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Oct 9, 2008
starting off with abdon m. pallasch's article from the chicago sun-times: Starting a two-day blitz in Wisconsin, where they're running 5 to 10 percentage points behind, John McCain and Sarah Palin praised veterans, denounced abortion, slammed the media and blamed the country's economic mess on Barack Obama and the his fellow Democrats.
Palin gave a shout-out to Wisconsin hunters, praising an "eat local" campaign and adding, "I hope that includes wild game, too, for those of us who are hunters."At the town hall meeting at a youth sports center here, McCain said, "We don't care about an old washed-up terrorist and his wife, who still, at least on Sept. 11, 2001, said he still wanted to bomb more. That's not the point here. The point is, Sen. Obama said, Ayers is "just a guy in the neighborhood."The crowd booed.
"We know that's not true," McCain said. "We need to know the full extent of the relationship because we need to know whether Sen. Obama is telling the truth to the American people or not."john mccain is right. and, if his words have a familiar ring to community members, throughout 2007 and 2008, what did c.i. say? 'barack needs to get honest.' barack's had plenty of time to. he has never done so. the press needs to stop covering for him. we're voting for the president of the united states. we need to know the truth about the candidates and we need to know if they're incapable of telling the truth. with less than 30 days to go, barack's repeatedly refused to tell the truth. they think they can scream 'racism!' and people will run in fear. that works for the egg heads and for the press, it doesn't work for the american people and that's why barack has no overwhelming lead despite outspending mccain 3 to 1 on advertising. if you missed it, the 2nd big theme in the press today is that no 1 can use barack obama's middle name. hussein. hussein. hussein. hussein. hussein. i'm waiting. no crash of thunder, no bolt has hit me.
i haven't been stricken dead.
what do you know, you can say his middle name.
now i'm fully aware that michelle obama has declared it is 'racism' to say barack's middle name. so if barack were in the hospital, michelle wouldn't give out his middle name to admissions? she wouldn't fill it in our forums?
barack gets in a fender and bender and the police ask his name and what? he screams 'racism!' if they insist upon knowing his middle name?
he wants to be president of the united states.
that's how coddled he's been by the press. he wants to be president of the united states and thinks - like many a junior - he can stamp his feet and say, 'don't call me that!'
where is this sense of entitlement coming from? you have a name. you're an adult and a lawyer. you chose not to change your name. it's your name.
get damn used to it.
in america we're supposed to strive for equality. there has been nothing equal about the press coverage of barack when compared to other candidates and it damn well needs to stop.
william jefferson kennedy. george herbert walker bush. no 1 ever screamed 'racism! you're racist for mentioning their middle names!' neither of those men ever said, 'you can't say my middle name!'
it's time for christ-child to take the same lumps every 1 else does. you think the average boy wants to be called 'francis'? probably not. but when he's an adult, he can change his name if he gets so unhinged by any 1 saying 'francis.'
barack's a grown up - or supposed to be.
he needs to get honest real damn quick.
and the press needs to hold him accountable the way they would any other candidate.
deroy murdock is a right-winger with the hoover institute. i don't care. if the press won't do their damn job then i will highlight deroy murdock's 'Obama's Weathermen pals should worry voters' (seattle post-intelligencer):
Barack Obama's supporters have trivialized his connections to former Weather Underground terrorists William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood," Obama told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on April 16. Campaign strategist David Axelrod told CNN Monday that Obama "certainly didn't know the history" of these two barbarians when they hosted a reception for him when he launched his political career.
Obama might not have heard of Ayers and Dohrn's brutality from the '60s through the '80s had they merely tossed a rock or two in anger. But these two went much, much farther.
In 1970, Ayers encapsulated the Weathermen's worldview: "Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." In his 2001 memoir, "Fugitive Days," Ayers brags that he helped blast NYPD headquarters in 1970, the U.S. Capitol in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972.
in 2007, the nation magazine did their cover story (by christopher phelps) where they were so alarmed that bernardine dohrn was being welcomed by some audiences of today's s.d.s. in 2007. but today? you get idiots like ari berman insisting it's not a story for barack.
but in 2007, it was enough of a damn story for the nation that they made it cover story.
i'm sick of the hypocrisy. i'm sick of the lies.
let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:' Thursday, October 9, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, tensions between Turkey and nothern Iraq continue, a member of al-Sadr's bloc is assassinated, Petraeus gives a speech, and more.
This morning UPI reported a Baghdad roadside bombing in the Sadry City section that which resulted in the deaths of 2 bodyguards (three more wounded) and the death of Saleh al-Ageili, of the Sadr Movement, being taken to the hospital for his wounds Reuters updated with: that with: "At least two members of Iraq's parliament and a health ministry official told Reuters that Saleh al-Ugaili was pronounced dead in a Baghdad hospital following the roadside bomb that exploded near his convoy earlier in the day in the Habibiya district of eastern Baghdad." China's Xinhau states it was a motorcycle bombing. Citing Iraqi police, BBC maintains that "the bomb had been placed on a motorcyle and exploded as a convoy carrying Mr Ogaili drove past." AP notes an eye witness who states "the explosives had been planted in a hole near the road" and that "Al-Auqaeili was a senior member of al-Sadr political bloc, which has 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. The Shiite cleric's cease-fire order to his militia has been a key factor in a sharp decline in violence over the past year. The attack raised concerns that internal rivalries within Shiite and Sunni political groupings could emerge ahead of upcoming provincial elections as a major threat to Iraq's stability, even as sectarian violence ebbs." BBC reminds, "The last MPs killed in Iraq were among a group of eight people who died after a suicide bomber attacked the cafeteria at the Iraqi parliament on 12 April 2007." AFP reports that puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki stated "he appointed a panel headed by Interior Minister Jawad Bolani to probe the assassination". Mariam Karouny and Aseel Kami (Reuters) note that another MP from the Sadr bloc, Bahaa al-Araji, is calling it an assassination and has stated, "We are not excluding the possibility that it might be a government-linked group which carried it out." Jeffrey Fleishman (Los Angeles Times) quotes al-Araji telling Al Arabiya TV, "There will be a battle in the elections and this [killing] is indeed a liquidation. We have warned that the Sadr movement has been targeted, especially in seats where they already hold office."
Dropping back to yesterday's bombing in Diyala Province which claimed 10 lives (plus the bomber), Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) provides some basic figures: from 2003 to 2008, the street where the attack took place (in front of the Court of Appeals) has seen "at least 16" suicide bombers or attempted ones; of that 16, 3 in 2008 have been women; and of that 16, 7 were people wearing bomb vests and 9 were done via car bombings. Ernesto London (Washington Post) adds that, across Iraq, over 50 women have either been "suicide bombers" or been caught "before detonating explosives" since the start of the illegal year, "including 30 this year" and that "at least 380 people" have been killed along with the bombers that have taken their own lives. Londono cites Ibrahim Hasan Bajilan ("chairman of the Diyala provincial council") stating that "he was told the female suicide bomber was a 16-year-old from Muqdadiyah". Londono also reports an increase in the use of "sticky IEDs" -- bombs utilizing "magnets so they will adhere to the undersides of automobiles and detonated by remote control or with timers" that have resulted in "rougly 200 cases involving magnetic bombs" this year alone.
Staying with weaponry, "On September 26, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Turkey of AN/AAQ-33 SNIPER Targeting Pods and AN/AAQ 13 LANTIRN Navigation Pods as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $200 million. . . . The prime contractor will be Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control Company in Orlando, Florida." [PDF format warning, click here for announcement.] The pontential transcation comes as the tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq grow worse. As Sabrina Tavernise (New York Times) noted yesterday, "Turkey's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to extend by one year its authorization of military operations against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, keeping the door open to future strikes in the region. The approval, by a vote of 497 to 18, had been largely expected, and occurred amid a flurry of attacks in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast." AP reports that this has been followed by a meeting today by "Turkey's leaders" to decide whether or not to up "the military's powers to combat Kurdish rebels . . . Newspaper reports, citing unnamed officials, said the requests include the right to search and detain suspects without prior authorization and to extend detention periods. Officials did not immediately confirm the reports." World Bulletin explains the meeting (of the Higher Board of Counter-Terrorism) met today for "about six hours" and is scheduled to meet again Tuesday. Hurriyet notes Nechirvan Barzani (KRG Prime Minister) states that the KRG "administration in northern Iraq" is "watching with concern the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey". Cuba's Prensa Latina notes talk of creating "a security area in US-occupied northern Iraq, where alleged PKK camps have been set up."
Meanwhile Gen David Petraeus spoke to the right-wing Heritage Foundation yesterday. Petraeus was the top commander in Iraq until just moving to head Centcom. Gen Ray Odierno is now the US' top commander in Iraq. Peter Spiegel (Los Angeles Times) reports that Petraeus stated "that things could still go wrong" in Iraq and that "This progress is a little less fragile, if you will, and a little more durable" than during his testimony to Congress last spring. Anna Mulrine (US News and World Reports) notes, ". . . Petraeus highlighted what he sees as the chief threats to Iraq's progress in the months to come. Among them are the upcoming provincial elections, the possible return of Shiite special group militia members from Iran (whose specialities include planting devastating roadside bombs), and the return of Iraqi refugees to homes that they may find occupied by militias." Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that the deadline for provincial elections to be held was Januaary 31st; however, "there may be a further postponement, according to the Independent High Electoral Commission." Among the problems include staffing issue and the candidates who are running (no list has been provided to the commission). On Article 50 which guarantees minority representation and which the Parliament dropped, Fadel explains, "After approving the law, the Presidency Council decided to send a separate bill to parliament to restore a deleted article that assures minority representation in provincial assemblies. Christians across Iraq objected to the removal of the clause and even staged a demonstration on Monday to demand representation. The Council plans to propose the law to parliament this week, said Nasir al Ani the chairman."
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded for people, a Baghdad car bombing ("sticky IED" of the sort Ernesto London reported on today) claimed the life of the driver, a Mosul roadside bombing that claimed 2 lives (three more wounded) and a second one that claimed the life of 1 police officer, a Karbala car bombing ("sticky IED") that claimed the life of the driver, and a Diyala Province roadside bombing that claimed the lives of 4 family members including the father who "was a Sahwa member." Who are the four? Two childen and the "Awakening" member. The fourth is either his wife or his nephew depending upon which outlet's reporting. AFP notes the man was Abbas Khudair and he headed "a Sahwa, or Awakening group, that is paid by American forces, was targeted as he drove with his family in the Al-Uthaim area in Baquba, the capital of the restive Diyala province, officials said. An AFP photographer saw the bodies of Khudair, his son and daughter and the nephew taken away to the local hospital, where five more relatives were being treated for blast wounds." Reuters is among those stating Khudair's wife was killed, they also note that 8 women ("all relatives, travelling in the same minibus") were injured in the bombing. Reuters also notes a Tal Afar restaurant bombing that claimed the life of 1 police officer and 1 civilian.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 Patriotic Union of Kurdistand intelligence member was shot dead along with another person in Kirkuk.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad and the corpse of 1 Sawah/"Awakening"/SoI was discovered in Zab. Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered in Mosul.
Turning to the US presidential election. Barack Obama is the pampered baby in Pampers for the press. The wipe his butt for him, they burp him. And you're seeing just how expected that action for the allegedly grown man is. Barack Obama's name is Barack Hussein Obama III. We refer to him as Barack Obama. The same as we referred to Hillary Clinton as Hillary Clinton. Others included Rodham, others included her middle name (Elizabeth). It wasn't a problem. Her name is her name. True of all candidates. If their name is a 'liability' in their minds, then they should take their embarrassed and sheepish asses into court and change it. Until they do, their name is their name. If someone wants to list it, that's their business. And if you're ashamed or embarrassed by your name, maybe your delicate ass shouldn't run for public office, certainly not for the presidency. Jimmy Orr (Christian Science Monitor) demonstrates just how ridiculous it's gotten, "The 'H' word. As in Barack Obama's middle name. Hussein. It's something you just don't say." The "H" word? There are millions of people with that name around the world and, yes, in America. The "H" word? Everyone's gotten a little too damn sensitive that Barack Junior might have diaper rash or catch cold. He's an alleged grown up. His middle name is his middle name. He and his supporters need to grow the hell up. A Florida sherrif is in the news for using Barack's nearly fully name (he left off "II"). Steven Beardsley (Naples Daily News) reports on Cult of Barack's self-created drama over this entire nonsense. John McCain should say in the next debate, "My middle name is Sydney. I'm not ashamed about. What's your problem with your middle name, Barack? Aren't you named after your father?" This is the biggest nonsense. If he doesn't like his name, change it or shut the hell up. Back in 2004, during the DNC convention, he was called "Barack Osama" -- on Air America -- by mistake -- on The Majority Report -- by Janeane Garofalo who immediately apologized (on air) for the trip of her tongue. He needs to grow up or change his name. And the press needs to stop breast feeding their little baby.
Senator Joe Biden has the difficult task of being Barack's running mate which may explain the additional stress. Ryan Corsaro (CBS News) reports Biden is stating, ". . . John McCain could not bring himself to look Barack Obama in the eye and say the same things to him." If you've wept on stage in Pennsylvania the week before showing up at a televised debate where you almost lost it again, maybe interpreting the psyche of others isn't a door you want to open?
Scott Conroy (CBS News) reports the Republican ticket campaign in Wisonsin today and quotes Sarah Palin telling a town hall, ""Oh, yeah, the first thought that pops into my head also when you're talking about rights, and you're talking about freedoms is, we're talking about Senator John McCain and what he has done for our country, in putting his country first his entire life to fight for freedoms. And Wisconsin, here again kudos to you, your great Wisconsin Guard, about a third of your troops will be over in a war zone, in a number of months, in '09. You guys are going to be over there again helping to defend freedom, and defend liberty and the democratic liberties that we all cherish so much." Governor Palin is the topic Vaughn Ververs (CBS News) addresses noting a Pew Research Center study that has found that 38% said the coverage of Palin had "been too tough" and "41 percent of independents say they think the press has been too tough on her." Ed O'Keefe (ABC News, link has text and video) reports on McCain's interview with Charlie Gibson for World News Tonight where McCain declares, "This is a tough campaign. I'm the underdog. I've always been the underdog from the beginning" -- and on the subject of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, McCain stated, "[Ayers] wasn't a guy in the neighborhood. [Obama] launched his political career in his living room, in Mr. Ayers' living room. And I don't care about two washed-up old terrorists that are unrepentant about trying to destroy America. But I do care, and Americans should care, about his relationship with him and whether he's being truthful and candid about it." Today, McCain-Palin '08 released an online campaign ad entitled "Ayers" (here for video, here for text and announcement):
ANNCR: Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Friends. They've worked together for years.
But Obama tries to hide it. Why?
Obama launched his political career in Ayers' living room.
Ayers and Obama ran a radical "education" foundation, together.
They wrote the foundation's by-laws, together.
Obama was the foundation's first chairman.
Reports say they, "distributed more than $100 million to ideological allies with no discernible improvement in education."
When their relationship became an issue, Obama just responded, "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood."
That's it?
We know Bill Ayers ran the "violent left wing activist group" called Weather Underground.
We know Ayers' wife was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
We know they bombed the Capitol. The Pentagon. A judge's home.
We know Ayers said, "I don't regret setting bombs. .... I feel we didn't do enough."
But Obama's friendship with terrorist Ayers isn't the issue.
The issue is Barack Obama's judgment and candor.
When Obama just says, "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood."
Americans say, "Where's the truth, Barack?"
Barack Obama. Too risky for America.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party presidential candidate and Rosa Clemente is her running mate. Rosa has upcoming campaign events:Rosa Clemente in New York October 9-11Tuesday, 07 October 2008 23:01from Rosa ClementePeace and Hello to all my New York City People:As the billionaires on wall street get bailed out, and more and more people are tired of a two party stranglehold, join me, as I celebrate my electoral independence, I am in town, for three exciting days of campaign activities, attending a press conference for assistance and solidarity for Haiti, marching for the freedom of Politcal Prisoners and Prisoner of War, as well as these media appearances, hope to see you! "The Green Party is not the alternative, it is the imperative!" Rosa A. Clemente, Green Party Vice-Presidential CandidateGritTV, with Laura Flanders, to air Wednesday October 8th, 2008, at 8:00pm & 1:00am ET, on Free Speech TV(DISH Network ch. 9415) www.lauraflanders.comWhere we Live, with Sally O'Brien Thursday October 9th, 2008 at 8:00pm on WBAI 99.5FM, www.wbai.orgThe Truth, with Jeff Johnson on to air on BET Friday October 10th, 2008 at 10:00pm (EST)_____________________________________________________________[. . .]____________________________________________________________THURSDAY OCTOBER 9th, 2008 @ 3:30pm Open Community Forum with Green Party Vice Presidential Nominee ROSA CLEMENTE, to be televised on Manhattan Public Access @ MNN Television Studios Manhattan Neighborhood Network 537 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019 (between 10th and 11th Avenues) Green Party VP Candidate - Discusses the Economy, Foreign Policy, Education, Gender Equity, Racism, Social Justice, & the Environment LIVE WITH THE COMMUNITY Featuring Community Organizations: -Grassroots Artists MovEment (G.A.ME) -UHURU Movement -Brenda Stokely from NY Solidarity Coalition With Katrina / Rita Survivors - La Peña del Bronx Performances: -Hasan Salaam -Video Screening of Final Outlaw's"HIP HOP 4Ever" THIS IS A LIVE TO TAPE EVENT: IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT ALL AUDIENCE MEMBERS ARRIVE AT 3:00PM SHARP! Please Contact: (917) 940-8961 or (917) 239-8992 with Questions or to RSVP for this event ABOUT G.A.ME - The Grassroots Artists Movement (G.A.ME) is a membership organization dedicated to addressing sociopolitical and economic realities facing low-income Black and Latino communities. Galvanizing the influence of hip-hop artists and culture, G.A.ME unites artists and community members to work side-by-side for social justice. G.A.ME runs youth leadership and community development programs that provide tools for positive change. __________________________________________________________FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10th, 2008 12:00 NOON YES! to international assistance and solidarity to Haiti, NO! to the military occupation of Haiti and the attacks on Haitian sovereignty! The Brecht Forum, 451 West St. @ Bethune St. in West Village, between W.
12th St. and Bank St. Tel. 212-242-4201 3:00pm Rally at Madison Square Park at 5th Ave and 23rd St.www.jerichomovement.com 9:00pm Evening Concert to Benefit the Prisoners@ the Knitting Factory @ 74 Lenard
St., NYC • 9 p.m. until . . .Featuring: Inmesyah Soul, Hassan Salaam,
X-Vandals, Emperor,Rebel Diaz, The Wordstock Poetry Collective, Maroon Society,Gist the Essence, Collective Flow, United Front 6:30pm New York Univeristy(NYU) __________________________________________________________Jericho 10th Anniversary Weekend of Resistance www.jerichomovement.com Saturday, October 11, 2008 @ 12 Noon Rally at the Harlem State Office Building (Corner of 126th St. & A.C. Powell Blvd.) March through Harlem @ 1 p.m. Closing Rally in Morningside Park @ 2 p.m. Between 112th & 114th near Morningside Ave. entrances
Rosa Clemente appeared on Grit TV with Laura Flanders where she was among the Cult of Barack who especially seemed blank-eyed when Rosa pointed out that two debates now and Barack's not addressed issues for young Americans -- not even 'middle class' ones. Rosa also pointed out that his 'youth' support is more 'middle class' and not monolithic. Yesterday Pacifica and Free Speech Radio News' Election Unspun spoke with Matt Gonzalez (Leigh Ann Caldwell provides real laughs -- and no journalism -- as she 'preaches' about Sarah Palin's "vendetta" in what's supposed to pass for 'news' prior to the interview). Gonzalez is Ralph Nader's running mate. Gonzalez spoke out against the Congressional bailout and stated, "I think government should be promoting existing solvent institutions . . . But we should not be buying the bad debt." Asked about the McCain and Obama campaigns, Gonzalez explained, "I think the truth is each of the candidates makes a calculated decision as to whether or not they can blame the other for a specific issue. In virtually every single case, these are jointly-owned issues, jointly-owned problems." Ralph Nader will be in NYC October 16th to protest Wall St. at noon in front of the Federal Hall, 26 Wall St. The day before (October 15th) he'll be speaking at Cooper Union in NYC.
Ralph Nader writes:
I'm sitting at home reading a Bloomberg wire report about one of my favorite foods -- hummus.
Bloomberg reports that a group of Lebanese businessmen wants the European Union to declare hummus and other of my favorite foods like tabouleh -- as "traditional Lebanese dishes."
The Lebanese businessmen think that other countries are ripping them off.
"It's mostly Israeli companies claiming all our specialities as their own," said Fady Abboud, president of the group. "So many of our specialties are being marketed now as Israeli traditional dishes and among the most famous is hummus."
Abboud wants the EU to grant the hummus legal protection, the same way that the Greeks were given protection for feta, the French for champagne, and the Italians for parmesan cheese.
Now, I don't want to interfere in a international trade dispute.
Suffice it to say that my mother Rose was born in Lebanon.
And she made perhaps the best hummus I've ever had.
And I've had a lot of hummus.
Hummus is nutritious.
And delicious.
It makes you stronger and healthier.
So, Bloomberg's report on the Lebanese claim to hummus got me to thinking about an idea that would help us raise funds to push our substantive agenda onto the front burner of American politics.
Here it is:
If you donate to Nader/Gonazlez by midnight tonight an amount that has the number three in it (three being the number of lemons in my mom's hummus recipe), we'll e-mail to you Rose Nader's hummus recipe tomorrow.
That simple.
So, you can give $3.
Or $13.
Or $30.
Or $33.
Or $300.
Anything up to the legal limit of $2,300.
But it has to have at least one three in it.
If it has a three in it, we'll e-mail you the recipe tomorrow.
You can share it with your friends and family.
(Your donation will help us reach our current fundraising goal of $250,000 by the October 12 deadline. It will help us fund our get-out-the-vote drive over the final stretch of this campaign -- which translates into putting the substantive Nader/Gonzalez shift the power agenda front and center in this crucial election year.)
Thank you for your ongoing activism and support.
Together, we are making a serious difference -- and keeping our sense of humor.
Onward to November.iraqleila fadelmcclatchy newspapersthe los angeles timespeter spiegelthe new york timesalissa j. rubinsabrina tavernisethe washington posternesto londono
Posted at 08:45 pm by politicsscree
Permalink
Oct 8, 2008
manhola dargis lets me down
this morning, i added the following to last night's post: [added 10-08, thank you to susan of random thoughts for linking to me. read her on the social security, she says it better than me.] thank you to sherry who saw that and e-mailed. i've mentioned susan here before. i never met her, i never exchanged e-mails with her. she was kind enough to link to me. if you're a new reader, i've written before about a number of 'girls' who wrote to get a link. they wanted to link swap. and i would say 'sure' and add them. and wait and wait. some times they'd e-mail back that i'd done something 'controversial' and they had to lay low a bit. sometimes i'd have to e-mail them. they'd have some excuse. when i went on vacation in 2005 and elaine filled in here, she removed all of them from my blogroll. she had her me ask repeatedly, 'is it me?' that's why elaine doesn't swap links especially with the push-up bra 'girls.' but i never had any contact with susan and then 1 day some 1 (maybe sherry) e-mailed me and said susan had me on her links. and i added her. there was no link trade. she didn't e-mail me this kiss-ass e-mail. she never asked for any attention. she's a real feminist who just added me for whatever reason. but she never expected anything back from it. that's why i repeatedly warn against link trades to people who ask. i alway say, 'e-mail back i will keep you on for 2 weeks and if i haven't been added by then, i'm pulling you down.' because i really got burned. it was not funny and i kept thinking, 'well it must be me. i must have done something wrong.' i do many things wrong, that wasn't the problem. the problem was thinking and thinking about it and trying to figure out what it was. in the end i didn't do anything wrong. i thank elaine for removing them. (i didn't ask her, she just did it. she had to ask c.i. how to do it and she explained to c.i. what was going on. at which point, c.i. dumped all those 'girls' from the common ills as well.) but susan never asked for anything and never expected anything. so she's some 1 who's stand up in my book. if you haven't checked out her blog, make a point to. she writes from reno. she writes about hiking and movies as well as about politics. 1 of her favorites is carole lombard. she also likes bad movies. (so she probably likes my favorite film, valley of the dolls!) you'll find text and video at her site. now let me talk about another woman. manohla dargis does film reviews for the new york times. i called her here (back in 2005) and i was thinking about writing something nice about her work because i've really enjoyed of late. (of late is probably the last 18 months.) i never did. now i have to call her out. she's reviewing guy richie's new film (which is the same film he always makes) and it is enjoyable review. and i like her comment about 'many of the lads look lovely' which is 1 of things i really started noting about her review 18 months ago. she really does write something useful. if the film has a hottie (so few do), she'll let you know. but here's my problem with manhola's latest: she leaves out something very important. in fairness, she probaly has no say on the photos that run with her review. it's a photo of gerald butler and idris elba from the film. but on page 2 of the arts section is a full page ad for rock n rolla (the guy richie film) and i recognize thandie newton and gerald butler (butler from the photo the paper runs with manhola's review) and i recognize jeremy piven and idris elba (elba from the photo with the review) but who the hell is the hottie in the shades with the cute self-pleased expression, holding a gun and flashing pit hair? manhola, you failed me. does he look like that in the movie? if so, i'd pay to see it and i loathe guy richie films because they are all the same movie badly done. but i've bought many a ticket for a hottie. (and flyboy likes guy's bad films and has been saying, 'we should think about seeing it' - which really means 'i want to see it.') if manhola had told me who the hottie was and if he looks like that in the film (and not just in the ad), i would know whether to tell my husband we could see the film this weekend or not. but manhola, you failed me. i'm semi-joking. the review is actually good ( click here for it) but i really have come to count on manhola's eye when it comes to which film has a hottie and which doesn't. and what else? no political news from me tonight. sick baby or maybe just crying (doctor's visit today) and she's finally down for the night. i didn't even watch the new adventures of old christine (tivoed it) because it was just that kind of day. let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:' Wednesday, October 8, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, attempts to lure back Iraqi refugees fail, tensions continue to escalate between Turkey and northern Iraq, a widow sues the VA, and more.
Starting with the refugee crisis. The UNHCR estimates Iraq has 4.7 million refugees (internal and external). On the heels of Jordan getting the oil gifts from Iraq and deciding to bus and fly some Iraqi refugees out (who did not want to leave), attempts took place in Syria to 'ease out' the Iraqi refugees. AP reports that they were offered "free journeys" by Iraq's Embassy in Damascus but "there have been no takers" and "Adnan al-Shourifi, the commercial secretary at the Iraqi Embassy, said that free convoys and plane tickets would be provided for the returnees, along with about $1,300 in cash to each family from the Iraqi government and $500 from the United Nations." Sudarsan Raghavan (Washington Post) notes that "[o]nly a small fraction [of refugees] have returned," cites the Baghdad neighborhood of Hurriyah where only 325 "of the more than 7,000 Sunni families who fled in late 2006" have returned and notes that "U.N. officials and human rights groups are concerned that a speedy resettlement could touch off new strife, in part because sectarian segregation has helped to reduce violence".
AFP reports that Abdel-Karim Khalaf, Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesperson, stated today, "We have the ability to take over the internal security responsibility in Baghdad if American forces pull out of the city. The Interior Ministry is able to take responsibility for protecitng Baghdad." Erica Goode (New York Times) reports on yesterday's Green Zone press conference staged by the US Deputy Sec of State John Negroponte and Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zerbair where the two claimed that a SOFA (really a treaty) was coming any time soon." Today at the State Dept, spokesperson Sean McCormack pointed out that he had not said the SOFA would be singed by the end of July ("If you look back in the transcripts, you will find that I did not put a timeframe on it" -- no, he refused to do so; however, the White House put a deadline of July on it). McCormack acknowledged that "others did. Look the discussions are ongoing. And I guess the state of play is that nothing is done until everything is done and not everything is done. Secretary -- Deputy Secretary Negroponte offered some public comments when he held a press conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Zerbari, so the discussions continue. And I think that the fact they are taking this long and that the discussions are as intense as they have been over this period of months is an indication of how seriously the Iraqi government takes this, as well as how seriously we take this issue. It's a negotiation between two sovereign states. And our negotiators continue their efforts -- our negotiators as well as the Iraqi negotiatiors." Asked if expected the treaty to be worked by year's end, he replied, "We're still working to get this thing done as soon as possible." December 31st the UN authorization for the occupation expires. This as Jonathan S. Landay, Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers) report an upcoming National Intelligence Estimate (which may or may not be released prior to the US elections in November) sounds alarms, "The draft NIE, however, warns that the improvements in security and political progress, like the recent passage of a provincial election law, are threatened by lingering disputes between the majority Shiite Arabs, Sunni Arabs, Kurds and other minorities, the U.S. officials said. Sources of tension identified by the NIE, they said, include a struggle between Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen for control of the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk; and the Shiite-led central government's unfulfilled vows to hire former Sunni insurgents who joined Awakening groups."
Meanwhile tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq are not going through. The PKK (considered a terrorist organization by many governments including the US) is the source of the conflict. Hurriyet reports Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Prime Minister, has stated that "a buffer zone in the north of Iraq could be created as a counter measure against terror attacks from this territory." Sabrina Tavernise (New York Times) notes, "Turkey's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to extend by one year its authorization of military operations against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, keeping the door open to future strikes in the region. The approval, by a vote of 497 to 18, had been largely expected, and occurred amid a flurry of attacks in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast." China's Xinhau explains, "The anger of the Turkish people is mounting after last Friday's deadliest attack that killed 15 Turkish soldiers in Hakkari province, while the Edrogan government and the powerful military have pledged to intensify a campaign to crush the outlawed PKK." Meanwhile Arwa Damon (CNN) visits a PKK camp in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (Qandil Mountains) and speaks with Rengin ("head of a female battallion of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK") who states, "We want a natural life, a society that revolves around women -- one where women and men are equal, a society without pressure, without inequality, where all differences between people are eliminated."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two people, a Mosul roadside bombing that claimed the lives of 3 police officers and left six more injured and, in Diyala Province, "a female suicide bomber blew herself up near the Diyala governorate building" claiming the lives of 3 civilians, 1 police officer and 5 Iraqi soldiers. Ernesto London (Washington Post) notes that the death toll has risen to "at least 10 people" and explains, "Since 2003, more than 50 women carried out suicide bombings or were detained before detonating vests packed with explosives in Iraq, according to the U.S. military." CNN adds, "The official said the woman, covered in a traditional black garment known as an abaya, blew herself up near a security checkpoint outside the courthouse."
Shootings?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 "Christian man" shot dead today in Mosul and 2 shot dead in Mosul yesterday.
Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad.
ICCC reports 4180 US service members have died in Iraq since the start of the illegal war with 4 for the month thus far. That count includes Col Michael R. Stahlman whom the Defense Department announced died October 5th "from injuries sustained in a July 31 non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. . . . The incident is currently under investigation."
Meanwhile a widow brings a lawsuit against the VA. John Latimer (Lebanon Daily News) reports that the wife of Donald Woodward, Tiera Woodward, has brought a $2 million law suit against the Lebanon VA Medical Center for "wronful death and medical malpractice" in the death of her husband who shot himself to death in March of 2006. Donald Woodward was an Iraq War veteran and beginning in July of 2005, the family was attempting to get help for him following a suicide attempt. Latimer notes, "Although he screened positive for depression and PTSD, it was determined that Woodward did not meet the criteria for a 'major depressive order'." Also covering the story, Carrie Cassidy (The Patriot-News) explains, "The lawsuit states that Donald Woodward has also tried to commit suicide three times before he succeeded, though he tried to get help before that . . . The Lenbaon VA staff failed to diagnose him with a 'major depressive disorder' earlier. A psychiatrist eventually diagnosed him with the disorder on Feb. 2, 2006, about a month before he died". The family is united on this, Larry Alexander (Lancaster Online) quotes Donald Woodward's mother, Lori Woodward, stating, "It's in her (his widow's) name, but I'm the one behind it. And we're not going to comment on it until it's settled."
Turning to the US presidential race. On the subject of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers (and Bernardine Dohrn), the McCain-Palin campaign released this statement by John M. Murtagh whose father was an NY State Supreme Court justice:
"When I was 9 years-old the Weather Underground, the terrorist group founded by Barack Obama's friend William Ayers, firebombed my house. Barack Obama has dismissed concerns about his relationship with Ayers by noting that he was only a child when Ayers was planting bombs at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. But Ayers has never apologized for his crimes, he has reveled in them, expressing regret only for the fact that he didn't do more.
"While Barack Obama once downplayed his relationship with Ayers, today his campaign took that deceit one step further. Barack Obama now denies he was even aware of his friend's violent past when, in 1995, Ayers hosted a party launching Obama's political career. Given Ayers' celebrity status among the left, it's difficult to believe. The question remains: what did Obama know, and when did he know it? When did Obama learn the truth about his friend? Barack Obama helped Ayers promote his book in 1997, served on charitable boards with him through 2002, and regularly exchanged emails and phone calls with him through 2005. At what point did Barack Obama discover that his friend was an unrepentant terrorist? And if he is so repulsed by the acts of terror committed by William Ayers, why did the relationship continue? Any honest accounting by Barack Obama will necessarily cast further doubt on his judgment and his fitness to serve as commander in chief.
"Barack Obama may have been a child when William Ayers was plotting attacks against U.S. targets -- but I was one of those targets. Barack Obama's friend tried to kill my family."
Deliah Boyd (A Scriverner's Lament) calls out Obama mouthpiece David Axelrod's claim that Barack was just too wet behind the ears to have ever known anything about the Weather Underground: "But Dear Axelrod, I'm suggeting, nay, stating a damned fact -- that Obama's undergrad Poli Sci classes (at freakin' Columbia University, fer cryin' out loud) surely didn't skip the 1960's." Drew Griffin and Kathleen Jonston (CNN) reported last night that "the relationship between Obama and Ayers went deeper, ran longer and was more political than Obama -- and his surrogates -- have revealed, documents and interviews show." Ruth observes, "At this point, the relationship with Mr. Ayers is not even the issue. The issue is how Barack Obama has lied about it repeatedly. Just like he lied about his relationship with Antoin Rezco, he has lied about his relationship with Mr. Ayers."
Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party presidential candidate and, in a new column at Black Agenda Report, she takes on the bailout:
At the precise moment when we couldn't imagine it getting worse, it does. After all, the Democrats, since they acquired majority status in the Congress, delivered funding for George Bush's wars several times. They authorized retroactive immunity for telecoms that helped Bush's Administration illegally spy on us. And they never really considered any alternatives to the basic bailout wish list given to them by Bush and his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson.
Sadly, I must say that this failure on the part of the Democratic leadership is by far the greatest perfidy of the Democrats yet. I shudder to think what betrayal of the Constitution and the people of this country yet awaits us. I am forced to ask, "What do they stand for?" I think they have shown us time and time again what they stand for, what their values are, and that they are willing to leave the people behind in their quest to acquiesce to what Bush's base asks for. And remember, Bush told us that his base were the haves and the have mores! So, if the Democratic leadership is more loyal to them than they are to the working people in this country, then a new political alignment of historical proportions is taking effect that the working people of this country must recognize.
Reporter Chris Hedges (via Information Clearing House) examines the bailout and notes, "The passing of the $850-billion bailout pulled the plug on the New Deal. The Great Society is now gasping for air, mortally wounded, coughing up blood. It will not recover. It was murdered by the Democratic Party. We are on our own. And don't expect any help from Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who lobbied hard for the bill and voted for it. Ignore their rhetoric. Look coldly at the ballots they cast against us. We, as citizens, have only a handful of representatives left in Washington, most of whom were left sputtering in rage and frustration on the House floor. The sad irony is that some of them were Republican." Hedges goes on to explore the vote and the bailout and to quote US House Rep Dennis Kuccinich explaining of the vote, "It is a direct attack on the American people's ability to be able to stabilize their homes and their neighborhoods. This single vote will define the careers of everyone. We are back to taxation without representation to markets that are openly rigged. We buried the New Deal. Instead of Democrats going back to classic New Deal economics where we prime the pump of the economy and start money circulating among the population through saving homes, creating jobs and building a new infrastructure, our leaders chose to accelerate the wealth of the nation upwards." Hedges juxtaposes Barack's support for the bailout with Barack's voting record and it's a must read article. Last week, Kucinich declared on Democracy Now!, "You know, I'll tell you something that we were told in our caucus. We were told that our presidential candidate, when the negotiations started at the White House, said that he didn't want this in the bill. Now that's what we're told. . . . That he didn't want the bankruptcy provisions in the bill. Now, you know, that's what we were told. And I don't understand why he would say that, if he did say that. And I think that there is a -- the fact that we didn't put bankrptcy provisions in, that actually we removed any hopes for judges to do any loan modifications or any forbearance. There's no moratorium on mortgage foreclosures in here. So, who's getting -- who's really getting helped by this bill? This is a bailout, pure and simple, of Wall Street interests who have been involved in speculation."
You need to remember for that for a number of reasons. The most current has to do with last night's Democratic and Republican presidential candidate debate during which John McCain declared, "As president of the United States, Alan, I would order the secretary of the treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes -- at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those -- be able to make those payments and stay in their homes. Is it expensive? Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy. And we've got to give some trust and confidence back to America." Katharine Q. Seelye (New York Times) live blogged the debate and noted McCain's proposal was "not somethng that had been proposed. Nor is it clear without further detail how or whether this would work" citing the paper's Jackie Calmes (citing Barack's campaign)? Robert G. Kaiser (Washington Post) doing a post-debate critique noted, "I was taken aback by McCain's opening proposal, which if I understand it correctly would have a huge impact on the housing market, the banks, the holders of securitized mortgages, etc." The proposal was a proposal. Michael Abramowitz (Washington Post) reports that Doug Holtz-Eakin, the campaign's policy advisor, on a morning press conference call, "offered a few more details of the so-called American Homeownership Resurgence Plan, unveiled at the Tuesday night debate, in which a homeowner having difficulty making payments or facing foreclosure would be eligible for an FHA-insured mortgage. He said that some of the money for the new program, which could cost $300 billion, could come from the new $700 billion authority granted the Treasury Secretary to buy distressed assets; he also said some of the funds could also come from existing authority in the Federal Housing Administration." Abramowitz also notes that the Obama campaign is attempting to downplay the proposal by stating Barack was floating something like that publicly back in September. A shame he didn't fight to have it put in the bill -- especially considering he is the party's 'leader' and the Democrats control both houses of Congress. But can't tick off his biggest donors on Wall St. apparently. Alison Fitzgerald and Sharon L. Lynch (Bloomberg News) report Barack's whining the bailout that passed allows this to take place already and quote Holtz-Eakin stating, "It could help literally millions of people. We don't have a precise estimate." The McCain-Palin campaign has posted the text (and audio option) of Doug Hotlz-Eakin's comments:
"Senator McCain last night announced his initiative, the McCain Resurgence Plan, that has four very straightforward goals. Goal number one is to provide direct help to struggling homeowners making sure they can stay in their homes with a manageable mortgage, avoid foreclosures and the damaging impact that has on neighborhoods and property values in that area. It would also, in the process of refinancing, help them with their financial situation and, as a result, give some stability to the household spending in the overall economy.
"Second thing is it would provide, to the mortgage market, lower interest rates. If history was a guide, we'd see a spread of about 160 basis points above government interest rates to the mortgage market. That would put interest rates in the low five percent. Mortgage rates are above that right now. Providing this kind of financing would stabilize housing values and obviously take some stress off the pressures downward in the economy. Having a stabilized housing market would, in turn, combine with the purchase of these mortgages to stabilize the values that are underneath mortgage-backed securities and all the housing-related derivatives that have been plaguing the valuation of balance sheets in the financial sector. And so by starting with the homeowner and working up you accomplish some of the objectives of the financial stabilization plans that we've seen come out of Congress and proposed by the administration in recent weeks. Senator McCain beli eves this is exactly the right kind of policy: provide direct help to homeowners and, at the same time, support the financial markets and keep them from further damaging the availability of credit to Main Street America, one of the real threats to the economy at this point it time.
"The initiative would rely on authorities that have been provided in recent months by the Congress. There's $300 billion worth of refinance capacity at the FHA at this point. That can be combined with the statutory capacity at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are now owned by the federal government for all practical purposes, to purchase mortgages. If Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac bought 80% of the mortgage, you could leverage that $300 billion in financing tremendously. And there's also the $700 billion that was provided to the Treasury by the Congress. There's direct purchase authority in there that would allow to augment these as well, although, it may be useful to reserve that for other purposes.
"Mechanically the initiative is very simple. A homeowner would initiate the process by calling a mortgage broker or other originator and basically saying 'I'd like to refinance my home.' They would start the underwriting process, verify incomes, this is an opportunity as well to make sure the program has in it appropriate checks to make sure that government money is not being given to folks who are not primary homeowners, who don't have adequate income, or otherwise, in the initial purchase of their home didn't provide valid information. These authorities could then be used to retire the existing loan. The FHA would issue a guaranteed thirty year fixed-rate mortgage at a manageable interest rate. The homeowner would stay in the home, their financial burden would be relieved, the valuation of the existing loan would be resolved, there would no longer be a threat of default or diminished capacity to repay. That would stabilize financial markets, and t he taxpayers' contribution would be, in some cases the difference between the values of those two loans, something which would be the necessity for taxpayer contribution.
"Senator McCain thinks this is the best way to go forward. He's obviously been personally very concerned about the problems facing the economy. He has participated, as I think everyone on this call knows, extensively in the process of taking the initial proposal by the administration to directly purchase Wall Street securities shaping it in a way that it was both possible to get it through Congress in a bi-partisan fashion, and also had it augmented with the adequate taxpayer protections, some oversight and transparency. This would take the authorities that have now come through and further target them in a way that he thinks would accomplish the purposes of financial stabilization but also to provide some relief to homeowners, near-term stimulus to the overall economy, and lay out a path where he can then turn to his initiatives in taxes, in energy, healthcare, trade to provide job creation in the American economy and a path forward out of this ter rible crisis."
Tomorrow, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin will hold a town hall at noon in Waukesha, Wisconsin (Center Court Sports Complex, 815 Northview Boulevard) and the proposal will be addressed there. Foon Rhee (Boston Globe, link has text and video) reports that he raised the issue at a campaign stop in Bethlem, Pennsylvania. Jonathan Newman, Matthew Jaffe and Stu Chamberlain (ABC News' Political Radar, text and video) report Democratic vice-presidential nominee, US Senator Joe Biden, was introduced at a Tampa campaign event today by Jim Pacillo who stated, "Please help me today in welcoming the next vice president of the United States, John McCain!" Also McCain-Palin announce the endorsement of 100 US ambassadors from a group co-chaired by Mark W. Erwin who was supporting Hillary in the primaries (and, disclosue, I know and like Mark and that's probably why I'm putting it in the snapshot). Other endorsements today include the majority of board members on the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with Jerry Natividad explaining, "I am supporting John McCain because he understands that small businesses are the job engine of America, and he has a real plan for the issues that Hispanic-owned small businesses confront, such as health care. John McCain's plan puts families first, provides them with more choices, and while it cut costs for my business, it allows my company to afford the best medical coverage for my employees." Maria G. Taxman is quoted explaining, "I am very confident John McCain will continue to break down foreign trade barriers, giving Hispanic-American-owned small businesses the opportunity to compete in the global markets. John McCain will promote a strong and growing economy that creates new jobs and increases wages."
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will speak out on Wall St. next week:
News Advisory FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ryan Mehta, 408-348-0681, rmehta@votenader.org (National HQ); Josh Starcher, 718-909-6343 (Local) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RALPH NADER TO SPEAK IN NEW YORKWHO: Ralph Nader WHAT: Major Campaign Address WHEN: Thursday, October 16 at 12:00pm WHERE: Federal Hall, 26 Wall St. NYC On Thursday, October 16 at 12:00pm, Ralph will take to the street in front of the NYSE to protest the bailout at Federal Hall, 26 Wall St. NYC. Ralph is the only Presidential candidate who supports jail time, not bail time for Wall Street fat cats, so come hear him speak in the historic Cooper Union after watching the game show debates on TV. He will also comment on the Presidential debates from which he was excluded. In another part of the city, after Ralph speaks in Cooper Union, the two corporate candidates will be debating each other without even mentioning the issues that Ralph will talk about and that matter to the American people. Since 1988, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has sponsored every presidential debate and kept the discussion empty. Since its inception, the CPD has always been headed by two former chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties. In 1987, the League of Women Voters refused to sponsor any more presidential debates, ìbecause the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter.
Back to the debate. Susan (Random Thoughts) analyzes the debate and will note this section on Barack, "Obama was absolutely incoherent. He would start strong, but then he would wander off on some tangent and constantly ran overtime with his answers. This is going to kill him when people realize he doesn't really know what he is talking about. It was the same problem John Kerry had, but Kerry learned to keep his answers short in the debates with our dictator in 2004."
Rebecca noted that Barack declared war on Social Security, Elaine noted Barack's rush for more war, Mike found the debate a waste of time, Cedric & Wally (joint-post) noted how Barack got his way, Marcia skipped it and noted the crony ways of Barack in Chicago, and Kat explored the liars and cover-up artists in the press
Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney's running mate is Rosa Clemente who has a series of campaign stops coming up including the following:
Rosa Clemente in New York October 9-11Tuesday, 07 October 2008 23:01from Rosa ClementePeace and Hello to all my New York City People:As the billionaires on wall street get bailed out, and more and more people are tired of a two party stranglehold, join me, as I celebrate my electoral independence, I am in town, for three exciting days of campaign activities, attending a press conference for assistance and solidarity for Haiti, marching for the freedom of Politcal Prisoners and Prisoner of War, as well as these media appearances, hope to see you! "The Green Party is not the alternative, it is the imperative!" Rosa A. Clemente, Green Party Vice-Presidential CandidateGritTV, with Laura Flanders, to air Wednesday October 8th, 2008, at 8:00pm & 1:00am ET, on Free Speech TV(DISH Network ch. 9415) www.lauraflanders.comWhere we Live, with Sally O'Brien Thursday October 9th, 2008 at 8:00pm on WBAI 99.5FM, www.wbai.orgThe Truth, with Jeff Johnson on to air on BET Friday October 10th, 2008 at 10:00pm (EST)________________________________________________________________WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9th, 2008 @ 7pm-10pmTHIS IS AN HISTORICAL MOMENT...BUT ONLY SOME OF IT WILL BE TELEVISED!You are invited to the home of Gloria Mattera & Sean Sweeney and host M1 of dead prezfor light fare, drinks and lively discussion with special guest:Rosa Clemente is a nationally known hip-hop activist, independent journalist, community organizer and Green Party vice presidential candidate. She helped organize the National Hip-Hop Political Convention in 2003, to create a national political agenda for the hip-hop generation.Let's help Rosa and Cynthia raise the funds needed to get their message of peace and justice out to voters throughout the country!Campaign Merchandise will be on hand!Location: 437 2 Street between 6/7 Avenues in Park Slope BrooklynF train to 7 Ave; Q/B to 7 Ave (at Flatbush); R train to Union StRSVP: gmattera@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 718 369-2998________________________________________________________________THURSDAY OCTOBER 9th, 2008 @ 3:30pmOpen Community Forum with Green Party Vice Presidential Nominee ROSA CLEMENTE,to be televised on Manhattan Public Access@ MNN Television StudiosManhattan Neighborhood Network537 West 59th Street,New York, NY 10019(between 10th and 11th Avenues)Green Party VP Candidate -Discusses the Economy, Foreign Policy, Education, Gender Equity, Racism, Social Justice, & the EnvironmentLIVE WITH THE COMMUNITYFeaturing Community Organizations:-Grassroots Artists MovEment (G.A.ME)-UHURU Movement-Brenda Stokely from NY Solidarity Coalition With Katrina / Rita Survivors- La Peña del BronxPerformances:-Hasan Salaam-Video Screening of Final Outlaw's"HIP HOP 4Ever"THIS IS A LIVE TO TAPE EVENT: IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT ALL AUDIENCE MEMBERS ARRIVE AT 3:00PM SHARP!Please Contact: (917) 940-8961 or (917) 239-8992 with Questions or to RSVP for this eventABOUT G.A.ME - The Grassroots Artists Movement (G.A.ME) is a membership organization dedicated to addressing sociopolitical and economic realities facing low-income Black and Latino communities. Galvanizing the influence of hip-hop artists and culture, G.A.ME unites artists and community members to work side-by-side for social justice. G.A.ME runs youth leadership and community development programs that provide tools for positive change.
The Nader team notes:
Ralph Nader is on TV tonight!
Ralph will be on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blizter at about 5 p.m. EST this afternoon.
And he'll be on Fox's The O'Reilly Factor with Bill O'Reilly at about 8:25 p.m. EST tonight.
Hope you get a chance to watch.
And remember, this week we're offering a limited number of Ralph's most recent book -- The Seventeen Traditions. (HarperCollins, 2007).
It's a 150-page hard cover classic -- detailing the traditions Ralph grew up with in his home town of Winsted, Connecticut.
For a donation of $100 or more, we'll ship you this Nader classic -- signed by the man himself -- Ralph Nader.
(This offer ends Sunday October 12, 2008 at 11:59 p.m.)
So, donate now.
By the way, the Nader/Gonzalez video team was with Ralph in Winsted, Connecticut last week.
And they put together this neat little peek of Ralph in his hometown.
Take a look.
Pass it around.
And then pick up a copy of The Seventeen Traditions.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Onward to Novemberiraqthe washington postsudarsan raghavanernesto londonomcclatchy newspapersleila fadelnancy a. youssefjonathan s. landaywarren p. strobelthe new york timeserica goodesabrina tavernisechris hedgesjohn latimercarrie cassidylarry alexanderkatharine q. seelyethe new york timeslike maria said pazkats kornersex and politics and screeds and attitudethe daily jotcedrics big mixmikey likes itruths reportsickofitradlz
Posted at 10:15 pm by politicsscree
Permalink
Oct 7, 2008
barack declares social security is on the table
tom brokaw lied about social security and barack, who is not a liberal or even a real democrat, rushed in to say that he would reform it. remember that. remember also that barack can't stick to the rules. before that question he was trying to butt in when it was not his turn to and tom brokaw had to remind him that he and john mccain had agreed to the rules ahead of time. but barack can never stick to the rules. he's the press prince! he needs special benefits because he's so very loveable. 'to deal with social security and deal with medicare' barack babbled on. it's not a surprise that he just the left in the back because he did that in 2007 on this same issue. but every 1 wanted to get on board with bambi. it's hilarious. he's stabbing his cheerleaders in the back. poor katty vanden heuvel. the big nosed, hair ball that smelled piss as a child is more or less the same today except she's also now been punked in public. how does it feel, katty van van? 'part of the reason i think it's so important to end the war in iraq is to get more troops in afghanistan,' barack declared tonight. that's the 'peace' candidate that katty van van and assorted other liars have sold you (robert scheer, laura flanders, matthew rothschild, amy goodman, jeremy scahill ...) julie bosman (new york times) reports on governor sarah palin: She worked her way back row by row, shaking hands with each reporter and saying "Nice to meet you!" to each one.
Then she answered questions on the state of the race, on the relevance of William Ayers, on the state investigation in Alaska centered on her husband, Todd, and on the recent negative campaigning.Ms. Palin was asked if she thinks voters who are worried about the economy are turned off by the "attack politics" of bringing up Mr. Ayers on the trail.
"It is, though, about the economy about creating jobs and about resource development and energy independence here," Ms. Palin said. "It comes down to one ticket's proposal that can be trusted, and another ticket’s proposal to deal with some of these issues and maybe questioning the truthfulness and the intention there. I think it’s very relevant there."
Are you saying that Senator Obama is dishonest, one reporter asked?
"I'm not saying that he's dishonest, but in terms of judgment, in terms of being able to answer a question forthrightly, it has two different parts to this. The judgment and the truthfulness and just being able to answer very candidly a simple question about when did you know him, how did you know him, is there still -- has there been an association continued since '02 or '05, I know I've read a couple different stories. I think it's relevant."i went to the paper's website to get a link for their live debate coverage because i hoped it would be katharine q. seelye live blogging. it was. click here to read her live blogging of the debate. i don't know if we're going beyond the plan or not - meaning all community sites going dark shortly. c.i. and ava made a promise to a friend with some show (i forget which) that they would wait to weigh in on it. they promised and they wrote about that. that carried it to january. the plan was to go dark in november. they're going to january for sure (probably middle of januray). they didn't realize when they promised that it meant going beyond the deadline. (believe me, they both have a lot more on their minds than 'we're done!'). so i'll stay through as long as they are and then decide what i'm going to do. i may shut down (if they do), i may not. but in case i do, seelye has been trashed in a way that is disturbing. that was before i ever blogged so i can't undo that but i can make a point to toss out a link which is what i'm doing tonight. let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:' Tuesday, October 7, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, tensions escalate between Turkey and northern Iraq, Barack tries to scramble away from another friend, and more.
As of last weekend, Poland is now officially out of Iraq. The 'coalition' continues to shrink.
Reuters reports Zoran Kojanovski, Macedonia's Defence Minister, declared today that his country's will leave at the end of the year and he stated, "Their mission is over and local authorities there are capable of running their own territory."
From who's leaving to what's going on. The law for provincial elections? Leila Fadel knew what was what but no one else did. Dropping back to Friday's snapshot:In Iraq today . . . confusion. Corinne Reilly (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that the presidency council "has agreed to approve a long-delayed law that will allow most of the country to hold provincial elections early next year, officials said Friday." However, China's Xinhua reports that the "presidential council had not approved the provincial election law passed by the parliament, local media reported Friday." Al Jazeera does not say that they have agreed to pass it, Al Jaezeera states that it is passed. AP also states it has passed and, in fact, signed into law by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani: "Firyad Rawndouzi, a Kurdish lawmaker, told The Associated Press that the three-member panel led by President Jalal Talabani had signed the law Friday and asked the parliament 'to solve the minorities problem'." Article 50 issue was never addressed. It is the one that has been called out by everyone from Iraqi Christians to Moqtada al-Sadr and puts minority representation at risk. Nouri al-Maliki did express some public statements and there is said to have been concern on the part of the presidency council. But if it's signed, it's the law. The Parliament can try to fix it but the law is what was signed by Talabani.
Saturday Sam Dagher (New York Times) reported: "Meanwhile, Iraq's presidency council, made up of the president and his two deputies, issued a statement Friday saying the body had ratified a provincial election law that the Parliament passed 10 days ago. This paves the way for local elections . . ." Today Erica Goode and Stephen Farrell (New York Times) declare, "The law, passed on Sept. 24, still requires the approval of a three-member presidential panel led by President Jalal Talabani before it can take effect, clearing the way for elections to be held in most of the country early next year." Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) explained it yesterday, "That evening a petition of 50 parliament members demanded the law back from the presidency council, lawmakers said. They would add the article to the law before the council decided to pass or reject it." It had not been passed. Despite claims to the contrary. Reuters states today, "Iraq's president and vice presidents have formally approved a long-awaited provincial elections law, paving the way for the vote to take place by Jan. 31 next year." And that the council asked the Parliament to restore Article 50 (minority represenations).
And attempting to cite 'progress' in Iraq today, the State Dept ran into a few problems. Reuters reports US Dept Secretary of State John Negroponte's Green Zone based press conference was the site of a mortar attack shortly before the press conference began. Negroponte was the topic of interest at the US State Dept press briefing yesterday held by Deputy spokeperson Robert Wood who delcared of Negroponte's visit, "The Deputy Secretary -- as you know, he was an Ambassador there. He goes from time to time to check on how things are going on the ground in Iraq. Obviously, the SOFA and the strategic framework agreement will come up in the conversations, but he's not necessarilly there to negotiate. But it's not unusual for the Deputy Secretary to go to Iraq." The press pointed out that the treaty had to be in place by December 31st (when the UN mandate authorizing the occupation ends) and that the White House promised the treaty would be completed in July. Wood replied, "No, I understand your point. You know, this is a -- we're talking about a very complex agreement. This is something that many in the Administration have been working hard on. As you know, there's a team from the United States that's there and that's been working hard on these negotiations. But, yeah, the fact that it slipped, you know, these things happen. But it's important that we get a good agreement for both Iraq and the United States -- you know, one that obviously allows us to operate there in a legal framework and also that upholds Iraqi sovereignty. And those are two very important issues for us." Today CBS and AP cite Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's Foreign Minister, stating that the US and the puppet government are "very close" to finalizing a treaty. Zebari was speaking at the same press conference as Negorponte. Deborah Haynes (Times of London) quotes Zebari stating of the treaty, "This issue needs, I think, some bold political decisions. And we are at that stage. And that's why I suggested that soon you and your colleagues will see hectic political meetings here in Baghdad on this issue to determine the fate of the agreement." Jeffrey Fleishman (Los Angeles Times) adds this perspective, "The negotiations come at critical times for both nations. The emboldened Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, determined to show he is independent of Washington, wants more control over security and is insisting on an American troop withdrawal by the end of 2011. The U.S. is facing a widening financial crisis at home and a public growing wary of the high costs of keeping more than 146,000 soldiers in Iraq."
While the same statements continue to be made, conflicts continue between Turkey and the northern region of Iraq. Monday Ellen Knickmeyer (Washington Post) reported on the air raids Turkey launched Sunday following the deaths of 15 Turkish soldiers. Monday Ibon Villelabeitia (Reuters) reported Turkey continued air strikes. The Turkish Press reports that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, declared today that "cross-border operations" would continue. Huriyet quotes him stating, "The sole target of a possible cross-border operation will be the terrorist organization" and that, "The best choice for the regional administration of northern Iraq is to cooperate with us against terrorist elements because the terrorist organization is a cause of regional unrest and tension." Asked about Turkey and the Kurdish PKK on Monday, the State Dept' Robert Wood stated, "Look, the PKK is a terrorist organization. We want to see it go out of business. That's been very clear. And, you know, we've obviously conemned the attack and expressed our concolences to the people of Turkey." In this morning's press briefing, Wood was asked if the US was sharing intelligence with Turkey and he replied, "Well, we do cooperate with the Turks on intelligence with regard to dealing with the PKK. We have good cooperation. We also have good cooperation with Iraqis as well in dealing with some of these issues with regards to the Kurds."
Turning to some of the other reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 Baghdad car bombings that left five wounded and a Mosul car bombing that claimed 2 lives and left ten people wounded.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 "shop owner" shot dead in Mosul, 1 "governmental employee" shot dead in Mosul and a "butcher" shot dead in Mosul (with his son left wounded). Reuters notes, "Two minority Christian men were gunned down on Tuesday in northern Mosul."
Corpses?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 2 corpses discovered in Kut.
Today the US military announced: A Multi-National Division -- North Soldier died of wounds sustained from a small-arms fire attack in Mosul, Oct. 7." The announcement bring to 4179 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war with 3 for the month thus far.
Tonight Dem. presidential nominee Barack Obama and Rep. presidential nominee John McCain debate. Alexander Cockburn (The First Post) observes of last Thursday's debate between the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Senator Joe Biden, and the Republican vice presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin, that only Palin has passed the test of the Democratic and Republican candidates: "Palin, despite somewhat excessive folksiness, with 'gosh-darneds' and the like, did look as though she and Todd had spent some time at their kitchen table in the not-too-distan past figuring out how to pay the bills and deciding they couldn't afford health insurance. . . . Alone of the four candidates [Obama, Biden, McCain and herself], she spoke to the fury and fear of Main Street America about the
$700bn bail-out . . . More than once last night, I thought Palin must have been watching re-runs of Reagan's speeches, though decades of deference to Hollywood tycoons made Reagan far more respectful of Wall Street than the Alaskan Governor, who even presumed to introduce the antique phrase 'working class' into the debate."
As noted in yesterday's snapshot, following the New York Times lead on Saturday, Palin has been bringing up Barack Obama's ties to Weather Underground's Bill Ayers. Today on Democracy Now! Amy Goodman lied (it's a lie, the Red Diaper baby damn well knows better), "Obama was eight years old when Ayers was a Weather Underground member." That's how the media's worked it. Obama says it's so it's 'true.' In the debate with Hillary, that was one of the lies regarding Weather Underground that Barack uttered, "And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense, George." The press has run with the lie ever since. However, George Stephanopoulos actually asked the question correctly (and that's part of the reason George was attacked by the Cult of Obama), "A gentleman named William Ayers. He was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings. He's never apologized for that." Idiots and liars run with that garbage of eight years old.
Barack was born in August of 1961. Weather Underground is not "Weatherman." Weatherman did the Days of Rage in 1969. Weather Underground emerges with the "Declaration of a State of War" (read by Bernardine Dohrn). You can find a transcription here (as published in Berkeley Tribe, July 31, 1970 and released May 21, 1970). 1970 is when Weather Underground emerges. Prior to that Weatherman existed. 1970 is when the bombings begin and they are not a one-year thing. Barack was prepped for that debate with Hillary, coached to toss out a lie the press could run with and obsesses over: " Look, I'm going to have to respond to this just really quickly, but by Senator Clinton's own vetting standards, I don't think she would make it, since President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act." The campaign then prepped all reporters that Bill Clinton had pardoned the two women (there was no pardon) and look for yourself and see who LIED. Did anyone do their own work? No. David Corn, when forced to 'correct' at Mother Jones made a real ass of himself insisting that "commuted" and "pardon" were basically the same thing. No, they are not. But the press went running where Barack told them to do like the good little doggies they are. George Stephanopoulos was correct and most (including Diane Rehm) knew he was correct, it was the 1970s. And yet the liars repeatedly lie (including Diane who's tired ass needs to retire). As Mike pointed out last night, Ben Smith (Politico) can get it right: "On the other hand, Obama's not that young. He started at Columbia University, for instance, in 1981, when their names were certainly in the New York tabloids, which haved always loved the story of upper-middle-class radical cop killers. Kathy Boudin's role in a botched, fatal 1981 Brinks roberry was huge news. Bernardine Dohrn was imprisoned in 1982 for refusing to testify against fellow Weather Underground members. And Ayers' past was hardly a secret in Chicago, where he was regularly quoted as an ex-radical and ex-fugitive."
As Nathaniel Sheppard Jr. explained in "Bernardine Dohrn Gives Up To Authorities in Chicago" (New York Times, December 4, 1980): "Still espousing revolutionary causes, Bernardine Dohrn, the 38-year-old reputed leader of the radical Weather Underground, surrendered to authorities here today, 10 years after going into hiding to avoid Federal and local riot charges. . . . Mr. Ayers was also indicted on Federal charges in connection with the disorders, but the Federal charges against Miss Dohrn, Mr. Ayers and other Weathermen were dropped in 1979 when a court ruled that the Government's evidence had been obtained through illegal telephone wiretaps. . . . An associate of Miss Dohrn said privately that she might have come forward now partly because of fear that her treatment under the administration of Ronald Reagan could be harsher than under the Carter Administration." Joe Boyle (BBC) explains Weather's actions: "From 1970 to 1975 the group bombed police stations and patrol vehicles and court and government buildings. In 1970 there were fatalities - a police officer died from his injuries after a pipe bomb was detonated in a San Francisco police station, while three of the group blew themselves up while building explosives in their New York apartment."
The ever-changing story from Barack. What was the earliest lie? Who knows? One claimed, as Ava and I noted, that all their kids went to school together: "The focus wasn't helped when the Obama campaign attempted to lie that Ayers and Barack were friends because they had children the same age. As The Guardian of London's Daniel Nasaw pointed out Dorhn and Ayers' son Zayd is 30-years-old, Malik is 27-years-old and Chesa Boudin, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert's son that Ayers and Dorhn raised, is also 27, while Barack and Michelle Obama's daughters 'are 6 and 9, respectively'." Believe it or not, the lie of "kids go to school together" was bought and re-sold by the press without question for months. Geoff Earle (New York Post) quoted Team Obama leader David Axelrod telling CNN that Barack didn't know all this public history. He then repeated the eight-year-old lie. Or maybe, what he's trying to say is Barack doesn't condemn the bombings of the Pentagon and the State Dept which took place after he was eight-years-old? As Elaine pointed out last night, Geoff Earle repeats without question the latest spin. The McCain-Palin campaign issued this statement yesterday:
Does Barack Obama truly expect the American people to believe that he had no idea about his friend's past as the infamous founder of the domestic terror group 'The Weather Underground' or is he just lying? If Obama didn't know in 1995 about the bombings Ayers was responsible for, when did he find out -- because Obama was promoting Ayers' book in 1997, serving on boards with him until 2002, and trading emails and phone calls with him as recently as 2005. If Obama really was unaware of Ayers' radical past, learning the truth doesn't seem to have had any effect on their friendship. Whether Barack Obama is lying to voters about his previous support for higher taxes on the middle class, his votes against funds for American troops in the field or his associations with an unrepentant terrorist, voters are left wondering who Obama is and what he stands for.
Today Athena Jones (NBC) explains, "Reporters pressed Barack Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod on when the senator became aware of William Ayers' radical past during the flight from Asheville, NC to Nashville for tonight's debates. When asked to clarify when it was that Obama learned about Ayers' history of planning bombings to protest the Vietnam War, Axelrod said it was some time after their first meetings but that he did not know the exact moment." Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller (ABC News' Political Punch) add, "The Alaska governor has been blurring what Axelrod said to make it seem as though Obama was claiming that he didn't know about Ayers' history until recently, which is not what Axelrod said. Not that there's been any clear explanation of this relationship forthcoming from the Obama campaign. So when did Obama find out that Ayers had been a member of an organization the FBI called a 'domestic terrorist' group, and had been for years a fugitive from the law?" On the campaign trail today, Palin again raised the issue. Perry Bacon Jr. (Washington Post) quotes her stating in Jacksonville, Florida, "Now our opponent's campaign is claiming for the first time Barack Obama wasn't aware of Ayers' radical background. He didn't know he launched his own political career in the living room of a dometic terrorist? What's next, claiming he didn't know that two of his biggest supporters were running Fannie Mae? . . . Maybe he thought they were just guys in his Washington neighborhood." ABC News' Political Radar includes the next statement, "And since he got called out on his plans to meet unconditionally with terror state leaders like [Iran's President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, will he now claim he was unaware of his radical backround? Ladies and gentlemen, this election is about the truthfulness and judgment needed in our next president. John McCain has it and Barack Obama doesn't." The McCain-Palin campaign site is highlighting the issue and clicking here takes you to Obama LIAR Anita Dunn now insisting (CNN transcript) that Barack was seven at the time, seven! What a pack of liars. For more McCain-Palin releases on Barack and Bill, click here and here.
And, in more news for Barack, CBS News' Laura Strickler, Sarah Fitzpatrick and Ariel Bashi reported yesterday:
CBS News has learned that two donors to the Obama campaign that gave a total of $7,722 appear to have made their contributions under fake names that look like they were written by a mouse running across a keyboard: Dahsudhu Hdusahfd of Df, Hawaii with the following employer CZXVC/ZXVZXV and Uadhshgu Hduadh listed as living in Dhff, Florida listed their employer as DASADA/SAFASF. CBS News did not find any records of these last names, towns or employers anywhere else. Newsweek reported two questionable Obama donors over the weekend named "Doodad Pro" and "Good Will". Contributions from the two donors Hdusahfd and Hduadh were made on the same day starting on July 16, 2008. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show the campaign began refunding the donations as early as August 6, 2008. Despite numerous refunds from the Obama campaign, Hdusahfd still has a record of giving a total of $7500 to Obama which is well over the legal limit for the primary and general election of $4600. Hduadh gave $14,200 but the Obama campaign returned all but $222.00.
Ruth noted the CBS news item last night in her round-up of the presidential campaigns. And Kat pointed to the biggest liar or the most uninformed in the press, Jason Szep of Reuters who claimed Weather Underground "was involved in bombings in the 1960s" -- uh, Szep, what bombings are you referring to? McCain and Obama debate tonight or 'debate'. And the other presidential candidates are shut out of the debate. Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party presidential candidate. Kevin Alexander Gray (Progressive via Some Carolina) writes, "McKinney, who served as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives for twelve years, left the Democratic Party last year to join the Greens. In Congress, she had one of the most progressive records. And as a Presidential candidate, she offers up a coherent agenda. In her acceptance speech at the Green Party convention in Chicago on July 12, she denounced what she called 'Democratic Party complicity' in 'war crimes, torture, crimes against the peace' and 'crimes against the Constituion, crimes against the American peopke, and crimes against the global community.' She said, 'Those who delivered us into this mess cannot be trusted to get us out of it.' She told her supporters, 'A Green vote is a peace vote,' and 'A Green vote is a justice vote.'"
Rosa Clemente is Cynthia's running mate. Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate and his running mate is Matt Gonzalez. Nader - Gonzalez notes:
Donate $5 to Nader/Gonzalez now.
Why?
To protest the sheer arrogance of the Gallup Organization.
In a recent WSJ/NBC national poll, Ralph Nader pulls 5 percent.
Contrast that to the most recent Gallup national poll, where Nader polls a fraction of one percent.
Why the big difference?
Answer: Gallup, the 800-pound gorilla of the polling world, doesn't list Ralph Nader as one of the Presidential candidates in the primary polling question.
Are you kidding me?
No.
We are not kidding you.
And guess who the Commission on Presidential Debates depends on to do its polling to see which Presidential candidates get to debate before tens of millions of Americans tonight in Nashville?
You guessed it: Gallup.
I called Frank Newport. (pictured above)
Newport is the editor-in-chief at Gallup.
I asked Newport:
Is there an objective standard you use to keep Ralph off your primary polling question?
"No," Newport said.
"We use our internal judgment to decide."
Whoa!
Gallup's "internal judgment" keeps Ralph Nader out of their polling.
So, I tried again.
Any ballpark levels of support Gallup looks to as a threshold?
"No," Newport said.
Again, it was just subject to unidentified "internal judgment criteria."
What a total crock of you know what.
There are some polling agencies -- such as Ipsos/McClatchey and CNN/Opinion Research Corp. -- that include all the major third party candidates.
Not Gallup.
So, we propose two ways to protest Gallup's arrogance in keeping Ralph Nader out of the Gallup polls, thereby denying him the chance of having a chance to debate McCain and Obama.
Protest method number one:
Donate $5, $10, $100 -- whatever you can afford -- up to the legal limit of $2,300 -- to Nader/Gonzalez now.
The stronger we become in October, the more difficult it will be for even Gallup's "internal judgment" to ignore us.
We're in the middle of our October Surprise fundraising drive.
And we need to reach $250,000 by the end of the week.
So, if you haven't donated yet, hit that there contribute button now.
Protest method number two:
Call up Gallup's Frank Newport.
Give him a piece of your mind.
Nader/Gonzalez is on more state ballots (45) than any other independent or third party candidate.
And we're polling five percent and higher in other polls nationwide.
Why is Gallup keeping Ralph Nader out of their polls?
What standards does Gallup use to determine who is included in their Presidential polls?
You can call Newport at: 609-924-9600
Or you can e-mail him directly at: frank_newport@gallup.com
Thank you for your ongoing activism and support.
Onward to November.
Toby Heaps
National Media Coordinator
Though shut out of the corporation's debate between the corporatist candidates, Ralph Nader will be addressing the debate tonight:
News AdvisoryFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Ryan Mehta, 408-348-0681, rmehta@votenader.org (National HQ)PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RALPH NADER TO RESPOND TO DEBATES IN WINSTEADWHO: Ralph NaderWHAT: Debate responseWHEN: Tuesday, October 7 from 9:00pm until after the debatesWHERE: Founders Hall Auditorium, Northwestern Community College, Park Place Winsted, CT 06098On Tuesday, October 7 starting at 9:00, consumer advocate and Presidential candidate Ralph Nader will be in Founders Hall Auditorium at Northwestern Community College. After the debates, he will give his response and take question about the debates.
iraqthe new york timesnathaniel sheppard jr.sam daghererica goodestephen farrellleila fadelmcclatchy newspapersjake tapperdeborah haynesthe washington postperry bacon jr.ellen knickmeyeralexander cockburnthe los angeles timesjeffrey fleishman
Posted at 08:51 pm by politicsscree
Permalink
Oct 6, 2008
in times i may have highlighted heather mallick. the name seems familiar. if so, that was my mistake and it will not happen again. she's not just a hateful person, she's broken the guidelines of the cbc and, in fact, the laws in canada. ian austen's 'boss is not amused after columnist's humor brings a retort from fox news' is in the business section of today's new york times. it details how the cbc had to 'correct' mallick's ideas that she could just make up facts. the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right. mallikc's an idiot, a blowhard, a prig and some 1 who really needs to get a life. i do believe stephen harper's gotten himself into yet another mess. and i think most citizens in the united states are damn tired of the obsessive voyerism going on from outside our borders. heather, tend to your own garden - it has its share of weeds. instead heather wants to turn her half-baked erma bombeck mind (with none of the humor) over to the u.s. election. and she got in a little trouble because, as the cbc notes, 'even in a worrk of opinion, facts should be respected and arguments should reasonably flow from these facts.' heather is another loony bird for barack. if you wonder how canada could end up with stephen harper as a prime minister, look no further than heather. she knows nothing she writes about but she likes obama. she really, really likes him. she must love the idea of more troops in afghanistan (a war canada is fighting) and she must really love more war around the globe - pakistan, darfur, exactly what does it for you, heather? so she went to town on sarah palin in a column where she repeatedly used the term 'white trash.' the new york times misses it but i'm sure the cbc didn't and i'm sure they're praying no 1 notices. but in canada, they have a hate speech law that they enforce. it could be used against heather's column and that's probably why the cbc took it down. 'white trash' - read your country's law, sarah - violates the hate speech law. it especially violates it when she decides to describe her idea of 'white trash.' she tells the new york times that, 'my problem is that i have to write with a certain kind of reader in mind, and that person is always going to be my vision of an intelligent canadian. i don't write for fox viewers.' meow. not surprisingly, she's obsessed with sarah palin and sex. she can't stop sexualizing sarah. you sort of picture her clutching the pearls she so loves out of sexual frustration. i can't figure out whether she thinks sarah's getting more than she is or if heather's a latent lesbian who can't force her own ass out of the closet. heather may have had a cute phase years ago. i doubt it. she has a weak chin, squinty eyes, a large nose and a cumbersome facial type. as well as stringy hair. but maybe 20 or 30 years ago, she could pass for cute and so she said these outlandish things and some 1 laughed and she thought, 'yeah, i got it going on.' the sad truth is that she just comes off as bitter and loud. when the looks fade (maybe she never had looks?), she's just an old embittered person. and she's not funny. (nor for that matter is a mighty wind funny. she writes about the film in the column as well. it's probably the least funny christopher guest film.) i don't watch fox 'news.' if i did, apparently i would have learned of heather's little stunt last month. they called her out. they should have. i always laugh at the snooty girls, poorly dresses (in cheap clothes), with really sad faces who think they have it going on. heather talks about how feminism is about bitter hatred towards other women. if i looked like heather, i'd hate other women as well. if i looked like heather, i'd actually get a decent haircut, probably tell the hair dresser to lay off the dye (that's not a natural color, she must be covering the grey and, from the looks of it, doing it with a drug store product), i'd stop plucking the eye brows (which may be too late for her, eye brow pencil could draw some in, heather) and i'd do something about smile, work on making it not look so scary and lopsided. i'd also advise her to stop pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth so hard in her photos. that's a little trick to attempt to eliminate more than 1 chin. but she's already tense enough and it just bulges out the jowly section of her face right next to the jaw bone. if heather doesn't like being written about like this, i'd point out that we really don't need her thoughts on our election. i'd further note that there is no 'lost in translation,' she's just a really bad (and hateful) writer. i wish i could write more tonight but heather is so ugly and mean spirited - and such a busy body, really she's gladys kravitz - that i'm just not in the mood. let's close with c.i.'s ' Iraq snapshot:' Monday, October 6, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, cholera continues in Iraq, elections illustrate new problems and CBS News' Laura Strickler makes a fool out of herself and reveals that she struggles with basic math (adding and subtracting) today.
Starting with diplomatic news, Corinne Reilly and Yassem Taha (McClatchy) reported Sunday that a visit to Bagdady ("one-day stop") today by Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Foreign Minister of Egypt "was the first visit to Iraq in nearly 20 years by a high-ranking Egyptian delegation." Mohammed Abbas(Reuters) noted that the minister "promised to reopen an embassy in Baghdad soon". However, it wasn't apparently just a 'friengly' visit. AFP reports, "Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi was in Baghdad on Sunday during a surpise visit with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit" and "Iraq said is has called on Egypt to collaborate in rebuilding the country's oil industry after Cairo announced it was ready to re-establish a diplmatic mission in Baghdad." AFP also quotes Nouri al-Maliki, puppet of the occupation, asking Egyptian companies/corporations "to participate in construction projects and help . . . with their expertise and experience." CNN notes, "In July 2005, militants kidnapped Egypt's ambassador, Ihab al-Sherif, from a Baghdad street and killed him." Today Mary Beth Sheridan (Washington Post) reports Hani Khilaf, ambassadot for the Arab League, visited Baghdad and Sheridan notes, "His arrival ended an embarrassing gap in representation by the Arab League, which groups 21 predominantly Arabic-speaking nations and the Palestinian Authority. The previous ambassador, Mokhtar Lamani, wrote a scathing article after he quit about 'the contrast between the enormous suffering I saw daily in Baghdad and the persistent indifference evident in the Arab League meetings in Cairo'." China's Xinhua quotes Hani Khallaf stating "We need a more active Arab role in Iraq" and notes, "There are three Arab embassies in Baghdad, namely those of Lebanon, Yemen and the Palestinians, and six more Arab countries have the intention to resume diplomatic mission in Iraq, said the AL envoy." Deborah Haynes (Times of London -- in a piece labeled "Analysis") offers, "After almost three decades of war and international isolation, Iraq is crying out for foreign investment and knowledge. A range of state-owned industries, from oil and gas to agriculture and steel, are opening up like never before." Yeah, it's a tag sale in Iraq as the puppet is eager to privatize the people's industries and sell them off to foreign corporations. It's very rare for new markets to emerge in this age of globalization so how very fortunate (sarcasm) that the Iraq War just happened and just happened to result in a puppet leader so willing to oversee the tag sale on Iraqi assets. Meanwhile not all neighbors are as friendly. Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) reports Iraq's Parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was flying to Tehran "but the plane was turned away after airport officials were informed dignitaries were on board" and that "Iraqi media earlier had reported that al-Mashhadani was leading a parliamentary delegation on an official visit to mainly Shiite Iran." Also Poland is now officially out of Iraq having ended it's military mission on Saturday.
From diplomacy to elections, Alissa J. Rubin and Sam Dagher (New York Times) note that signs are going up in Salahuddin Province and that a Tikrit meet up with Amar al-Hakim (Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) and the province's Dept Governor Abdullah Jabarah was televised. Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) points out, "Even if provincial elections, considered key to balancing power among Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and others, take place by early next year, the parties now in power probably will come out on top again. That's because of name recognition and their appeal to religious voters." Upbeat estimates of provincial elections insist they will take place in late January at the earliest. That's a big if. The census that was supposed to have taken place never did. The Parliament used the lack of the census to do away with Article 50 which provided seats and representation for minority groups. Nouri al-Maliki waited until after Parliament passed their bill to object to that omission (indicating he was grandstanding and not concerned). The bill went to the three-member presidency council which passed it with the head of the council, Iraq President Jalal Talabani, signing it into law last week. That's where the process stands currently and, though there are estimates, there has been no date set for provincial elections. Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) notes Faraj al-Haidari ("independent electoral commission") is hopeful that the elections can take place by January 31st which is the "legal deadline". Elections will not take place in oil-rich Kirkuk but that city is not the only one that will not be voting in provincial elections. Three provinces in the Kurdistan region will not be participating. The three provinces not included are Arbil Province, Dohuk Province and Sulaimaniyah Province. The UN's Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq, Staffan de Mistura has stated, "Article 50 is a strong indication Iraq is a nation ready to protect the political rights of minorities as founded in the Constitution. I was surprised and disappointed that Article 50 was not included in the provincial election law. . . . Article 50 has the backing of minority groups, political blocs and UNAMI [UN Assistance Mission for Iraq] and should now be reinstated into the legislation as soon as possible so minorities can participate in upcoming elections to be held sometime before January 31 2009." de Mistura is calling for Article 50 to be reinstated by October 16th. [Audio here at UN News Centre page and a shorter UN Radio report by Donn Bobb here.]
United Nations Radio's Reem Abaza interviewed Said Arikat (UNAMI) about Article 50 (link has text and audio):
ABAZA: So what is UNAMI urging or what is UNAMI asking right now?ARIKAT: We are urging that upon the return of the legislators, the Iraqi Council of Representatives from their Eid al-Fitr holiday that they immediately reintroduce Article 50 into the new election law. So that is what we are urging. The SRSG said that UNAMI in fact shows the concern of all those that expressed the concern such as the Iraqi Prime Minister and so on and calls on all the political blocs in Iraq to reintroduce Article 50 to the law. We are urging that and we are urging that this be done immediately before October 15 so when the independent Electoral High Election Commission convenes and begins accepting nominations. So we are urging then to do so before 15 October. ABAZA: Have you received any reaction from the government or the parliament regarding your position and the possibility of maybe amending or reinserting this article back?ARIKAT: Well, certainly UNAMI has been quite active and quite active and quite busy meeting all different political blocs. I think there is consensus in Iraq that minority rights have to be protected. So I think everybody has a stake in seeing this article reintegrated. We hope that it will find resonance among all the different political blocs and they act immediately upon their return.
Iraqi women are not covered in Article 50. They are, however, running for office. Or were planning to. Kim Game (AP) reports on a teacher who was running until she found out "her name, not just her party" would be listed on the ballot and explains "The change to a so-called open list has scared some qualified Iraqis from running, particularly women. Activists are worried there won't be enough women to meet the 25 percent threshold, or that the parties will just find women to act as figureheads to fill the quota. Said Arikat, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Iraq, noted that 'some statistics show that when countries move from closed to open lists, women don't fare as well'." The election also raises issues for the refuees -- internal and external. The Brookings Institute's Elizabeth Ferris explores that issue:
Despite the plethora of media covering triumphant Iraqi voters raising ink-stained fingers in the 2005 elections, not all Iraqis bought into the process. Key political groups boycotted the vote and IDPs were not able to make their voices heard. Interestingly though, arrangements were made so that Iraqis living outside the country could register and vote -- and apparently they did so in large numbers. This year the situation has been reversed: those living outside the country are not allowed to vote while provisions have been made for internally displaced Iraqis (those displaced by the violence after April 2003) to participate. Iraqis overseas -- particularly those displaced since the start of the war -- should be able to vote in the upcoming elections. And IDPs should be encouraged to register and to turn out to vote. While mechanisms are in place this time around to ensure IDP voting rights, the Wall Street Journal reports that only 100,000 IDPs have registered to vote in the provincial elections while other sources put the figure even lower. Participation of Iraq's refugees and IDPs in the provincial elections is critical to a legitimate electoral process, national reconciliation, and regional stability. Many of the Iraqi refugees currently living in harsh conditions in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, and the Gulf were displaced because of their religious or political beliefs or because they favored a secular Iraq. To exclude these Iraqis from the process is to let the militias' efforts to rid the country of secularists, intellectuals, Catholics, Yezidis, and many other minority groups win. How IDPs' votes are counted -- or actually where they are counted -- is another key issue in the upcoming elections.
4.7 million is the estimate by the UNHCR for the number of Iraqi refugees. The refugee crisis is very real and it is the largest in the world. al-Maliki could address it but that would be like expecting him to address the lack of potable water in Iraq, right? Instead of addressing it, do like he does with the decaying hospitals -- don't spend any money on new equipments (or repairing elevators so that they actual work), just splash a new coat of paint on the outside and say, "Renovations completed!" The puppet government doesn't care about reality, just how they can manipulate public perception. The Myth of the Great Return gave them four to six weeks of good press -- based on complete and utter lies, but it was good press while it lasted. So now it's apparently time to roll out that wave of Operation Happy Talk again. It's behind the supplying of Iraqi oil to Jordan which has been used as a leverage to cajole Jordan into sending some Iraqi refugees home. The United Nations and the International Red Cross continue to warn against Iraqis returning due to the continued violence. But it's such good p.r. for the puppet government, how can they resist? Sunday, Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) examined a camp for internal refugees in Najaf which was being shut down on orders of the Ministry of Displacement and Migration. Now when the ministry tasked with helping the refugees orders a camp shut down, one would assume it is because housing has been found; however, no housing is being provided. The refugees are being told to return to the areas they left -- left due to violence, death threats, the murder of family members. But the Ministry has decied that these are "fake camps" and that they must be shut down. Tom A. Peter (Christian Science Monitor) reports on Baghdad's Johara Hotel which was, at the start of the illegal war, a place "for freelance reporters, aid workers and activists" but now houses Iraqis "who for one reason or another have been driven from their homes and are still unable to return". Peter explains, "The refugees, predominately from different neighborhoods within Baghdad that are less stable than Karada, represent Sunni, Shiite, and Kurd. Johara says he's never had a problem with ethnic tensions among his guests. His major concern about the refugees is whether they'll continue to make rent every month. While he usually manages to collect, he occasionally has to reduce rates by the equivalent of a few dollars per night." Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) examines the Shakir family who are planning to leave as omany others of have and the Shakirs will also contribute to what is known as the "brain drain" when they leave -- educated technocrats, doctors, etc. The violence is too much for the family and the father explains, "There is nobody upholding justice here. You live your life according to chance. Anyone can do anything."
Nothing's been done by the puppet government to fix the water or the electricity so it's not surprising people continue to leave (Susman notes over 7,000 more people left Iraq than returned over the summer). al-Maliki sits on billions and refuses to spend it. He stockpiles it and when the puppet is ejected from office, there's a good chance he'll be fleeing with a great deal of the money -- possibly to England where so many who have stolen from Iraq's wealth move? While he sits on the money, cholera outbreaks become a yearly event. WHO did an update at the end of last month (Sept. 29th) and noted that 314 cases had been confirmed, five deaths that were verified and nine provinces were effected. The outbreak isn't over and WHO notes: "Although the outbreak this year appears to be less intense then that of 2007, further waves are still possible. It is therefore too early to consdier the epdemic to be under control. In addition, long-term inadequacies in the area of water and sanitation remain of immediate concern and cholera outbreaks will recur in Iraq until access to safe water and proper sanitation is ensured for all people." Those statements may shock some considering a press conference last month; however, that is the postion WHO is supposed to take. IRIN updates the figures today noting that 418 cases have been confirmed and that six deaths have been verified with 10 provinces effected by the outbreak. Irin quotes Sheik Jawad Kadhim Diwan of Qadissiyah Province explaining that the people in his areas have to utilize the river water because that is all they have, "We call upon the government and the presidential council to save the lives of these people by supplying us with safe drinking water, and to start infrastructure projects as a matter of urgency."
Turning to the US presidential race, Saturday Scott Shane (New York Times) reported some on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's relationship to Weather Underground member Bill Ayers. Governor Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate, began noting the relationship following the publication of the story (as did CNN all day Saturday). Laura Strickler of CBS News makes an ASS of herself -- and unlike past media liars on this topic, Strickler isn't hiding a relationship with Weather herself. She is just grossly uninformed as she repeats the lie: "The senator has repeatedly noted that when Ayers committed his domestic acts of terrorism forty years ago, Obama was eight years old." She never questions it. As noted here (and at Third), I know Bill and Bernardine. I'm not in the mood for a press that still can't get their facts right. I think we last dealt with the topic in April and we're just going to cut and paste the points made then:
I'm not sure why people keep repeating that lie. Weather Underground was not a one-year organization. Obama was born in 1961. Weather was active throughout Nixon's presidency (and after) and Bernardine and Bill turned themselves in when Obama was in college. When they turned themselves in, it was front page news, the lead on the evening news broadcasts. It's a nice little lie on Obama's part that what happened happened when he was eight-years-old. But it's a lie none the less and people need to stop repeating it. Myself, I don't include the 1981 Brinks robbery as a Weather action but that's me. Many others do include it as such. (It was actually an action by the Black Liberation Army.) By that time, and news coverage of it certainly saw it as a Weather action since it involved members of the Weather Underground, Obama was in college. What is this nonsense that he was eight-years-old. If you include it (and, again I don't), then Weather was responsible for the deaths of three people (a security guard and two police officers). In June of 1970, they bombed an NYC police station. The Pentagon's women's bathroom was bombed in the spring of 1972. They smuggle Timothy Leary (after the prison break) out of the country in September 1970. In 1974 alone, they've got at least five bombings including the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in San Francisco (other targes included the AG's office in California and Gulf Oil). Obama wasn't eight-years-old in 1974. 1975 is when they bomb the US State Department, a bank in NYC, and another corporation (Kennecott?). He wasn't eight-years-old in 1975. He wasn't eight-years-old during the bank robbery (when Weather was back in the news even though it wasn't a Weather action), he was in college, just like he was when Bernardine and Bill turned themselves in. Barack declares "I was eight-years-old" and no one must question the Christ-child? I don't think so. I don't play stupid. Now Diane Rehm did last Friday, embarrassing herself repeating the lie, "He was eight years old!" Diane Rehm damn well knows that Weather Underground was not active for only one year. Considering that the bombing wave doesn't even start when Barack's eight-years-old, this lie needs to stop. Barack latches onto it because it's the easy out for him. It's not reality. And if Diane Rehm, for example, really can't remember those days, then it's time to retire. Seriously, the mind is gone if Diane Rehm honestly believes that Barack Obama was just eight-years-old throughout Weather Underground's long history. It's just like the issue of pardons and commuted sentences. He says something and the press runs with it. They don't bother to check out. They just start repeating it. That's embarrassing and more indicative of the failures of our modern press than anything else. An argument can be made with their known activities that they were more active from 1973-1975 than at any time in their history and Barack Obama was not eight-years-old then. Considering that the grandmother who raised him was a vice-president in a bank, it's highly unlikely that the bank bombings wouldn't have been the topic of conversation in his grandparents' home while Barack was growing up. If you're the child of a police officer and a police officer is shot anywhere in the US, it gets discussed. Also true of a fire fighter. This is nonsense and he gets away with it because we don't have a working press. We have a group of cheerleaders for Obama (and include Diane Rehm in that, she's far from fair as anyone listening can quickly determine -- she has chosen sides in the Democratic primary) trying to pass themselves off as the press. That's why, despite the fact that Bill Clinton did not pardon Susan Rosenberg and Linda Evans, the press went with that lie over and over and still continues to go with it. It's shameful. The actions did not occur when he was eight-years-old and anyone writing that or stating that is lying. It's that simple. Your historical ignorance is no excuse for your failure to check out the facts. Yeah, if you have the memory of pin cushion, doing your job may entail some work. Too damn bad, that's your job. Try actually doing it for a change.
The facts are the facts and, no Barack, wasn't 8-years-old. Barack lied again today and Laura, you should have called him on it:
"He's a professor at the University of Chicago - ah, Illinois, teaches education, and he engaged in these despicable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old. I served on a board with him. And so now they're trying to use this as guilt by association, and as you said, they've explicitly stated that what they want to do is to change the topic because they don't want to talk about the economy and the failed policies of the last eight years."
"Despicable acts 40 years ago"? He was 8-years-old in 1975? I mean, pick your damn year and figure out when he was 8-years-old. Equally true is when the British press were first asking early in the primaries, the Obama campaign claimed that Barack and Michelle's daughters went to school with Dohrn and Ayers' children -- a BOLD FACED LIE. The domestic press doesn't care to note the ever changing story. Just like they didn't bat an eye when Barack LIED during the debate with Hillary and claimed that Bill pardoned two members of Weather.
Now if he was really so uninvolved with Bill Ayers, pay attention, how did he happen to tell that lie in the debate? You only prep -- with factoids -- on the subjects you are vulnerable on. The uproar from the lunatics at FAIR indicates that the question of his relationship with Bill Ayers was so off-the-wall that no one would have asked it. So if that's the case, why was Barack prepped with a LIE to use for distraction?
Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate. Team Nader notes:
Drop $10 on Nader/Gonzalez now.
Why?
For the first time since 2004, the Dow Jones Industrials this morning dropped below 10,000.
The Dow is going down.
While Nader/Gonzalez is movin' on up.
Everything is in place for an October surprise.
Ralph is barnstorming the country -- this week in his home state of Connecticut and throughout New England.
(Fox News reports that a crowd of 2,000 showed up to hear Ralph at the University of Vermont yesterday.)
The MOB (McCain/Obama/Bush) were exposed last week like never before for the whole country to see.
As they all jumped aboard the Wall Street Bailout Express.
While Nader/Gonzalez stood opposed.
And stand opposed.
(Nader/Gonzalez would have prohibited Wall Street's "sustained orgy of excess and reckless behavior" -- as Richard Fisher, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank put it.)
The Nader/Gonzalez vast Get Out of the Vote Network is on the ground and cranking (Stay tuned for the details tomorrow.)
So, the choice on November 4 is clear.
The Corporate Elite.
Versus Main Street.
All we need is an October surprise.
An American awakening.
With the American people standing with the one candidate who has stood with them throughout his 40 year career.
Ralph Nader.
So, donate $10 now to the Nader/Gonzalez October Surprise Fund.
We're ready for an October surprise.
Are you?
Onward to November
iraqyassem tahamcclatchy newspaperscorinne reillythe new york timesalissa j. rubinsam dagherthe los angeles timestina susmanmcclatchy newspapersleila fadelelizabeth ferristom a. peterthe christian science monitor
Posted at 09:54 pm by politicsscree
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cedric and i are again using our mirror sites to note a drawing and a cd review. first this is isaiah  Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Working Class Barack." Barack thinks to himself, "Don't say arugala. Don't say arugula" and, throwing arms in the air, says, "How about the rising cost of manicures!" the world today just nutsbarack obamaworking class barackcomicthe common illsand this is kat's latest review. Kat: "You gotta a lot of money but you can't afford the freeway." Ain't it the truth, Aimee? Well ain't it? Aimee Mann, while few were looking, reached over and grabbed the honor of best living songwriter who is too young to have been invited to Woodstock. More and more these days, that just makes her our best songwriter period. In June, she released @#%&*! Smilers which only confirmed her gifts. The first track ("Freeway") works on the kind of groove many of us hoped the Breeders' Mountain Battles might stumble across but didn't. But what will probably stand out the most is Aimee's ticked. The cover makes that clear beyond the title as one look at the drawing of the angry red face sticking out a tongue will make clear. The lyrics only elaborate on that anger. "Get Up" is sung to someone who refuses to live their life but seems intent upon dragging Aimee down ("You stay, she's bringing the poison apple to you") and, in a similar vein, "Cause Nothing Can Wait Forever" finds Aimee counseling "they don't give unlimited chances in life." "The Great Beyond" finds her washing her hands of that person (or people) as she opens with, "Go, honey go -- into the ocean, Go, honey go -- into the great beyond til you're good and gone." When not offering that and similar sentiments, she's exploring her own faults/blame, confessing that "it's hard to know when to cut and run" ("I've Had My Fill"), "I thought my life would be different somehow, I thought my life would be better by now but it's not" ("I Don't Know Where To Turn") and "I want you ... But baby the price is high." In one of the most effective tracks on the CD, Aimee sings (and writes): I turned stranger into starmanIn the Sunday New York TimesLike Anne Sexton and her star ratsWorking backwards til it rhymesFor the love of God You can't tell me againThe song is set to a spark arrangement and over in the blink of an eye (one minute and thirty-one seconds). It's the second track on the CD and grabs you in a way that some tracks which follows may not immediately. "Borrowing Time," for example, with it's bouncy beat, is in direct contrast to the lyrics long before the horns are added to the arrangement. Which brings up a criticism I've heard regarding Aimee Mann for some years: She's too smart. Generally that means her lyrics are more complex than bubble gum but it's also true that sometimes she's too smart for her own good. An argument can be made on the latter for this album because she's got some heartbreaking tunes and, very often, they are disguised by a production that is in complete contrast to what she's actually singing. On "Freeway," which is a finger pointer as well, the groove's so strong who can argue with it? But track five ("It's Over") may be one of the few times where the production perfectly fits a full blown song. Paul Bryan is the producer this go round and it's hard to tell whether this is a fault of his or Aimee's own creative direction? With the band 'Til Tuesday, Mann (and her songwriting) found immediate success and what followed would not be described by the participants as "great fun." After the first album and the mega hit "Voices Carry," the band manage to turn out two follow ups which make up some of the strongest music of the period. On her own, Aimee initially struggled with labels in a way that was much more conflicted than anything that happened in the days of 'Til Tuesday. She set up SuperEgo Records to go the do-it-yourself route and it's what not only saved her career but also gave her one. If you're among the faithful ( I am), you'll love this album. You'll appreciate the grace and skill with which she writes songs. But if you're one of the uninitiated and stumble across this CD, you may listen (and sing along) for months before you grasp how dark the sentiments expressed truly are. The day you left and you called me bitchI called you selfish, better pull that switchPut my son on amphetaminesHe came home crying and there's your proofCrying but nothing but a missing toothYou shade the truth almost every dayPhone calls at night, it's gonna be okay"I Did The Right Thing" is the excerpt above and it's another effort where the production matches the point of the song. It's also the one that had me wondering, "Is Mann's marriage breaking up?" No, it turns out these are character sketches. And possibly the various characters are captured in the production? Maybe so but the thing that gets me came from calling up a friend who interviewed her this summer and he told me one of Aimee's big sub-themes of the interview was how this album's sales were half of what they should have been and that, his opinion, this disappointed her. Which makes me wonder if she's attempting to challenge the audience or internalizing her days at Epic? The big battle then (during 'Til Tuesday) was over the sound. Epic was perfectly fine with Mann's lyrics and singing and, even, the band's sound but could they possibly make the songs sound 'prettier' and 'less dark'? They refused on Welcome Home but fell into the trap on Everything's Different Now. @#%&*! Smilers is a lyrically dark album so the sheen and uptempo production on many songs is confusing. It may be an artistic statement and may capture the mood of the characters she's sketching. It could be Aimee attempting to challenge her audiences. It could be Aimee working off the eighties advice from Epic. But if you're complaining about the sales of your latest album -- at length -- and it contains multiple tracks where the production is hugely at odds with the point of the song, you need to stop scratching your head over the sales. Aimee's also been on the road talking about her column in the New York Times last year where she dissed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club and how she burnt out on it and now thinks there are many other better Beatles album. She's taken to a defensive posture that the friend I noted above and another friend interviewing her for her tour found confusing. Possibly the answer is something that her solo albums have long suggested: Brian Wilson is her own super ego? "God Only Knows" is an amazing song and it's the most misproduced single the Beach Boys ever had -- spit-polished until the last emotion is gone and a lament is turned into a laundry list. I happen to love @#%&*! Smilers and strongly recommend it but if you're going to complain about your sales, you might want to try avoiding releasing an album that feeds into the "too smart for her own good" image. That's my suggestion for Aimee. My suggestion for you is buy the CD, it's one of the year's best. aimee mannthe beach boystil tuesdaykats kornerthe common ills also, i love what we did at third yesterday so check out:
Posted at 07:03 am by politicsscree
Permalink
Oct 4, 2008
amazing writing in the community thursday night. you had the 1s covering the debate like kat with ' My focus group scores Palin the winner,' marcia with ' My grandparents say Palin won (I agree),' mike with ' Why I think Palin won the debate' and cedric with ' Biden gets a big topic wrong" and wally with ' THIS JUST IN! PRECONDITIONS THROWS JOE!' (joint-post). you also had ruth's ' Naomi Wolf needs to get medical help.' and be sure and check out ruth because she's telling some uncomfortable truths about the nader campaign. (i agree with ruth 100% by the way. the nader campaign really needs to watch what they're doing. they will run off voters.) and best of all, we had c.i.'s amazing ' I Hate The War.' in other online news, this is from garychapelhill's ' On charges of racism' (the conflucence): There are some small minded people out there who suffer from the Beautiful Mind syndrome that Murphy so eloquently described yesterday. The sad thing is that some people with a PhD after their name make the mistake of actually taking these fools seriously. This is what we saw happen yesterday. The amazing thing, however, is that for all the book learnin’ that these people have, they are blind to the outright hypocrisy of the claims that they make.
Let’s take the charge of racism. I will not even dignify these ludicrous charges with a defense. I will point out the cognitive dissonance and sheer stupidity of the people that go down that path. Take Mandos, who took issue with this blog, and effectively accused it of fomenting racism. I will try to be gentle with him, as he is young, and in my opinion not too bright (plus, swear words make him cranky). But it is typical of his peer group to only see issues of race through the lens of the black/white dichotomy. For these people there is a hierarchy of victimization, which in my opinion is in and of itself racist, but I’ll leave that for another post. They think that the remotest connection of a discussion to black/white race relations in this country can automatically be deconstructed (one of poor mandos’ most favoritest words!) to show that in their heart, whether they know it or not, the person discussing is indeed racist.
Mandos, sweetie, that’s a two way street, so you better be careful.
Mandos and the like gleefully pronounce people they’ve never met or talked to as racist, but give Obama a pass on his sexism, homophobia, and his own connections to the likes of the Rev. Wright, Meeks, and McClurkin. For Mandos, hate is only not a family value when it is directed at black people, and even then he misses the mark on when that is the case nearly 100% of the time.it needs to be noted that mandos is a hillary hater, some 1 who repeatedly plays the race card (so no surprise that he's white) and lives in canada. all of which begs the question of what the hell is he doing writing at corrente about the american election? and let me note heidi li's ' The quality of intent: What is really at stake in the 2008 Presidential Election' ( heidi li's potpourri): Many of my Democratic friends acknowledge that Senator Obama's campaign relied on less-than-savory, even dishonest, measures to secure his spot as the Democratic candidate; they will admit, when asked pointedly, that they are disturbed by Senator Obama's truth squads and training camps, by his manipulation of young children when he urges their parent to have them tell their grandparents to vote for him; by his refusal to denounce sexism or take concrete measures to affirmatively demonstrate that he understands the pervasiveness of that social ill; by his tepid stand on reproductive rights and equal rights for gays and lesbians; by his commitment to tying Church and state closer together. But these friends excuse Senator Obama's methods by saying that he has done and is just doing what it takes to win, and after all, isn't that what Republicans have done for years?I refer those with that point of view to the quotation above from Thurgood Marshall, an often overlooked hero not just of the civil rights movement on behalf of black Americans but a hero for all progressive Americans, because while he naturally enough, given his circumstances, began his career with great concern for black Americans, he ended it by fighting for the rights of all Americans who did not enjoy the equality of opportunity that has been the hallmark of U.S. democracy since the country's founding, and which was renewed by the programs that Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated.Apparently, many Americans have found Senator Barack Obama's words to have a shattering impact. But what is the quality of the intent of a candidate who resorts to dishonest, manipulative, authoritarian methods to gain office?And what is the quality of the intent of those who hurl accusations of racism against those who do not want this sort of candidate representing them as Democrats?As the quality of Senator Obama's intent has become clearer to me over time - a will to power including the power to completely silence any diversity of expression within the Democratic Party itself - I find his words ever more grating, and certainly not inspiring.I do not believe this country is well served by authoritarian political parties or politicians - consider for example George W. Bush and the Rovian Republican style. But Republicans do not have a monopoly on authoritarian attitudes and tactics, and neither do conservatives in general. The French Revolution - meant to end authoritarian rule in France - ended in The Terror - tyranny by mob rule.what's probably the most amazing thing to me about 2008 is seeing so many 'leaders' cower in silence or outright lie and seeing so many 'of the people' people stand up. the real leadership is coming from the people, not the leaders. the leaders are selling us out. i know i'm just providing excerpts today, sorry. 1st, i think the excerpts say important stuff that needs to be read. 2nd we flew back today and i'm really tired. i was hoping to sleep on the plane but the baby had another idea. and while i'm suffering from jet lag, the cross country plane ride only energized my baby. she seems to have gathered even more energy as we went from the pacific time zone to the eastern. i do want to recommend c.i.'s amazing ' I Hate The War' which is just so incredible. and i'm going to leave it at that. let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:' Friday, October 3, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, Rosa Clement (Green Party) and Matt Gonzalez (independent) take part in a vice presidential debate this morning, Sarah Palin (Republican) and Joe Biden (Democrat) took part in a vice presidential debate last night, what got signed in Iraq today?, and more.
Megan Feldman (Dallas Observer) notes the suicides of war veterans Andrew Valez, Ted Westhusing, Nils Aron Andersson, Jeff Lucey, Derek Henderson and Chad Barrett and explains:
A series of recent reports reveals that record numbers of active-duty troops are committing suicide, raising concerns about the military's ability to adequately screen, diagnose and treat soldiers with mental health problems.
An Army report released in May showed that at least 115 soldiers killed themselves in 2007, the highest rate since the Army began keeping records in 1980. One of the officials to present the study cited extended and multiple deployments, frequent exposure to "horrifying" experiences and easy access to loaded weapons.
This year's suicide tally among active-duty troops -- 62 confirmed and 31 other deaths still under investigation -- is on pace t surpass last year's and push the rate of suicides per 100,000 service members above that of the civilian population for the first time ever, Army officials announced in early September.
The reports follow the controversy that enveloped the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year when the agency was caught deliberately hiding high suicide rates among veterans. An e-mail to colleagues from Ira Katz, the VA's head of mental health, began "Shh!" and estimated the unreleased number of suicide attempts at 1,000 per month. "Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?" he wrote. That was after the agency told CBS there were just 790 suicide attempts in all of 2007. After a three-month investigation, the network reported "a hidden epidemic" of suicides among veterans, especially the youngest ones who had served most recently.
In November of last year, CBS News aired a story entitled 'Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans.' On April 21, 2008, CBS News aired a story 'VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-mails Show.' The reports (Armen Keteyian reported and Pia Malbran was the producer of the reports) were noted in an May 6th hearing of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "The Truth About Veterans' Suicides." The chair of the committee is US House Rep Bob Filner who pointed to these reports in his opening states and reminded Dr. Ira Katz (one of the witnesses appearing before the hearing) that not only had CBS News reported on this after being misled by the VA in November, but that Katz had told Congress in December 2007 that "from the beginning of the war through the end of 2005 there were 144 known suicides among these new veterans." Katz' e-mail that Feldman refers to in her report was replied to by Ev Chasen (VA's chief communication director) who declared, "I think this is something we should discuss ourselves, before issuing a release. Is the fact that we're stopping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news? And is this more than we've ever seen before? It might be something we drop into a general release about suicide prevention efforts, which (as you know far better than I) prominently include training employees to recognize the warning signs of suicide."
In July, the VA was stated that their suicide hotiline had received calls from more than 22,000 veterans (the number is 1-800-873-TALK). And, apparently keeping Ev Chasen's words in mind ("Is the fact that we're stopping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news?") declared that their work had prevented 1,221 suicides.
The May 6th hearing would include testimony from Dr. Roger Maris (University of South Carolina) where he would note that "the vast majority of VA facilities, in fact, do not have suicide coordinators." Monday Mike Mount (CNN) reported, "The U.S. Army is establishing a suicide prevention board to examine the mental health of its recruiters around the country after the fourth suicide in three years by Houston, Texas-based recruiters, according to Army officials. The board will look at how to handle the high-stress climate facing recruiters who may be both under pressure from their job and victims of post-combat deployment stress, according to Douglas Smith, a spokesman from the U.S. Army Recruiting command." CNN refers to a recent suicide in the article and states they've chosen not to name the victim. AP reports there were two recent ones (Staff Sgt. Larry G. Flores Jr in August and Sgt 1st Class Patrick G. Henderson in September) "from the same Houston-based battalion" for a total of five from that battalion. Linsay Wise (Houston Chronicle) quotes Texas Tech's psychology chair David Rudd stating, "Clearly, there's a problem. Somebody needs to look and see if there's a broader national problem outside of this one battalion. Is it a problem placing these combat veterans in recruiting positions?" Wise also notes that US Senator John Cornyn has asked the Secretary of the Army "for a briefing on the ongoing investigation and on the policy of returning soldiers from combat and reassigning them to a recruiting office."
Today Kathlyn Stone (Twin Cities Daily Planet) reports on the work of Penny Coleman who runs PTSD workshops (and states, "It's not a disorder, it's an injury") including one in August at the Veterans For Peace conference and notes, "The VA is in denial about PTSD contributing to the high suicide rate of combat veterans, she says, adding that official counts aren't accurate. Speaking of Vietnam vets, Coleman said, 'There are more suicides than names on the [Vietnam Memorial] wall.' Veterans For Peace members agree that the United States must be better prepared to provide not only care for physical wounds but also better mental health support for soldiers now serving or just returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Coleman cited figures released by CBS News documenting over 6,256 military suicides in 2005." At the start of the week John C. Bersia (McClatchy-Tribune) observed, "Most Americans are familiar with the official Iraq toll -- as of last week, 4,169 U.S. dead, along with a several hundred from allied nations. Missing from that list, though, are Americans who fulfilled their duties and returned home unable to cope with the complexities of life after Iraq, often compounded by post-traumatic stress disorder. One such person died last week; his name was Dominic D.H. Pritchard, a resident of Ovideo, Fla. He was a U.S. Marine, a student, a citizen-soldier who volunteered with the Florida Army National Guard because of his desire to serve his community in times of clamity, and an emerging writer with a particular passion for history, military affairs and art."
Meanwhile retired Army Col and retired US State Dept Ann Wright pens a column for The Fayetteville Observer:
As a former army officer who once served proudly at Fort Bragg, I'll be returning here Wednesday. I'm going to join in a commemoration of the deaths of three military women, and the suffering of the many other victims of military-related domestic violence and sexual assault.
The commemoration will start with a vigil at the Yadkin Road gate of Fort Bragg at 11 a.m. The vigil will be followed by a luncheon-discussion at 12:30 p.m. at the Quaker House and conclude with a wreath-laying at the grave of another victim of military spousal homicide.
We invite the military and civilian communities of Fayetteville and Jacksonville to join us.
We'll be especially mindful of the three women soldiers who were murdered in this area in the first six months of this year, allegedly by male GIs: Army Spc. Megan Touma, who was seven months pregnant; Fort Bragg nurse 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc; and Marine Lance Corp. Maria Lauterbach, who had been raped and also was pregnant.
And AP is reporting that arrrests have been made in the death of Sgt Christina E. Smith ("the third off-post killing of a Fort Bragg servicewoman in four months") -- her husband, Sgt. Richard Smith, is "charged with first-degree and conspiracy to commit murder" and "Pfc. Matthew Kvapil, 18, faces the same charges, and [Theresa] Chance [spokesperson for Fayetteville police] said he was hired by Smith to kill the wife as the couple walked together Tuesday evening."
In Iraq today . . . confusion. Corinne Reilly (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that the presidency council "has agreed to approve a long-delayed law that will allow most of the country to hold provincial elections early next year, officials said Friday." However, China's Xinhua reports that the "presidential council had not approved the provincial election law passed by the parliament, local media reported Friday." Al Jazeera does not say that they have agreed to pass it, Al Jaezeera states that it is passed. AP also states it has passed and, in fact, signed into law by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani: "Firyad Rawndouzi, a Kurdish lawmaker, told The Associated Press that the three-member panel led by President Jalal Talabani had signed the law Friday and asked the parliament 'to solve the minorities problem'." Article 50 issue was never addressed. It is the one that has been called out by everyone from Iraqi Christians to Moqtada al-Sadr and puts minority representation at risk. Nouri al-Maliki did express some public statements and there is said to have been concern on the part of the presidency council. But if it's signed, it's the law. The Parliament can try to fix it but the law is what was signed by Talabani.
Erica Goode and Mohammed Hussein (New York Times) report on Samarra and among the details provided by the reporters is that the reconstruction of Askairya Shrine (after the 2007 bombing) is not only expensive (expected to cost $8 million), the reconstruction is being done "without blueprints." Samara, like everywhere in Iraq, suffers from the same problems: "few jobs available, that the water is not potable, that the electricity is intermittent at best, that they have not received their pensions and that there are shortages of medicine." At Baghdad Bureau Blog (the paper's blog) Mohammed Hussein has written of the journey taken to report that story and notes, "The Awakening and National Police and Iraqi army all manned different checkpoints. It took one and a half hours to drive only 70 miles. There was some risk along the whole journey, but during the 90-minute drive I was really worried for only five minutes, near Meshahda. Five minutes can be a big deal." Hussein shares impressions of all the areas they traveled through, by the way.
Wednesday, the US 'handed over' the "Awakening" Councils to the puppet government in Baghdad. Scott Peterson (Christian Science Monitor) reports today: "Fresh concern is washing over Iraq of a new wave of insurgent violence as the bands of mainly Sunni Muslim Iraqis, trained, armed and paid by the US military to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq are now coming under the control of a skeptical Shiite-led government. While the group called the Sons of Iraq (SOI) has been critically imporant in improving security, the US military and many leaders within the SOI worry that their foot soldiers -- many of them ex-insurgents -- will simply return to their old ways if they are not paid or brought into Iraq's official security forces." The Charleston Post and Courier editorializes on the same topic, expresses similar concerns and notes: "Doubts about the ability of the two sides to quickly develop a satisfactory relationship is a major reason why the Pentagon on Wednesday announced plans for sending additional forces to Iraq next year. The reinforcements, if needed, would maintain U.S. troop strength in Iraq at the present level of about 152,000 through 2009." Meanwhile UPI reports on the female branch of "Awakening" (also called Daughters of Iraq) and states that "is taking on a new role under U.S. financing as part of the counterinsurgency strategy there, officials said." They are paid 20% less than males and that wage discrimination was put in place by the White House. On the issue of counter-insurgency, Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus (Washington Post) report on the US Defense Department's latest contracts ("up to $300 million") which will "produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements" in Iraq aimed at Iraqis in a program called "information/psychological operations" that is part of the counter-insurgency strategies. The US has a lengthy history of attempting to use the media within Iraq to propagandize to the Iraqi people. For an earlier effort, you can refer to Borzou Daragahi and Mark Mazzetti (Los Angeles Times) explaining the process in 2005 which noted the US military penned articles and that many were then "presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounced insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country."
It's Friday so little violence gets reported but some of today's violence includes:.
Bombings?
Reuters notes a Sulaiman Pek roadside bombing which resulted in two people being injured.
Shootings?
Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad.
Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division -- Center Soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device exploded near his vehicle south of Amarah Oct. 2." That is the first announced death for the month and brings the number of US service members killed in Iraq to 4177 since the start of the illegal war.
On Democracy Now! today, a vice presidential debate took place between Matt Gonzales (Ralph Nader's running mate) and Rosa Clemente (Cynthia McKinney's running mate). During their debate, they were shown clips of GOP v.p. nominee Governor Sarah Palin and Democratic v.p. nominee Joe Biden weighing in on various topics from last night's debate. From the transcript (and remember, it is watch, listen or read at DN!):
JUAN GONZALEZ: Governor Sarah Palin and Senator Biden, talking about the war in last night's debate. Rosa Clemente, Green Party vice-presidential nominee, what's your viewpoint on the war?
ROSA CLEMENTE: Well, the Green Party's viewpoint -- and Cynthia has been very clear, and the party has been very clear -- an immediate end to the war, an immediate withdrawal of troops in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan. And, you know, one thing Cynthia agrees with a former colleague of hers, Dennis Kucinich, is that we now have to talk about creating departments of peace. And we have to also talk about withdrawing troops wherever they reside in other people's homelands. I always found it interesting -- or, you know, the fact that we, as the United States government, and we, as the people in this country, allow our military to be placed in other people's homelands. And being from Puerto Rico, I'm very clear on why the military does what it does. But we would never allow another country to have a military base there. And that might be a little simplistic kind of thing to throw out there, but I also think it speaks to the way we want to move forward in the future. And I don't think that either party is planning on ending the war. I think that the Democrats are more about transferring troops to Afghanistan and potentially preparing for a war in Pakistan. And even yesterday, Joe Biden talked about the possibility of putting troops in in Darfur. And I think that's something that we have to say immediately is unacceptable and that the majority of young people in this country have been clear for the last five years that we want an end to the war right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Independent vice-presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez?
MATT GONZALEZ: Well, I certainly -- and Ralph Nader supports getting our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. I think the problem with a lot of the rhetoric that we're hearing is that if you concede that the surge is working, which we do not concede--but the moment you do that, you are going to run into a problem with the so-called timetable. Are the Democrats going to stick to a timetable if, as they start to draw down troops, there's increased sectarian violence? And I think the answer to that is really unclear, and probably no. I think the only way that we can successfully get out of this country is if, at the outset, we make it clear we're going to -- we're going to work quickly to get our troops out of the region, that we're part of the reason why the region remains unstable.
And we'll also note this section of the debate:
AMY GOODMAN: Matt Gonzalez, I know you have to leave, so I'm going to give you the first stab at this, as you catch a plane. And also, a correction: in 2004, yes, Ralph Nader was an Independent candidate, as well. He was, 2000, the Green Party candidate. Your comment on same-sex marriage?
MATT GONZALEZ: Well, obviously, Nader and I support marriage rights for all. I think it's insulting to hear these candidates want it both ways. They're essentially trying to appeal to both conservative voters who are opposed to gay marriage and somehow also appeal to progressive voters who want to see equality. You know, I think Ralph Nader, you know, when you step back and look at his history, he is somebody who is an enormously important voice against the growing corporate greed in this society and what concentrated capital does when it's left alone. And I think he's not somebody who has decided to fight against the two parties. You know, he has, his entire life, been fighting against these parties -- it's not a recent conversion -- on a host of issues. And I think he should have been in this debate. I think he has a legislative record that's stronger than the candidates that we saw in that debate. I mean, Joe Biden should have been asked about his support of credit card companies in Delaware, of the federal sentencing guidelines that he helped pass in the 1980s that, you know, has disproportionately hurt people of color. These were things that were absent. And I think if Rosa and I had been in that debate, it would have been a better debate.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Rosa Clemente, your perspective on gay marriage?
ROSA CLEMENTE: I mean, full 100 percent equal rights for everybody. I also take it a step further for it being about human rights. LGBT people are human beings, and they have a right, like anyone else, to get married, to get divorced, to not get married. But if I could just quickly just say, yes, Cynthia did leave the Democratic Party after twelve years, but while she was in there, it was Cynthia McKinney that had a hearing on the issue of political prisoners, the first-ever congressional hearing on that. It was Cynthia that pushed the envelope about what happened on 9/11. It was Cynthia that wrote the articles of impeachment. And I think that speaks highly to someone who will leave a party, finally, based on principles and values and then pick someone that truly represents what the majority of this country is going to look like. I think if me and Matt were on there, and if Cynthia, Bob Barr, [Chuck] Baldwin, Ron Paul and Ralph Nader were allowed to debate, the presidency on November 4th would look radically different and would represent the majority of American people.
Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney took the "super pledge" Thursday:
I, Cynthia McKinney, pledge to use my candidacy, whenever feasible, to advance the preservation of democracy. I will officially challenge the results of the election as provided by law if the combination of election conditions, incident reports and announced election results calls into question the reliability of the official vote count. I will wait until all valid votes are counted and all serious challenges resolved before declaring victory or conceding defeat. I will involve my campaign volunteers in actions to enhance the accuracy and verifiability of the election in which I am a candidate. I will speak out publicly during the pre-election period about the importance of fair, accurate and transparent elections and about this pledge. I will designate a liaison between my campaign and "Standing For Voters" so that "Standing For Voters" can alert me to any red flags they are aware of regarding my election.
Meanwhile independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader weighs in on the economic bailout. Click here for his post before the House voted today (it passed) and here were his thoughts prior to vote:
People often ask me -- what forces shaped you, Ralph? I reply simply: "A lucky choice of parents." Among other things, my parents passed down many traditions. Traditions that were handed down from generations before them. Traditions that served as a counterweight to the addictions. And fads. And technologies.
Of modern life. Traditions such as: The tradition of listening. The tradition of scarcity. The tradition of discipline. And the tradition of civics. A couple of years ago, I sat down at my manual Underwood typewriter and wrote a book titled The Seventeen Traditions (Harper Collins, 2007). It's about growing up in my hometown of Winsted, Connecticut (above is a picture of me standing next to my mother Rose). And it details the seventeen traditions of my youth. It's the only book that I've written that everybody loves. When you get a copy, you'll know why. Flipping through a copy of the book the other day, I asked myself -- If the majority in this Congress was governed by the traditions that we grew up with in the New England of my youth -- wouldn't they have acted to prevent Wall Street's "sustained orgy of excess and reckless behavior" -- as Richard Fisher, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank put it last week?
Surely they wouldn't then turn around and reward that behavior with a $750 billion bailout? By now you know that McCain, Obama and Bush all support the bailout. And Nader/Gonzalez are opposed. And we again urge all members of the House to vote against the bailout today.
But no matter how the House votes today, Nader/Gonzalez will be barnstorming the country in October. Putting front and center our platform of shifting the power from the corporations back into the hands of the American people. We're on the ballot in 45 states and the District of Columbia. We've deployed a contingent to each state to coordinate our get out the vote drive. And we're raising money to drive the campaign home to election day. But we need to raise $1,000,000 in October to get it done. Our first October goal is to raise $250,000 by October 12. Yes, that's a heavy lift. But it's been heavy before, and you've come through every time. So, here's the idea:If you donate $17, or $170, or $10, or $50 -- whatever you can afford to donate -- by midnight tonight, we'll e-mail to you tomorrow a signed one pager listing the 17 traditions.
You can share it with your friends and family.Or just stick it in your drawer for posterity's sake.If you donate $100 now, we will send you a copy of the 150-page hard cover edition of The Seventeen Traditions -- my favorite book. And I'll autograph it.In my humble opinion, this book makes a wonderful present -- for the upcoming holidays, as a wedding present, birthday present, Mother's Day present, or for a baby shower. (This Seventeen Traditions book offer expires on October 12, 2008 at 11:59 p.m.)So, stock up now.The more the merrier. The proceeds will power our campaign during this momentous October.Thank you again for your generous support.Together, we are making a difference.
Onward to November
Thursday night, Governor Sarah Palin and Senator Joe Biden debated. The John McCain - Sarah Palin campaign issued this statement regarding the debate:
Statement From Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker
ARLINGTON, VA -- McCain-Palin 2008 Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker issued the following statement on tonight's Vice Presidential Debate: "Tonight, Governor Palin proved beyond any doubt that she is ready to lead as Vice President of the United States. She won this debate, putting Joe Biden on defense on energy, foreign policy, taxes and the definition of change. Governor Palin laid bare Barack Obama's record of voting to raise taxes, opposing the surge in Iraq, and proposing to meet unconditionally with the leaders of state sponsors of terror. The differences between the Obama-Biden ticket and the McCain-Palin ticket could not have been clearer. The American people saw stark contrasts in style and worldview. They saw Joe Biden, a Washington insider and a 36-year Senator, and Governor Palin, a Washington outsider and a maverick reformer. Governor Palin was direct, forceful and a breath of fresh air."
The McCain - Palin campaign also quotes Geraldine Ferraro, the first women to make the ticket of one of the country's two major parties (1984, the Democratic ticket of Mondale - Ferraro). Ferraro stated on NBC: "I really wanted her to get up there and do a good job, and I think she did. . . . I think it was a good evening for -- certainly for Governor Palin. . . . . I think she showed she is certainly capable of going toe to toe with a man who is more than qualified to be vice president, if not president of the United States."
Quickly, TV notes, NOW on PBS offers a look at New Mexico which is seen as a battleground state in the 2008 election and speak to various voting groups as well as to Governor Bill Richardson. Washington Week finds Gwen sitting around the table with four journalists including the AP's Charles Babington. (And for others, 'journalists' is being generous.) In a book note, independent journalist David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which came out last month. The Oakland Institute notes: "Since NAFTA's passage in 1993, the U.S. Congress has debated and passed several new trade agreements - with Peru, Jordan, Chile, and the Central American Free Trade Agreement. At the same time it has debated immigration policy as though those trade agreements bore no relationship to the waves of displaced people migrating to the U.S., looking for work. Meanwhile, a rising tide of anti-immigrant hysteria has increasingly demonized those migrants, leading to measures that deny them jobs, rights, or any pretense of equality with people living in the communities around them. To resolve any of these dilemmas, from adopting rational and humane immigration policies to reducing the fear and hostility towards migrants, Uprooted: The Impact of Free Market on Migrants, a new Backgrounder from the Oakland Institute, suggests the starting point has be an examination of the way U.S. policies have both produced migration and criminalized migrants."iraqthe new york timeserica goodearmen keteyianpia malbrandemocracy nowkaren deyoungwalter pincusthe washington postthe los angeles timesborzou daragahimark mazzettiscott petersondavid baconnow on pbspbswashington week
Posted at 08:52 am by politicsscree
Permalink
Oct 2, 2008
ralph nader, the lenny bruce of politics
ralph nader is the lenny bruce of politics. lenny bruce was a comic (he died in 1968) and he tried to use comedy to tell the truth. it was too much for some people. they went after him. they tried to destroy him, they tried to ostracize him. a lot like some democrats try to do to ralph nader. the truth makes some people uncomfortable so they lash out. they lashed out at lenny as well. i see the 2000 election as being similar to lenny being busted for his act in 1961 and from there it was all downhill for lenny bruce. but that's not been the case for ralph. ralph keeps telling the truth and it appears to make him stronger. he's not trying to win friends. he's not trying to sugar coat. he's speaking the truth and i think there is a real hunger for it. if you doubt that ralph has succeded past 2000, grasp that in 2008 he is on more state ballots than he's ever been in any other run. he is on the ballot in 45 states. he is also on the ballot in d.c. and he can be written in on 4 states. the only state you can't vote for ralph nader and matt gonzalez is oklahoma. so this time, lenny bruce wins. and that's a victory for all of us because ralph is about the truth. when the truth wins, america wins. when we face reality, we are stronger as a people and we can accomplish so much. ralph's standing up for truth and he's taking all the hits, slams and slanders. we've got the easy job. all we have to do is vote for him. we can do more. we can talk to our friends. we can get the word out. we can do any number of things. but if we do nothing else, we can vote for truth in november by voting for nader - gonzalez. let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:' Thursday, October 2, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, military court-martials continue, Iraqi widows in Baghdad live in appalling conditions (provided by the government!), and more.
Starting with an update to the September 17th snapshot which noted:
BBC reports that Sgt John Hatley, Sgt 1st Class Joseph Mayo and Sgt Michael Lehy Jr. are charged with murdering four Iraqis ('blindfolded, shot and dumped in a canal in April 2007'). . . . CBC notes, "The killings are alleged to have been retribution for casualties suffered by U.S. forces." CBC also states that four more are being held and are under investigation (with two of the four US soldiers having been charged). AP, however, says the four additional soldiers 'have already been charged with conspiracy in the case'." None of those three soldiers charged with murder has entered a plea but one of the four charged with conspiracy has: Spc Belmor Ramos. AP reports that Ramos "pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to seven months in prison Thursday in the deaths of four Iraqis, saying he stood guard from a machine-gun turret while the bound and blindfolded prisoners were shot."
BBC reports today that Spc Steven Ribodry "has been jailed for eight months after admitting playing a part in the killings of four Iraqi men in April 2007" -- accessory after the fact. George Frey (AP) adds that Ribordy "pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of accessory to murder and was sentenced to eight months in prison" and "also will receive a bad conduct discharge". RTT News quotes Ribordy telling the court, "The reason I didn't say anything was because of loyalty to my comrades." CBS and AP quote him also stating, "I wasn't ordered or asked in any way, shape or form to move the body. I wanted to get it done and get out there -- I didn't want anybody getting in trouble." Matt Millham (Stars and Stripes) explained in August that Ribordy was among the four (Staff Sgt Jess Cunnigham, Spc Belmor Ramos, Sgt Charles Quigley and Ribordy) suspected "in the alleged cover-up. The soldiers who pulled the triggers, according to Sgt. Daniel Evoy, were 1st Sgt. John Hatley, who he called a beloved company first sergeant; Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Mayo, the company's master gunner; and Sgt. Michael Leahy, a medic." Reuters notes the "charge against" Riobordy "of conpiracy to commit premediated murder was dismissed. As part of his guilty plea, Ribordy agreed to testify in the trials of other soldiers involved".
Staying with that theme, Tony Perry (Los Angeles Times) reports on the "pretrial hearing Wednesday at Camp Pendleton" of Sgt Ryan Weemer "charged with murder for allegedly killing a prisoner Nov. 9 [2004] in the first hours of battle" who called "Sgt. Maj. Brad Kasal as a character witness". While Weemer testified as a character witness (and about the US actions in Falluja), Rick Rogers (San Diego Union Tribune) reports that Sgt Jermaine Nelson did not despite having immunity and being "ordered to testify. But Nelson wouldn't talk about what transpired during a Nov. 9, 2004, battle in Fallujah. He, Weemer and other Marines allegedly found several men during a house-to-house search, held them captive and then shot them to death after interpreting their superiors' comments over the radio as an order to kill. 'At this time, sir, I am going to continue to use my Fifth Amendment right,' Nelson said in reply to questions from the prosecutor." Perry reports that Sgt Jose Nazario is also refusing to provide testimony and this follows Nazario's own court-martial which Weemer and Nelson refused to testify at leading to an acquittal for Nazario. As the White House attempts to push through a treaty with the puppet government in Baghdad (while calling it a SOFA) a sticky point has been the issue of immunity for US service members whom Iraqis feel are not punished for criminal actions. Court-martials like Weemer's do nothing to allay those fears. (And long after the next US president is sworn in, this will still be an issue.)
In other military legal news, David Allen (Stars and Stripes) reports, "Marine Sgt. Bassa Cisse was sentenced to eight years in prison and a dishonorable discharge Wednesday for beating to death his 6-year-old daughter. . . . An Air Force psychiatrist testified that Cisse suffered from PTSD as a result of his second tour in Iraq, when a patrol vehicle he commanded almost tipped over a cliff. However, the prosecution submitted a medical report by a Navy psychologist that rejected the PTSD diagnosis."
From Iraq, Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) examines the various tensions between different factions of Iraqis and how elections might put new sections into power which "in turn means that groups currently in power would likely lose ground". Rubin explains how many groupings (such as the "Awakening" Councils and followers of Moqtada al-Sadr) can point to the names of colleagues who were assassinated, the struggle in southern Iraq between the Dawa Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (both Shi'ite political parties), Al Anbar Province where there is conflict among the "Awakening" Councils and the Iraqi Islamic Party (both Sunnis) and it all comes down to who will control the resources. In the north, it's not just resources, it's a land grab (my thoughts and words, not Rubin's). Rubin notes "the Kurds are battling for hegemony in areas that lie along the border of their semiautonomous region. They are competing with Turkmens and Sunni Arabs who claim primacy of ownership to some of the same territory, particularly the city of Kirkuk and its surrounding province. Politicians have tried repeatedly since 2003 to reach a deal to resolve the disputes. But each effort has foundered on Kurdish ambitions to expand the Kurdistan region. For much of the past five years, the situation was tense but did not explode into ethnice violence. That changed in the last six months as attacks began on the party headquarters of different groups. Then in August, Kurdish soldiers in Kirkuk opened fire on Turkmens after a suicide bomb; the ensuing riot killed dozens of people. The violence spread. In early September in Khanaqin, a predominately Kurdish city that lies in neighboring Diyala Province, Iraqi Army tanks faced off against the Kurdish pesh merga, the Kurdistan security forces." On the issue of the Kurdish region, professional friend to the Kurdistan government, Peter W. Galbraith writes in today's New York Times, "You [Senator Joe Biden] have espoused a plan for an Iraqi confederation in which Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds could have controlled their own security forces in separate self-governing regions. The Bush adminsitration has created the Sunni army. Should we now encourage the Sunnis to form their own autonomous region, as allowed under Iraq's Constitution, and make the Awakening the army of that region?" No, Galbraith can't stop pimping the splitting up of Iraq. It's really the only topic Galbraith has. As noted last week, Galbraith wrote of John McCain, "He has denounced the Obama-Biden plan for a decentralized state but has said nothing about how he would protect Iraq's Kurds, the only committed American allies in the country." ["Is This a 'Victory'?" (New York Review of Books)]. It's really important for Galbraith to pretend that the "Awakening" Councils are supported by the people when that is not the case. They are thugs placed on the US payroll -- as both US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and Gen David Petraeus freely admitted to Congress last April -- to get them to stop attacking US troops. They intimidate the people of the regions they allegedly 'protect.' But Galbraith's concern has always been (and remains) the oil-rich Kurdistan region.
Rubin doesn't touch on the 'handover' yesterday in Iraq in her article. Jeffrey Fleishman (Los Angeles Times) reports on the tension and suspicion the 'handover' of the "Awakening" Council to the puppet government has created: "Some leaders of the Sons of Iraq feel that the transition represents a betrayal by the U.S. The government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki also questioned the Sunni fighters loyalty to Iraqi forces and whether it can provide jobs and training for them." NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro (Morning Edition) reported Monday where "Awakening" members in Diyala Province feel they are being targeted with violence and phony arrest warrants leading some to leave Iraq including two Garcia-Navarro spoke with who moved to Syria.
Yesterday Garcia-Navarro reported on Iraqi widows for All Things Considered condemned to a trailer park in Baghdad with metal roofs that make it impossible to inhabit due to the heat and "with no electricity or running water." (This must qualify as 'helping' to al-Maliki.) Garcia-Navarro spoke with widow Hiba Attiyah who states, "When my husband was alive, I used to depend on him for everything. After his death, I've been through many black days and difficult times. My three boys did not come here to live with me in this trailer because there is not enough space. They live now with my mom and I don't get to see them much."
Two bombings in Iraq today managed to grab some press attention. Corrine Reilly, Sahar Issa and Jenan Hussein (McClatchy Newspapers) report the bombings took place "at Baghdad mosques" this morning "as Shiites marked the first day of Eid, a three-day celebration that follows Ramadan, Islam's holy month." Mohammed Abbas and Peter Graff (Reuters) offer, "A leg and other body parts could be seen more than 100 metres from where a bomber detonated a taxi after ramming it into a police vehicle guarding a Shi'ite prayer hall in the Zafaraniya district, said a Reuters TV cameraman at the scene. A vegetable truck used to carry away the bodies was covered in blood, and glass was shattered in surrounding buildings." Deborah Haynes (Times of London) adds, "Severed limbs littered the bloodied streets at the site of both explosions, while ambulances wailed into action, evacuating the wounded and the dead." Al Jazeera Magazine explains, "Security officials said a bomber blew himself up in a mosque in Jadida, a Shia district of southern Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 30. In the second attack, another bomber slammed his explosives-laded car into an Iraqi military armored vehicle at a checkpoint near a mosque in the nearby district of Zafaraniyah". CNN puts the death toll at "at least 20". Vanessa Gera (AP) quotes eye witness Ammar Hashim stating, "Pools of blood and the smell of burned flesh was everywhere and I saw a man of about 70 bleeding and lying on the ground from injuries."
In other reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad car bombing targeting "a U.S. military convoy" that destroyed 1 "U.S. army vehicle" and wounded two Iraqis. CBS and AP report that four US service members were wounded in the bombing.
Shootings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an attempted assassination of Sheikh Radhwan Izuddin in Nineveh Province which he "survived . . . with superficial injuries" and an attack on a minibus in Diyala Province in which 3 women, 1 man and 2 children were shot dead and two adults were wounded. On the minibus attack, Ken Sury (Waco Tribune) adds, "The dead were heading to Baquoba to visit relatives"
Corpses?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad.
Turning to the US presidential race. Robin Morgan has a column at Women's Media Center. Violet Socks (Reclusive Leftist) has a response. You can also see Marcia's "" and "." I'll address in part tonight in "I Hate The War." Robin's column is a very bad column. It will be addressed in part tonight because Jim's asked me to save a topic (as Kat noted Monday) for Third this weekend. After that goes up, Robin's column will appear even more uninformed. For now, you can read Marcia's "When feminist 'leaders' lie" and "Ralph Nader, HB Melissa, and more" Robin is a strong voice and real feminist leader (not a 'leader') so it's a damn shame she chose to publish that column. Again, we'll address tonight. For now, she's elected to play a round of "Bash the Bitch." It's not pretty. It is embarrassing and it is deeply harmful to feminism. And let's be really clear, no one would mistake Robin's column for a "catfight." It is "Bash the Bitch." Which is worse? "Bash the Bitch" is how you get women burned at the stake in earlier times. Today, you burn them with lies, half-truths and a double standard. My opinion, "Bash the Bitch" is much worse than a "catfight." Robin should have known better. Violet Socks also points out that while Governor Palin proudly defines herself as a feminist, Michelle Obama replied when asked that question, "You know, I'm not that into labels. So probably, if you laid out a feminist agenda, I would probably agree with a large portion of it. I wouldn't identify as a feminist just like I probably wouldn't identify as a liberal or a progressive." Well of course she wouldn't. Sexism is the theme of the Obama household. Many a foolish woman has said "well he has two daughters!" That has to be the most insane and ahistorical remark made yet. Are we supposed to believe that women just emerged in the last few decades? Men have always had daughters and sons. And sexism has always thrived. Get a grip. Your first clue was his insistence upon going along with Michelle to a job interview (Michelle's job interview). That tells you his actual opinion of women -- their abilities and their intellect. It would appear Robin's been bitten by the Sour Grape Girl syndrome. Hopefully, it's a 24-hour viral sort of illness. Semi-related, garychappelhill (The Confluence) has a post. It has nothing to do with this topic but a comment garychappelhill left on Riverdaughter's post resulted in a number of e-mails here. While the sour grape girls can't bring themselves to call out homophobia, a lot of people are suffering. Gary is a gay man and wrote of the damage done to the LGBT community in Barack's campaign. That topic will be brought up tonight but I probably won't have time to link to him and will probably focus more on lesbians than gay males so we're including a link to his post. A number of community members e-mailed afraid that he would stop writing. He's already written a post today. That's an understandable fear. Team Obama has run an ugly, disgusting campaign and the 'progressives' have refused to call it out thereby sending the message to so many people that they are unwanted. PUMA is only one response to the ugly campaign. There are a number of people who've been made to feel they do not fit in with the 'grand vision.' Sadly, Robin's very bad column will only further that impression.
Tonight Governor Sarah Palin debates Senator Joe Biden in the 'vice presidential' 'debates.' Palin is the v.p. nominee of the Republican Party, Biden of the Democratic Party. Today, the McCain-Palin ticket picked up an endorsement from the Lowell Sun which notes Senator John McCain's work with Senator Ted Kennedy on immigration and with Senator Russ Feingold on campaign-finance reform and calls McCain "America's true-blue, principled maverick."
Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party presidential candidate and Monet Drake (Howard University's The Hilltop) weighs in on her candidacy:
History is certain to be made this election, but not by Sen. Obama and Gov. Palin, but rather by the Green Party's Presidential nominee, Cynthia McKinney - a black woman. Cynthia McKinney, who was previously a Democrat, expanded her political views and won over the Green Party as the nominee for the presidential candidacy.She is a firm believer in the 2008 Green Party's Platform and a strong advocate for her "Power to the People" campaign. In a press release, her running mate, Rosa Clemente said, "Cynthia McKinney is a hero to me and many others across this country and around the world."McKinney has been actively involved in politics since 1986. She was born the daughter of Georgia state representative Billy McKinney. Previously a resident of Jamaica, she ran and won a seat in the House of Representatives representing Georgia along side her father, in 1988. She was elected the first African-American woman to Congress in 1992, however, just 10 years later, she lost her seat.Congresswoman McKinney has since been able to move forward and attempt to promote a new health care plan and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, key values set forth by the Green Party. In an International Tribunal Press Release, McKinney expressed her concern for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. "I am pleased to be among this tested and true group of activists who are committed to Katrina justice," McKinney said to dozens of supporters in the press release.
Meanwhile the US Senate passed a bail out measure late yesterday. Voting in favor of it were Senators Joe Biden, John McCain and Barack Obama. While they were all in agreement on the need or 'need' for the measure, many other Americans were not. Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate and Team Nader issued this today:
NADER STATEMENT ON BAILOUT Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez vigorously oppose Bush's $700++ billion taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. "This is not just a bailout of Wall Street" says Nader, "It's a bailing out of the bankrupt Republican and Democratic policies that have led us to where we are today with Senators John "Deregulation" McCain and Joe "MBNA" Biden leading the way. Full Statement from Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez: "The revised bailout legislation is the same $700 billion piece of burnt toast, with some window dressing, sugar coating, and $150 billion of pork tax cuts covering everything from casinos to coal. But this isn't even the main course that Senate is serving up for Congress on Friday. The main course is on page 92 of the 451 page document: BORROWING LIMITS TEMPORARILY LIFTED. - During the period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending on December 31, 2009, the Board of Directors of the Corporation may request from the Secretary, and the Secretary shall approve, a loan or loans in an amount or amounts necessary to carry out this subsection, without regard to the limitations on such borrowing under section 14(a) and 15(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1824(a), 1825(c)). Translation: Bush, McCain, and Obama want Congress to co-sign off on the mother of all blank checks, paving the way for a sinking dollar and higher interest rates. By bumping the FDIC's line of credit at the Treasury from $30 billion to infinity, the FDIC assumes fiat powers to bailout to its heart content, leaving the taxpayer to pay the bill. This unacceptable unlimited right to ransack taxpayers would last until 2010. "The bailout ignores the needs of millions of swindled families facing foreclosure, and it squanders an opportunity to bring about real regulatory change, decisive shareholder power over their companies' bosses, and authentic taxpayer equity that would prevent economic crises like this from happening again. Wall Street's wildly overpaid bosses are addicted to speculative gambling with other people's money. When a drug addict is facing overdose, you don't give them more needles. According to Richard W. Fisher, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: "The seizures and convulsions we have experienced in the debt and equity markets have been the consequences of a sustained orgy of excess and reckless behavior, not a too-tight monetary policy. In the end, we're going to have to deal with the underlying stock of housing." "We need to protect homeowners and our neighborhoods first. That's why Nader/Gonzalez support introducing a law with a 5-year sunset clause that would provide homeowners facing foreclosure the right to rent to own their homes at fair market value. "Wall Street is out of control. We need to bring some sense of accountability, transparency, and law and order back to Wall Street's crooks and speculators, or they will desperately seek socialism to bail out their criminal corporate capitalism, going again and again to the taxpayer trough in Washington DC each time. That's why Nader/Gonzalez support a Wall Street speculation tax, starting on derivatives, which would make Wall Street less like Las Vegas, and generate enough funds to more than eliminate the federal tax burden on the first $50,000 of income for every working American. Click here for Nader's Ten Point Planiraqtony perrythe los angeles timesjeffrey fleishmanrick rogersthe new york timesalissa j. rubinmcclatchy newspaperscorinne reillysahar issajenan husseindeborah haynesnprlourdes garcia-navarromorning editionrobin morgan
Posted at 09:06 pm by politicsscree
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isaiah captures the essense of kvh
Posted at 07:14 am by politicsscree
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kat reviews rickie lee jones and norah jones
cedric and i both got e-mails on our reposts yesterday to our mirror sites. we were asked to do it again sometime and since sherry e-mailed me saying that her favorite review by kat was ___, we're doing it today. this is kat's review of rickie lee jones and norah jones' cds from 2007.
"Those Jones girls." Kat: That was always accompanied with a heavy sigh and said by my grandmother. I'm not really sure what year it started but the illegal war in Vietnam was going on and my grandfather was "resting." He'd had a heart attack and retired or been retired, they never tell kids anything, and my grandparents had moved in with us. The Jones family lived on our street, four houses down. They were a mother, a father, a son in Vietnam and two daughters. The
blonde daughter was the older of the two and the first hippie on our
street. This was apparently a big deal to my grandparents. My
grandfather appeared to miss the sight of her long legs in a miniskirt
while my grandmother fretted over why "that Jones girl" didn't do
anything with her hair. The other sister was two years younger,
dark haired and always reminded me of Marlo Thomas but everyone else
always said Mary Tyler Moore. Actually, when I was a kid, they said
"Laura Petrie." It was only when I was a teenager, and MTM had her own
show, that they said Mary Tyler Moore. Among the neighborhood
kids, there was huge split about who you liked. The fault line usually
left those trying to figure out life on one side and those who still
believed their parents were infallible and All Mighty on the other. One
day, the big news was that the Jones boy had been injured in Vietnam
and would be coming home. As wounds went, it either wasn't very bad or
they were sugar coating it for the kids. Concern replaced
curiosity when my mother and grandmother were trying to round up a kid
or two to drag along as they took food over to the Joneses. My sisters
weren't home and my brothers weren't interested. You better believe I
grabbed the dangling invite. We were all in the Jones kitchen,
with the mother. The adults were drinking coffee. My mother was
listening to what little was known at this point. But my grandmother
had a look in her eye I knew well. Suddenly she was standing and
announcing that I needed to go to the bathroom, but keep talking, she'd
take me. I don't remember how old I was at the time, 9? 13?, but I was
too old to need someone "taking" me to the bathroom. But that's not
what this was about. This was about snooping and you couldn't know my
grandmother without knowing that hours spent watching the neighborhood
from the front window was just a warm up. The first thing my
grandmother did on any visit to fresh territory was start opening
cabinets. She didn't hide this. She'd be in the middle of talking and
just get up, go to someone's kitchen cabinets and start looking
through. She must have been restraining herself on this visit out of
'respect' for the wounded Jones boy. The Jones house was
interesting to the whole neighborhood for a number of reasons.
Primarily because the family really didn't 'mix.' The two oldest kids
did, the Jones boy and the Jones girl. Before he was sent to Vietnam,
he'd hang out with the other guys, fixing cars in the drive way. Or
trying to fix cars in the drive way. They spent hours on those cars.
He'd smile at the kids younger than 16, maybe give a wave. His sister
also stuck to the older kids and I must have spent at least one entire
summer hearing my oldest sister discuss how she was "mature" but
because she was one grade behind, she might as well not exist. Once a
year, the entire family would turn out, at 4th of July, for the big
backyard b-b-q. That was at our house and adult women were always
pestering my mother with questions about what was the Jones mother like
and how did she get her to come to the b-b-q when she wouldn't do
anything else with the neighborhood? Another point of interest was
their house which, unlike the rest, was set back from the street and
had these huge bushes. Added to the mystery of the family. For
me, personally, there was also the fact that I was one of eight
children, living in cramped quarters with two parents and a set of a
grandparents. We were the largest family on the block but there
were others with six and five children. The smallest family on our
block, outside of the occasional set of newlyweds just moving in, was
the Jones family with just three kids. What must that be like? The
daughters had their own bedrooms and, as my grandmother and I found
out, the youngest had a white canopy bed (sheets and canopy were pink)
that matched a tidy as a pin desk and bureau. The curtains were also
pink. There was nothing on the white walls but this really bad framed
pastel of a line of ballerinas. Pinned inside the closet, we found a
magazine poster of someone and I'll say now it was Tony DiFranco just
to keep the story moving. It may have been someone like him, but I
really don't remember now. I remember thinking, whatever age I was, how
uncool the guy was. I also remember my grandmother whispering "little
rebel" and realizing how truly out of it my grandmother was. The
two shared a bathroom and I was especially knocked out or jealous over
this. It was between their bedrooms and they could enter it from the
door in the hall, if they wanted, or from either of their bedrooms. It
was more than the vast array of makeup, pimple cream, nail polish
bottles, et al that stood out. Oh to be able to stumble out of bed --
in a room I shared with no sister -- walk straight to a door, open it
and have a bathroom. Instead, in my family, the kids were always lined
down the hall waiting our turn in the designated children's bathroom. My
oldest sister had ruined it for all of us when she left the iron on in
my parent's bathroom, face down on the vanity, when she stopped in the
midst of straightening her long hair, to take a phone call. In those
pre-cordless phone days, "lucky" was having a phone with a really long
cord. The Jones girls' bathroom was just a little too fussed
over. Like a mother had picked out everything, the way the youngest
daughter's bedroom looked. We were at the door leading into the other
daughter's room and we opened it and oh my God. Now the way my
grandmother was carrying on, you would have thought we found a room
full of teens fixing on heroin in one corner, having an orgy in the
center of the room and off in another corner putting together a bomb
they were planning to use on the Statue of Liberty or at least the
local Carl Jr.'s. I didn't go for the drama but, no argument, it
was impressive. The ceiling had a painting of Jimi Hendrix. It wasn't
'artistically pure,' but there was no mistaking the man was Hendrix.
(For any wondering, my grandmother's shock had nothing to do with
Hendrix' skin color. She could surprise you for an old woman. On the
issue of civil rights, she was 100% for it and was fond of saying "we
Irish" knew all about discrimination and had an obligation to fight it
everywhere.) My own thoughts were, and I'd already started drawing
and painting at this point, "Eh, a little too Sunday comics." But I
could tell it was Hendrix and mainly concerned with how she was
physically able to paint the entire ceiling. The curtains were heavy
and we just had the light from the bathroom so my grandmother flipped
the switch, a red glow bathed the room, and then I was knocked out. The
Hendrix ceiling was like one of those blue light posters. Very creative. On
the desk next to the bed, my grandmother had lost interest in the
ceiling, were a couple of lava lamps, a clock radio and a square device
that my grandmother couldn't figure out. I was about to tell her it was
a strobe light but she'd already turned it on and spent a few second
blinking before declaring "Drugs" and switching it off. If
tomorrow I was put under oath, I couldn't tell you what color the walls
were. I could guess that they were white since that was the color of
all the walls in the house. But you couldn't see any wall. Everything
was covered with clippings and photos torn out of magazines. These
weren't the glossies from 16. When there was a break from
this, it was only to make room for something drawn or painted on a
piece of paper. Sometimes it was just a slogan on a piece of a paper
like: "LET'S TRY LIVING TOGETHER." I was looking at as much as I could,
a compiled rock history that was actually then current, but my
grandmother was fretting about all the holes in the wall from so many
thumb tacks. She was at the closet door now but hesitating as if she
was too afraid of what she would find. This from the woman who, again,
eagerly rifled through your cabinets while she was standing before you. So
I did the mature thing and stepped around her. I opened the closet and
there were a ton of groovy clothes, not all hanging. There were also a
ton of maps and travel books. (My grandmother's comment was "I bet her
mother has no idea.") I think it was all too much for my grandmother
but she covered that by saying we'd been gone too long and we headed
back to the kitchen. The Jones boy came home and nothing much
happened for awhile. My grandfather would tell us kids, when our
parents weren't around, that the Jones boy was mainly shell shocked and
my grandmother would tell him to stop, that kids didn't need to hear
about this. But one night he was out in the Jones family Buick,
apparently drunk, and creamed Ray's Barracuda. That was a car
put out by Plymouth and I know that only because I was starting to get
heavily interested in guys. Guys like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
and Jim Morrison. None of whom lived in my neighborhood. So I'd try to
find something in common those guys had with the older teenagers that
were on my block. Ray and his father had gotten the Barracuda at a
public auction. It had been pulled out of the Bay, or that's what
everyone said. When it first got hauled back to their drive, not only
could you not drive it, but it was an eyesore. And don't think my
grandmother didn't note that fact every day. But Ray and the other boys
worked on it and worked on it. I'd watch from my upstairs window
sometimes -- like when they covered the windows with newspapers and
spray painted it blue. And through weeks and weeks of work, they got
that car running and it looked brand new. It was Ray's car but every
guy on the block took pride in it. Then came the Jones boy
creaming it and I swear there would have been a next day ass kicking if
everyone wasn't saying, "Well, he just got back from the war." I should
probably note that Ray's car wasn't parked on the street. The Jones boy
had jumped a curve, driven across the family's front yard and hit the
Barracuda full on in the passenger side. All any of us
neighborhood kids cared about was the car but I know some of the
parents were talking about how the yard was torn up as well. The
Jones parents had offered to pay to have it fixed but Ray's dad was all
about how he'd been to Korea and he understood as he refused the money.
The boys were back, pulling out whatever you call the inside of car
doors and using rubber hammers (which I'm sure have another name) to
try to bang out the dents. They did that over and over for a week
before they finally hit the wrecking yards and found a score. But
that was really the beginning of the end of the mystery. The blonde
Jones girl was making it very clear she wasn't part of the family
anymore or even part of the neighborhood. It might have been as much as
six months later that she split for good or it might have only been two
weeks. Her exit was big drama as she stood in their drive way screaming
at her parents, who were trying to get her back in the house, that they
weren't helping her brother "and he needs help!" That was it and she
was out of there. Maybe out of embarrassment over that or Ray's
car, they made an attempt to interact with the neighbors more. They'd
walk over in the evenings with their youngest daughter who looked put
out and talk to a neighbor, then talk to another. I remember once
coming home from school to find the Jones mother crying to my mother in
our kitchen and knowing to back my butt right back out before my mother
told me. Then came the big moment. The moment everyone in the
neighborhood talked about. It was a summer day and after dinner, but
the sun was still out. The Jones boy was out on their front yard
screaming. We were hurried into the house and I ran straight to my
bedroom window because I had never seen a man nude except in statues
and paintings. He was hollering about the war being a crime, something
the older teenagers might whisper but most wouldn't say anything, it
was my age group that would say that full out, even in front of our
parents. Whatever he was saying, I remember thinking, "You tell 'em!" But
I was more interested in his body. He had a nasty wound on his chest,
left side, but other than that, forget the David, this was the body to
check out. Even though my other sisters were trying to nudge me out of
the way to get a better look, you know I wasn't giving up my perch. So
that's what one of those looked like on an adult male. Lot of hair
around the thing but interesting. His parents were trying to talk to
him and the father kept trying to put a blanket over him. He kept
tossing it to the ground. After about ten minutes, he finally stormed
off, down the street, still naked. No one ever stopped talking
about that. Even two years later, we'd still mention it. The grown ups
tried to pretend like they didn't talk about it. But we'd catch the
silences when we entered a room. Sometimes, we'd catch a word or two
before they saw us. The Jones boy was gone. He never came back.
The family put a "FOR SALE" sign up in the front yard. They stopped
trying to mingle and I remember when the father would get out of his
car at the end of the day, he'd make a point to look down at the ground
and avoid catching the eye of anyone out in their own yards. At least
one more time, the mother visited mine. The youngest Jones girl went
around looking sad and angry. I've actually got a picture, one of the
first ones I ever took, with her in it. I had my friends lined up in
the front yard to take a picture and she's walking past in the
background. She's glaring out of the corner of her eye. Now you're probably either saying "Go on" right now or asking what this has to do with music? Two Jones women, different Jones women, have CDs out now. Rickie Lee Jones put out The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard and Norah Jones put out Not Too Late. When I listen, they remind me of those Jones girls.  Rickie
Lee Jones has a stripped down sound on this album. There's an electric
piano on one track and a keyboard on the other, but no "We Belong."
It's a guitar driven CD and she's exploring issues of
spirituality/state of the world throughout. It's a new tactic for her
but it works, it satisfies and reminds you of just how much RLJ has
always refused to sit still. It's really meaningless to say "Check out
track ___ and track ___" because she's offering a full album, an
artistic journey. I'm certain that "Lamp Of the Body," "It Hurts,"
"Circle In The Sand" or "Elvis Cadillac" will end up on a RLJ
collection at some point in the future, maybe more than one. But this
really works best as a full listen and you don't want to use "shuffle,"
you want to listen straight through and it's easy to do so when it
kicks off with something as strong as "Nobody Knows My Name."  Then
we've got Norah Jones known to too many as "Snorah Jones." See RLJ
reminds me of the blonde daughter from my street. She's always
exploring and on a journey. She's life itself. Norah Jones is the other
sister. She's the one everybody's parents like. And I wasn't thinking
I'd even enjoy this CD. But there's something about Not Too Late
that reminds me of the photo I took that I was telling you about. I
don't know what's happened in Norah Jones' life, from press accounts,
not much and all is happy. But don't ever swear on press accounts. Maybe
though Norah Jones hasn't suffered some tremendous loss, maybe she's
just realized that being beloved by parents everywhere isn't quite
where she wants to be? Maybe she doesn't see the height of art as
appearing in Two Weeks Notice? She's actually worked her butt
off her to stretch. It's not the stretch RLJ regularly makes, but it's
a huge improvement over her past work. Not Too Late
works as an album not because of art. There's no cohesive statement
here. Tracks seven, eight and nine demonstrate that might be a
possibility in the future. I don't know that Norah Jones' inner world
has fallen apart, maybe she didn't need it to move beyond the cloying
"Come Away With Me" or the did not come song that led to many jokes
about her. She was supposed to be stretching on the last album and that
was nothing but standing still. Here, she's going for something and
sometimes reaching it and sometimes failing. So you still get the
standard issue "Be My Somebody," for instance. A song no one needed
because there are about sixty similar ones being piped in at Starbucks
across the country as I type. But there's enough here to
demonstrate that she realizes she needs to stretch and enough to
indicate that she's actually capable of art and not just pleasing
sounds. I'd say she's got half of an interesting album here. After
track nine, she's back to doing what she's always done. It plays like
somebody got scared. Like, in the middle of playing Red Light Green
Light on the school yard, she froze and you're waiting for the kid on
the swing to knock into her and send her sprawling to the ground. (The
whistle on "Little Room" may lead you to cheer that knocking down.) I
think the front and back cover of the standard CD (there's a deluxe
edition) capture the two sides of this album. On the front cover, she's
sitting with her dress spread out looking too dainty for this world,
like a doll a child's left behind (and outgrown). The back cover isn't
a photo, it's a painting. She doesn't look pretty with a pointy face
and too large eyes. Her knees are nobby, her elbows are pointy. She's
at a piano playing. That's the Norah coming through on the best tracks.
Miss Pretty comes through on the worst. If she can lose the need to be pretty, she might actually someday have a shot at something like The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard.
That'll require being freer with her emotions and her art and it will
mean more songs that aren't pretty. For now, she's put out a better CD
than most of us would have expected with moments of real art.  rickie lee jones norah joneskats kornerthe common ills
Posted at 07:11 am by politicsscree
Permalink
"I've
got a pretty long track record covering politics and news," she said.
"so I'm not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to
destroy my reputation. The proof is in the pudding. They can watch the
debate tomorrow night and make their own decisions about whether or not
I've done my job."
Others in the McCain-Palin nexus sowed seeds of doubt about Ifill.
Asked
by Sean Hannity if she was worried about Ifill, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
said, "I am not going to let it be a concern," adding "that just makes
us work harder. It makes us want to communicate even clearer and more
profoundly with the electorate, letting them know what the contrasts
are between these two tickets."
In addition, on a conference call
set up by the McCain-Palin campaign, former New York Mayor Rudy
Giuliani -- while calling Ifill a "very honest, decent journalist" and
saying there is "no question that she will be perfectly fair in the way
she asks the questions" -- also raised that very question.
"If the
moderator of this debate were someone who was writing a book that
basically was 'The Age of McCain,' I have a feeling that a lot more of
these publications would be saying that the person should not be doing
it," said Giuliani. "Now it might be totally unfair to do that. Just as
I think it's totally unfair to do this. But it's just one more
indication of how there is a double-standard in the way this campaign
is treated."that's from jake tapper's ' McCain Campaign Insinuates Bias by Moderator of VP Debate' (abc news) and gwen ifill's a joke. for laughs, let's all look back at one passage: "I've
got a pretty long track record covering politics and news," she said.
"so I'm not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to
destroy my reputation. The proof is in the pudding. They can watch the
debate tomorrow night and make their own decisions about whether or not
I've done my job."
long before the primaries ended,
gwen ifill was asking why hillary wouldn't drop out (on washington
week) and was referring to her as 'that woman' and so much more. gwen
ifill has always been in the tank for barack obama. her track
record, such as it is, is for being a fluffy piece of nonsense who,
like the other beltway gas bags, sucks up and runs with the pack. and
she's the last to critizie palin - though she has. as ava and c.i. have
repeatedly documented, gwen is the 'journalist' who brought up the 1st
amendment on air and didn't know what it said. growing flustered, she
finally said 'whatever it says' and tried to move on. a journalist
knows the 1st amendment. a 'journalist' does not. gwen's track
record also includes defending blackwater on washington week and this
was when 'covering' the september 2007 shooting. so gwen has no track record except as a useless gas bag. when even juan williams is calling for her to step down, you know it's bigger than gwen lets on. oh, by the way, remember when scooter libby was indicted? and remember when he was found guilty? long
before that happened, gwen had assured viewers it was just 'a summer
scandal' which would quickly fade away. it didn't though, did it? gwen's record is 1 of incompetence. by the way, last time i highlighted jake tapper, sherry e-mailed to ask, 'why doesn't he give up news and pose for playgirl?' he is a very attractive man - especially for a journalist. on
gwen, i hope she goes through with the debate. i like to think it could
be the career destroyer for her and 1 less gas bag on the airwaves is
always a good thing. her 'fairness' record also includes
shutting out ralph nader, cynthia mckinney and all others from the
presidential race. but no 1 is supposed to notice that either. or that she vouched for jeremiah wright on washington week or any of her other efforts promoting barack obama. meanwhile,
ralph is shut out of the debates. because people are scared he might
hurt barack. apparently barack can only win on an uneven playing field.
let ralph in the debate and, oops, barack's chances might fall. so
screw democracy and the american people's right to see the candidates
running for president. better to turn the whole year (and election)
over to barack, right? a lot of us disagree. this is joe thomas' ' Letters: Real candidates would not run from Ralph Nader' ( the daily triplicate): Gas
prices are still through the roof. The price for a barrel of oil has
gone down 33 percent, but gas prices have only gone down 7 percent. Our
troops are still in Iraq even though the government there wants us to
leave.
Our borders are still broken seven years after the terrorists
attacks on our country and we still have not found and killed Osama Bin
Laden.
Our food supply has been seriously compromised and the FDA
does not do a thing about it. Everyone knows how crooked and
incompetent the Bush administration is, but nothing has changed since
Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats took over both houses of Congress.
There
are two over-hyped politicians by the names of Obama and McCain running
for president this year. John McCain will do nothing for the economy or
the home mortgage crisis. McCain and his Bush-league pals support the
trade policies and the deregulation that got us into this mess in the
first place.
What about Obama and his Democratic buddies? Are you kidding me?
A
lot of this deregulation nonsense took place during the Clinton
administration and Obama has corporate thugs from Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac advising him and funding his campaign.
There is one candidate and one candidate only who truly represents change and hope.
That
man is Ralph Nader! Call the commission on presidential debates at
202-872-1020 so Ralph Nader can get into the debates. What are McCain,
the maverick, and Obama, the agent for change, afraid of? If Obama is
the real deal, he should be more than happy to debate Nader instead of
running away like he has so far.
Joe Thomas
Brookings, Ore.now here's some events ralph has coming up: Oct. 4th, Noon
Nader/Gonzalez 2008 Rally
Waterbury, CT
195 Grand St. Waterbury, CT 06702
More info: Mike at (203) 573-9524 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Oct. 4th, 4pm
Private Gathering with Ralph Nader
Hartford, CT
RSVP: Rob (202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org
Minimum Contribution: $100
Map it
Oct. 4th, 7pm
Nader/Gonzalez 2008 Rally
Storrs, CT
Edwin O. Smith High School
1235 Storrs Rd. Storrs, CT 06268
Suggested Contribution: $10/$5 students
(203) 468-1268 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Oct. 5th, 11am
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Amherst, Massachusetts
U-Mass. Amherst, Bowker Auditorium in Stockbridge Hall
80 Campus Center Way, Amherst, MA 01003
Suggested Contribution: $10/$5 students
(504) 319-9312 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Oct. 5th, 4pm
Intimate Gathering with Ralph Nader
Waitsfield, VT
Contribution: $30 to $100
RSVP: (202) 471-5833 or rob@votenader.org
Map it
Oct. 5th, 7:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Burlington, VT
Ira Allen Chapel
26 University Place Burlington, VT 05405
Suggested Contribution: $10/ $5 students
(504) 319-9312or events@votenader.org
Map it
Oct. 6th, 12pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Hanover, NH
Alumni Hall, Hopkins Center for the Arts
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755
Suggested Contribution: $10/$5 students
(202)471-5833 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Oct. 6th, 7:30pm
Nader/Gonzalez Rally
Portland, ME
First Parish in Portland Maine, Unitarian Universalist
425 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101
Suggested Contribution: $10/$5 students
(202)471-5833 or events@votenader.org
Map itand
i'm going to note those again tomorrow night. i just had the best idea
for a post about nader (or i think it's the best) and if i write
anything else tonight, i'll use it. instead i want to open with it
tomorrow (and i'm wrote a note to myself to remember because otherwise
i would forget). let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:' Wednesday,
October 1, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Iraq falls off the news
radar, the big 'handover' takes place, and more.
Today was
'handover' for the "Awakeing" Council (also known as Sawha and "Sons of
Iraq"). The Sunni 'movement' began in Al Anbar Province in 2005 when
the US military put Sunni thugs on the US tax dollar payroll. Puppet of
the occupation Nouri al-Maliki, who staffed his ministries with Shi'ite
thugs, has long seen the "Awakening" Councils as a threat to his
supremacy in the puppet government. The
late Lt Gen William E. Odom testifed before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee April 2nd and noted of the "Awakening" Council
members:
Let me emphasize that our new
Sunni friends insist on being paid for their loyalty. I have heard, for
example, a rough estimate that the cost in one area of about 100 square
kilometers is $250,000 per day. And periodically they threaten to
defect unless their fees are increased. You might want to find out the
total costs for these deals forecasted for the next several years,
because they are not small and they do not promise to end. Remember, we
do not own these people. We merely rent them. And they can break their
lease at any moment.
The US has armed, trained and paid both
sides in the conflict. Some might point out that to be 'needed' in the
region, it helps to play both sides. During the same hearing, War Hawk
Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations got the attention of
Senator Barbara Boxer:
Barbara Boxer: Did you just say that
Maliki uses the Iraqi security forces as his militia? Did you say
that?Biddle: Yes.Barbara Boxer: If that's true and Maliki uses his
military as a force to bring about peace -- that's scandalous and that
we would have paid $20 million to train [it] and someone that we
consider an expert says it's a militia, that's shocking.
Now the
two extremist groups (neither of whom represent the bulk of Sunni and
Shia Iraqis) are being 'partnered' and at a time when distrust runs
high. Last month Charles Levinson (USA Today) reported
on some of the suspicions of "Awakening" Council members and quoted
Mullah Shihab al-Safi stating of the al-Maliki government sudden rush
to arrest "Awakening" Council members, "Our government is after us. We
sacrificed hundreds of our sons to drive al-Qaeda out. Now the
government says we are no different than terrorists." And this tension
was well known long before today. Dropping back to the September 11
snapshot:
Meanwhile the "Awakening" Council is back in the news.
These are the Sunni thugs on the US payroll ($300 a month for males,
$280 for females) because, as US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker told
Congress repeatedly in April, paying them off means they don't attack
US equipment or soldiers. That's a lot of lunch money to fork over each
money to be safe on the 'playground.' Puppet of the occupation, Nouri
al-Maliki, has long been vocally opposed to the "Awakening" Councils.
That's because he staffed with Shi'ite thugs. The two most extreme
segments of Iraq are at war with one another. al-Maliki has made it
very clear he has little use for the "Awakening" Councils and his staff
has echoed that repeatedly. With US Senators and House Reps loudly
objecting to the tax payer monies being spent on this program (one
Petraeus hails) last April, there's been a push to have the puppet
government (sitting on billions) pay the "Awakening" Council itself.
(Senator Barbara Boxer was especially vocal in April asking why the
puppet government wasn't paying them.) The new talk is that al-Maliki
will begin paying them but distrust remains on both sides.
Nicholas Spangler and Mohammed al-Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) report
that despite for-show motions in public on the part of the puppet
government, "Awakening" Council leaders remain skepitcal (with one
saying after the latest press conference, "I don't trust a word they
say") that the puppet government will take charge and pay the 99,000
"Awakening" members or that 20,000 will be absorbed "into the police
and army" starting October 1st. Thursday's press conference found Gen
Abud Ganbar declaring, "The government has ordered that monthly
salaries be paid until we can put (Awakening members) into security
forces or ministires. Payments will continue until they find jobs."
That leaves "Awakening" leaders skeptical and the reporters quote
various voices explaining why including the claim that the puppet
government has hired al Qaeda members. Khalid al-Ansary and Waleed Ibrahim (Reuters) report
on the puppet government side where grave doubts are repeatedly raised
("But he also expressed distaste for some members of the predominantly
Sunni Arab Awakening movement, an aversion shared by some other
officials.") as is the argument that there is need "to weed out"
certain members. In other words, Thursday's press conference reassured
no one and the tensions remain.
September 23rd, Erica Goode (New York Times) reported
on the tensions in Baghdad as the transfer of "Awakening" to the puppet
government approaches and notes that "Awakening" Councils in Adhamiya
"have posed increasing problems. . . . Some residents complain that the
men, not a few of them swaggering street toughs, use their power to
intimidate people. Sometimes violence erupts." At the start of last
month, Rania Abouzeid (Time magazine) was quoting
the "Awakening" Council spokesperson Mohammed Mahmood al Natah on his
dismay over the 'handover', "We wanted it to be postponed but the
decision had already been made by the government and we cannot change
it." Despite the very public nature of the tensions and the fears on
both sides, things appear to have been rushed through with very little
planning.
Near the end of September,
Lt Gen Lloyd Austin gave a briefing where he praised the "Awakening"
Council and declared, "One of our primary focus areas as we move foward
is transitioning the Sons of Iraq program to the Iraqi government. The
volunteer movement that started in Anbar and spread across the rest of
the country significantly contributed to the security successes that we
are now taking advantage of. The Sons of Iraq have paid a heavy price
fight al Qaeda and other insurgent groups, and it's important that the
government of Iraq responsibly transition them into meaningful
employment. Prime Minister Maliki has assured me that the government
will help those who help the people of Iraq. And so next week in
Baghdad the government will accept responsibility for approximately
54,000 Sons of Iraq, and we will be there to assist in the transfer."
And yet for all the words expressed, no planning appeared to have gone
into what happened next, a point NPR's JJ Sutherland repeatedly
attempted to explore. The exchange ended with this:
JJ
Sutherland: Sir, I understand that but I'[m saying, "What happens in
October? I understand eventually you want to have them be plumbers or
electricians. But in October, there are a lot of checkpoints that have
been manned by the Sons of Iraq. Are those checkpoints all going to go
away? Are they only going to be staffed by Iraqi police now? That's my
question. It's not eventually, it's next month.
Lt Gen Lloyd
Austin: Yeah. Next month the Iraqi government will begin to work their
way through this. And there's no question that some of them, some of
the checkpoints, many of the checkpoints, will be -- will be manned by
Iraqi security forces. In some cases, there may be Sons of Iraq that
will be taksed to help with that work. But in most cases, I think the
Iraqi government will be looking to transition people into different
types of jobs.
That was September 22nd and the US military was
apparently operating under the notion that things could be figured
("begin to work their way through this") at some point in October. Ann Scott Tyson (Washington Post) reported
this morning on the new Pentagon report to Congress which cited the
Pentagon's belief in the importance of the "Awakening" Councils and
also noted the "[t]ension between the government and Sunni volunteers .
. . in Diyala Province, where the Sunni population is fearful that the
government is using military opeations ostensibly aimed at al-Qaeda in
Iraq as a pretext to 'arrest, intimidate, or kill moderate Sunnis and
SOI groups who are otherwise interested in participating the political
process'." The Pentagon's report to Congress is [PDF format warning] "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" and it hails the "Awakening" Councils:
The
emergence of the SoI remains one of the major developments of the past
18 months; however, the integration and employment of SoI remain a
significant challenge. The SoI provide significant security benefits to
their local communities by protecting neighborhoods, securing key
infrastructure and roads, and identifying malign activity. What began
primarily as a Sunni effort has now taken hold in many Shi'a and mixed
Sunni-Shi'a communities as well. Today there are over 98,000 SoI
contributing to local security.
If the Pentagon believes that
one has to wonder how they missed the various "Awakening" Council
members speaking to the press repeatedly about either being on strike
(while at a checkpoint) because there was an arrest warrant out for an
"Awakening" member or telling the press that they'd learned their
checkpoint would be shut down after the 'handover'?
Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) sketched out
the basics, "Unemployment in Sunni areas remains high, basic services
are still poor, distrust of the United States and the Shiite-led Iraqi
government is widespread and fears of Shiite militias persist. On
Wednesday, al Qaisi and 54,419 other men in Baghdad province will
transition to Iraqi government control. That's more than half of the
Sons of Iraq (SOI) who're now being paid by the U.S. military to
protect neighborhoods -- and in some cases not to shoot at American
troops." John Hendren (ABC News) reports:
"Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told ABC News Iraq plans to
give 20 percent of the nation's 100,000 Sons of Iraq jobs to the police
force and army. 'I don't think that the Iraqi government neither the
Multi National Forces could achieve such success and security without
their participation,' al-Dabbagh told ABC News. But here in the small
village of Jambariyah, an al Qaeda stronghold north of Baghdad until
early this year, just one of 70 Sons of Iraq has been hired to date,
and of the 1,200 in the city of Dujail, none." Despite those (and
other) realities, the 'handover' took place today. Mary Beth Sheridan (Washington Post) reports,
"The handover of the armed groups was a low-key affair in Baghdad,
where government offices are closed for a six-day holiday marking the
end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The transition was largely
symbolic, since the U.S. military plans to stay involved with the
groups for several months as the Iraqi government begins paying their
salaries and decides how to employ them." Last month, Erica Goode and Muhafer al-Husaini (New York Times) noted
that Brig Gen Tarek Abdul Hameed declare that the puppet government in
Baghdad would indeed pick up their payrolls for the "Awakening"
Councils -- as did many outlets. However, Tim Albone (Times of London) explains,
"Senior US military sources said that America would pay the salaries of
any members of the force who did not find alternative employment." UPI cites
KUNA to inform that, according to Maj Gen Jeffery Hammond, though the
'handover' took place today al-Maliki's government will not begin
paying until November 10th. Meanwhile Nizar Latif (UAE's The National) offers this
evaluation, "However, the US military and the Sahwa themselves are
concerned that the Iraqi government may simply disband the councils and
push the former insurgents back into the role of active insurgents. In
essence it would be a repeat of a former devastating mistake, when
America disbanded the Iraqi army in 2003, leaving thousands of trained
soldiers without jobs and a score to settle against the US military."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded four people .
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash in Diyala Province that claimed 2 lives and four police officers wounded.
Moving over to the US presidential race. David Hoff (Education Week) explores
what the presidential choices mean in terms of the No Child Left Behind
Act (also known as "No Learning, Just Crib Notes") since both GOP
presidential nominee John McCain and Democratic presidential nominee
Barack Obama support it. Hoff notes three who are for quality education
(first step, end NCLB):
Ralph Nader, who is running as an independent, says
"federal policy needs to be transformed from one that uses punishments
to control schools, to one that supports teachers and students; from
one that relies primarily on standardized tests, to one that encourages
high-quality assessments. Broader measures of student learning are
needed that include reliance of classroom-based assessments along with
testing."
Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate, writes:
"Turning education over to the federal government, as through such
legislation as the No Child Left Behind Act has not worked. Trying to
fix failing schools with more money and regulations also has failed to
do anything other than waste taxpayer money without results." He
proposes ending the federal government's role in education and turning
decisions back to state and local governments.
The Green Party,
which has nominated Cynthia McKinney to be its candidate, writes in its
draft platform that "the federal Act titled No Child Left Behind
punishes where it should assist and hinders its own declared purpose.
It should be repealed or greatly redesigned." The federal government's
roles should be limited to ensuring students across states have a
"level playing field," the platform says.
Hoff notes that Barr and McKinney did vote for NCLB in 2001 while both were members of the US House of Representatives. Anita Zimmerman (The Chetek Alert) covers many presidential candidates and we'll note this section:
The
state's Green party has many of the same challenges. They don't get
much media coverage, their candidates are rarely invited to debates,
and their resources are too limited for national advertisement. Like
the Constitution party, there are "scattered individuals" but no
cohesive Barron County organization, says Jeff Peterson, co-founder of
the Wisconsin Green Party. Peterson, a 20-year veteran of the party and
a Luck resident, believes presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney
appeals to urban voters and young people. Peterson's been "politicking
from his computer," he adds. On the national level, the Green party's
base is split between 20-somethings and 50-somethings, Peterson
explains. While the party enjoys support on college campuses, it has
never succeeded in garnering the 5-percent vote necessary to "unlock
all sorts of resources," especially the monetary kind. Peterson's goal
for the election is to "maintain a presence." Voters need third-party
options, he believes, and candidates like McKinney, a former
congresswoman from Georgia, take stances on issues Republicans and
Democrats may not address.
Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate and Team Nader's Ashley Sanders explains:
Many
people tend to see the economic crisis as a problem from nowhere,
divorcing it from the deliberate and systematic dismantling of
regulation and oversight waged by the corporate sector in its fight for
ever-greater profits. Many of these same people view Barack Obama's
candidacy in similar but opposite terms, seeing him as the change
candidate from nowhere who will save our economic and political our
economic and political system--divorcing his hope message from his
actual platforms and legislative history. In
part two of her February analysis of Obama's campaign, Pam Martens
makes the connection between our rootless critiques of the economy and
our rootless support of Obama. When the same people causing a crisis are funding the man claiming to solve a crisis, we can expect more of the same.
Governor Sarah Palin is the GOP nominee for vice president and yesterday Katie Couric interviewed the McCain-Palin ticket for The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric (link has text and video and click here for transcript):
"I do," Palin said. "I'm a feminist who, uh, believes in equal rights
and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a
man has to succeed, and to try to do it all, anyway. And I'm very, very
thankful that I've been brought up in a family where gender hasn't been
an issue. You know, I've been expected to do everything growing up that
the boys were doing. We were out chopping wood and you're out hunting
and fishing and filling our freezer with good wild Alaskan game to feed
our family. So it kinda started with that."
Today the McCain-Palin campaign released the following:
Today,
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Durant (Ret.) issued the following
statement on Joe Biden's apparently false accounts of near-misses on
the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq:
"Senator Biden claimed
at a debate last year that he'd been 'shot at' while visiting Iraq. And
he has claimed repeatedly, most recently last week, that his helicopter
was 'forced down' in Afghanistan -- leaving his audience with the
impression that it was fire from the Taliban which had grounded the
aircraft. Neither of these stories appears to be true, and Senator
Biden has never accounted for the discrepancies.
"I've been on a
helicopter that was 'forced down' by enemy fire, and I've been 'shot
at.' Neither is easily confused with being caught in a snow storm or
awakened by a loud bang in the night. Senator Biden has a
responsibility to come clean on what actually happened, and explain why
he would ever say such things to the American people. And with the Vice
Presidential Debate coming up on Thursday, it is incumbent on the news
media to ask Senator Biden the tough questions -- as they have so far
failed to do -- and examine his responses closely for inconsistencies
of the kind we've witnessed in recent months.
"The American people
expect and deserve leaders who tell the truth about their record and
their experiences, and a news media that holds all candidates -- no
matter their party -- to the same standard."
When it was
Hillary, it was BIG NEWS. Was it just because she's a woman? Was it
just because the press wants to elect Barack? Tomorrow night Joe Biden
and Sarah Palin are scheduled to debate. Prior to the start of the vice
presidential debate, (3:45 p.m. local time), Senator McCain will be participating in the Women's Town Hall Meeting in Denver.iraq mcclatchy newspapersnicholas spanglermohammed al dulaimyleila fadelthe new york timeserica goodemudhafer al-husaini the washington postann scott tysontim albone
Posted at 07:09 am by politicsscree
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