Watch Out for the Right, Even If Obama Wins!

Expect the swirling swamp gas of hate to continue and build after the election. You don’t think Sarah and Mac and their hate machine will take defeat gracefully, do you?

“Out in the stucco deserts of Limbaughland, moreover, fear is already being distilled into a good ol' boy version of the "stab in the back" myth that rallied the ruined German petite bourgeoisie to the swastika.

“…In other times, Sarah Palin's imitation of Father Charles Coughlin -- the priest who preached an American Reich in the 1930s -- in drag might be hilarious camp, but with the American way of life in sudden freefall, the specter of star-spangled fascism doesn't seem quite so far-fetched.”

Can Obama See the Grand Canyon?
On Presidential Blindness and Economic Catastrophe

While the bankers are double dipping despite the worldwide turmoil they created, the fear felt by we ordinary unfortunates can and will be stirred to the boiling point. It is an opportunity for chaos that won’t be wasted.

Privilege for the McCains - at your expense, of course.

The McCains are more about oligarchy than any horse manure they throw out to the contrary. You will serve them, they won’t serve you. A recent example is the exclusive cell tower placement brought to one of the McCain mansions in a remote area of Sedona, Arizona, at the request of Cindy. AT&T and Verizon went out of their way to oblige. They love the McCains.

Verizon and AT&T Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch

These are the ties between McCain and Verizon/AT&T as quoted from the story:

“Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his campaign have close ties to Verizon and AT&T. Five campaign officials, including manager Rick Davis, have worked as lobbyists for Verizon. Former McCain staff member Robert Fisher is an in-house lobbyist for Verizon and is volunteering for the campaign. Fisher, Verizon chief executive Ivan G. Seidenberg and company lobbyists have raised more than $1.3 million for McCain's presidential effort, and Verizon employees are among the top 20 corporate donors over McCain's political career, giving his campaigns more than $155,000.

“McCain's Senate chief of staff Mark Buse, senior strategist Charles R. Black Jr. and several other campaign staff members have registered as AT&T lobbyists in the past. AT&T Executive Vice President Timothy McKone and AT&T lobbyists have raised more than $2.3 million for McCain. AT&T employees have donated more than $325,000 to the Republican's campaigns, putting the company in the No. 3 spot for career donations to McCain, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.”

Why waste your money by subscribing to AT&T or Verizon services. It’s like making a donation to the Republican Hate Machine. Why not choose a company like CREDO, who will put your money to work for worthy causes?

In a related story, “McCain seeks special 'fair use' copyright rules for VIPs ”. McCain doesn’t mind being nasty to others, but he can’t stand it when the tables are turned. He wants special permission to pull YouTube videos he doesn’t like. He’s the perfect spoiled brat.

You get a fair idea of what his presidency would be like, an empire even more insidious than the Bush debacle.

Related Tags:

Father, bail me out!

The lipstick now belongs on the pig’s ass.

A year ago Treasury Secretary Paulson testified before Congress that “the economy is ‘marvelous, absolutely marvelous’”. Paulson is the former Goldman Sachs CEO who, in 2005, “earned” a $38 million bonus. He was one of the highest paid executives in America for ten years. Now he wants $700 billion to pass out to his Wall Street friends to get them back on their feet.

Since Bush became President, the top 400 individuals in the U.S. “earned” $670 billion. Staggering. As many are saying, even some key Republicans, Treasury Secretary Paulson’s bailout plan is just socialism for the rich. Do you hear the cheering? That’s Wall Street. Real economists hate it. Paulson’s original proposal was totally ridiculous.
Listen to David Herszenhorn of The New York Times tear it apart.

This “bailout” attempt goes hand-in-hand with the massive dishonesty and monstrous incompetence of the Bush Administration. Imagine the nerve, for the administration to say a month ago the fundamentals of the economy were strong. The code-speak there? Our rich friends are doing well. Now the fox wants a golden key to the hen house.

The Bush cabal have absolutely no regard for the middle class. We don’t exist. It is survival of the fittest for us. In 2007 Wall Street’s top firms paid out $39 billion in performance bonsus. Take a breath and read that again. $39,000,000,000.00. Right now, the top 1% of Americans earn more than all the bottom 50% combined. Yet universal health care is socialism, helping poor people heat their homes this winter is socialism, helping them send their kids to college, socialism. Bail out that wealthiest 1%? Absolutely necessary, with no judicial or legislative review. A total blank check. “Trust us”. . . . on a pig’s ass we will.

And don’t expect real help from John McCain. Phil Gramm/John McCain hold the prize for being the most rabid, super deregulators in Congress. The government’s last big bank bailout involved McCain, his poor judgement and joyous connivance with the banks - the Keating Five scandal.
Listen to a short, interesting refresher course on the S&L bailout.

As James Joyce proposed, life is an intensely serious low comedy. How could he know the “free market” buffoons would play it so perfectly?

Time is short to reassure the world about our capability. It can be measured in days. The next act in this low comedy could be ugly.

U.S. Army on a mission from God - Palin

Is Palin another possible commander-in-chief who talks with God? (Does God issue secret commands to Exxon/Mobil, too? He never talked to me about oil.) Are we colonizing Islamic nations to be Christian-lite or die? Is her God an angry white man with a long beard who issues commands from "up there"? And just what are HIS commandments?

"Sarah, this is GOD speaking. Let me put this in a friendly way for now, babe, since you're not very humble and don't take criticism well. Let's work on that, but for now, we need to get you and your buddies that oil, the oil I misplaced in the sands of Iraq. Oh, what was I thinking! We need that gas pipeline for Alaska, too. Do that for me, honey. I'll give you a free pass to kill some more moose! OK? Atta girl."

Read more about some troubling beliefs of Sarah Palin.

---------

If you don't know about NewsTrust.net, go there and read their story picks. Here are some top picks today:

• McCain's Convenient Untruth
  Washington Post - By Sebastian Mallaby - Sep. 8 (Opinion)
  Higher tax rates mean a lower budget deficit. According to the Tax Policy Center, over the course of a decade Obama's plan would result in a national debt $1...
  (4.3)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• Her deadly wolf program
  Salon - By Mark Benjamin - Sep. 8 (Special Report)
  Palin didn't think Alaskans should be allowed to chase wolves from aircraft and shoot them -- they should be encouraged to do so. Palin's administration put a bounty on wolves'...
  (4.2)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• An e-mail to friends from Wasilla becomes Internet hit
  McClatchy - By S.J. Komarnitsky - Sep. 8 (News Report)
  In all the coverage of Palin, Kilkenny's e-mail offers something maybe unique: a critique from someone who has known Palin since 1992 and been observing her up close for many...
  (3.9)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• The Perilous Price of Oil
  The New York Review of Books - By George Soros - Sep. 8 (Special Report)
  The public is asking for an answer to two questions. The principal question is whether the sharp oil price increase is a speculative bubble or simply reflects fundamental factors...
  (3.8)
  

  See Reviews | Review It
  
  
• Storm Troopers at the RNC
  Consortium News - By Ray McGovern - Sep. 8 (News Report)
  On the fringes there was some property damage and further arrests. What violence there was bore the earmarks of provocation by the likes of Sheriff Fletcher and his Homeland...
  (3.8)
  

  See Reviews | Review It

I'm White, I'm Right, I Love to Kill (Moose)

Bullwinkle, beware. A foxy girl with a high tech rifle feels entitled to kill you. She's a perfect choice for warrior McCain, who feels we should have gone into Iraq AND Iran long before we did. Making war is his métier. Same old story - it's your money but his toys. (He is apparently unaffected by all the "collateral damage" he caused in the city of Hanoi as an Air Force pilot.)


I was personally ashamed of all the gushing praise from the mainstream media, including NPR, of Sarah Palin. Any questions of the wisdom of her as a choice for the vice commander-in-chief are considered unfair attacks of the "elite, left coast media". Yet the vicious, nonsensical rebuttals from these smug, self-satisfied candidates continued to intimidate the media. You thought the Bush/Cheney arrogance and secrecy were intolerable. You might well be going to jail under McCain/Palin if you dare have an opinion outside official doctrine.

Take a listen:


What is it about the people with money and personality disorders? They think anything they say is sacrosanct, and how dare you have another opinion! That's the oligarchy speaking, the bullying of a dying military-industrial complex, the last gasping breath of the angry white men of America, the self-entitled looters of the U.S. treasury, the folks who privatize profits but socialize the costs. The Ugly Americans of the 1950's have returned, in spades.

Unfortunately, the future of our country is in the hands of the undecided voters, the voters who are disconnected from any real skills of independent evaluation, the folks whose values have been programmed by the commercial culture they feel lost without. Yet one more bad choice by the "undecided" will certainly send us into oblivion.

Kennedy for Veep! (Caroline Kennedy, that is)

Two of the three rumored Obama VeeP candidates voted for the war. Obama built his campaign voting against it. The other one is unknown. Caroline Kennedy is outside the Democratic establishment, and is known and loved by Dems and Republicans alike. A no-brainer of a choice, Obama. Michael, I like your idea.

Be sure, also, to read :

Follow This Dime

Why Misgovernment Was No Accident in George W. Bush's Washington
By Thomas Frank

"…Mass firing of federal prosecutors; bribing of newspaper columnists; pallets of shrink-wrapped cash "misplaced" in Iraq; inexperienced kids running the Baghdad stock exchange; the discovery that many of Alaska's leading politicians are apparently on the take -- our heads swim. We climb to the rooftop, but we cannot find the heights of irony from which we might laugh off the blend of thug and Pharisee that was Tom DeLay -- or dispel the nauseating suspicion, quickly becoming a certainty, that the government of our nation deliberately fibbed us into a pointless, catastrophic war."

Then, buy his latest book, The Wrecking Crew.

Paris Hilton responds

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Paris knows her "media smarts". She moves up a big notch in my book.

If Paris is the "beauty", this guy is certainly the "beast". He, too, is my candidate for the origin of the anthrax attack.

"You'd have to be a terribly cautious and willfully blind person not to think that the Bush Admin was capable of orchestrating the anthrax attacks." -- Mark Karlin.

Help your banker cover his blunders

Many historians agree that Karl Marx's greatest achievement was his excellent and insightful critique of capitalism. After all, he witnessed it in the raw, when its practice placed very heavy burdens on workers, practices we'd find cruel and reprehensible today. One of Marx's notable critiques was that, in capitalism, the profits are privatized but the losses are socialized.

In other words, it is win-win for the investment banks. Please keep that in mind as you navigate the credit crisis we live with today.

What do you do when the banks are too big to fail, when the "well being" of the economy depends on cleaning up after their messes?

You suck up:

Sucking Up to the Bankers: A Bipartisan Lovefest

The Attack Machine is up and running

Found at the Daily Kos:



Why trust someone who smirks and prevaricates? McCain is running a dirty campaign. Period.

Young minds wither with MTV attack ad

MTV now accepts political ads. I hear Candidate McCain is buying time on MTV to broadcast a negative attack on Barack Obama—saying he's "worse than a flip-flopper" and accusing him of no longer being against the war. That'll kill the hope in young minds.

S.O.P. for the G.O.P.

I hate to give broadcasters money for political ads, but I'll be making an exception. Take a look below at what can be a better political ad, one that is closer to the truth, then click here to make a donation so it can really happen.

McCain Needs Ritalin, Not Viagra

What a silly man.

Just another example of how confused his campaign is.

Send McCain your thoughts about his views above.

Remember When Politicians Tried the Truth?

President Carter is clearly vindicated. America had a choice. They chose good ol' "Morning-in-America" Reagan. (Maybe giving Americans the hard facts was too much for voters to handle.)

What a song and dance it's been since 1980. We've experienced the largest transfer of wealth ever from the middle class to the rich. So much for the so-called "free market" ideas and trickle-down economics of Ronnie Reagan and economic advisor Marty Feldstein ! They served only to make a small percentage of Americans (about 2%) very wealthy. Their promised middle class dream was floated on a seductive bubble of credit schemes and pipe dreams whose basis in fact was just a remake of the Ponzi schemes of old.

How many bubbles have we lived through since 1980? The junk bond debacle? Savings and loan collapse? The year 2001 internet/market collapse? Enron? Today's mortgage meltdown? Now the banks are stretched, fearing a rush on liquidity. Oh, how's our national debt situation?

Phil "Americans-are-whiners" Gramm (recent ex economic guru to "Bomb-bomb-Iran-let-them-die-of-cancer" McCain) lobbied hard in the early nineties to have investment banks excluded from ANY oversight. He got his wish. Now nobody knows how much bad paper we've sold to the rest of the world. It's causing global panic. Heck of a job, Phil!

Timin', a tick-a-tick-a-tick-a timin'…

Can you spell k-a-r-m-a? Nearly thirty years worth of blowing bubbles and pipe dreams and "they'll-greet-us-in the-streets-with-flowers" nonsense is coming back with compound interest. Instead of letting the perps get away with their usual M.O. - drifting away from their messes with golden parachutes while using our tax dollars to clean up - why not ask them to give us our money back for this grand 30-year fraud?

Think about how you might phrase that! :>)

Dump Verizon and AT&T

(Yes, this is a shamless ad, but please read on.)
Congress voted today to give immunity to the telecom companies that cooperated with the administration on the secret and illegal FISA wiretaps. One company stood apart and refused -
CREDO Mobile:

• When the ACLU sued the National Security Agency over warrantless wiretapping, CREDO joined with an amicus brief — the only phone company to do so.
• AT&T's Political Action Committee contributed the maximum amount allowable by law to the Bush/Cheney campaign — twice. CREDO has given $60 million to progressive nonprofits like Planned Parenthood, Earthjustice and Iraq Vets Against the War.
• Verizon tried to block NARAL Pro-Choice America's text messages, calling them "unsavory." CREDO supports text messaging for progressive causes through our Mobile Action program.
• AT&T has censored criticism of Bush during a concert webcast. CREDO fights for net neutrality as a member of the Save the Internet Coalition.

If you like what CREDO Mobile is doing, dump the underwriters of the vicious Right and join CREDO. Your telecom money will be doing good work, for once.

Make the switch now, and they'll buy out your existing contract and give you a nice phone.

What Moral Integrity?

Are we a moral nation?

It is a fact that a large majority of Americans feel we were NOT told the truth before going to war with Iraq, and they now regret even going there. Then why isn't there more support for the impeachment resolutions introduced by Rep. Kucinich?

Are Americans immoral? Complacent? Intimidated? Or do they just not know how to contact their Congress people? Is there really any reasonable excuse? Did you believe the German people in 1945 when they cried, "We didn't know!!"?

Have you heard of Vincent Bugliosi's new book, “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder”? It's number 14 on the New York Times best seller list. Since being published in May, it has sold a staggering 130,000 copies. Yet there have been no book reviews of it on the corporate controlled TV, cable, magazines or major newspapers. Why not?

Mr. Bugliosi said bookers for cable television, where he has made regular appearances to promote books, have ignored his latest offering. MSNBC and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” were two outlets Mr. Bugliosi had thought would show interest, but neither did.

“They are not responding at all,” he said. “I think it all goes back to fear. If the liberal media would put me on national television, I think they’d fear that they would be savaged by the right wing. The left wing fears the right, but the right does not fear the left.”

- Ex-Prosecutor’s Book Accuses Bush of Murder, NYTimes.com, July 7, 2008.

Perhaps that is why Obama has moved so far to the right so very recently - the soft Democratic left fearing the unpredictable, intimidating, outrageous distortions of the right. It's a toss up whether he's more "right" than Hillary at this point. Hillary knows how to defend herself against the hate and venom of the vicious Right. Perhaps she was the better choice, practically speaking.

Let's not write her off yet. Obama could have some more serious problems with guilt by association that he may not be able to shake.
--
So how does the right wing always escape the huge scandals they so obviously participate in? Will our President be impeached? Will he stand trial for murder? Did Reagan get in any real trouble exchanging arms for hostages with Iran (the secret brokered deal he made with the "enemy" behind our backs prior to the 1980 election)? How has McCain managed to escape his due as one of the corrupt Keating Five?

Are we immoral people, or do we just cower in fear of our "masters"? Is either option acceptable in the eyes of history?

Support Impeachment Hearings NOW!

WexlerWantsHearings.com

This, from Representative Robert Wexler:

Our effort to hold the Bush/Cheney Administration accountable has taken another dramatic step forward. Last night, Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced the first Articles of Impeachment ever to be introduced against President Bush. It includes, in total, thirty-five Articles detailing this Administration's blatant abuse of power. Today, I enthusiastically co-sponsored this vitally important bill.

I am grateful for Dennis' leadership on this issue and for the steadfast support that countless Americans have given to both of our efforts to redeem our government and expose the crimes of Bush and Cheney.

I will now expand my efforts to secure impeachment hearings in the Judiciary Committee for these new Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.

Many of the charges against President Bush are well known – and would shock the conscience of everyday Americans if only the national media would be willing to report on these stark facts.

The Articles present a stunning narrative of offenses that have go well beyond previous crimes committed by any US chief executive. In fact no President or Vice President in history has done more to undermine our constitution.

These charges are broad, with 35 separate allegations including the deliberate lies regarding WMDs that led us to war and the approval of illegal wiretapping of American citizens. The Articles also include new allegations of high crimes – including the explicit approval for high Administration officials to violate treaties and US law banning the use of torture.

The Democratic Party gained a majority in the House and Senate due in large part to our promises to end the corruption of the Republican majority and to hold the Administration accountable to the law. This courageous bill is a crucial step towards fulfilling this promise, but – like the Articles against Cheney – they require your support to convince Democrats and open-minded Republicans to support this bold but necessary action.

Time is running out so we must work together to spread the message and apply pressure.

First, please encourage your friends and family members to sign up at WexlerWantsHearings.com – as it will allow us to keep in touch with you and speak to a wider audience. If you haven't yet put in your phone and address, please sign up again, as we will be doing telephone town halls in the near future.

Second, call your representative and urge them to support Impeachment hearings.

Finally, contact newspapers, news stations, and your favorite bloggers and urge them to report on this movement. We need to keep Impeachment a significant news story until the Democratic leadership sees the value in it.

McClellan Agrees to Testify:

I was pleased to inform you yesterday that Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers met my call to have Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testify under oath. I am thrilled to inform you that McClellan has agreed to testify on June 20th at 10AM. This will be the first step in what we hope will be ongoing and deepening examinations of the stark evidence and charges against both President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Thank you for your continued passion and advocacy. Your support means so much to me.

Sincerely,

Congressman Robert Wexler

Please sign up at WexlerWantsHearings.com . It took me 20 seconds.

Now, spread the word!

:>)

Impeachment Articles Read on the House Floor

Right this minute, Rep. Dennis Kucinich is on the floor of the House of Representatives introducing 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush.

Watch C-Span Now!

If you don't have cable, go to a bar and tell them to put it on C-Span 1!

Or watch at the Video/Audio tab at C-Span.

Action in the House coming later this week!

Good websites to watch for updates and actions:

http://kucinich.us
http://democrats.com
http://afterdowningstreet.org

Hooray, Dennis!!

Free Ride for a Flip Flopper

There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!
Robert Greenwald: Brave New Films

Help spread the word about the real McCain. Forward this to all your friends.

Obama could score a huge electoral victory over McCain

"The simulation takes the polls we have now and recognizes that this far out from the election there are a lot of uncertainties," Poblano explained. "There was a point in time [in 1984] at which Walter Mondale led Ronald Reagan by 17 points or something. So we look at how much polls move over time, plus the margin of error in each poll, plus the fact that polls are never as good as they claim to be And we just simulate around that."

There's a lot to McCain you shouldn't believe when you watch corporate media. Discover the blogosphere, and leverage the media landscape to YOUR advantage.

Fear No Evil

Don't be despondent. Change can happen. (Click on the book's image to see how.)

“Zinn writes with an enthusiasm rarely encountered in the leaden prose of academic history. . .” – New York Times Book Review

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress is Howard Zinn’s major new collection of essays on American history, class, immigration, justice, and ordinary citizens who have made a difference.

Even though Bush compares Obama to Nazi appeasers, and feels justified in saying so because he, W, gave up golf for the Iraq War, Olbermann replies:
Olbermann To Bush: "This War Is Not About You...Shut The Hell Up!"

Truer words were never spoken. :>)

These events seem to indicate the Republican attack machine is focusing on the likelihood of Obama securing the nomination. White collar criminals are doing their damnedest to support Rove's sneering legacy:

Limbaugh Wins As Election’s Biggest Manipulator

From attacking Republican frontrunner John McCain early in the process to ‘dreaming’ of – and some say illegally calling for — riots at August’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, all the way to more recent efforts such as “Operation Chaos,” aimed at inserting himself and his followers into the Democratic primaries in an attempt to weaken Barack Obama by supporting Hillary Clinton, the so-called “Limbaugh effect” has garnered excessive attention from the ‘drive-by’ mainstream media that Limbaugh purports to hate but actually depends on and manipulates adroitly.

And Tom Hayden weighs in on Susan Faludi and Hillary Clinton.

Not to be outdone, Garrison Keillor expresses a fine opinion about his beloved country in the International Herald Tribune:

You work hard to be odd and try to have unique problems and a Facebook page that is weirder than everyone else's - fine, it's your life, it's your arm with the crocodile tattoo, not mine, but enjoy this brief period of consanguinity.

Cheers!

Blood and Oil - The Movie

Michael T. Klare's Blood and Oil (Media Education Foundation) illustrates the real cost of our American lifestyle. Buy it, devour it, then speak the truth. Twitter it, even. IM it. Put it on Facebook, but get it out there, somehow.

Synopsis:

The notion that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years – rendering our contemporary energy and military policies virtually indistinguishable. In the end, Blood and Oil calls for a radical re-thinking of US energy policy, warning that unless we change direction, we stand to be drawn into one oil war after another as the global hunt for diminishing world petroleum supplies accelerates.

With $4/gal oil coming soon, and no end in sight to price increases, you can see how badly we've mismanaged the past 30+ years since the oil embargo. You had to be there, then you would know, if you haven't figured it out already. EVERYTHING about us depends on cheap and plentiful oil. There is no Plan B.

Since Reagan first took office, there never was any will to create a Plan B -- too uncomfortable, too difficult. Instead, it was "Morning in America", the misguided Gipper-speak that launched the appetites of tens of millions to create a nation of mindless, egocentric consumers, helpless in the glare of the TV Nation, created by the perfect marriage of Madison Avenue "feel good" slogans and Hollywood action figures, the perfect Animal Farm scenario. Long live infotainment.

Engaging in war for control of resources is nothing new. Think Japan in the 1930's. Think about how much oil that second world war consumed.

Then:

• Think about how much oil it takes to keep the world's most mechanized armed forces on the move today.
• Think about how much oil the war in Iraq has consumed.
• Think about how a proud serviceman must know, sadly, he and his buddies are fighting and dying over a barrel of oil.

Yes, let's think about oil. Texas billionaires be damned.

More on Michael Klare:

• Michael Klare, Oil Rules!
• A conversation with Michael Klare
• The New Geopolitics of Energy
• An oil-addicted ex-superpower
  

Most Effective Terrorist Tools Exposed!

There's not much more to say!

Well, you might want to know that since 2002, your Wi-Fi has been considered a terrorist tool. So divest thee of wickedness, and go back to the twisted pair.

Cheers.

May Day in the USA

May Day is the real Labor Day, and it was brought to you by anarchists, vicious repression by police and militia, and the desire for an eight hour work day. In Russia? No, here is the USA. Our current Labor Day is merely window dressing to cover the unpleasant truth.

Let's see how far we've progressed.

This week's cover story to The Nation is called "Race to the Bottom", featuring Hillary Clinton on the cover.

"Watching the brass ring of the presidency slip out of Clinton's grasp as she is buffeted by this torrent of misogyny, women--white women, that is, and mainstream feminists especially--have rallied to her defense."

and

"The sexist attacks on Clinton are outrageous and deplorable, but there's reason to be concerned about her becoming the vehicle for a feminist reawakening. "

The primary should not be a contest about feminism or race, even though it will be hard to avoid. I don't think Presidential races ever took the high ground. This should be a contest about how we can recover from the boy emperor's war, if we can. There is a McCain plan to make Bush permanent. If the other two hopefuls can stop attacking each other long enough to talk specifics, I'd like to hear REAL proposals for recovery.

My opinion: I don't care too much who gets the nomination. Both Democratic candidates aren't too far apart on the war. My main reason for voting against Hillary was her unabashed and continued support for it. The war is destroying every aspect of the American way of life.

Yet,

Obama Says His Foreign Policy Would Be Like That of President Bush's Father, JFK, Reagan

Totally scary. As much as they appear to be 'against' it, I don't think either has voted to "unfund" the war yet. We're in Iraq for a long time, till the end of the empire. Only the history books will report whether the end was was short and sweet, or long and painful. We merely have to live it, unfortunately.

Compare our candidates to someone who is actually doing something about peace in the political world, and you will see how far we've fallen. Ever since he left office, this outstanding person has lived his principles. Yet, he gets no respect.

Read the Pariah Diplomacy editorial to see who I mean.

OK? Now I'm here to tell you, there is only one true peace candidate.

Go ahead, hate me - it's sad no one can believe we could ever have such a vision of democracy in the USA. My vote is really going to be against McCain, not for a candidate who represents my values.

A Time for the Clintons

“I have a lot of baggage, and everybody has rummaged through it for years,” Hillary says.

Let's not forget that you get two for one with Hillary:

"As Clinton was taking office in 1993, three important investigations were underway, all of which Clinton could have helped by ordering key documents declassified or giving other backing to the investigators.

"Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh was still battling the cover-up that had surrounded the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s; Democratic congressmen were digging into the “Iraqgate“ scandal, the covert supplying of dangerous weapons to Iraq's Saddam Hussein in the 1980s; and a House task force was suddenly inundated with evidence pointing to Republican guilt in the “October Surprise“ case, alleged interference by the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1980 to undermine President Jimmy Carter's efforts to free 52 American hostages then held in Iran.

"Combined, those three investigations could have rewritten the history of the 1980s, exposing serious wrongdoing by Republicans who had held the White House for a dozen years. The full story also would likely have terminated the presidential ambitions of the powerful Bush family, since George H.W. Bush was implicated in all three scandals.

"However, Clinton and the leaders of the Democratic majorities in Congress didn't care enough about the truth to fight for it. Instead, they saw the truth as a bargaining chip that could be cheaply traded away.

"Clinton agreed to let George H.W. Bush retreat gracefully into retirement despite Bush's brazen attempt to destroy Walsh's criminal investigation by issuing six pardons to Iran-Contra defendants on Christmas Eve 1992."

Is Hillary or Obama More Vulnerable to Right-Wing Attacks?
By Robert Parry, Consortium News.

I have a lot of respect for Hillary. She has done much good, and has certainly had an interesting career, arriving into politics as a Goldwater Republican. (I was one, too, in 1964, as a high school student in a very conservative town, cheering Goldwater's famous rant, "Bomb Hanoi!", if you can believe it.)

But the above story of the 1992 Clinton pardons is just too much, too outrageous to ignore, worse than his year 2000 pardons. It's as damning of the Democratic Party as it is of Bill Clinton. Yet I was of his generation and outlook.

My basketball coach used to say, "Never give a sucker an even break." I guess that's true for Bill - Republicans hardly thanked him for this huge 1992 favor during impeachment. It's even more amazing the Dems didn't fight the 2000 Florida election disgrace with any real resolve, that on the heels of impeachment. One can only conclude the Republicans must be right. Democrats are truly spineless.

For more on Hillary's history, refer to Salon's, "How 1968 changed Hillary". It will take you back, as that was a pivotal year for us all.

More sentiment:

• Anti-Hillary Sentiment on the Rise Among Leading Feminists
  
• Clinton wins, will sanity be restored
• Women of My Generation Have Clearly Lost Their Minds
• Hillary or nothing?

I really believed the Clintons were going to change politics. (Take note, ye who are wooed by Obama.)

Do I want more of the Clintons?

Nope.

How McCain Lost, but the Sky Still Falls

"How McCain Lost in Pennsylvania" is the title of the best analysis yet of the McCain campaign and the Democratic primary stalemate. "Not so fast," is good advice to all in the corporate media who can't wait to beat up on a democratic process moving to a natural completion. Just as Antonin Scalia, a Reagan legacy and believer that the constitution is dead, said last week when responding to a challenge to the Florida 2000 election, "Just get over it!"; this is the media, impatient to bully the public with its own agenda of quick sound bites and simple answers. Remember, the media profit hugely from the long election processes yet they act like they cover elections as a free public service.

The Fall

“We were already in our twilight phase when Ronald Reagan, with all the insight of an ostrich, declared it to be ‘morning in America’; twenty-odd years later, under the ‘boy emperor’ George W. Bush (as Chalmers Johnson refers to him), we have entered the Dark Ages in earnest, pursuing a short-sighted path that can only accelerate our decline. For what we are now seeing are the obvious characteristics of the West after the fall of Rome: the triumph of religion over reason; the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion, the state, and the apparatus of torture—a troika that was for Voltaire the central horror of the pre-Enlightenment world; as well as, today, the political and economic marginalization of our culture.... The British historian Charles Freeman published an extended discussion of the transition that took place during the late Roman empire, the title of which could serve as a capsule summary of our current rulers: ”The Closing of the Western Mind.”
”Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire” by Morris Berman, a professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

The above excepted from Gore Vidal's, "President Jonah, Meet Oliver Cromwell!"

PLEASE read it. Or listen to it, as read by the author. Pass it on.

Mr. Misogyny

Many of you may think I lost it on my previous post. Perhaps.

I was angry. McCain's misogyny reflects the nature of the paternalistic oligarchy we all live under. I was merely focusing on the essence of what he seemed to propose in his solution to appease critics of his stand against equal pay for women. As repulsive as it was to read, it was meant to be satirical. My apologies if it seemed mean-spirited.

Before you rap my knuckles, compare me to Nora Ephron, the screenwriter and satirist, writing about whether Pennsylvania White Men hate blacks more than women. So much for a respectful dialog this campaign season.

Can anyone be worse than Bush? I think McCain is. So help me. How are we going to break this insurgency?!

Point:


Don't you think the Yearning for Zion Ranch looks like a 19th century high security prison?

If you think the Yearning for Zion Ranch story is bizarre, think again. These fundamentalists are not small in numbers. Many voters like absolutes, they want someone to structure their time on this earth with clear cut "do's and do not's". Yet there are large entities that encourage these fundamentalist trends.

"Catholic charities do a lot of good, but the Vatican is a major obstacle to the advancement of women's human rights. In Nicaragua and El Salvador it recently won a total ban on abortion that has already led to dozens of deaths."

Katha Pollitt, writing for Alternet.org, thinks the two religions aren't as far apart as you might think.

Who can tell me when women got the right to own property? (Hint: the slaves were "freed" long before this event.) When did women get the right to vote? How long in the history of human relations did romance ever enter into the negotiations of a marriage? (Hint: a tiny fraction of the whole history.)

Shall I continue?

Women are Stoopid, but McCain Wants to Help You Gals!

There are still 269 insufferable days left for the Shrub to deliver the Rapture, but there is hope.

Compassionate Conservative John McCain is all about helping women to get paid as much as men. Let me see, the logic must go like this: "We all know girls are dumb, but Senator McCain believes through education and training, they can improve their lot." (Maybe he will hire a scientist to prove that.) Therefore: "John is as compassionate about every voting woman as he is for his apparently stoopid wife, who herself couldn't possibly have earned her $100 million net worth." Yes, she inherited her money.

Maybe McCain is appealing to the fossils who believe the right of women to own property is still a mistake needing correction? Will he then create legislation to help his dear wife's schooling while he manages her money? What, home schooling and obedience training? If she does well, I only hope he will increase her allowance. (The real story is, she probably gives HIM an allowance, as their finances are apparently separate.)

Patriot John helped scuttle the current subversive legislation in Congress that sought to equalize women's pay with men, to which his supporters must bless him.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposes a Senate bill that seeks equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits.

Senate Republicans killed the bill Wednesday night on a 56-42 vote that denied the measure the 60 votes needed to advance it to full debate and a vote. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had delayed the vote to give McCain's Democratic rivals, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, time to return to Washington to support the measure, which would make it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination.

McCain skipped the vote to campaign in New Orleans.

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."

The bill sought to counteract a Supreme Court decision limiting how long workers can wait before suing for pay discrimination.

WTOPnews.com

John, thank you for your service to all "men-kind". My hat's off to you.

I hope everyone will sign the petition thanking Senator McCain for his good deeds on behalf of our benevolent corporate saviors. He's been on his knees before them for years without proper recognition.

John may have the distinction to be the only candidate who will take the "Lady" out of that French trojan horse, "Lady Liberty", and substitute his own beautiful likeness to carry the torch of freedom.

Gawd bless, John!

4000 U.S. Dead … "So?"

It's all getting totally crazy now. You've all heard Dead-eye Dick Cheney's response to the question, "What do you say to two-thirds of the public who think this war should never have been fought?"

"So?"

What about the 1 million plus Iraqi civilian deaths?

"So?"

That's the response of our preeminent corporate war monger, the 21st century's version of the 20th century's infamous dictators. No loud gesticulations or swagger or stiff salutes, not Dick. He just smiles benevolently, pats you on the back and sends you off to the detention camp for the good of the shareholders. Dick is our corporate American empire's last great white hope - Prosperity thru War / Exxon and Halliburton über alles / Total Victory for Democracy, Christian Hegemony, and Israel…all on your money, and your children's money, their children's and their children's children's (borrowed) money.

"So?"

We can't let ignorant, backward people stand in the way of our needs. Look at all the marvelous new inventions we need to keep us free!



Meet Big Dog, your friendly rabid robot, helping to make the world safe for Democracy, Amerikan style. Love us or die, my Arab friend! Don't you just want one for your very own?

Oh, and remember this cuddly creature? Isn't he the perfect companion for Big Dog?



Yes, it's all totally nuts now. Torture the infidels…give alms to the sub-prime schemers…support a 100 year war…switch to Diet Coke…aw, what the heck!

So what are you going to do…sit there another five years?

"It is a time for a radical rethinking. It is a time to reconsider it all, to perhaps reassess how we are presenting and digesting America's most costly and lost and unwinnable and brutal and ignoble and inept and insidious and depressing war that's not really a war; it's time to revolutionize how it's all packaged and broadcast and pumped like hot sticky misery into the heavily narcotized American cultural bloodstream because, oh my God, we are sick sick sick of it all, and only getting sicker."

Free iPhone with Every Outrage!
Bored with the 'war' on Iraq? 4,000 dead merely induce shrugging? Need an incentive to keep caring?
By Mark Morford

(and be sure to click on the Abu Ghraib image above to read a very interesting story.)

FYI,

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 29 Mar 2008 at 02:33:56 AM GMT is:

$9,414,339,696,245.73

The estimated population of the United States is 303,708,093
so each citizen's share of this debt is $30,997.99.

"Bush Tied to Child Prostitution - Resignation or Impeachment Expected!"

"George Bush has been tied to a prostitution ring involving as many as 50,000 women and girls and is expected to resign or be impeached, according to Congressional sources." Democrats.com

I hope you read the whole story from the link above. There is a lot to atone for, yet I don't expect "what-me-worry" to bother, Iraqis being mostly non-Christian.

George Bush vetoes Congress and endorses torture. Eliot Spitzer pays $5k for sex. What topic grabs more headlines?

N.Y. legislators call for Spitzer to resign, but ignore voters calling for the much more worthy Bush impeachment.

Spitzer lives up to his ethical standards and resigns. Bush, the most impeachable President in history, the most immoral and ruthless in my lifetime, surrounds himself in secrecy and lies. You tell me who is mired in slime and needs serious redemption.

BTW, why were the Feds looking into prostitution, usually a state offense? Spitzer had the most powerful people on Wall Street hating him. (That, of course, makes him a hero in my book. :>) ). With deep pocket enemies like that, you get federal V.I.P. service.

We've marketed and monetized sexual allure to such an extreme in our culture that even young girls dress up as sex objects. Then we're shocked, SHOCKED, when a publicly visible person pays to engage in the actual fact. Ho-hum.

It's no wonder 1 in 4 teenage girls in the U.S. has an STD. Our priorities are seriously messed up, and the Wall Streeters lead the pack.

Yet, will our President show up at the March 19 vigil to memorialize the million plus Iraqi and four thousand U.S. deaths as a result of his pre-planned war of aggression? Will any officials from the war profiteers, Exxon Mobil or Halliburton, show up?

I hope you'll be there.

The War Architects Have a Gallery Page

It reads like a profile page of war criminals. See them all in one page, and revisit their cynical propaganda.

Try to imagine them in the dock at a war crimes tribunal. Ah, if you only had the courage!

Remember, you'll still be paying for their mess long after the revisionists have rewritten the sordid tales of these tiny zealots who sold their souls for a palmful of silver and a splash of limelight.

Oh, they had plenty of help. Remember the fairy tales their media friends wove throughout the national press during the post invasion glory?

"May 11, 2004: If Cheney and Rumsfeld chuckled when they read this column, they must have laughed aloud when when they read Brooks's next piece. 'There's something about our venture into Iraq that is inspiringly, painfully, embarrassingly, and quintesentially American,' Brooks writes. 'No other nation would have been hopeful enough to evangelize for democracy across the Middle East. No other nation would have been naïve enough to do it this badly. No other nation would be adaptable enough to recover from its own innocence and muddle its way to success, as I suspect we are about to do.' "

and

"Through this metamorphosis of personal failure into what he calls 'national style', Brooks is able to dissolve the granite egos of Cheney and Rumseld in the warm soup of a national 'we'. They didn't plan the war, the national psyche did. They didn't blunder, the national style did. The beauty of his thesis is that it leaves everyone as innocent at the end as they were at the beginning. No one can be blamed, so why search for accountability? Why look for a substantive conclusion about right and wrong, competence and blunders, when the scene of action is the national character not the Oval Office?"
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/75217/ (both quotes)

Disney World for Warriors. Dumbo made a boo boo. How sweet. No justice needed. Let's imagine it never happened. Change the channel, please? Paris Hilton, we love you !!

Instead, how about this?

Can we not promote law and order in this country -- we've been swindled, the world's suffered dearly, where's the outrage? Why can't we bring justice to the perpetrators of war?

Or would we rather dream on?

It seems the State Department wants you to. They retired their War Crimes Tribunal page.

Help Gather Support for Legislation to Stop Violence Against Women, Call a Republican Senator Today!

Tomorrow, March 8, is International Women's Day. You can make a real difference in the lives of women by asking your Republican Senator to support a historic piece of legislation designed to give survivors of violence more assistance, hold perpetrators accountable, and combat the negative public attitudes that encourage or condone violence against women and girls.

Apparently, it is only necessary to call Republican senators to ask their support. It seems they are having trouble making up their minds. I don't know, do Republicans have a moral objection to stopping violence against women and girls?

Click HERE to get all the information you need. The call takes just a minute, and you will feel SO much better.

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

I promised you economic news, but why start a story with bad news?

Fed says economy has weakened this year
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

The economy has weakened since the start of this year as shoppers turned even more cautious given the severe housing slump and painful credit crunch.

Manufacturers and other businesses, meanwhile, had to cope with skyrocketing prices for energy and other raw materials. The businesses’ ability to pass along higher prices to their customers was mixed, according to the Federal Reserve’s new snapshot of nationwide economic conditions released Wednesday.

Many economists fear that the country is teetering on the edge of a recession or is in one already.

or

Investment News: Advisers brace for bad times

About 41% of advisers think the S&P 500 index will fall in the next six months, according to Schwab Institutional.

Couples now need $225,000 to retire

This figure is a 4.7% increase over the 2007 estimate of $215,000, according to Fidelity

And that's only the good part of the bad news. So let's relax and celebrate the latest headline about the election. We can get to the bad news after the party's over.


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Federal Funding of Elections Has a Chance (if you want it)

Getting a Grip on Money and Politics, Part II from Anthony Lappe on Vimeo.

The movement for public financing is not dead, just stalled. One current plan is to fund elections through sale of broadcast spectrum to media companies, which they usually get for free. I don't entirely agree with that plan, but it is a far sight better than what we have now.

I hope the video gets your thinking machine in gear. You can follow up here.

Your Monthly War Bill is Due

Yes, DO SOMETHING!

Less Jobs, More War

My next post will show you the financial do-do we are really in. The writing's been on the wall for a while, as you will see in the cartoon below.

935 Lies Led to War - FACT!

The Center for Public Integrity established and documented 935 lies uttered by the administration as the basis for the war in Iraq. You can search the database yourself in their Iraq: The War Card page.


The evidence is overwhelming. This war was a war of choice. This war violated international law. So where is the moral fiber of the Americans?

Oh, I forgot.

It seems we're slackers, mostly.

Yet if moral outrage doesn't get you to act, how about this? The huge price for oil we pay goes to the Saudis, the Egyptians, the UAE, Kuwait, Iran - some of the most undemocratic countries in the world. Four of them are our dear friends. This war is making enormous fortunes for them.

And, after no WMDs were discovered, do you remember this bit of proffered wisdom? "Our presence in the Middle East will bring stability to the price of oil."

Can this be the most stupid administration yet?

So you decide: the most stupid or the most criminal administration in history.

Just do something!

Want Healthcare? Get Out of Irag, then.

You can't have affordable healthcare and a war in Iraq. It is as simple as that, there just aren't enough dollars for both. All the candidates' promises mean nothing without an immediate pull out from Iraq.

What is not clear about this issue? Why isn't it number one in peoples' minds? Perhaps we've given up on even thinking about how we're getting out. As long as we feel we need Middle East oil, and as long as we think we need to "protect" Israel, we aren't going anywhere. Those are the facts from the military and policy wonks, and they will persuade any new President that "withdrawal" is not an option.

Beyond NH: Campaign Promises Are Empty Until the War Ends

…The candidates also say they are against the war and want our troops out. But Clinton wants withdrawal in phases and wouldn't have most troops out until 2013. After that, she would keep a residual force in Iraq. Edwards would withdraw 40,000 to 50,000 immediately and all within nine or 10 months, another phased pullout. Obama, who -- unlike Clinton and Edwards -- opposed the invasion, would withdraw all troops before 2010, again in phases.

All these plans would leave troops there for a substantial time. And that's assuming that the winner can keep a withdrawal promise. It's easy to imagine what will happen when the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the so-called wise men and women of the Washington foreign policy establishment start "talking sense" to the new president, urging him or her to keep a strong force in Iraq to guard strategic interests and oil supplies in the Middle East and to protect Israel. Only Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich favor an immediate pullout.

OK? So let's not get distracted.

Issue No. 1 - When and how do we get out of Iraq? We want clear answers.

Do something to make it happen!!!