You have to feel sorry for Bristol Palin. Because of her mother’s place on the Republican ticket, the biggest challenges of Bristol’s life thus far — becoming a parent and a wife before she has even graduated high school — will now play out on the national stage, opening her up to the judgments of hundreds of millions of gossipy Americans, not to mention election-watchers across the globe.

The truth is, conservatives are more familiar with teen parenthood than are secular liberals. On the whole, red states have higher teen pregnancy and birth rates than blue states. In Texas, the state with the highest teen birth rate, 63 out of every 1,000 young women aged 15 to 19 has had a baby. California has the lowest teen birth rate; only 39 of every 1,000 15- to 19-year-old girls there have carried a pregnancy to term. Alaska, where Bristol Palin grew up, has a typical teen birth rate of about 42.

Do the GOP believe in anything rooted in reality? Apparently not. And there’s more here:

Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention

Federal government involved in raids on protesters

There is a powerful short story by the master Harlan Ellison entitled Daniel White for the Greater Good- you can download it at the link for under a dollar, its money well spent. In it, a black man is falsely accused of raping a white girl in Georgia, and is visited by an NAACP representative with an unusual plan of action.

Instead of defending the man, saving yet another innocent black from the tyranny of the mob, he decides to let him hang, to become a martyr.

So when the federal government- the FBI, ATF, etc- descend like stormtroopers into the houses of lawful citizens, when journalists such as Amy Goodman are arrested, it becomes clear what Thomas Jefferson meant when he said:

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Instead of pitifully “demanding” justice, instead of marching, instead of being corralled in free speech pens, shoot the bastards.

True, you’ll be killed. Just like Waco. Just like Ruby Ridge.

But if you’ve done your work right, you’ll have a team of lawyers ready to sue the feds into court, where they can explain why they targeted a group of pasty-faced vegans and college students in the first place, and why they slaughtered them when they refused to be subjects.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

When Jefferson said this, he was serious. If the government had to wonder if behind every door was a shotgun named liberty, they might pause a moment before getting out the battering ram.

Jefferson was serious.

Are you?

Made the mistake of lingering for a moment on the Republican National Convention last night, but to be fair, I thought it was a new Romero film, this time the zombies all had glassy stares and shellacked hair- and they were all white. The only blacks in the hall had aprons on; you can tell them from the Hispanics parking cars, they wear vests.

But I digress.

Now nobody says anything of substance at these things, either party, of course. The point is to get elected, and you certainly can’t say anything that might offend somebody, somewhere- but to watch ghouls like Norm Coleman (seriously, he looks like Count Dracula) or Jo Ann Davidson blather banalities to a few thousand rich white people is cruel and unusual punishment.

Seriously, when the following is your message, you have a major problem with reality:

From the days of Abraham Lincoln to the ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin (WTF?), reform is a core value guiding this party.

Today, John McCain stands ready to reform our nation’s tax, healthcare, energy and government spending policies.

Reform? Reform from what? The last eight years of GOP rule?

Reform from yourself?

Delusional narcissistic leaches, hellbent on proving Mencken:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

McCain Campaign Sends A Dozen Communications Operatives, Lawyers To Alaska

One could spend the rest of the days until the election pondering the “why” of Sarah Palin becoming the VP pick- although its doubtful that she’ll be on the ticket come November, given the various details about starting to emerge- did ya know she once served on a group who’s aim was to have Alaska secede from the United States? Doubt we’ve ever had a candidate with that on their resume before.

But something is up. As speculated before, the McCain campaign is a floundering disgrace to f’ups, and they are putting on a good show of appearing to not want the job at all. Sure, Palin is a dandy hunk of MILF meat tossed to the Dobson crowd, but those people don’t elect a president, no matter what the nattering nabobs of stupid want to tell ya on Faux. And if McStupid thinks that he’s gonna win the PUMA vote, ha. Those women might have only become interested in politics once a candidate emerged who urinated in the same manner as they, but lord, they ain’t completely stupid, and see this anti-choice mooseburger eating airhead for what she is, the Princess of Pander.

But something is afoot. There is absolutely no way that the political apparatus that sold the lies of 9-11, the Iraqi war, stole two elections and stonewalled Congress on everything does something this incredibly stupid. No way in hell.

So what the hell are they up to?

‘Scary’ intruder drill leaves Phillipsburg teachers upset, district officials assured

A group of elementary teachers gathered for a workshop at Phillipsburg Early Childhood Learning Center got a shock Friday when a gunman burst into the facility library.
The man, yelling obscenities, squeezed off several shots, prompting those present to run for cover and pray for their lives.

One said, “If I was told it was drill, I would still have followed protocol. Why did we have to think that it was the end of our lives?”

Yeah, you got lucky Phillipsburg- “scary intruder guy” should be dead. There is no point in drilling teachers as to the proper way to lay down and be victims, instead, you should allow them to conceal carry a handgun.

That way, next time some pasty faced desk commando gets the big idea to shock and awe a bunch of teachers, the hapless actor is dead, the teachers feel empowered, and parents (if they have a lick of sense) are comforted that they are leaving their children in the hands of someone who is willing to fight to save them, instead of knowing the proper pose of supplication to take under a desk, praying for the best.

GOP Cancels Convention Opening Night

Good idea, nobody wants a repeat of Katrina, public relations-wise, right? That whole let them eat cake image, little hard to shake.

But why now? Why did the powers that be decree that today is the day Gustav heads inland?

Well, last time, a noted Biblical scholar had this to say:

Hagee Says Hurricane Katrina Struck New Orleans Because It Was ‘Planning A Sinful’ ‘Homosexual Rally

Ok, so NOLA gets its ass kicked because God didn’t like the idea of a “homosexual rally”.

And now another storm knocks out the Republican National Convention.

Either you believe in both, or you believe in neither.

I’m just sayin’…

Oh, not so much, from a leading conservative website:

Terrible Choice

McCain just lost the election.

Close, skippy. He lost it when he had his nose surgically implanted in King George’s sphincter. But taking your biggest issue with Barack- his lack of experience- out of the picture by nominating someone even less experienced?

Da stupid. It burns.

Vladimir Putin accuses Bush of provoking Georgia conflict to help John McCain

The Russian Prime Minister said that arming Georgia and pushing for conflict would give ’competitive advantage to one US candidate’

“The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US President.”

This is the sort of utter nonsense you gotta expect from some commie nutcase. I mean, just how crazy do you have to be to think that our President would slaughter innocent civilians and start a war just for political ends?

Oh yeah, that. Nevermind…

Will it be Tim “how in the hell do you pronounce your name?” Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota, who you’ll remember from this:

Last year, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty—often mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate for Sen. John McCain—vetoed a $6.6 billion transportation spending plan that included money to replace the I-35W bridge and inspect and repair other bridges. The state legislature overrode the veto.

Or this utterly repugnant, flip-flopping Mr. Moneybags, Mitt Romney, who graced us with this little pearl of intellectual jisim:

Romney: McCain earned his homes; Obama didn’t

Dumping your disabled first wife to hump a beer heiress in the hopes of a joint checking account isn’t “earning” shit, as anyone other than your typical amoral GOP “leader” could tell ya.

And to top it off, just to prove he has a wicked sense of irony, the big guy upstairs has decided to remind everybody of just what GOP “leadership” stands for:

Just in case you guys ain’t picking up on it yet, because you’re sorta dense? Other than the news media and the uberrich, everybody f’n hates you guys. Hates.