.

I think I'll laugh when I get the generic letter from a company that says, "Hey your account and personal information may be one of thousands of files that were hacked out of our system! We'll keep our eyes peeled, just in case!"

So what do we want?

Molesters, terrorists, hackers and thugs operating without any fear of being foiled or apprehended?

If anything it makes me a little more aware of what I do on my computer.
Remember that we love the ability to use an ATM, pay our bills online and all the other funky stuff we get off on while we use the internet.

So, should things go badly, take a moment and think about who you will call on to make things right.;)

[Sevaede]

I don't know. I think it's awfully foolish for anyone to use the webs for anything you would consider private or of that nature. That's like waving a sign around on a busy street reading "HEY! I plan on doing blankity blank blank blank!". You can't be that smart if you're conducting business like that over the webs.

I think that what folks are worried about is the principle of privacy invasion. People, regardless if they have anything to worry about or not, don't want recording devices and such every where they go. What if it snowballed?

*was just trying to elaborate on what she thought others had said, not looking for a response, don't flame*

[RICHARD]

This is off topic but I have to post this...

Some hackers hacked a Shiite website run by followers of the Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani.

They posted a piece of video from Bill Maher, troll and comedian, making fun of the GAAS and an edict concerning personal behavior.

A spokesman for the GAAS said the edict was BS and never happened.

So, here's the rub.

Suppose some goofball sees this clip from Bull Maher and decides to exact some kind of revenge? BM is a idiot, who often speaks about the government and their interest in internet 'bad guys'. He definitely doesn't like any gov't. involvement in HIS internet dealings and especially is critical of the Patriot Act.


If BM gets some death threats because of this hack job, who is he going to call? The police? The feds?

THat is the phony, make believe attitiude of the people who do not want to Big Brother in their lives-They talk a tough game against the system, until THEY need some kind of assurance that they will be protected from any militant religious nuts that may want to kill him for making fun of their religion.

This should be interesting.:rolleyes:

[Rachel]

Sen. Obama has vowed to let the Bush tax cut package lapse. This would effectively raise my Federal tax bill by about $2000. I'm not rich. His statements about no tax hikes on people who make under $250K /year are deceptive at best, as he has also pledged to let the current tax cut package lapse.

That's not how I understand it. When I heard him speak on TV to this subject my understanding was that the Bush tax cuts for those making under $150K would remain in place. Those in the 150K - 250K would be essentially paying the same as they are now.

[lizbud]

That's not how I understand it. When I heard him speak on TV to this subject my understanding was that the Bush tax cuts for those making under $150K would remain in place. Those in the 150K - 250K would be essentially paying the same as they are now.


I agree. :) LH has his own interpretation of almost everything, fact or not.

[lizbud]

Read the bill.....

It mentions in several areas monitoring the internet activities of suspects, but nowhere does it define how one becomes a suspect.

Never would I give the federal government that authority.


Do the police have to come & prove their suspicions to you personally
before someone is considered a suspect? It just means the person hasn't been arrested yet.

and, the Federal Government already has these powers, thanks to the
current Republican administration.

[RICHARD]

and, the Federal Government already has these powers, thanks to the
current Republican administration.


Do you know exactly how the government/law agencies look thru emails to find out about kiddie porn, terrorism and other crap like that?

From what I understand about the 'system' is that there are a few ways to monitor criminal activity on you computer.

Filters, people get stupid and send the 'wrong' email to someone, you take your computer in to get serviced and the nerd tech looks for your porn on your machine, or the feds trap someone, they do the forensic search and find out that you were getting the KP on you email account-then you have the feds and how they catch the idiots.

There are also programmed 'filters' that tag emails that look suspicious.

There is no one person reading you emails, unless you are doing something stupid on the internet.

---------

If there is no specific wording in a law it becomes the job of the people who are 'arresting' or 'suspecting' you have to interpet the law and 'do it justice',
How many times has a criminal been released, only to commit another crime, because of the wording in the law?


With internet crimes, law agencies have different laws to refer to from state to state, country to country-they often have problems with charging someone because of all the different jurisdictions and how they look at the crime.

--------

A warrantless search?

If a cop sees a crime or called to the scene of a crime, they can search, without a warrant. Probable cause? Same thing.

"I/We had reason to suspect........" Are the golden words that will get a cop into your shorts if he thinks you have done something wrong.

That's the way the ball bounces.

[Lady's Human]

Sen. Obama has repeatedly stated in debates that he would let the tax cuts lapse.

This is from the LA Times:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/03/obamathetaxrais.html

Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's "Closing Bell" asked, "Who should pay more and who should pay less?" Predictably, the politician chose to talk about who would benefit from his higher tax plan, not who would get socked the hardest. But from his answers it sounds like the "wealthy" in his mind are those making more than $75,000.

"I would not increase taxes for middle class Americans and in fact I want to....

provide a tax cut for people who are making $75,000 a year or less,'' he said. "For those folks, I want an offset on the payroll tax that would be worth as much as $1,000 for a family.


$75K/year isn't wealthy. On $75K/year, it's almost impossible to get a mortgage in Massachusetts, and is ABSOLUTELY impossible if you want something more than a tiny ranch on a postage stamp piece of property. When we moved from MA to NY, we sold our house for almost $200K, which was a 1200 sq ft house on a 3000 sq ft lot, in an undesirable neighborhood.

[RICHARD]

Poor Heather,

Greta Van Sustren called HM a pig for the article she wrote. And she is getting hate email from the people who took exception to that tripe.
HM is upset that she was called a pig.

Mallick is also complaining about death threats she received on her web site and she says that those threats reinforce her thoughts about American hillbillys.

Funny how she can shoot off her mouth and can't take the heat when the kitchen door closes.

She's a hoax, inside a joke, wrapped in a numbskull.

----

She's probably called the internet company to have someone trace those threats against her.


Have fun Heather.

Angry feminist versus Hillbilly hockey mom?

GIRL FIGHT!!!!:D

[Catty1]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/09/28/f-vp-cruickshank.html
Letter from the publisher
John Cruickshank
We erred in our judgment
Last Updated: Monday, September 29, 2008 | 4:02 PM ET

By John Cruickshank CBC News

More than 300 people have taken the trouble this month to complain to the CBC ombudsman about a column we ran on CBCNews.ca about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Sept. 5.

The column, by award-winning freelance writer Heather Mallick, was also pilloried by The National Post in Canada and by Fox News in the U.S. Despite its age — it is three weeks old, several lifetimes in web years — this posting remains a subject of fascination in the blogosphere.

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2007/09/19/Cruickshank-John-cp-.jpg
CBC Publisher John Cruickshank. (Rich Hein/Associated Press)

Vince Carlin, the CBC ombudsman, has now issued his assessment of the Mallick column. He doesn't fault her for riling readers by either the caustic nature of her tone or the polarizing nature of her opinion.

But he objects that many of her most savage assertions lack a basis in fact. And he is certainly correct.

Mallick's column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan.

And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site.

Healthy restraint

On the whole, the CBC News policy handbook takes a very anxious view of any mixing of opinion in with the news business. It sees the two as nitro and glycerin, innocuous on their own but explosive together. This is a very healthy restraint for a public broadcaster.

But every news organization needs to have an opinion dimension. Access to different viewpoints helps readers, listeners and viewers make reasoned choices, especially during an election campaign.

As a public broadcaster we have an added responsibility to provide an array of opinions and voices to complement our journalism. But we must do so carefully. And you should be able to trust us to provide you with work that's based on solid reporting and free from the passionate excesses of partisanship.

We failed you in this case. And as a result we have put new editing procedures in place to insure that in the future, work that is not appropriate for our platforms, will not appear. We are open to contentious reasoned argument but not to partisan attack. It's a fine line.

Ombudsman Carlin makes another significant observation in his response to complainants: when it does choose to print opinion, CBCNews.ca displays a very narrow range on its pages.

In this, Carlin is also correct.

This, too, is being immediately addressed. CBCNews.ca will soon expand the diversity of voices and opinions and be home to a diverse group of writers with many perspectives. In this, we will better reflect the depth and texture of this country.

We erred in our editorial judgment. You told us in no uncertain terms. And we have learned from it.



http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=845234

CBC News apologizes for web column attacking Palin

Melissa Leong, National Post Published:
Sunday, September 28, 2008

CBC News apologized Sunday for publishing a column about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, conceding that it was "viciously personal."

More than 300 people complained to the CBC ombudsman about a column that ran on Sept. 5 on CBCNews.ca by award-winning freelance writer Heather Mallick.

The article, "A mighty wind blows through Republican convention," reportedly said Ms. Palin was chosen to appease the party's "rural," "unlettered" "white trash" base and said that the vice-presidential nominee looked like a "porn actress."

CBC News publisher John Cruickshank said in a letter that the public broadcaster erred in judgment.

Vince Carlin, the CBC Ombudsman, did not fault Ms. Mallick for "the caustic nature of her tone or the polarizing nature of her opinion."

"But he objects that many of her most savage assertions lack a basis in fact," Mr. Cruickshank wrote.

"Mallick's column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan. And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site."

The column was attacked by the National Post as well as Fox News.

Ms. Mallick wrote: "[17-year-old] Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the ‘pramface.' Husband Todd looks like a roughneck; Track, heading off to Iraq, appears terrified. They claim to be family-obsessed while being studiously terrible at parenting. What normal father would want Levi ‘I'm a f--kin' redneck' Johnson prodding his daughter?"

As a result of the complaints, new editing procedures have been put in place "to insure that in the future, work that is not appropriate for our platforms, will not appear," Mr. Cruickshank wrote.

In his assessment of the complaints, Mr. Carlin also noted that cbcnews.ca displays a "very narrow range" on its web pages and the broadcaster is addressing that by expanding the diversity of its writers and opinions, Mr. Cruickshank added.

National Post