Rick Raw: Sarah Palin–Political Whore? Media Gadfly? Ditzy Broad? Or All of The Above?

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

The McCain campaign created a monster when they anointed Sarah Palin queen of the McCain ticket. She quickly pissed off McCain’s staff with her pushy, demanding personality. She was an unmanagable she-devil on the loose and she had McCain’s staffers scurrying around like rats on meth, desperately trying to control her.

Palin was the devil in a red suit and designer glasses. The bitch was upstaging McCain and throwing gasoline on the fiery controversy. Frankly, I was intrigued and having sex dreams about romping naked with Palin holding a Remington deer rifle, bringing down a large moose and saying "let’s get drunk and screw."

Suddenly, Palin was adding excitement to the boring Republican image and making McCain look like a ragged out old coot. This broad has spunk. And, dammit, I like spunk. More excitingly, she says what’s on her mind, however dumb it might come out. Hell, she doesn’t care. She’s moves on like a runaway train. "So what if Africa is not a country, I’ve got other things on my mind, like taking over the world," she could have said.

Before long, McCain realized that he had a tigress by the tail and she was the show and he was yesterday’s news. Dang, he regretted getting turned-on by her and thinking she would look great next to him.

And yes, McCain wanted to fuck her. I saw him ogling her. Yeah, but he let the she-corba out of the sack and she was going to scare the bejesus out of the stodgy Republican party.

Oddly, the opposite thing happened. Palin’s aw-shucks, down-home, hunting mom pioneer spirit caught on with conservatives. Secretly, buttoned down Christian conservative men wanted to fuck her and their Barbie Doll wives wanted to be her. Not surprisingly, well known lesbians wanted to fuck her.

Palin was riding the bucking bronco of a sexy broad with a book deal and enough controversy and gossip to keep her splashed on tabloid covers and the national media saturation. Only Balloon Boy and Tiger Woods pushed her from the tabloid covers.

So what’s Palin’s end-game? At every stop on her book tour, long lines awaited her majesty– Ms. moose killing mom on steroids. Some people camped out the night before her appearance to see her in person. With that high level of charisma, Palin could drive a snow plow and get press.

The ambitious wunderkind beauty was a mayor at 32, state governor at 42, and a national candidate at 44. She’s a working mother of five children. She shrugged off the negative press about her family and pressed on like she is possessed by a burning desire to rise to the pentacle of celebrity-hood, and get extremely wealthy.

Palin has the household word recognition and moxie to run for president. The Republican party, which is bogged down with niggling old farts–needs her to forge ahead. She’s like a sexy race car driver in need of a hot political machine.

Like Joan of Arc, Palin could lead the Republican party if she can get her poll numbers up. A recent CNN poll revealed that 7 out of 10 Americans think she is not qualified to be president.

In a society where image is greater than reality, Palin is positioned well with conservatives–the heart and soul of the Republican Party. All those lines at her book signing were telling. Look how far pretty boy John Edward got before he crashed and burned in a nasty sex scandal while his wife was suffering from terminal cancer.

As time goes on, Palin will be out in the hinterlands of America gaining new converts to her kick ass agenda. I would never underestimate Palin. She’s an exciting and interesting woman who has the balls to get out there and push herself, manage a big family, hunt, fish, and generally impress moms everywhere with her drive. I know, she’s really a man with a vagina.

In a crazy way, it would be a major turn-on to see this modern day Annie Oakley as president. Hey, it could happen. Dumbass George W. Bush stole one election and then was definitely elected. Never underestimate the stupidity of American voters.

If Palin was elected president, commentators like me and comedians would be ecstatic. Imagine waking up to Sarah Palin as President of the United States. Hell, the material would write itself. Hot damn!

Go girl– and for the record, I’d vote for you just to see what happens. Imagine, indeed! You, me hunting in the woods naked? Hey an old man can dream.

Rick Raw: Danger of Nuclear War Still Looms–Accidents and Terrorists are A Real Threat

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

During the nuclear arms race in the 1950s and 60s, the threat of global thermonuclear war was a real danger to humankind’s existence. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, their nuclear stockpile of over 15,000 ICBMs was under unstable security. The United States intervened and assessed the threat. The U.S. and Russia signed an agreement to insure that their nuclear stockpile was secure, with international inspections.

So, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and forgot about the danger of nuclear war. Then on January 25, 1995, Russian radar mistook a Norwegian-U.S. scientific rocket for a possible attack on Moscow. Then President Yeltsin, a man with a reputation for being drunk 24/7, was notified and given five minutes to decide how to respond.

Shockingly, we came within 2 minutes of Yeltsin pressing the button to launch a fusillade of Russian ICBMs toward targets in America. This would have set off DEFCON 1, an automatic retaliatory launch of our missiles to Russia. Thankfully, it didn’t happen because Yeltsin picked up the red phone and called our President. That was a day he was not too drunk to think clearly.

This incident underscored the danger of having over 25,000 nuclear missiles in the world. 95 % are in the arsenals of the United States and Russia. Just this past week, the START Treaty limiting the number of U.S. and Russian warheads expired. Nuclear arms negotiators in Geneva have not been able to work out the details of a follow-up treaty.

Indeed, it’s time to strive for serious nuclear disarmament. The nuclear nations club is expanding, with Iran on the brink of developing a Nuclear warhead to fit on a medium range missile to deliver it. Israel and the United States will not let that happen for obvious reasons. The real worry is either an accident like in 1995, or terrorists obtaining a small nuclear suitcase-sized nuclear device.

Arms dealers have been caught by Interpol trying to sell components to assemble just such a weapon. A so called "dirty-bomb" is more of a real possibility. That is a conventional bomb loaded with radioactive shrapnel that could contaminate a city and kill thousands of people. The radioactive debris is easy to obtain from the millions of tons of nuclear waste stored in vast underground facilities all over the globe.

Just a nuclear missile exchange between the United States and Russia would be catastrophic. Now, all nuclear warheads are so called "thermo" nuclear size, which means they are essentially hydrogen class weapons measured in the megatons of TNT The first nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima was in the kiloton range, equal to thousands of tons of TNT.

Today’s nuclear warheads are enhanced with hydrogen isotopes, greatly increasing its megaton power. Each American ICBM is equipped with ten megaton sized warheads-- each aimed at separate targets in Russia. And visa versa for Russia. These H-bombs make the first A-bomb dropped in war look like a firecracker by comparison.

Everyone knows that avoiding a nuclear war is paramount to saving humankind from itself. We shutter at the thought of the aftermath of one exchange of nuclear weapons on the globe. When today’s thermonuclear bombs explode, they send out a large electromagnetic pulse, that fries all electrical grids and electronics.

Our whole infrastructure is controlled by computers and would be rendered useless. After the attack, the people who were not killed in the initial explosions would die slowly of radiation sickness, disease, or starvation.

The January 1995 scare was fifteen years ago. However, Russia and the United States still maintain 2,000 warheads on top of ICBMs on high alert ready to be launched in 15 minutes and to destroy each other’s cities 30 minutes later. They are set on automatic launch if the computerized sensors detect an incoming threat–DEFCON 1.

Then there are the nuclear missile armed submarines cruising deep under the oceans of the world with secret orders in case of a nuclear war. They would launch from under the sea to their preprogrammed targets.

We must encourage President Obama to initiate new nuclear arms reduction talks with the nuclear nations. The START Treaty should be reratified with new guidelines.
The threat of a nuclear war is still a clear and present danger to the world and it will be until we eliminate nuclear weapons from the Earth. As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is a real possibility of an accident or terrorists possessing this destructive force.

Rick Raw: Virgin Galactic Trumps NASA with Much Cheaper Space Flights

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

My question for NASA is: If a flamboyant billionaire, Richard Branson and an aerospace engineering genius, Burt Rutan can design and build space vehicles and a spaceport in New Mexico hundreds of times cheaper than NASA can even fathom, why hasn’t the Space Administration formed an alliance with their company, Virgin Galactic?

Ah yes, Virgin Galactic is a private company that developed austaire economic polices as a mission statement. Ultimately, they intend to sell rides into space at 200 grand a pop to make money.

On the other hand, NASA is a bloated spendthrift government agency that never got over the carte blanche funding for the Space Race, driven by the cold war fear that the Soviet Union would beat us to the moon.

Using advanced carbon fiber technology and innovative design Branson and Rutan have set the new paradigm for future space flight. Last year, their prototype spacecraft flew into sub-orbit and flew back to earth, landing on the Virgin Galactic runway. This historic flight proved that Branson and Rutan are authentic pioneers in the future of space exploration.

In contrast, NASA’s heavy lumbering clunker, the Space Shuttle, with over a million parts–essentially a space truck-- is being phased out next year with nothing new with which to replace it. There is a tentative plan to return to the moon using a back to the future design to build a giant three stage rocket vehicle similar to the Saturn V, using decades old technology.

As independent thinkers, Brandson and Rutan have eclipsed NASA in imaginative ideas, leaving the suits at NASA far behind. Rutan’s technological development was cost effective by design. It was a simple idea of creating scaled down space-vehicles that could go into orbit and return to earth with paying passengers.

Virgin Galactic already has a waiting list of three hundred people who have put down deposits for the sub-orbital flights. This will give the passengers five minutes of weightless flight and a view of the Earth to die for–or to make the 200 grand they spent well worth the money.

Deep in the New Mexico desert, the Virgin Galactic spaceport America is being built with two WhiteKnights and two Space Ships which are tandem vehicles. Later space-vehicles are being developed that are similar to the latest space-plane designs that NASA had to temporarily cancel for lack of funds. The present vehicles will hold two pilots and six passengers on suborbital flights.

The next generation of Virgin Galactic space-vehicles will solve the problem of the intense heat of reentry after full orbital flights, while keeping the weight of the vehicle down to a practical level. Of course, Rutan’s outside-the-box advanced engineering ideas must be an embarrassment to NASA’s status as the predominant American space agency.

The remote New Mexico location is ideal for the Spaceport America. The weather is dry and clear year round, and at 4,500 ft above sea level, it’s a perfect location for the 70 mile trip to the edge of space. Another advantage is the location’s restricted airspace for the neighboring White Sands Missile Range and the Holloman Air Force Base, which means there is no commercial air traffic above the spaceport.

As an extra incentive to appease the tax payers of New Mexico, Branson plans to build a museum and hotel complex bringing a million visitors to the spaceport every year, which will have a positive economic impact on the nearby towns.

What started as a money making idea has evolved into a pathfinding engineering project for future space travel in vehicles that are lightweight and will withstand the rigors of space and reentry far cheaper than NASA’s dwindling budget.

The bureaucrats of NASA have their heads buried in the sand and will continue their expensive engineering development, while Branson and Rutan will move past them and emerge as the preeminent futurists of space exploration.

Rick Raw: Tiger Woods Scandal–World’s Most Famous Celebrity Crashes and Burns in The Glare of Tabloid Scrutiny

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

"Our lovely sex organs don’t know that we have relationship commitments," said Hank Moody (David Duchovny) in "Californication."

Ah yes, Tiger Woods always seemed too good to be true. The world’s best golfer and the most famous global celebrity had an air of invincibility–a Boy Scout. He has earned millions playing golf, and even more millions on endorsements. Nike pays him $30 million a year to use and promote their golf gear and clothing.

Many other big name sponsors throw money at him. Some say he’s close to being a billionaire. The guy has a beautiful Swedish wife, Elin and two lovely children living in a palatial mansion near Orlando, Florida. He has it all–money, fame, and a loving family.

Then the excrement hit the fan. Early one morning, Woods left his mansion in a huff and crashed his mighty Escalade at the end of his driveway. No biggie, right. Wrong! It was a bad omen.

Woods immediately went into lookdown mode in his mansion and refused to talk to police or the media. His behavior was suspicious to the press and the police. What the hell happened? Why is he not talking? After all, it was a minor accident. His silence was deafening.

Soon, the tabloid "The National Enquirer" started digging and came up with the scoop of the year by opening their check book to Woods’ mistresses. The leads started to come in and before you could say uh-oh, Wood’s lovers were coming out of the woodwork. Presently, there are nine mistresses claiming to have hooked up with Woods. No, not Tiger. Mr. Nice Guy. What the hell was he thinking?

The reports were salacious. The "Enquirer" reported that Woods was having an affair with nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel. She denied the allegations and hired a lawyer, everyone’s least favorite publicity hound, Gloria Alred.

Then, as in all these scandals, an audio tape emerged from Jaimee Grubbs, 24, who said she had a 31 month affair with Woods. On the tape, a man (sounds like Woods to me) says, "I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take my name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you." On another audio tape a man (presumed to be Woods) is saying to Jaimee, "When I see you, I’ll wear you out."

Speculation arose that the night Woods crashed was the night that Elin found Jaimee’s number on Woods’ phone. They fought, and he stormed out. Yes, Woods was busted and his secret liaisons were made painfully public. The great Tiger Woods was exposed as a lying philanderer.

Finally, Woods made a statement on his website that was too little too late. He begged for privacy and seemed to be sorry, not that he cheated on his wife, but his privacy had been violated and he was exposed as not being a paradigm of virtue-- an image that he had carefully crafted.

Woods should have taken a page out of Hugh Grant’s post scandal play book. He immediately went on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and confessed, in a humorous way, to the lurid details of his oral sex with a transvestite after Leno said, "What the hell were you thinking?" His bold honesty cleared the way for his career come-back from the scandal.

Woods comes off as the naughty little boy hiding in the closet. Before the scandal, Woods was living a double life with the little-lady at home with the kids, while he was on the road playing golf tournaments and behaving like a single dandy.

Like all serial philanderers, he wanted to protect both lives. But, sooner or later, a man of his high profile celebrity would have been caught with one of his mistresses. Cameras in cell phones and paparazzi are everywhere. Everyone recognizes him anywhere he goes.

Wood’s arrogance to believe that he was above reproach and his privacy was sacrosanct came out in his lame website apology. In this world, celebrities can’t expect complete privacy, especially when they screw-up. People love to see celebrities fall from grace.

So now what? Woods needs to come clean and admit his affairs, not couch them in the euphemism "transgressions." How he handles his PR nightmare will determine his future. By staying detached and silent, he is fueling the tabloid gossip.

Sure, he’s filthy rich and famous, but if he’s sincere, endeavoring to be a better person, repair his marriage, and quit cheating on Elin, then his colleagues and the public will forgive him. If, on the other hand, he continues to hide behind the privacy issue and Elin divorces him, then Tiger’s image will be irrevocably damaged.

Rick Raw: Health Care Bill Doomed by Defections–Bill Loses Its 60 Votes to Pass

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

The Health Care Bill is in deep dung. The voluminous 2,000 page compendium of bureaucratic gibberish was met with nasty opposition by most of the Senate body.

The Swine on the Hill scoffed at its 2 trillion cost, the abortion issue, and the dreaded "public option." Now the bill has lost its 60 votes to pass it without Republican support. Conservative Democrats are defecting, saying the bill should be shelved until late next year.

Fear of voter reprisals at the ballot box is driving the lawmakers to address the abysmal job market and high unemployment as their most important priorities, as well as the contentious war in Afghanistan. Perhaps, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was right when he suggested that health care reform should be accompished in incremental steps, rather than one big bloated bill. Well, it made sense to me.

Who knows what hellish beasts are lurking in the 2,000 pages of the bill. Taking $500 billion from Medicare to help cover the bill’s $2 trillion cost is enough for me to declare the bill a Trojan horse in last week’s Rick Raw.

The measures to pay for this bill are vague and unrealistic. We just can’t afford to add another $2 trillion to the rapidly increasing national debt. The clock’s lower digits are spinning so fast it’s a blur. I posted the National Debt Clock as a reminder of how deep we are sinking in the red.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. is still fighting for the passage of the bill, which is sinking faster than Jay Leno’s ratings. Reid is prepared to go down with the ship. He has no clear channel to steer the legislation through Congress to President Obama’s desk. Losing the 60 votes is the death-knell of the bill for the time being.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree that we desperately need health care reform, but this bill stinks like rotten pork. It would create a massive new bureaucracy like the IRS, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars just to administrate each year, and that’s on top of the initial cost of the bill.

Worse still, the bulbous bill will not lower health care costs. In fact, most experts who have actually read this tome say that health care costs would go up if the bill is passed. My health insurance has already gone up substantially. How would I benefit from so called reform when I’d have to spend more money on health care? It hurts so good!

The main bugaboos are the divisive abortion funding and the public option, which would certainly have to change to get the bill passed. Moderate Democrats say they can’t support the bill without these specific major changes. Senator Reid’s position is weakening with fewer Senators backing his Health Care Bill agenda.

The bill is hopelessly bogged down in committee debate and more amendments are expected. The immediate future of this Albatross is dismal and will require many more months of trimming–maybe a year of fixing.

I say scrap the bill now and explore Mitch McConnell’s plan of a step by step approach. The $2 trillion we’ve spent on bailouts and stimulus packages boggles my mind. Then we have the Afghan War which is draining the Treasury of billions of dollars every month.

Indeed, I used to think a million dollars was a lot of money and a trillion dollars was beyond my brain’s capability to grasp exactly how much dinero that is. Now, the Swine on the Hill are throwing out the term "trillions of dollars" like it was nothing. Hell, at this rate, our country is on the brink of being owned by foreign interests that become our slave masters to debt.