It's Got to Change

NYT: Gouging Women on Health Insurance

French Toast

Just in case you missed it, Sarah Palin fell for it. Hard:

Sweet

Ok. First off, apologies for not updating last night with the usual poem of the week link and the friendly reminder to check out John's Sunday column. I got sidetracked by Halloween. It happens.

But there is some interesting news to report from the evening's sugar handout extravaganza.

Kids LOVE Obama. At least the kids in my 'hood. My downstairs neighbor carved an Obama 08 o'lantern and tons of kids who came for candy told us how much they liked the pumpkin. It's great to see the enthusiasm and optimism. It makes me truly hopeful.

The artist down the street carved the best Obamalantern of all:




The costumes weren't as eclectic as I'd hoped. There were a lot of princesses, a Harry Potter, an incredibly cute furry chicken, an Indiana Jones, and a muscleman Michael Phelps. The funniest (for grown-ups) was a real estate listing. The girl was wearing poster board with a picture of a house on it and several prices crossed out and replaced with lower prices. I'm guessing this is the same kid that came as a tax return last year.

Scary

Just when I was starting to think the McCain campaign had Palin's ignorance under control, she comes out with this doozy. From ABC:

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Palin's bizarre interpretation of the First Amendment is so convoluted that I am having trouble finding the right words to explain what I think she thinks it means. She should read it again:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

According to Palin, the First Amendment guarantees a politician's right to say whatever he or she wants without being called on it by the press? Is that what she's saying?

The more I mull this over, the more confused I get, but I'm pretty sure the fact that the First Amendment guarantees THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what Palin thinks it does takes her lack of intelligence to a whole new level (emphasis mine):

Without the First Amendment, religious minorities could be persecuted, the government might well establish a national religion, protesters could be silenced, the press could not criticize government, and citizens could not mobilize for social change.

Boo!

I had an opinion about John's post so I weighed in here. Linking's easier than trying to recreate the magic.

Speaking of magic, Happy Halloween (weird segue, I know). I have no costume plans as of yet though I am definitely looking forward to handing out candy. Last year was surprisingly amusing.

Sarah Palin's Rape Kit Sale

My friends at PSA made another video. Pass it around:

From Viewers to Voters

Nielsen: 33.6 million watched Obama ad:

Obama's 30-minute primetime infomercial was seen by 33.6 million viewers across seven networks -- including CBS, NBC, Fox, Univision, MSNBC, BET and TV One.

That's 70% more people than watched the conclusion of the World Series last night on Fox (19.8 million).