Your Black Politics: One in Seven Voters Still Undecided

WASHINGTON (AP) — Patrick Campbell worries Barack Obama will raise his taxes but thinks John McCain will send people off to war. He says that leaves him leaning toward Obama ... maybe.

"I'm split right down the middle," said the 50-year-old Air Force Reserve technician from Amherst, N.Y. "Each one has things that are good for me and things that are bad for me. And people like me."

With the sand in the 2008 campaign hourglass about depleted, Campbell is part of a stubborn wedge of people who, somehow, are still making up their minds about who should be president. One in seven, or 14 percent, can't decide or back a candidate but might switch, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll of likely voters released Friday.

Who are they? They look a lot like the voters who've already locked onto a candidate, though they're more likely to be white and less likely to be liberal. And they disproportionately backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed run for the Democratic nomination.

For now, their indecision remains intact despite the fortunes that have been spent to tug people toward either McCain, the Republican, or the Democrat Obama. Fueling their uncertainty is a combination of disliking something about both candidates and frustration with this campaign and politics in general.

"We have a lot of candidates who have never really hurt, have never had to struggle" economically, said Jeff Wofford, 28, a pastor and Republican from High Ridge, Mo., who may back McCain. "A lot of candidates are interested in working the political system but aren't really interested in changing things."

Continued:

Your Black Politics:McCain Endorses Joe The Plumber’s View That Obama Victory Means ‘Death To Israel’

Today, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher hit the campaign trail on behalf of Sen. John McCain(R-AZ) for the first time, joining former Bush OMB Director Rob Portman on a GOP bus tour through Ohio. Stopping at a flag store, Wurzelbacher twice agreed with a questioner who said that “a vote for Obama is a vote for the death to Israel.”

Fox News brought Wurzelbacher on to discuss his claims, but despite host Shepard Smith’s best efforts, Wurzelbacher refused to explain why he agreed with the nonsensical claim:

SMITH: Joe, do you know Barack Obama’s positions on Israel?

WURZELBACHER: Listen, I know you wanna really get some answers on this one, I’m just not gonna help you out here, Shepherd. Let people go out and find, that’s what I’ve been telling people. […] Listen, you don’t want my opinion on foreign policy. I know just enough probably to be dangerous.

SMITH: Yeah, well that’s what I was kinda wondering.

Smith also read a statement from the McCain campaign standing firmly behind Wurzelbacher’s absurd claims:

While he’s clearly his own man, so far Joe has offered some penetrating and clear analysis that cuts to the core of many of the concerns that people have with Barack Obama’s statements and policies. … [T]here is good reason to question the judgement that Obama would bring to the Oval Office.

Source:

Your Black Politics: Bush Administration Snubs Palin

This week, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Joe Biden (D-DE) all were contacted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding the Iraq security agreement.

In today’s White House press briefing, spokesman Dana Perino explained that the adminstration contacted the candidates “to keep them equitably informed.” “One of them is going to win the election, and they will be taking over and having to deal with these issues,” Perino explained. But nobody called Gov. Sarah Palin. In today’s State Department briefing, reporters got a chuckle out of Palin being left out:

Q: You called Senator Biden, you called McCain. Did you also call Governor Palin?

McCORMACK: No. If you hadn’t noticed, she’s a governor. Not a senator or a congressman.

Q: She’s a vice presidential candidate.

McCORMACK: Right.

Q: She also has extensive foreign affairs experience. (LAUGHTER)

McCORMACK: Right. I explained to you the reasoning behind the phone call.

Q: Maybe if this has to do with Russia, you would have called her.

Continued:

Today's Headlines

Read The Economic Bailout Bill in PDF

Video: Now vs. Then, The Bailout & The Depression

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: This is a copy of the bill which will provide for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. It has provisions in it where it talks about helping homeowners, but when you read the fine print, you see it has language like "may" instead of "shall" and "encouraging" instead of "mandating" help for the millions of homeowners who are worried right now about whether they're going to lose their home. There's no help for them in this.

FDR in 1933: "There Must Be A Strict Supervision Of All Banking and Credits and Investments. There Must Be An End To Speculation With Other People's Money."

The country has been deep in debate over the $700 billion dollar bailout for Wall Street, but almost unnoticed, Congress approved another bill last week for over $600 billion. The Defense Authorization Bill for 2009 was passed by the House on Wednesday and cleared by the Senate on Saturday.

The bill authorizes $612 billion dollars for national security programs in the Defense and Energy departments, including $68 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to AP reports, the bill eliminated language barring private interrogators from US military facilities. It opens the door to a missile defense system in Europe but does not mention troop withdrawal from Iraq and no longer requires Congressional approval for a security pact with Iraq.

Article: Fall of Britain's Flamboyant Financiers Fuels a Debate About Greed

Article: New Rules for the FBI

Article: A New Sea is Forming
From the southern tip of the Red Sea southward through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, the continent is coming unstitched along a zone called the East African Rift.

Article: Watch out for higher 'Net costs

Article: Skyscraper Farming

Article: Earth's Oldest Rocks to Date

Article: Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan

The Info Today

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/26763771
Regulation, although best policy, not natural to McCain.
"Fundamentally a deregulator."
"We need a return to the Reagan administration."
The Reagan administration was the beginning of neocon mentality, and employment of supply side economics.
Video: Truth of Reagan (I love this)
Video: Bad Economics
(The Economic Meltdown in a Nutshell continued below)


EPA Unlikely to Limit A Component of Rocket Fuel in Tap Water

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26798324
2: 32 - McCain's campaign operatives & their effects on U.S. economics


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26798551
2:06 - Funny ignorance
2:58 - She so didn't answer the question, lol
3:40 - Sarah Palin is guided by Cheney's former spokesman
4:20 - Unconstitutional Cheney admin rhetoric

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26782378
McCain got caught up on trying to score points about the economy...got it wrong.
Several McCain foreign policy "misspeaks."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/26782086
The PLUSES of off-shore drilling? HURRICANES! They allow total write-offs for ginormous oil companies.

Video: Palin's Rev has history of medieval nutcasery


Vermont Candidate Pledges to Prosecute Bush for Murder
In Vermont, the Progressive Party candidate for state attorney general says she plans to prosecute President Bush for murder if she is elected. Charlotte Dennett made the announcement alongside the famed prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who recently wrote the book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. Bugliosi said any state attorney general or local district attorney can bring criminal charges against Bush once he leaves office early next year.

Interesting Reading

Taro Aso, who delivers snappy speeches, reads Japanese "manga" comics and talks tough about China, was selected Monday to be Japan's next prime minister

Wasps proven to have memory

Europe's 1st civilization made optical illusion art

Russian court convicts 13 in hate crimes

usaspending.gov

The Economic Meltdown in a Nutshell

ROBERT SCHEER: Yeah, well, the point is, when Bush and McCain and Paulson, who was head of Goldman Sachs before he was head of the Treasury, say they don't know how this happened, they designed this system. We had a regulatory regime in place ever since the Great Depression to prevent this kind of meltdown, and that said that stockbrokers, insurance companies, banks, investment banks, commercial banks, could not merge. And in 1999, they passed legislation, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Gramm is the guy who McCain supported for president in '96. He was co-chair of his campaign until he complained about the whiners out there, meaning the public. And that legislation is what caused this. It allowed the swaps and everything else.

And then, in 2000, hours before the Christmas break, Gramm introduced legislation. I'm holding it in my hand. This smoking gun is available on the internet; you can read it. And what it said is that the swaps is defined in the Financial Service Modernization Act, meaning that instead of going into a bank and somebody said, "OK, we'll give you a loan, and we expect you to pay it over thirty years. We know your house has the equity. We know you have the means to pay it"—that was the traditional way—instead, they allowed these mergers, and as a result, they could buy insurance on it, they could do these swaps, they could do what they call hybrid instruments. And it is legislation that was never discussed, was—never had hearings or anything, says that all of this stuff is exempted from all previous regulation. The SEC cannot regulate it, the Commodity Futures Board cannot regulate it.

So they gave these institutions, of which Goldman Sachs was critical—so was Citigroup, where Robert Rubin, who was Clinton's Treasury secretary, he had also come from Goldman Sachs. And, by the way, even though this is Republican-led, there were plenty of Democrats, in fact, a majority of Democrats, who voted for this. And Robert Rubin, who unfortunately is advising Barack Obama—I don't know how this guy can wake up and—you know, and not be embarrassed and how he can appear on television—and Lawrence Summers, these are the two guys in the Clinton administration who teamed up with Phil Gramm to pass that atrocious legislation.

And now, you know, it seems to me, in terms of the bailout, why don't they do what Hillary Clinton said during the primaries: just put a freeze on foreclosures? Start out with helping the homeowners and say, "OK, we're not going to foreclose your house for the next year. We're going to force the banks to work out reasonable payments. We'll try to help you hold on to it." That would have stopped the bleeding here much more effectively than throwing $700 billion at these bandits.

I don't know why we're not considering criminal charges against these people. They have done more to hurt this nation than bin Laden could ever dream of.

DEAN BAKER: Absolutely, and this speaks to the nature of the bailout. The bailout should not be fun, if it's constructed right. The way this should be constructed is, if you're on the edge of bankruptcy, you come to the Treasury, and you get the money. But guess what? You're selling your company, and you also have serious limits on CEO pay. You know, you only get $2 million a year; how's that? Or maybe less.

You know, some people have proposed less than that. But the bailout has to be punitive, if it's serious. It shouldn't be a field day. We shouldn't have people lining up to get in. That's telling us that this is not a serious bailout. So the idea that the administration is proposing is that the people who were engaged in incredibly reckless behavior, who made out like bandits, getting tens of millions of dollars in salary and compensation over the last few years are now going to get this $700 billion blank check from the American taxpayer. It's just unbelievable. If Henry Paulson doesn't want it to be punitive, that's telling us, from the word go, he is not the guy to run this.

This is not supposed to be a giveaway. You know, these are the richest people in the whole country. And if it's not punitive, what we're telling them is just, you know, "Go out, run your banks in a reckless manner" — because that's what they did; they wouldn't be here if they didn't run their banks in a reckless manner — "pay yourself $30, $40, $50 million a year in compensation. Then, when you get in trouble, go running to the government, and we'll just hand you hundreds of billions of more." If this isn't punitive, if this isn't really painful for them to come to the government, then we've messed up with the bailout. Think of what we do to welfare people, when they—you know, everything they have to go through to get, you know, a $500-a-month check, and these people want billions, no questions asked.

ROBERT SCHEER: Well, I think Senator Sanders made a very important point, that, you know, Barack Obama, back in March at Cooper Union—Robert Rubin, who is now unfortunately close to the campaign, in January of this year—he's the guy who in the Clinton administration pushed through the Financial Services Modernization Act, allowing this madness—but in January, he said we don't have a problem, this is just the normal fluctuation of the market. That was in a speech he gave at Cooper Union. However, in March, Barack Obama gave a very good speech on the economy. He said much of what we have been saying on this show so far. Unfortunately, he lost that voice temporarily, and these people like Summers and Rubin moved over to his campaign. So, I think if Barack Obama can recover his populist voice that got him where he—so far in the primaries, I think this should be a runaway. I mean, it's unbelievable that the American people would want four more years of this madness.

I would point out, you have asked the question about covering foreign banks. One of those foreign banks, UBS, Swiss bank, is where Phil Gramm works. He was rewarded after being head of the Banking Committee, pushing through this deregulation. His wife Wendy Gramm went to work for Enron, was on their audit committee. She runs a big institute for deregulation that the big corporations put a lot of money into. Phil Gramm went to work for UBS, a foreign-based banking conglomerate. And now they want to extend this coverage to those banks. These people have no shame.

I think it's time, as I said before, to really talk about criminal investigation. They have defrauded the American people, and they changed the laws. You know the old folk song, Woody Guthrie, I guess, you know, some will rob you with a gun, and others with a fountain pen. I mean, imagine, these people came in, rewrote federal regulation to exempt the kind of credit swaps—I notice people find this a bit confusing, but I'm saying they've got to read up on it. The hybrid instruments that they talk about, that's what allowed all of this. That's why AIG got in trouble. They're supposed to be selling insurance; they're not supposed to be backing security packages. And all of this stuff was hidden, it was murky. The bankers themselves admit they don't know what was going on.

And all of that was made legal; it was illegal up until, you know, less than ten years ago. It was made legal by acts of Congress, led by the Republicans, and unfortunately a majority of Democrats backed it, and Bill Clinton signed off on that first major legislation.

Staying Informed

EPA Unlikely to Limit A Component of Rocket Fuel in Tap Water


From DemocracyNow!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against the NSA, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, challenging the legality of the administration's electronic surveillance program. The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all residential AT&T customers and alleges that the NSA is conducting mass surveillance on US residents in violation of their First and Fourth Amendment rights. (Luckily for AT&T, Congress and the Bush Admin signed Telecom immunity against such civil lawsuits!)
A new book by award-winning journalist Barton Gellman reveals that the Vice President played a crucial role in maintaining this program of warrantless spying, even after Justice department officials began to doubt its legality in 2004. The book is called Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.
Washington Post editorial on the subject

AMY GOODMAN: By the way, this is just a side story, but Cheney has the White House email all blindly going to him, so everyone who writes to each other in the White House, Cheney gets that email?

BARTON GELLMAN: Early on in the administration, he made arrangements that he and his office would be copied with all the significant paperwork in the White House on issues. Now, it was not true that if you wrote to the person in the cubicle next door, he was going to get a blind copy. But if you sent to the working group on Asia or on arms control, you would see that it was going to your colleagues in the White House in the appropriate directorates; you would not see that it was also going to Cheney. And there were people who made the mistake of giving very frank advice and making very frank statements about the positions of the Vice President's Office without knowing that they were being read right over there.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26728520
Palin's record portrays several Bush & Rovian tactics:

strict press silence/secrecy

conducting official biz through personal emails to deflect public records requests & subpoenas

vast cronyism

and a distinct disinterest in foreign affairs

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26764294
3 minutes in: McCain looking retarded when asked about how to fix the economy
McCain: "I'd like to tell you that I did anticipate [the banking crash], but I have to give you straight-talk. I did not."
Also admits that he was surprised at the dot-com collapse.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26764592
Irony: Elite class maven, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild finds Obama to be "an elitist."
(A day later, it was released that she finds him elitist because he called "rednecks" bitter. Yes, this daughter of the Rothschild banking dynasty said "rednecks.")

3 Minutes in: Palin's ugly record on women's issues.


http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/17/palin_mayor/
As Wasilla's mayor, Palin "spent more than $50,000 in city funds to redecorate her office, without the council's authorization."


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/26763824
McCain campaign interfering in & stalling the Alaska investigation on Palin's trooper scandal.
(They now call the investigation partisan, though the council is comprised of 3 Rs & 2 Dems.)


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/26764014
Issue: "Lose Your House, Lose Your Vote"
"Caging lists" have been a regular tactic of the GOP.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/3956129.stm

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/3078/Do_Rove_s_Missing_Emails_Prove_Illegal_Caging

http://www.cnn.com/video//video/politics/2008/09/19/obama.protests.kkk.cnn
What's wrong w/ these idiots?
Black people who believe Obama is supported by the KKK


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26780079
3:09 in: I love Chuck Hagel!
8 minutes in: Why I love Chris Matthews


Get ready for another hike: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/26782485
But be prepared: GA Office of Consumer Affairs

Informative reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FISA_Amendments_Act_of_2008
Extended research on the "compromises" in the new FISA Act approved by Congress.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/18/AR2008091803914.html?nav=rss_world

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/20/AR2008092002144.html?nav=rss_politics

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/19/large-hadron-collider.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7626944.stm

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/19/plants-stress-aspirin.html

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=egyptian-fossil-discovery

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4a336662-8636-11dd-959e-0000779fd18c.html

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fad66726-8640-11dd-959e-0000779fd18c.html

Rallying Against the Low Information Voter

So I was talking to my Aunt during a road trip down to my parents' house and we got onto politics. She brought up the current financial crises and voiced that she didn't understand how people would trust McCain to solve the problem. Then she got on some Bill Clinton being a better president stuff. Sigh... That Arsenio Hall appearance just won't quit.

I brought up all the problems in his past: Travelgate, his bad political appointments (Zoe Baird, Kimba Wood, Lani Gunier), Hillarycare, Whitewater, Welfare-to-(not) Work, NAFTA, and finally, repealing the Glass-Steagall Act. I explained what all these problems meant, and that they weren't simply partisan nit-picking. Further, I proved how his administration was closer to being Republican than progressive. Even with all of these staring in her face, she found the will to utter, "I still like his personality."

Therein lies the problem with American politics: our electorate's chosen state of ignorance of the issues in favor of a mythical fireplace coziness with a candidate. The fatuous idea that the guy on TV could be your neighbor is paramount, even though every day you buy products by people (Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Howard Stringer, J. Edward Coleman) whose personalities you have no idea about.

Two weeks ago, I was hanging with my friend at a local restaurant over in Cabbagetown. We were chatting a bit, waiting for our food, when I overheard a few patrons next to us talking politics. I couldn't resist the chance to run my mouth about this subject to which I've become so addicted. So I asked them if we could join the convo. "Sure," they responded.

The people were certainly nice, and a couple of them were pretty aware of the issues, although they didn't know that Obama has all his policies PDF'd on his website, or that they've been there the entire time. At any rate, they'd been trying to convince their friend to vote for Obama. The guy, I came to find out, was aware of detrimental facts about McCain's record and associations, yet still not willing to let go of voting for him. At the time, he admitted that he was a McCain supporter but visibly unhappy with his choice of Palin. Ironically, he said that he couldn't see himself voting for Obama because "Obama," he said, "is ideological." When I asked him to explain that one, he couldn't. Which tells me that he is the ideological one.

When I talked to the guy last week, he mentioned that he's starting to accept Palin. He's getting used to her being on the ticket and he even kind of likes her. Since I'm a news nut and I'm aware of some really bad characteristics (such as not knowing her own party's policies, being a religious extremist, her charging rape victims for their hospital rape kits, and slashing the budget for the Alaska Special Olympics), I had to ask why. "She just seems so much more real than before," he said.

What is it with this? She seems "real"?!?! Really?? As opposed to, what? Cubic Zirconia? How about she has no idea how to deal with the economy? She's saying - on television - that she understands foreign policy because you can see Russia from the edge of Alaska. She even spoke of going to war with Russia with relative ease. Cold War part II is okay for her, I guess, even though we don't have the money to outspend them this time. Hell, we didn't have it the first time, but the debt wasn't as bad as it is now. She must want us to be the People's Republic of China @ America, since it's apparently okay by her to continue borrowing money from them. She also thinks it's okay to let Israel do whatever it wants. So, while our country is essentially folding in on itself how will we be able to help Israel?

Ideological voters are worse than uninformed voters, though both are equally annoying. Ideological voters know and ignore the better option in favor of some inane sense of duty. The McCain guy can overlook the history of the Keating 5, with the savings and loans scandal back in the 80s, in favor of just having a republican in office. Even though McCain will do nothing to help people making his pay grade.

Low information voters vote stupid simply because they don't know. But they equally annoy me because we are in the effin information age and they choose not to find out. The Washington Post, Newsweek, Vanity Fair and all those mags can report the truth all they want, but the dumbasses in West Virginia (1) don't read those, and (2) still think Obama's Muslim - even though it's unconstitutional for anyone's religion to even be up for debate. Not that the constitution is even an issue, since they're essentially voting for the guy they can have a beer with. (Even though they'll never know him.)

Just like the people at the table that night who were dumbfounded when I answered the McCain guy about Obama not defining his stances, by directing him to the PDFs on his website. It wouldn't have taken them more than 5 minutes to go to his site to see what's on it, yet 80 years into this campaign, they obviously never have. They could've even looked on Wikipedia. That site had a breakdown of all the major points for each candidate during the primary season. But clearly, America is more taken with a cozy smile than actually knowing the policies behind it.

The stock market fell 500 points for the first time since Black Monday in the Reagan administration, yet the IVs (ideological voters) and the LIVs (low information voters) will never know that it's the same failed policy that didn't work the first time it was implemented that has fucked things up again. They'll elect the guy who's all about the deregulation that caused this mess.

"...he has never departed in any major way from his party's embrace of deregulation and relying more on market forces than on the government to exert discipline," as the New York Times reported. A decade ago, McCain embraced legislation designed "to broadly deregulate the banking and insurance industries, helping to sweep aside a thicket of rules established over decades in favor of a less restricted financial marketplace." Sponsored by top McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm--then a Texas senator--that bill ultimately "helped pave the way for companies such as AIG and Lehman Brothers to become behemoths laden with bad loans and investments," according to the Washington Post. McCain's ideological commitment to deregulation has resurfaced multiple times during the 2008 campaign. Shortly before Bear Stearns collapsed last March, for example, the candidate characterized himself as "fundamentally a deregulator" who's "always for less regulation," and even as AIG faced collapse yesterday, he told Matt Lauer that "we cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else." (He's reversed his position now that the government was forced to commit $85 billion to stop AIG's collapse.)

Yet right now, we're basically socializing the banking industry. I'd think that Republicans would be blowing their stacks right now. Government takeover of anything always seemed to induce the red scare in the past, even though national healthcare is in our best interest for the sake of keeping workers healthy and relieving companies of those expenses. An underreported fact is Walmart wanting national health care. GM has moved it's production to Canada because they already have national health care. But any time they bring it up here, the Republicans scream communism. It's retarded. On the other hand, maybe the AIG bailout will actually help us move closer to national health care. :-)

It's Been A Long Time...

There's a lot that's gone on since I last blogged. And believe me, I've been raging over it all. But I haven't posted because I didn't see the point in venting ideas that have been posted elsewhere. I, for one, realize how annoying it is to see or hear the same thing said ad nauseum. At the same time, though, there's been a definite angst bubbling inside me.

Those who know me know that it's my own fault because I can't stay away from political information. Every day, I watch no fewer than five political shows, then read more via WashingtonPost.com RSS and iGoogle. It's an addiction. At the same time, though, I get irritated at how inexplicably daft people can be. For instance, on an episode of DemocracyNow!, a reporter interviewed a DNC goer about the Obama-Hillary rift. She lamented that she can't get over Hillary losing because "it was women's time." Why? Because of "all the discrimination." Wow. So... what? Black people haven't endured discrimination? Or, is it that women have endured more? Or women's discrimination is more important?

If they could take their ass hats off, they'd see that discrimination has run side-by-side for most people in America besides white men. Despite Women's Suffrage, which only benefited white women, many couldn't get loans by themselves even into the early 80s. Funny thing is, even by 1990, some black people weren't able to do the same thing! Granted, Obama is still a man, but they can't delight in that big wall coming down. It doesn't matter that it still hasn't come down for born-here Latinos, Indians, or Far Easterners, or (GASP) Indigenous Americans. And that's still not even the issue.

Some of these yahoos are willing to do a complete 180 from Hillary's domestic platform in order to vote McCain out of spite. SPITE! I may not trust her or her husband, but I at least know that they don't support supply-side economics. Oh, wait... Bill signed NAFTA and repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. Hmmm...

Well, anyway, McCain and his boy Phil Gramm are all about the Trickle-Down ditty, and won't do anything to help things in the midst of this economic shit storm. Hell, Phil was the guy who lobbied to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act. And it led to the current mortgage crisis - not that it exists to him. He actually said that our current economy is the best in American history. I'm not sure from what year he's counting, but he's clearly ideological. And this was [is] the guy planning McCain's economic agenda. This is the agenda that the hardcore Hillraisers are willing to support because... ... they never can really say. They're just mad she didn't win. I just don't understand that kind of unreason. Especially when Obama's policies are this damn close to hers. But, y'know, that's just by-the-by. Obama clearly cheated since Hillary supported their state to violate party rules, thusly, disqualifying all their votes. And this is just part one of my journey. I have more, but I have to go to sleep now.

Get More Obama on MTV

Dear MoveOn member,

MTV just started accepting political ads. And the first political ad that millions of young people will see is a negative attack on Barack Obama—saying he's "worse than a flip-flopper" and accusing him of no longer being against the war.1 It's outrageous.

The Republicans' strategy is clear: kill the hope that's brought millions of new young voters out of the woodwork.

We can't let that happen. And as it turns out, we've got a funny, positive, hopeful way to fight back.

The "funniest ad" award winner in our Obama in 30 Seconds contest is a perfect counterpoint to the cynicism-mongering ad on MTV. Plus, it was made by actor (and MoveOn member) Rider Strong.

We just found out that we can run this ad on MTV and Comedy Central (as their first political ad ever) for $150,000. If 6000 of us contribute $25, we can do it. Can you check out the ad below—and if you like it, will you chip in to get it on the air?

https://pol.moveon.org/donate/brainonhope.html?id=13345-9038802-nF3R5Dx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Peter, Ray, Daniel, Justin and the rest of the team

1. "Barack Obama Attacked In First National Political Ad Ever To Air On MTV," MTV News, July 23, 2008, http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3983&id=13345-9038802-nF3R5Dx&t=5

Tavis Smiley Says Blacks Should Defend Obama

RICHMOND, Va. (NNPA) - Political commentator and national talk show host Tavis Smiley seemingly has softened his position on Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

In an exclusive interview with the Richmond Free Press, Smiley lauded the Illinois senator for his historic achievement in becoming the first African-American to run for president under a major party banner.

He also denied that his departure from the hugely popular Tom Joyner Morning Show was linked to his stance on Sen. Obama.

“I don’t allow people to run me away from anywhere,” he said in a phone interview from his Los Angeles home. “I start and leave on my terms.”

Smiley, who was set to speak in Richmond June 14, became the subject of much speculation in April when it was announced he would be quitting Joyner’s radio show after 12 years of offering twice weekly commentaries on politics and a range of other subjects.

It was rumored that he is leaving because of his tough posture on Sen. Obama, particularly among throngs of listeners who fervently supported the senator’s historic nomination quest.

Joyner said at the time that Smiley quit because he couldn’t handle the criticism from listeners upset because “he’s always busting Barack Obama’s chops.”

But, Smiley denies it.

In the past, the 43-year-old Smiley has criticized Obama for not attending the State of the Black Union for the past two years. Smiley has convened the event – a national conversation on issues pertinent to the Black community – for eight years. In February 2007, when the televised convocation drew 10,000 people to Hampton University, Obama was announcing his historic bid for president from the statehouse in Illinois that very weekend.

Smiley explained during the interview, as he has in a commentary, that his contract is up with Joyner’s show. He said he is fatigued with rising at 3 a.m. everyday to meet the show’s 6 a.m. start on the East Coast. He said there are other things he wants to do.
His last commentaries on the show will come at the end of June.

“You mentioned empowerment. Well, I want to move on and do other things,” he said.

While Smiley said that Obama – and all elected officials – must be held accountable to the people who put them in office, he noted that Sen. Obama’s history-making nomination “releases progressive possibilities and portends for us – people of color and for women – the opportunity to do things that we heretofore have not had a chance to do.”

But, he cautioned, the general election campaign against Republican John McCain will be a bruiser.

“We have to brace ourselves for the ugliest, nastiest racist, most expensive campaign ever in this country,” he said. “I don’t think people have really grasped yet how ugly, nasty, racist and divisive this race is going to become.”

Smiley called on people to prepare to defend Sen. Obama “against any and all White supremacist attacks” that are certain to be launched.

“We have to stay informed. We have to stay awake. We have to stay alert. We have to stay aware,” Smiley said. “And we have the obvious call to be involved – in controlling our destiny in every step that we can. So we have to get involved. Whether people support Obama or McCain, you have to be involved in the process.”

An Unnecessary Danger -Senator Obama's Planned Visit To Iraq

Charlie Black’s Bhutto’s Assassination Remarks makes Senator Obama’s Future Planned Trip To IRAQ An Unneccassary Danger: According to Charlie Black, McCain's chief strategist, “The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an "unfortunate event.” "But his (McCain’s) knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who's ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us."

Clarlie Black is the Chairman of BKSH which is a lobbying subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller. Charlie Black and Mark Penn, former chief strategist for Hillary Clinton are business partners. Penn is the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, which is one of the largest public relations firms in the world. One of the noted client of Burson-Marsteller is Blackwater. In 2007, Blackwater was accused of killing several Iraqi civilians. Blackwater hired BKSH to help them with their image after the Iraqi civilians' claims.

Blackwater USA is one of three United States-based private security firms contracted by the State Department to provide security for diplomats and other senior civilians in Iraq. According to the New York Times, Blackwater guards the most prominent American diplomats. The NY Times also reported that Blackwater has received government contract worth more than 1 billion dollars since 2002.

The Republicans have mounted an effort to weaken Obama on his signature issue the Iraq War. Part of their effort includes a demand that he goes to Iraq to "talk" to the the commanders on the ground before the November election. Obama has agreed to this self serving and dangerous demand of John McCain and his supporters.

Obama should remember thathis nation suffered great misery and pain with the political assassination of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. In fact we will never know who was responsible for the deaths of John Kennedy, King, Robert Kennedy, Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto 1953 - 2007, and Patrick Daniel Tillman (November 6, 1976- April 23. 2004).

According to Wikipedia “The controversy surrounding the full details of Tillman’s death has sparked many investigations. CNN in a March 5, 2006, article on CNN.com stated, “The U.S. Army will launch a criminal investigation to determine whether former NFL player Cpl. Pat Tillman's 2004 death from friendly fire in Afghanistan was negligent homicide, CNN learned on Saturday. The Pentagon's inspector general directed the Army Criminal Investigative Division to conduct the probe, sources said. "

Initial reports after his death said Tillman, 27, was shot and killed by Taliban forces during an ambush on April 22, 2004. An investigation later found that fellow soldiers shot Tillman, thinking he was part of an enemy force firing at them. Tillman's family demanded to know why his uniform and body armour were burned a day after he was killed and why they were not immediately told he might have been killed by fellow soldiers.” Who killed Corporal Patrick Tillman and why was he killed? Did the Army Rangers protect him in Afghanistan?

Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto assassination occurred on December 27, 2007, as she was campaigning ahead of the January 8, 2008, scheduled elections. President Pervez Musharraf's government was responsible for Bhutto's safety and security. According to one of Robert Novak's columns, "the assassination of Benazir Bhutto followed two months of urgent pleas to the State Department by her representatives for better protection. The U.S. reaction was that she was worried over nothing, expressing assurance that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would not let anything happen to her."

On December 28, 2007, the Washington Post in an article titled “US Brokered Bhutto’s Return to Pakistan.” The article stated in part: “As part of the deal, Bhutto's party agreed not to protest against Musharraf's reelection in September to his third term. In return, Musharraf agreed to lift the corruption charges against Bhutto. But Bhutto sought one particular guarantee -- that Washington would ensure Musharraf followed through on free and fair elections producing a civilian government. Rice, who became engaged in the final stages of brokering a deal, called Bhutto in Dubai and pledged that Washington would see the process through, according to Siegel. A week later, on Oct. 18, Bhutto returned. Ten weeks later, she was dead.

America can’t afford to lose Senator Obama. Many Americans especially Black Americans and young voters need the hope and excitement that Obama brings to the political process. If he was killed in an “accident” in Iraq or worst the Bush Administration would be in charge or investigating his death. Based on the results of Tillman investigation and 2003 leak of CIA operative's identity investigation how successful would an investigation of an “accident” and/or an “assassination” of our Democratic nominee be in Iraq?

Do you think that Senator Obama will be safe with Black’s client “Blackwater USA” or for that matter any security firm in Iraq responsible for his protection? How many billion of dollars have Blackwater made since 2002? How much “protection” would you provide to someone who was going to end your billion(s) dollar contract with the Republicaians?

After Obama is in the White House he can travel to Iraq. If anything happens to him as a sitting President Obama’s Justice Department would be in charge of investigating and bringing those responsible to justice. OBAMA the only way you can lose this election is if you are DEAD or IF your name is not on the ballot. The Republicans know this fact. The Karl Rove playbook must not work this time. If and when McCain or his mouth pieces ask Obama how many days have passed since his 2006 visit to Iraq a good response from Obama would be ask how many days has it been since George declared that we would get Bin Laden Dead or Alive? How many days has it been since Bush uttered “Bring It On”?

Please Senator Obama remember that this election is not about you it is about the American people. We have waited forty years since Dr. King’s death for your appearance on the political scene and we can’t afford to wait another forty years for the movement that is Barack Obama to occur again in this nation history.

Vera Richardson is the author of “A Case of Racial Discrimination and Retaliation Real or Imagined.” http://books.google.com/books?id=sx1cLRaobBQC

Conservative Talk-Show Host Assaults Michelle Obama

On the June 18, 2008 broadcast of MSNBCS's "Verdict with Dan Abrams," Conservative Talk-Show Host, Lars Larson, spoke of Michelle Obama as an ungrateful, lazy and un-fulfilled woman. Unfortunately, the host of the show, Dan Abrams, was unable to take control of the incident or reprimand his guest. Coincidentally, this would not be the first time Dan Abrams has refused to defend a Black Woman being verbally-assaulted on his show: http://youtube.com/watch?v=o45G2actM8I . When would this madness stop?!!! Would Cindy McCain, Hillary Clinton or Laura Bush be treated the same way???!!!!! Black Women are being incessantly assailed by the rhetoric of Chauvinists, without any ramifications. It is incumbent upon us to do what is necessary to protect the integrity of our women: