I've ranted and I've raved, I've tried so hard to write what's deep within my heart but I've never quite captured the core of my feelings. Then I read this -- the best article I've found that says what I wish I could have said. Bravo Mr. Hitchins! Brilliantly done!

(If you don't have lots of time, scroll down to the last paragraph and read it. Fantastic!)

Sarah Palin's War on Science
The GOP ticket's appalling contempt for knowledge and learning.
By Christopher Hitchens Posted Monday, Oct. 27, 2008, at 11:43 AM ET

In an election that has been fought on an astoundingly low cultural and intellectual level, with both candidates pretending that tax cuts can go like peaches and cream with the staggering new levels of federal deficit, and paltry charges being traded in petty ways, and with Joe the Plumber becoming the emblematic stupidity of the campaign, it didn't seem possible that things could go any lower or get any dumber. But they did last Friday, when, at a speech in Pittsburgh, Gov. Sarah Palin denounced wasteful expenditure on fruit-fly research, adding for good xenophobic and anti-elitist measure that some of this research took place "in Paris, France" and winding up with a folksy "I kid you not."

It was in 1933 that Thomas Hunt Morgan won a Nobel Prize for showing that genes are passed on by way of chromosomes. The experimental creature that he employed in the making of this great discovery was the Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly. Scientists of various sorts continue to find it a very useful resource, since it can be easily and plentifully "cultured" in a laboratory, has a very short generation time, and displays a great variety of mutation. This makes it useful in studying disease, and since Gov. Palin was in Pittsburgh to talk about her signature "issue" of disability and special needs, she might even have had some researcher tell her that there is a Drosophila-based center for research into autism at the University of North Carolina. The fruit fly can also be a menace to American agriculture, so any financing of research into its habits and mutations is money well-spent. It's especially ridiculous and unfortunate that the governor chose to make such a fool of herself in Pittsburgh, a great city that remade itself after the decline of coal and steel into a center of high-tech medical research.

In this case, it could be argued, Palin was not just being a fool in her own right but was following a demagogic lead set by the man who appointed her as his running mate. Sen. John McCain has made repeated use of an anti-waste and anti-pork ad (several times repeated and elaborated in his increasingly witless speeches) in which the expenditure of $3 million to study the DNA of grizzly bears in Montana was derided as "unbelievable." As an excellent article in the Feb. 8, 2008, Scientific American pointed out, there is no way to enforce the Endangered Species Act without getting some sort of estimate of numbers, and the best way of tracking and tracing the elusive grizzly is by setting up barbed-wire hair-snagging stations that painlessly take samples from the bears as they lumber by and then running the DNA samples through a laboratory. The cost is almost trivial compared with the importance of understanding this species, and I dare say the project will yield results in the measurement of other animal populations as well, but all McCain could do was be flippant and say that he wondered whether it was a "paternity" or "criminal" issue that the Fish and Wildlife Service was investigating. (Perhaps those really are the only things that he associates in his mind with DNA.)

With Palin, however, the contempt for science may be something a little more sinister than the bluff, empty-headed plain-man's philistinism of McCain. We never get a chance to ask her in detail about these things, but she is known to favor the teaching of creationism in schools (smuggling this crazy idea through customs in the innocent disguise of "teaching the argument," as if there was an argument), and so it is at least probable that she believes all creatures from humans to fruit flies were created just as they are now. This would make DNA or any other kind of research pointless, whether conducted in Paris or not. Projects such as sequencing the DNA of the flu virus, the better to inoculate against it, would not need to be funded. We could all expire happily in the name of God. Gov. Palin also says that she doesn't think humans are responsible for global warming; again, one would like to ask her whether, like some of her co-religionists, she is a "premillenial dispensationalist"—in other words, someone who believes that there is no point in protecting and preserving the natural world, since the end of days will soon be upon us.

Videos taken in the Assembly of God church in Wasilla, Alaska, which she used to attend, show her nodding as a preacher says that Alaska will be "one of the refuge states in the Last Days." For the uninitiated, this is a reference to a crackpot belief, widely held among those who brood on the "End Times," that some parts of the world will end at different times from others, and Alaska will be a big draw as the heavens darken on account of its wide open spaces. An article by Laurie Goodstein in the New York Times gives further gruesome details of the extreme Pentecostalism with which Palin has been associated in the past (perhaps moderating herself, at least in public, as a political career became more attractive). High points, also available on YouTube, show her being "anointed" by an African bishop who claims to cast out witches. The term used in the trade for this hysterical superstitious nonsense is "spiritual warfare," in which true Christian soldiers are trained to fight demons. Palin has spoken at "spiritual warfare" events as recently as June. And only last week the chiller from Wasilla spoke of "prayer warriors" in a radio interview with James Dobson of Focus on the Family, who said that he and his lovely wife, Shirley, had convened a prayer meeting to beseech that "God's perfect will be done on Nov. 4."

This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson used these words in the the Declaration of Independence as a rebuttal to the customary political theory of the day: the Divine Right of Kings.

In Wiki words: The Divine Right of Kings is a general term that refers to the philosophy and ideas used to justify the authority and legitimacy of monarchs in medieval and early modern Europe. The doctrine broadly holds that a monarch derives his or her right to rule from the will of God, and not from any temporal authority, including the will of his subjects, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm. Chosen by God, a monarch is accountable only to Him, and need answer only before God for his actions. The doctrine implies that the deposition of the king or the restriction of the prerogative power of the crown runs contrary to the will of God.

232 years later it kind of reminds you of the Republican base, evoking god at every turn and claiming god wants them to rule; deciding who's American and who isn't; who's a patriot and who isn't; who should have civil rights and who shouldn't; who should bear babies which translates to any female of any age who has a fertilized egg, whether that female is ten years old or raped by her uncle -- whether that female has serious health issues or not, she must carry that egg to fruition unless her death is immanent. And then only one breath before her last, the government will say ok, save her life if you can.

God talked to Bush and now talks to Palin according to those two pious pontificators. I ask: Just who is this god?

Funny --not the god I know. The god that talks to me says all human beings have the above rights set forth by the constitution and that includes gays and lesbians and women who choose control over their own bodies and people of color, and low income people and people who have no particular religion. The god I know believes that you don't stick your nose into your neighbor's bedroom or womb for that matter -- that one should love thy neighbor like thyself.

While the Republicans rock the cradle of the "pre-borns" they abandon the real, living children who are brought to this earth. They don't support "welfare" as they call it and I suppose think these infants should just get a job and pull themselves up by their booties. Health care for post borns? Nah, they don't need it. The death penalty for post borns? Yup, they're for it big time.

I always laugh when I hear Palin speak of being pro life when she hunts for sport, supports the death penalty and doesn't care much at all about the life of even a child who is raped and becomes pregnant. There's something to be said about quality of life. A forced pregnancy on a young girl would certainly affect her for the duration of her life, raped once by a male, raped twice by the government. Disgusting.

The Republican party no longer shares any of my values and specifically my family values.

They want to rule like the kings. Their way or the highway. The rich must get richer, you hear me?

And look how well it's worked for the economy. The poor slobs keep waiting for their "trickle" of cash from the last century's idea of sound economics: the foolish trickle down theory. Give all the money to the rich and they'll throw you some crumbs.

Only that theory doesn't work anymore. The rich just buy another house or another car; they hide their money off shore or in tricky schemes where they don't have to pay their fair share of taxes; they keep getting richer and richer and they covet every penny they can get their greedy hands on. Wall Street is a fine example of how the tricky, trickle down theory works.

We, the middle class soon to be plain old poor, shoulder the lion's share of the taxes, tin cup in hand, waiting for a Republican prince or princess to throw a few coins in our cup so we can feed our kids -- our 9 kids if they had their way.

Is the Republican anti-choice, forced childbirth their new plan on how to expand their ever dwindling ranks? If so they should remember families need a few pennies so we can feed our brood and clothe them and educate them and keep them healthy.

It is so overdue, so so imperative we have a change in philosophy and leadership in our beloved country and go back and remember what Jefferson wrote.

Oh...excuse me, god is whispering in my ear. What god? Okay I'll tell them.

God said to vote for Democrats that Republicans had 8 long years and it's pretty obvious what they did to the country. God also said that s/he's thinking about taking away free will and plans to eliminate it if we don't cherish it and exercise it!

Sarah Palin is not a role model!

John McCain said it again on a TV interview and it makes me want to throw something at the TV.

***I repeat, she's not a role model Mr. McCain. Who the hell would want to be like her?

Mr. McCain, did you mean plain old model as in a living dress form upon which you drape $150,000 worth of textiles? $30,000 worth of make-up and hair do's?

As far as I can see there's nothing about her anyone would want to emulate: her bigotry? or vapidity? or duplicity? I don't think so.

Or how about all those "un's" she is expert at like: unconversant, uncultivated, uncultured, uneducated, unenlightened, uninformed, uninitiated, uncouth, unintellectual, unknowledgeable, unlearned, unlettered, unmindful, unread, unschooled, untaught, untrained, and unimaginable as either Vice President or President of the United States.****

You'd think by now, McCain would realize the American people by a majority have rejected Palin as able to hold the political office of Vice President.

But the type of infatuation McCain feels for Palin does not lend itself to reason. When he speaks of her, his pulse rate goes up, his insides flutter and he dreams of red patent leather pumps.

McCain's advisors have tried hard with Palin but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

McCain made an egregious error in selecting his type of woman rather than a dignified, intelligent, well-spoken, qualified person to take his place if he couldn't fulfill the duties of the President. At his age with his previous cancers, you'd think he might have thrown the American public a bone and selected someone with credentials other than the cuteness factor.

The Palin pick was a total Puck YOU to America; it was John McCain's desire to get "his biscuit in the basket" and nothing more.

What's wrong with this picture? Ha ha ha ha ha



Photo by Max Whittaker/Getty Images

Sarah Palin: Nominee or Kept Woman?

I think the latter. McCain, from the minute he selected Palin for veep, seemed more in love with her than confident in her abilities, governing abilities that is. Remember how he hugged her and did googoo eyes at her?

Remember how he stated that in Palin he saw "a partner and a soul mate?" Soul mate? I remember thinking at the time: this selection is more about erection than election.

I had almost forgotten that creepy feeling I got when McCain cavorted on stage showing off Palin as if they'd just become engaged. I remember feeling sorry for Cindy who from that time on wore brighter and brighter Kool-aid colors, extremely bright colors, so bright that I wondered where you could buy a banana yellow dress or a electric lime green suit?

And speaking of Cindy's clothing it seques into Palin's clothing -- about $150,000 worth of make-up and clothing paid for by Republican political donations. (Hope the people who gave money to McCain's campaign are happy with where there money went -- on Palin's back!)

That's some Wal-mart, hockey mom! For someone supposedly so purely small town, she was able to select some pricey items. Of course, most people realize by now, that what Palin says and what she does are often in conflict with each other.

This news that so much money had been poured on one woman reminded me of McCain's love struck gaze when he introduced Palin to the world and I guess he's keeping her in the finer things of life just like any old man does when he wants to "keep" a young, pretty woman at his side.

Yes, it appears to me that Palin is a kept woman. And the part that bugs me the most, is how she's kept away from the media: not one single press conference since her selection. All we get of her is snippets here and there and lots of whining about how unfairly she's been treated.

Apparently the McCain campaign is playing keep away with Palin and they have no intentions of letting her speak unscripted before the election.

Certainly I understand why they don't want Palin to ever have to think on her feet for one second. When left to her own devices she says something so stupid that it reminds you why she was picked in the first place. She's McCain's trophy soulmate and selected for her retro looks which especially appeal to men of McCain's age. She's the woman he wanted to nail 25 years ago - frozen in Alaskan time.

I'm trying to figure out just who would vote for the McCain Palin ticket. It's harder and harder to figure out just who these people are. Truly, not a soul I know is voting for them.

Well, they can't be animal lovers. No animal lover would give a vote to Palin. Never.

They can't be women who value choice when it comes to their reproductive rights.

Can't be teachers after McCain slighted the whole profession by stating soldiers could come back from Iraq and get teaching jobs without that pesky certification. Anyone can teach after all according to McCain.

Can't be people who remember 9/11 and want to "get" Bin Laden, because Iraq sops up all troops, money and resources leaving Bin Laden alive and well in his well-appointed cave.

Can't be 95% of the working people, because they'd get a tax break from Obama but the same old Bush trickle down theory (some day when you're old and gray and by the way I'm still waiting) theory of wealth distribution from McCain. (Also known as the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.)

They can't be people who know or love a gay or lesbian -- or people who have the intelligence to understand that same-sex marriage is not a threat to anyone and all people deserve equal rights.

They can't be people who've lost their 401Ks or their home or other financial losses due to the past eight years of "one of us" running the country. (One of us is a code phrase for dumb, by the way, witness how Palin uses Joe Six-pack as a synonym for herself and others like her.)

They can't be women in general due to the McCain/Palin's antediluvian ideas about forcing women to bear children even if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.

They can't be men who would like their wives, sisters or daughters to have the choice to terminate a pregnancy that would harm them physically or mentally.

They can't belong to any religion other than born again, Pentecostal, witchcraft-believing Christians, and certainly must believe in the identical rules and rites that Palin believes as she promotes herself as God's little perky, winking soldier and she knows how to handle a gun. Scary.

They can't be scientists or people who know that dinosaurs and people never shared the earth and evolution and global warming are real and not "notions."

They can't come from large towns or cities as Palin seems to think those people aren't pro-American.

They can't value ethics -- or Palin's abuse of power and ethical lapses in Alaska would keep them from voting for the McCain Palin ticket.

They can't value truth as both McCain Palin are following one of Rove's rules: lie, lie and lie some more and eventually people will believe it.

They can't be librarians and by the way librarians are true heros of the world.

They can't be Catholics because Palin rejected Catholicism in favor of a Pentecostal church.

They must really love George Bush and his ilk to place the same type of person back into office.

They can't worry about McCain's age and how Palin could very well end up leading our country someday with her quaint and simplistic jargon as the only information we have about her depth of knowledge on anything other than stirring up hatred in crowds.

I could go on and on, but instead I'll just keep wondering who these people are.

I'm not into voter suppression but I am thinking that maybe an IQ test should be necessary before you are able to vote.

Oh, and I make this promise, this solemn vow, that I will never vote for another Republican on any level of government until the Republicans change their extreme right wing platform and join the 21st century. The middle ages are over now.

There was a time when I had a choice on whom to vote for, but not now. I hope the Republicans wake up and realize all this pandering to the Christian Crazies is destroying the two party system in America; that it's becoming okay to take American citizens and divvy them up into pro and anti Americans; that old pasty faced white men have the right to decide what women do with their bodies; that "gay" marriage will ruin society and that thinking people, intelligent people are somehow not qualified to be elected.

And Drill Baby Drill? That's as effective as giving blood transfusions to a hemorrhaging person; it works right up until you use the last drop of blood.

Rant over.

So for a change, this post will not be about politics. This post is about finding a missing cat. Searching for a missing cat. Crying over a missing cat and eventually locating the missing cat.

Exhibit A: The Cat
Also, Exhibit B: the window. (Yes it needs a coat of paint.)

Last Saturday we opened the window about 4 inches to let in some cool Fall air. Not the window pictured, but another window that didn't have a screen. Then we went about our normal daily routines until we realized we hadn't seen Finbar in hours. He hadn't shown up for his lunch nor his afternoon snack. He wasn't in his favorite sleeping places. He wasn't anywhere that we could find him.

Slowly it dawned on us that we had the open window in the bedroom, was it possible he could have jumped out from such a small opening?

The search began in earnest and by 8 Pm Saturday night we were half crazed. We were frightened but hoped that by morning he would have returned home. Although Fin is an indoor cat, he goes out twice a day for about an hour. He doesn't go far, in fact most times he just sits on the porch, then scratches at the door to come in. We weren't sobbing uncontrollably yet, but Sunday morning there was no cat and tears started to flow. Monday no cat. Tuesday the cat was still missing. Wednesday still no cat.

We had scoured the neighborhood looking for him. Got up every hour on the hour to check the porch. We called his name, we banged the spoon against his dish, we notified Animal Control, neighbors, friends, family and signed up for online pet searching organizations and put an ad in the paper.

No cat. Gone.

By Thursday we were dealing with the realization that we might never see him again. He had been swallowed up by a big black hole. He had been run over by a car, stolen by some fool who wanted an aloof cat that could eat 10 can's of Fancy Feast a day, trapped by a neighbor who didn't like cats and was being slowly poisoned to death, up a tree so high we'd need binoculars to find him, down in a storm drain treading water with his lovely polydactyl paws. We tortured ourselves with the possibilities of how he died and were totally bereft.

At approximately one PM yesterday, I opened a closet in the spare room and placed some summer clothing onto the shelf. Then I went into the office to read my email. While typing away I saw something moving in my peripheral vision: it was the cat!

Apparently he got into the closet, which has a little crawl space way in the back behind a ton of bedding and pure junk and got into the attic. He stayed in the attic for five days without meowing or pawing at the door or making a single sound that we or the dog could hear.

I'm not sure what struck him dumb and mute or why or even how he could have his almost 17 pound body in there for five days without someone hearing him, but folks, that's what he did.

So if you are missing a cat, if you have given up hope, don't. Look in your own house, small spots, attics etc. and you, like me, might get the surprise of your life when out sashays your cat like nothing unusual has happened.

Other than eating 5 cans of food in 3 hours, he's back to his old self and old routines like sitting on his window shelf or on top of the armoir, curling up with the dog and playing noisily with his toys.

I thought I'd never see him again and still can't believe he was in the attic for 5 days without us knowing, but that's what happened.

By making the false assumption he'd jumped out the window, our search focused outdoors. I'm posting this rather lengthy essay on finding a cat because maybe it will help someone else locate their cat and then they can be as happy as we are now!

John McCain, here's where your ideas and mine part ways.

1) Sarah Palin is no role model for women. What an enormous insult to women!! She is unethical and abused her power as governor of Alaska. She is intellectually challenged and morally corrupt. She's a right wing dingbat who alternates between Bimbo and Rambo. She is your wet dream sir, but not mine. She's the type of woman who is not satisfied with controlling her own uterus, but wants a shot at all women's reproductive organs.

2) Mr. McCain, please read up on autism. Autism and Down Syndrome are not synonymous, ergo your statements in the past and last night, that Palin knows more about Autism because she has a Down Syndrome child make no sense. I would guess that a mother of an autistic child would know a great deal more about autism than Palin, wouldn't you John? Stop insulting the mothers of autistic children by holding up Palin as the expert on the subject. I'd bet she couldn't spell the word, never mind be well versed on the subject.

3) It's obvious now that you don't give a whit about issues that might confront a woman's health in pregnancy. You did air quotes twice during the debate to show how liberals are so nasty and evil that they do consider the "health" of a mother as important and would choose adult life, like the 32 year old mother of 4 who has an ectopic pregnancy, over an egg that implanted outside the womb. You and Palin would want to legislate that until the mother was half-dead she could not have an abortion. That's nothing but sheer insanity and disgusting. On this one issue alone, enforced childbirth, no one should vote for you or your winking whacko wombat.

4) You said this last night: "We need to encourage programs such as Teach for America and Troops to Teachers where people, after having served in the military, can go right to teaching and not have to take these examinations which -- or have the certification that some are required in some states."

Every teacher in America, every parent, every citizen who values education must vote for Obama if you truly believe the statement you said last night. How on earth did serving in the military prepare someone to be a professional teacher? What an insult to teachers!

Oh I have more to say about your uninformed, prejudiced old-man creepiness, but I haven't had my coffee yet.

You gave people a million reasons NOT to vote for you. Great job on the debate, and it seems by the way, that just like Palin's son-in-law to be, Levi Johnston, Joe the plumber isn't registered to vote. That's not confirmed yet from my research but his name isn't on any voter list that they can find.

This message is for Sarah Palin's lesbian girlfriend who she states she's known for 30 years.

Where are you imaginary lesbian friend?

I know you've really enjoyed being a friend of Sarah who is "tolerant" of you and your "choice" as she's stated on TV.

(Nothing like being tolerated to give you that warm fuzzy feeling, right?)

Also, how is it that you could be a friend to someone who vehemently supports enforced childbirth - even for 12 year olds who have been raped? You must be one unique lesbian to be so tolerant of Palin and her anti woman views.

I'm dying to meet you. Stop by and say hi.

I haven't seen my own imaginary friend since I turned four.

Gay Marriage in Connecticut -- the court says yes!

Dear John McCain,

I watched you last night and boy you've gone way down hill. You looked physically ill or in pain or both. You doddered around the stage as if you couldn't find your way back to your stool. You look nothing like the man of two years ago and have aged dramatically recently.

I don't know a delicate way to say this, but, has Sarah Palin been preparing your meals?

If so, I'd refuse to eat any more of Palin's cooking. That one is up to no good.

John, she really really wants to be president and won't let anything get in her way...not even you.

Get some blood work done ASAP, Mary

I keep getting angrier and angrier with McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for vice president so here comes another rant:

I have to laugh. Don't we all know someone exactly like Sarah Palin?

You know that type of woman who just isn't smart enough to realize she just isn't smart enough? Someone who's been blessed with extreme self-confidence and has no need to ever second guess herself or her views. An empty-headed, true-believer who's managed to fake her way though life whether it's a piss-poor flute solo or a piss-poor VP debate and still believes she did "awesome".

They are able to maintain this high level of self confidence by unplugging themselves from the real world which might offer challenges to their self view.

They often mispronounce words because they don't hear how others say the word or assume that all other people are saying the word incorrectly or just think: well, that's how *I* say it.

Why else would Palin still pronounce nuclear, "New Q ler"? No need to learn anything; no need to be accurate, no need to admit a flaw, even as minor as a mispronunciation. (George Bush falls into this category too.)

They don't look to improve themselves by learning something new, and are completely satisfied with their current knowledge or lack of it, on any given subject.

They do all this while playing to the stereotype of the woman they think men really want: a dimply, winking, coy, pink bubblegum for a tongue, hide behind the man's broad shoulders, celluloid, carnival Kewpie doll child/woman.

They teeter around on stilettos , distracting attention from the stiletto they are slipping into their victims all the while smiling smiling smiling.

Palin needs to be stopped and now, or she'll be "shouting out" to us again and again. Even if Obama wins in November, this "gal" is going to dog us, "doggone it," unless people let the Republicans know that Sarah Palin is the last dirty trick the American people will tolerate from them.

The Sarah Palins of the world are often found in our workplace, our neighborhood, or yes, even our kids' hockey games, but we don't have to put up with them in our government. May women's voices ring loud and clear at the voting booths: send that 1980's dinosaur back to Alaska, baked.

Winkin' Blinkin' and Odd


How anyone could say Sarah Palin won last night's debate is beyond me. How anyone could say she "held her own with Biden," makes no sense. She didn't answer the questions that were presented to her. She ignored the moderator and the questions, and spit up some rhetoric that handlers had force fed for the past three days. But that's not all she did.

She alienated more women and charmed more men. She did this with a method women have used for years to attract, deflect and manipulate situations: she flirted shamelessly.

The winking and eyelash batting, the pouting and squinting, the kittenish cutesiness, the mugging for the camera and folksy talk would be barely tolerable in a much younger woman, and is foolish looking from a woman in her forties with five children. Extra foolish looking from a woman who might very well end up being President of the United States, never mind Vice President.

I suppose we should be thankful she didn't show up in a swimsuit or a pageant gown, although her banal bantering and non-answers would have been a better fit for a beauty contest than a Vice Presidential debate.

Just as Betty Boop was a symbol of the depression era, Palin seems to be fashioning her public persona after that large but empty-headed, cartoon character, and is vying for the role of the next Betty Boop in the next era of economic disaster: now.

So there you have it. Sarah Palin did not soil herself on national TV and that seems to be reason enough to declare her as a viable candidate for one of the most powerful positions in the world.

Luckily, women were not fooled as easily as men. And there's more of us than there is of them.

Wink, wink, blink, blink and boop boop a do!

Who said be careful what you wish for, it might just come true?

I certainly wished for Hillary Clinton to win the primary and be the Democratic Presidential candidate. I respected and still respect her amazing intelligence and her "narrative" which has been working for the middle class and for women and children her whole life. I wanted a woman in charge, specifically Hillary.

I was heartily disappointed when she didn't win, not because I didn't like Barack Obama, but because I wanted Hillary; she was my girl all the way. I wanted a woman in a high position to truly change the direction our poor country was being dragged in by Bush et al.

Initially, I did not detest McCain, even found him to be the least horrid of the Republican primary candidates. But then I didn't know him as well as I do now. He wasn't the Johnny one note I see before me nor had he chosen his running mate at this point.

The choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate is a total fuck you to the country and especially to women. McCain's choice and Palin's hubris to accept the nomination have placed women, once again, back into the category of not good enough to lead, silly little fluffs, leakers of breast milk and amniotic fluid, lipstick wearing, high heel wearing, eyelash batters, but not much more.

Maybe there's some truth to the joke: all women look alike in the dark. Maybe to McCain any woman would do, but the choice of Palin is a huge insult.

Although I might not share the ideology of Condoleezza Rice or Kay Bailey Hutchison or Olympia Snowe, I'd sure feel a lot safer and better right now as we go into the last weeks before the election, if one of them were McCain's running mate.

Palin is just unacceptable. I'm not talking about experience or lack of it, I'm talking about intelligence. This woman is an incurious, true believer who doesn't think and hasn't had to think and uses faith as a replacement for brain cells. She's a Neanderthal in lipstick.

Her latest comment about global warming and that it doesn't matter if it's man made or just natural climate changes, shows her ignorance. If you don't know what is the cause of global warming, then how do you go about fixin' it?

(I didn't think it was possible to find someone who could speak worse than George Bush, but McCain found someone!)

Of all her sins, Palin's choice to be anti-woman is the most difficult to bear. Palin could respresent and promote the rights and concerns of all American women. Instead she is our worst enemy. She wants us to hand over our reproductive rights to the government even though women have been loud and clear on this issue: the majority of women want freedom to choose what they do or don't do with their own bodies.

Yes, she has the Republican Viagra vote and the support of the extreme right wing conservatives, but this country has a lot more people than those two limited groups. This country also has me and my friends and associates who are embarassed by Palin and infuriated at McCain for his brain-fart choice.

I know there's more of "us" out there so please don't skip voting this year. Wouldn't it be nice to vote for someone who is intelligent, for a change?

We had 8 years of Bush doltishness and stubborness and we can't have four more of the same.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will not embarass us; will not force extreme religious conservatism down our throats; will not lobby to control our bodies; have the capacity to understand complex issues; they will not jump into war to generate more war stories to tell on the stump; won't let our planet go to hell and won't let us down like George Bush did -- like McCain/ Palin will if elected.