Barack Obama has smashed the record for campaign fundraising, crushing his opponent easily and compiling over 605 million dollars. The irony that seems to have been largely overlooked by the media is the fact that his opponent is responsible for one half of the McCain-Feingold bill, designed to reign in huge caches of cash in election campaigns. It was also designed to remove corruption from campaign donations. It failed miserably.

Early on in the campaign season, McCain pledged to accept public financing for his campaign, which would have limited his warchest, and Obama agreed to do the same. Later, Obama backed out on that pact and decided to go his own way. That has succeeded splendidly, for Obama. But why?

That is a difficult question to answer, since the Obama campaign will not release its donor list on people contributing less than $200, while McCain is an open book in this regard. It is certainly not illegal for Obama to not list them, but what about transparency?

The Washington Post has finally begun to examine Obama's donors, and they report a very interesting fact: Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor's identity, campaign officials confirmed.

Not only are they accepting untraceable donations, they have, according to Little Green Footballs, deliberately disabled the online payment industry's standard safeguards against fraud. An excerpt:

Faced with a huge influx of donations over the Internet, the campaign has also chosen not to use basic security measures to prevent potentially illegal or anonymous contributions from flowing into its accounts, aides acknowledged. Instead, the campaign is scrutinizing its books for improper donations after the money has been deposited.

Predictably, this is all ignored by the mainstream media, with the exception of WaPo, thus far. If this kind of thing were happening in the McCain campaign, it would certainly be examined in the media by proctology, but the media has been reticent to offer anything about Obama that isn't favorable.

By: Daniel James Wood
http://sanitysentinel.blogspot.com
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We all owe John McCain an apology for comparing him to Junior Senator and 'Protest' Community Organizer Barrack Obama. Protest organizer you ask? Well, sure he has worked with groups that have used demonstrations to serve their political will, it's a stretch in my opinion to call this community organizing and it is indeed, a stretch to compare such service to the military service of John McCain.

Why you ask? Well, because Senator John McCain has served our country his whole life and sacrificed almost everything. To even put them in the same league is unacceptable in my opinion. Obama is not even in the same Galaxy as John McCain, we owe John McCain an apology big time, as I see it.

Indeed, I cannot believe we are even bothering to have a national discussion of which candidate is best suited for the interests of the American People, John McCain wins hands down, no matter what nonsense the persnickety bloggers or Mass media purports! And that is my opinion on the whole situation.

You see, just because someone can spend 500 million dollars to buy TV ads promoting themselves does not mean they are the best suited for the job, after all, the way the masses have surrendered their minds to the TV sets, you could probably get your dog elected President of the United States with 500 million dollars. (in my opinion).

Not only is the whole election pretty much out of control at this point the attacks on John McCain over his age are problematic as it is a slap in the face to all seniors in our nation, telling them that the nation no longer finds them worthwhile. Apologies are owed in my view.

By: Lance Winslow
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The single most seminal element of a democracy is that "The People" have to accept the cost-of-democracy, the essence of which is their willingness to carry out their "citizen responsibility." That means Americans actually have to do something, not just wait for the corruption of special interests to mortgage their future.

George Pataki, former Governor of the state of New York, gave us all of the wisdom we need to understand and solve the problem when he said, "When government takes responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves." Somebody should find a way to etch that on every car bumper in America. That you might choose responsibility over dependency is the politician's, the legal system's and the main stream media's greatest threat. The essence of their spirit is to keep us united under a common bond, whatever [fear] that may be. And let's face it, we are so easy to unite [scare].

In the end when enough can't or won't, the populous tend to believe that they can hire mercenaries for their duties, and this is the beginning of the end. That is what is happening to America right now. Every great civilization from time immemorial has eventually violated this truth and in return their government was lost to the ages.

Americans have become apathetic to an ever more intrusive form of government and, most ironically, less inclined to take up their Citizen Responsibility. Americans face a host of serious issues, many of which they treat with a herd mentality; protected by the drove, grazing preoccupies them until they sense the siren call of eminent danger. And, like the wildebeest on the Serengeti, even though others regularly perish, as long as it is not them, they go back to grazing.

I understand that America is desperately trying to move on from the Bush presidency and that Barack Obama has offered that "Dream". I also feel it is time to move on. The recent stock market debacle, Lehman Brothers, the Fannie and Freddie crash, AIG and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout has rightfully enraged Middle America. The U.S. financial system and the world financial markets are so stressed right now that it threatens the very social fabric of our nation, one that our fathers and their forefathers have already fought and died for. Will we keep our American entrepreneurial spirit, which we have bragged about and paraded before the world for 200 years, or will we give way to a new form of socialism because we have hit a speed bump?

This is no reason to go off the deep end, throwing away our ideological sense of America in order to remove ourselves. I realize that Nancy Pelosi is predicting controlling gains in the House and Senate, that Barack Obama is assembling his dream team, and that the liberal media has already called the game and gone out to celebrate... just a minute... not so fast... history abounds with examples of people wanting out of a bad situation and then being taken to worse.

Most people will reject these words, but I can't help myself from writing them. This is the "herd instinct" in human nature. It is in our psychic that under threats we cannot perceive or manage we want to join the socialist masses. Socialism is the very essence of government, of the covenant of the fence, of law and order, however we need to know what where we are running... before we run over a cliff. Most people stranded on an island-of-hell don't ask many questions when someone throws them a lifeline of hope. Maybe they should ask where they are going, but most people don't.

Many other socialist regimes throughout history have promised change and hope. The peoples yearning for betterment, dissatisfaction of their current situation, a need to relieve themselves of their embarrassment, call it what you will. The America we have known for over 200 years is an uplifting struggle for fairness, equality and a uniquely American idealism. It's not perfect, but let's not mess it up now. Most important, people want change because they are frustrated by the relentless liberal media attacks on America's state of affairs, They want change... for changes sake.

Here is a short list of the things which the mainstream media has been unwilling to ask for. I'm asking that "The people" demand these answers before it is too late.

Fight-the-smears objections aside, Barack Obama has refused to give us his educational records [high school, Occidental College, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Chicago], his health records [both youth and adult], his detailed account of his relationships with those of questionable character [Rezko, Ayres, Dohrn, ACORN, Khalidi, Wright and others], and a detailed breakdown of his nationality status [his long form birth certificate from Hawaii].

When John McCain was challenged earlier this year he provided proof of his citizenship. There are some reports and evidence that some of Barack's schooling has been financed from overseas. We as Americans need to know who Barack Obama's supporters are. We also need to know who is financing Barack's campaign, hence full disclosure of the finances. The time is up... we need answers.

We have only an announcement of birth, not even a birth certificate, no explanation of his adopted Indonesian citizenship, no confirmation of his birth in any U.S. hospital. We have more evidence he was born in Kenya from his paternal grandmother who claims she was in the room when he was born in a Kenyan hospital, contrary to his assertions. His website even admitted dual citizenship with Kenya and his wife has asserted, "... American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband's adoption by his step father... his adoption never changed his love for this country." His love for this country is not being questioned, but his qualifications are.

Everyone including the Democratic National Party, The Federal Elections Commission, the State of Illinois, the Senate and others might have egg on their face if Barack is not telling the truth. The truth will eventually come out, but this raises the questions... When do we want to find out the truth? Would Americans rather play ostrich? Would having no firm grip on reality be better than knowing the truth? Are Americans going to allow someone to disrespect our constitution or worse create a more complicated constitutional crisis later on?

Real Americans cannot throw our constitutional heritage out the window for the promise of hope without details, not unlike Hollywood where rarely does the idealism of idolatry measure up to the propaganda. I'm surprised, even dumbfounded, that many Americans are acting blinded by speeches without details, the evidence for which is they are not asking questions and demanding answers.

Abstract:
Americans have become apathetic to an ever more intrusive form of government and should not go off the deep end throwing away our ideological sense of America in this election. We should not throw our constitutional heritage out the window for the promise of hope without details. Many Americans are acting blinded by speeches without details, the evidence for which is they are not asking questions and demanding answers. Proposed is a short list of questions which need answers.

By: Don Snyder
Don Snyder is an American who is fed up with the low fat, salt free diet of bull crap he gets every day from the mainstream press more aptly referred to as the mainstream mess. He can be reached at dsnyder@twc.net

Enough is enough! Stonewalling by the media is rampant in this election process and it is the deceit of purpose by the American media which is so distasteful. The American "free press" has succumbed to the trappings of self-indulgence [the money]. The press, once considered to be "The People's" bastion of loyal opposition against the tyranny of others is now a mere slave of the process because it cannot hold its virtue above its pocketbook. The major networks, NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX must be secretly ashamed of themselves as they are largely "bought and paid for".

Rationalism and relativism have replaced common sense and responsibility to report the facts fairly. The media's fairness, the hallmark of our republic, has inadvertently nurtured an unruly and greedy brood of bottom feeders. The truth be known, the mercenary nature of the media is as life threatening to our society as cancer itself. Apathy on the part of the public allows them to divert the blood supply with little authoritative oversight.

Democracy requires every American to accept their "citizen responsibility", except that we have gradually, but surely, discharged those responsibilities to surrogates in the media who are robbing us blind. The powerful politicians have the media in their pockets and once shenanigans are uncovered, they have already diverted a disproportionate share of the fiscal potluck. The American way of life is at issue.

The politicians through the news media have all seen their esteem in our society diminish. The public holds them in low regard, which presents the question... "What caused it?" The answer is equally simple as it is a deceit of their stated motive. The most insidious transgression anyone can make is to represent their character as one thing when it is another. Its ethics we all learned early, grounded in the fairytale "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing".

Special interest groups, like the American media, have found themselves at war with the virtue of corporate profits. They represent themselves as "The People's" unprejudiced sixth sense and attempt to be held above the fray, but that is now a myth at best. A dangerous myopia has overcome them as they have found profitable programming to be more rewarding than simple truth. They have instituted a code of morality, which states that facts in themselves cannot and should not be put into the hands of an innocent populous least they be misconstrued.

Like a ritual horror flick, these self described servants of the people have subjugated us. To a young nation of optimists, the media was with good grace acknowledged as helpful, even virtuous, hired hands. Americans should not throw our heritage out the window for the promise of hope without details. The press is closely related to the entertainment business and they know that American Idol and Dancing With The Stars is about a stimulating frame of mind, that CSI and Americas Most Wanted is about an anxious sense of community and that Doctor House is shock treatment.

The media knows that raw information is not necessarily the most compelling part of entertainment, however, for them to exploit that under the cover of "the news" is disingenuous and deceitful.

By: Don Snyder
I'm an American who is fed up with the low fat, salt free diet of bull crap I get every day from the mainstream press more aptly referred to as the mainstream mess.