Exclusive: Cheney’s admissions to the CIA leak prosecutor and FBI

Murray Waas reports:

"Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a still-highly confidential FBI report, admitted to federal investigators that he rewrote talking points for the press in July 2003 that made it much more likely that the role of then-covert CIA-officer Valerie Plame in sending her husband on a CIA-sponsored mission to Africa would come to light.

Cheney conceded during his interview with federal investigators that in drawing attention to Plame’s role in arranging her husband’s Africa trip reporters might also unmask her role as CIA officer...."

Continue reading.

Technorati tags: Murray Waas, CIA Leak Case, Plamegate, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby

If They Won't Impeach, Mail Your Sneaks

If Congress won't impeach him, the least we can do is send him our shoes.

Please visit progressive.org and Shoe Bush Away!

Technorati tags: The Progressive, shoes, Bush, protest, shoe Bush away, activism

Two Cheers for Rod Blagojevich

Frank Rich | NYTimes.com:

"ROD BLAGOJEVICH is the perfect holiday treat for a country fighting off depression. He gift-wraps the ugliness of corruption in the mirthful garb of farce. From a safe distance outside Illinois, it’s hard not to laugh at the “culture of Chicago,” where even the president-elect’s Senate seat is just another commodity to be bought and sold.

But the entertainment is escapist only up to a point. What went down in the Land of Lincoln is just the reductio ad absurdum of an American era where both entitlement and corruption have been the calling cards of power. Blagojevich’s alleged crimes pale next to the larger scandals of Washington and Wall Street. Yet those who promoted and condoned the twin national catastrophes of reckless war in Iraq and reckless gambling in our markets have largely escaped the accountability that now seems to await the Chicago punk nabbed by the United States attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald...." Continue Reading.

Photo Credit: Frank Rich. (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

Technorati tags: Rod Blagojevich, Frank Rich, New York Times, Frauds, Corruption, Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Politics, Government, United States, op ed

������� It’s not about them…it’s about us

�������Why We Must Prosecute Bush And His Administration For War Crimes : Information Clearing House : Mike Ferner:

"...We are complicit in the horrors of this administration. We can claim neither ignorance nor innocence. We are complicit by the very fact that we are citizens of the United States, more so because we paid for the war, and even more so for this reason. Listen to a village sheik I met in Iraq describe it better than I ever could...."

More on this subject from Glen Greenwald:

� Senate report links Bush to detainee homicides; media yawns�������������
: Information Clearing House : Glen Greenwald:

" ...The culpability which the Report assigns for these war crimes is vast in scope and unambiguous....

[...]

...Instead, TV pundits were consumed with righteous anger over the petty, titillating, sleazy Rod Blagojevich scandal, competing with one another over who could spew the most derision and scorn for this pitiful, lowly, broken individual and his brazen though relatively inconsequential crimes...."

And then there is this:

��������������� Cheney Admits Authorizing Detainee's Torture : Information Clearing House:

"Monday, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney made a startling statement on a nation-wide, televised broadcast.

When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl whether he approved of interrogation tactics used against a so-called "high value prisoner" at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, Mr. Cheney, in a break from his history of being press-shy, admitted to giving official sanctioning of torture...."

Video is from ABC's World News, broadcast Dec. 15, 2008.

Technorati tags: Torture, War Crimes, Cheney, Bush, Bush administration, Glen Greenwald, Mike Ferner, video, youtube

Foreign Policy: The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008

This is a MUST READ. Be sure to check out #6: "Greenhouse Gas Comes from Solar Panels."

What you don't know can hurt you.

Technorati tags: Foreign Policy, top ten, stories, missed, solar panels, solar energy

A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks

Amit R. Paley, Washington Post, reports:

With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy

"The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, the Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion.

The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin...."

Technorati tags: Washington Post, Amit R. Paley, Corporate Taxes, Congress, Bailout, U.S. Economy, Banks, Windfall, Treasury Dept., news

Obama Plans Guantanamo Close, US Trials

MATT APUZZO AND LARA JAKES JORDAN (AP) report:

"President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice...."

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Gitmo, Guantanamo, Justice, Politics, news

It Still Felt Good the Morning After

Frank Rich | NYTimes.com:

"ON the morning after a black man won the White House, America’s tears of catharsis gave way to unadulterated joy.

Our nation was still in the same ditch it had been the day before, but the atmosphere was giddy. We felt good not only because we had breached a racial barrier as old as the Republic. Dawn also brought the realization that we were at last emerging from an abusive relationship with our country’s 21st-century leaders. The festive scenes of liberation that Dick Cheney had once imagined for Iraq were finally taking place — in cities all over America...."

Continue reading.

Photo Credit: Frank Rich. (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

Other Reactions To Election and Obama's Victory:

• Nicholas D. Kristof | Obama and the War on Brains | NYTimes.com


• Tears to Remember | Judith Warner | NYTimes.com


• Thomas Friedman | Show Me the Money | NYTimes.com


• Al Gore | The Climate for Change | NYTimes.com


• The World's View of Obama's Win | TIME

Technorati tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Frank Rich, New York Times, Politics, Barack Obama, Bush, Voting, Voters, commentary

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions

Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team

Washington Post:

"Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team...."

Congratulations, America

I have never been more proud of my country than I am tonight.
Congratulations to President Barack Obama.
And congratulations to America for reclaiming her soul.

The man for the moment: Hillary Clinton makes the case for Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton writes:

"On Tuesday, New Yorkers and Americans have a big decision to make. Do we continue to pursue the policies of the past eight years or do we chart a new course? I believe we can and we must chart a new course led by President Barack Obama...."

Continue Reading.

Photo Credit: (UPI Photo/Matthew Healey)

Technorati tags: Endorsements, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, 2008 Election, Politics

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Huffington Post reports:

After Obama signs were taken down in Placitas, New Mexico, Gary Priester, a graphic designer, and a neighbor, went to work putting them back up.

People went down the main highway through Placitas, New Mexico where I live and removed the Obama signs. I had a neighbor who has a large format printer print some signs which I put in place of the missing signs that read OBAMA SIGN REMOVED BY REPUBLICANS - (OBAMA LOGO) YOU CAN STEAL OUR SIGNS - BUT YOU WON'T STEAL THE ELECTION.

Technorati tags: Politics, Political Signs, stealing signs, stolen signs, Obama, Republicans, 2008 Election

How McCain Could Win

ABSOLUTELY MUST READ BEFORE YOU VOTE:

Greg Palast offers a sobering dose of reality about this election:

It's November 5 and the nation is in shock. Media blame it on the "Bradley effect": Americans supposedly turned into Klansmen inside the voting booth, and Barack Obama turned up with 6 million votes less than calculated from the exit polls. Florida came in for McCain and so did Indiana. Colorado, despite the Democrats' Rocky Mountain high after the Denver convention, stayed surprisingly Red. New Mexico, a state where Anglos are a minority, went McCain by 300 votes, as did Virginia.

That's the nightmare. Here's the cold reality....

Continue Reading.

Photo Credit: Indymedia.org

ALSO MUST READ:

• MotherJones Blog: How to Protect Your Vote


• t r u t h o u t | Is the Election About to Be Stolen in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Elsewhere?

Technorati tags: truthout, Greg Palast, Vote fraud, caging, voter suppression, steal election, exit polls, purge voters, provisional ballots, GOP, voter verification, Help America Vote Act

The Coming McCain Military Draft

Juan Cole (Informed Comment):

"...McCain is not about the military status quo. He is ambitious for further conflicts. The current US military is too small to handle yet another front, and to maintain, as McCain insists they must, the current ones.

My friends, there is only one way for McCain to make good on his hawkish foreign policy and his virtual pledge of more wars.

McCain will need to institute a draft for young American men (and, given the times, maybe for women as well).

If you are in your late teens and early twenties, or if you are a parent of a person that age, and you have strong views on a renewed draft, it should come into your decision about whether to vote on Tuesday and for whom."

Technorati tags: Juan Cole, Informed Comment, John McCain, draft, military, foreign policy, wars, 2008 campaign

�The Evidence Establishes, Without Question, That Republican Rule is Dangerous

MUST READ:

John Dean:

�Why It Is High Time to Fix This Situation, for the Good of the Nation

"Occasionally, during the past eight years of writing this column, I have addressed the remarkably dangerous manner in which Republican Party officials rule the nation when they control one or more of the three branches of the federal government. Over the same period, I've also made this argument, even more directly and loudly, in three books on the subject.

In this column, I will be more pointed on this subject than I have ever been, while also repeating a few key facts that I have raised earlier -- because Election Day 2008 now provides the only clear remedy for the ills of Republican rule...."

�Continue Reading.

Original Article (findlaw.com)

Technorati tags: ohn Dean, Republican Party, Abuse of Power, Conservatives, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, 2008 Election, President, Republican Rule

Arizona Star Endorses Barack Obama for president

Barack Obama for president | www.azstarnet.com �:

"We see America the way Barack Obama sees America.
Our future requires a steady, intelligent and, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, a 'transformational' leader to guide us into a new era. Obama brings deep intellectual curiosity, equanimity and discipline...."

Technorati tags: Arizona, Arizona Star, Tucson, Endorsement, Barack Obama, 2008 Presidential Election, news

Should McCain Have Been Expelled From the Senate?

MUST READ:

Sahil Mahtani, The New Republic, reports (via t r u t h o u t):

"��Should he have been expelled from the Senate? Exclusive evidence reveals the Keating Five story you've never heard...."

Read all about it here.

Photo credit: In this November 20, 1990 file photo, Senator John McCain, R-Arizona (left) sits with his attorney during a Senate Ethics Committee hearing on the Keating Five Savings and Loan Scandal. Carefully timed leaks during the investigation successfully deflected the blame from McCain to his other Senate colleagues. Evidence continues to surface that points to John McCain as the possible source of those leaks. (Photo: John Duricka / AP)

Technorati tags: John McCain, Keating Five, The New Republic, Ethics, Abuse of Power, Sahil Mahtani

Ron Reagan: Making It Official: I Endorse Barack Obama

Ron Reagan: Making It Official: I Endorse Barack Obama:

"I assumed most people already knew that I had supported Obama. Anyone who has spent five minutes listening to my program would have known that. But if it helped to make it official, I'm happy to make it so...."

Photo Credit: nndb.com

Technorati tags: Air America, Barack Obama, Campaign 2008, Obama, Reagan Obama, Ron Reagan, Ron Reagan Barack Obama, Ron Reagan Endorses Barack Obama, Ron Reagan Obama, The Ron Reagan Show, Politics News

Obama Camp Video Warns Against GOP Voter Suppression (VIDEO)

The Obama campaign has put a video on voter suppression called "Making it Count: How to Protect Your Vote & Spot Dirty Tricks."

Watch:



Trouble viewing this video? Click Here.

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Obama Campaign, Obama Video, Video, Voter Suppression, Voter Suppression Video, Politics News

Original Mavericks To McCain: "You're No Maverick"

Brave New Films talks to the actual original Mavericks, who aren't too fond of John McCain using their name:



Trouble viewing this video? Click Here.

Fontaine Maverick, great-great-granddaughter of Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870) explains the origin of the expression -- and why it shouldn't apply to the Republican candidate:

Samuel Maverick was a Texas cattleman, land baron and politician, so influential that he was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Fiercely independent and equally liberal. Sam became well known for what he didn't do, however. It seems, according to Fontaine, that he had taken some cattle in lieu of a debt he was owed. He let them roam on an island off of Texas, and for whatever reason, didn't brand them. So, any unbranded cattle became known as Maverick's. Now, this more than likely wasn't an act of revolt. No one knows for sure, but Maverick really wasn't much of a cattleman. He was also shrewd, later on in life if cattle weren't branded, he would often claim them.

Sam was also very spirited and free minded. It was because of this that in 1867 the term Maverick was first cited as being used to describe someone with an independent streak, someone not branded.

...

"Mavericks believe everybody has a right to be in America so long as they obey the law," Fontaine told me. "Grandfather Maury was no coward. He chased the Klan right out of San Antonio once, stood up to the mob... Maury was burned in effigy in San Antonio, for his defense of members of the Communist Party's right to assemble, for his defense of the Hispanic community, support for those who didn't have a voice. "

...

"My brother called me from California last week during the VP debate and told me if they said the world Maverick one more time, he was going to shoot the TV. Of course, he doesn't have a gun, but, you get the point. My mother was just quoted in the New York Times about how we feel McCain is branded, Palin is branded, they are Republicans, and true Mavericks carry no brand. It's driving our family crazy, upsetting us and the legacy of my family, and we really with the campaign would stop misusing the word and the phrase.

"John McCain on a few occasions has shown that he can go against his party, but how hard is that when his party has been wrong on so many things as we now see," she continued. "But he has a brand. And Palin, I'm not sure she even knows the history of the word of or my family, but one thing is clear to all of my family, she truly is not a Maverick."

Thanks to Huffington Post.

Technorati tags: John McCain, Maverick, Original Maverick, video, Brave New Films, Politics, Youtube, Republican Party, Original Mavericks, 2008 Campaign

Palin Prank Call: Incompetence Caught on Tape

The AP reports that a Quebec comedy duo, posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have successfully prank called Sarah Palin:

"Sarah Palin has unwittingly taken a prank call from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and told him she may make a good president in eight years.
The Republican vice presidential nominee discussed politics, the perils of hunting with Vice President Dick Cheney, and Sarkozy's "beautiful wife," in the telephone call released Saturday...."

Original Post: HERE.

Technorati tags: Palin Prank, Palin Prank Call, Palin Pranked, Palin Punked, Palin Sarkozy, Politics, youtube, video

Reversal of Fortune

Joseph E. Stiglitz explains how John McCain's policies would be disastrous for the country:

Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair (via Truthout):

"Describing how ideology, special-interest pressure, populist politics, and sheer incompetence have left the US economy on life support, the author puts forth a clear, commonsense plan to reverse the Bush-era follies and regain America's economic sanity...."

Bush: A Last Push To Deregulate

While Americans are distracted by the Presidential Election, the Bush Cabal continues to push America even further down their path of destruction....

R. Jeffrey Smith (washingtonpost.com):

"The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo...."

Technorati tags: Bush, deregulation, environment, industry

The McCain-Palin Camp's Final Act of Intellectual Dishonesty?

CQ Politics | David Corn:

"I've listened to Sarah Palin several times in the past few days. (It's my job--what I get the big bucks to do.) And as she whips up the crowds that come to her rallies, her biggest argument against Barack Obama is that he WILL RAISE YOUR TAXES. Did you get that? Oh, you missed the nuance. HE WILL RAISE YOUR TAXES. And her case is built on two facts. But they are not facts--or not full facts. And though these attacks have been debunked repeatedly by mainstream media factcheckers, Palin and John McCain keep using them. Call me naive, but I still find it surprising that they believe they can get away with such serial misrepresenting (or lying). So for the last time--I hope--let's look at these two claims...." Continue reading.

Photo credit: A Barack Obama ad quotes press remarks about John McCain's campaign. Democrats have added a ''Count the Lies'' Web page. (YouTube.com) The Boston Globe

Technorati tags: taxes, tax cuts, Obama, McCain, Palin, Factcheck, lies, distortions, economy, 2008 Campaign

The President: America's Role Model

Before you vote, ask yourself what kind of role model you want for your children and for America's children?

John McCain and Sarah Palin, who appeal to our basest instincts, offering more of the division, hatred, and win-by-any-means-politics we've seen for far too many years?

Or Barack Obama and Joe Biden who inspire us to be better people, to take responsibility for ourselves and for one another, and to aspire to our higher selves?

Ask yourself what lessons your children are learning from the astounding lack of truthfulness and ethics displayed by the McCain campaign?

What would your child think if they picked up the phone and heard one of John McCain's hateful robo calls?

What will you say to your children when they point to John McCain's lies and distortions as reason enough for them to lie to you?

Is that the kind of moral behavior you want to instill in your children?

Think, people, before you vote.

What kind of world do you want for your children?

Zinn: Vote for Obama but direct action needed

Howard Zinn says real change will come when people take direct action to stop house foreclosures

The Real News Network:

Howard Zinn says real change will come when people take direct action to stop house foreclosures

Howard Zinn says vote against McCain, vote for Obama. Even though Obama does not represent any fundamental change, he creates an opening for a possibility of change. Obama will not fulfill that potential for change, unless he is enveloped by a social movement, which is angry enough, powerful enough, insistent enough, that he fills his abstract phrases about change with some content. We need direct action, because only that kind of indignation is going to have some affect on the people in Washington.

Bio

Howard Zinn is an American historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and playwright. He is best known as author of the best-seller 'A People's History of the United States'. Zinn has been active in the Civil Rights and the anti-war movements in the United States. Zinn was raised in a working-class family in Brooklyn, and flew bombing missions for the United States in World War II, an experience he now points to in shaping his opposition to war. In 1956, he became a professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, a school for black women, where he soon became involved in the Civil rights movement, which he participated in as an adviser to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC and chronicled, in his book SNCC The New Abolitionists. Zinn collaborated with historian Staughton Lynd and mentored a young student named Alice Walker. When he was fired in 1963 for insubordination related to his protest work, he moved to Boston University, where he became a leading critic of the Vietnam War.

Technorati tags: Howard Zinn, Barack Obama, 2008 Election, President, Endorsement, Politics

Chomsky: In swing states vote Obama

People should vote against McCain and for Obama - but without illusions

Chomsky says while it's true that the two parties are essentially like factions of one party - the party of business - the differences do matter to ordinary people. If you are living in a swing state, there is nothing wrong with picking the lesser of two evils.

The Real News Network:

Noam Chomsky: Current crisis demonstrates anti-democratic nature of financial system

In part two of their interview, Paul Jay asks Prof. Noam Chomsky to weigh-in on the dominant subject of the day, the economic crisis. While Prof. Chomsky agrees that the current crisis is a very serious one that will have broad implications for the broader society, he points out that the foreseeable Medicare-induced economic crisis will "dwarf" the current one in magnitude. Furthermore, Prof. Chomsky develops his contention that democracy is hindered by unrestrained free markets. While on the other hand, state-restricted markets are democratic by design in that they allow people take control--through their government--of financial institutions to force them to include externalities and risks to the broader population in their decision-making. These factors are such that profit-seeking enterprises will not accommodate them when left to their own volition, given that free markets do not put a price on these externalities.

Bio:

Noam Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. His works include: Aspects of the Theory of Syntax; Cartesian Linguistics; Sound Pattern of English (with Morris Halle); Language and Mind; American Power and the New Mandarins; At War with Asia; For Reasons of State; Peace in the Middle East?; Reflections on Language; The Political Economy of Human Rights, Vol. I and II (with E.S. Herman); Rules and Representations; Lectures on Government and Binding; Towards a New Cold War; Radical Priorities; Fateful Triangle; Knowledge of Language; Turning the Tide; Pirates and Emperors; On Power and Ideology; Language and Problems of Knowledge; The Culture of Terrorism; Manufacturing Consent (with E.S. Herman); Necessary Illusions; Deterring Democracy; Year 501; Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War and US Political Culture; Letters from Lexington; World Orders, Old and New; The Minimalist Program; Powers and Prospects; The Common Good; Profit Over People; The New Military Humanism; New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind; Rogue States; A New Generation Draws the Line; 9-11; and Understanding Power.

Technorati tags: 2008 Election, President, Barack Obama, Noam Chomsky, John McCain, Economy, economic crisis, endorsement, video, Real News Network

In "The End of America," Naomi Wolf Unveils 10 Point Wake Up Call

THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY MUST READ, MUST SEE.

"Watch. Think. Get Motivated."

And VOTE FOR OBAMA.

Watch The End of America

Eugene Hernandez writes:

"This film came together as an urgent message," explained author Naomi Wolf this weekend at the Hamptons International Film Festival. Published last fall, her book The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, was swiftly adapted for the screen by filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg ("The Devil Came on Horseback," "The Trials of Darryl Hunt") and a version was completed just in time for a Hamptons fest screening on Friday and a SnagFilms online debut this week.
"I wrote this book because I could no longer ignore the echoes between events in the past and forces at work today," Wolf begins in her acclaimed book. Like the work, "The End of America" lays out a ten-point blueprint for what Wolf calls, "closing societies." Introducing the new documentary on Friday, Wolf explained that she studied history and found alarming links that shaped her narrative. Exploring the history of emerging dictatorships in Germany, Italy, Argentina, the Czech Republic and China, Wolf predicted a bleak future for the United States in the wake of rights restrictions imposed in the wake of 9/11.... Continue reading.

Watch The End of America

Related:

• FEMA sources confirm coming Martial Law, says Wayne Madsen | Daily Newscaster

  "Wayne Madsen a Washington based investigative journalist, author, columnist and former U.S. Naval Officer reported on April 3rd, 2008 the existence of a document called the “C & R” document is being passed around among senior members of Congress and their staff...."

• SWAT teams on standby if McCain wins U.S. Election

  "US police fear riots could break out if John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, wins the election next month...."

Technorati tags: The End of America, Naomi Wolf, Closed Society, United States, Constitution, Bush, coups, film, activism

Antidotes to Complacency: Four Reasons to Not Take the Election for Granted

Paul Loeb warns:

"It's tempting to begin taking the likelihood of Obama's victory just a bit for granted. The polls look good. McCain and Palin are flailing, and Ted Stevens is headed for jail. The Republicans have started their blame game.

But it's dangerous to assume that the election is over, or to settle for a narrow margin. Here are four reasons to keep doing all we can to keep working (and get our procrastinating friends to finally donate and volunteer) so we can create broadest possible mandate for Obama and his Democratic allies...."

Technorati tags: Voting, Obama, Paul Loeb, Election, Volunteer, donate, Democratic Party, vote fraud, voter suppression, october surprise

How McCain Turned His Back on the Vietnamese Man Who Saved His Life

John McCain never tires of declaring himself a war hero. After reading this article, ask yourself, is this the way a "hero" behaves? Read all about it:

"Forty-one years after McCain was shot down in Vietnam, the man who saved his life has died in obscurity.

[...]

As I stood on the floor of the Xcel Energy Center, some 50 yards from John McCain as he accepted his party's presidential nomination, the projector flashed that same black-and-white photo image I had seen in Vietnam of McCain being dragged to the shore of Truc Bach Lake. Moments later, to my surprise, I heard McCain say: " … I was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. Those men saved my life." But McCain wasn't talking about the Vietnamese people who pulled him from that lake, people whose homes he had just bombed. He was talking about his fellow American POWs. Had McCain truly erased from his memory a touching reunion that took place just over a dozen years before?

I could only think about how different the narrative would be had McCain said: "I was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. Those (Vietnamese civilians) saved my life (because they understood the humanity in all of us that transcends government and country)."

Technorati tags: John McCain, Hero, Vietnam, 2008 Presidential Campaign, Norman Stockwell, AlterNet

What's Your Obama Tax Cut?

Get the facts before you vote:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will cut taxes for 95% of working families, and provide at least three times as much tax relief for middle class families as John McCain and Sarah Palin. The Obama/Biden plan provides $1,000 of tax relief for workers and new tax benefits to help families pay for college, childcare and save for retirement.

To find out your Obama tax cut click on the link: Obama-Biden Tax Calculator

ALSO SEE:

• Your Salary in 2016 -- The Big Difference Between a McCain or Obama Administration | AlterNet:

  "Middle-class families will earn about $13,000 more in eight years if Obama wins and $5,000 if McCain wins...."

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Taxes, Tax Calculator, Tax Policy, Election, 2008, Economy, Economic policy

A License to Kill

More lies. More character assassination. More swift-boat tactics from a supremely desperate, ethically-challenged John McCain campaign:










FactCheck.org:

A new anti-Obama group runs a bunk-filled ad implying he'd give a driver's license to Mohammed Atta.

Summary

An upstart group calling itself the "National Republican Trust PAC" mixes a pile of false claims and the image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta to create one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign.

• The spot falsely claims Obama has a "plan" to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, Obama has said quite specifically, "I am not proposing that that's what we do."


• The ad implies such licenses would enable terrorist attacks. In fact, Atta wouldn't have needed one to carry out his attacks.


• It claims that Obama's health care plan will apply to illegal immigrants. But Obama has stated quite clearly that his plan "does not" cover illegal immigrants.


• The ad falsely claims that Obama's plan "gives illegals Social Security benefits," which is also flatly untrue.

More Here.

The Vet Who Did Not Vet

A Dr. Seuss style telling of the McCain and Palin tale.



Trouble viewing this video? CLICK HERE

Will John McCain's Health Care Plan Leave YOU out?

Find out. Click here to find out how many people in your state would lose their health insurance under John McCain's health care plan.

McCain Undermines Employer Insurance

An estimated 165 million U.S. residents under the age of 65 currently receive health insurance coverage through their employer. A linchpin of this system is the tax exclusion that allows insurance premiums paid for by employers to be not considered taxable income for employees. John McCain’s plan for health care reform would end this exclusion. EPI’s report concludes that as many as 27 million Americans nationwide could lose their employer health benefits as a result. (Learn more about why Senator McCain’s plan would have such a devastating effect on hard-working families across the country.)

Who Benefits From a McCain Presidency?

One thing is for sure: it won't be you. If you want to know who pulls John McCain's strings, all you have to do is follow the money to:

McCain'$ Lobbyists

You might want to check them out HERE.

THIS IS A MUST SEE BEFORE YOU VOTE!

• POCKETBOOK: From the price at the pump to prescription drug prices, John McCain's lobbyist ties have put him out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans.


• STANDING IN THE WORLD: John McCain's lobbyist friends conduct business worldwide, representing shady interests in Iraq and brutal dictators in a host of countries.


• ETHICS: John McCain has promoted himself as a reformer, but the lobbyists running his campaign have a lengthy rap sheet entailing everything from the questionable to the criminal.


• CORPORATE REGULATION: Big Business has little to fear from a McCain administration -- dozens of his lobbyist friends make their money representing huge corporations that put profits ahead of people.


• SIN CITY: John McCain's lobbyist friends have excelled at profiting off other people's vices, counting the gambling and tobacco industries among their top clients.


• PLANET IN PERIL: John McCain's shifting environmental positions may be a consequence of listening to lobbyists whose interests lie with Big Oil and other polluters of the air and water.

SOURCES:
Campaign finance and lobbying figures are based on Campaign Money Watch analysis of data obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan organization that tracks and codes campaign finance data by industry and tracks lobbying. Campaign finance data include individual contributions ($200+) and from Political Action Committees (PACs) to campaign committees and leadership PACs. Data for the 2008 cycle were downloaded in July 2008.

Sources for information included in the lobbyist bios can be found in footnotes for each entry.

Technorati tags: John McCain, Lobbyists, Corruption, Corporate America, 2008 Presidential Election, Ethics

Battleground Voices for Obama

Compelling stuff. Watch:



-------------------------------------------------------------

Darrel Hanschen

In Jackson, Missouri we meet a pharmacist running a small business. His name is Darrell Hanschen and he is living the american dream. However, he feels that dream might come to an end if something doesn't change.

He says, "I see it everyday, I can't run and hide like the doctors... If something doesn't change, there's going to be a lot of people sick. Let's get somebody in there who cares about the person that walks the streets of Jackson. Somebody who actually Cares."

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Dana Snodgrass

Dana Snodgrass understands how Republicans think. He owns an autobody shop in Joplin and runs a small 200 acre farm near Web City with his son Kyle. Like many local business people, Dana is concerned about the movement of jobs to foreign countries and the persistence of low wages in the area. Dana explains how the usual core “values” of guns, religion and abortion are being trumped by concerns about the economy, and why Missourians should vote now for Barack Obama.

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Barclay Hastings

Barclay Hastings is a veteran from Columbus Ohio. He loves the people of Ohio.

In 2000 he would have voted for McCain, but he wouldn't do that today. Barack Obama is the type of leader that "comes once in a lifetime."

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Sharon Houston

From Jasper County, MO we meet an antique shop owner, Sharon Houston, raised republican and always voted republican. This year she is voting for Democratic Senator Barack Obama. She is tired of the greed, cheating and lies. American people need to get back to the basics and their spirit right and move on and believes Obama's spirit is right.

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Jack Moore

81 year old Jack Moore is from Nixa Missouri. He is a World War 2 veteran that served in the US Navy.

Jack is a gun lover and treasures his father's hunting rifles. He knows that "Barack won't take his guns away."

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Keith Howell

Keith Howell from Fallon Nevada owns a rock crushing equipment repair business with his wife and son. His small business is among the first to feel the economic downturn because as he puts it, if they're not building houses, their not pouring concrete and if they're not pouring concrete, there is no need for crushed rock, and if they're not crushing rock, the machines don't break and they don't need me.

Keith's informed and energetic monolog on Obama's alternative energy plan lays out how Nevada stands to gain substantially because it is in fact not only a step in the right direction environmentally but also serves as a job-creating-path out of the current economic crisis, and creates a sustainable energy plan that is clean as well as American, keeping dollars from going overseas.

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Joan McKinney

Joan McKinney is from Columbus, Ohio. She is a small business owner who does tradeshow exhibits. Joan is an Ohio State alumni - and has "a real love for the Buckeyes." As a small business owner he does everything from freight to the dishes.

Her biggest challenge is responsibility for her employee's healthcare. She was encouraged by Barack's possibility to cover 50% of her employee's healthcare.

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Darrell Hanschen

We meet Darrell in Jackson, Missouri again where he shares with us another story. Darrell tells us he sees Barack reaching into places that he never thought would ever cross his mind.

Thanks to: truth and hope and BLOG.LOCALVOICESFOROBAMA.COM

Technorati tags: Barack Obama, Middle America, Middle Class, Endorsements, Missouri, Ohio, Nevada

OBAMA ENDORSEMENTS CONTINUE | UPDATED

Seems the family of McCain's professed idol, Barry Goldwater, doesn't have anything positive to say about Senator McCain. And the reasons are telling:

CC Goldwater: Why McCain Has Lost Our Vote

"Being Barry Goldwater's granddaughter and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state's senator, John McCain. I am still struck by certain 'dyed in the wool' Republicans who are on the fence this election, as it seems like a no-brainer to me.

Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.

My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported. I'm not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear.

For a while, there were several candidates who aligned themselves with the Goldwater version of Conservative thought. My grandfather had undying respect for the U.S. Constitution, and an understanding of its true meanings.

There always have been a glimmer of hope that someday, someone would "race through the gate" full steam in Goldwater style. Unfortunately, this hasn't happened, and the Republican brand has been tarnished in a shameless effort to gain votes and appeal to the lowest emotion, fear. Nothing about McCain, except for maybe a uniform, compares to the same ideology of what Goldwater stood for as a politician. The McCain/Palin plan is to appear diverse and inclusive, using women and minorities to push an agenda that makes us all financially vulnerable, fearful, and less safe.

When you see the candidate's in political ads, you can't help but be reminded of the 1964 presidential campaign of Johnson/Goldwater, the 'origin of spin', that twists the truth and obscures what really matters. Nothing about the Republican ticket offers the hope America needs to regain it's standing in the world, that's why we're going to support Barack Obama. I think that Obama has shown his ability and integrity.

After the last eight years, there's a lot of clean up do. Roll up your sleeves, Senators Obama and Biden, and we Goldwaters will roll ours up with you."

Other new endorsements:

• THIS IS BIG: Bernanke Endorses Obama - WSJ.com:

  "Ben Bernanke apparently wants four more years as Federal Reserve Chairman. At least that's a reasonable conclusion after Mr. Bernanke all but submitted his job application to Barack Obama yesterday by endorsing the Democratic version of fiscal 'stimulus.'"

• McClellan Endorses Obama"Scott McClellan, President Bush's former press secretary, says he is backing Barack Obama for president.,,,"


• NY Times Editorial: Barack Obama for President

  “Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States,” writes The Times’s editorial board.

• McCain Adviser Endorses Obama

  The Wall Street Journal today rounds up the horde of prominent Republicans jumping ship to Barack Obama. Now one of John McCain's actual advisers has switched sides...

• NEW: t r u t h o u t | Prominent Republicans Cross the Aisle to Endorse Obama

  Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian UK: "Joel Haugen, a Republican fighting a tough congressional race against the Democrats in Oregon, has fallen out with his party. The reason: his surprise endorsement of Barack Obama for the presidency.
  
  'I believe in putting nation before party and my first priority is following my conscience with regard to what is best for America,' Haugen said in a statement issued by his office today. 'I have a huge amount of respect for John McCain, but I believe that he has more of a cold war mentality.'"

• Washington Post: Barack Obama for President :

  "...it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president."

• McCain Adviser Endorses Obama

  The Wall Street Journal today rounds up the horde of prominent Republicans jumping ship to Barack Obama. Now one of John McCain's actual advisers has switched sides...

• Republican former Mass. governor endorses Obama - Boston.com:

  "Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president on Friday, citing the senator's good judgment, 'deep sense of calm' and 'first-class political temperament.'
  
  Weld said he's never endorsed a Democrat for president before, but in the last six weeks or so, it became 'close to a no-brainer.' Obama has a history of bringing Democrats, Republicans and independents together and is the best choice at a time when America's standing in the world is at a low point, he said.
  
  'It's not often you get a guy with his combination of qualities, chief among which I would say is the deep sense of calm he displays, and I think that's a product of his equally deep intelligence,' he said in a phone interview."

• Ken Adelman: Why a Staunch Conservative Like Me Endorsed Obama


• Google CEO Eric Schmidt Backs Obama, Will Hit Campaign Trail:

  "Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt's push for a greater voice in politics while giving the Obama campaign a boost from a highly desirable constituency...."

• Wisconsin GOP Official Denounces McCain Robocalls, Endorses Obama:

  A longtime Republican State Senator in Wisconsin history announced on Tuesday that she would be supporting Barack Obama, in part because of the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign and, specifically, the use of "dishonorable" anti-Obama robocalls.
  
  "All of us should be extremely wary of the half truths and outright untruths that have been spread by the recent negative campaigning and shameful automated phone calls," said Barbara Lorman of Fort Atkinson. "While my admiration for Senator Obama has grown with his positive approach to addressing the challenges facing our nation, my disappointment with the McCain campaigned has deepened. The negative tactics are inappropriate, downright dishonorable and have no place in the State of Wisconsin...."

• Frank Schaeffer: Obama Will Be One of The Greatest (and Most Loved) American Presidents


• Powell Endorses Obama | NYTimes.com

  In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president....

• Amb. Peter Bridges: We Know the World and We Support Obama: "

  Dear Friends and Relations,
  
  A friend and former colleague of mine in the Foreign Service, Kevin McGuire, some time ago drafted a short statement of support for Obama and began to ask retired Foreign Service officers if they would sign it. So far 334 of us have done so, including by my count 66 former American ambassadors.
  
  If you would like to know why we have done so and who we are, you can find our reasons and our signatures at Foreign Policy for Obama.Com: Declaration of Support by Over 280 Former Diplomats. (Ed. note: the number is now over 330.) ..."

• OpEdNews � Endorsements 7: NM Sun News, Des Moines, Anchorage,Charlotte, Asheville, Concord, Macon, Hartford, Milwaukee

Technorati tags: Goldwater, Barry Goldwater, Conservative, Republican, CC Goldwater, Endorsement, John McCain, Barack Obama, President, 2008, Ben Bernanke, Scott McClellan

Why Vote For Obama?

1. Spread the Wealth? Soak the Rich?:

   "�For those who voice doubts about Barack Obama and some of his less progressive policy advisers, please take heart from the way he has defended his plan to cut taxes for the vast majority while raising them for families making over $250,000. Who should pay what for the costs of government raises the most basic issues of fairness. But who pays also determines whether we rebuild our economy from the bottom up, as Obama promises, or continue to wait in vain for good jobs and decent wages to trickle down from John McCain's friends at the top...."

2. The 10 Biggest Differences Between Obama and McCain That Will Affect Your Daily Life | AlterNet:

   "The next president will influence everything from your Internet access to your ability to pay medical bills...."

3. Obama Tax Calculator:

   Calculate how Obama's Tax Policies will impact YOU

4. Guest column: Record belies rhetoric for 'fiscal conservatives' | The Des Moines Register:

   "The Bush administration's deficits have undermined confidence in the financial markets, contributing somewhat to the present crisis. To put this into perspective:
   
   Quiz:
   
   1. Which recent president generated the highest budget deficits as a portion of gross domestic product?
   
   2. Who was the only recent president to decrease government expenditure as a portion of GDP?
   
   Choices:
   
   a. Ronald Reagan
   
   b. George H.W. Bush
   
   c. Bill Clinton
   
   d. George W. Bush"

5. Truthdig | Communication Scholars Call McCain Campaign Unethical: "

   A group of top American communication professors have crafted and signed a statement calling on the McCain campaign, primarily, to stop its negative campaigning. “The purposeful dissemination of messages that a communicator knows to be false and inflammatory is unethical. It is that simple,” the statement says."

6. League of Conservation Voters | John McCain Wrong on Clean Energy:

   "John McCain has spent his career voting against clean energy solutions while supporting billions in subsidies for Big Oil...."

7. Incoherence | TIME

   "John McCain had a fabulously loony weekend, flipping out charges and attacks like a mud tornado. The truly remarkable thing about McCain's attacks, especially on Obama's economic policies, is that McCain, in each case, is "guilty" of supporting some version of the policies he's attacking..."

TAKE YOUR MIND OFF THE ELECTION: WATCH

Shiba Inu Puppy Cam

Live streaming video by Ustream

McCain's Surrogates Confirm: McCain More of the Same

As John McCain desperately tries to convince Americans that he is not a George Bush clone, his own surrogates confirm otherwise:

Palin Unhinged

Palin: Obama's Tax Plans Could Mean Nightmare Communist State:

"Sarah Palin had a few memorable moments during her campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday. But the most eye-opening of them all came, it would appear, when the Alaska Governor somehow drew a connection between Barack Obama's tax policy and an encroaching, nightmarish, communist government. The Illinois Democrat, she hysterically suggested, would, through his proposals, create a country 'where the people are not free.'"

More Palin:

• AP INVESTIGATION: Palin pipeline terms curbed bids:

  "Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment _ a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 _ emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.
  
  Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence...."

• Think Progress | Palin Claims The Vice President Is ‘In Charge Of The U.S. Senate’


• Lieberman On Palin: "Thank God She's Not Gonna Have To Be President From Day One":

  "Sen. Joe Lieberman on Friday skirted a question on whether vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is ready from day one to be president, saying 'thank God' she won't have to be."

John McCain is "absolutely" proud of this:

The Republican National Committee is distributing a mail piece that says "Terrorists" on the front and opens to a big picture of Barack saying "Not Who You Think He Is."

John McCain -- who promised to run a respectful campaign -- said that he was "absolutely" proud of it.



John McCain is trying to win this election by scaring voters with truly vile attacks.

With less than two weeks to go, you can provide this campaign with the resources we need to push back in the final stretch.

We cannot let McCain take the low road all the way to the White House.

Please help fight these vicious smears and dozens of others. CLICK HERE.

Related:

• McCain 'Categorically' Proud of Hateful Rally Attendees | Video | AlterNet


• Unacceptable GOP Mailing Projects Racist Stereotypes on Obama | AlterNet


• 'Robocalls' for McCain Epitome of Cowardice | AlterNet


• The Media Consortium: Rollin' With the Hate Talk ExpressMcCain | NewsLadder


• Judge rejects Montco lawyer's bid to have Obama removed from ballot | Philadelphia Daily News | 10/25/2008


• Christian right intensifies attacks on Obama:

  "'It looks like, walks like, talks like and smells like desperation to me,' said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston, an Obama supporter who backed President Bush in the past two elections. The Methodist pastor called the 2012 letter 'false and ridiculous.' He said it showed that some Christian conservative leaders fear that Obama's faith-based appeals to voters are working.
  
  Like other political advocacy groups, Christian right groups often raise worries about an election's consequences to mobilize voters. In the early 1980s, for example, direct mail from the Moral Majority warned that Congress would turn a blind eye to 'smut peddlers' dangling pornography to children.
  
  'Everyone uses fear in the last part of a campaign, but evangelicals are especially theologically prone to those sorts of arguments,' said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University political scientist. 'There's a long tradition of predicting doom and gloom.'
  
  But the tone this election year is sharper than usual and the volume has turned up as Nov. 4"

• McCain's Robocalls Have Parents Worried About Their Kids; Palin Criticizes Tactic


• Racist Obama Effigy Hung In Ohio (VIDEO)


• RNC Mailer: What Does Obama Want From Islamic Terrorists?


• Hate You Can Believe In: ACORN Deluged with Threatening and Racist Voicemails and Emails | Right Wing Watch:

  "It’s bad enough that the employees of ACORN have had to endure days of baseless and outlandish attacks by John McCain and the RNC. But after McCain outrageously claimed before a national audience on Wednesday night that ACORN was “maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy,” the group came under attack, literally. In the following days, ACORN’s Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized and at least one employee received a death threat.
  
  And for nearly two weeks, ACORN offices across the nation have been subjected to an onslaught of racist and threatening voicemails and emails. We have secured copies of some of the most disturbing and offensive messages and have reproduced them below in order to show the very real consequences of the Right Wing’s overheated and misplaced “voter fraud” rhetoric.
  
  Warning: the emails and voicemails below are highly explicit and have only been edited to remove personally identifying information. Please also note that, where relevant, the proper authorities have been notified...."

• GOP Group Running Anti-Obama Push Poll


• McCain Defends Robocalls


• William Friedkin: Right-Wing Intimidation Hits Home


• U.S. rabbis: McCain attacks on Obama creeping toward 'hate speech' - Haaretz - Israel News:

  "A group of liberal American rabbis have denounced Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign as leaning toward 'hate speech' in its treatment of Democratic rival Barack Obama.
  
  'The manner in which Senator McCain, Governor [Sarah] Palin and their supporters refer to Senator Obama is creeping toward hate speech,' Rabbis for Obama said in a statement on Thursday.
  
  'As leaders of the Jewish community we are well aware of the dangers of using inflammatory political language to marginalize individuals and groups."

Technorati tags: Slime politics, politics of fear, hate speech, hate mongering, fear mongering, John McCain, Barack Obama, 2008, Presidential Campaign