Friday Fake-News Open Thread Edition

Obama hits back at Bush over 'appeasement' inference

Senator Barack Obama hit back at President Bush today during a speech in Watertown, South Dakota for "dishonest and divisive" comments made by the president in Israel, which inferred that the presumed Democratic presidential nominee's calls for talks with Iranian officials resembled appeasement with the enemy.

"The president did something that presidents don't do," Obama said, charging that Bush's words targeted other Democrats, as well. "He said that we were appeasers no different than those that appeased Adolf Hitler."

"That's exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided our country and alienates us from the rest of the world," Obama added, before taking aim at McCain also for also "embracing Bush's comments."

Obama said, "That's the kind of hypocrisy that we've been seeing in our foreign policy, the kind of fear-peddling, fear mongering that has prevented us from actually making us safer," adding that McCain had a "naive and irresponsible belief that tough talk from Washington will somehow cause Iran to give up it's nuclear program and support for terrorism.

Obama also blasted McCain for linking him to Hamas, and noted that he has never called for talks with Hamas leaders, while the Republican presidential candidate once had. The Illinois senator challenged Bush and McCain to take him on anytime on the question of patriotism, and noted the Iraq war's effect on the global war on terror.

"If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate on protecting America, that's a debate I'll be glad to have happen," Obama said.

This video is from CNN's Newsroom, broadcast May 16, 2008.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_hits_back_at_Bush_over_0516.html

All the President's Nazis (real and imagined): An Open Letter to Bush

Dear Mr. Bush,
Your speech on the Knesset floor today was not only a disgrace; it was nothing short of treachery. Worse still, your exploitation of the Holocaust in a country carved out of the wounds of that very crime, in order to strike a low blow at American citizens whose politics differs from your own is unforgivable and unpardonable. Let me remind you, Mr. Bush, of your words today:
"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem.
"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to Israel's parliament, the Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Well Mr. Bush, the only thing this comment lacked was a mirror and some historical facts. You want to discuss the crimes of Nazis against my family and millions of other families in Europe during World War II? Let me revive a favorite phrase of yours: Bring. It. On!The All-American Nazi

Your family's fortune is built on the bones of the very people butchered by the Nazis, my family and the families of those in the Knesset who applauded you today:
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government documents show.
Prescott Bush was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp. (search), a New York investment bank owned by a bank controlled by the Thyssen family, according to recently declassified National Archives documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Fritz Thyssen was an early financial supporter of Hitler, whose Nazi party Thyssen believed was preferable to communism.
--snip--
Both Harrimans and Bush were partners in the New York investment firm of Brown Brothers, Harriman and Co., which handled the financial transactions of the bank as well as other financial dealings with several other companies linked to Bank voor Handel that were confiscated by the U.S. government during World War II.
Union Banking was seized by the government in October 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Oh, but there is much more too:
The two Holocaust survivors suing the US government and the Bush family for a total of $40bn in compensation claim both materially benefited from Auschwitz slave labour during the second world war, Kurt Julius Goldstein, 87, and Peter Gingold, 85, began a class action in America in 2001, but the case was thrown out by Judge Rosemary Collier on the grounds that the government cannot be held liable under the principle of "state sovereignty".
I cannot think of one Democrat who can boast this kind of lineage. Can you? No, I don't think so. But you can lie brazenly and attack a sitting US Senator on foreign soil by comparing him to Nazi sympathizers? Let us continue down memory lane to help those who applaud you understand just what it is they are celebrating.
The All American Traitor
You family did not stop with supporting fascists and Nazis abroad, did they Mr. Bush? Surely you must know of your grandfather's role in the treasonous plot of 1933 to overthrow democracy in America? Let me remind you.
Grandpa Bush - that is to say, your grandfather - wanted fascism imported into the United States, or as you now call this type of transformation, "exporting democracy." Prescott went so far as to subsidize a coup attempt in order to achieve his dream of a fascist America (see BBC report below):
Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush's Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression. Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American
In other words, not only was your grandfather a self-professed fascist, he was a Nazi sympathizer and a war profiteer who should have stood trial at the Hague instead of buying his way into the US Senate. He was also a traitor, twice over.
Now clearly the crimes of Prescott Bush are not your fault, Mr. George W. Bush. Let us therefore judge your actions and words on their own merit.
Iraq is your Poland

Your reminiscence today about the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany should have been seen as your own condemnation of your own abhorrent actions against Iraq. The morbid irony of what you said will likely never register with your or your speechwriter. To truly grasp the grotesqueness of what you said requires that you have both a conscience and some understanding of history. We know you possess neither.
I will therefore make your history lesson brief, but to the point. The unprovoked attack on Poland by Germany was a war crime just as your attack against Iraq - based on lies - is a war crime. This is not my opinion. This is not a political attack. This is a fact. Consider the words of the esteemed former chief prosecutor in the Nuremburg trials, Benjamin Ferencz, regarding your war of aggression against Iraq:
"...Prima facie case can be made that the United States is guilty of the supreme crime against humanity, that being an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation."
Moreover, your reckless verbiage and partisan pandering using something as tragic and criminal as Germany's war of aggression against Poland is an insult to all victims of those atrocities.
My grandfather's sister and parents were having supper in their Warsaw home when a German bomb erased them from this planet. Your evoking the German atrocities against Poland in order to play dirty politics against Democrats is as offensive to me as if you had pinned a swastika onto your lapel.
Even your own words appear to be penned by Hitler's ghost all the while you imply that Democrats are Nazis and/or terrorists - something you have done over and over. Your lies and Hitler's lies even have the same purpose.
When you, Mr. Bush, said "see in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda," were you aware of Adolph Hitler's eerily similar statement? Hitler said "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
Yet if words alone were your only weapon and words strung together into lies your only crime, you might be seen as simply the loathsome, unethical dilettante and despot that you are. Unfortunately, your crimes are many and so similar to those of the Nazi regime that at times one wonders if you are not yourself reenacting that very history you used today as an insult against a political opponent.
Your very own concentration camps
=

You ordered the creation of secret camps all over the world and on US territory where you also authorized the torture of countless men, women and children is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, international law, and domestic law. In other words, you authorized war crimes.
We don't know the number of people you have had disappeared, tortured, and possibly murdered. Although we have some idea of what these numbers may be, I doubt the full truth of it all will ever be known.
In 2005, I had a CENTCOM document leaked to me illustrating that since the start of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, more than 70,000 men, women, and children have been detained at one of your various camps Mr. Bush. We don't know what happened to them, if they were tortured, raped, or murdered. What we do know is that less than 2% of those 70,000 had any sort of charge brought against them in a court of law. None of those alleged crimes, by the way, were acts of terrorism. We don't know if that 70,000 figure was the actual and full count of detainees in US custody around the world in 2005. But it is safe to say that in the last 3 years since this document was published, the number of detainees has likely grown.
What we also now know, in great horror, is that at least one of your camps had a crematorium in it, which some of the US soldiers stationed there suspected was used for burning bodies:
"We had some kind of incinerator at the end of our building," Specialist Megan Ambuhl said. "It was this huge circular thing. We just didn't know what was incinerated in there. It could have been people, for all we knew--bodies." Sergeant Davis was not in doubt. "It had bones in it," he said, and he called it the crematorium. "But hey, you're at war," he said. "Suck it up or drive on."
What we also now know is that Dick Cheney and senior members of your administration carried out a plan of torture and abuse that violated international and domestic law with regard to human rights, down to the type of torture tactics that would be used against prisoners in our custody. This plan, we now know, was approved by you.
Has the mirror cracked yet from this much fact or are you still peering into the political sphere hoping to ascribe your own crimes to others? It won't work. It never has and it certainly won't work now. We know far too much about you and yours.
I could continue listing the litany of your crimes, both against the United States and against foreign nations. I won't. We know what you are and what you have done. Having roughly 1,000,000 dead Iraqis under your belt should have shamed you into the parasitic hole you came out of, attaching yourself to the blood of this nation and sucking it dry. Instead, you parade around, the globe-trotting horror show and anti-Semite that you are.
Yes, you are an anti-Semite >>>cont
http://www.atlargely.com/2008/05/all-the-preside.html

Gotta love Obama!

"After almost eight years, I did not think I could be surprised about anything that George Bush says, but I was wrong," Obama said.

"The president did something that presidents don't do. That is launch a political attack targeted toward the domestic market in front of a foreign delegation," he said.

Later Friday, at a press conference, Obama criticized Bush's speech again, saying, "The speech yesterday wasn't about an actual policy argument, it was about politics ... about trying to scare the American people. And that's what will not work in this election."

"Who is this 'some' that they were talking about? ... Was this just a straw man that they were setting up? And if so ... what was the purpose of the remarks? I'm less concerned about whether the remarks were being directed against me personally, because frankly there is no evidence out there that I've ever suggested that we should engage terrorists. So obviously, it didn't apply to me."

-snip-

"If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate that I'm happy to have any time, any place, and that is a debate I will win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for," he said.

McCain responded to Obama's claims at a meeting of the National Rifle Association in Louisville, Kentucky, Friday.

"I have some news for Sen. Obama. ... Unconditional meetings with a man who calls Israel a 'stinking corpse' ... will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless ... to suggest that unconditional meetings will advance our interests."

McCain added that it "would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don't have enemies. That's not the world we live in. And until Sen. Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has strength, judgment and determination to keep up safe."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/16/obama.bush.mccain/index.html

Let's get rrrrrreadddyyyyy tooooo rrrrrrrummmmmmmmmbbbllllllle!!!!!!!!!

Ahem, Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain and right wingiacs everywhere...

Biblically speaking, what would, say, Jesus do, about confronting another with whom one has a grievance?

Friday Food Fer Thought...

Ahem, and Amen.

Now Pass the Peace.

Perfect for this header

During the 9 a.m. hour of CNN Newsroom, CNN aired Gibbs' full comment, including his reference to Gate's statements -- noted below in bold:

GIBBS: Obviously this is an unprecedented political attack on foreign soil. It's quite frankly sad and astonishing that the president of the United States would politicize the 60th anniversary of Israel with a false political attack. I assume he also is going to come home and fire his secretary of defense who was quoted in The Washington Post just yesterday saying we need to figure -- quote, "We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage and then sit down and talk with them." Them being Iran. Look, we have come to expect, and we've seen from this administration over the last eight years this type of cowboy diplomacy. Again, we've come to expect it. But over the past eight years it's made this country far less safe than we were. Ronald Reagan once asked Americans whether they were better off than they were four years ago. And I think people are going to ask themselves in this election are we safer than we were eight years ago under this president, and I think the answer is going to be a resounding "no."

Here's what CNN aired during the 10 and 11 a.m. hours:

GIBBS: [T]his is an unprecedented political attack on foreign soil. It's quite frankly sad and astonishing that the president of the United States would politicize the 60th anniversary of Israel with a false political attack. ... [W]e have come to expect, and we've seen from this administration over the last eight years this type of cowboy diplomacy. Again, we've come to expect it. But over the past eight years it's made this country far less safe than we were.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200805150010

Certainly. Not. News.

Afghan death squads 'acting on foreign orders'

Secret Afghan death squads are acting on the orders of foreign spies and killing civilians inside Afghanistan with impunity, a senior UN envoy has claimed. Professor Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on illegal killings, said "foreign intelligence agencies" had used illegal groups of heavily armed Afghans in raids against suspected insurgents.

He said the attacks were beyond the legitimate military chains of command, and they were "completely unacceptable" and "outside the law".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghan-death-squads-acting-on-foreign-orders-829320.html

Like the Iraqi Scorpion and Wolf Brigades.

Other than one or two programs with Tim Russert, I imagine they will try to force feed us to watch the victims of the earthquakes in China all weekend.

You know you NEVER air anything educational and informational on the weekends. Someone might learn something.

The very fact that John McCain is echoing Bush's words and attitudes, is just digging another foot in his own political grave.

I don't envy ANY Republican that would run for President this year. The fact that he even put himself out there to run this year, let alone repeat ReStublican Bushims, shows a lack of intelligence, IMO. We don't need four more or eight more years ~ we won't survive that long. However, McCain's "bearings" and integrity and intelligence have been a topic of discussion for many years. Will never forget watching a cartoon on Saturday Night Live four years ago, that had McCain on the stump endorsing Bush. He then walked in to his travel trailer and repeatedly beat his head on the cupboards.

"Hahahaha, What the frik are you doing with 1800 email sitting you your box for Gods sake,"

2 reasons...

1) The info contained in the emails does not automaticaly go into my own files, like you do probably, I get a lot of links and research and articles sent to me, and it is easier just to not delete my emails so I can search it for whatever I need, an addy, a direct quote, a link, ect.

And 2. Since bellsouth is almost certainly spying on my email, I keep everything I get, so they do not have to hurt themselves trying to find an archive of who is communicating with me.

I actually find it hillarious they are spying, as if I am dumb enough to commit evil plotting in an email.

BTW, if anything I ever sent online can be pulled back up... why would anyone believe that millions of WH emails were 'lost'...?

I can scrub my comp right now and it would have zero effect in hiding anything that was already broadcast across the net.

SHUSTER: Nancy, does the McCain campaign believe that talking to our enemies is the same as appeasing them?

PFOTENHAUER: We have never used the term appeasement and you know that.

SHUSTER: But the president did. […]

PFOTENHAUER: We have specifically not used the term appeasement.

Watch it:

Pfotenhauer needs to get her facts straight. First, McCain himself specifically used the word “appeasers” yesterday, insisting “the president is exactly right“:

Yes, there have been appeasers in the past, and the president is exactly right, and one of them is Neville Chamberlain. I believe that it’s not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn’t sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.

http://thinkprogress.org/

When I first heard Mumbles McCrazy was the nominee, I thought, 'But, but... doesn't he lie and flip flop like, every day?'

Then I just kind of smiled and thought, wow, this is gonna be so fun. But it is not fun anymore, and it is not funny. It is disgusting, disturbing and stupid.

Wow! On one of the satellite networks they're shwing a documentary about preditory lenders and easy credit. They're discussing the bankruptcy bill. And it's so in-depth!

Bush is on it passing the Bankruptcy Law and the Congress is arguing! (Go Maxine!)

All I know is that with stuff like this, and the current credit crunch, can Republicans really run away from Bush?

My jaws are clenching just listening to the rich morally bankrupt man!

Oh..and by the way...a family they're featuring is a military family who is losing their home.

arggggggggg

Sparrow, for a smile...

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1815979

OMG...I'm so upset listening to these people on this documentary.

I swear, I am seeing RED...and not in a good way either.

No Valentine's hearts ...

Omg...these people are crying! They're saying that they will be in debt until they die!

And Bush is yabbing about people who aren't 'responsible' and claim bankruptcy.

Jesus. Where were these documentaries in 2003? 2004? 2005? Ok..even in 2006, they were not in full view.

Why did it have to get so bad until it's common place to see these?

ONLY NOW is the 'documentaries' being made and being SHOWN.

What kind of hold did they have that these were not more publicized before?

I think I need to turn it off.

"What kind of hold did they have that these were not more publicized before?"

I have been wondering that myself. I understand why the bushevik appeasers in the media created this cult of personality, but I just do not get how simply EVERYTHING we saw and heard was a lie, distortion, half truth or distraction. How did they completely and totally obtain a media blackout in a country with a Constitutionally assured free press?

How was it simply EVERYTHING in clear view could be co opted by the busheviks...? I don't get it either.

Every day you kinda know the scale of the manipulation, but it is like you just nod and go on, but since the pentagon propaganda program came up, it really makes you wonder.

That was only one program and one goal. How much of the media were they (the cabal) literally controlling ? How much of it was cause, how much was effect? How could they possibly have affected ALL of the media?

I know when I quit watching tv, it physically affected me like nothing else ever has. I had no idea what was about to happen to me when I finally turned it off in disgust the last time. I still can only say I 'deprogrammed' suddenly. That is the only word I know to describe it. That and 'mindrape'. It was painful and shocking.

"What kind of hold did they have that these were not more publicized before?"

You know that is funny, because I was trying to sum up the same question but I couldn't say it without a whole paragraph. What kind of hold, indeed.

HOW did they do it?

I just signed up to register voters this weekend at the University District Street Fair and also for the Pride event next month.

I'm also working with Northwest Progressive Institute as a Policy Analyst and we had a successful fundraiser tonight with General Paul Eaton, hydroplane driver Chip Hanauer and Congressional Candidate Darcy Burner.

Christy

Personality cult is what W is. And I am so damn sick of it.

The Cult of The Ass Backwards
aka Crack Kills

Pleh! Pleh!

My McCain supporter uncle switched to Obama.

The 1st image in taken from an outdoor wall; the 2nd image was created by an eight year old and is sold at Cafe Press and at Obamanade stands along with Obamanade and Barackolate Chip Cookies. Bend is home of my friend Robin and SD is my former home.

Caroline Kennedy and Bob Casey both cited their children as part of the reason they joined this campaign for change, now former United States Representative, former Senator, and former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern credits his as well:

“I have three daughters and one son, and 10 grandchildren,” McGovern said. “After I endorsed Senator Clinton, all 14 of them enlisted in the Obama campaign. That is some measure of the influence I had at home.”

Christy, Ally
One of our speakers last night at the NW Progressive Institute fundraiser was General Paul Eaton. He has been an Independent and has been supporting Clinton. I think he has gradually in his lifetime come over and had to question. He has done a commercial for Vote Vets.

Anyway, to hear him lay it out, from his military mind (he has a degree in French Literature and is fluent in French and is short like Wesley Clark, another Clinton-supporting General, or Napoleon) - anyway ..

He said THREE MEN (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) got us into a war the soldiers are fighting pretty much by themselves now. His major concern was the Supreme Court being stacked, the consolidation of executive power, and of course, the complete obliteration of America's good face on the planet, not to mention the trapping of the military all in one place and their destruction.

Chip Hanaeur the hydroplane racer spoke as well - he is taking Vets to the hospital for their appointments as a volunteer. & then Darcy Burner, who is running for Congress against Sheriff Reichert, who has had BOTH George and Laura Bush fly in to do benefits on his behalf.

I am still working in my neighborhood (for Obama, McDermott) and online (in all its randomness and immediacy) but spreading my tentacles across the lake to Microsoft "purple" territory via NW Progressive Institute, which will also give me a chance to write about Healthcare. Speaking of Youth Revolution, the head just turned 21 but started it while in high school, and with my "Policy Analyst" tag I felt like Revenge Against the Neocons.

It was absolutely beautiful to see guys in Hawaiian shirts with ponytails writing checks for a progressive think tank!

You all know that guys in Hawaiian shirts with ponytails are not hippies on vacation, don't you? They are high tech people.

TSP said:
Other than one or two programs with Tim Russert, I imagine they will try to force feed us to watch the victims of the earthquakes in China all weekend.

You know you NEVER air anything educational and informational on the weekends. Someone might learn something.
...

Actually, I am amazed they are even mentioning that people have died in China and Myanmar. These are countries where the leaders have been accused of human rights violations and in China, they are actually accepting aid, which is wonderful. In Myanmar, the leaders are saving themselves but not their people.

I have been following these stories via NPR and I don't need to see the imagery to know how tragic, just as I didn't watch 9/11 coverage and don't watch television in general.

I do think it is very educational for people to see and be aware of other countries, especially in this country and if they are showing this on television, I am glad there is a respite from US primary election coverage and whatever else they usually show.

Also, it is of course sad when people lose their homes or have their payments balloon because of predatory lending. Or I suppose it is even sad when they took out loans to remodel or buy furniture, using the value of their house as collaterol. & I suppose it's unfortunate if they now hold more in mortgage debt than the house is worth (so I support Barney Frank's idea of reducing mortgages to 90% or so of the worth of the real estate in question)

That said, it is even more sad to see people whose houses have been crushed or flooded, perhaps with family members inside - or those who the government has advised to "save themselves" - once saved, where do they live? What do they eat? We are all human and we are no more human than they.

Hey I think I have an idea to research. Thanks.

'Personality cult is what W is. And I am so damn sick of it.'

I agree, but 'cult of personality' does not really explain the total media blackout.

I mean really, HOW did they obtain a TOTAL and complete black out any time they wanted it? How? How? How?

I just keep thinking of the line from Sicko over and over again, ' Someone created that crack, then swept you towards it.'

Again, with the pentagon program, only one sliver of their information control. All of us suspect 'they' are using flat out brainwashing techniques on us. But who is THEY, and how deep does it go? How can they simply flex a fist and bam, a blackout appears...? How is that possible?

Like I said, how much of it was deliberate actions, and how much of it was effect of those actions?

The cult of personality was an effect, but it did not CAUSE the blackout. The blackout CAUSED the cult.

Something else had to of cause the blackout, something specific. Something else we have not seen yet. Someone was pushing a button, pulling a lever,...something.

I understand how cults of personality work, I atill can not figure out how they obtained a media black out though, that is much much more complicated than 'I just want to have a beer with him'.

The cult does not explain HOW they did it. The cult exists because they did it.

So again, how in the crap do you obtain a total blackout whenever you want it, in a country with a Constitutionally assured free press...?

I just don't get it.

"He said THREE MEN (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) got us into a war the soldiers are fighting pretty much by themselves now. His major concern was the Supreme Court being stacked, the consolidation of executive power, and of course, the complete obliteration of America's good face on the planet, not to mention the trapping of the military all in one place and their destruction."

Again though, the media blackout is the one thing that CAUSED all of this. Because of the blackout, they have gotten away with destroying simply everything.

And, this is the thing, most of what they did, they would not even have dared to try unless they ALREADY KNEW they could control the media. In essence, the media blackout it the thread that binds them all together in the dark. The blackout is what caused the darkness we now live in.

But...what caused the blackout?

Oh no.

Ted Kennedy Hospitalized

BOSTON — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was hospitalized Saturday after becoming ill at his home, his office said. There was no immediate word on his condition.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/17/ted-kennedy-hospitalized_n_102235.html

The media is used for propaganda (government control of news), to some extent, and for advertising and revenue (consolidation, deregulation) - with "infotainment" (cable news) both can be combined.

Most news comes from big news agencies so it's fairly uniform, with very little investigative reporting. I maintain that the above forces caused the lack of objectivity and information but I have imposed my own media blackout by not watching since 1991 (tv), when I felt the Gulf War coverage was propagandistic. I started to notice it during the coverage of the Iran hostage crisis but it had gotten worse.

Now, it's easier to compare newspaper accounts of same story (if covered), including foreign, and then look at some blogs and comments for patterns (but not enough to get pulled into ideological quarrels) and to listen to noncommercial radio (again, taking even some of it "with a grain of salt" since it's been infiltrated some).

Rupert Murdoch.

Wait, are you actually quoting murdoch there? Or just ending with his name as a metaphor?

Bush An "Appeaser," Says Egyptian Press

A front page editorial in Al-Gomhouria, another Egyptian state-owned daily, described Mr. Bush as "a failed president who delivers nothing but a lousy speech."

Akhbar Al-Youm also on Saturday published a picture of Mr. Bush hugging Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and captioned it "lovers."

The paper also ran a front page cartoon showing an Egyptian peasant consoling President Hosni Mubarak for having to meet with "this burdensome guy who will be leaving soon," in reference to Mr. Bush.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/17/world/main4104474.shtml

Like the Downing Street Memos... That example still gets me. And the Margie Schoedinger rape allegations.

The consolidation and deregulation only explains it to a certain point. What they did goes way beyond that, to a co-ordinated blackout that spanned ALL outlets. Including tabliods and radio. Even as dense as the consolidation is, there is still more than enough room for a dissenter to slip in now and then, but on these subjects, a TOTAL blackout.

No matter what 'news org' you are, the Downing Street memos is one of those groundbreaking, once in a lifetime, reality tearing stories that is just THERE for anyone to report on. Yet not one of them dared touch it, other than 2 seconds that simply acknowledged it, then poof, it was gone. That was not self-editing at work, that was something that scared ALL of them into silence at once, a profound silence that even now stands out as very freaking wierd.

So, why would ANY 'free' news organization, no matter who controls them, NOT report on such a story in depth? A once in a lifetime story. This is not the cult of personality affecting editorial choices, this is the media in collusion with war criminals to actively help them cover up their crimes. Not everyone could have been 'in on it', yet every aspect of it was silenced, within DAYS. Within maybe 72 hours, it was gone, down the memory hole. The only reason it still exists as a story at all is because the Underground Media that has sprang up keeps it alive.

The Schoedinger rape was reported a grand total of once, in a tiny newspaper local to the court she filed lawsuits in, then no more at all, not even tabloids or radio picked it up. Not a single mention other than the original news of her lawsuits being filed. This story not only involves sex and power, but kinky sick sex, we all know how many mags that sells...yet not one single tabloid, radio, news paper, tv station, or newspaper dared even mention it.

That kind of blackout can ususlly only occur with a state-run media. The apparatus, the mechanics of such a blackout, can only be accomplished with the power of the state being leveraged.

Rupert Murdoch.

May 17, 2008 1:59 PM
Christy said:
Wait, are you actually quoting murdoch there? Or just ending with his name as a metaphor?

That's horribly ironic now, isn't it!

I was definitely ending with his name as a metaphor. An evil one.

Blackout - but our media is ostensibily PRIVATELY run, but the private corporations have a great deal to say with who is put into office, so we don't really even need to have the government control the media - if "blackout" is in both of their best interests.

& it probably is, as there is a great deal of PROFIT to be made off wars.

Christy

That kind of blackout can ususlly only occur with a state-run media. The apparatus, the mechanics of such a blackout, can only be accomplished with the power of the state being leveraged.

Absolutely. Either the state owns the media (many socialist dictatorships), or the media owns the state (the US).

Just like church and state must remain separate - something Margaret Cho stressed so much last night - corporations and state must remain separate as well.

And speaking of Cho, she was awesome last night - and as NMP likes to say, a great counterweight to Reverend Moon, John Yoo, and all those other Korean-American reactionaries.

Also, thanks to the blackout, we don't even know which countries we are signing free trade agreements with anymore.

At least in the NAFTA days, we knew it was coming, and could have intelligent discussions on its pros and cons.

Barack Obama: "I know a lot of you are interested in the situation with Senator Kennedy. I have been in contact with the family. Obviously they are in our thoughts and prayers – they I am sure will be releasing some sort of statement when they have a better assessment of what the situation is. You know, as I have said many times before, Ted Kennedy is a giant in American political history – he has done more for the health care of others than just about anybody in history and so we are going to be rooting for him and I insist on being optimistic about how it's going to turn out."

Hillary Clinton: "My thoughts and prayers are with Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery."

John McCain: "I was very sorry to hear that Senator Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition. Senator Kennedy's role in the U.S. Senate cannot be overstated. He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend. Cindy and I are praying for our friend, his wife, Vicki, and the Kennedy family."

Ally I am so glad you got to see Margaret Cho - that makes me happy!

As of this week, I am back on the Obama camp.

I still don't approve of his homophobic advisors/superdelegates, but the level of discourse by the Hillary and McCain camps has sunk to new lows, and I won't stand for that.

Also, Obama's message of change may be the best hope for curing "politics as usual" in DC. It's not perfect, but it's a starting point.

Even if Obama doesn't become our next President, his movement will have made history in many ways - and not just because he's the first nonwhite to run for President on a major party ticket.

It only helps when my original candidate of choice, John Edwards, now endorses Obama.

Something so trippy happened to me and a friend of mine named Kim the day we found out about Margie Shoedinger. It was so strange to this day it still trips me out. We were already freaking paranoid.

She is an AirForce wife, lives in Washington State. After someone tipped us to Shoedinger we had a furious call circle going between like 4 different people reasearching it in all directions for a couple of hours. It was crazy, I could not believe what I was reading.

So, that afternoon, Kim and I are on the phone, and we are in this intense conversation about it, and already we are freaking out, just because of the whole nature of that story. You know how you get paraniod and the conversation turns into frantic whispers, and every once in a while you are like 'Why are we whispering?'.

Anyways, right in the middle of this exchange, someone just starts beating on her door. It was so loud and unexpected it made me jump all the way in Louisiana.

We both start laughing, shake it off, and she answers the door with me still on the phone. It was a guy from the cable company. She asks what he wants.

He tells her that he has to come in and check her cable lines, because a 'signal was leaking'... and 'interfereing with an FAA signal' at the airport some 5 miles away. I am so not joking.

So both of us are just kinda quite, me thinking 'A leaking signal, wtf?' so I tell Kim, ask him his name, tell him to show you some ID. She tells him ' My crazy friend is on the phone and says I should ask for your ID."

The guy pulls it out and hands it to her saying "Sure here you go, my name is Larry".

I thought, 'Larry, the cable guy.' And I just started screaming at her " Don't let him in your house! Don't let him in!"

I guess the guy heard me because she started explaining me away and saying something like "Well your ID says Larry, but that is kinda strange" and they kinda laugh about it.

She let him in, and he asks which outlet her comp was hooked up too. She kinda hesitated and said, 'In my bedroom, right there.' And a few seconds later she whispers to me, 'OMG all that stuff on Shoedinger is still pulled up on my comp!'

I tell her to stay on the phone with me no matter what, and go see what he is doing at her comp. He had closed everything out and shut her comp down. Disconnected a cable connector where it goes into the wall and put a bigger one on that she said was shaped different than the normal one.

When I found out he shut down her comp I told her, 'Ask him right now if he is associated with any law enforcement agency!'

She was like 'That is crazy! I am not asking him that!' Finally I talked her into it, and using the 'my crazy friend wants to know' thing, she asked him.

He told her that he hung out with 'a lot of cops' and casually at the end threw in 'and I was recently put on a computer task force for the Department of Homeland Security'.

She quit breathing, and so did I. I told her to ask the question but I so did not just expect him to say THAT! He tries to laugh it off with her and makes a hasty exit.

When we were sure he was gone, we both used other phones to call our men, she asked hers and I asked mine, "What kind of leaky signal from cable lines could interfere with FAA signals at the airport?" Both of our men said they had never heard of anything like that, and both men are extremely tech savy.

Kim called the cable company, they had no idea what she was talking about either and acted like they never heard of Larry. But I witnessed the entire thing over the phone.

Her husband came home and changed out the thing he had put on the connection, with another standard one.

I swear, that was one of the freakiest things I was ever involved in. To this day it does not make any sense.

Senator Kerry Statement on Senator Kennedy

BOSTON, MA- Senator John Kerry today released the following statement in regards to Senator Edward Kennedy. Senator Kerry is currently at Massachusetts General Hospital with Senator Kennedy and members of the Kennedy family.

"Ted Kennedy is beloved and respected on both sides of the aisle in the Senate in which he's been a giant for close to half a century, a legend in Massachusetts, and a dear friend to me and Teresa. He's also been a fighter who has overcome adversity again and again with courage, grit, and determination. Teresa and I are praying for Teddy, Vicki and all of his family and we know that everyone in Massachusetts and people throughout the nation pray for a full and speedy recovery for a man whose life's work has touched millions upon millions of lives."

Ally
I had to go watch a bunch of Margaret Cho on YouTube when I am supposed to be cleaning my house. LMAO

"Either the state owns the media (many socialist dictatorships), or the media owns the state (the US)."

But see, there in lies the rub!

The media DID own the US, they could create a personality cult out of anyone they wanted too.

Maybe the reason it looks so strange is because, somewhere in these years, the media was literally overtaken by the state.

Georgie needs the media, more than the media needs georgie, but it is georgie that seems to be in control of EVERY aspect of what we see and hear. If they owned him, he would bow to them, not them to him.

The msm has done this for georgie, literally at the cost of their own credibility and future. When have you ever heard of the media acting against their own self interests when their very survival was at stake? They can not be protecting or enabling georgie for profit, because we all know their numbers diminish every time they protect him. The TRUTH of him would sell far more newspapers. They would actually see a huge uptake in viewers/readers if they just told the truth. They almost certainly know that too, yet still they refuse to tell us what georgie insists we don't know. They throw away thier own future to ONLY say what he wants said.

In the reality where the media owns US, those that get too big can always be taken down when they threaten the balance or status quo. When their numbers slip, they cancel the show. Brittney for example. They can make you, they can break you.

But, there is absolutely NONE of that with georgie. They act like subjugated slaves whos mind has been broken. His survival has become their survival, how could that even be possible if it is NOT a staterun media?

The media no longer owns the US. The US Government now owns the media. But, they did not bother to tell us that, because the appearance of 'free press' is far more useful to their propaganda than if we KNEW we were now dealing with a literal state run media.

Do any of us actually believe we live in a democracy anymore? Is there anyone left at all who believes we are still a 'democracy' ?

This was not a mistake, an accident, an oversight. Someone created a crack, and then swept us towards it.

It is scarey to think about how our peoples' minds have been manipulated for years, and to think that if we didn't have the internet there would be no truth getting out at all at home.

Just leads me to wonder why they are "allowing" the progressive candidates air time this season.

I am just as apprehensive about an "October Surprise" this coming summer and fall as I was four years ago.

With the Republican's image, reputation, and lack of worthy talking points, it does just seem to me that McCain is the trout they "allowed" to run. He can't seriously think he has a chance.

How desperate can the Republican party be, to have Bush aiming partisan slurs from Israel? That SCREAMS

"BASE, are you out there, base?"

2025.0 - 1905.5 = 119.5

I'm not a praying person and I'm praying my heart out - to the real Master of the Universe, not the gods of man. Kerry has been to the hospital and is not taking calls from the press. I assume they are bothering him and his staff incessantly. I am going to continue to pray and pray and meditate and meditate.

It is because of Ted Kennedy that I ever supported Kerry or Obama. I consider it a direct lineage. Ted is in John's Senate seat and Jonn Kerry is in Robert's. I takes alot to make me cry and this video did it. I feel so powerless. Some right wing blogs are actually laughing and poking fun, predictably. Well they are on their way down and I'll help grease the cliff and push from behind.

Warning: This is not a speech & it does take place in Texas.

London Sunday Times interviews the 82 year old iconoclast

There's a really informative thread at Kos about Kennedy's condition. It's a q/a about seizures.

I recommend reading it.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find our complete lack of empathy for the Chinese startling...?

If any other people had suffered such a HUGE disaster, there would not be this eerie, emotionless silence. I am guilty of it myself, and I don't know why.

My kid pointed out one day, why does everything say 'Made in China' on it. I took it as a great way to teach small kids about capitalism, communism, and economic forces in general. It worked better than I thought it would, amazing what 6 year olds can grasp.

Now I keep thinking about it, thinking I did not remind them enough that the government of China, and the people, are not the same thing. Their govt. sucks, but what beautiful people they are.

What has happened to them is truly heartbreaking. Even though I understand they are my enemy, I never would have wished this upon them in a million years.

Sorry, but I just feel compelled to say that, because this eerie silence is creeping me out.

The latest news on Teddy Kennedy is that he is alert and even making phone calls. He appears to have suffered a seizure, rather than a stroke. They are saying the outlook is much more hopeful than originally suspected.

Keep those prayers coming. The loss of this man would be a huge tragedy, but much more so if he didn't get to see Obama become president.

Christy

I've been listening all week to the NPR broadcasts where the reporters were in China to talk about the Olympics related stories coming up and then the disaster hit. Melissa Block in particular has been stupendous.

listen here
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90554036

here
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90528621

here
http://www.npr.org/blogs/chengdu/

Donate here
http://www.worldconcern.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=397
These people are from here and I can vouch for them. They are trying to get stuff into Myanmar, which is even more difficult than China, and equally devastated

or here
http://www.mercycorps.org/
This is for China and they are out of Portland

These are the top five stories right on this site, up to the left under World News:

Thousands flee China quake area over flood fears (AP)
Myanmar health system strained by cyclone (AP)
China's quake calms Olympic controversies (AP)
12-year-old China quake survivor loses leg (AP)
As cyclone refugees wait, Myanmar refuses aid (AP)

Our news is deficient for world coverage because alot of international news services have been cut, and networks rely on the same AP, Reuters etc. stories - they don't budget to cover their own that much any more.

There were a couple of comments on this site earlier

May 17, 2008 11:58 AM
Not My President said:
TSP said:
Other than one or two programs with Tim Russert, I imagine they will try to force feed us to watch the victims of the earthquakes in China all weekend.

You know you NEVER air anything educational and informational on the weekends. Someone might learn something.
...

Actually, I am amazed they are even mentioning that people have died in China and Myanmar. These are countries where the leaders have been accused of human rights violations and in China, they are actually accepting aid, which is wonderful. In Myanmar, the leaders are saving themselves but not their people.

I have been following these stories via NPR and I don't need to see the imagery to know how tragic, just as I didn't watch 9/11 coverage and don't watch television in general.

I do think it is very educational for people to see and be aware of other countries, especially in this country and if they are showing this on television, I am glad there is a respite from US primary election coverage and whatever else they usually show.

May 17, 2008 12:02 PM
Not My President said:
Also, it is of course sad when people lose their homes or have their payments balloon because of predatory lending. Or I suppose it is even sad when they took out loans to remodel or buy furniture, using the value of their house as collaterol. & I suppose it's unfortunate if they now hold more in mortgage debt than the house is worth (so I support Barney Frank's idea of reducing mortgages to 90% or so of the worth of the real estate in question)

That said, it is even more sad to see people whose houses have been crushed or flooded, perhaps with family members inside - or those who the government has advised to "save themselves" - once saved, where do they live? What do they eat? We are all human and we are no more human than they.

Hey I think I have an idea to research. Thanks.

Christy

I don't think the Chinese are exactly our enemy. If they weren't keeping their currency as is and loaning our treasury money and selling us goods for Walmart wholesale, our ass would be grass.

As far as people, one of my life dreams is to go to China and I still intend to do so. A friend of mine taught English in Chendu and when I posted about the earthquake on our blog, I mistakenly posted about the wrong earthquake (I couldn't find anything yet and got it off an oceanography site) - they set me straight to I printed the correction but left in my error, to reveal my geographical blunder. The earthquake in 1976 was equally large but in a different part of China. I still remember it.

The tsunami in Indonesia, the cyclone in Myanmar, the earthquake in China - these dwarf 9/11 for numbers, though "acts of God" supposedly (though many stories about poorly constructed buildings and government negligence.) - echoes of Hurricane Katrina.

There is a literature on what is and isn't covered in the media. I'm looking for some of the articles about why thousands can be killed and it's ignored, yet let one Spears sister get pregnant and it's all over the media.

NMP, I am not really talking about a lack of mentioning it.

I mean, it happened, so we are discussing the facts of what is going on. What I am talking about is how emotionless, and how devoid of empathy it seems to be in general.

Remember the tsunami a few years ago? It was very very emotional for all of us, we all sought out the images and expressed grief.

For some reasons there is no expression of GRIEF on our part. I find that totally strange.

Rain deepens Myanmar misery; death toll soars
Reuters India - all 4,879 news articles »

More quake survivors found, death toll nears 30000
Reuters - all 1,570 news articles »

I disagree that China is not exactly our enemy.

They are toying with our dollar and have been for years. georgies loans gave them the ultimate power, and do not think for a moment after something like this, they won't come looking for their money.

The only thing that keeps Chinas govt. from doing any worse than they already do is because we are such a powerful enemy. If we were as weak as Tibet, we would already be Tibet.

We fight wars with each other by proxy, because any head to head match up would literally kill hundreds and hundreds of millions of people just in the first year of fighting.

But again, looking at the grief of their people, the terrible thing that is happening to them, I just wish we were not enemies.

But as long as the Chinese gov, is Red, not one of us can ever believe for a moment that China is our friend.

Christy
Are you talking about this website or the news/country in general?
I haven't noticed the difference but I can't compare for tv since I don't watch it. Indonesia, Myanmar and China were three different types of disasters with differences in government and ways to get stuff in there.

I am interested in what you mean so please explain. The site has been redone or we could look in our archives but it does seem there was more coverage of the tsunami and Katrina is hard to compare because it was right in our country.

Maybe we are hardened moreso in just these three years - constant death in Iraq and so on. To me, I heard the broadcasts about parents looking for their children in crushed schools and I have lived through the scare of quite a big earthquake here in 2001 (we didn't know where our families were or where the epicenters were etc.)

I did feel people were distracted by our election but it's something we might be able to more immediately influence.

I totally believe China gives us money with the sole intent of crashing our dollar.

Then when we can not pay them back, they will probably take Alaska as payment.

Maybe Canada too, just for the hell of it.

"Are you talking about this website or the news/country in general?"

Both I guess. Even here there just seems to be this strange... I don't even really know how to articulate it.

We just do not seem to be as... emotionally involved... as we would be if it were any other country.

"Maybe we are hardened moreso in just these three years - constant death in Iraq and so on. "

Maybe that is it. It has become just overwhelming.

Thanks NMP for the Gore Vidal interview in London's Sunday Times. I've long been a Vidal fan and was saddened a month ago when he said that he favoured HC as the nominee. His reasoning was that we don't know anything about him. He is so smart and still the best of writers regardless of his age. Thanks.

duuuhhh - I need a nap. I meant:
"His (Vidal's) reasoning was that we don't know anything about Obama. He (Vidal) is so smart ......."

Christy, re the earthquake in China: There's a startling news reporting on our news that has been shown repeatedly for days now (on the Special Broadcasting Station - for news of the world). It still brings the lump to the throat and the tears to the eyes no matter how many times I see the little boy's armless torso and am told of his plea.....

He asked his doctors would they please leave him with 1 arm because he likes school and he needs to hold a pen.

When you get stories like that, empathy abounds - how could it not? We've all been pretty certain about the heartlessness of America's current media. When the news gets out and the words - the love and compassion are there.

I don't consider anyone in China my enemy. It is offensive that they invaded Tibet as it is offensive that we invaded Iraq.

We've had formal diplomatic relations with China for 35 years and alot of the friction is because of the ambiguity about the status of Taiwan. There has been blustering on both sides.

Nixon, Ford and Carter ALL improved the situation with China and we've had fairly good treaties up until Reagan. China maintained there was only one China but have never invaded Taiwan. We had ten good years of scientific cooperation and cultural exchanges, and we quit selling the Chinese as many arms. Reagan and Bush's father did nothing of much substance but they did visit.

I'd say the low point was the crackdown in 1989 at Tienneman Square. My friends were there then teaching English, but people persevered through it all with cultural exchanges and the like even though we imposed trade sanction, and after Clinton lifted some of them, our trade levels continued to increase even under Bush II. Remember that we bombed their embassy in Belgrade for no apparent reason and also collided with one of their jets.

We still have heavy controls on arms selling and money lending and we conduct intimidating military exercises in Taiwan Strait, and they reply with their own. We have two aircraft carriers right off their coast.

Since 9/11, China publicly supported the war on terrorism (many Chinese died in the Trade Center), such as the war in Afghanistan and helped with reconstruction there (billions) and there is less anti-American sentiment in China since 9/11, plus they are working with us against N Korea, to some degree. Bush has not focussed on China because we really do not have the wherewithall to deal with anything but the middle east. We do have bases close to China - some of the new ones such as in Uzbekistan. This does not even scare them now, since we are stretched so thin plus our economy is down.

Taiwan is probably the biggest issue, not something I would trust McCain not to stir up, especially with the Non-Secession law. They're also growing their military at a fast clip, but we spend 4x as much even though we have a much smaller population and land mass.

Economically we've been trading with them for 35 years or so now. We are so invested there - hotels, restaurants, factories, oil projects - thousands of joint ventures, hundreds of multinationals, investments in the billions. Our trade deficit with them is humongous and can only be helped by the fact that our dollar is down, only what incentive is there for China to buy our Treasury bills other than to loan us enough money to continue to buy their goods for our Walmarts?

It's alot cheaper for companies like Boeing to have parts made in China and assembled here. We have plenty of tariffs to keep out some of their cheap or shoddy good (many from American-owned factories which the Bush administration does NOT regulate) but now China can turn to the WTO for redress.

They're authoritarian and torture prisoners and deny human rights and censor communcation but when we allege this, the world kind of rolls its eyes, I think.

Anyway, I hardly think of them as an enemy or fear them. If we're going down it's because that's what empires eventually do. China has already been through this centuries ago but is an the ascent.

As for the dollar, it's low because the Fed keeps cutting interest rates. It's amazing China still buys any of our Treasury bills. We print more money so it's worth less.

We don't make anything yet we consume, so we import far more than we export. We borrow money in order to keep the good coming in, to purchase with borrowed money.

With the dollar down, our trade deficit decreases because our goods are cheaper for others, so our imports start to come up. This is offset by high fuel prices though, as the lower the dollar is, the more oil costs.

The Treasury said the Chinese yuan is undervalued but that the Chinese aren't doing it on purpose to manipulate trade. It isn't pegged to the dollar anymore and has actually gone up against the dollar, in double digits.

The other thing is that we have a huge deficit and China has a surplus. It's because we don't make anything any more.

" China maintained there was only one China but have never invaded Taiwan"

They have never invaded them because the US is directly backing them. If our ships were not there protecting them, you can be China would Tibet them in a heartbeat.

"This does not even scare them now, since we are stretched so thin plus our economy is down. "

Which is a serious freaking problem. Again, the only reason they do not do worse than they already do, is because of fear. If Chinas government is 'unafraid' then what? Because even with the threat of massive retalliation they still manage to be monsters. If they no longer fear perception or retalliation, then watch out!

"Since 9/11, China publicly supported the war on terrorism (many Chinese died in the Trade Center), such as the war in Afghanistan and helped with reconstruction there (billions)"

Hell yes they are supporting it, Because by loaning us the money to fight it, they can literally bankrupt us any time they like. They can economically RUIN us without ever fighting a shot. 'Need some more money? Here, take it! It will only cost you your future, but you can worry about that later!'

They are laughing all the way to the bank. They hold the fate of our nation on a balance book.

" They're also growing their military at a fast clip, but we spend 4x as much even "

We could spend 400 times what they do and still not match them gun for gun. Their reserve military alone is larger than our ENTIRE population, including illegal immigrants. And that is just their RESERVES.

"Our trade deficit with them is humongous.."

Yes it is and that is EXACTLY what they wanted to do for 35 years. They have us right where they wanted us.

"Anyway, I hardly think of them as an enemy or fear them. "

I do see them as my enemy, but I don't fear them. I will, however, give them a wide berth.

They make me feel all twitchy and I don't like it.

We literally owe China more money than we can repay.

"The Treasury said the Chinese yuan is undervalued but that the Chinese aren't doing it on purpose to manipulate trade. "

Say Huh? Of course they are not doing it 'on purpose', because boy if they WERE doing it on purpose, that would be a serious freaking problem. For us.

How many reasons could there be for the Treasury Department to lie about such things? Other than the obvious several trillion, I mean?

We literally owe them more money than we can pay back. It was no accident China let us borrow more than we could pay. The ultimate lending scam.

No need to fight a war if you can enslave your enemy without firing a shot.

Good God - look at these Montana people lining up to get tickets for Obama. Tell me why these people go for Obama and the people of W VA and KY don't. These are white working class people. I have lived among them. SD is the same.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/caitlinharvey/gGBD3S

I just received word of a huge ObamaRama on the Portland waterfront tomorrow at noon and toyed with the idea of taking off right now in the car to head down there but decided instead to register voters at the U District Street Fair. I damn well called everyone I knew in Oregon to try to get them there. & accounts at DKos and on Barack's site say OR IS ON FIRE FOR OBAMA. It certainly was when I was down there two weekends ago.

Portland is the whitest big city in the country. What is this about only African Americans and Eggheads (direct quote from Paul Begala)? I take offense at the "elitist" comments. There has been a silence from Hillary and no attacks. I believe a deal has been made.

McCain is a weak candidate. The Republicans have offered nothing economically or militarily for this country in the last 7-1/2 years. Any Republican worth his or her salt needs to be voting Obama unless they are too far gone. I am convinced that my uncle has come over to this side and if so, I am thrilled! My mother is still a holdout for Hillary but at least she is a Dem - my cousin and sister-in-law too but they will catch the fever in a few days, mark my words.

Do you know that I have a huge signed lithograph in my living room now of the Shepard Fairey poster that says HOPE?! I never thought I'd HOPE again after 2004.

Christy
I realize what you are saying but it does not make me nervous. It seems to be like the natural order of things and if there is a way to capitalize it on the way down you know I will.

The word fear is not hardly in my vocabulary, or worry either.

Folks are crawling all over themselves, line around the block, to get their Obama tickets.

see also http://www.baracklikeme.blogspot.com

No need to fight a war if you can enslave your enemy without firing a shot.

ok I get you. So when McCain wants to go to war with them, will the Walmart shoppers realize they've fed the beast?

How do people justify training the person who takes over their job, such as in India? How do they then support the regime that is pro-globalization?

Consider that alot of Iranians are conservative immigrants, as in LA - Ally will believe me.

Cool about this woman though - Michigan has the most Iraqi immigrants of the US, Everett WA is 2nd. Don't know about Iranians though. That's a different group, different immigration pattern.

From Obama's site:

Today I went out door to door registering people to vote in Ypsilanti Michigan. I met a 78 year old woman from Iran who has been in the US for almost 30 year. She has never voted in an election before and was not registered to vote. After hearing her life story for about 20 minutes we registered her to vote in the upcoming election! She loved the idea of an african american president and said that it would be so beneficial for her home country and the rest of the world if Obama was elected.

She said she will take a taxi to vote for Obama in November if she has to.

Wow I've been waiting all day for these state conventions. NV I think - another HRC delegate switched to Obama at state level.

My brother set up the COLO Springs state convention and my sister-in-law went there as a HRC delegate, knowing well she will be in the minority, not bitter though.

The report (from an Obama person though):

Keith (hubby) and I are just back from our State convention in Colorado Springs today! We had 10,000 people in the World Arena - can you imagine 10K folks in the heart of Dobson's Focus on the Family headquarter city!

We yelled and screamed and voted for Obama as well as our down ticket race candidates. We rocked the arena! We were floor captains for Obama. It was a pleasure to see how organized and effective the Obama campaign is. Good night all! I've been up since before dawn and I'm going to bed now.

THIS ROCKS

I was a mod so I'm addicted to checking the political blogs and I'm finding Republicans and people entirely quitting their jobs to devote ALL their time. This is going to be interesting any way it shakes out.

We are up so late on the west coast ..

I can't wait for the real race to begin. I hope with all of me that he rallys in the South. Real rallys, lots of them.

If he can take the south, he will take the nation.

I'll bet he can take the cities in the south already. If alot of people haven't maxed out and are still sending money, and it keeps coming in during the general (over summer) and he "burns" it wisely, and if there are lots of student interns and a good ground game, an all fifty-state game (not just "swing" states), then I think it can be done. I think the "visibility" like rallies, bumper stickers and so on excite people, and endorsements matter this year because many of them are superdelegates and they matter this year - but what really matters, even more than the media and 527s is ground game, specifically GOTV among people who don't normally vote or aren't reliable voters - and who would vote for him. Take a look at Montana. I would never have thought it - the Dakotas either.

People get very upset if you don't wave the flag, wear the flag lapel pin and have a "Support the Troops" magnet on your car.

Well here some soldiers who apparently didn't have the most basic of basic training used a Koran for target practice.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/18/026/42400/993/517671

If anything will get us whacked again, it is this, especially with people like Lieberman publicly saying this is a "war against Islam" instead of a metaphorical one against terror.