Update: Please see this post: http://time4revolution.net/2008/10/mccain-campaign-volunteer-admits-alleged-attack-was-a-hoax/

“Victim” admits that attack was staged…

‘B’ CARVED INTO 20-YEAR OLD WOMAN’S FACE… DEVELOPING…

Update: 20:00EST

Unverified photo of the victim pulled from http://www.kdka.com
According to an interview on KDKA the victim is a college student from Texas here to volunteer services to the McCain/Palin campaign – when the attacker saw her bumper sticker, he said quote “I’m going to teach you a lesson” and proceded to beat her and hold her down on the ground while he ‘cut’ her face.

Update – 16:07EST
Calls to the local TV station(s) confirm they are sending news teams to the Pittsburgh Police HQ for a news conference

Update – 16:25EST
Local station reports this on their site:
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/17789356/detail.html
PITTSBURGH — A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard tells Channel 4 Action News that the victim was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday night outside of a Citizens Bank near Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m.

Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim’s car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter “B” into her face, Richard said.

Richard said the woman refused medical treatment after the assault, which happened outside the view of the bank’s surveillance cameras.

The robber is described as a dark-skinned black man, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 200 pounds with a medium build, short black hair and brown eyes. The man was wearing dark colored jeans, a black undershirt and black shoes.

More from FoxNews HERE

With 12 days to go until Election Day, Barack Obama’s got big plans for a Chicago Election Night celebration.

Barack Obama took a lot of ribbing for setting up Greek columns on the larger-than-life set of his nomination acceptance speech in Denver two months ago.

But at least he knew for certain then that when the ballgame was over — he was going to be the Democratic candidate for president.

Now, with the Nov. 4 general election still 12 days away, the front-running Illinois senator is planning an Election Night celebration that could put his Invesco Field party to shame.

A huge stage is being constructed in Chicago’s Grant Park, where Obama hopes to declare victory before a cheering throng that could dwarf the one at the Democratic convention. Back then, “only” 80,000 fans were in attendance that night. This time, it could be hundreds of thousands in the park and its surroundings — closer to Berlin in July than Denver in August.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports the price tag of the fanfare has been pegged at $2 million, to be picked up by the Obama campaign. Mayor Richard Daley reportedly suggested Obama use a cheaper venue, but was turned down.

Obama is well on his way to winning the election, according to most polls and electoral vote projections. The campaign may be preparing to set the champagne on ice. But it may want to heed the usual reminder: As Yogi Berra famously said, it ain’t over till it’s over.

An Obama victory — he would become the first African-American president — would logically be cause for an historic celebration. So far, the campaign’s staying mum on the expected crowd count.

Asked how many people the campaign was anticipating in Grant Park, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor quipped, “At least 10.”

“We have a lot of supporters who have given their time and effort to the campaign, and we want them to share in the election night with us,” Vietor told FOXNews.com.

The excitement is palpable at Obama’s rallies, a tone the candidate has reflected. “I feel like we got a righteous wind at our backs here,” Obama told supporters in Leesburg, Va., Wednesday evening.

But John McCain — and Obama himself — are warning the Democrat’s supporters not to get ahead of themselves.

McCain says he savors being the underdog so close to Election Day, and for weeks he has accused Obama of “measuring the drapes” and counting him out.

“My opponent’s looking pretty confident … these days,” McCain said Wednesday in Goffstown, N.H. “He’ll be addressing the nation soon. He’s got another of those big stadium spectacles in the works. But acting like the election is over, it won’t let him take away your chance to have the final say in this election.”

Obama is making an effort to catch himself and couch his language when he talks about post-Election Day plans. He is warning supporters not to get lazy and “screw it up,” as he says Democratic campaigns have been known to do.

“We’re going to have to work, we’re going to have to struggle, we’re going to have to fight for every single one of those 12 days,” Obama told the crowd at an Indianapolis rally Thursday. “It’s not going to be easy, but I’m hopeful about the outcome … but we cannot let up.”

Vietor brushed aside McCain’s criticism that Obama is being too presumptuous.

“That’s ridiculous. We’re working hard every day to talk to voters, to get out the vote and knocking on doors. This is a campaign that went through one of the longest primaries in history, and rest assured we take nothing for granted,” he said.

He said the Grant Park event will be free and open to the public.

As for McCain, he’s holding his election night festivities at the Biltmore in Phoenix, which customarily hosts weddings and business retreats. Compare that with Grant Park, which customarily hosts the rock mega-concert Lollapalooza.

Also by contrast, only a select group of reporters will be allowed to witness McCain’s speech. Due to limited seating, the rest of the media on site will be watching on TV in a separate filing room. With a theoretically limitless outdoor capacity, the press are invited to attend Obama’s event. While there’s no fee outright to cover it, news organizations have been asked to pay for prime seating and Internet and phone service.

Meanwhile, Obama is trying to downplay speculation about post-election plans. He spoke about foreign policy challenges Wednesday after meeting in Virginia with his “working group” on national security. He oscillated between jabs at McCain (he said his rival’s latest tax policy charges were a sign “that they have run out of ideas”), and deference to the voters who will decide the election.

Asked whether he planned to attend the global economic summit scheduled for mid-November, Obama made sure to pay homage to President Bush.

“Even though the election will have taken place and we will have a new president-elect, we are still going to have one president at a time until January 20th, when the new president is sworn in,” Obama said.

“So, you know, there is always a transition period. I don’t want to get too much ahead of ourselves.”

He noted that his economic team has been in regular contact with the “uppermost reaches of policy-making, Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke.”

“But I don’t want to make commitments at this point in terms of our participation … before I’ve even won the election,” he added.

By Michael Gallion

Usually assigned in high school or college, a nickname can last forever. It’s a name that personifies your character or personality. In the past we had “The Great Communicator” and in the present we are hearing about “The Maverick”. Well, I think it is about time one of the most powerful Democrats got their nickname.

Today, Nancy Pelosi officially became “The Great Divider”

Here’s the deal…whether you are for or against the “bail out” plan you cannot deny the unmistakeably partisan remarks made by Speaker Pelosi before today’s vote. She has the chance to speak about how she is bringing the house together; how she is presiding over one of the most historic moments in history; how her democratically controlled congress (which had 95 votes against the bill) *saved* the country. And yet she continues to open her mouth and blame the Bush Administration for the economy, gas prices, and WHAM breaking up.

I do not believe that 12 Republicans were so naive as to change their votes based on her comments and yet I just don’t understand why she can’t find something else to say. She has been the speaker for two years now and she has accomplished nothing. She has made it her mission to be bitter and against everything Bush or Republican (justified or not). Let the bickering CONTINUE…

By Michael Gallion

*If you have missed the lengthy discussion on the above topic here is a new thread to keep it going. I hope if you read this, you will take five minutes and read the previous post “Here’s The Deal…grading the homework” – and then you’ll come back to this note and add your own comment.

These are critical times and they require critical and serious thought. And whether you want to be engaged in politics or not; whether you have made up your mind or not about who you are voting for; these debates need to be had, they need to be discussed because if Obama is elected these are very real possibilities. And, likewise, if McCain is elected, policies that you may not agree with may become a reality.

“this country is the reason I am able to make this much [money] so it is just responsible of me to give money back so others can follow in my footsteps”

- I would like to submit that this quote, from a previous post, while trying to support Socialism, defines capitalism in the truest sense.

‘This country’; America, which has given all of us so many freedoms and possibilities does so because of Capitalism. The country was founded on the idea that hard work is rewarded and we can aspire to anything.

‘I am able’ another capitalistic idea; the creation of efficiency and ingenuity are assets of the able and the willing.

‘make this much’, under capitalism that amount is defined by your degree of hard work. Under Socialism the government tells you, by taxing you, when you have started to make too much.

‘responsible of me to give money back so others can follow in my footsteps’ that is a capitalistic view through and through. It indicates that there is type of symbolic staircase; that we go through a progression. We start out with $100 and it goes to $1000 and it then goes to $10,000 and so and so forth. Under Socialism, everyone gets $1,000 and if you do any better you are taxed, so why would anyone want to follow you to a higher tax bracket? They already got $1,000 for doing nothing…

By Michael Gallion

Picture this: nine weeks has past, you have been telling your parents that your college classes are going very well, and you are making straight A’s. Your transcendental theory of primeval patterns class…”it’s a breeze mom, do not worry”.
But then you are walking through a crowd of “average people” who ‘hold to their religion’ and a plumber asks to see your homework and get an explanation on that homework….welcome to Barack Obama’s economic theory.

Here’s The Deal… I am not so interested in the ‘what we should have done’ or ‘what we could have done’ at this point in our economic crisis. The truth is, something had to be done and whether you were for or against the bailout plan; for now, it is what we have. I am however very interested in Obama’s response to a hopeful new business owner’s question of Obama’s economic policy raising his taxes if, he, a single father’s business was able to grow above the $250,000 mark.

Democrats can call it what they want, but Obama’s theory is Socialism. He is a socialist. You cannot advocate the proletariat to ‘rise up’ and spread the wealth across the nation to “make things equal” for the working class without flipping though Communist Manifesto with ease. Obama’s plan punishes businesses who aim to succeed, it punishes those who believe in free trade and capitalism and it punishes those of us who strive for the ‘American Dream’. Yes, I said it, the American Dream; the dream that says, we are free to make as much money as we can, to be as successful as we can, to push ourselves to be better than the previous generation. To give our kids what we never had, and to set no limits on the ingenuity, spirit, guts, and determination of any American.

So as Obama explains his homework to us in these next few weeks. I’ll be asking myself which part of his arbitrarily set limit of $250,000, on those whose entrepreneurship spirit built this nation and whose guts are the American Dream, is anything but “workers of all countries unite!”