Link Round Up

It's getting hard just to keep up, isn't it?

Well, since these days I'm wearing my political thoughts and concerns (and anger) on my sleeve more and more, the good people around me are sending me a lot of important links to important stories. Here are a few of those:

Not a lot of national attention given to the police state that was St. Paul during the RNC (if you read local sites like The Minnesota Independent and Twin Cities Daily Planet you were kept abreast.). Here's something from the New York Times>>>

McCain's radical ideas for the health care system would result in fewer young people covered and unsophisticated consumers into a marketplace that is driven and controlled by sophisticated salespeople. It will be the housing crisis all over again (as this article points out): The people selling the product on the "open market" know all the ins and outs and are only out to maximize profits, all the while hoodwinking the consumer who, necessarily based on both parties' job descriptions, knows less. And guess who will pay the price when everyone involved gets burned? If you don't know the answer to that, you haven't been paying attention, which is exactly what this article argues>>>

I've talked about McCain's total reversal of the man he once was on this blog before. Here, in the Washington Post Richard Cohen does it as well. He says, "His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir -- the person in whose hands he would leave the country -- is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for." I'd take it a step further and take out the "personal" before the "treason." The decision betrayed this country's trust in politicians so greatly that the man should be put on trial. Along with all his cohorts who have committed crimes against this country and many others around the world for the last eight years. I wouldn't change another word in this article>>>

Sarah Palin is Barack Obama's shadow:

In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other."

A call to bring everything into the light to be examined by Deepak Chopra>>>

I was sent an email called Different Outlooks, which I assume many people got--it seems like one of those viral emails that makes it's way around quickly and people talk about it for a while. Still, if you haven't gotten it in your inbox, it's worth checking out. Since the author is, apparently, unknown, I'll just link to the first blog that came up when I googled "Different Outlooks Obama Palin." Looks like you may be able to stock up on some Obama gear at this site, too. Read the list of different outlooks here>>>

For a woman "to vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'" I have said on this blog that I think John McCain's citizenship should be revoked for his Palin decision. Let me say this as well: If you are a woman and you vote for McCain/Palin, you will have your feminist card revoked. I'm not 100% sure I have the authority to do that, but I do know with a McCain/Palin vote you will do nothing to help the advancement of your gender (check McCain's voting record on issues that are historically of concern for women voters) and in fact will be setting back the cause that so many women--and men--have fought for for so long. Here it is: She is a pretty face who can deliver a prepared speech. That's it. Now some say the same thing about Obama, but, if anyone seriously takes the time to compare the records of the two, the claim does not hold up (and Obama can hold up in an interview; Palin's handlers won't even let her be interviewed after the Charlie Gibson debacle). If you are a woman who votes for McCain/Palin, you have never known a time when girls were shipped across the country to have their babies, where the only people affected by abortion laws were the poor and minorities. And apparently you don't care to learn about those times. More from Gloria Steinem here>>>

An unbelievably important issue that does not get enough attention: election fraud and votes going uncounted. Even if the number is 100 and not the staggeringly high numbers some people claim (180,000 votes not counted in Florida), that would be enough for a massive investigation into this issue. The biggest elephant standing in the room right now is that racism still looms large in this country. We like to think that having Obama as a serious contender for the Presidency sweeps that all under the rug. Well, it doesn't. This county is still a hugely racist one, and the manipulation of votes is a testimony to this. Check out a preview of a documentary about this issue here>>>

My mom said this evening that "The media makes the news, it doesn't report it. And it makes me sick." Well said. Here's a story from Glenn Greenwald on Salon that eerily reports the consequences of this fact (and it is a fact). (This is an old one, and many of you are probably fully aware of this story. Sorry, I'm behind on all the details of it, so I'm posting it here>>>)

Thanks to all who send me this much needed information. It is our responsibility, since the mainstream media doesn't seem to really want it, to spread this news to as many people as we can. Keep talking. If we talk about the issues, the Republicans cannot win an argument. Go ahead, keep talking about Palin, but talk about her lack of qualifications and John McCain's recklessness in choosing her. And talk about all the other issues, too. Every day for the next month and a half. That's all the time we have, so say as much as possible from now until then.