Call Of Duty 4: My Gold Cross

Anyone who plays Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer will be familiar with the coveted Gold Cross.

In the multiplayer game there are 55 ranks, after which you can give up some of your achievements and unlocked weapons to return to the lowest rank. Each time you do this, you get a new prestige medal, the tenth and highest of which is the gold cross, based upon the Navy medal shown above.

Well I got my gold cross this week. All it cost me was hours of my life, and killing over 45,000 people.

But I decided to post my suggestions for leveling up to the Gold Cross as quickly as possible. These are just my opinions, and I'm sure there are better ways of doing things out there. I personally like to play mainly mercenary team deathmatches, although I've heard arguments that there are faster ways to level up.

• During ranks 1-4 the goal is to pick one of the available weapons (MP5, M16 or SAW), and just kill away. Use whatever weapon works for you (or any weapon you find). Your goal should be to kill as many people as you can. It shouldn't take very much effort to get these early promotions.
• At rank 5, you get to create a class, so you now have access to a few more weapons. Again it doesn't really matter what you choose. Just pick something you feel comfortable with and kill.
• Pay special attention to the barracks. Once this opens up you will start earning eXPerience points for certain achievements. Specifically one of the easiest ways to earn XP is to simply shoot 150 people with each weapon. I'm talking only SMG, LMG, and Assault weapons. Shotguns and sniper rifles have different rules, and I'm not much of a sniper, or shotgun player. Although when I do snipe I like the M21.
  
• Since you are aiming to level up to Gold Cross, there is little point in worrying about 'expert' ratings on weapons (head shots). Unless you are an amazing shot, the goal is to really just kill people thus leveling up your marksman stats. 150 kills earns you 1,500 XP points, but by killing that many people with the same gun you will also get 1,600 XP along the way too. The biggest award being 1,000 XP when you hit 150 kills.
• In the early levels I recommend use of stun grenades, stopping power, and extreme conditioning. These are the perks I like to use. Extreme conditioning lets you run around very fast for a long time, which fits with my default style of play. I think stopping power is a must for all classes, pretty much all the time. There is nothing more annoying than spraying someone with a machine gun, and they just turn around and kill you before you can kill them.
• As soon as you get marksman III on a weapon, move to another. Just pick the easy weapons like the LMGs, SMGs, AK47, M16, G36c, and M4. For now, don't worry about head shots. The goal is to get as many promotions as you can as quickly as possible.
• When you reach level 17, Martyrdom becomes available, I have this on every class. Yes I've heard it's a noob thing, but I don't give a shit. It is a great way of picking up extra kills, and quite a few barracks achievements (like car bomb, dominoes, grenade kill etc.)
  
• Speaking of noobs, don't use a noob tube (AKA a rifle mounted grenade launcher). You are getting points for marksman on your guns, noob tubes don't get you anything except the kill.
  
• At level 41, I switch out my special grenades for three frags. This can get you a lot of kills and be a real pain in the ass for enemies on fairly open maps like Countdown and Waterworks. My record in COD4 on Countdown is 41 confirmed kills and one assist, using a combination of an M16 with a red dot sight and frags.
• Speaking of red dot sights, I think these are a must have unless you are an exceptional aimer. I'm no fan of the ACOG. Although on some weapons like the RPD, I'll maybe take a grip.
  
• Keep an eye on what challenges are available in the barracks. Many of them will take care of themselves, but there are some that need special attention. Things like Misery Loves Company and Goodbye are ones that require some thought. If you get a chance, always complete as many of these challenges as you can, but don't get too obsessed with them, you are going to lose them each time you go prestige.
• There is a challenge for using a silencer which is worth a few points. If you are okay with a silenced weapon it's worth switching to a silenced weapon for a little while to get all the points from this.
• Just in case you didn't realize, you can hold two weapons. You don't have to lose your primary weapon when you pick up a new weapon. If you switch to your pistol and THEN pick up a weapon, you will now have two nice weapons. If I have time, I will always switch out the pistol if I want to pick up another weapon.
• Speaking of other weapons, keep in mind that if you pick up a weapon that you have yet to unlock you will not be working towards a marksman or expert rating in that weapon, so it is largely pointless because you are giving up XP.
• As new weapons like the P90 become available I go back to my stratergy of just going for 150 straight kills with them. While tiger stripes are cool, it can take too long to get them. And once you hit 150 kills, spending more time with that weapon to earn your tiger stripes is depriving you of marksman points for another weapon, thus potentially slowing your promotions.
  
• Once I have achieved marksman III in every weapon I like, I return to my favorite weapons and use them until I go prestige. This will usually get me at least a couple of red tigers along the way before Commander.
• I like to 'cheat' when it comes to survival challenges right near the end (level 54). I'll create a class with a silenced weapon like P90 or AK47. I'll give it UAV jammer, some claymores, and dead silence. When the Bloc level comes up, or maybe Downpour, I'll sneak off to a quiet corner and hide behind some claymores. 5 minutes later you get 250 XP for Survivalist and at the end you'll get 250 more XP for Flawless. On Downpour I'll hide in or behind a barn. On Block, I'll hide in the swimming pool.

And that's about it. Stick to that game plan and level 55 will come up pretty quick. As soon as you unlock presige mode, just do it. There is no sense in wasting kills that could be used to level up on the next level.

Once you get a Gold Cross, that's when you can start concentrating on the gold guns. I used to have a gold LMG back before I ever went prestige. It got me a 21 kill streak on Creek. But as I once read on a forum, gold guns are for retirement. If you plan on working your way up to Gold Cross it seems largly pointless to put in the kind of effort needed to get them (Expert III on all weapons in that class).

That's about all I have. You'll find me on the PS3 version playing as ZCT808.

McCain "Jazzed Up"

Old man McCain announced today that he was "Jazzed Up" about the possibility of making a historic comeback this weekend.

He went on to say he was going to wind up his gramophone, slip on a smoking jacket, and do the Charleston until he couldn't dance any more. Then he was going to take the little lady down to the talkies, before a quick drink at the local speakeasy on the way home.

Sarah The Socialist

We've been hearing a lot of nonsense about socialism, terrorism, Marxism, and various other 'isms' designed to scare Americans.

Republicans like Sarah Palin are on the attack for Barack Obama's heinous plan to roll back the ridiculous Bush tax cuts on millionaires. You know, the ones that helped dump our economy into the shitter.

The McCain camp jumped all over Obama's comment that he wanted to redistribute wealth by making the rich pay a shade more, to give relief to the middle class.

But let's look at this hypocrisy for a moment. Let's look at what Palin has been doing in Alaska.

Governor Palin taxes the rich oil companies operating out of Alaska, and gives that money directly to citizens of Alaska. In fact last year she raised taxes on the rich oil companies again, and gave a record setting $3,269 to every eligible man, woman and child in Alaska.

Alaskans also pay no state income tax or sales tax. They just get a nice big government hand out from a $30 billion dollar pool, created largely by taking money from big oil.

Despite all this Palin commented, "Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism."

I guess she doesn't need to experiment, she seems to have already learned all about it.

You Think You're Having A Bad Day?

A vicar in Sheffield, England, had to take an embarrassing trip to the ER this week, after accidentally getting a potato lodged in his rectum.

The potato was successfully removed after an operation.

However my favorite part of the story was his excuse.

The man claimed he was hanging curtains in his kitchen, and happened to be nude at the time. He fell backwards onto a kitchen table and landed anus first on a potato!

Wow, there's some bad luck.

Happy Halloween

Miss Jaded Noir of The Satanic Sluts

"Joe" the "Plumber" Goes Rogue

Will the real Joe The Plumber please stand up?

He was supposed to attend a rally with old man McCain yesterday, but apparently McCain's staff were too incompetent to arrange it. And irritated by the lack of professional courtesy, Samuel The Diva decided to stay home, leaving McCain to look embarrassed and then declare that the entire audience was Joe The Plumber.

A more in depth report can be found here.

Ashley Todd Escapes Jail

McCain campaign worker Ashley Todd has struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid jail over her racist anti-Obama lies.

20-year-old Todd claimed that a large black man robbed her at knife point and carved the letter B into her face, because he was angry over her McCain Palin sticker.

After all evidence pointed to the fact she made up the story, she eventually admitted she had indeed made the whole thing up.

She has agreed to undergo mental health treatment, and complete a program for first time offenders. If she stays out of trouble she will eventually have her criminal record expunged.

On a lighter note, GO VOLS!

Revenge of the Killer RoboCall

It seems the McCain RoboCall has gone rogue. Latest reports now show McCain using his team of maverick robots to call his lies into Washington State, a state he is losing by some 17 points.

WTF?

Have the robots gone crazy or has McCain?

A Question For McCain

In the second Presidential Debate, John McCain made this statement:

"I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him. I'll get him no matter what and I know how to do it. "

Now apparently this magical solution has evaded President Bush for the past seven years. So the question is, why has McCain not helped his Republican friend out by sharing with him the secret of finding Osama bin Laden?

This question has been asked before, most recently by David Letterman, and I've yet to see a good answer to it.

McCain Running Scared

John McCain has demonstrated just how insecure he is about this election in his latest move of campaigning in his home state of Arizona.

In a state that should be a slam dunk for the Senator, he has decided to invest some of what is left of his campaign fund with more of his sleazy robocalls.

The message of hope he shares with voters is as follows:

I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because Barack Obama is so dangerously inexperienced, his running mate Joe Biden just said, he invites a major international crisis that he will be unprepared to handle alone.

If Democrats win full control of government, they will want to give civil rights to terrorists and talk unconditionally to dictators and state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the experience and judgment to lead America. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and authorized by McCain-Palin 2008.

Barack Obama Endorsements

I was thinking of putting a list of Obama endorsements on my blog. But then I discovered the list was far larger than I had expected. Nearly a thousand high profile endorsements as of today.

You can keep a track of the list here.

As an interesting point of comparison John McCain has just over one hundred endorsements.

The Obama Infomercial

Just in case you missed it. The Obama Infomercial from 10/29/08.

Sarah The Hypocrite Meets Sam The Con Man

Just when you think the McCain campaign cannot stoup any lower, they have now decided to take "Joe" The "Plumber" out on the road and show him off to the media to prove how non-elitist they are.

Samuel (Joe's real name) on the other hand is trying hang on to his 15 minutes of fame with a death grip (maybe his dream of owning a plumbing company wasn't really his dream). Quick to cash in Samuel has already signed with a Nashville public relations and management firm to organize his public appearances. He is reported to be pursuing a music career. Apparently, as well as plumbing without a license, he enjoys country and western singing although admits (through a spokesperson) that he is not an accomplished musician or song writer.

But although he is not much of a song writer, it turns out the idea of writing a book is already being kicked around.

However, fear not, if the music or book writing falls through, maybe he could get a job as a political pundit. Yesterday after being exploited by Sarah Palin at a rally, they even allowed him to answer some audience questions (which is weird given that they try to avoid letting Palin do that), and he agreed with some audience rant about Palestine, which even made some pundits at Fox News cringe.

I thought that John Kerry ran a crappy political campaign. But John McCain seems to be trying to show us new levels of pathetic.

John McCain: Latest Sleaze Attack

John McCain and Sarah Palin continued this week with their sleazy campaign, this time trying to link Barack Obama with Rashid Khalidi, a person with a foreign sounding name (probably a terrorist then) who they allege was a spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization.

They claimed that Obama palled around with him, and made the usual series of infrences we have come to expect from a campaign desperate to find traction (and racist connotations) any place they can.

Unfortunately this bit of slime didn't stick. In fact like a news boomerang it came right back and hit the McCain campaign squarely in the teeth. Because within a very short time of admonishing the Los Angeles Times for not providing them with a video tape that proved Obama's link to Khalidi, it was discovered that McCain had even closer ties.

See it turns out, embarrassingly enough, 15 years ago Khalidi founded a group called the Center for Palestine Research and Studies, and John McCain chairs a group (International Republican Institute) that has donated over $800,000 to them.

So I guess the question for John McCain is, if Khalidi is such an evil terrorist, why is a group you chair giving his organization all that money?

British Comedian Russell Brand In Hot Water

Controversial comedian Russell Brand has resigned from his national radio show in the UK, after prank calling actor Andrew Sachs and leaving rude messages on his answering machine during a radio show.

Brand is perhaps best known in the US for his controversial comments during the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards in which he branded George Bush a 'retard' who he claimed would not be 'trusted with scissors' in England.

Sachs on the other hand is best known for his role as Manuel on the classic British comedy series, Faulty Towers.

Evidently Sachs was scheduled to appear on Brand's radio show, he couldn't make it, so the prank calling began.

Among some of the adult content message was a claim by Brand that he had slept with Sachs' 23 year old grand daughter, Georgina Baillie, who goes by the stage name Voluptua (pictured above) when performing with her Gothic performance group The Satanic Sluts.

Well the prank calling upset Sachs (aged 78). 18,000 people called the BBC to complain. The whole thing blew up to the point where even Prime Minister Gordon Brown commented publicly on the situation.

The BBC threatened to suspend Brand, and his on air colleague who also participated, and ultimately Brand decided to apologize and resign from his $350,000 a year job.

I guess that's what you call a prank call that went very wrong.

UPDATE: Apparently the story was discovered to be even more juicy when it was revealed that Baillie and Brand did in fact have a brief sexual relationship at one time.

You know it's one thing to be making jokes about sleeping with a hot girl. But if you actually did, broadcasting lewd details of that encounter on national radio (and doing so on her grandfather's answer machine) is pretty tasteless.

So I guess now my sympathy for Brand just dropped a few points.

George Bush To The Rescue

With his job approval rating (22%) as low as pretty much any President in history, George W. Bush took a trip to the GOP Headquarters on Tuesday to give them a helping hand.

He spent 20 minutes explaining to the 200 workers that they faced an uphill battle to win the election for John McCain.

The deputy press secretary Scott Stanzell was asked if Bush had any predictions about the outcome of the election next week. Stanzell told the Associated Press, "He's not a predictor."

Well isn't that the truth?

Hello Australians

I just wanted to give a g'day sport shout out to all my Australian readers. I was surprised how many hits I've been getting from the land down under.

I've had multiple hits from Melbourne, Sydney, New Zealand (yes I know that isn't actually IN Australia!), and Perth all in the past few days.

So welcome, thanks for visiting! I will drink a Fosters in your honor next time I go to a bar!

John McCain Staff Walk Out

McCain campaign workers in Indiana walked off the job this week after refusing to peddle McCain's lies and filth.

The state of Indiana has laws that prevent automated nuisance calls, also called robocalls, where voters are targeted with propaganda from each political party to scare them into voting for them. However, it is legal to hire people to make the calls and read a script live.

But John McCain's message was as negative and dishonest as his campaign. Rather than talking about why people should vote for him, the script launched into a series of lies and smears against Barack Obama. Some of the claims included accusing Obama of being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger."

The staff approached their supervisors saying that they were not comfortable spreading lies for John McCain. But management refused to modify the script approved by the McCain administration.

In the end three dozen or so workers walked out on the job. All I can say is good for them.

Robo calls of all kinds by all parties should be illegal in my opinion. This is no way to solicit votes.

The Republican Abortion Trick

I've been keeping an eye on the election, and reading some of the discussion forums around the Internet. And one of the issues that is raised repeatedly is the issue of abortion. "Obama wants to kill babies etc."

And it made me think about how the Republican party loves to use this issue to drive a wedge into America and try and grab the Christian vote.

But it is about time people woke up and smelled reality for a moment. We've just had a president in office for eight years who claims to be a devout Christian. A man who has absolutely made his position on stem cell research and abortion very clear. But notice how abortion is still legal?

The fact is if McCain dies, and ultra right religious fanatic Sarah Palin becomes president for the next four years, I guarantee that abortion will still be legal.

I don't think that any Republican has any real intention of changing anything. Clearly they don't really care about saving babies, or they would do something about our horrendous infant mortality rate.

I think Republicans just love to trot out this issue over and over again, each election time. Perhaps combined with a gay marriage vote and maybe something about flag burning, as a trick to lure the gullible to the voting booth.

I just wonder how many times they will do this before some idiots finally realize that Republicans don't give a shit about babies, pre-birth, or after birth.

So how about we stop with the absurd attacks against Obama for 'wanting to kill babies.' We might just as well claim that his hybrid runs on bludgeoned kittens.

Cost of Iraq War

One trillion dollars is a lot of money. It's the current estimate of the cost of the war in Iraq, although some experts are claiming the true cost could be three times higher.

In an interesting article out today one analyst explored what else America could have done with a trillion dollars. In fact, the analyst got so into the idea he wrote a book called What We Could Have Done With the Money: 50 Ways to Spend the Trillion Dollars We've Spent on Iraq.

Some of his ideas are serious, others not so much, but these are just some of the things we could have done instead:

• Pay off the credit cards of every American.
• Hire 1.9 million new teachers.
• Pave the entire US Interstate system in 23.5K gold leaf.
• Give every high school student in America a free college education (but then how would we coerce them to join the army?).
• Buy a Buick for every senior still driving.
• Double the 663,000 cops we have on the beat for 32 years.
• Build 16.3 million Habitat For Humanity homes; enough for 43 million Americans.
• Buy every single person on a planet an iPod.

The companion web site has a simulator where you can virtually spend a trillion dollars yourself. Plus it has some scary counters that show you just how much money is being wasted.

George W. Bush has claimed that history will be his judge. I think he is right; he will be judged as one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States.

Sarah Palin, Are You A Feminist?

Read All About It: Alaska's Biggest Newspaper Supports Obama

In a surprise move, the largest newspaper in Alaska has endorsed Barack Obama for President.

The newspaper stated that appointing Sarah Palin as Vice President was 'too risky' given McCain's age.

They went on to say that Obama "brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand."

Of McCain they said, since the economic crisis has emerged, McCain has "stumbled and fumbled badly" in dealing with it.

While they liked Palin and talked about her passion, strong work ethic, and charisma, they didn't believe that realistically she was ready to be president should the need arise.

100,000 Strong For Obama

Barack Obama held a rally in Denver Colorado on Sunday. Police estimated that well over 100,000 people showed up to support him; the largest crowd of his campaign so far. He later had another smaller rally attended by 45,000 people.

By contrast old man McCain had two rallies on Sunday too. The total head count for BOTH rallies combined was 7,000.

Perhaps McCain needs to switch his message of personal attacks and lies, and focus on telling the country in a positive way why we should vote for him. The clock is ticking for John McCain, in more ways than one.

Dead Baby Update

Just over two years ago, I posted an article on this blog about the infant mortality rate in the United States.

It came back into my mind because of the election and because of a new report out this month.

Every time we have an election, the Republican party trot out the issue of abortion specifically to rouse their base, and the talk turns to killing babies. Extremists even talk about how Obama wants to 'kill babies' because of his pro-choice stance. Or some intellectually dishonest argument about votes he's made as a politician.

Then you have the likes of Sarah Palin who believe that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape and incest. A woman who went on record the other day as stating that people who bomb abortion clinics are not 'technically' terrorists.

But what I'd like to know is why Americas are ignoring the real issue: infant mortality.

In the recent CDC report it was discovered that America, the richest and most powerful nation on the planet, is 29th in the world for infant mortality figures!

28,000 babies die each year in America before their first birthday.

That's about 7 in 1000. And if you are African American, sorry, but that figure is more than double, at a staggering 13.63 per 1,000. Which is up from the last time I reported on this issue.

We are currently in the company of such countries as, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungry. We are getting beaten by Cuba, New Zealand, Israel and Canada.

And we are being blown out of the water by top countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Britain and Italy.

It's time that as a nation we woke up to the fact that our health care system is broken. 47,000,000 Americans are without proper coverage. Millions more are simply unable to afford health care costs even with with insurance.

And the trends are scary too. By 2012 if things continue the way they are going the per capita cost of health care will reach $10,000 in America. More than any other country in the world. Yet by then an estimated 54 million people will be uninsured. Businesses costs will rise by 55%.

The issue of broken health care and infant mortality rates is one of the most important issues facing America today.

If we can fix the health care system it is good for everyone. And the only candidate in this election who is trying to do that is Barack Obama. He wants to take steps to stop insurance companies ripping people off. He wants to make health care less of a luxury and more of a right. I don't think his ideas go far enough, but in America we have to take it slow.

Oddly, despite our horrible infant mortality figures, our bad longevity, and our preventable death statistics, many Americans still don't get it. They have seemingly been brainwashed into distrusting any intervention to fix the current broken health care system. And I think this brainwashing has been a clever con trick perpetrated the corporations that make billions from the sick and suffering each year. They love the way things are: Lots of money and very little regulation.

Perhaps once President Obama begins to reform the health care system, to make health care a right and not a privilege of the rich, Americans will finally begin to accept that the 28 countries in the world who are kicking our ass in health care do it cheaper than we do, and save more lives.

So for all the talk about 'pro-life' issues in this election; the reality is very clear. Barack Obama is the pro-life candidate here. He is trying to reach out to ordinary Americans and protect their lives and the lives of their babies.

Let's keep that in mind on election day.

John McCain: Straight Talk Express?

Sarah The Hypocrite?

On the day that Sarah Palin answers questions about her misconduct in Troopergate, more awkward questions are now being asked of the McCain campaign regarding the money they are spending on her.

Remember now that Sarah Palin introduced herself to the world as the no nonsense, frugal conservative that hates to see waste. Remember her bold (misleading) claims that she sold the governor's jet on eBay? Remember how she made women pay for their own rape kits to save government money?

Yet here we are with less than two weeks to the election and we find that her party has spent $150,000 on her wardrobe. And while the McCain campaign were busy making excuses about that, we hear an even more disturbing report that the highest paid staffer on the McCain campaign is Sarah Palin's make up artist Amy Strozzi. They paid her $22,800 for two weeks work!

Who would have thought that putting lipstick on a dog was so expensive?

The Face of The McCain Campaign

Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old Texas woman, working for the McCain campaign caused national headlines this week after she was attacked, robbed, and beaten by a large black man while using an ATM.

The man robbed her, but then took exception to her McCain Palin sticker, and so began to punch and kick the woman before concluding his assault by carving the letter B into her face with a blunt knife, telling her that he was going to 'make her an Obama supporter' and 'teach her a lesson.'

Sarah Palin called the woman and her family personally to talk to her about the horrific attack.

Shocking stuff.

All the more shocking when it was announced by police investigators today that the entire story was made up, and there was no evidence to support the claims.

In fact the police are convinced that the wounds are self inflicted, and are contemplating charging her with making false statements and accusations. They have also indicated that they are concerned about her mental health, which is understandable considering she supports McCain Palin for president.

Barack Obama = Adolf Hitler

It never ceases to amaze me just how far the right is prepared to go with their sleazy and dishonorable campaign. In yet another example of the right's inherent racism and idiocy, there was a story in the news about a McCain campaign office having a sign that compared Senator Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler (and a few other mass murdering dictators).

It is sad that John McCain, a supposedly honorable war hero, would continue to allow his followers to attack his opponent, not for his ideals, but for his ethnic origins and his 'foreign sounding' name.

As the negativity continued to emanate from the right, I was reminded of a Dixie Chicks song (I'm not often reminded of them, because I really don't like their music). But I think their poignant song Not Ready To Make Nice, speaks rather eloquently about the politics of hate. Written after their experience of receiving death threats when they said that George Bush was a horrible president.

It's a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Sayin' that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

How Much Will Obama Save You?

Polls: Sarah Palin Hurting McCain Campaign

Three polls out today have found that Sarah Palin is a considerable liability, rather than an asset to the McCain campaign.

An NBC poll found that 34% of voters did not believe Sarah Palin was qualified for the job. Leading the second big problem for McCain which is that 23% believe he will continue failed Bush policies.

She now is the only candidate to have a net negative favorable / unfavorable rating of 33%/47%.

A Pew poll found that there are, "Growing Doubts About McCain's Judgment, Age and Campaign Conduct."

And finally an ABC poll discovered 52% of people now believe that McCain's selection of Palin for VP shows a lack of good judgment.

As Sarah Palin continues to blunder around the country, telling us who the 'real' Americans are, she appears to be losing more popularity each time she opens her mouth. Which would perhaps be why McCain keeps a muzzle on her most of the time.

Ironically, it seems that McCain's master plan to pick a woman for the ticket has backfired horribly. One wonders how the polls would be looking had he picked a highly qualified Republican for the ticket, rather than going for a cheap political trick to woo Hillary voters.

Eddie Izzard - Death Star Canteen (Lego Animation)

Classic Eddie Izzard stand-up routines re-enacted with lego.

See also, Cake or Death, Do You Have A Flag?, and many more...

American Healthcare Problems

Many Americas have expressed concerns about President Obama changing health care in the United States.

Obama has clearly stated that he won't mess around with the coverage people already have, but will add new options for the uninsured and under insured to get better health care, similar to the kind he and his fellow politicians get from the government.

As an obvious supporter of President Obama, I wholeheartedly agree that there is a need to see some radial change in American health care.

Previous posts on this blog have discussed our horrible infant mortality rate, American longevity figures, and our lackluster figures on preventable deaths. All key indicators that our health care system is sick.

But a couple of news stories jumped out at me as I was watching CNN today.

The first story was about how thanks to the economic crisis, people are cutting back on their medications to save money. Against doctor advice people take their pills every other day, or take half doses.

In a survey carried out in Florida, they found that 28% of those surveyed had taken less than the recommended dose of their medicine, up from 17% three years ago. They also discovered many Americans were skipping out on dental care altogether since this often was not covered in basic health care plans.

Another survey referenced in the same article found that in Ohio one in four Americans ended up being hounded by debt collection agencies thanks to unpaid medical bills.

It was not just poor people they looked at in the study. They found that one in four people they surveyed in Florida admitted they were having a hard time with medical expenses, and many were middle class with good incomes and good insurance.

The second story that caught my eye was a cautionary tale of just why proper health care is so important.

A father of three caught strep throat. And figuring that he could ride it out and save some money, decided to avoid seeing a doctor. Unfortunately the strep caused some kind of toxic complication and infection in his body because it went untreated for so long. The complications turned his limbs blue. He ended up going to the emergency room where he ended up being admitted to hospital for two months, spending six weeks of that time in a drug induced coma. Doctors had to amputate his legs to save him.

He is now apparently awaiting some artificial legs. But is having to rely on local fundraisers to help him out because of the expense.

I don't know how right wing Americans can read stories like this and have no sympathy for the people involved.

Sadly too many believe that they are alright, so other people must be doing something wrong to experience problems. But in reality many of the personal bankruptcies we see in America thanks to medical bills, are from middle class people with jobs and health care, and the perception that they had all the protection they needed. The belief that the health care crisis in America is just something that happens to other people.

But the reality is, it can happen to anyone. Sickness combined with a little bad luck and you can lose everything you have worked your whole life for.

Health care shouldn't be like that. Health care is a basic human right. I hate to invoke the rocket to the moon argument here, but the richest nation in the world can seriously do better if we acknowledge the problem, and work to resolve it.

No one is suggesting we just hand over the hospitals to the government (we only do that with banks apparently). But there has to be a way to stop corporations scamming Americans out of so much.

We pay at least double, per capita, for health care than any other nation on the planet. Yet we have a system that breaks people on a daily basis. It's a very serious issue, and it needs to be addressed as a matter of some urgency.

I look forward to seeing President Obama make good on his health care commitments.

For more information, take a look at this movie.

Joe The Plumber: The Saga Continues

I recently had a disagreement with a friend of mine. Sadly that disagreement was over "Joe" the "Plumber."

In response to this post on his blog, I had quite a lot to say, and felt that it merited an entire post in itself:

Obama did not go knocking on the guy's door. Samuel (his real name), went looking for Obama. You can do the research yourself. The media was originally mistaken on that front. Samuel even admitted in a later interview that he went looking for Obama, to have a specific confrontation. It wasn't a coincidence. It wasn't a random chance meeting. And given the overzealous exploitation of the man by McCain in the debate that followed, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a plant.

The issue I have with the man, I have outlined in my blog already. But what it boils down to is that the man is essentially really selfish, and somewhat misguided. If you really listened to one of his interviews all he talks about is ME ME ME.

What if I buy this business? What if I make more than $250K? Why should I pay more, even though I can afford to?

Because someone has to.

George Bush has taken all the money and given it to the rich. He has charged his war and mismanagement of the economy on the American credit card. Someone has to pay for it. If we continue down the path that George Bush has started, we will bankrupt our nation and everyone will suffer.

We've been giving tax cuts to the super rich elite now for the past eight years. Money to rich CEOs and corporations that don't need it.

Obama is merely suggesting that the poor and middle class could use a break. The average family could probably do better if they were not taxed as much.

He is suggesting that people who make over $250K a year could afford to pay a tiny bit more in taxes, so that relief could be given to working families.

Even though this would benefit people like Samuel, there are those who would vote against their own self interests, on the pipe dream that one day they will be making $250K a year, and they'd like to hoard a few extra dollars rather than pay it in tax.

There's nothing wrong with the dream of being rich (although spiritually, that could be a different ball game). But the Ebenezer Scrooge concept of hoarding money away and demanding that the government tax the poor instead, is simply unfair.

Under Bush the rich poor divide has grown considerably. If 95% of America is to have a better quality of life, then the top 5% need to pay a little more. And the beauty of that philosophy is that if you are super rich and you have to pay an extra $10,000 a year in taxes, it doesn't matter. Super rich people will not have to shop at WalMart because of it. They will still be just fine.

As for Samuel. If he voted for Obama, maybe his taxes would go down. Maybe he could pay off his back taxes, and get the lien off his home. Maybe Obama would allow him to afford health care again so he could pay off that hospital bill. Perhaps even with more money in his pocket, he could afford to obtain that plumbers license so he didn't have to work illegally, and could one day have a shot at that dream of owning the business.

Let's face facts here. Samuel is basically supporting the trickle down economics of the past eight years, and the very similar plans of McCain to continue with the same. But these philosophies haven't really worked out all that well for Samuel so far have they? Still can't afford to get his license after ten years. Still no closer to buying the business and realizing his dream. Struggling to make ends meet, and falling further and further behind with his bills.

Samuel needs help NOW. In fact he's been needing help for the past eight years. Yet no one was willing to give him that helping hand. He keeps slogging away, year in year out, hoping for the chance at his dream. But despite his hard work, he is no closer to achieving that now, than he was when Bush came to office.

Unless people like him, making a middle class income get some help, they will NEVER have that shot at the big time. However, if Samuel does well thanks to Obama, gets licensed, buys the business, and starts to make over $250K a year. Perhaps then he should be less selfish and willingly pay the few hundred dollars in extra tax, so that the next generation of Joe the Plumbers can have a shot at the chance that he had.

Samuel has lived through the past decade of doing that job without a license. He has nothing really to show for his effort. An income so low he can't afford his tax. Medical bills so high he can't afford to pay them. Credit crisis so bad he can't borrow the money to buy the business. Working from week to week without the time or money to obtain his license, meaning that his career growth is stunted.

Perhaps it is time to change. Perhaps it is time to accept that trickle down economics don't work. Perhaps it is time to accept that society needs to help Samuel and others like him realize their dreams.

But Samuel will never move forward while we keep taking his money and giving it to the richest people in our society. These elite rich people can afford to give back, and it's time they did.

Olbermann: Divisive politics is anti-American

If the video won't play, try this link.

Joe The Plumber or Sam The Con Man?

In the final death throws of the McCain election campaign, Joe The Plumber has been used by McCain and Palin as what they hope will be the magic bullet to turn things around.

Unfortunately those pesky facts keep cropping up that detract from the lies they are trying to sell to the American people.

They have tried to paint Joe The Plumber as a good old working man, who is frightened of Obama's radical plan to pay for stuff, using taxes. Perhaps they prefer the Bush approach of simply borrowing money from foreign countries, not paying them back, and bilking poor people out of as much as they can get off them. Thus continuing to widen the gap between rich and poor.

So now that Joe The Plumber has had his 15 minutes of fame, this is what the media have discovered about him:

• Joe The Plumber is not a plumber. In so far as he doesn't have a license to be a plumber (despite over a decade in the industry). Until he obtains one, he would not be able to buy a plumbing business and operate it, as he described in his fantasy to Barack Obama.
• Joe The Plumber is not called Joe. His name is in fact Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. Not quite as catchy as Joe The Plumber.
• He told a conservative web site that trying to catch Barack Obama off guard was his intent, it was not just a chance meeting, he had a specific agenda.
• It turns out that his worries about tax may go beyond the story. Because apparently he has underpaid his own taxes by about $1,200. In fact this matter is so serious, the state has put a lien on his home.
  
• It seems he could also benefit from some Obama help with health care, since he owes $1,200 to a hospital, and has not paid them.
• When it was first discovered he was not a licensed plumber, Joe The Plumber claimed he worked under his bosses plumbing license. But under Ohio building regulations Joe The Plumber cannot do plumbing work without getting a plumbers license. So Joe The Plumber may in fact be working illegally.
  
• Although he is now a registered Republican, he was up until 2007 registered with the Natural Law Party.
• Comic Bill Maher pointed out, in his 15 minutes of fame, Wurzelbacher has already done more interviews than Palin.

So it seems that the McCain campaign vetted Joe The Plumber about as thoroughly as McCain vetted Palin.

This guy they are trying to elevate to hero status, is clearly no hero. But he is a tax dodging con man who masquerades as a plumber, but in fact breaks the law if he does any actual plumbing.

Joe The Plumber isn't even close to his fantasy of earning in the top 5% of Americans. He is sadly using the same old logic that causes millions of poor people to vote for the Bush and McCain's of this world. The belief that if they vote against their own interests for long enough, they will get lucky and get rich. At which point they can be a part of the 'trickle down' theory that Bush and McCain support.

The fact is, Joe The Plumber would have benefited from Obama's policies, had they been in effect for the past few years. Maybe with lower taxes he would not have run up that tax bill that now sits as a lien on his home. Maybe with better medical coverage he wouldn't owe that hospital $1,200. Perhaps with the other initiatives Obama has suggested, he could have obtained his plumber's license, so he didn't have to break the law.

John McCain stated that the winner of the last presidential debate was Joe The Plumber. Let's hope that's true. Let's hope that the Joe The Plumbers of this country begin to see that they are making a mistake by electing someone who wants to copy Bush's fiscal policy.

UPDATE: According to this article, it has been suggested that Samuel The Fake Plumber actually makes somewhere between $40K and $70K, and so would face a tax cut under President Obama not the tax hike he fears.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2006 National Compensation Survey, pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters nationwide made an average of $23 an hour, or about $46,000 annually for a typical 40-hour workweek.

George Bush: I'm A Railroad

Musical Interlude

Some people just have too much talent. Check out her playing Linkin Park, Rihanna, Madonna, and Britney Spears.

Her other songs are here.

More Republican Racism

The anti-Obama racism continues out west. This time it was a Republican group in San Bernardino County, near Los Angeles.

The fake food stamp illustration seemed to draw on racism thought buried in America's past, where black people were often depicted eating southern food and being unclean.

Diane Fedele, the president of the group claimed that there was no racism intended. She said that she did not connect food stamps, fried chicken, watermelon, and ribs to African Americans. She further claimed that any association with previous racist cartoons and caricatures was purely coincidental.

Sure Diane. We believe you.

Britney Spears Sane?

This week saw the return of Britney Spears, in a big way. Her new song made a record breaking leap to the top of the charts. And her raunchy new video, Womanizer, where she appears tastefully nude is being praised as her best ever video.

Let's hope that Britney can make a comeback from the embarrassment of the past few years. She has a genuine talent, and it's a shame to see her flush it like Amy Winehouse.

Meet Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher

Joe Wurzelbacher probably didn't know how his life was going to change when he approached Senator Obama at a rally and asked him questions about his tax policy.

In the presidential debate last night Joe was mentioned 23 times, as both politicians tried to use him as an example as to why their economic plans were best.

Joe had originally questioned Obama, because he says he wants to buy the business he works for. But the business makes between $250,000 and $280,000 a year so might be taxed a little more under Obama's plan.

The exact amount of tax that Obama would charge him is actually less than $1,100 more, even if he makes the larger of the two amounts he claims the business makes. With no increase at all towards the bottom end of his range.

Since the debate Joe The Plumber (who actually doesn't even have a license as a plumber), has been on TV, interviewed by the news networks. And although he won't admit he is going to vote for McCain (who would?), he has spouted various stupid opinions in the media.

Because the reality is that Joe The Plumber does not make that kind of money. Joe The Plumber would actually do better under President Obama. But like many Americans with the Horatio Alger myth in his head, he wants tax policy changed to help the richest 5% of Americans, just in case he makes it into that category! That's the same kind of trickle down bullshit that Bush has been peddling for eight years!

So to recap, Joe The Plumber, wants to screw himself by supporting McCain, just in case he gets his plumber's license, raises the money to buy the business (good luck with that after what Bush has done to the economy), and then manages to push his business over the quarter million dollar mark. Because then he might save himself a little bit of tax, which he could easily lose in other ways that the McCain administration would screw him.

Wow.

Joe The Plumber, in one of his interviews, even invoked the 'slippery slope' argument. He claimed that if Obama defines rich as making $250,000 a year, what is to stop him dropping that figure to $150K or even less.

It's about time Americans got a clue about tax. We can't fund the things we are doing indefinitely by borrowing money from China, and giving it to the Middle East. We are charging our countries' American Express card and we have to pay it back sooner or later.

Joe The Plumber tells us that the rich should not pay more, so where does the money come from Joe? How to we pay off the debt that Bush has left us without taxation?

Frankly the whole Joe The Plumber story is such bullshit. We have a guy too stupid to understand voting for his own best interests, getting prime time coverage, while our economy continues to tank, and Americans continue to die in Iraq policing a civil war we started. Even in the interview Joe gave, he basically admitted that all he is thinking about is his own future prosperity. He wants to get rich and hoard his money, while someone else picks up the bill for the failed policies of George W. Bush.

Say it ain't so Joe.

Republican Desperation

Republican desperation seems to be reaching an all time high as the Sacramento County Republican Party showed that they will do whatever it takes to try and win.

According to an article on America's fair and balanced Fox News web site The Sacramento Republican Party web site contained numerous images attempting to liken Senator Obama to the wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden.

The graphics also called for Senator Obama to be tortured by water boarding.

The web site goes on to publish various information about the US Senator including false claims, doctored images, deliberately fabricated quotes, and various other false assertions.

After pressure from the Republican campaign some of the lies, and the offensive images were taken offline.

Although Democrats cannot ever afford to be complacent with just over a couple of weeks to the election, it is comforting to see just how desperate some Republicans have become. Because in these acts of desperation, what they do is show the American people just how pathetic they have become.

If the only dirt they can find on Barack Obama is that his name shares some letters with a terrorist, then they really are clutching at straws.

But the real question is whether they would be making these kinds of statements if Obama were white? Or is despicable racism just a given now for Republicans?

John McCain, owned on Meet The Press

McCain vs. McCain

Sarah Palin Arrested

Governor Sarah Palin was arrested by police today on charges that she did in fact abuse her authority in the so called 'troopergate' case.

In a 263 page report, the investigative panel found that the Governor had applied pressure on a state official to fire her ex-brother-in-law from his job as a State Trooper, because he was 'a bad man, who was mean to my sister.'

After reading the damning report that showed Governor Palin to be so completely incompetent and untrustworthy the District Attorney issued a warrant for her arrest on Sunday night.

Authorities finally caught up with Palin as she boarded the straight talk express tour bus in West Virginia. Police say there was an old man on board rambling about being a maverick, but while he appeared to be very old and confused, he did not cause any problems during the arrest. Although it is possible he may be charged with harboring a fugitive, if it can be proven he is of sound mind.

Sarah Palin is reported to be in custody today awaiting extradition to Alaska. Her court hearing is scheduled for Friday where she will answer various corruption and abuse of power charges, together with additional charges regarding her refusal to cooperate with the investigation (where she falsely claimed 'executive privilege.')

Her lawyer stated that while she clearly did abuse her position as Governor, she should not face jail time due to the fact that she did not make any personal financial gain from her crimes.

Sarah Palin, issued the following statement though her lawyer:

"Gosh darn it. Say it ain't so? I don't want to answer questions about my competency or the fact that I abused my power. I want to talk about energy. That's what it's all about you see? When Joe Sixpack and Hockey Mom's sit around the kitchen table, what they care about is fuel prices, not my criminal activities. I don't like how things happen in Washington here, because I am a maverick and so is my old friend John McCain.

Obama Hussein is obviously a terrorist. He pals around with them all the time you know? And he's like black and stuff right? And I think he eats kittens too. While they are still alive.

Anyway I am going to tell that judge in court on Friday that I am innocent. Using facts to convict me is just typical partisan backwards lookin' politics. No one wants to discuss the past anyway, what matters is the future. That's what we mavericks say. Gosh darn it, why don't you people understand?"

Sarah Palin Report Card

Someone just emailed me this article from the Guardian Newspaper in the UK. It is an extremely insightful viewpoint on the recent Vice Presidential debate.

Here is a little taster from the article:

Here, for example, is how she responded to Biden's comments about how the middle class has been short-changed during the Bush administration, and how McCain will continue Bush's policies:

Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced [sic] your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I'm glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? ... My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here's a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate.

President Obama Wins Second Debate

Like many people, I watched the Presidential debate last night. And as the BBC said, it was hardly a fair fight.

Believing that a Town Hall Meeting was his strong suit, McCain was expecting to win in this kind of format. He imagined he would have the advantage. But sadly, simply because the expectation was set, even a draw was a loss for John McCain.

However, what we saw was a decisive win for President Obama. He was clear and articulate as we have come to expect. Whereas John McCain was seen lurching around the stage like an escapee from an old people's home.

When McCain was speaking President Obama sat, or stood in the background looking at ease with the situation. Presidential if you will.

When President Obama was speaking, McCain shuffled around, scribbled notes, sat down, stood up, paced about like he was lost.

When McCain was speaking, he managed to constantly turn his back to the camera and move uncomfortably from one spot to another. Trying desperately to frighten the American people as conservatives seem to like to do.

As an aside, I thought the moderator was an asshole. You can't keep admonishing the speakers for going over the time, when it was clear that the timers were not working properly for the one minute sessions, only the two minute sessions. And even so, you don't talk to presidential candidates in that manner.

In any case the McCain Palin ticket is over. An old man and a bimbo just isn't going to cut it with the American people. I think that the only people who are going to support John McCain are those who always vote Republican, the terminally stupid, and racists. And even then, I don't see the turn out being that high.

Unless President Obama releases a rap album about killing cops, pimpin' and smokin' crack, I think he has this one in the bag. And I can't wait to see him in action.

McCain-o-nomics

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Prestige)

Well I nearly made it. I am just one level up away from that coveted Gold Cross.

Prepare to die.

Bad Beat Story

I'm going to whine a little about my recent local pub poker tournament knockout. Please send me money and weep a tear for me.

1) The cracked aces

Starting stacks were $8,000. On the third hand, I bet four times the big blind with my pocket aces. I get two callers, one with queens, the other with pocket fives.

I was 64.83% to win pre-flop until pocket five girl flops a set and turns a boat. I fold my aces on the turn, knowing I was beaten.

2) The donkey call

Over the next half hour I completely failed to connect with the flop, and my stack had slipped to around $2,500, having picked up only two small pots, and losing several small pots.

I look down to discover AQo. With just one limper, I push my remaining stack in. Everyone folds to the early position limper, who thinks for a while and with just $400 invested, decides to call anyway, for another $2,100. He has Q7 of hearts, for a 28.36% shot at the pot.

The flop brings a queen, and a heart. I now have a lead of 81.52%. The turn and river are both hearts, giving the calling station a flush.

So that's how I got knocked out of my last tournament in two easy steps.

In the previous pub poker tournament, I flop a Broadway straight, and my opponent turns a boat, costing me half my stack. On the first hand. I limp crippled around the tournament for about four hours and then get knocked out.

Let's hope the next tournament is less of an annoying turd fest for me. I guess at least this one didn't take too long to be over.

I feel so much better now. Normal service of disrespecting Sarah Palin and Old Man McCain will continue on this blog tomorrow.