It’s Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin! Really, it is.

Sen. John McCain has picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a senior McCain campaign official told CNN on Friday.

To be honest, this type of move is the type of risk and boldness I would have expected to see from Obama. But that doesn’t really mater at this point. In November this country will have either its first African-American President, or its first female Vice-President! Either way, this election will go down as a momentous and historic occasion for the United States of America.

CNN Story here

Washington Post Story here

Woman executed for witchcraft exonerated 225 years to late

Recently, the Swiss state of Glarus exonerated Anna Goeldi, a woman who was put to death over 200 years ago on a charge of practicing witchcraft.

The State determined that the trial was administered by the protestant church and was unfair, the church had already determined guilt prior to the trial. According to CNN:

The Glarus government has said that the Protestant Church council, which conducted the trial, had no legal authority to do so and had decided in advance that Goeldi was guilty. She was executed even though the law at the time did not impose the death penalty for nonlethal poisoning.

However, the State was quick to assert that they had no responsibility for any past wrongdoings, although the State at the time did nothing to halt the execution. This decision by the State of Glarus is meant to be “an acknowledgment that an unknown number of other innocent people whose cases cannot be reviewed had been killed over the centuries.”

Here is where my mind begins to jump a bit… What I find odd is that most of the cases of witchcraft were tried by churches, yet there is not an outpouring of families asking for reviews. Although this case is meant to be an example to represent exoneration for many cases in the past I find it odd that the State refers to the acknowledgment as representing “an unknown number of other innocent people.” Does this mean that they are inferring that there were actually some guilty individuals charged with practicing witchcraft whom successfully accomplished the absurd deeds they were branded with and that those people who were killed for such crimes and were ‘guilty’ were deserving of such punishment? Is the Swiss state of Glarus acknowledging the existence of an ‘evil’ or ‘devilish’ witchcraft, as it was classified and defined in the middle ages?

I think there are some questions that should be explored here…

See the CNN story here.

Putin say what?!

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in an interview with CNN has accused “the United States of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia to benefit one of its presidential election candidates.” He doesn’t say which one, nor does he support his accusation with evidence, but he insists that US citizens were on the ground and taking part in the events.

Apparently Putin was briefed by Russian defense officials that have concluded (with evidence that is unknown to anyone else) that “it [the Georgian Conflict] was done to benefit a presidential candidate.” Interestingly enough though, Putin does not say that these US citizens are government members, employees, or military individuals. He simply insists that US citizens were there and on the ground. Which could mean just about anything. The Prime Minister continued:

U.S. citizens were indeed in the area in conflict. They were acting in implementing those orders doing as they were ordered, and the only one who can give such orders is their leader.

Last I checked there weren’t very many average, non-military US citizens following any orders from Pres. George Bush. There aren’t even many who will openly say his name in a positive note.

Unlike Putin’s Russia, US citizens are free to ignore orders from elected government leaders.

Russia should have stopped speaking after their recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and simply let it all play out from there. But with Putin still in charge I should not have expected much.

CNN Story here.

Montreal claims top spot on global Monopoly game

Check out the details of the new Monopoly World game!

MONTREAL “PASSES GO” TO CLAIM THE TOP SPOT ON GLOBAL MONOPOLY GAME BOARD. The world’s most popular board game announces the 22 cities elected by fans worldwide to appear on new MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition game board

Monopoly News – MONTREAL “PASSES GO” TO CLAIM THE TOP SPOT ON GLOBAL MONOPOLY GAME BOARD.

“9-Year-Old Boy Told He’s Too Good To Pitch”

WUSA9.com 9-Year-Old Boy Told He’s Too Good To Pitch:

Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player– too good, it turns out. The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Apparently being good at something is a negative… what does this teach kids?

Local attorney John Williams:

“Now you have to be punished because you excel at something?”

An excelent piece on freedom and the DNC

Check out this great post at politics@theEagle by Kaitlin Scanlan.

Excerpt:

Liberty is messy. The elements that compose the freedom all Americans hold dear are not as cooperative as the movies or even politicians make it seem. No other place will embody that fact more than downtown Denver this week. While the Democrats descend upon Colorado’s capitol, so do hundreds of activists and protesters representing every interest from peace to supporting the troops. So, too, do hundreds of police and secret service officers.

ConventionWatch: A glimpse of 40 years ago

A man I saw running along side the march, hollering at the top of his lungs while holding a pocket sized edition of the constitution, probably put it best: “This is just a piece of paper until we all stand up to defend it.” And that is definitely something we should all start protesting for.

Russia recognizes an independent South Ossetia and Abkhazia

Russia’s State Duma unanimously approved a resolution today to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the breakaway regions of Georgia, as independent states.

Russia: I think you better recognize | FP Passport post.

Quite interesting… will the rest of the world follow like they did for Kosovo?

Will they act against Russia? Will they operate on ‘principle’ and recognize the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia or operate on a different principle just to “stick-it” to Russia? Will the rest of the world ignore it all together? Will they combat the new ‘Kosovo Effect’? What will happen next? Only time will tell!

CNN coverage here.

Related theSkittzo posts:

• Editorial ignored Georgia’s wrongdoing
• Why are we ignoring Georgia’s actions?

Joe biden on ‘the future’

In a recent speech Sen. Joe Biden addressed ‘the future’ as follows:

the future keeps receding further and further and further away

Really… do you mean it Sen. Biden? So profound! Haha… sorry. I couldn’t resist!

They just don’t make them like they used to

Political campaign ads have certainly changed over the years. Just check out the Eisenhower ad below for example – nothing like they are today!

Schneider: Why party conventions still exist – CNN.com

Schneider: Why party conventions still exist:

• Schneider: Why are there conventions? The answer: Money and buzz
• Schneider: The convention has evolved into a four-day “infomercial,”
• Schneider: The last thing convention organizers want is actual news made

An interesting CNN article on why we still have party conventions. Highlights above.

The next few months will be interesting…

They certainly will be… Between now and early November there is no telling what will happen, especially with ads like this popping up.

McCain is getting creative… I think he is trying to prove that it’s not Just Obama’s people that can play the game.

Is Obama going to step-up his ads? He has been slowing down a bit lately. It will be an interesting few months…

School Choice Logic – It makes so much sense!