JolieSimons.com

Last week, the Barack Obama campaign created a new website at FightTheSmears.com, an entire website devoted to refuting those forwarded Internet rumors about Obama’s history and character. On the site, you can find direct refutation of such famous smears as “Barack Obama doesn’t say the Pledge of Allegiance” or “Barack Obama is secretly a radical Muslim.” You can read the Obama camp’s explanation here.

Slate had a great take on the whole Obama rumor mill, contending that trying to refute a smear campaign won’t amount to much gained in the way of public opinion. Those that choose to believe ridiculous rumors are probably predisposed to Obama-hating and won’t be swayed. Those who think critically probably never believed those silly rumors to begin with, the sort that would probably consider voting for Obama anyway.

Slate’s suggestion? Offer up some rumors of their own. The Obama camp must circulate an email right now talking about the “real” truth behind Obama, including the following rumor suggestions:

“Barack Obama has the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE tattooed on his stomach. It’s upside-down, so he can read it while doing sit-ups.”

“There’s only one artist on Barack Obama’s iPod: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.”

“Barack Obama is a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. His favorite book is the BIBLE, which he has memorized. His name means HE WHO LOVES JESUS in the ancient language of Aramaic. He is PROUD that Jesus was an American.”

“Barack Obama says that Americans cling to GUNS and RELIGION because they are AWESOME.”

Circulate this email widely to all your friends.

Recently, John McCain revealed on his campaign blog that he’s a huge ABBA fan. While that’s nice in a slightly gay-in-the-’70s way, can John McCain say that his iPod is filled with Francis Scott Key? Didn’t think so.

(P.S. If you’re unsure about the sarcasm, read this article about, well, sarcasm.)

I spotted the following picture about Barack Obama and I’m frankly quite sick.

Turns out some Republican-themed vendor is selling the above buttons at the state Republican convention in Texas. No matter how often John McCain denounces ignorance and hate within the more conservative sector of the country, there’s still no appeasing the completely ignorant.

Apparently, many of those ignorant people live in Texas.

As you may recall from earlier this year, a wealthy Colorado businessman was speaking at a trade show when he was taped telling this very “joke” to a large crowd that, like it or not, a few clapped after the joke was told. He caught hell because of that statement and he later apologized.

The same rule must apply in this case. This vendor should be pulled and offered no more contracts with Republicans. Also, we should take a long, hard look at this issue within ourselves. Barack Obama is probably acutely aware that his race will still be a struggle with a certain percentage of America. Frustrating, but ending racism is an uphill battle.

McCain, to his credit, has smartly embraced the idea of avoiding race altogether. After all, in our modern society, we are supposed to be colorblind.

Seems like people are getting really worked up about mixed martial arts. However, let’s take a departure from sport and delve into presidential politics.

Overcoming all the setbacks, Obama has recently been crowned by the media as official Candidate for the Democratic party. Clinton, however, has not yet officially stepped out of the race yet and Clinton’s camp is claiming that she is looking for a way to bow out gracefully. Or maybe that’s a lie and she’ll fight a presumably losing battle all the way to the Democratic Convention in August.

Obama is the most unlikely candidate in U.S. history and his candidacy is truly historic. Obama has overcome great setbacks in his campaign:

• Barack Obama is the first serious black candidate for President from the two major political parties to appear on the November ballot. Previous black candidates like Jesse Jackson never made it out of the primaries.
• Obama has fought back against a decentralized smear campaign, including allegations that he is secretly a Muslim, the Antichrist, and a non-loyal U.S. citizen.
• Obama has laughed in the face of media-heavy scandal, including arguments over the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor. He has since quit his old church in Chicago. Polls have shown that most people don’t care, despite media coverage of the story.
• Obama is also quite possibly the most liberal serious candidate in years, certainly more liberal than President Clinton, Al Gore, or John Kerry. Democrats sigh relief. Finally, no more having to vote for a trumped-up moderate Republican candidate who masquerades as a Democrat.

We now have 22 weeks until the general election in November where Obama will face presumptive candidate John McCain.

If you have not done so, now would be a good time to register to vote or change your address. Remember, many states, including my home state of Missouri, have enacted tough voter ID laws, probably to keep Democratic voters–you know, the poor, minorities–away from the polls. Now is the time to review laws in your state. Most require you to show some sort of proof of residency like a photo ID, recent utility bill, or bank statement when voting.

Regardless of outcome, this election will turn out to be one for the history books.

This story is finally breaking, but it’s been a long time in coming.

Barack Obama was famously put through the wringer recently over controversial comments made by his former paster, the Reverend Jeramiah Wright, regarding race and politics in America. Obama has famously denounced these statements and even got a little hot under the collar when Rev. Wright returned to the spotlight to speak again in public. Previously, Wright had stayed out of the public eye, presumably to help Obama’s chances with voters.

Wright’s statements are a good example of black liberation theology, a movement in in some protestant churches that cater to the African American community. This brand of theology became popular during the late sixties and in the midst of the civil rights movement. The idea behind black liberation theology is that the writings and ideas of Christianity can also apply to issues like civil rights.

John Hagee, on the other hand, is another one of those hot-aired evangelical mouthpieces, much like Pat Robertson or the late Jerry Falwell. Hagee has famously endorsed John McCain in the current presidential race. The only problem is that John Hagee has said some very controversial things, too. While Obama has denounced the statements of Rev. Wright, McCain has been much slower in denouncing the comments of Rev. Hagee. He has also not refused the endorsement of Hagee.

Recently, The New York Times did a piece about these controversial views and how the media are treating Hagee differently from Rev. Wright.

Here are some of Hagee’s famous ideas. Many of his bombastic sermons are available on YouTube if you want to see more.

• Hagee supports the invasion of Iran, a pre-emptive “holy war.”
• He believes that Hurricane Katrina was a result of sinfulness in the city of New Orleans, more specifically a gay parade that was to take place within the city.
• He called the Roman Catholic Church a “great whore” and claimed that the Catholic Church “drinks the blood of Jewish people.”
• He has, on several occasions, made televised and public statements that could be construed as anti-woman, bigoted, anti-semitic, and prejudiced against Catholics.

Currently McCain has denounced some of Hagee’s statements but continues to be proud of the pastor’s endorsement.

Here’s another in a long line of Muslim fear-mongering emails intended to discredit Barack, probably because he’s not white. There are two components to this email, the first being a comment obviously written by someone OTHER than the author of the column that immediately follows. We should note that the author of the column did NOT write this little header bit of information. I don’t want to imply that Ken Blackwell had anything to do with the initial beginning of the email.

You’ll notice how the author of this essay claims that Obama has “Hollywood, San Francisco” values rather than “Middle American” values, which we can only assume to mean “white values.” After all, aren’t people in Hollywood and San Francisco just as American as everyone else? I mean, they do hold citizenship, don’t they?

I’m constantly offended that somehow having populist values gets you discredited by calling your values “liberal Hollywood” values, as if Mel Gibson, Arnold, and Bruce Willis didn’t also come from Hollywood, all noted conservatives. So liberals like me who live in a city of more than a million people, we aren’t Americans too? Strange because I feel American. They keep letting me vote like an American. I’m pretty sure I was born in this country which, under The Constitution, gives me American citizenship. Strange.

Here’s the most interesting bit of the whole email:

Subject: Kind of scary, wouldn’t you think?
Remember–God is good, and is in time, on time–every time.
According to The Book of Revelation the anti-christ is:
The anti-christ will be a man, in his 40s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal….the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything. Is it OBAMA??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to repost this as many times as you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet…do it!
If you think I am crazy..I’m sorry but I refuse to take a chance on the “unknown”

First off, let’s get one thing straight about the book of Revelations. It was written a long time ago and was meant to be a cautionary tale about the fall of Rome, or at least that’s how I’ve heard the  literary interpretation. Sorry to disappoint you, but Revelations didn’t predict the Kennedy assassination, nor did it predict that the twin towers would fall or that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston would break up. Instead, all of that obfuscated language is really supposed to be a tale about the fall of Rome and Roman society, once the mightiest empire on the planet. I’m no biblical scholar, but I feel I can safely predict that the “Antichrist” isn’t Barack Obama because the “Antichrist” is also an allegory.

Of course, I don’t put a whole lot of faith in the idea that God is going to terrorize the living crap out of us with this fire and brimstone stuff anyway. Literal interpreters just scare me because anybody could be the Antichrist, and it always seems like the Antichrist is right here, right now. How many hundreds of years have people been crying wolf about the existence of an Antichrist? When are we all going to stop freaking out about such hateful speech and ignore nuts who claim these things?

If someone is powerful or hated enough, he (or she) could be the Antichrist. And who hasn’t been called the Antichrist? Saddam Hussein, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and more have all been called the incarnate of Satan. Frankly I’m a little tired of all this hate-mongering speech. And you thought the things Obama’s pastor said were bad. Sorry to disappoint, but everything in Revelations already happened. Stop worrying about the end of the world and go get yourself some ice cream.

Now, onto the accompanying editorial which was NOT written by the same person who wrote the inflammatory statement above. As it says, this column did, in fact, appear in the New York Sun which, by all accounts, is way inferior to other newspapers in New York. But I digress. This column was published February 14–yes, Valentine’s Day–of this year. Enjoy.

Ken Blackwell – Columnist for the New York Sun

It’s an amazing time to be alive in America. We’re in a year of firsts in this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first front-running freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be a first.

We won’t truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every candidate by where they stand. We won’t arrive where we should be until we no longer talk about skin color or gender. Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his politics.

The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner, and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him. Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He’s not. He’s the next George McGovern. And it’s time people learned the facts.

Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, or Mrs. Clinton. Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.

Yet Mr. Obama is promising all those things, and he’s not behind in the polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty pageant. Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead the United States of America. But let’s look at the more defined strokes of who he is underneath this superficial “beauty.”

I realize this column was written before the pastor at Obama’s church came into some pretty hot water, but I must protest this point. If this election was really being treated like a beauty pageant, then why would the media focus on clearly embarrassing issues like this one?

Start with national security, since the president’s most important duties are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong II, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists – something no president has ever taken off the table since w e created nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk.

Here’s an important point to make about the president of Iran. I realize that Ahmadinejad is a scary guy. He says scary things and makes scary threats. Here’s the problem: he doesn’t have any actual authority. It’s true. The president of Iran has a diplomatic role only, but has no authority or power to change things. In fact, this rests with a rather scary-sounding position called the “Supreme Leader.” Ahmadinejad is the one we’re scared of, but we don’t even know the name or face of the Supreme Leader, the one actually mankind decisions. But let’s move on…

Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on “the rich.” How to fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes. Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck.

Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a stadium rally by saying, “All praise and glory to God!” but says that Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have “hijacked” – hijacked – Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of the early advocates of racial cleansing. His spiritual leaders endorse homosexual marriage, and he is moving in that direction. In Illinois, he refused to vote against a statewide ban – ban – on all handguns in the state. These are radical left, Hollywood, and San Francisco values, not Middle America values.

The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don’t start looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of “bringing America together” means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his liberal agenda and abandoning any conflicting beliefs.

But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is and – yes – they’re talking about his race. Those should never be the factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama’s radical agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs. Clinton.

It’s time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let’s first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in a nuclear age during a global civilizational war.

Now the points made in this article are all rather ridiculous and I’ll save those arguments for another time. The point is that people are needlessly afraid of Barack Obama. This is why the point of this column is flawed. Blackwell claims we should forget the issue of race in this election, yet this email arrived with a header claiming that Obama isn’t worth voting for because he’s not white and therefore is somehow the Antichrist. He’s not just a bad leader, he’s the incarnate of evil.

See, race is an issue. There is still racism to battle, unfortunately. Until then, remember your critical thinking skills. Don’t let religious zealotry cloud you from the real issue. This is an election, not a religious war. Let’s treat it accordingly.

Tina Fey is so awsome.

In Tina’s recent re-appearance on Saturday Night Live, Tina returned to her old desk as Weekend Update anchor to deliver some much-needed women’s news. During her segment, Tina made an impassioned plea for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, saying that yes, Hillary Clinton is a bitch, but bitches get things done. According to Fey, “Bitch is the new black.”

Watch the video and see for yourself here.

Also, download my new wallpaper and display your Bitch Pride:

I got an email from the conservative side of my family telling me all sorts of seemingly-horrible things about Barack Obama. Unfortunately for my conservative family NONE of these are true. I’ve copied the email and left all the spelling and punctuation errors for your enjoyment. Here is this little gem of an email fear-mongering campaign:

Who is Barack Obama?

Very interesting and something that should be considered in your choice. If you do not ever forward anything else, please forward this to all your contacts…

this is very scarey to think of what lies ahead of us here in our own United States … better heed this and pray about it and share it.

We checked this out on “snopes.com”.

First off, I thought I’d mentioned that I, too, fact-checked this information on Snopes.com and found this all to be horrifically untrue. We’ll also overlook the misspelling of the word “scary.”

It is factual. Check for yourself.

Who is Barack Obama?

Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu , Hawaii , to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., ablack MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHIEST from Wichita, Kansas . Obama’s parents met at the University of Hawaii . When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Obama’s father was a Muslim and his mother was an atheist. The all caps accusatory manner sort of spells out the true nature of this email: fear people who are different from you. In this case, we’re supposed to fear Muslims and atheists regardless of who they are and where they’re from.

His father returned to Kenya . His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia.? When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocate to Indonesia . Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta . He also spent two years in a Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, “He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.”

According to Snopes, Obama’s father was raised Muslim, as are many of the people of Kenya which has a high Muslim population density. Of course, we all know that just being a Muslim doesn’t make you a radical Muslim. There, I’ll say it again: Being a Muslim does NOT make you radical Muslim. Got that, conservative family members?

Obama’s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that he is not a radical. Obama’s introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama creturned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son’s education.

Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking major public office in the United States , Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran.

I’ve heard this business about the Qur’an before, and it’s simply not true. When America’s first Muslim member of congress was elected, Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, he was indeed sworn in on a copy of the Qur’an which just so happened to be Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Qur’an. Turns out Mr. Jefferson was a big fan of Muslims and their religious writings.

Obama himself is a member of the United Church of Christ and has, since entering public life, described himself as a Christian. As for rumors about his radical church that only allows black members, this is also a false. Obama is a member of a church that is predominantly black, but does NOT exclude anyone based on race. Again, conservative family members: coming from a black church does NOT mean you hate white people, okay?

Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegience nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches. Let us all remain alert concerning Obama’s expected presidential candidacy.

Barack will say the Pledge of Allegiance. See the evidence for yourself.

The Muslims have said they plan to destroy the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level – through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!!

Please forward to everyone you know.

Would you want this man leading our country?
…… NOT ME!!!

I, for one, would be happy to have a man like Barack Obama as president. So, to all my conservative and misguided family members, you don’t have to believe those fear-mongering tactics. Obama simply isn’t the man you want to vilify him as. He is, much to your surprise, a lot like you and I but with different skin color.

What really constitutes a smear campaign?

The photo above was recently circulated online and it was speculated by some news outlets that the photo is being passed around by the Clinton camp. The photograph shows presidential hopeful Barack Obama while on a diplomatic mission to Kenya wearing traditional garb. This includes a turban, long utilized as a symbol of fear against Muslims.

Kenya is a mostly Muslim nation, though experts state that this outfit isn’t related particularly to the Muslim religion. On Slate, former ambassador to Kenya Mark Bellamy states that he thinks the outfit isn’t Islamic garb at all, but traditional dress for the region. He also says that, as ambassador, traditional dress was a part of honoring your hosts.

Obama’s father was of Kenyan descent. He has relatives that still live there.

The real question is, does a leak of this picture constitute a smear campaign? Let’s take out the percentage of Americans like myself who don’t fear having a Muslim president. That leaves the rest of America, people who have real trust issues after what happened seven years ago in New York and Virginia. Leak this picture without an explanation, and they might start questioning things.

Is that a smear?

This particular photograph gives us pause to look at our own attitudes about culture. When was the last time campaign, apart from this one, where we really had to closely examine our cultural beliefs and stereotypes? When JFK’s Catholicism was a big deal, we soon realize that he was still white and still a traditionalist Christian. The seeming culture shock of our current campaign is too much for the hardcore xenophobes to take.

Believe me, there are still xenophobes, racists, and misogynists of all kinds in our country, whether we like it or not. If the Clinton camp did release this photograph to play on the fears of others, shame on her. She should know better. If not, Obama should shrug off this incident like so many others. After all, wearing traditional dress doesn’t make you a Muslim or terrorist sympathizer. He should have nothing to worry about.

Mitt Romney, once the bastion of conservative economic policy, has decided to drop out of the race. Actually, he’s going the way of a caterpillar, retreating into a state of hibernation until such time as the election is over and he can dry his non-president wings in the sun. He’ll keep the delegates he has, but won’t actively recruit any more.

Mitt, my winner of worst presidential website, declared today that he was no longer running. Instead, he was going to step aside and let others have a crack at the presidency, namely McCain and Huckabee. While he had the most money and the most economic experience, supposedly, he just couldn’t connect with voters. I wonder why?

Was it the fact that he’s a Mormon, a religious preference that is still very uncomfortable to most Americans which was, until the seventies, a racist and rather cultist religion?

Was it the fact that he flopped the wrong way on the wrong issues, namely abortion and gay rights?

Was it his constant immigrant hate speech?

Was it that Mormon missionary stint that helped in dodge the Vietnam draft while McCain was suffering broken bones in the Hanoi Hilton?

Or was it just the fact that nobody wanted to hear what he had to say because he seemed to talk down to people? He was constantly reminding voters of the millions he made in business. Yes, he knows how to run a business, but reminding others of the futility of the American Dream isn’t a way to “connect” with the average voter. After all, Mitt got a huge head start in live with his rich, successful lobbyist father. Most of us had to start from scratch.