TODAY'S TOPICS: Gloves Off?, Moore v. McCain, Soldiers = Heroes?, Eisenhower, Sleepovers, McCain v. Veterans

As for VP, which could be chosen any moment...it just better not be Kaine or Bayh!! From those that are being mentioned, I'd like to see Biden...he'll go after McCain with guns a blazing, and he's got a load of foreign policy experience...two things Obama needs...but clearly not as progressive as I'd like...)

IS OBAMA FINALLY TAKING THE GLOVES OFF?

Well, it appears so at least. Although, what else could he do in the face of the giant gifts being given him by our own little closet terrorist, John “the disgrace, grumpy gramps” McBush? I know, I know, “how could I compare him to a terrorist!?” Easy actually…because by definition, bombing and killing innocent civilians that did NOTHING TO YOU, both as a terrible pilot, and as a Senator that has supported every bombing campaign by our government, with his only complaint being that we DON’T BOMB MORE, qualifies as acts of "terrorism". So yes, in that way, he is a closet terrorist. And as for the grumpy gramps, well that’s easy, he’s old, he’s senile, and he has really bad temper.

Now to the gifts he gave Obama that seem to have changed the trajectory, at least momentarily of what was becoming a horrific campaign. Let’s see, he said being rich is making about $5 million, then he slipped by saying he supports the idea of a draft, then he can’t remember how many mansions he owns (answer: between 7-10), and of course, he continues to attack Obama for being a traitor and unpatriotic.

Before I get to the videos of Obama's resurgence, LOOK AT THIS:

Eisenhower’s grand daughter – who was a true moderate Republican (there are none anymore…leaders I mean, not people) – has finally switched party’s. Here’s what she said too:

I have decided I can no longer be a registered Republican. For the first time in my life I announced my support for a Democratic candidate for the presidency, in February of this year. This was not an endorsement of the Democratic platform, nor was it a slap in the face to the Republican Party. It was an expression of support specifically for Senator Barack Obama. I had always intended to go back to party ranks after the election and work with my many dedicated friends and colleagues to help reshape the GOP, especially in the foreign-policy arena. But I now know I will be more effective focusing on our national and international problems than I will be in trying to reinvigorate a political organization that has already consumed nearly all of its moderate “seed corn.”

And now, as the party threatens to trivialize what promised to be a serious debate on our future direction, it will alienate many young people who might have come into party ranks. My decision came at the end of last week when it was demonstrated to the nation that McCain and this Bush White House have learned little in the last five years. They mishandled what became a crisis in the Caucusus, and this has undermined U.S. national security. At the same time, the McCain camp appears to be comfortable with running an unworthy Karl Rove–style political campaign. Will the McCain operation, and its sponsors, do anything to win?

As an independent I want to be free of the constraints and burdens that have come with trying to make my own views explainable in the context of today’s party. Hijacked by a relatively small few, the GOP of today bears no resemblance to Lincoln, Roosevelt or Eisenhower’s party, or many of the other Republican administrations that came after.

SNIP

It was not easy taking this step, since politics, like religion, is something learned on the knee of one’s parents and grandparents. And like anything else inherited, it is imbedded in one’s own identity. This makes leaving even harder. But there will be some joy for me in my new status since I will be able to speak for myself, and not as a member of a party that has, sadly, lost its way.

--Susan Eisenhower, President Eisenhower's grand daughter

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.

SNIP

I'm disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate Republican…I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he hates that man. He disingenuously and famously put his arm around the guy, even after Bush had intensely disrespected him with lies and slander. So on these and many other instances, I don't see that John is the "straight talk express" he markets himself to be.

-- Doctor Phillip Butler, who spent years with McCain as a POW, and was a 1961 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a former light-attack carrier pilot. In 1965 he was shot down over North Vietnam where he spent eight years as a prisoner of war. He is a highly decorated combat veteran who was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merits, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Heart medals.

STATS OF THE DAY:

The alcohol poisoning death rate in the United States is consistently between 300 and 400 a year. It's zero for pot.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, most of them women and children, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

VIDEO SECTION

Obama upping his populist attacks (it's ALL about populism...that's what unites the the largest numbers of Americans) and appeal…finally….

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/95916/poor_little_rich_man%3A_mccain_can%27t_remember_how_many_mansions_he_has/

Does McCain want to reinstate the draft? Well, he won’t say so, well he will, but as we all know, McCain doesn’t necessarily speak for the “McCain Campaign.” But, the fact is, there are numerous times in McCain’s past he’s hinted at the idea, and, his military proposals would DEMAND a draft.

Olbermann reports on “the disgrace’s” latest gaffe…in that he said what he really thinks…which is all the scarier:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/21/does-mccain-want-to-reinstate-the-draft/

McCain trivializing his own POW past? Gee, ya think? Good news is reporter Howard Feinman agrees with Olbermann on this point…and yes, it’s going to start hurting “the disgrace” if he keeps it up.

Here’s how it goes…you say to me, Zack, I think you’re mistaken in your analysis of the housing crisis. Then I say, “I WAS A POW!!” You get the picture:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/22/howard-fineman-mccain-in-danger-of-trivializing-pow-past/

FROM C&L: Now, there is nothing wrong with being happily rich and utterly detached. Nothing, that is, unless you make criticizing your political opponent as “elitist” and “out of touch” a centerpiece of your campaign. Which is why McCain beat a hasty retreat in an interview today with the Politico. (In that same interview, McCain with no sense of irony called lobbyists “birds of prey.”) Without naming a number, McCain said:

“I define rich in other ways besides income. Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”

The Joys of (Eight) Home Ownership. While fellow adulterer John Edwards was pilloried for his mansion, John McCain’s eight homes around the country have received little notice or criticism. His properties include a 10 acre lake-side Sedona estate, euphemistically called a “cabin” by the McCain campaign, and a home featured in Architectural Digest. The one featuring “remote control window coverings” was recently put up for sale. Still, their formidable resources did not prevent the McCains from failing to pay taxes on a tony La Jolla, California condo used by Cindy’s aged aunt.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/21/100-million-man-mccain-rich-not-defined-by-income/

And look at Obama’s new ad taking McCain on for his “I can’t remember how many mansions I own” comment. Finally, the gloves are off! Don't get me wrong, I'd WAY RATHER have this campaign completely about issues, not only is that better for the country, but it would mean a blowout for Obama. But, the Matrix is what the Matrix is, and sometimes you have to frame the other candidate's character and values, and at least in this case, its true...and it relates to McCain's policies. I mean, if you have 10 homes and are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and then constantly seek to give people like yourself giant tax cuts while cutting programs to the less fortunate, than that's an issue...

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/21/mccain-cant-remember-how-many-homes-he-owns/

Dobbs covers e-voting issue again (as horrible and racist as he is on immigration, he still is one of the few that cover this issue decently in the corporate media) and how they are undermining our democracy:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6301

A good ad from MoveOn tying McCain and Dole (as in Elizabeth) to their oily masters:

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/dolead2.html?id=13543-1187820-VaIrUax

ARTICLE SECTION: Moore, Friedman

Thank you!!! I was feeling a bit lonely out here pointing out, day in and day out, that being a soldier DOESN'T make you a hero. That being a prisoner doesn't make you a hero. And certainly, bombing innocent civilians that did nothing to us, in THEIR COUNTRY, doesn't make you a hero either. Is it me? Or am I missing something?

Michael Moore now also dares to ask: "What's So Heroic About Being Shot Down While Bombing Innocent Civilians?"

Alternet reporter covers parts of his new book on this subject:

"McCain's sacrifice had nothing to do with protecting the United States. He was sent to Vietnam along with hundreds of thousands of others in an attempt to prop up what was essentially an American colony, South Vietnam, which was being run by a dictator whom we installed."

Lest we forget, the Vietnam War represented a mass slaughter by the United States government on a scale that sought to rival our genocide of the Native Americans. The U.S. Armed Forces killed more than two million civilians in Vietnam (and perhaps another million in Laos and Cambodia). The Vietnamese had done nothing to us. They had not bombed or invaded or even sought to murder a single American. President Johnson and the Pentagon lied to Congress in order to get a vote passed to put the war in full gear. Only two senators had the guts to vote "no."

But the parallel between Iraq and Vietnam is not the only point Moore is making. He makes it personal.

John McCain flew 23 bombing missions over North Vietnam in a campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder. During this bombing campaign, which lasted for almost 44 months, U.S. forces flew 307,000 attack sorties, dropping 643,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam (roughly the same tonnage dropped in the Pacific during all of World War II). Though the stated targets were factories, bridges, and power plants, thousands of bombs also fell on homes, schools, and hospitals. In the midst of the campaign, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara estimated that we were killing 1,000 civilians a week. That's more than one 9/11 every single month -- for 44 months.

SNIP

What's not heroic about that? Is it any wonder all politicians speaking in public about John McCain are required to preface their remarks with a fawning admiration for his war service?
Alas, McCain does have some regrets about Vietnam. As Moore points out, in his memoir Faith of Our Fathers, McCain called it "illogical" and "senseless" that he was limited to bombing only military targets.

"I do believe," McCain wrote, "that had we taken the war to the North and made full, consistent use of air power in the North, we ultimately would have prevailed."In other words, McCain believes we could have won the Vietnam War had he been able to drop even more bombs.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/95906/michael_moore_dares_to_ask%3A_what%27s_so_heroic_about_being_shot_down_while_bombing_innocent_civilians/

Brad Friedman gets his "the Republican War on Democracy" op-ed published in the Guardian. As you might expect, it's mind blowing, and should serve as an ample guide book in how they will try to steal their THIRD PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN A ROW.

A few clips:

In addition to proving miserable failures (though, admittedly, they didn't try very hard) at rolling back the tsunami of wholly unverifiable electronic voting systems now set for use, misuse and utter breakdown across the country this November, the Democrats have also made little headway in ending what will be one of the most troubling problems this year: voter disenfranchisement via phony Republican claims of "voter fraud".The Republicans, on the other hand, have been at work for years developing their anti-democratic (small "d" again, but it may as well be a capital "D") schemes.

SNIP

According to the non-partisan League of Women voters, some 21 million Americans do not have the type of photo identification required by the most draconian types of polling-place photo ID restrictions that are now being pushed - by hook and by crook - in states across the country. Among that group, some 25% of African-Americans, 18% of Americans over 65, 10% of the 40 million Americans with disabilities, 15% of low-income voters and untold numbers of voting-aged college students who reside in states other than where they may have valid drivers' licenses would have difficulty voting under such laws. (You may add to the Republican enemies list: married women, hurricane victims and those suffering from palsy, if you like.)

With that in mind, the Republicans have stopped at nothing, in order to see such laws passed wherever possible, and otherwise enforced nonetheless even where such poll restrictions have been found by the courts to be illegal and/or unconstitutional.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/20/uselections2008.civilliberties

A BUZZFLASH ANALYSIS OF MCCAIN'S WAR ON VETERANS

A response to McCain's remarks from the Democratic National Committee shows that, despite his pro-veteran rhetoric, McCain voted 27 times against veterans' health care needs; he has called the new GI bill "too generous"; and McCain misrepresents his own voting record compared to how key veterans groups have rated it.

McCain's rhetoric is at odds with his voting record. It looks like McCain has a veterans problem. This, despite being widely respected as a POW survivor of the Vietnam war. Another indication of trouble for McCain comes from a new report showing that active troops overseas are donating 6:1 to Obama over McCain.

McCain brags about standing up to some members of his own party and it turns out he does. He was one of only thirteen senators to vote against an amendment to an emergency appropriations bill for 2006 "to provide an additional $430,000,000 for the Department of Veterans Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient and inpatient care and treatment for veterans," designating large amounts towards post-traumatic stress disorder treatment and readjustment counseling.

The TMC also sent a letter urging senators to support Sen. Bill Nelson's amendment to the Defense Authorization Act of 2009. Nelson's amendment would repeal a law that deducts survivor benefits for military families from VA benefits. The amendment currently has 33 cosponsors, Democrat and Republican. Obama is one of them, McCain is not. Obama is also a cosponsor of a new bill, the Veterans Voting Support Act, which would make it easier for veterans to register to vote. McCain has "not yet formulated a position."

After McCain's 5-and-a-half years as a POW and many more years of service, you would think that looking out for servicemen and veterans would be a top priority. You'd think it'd be one of the few things that might warrant a one-day break from campaigning to return to the Senate and vote on. Maybe he would be inspired to author legislation on behalf of America's servicemen and women, or at least tack his name on someone else's bill. In the same speech, McCain made a bluntly hypocritical and ironic statement that sums up his own position perfectly:"I suppose from my opponent's vantage point, veterans concerns are just one more issue to be spun or worked to advantage."

END

Ohio Secretary of State Ends Voting Machine 'Sleepovers' (yes, these aren't only legal, but common place, so don't let me EVER here you say "how could someone hack the machines???)

SoS Brunner's Directive Contains Specifications for Proper Storage of Election System Components, Outlawing Overnight Stays with Pollworkers

But Flaws Still Exist in the New Orders for Machine Deployment...

Jennifer Brunner, Ohio's Secretary of State, has finally issued a directive, ending the practive of voting machine "sleepovers" in the state. The dangers of the practice were originally revealed by The BRAD BLOG two years ago and the "sleepover" phrase has now made it into the national lexicon. While Brunner attempts to stop the practice in the Buckeye State, other states still continue to allow pollworkers to take voting machines home, leaving them open to tampering and hacking...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6298

TODAY'S TOPICS: Corporate Media, Anthrax Conspiracy, Maher's Religulous, McCain is a Cancer, E-Voting Vendors, My Latest

Note: Obama's gloves just FINALLY came off...posting on that (and much more) later today.

As always, in Establishment Media World, nothing is more insane or radical than refusing to believe every word the Government says. Even after Iraqi mushroom clouds and the whole litany of Government falsehoods, the establishment hallmark of Seriousness and Sanity is accepting the Government's word. When it says Iraq was behind the attacks, then it was. When they said Hatfill was the culprit, he was. Now that they say that Ivins is, he is, and only "conspiracy theorists" -- comparable to those who disbelieve we landed on the moon -- would question that or demand to see the actual evidence. The FBI is relying, understandably so, on their mindless allies in the media to depict its case against Ivins as so airtight that no real investigation is necessary.

-- Glenn Greenwald constitutional law expert for Salon.com on the latest Government lie, the media's reporting of it as fact, and the same old tactics of marginalizing those that question authority (which I know very well)

The planners of this campaign clearly wanted to make sure that, whatever the outcome, Russia would be blamed for worsening the situation. The West then mounted a propaganda attack against Russia, with the American news media leading the way.

-- Mikhail Gorbachev, in his New York Times Op-Ed, on yet another BIG LIE we're being told (i.e. apparently the war on terror is losing some of it's luster...so let's go back to the good old Ruskies) that the media is reporting without question or debate

My Comments: THE CORPORATE MEDIA CONTINUING TO SERVE AS MEGAPHONE FOR PROPAGANDISTS

So let's just be real clear when we are trying to figure out what really happened in the Anthrax case, what really happened on 9/11, or what really happened in Ohio in the 2004 election. The media doesn't simply report inaccuracies, they aggressively and vocally spread pure, fundamental, and truth destroying falsehoods concocted by the Government and then passed along to the lapdog press. These Government lies are viewed through an uncritical prism, with little to any meaningful investigation, examination, or skepticism.

Among the many reasons this continues to be the standard operating procedure in our rapidly deteriorating "democracy" is because these so called DC "reporters" like the late Tim Russert see the government officials whom they cover as their friends and colleagues, and the people on whom they depend for their access. Is it really any surprise then that these same journalists that go to parties with Karl Rove and are caught on camera dancing in almost "blackface" to rap music together refuse to spend three weeks doing a hard, intense investigation of crimes that could topple these same friends?

We have almost reached that 1984 moment in which the core function of the corporate press is to obtain and then disseminate government claims and propaganda...rather than question their veracity. This is our challenge...this is our disgrace...and this is why Obama is now in a dead heat with John McCain, someone who was in the bottom 1% of his class, a terrible and dangerous pilot (that wrecked 5 times in flight school), a bloodthirsty warmonger, a habitual liar, dangerously senile, and that's just for starters.

END

My latest published op-ed on how the mortgage crisis is effecting tenants can be read here if interested.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/08/governor_schwar_23.html

VIDEO SECTION

Bill Maher discusses his new documentary “Religulous” (can’t wait!) on Larry King…classic! And yet another reason our country finds itself in such trouble: over half Americans DON'T BELIEVE in evolution and nearly a fifth believe the sun revolves around the earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CWiASiqDdU&eurl=

Another classic Onion parody of the media and pundit “chattering class”…this time on the “430 New Demographics That Will Decide Election”: A taste (and another reason why Americans are SO UNINFORMED about the issues that matter!!!):

“A recent election poll indicates vegan independents and skydiving widowers are among the groups that will have a major impact in November.”

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/95749/the_onion%3A_poll_reveals_430_new_demographics_that_will_decide_election/

Olbermann’s Bushed…

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/20/countdowns-bushed-doublespeak-edition/

Another Republican caught in a corruption scandal. This is the guy who e-voting machines in Florida conveniently “lost” 18,000 votes in a heavily democratic district, thereby giving him a 300 or so vote “victory”. Watch the American News Project’s (A hopeful new news organization that actually reports the truth) report:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/95765/dirty_politics%3A_republican_congressman_from_florida_caught_in_corruption_scandal/

ARTICLE SECTION

Robert Scheer exposes the dangerous and delusional mind of McCain. I suppose what is the most disturbing and disenchanting aspect of what is becoming another soul stomping Presidential "election" is that the American voter is falling for the same old GOP tricks as they do every cycle...even AFTER THE LAST 8 YEARS OF MISERY!!! This demonstrates a level of ignorance and subordination to the media and political and corporate elites that even I underestimated. I now am simply trying to not lose total and complete respect for this country and the majority of it's people. If, or when, I hit that critical mass where I just can't take it anymore, and lose all faith, then it will be that much harder for me to continue to work so hard in changing things.

I desperately hope I don't reach that point...I suspect November could be that tipping point.

A few clips:

There you have it encapsulated, the McCain campaign for president, an irrational mélange of patriotic swagger and blindness to reality that is proving disturbingly successful with uninformed voters. How else to explain the many millions of Americans who tell pollsters they prefer a continuation of Republican rule when so many of them are losing their homes to foreclosure and the nation is devastated by out-of-control military spending?

The economy is in a downward spiral, the national debt is at an all-time high, the dollar is an international disgrace and inflation in July had the steepest rise in 27 years, driven by oil prices fivefold higher than when George W. Bush invaded the nation with the world's second-largest petroleum reserves.

While the oil-rich Mideast nations we protect refuse to fully open the oil spigots as payback for our military efforts, McCain celebrates Gen. David Petraeus as his No. 1 hero for "victory" in Iraq. Aside from the reality that victory there is now defined as returning to the level of stability provided by Saddam Hussein, who the Bush administration admits had nothing to do with the bin Laden-led terrorists, even that goal requires the cooperation of our former sworn enemies, Iran's ayatollahs.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080901/scheer

To continue to show how totally sick and cancerous McCain is, even mainstream journalist Jack Cafferty of CNN just couldn't take it anymore and wrote this incredible diatribe calling out McCain for what he is. In fact, that's exactly what McCain reminds me of, a big, walking, cancerous tumor...

A few clips:

It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand.

SNIP

John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.

SNIP

George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself. He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been. I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

http://www.truthout.org/article/is-mccain-another-george-w-bush

And now to the great Glenn Greenwald and his absolutely riveting analysis of 'THE BIG LIE" being perpetrated against us by the government, and being amplified by the corporate media: the murder of American citizens by the government (who all was involved is still unknown...) using anthrax, then taking advantage of the fear those attacks caused to build support for a "war on terror" and invasion of Iraq. Could there be a bigger crime? A more important story?

Yet, as we see unfold before our very eyes, just as with the stolen elections, 9/11, and so many other Matrix mythologies sold to us, the media accepts - in this case again -a totally inane, incomplete, swiss cheese like, and clearly manufactured false argument as fact. Yes America, the killer was Bruce Ivins, who happened to kill himself, and he totally acted ALONE!

Go to bed America, the government has everything under control. Forget about the fact that it was all Democrats that were targeted America, the killer was a lone Democrat. Forget that the case makes no sense America, Russia is coming now!! Go to sleep America, look, it's an uppity Black Man that might be Muslim!! Sleep America, don't pay attention to your ever increasing debts and decreasing quality of life as the CEO's of criminal corporations rake in hundreds of millions of dollars a year...just look at Britney, Paris, and Lindsey Lohan...what sluts!!!

A few clips on the latest remarkable lie we are being told to believe:

That the FBI is still, to this day, radically changing its story on such a vital issue -- namely, how and when Bruce Ivins traveled to New Jersey, twice, without detection and mailed the anthrax letters -- is a testament to how precarious the FBI's case is. They stood up in public two weeks ago, refused to show anyone the evidence they possess, but nonetheless proclaimed that they know that Ivins was the anthrax attacker, and that he acted alone, beyond any reasonable doubt. Yet their own theory as to how and when he sent the letters was squarely negated by their own claims, and so they had to re-leak their theory to the Post once that glaring deficiency, which they apparently overlooked, was pointed out online.

This isn't some side issue or small, obscure detail. Being able to link an accused to the scene of the crime is the centerpiece of any case. That's why the FBI leaked its "administrative leave" theory to the Post and other media, which then spent all day highlighting the "incriminating fact." Yet the FBI's own theory made no sense and was immediately debunked, and so, in response, they just changed their theory to some completely different set of speculations the way political pundits have new "breaking news" every five minutes about who the likely Vice Presidential picks are. Does that behavior allow anyone to have confidence in what the FBI is saying?

SNIP

And let's just spend a brief moment marveling at how mindless and uncritical the establishment media is in how they report on these matters. It was The Post's Carrie Johnson and Joby Warrick who first reported the FBI's leak on August 8 that Ivins had likely traveled to New Jersey after taking administrative leave in the morning, and they reported it without an iota of critical thought, and certainly didn't point out that the FBI's own timeline was impossible on its own terms. More amazingly, it was one of those same Post reporters -- Carrie Johnson -- who on Thursday printed the FBI's brand new and mutually exclusive theory -- that Ivins traveled to New Jersey at night, after work -- without even bothering to mention the most important fact: that it was a brand new theory that contradicted the one she mindlessly passed on from the FBI the week before.

SNIP

What's so striking here is that, when it comes to garden-variety, relatively banal crimes that have some tawdry aspect, the establishment media will investigate them endlessly. The same Washington Post that has spent weeks mindlessly reciting Government claims about the anthrax attacks just completed a 12-part series on the Chandra Levy case, in which -- as the Post itself proudly announced -- its reporters "were assigned to produce an in-depth reconstruction of the case that would reexamine all avenues of the investigation":

Yet here is the first fatal biological terror attack on the U.S. in history -- one which, by our Government's own reckoning, came from a U.S. Government facility itself. Those attacks had an incalculable impact on our political climate. The list of possible suspects, with overwhelming motives to perpetrate the attack and ample opportunity to have done so, is long and high-powered. Both the public and private bio-research industry in the U.S., which was already quite substantial before 9/11 and exploded afterwards, is shrouded in almost total secrecy and operates with virtually no oversight, despite experimenting with the world's most dangerous pathogens and bioweapons, including anthrax. And much (though not all) of the establishment media is playing its now standard role of uncritically ingesting and trumpeting Government claims (even when -- especially when -- made in secret) and investigating nothing.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/18/anthrax/index.html

MCCAIN'S LATEST AD REVIEWED BY FACTCHECK.ORG

FROM C&L: My, my. FactCheck.org does what their name implies and finds that one of McCain’s recently resurrected talking points, first featured in an aptly titled ad called “Outrageous,” is filled with some rather dubious claims.

John McCain’s ad, “Outrageous,” which began running November 12, touts the Arizona senator’s long-standing fight against pork-barrel spending. The ad includes three examples of projects that McCain deems unnecessary and claims that “one man” has “the guts to stand up to wasteful government spending.”

But the three examples of spending highlighted in the ad – a “bridge to nowhere,” a study of bear DNA and a museum dedicated to Woodstock – seem chosen more for their impact than for any direct involvement McCain had in attacking them. In fact, he voted in favor of the bill that included the bear study funding; he was absent for key votes on the Woodstock museum (including one on an amendment he co-sponsored); and he never specifically tried to eliminate the bridge earmark and missed some crucial votes on that one, as well.

John McCain exaggerating his record, hoping people won’t notice because the establishment media won’t report it? You don’t say…

END

ELECTION FRAUD SECTION

Corporate Vendors Undermining U.S. Elections

A VotersUnite report on the current situation and how to reclaim elections --- in 2008 and beyond.

As we approach the 2008 general election, the structure of elections in the United States -- once reliant on local representatives accountable to the public -- has become almost wholly dependent on large corporations, which are not accountable to the public. Most local officials charged with running elections are now unable to administer elections without the equipment, services, and trade-secret software of a small number of corporations.

"If the vendors withdrew their support for elections now, our election structure would collapse," warns Ellen Theisen, author of a new report from VotersUnite, in her guest blog today.
Theisen writes about her report, released this week, examining the situation, how we got here, what some election officials are doing to fight back, and the steps we can take to limit corporate control of our elections in 2008 and beyond...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6287

'Scientific American' Blasts E-Voting Issues Warning to Voters Prior to November Elections...

Those conspiracy theorists over at Scientific American just refuse to move on and get over it, noting the so-called "scientists" who warn of things like the ability to place a piece of tape over an optical-scanner to block votes from being counted at all...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6290

TODAY'S TOPICS: Olbermann's Special Comment!, Solomon, Frank, Russia, Bradley Effect, Not Bayh!, E-Voting

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, I warned that war would fan the flames of extremism in the Middle East, create new centers of terrorism, and tie us down in a costly and open-ended occupation. Senator McCain predicted that we’d be greeted as liberators, and that the Iraqis would bear the cost of rebuilding through their bountiful oil revenues. For the good of our country, I wish he had been right, and I had been wrong. But that’s not what history shows. These are the judgments I’ve made and the policies that we have to debate, because we do have differences in this election.

But one of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can’t disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America’s national interest. Now, it’s time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.

-- Barack Obama begins to take the gloves off!!

VIDEO SECTION

Finally, SOMEONE calls out McCain for all his lies - particularly on issues related to veterans (hint: he's shameless). Watch Olbermann's special comment calling out John “the disgrace” McBush:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/18/countdown-special-comment-mccain-continues-to-sell-out-our-troops/

Most working families today do not have homes that have anywhere near 10 rooms. John McCain has 10 houses. Many working people in America have to work two and three jobs to provide for their families and pay their car loans. John McCain hops on a private jet. Is it any wonder why McCain champions a George Bush agenda of cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy, helping oil companies turn record profits, and leaving working families to fend for themselves? McCain's velvet world leaves him utterly unprepared to make the tough choices we need to restore the middle class and ensure that everyone in America has quality, affordable health insurance.

-- Andy Stern, President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

Watch the great video by labor on the REAL McCain...a multi-millionaire who married a billionaire beer heiress, never worked a real job in his life, and votes against ANYTHING that would do anything to help out regular people...as he lavishes gifts and tax breaks on his rich friends. What a Maverick!!

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/95423/mccain%27s_mansions%3A_the_houses_that_greed_built/

The great Independent progressive Senator Bernie Saunders talks more about America’s wealth disparity and the collapse of the middle class…he’s the best…

From Alternet: While the corporate press has been busy covering political mud-slinging and Paris Hilton ads, Meet the Bloggers focused on the real issue facing the majority of Americans: the economic crisis. Not only is the middle class in our country collapsing, but Bushonomics have left us on the verge of stagflation. Millions of Americans who can no longer afford health insurance, gas for their cars, mortgage payments, and credit card bills are sinking below the poverty line.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/95345/sen._bernie_sanders_on_the_collapse_of_the_middle_class_under_bush/
A new national study by the Pew Research Center shows that 12 percent of the country still believes Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim. ANP looks into how this myth has been perpetuated in the media...

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/95293/the_obama_muslim_myth/

DON’T PICK EVAN BAYH FOR VP!!

I've been making this case for months now, so I was especially happy to see David Sirota write an op-ed pleading the very same thing: Don't pick Evan Bayh!

Here's some of the reasons why:

If he is known at all, it is for heading a business front group called the Democratic Leadership Council, using that position to rake in corporate campaign contributions and then paying back the money with votes.

For instance, in his 2004 campaign, Bayh raised almost $1 million from the banking and financial industries, then voted in 2005 for a bankruptcy bill helping those industries intensify their usurious practices. Similarly, despite representing a manufacturing state crushed by trade-related job losses, Bayh has voted for a bevy of lobbyist-written trade pacts, including the monumentally destructive China deal in 2000.

On foreign policy, it's even worse. Bayh has been a shameless Bush parrot, infamously commending himself for being "tough and smart" after aggressively supporting the Iraq War -- the same war that U.S. intelligence agencies have said is severely weakening America's national security.

SNIP

The most ridiculous arguments for Bayh are those insisting that his nomination would A) appease embittered Clinton supporters because Bayh was a Clinton supporter and B) help win Indiana border states such as Ohio.

Like most D.C. analysis, this assertion assumes that most Americans are as obsessed with politics as professional pundits, and therefore that most Clinton voters A) know who Bayh is and B) know Bayh supported Clinton. Furthermore, the theory presumes that unemployed factory workers in places like Akron will decide to vote for Obama because of Bayh -- even though most of them have never heard of the Indiana senator and those that have know him for voting to ship their jobs overseas. (Note to Obama: If you want to win Ohio, why not pick the Buckeye State's anti-war and anti-NAFTA Sen. Sherrod Brown?)

END

ARTICLE SECTION

As always, Norm Solomon about perfectly sums up my own feelings regarding Obama (and is disappointing politics), how to vote this election, and the role to be played by the progressive movement in this momentous time in our history. If some of what Solomon writes sounds vaguely familiar, it could be because he’s revisiting the same arguments we made in 2004 with Greens for Kerry.

A few clips:

Yet we’re in great need of willingness to acknowledge contradictory truths, to sort through them as a means of finding the best progressive strategies for the here and now. While some attacks on Obama from the left are overheated, overly ideological and mechanistic, there’s scant basis for denying the reality that his campaign and his positions are way too cozy with corporate power. Meanwhile, his embrace of escalating the war in Afghanistan reflects acceptance rather than rejection of what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism.”

To some, who evidently see voting as an act of moral witness rather than pragmatic choice (even in a general election), forces such as corporate power or militarism are binary — like a toggle switch — either totally on or totally off. This outlook says: either we reject entirely or we’re complicit.

SNIP

In an odd and ironic way, progressives who are unequivocal Obama boosters and unequivocal Obama bashers embrace similar concepts of limited alternatives in electoral work. They seem to rule out candidly critical support of a candidate — viewing such an option as either a betrayal of the candidate or a betrayal of principles.

But supporting one candidate — clearly preferable to the Republican — should not require a lack of candor about the preferred candidate’s defects. And progressive interests are not advanced by claiming, against the evidence, that it doesn’t really matter which candidate wins.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/18/11047/

This is a must read! I had no idea just what a disastrous foreign policy we’ve had in regards to Russia and the outlying provinces over the past ten years! Not only as it relates to the oil pipeline it appears Russia is going to take back, but simply in terms of how badly we misjudged our old rivals ability to rebound and become a superpower again (at least they are in terms of energy and resources control).

A few clips:

It's one thing that US foreign policy wonks imagined that Russia would remain in a coma forever, but the idea that we could encircle Russia strategically with defensible bases in landlocked mountainous countries halfway around the world…? You have to ask what were they smoking over at the Pentagon and the CIA and the NSC?

So, this asinine policy has now come to grief. Not only does Russia stand to gain control over the Baku-to-Ceyhan pipeline, but we now have every indication that they will bring the states on its southern flank back into an active sphere of influence, and there is really not a damn thing that the US can pretend to do about it.

SNIP

The American banking system may not need a shove from Russia to fall on its face. It's effectively dead now, just lurching around zombie-like from one loan "window" to the next pretending to "borrow" capital -- while handing over shreds of its moldy clothing as "collateral" to the Federal Reserve. The entire US, beyond the banks, is becoming a land of the walking dead. Business is dying, home-ownership has become a death dance, whole regions are turning into wastelands of "for sale" signs, empty parking lots, vacant buildings, and dashed hopes. And all this beats a path directly to a failure of collective national imagination. We really don't know what's going on.

The fantasy that we can sustain our influence nine thousand miles away, when we can't even get our act together in Ohio is just a dark joke. One might state categorically that it would be a salubrious thing for America to knock off all its vaunted "dreaming" and just wake the fuck up.

http://www.alternet.org/audits/95546/russia%27s_return_bites_the_neocons%27_grand_energy_scheme_in_the_ass/%20/

Thomas Frank writes another ingenious expose’ of the right wing movement’s now over 30 year campaign to “erase” liberalism. The good news is, we are starting to rebound and the tables are being turned, the bad news is that they have been incredibly successful…moving our country far, far right, and away from the kind of social democracy that existed under Roosevelt, Kennedy and Johnson, and much more like a plutocracy, corporatocracy, and kleptocracy…

A few clips:

Mainstream American political commentary customarily assumes that the two political parties do whatever they do as mirror images of each other; that if one is guilty of some misstep, the other is equally culpable. But there is no symmetry. Liberalism, as we know it, arose out of a compromise between left-wing social movements and business interests. It depends on the efficient functioning of certain organs of the state; it does not call for all-out war on private industry.

Conservatism, on the other hand, speaks not of compromise, but of removing its adversaries from the field altogether. While no one dreams of sawing off those branches of the state that protect conservatism’s constituents - the military, the police, legal privileges granted to corporations - conservatives openly fantasise about doing away with the bits of “big government” that serve liberal ends. While de-funding the left is the north star of the conservative project, there is no comparable campaign to “de-fund the right”; indeed, it would be difficult to imagine one.

SNIP

Throwing the rascals out is no longer enough. The problem is structural; it is inscribed on the map; it glows from the illuminated logos on the contractors’ office buildings; it is built into the systems of governance themselves.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/17/11040/

ANOTHER MCCAIN MILESTONE

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) currently holds the title of most absent U.S. senator, missing over 60 percent of votes this session. In an interview with Walter Isaacson at the Aspen Institute yesterday, McCain claimed he has not "missed any crucial vote" on energy legislation.

ELECTION FRAUD SECTION

Please Learn This Phrase Right Now: "The Bradley Effect"

(and now discard the term, because come November it will be used to explain where all the stolen votes went...not because they were stolen, but because Obama is black...riiiiggghhht)

This from Brad Blog:

If you don't know what it is, do yourself a favor and read up on "The Bradley Effect" now. No matter what the reason, no matter what happens in the upcoming Presidential Election, should Obama end up losing, you will hear that phrase used endlessly to explain the loss. Whether it can legitimately explain such a loss will make no difference, it will be one of the key reasons used to explain it, accurate or not.

I'm sorry to say, I have a feeling you're likely going to be hearing that phrase a lot between now and November and, should the worst comes to pass, that phrase will be on the lips of every media (and blogosphere) pundit in the world for days and weeks thereafter as history and conventional wisdom are quickly concreted. Read up on it now. Weap about it later.

Remember, polls --- be they pre-election or exit polls --- mean nothing anymore to the mainstream corporate media. At least when they are found to conflict the reported results of an election. As a well-regarded pollster recently told me off record, "Election results are the gold standard when it comes to polls." And, it seems, he actually believed that. Guess he hadn't read much of The BRAD BLOG.

END

States throw out costly electronic voting machines - AP

What's still so amusing about the corporate media FINALLY admitting that e-voting machines are a disaster for democracy of historical proportions, they still won't discuss how OBVIOUS it is that our recent elections HAVE been hacked, and WERE manipulated!! Not that they MIGHT be in the future, or are "in danger" of being, but they were! Idiots. Nonetheless, we've made progress. See below:

--By DEBORAH HASTINGS, AP National Writer

The demise of touch-screen voting has produced a graveyard of expensive corpses: Warehouses stacked with thousands of carefully wrapped voting machines that have been shelved because of doubts about vanishing votes and vulnerability to hackers.

What to do with this high-tech junkyard is a multimillion-dollar question. One manufacturer offered $1 a piece to take back its ATM-like machines. Some states are offering the devices for sale on eBay and craigslist. Others hope to sell their inventories to Third-World countries or salvage them for scrap.

SNIP

It wasn't supposed to be this way. After the disputed 2000 presidential recount, Congress provided more than $3 billion to replace punch card and lever-operated machines. State officials across the country said the new systems would eliminate human error and political tampering.

But problems with the machines soon followed: vanishing votes, breakdowns, malfunctions and increasing evidence that the devices were vulnerable to hackers.

Beginning last year, states including California, Ohio and Florida abruptly ordered election officials to mothball their electronic machines. Over the last two years, the percentage of registered voters relying on touch-screen technology dropped from 44 percent to 36 percent. In November, when the presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain ends, an estimated 57 percent of voters will rely on paper ballots. (STILL, THAT MEANS NEARLY 40% OF THE VOTES ARE STILL REALLY VULNERABLE)

SNIP

Five months ago, Florida began unloading nearly 30,000 touch-screen machines to a recycling company, which will strip, crush or try to sell the devices to other countries and states. The recycling company earns part of all sales.

Ohio can't do anything about selling its $138 system until lawsuits filed by the manufacturer and the secretary of state get sorted out. The legal battle follows a string of problems dating to 2004, when malfunctioning machines led to hours-long lines at the polls. Days passed before votes were tallied.

Company management claims that election problems were caused by human error and complications from an antivirus software system. And so in November, most of the state will still be using e-voting machines.

ENVIRONMENT SECTION

Lawsuit seeks EPA pesticide data -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to disclose records about a new class of pesticides that could be playing a role in the disappearance of millions of honeybees in the United States, a lawsuit filed Monday charges. Jane Kay in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/19/08

A report, "Harvesting California’s Renewable Energy Resources: A Green Jobs Business Plan,” was released Friday by the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, a Sacramento-based nonprofit. It surveys major studies and concludes that if California gets a third of its power from renewable sources by 2020, as pending legislation would require, as much as $60 billion would be pumped into the state economy. Manufacturing could increase by 200,000 jobs. California is requiring utilities to reach 20% renewable energy by 2010.

NEW POLL CONFIRMS AMERICANS ARE IGNORANT

The latest Pew Survey on News Consumption, which is conducted every other year, was released yesterday, and is chock full of interesting tidbits and results. Most notably, there was a great section of the report on news-consumer knowledge and sophistication.

About half of Americans (53%) can correctly identify the Democrats as the party that has a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. In February 2007, shortly after the Democrats gained control of the House after a dozen years of GOP rule, many more people (76%) knew the Democrats held the majority.

The public is less familiar with the secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice) and the prime minister of Great Britain (Gordon Brown). About four-in-ten (42%) can name Rice as the current secretary of state. The public’s ability to identify Rice has not changed much over recent years: In April 2006 and December 2004, shortly before she was sworn in, 43% could correctly identify her. The prime minister of Great Britain is not well known among the public. Just more than a quarter (28%) can correctly identify Gordon Brown as the leader of Great Britain.

Overall, 18% of the public is able to correctly answer all three political knowledge questions, while a third (33%) do not know the answer to any of the questions.

TODAY'S TOPICS: Bernie Saunders!, Colbert, Moyers, Election Fraud, McCain, Caging

No time today, but you've got to watch the Saunders video, same goes with the Colbert clip, and definitely check out the articles, especially by Moyers if possible too.

VIDEO SECTION

And this is the MUST WATCH VIDEO of the month (at least). Senator Bernie Saunders breaks down, on the Senate floor, the ever widening and obscene disparity between the rich and the poor in this country and our burgeoning Banana Republic. The numbers are truly shocking...as are the policies that exacerbate these injustices.

PLEASE WATCH THIS:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/95198/sen._bernie_sanders_can_fix_our_economic_crisis/

Daily Show on McCain’s “presumptuousness” when it comes to, well, about everything these days. It’s like he thinks he IS the President. An old, senile, warmongering one at that…

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/15/jon-stewart-ive-got-as-much-authority-as-mccain-in-the-georgia-situation/

Classic Colbert…every American should see this.

Brad Blog: In one of the smartest pieces we've ever seen on his show, tying so many of the Bush Administration's unprecedented crimes together in a single bound, Stephen Colbert offers an out for all them, in one fell swoop.

His comments come on the heels of the remarkable statement, made by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to the American Bar Association in a speech this week, that "not...every violation of the law, is a crime."

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6272

Greenwald’s Brave New Films does a piece on McCain’s economic policies…classic!

http://www.consumerfedofca.org/downloads/final%20Draft%20Financial%20Privacy4.pdf


ARTICLE SECTION

The great Bill Moyers writes on money, politics and our pay to play "democracy".

A few clips:

On the campaign trail, John McCain has been sounding like Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry, preaching the gospel of oil drilling. Sure enough, like all other evangelists, who promise heaven and pass the collection plate, the offerings roll in. The web site Campaign Money Watch reports that companies lusting to drill offshore have been raining dollars on McCain ever since he saw the light. Earlier this summer, John B. Hess, of Hess Oil, no less, convened his cronies at the ritzy 2l Club here in New York City and collected $285,000 for McCain and the Republican National Committee. And you thought those rallies recently staged in Washington for more oil drilling were just spontaneous gushers of affection from politicians who give billions in subsidies to ... big oil companies. Edna Ferber, those strike-it-rich Texas tycoons in your novel "Giant" would feel right at home.

SNIP

Finally, here's one to send Ayn Rand spinning: The White House projects next year's federal budget deficit at a record $482 billion, and that's not counting a possible $25 billion bailout of mortgage banks Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Or the total costs of fighting in the Middle East, largely kept in the bottom drawer where they're hard to find. Yet this week, our Government Accountability Office issued a report concluding that by year's end, the Iraqi government - the regime in power because we put them there - may have a budget surplus as high as $79 billion.

http://www.truthout.org/article/a-novel-approach-politics

The real McCain...be very, very afraid.

A few clips:

As president of the New Citizenship Project, founded in 1994, he helped create and raise funding for the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which neo-conservatives such as William Kristol, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz used to push their plans for a pre-emptive war against Iraq. McCain also gave early support to Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi exile who widely fabricated and skillfully publicized deliberate disinformation to scare Americans into believing that Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda and active weapons of mass destruction. McCain has recently tried to play down his relationship with the still-active Chalabi, especially since the CIA and others accused the Iraqi of secretly working with Iran.

SNIP

McCain was wrong on every count, and the image of victory he projected - our friend Chalabi leading a peaceful, democratic Iraq that would welcome American military bases for as long as 100 years - now seems, at best, quaint. In fact, the single Iraqi issue on which McCain can conceivably claim to have made a sound judgment was his support for the so-called "surge," last year's escalation of American forces that many observers credit with a relative decrease in violence. Other observers point to two factors that McCain doesn't want to discuss - the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad's neighborhoods, which forcibly separated feuding Shi'a and Sunnis, and the Pentagon's effort to win over Sunni tribesmen and former insurgents, often by putting them on the US payroll.

http://www.truthout.org/article/warrior-john-mccain-far-more-dangerous-than-bush

ELECTION FRAUD SECTION

(a few more ways the GOP is looking to steal votes...or better, deny people from voting)

Based on publicly available information nearly 600,000 eligible voters could be placed on a caging list and challenged on Election Day, which could then result in their removal from the voter rolls without due process, in accordance with Ohio law. Ohio counties with largest numbers of returned notices prior to March 2008 Presidential Primary are Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas and Summit.

In 2005, Ohio's General Assembly introduced legislation, House Bill 3 (H.B.3) that overhauled Ohio's election system. H.B. 3, in part, requires voter information mailings and amends Ohio's challenge statute(s). In particular, it requires that 88 county boards of election mail all Ohio registered voters a non-forwardable notice 60 days before the election. Each board must compile into a list any notices that are returned as undeliverable. These lists, in turn, are available as public records to any individual or group seeking to use the list as a "caging list" to challenge voters.

Advancement Project anticipates that significant number of voters of color will be included on the county generated caging lists because census data indicates that they move more frequently than whites. Furthermore, in light of the fact that college students change residences frequently, it is anticipated that large numbers of young voters will be included on the lists as well.

"Voter suppression and intimidation is driven by a desire to maintain the status quo, concluded Judge." "These acts are carried out in an effort to deprive certain Americans, especially those most marginalized, of a voice in our democracy. Election Day is the great equalizer -- it is the one day where if all was right in our democracy, it would not matter if a person is rich, poor, black, white, educated or not, we all would have the same amount of power."

-- Advancement Project

Ohio Voters at Risk From Faulty Diebold Hardware and Software'Daily Voting News' For August 14, 2008

-- Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

If I lived in Butler Co Ohio I would be very concerned about whether my vote was going to be counted this November. If you recall Butler Co uses Diebold/Premier DREs and in the March primary and April recount over 200 votes nearly went uncounted.

Diebold/Premier claims to have a software patch but also claims it will be years before they can use it because it has to have federal approval....

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6273

John McCain is the “anti-lobbyist” candidate, right!?

HuffPo:

The non-partisan group Campaign Money Watch has come up with another startling figure for those who follow the presidential money chase.

According to an analysis performed by the group, McCain’s top fundraisers and aides have collected nearly $1 billion in fees from U.S. companies in the past decade — specifically, $930,949,819. Using numbers provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, the group also found that officials of those very same companies have given nearly $12 million to McCain’s presidential campaign, so far.