Ralph Nader at work, no travelogue

NADER PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN TO OPEN LAS VEGAS OFFICE.
For Immediate Release Contact: Tony Booker
July 19, 2008 Phone:702-646-5595
E-mail: tbooker@votenader.org
The Nader/Gonzalez grass-roots campaign will open its Nevada Campaign Office on July 26, 2008. The Office is located within a complex at 2385 N. Decatur Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89108.
The opening will take place between 5:30 to 6:30 pm and Ralph Nader is scheduled to attend via conference call.
This is a historic milestone for Ralph Nader's Nevada volunteers, whose numbers are growing in this battleground state and whose commitment to re-establishing government (at all levels) which is responsive to citizens' needs, not corporate convenience at the cost and peril of us, the people.
We believe that the office will be a beacon and meeting place for the encouragement of citizen activists of like minds and those tired of choosing between evils when casting their vote.
All those interested in furthering genuine U.S. style democracy through us reverting to government of the people, by the people-instead of government dominated by corporations are welcome to come on by for a chat with our volunteers, view a video made by Ralph for this occasion and perhaps participate in the conference call with Ralph.

You will see that at a number of community sites posting tonight. That is really amazing news. Ralph Nader is getting support and doing so with so many obstacles from the media. Score one for the people.


Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The approved cover"





That is the 'approved' cover. All cartoonists take note, Barack must be portrayed as Superman and Michelle as the Statue of Liberty. Anything else will bring out the angry mob. No one must ever question St. Barack.


"Nader Mad He's Not Invited to Anti-Bush Hearing" (Jesse A. Hamilton, Hartford Courant):

But somebody wasn't invited to the Bush gripe session: Ralph Nader, independent presidential candidate and Connecticut son. Because he's been demanding Bush be impeached for years, he apparently feels left out.
Nader -- once a star of congressional committee testimony -- wrote a letter to Rep. John Conyers, the committee chairman, to complain, pointing out: "The Libertarian candidate for President, Bob Barr is also on the witness list, but I am not."

Well Ralph Nader should have been invited and smarmy little commentary by columnists won't change that. Nader not being invited is nonsense. The only reason for his being uninvited is that the Democratic Party has decided Congress is now part of their election machinery and they will not allow anyone they see as a threat to benefit. It's an abuse of power and it should frighten and bother every American. Bob Barr is being invited not because they support third party candidates but because the Democrats want to build him up in the hopes that he will be a threat to John McCain.

This is appalling. The US Congress is not the Democrats' Congress or the Republican's. It is the people's Congress and the people are supposed to be the boss. Instead, it is being used in a partisan manner to churn out votes in the election. They're attempting to abuse their power with the hopes that they can toss the election to St. Barack.

A real columnist might have grasped that and saved his or her barbs for the abuse of power and not target Ralph will them.


"Obama's Foreign Policy Speech: Defend, Extend, Expand Empire" (Kenneth J. Theisen, World Can't Wait):
Barack Obama delivered a major speech on "national security" on July 15th at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. In his speech he attempted to demonstrate that he is fit to be the next commander-in-chief of the largest war machine in history. He made clear that he intends to expand the “war on terrorism”, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He pledged to use both military might and aggressive diplomacy to achieve the goals of U.S. imperialism. His speech was timed to occur before his expected "fact-finding" trip to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Jordan, Germany, France and Britain, where he undoubtedly will continue to advocate for U.S. imperialism.
Obama has been quite vocal in his ambition as a future military leader. He supports increasing the overall size of the U.S. military by 92,000 troops and increasing the number of U.S. and allied troops sent to Afghanistan. He wrote that he would send two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan. He has also called for the use of U.S. military force in Pakistan even against the will of Pakistani leaders. This would be both similar to and an escalation of U.S. missile strikes on Pakistani sites regularly carried out by the Bush regime.

Barack was not 'fact-finding'. He was posing for photo-ops. It was less than a visit by a First Lady, much, much less. He and his Cult had the nerve to criticize Hillary for counting her trips as First Lady as experience. Those were real trips Hillary took and they meant something. Barack's just trying to get press.

I am not a fan of Laura Bush. But you better believe without her trips the US image would be even worse abroad. C.I. noted in a snapshot (in June or May) how Ms. Bush was speaking and a White House handler cut off the press conference. They can do that, they can cut her off to the press. But the handlers can't do that in the face to face. Again, no fan of Ms. Bush, but I do give her credit for going abroad. That was not a pleasure cruise. It is not as if every hour was not planned and jam packed. She worked. That was real work.

When Hillary was First Lady, she was much more active. She gave the US a face that the world could embrace. She worked very hard and that was work and that is experience.

Instead, Barack's meeting with the military and shooting hoops.

As C.I. has pointed out, Barack's offering a travelogue and people are treating it as news.

Considering that the US has a housing crisis, has problems with the food supply being safe, has infrastructure that is crumbling, you'd think someone wanting to become president would attempt to respect the American people enough to address and interact with them. You would also think someone that the defense keeps being "No one knows him!" would use this time to let the American people know him; however, people don't like him. Outside the Cult, they don't like him. So better for him that they only see him on the TV screen and in photos online and in the paper.


"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Wednesday, July 23, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Talabani says "NO!" to elections this year, the US Congress stages a feel-good session for the US army, and more.

Starting with war resistance. In June 2006, Lt Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to the illegal war. Since Judge Benjamin Settle ruled last November that the US military could not attempt a second (kanagroo) court-martial of Watada while the double-jeopardy issue remains, he has been in limbo. In a grab-bag column about a number of topics, Christina Clark (Nebraksa's Gateway) mentions Watada while discussing how the Iraq War is illegal: "Bush did not receive permission from the United Nations to invade Iraq. In September 2004, then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan stated that the war was 'not in conformity with the U.N. Charter, from our point of view and from the Charter point of view, it was illegal.' A number of military personnel, most notably 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, have refused to serve in the war because they consider it 'illegal' and have been court marshaled as a result." As Rebecca noted of Watada last Friday, "the contract expired in 2006. it's time for the military to release him. instead they keep him in the military and he has to report for duty on the base every day."

Meanwhile Chris Vanderveen (9 News Denver) reports that the War Resisters Support Campaign's Lee Zaslofsky has gone to Colorado to show his support for US war resister Robin Long who was extradited from Canada last Tuesday and states of Robin being expelled, "(Canadians) are very distressed by this. This is going against the tradition we have in our country." Meanwhile Angela Giles (The Chronicle Herald) argues for war resisters' right to remain in Canada and notes, "They have a higher obligation to international law than their 'duty' to just follow orders. . . . We now know soldiers are systematically ordered to violate international humanitarian law in Iraq -- from torture to intentionally targeting civilians -- and there are more revelations of war crimes emerging every day. . . . The U.S. soldiers seeking refuge in Canada signed up to defend their country, not to commit war crimes."

To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Turning to Iraq and starting with the latest in the provincial elections bill -- CNN reports it has been rejected today. Yesterday, the Kurdish bloc in the Iraqi Parliament staged a walk-out over a bill regarding the alleged provincial elections that allegedly would take place October 1st. The walk-out means the already much postponed provinicial elections may be postponed further. Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers) covers the political process backdrop for yesterday's actions: "Some Iraqis think that the offensives that Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki launched in the southern cities of Basra and Amara and the Baghdad slum of Sadr City were to weaken his political rivals, the Sadrists, who controlled those areas. The possibility of a months' long delay in the elections could fundamentally alter the priorities of local and national politicians." Ned Parker and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times) zoom in on the backstory/history, "The contentious issue was among several points that have delayed a vote on the law that would pave the way for the first local elections since January 2005, when most Sunni Arabs and many Shiite followers of cleric Muqtada Sadr boycotted the vote. U.S. officials believe the participation of such groups could go a long way toward righting the balance of power in provincial politics, in which a small number of parties, mainly Kurdish and Shiite Muslim, have dominated." Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) focuses on the struggle for the oil-rich Kirkuk, "The disagreement centered on the multiethnic city of Kirkuk, one of several areas in Iraq where there are competing claims over which province a city or district belongs in. The question for Kirkuk is whether it should be absorbed into the Kurdistan region -- a particularly charged question because the city sits on some of the largest unexploited oil reserves in the country. Both Arabs and Kurds lay claim to the area. At bottom, the disagreement is also about the ethnic identity of Iraq and about Arab frustration with the Kurds. Although the Kurds are a minority, they have proved adept at turning the political process to their advantage, often to the chagrin of larger ethnic and religious groups." Last December, Stephen Farrell (New York Times) reported on the attempts of the Kurdish region to take control of Kirkuk (with something other than the security forces they currently utilize) -- forcing Kurds out of the Kurdish region and into Kirkuk to live in "the squalor of the Kirkuk soccer stadium." CNN quotes this statement from President Jalal Talabani's office today, "The president, who does not agree with such a law, which was voted on by 127 deputies who do not represent half of parliament, is confident that the presidency council will not pass it." Al Jazeera points out, "Wednesday's move, which comes after protests by Kurdish and some Shia MPs, is likely to delay the elections, which have been encouraged by US officials as a key step toward repairing Iraq's sectarian rifts." BBC states, "Correspondents say this would be a blow to the outgoing US administration of President George W Bush, which sees the elections as a key step to the national reconciliation between Iraq's dividied communities." Is anyone going to make the obvious point? If elections are called out, why does Moqtada al-Sadr need to hold the line on a truce? al-Sadr's cooperation was thought to be in part due to the 'October' elections that were coming. al-Maliki started throwing down rules (or trying to) about who could and who could not participate. This was after the assault on Basra began. al-Sadr calmed the situation. And most likely did so so that the Sadr bloc could turn out for elections in October. Meanwhile AFP reports that August 1st will be the launching date for the assault on Diyala Province according to unnamed Iraqi "army and police officers." If elections are on hold until 2009, the assault might play out elsewhere in Iraq the same way the Basra assault did. In some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Diyala Province roadside bombing that claimed the life of 1 woman. Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing that left three police officers wounded and a Mosul mortar attack that left two people wounded.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 person shot down in Mosul this mornging with 2 Iraqi troops shot dead in Mosul this afternoon.

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad.


"The purpose of today's hearing," US House Rep Susan Davis said yesterday as she brought to order the House Armed Services Committee's Military Personnel Subcommittee, "is to take a hard look at the current state of the Army Medical Action Plan This will be the third hearing this subcomitt has held on the Army Medical Action Plan -- the army's response to the revelations at Walter Reed Army Medical Center last year, since it was issued in June 2007. When the Army Medical Action Plan execution order was issued last summer, the military personnel subcomittee believed that the army had finally demonstrated a full understanding and acceptance of the organizational and systemic short comings that had led to the scandalous conditions at Walter Reed. We felt that the Army Medical Action Plan was a comprehensive and ambitious blue print to tackle these issues head on. After years of frustration many on the subcomittee believed that the army was finally ready to take the necessary steps to solve these problems. However, from our very first briefing on the Army Medical Action Plan, we had two significant concerns. The first was that the army would be unable to initially dedicate and then maintain over the long haul the level of resources required by the Army Medical Action Plan. Specifically, we were worried that the army would be unable to assign adequate numbers of personnel to the Warrior Transition Units. Why? Because the core of the Warrior Transition Units were to be the same soldiers that make up the backbone of our brigade combat teams: mid-grade, non-commissioned officers. And these soldiers were already in short supply. The second concern was that army commanders would overwhelm the Warrior Tranistion Units by sending them all of their soldiers with medical issues rather than just those with complex injuries or conditions that required comprehensive case management. In truth, we do not feel that this was necessarily a bad thing especially if it helped units deploy at full strength while injured or ill soldiers had the opportunity to fully recover Of course, this would only work if Warrior Transition Units were properly resourced to take care of these soldiers. From June 2007 through February 2008, the members and staff of this subcommittee made numerous visits to Warrior Transition Units throughout the army. The overall trend we observed was positive. The Army Medical Action Plan was clearly providing better support for recovering soldiers than the previous medical holdover system. One wounded warrior commented, 'Thank God for the Warrior Transition Unit. Things are so much better than they were before.' That was good to hear but despite the positive trends we were frustrated at the slow progress of implementing the AMAP. We felt that things should have and could have been moving faster. We also felt that there was a discconnect between how quickly the army leadership believed things were happening and what the facts on the ground seemed to indicate. Again, despite the challenges, we felt things were moving in an overall, positive direction. However our concerns about Warrior Transition Unit staffing levels and the potential of line units, quote, 'dumping ' soldier on the Warrior Transition Unit continued. We asked General [Eric] Schoomaker about this repeatedly during our hearing in February to get an update on the AMAP In response to a question asked by Mr. [John] McHugh, the army surgeon-general declared, 'For all intents and purposes we are entirely staffed at the point we need to be staffed.' As the facts at Fort Hood demonstrate that is clearly not the case now. Gentlemen, the Army Medical Action Plan was designed by the army. It is your plan. The army senior leadership has publicly trumpeted your commitment to wounded soldiers at every opportunity -- and we believe that that is true. But the Secretary of Defense agrees -- as Dr. [Robert] Gates has made clear -- apart from the war itself, this department and I have no higher priority." . Over the course of this hearing we will review the following topics. Resources. Why has the army failed to properly resource the Warriror Transition Units population growth. Why did the army fail to predict the growth in the WT population. We were assured by the army in Feb. that you had the processes and reviews in place to stay on top of the population and clearly that's not the case today. Priority. Is the Army Medical Action Plan truly the army's number two priority? Our visits do not leave us with that impression. And creativity. From the outset the Army Medical Action Plan has been sold as a bold roadmap to overhaul outdated, inefficient and deteremental policies and procedures. . . . And oversight. Finally and perhaps most importantly why did it take oversight visits from the subcommittee to identify and spure the army to fix these issues and what will take to ensure that the army follows its own plan and lives up to its own promises it Gentlemen, aside from telling us that you will will harder to implement it -- and we do believe that, we know that you are working very hard at this -- what concrete steps are being taken to ensure better follow through?"

Rep John McHugh (ranking Republican) noted "there continues to be serious shortfalls. Shortfalls that our staff did identify and I know the army continues to try to deal with. Serious questions. That of resources. A mechanism that anticipates the population growth that we have seen -- an explosion" that it is only reasonable to expect will continue. Davis and McHugh were speaking to the army's Lt Gen Michael D. Rochelle, Lt Gen Robert Wilson, Maj Gen David A. Rubenstein and Brig Gen Gary H. Cheek. PDF format warning, you can click here for the brass' prepared statement.

Dana Milbank (Washington Post) describes the scene: "The generals were nervous.Lt. Gen. Robert Wilson moved his index finger across the page as he read his statement with a halting delivery. Maj. Gen. David Rubenstein, holding a discolored washcloth under the witness table to dry his perspiration, accidentally dropped the cloth and felt for it with his shoe. The anxiety, even for men with two or three stars on each shoulder, was to be expected. They had come before a House Armed Services subcommittee to explain why, 16 months and at least eight fact-finding investigations after the Walter Reed scandal, the Army still hadn't fixed the health-care system for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Milbank rightly notes that the witnesses played contrite. True. They also played suck up. Shortly after stating the obvious ("Make no mistake about it, our army is stretched"), Rochelle would declare, "It is clear to us that this committee foresaw that better than we did." Why was that? No need to explore that. No need to worry because Rochelle insists, "But our heart was in the right place and remains in the right place." Were these adults testifying before Congress? And did this tender-hearted brass miss all of Davis and McHugh's many statements that bordered on the way an adult would speak to a very young child -- stressing repeatedly that the action, not the people, were bad; that the action, not the people, was at fault. It was a bit puzzling to hear Davis and McHugh hit those points repeatedly at the start of the hearings but, a half-hour in, as McHugh had to again reassure the toddlers with stripes and bars on their shoulders, you were left with the impression that anything more age appropriate would have left the generals sucking their thumbs, curled up in a fetal position and sobbing on the House floor.

McHugh had to again do that tap-dance before getting to his point. Having again assured the brass that everyone at the table was a special and wanted general, McHugh slowly and carefully declared, "In many ways, this challenge isn't being met. And I find the current circumstances unacceptable." It seemed to linger in the air as the bragg fidgeted. "You gentlemen agree with that?" McHugh asked. Silent pause. "Anybody disagree with that?"
he then asked. Still no comment. Realizing the guilty children had agreed ahead of time to all stick together, McHugh began noting the numbers. 6,000 WTs were in the program in June of 2007 and increased to 12,000 by June of the following year with current predictions that it will "grow to another 20,000". McHugh wanted to know if the problem was the model, the problem with the personnel or the problem due to the 90-day review not being done? Apparently feeling he had to answer, Rubenstein stated "I'll go first" and quickly began talking about . . . people who weren't hired. McHugh (stating "I'm going to interrupt you") attempted to get the conversation back on track. If hearing Rubenstein discuss how he meets neighbors while he mows his yard is back on track . . . Around that time, McHugh would tell Rubenstein, "I'm not hear to argue with you" and, approximately ten minutes later, "General Rubenstein, I don't mean to engage in a debate per se" -- then why was the hearing held? US Rep Niki Tsongas appeared to waste the least amount of time doling out affirmations to the generals and instead focused on the realities involving the increased number of WTs. She rightly noted that the White House's escalation troops are returning and that "if we do eventually engage in a timetable for the redeployment of our soldiers so again you'll be bringing back larger soldiers at once and particularly where the issue is PTSD -- where you might not have to deal with it really until the soldiers do come home. Can you envision what you would do in a situation where you simply become overwhelmed by the demand?" Rubenstein agreed to go first and then began talking about the need to "keep our arms around" the wounded. If we can leave the happy place for a minute, Tsongas asked about preparation for the expected influx into the program. She didn't ask about group hugs. "Where we can't," he said finally getting near the question asked, "and where we may not be able to meet the needs if the numbers are overwhelming, we fall to our civilian network providers."

US House Rep Niki Tsongas: And this is a plan you have in place so that it kicks in automatically or is it really reacting to any given moment?

Maj Gen David Rubenstein: It's -- it's a plan that's in execution as we speak today. In October at Fort Hood we sent about 350 of our warriors downtown Killeen [. . .] to receive health care. Those same soldiers, six months later, in April of this year had 19,000 appointments downtown so we already use the system

Lt Gen Michael D. Rochelle: May I add, ma'am, Madam Tsongas, the two things that you hinted in your question is being pro-active in looking at both the deployment of individual elements of army unit brigades and support elements and being pro-active for those that are redeploying as well. That we have come to learn is - - is one -is one of our misconnects -- disconnects at the -- at the senior levels of the army and we're going to do better at that. We already have a very reliable -- very reliable -- metric.

The answer to Tsongas' question is "NO." Tsongas was speaking of the troops that will be returning as the escalation continues to wind down so dropping back to last year or last April really doesn't address that. She was also asking noting that there may be some limited withdrawal in 2009 and is the army preparing for that? When Rubenstein is offering that last April Fort Hood (which is supposed to be served primarily by the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center) was already scheduling 19,000 appointments with civilian providers (via the TriCare contracts/outsourcing) the answer is "NO!" the army is not prepared for it and does not appear to be doing anything to prepare for it. (Whining, as Rubenstein did elsewhere, that emergency room nurses in civilian settings can work to 12 hour shifts and get paid for forty hours allowing them to make more than they would working for the military is not "dealing with" or "anticipating" an influx.) Various members of the committee spoke of visiting Fort Drum and their surprise or disappointment that so much was still wrong. Rep Nancy Boyda spoke of a mother of a wounded soldier who was unable to get the help he needed and was in limbo ("literally dying to get in" to some sort of treament) and subcommittee chair Davis spoke of being told about the healing groups ("focused healing environment") in place and instead seeing people sitting around in frustration and boredom "not feeling that things were happening for them." Davis asked "how you see that changing at all? That people are able to get the appointments they need?" Rubenstein offered nonsense about how, military or civilian, no one ever gets what they need or the time they think they deserve in a medical visit. In other words, it was a lot of garbage. Near the end, Davis offered that the army might need more money and that they could meet again in September but Rochelle insisted he felt "September would be too soon." Since the generals could point to nothing accomplished the idea that they're going to skip out on a September meeting is rather appalling. Dana Milbank (Washington Post) observes, "Finding no argument, the lawmakers brought the hearing to a prompt close, but not before another round of mutal flattery." Yes, it really was that pathetic. Two hours and ten minutes wasted with no answers given, no indications that the military actually is addressing the expected influx of wounded. A lot of airy statements and back-patting. In the 2004 presidential race, US Senator John Kerry (the Democratic presidential nominee) rightly noted these problems were coming. He stated that the White House was underfunding and diverting resources. His reward for that truth telling was to have FactCheck.org smack him down with one of their psuedo 'fact checks.' Nearly four years later, there is still no indication that anything is being done unless the Washington Post shines a large flashlight on the problem. The paper did that and brought public awareness and public outcry. The US Congress seems unwilling and/or unable to follow up on that. The hearing was an embarrassment. The fact that Milbank and Talk Radio News Service appear to be the only ones who bothered to cover it is even more embarrassing.

In England Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, is in the news for making another statement. Philip Webster, Deborah Haynes and Tim Reid (Times of London) reports that Brown is saying that 'most' British troops will be out of Iraq "in a year." There are approximately 4,1000 of them -- that's actually the number of British troops and the number of contradictory statements Brown has made in his brief time as prime minister as to whether England would leave or stay in Iraq. Take the wait and see approach with Brown's statements which, like the weather, seem to change hourly.

Turning to the US presidential race. MediaChannel -- for some unknown reason -- is pushing a stupid study by "Media Tenor." "Media Tenor" is not a media watchdog, it's part of Democracy In Action -- yet another front group funded with blood money. Go to MediaChannel if you're interested in reading it. (My comments are not about MediaChannel, they are about "Media Tenor"). It's an 'analysis' that is both factually 'free' and non-content based. It's a 'study' in the way your eight-year-old brother or sister might write a book 'report.' It's also insulting. Barack Obama and John McCain are not candidates for president. They are 'presumptive' candidates. Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are actual candidates and they're shut out of the 'analysis.' It's superficial crap that wants credit for finger-pointing at . . . super-ficial crap. As Phoebe famously said on Friends, "Hello Monica, this is kettle, you're black." Media Tenor's garbage doesn't need to be circulated, it needs to be put in the trash. MediaChannel got a link, but no link to the trash of "Democracy" In Action or "Media Tenor" or all the other partisan outlets staffed with dimwits paid in blood money. Shame on you all. (If need be, Ava says we can revisit the garbage being offered by Media Tenor at Third in our TV commentary Sunday but, if we do, we'll be doing a 'greatest hits' and not offering anything on any program airing this week.)

Paul Street takes on the myth of Saint Barack here (Black Agenda Report). Kenneth J. Theisen (World Can't Wait) calls out the War Hawk Barack here. Sally Soriano of Team Nader notes:

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You invite your friends, family, neighbors and anyone else to sign up for Nader/Gonzalez updates.
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iraqrobin longehren watadaangela giles
dana milbank
the washington post
nancy a. youssefmcclatchy newspapersthe los angeles timesned parkersaif hameedthe new york timesalissa j. rubin

Short post

Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Take Two"

That's the second of Isaiah's three comics on Sunday responding to the faux controvery over The New Yorker cover (actually, it's the first, I highlighted the second one yesterday). In this one, Michelle Obama is Mary Todd Lincoln and Barack is Jesus.

From the intentionally funny to the unintentionally funny . . .

"McCain's Unhappy Warrior" (John Dickerson, Slate):
McCain is attacking too much and indiscriminately. The barrage undermines his brand, takes time away from telling voters what he might do for them, and looks awfully old-timey in a year when voters want a new brand. He should go on the offensive, yes, but in targeted forays.

John Dickerson is a Barack Boy Toy. McCainers should grasp that this is the same crap the press tried to 'counsel' Hillary with. They're in the tank for Barack. I'm voting Nader but hope John McCain rejects the 'advice.'

Another Barack Boy Toy, Air Berman, pens the laughable "As World Embraces Obama, McCain Attacks." Air's still wet behind the ears and hoping to graduate to big-boy pants soon but the reality is we elect an American president. Barack's little world tour is already having fall out. This isn't Angelina Jolie on the carpet at Canes, it's an election for this country's president.

It's also very insulting that we think Iraqis give a damn. That the most important thing on their mind is who will be in charge of continuing the illegal war and the occupation of Iraq? How vain are people like Air Berman?

Iraqis want the illegal war over and the US gone. Not partially gone (like Barack's so-called 'promise'), they want the US out. They're right to want that. Now they're being used as props in a US election. (See the excerpt in the snapshot at the end.)

Barack Obama is bi-racial. The San Francisco Chronicle does a very dumb article claiming (and they trot out a lot of embarrasing, desperate characters) that it's progress for bi-racial people. First, SanFran, there are also multi-racial people. Second, your 2000 census 'news' has been well covered by Ava and C.I. repeatedly, over and over since January if not December. That's because they are aware of the bi- and multi-racial movement and are fully aware that Barack (like a number of others) buried bi- and multi-racial persons. They were the first ones tossed under the bus.

"Military Budget" (Nader-Gonzalez '08):
Nader/Gonzalez would cut the bloated, wasteful military budget.
Earlier this year, President Bush announced a military budget of over $600 billion.
And that's not counting the full cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The proposed military budget represents 58 cents out of every dollar spent by the U.S. government on discretionary programs - the items that Congress gets to vote up or down on an annual basis.
The Democrats and Republicans have been silent about this rapid escalation in military expenditures, despite many critical reports by the Government Accountability Office and Pentagon auditors.
In fact, they want to increase them.
Barack Obama, for example, has said that he wants to "bump up" the military budget.
Hillary Clinton and Obama have committed themselves to increasing the armed forces by tens of thousands of troops.
John McCain would outdo them both.
As budget analyst William Hartung points out "the United States is already spending more for defense than all the other nations in the world combined."
Hartung points out that tens of billions of dollars are being wasted on systems like the F-22 fighter plane, the V-22 Osprey (a helicopter that can be transformed into a conventional aircraft), the Virginia class submarine, and an unworkable and unnecessary missile defense system.
Right now, the military budget is being used to fuel wasteful, reckless, destabilizing foreign interventions that violate constitutional and international law.
Nader/Gonzalez would cut the military budget to a level needed to protect the country.
References:
Center for Defense Information
Project on Government Oversight
How Much Money Did You Make on the War, Daddy? by William Hartung

Who's going to end the illegal war? It won't be Barack. That's it for me. Blogger was down this evening and now it's acting up.

"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Tuesday, July 22, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, another journalist is announced dead, Barack sucks up all the time with his Gidget Goes To Europe and the MidEast, John McCain calls it out, and more.

Starting with war resistance, July 15th Robin Long's case was noted on CNN's The Situation Room (here for transcript):

Wolf Blitzer: Americans seeking to dodge the Vietnam War have found a have in Canada. Many began new lives there. But, now, right now, times have changed. Brian Todd is working the story for us. Brian, it's a different situation for what we're calling the Iraq War generation.

Brian Todd: It certainly is, Wolf. This one case of an American deserter being handed over turning this theory on its ear, the idea that Canada is an unqualified haven for American deserters. It's the kind of history Robin Long probably wishes he wasn't making. He is believed to be the first American deserter during the Iraq War handed back to the U.S. military by the Canadian government. During the Vietnam War, Canada was haven for US draft dodgers and deserters. In this case, a Canadian judge ruled that Long didn't adequately prove he would suffer irreparable harm if he returned to the United States. The leader of a Canadian war resisters group that had supported Long is frustrated.

Unidentified Male: I don't think there's any doubt that someone who has been up in Canada and a vocal opponent of the war will be treated harsly by the American military.

Brian Todd: Long, who had trained as a tank commander, took off from Fort Carson, Colorado, to avoid serving in Iraq. Even though he had volunteered for the army, his attorney told the court that Long became disillusioned over the mistratment of Iraqi detainees and by the fact that no weapons of mass destruction had been found. In nearly three years in Canada, he fathered a child, was turned down for refugee status last year, and was arrested recently for not checking in as required with border officials. Commanders at Fort Carson will now decide his fate. They can court-martial him, give him a less than honorable discharge, or even reassign him. A former military lawyer who has defended and prosecuted deserters says the first option is the most likely.

Unidentified male: I do believe that he is going to be most likely court-martialed in this instance. The fact that he has been vocal, not to say that they would infringe on his First Amendment right to state his case or his objections, but rather his stated reason for leaving, to avoid service in Iraq, is going to be sort of the threshold issue for the legal authorities.

Brian Todd: But experts say US military officials may also be thinking about deterrence here, sending a signal to others thinking of deserting that prison time could await them and Canada may not be so receptive to harboring them in the future. If he's court-martialed and convicted, Robin Long could get up to five years in prison. Wolf?

Wolf Blitzer: Do we have any idea how many deserters are in Canada?

Brian Todd: The leader of this war resistance group in Canada who we talked to today about this says that there are about 50 who they know of. But they say there are hundreds more they think who are living underground in Canada. You can believe this case is probably going to keep them underground.

Wolf Blitzer: I believe it. Brian, thank you.

Hasan Arif (Telegraph Journal) notes the above report and it's a shame more in Canada didn't catch it because they might have learned something. Take the laughable editorial board of Kamplops This Week: "Every one of these American citizens voluntarily joined the military. Not one was drafted. . . . These are not the draft dodgers of the Vietnam War era, the young men who had no choice in whether they wished to fight the Vietcong." Happy to flaunt their ignorance of Canadian history. The draft wasn't an issue in the decision during Vietnam and Canada welcomed dodgers and deserters. Deserters were not required to swear they had been drafted and not enlisted on their own. It wasn't an issue. And little Billy Bulter is eager to flaunt his ignorance to The Orillia Packet & Times insisting that (a) the term "war resister" (a historical and well used in the last century by the MSM) is not accurate, that anyone can become a CO very easily (Willie Boy, tell them your stupidity is here) and that the war resisters "joined the military"! We don't normally provide links to trash but the 'movement' needs to take some damn accountablity. These are the arguments that should never have been made but too many in the 'movement' didn't know their own facts or didn't want to tell it. They have created this straw-man argument that has no basis in today's reality by refusing to point out that deserters were welcomed in Canada during Vietnam. There was never a need for any of this nonsense.

No one in the world needed to hear Tom Hayden yack on and on endlessly in interviews about his 'invasive' physical. (Tom Hayden never served in the US military. He was not a draft dodger. He was not a deserter. He had no 'war story' so he went to town on a physical and, as Rebecca noted, Tom needs to put his feet in some stirrups before he next whines about 'invasive' physicals.) Tom-Tom couldn't shut up about the draft. Even though it has nothing to do with today's illegal war. He was 'helping' war resisters today . . . by throwing out crap from his past that had no bearing on reality. No one needed it. All it did was let some who barely pay attention fixate on "Draft Dodgers! You hear him, Ma! But there's no draft today!" Tom-Tom, the patron saint of the yokels. Across the border a number need to take accountability and start working on addressing reality. Unless they're goal is for the 'movement' to repeatedly be undermined with meaningless cries of "There is no draft!" Someone in Canada speaking truth is University of British Columbia's Canadian Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law, Dr. Michael Byers, who explains to Am Johal (IPS), "Canada also extradited Robin Long, a U.S. war resister, who did not want to take part in possible war crimes. This is a very different role than Canada played during Vietnam." Extradition is the only term to describe what Judge Anne Mctavish oversaw and ordered for Robin Long.


To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki was in Berlin today where he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Deutsche Welle reports al-Maliki declared, "Iraq is able to take the security situation into its own hands. We have achieved great success." It's an assertion that Patrick Donahue (Bloomberg News) notes and quotes him futher stating in the press conference with Merkel, "Iraq has the foundation and is capable of taking the security situation into its own hands. We can say with some pride that we're in the position and capable -- with our police and army and with our professional level -- to achieve that." However, Nancy A. Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that, in Baghdad Monday, Ali Dabbagh, al-Maliki's spokesperson, "announced that Iraq wants American combat troops to leave by the end of 2010." That would be 24 months after the next US president takes office. 24 months? Did al-Maliki say they were ready to takeover or not? AFP ignores the nonsense claims to focus on what the meeting was really about quoting Merkel declaring, "We are pleased that the security situation in Iraq has improved little by little and that is of course a pre-condition for economic and political reconstruction to move forward. Iraq is a country rich in raw materials and Germany has broad technological and industrial know-how. We are pleased that some German companies have already expressed interested in helping to rebuild Iraq."

Meanwhile there were dueling Nancy Youssefs over the weekend. First she filed on the simmering tensions among supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr and quoted residents such as Nadhil al Sudani stating, "There is anger inside our people. There is a volcano that wants to erupts. But we are obedient to Sayed Muqtada." Implication being that al-Sadr is the only thing that's keeping a volcano from erupting. One day later, Youssef was offering: "In a shift toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism, Iraq's largest Sunni bloc ended a nearly yearlong boycott Saturday and rejoined the cabinet, retaking six ministry spots." Well one boycott ends and another begins. Waleed Ibrahim (Reuters) reports today on "a walkout by Kurdish lawmakers over how to deal with the disputed oil city of Kirkuk" with regards to the supposedly upcoming provincial elections and quotes Khalid al-Attiya (Deputy Parliamentary Speaker) stating, "We cannot have a vote with an absence of a whole faction. The vote is useless. It will be rejected by the represenatives of this bloc and by the presidency council." CNN notes the makeup of the presidency council: Jalal Talabani (President, Kurd), Tariq al-Hsahimi (Vice President, Sunni) and Adel Abdul Mahdi (Vice President, Shi'ite) and adds, "Many observers believe Talabani would stand with his Kurdish compatriots and vote against the measure, bringing it back to square one." Kurdish MP Mahmoud Othman is quoted by AP stating, "The draft of the provinical elections law will be referred to the presidential council, which will definitely not approve it. So the elections will be postponed until next year."

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Kirkuk roadside bombing Monday night in which 2 police officers were killed with five more wounded. Reuters notes a Mosul roadside bombing that left eleven people wounded.
Reuters notes "an Iraqi journalist working for a Kudrish magazine" was shot dead in Kirkuk Monday and 5 people wounded in shootings in Haswa while Tirkit was the site of an attack today "on the convoy of Khalid Burhan, head of health office of Salahudding province" that left his guards wounded. The journalist was Soran Mamhama. He was 23-years-old and AP states he worked for the "magazine Leven and often covered government corruption." Reporters Without Borders issued a statement condeming the murder and stated, "We call on the Kudristan authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the circumstances of Hama's murder. He wrote hard-hitting articles about local politicians and security officials and had received threats from people telling him to stop his investigative reporting. The authorities should therefore give priority to the theory that he was killed because of his work." Xinhua notes Soran was shot dead outside his home and quotes Journalist Freedoms Observatory's Ziyad al-Ajili stating, "The first step to halt the assassinations against journalists is to capture those culprits." Iran's Press TV quotes Latif Satih Faraj (Kurdish Journalists Union in Kirkuk) stating, "If the government can't protect Kurdish journalists in Kirkuk, we might adviste them to withdraw from this city." Iraq's The Window reports Leveen is calling for an investigation and that "Leveen, which is an independent Kurdish magazine founded 6 years ago in Sulaimani, is known as a muckraking journal in Kurdistan and Iraq."

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered in Dibis.


Not much Iraq news? Of course, not Barack's sucking up all the limited coverage with his photo-ops passed off as news. It's like he's gone to Europe and the MidEast to FaceBook in real. Said Rifai and Saif Rasheed (Los Angeles Times) were among the few brave enough to report the realities:

During his brief visit to Iraq, Barack Obama has been greeted by busloads of Iraqi cameramen vying for shots of his arrivals and departures at meetings with government officials.
But on government-sponsored Al Iraqiya television Monday, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee received second billing to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's departure for Europe. Only Al Hurra, the U.S.-sponsored channel, led with the story.
The situation has been similar on the streets of Baghdad, where Obama's visit has been duly noted but is not the No. 1 thing on people's minds.Iraqis tend to be jaundiced about American politics and skeptical that the differences between the presidential candidates have anything to do with them.
"If either McCain or Obama visits Iraq, it would be for campaign purposes, and therefore at this point in time it won't have any effect on the situation in Iraq," said Khalil Ibrahim, 34, a perfume shop owner.

We're now on the US race for president. Susan (Random Notes) observes of self-loathing lesbian (which would make her a Barack supporter) Donna Brazile: "It was people like you who created the situation in the first place by not fully seating or stripping Clinton delegates from Florida and Michigan, by not apologizing for the filthy, race-baiting campaign 'Obama' ran, for not admitting 'Obama' didn't have the majority of the popular vote, for not allowing Clinton to take the contest all the way to the convention, and for not condemning the smears by the attack dogs from the media and the 'progressive' blogosphere for creating the rift." Susan's referring to closet case Donna's attempt to do a reach-around on female Hillary supporters. Back off Donna Brazile, you Bob Packwood-wanna-be, no one wants your greasy, filthy, corporatists hands on them. She really thinks after her infamous e-mail regarding Hillary supporters ("Message to the base: stay home") that any Hillary supporter gives a damn what she says? Donna, the loudmouth trash she was born as and will die as, is now penning such tough-talk as, "How many ways do these Hillary delegates, voters and supporters need to hear it before they get it?" LSekhmet (Alegre's Corner) calls out Donna's latest lies, "We're angry because the nomination was stolen from the rightful winner -- we're angry because the winner of the popular vote has been hindered, not helped -- we're angry that a man who truly isn't read to be President at this time has been propped up by the DNC and the Democratic Party as a whole. And most especially, we're angry at the supposition that we only have two choices in the fall election -- Obama or McCain, neither of whom are acceptable." That is offensive and someone might try explaining that to Philip Maldari who declared on KPFA's The Morning Show today of the next president, "whether it's McCain or Obama" . . . This was when KPFA brought on a Democratic Congress member to schill for Barack. That was really cute -- and so fair! It's really not Philip's role to decide who will be president. His role is co-host of a morning chat show. This was followed by a roundtable for the next segment where you had two Barack supporters and one that you didn't know. Didn't know because Aimee Allison (hopefully unintentionally) cut him off just as he started to reject the notion of voting "the lesser of two evils." Kevin Zeese thinks petitions will get Barack to change his views. He thinks if there's a mass exodus of support for Barack to Cynthia McKinney or Ralph Nader that it will force Barack to change. At which point, what? By Zeese's 'logic,' people go running back to Barack. Kevin Zeese is the perfect example of why third parties struggle. Zeese supports them and has done tremendous work on campaigns in the past. However, when it's time to talk, third party and independent candidates do not exist for their own qualifications and merits. In Zeese's world -- as stated on The Morning Show today -- they exist solely to blackmail the Democratic Party within the midst of an election. When you 'cast' them as supporting characters, it is very hard for third party and independent candidates to assume lead roles. People like Zeese need to start demonstrating some awareness that they keep the two-party system going. And KPFA needs to grasp that bringing on a Democratic member of Congress to try to assure the Bay Area that Barack's-plenty-liberal-not-everyone's-as-liberal-as-we-are is not only nonsense it's the sort of garbage we'd expect from Rush Limbaugh. And if that point is not clear, we then got the Barack delegate to the DNC, Norman Solomon. That is what he is now. He is not a media critic. And he does not belong on KPFA as an 'objective' observer. It was shameful that, well into the roundtable, Norman told listeners he was a Barack delegate ("like Barbara Lee!" he insisted hiding behind Lee's skirts). That disclosure was required to be made at the top of the roundtable and Aimee Allison should have made it. In no way did The Morning Show offer anything that justified their free use of the public airwaves. (While begging yet again for more money.)

If you're not grasping, that nonsense on KPFA (or take the crap Democracy Now! squeezed out this morning) is exactly why people see the media as in the tank for Barack. Gary Chapel Hill (The Confluence) writes of the recent Rasmussen poll which found that the number of voters who "believe most reporters will try to help Obama with their coverage" rose 5% since June to reach 49%. 49%? That figure is appalling. Journalists are not supposed to be seen as biased. That the figure has climbed to 49% should be a wake up call for those working in Real Media (there's no hope for Panhandle Media -- they're all in that because they couldn't get work in Real Media). Only 24% believe they can expect unbiased coverage. That is APPALLING and it is an indictment of the media. (14% belived the media "will try to help" McCain). Don't dismiss that 49% with, "That's all Republicans!" 27% of Democrats feel the media is attempting to put Barack into the White House. Those respondents not self-identifying with either of the two major parties? 50% of swing voters "see a pro-Obama bias". This is an indictment of the media. With Congress and the White House already polling so low, you'd think the usual gatekeepers would come out loudly insisting that the media at least pretend independence.

This takes place as they're lead around by their rings in their noses. Campsunk (Alegre's Corner) posts the video of NBC News's Andrea Mitchell on Hardball explaining of Barack's for-show campaign stops outside the US, "He didn't have reporters with him, he didn't have a press pool, he didn't have a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you're seeing is not reporters brought in, you're seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they're not interviews by a journalist. So there's a real press issue here." Indeed. AlwaysforHillary (which is now supporting McCain in the general) exclaims, "It seems practically every news person flew to be with 'the Holly One' to get interviews with the Messiah! Maybe Obama will replace LOURDES and people with disabilities and illnesses can get blessed and have their problems disappear by touching the ANOINTED ONE!! DISGUSTING!!" It truly is and Jeremy Pelofsky's little jabs at McCain's calling it out ("Is the media in love with Obama?" -- Reuters) don't make the media look independent. Elizabeth Rauber (San Francisco Business Times) reports that not only is McCain calling it out, the campaign has created a video entitled "Obama Love." Click here to see the videos at the McCain site -- two with different songs and you can vote for which you enjoy best. The one set to "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is currently leading over "My Eyes Adored You."


Back to the Idiot Brazile with her "It's Barack or John!" nonsense. "The central issue of this election is not Barack Obama versus John McCain. The central issue is the future of the Democratic Party," Democrat Violet Socks (Reclusive Leftist) explains, "Young feminists, for example: they say things like, "but don't you know that Republicans are anti-choice?" Yes, dears; that's the point. Republicans are anti-choice, which is exactly why it's so important that Democrats continue be pro-choice -- and pro-women's rights, pro-Fourth Amendment, pro-separation of church and state, pro-health care, pro everything that the Republicans are against. That's why we're trying to keep Barack Obama from taking over the party. I'm willing to lose one election if it means ejecting him and getting our party back to its values."

Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate, his running mate is Matt Gonzalez. They are adding events to their busy schedule. Times given are the times in those areas. Friday at noon, Nader will be in Columbia, South Carolina for a lunch, at 5:30 on Friday (25th) a Nader for President rally will be held at the University of Georgia, at 8:00 p.m. (still Friday), in Atlanta there will be an "Evening with Ralph Nader." Saturday (26th) Ralph will be at Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, MS for a book signing and speech, two hours later (still in Jackson) he'll be do another "Evening with Ralph Nader." Sunday (27th) he and Matt Gonzalez hit Texas. First up, Hilton University of Houston where they will speak at 2:00 p.m. Then they head to Austin for an event at the Trinity United Methodist Church. Information about those events and others can be found here. W. Gardner Selby (Postcards From The Ledge) reports on the upcoming Austin event. Meanwhile Richard Winger (Ballot Access News) reports that the Sixth Circuit hear arguments today in Nader v. Blackwell about the efforts of the then-Ohio state secretary Kenneth Blackwell to limit ballot access in 2004 and Winger points out, "Ralph Nader is unique in the history of U.S. ballot access, for trying to redress wrongs that were done to him and his voters. Other presidential candidates who were kept off ballots, such as Henry Wallace in 1948, Eugene McCarthy in 1976, and John Anderson in 1980, were content to fight to keep themselves on various ballots. But they never took legal action of their own after the election to redress harms they had suffered. Only Nader has done that, most notably in his lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee, plus his complaint against the DNC filed with the Federal Election Commission, and also this particular Ohio lawsuit." Meanwhile Dandelion Salad has posted video of Matt Gonzalez speaking to the National Lation Congresso on July 18th. Among the issues addressed at the national meetup was starting a five-million-dollar, non-partisan voting effort: "Bolstered by a recent study conducted by the William C. Velasquez Institute that found more than one million new Latino voters registered to vote during this primary season, convening organizations of the National Latino Congreso will use the third annual gathering to launch a massive voter registration and get-out-the-vote effort geared at adding an additional 1-2 million new Latino voters to the rolls in time to vote in November's election." Southwest Voter Registration Education Project president Antonio Gonzalez explained, "Latino leaders will use this gathering to organize and fund-raise to launch a massive nonpartisan voter mobilization campaign. Already more than 10 million Latinos are registered to vote in America, and our efforts will help drive that number up to between 11 and 12 million."

iraq
robin longnancy a. youssef
said rifaisaif rasheedthe los angeles times

MSM video critique

I hate posting videos. I never know what I'm doing.

If I'm following C.I.'s directions correctly, below you will see the John McCain campaign's video about the MSM love for Barack Obama set to the tune of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You."

Isaiah, Beach Party movies and more

We are all supposed to choose our favorite of Isaiah's three comics that went up Sunday to post.

Below is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Take Three"







He is taking on the lynchmob attacking The New Yorker for their cover last week. We all try to highlight Isaiah's comics and, knowing that, he sent out an e-mail that if we were going to do that, just pick one. I'll ignore that e-mail and highlight the other two -- one each -- on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"A girl needs a boy she can count on, A girl needs a boy she can love . . . " Annette Funicello sings that in one of the beach movies she did with Frankie Avalon. (Who then repeats it back -- from another location, on the beach I think -- with, "A boy needs a girl he can count on, A bory needs a girl he can love.") Rebecca may not want me to reveal this but when those movies came on TV in the afternoons, she was all over them.

Back in the long ago and old days, broadcast TV used to offer a movie in the afternoon. Nearly every city or town had one station that would. They would usually have a theme each week. Sometimes it would be gangsters or westerns, or the theme would be the same actor or actress in all the week's films. The beach party movies was a theme on year.

You could not pull Rebecca away from the TV.

She didn't care for Frankie but she could tell you all about the minor males (in trunks). That shouldn't surprise anyone. But she really was into those movies (at least the week they aired). She cut classes, she took the phone off the hook (not caring that a call might be for C.I. or myself), nothing could disturb her that week while those movies were on.

"Beach Blanket Bingo, Beach Blanket Bingo, That's the name of the, That's the name of the game." She sang the songs from those films over and over for several months after they aired. There was some song (maybe the first one I quoted) where Frankie sang, "A lad needs a lassie . . ." These were not good pop songs. But Rebecca knew every one of them. (As did C.I. as a result of her singing them constantly.)

I remember Muscle Beach Party had Willie from Mission Impossible in it.

I always love Isaiah's comics and I loved that one for many reasons but mainly because it brought back memories of years ago living with Rebecca (and C.I.). I had almost forgotten how much Rebecca loved those movies.

(Rebecca may blog tomorrow night, "Elaine is insane. I nev-uh watched those movies." If she does, feel free to believe her; however, I am telling the truth.)

"TV: Gossip Girls and Barack's Bitches" (Ava and C.I., The Third Estate Sunday Review):
An entire segment (not a headline) on a Broadway musical that's closing. (We're reminded of Daniel Okrent's criticism of The New York Times' efforts to treat Broadway like front page news.) It's 'news' because Spike Lee's going to direct it. Which, no doubt, means more sexist stereotypes of women are coming to the big screen in yet another Lee film that ends about fifteen minutes before the credits roll -- translation, it will end about ten minutes before the credits roll -- when the audience walks out. In a year or so, you can purchase a ticket to it at your local multi-plex and that's 'news you can use,' in Goody's book. She also provided another 'hard-hitting segment' on that broadcast, the big news . . . of birthdays. "Nelson Mandela Turns 90." Apparently, with Willard Scott having retired from the Today show, Goody feels it's her job to note the birthdays of the elderly. Mandela's been honest news before but, no, the fact that he turned 90 is not news. It was all a bit like the inflated drama on Gossip Girl where someone may be expelled for a pool party -- lot of attention to a minor detail that left viewers wondering who thought this was a story?
Birthdays and Broadway musicals, what a great day for Democracy Now! and democracy. Finger-point again at big media, Goody, everyone's finding it very amusing.

I loved every section of Ava and C.I.'s commentary but that was the one that really had me laughing. Jim reads them outloud to the rest of us when Ava and C.I. finish writing them in longhand. I was laughing so loud during this. Today, Spike Lee, all of it. I believe it was Mo's Better Blues which felt the way to spend the last minutes of the film was with a quickly added year's worth of scenes. Oh, look, someone's having a baby! Oh, look . . . As C.I. will tell you, Spike Lee does not know how to end a film. The musical (School Daze?) was like Do The Right Thing. He had no ending. So he had the characters, in the last minutes, start talking to the phone because, apparently, who doesn't pay good money to be lectured to by a fictional character? Leaving aside his sexist view of women on display in film after film (and beginning with She's Got To Have It), his inability to deliver a real ending is one of the reasons his big-studio films remain 'independent' ones. Hard to get big box office when everyone in the audience knows how the film should end but the director has no clue.

Along with the humor and the observations, what I really love about that section is how they mix about four different topics and areas into the section. Even pulling out Daniel Okrent's 2005 criticism (when he was ombudsperson of the New York Times) for the paper putting Tony nominations on the front page.

I'm with Dona on this, long after the sites go dark, I'll still be going back to Ava and C.I.'s old reviews and re-reading to enjoy them all over again. I really don't think anyone online has built up the body of work those two have.

"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Monday, July 21, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Amy Goodman can't stop lying, Barack blusters like a Bush, and more.

Starting with war resistance. Oregon Public Radio (OPB) has been reporting on US war resisters. Two reports they filed on Friday include this by Rachael McDonald (link has text and audio):

Rachel McDonald: James Burmeister was injured by a roadside bomb. He went AWOL while recuperating in Germany. Besides being given six months in jail, Burmeister was denied pay, reduced in rank to private and given a bad conduct discharge that will deny him veterans' benefits. Burmeister's mother Helen says the sentence was unfair.

Helen Burmeister: I'm very disappointed in the way they feel they can treat veterans of war. I think the reason that my son went AWOL was for a good reason and I don't think he deserves the punishment that he got.

Rachel McDonald: Helen Burmeister says she's unsure whether to appeal the ruling because it could prolong James' stay in jail. James Burmeister says he left because of military bait and switch tactics. Soldiers would plant equipment to lure Iraqis whom American snipers would then kill. I'm Rachel McDonald in Eugene.

Dee Knight (Workers World) clearly grasped what was done to Burmeister and why, hence the title "Army court-martials resister for blowing whistle on 'bait-and-kill'." Knight speaks to Erich Burmeister (James' father) who reveals the military attempted an deal where a guilty plea by Burmeister would result in 1 "year in military prison and a dishonorable discharge" which means -- looking at the sentence Burmeister received last week -- it was very smart to turn down that proffer. Knight also reports, "His parents have waged an unceasing struggle for the Army to release him. They called on their representative, Peter DeFazio, to launch a congressional inquiry into James's case, but have so far heard nothing." No surprise there. US House Rep DeFazio doesn't do a damn thing. Suzanne Swift was the victim of rape, abuse and harassment. DeFazio grabbed a lot of feel-good headlines before the 2006 elections and then refused to do a damn thing. As Sara Rich, Swift's mother, explained of DeFazio to Jennifer Zahn Spieler (Women's eNews) in December 2006, "His office gave us a lot of red tape. And he basically laughed at our petition. I walked away feeling rather humiliated by him."

Retired army Col and US diplomat Ann Wright (reposted at Securing America Community) reports, "The prosecution brought up the public statements and interviews Burmeister gave on 'bait and kill.' . . . He was taken from the court directly to jail."

Turning to US war resister Robin Long, Tom Banse (OPB, link has text and audio) filed this report on Friday:

Tom Banse: A spokesman for the army's Desertion Information Center says the punishment for the Boise native could fall within a wide ranger. At the light end: reprimand and return to duty; at the severe end: court-martial and jail time -- according to the army's Ryan Bruce.

Ryan Bruce: It would be treated more seriously if a soldier did desert his or her unit during a time of war, especially if that unit was at war or going to war, as opposed to a soldier who just deserted from initial entry training, for instance.

Tom Banse: Private Long fled to Canada to avoid deployment to Iraq. His unit went to war and has since returned to Fort Carson, Colorado. Instructive perhaps is the sentence handed down this week to a soldier from Eugene. Private 1st Class James Burmeister fled to Canada while on leave from his unit in Iraq. He got six months in jail after returning voluntarily to face punishment. I'm Tom Banse in Olympia.

Citing Fort Carson spokespersons Gregory Dorman and Karen Linne, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported Robin was in El Paso County Jail as of Friday night and "is being held on a military confinement order, jail records show." (The Denver Channel credited the paper for breaking the news, AP 'forgot' to give credit.) Jim Fox (St. Petersburg Times) 'reported' on Long Sunday without mentioning his name ("A U.S. Army deserter who fled to Canada was ordered deported from British Columbia . . .") and without getting his facts right (he was not "returned to his unit in Fort Knox, Ky." -- his unit at Fort Carson, CO). KBS Radio notes, "According to Bob Ages who is the chairman of the Vancouver war resisters campaign Robin Long was in Buckley which is South East of Seattle as of Friday, and was moved once again to a location that is unknown to the group." Ann Wright observes, "Ironically, war resister Long was handed over to US officials at the Peace Arch on the US-Canadian border, just north of Seattle, Washington." As noted here Saturday and at Third on Sunday, Robin Long was not deported, he was extradited. Deportation would be expelling him from the country, turning him over to the US government is extradition. Judge Anne Mctavish will have a lot of questions to answer if anyone's paying attention. W.E. (Bill) Belliveau (Times and Transcript) points out that Robin being expelled was "the first time a resister to the U.S. war effort in Iraq has been removed from this country by Canadian authorities." Workers World quotes Gerry Condon explaining, "This is a gift from [Canadian Prime Minister] Stephen Harper to George Bush. And it is a gift to the headline writers, who will trumpet that Canada is no longer a safe haven for AWOL GIs. But it is an illusion because this is not the first of many deportations. It may be the first and the last. A minority government that ignores the will of its people and its Parliament will not be allowed to rule much longer." Vietnam war resister Michael Hendricks informs the Toronto Star that the Haper government's decision to ignore the motion passed by Parliament and the huge support for war resisters means Canadians have to ask themselves a few things: "The questions we have to ask before the next federal election are: What is the government doing to the Canada that we treasure? Do we really want to live in a Canada built in the image of the present government?" Harris MacLeed (Hill Times) quotes War Resister Support Campaign's Lee Zaslofsky stating, "We've been trying to get a meeting with [Immigration Minister] Diane Finley and we've basically been told she'll be busy until she dies." Meanwhile apparent bar fly Karin Wilson (Kelowna Capital News) explains "one of those bar conversations I'll probably remember for a lifetime" and declares that the expulsion of Robin should have everyone "hanging our heads in shame. Here was someone willing to stand up for what he believed in and leave his country rather than fight in a war he believed was illegal." Wilson goes on to repeat the myth that leaves deserters out of the group Canada received during Vietnam hinting that it's best not to confine your research to bar room coversations.

Harris MacLeed (Hill Times) tells the story of Canadian citizen Andrei Hurancyk who decided (2005) to become an American citizen and enlist in the Iraq War. He began serving in Iraq in March 2007, then self-checked out and returned to Canada. He states "I just realized we're not fighting terrorists there, it's just the occupation of the country and a lot things go unreported there, things that are not supposed to be happening in a war zone, things being covered up." July 4th, Judge Robert Barnes' decision in US war resister Joshua Key's case was released. Tamam Ahmed Jama (Al-Ahram Weekly) quotes Josh's attorney Jeffry House explaining, "It's a huge victory for numerous soldiers who are here and maybe others who are thinking of coming here" and quotes Joshua remembering his time in Iraq, "Children cry, women scream at you; we were tormenting these people. We never found anything -- no potential terrorists, no cache of weapons, nothing. After a while, you start to ask yourself: 'Why are we continuing to do this?' . . . You're not supposed to have sympathy, you're not supposed to have a conscience. You're supposed to be the 'perfect' American soldier -- a killing machine who does as he is told. But I realised that it was my concern and it was my business, that I did have my conscience." Key tells his story in The Deserter's Tale (written with Lawrence Hill).

To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

We've focused largely on US war resisters in Canada of late due to so much news in that region. There are a number of things that have been held. One was about IVAW's chair and US war resister Camilo Mejia. Earlier this month, Federico Martinez (The Muskegon Chronicle) reported on the popularity of State Radio and "Camilo" at Michigan's music festival and noted, "State Radio's song is about Sgt. Camilo Mejia, who in 2003 spent six months in combat in Iraq, but then refused to return from a two-week furlough because he objected to a war that was 'illegal' and 'immoral.' Chad Stokes, lead guitarist and vocalist for State Radio, tried to explain the song's popularity during a pre-festival interview. 'It's just a human story,' said Stokes. 'It's about a human connection. It's symbolic, but it's still his individual story. I think that's why people connect to it." The video can be found on YouTube here. A portion of the lyrics directed to the White House:

Your words just a bloody fallacy
A house of cards you painted white
You tried to recreate Normandy
But you made up the reason to fight
And now red oil is spillin' down on the street
And your eyes so big for the belly is weak
Will you not refuse this currency
Or is blood money just money to you
Is blood money just money to you

News of an event that Camilo Mejia will be appearing at, "A faith-based nonprofit organization hopes to inspire attendees at the annual convention of a major religious denomination to make ending the war in Iraq their major focus for the rest of the 2008 political year. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), an international human rights organization based in Cambridge, Mass., will be hosting a series of training sessions and workshops at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association to be held from Wednesday, June 24 to Sunday, June 29, at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida." Mejia will be a speaker on June 25th as well as on June 28th. More information can be found here.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Turning to Iraq, Sabrina Tavernise and Jeff Zeleny (New York Times) report on puppet of the occupation Nouria al-Maliki attempting to play a 'do-over' as he "tried to step back Sunday from comments in an interview" with Der Spiegel published on Saturday where al-Maliki appeared to voice support for Barack Obama's limited non-promise that he might withdraw US combat troops (only combat troops -- leaving behind an estimated 50,000 other US troops) in 16 months were he to be elected president. Tavernise and Zeleny tell you that al-Maliki's surrogates insist he was misquoted; however "the interpreter for the interview works for Mr. Maliki's office, not the magazine." From Der Spiegel's interview:

SPIEGEL: Would you hazard a prediction as to when most of the US troops will finally leave Iraq? Maliki: As soon as possible, as far as we're concerned. U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes. SPIEGEL: Is this an endorsement for the US presidential election in November? Does Obama, who has no military background, ultimately have a better understanding of Iraq than war hero John McCain? Maliki: Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems. Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans' business. But it's the business of Iraqis to say what they want. And that's where the people and the government are in general agreement: The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.

The New York Times listened to tape of the interview and had it translated:Nouri al-Maliki: Obama's remarks that -- if he takes office -- in 16 months he would withdraw the forces, we think that this period could increase or decrease a little, but that it could be suitable to end the presence of the forces in Iraq. . . . Who wants to exit in a quicker way has a better assessment of the situation in Iraq.Der Spiegel notes the controversy over the story and that "SPIEGEL stands by its version of the conversation." Nobody bothers to note that al-Maliki is either more stupid than anyone thought or joining in the lie passed off as truth that Barack's talking withdrawal. Combat troops only. And his 'promise' isn't a promise -- he told CNN on June 5th he'd decide what to do after he became president (such an ego) which echoes what War Hawk Sammy Power told the BBC in March. Bambi spoke to CBS' Lara Logan (Face The Nation) yesterday -- transcript here, video here -- and declared, "There's starting to be a broad consensus that it's time for us to withdraw some of our combat troops out of Iraq, deploy them here in Afghanistan. And I think we have to seize that opportunity. Now's the time for us to do it." Barack wants to fight a war that should never have started and will be seven years shortly. He wants to "withdraw some of our combat troops out of Iraq" and send them to Bully Boy's other misbegotten war. He's not a dove, he's not a peacenik and he's not anti-war. Despite the false claims by Katrina vanden Heuvel, Tom Hayden, Laura Flanders, Jeremey Scahill and oh-so-many others, Barack again demonstrated that he has no respect for any other country's national soveriegnty: "What I've said is that if we had actionable intelligence against high-value al-Qaeda targets, and the Pakistani government was unwilling to go after those targets, that we should. My hope is that it doesn't come to that - that in fact, the Pakistan government would recognize that if we had Osama bin Laden in our sights that we should fire or we should capture him." Translation, if Pakistan doesn't act on US intelligence (whether it's valid or not or -- remember the start of the Afghanistan War -- whether or not it's shared with Pakistan), Barack's happy to bully his fat belly to the bar and go-it-alone. (For those who do not remember, the US asked the Taliban -- then in control of Afghanistan -- to turn over Osama bin Laden. The Taliban asked for proof. Then US Secretary of State Colin Powell stated they would get the proof after they turned over bin Laden. They refused to, the bombing began.) Check the interview and wonder if the real reason Barack Obama won't produce his birth certificate is because, under father, it reads "George W. Bush"? He sounds exaclty like the Bully Boy when Logan asks him to define what would be 'success' for him in Afghanistan: "Well, a 'mission accomplished' would be that we had stabilized Afghanistan, that the Afghan people are experiencing rising standards of living, that we have made sure that we are disabling al-Qaeda and the Taliban so that they can longer attack Afghanistan, they can no longer engage in attacks against targets of Pakistan, and they can't target the United States or its allies." Terrorism is a crime and best addressed through the courts. Everything else our once-again-lip-glossed Senator is speaking of (sounding just like the current White House occupant) is not why the military exits and has nothing to do with a legal war.

Yesterday Hala Jaber (Times of London link has text and video) reported that the 5 contractors kidnapped in May 29, 2007 was allegedy down to four according to a videotape released by those holding the five men which asserts that "Jason" killed himself -- the group holding the men have called themselves The Shi'ite Islamic Resistance in Iraq and they state: "This proscrastination and foot-dragging and lack of seriousness on the part of the British government has prolonged their psychological deterioration, pushing one of them, Jason, to commit suicide on 15/5/2008. He surprised our brethren, who were taking care of him, with his suicide." AFP reports UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown used the opportunity to grandstand by declaring, "This abhorrent film will only add to the anguish of families who have suffered a great deal over a year for their loved ones who have been kept in captivity."

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad house bombing (the home belonged to "the mother of Mithal al Alosi, a lawmaking in the Iraqi parliament"), a Baghdad car bombing that left five people wounded, a Diyala Province tractor bombing that claimed 5 lives and left eight more wounded, a Falluja residential bombing at the home "of the father of Falluja police deputy chief Lieutenant Colonel Esa Sayer" which left five wounded and another Falljua residential bombing at the home of "Asif Ghazi, an officerin Falljua police" with no reported wounded or dead but an addition two bombs were discovered "near the house and . . . detonated under control." Reuters notes a Mosul car bombing that killed the driver of the car and 2 bodyguards outside of the car.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 "Awakening" Council member shot dead in Diyala Province, sheikh Abdul Ghaffar Abdullah shot dead in Diyala Province. Reuters notes 2 people shot dead as they traveled in the car in Mosul and 2 brothers and 1 cousin shot dead while driving in their car in Mosul.

Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes 1 corpses discovered in Mosul.

Turning to the US race for president. Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain has been turned down by the New York Times. Reuters reports McCain wrote a column and the Times (which just published Barack's ditherings last week) turned it down and turned it down with this nonsense "that a new draft should articulate how McCain defines victory in Iraq." Excuse me, McCain delcared victory in Iraq last week. Considering the bulk of the garbage that stinks up the NYT op-ed pages, it's never been apparent that anyone was turned down for any reasons other than political (such as when Alice Walker's column against the impending Iraq War was rejected). McCain's the presumptive GOP nominee. That means you run his column. In a real democracy, that would also mean you run columns by Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader. The paper appears to think it's not well written. If so, let him embarrass himself but, again, the paper's only real reason for turning down columns is political. McCain should post the rejected column at his website, I'm sure many sites would be happy to repost it in full. And the New York Times should be called out loudly for that nonsense. (Before any drive-by e-mails, I have said since this site started in 2004, I will not vote for John McCain. This is not about my vote, this is about an informed society needed for a real democracy.) Meanwhile, in his addition to this morning's entry, Jim steered everyone to the July 14th snapshot for this point: "Leave it to Aileen Alfandary to bring in 'uninformed' which, for the record, she did on the first news break of KPFA's The Morning Show where she declared of the Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente ticket, 'This year's Green ticket marks the first time a US has nominated women of color for both president and vice-president.' Uh, no, Alfandary, it's not. From Friday's snapshot: "What About Our Daughters? explains that, if McKinney is the nominee, this is the third time two women of color would be on the ticket with the first being Lenora Fulani and Maria Elizabeth Munoz in 1992 (New Alliance Party) and Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva (Workers World Party) in 1996." Dumb ass Amy Goodman (or maybe just liar) declared today that McKinney and Clemente (aka "Don't call me a Latina!") were "the first all-women-of-color presidential ticket in US history." During the interview, Goody couldn't stop lying: "What do you make of Senator Obama's trip to Iraq and Afghanistan to talking about a timetable for pullout, Nouri al-Maliki saying he shares his view, though he was castigated, it looks like, by the President, and Senator McCain saying Barack Obama has the most extreme record in the Senate, suggesting perhaps he's a socialist?" Amy Goodman needs to meet the truth one day. The recap of Dave Helling (Kansas City Star) interviewing McCain via Jake Tapper (ABC News):

At a town hall meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that rival Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, had the "most extreme" record in the Senate.
Kansas City Star reporter Dave Helling later asked McCain about that comment.
"Extreme?" Helling asked. "You really think he's an extremist? I mean, he's clearly a liberal."
"That's his voting record," responded McCain. "All I said was his voting record, and that is more to the left than the announced Socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont."
Asked Helling: "Do you think he's a socialist, Barack Obama?"
"I don't know," McCain said with a shrug. "All I know is his voting record, and that's what people usually judge their elected representatives by.'"

No, LIAR Amy Goodman, McCain didn't suggest Barack was a socialist. He was asked it by Helling (who brought the issue up) and McCain said he didn't know. "Most extreme voting record"? McCain's referring to the National Journal labeling "Obama: Most Liberal Senator in 2007" at the end of January based on their examination of his record.
February 8th on CounterSpin, Janine Jackson demolished the claim. However, that was the same February 8th that Goodman allowed Robert Kuttner to cite that same study as reason to support Barack: ""I think it was National Journal recently came out with a rating that showed that Obama has the most left-of-center record." So when Kuttner cites it, Goodman raises no objection. McCain cites it and she's ripping him apart with lies. Get your act together. What a disgrace. [Jackson's demolishing of the National Journal and Kuttner's idiocy on Democracy Now! were covered Feb. 10th at Third.] Repeating, McCain referred to the National Journal 'finding' that Goody accepted on her show from Kuttner. He was then asked if he thought Barack was a Socialist. He didn't raise that issue, he was asked. When asked, he stated he didn't know. This is exactly the garbage Ava and I were talking about Sunday: gossip -- uninformed gossip -- passed off as news intended to make you enraged. In headlines today, Goodman pimped the same gossip: "In campaign news, Senator John McCain has accused Barack Obama of having the most extreme record in the Senate and suggested Obama might be a socialist. McCain was asked about his views in an interview with the Kansas City Star." No, McCain didn't ACCUSE Barack of having the most exterme record, he was referring to the National Journal study -- one Goody allowed to be cited Feb. 8th on her show without objection or question. And McCain NEVER suggested Barack was a Socialist. Get your damn facts right, Pravda on the Hudson.

Ralph Nader is running for president and Team Nader notes:

Well, you did it.
We needed to raise $60,000 by midnight yesterday.
And you blew by that early in the weekend and almost hit $70,000 by last night.
Thank you.
Your generous support helped fund stage two of our ballot access drive – fifteen states by July 20.
As promised, we have now collected enough signatures to put Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot in 15 states. Click here to see our current ballot access map.
Last month, we laid out our ambitious ballot access timetable:
Ten states by July 6.
Fifteen states by July 20.
Thirty states by August 8.
Forty states by September 1.
Forty-five states by September 15.
Thanks to you, we have met the goals of stage one and stage two on time.
In Arkasas, our road trip team along with many volunteers collected more than 2,000 signatures, more than double what was needed.
In New Jersey, a dedicated group of volunteers helped us collect more than 2,000 signatures, more than double what was needed.
And in Massachusetts, we've collected more than 19,000 signatures--10,000 valid are required--and are now in the midst of turning in our petitions to hundreds of towns across the state to get them verified.
We are now entering our most difficult phase--the third phase, where we are facing deadlines in an additional 15 states by August 10.
If you have been thinking of dropping what you're doing this summer and hitting the road for Nader/Gonzalez, the next three weeks are when we need you most.
Please contact mark@votenader.org today to find out what states you can help in now.
And click here to see our day-by-day live interactive map of how our road teams are doing.
Tomorrow we will be launching a contest to build our e-mail list.
There will be a whole lot of prizes -- including the grand prize of dinner with Ralph Nader.
Keep an eye on tomorrow's e-mail for all the details.
And finally, when people ask you -- why is Ralph Nader running for President?
Here's one way to answer:
Just show them the new Democratic Party Convention bag.
And Glenn Greenwald's most recent article -- The AT&T Convention in Denver -- here.
The two parties have been taken over by the corporations.
And the people need a candidacy to counter that of the two corporate parties.
That candidacy is Nader/Gonzalez.
Once again, thank you for your generous donations this week.
You helped power us over the finish line for stage two.
Onward to stage three.
The Nader Team
PS: Last week, we offered the DVD An Unreasonable Man--autographed by Ralph Nader--to anyone who donated $100 or more by yesterday midnight. Well, 242 of you came through. That offer is now closed. We will be shipping those DVDs out later this week.

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