Hungarian Logic

Dare I comment on this? If it ain't broke, don't fix it; why improve? If it is broke, ignore it... Borrowed from All Hungary News. Not that I can say most countries are any better.

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My Worst Nightmare

Last night, we had eight others from Hungary for Obama come over with their laptops and mobile phones. Using Jajah accounts, we called undecided voters in Ohio, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. We worked in teams with one person on the computer and one on the phone, each pair making about 50 calls. It was a great feeling of being involved. This election, I have been more involved than ever before. A friend of ours sent this video. This is my worst nightmare, but I have voted already, so I am safe. Don''t make it your worst nightmare.

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The Obama Song (World of Friends): Bridges for Obama

Click to play

Bridges for Obama: American supporters of Sen. Barack Obama have been staging rallies abroad at world-famous bridges to show support for the Democratic presidential candidate and his pledge to span old political divisions.

The Obama Song (World of Friends): Japan-based American musical artists created and performed this song to celebrate Sen. Obama's historic candidacy and to inspire us all to change the world. Hungary is here as well as Democrats Abroad from a number of countries. It gives me chills to see the support and love.

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The Final Stretch

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McCain Campaign Violated McCain-Feingold law with Palin Clothing Purchases

McCain Campaign Violated McCain-Feingold law with Palin Clothing Purchases by Steven Leser www.opednews.com In what has to be one of the most embarrassing turn of events for the McCain campaign thus far, it appears that in purchasing $150,000 worth of clothes for Sarah Palin and her family, McCain and his campaign and/or the RNC have violated the 2002 McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act. A link to the entire text of the law and the relevant text are below. Only a lawyer would know for sure if this constitutes a breach of the law but the spirit of the law was definitely broken by the RNC, Palin and the McCain campaign: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h107-2356 SEC. 313. USE OF CONTRIBUTED AMOUNTS FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES. (a) PERMITTED USES- (b) PROHIBITED USE- (1) IN GENERAL- A contribution or donation described in subsection (a) shall not be converted by any person to personal use. (2) CONVERSION- For the purposes of paragraph (1), a contribution or donation shall be considered to be converted to personal use if the contribution or amount is used to fulfill any commitment, obligation, or expense of a person that would exist irrespective of the candidate's election campaign or individual's duties as a holder of Federal office, including-- (A) a home mortgage, rent, or utility payment; (B) a clothing purchase; (C) a noncampaign-related automobile expense; (D) a country club membership; (E) a vacation or other noncampaign-related trip; (F) a household food item; (G) a tuition payment; (H) admission to a sporting event, concert, theater, or other form of entertainment not associated with an election campaign; and (I) dues, fees, and other payments to a health club or recreational facility.' . Sec. 323 '(a) NATIONAL COMMITTEES- '(1) IN GENERAL- A national committee of a political party (including a national congressional campaign committee of a political party) may not solicit, receive, or direct to another person a contribution, donation, or transfer of funds or any other thing of value, or spend any funds, that are not subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements of this Act. '(2) APPLICABILITY- The prohibition established by paragraph (1) applies to any such national committee, any officer or agent acting on behalf of such a national committee, and any entity that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by such a national committee. ---------------------------------------------------- This puts McCain and his campaign squarely in the realm of slapstick comedy. Does anyone still think he has the managerial and leadership skills to be President? His first major decision was choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate, the most unqualified person on a major national ticket in over 100 years, now his campaign violates a campaign finance reform law that he himself wrote. It's hard to demonstrate incompetence any better than that. He makes Inspector Clousseau, Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello seem adroit by comparison. Will McCain and the RNC now stop whining about the money Obama has been able to raise? If they can afford to spend $150,000 on Palin's clothes, they obviously are not hurting for money. What does this say about the campaign's attempts to reach out to the 'Joe the Plumbers' and 'Joe Sixpacks' and 'Hockey moms' out there? Do those types of people spend $150,000 on clothes from Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue? To think that Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and various other denizens of the Conservative Right went ballistic over a $400 haircut for John Edwards. Edwards' expenditures are minor league compared to the McCain-Shoppin' ticket. You betcha! McCain is now in the unenviable position of trying to convince the American people that he should be the Chief Law Enforcement official of the land when he doesn't even obey the laws that he crafted. If he were waging an issue based campaign and not hurling false accusations at Obama as fast as he could shovel, one would almost feel sorry for him. McCain had it right when he suspended his campaign a few weeks ago, but the reasons and duration were wrong. He should suspend it permanently because he clearly does not have the judgment or skills for the job. Steven Leser specializes in Politics, Science & Health, and Entertainment topics. He has held positions within the Democratic Party including District Chair and Public Relations Chair within county organizations. Steven Leser writes for www.opednews.com, an internet only media site that has grown to become one of the highest traffic news sites in America, reaching more traffic, according to alexa.com, than all but the thirty largest daily newspapers in the US. Mr. Leser is one of the 500+ liberal pundits who, each month, are published in what has become one of the top five Liberal/progressive media sites in the US."

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David Brooks: Sarah Palin "Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party"

For those not in the know, David Brooks is a conservative Op-Ed columnist for the NY Times. David Brooks: Sarah Palin "Represents A Fatal Cancer To The Republican Party": "[Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices."

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Stolen Votes - Call to Action

ROLLING STONE: IT'S ALREADY STOLEN Investigation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast <http://www.gregpalast.com/> released today Don't worry about Mickey Mouse or ACORN stealing the election. According to an investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale. - Republican Secretaries of State of swing-state Colorado have quietly purged one in six names from their voter rolls. Over several months, the GOP politicos in Colorado stonewalled every attempt by Rolling Stone to get an answer to the massive purge - ten times the average state's rate of removal. - While Obama dreams of riding to the White House on a wave of new voters, more then 2.7 million have had their registrations REJECTED under new procedures signed into law by George Bush. Kennedy, a voting rights lawyer, charges this is a resurgence of 'Jim Crow' tactics to wrongly block Black and Hispanic voters. - A fired US prosecutor levels new charges - accusing leaders of his own party, Republicans, with criminal acts in an attempt to block legal voters as "fraudulent." - Digging through government records, the Kennedy-Palast team discovered that, in 2004, a GOP scheme called "caging" ultimately took away the rights of 1.1 million voters. The Rolling Stone duo predict that, this November 4, it will be far worse. There's more: - Since the last presidential race, "States used dubious 'list management' rules to scrub at least 10 million voters from their rolls." Among those was Paul Maez of Las Vegas, New Mexico - a victim of an unreported but devastating purge of voters in that state that left as many as one in nine Democrats without a vote. For Maez, the state's purging his registration was particularly shocking - he's the county elections supervisor. The Kennedy-Palast revelations go far beyond the sum of questionably purged voters recently reported by the New York Times. "Republican operatives - the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics," report Kennedy and Palast, under the cover of fighting fraudulent voting, are "systematically disenfranchis[ing] Democrats."

The investigators level a deadly serious charge: "If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat McCain at the polls - they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote tampering." Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Greg Palast in the current issue (#1064) of Rolling Stone. [Media enquiries - Dave Falkenstein, Sunshine Sachs & Assoc, via interviews@....] Note - Kennedy and Palast are releasing, simultaneously with the Rolling Stone investigative report what they call, the vote-theft 'antidote': a 24-page full-color comic book, Steal Back Your Vote <http://www.stealbackyourvote.org/> , which can be downloaded or obtained in print from their non-partisan website, StealBackYourVote.org <http://www.stealbackyourvote.org/> For updates and video reports, go to <http://www.rollingstone.com/> <http://www.rollingstone.com/issue1064> RollingStone.com <http://www.rollingstone.com/issue1064> , www.GregPalast.com <http://www.gregpalast.com/> and StealBackYourVote.org <http://stealbackyourvote.org/> .

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Flip Flop – Forget Your Lies?

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McCain on Healthcare

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Keep On Keeping It On Like This

Let's keep this momentum through election day!

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Global Electoral Vote

Ron came across this web site at the Economist magazine site called "Global Electoral College: What if the whole world could vote". Quite interesting take on our politics from a global perspective. http://www.economist.com/vote2008/index.cfm

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The Candidates and Travel Concerns

This is reprinted from the Frommer's Newsletter http://www.frommers.com/articles/5526.html.

Obama and McCain Strike Out on Travelers' Issues

By Sascha Segan October 8, 2008

In this intense presidential campaign, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have talked about many issues. But as air travel gets more crowded, delayed and expensive, roads and bridges crumble, and fewer foreign travelers decide to brave our strict security procedures to enter the U.S., the two candidates have said very little about issues affecting travelers and the travel industry.

In tough economic times, travel industry issues are very relevant to Americans' pocketbooks. According to the Travel Industry Association, travel and tourism is a $1.6 trillion industry generating $110 billion in tax revenue a year. The industry employed 7.5 million people in 2006, and that's not counting all of the folks who work at stores, restaurants and other venues patronized by both travelers and locals.

We emailed each campaign twice with a list of questions; both declined to respond. We won't take it personally. The Travel Industry Association has also tried to ask the candidates what they're going to do for travelers, and they seem to have been ignored, too.

We've marshaled the candidates' position statements, press and third-party reports to try to suss out what the candidates think about our struggling airlines, our broken-down railways, our crumbling roads and the inbound travel industry.

Air Travel

Airlines are merging. Flight delays are rampant. Airfares are going up, and people are getting stuck on the tarmac for hours at a time. What do Obama and McCain think?

Obama's transportation position paper blames "a record number of flight delays" on "an outdated air-traffic control system and overscheduling at airports already operating at full capacity ... Moreover, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has failed to work well with our nation's air traffic controllers, neglecting to treat them with the respect they deserve. Obama will work with Congress to modernize the nation's air traffic control system and he will direct the new FAA Administrator to work cooperatively with the frontline air traffic controllers to restore morale and improve working conditions and operations at the agency." According to Popular Mechanics Obama favors hiring more air traffic controllers.

If you read between the lines of a highly polemic AFL-CIO page on McCain's aviation policies you'll find that McCain is interested in privatizing or contracting out air traffic control. He's for allowing foreign airlines to compete on U.S. routes, and for more foreign investment in the U.S. airline industry. The AFL-CIO opposes these things, but needless to say, many other people support these ideas.

Neither candidate has stepped forward for travelers on "passenger rights" issues, including regulating whether airlines should provide comfort or compensation to passengers affected by delays and cancellations.

Rail Travel

Bring up the subject of Amtrak, and you'll find some of the starkest differences in the candidates' positions.

McCain has been one of Amtrak's greatest opponents for years. He has opposed increasing Amtrak funding and referred to Amtrak as a symbol of government waste, according to the Boston Globe. “Amtrak should be restructured to eliminate its reliance on the American taxpayers and to allow for its privatization," he said in 2002, according to a Brookings Institution report from August 25.

Obama says he is "a strong supporter of federal financial support for Amtrak. Obama believes we need to reform Amtrak to improve accountability. As president, Barack Obama will continue to fight for Amtrak funding and reform so that individuals, families and businesses throughout the country have safe and reliable transportation options. Barack Obama supports development of high-speed rail networks across the country. Providing passengers with safe high-speed rail will have significant environmental and metropolitan planning advantages and help diversify our nation's transportation infrastructure. Our domestic rail freight capacity must also be strengthened because our demand for rail transportation has never been greater, leaving many key transportation hubs stretched to capacity."

Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, is known as "Amtrak Joe" for his daily commute between Washington, D.C. and Delaware on Amtrak and his staunch support for increased funding for passenger rail.

Road Travel

For John McCain, energy policy and infrastructure policy are inseparable. "The nation cannot reduce its dependency on oil unless we change how we power our transportation sector," his Web site says.

McCain will offer a $5,000 tax credit for anyone who buys a zero-emission car; a $300 million prize for developing a viable electric car; a "rapid and complete" switch to "flex-fuel" ethanol-compatible vehicles; and enforcing mileage standards on carmakers.

McCain opposes a larger federal role in the transportation sector, according to the Brookings Institution.

Obama wants to increase those fuel-efficiency standards by 4 percent each year, provide a $7,000 tax credit for buying plug-in hybrid cars, and mandate that all new cars be "flex-fuel." In his transportation plan, he also discusses investing heavily in roads, highways and bridges with a "National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank" that will finance projects to the tune of $60 billion over 10 years.

Inbound Tourism

Even as tourism to the US declines, the two candidates have been totally silent on issues affecting the huge inbound tourism industry. As Arthur Frommer recounts here on our site, "While other foreign countries are enjoying regular and substantial increases in their incoming tourism, the U.S.A. is welcoming fewer tourists in 2008 than visited our country in 2000. Recently, a Senior Vice President of the Travel Industry Association testified before a congressional committee that the shortfall in incoming foreign tourism had cost America "46 million visitors, $140 billion in lost visitor spending, $23 billion in lost tax revenueÂ… and 340,000 jobs."

The Travel Industry Association tried to get answers from the candidates, but got nothing.

"We have confidence that both could be leaders in striking the best balance between security and travel facilitation, but to date neither campaign has addressed travel issues in-depth," TIA senior vice president Geoff Freeman said diplomatically via e-mail.

In a blog post in the Orlando Sentinel, Obama criticized a potential government-sponsored tourism advertising campaign. "Because, look, money's tight right now. And there are a lot of potential uses for that money. And I think people know where South Beach is."

McCain has stayed mum on the issue of declining tourism to the U.S. On his Web site, he says he wants to "continue implementation of the US-VISIT comprehensive visitor security program." US-VISIT is an umbrella term for a bunch of controversial border security measures including fingerprinting visitors both as they enter and as they leave the country.

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Truth in Politics

Seriously, the title of this blog post is either an oxymoron or a bit of jest on my part. You decide for yourself. However, my fellow human beings regardless of your country of origin, we have this nasty habit of believing what we read, hear, or just know in our hearts. Checking out the facts and fallacies is often ignored whether it is due to lack of interest, time, or resources. Yet, the next time the subject arises, we add our 2 cents, 2 forints, 2 pence, or whatever to the conversation as if we were aware of the facts of the matter. To aid those who want to know more of the Truth with a capital T, I have here the link to the facts of who lied and who told the Truth at the Vice Presidential debate. Now it is up to you! I was going to put it here, but it was way too long, but here is a summary.

Biden and Palin debated, and both mangled some facts.

• Palin mistakenly claimed that troop levels in Iraq had returned to “pre-surge” levels. Levels are gradually coming down but current plans would have levels higher than pre-surge numbers through early next year, at least.
• Palin repeated a false claim that Obama once voted in favor of higher taxes on “families” making as little as $42,000 a year. He did not. The budget bill in question called for an increase only on singles making that amount, but a family of four would not have been affected unless they made at least $90,000 a year.

• Biden wrongly claimed that McCain “voted the exact same way” as Obama on the budget bill that contained an increase on singles making as little as $42,000 a year. McCain voted against it. Biden was referring to an amendment that didn't address taxes at that income level.

• Palin claimed McCain’s health care plan would be “budget neutral,” costing the government nothing. Independent budget experts estimate McCain's plan would cost tens of billions each year, though details are too fuzzy to allow for exact estimates.
• Biden wrongly claimed that McCain had said "he wouldn't even sit down" with the government of Spain. Actually, McCain didn't reject a meeting, but simply refused to commit himself one way or the other during an interview.

• Palin wrongly claimed that “millions of small businesses” would see tax increases under Obama’s tax proposals. At most, several hundred thousand business owners would see increases.

This came from the link below with further analysis and more: http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_biden-palin_debate.html

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The Nation

I am not going to embed this video since the article is just as good a read. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/pow_video

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Want to Take a Poll?

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Vice Presidential Debate

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Well John, Which Flip Flop Is It?

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Sarah Palin: Myth vs. Fact - Rolling Stone Magazine

Sarah Palin's credentials as a "reformer" are nothing but spin. She has continually sided with Big Oil, lobbied to increase pork spending, raised money for one of the nation's most flagrant pork barrel abusers, and mismanaged public funds through her own neglect and ineptitude. Here's a guide to separating myth from fact. THE MYTH: "She took the luxury jet that was acquired by her predecessor and sold it on eBay. And made a profit!" — John McCain, at a campaign stop in Wisconsin THE FACTS: No one bought the jet online. It was eventually sold through an aircraft broker — at a loss to taxpayers of nearly $600,000 - to one of her largest campaign contributors, who is reportedly now seeking $50,000 in taxpayer money to pay maintenance costs. THE MYTH: "I told the Congress 'Thanks, but no thanks' on that Bridge to Nowhere." — Sarah Palin, convention speech THE FACTS: Supported the infamous pork project in her 2006 run for governor, even after Congress had killed the bridge; derided its opponents as "spinmeisters." Reversed her stance a year later — but kept the money, doling out the $223 million in federal funds to other pork projects throughout the state. THE MYTH: "We ... championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress." — Sarah Palin, convention speech THE FACTS: As mayor, employed a lobbyist who also worked for Jack Abramoff to secure $27 million in pork spending for Wasilla — more than $4,000 per resident. In her two years as governor, requested $453 million in earmarks. Alaska ranks first in the nation for pork, raking in seven times the national average. Alaska ranks number one in federal spending per resident ($13,950) but sits at number eighteen in taxes paid per resident ($5434), meaning all of us taxpaying non-Alaskans spend $8500 per year on each and every resident of Palin's model of "rugged self-sufficiency". THE MYTH: "I found ... someone who stopped government from wasting taxpayers' money." — John McCain, introducing Palin THE FACTS: Signature accomplishment as mayor: building a $15 million hockey arena that plunged the city (whose annual budget is just $20 million) into debt. She broke ground on the project without finalizing the city's purchase of the land, with the resulting fiasco leading to years of litigation and forcing taxpayers to pay six times the original market price for the property the city ended up seizing from a private citizen using eminent domain. This cost Wasilla an additional $1.3 million — roughly $200 per resident. Palin funded the project by pushing a special referendum that raised the city sales tax by 25 percent. City hall records show the referendum was passed by just twenty votes. THE MYTH: "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems — as if we didn't know that already." — Sarah Palin, convention speech THE FACTS: Apparently Ms. Palin did not know that just the month before: "I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can't drill our way out of our problem." — Sarah Palin, July 2008 THE MYTH: "We began a nearly $40 billion natural-gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence." — Sarah Palin, convention speech THE FACTS: With federal approval years away, not a single section of the pipeline has been laid. State could end up paying the pipeline's contractor $500 million — even if it never breaks ground on the project. THE MYTH: "She's from a small town with small-town values." — Fred Thompson, convention speech THE FACTS: Wasilla and the surrounding valley were recently named the "meth capital of Alaska", with 42 meth labs busted in a single year. Charles Wohlforth, in a Frommer's travel guidebook on Alaska, described Wasilla as "the worst kind of suburban sprawl of highway-fronting shopping malls and gravel lots." THE MYTH: Palin has "taken on the political establishment in the largest state of the union." — Fred Thompson, convention speech THE FACTS: Served until 2005 as director of fundraising group associated with indicted senator Ted Stevens. Citizens Against Government Waste is a frequent critic of Stevens' affinity for pork and keeps a list of his projects. Ted Stevens has taken criticism for a wide variety of positions and actions taken in the Senate. He placed a secret hold on a bill that would allow easier accountability and research of all federal funding measures, and supported pork barrel projects such as the Gravina Island Bridge and the Knik Arm Bridge (collectively known as the "Bridges to Nowhere"). In December 2003, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Stevens had taken advantage of lax Senate rules to use his political influence to obtain a large amount of his personal wealth. According to the article, while Stevens was already a millionaire "thanks to investments with businessmen who received government contracts or other benefits with his help," the lawmaker who is in charge of $800 billion a year, writes "preferences he wrote into law" that he benefits from. On July 29, 2008 Stevens was indicted by a federal grand jury on seven counts of falsely reporting gifts. The charges relate to renovations to his home and to more than $250,000 worth of gifts he has allegedly received from VECO Corporation. The indictment followed a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for possible corruption based on his relationship with Bill Allen, an oil service company executive, who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaskan legislators, including Stevens' son, former State Senator Ben Stevens. THE MYTH: "She's fought oil companies." — John McCain, introducing Palin THE FACTS: Collected $13,000 in campaign contributions from oil and gas lobbyists, including Exxon, BP, Shell and Chevron. BP was a major sponsor of her inaugural ball. THE MYTH: "She's been to Kuwait. She's been over there. She has been with her troops. The National Guard that she commands, who have been over there and had the experience." — John McCain, highlighting Palin's national-security credentials THE FACTS: Never had a passport before 2007, when she made a brief photo-op trip to visit her son's batallion in Germany and Kuwait. Claimed to have visited Ireland, but this was a refueling stop and she never got off of the plane. Has never been to Iraq, and has not met a single foreign head of state. THE MYTH: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending." — Sarah Palin, convention speech THE FACTS: As governor, sought travel reimbursement for 312 nights she spent in her own home!!! Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23140513/the_truth_about_sarah_palin

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Obama's Vision with Pointer Sister: Yes We Can Can

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Independent Voters Speak Out

I accidentally found this blog of Independents. Worth a look... http://independentsunbound.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccainpalin-ticket-will-continue.html

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