How the Dems can win in '08: Step Two

It's time for the Dems to figure out how to deal with abortion.

The question to ask is a simple one: What do those in favor of keeping abortions legal and those who are against the practice have in common?

Seriously. They have more in common with each other than not.

The answer?

Both sides would like to see the abortion rate get as close to zero as possible. Rather than avoid the issue, Dems should be pledging to reduce the number of abortions while keeping in place the much-needed protections for women.

Dems should speak more about keeping abortion legal when the mother's life is endangered. Dems should emphasize that it is between a woman and God to decide if it morally wrong to terminate a pregnancy that is the result of rape or incest - not the government. And then there should be an immediate follow up question: What sort of prison term does the abortion opponent want to give a woman who chooses to have an abortion after being raped?

I would like someone to ask Palin that question.

And then maybe ask her why the State of Alaska had to pass a special law because Wasilla, when Sarah was mayor and had consented to policy, charged rape victims for the medical kit that is used to collect evidence. Wasilla was the ONLY place in Alaska that had such a practice and despite calls from the state to change this policy that made victims of victims refused to do so. Read the ADN article.

Maybe the Dems should talk about R v W being about privacy. The government has no business asking a woman why she is having an abortion.

The Dems should actively dissuade women from using abortion as birth control. They should appeal to parents and church groups to counsel young folks to abstain, but if people choose to have sex, as they have done since Adam and Eve, to do so responsibly.

What the Heck!??!

If there ever was year for the Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, 2008 is ripe fruit to leave rotting on the vine.

Look at the set up:

Republiscams have controlled congress for all but about 2 years since 1994 and have controlled the White House for 20 of the last 28 years. They have run up huge deficits, led us into a disgraceful war of choice in Iraq, have tarnished the good name of America by allowing for torture, have had far more corruption and sex-related scandals than the Dems, the economy is in the bowl thanks to their deregulation policies, health care is out of reach for millions of hard-working Americans, the top 2% of the country has become incredibly wealthy while the rest of us have not experienced any real financial growth since the Clinton years. They have mismanaged FEMA and have industry flunkies running agencies that are suppose to look out for the public, squelched science, relaxed rules protecting air and water quality, illegally hired civil servants based on political affiliation...I will stop now but you know the list can take up pages. I think you get the idea - they have been the party in power and the problems we are now facing are mostly of their doing.

And for some reason, the presidential race is dead even? What the heck!??!

Big Bad John vs Desperate Dave: Borough Mayor

Hope that some of you caught the KDLL segment featuring the two candidates for bourough mayor. Agree or not with Williams and his policies and methods, he did come across at least with more than a basic understanding of the complexities of running government services.

Carey, as you might expect if you've ever had a 5 minute conversation with him, is completely clueless and relies on wrapping the flag around the issues and defaulting to honoring our veterans. And to think he taught government and civics for years. For some reason, painting fire hydrants red, white and blue is high on his agenda. Dave, dogs here in SOLdotna like to pee on those things - so do some of my friends. That's a time-honored function of fire hydrants!

I sort of like that Williams stands up to A.C.T. Personally, I don't like some North Road idiots setting borough and SOLdotna policy. We can get ourselves in deep shit here without your help!

10 things that don't Suck in Soldotna (revised)

1)Tsalteshi Trails - world class x-country skiing.
2)Kaladi Bros - the fix is on...and now remodeled!
3)Triumvirate Theater
4)River City Books
5)M. Scott Moon - the photographer for the Clarion. Damn, his picts are good - and it's about the only reason to buy the rag. How come you're still in THIS town?!?
6)KDLL (well it's not broadcast from SOLdotna. but the reception here isn't bad if you wear some tinfoil on your head)
7)The Kenai River Brewery (behind Frosos) Get a Growler or two and say hello to Inebriata
8)St. Elias Brewpub - good eats and food, but how about some noise absorbing tiles?
9)You can get there (ski, bike, climb, hike, kayak) from here.
10) Sarah Palin is not the mayor!

How the Dems can win in '08: Step One

Sarah Palin as Veep?

Part of the reason we're SOL in Soldotna is that Palin is a PAIN in Alaska!

This should be the best news for the Democrats - but the party that loves to lose can't seem to figure out how to respond to the shot in the rear her selection as #2 has given to McCain and the Republicans.

Well, you don't go after her directly, you go after her by questioning the wisdom, judgment (and sanity) of McCain. These are the themes Obama used so eloquently at the Democratic convention last month. Don't even mention her name when you go after McCain's decision to select her as his veep.

For example, the selection of the Alaskan quarter, global warming, and the polar bear being listed as threatened species is ripe for slamming the Republiscams.

Simply have Barack, Joe or some responsible Dem spokesperson hold up 2 quarters - the brown bear that was selected and the polar bear that wasn't and say something like this:

"Alaska recently selected the brown bear as the its state's quarter - a nice design, but the brown bear is hardly unique to Alaska. The governor did not choose the polar bear despite the fact that Alaska is the only state where this magnificent animal lives. Well, there's republican politics at play with this decision.

"We've just endured eight years of the Bush administration ignoring and circumventing sound science. Now John McCain has selected someone as his vice presidential candidate who operates in the same fashion. Despite overwhelming scientific research supporting listing the polar bear as a threatened species, the State of Alaska, under the administration of the Republican vice-presidential candidate has sued the federal government citing that there was no evidence to support the claim. (You can read her OpEd piece in the NYTimes here) She wrote "My decision is based on a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts."

"Yet, the governor has in fact chosen to ignore the findings of her own scientists - she want as far as to suppress their findings and kept this information from seeing the light of day (Read the ADN article). Alaskan scientists just happen to agree with the Department of the Interior's scientists - the polar bear is indeed threatened.

"Republicans like to argue that any finding that doesn't fit with their agenda is 'junk', but the truth is that they toss any valid research that contradicts their extreme positions into the junk pile.

"Do we really want four more years of Republicans hiding the truth from the American people?

"John McCain's straight talk express is just straight away from the truth."