Sunday, August 31, 2008

Hurricane Katrina & The Failure of The Levees ,FEMA, Bush & The Neocons

UPDATE: 5:15 Sunday August 31, 2008

Anyway this is the third anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and once again it is hurricane season and Hurricane Gustav is heading for New Orleans.

But Hurricane Katrina disaster was not just a " Natural Disaster" as it was also a failure on the part of the US Government . The Government failed to take actions over a decade or more to improve the levees in New Orleans. It was the failure of the Levees which did the most damage to the city of New Orleans. It was known by the Core of Engineers for over a decade that the levees protecting New Orleans were in need of major repairs and rebuilding.

And even after 9/11 the Emergency Measures and contingency plans which should have come into play after the Levees broke in New Orleans this is not what happened. The disaster was made worse by inadequate and delayed response of FEMA and the other agencies which were supposed to coordinate a comprehensive and timely disaster response.

Of course the Bush Regime believe that communities and volunteer organizations and local churches etc. should step in during times of need. But when the catastrophe is on the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina affecting three states the needs of the people are beyond what can be expected to be provided by local organizations or local churches. A few bake sales is not enough to help out a few hundred thousand people or to rebuild tens of thousands of homes or to rebuild a city the size of New Orleans. I had hoped at the time of the Katrina Disaster that once and for all these notions about communities always being able in times of crisis should be able to take care of themselves. Instead most Americans forgot about New Orleans or found some way to lay the blame for the aftermath of the disaster on the victims or on the city council or on the governor of Louisiana .

Or as people like Glenn Beck argued that the people of New Orleans were living in a city that was doomed because it is below sea-level. Glenn Beck said the people of New Orleans should abandon their city. He believes that the federal government should not be involved in giving disaster relief or having the government use its money , his tax dollars to rebuild New Orleans. This seems a very odd way to look at one's own country and to not believe that Americans should help out other Americans when their is a need. So everyone no matter what happens; everyone in America is on their own.This is the selfish small minded view it appears of many Americans.

Though Glenn Beck and other Neocons would not argue this same point when it comes to New York being in danger of flooding. Nor do these Neocons argue that the people of Los Angeles or San Francisco get what they deserve if they insist on living in areas which are prone to Earth Quakes or Massive out of control brush fires . Or those in Northern States who inundated by flood waters in the spring time or those who live in areas which are periodically hit by massive snow storms or ice-storms or those who live in areas prone to tornadoes etc. Are all of these people to move out of such areas.

What then is the point of having a union of states under a federal government if that government has no responsibility to its people in times of war, terrorist attack or a natural disaster or an outbreak of some disease which affects hundreds of thousands or even millions . Well George Bush and Dick Cheney, Karl Rove , Condoleeza Rice would tell those affected not to be complaining and whinnying to just be optimistic and hopeful and pray more. As Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson used to say all these calamities which hit the United States are all signs from God showing his displeasure of America's immorality . Therefore if we accept their reasoning what then can the US Federal Government do when coming face to face with God's anger at America.

To push this a bit further then lets look at a disease such as cancer. If God is responsible for everything then He is responsible for an individual having cancer so why then should anyone spend time and money and effort trying to cure Cancer which is a sign as a punishment or as a trial for an individual ; wouldn't trying to find a cure for Cancer be a way of going against God's Will.

Katrina
Storm Is Called Gustav, but New Orleans Hears "Katrina"
Saturday 30 August 2008

»
by: Howard Witt, The Chicago Tribune
New Orleans -
They had to cut short the funerals for the final seven victims of the last catastrophic hurricane so that officials could rush off to begin a massive evacuation Saturday ahead of the next one.

Precisely three years to the hour after Hurricane Katrina slammed into metropolitan New Orleans, flooding the city, killing more than 1,800 people and displacing at least a million others, city officials interred the last unidentified bodies of Katrina victims inside austere granite crypts at a new memorial cemetery.
Hundreds of bells were rung, a lone trumpet played a gospel hymn then the mayor, the police chief, the coroner and other emergency officials raced back to a command post Friday to prepare for a possible citywide evacuation ahead of Gustav, the storm newly elevated to hurricane status. If it stays on its current trajectory into the Gulf of Mexico, Gustav is aimed straight for the Louisiana coast.

...A sense of foreboding and urgency mounted Friday across this stricken city still struggling to resurrect itself from Katrina's destruction even as local, state and federal officials declared that, unlike three years ago, they would not leave tens of thousands of the poorest New Orleanians behind to fend for themselves.
With the city's loose network of protective levees still only partially rebuilt after Katrina smashed them, 700 chartered buses headed toward New Orleans while mustering posts were readied across the city to accommodate an estimated 30,000 ailing, infirm or impoverished citizens without the means to evacuate themselves. They were to begin leaving the city Saturday morning for shelters in the interior of Louisiana and surrounding states

...Elsewhere across the city, pockmarked with 65,000 blighted houses destroyed by Katrina and yet to be razed or rebuilt, there were signs of mounting psychological distress. Calls to a mental health hot line at the Louisiana State University medical center in New Orleans spiked Thursday and Friday
But New Orleans is at risk of another catastrophic levee failure . But other cities in America are also at risk because their levee systems are inadequate .

The Katrina Myth; the truth about a thoroughly unnatural disaster



after the Levees broke the government failed the people of New Orleans
FEMA Failed the People of New Orleans Bush failed the People of New Orleans. And McCain has offered no real hope for New Orleans if he becomes president.

Besides the thousands of homes and rental units which have not been replaced not only are the Levees still not up to par but the Health Care Systen in New Orleans is also broken. The city of New Orleans and its people have been abandoned by Federal US Government under The Bush Regime.

Broken Levees, Broken Lives: A Post-Katrina Focus On Health



And here's Olbermann on McCain & Hrurricane Katrina
April 24, 2008




and so it goes,
GORD.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech August 28, 2008 - & the Reviews Are In.

Anyway Barack Obama in an historical moment gave his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention on Thurssday before a crowd of over 80,000.

CNN Obama's Acceptance Speech- Part 1
YOUTUBE



For full transcript of Obama's Acceptance speech see The New York Times August 28, 2008


As for Obama's great speech to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday here are a few reviews:

I begin with Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks as they rarely hold back on their criticisms of politicians in general. But the review by is a thumbs up .
The Young Turks on Obama's Acceptance Speech at Democratic National Convention Aug. 28/ 2008

August 29, 2008
Watch more at http://www.theyoungturks.com





Olbermann & Chris Mathews on Obama's acceptance speech



Pat Buchanan Loved Obama's Convention Speech
August 28, 2008
Staunch conservative Pat Buchanan had nothing but love for Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic national convention given before 85,000 people in Denver's Mile High Stadium


As Huffington Post writer Greg Mitchell notes that "Olbermann Rips AP Reporter's Analysis of Obama Speech":

In an unusually heated attack on a veteran political reporter by a cable news host, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann laced into the Associated Press's Charles Babington an hour after Barack Obama had concluded his speech in Denver on Thursday night.

With rare exception, nearly all of the top commentators and reporters on the three cable news networks had hailed Obama's speech as something new and powerful, and filled with specifics, and predicted it would have a positive effect on his chances vs. John McCain. This hallelujah chorus included conservatives such as Bill Kristol and Pat Buchanan and the longtime Republican David Gergen, as well as Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams. Buchanan called it the best and most important political convention speech he had ever heard, going back 48 years.


( To interject : One wonders if Babington wrote the article attacking Obama's speech for AP before hearing the speech or without really listening to the speech carefully? GORD.)

and Keith Olbermann Calls Out Associated Press as HACKS!



Cenk Uygur also gives an A for Hillary Clinton's Speech and praises her for getting behind Barack Obama.

Cenk's Analysis of Hillary Clinton Speech August 27, from The Young Turks



also see commentary and analysis by Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman/ Video

and so it goes,
GORD.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Obama Iraq & Afghanistan & Canadian Complicity in An Immoral War & Human Rights Abuses

UPDATE: Yes there is a justifiable aura of Euphoria over the acclamation of Barack Obama as the Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party but there are still many issues unresolved. If Obama moves too far to the middle or the right than some of his supporters may start to question whether he is really determined to change Washington. What these supporters desire is that Barack Obama insist that business as usual in Washington is not an option.He therefore must be a true instrument and force for change.

To begin with here's a little video for John McCain,the Republicans,the Neocons & FOX NEWS who keep bringing up the War in Vietnam which they incorrectly see as a necessary war which it was not and secondly that America was there to defend democracy which it was not as America was backing a corrupt and brutal regime . Meanwhile Americans murdered some 2,000,000 Vietnamese while losing some 60,000 American troops.

Also McCain and the Republicans and the Neocons and much of the Mass Media spread the propaganda and misinformation about the Vietnam War that it was lost they explain because of liberals and leftists at home in America who were against the war rather than accept the historical fact that the war was unwinnable.

The American forces in Vietnam did not care about the Vietnamese people since the Americans saw Vietnam as a pawn in its War against Communist China . The Americans did nothing to help the Vietnamese people move towards a Democratic Regime which would fight for the basic rights and freedoms of the average Vietnamese citizen.
And we should remember that the Vietnam War continued under a Democratic Administration and under a Republican Administration.

This is of course similar to the propaganda and misinformation that has been spewing out of the Bush Regime and much of the Mass media especially Fox News in reference to the War in Iraq. It too is an unnecessary war which was entered into under false pretenses and lies, falsehoods and cooked up intelligence.



One of the questions that can be raised about Barack Obama's foreign policy is his belief in escalating the War effort in Afghanistan. But is that war now any more justifiable than the Iraq War or the Vietnam War. The people of Afghanistan have a right to object to any armed interference if it merely leads to more killing and more chaos. So Barack in this case has to be clear about his goals and strategies in Afghanistan .

And Jeremy Scahill reports on the murder of more than 90 civilians by US forces in Afghanistan. But the Democrats are painting the Afghan War as the " Good War" though it is also a quagmire and an on-going disaster and tragedy. It has accomplished very little over the last seven years. Meanwhile Obama believes he should be able to act unilaterally when America's interest are in jeopardy. Given such an open concept then the various illegal and immoral actions in the United States in Vietnam or through backing military coups in the past as in Chile, Guatemala, Iran etc.

In Wake of Deadly U.S. Airstrike, Jeremy Scahill Questions Dems on Obama's Afghanistan Policy/ Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! August 28, 2008.

As Democrats rally in support of candidates who want an escalation in Afghanistan, the 7-year old war is claiming more lives than ever.
The mood inside the Pepsi Center on night two of the Democratic National Convention was jubilant. Hillary Clinton brought people to thunderous applause as she called for a unified party to defeat John McCain.

But while the Democrats celebrated, a half a world away grief and sorrow continue to plague a village in western Afghanistan that was victim to a stunningly lethal air strike by U.S. forces last Thursday. This week, a United Nations team released the findings of its on-the-ground investigation. And what they found was horrifying.
Some ninety Afghan civilians were killed. Among the dead, as many as sixty children between the ages of three months and sixteen years. It’s believed to be the single deadliest US strike against Afghan civilians since the US first attacked the country in 2001.

Here in Denver, the horror of this story could not be further from the hallway discussions of those inside the Pepsi Center ... But Afghanistan will play a major role in the general election, where Barack Obama will make his plan to increase the US military deployment in Afghanistan by several thousand troops a centerpiece of his foreign policy vision. The Obama campaign is painting Afghanistan as the good war




And as for the continuance of Racism in America here is apiece about the Prison Work Farms in the United States:

Slavery Haunts American Plantation Prisons ( in America today)Thursday 28 August 2008 by: Maya Schenwar, t r u t h o u t

On an expanse of 18,000 acres of farmland, 59 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, long rows of men, mostly African-American, till the fields under the hot Louisiana sun. The men pick cotton, wheat, soybeans and corn. They work for pennies, literally. Armed guards, mostly white, ride up and down the rows on horseback, keeping watch. At the end of a long workweek, a bad disciplinary report from a guard - whether true or false - could mean a weekend toiling in the fields. The farm is called Angola, after the homeland of the slaves who first worked its soil.
This scene is not a glimpse of plantation days long gone by. It's the present-day reality of thousands of prisoners at the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. The block of land on which the prison sits is a composite of several slave plantations, bought up in the decades following the Civil War. Acre-wise, it is the largest prison in the United States. Eighty percent of its prisoners are African-American.


Katrina Pain Index: New Orleans Three Years Later ( after Hurricane Katrina)Tuesday 26 August 2008 by: Bill Quigley, t r u t h o u t

Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast three years ago this week. The president promised to do whatever it took to rebuild. But the nation is trying to fight wars in several countries and is dealing with economic crisis. The attention of the president wandered away. As a result, this is what New Orleans looks like today.

0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant - compared to 116,708 homeowners.

0. Number of apartments currently being built to replace the 963 public housing apartments formerly occupied and now demolished at the St. Bernard Housing Development.

It appears Democrats are too interested in self-congratulations to bother spending much time on issues such as the mismanaged rebuilding in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

also see Harry Shearer at Huffington Post on New Orleans & Hurricane Katrina in his article " Katrina & Cronyism" august 27, 2008

My friends in New Orleans are either deciding what to pack, or deciding to hunker down. There's an ominous mass gaining power in the Gulf. And in Denver tonight, exactly three words were spoken that served as a shout-out from the powerful and the would-be powerful to a city on its knees: "Katrina and cronyism." That's the sum total of the verbiage from the podium of the DNC about the "greatest man-made engineering disaster in American history." That's what people in New Orleans have to cling to as they hope, and pray, that the same Corps of Engineers that mis-engineered them into six weeks of catastrophic flooding have done it better this time, even though the timeline for "this time" didn't call for real protection until three years from now. Gustav didn't read the Corps' schedule.


And
Corporate Amnesty vs Your Privacy
from the Liberalviewer
UPDATE: For more on this topic than you'll hear in a year's worth of political conventions, check this out:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/27/hurricanekatrina.usa
UPDATE: Although the House rejected telecom amnesty on March 14, 2008, it was only a delay and the US Congress passed and Bush signed into law telecom amnesty and warrantless wiretapping in July 2008.

THE ACLU IS SUING!!! You can find more info in my YouTube video titled "ACLU Fights Wiretapping Approved by Obama, McCain and Bush" that's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-AlLl...

Or, see the ACLU's webpage at http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspyin...



and
update: July 16/2008 from Liberalviewer
When Pres. George W. Bush and Sen. Barack Obama BOTH agreed on unconstitutional amendments to the foreign intelligence surveillance act (FISA) last week, it raised questions about Obama's consistency on civil liberties and about how to best fight this assault on the Fourth Amendment and the right to privacy. I try to answer these questions with some clips from a Barack Obama news conference and from spokespeople for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

You can see the full July 1, 2008, Barack Obama news conference from which I took a short clip for my video at http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=4621...
ACLU Fights Wiretapping Approved by Obama, McCain and Bush




And now for a couple of ongoing legal cases which have a Canadian element to them.

Will Bush Officials Invoke State Secrets Privilege to Block Court Review of Arar Case? William Fisher,IPS News,Aug. 18,2008

Among the defendants in the lawsuit by extraordinary rendition Maher Arar are John Ashcroft, Tom Ridge, and Robert Mueller

So rare is a judge's dismissal of a government "state secrets" motion that, when it happens, it becomes front-page news. That's what happened when a federal judge in Chicago recently disagreed with the government's use of the privilege in a case involving the Department of Homeland Security's terrorist watch list. The plaintiff, a local businessman, sued to discover whether his name was on the list. The government called that a "state secret", but the judge disagreed. The government is appealing the decision.

Once rare, the use of the "state secrets privilege" has grown exponentially during the administration of George W. Bush. The privilege has kept many cases from ever coming before any court. Administration critics say it is an essential part of a curtain of secrecy the Bush Administration has built, often for nothing more than avoiding political embarrassment.

David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and an internationally recognized authority on constitutional law, told IPS, "The administration has argued that the president has unilateral executive power in the 'war on terror' to violate even criminal laws, and when it has been challenged on that assertion, it has argued that the courts can't even rule on that assertion of power because the alleged criminal violation is a 'state secret'."

There are currently efforts in Congress to enact legislation to limit the government's use of the state secrets privilege. The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would require the government to produce the evidence it says is protected for review by a federal judge in a classified setting. But the bill lacks bipartisan support on the committee -- only one Republican, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, voted to move it to the Senate floor. That makes the future of the measure unclear.

Senator Specter is a sponsor of the bill, the State Secrets Protection Act, along with Democratic Senators Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. They said the objective of the proposed legislation is to "provide a systematic approach to the privilege and thereby bring stability, predictability, and clarity to this area of the law and restore the public trust in government and the courts."

A new Judiciary Committee report on use of the state secrets privilege includes dissenting views from several Republican members of the committee, who argue that the existing arrangements already strike the "right balance between openness, justice and national security".

The Supreme Court has consistently ruled against the Bush administration on issues surrounding its detention policies. In 2004, in a case involving a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely at Guantanamo as an "illegal enemy combatant," the Court recognized the power of the government to detain unlawful combatants, but ruled that detainees who are U.S. citizens must have the ability to challenge their detention before an impartial judge.
-----------------
Under the Neocon Harper Regime Canada instead of being a refuge for War resisters we have become America's willing partner in supporting the illegal and immoral War in Iraq and the American invasion of that country. We are a country of American lap-dogs and Quislings who are all too willing to give into America's demands no matter how unreasonable. By doing so we have allowed our border with America to become militarized and Canadians going to America are all treated as suspicious & potential terrorists and troublemakers.

War Resister Robin Long Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison
Sarah Lazare, Courage to Resist, Aug. 25, 2008


Long, an Iraq War resister deported from Canada last month, was sentenced to 15 months of prison and dishonorable discharge

This is an update to AlterNet's previous story on the case of Robin Long.
Robin Long, an Iraq War resister deported from Canada into U.S. military custody last month, was sentenced today to 15 months of confinement and dishonorable discharge, receiving credit for 40 days of time served.

Long's supporters, who flooded the Fort Carson, Colorado courtroom where the court martial was held and held a vigil in his honor, expressed dismay at the harsh verdict. "It sets a very chilling precedent that someone who is brought back gets the book thrown at them," said Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army Colonel who publicly resigned in opposition to the invasion of Iraq and served as a witness at Long's trial. "I hope the Canadian government recognizes that."

Three years ago, Robin Long fled to Canada rather than fight a war in Iraq he deems immoral and illegal. On July 15th, the Canadian government forcibly returned Long to U.S. military custody, making him the first war resister deported from Canadian soil since the Vietnam War.

The Canadian government's actions flaunt its long-standing tradition of providing safe haven for U.S. war resisters and ignore a non-binding parliamentary resolution to allow U.S. soldiers to stay in Canada.

Long is a part of a growing movement of GI resistance against the Iraq War, and his case has been met with widespread support from friends and allies throughout the United States and Canada

and so it goes,
GORD.

Obama ,Nominated By Acclamation

And so Hillary does the honorable thing and insists Barack Obama be made leader of the Democratic Party by Acclamation!


OBAMA, ON HILLARY'S MOTION, NOMINATED BY ACCLAMATION




and so it goes,
GORD.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Hillary 's Speech- No Way! No How! No McCain & FOX NEWS PROPAGANDA

Anyway here is part of Hillary Clinton's speech in Denver at the Democratic Convention

NO WAY! NO HOW! NO McCAIN! Hillary Clinton pt.1




And so much for Freedom Of The Press in America- Bush ,Neocons & Rpublicans & the Pentagon use Fox News as their mouth piece.

But of course we know Americans are too smart to fall for this kind of Bush/ Neocon Propaganda ! LOL
For those of us outside the United States this sort of revelation is astonishing. To Americans well they are quite happy in their ignorance and seem to wallow in thei ignorance . Their schools and media tell them how superior they are to the rewst of the world and they take this as gospel truth.

FOX NEWS AS THE OFFICIAL BUSH PROPAGANDA MACHINE
FOX NEWS GIVEN TALKING POINTS & THE OFFICIAL BUSH SCRIPT
OLBERMANN & RACHEL MADDOW



and here are some examples of Fox News bias in favor of the Republicans & the Neocons & Bush & McCain
July 23, 2008
Fox News Parrots McCain Spin on NY Times Editorial Rejection
See DOZENS more examples of FOX NEWS BIAS at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list...




and more recently example of Fox News Noise Machine August 18, 2008
Once again McCain like Bush claims that America was founded on Judeo Christian values

McCain Right USA Based on Judeo-Christian Principles? From LiberalViewer

When Senators Barack Obama and John McCain both appeared at the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency with Pastor Rick Warren last weekend, McCain used a myth about the supposed Judeo-Christian origin of American principles to pander to the evangelical Christian audience in a way I contrast with an Obama appearance at another Baptist church earlier this year.

You can see the full section of the Saddleback Civil Forum interview of John McCain from which I took a short clip for this video from the CNN website at http://www.cnn.com/video/savp/evp/?lo...




Another example about Fox News bias and lies and misinformation. In this case Fox News claims killing people for their political views is not a Hate Crime.

In the video below FOX News has trouble dealing with a Hate Crime against Liberal Unitarian Christians since The Unitarian Church- by definition because of their Liberal Views is not a real Christian Sect acording to FOX NEWS' Conservative Evangelical Christian reporters. According to their thinking how could one be called a Christian if one not Anti-Gay or is Pro-Choice or believes in the ERA ( Equal Rights Amendment defending equal rights for women ) etc.

Should Killing Liberals Be a Hate Crime?
July 31, 2008

The tragic killing of two people and the wounding of eight others at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville allegedly because of the church's "liberal views" brought up a discussion of hate crime laws on Fox News this week that I analyze in this video.




And FOX can also be said to be the racist mouthpiece for racist Republicans and Neocons.

check out more videos from Bravenewfilms and http://foxattacks.com/





and so it goes,
GORD.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Naomi Klein - Activists Need to Continue To Put Pressure on Obama

UPDATE: 10:24 August 26, 2008

For instance he could send some of his people out into the streets as observers to ensure the police do not use unnecessary force.

USA Freedom! (UNLESS YOU DISSENT) DemocracyNow.org
(**** also see Scahill video at end of blog.GORD.)





Anyway like a lot of people I would like to really believe that Barack Obama will bring about needed changes in America's national and international policies. And I admit that I too can get swept up in his grand eloquence. But the reality is that once elected president he will need all the support he can get from various activist organizations so he can resist the influence of Big Money, of Big Oil, of Big Coal, of the Pentagon and the Military Industrial Complex and those who would continue to sell out democratic rights and liberties in the name of security. And part of the reality is that he will be inheriting problems such as the War in Iraq, and a massive debt, and a housing crisis and rising unemployment and rising fuel and food costs which were the result of eight years of mismanagement by the Bush/Neocon Regime. We therefore have to be patient with him to a reasonable extent while insisting on reform and change.

If progressives and other activists such as anti-war movement and environmentalists etc. do not continue to put pressure on Obama after the Democratic Convention & after he is elected president then the corporate elite and Neocons will and make him move to the right.As Naomi Klein points out this is precisely what happened to Bill Clinton when he became president.

So IS Obama going to be forced to move to the Right. All his inspiring speeches and his sincerity may get steam-rolled once the conservative forces begin to put real pressure on him. The problem is that Big Money talks and all those people who made small donations will be discounted if they are not well organized and have a voice in Obama's government. If Democrats just wanted another middle of the road skittish president then they might as well have voted for Hillary Clinton. What America needs is not more of the same but a radical change from where things are at the moment.

Will He Betray His Progressive Supporters
Will he end the war in Iraq and remove all US Troops from Iraq
He Says he will continue the ill-conceived disastrous war in Afghanistan and in fact escalate that war.

Anyway as Naomi Klein points out in recent interviews at The Real News Network that- Activists Need to Continue to put Pressure on Obama.




And here's an item on a more positive note about Barack Obama's reception around the Globe.
Overseas, Obama's a Rock Star. FOX News Host Befuddled.
He is also befuddled by the fact that John McCain is not nearly as popular or as well known as Obama.




****UPDATE:10:35 PM Aug. 26, 2008

Democracy Now with Scahill at Denver Democratic Convention

Are these people correct in believing Obama has surrounded himself with Hawkish Conservative Democrats ??? So is he going to keep troops in Iraq? Will Obama apologize to the Iraqi people for invading their country without provocation?
Will he set free the tens of thousands of prisoners being held in Iraq without being charged or without due process?
Will he put a stop to the ongoing torture and mistreatment of detainees aka Enemy Combatants ? Or is torture and renditions to continue as the American way?
Will he move more troops into Afghanistan to help prop up a corrupt government and to protect the opium crop ?
Will he defend Blackwater and other Private Contracors?
Will he refuse to impeach or arrests Bush and his gang of liars and Mass Murderers or hand them over to the International World Court as War Criminals , that'll bee the day ?



and so it goes,
GORD.

Monday, August 25, 2008

"THE OBAMA NATION ": Gutter Politics of CORSI, MCCAIN , REPUBLICANS: LIES , SMEARS & RACISM

Update: 9:17 pm Monday August 25, 2008

The Democratic Convention has begun let us hope that the riffs in the party will be healed and that Hillary Clinton will act in a reasonable and honorable manner. Let us all wish Barack Obama all the best. Maybe he will shed a little light into the cynical politics of America and show how bankrupt the mean spirited ideology of the Republicans and the Neocons really is and that America is better than that. Maybe a change for the better is on Americas horizon.





Dr. Jerome Corsi author of the error rife smear book " THE OBAMA NATION " a book to please Republicans, Neocons , Hate Radio talk show hosts , FOX NEWS and other Racists and Bigots. At what point does Free Speech become "HATE SPEECH ". To these people all views and opinions no matter how divorced from reality , no matter how unreasonable, no matter how hateful , no matter how racist, no matter how bigoted.

Anyway the attack dogs have been unleashed on Barack Obama and his bid to become president. Well at least now we see all these so called reasonable conservatives for what they are - bigots and racists out to save white America and they seem not much better than their Klan Bretheren.

Dr. Jerome Corsi has published a book about Obama entitled "THE Obama Nation" which appears to be just a long winded rant and attack piece on Barack Obama. Even the title which is a play on words as in "Abomination" appears to be an attack right out of the gutter. The book appeals to the Republicans and to the Far Right Racists in America to whom John McCain wants to reach out to.Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck , Bill O'Reilley and FOXNEWS are promoting the book as if it were some sort of scholarly treatise or in depth investigative reporting. But the book is filled with lies, confabulations, fantasies and other nonsense invented by Corsi's wild racist hate-filled imagination.In their hysterical & paranoid manner they argue that voting in Obama a black man as president will lead to the destruction of America. Surely Obama couldn't possibly be worse than the last eight disastrous years of the "White Good ole Boy" from Racist Texas George Bush and his handlers Karl Rove, Dick Cheney , William Kristol , Donald Rumsfeld and their token minority personalities Condoleeza Rice, Alberto Gonzales, Colin Powell & John Yoo. Pure Oreo Black or brown on the outside but white fantical conservatives on the inside who like Michelle Malkin hate being Non-white .

One of the questions to be raised about Corsi's attacks in his book Obama Nation is whether the Republicans and John McCain are in fact behind this nasty piece of fabrication. We know the far right is in favor of this attack as is FoxNews & the right-wing hate radio personalities such as Rush Limbaugh. We also know Corsi was involved in the notorious Swiftboat attack piece on John Kerry. The Republicans including George Bush, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney , Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell saw nothing wrong with those false accusations which were made against John Kerry. The Neocons do believe in playing dirty politics which they learned from Professor Leo Strauss and the likes of Irving Kristol , George F. Will and William F. Buckley Jr. since they believe in winning at any cost. They believe in the use of what they call " The Noble Lie " by which one lies to the public inorder to gain power and to make up more lies to further their ideology and to enrich themselves and their friends who are of a "superior breed" to the rest of the Nation's Citizenry. It is difficult to fight such lies since the public is being misinformed by by the media who are in thrall of the Neoconservatives and tend to believe everything those in power in the Bush administration tells them. As each of these lies are revealed at a latter date the public becomes cynical and or complacent and so are unable to distinguish among the various voices speaking to them through the media.

Jerome Corsi: Smear Peddler has a Long History of Lying

Countdown takes a look at who Jerome Corsi really is and reviews past bigotted and offensive remarks by Corsi.

Corsi recently published what the Obama camp is calling a "Book of Lies" reminiscent of the Swift Boat attack on John Kerry, penned by Corsi in 2004.

Responding quickly, the Obama camp issued a 41 page booklet of facts on accusations made by Corsi:
FIGHT THE SMEARS: UNFIT FOR PUBLICATION

and the Home Page is:
FIGHT THE SMEARS



Dr. Jerome Corsi a fanatical racist is taken seriously by FOX NEWS. Dr. Corsi is given time on Hannity & Colmes and on Glenn Beck & Bill O'Reilley etc.

"The Obama Nation" | Dr. Jerome Corsi | Hannity & Colmes, Part 1




Obama Nation: Bob Beckel vs Jerome Corsi!





Anyway at one McCain Rally the commentator made an unbelievable statement about Barack Obama by comparing Tiger Woods to Senator John McCain.

" They can have their Tiger Woods we've got Sen. John McCain "

who is "they" ( African-Americans) and who is the "we"( White Americans )like Archie Bunker. Do they think the Archie Bunker stereotype is somehow a true blue American whom they want their children to emulate . One gets the feeling that they believe that " political Correctness" is just a fad which includes notions of Multiculturalism or cultural sensitivity and that they these poor white males are being victimized because they can't express their deep-seated bigoted and racists notions outloud without being criticized.In the end what they don't want is for Black people or other visible minorities or those of different faiths to be treated as if they were in fact equal to white Christians. McCain and his supporters at times sound as if they are still upset about the end of racial segregation let alone allowing a Black man to run for President and just possibly become president of the United States of America. For instance when John F. Kennedy in 1960 was running for president a smear campaign was undertaken pointing to the fact that Kennedy was a Catholic and therefore according to many protestant Americans they claimed that he could not be trusted because they argues his allegiance would be first to the Pope & the Vatican.So Republicans will use whatever fact or inuendo they can to try to smear a Democratic candidate. The Republicans also didn't like Kennedy because he was in favor of equal rights for African-Americans . Now their worst fear is coming true that of the possibility of an African-American becoming president.

countdown Olbermann McCain & Racism

More Racist Comments On Stage at McCain Rally





Bill O'Reilley & John McCain

Go Obama, MCCAIN and Bill 0′Reilly are Racists
They want to break down the white male power structure-
( soon they'll out number us -you gotta cap immigration of non-white males???



Racism
McCain Uses Racist Code Words To Attack Obama As "Uppity"
George Will attacks Obama for being Upper Crust. Therefore Will claims that Obama cannot represent the average african american or Average White American.

The Young Turks




John McCain Racism has become a part of his nature and personality so he can't help it??? Having been a POW he has since then hated all Asians and just about anyone else who's not white, male or American or Christian and so it goes...

John McCain's racist remark very troubling

Thursday, March 2, 2000 By KATIE HONG
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER at SeattlePi.com


On his campaign bus recently, Sen. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Although McCain said he was referring only to his prison guards, there are many reasons why his use of the word "gook" is offensive and alarming.

It is offensive because by using a racial epithet that has historically been used to demean all Asians to describe his captors, McCain failed to make a distinction between his torturers and an entire racial group.

It is alarming because a major candidate for president publicly used a racial epithet, refused to apologize for doing so and remains a legitimate contender.

Contrary to McCain's attempt to narrowly define "gook" to mean only his "sadistic" captors, this term has historically been used to describe all Asians. McCain said that "gook" was the most "polite" term he could find to describe his captors, but because it is simply a pejorative term for Asians, he insulted his captors simply by calling them "Asians" -- a clearly disturbing message. To the Asian American community, the term is akin to the racist word "nigger." A friend of mine, a white male Vietnam veteran, pointed out that veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, know how spiteful the term "gook" is. It has everything to do with labeling someone as "other," the enemy and yellow. McCain sent the message that all Asians are foreigners and remain forever the "other" and the enemy.

The perception of Asians as "foreigners" or "the other" isn't new. This sentiment is what led to passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Japanese American internment during World War II. The internment of Japanese Americans is now recognized as one of the worst civil rights violations in our country's history and a powerful lesson in what can happen when race alone is used as a test for loyalty or who is defined as an American.


and so it goes, actually it's gettting downright ugly,as the Republicans appeal to the worse traits of White Conservative Americans!!!

But have the Clintons also been fear mongering against Barack Obama , at times they appear to have:

and from Wst Virginia we get a view of the Clintons as they appear to appeal to West Virginia's Voters racist views:
Bill Clinton tells Democrats in West Virginia that he and Hillary better represent their values than does Barack Obama. Which values their prejudices, bigotry and racism ???
West Virginia Keeps Distance From Obama/ Financial Times May 11, 2008 by Andrew Ward


Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican.

“I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist,” said Mr Simpson, drawing on a cigarette outside the fire station in Williamson, a coalmining town of 3,400 people surrounded by lush wooded hillsides.

Occupying a swathe of the Appalachian Mountains on the threshold between the Bible Belt and the Rust Belt, West Virginia is a swing state that voted twice for George W. Bush but backed Democrats in six of the eight prior presidential elections.
No Democrat has been elected to the White House without carrying West Virginia since 1916, yet Mr Obama appears to have little chance of winning there in November. Recent opinion polls indicate that Mrs Clinton would narrowly beat Mr McCain in the state but Mr Obama would lose by nearly 20 percentage points.

West Virginia is hostile territory for Mr Obama because it has few of the African-Americans and affluent, college-educated whites who provide his strongest support. The state has the lowest college graduation rate in the US, the second lowest median household income, and one of the highest proportions of white residents, at 96 per cent.

A visit to Mingo County, a Democratic stronghold in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields, reveals the scale of Mr Obama’s challenge – not only in West Virginia but in white, working-class communities across the US. With a gun shop on its main street and churches dotted throughout the town, Williamson is the kind of community evoked by Mr Obama’s controversial comments last month about “bitter” small-town voters who “cling to guns or religion”.

“If he is the nominee, the Democrats have no chance of winning West Virginia,” said Missy Endicott, a 40- year-old school administrator. “He doesn’t understand ordinary Americans.”

Ms Endicott was among roughly 500 people who crammed into the Williamson Fire Department building on Friday to attend a rally by Bill Clinton, the former president. He told them his wife represented “people like you, in places like this”, and urged voters to turn out in record numbers on Tuesday to send a message to the “higher-type people” who were trying to force her out of the race.

Local leaders said Mr Clinton was the most important visitor to Williamson since John F. Kennedy passed through during the 1960 election campaign. Mr Kennedy’s victory in the West Virginia primary that year was a crucial step towards proving his electability as the first Catholic president. Nearly five decades later, the state appears less willing to help Mr Obama break down barriers to the White House.
None of the 22 Democrats interviewed by the Financial Times at the Clinton rally would commit themselves to voting for Mr Obama if he became the nominee, and half said they definitely would not. The depth of opposition is particularly striking considering that Mingo County is one of the most Democratic places in West Virginia, having cast about 85 per cent of its votes for the party in the 2006 midterm elections. If Mr Obama cannot win there in November, he has little chance of carrying the state.


We can only hope for the sake of America and the Democratic party and the world that the Clintons and their supporters can put all of this behind them and unite to back Barack Obama as the Presidential nominee and get out in force to ensure he is elected the next president of the United States. Hopefully at that point the rest of the world can give a sigh of relief as the War Mongering will be put to rest in favor of diplomacy . And maybe he can help to restore the integrity of the United Nations and other International bodies. Then if military intervention is neede it will be after all peaceful means have been tried and that such intervention will not be forced upon the UN but will be a result of a consensus based upon good intelligence and not a pack of lies and propaganda.

and so it goes,
GORD.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Olbermann: McCain Grow Up and Being a Vietnam Vet and POW Not Important Criteria For Being President

Anyway here's a couple of bits about Senator John McCain hopeful presidential candidate of the USA. He appears to be a clone of Bush and a puppet of Cheney /Rove and the Neocons. Is he supposed to be their Great White Hope to keep America from changing. Change it seems is a bad thing. Ensuring that the gulf between rich and poor Americans though continues to grow. As for the poor , the homeless the disenfranchised and the forgotten vets of the Iraq war are left without any hope as this is just the way of the world. There are those who believe that one of the purposes of government going back to Hammurabi is to defend the weak from the strong to ensure widows, orphans, the disabled, the disadvantaged are protected and fed and clothed and housed . But no in America only those who are advantaged are permitted to do well. The greater the gulf between the haves and the have nots the better so the American ethos claims. Odd how those who otherwise reject Darwin's theory of evolution appeal to it to justify inequality .

And so McCain being among the wealthy sees those as facing foreclosure on their homes as irresponsible whiners . If they were smarter they wouldn't be in financial trouble. He is able to keep within his budget so why shouldn't they. Of course it helps that he is worth some 40 to 140 million dollars. But again he does not speak for average Americans but for the wealthy. When will Americans lear that the wealthy in general do not share their concerns and could care less if they lose their homes or their jobs etc.

McCain also argues that Veterans Health Care should be privatised which may leave many vets without any real coverage for their health concerns.

McCain thinks the Iraq war is over . He does not support the troops or the veterans of the Iraqi War.
He Criticizes Obama for having the ambition to be president. Is this because such ambition is delusional given that Obama is a black man.
While McCain believes he as a Conservative white man and veteran is entitled to become president to keep America safe and pure.

Keith Olbermann- Countdown
Special Commentary

McCain: Senator, Grow Up!
Monday 18 August 2008/by: Keith Olbermann, MSNBC Countdown

"Though victory in Iraq is finally in sight," you told the V-F-W today, Senator McCain, "a great deal still depends on the decisions and good judgment of the next president. The hard-won gains of our troops hang in the balance. The lasting advantage of a peaceful and democratic ally in the heart of the Middle East could still be squandered by hasty withdrawal and arbitrary timelines. And this is one of many problems in the shifting positions of my opponent, Senator Obama."
The shifting positions of Senator Obama?

Senator McCain - on the 22nd of May, 2003 ... you said, of Iraq, on the Senate floor, quote:

"We won a massive victory in a few weeks, and we did so with very limited loss of American and allied lives. We were able to end aggression with minimum overall loss of life, and we were even able to greatly reduce the civilian casualties of Afghani and Iraqi citizens.



--------


John McCain another Bush-out of touch, self-satisfied with his own ignorance and stupidity. Shallow and always on vacation either physically or mentally.

Tuesday 19 August 2008 by: Jack Cafferty, CNN
Is McCain Another George W. Bush


New York - Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation.
His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.
Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.
I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why.
It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand.



As DailyKos points out it is now permissable to critique John McCain's assertion that his status as a veterean of Vietnam War and of being a POW somehow equips him for being a sensible choice for president. If McCain's assertion were to be accepted at face value then it follows that all veterans of the vietnam war are defacto good choices for being president.

But Bellavia of "Vets for freedom "claims that a veteran of the Vietnam war has no more qualifications for being president than anyone else. He appears to claim that only a veteran of the Iraq war has any substantive knowledge of the Iraq War and the military's and Pentagon's strategy there. Therefore McCain's military experience does not trump Obama's lack of military experience. And further only someone who has fought in Iraq should have any say about the strategy in Iraq or whether the United States military should stay in Iraq or immediately withdraw. So should " Vets for Freedom " take a poll of Iraq War Vets and American soldiers still serving in Iraq to decide what should or should not be done.

From DailyKOS

We now have license to question value of McCain's Service in Vietnam
by DefendOurConstitution
Wed Aug 20, 2008

Sorry for Short Diary, but I did not see anywhere and I think this is important in framing the military experience issue for the rest of campaign. That's right, thanks to right wing "Vets For Freedom" (Think Progress):
his experienced is based on what? The Mekong Delta. It’s based to Vietnam, a totally different fight, a totally different enemy, and by the way, it was 30 years ago.
DefendOurConstitution's diary :: ::

Of course he was attacking Hagel, not McCain, but once you open that line of reasoning why can't people apply the same standard to McCain? (I know that being POW is the instant shield, but sending some vets to attack other vets saying that their judgement is superior sure opens the door). Thank you Bellavia.


and atThink Progress:
Right-Wing Vets For Freedom Attacks Hagel’s Military Service: ‘Show Me What Battle He Fought In Iraq’

Today on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, a caller questioned Vets for Freedom (VFF) founder David Bellavia about the group’s attacks on Vietnam veteran Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE). Bellavia quickly praised Hagel, saying he was a “patriot.” “You don’t question another man’s service,” said Bellavia.” “I will never attack a Vietnam veteran, like some of these other individuals have during this political season.”

Content he paid enough lip-service to Hagel, he then began attacking the senator, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration. Bellavia’s dismissed the Hagel’s service in Vietnam — for which he earned a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge — as irrelevant to the current conflict:

BELLAVIA: Sen. Hagel has never been shot at in Iraq, he’s never seen what an IED looks like or been detonated on. This is an individual that could embed himself instead of doing a two-day congressional delegation. Go out there, walk with the troops, see what’s going on on the ground. […]

Now, again, with Sen. Hagel — my problem with Sen. Hagel is, again, his experienced is based on what? The Mekong Delta. It’s based to Vietnam, a totally different fight, a totally different enemy, and by the way, it was 30 years ago.


also see MacCain blaming Americans for the housing mortgage crisis since he characterizes home owners as irresponsible . He does not accept that deregulation and greedy investors using predatory interest rates as part of the problem. Thursday, August 21, 2008 by Politico.com
McCain Unsure How Many Houses He Owns by Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen

McCain's Mansions and The Mortgage Crisis
No help offered to average home owners- Americans are Just Whiners




And when it comes to veterans McCain wants to privatize Vets health care while redefining what he would determine to be an injury or health concern which actually directly the result of combat. As we have seen time and again those who support him like the Neocons tend to be dismissive of issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or other psychological problems affecting war veterans.Check out this article at Common Dreams.org:

Thursday, August 21, 2008 by Inter Press Service McCain's Plan to Privatise Veterans' Health Care by Aaron Glantz

SAN FRANCISCO - If John McCain is elected the next U.S. president, wounded veterans could be in for a world of hurt.

On the campaign trail, the Republican's presumptive nominee has talked of a new mission for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and argued that veterans with non-combat medical problems should be given vouchers to receive care at private, for-profit hospitals -- in other words, an end to the kind of universal health care the government has guaranteed veterans for generations.

"We need to relieve the burden on the VA from routine health care," McCain told the National Forum on Disability Issues last month. "If you have a routine health care need, take it wherever you want, whatever doctor or health care provider and get the treatment you need, while we at the VA focus our attention, our care, our love, on these grievous wounds of war."

The Republican senator argues that giving veterans a VA card that they can use at private doctors would shorten the long wait times many veterans face in seeing government doctors, who are nearly universally viewed as among the best in the world.

A recent study by the RAND Corporation found that "VA patients were more likely to receive recommended care" and "received consistently better care across the board, including screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow up" than that delivered by other U.S. health care providers.

Virtually all veterans groups oppose McCain's plan. The Veterans of Foreign Wars' national legislative director has said the VA card would "undermine the entire system".

According to the Centre for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contribution than has Republican John McCain.

This may seem odd to some since McCain is a former naval officer, prisoner of war, and Vietnam War veteran.

However, Paul Sullivan, a Gulf War veteran and executive director of the non-partisan Veterans for Common Sense, says that for McCain, free market ideology is more important than providing care for former soldiers.
"Ideologues like John McCain and George Bush hate the fact that the VA exists," Sullivan told IPS, noting that the Republican candidate also wants to partially privatise social security and offer private school vouchers to students currently enrolled in public schools.

"They hate the fact that there's a functional example out there of the government providing better care at a lower cost than the private sector," Sullivan said. "The problem that the VA faces now is that the Bush administration failed to hire enough doctors and disability claims adjusters when they chose to go to war with Iraq. If these doctors had been hired, the VA would be an example of the government doing good work. Bush and McCain don't want the public to see that."

McCain has also never spelled out what he means by a "combat injury", leading many veterans worried they could be left out in the cold.




and so it goes,
GORD.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Time To Fight the Neocon Demagogues and Bush War Mongers

Anyway before beginning my rant here is a funny website of note to check out : Malkin Watch at http://malkinwatch.blogsome.com/




Anyway here's a lttle ditty by Phil Ochs juxaposed to the Hurricane Katrina disaster and George Bush of the KKK And his racist religious bigotry inspired war in Iraq. or is it just for the oil and to expand the American Empire .

Phil Ochs: What are you fighting for?




Time to speak up and for those who can to fill the streets to take the message to those in power. Or at least fill the Internet with your views and not be bullied by the Neocon Cowardly Trolls who infest the Internet.Will those in power arrest hundreds of thousands or millions of Americans. Martin Luther King like Ghandi said that to get those in power to take notice first you need to fill the prisons with those who object to their unlawful and immoral rule. Meanwhile those in power build more and more prisons to fill with those who dare think differently. If an American citizen protest against the Bush/McCain/ Cheney / Rove regime they are called traitors or UnAmerican. Meanwhile the Democrats cave in at every opportunity to the wishes of the Neocons and their Puppets. Its hard to tell one from the other at times.

In what Republicans and Neocons believe that Freedom of Speech is only for those who agree with them. And if you don't agree or look different than them then it is justifiable to beat up and arrest such persons since in the Neocon view they are Un American or not real Americans. In the sixties for instance Black Americans and other minorities and Women and men with long hair were all seen as the enemy. Has much really changed today. There are many Americans who disagree with those in power but are afraid to speak out or totake part in demonstrations lest they be labeled traitors or terrorists. The same tactics were often used against the labor unions or Women fighting for equal rights in the first half of the twentieth century so we have returned to what the Neocons called the good old days when women, & black Americans and Gays and Lesbians and liberals and workers knew their place in society.

Strong Arm Tactics at 1968 Democratic Convention



also see at YouTube Dan Rather being attacked by Chicago Police and security ( a bunch of thugs ) at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. Note Embedding disabled possibly by irate Neocons .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrlYRWD_tnA

or Dan Rather : YOUTUBE

And here's a telling bit when Gore Vidal has the courage to describe correctly William F. Buckley as a Crypto-Nazi as a forerunner of the Neo-Fascists Neocons who now rule over America and Canada and even Great Britain . But we are supposed to be polite to these people and act as if it were really just a matter of opinions and not a matter of essential beliefs. Is justice and freedom and democratic rights to be determined by the Rich and Powerful and their Neocon supporters.



The Sixties should not be characterized as some sort of lost years of drugs , music and sex since the ideals fought for are the same as those which are claimed to the very ideals of American Democracy and Freedom. Yet the Ann Coulters*, Michelle Malkins *and Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld and even Condoleeza Rice and Gonzales and the Neocons see the whole era as America gone astray. The fight for equal rights for Black Americans and Women and minorities and the plea to end an unnecessary and immoral war were noble and reasonable causes to fight for .

Phil Ochs Berkeley "I Ain't Marching Anymore" 1960s




In the below clip we see part of what those so called evil hippies and radicals were trying to change that Lynching wasn't the God Given Right of Southern Americans. This is part of what the Neocons such as Bush & John McCain are upset about that they can no longer easily deny black Americans their rights or use the "N" word to describe those whom they hold in contempt. Yet they have their tamed black servants such as Condoleeza Rice or Alberto Gonzales or John Yoo to make it seem that they are not the racists they really are ; Just a lot of windowdressing as we discovered during Hurricane Katrina. And they claim all Americans should all support the troops yet those in power Neocaons and Bush Loyalists show and prove over again that they do not themselves support the troops. How many of them have children fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan alongside working class soldiers . How many of them are willing themselves to go off to war to fight and risk their own death . Even the Knights of the Middle Ages during the crusades were willing themselves to put their own bodies in harms way . But these are men and women who are far from Noble who are are cowards without any sense of honor or decency.

In the good old days according to Nixon and Spiro Agnew's so called " Silent Majority " white male Americans ruled and could grab a black man in the middle of the night and Lynch him for some imaginary crime and those who did the lynching needn't worry about being arrested or prosecuted .

Here's to the state of Mississippi (Phil Ochs)



Another disturbing bit of rewriting of history by the Bush Regime and Condoleeza Rice .

Meanwhile the Bush Regime is open to giving refuge to the corrupt anti-democratic brutal former dictator of Pakistan Musharraf as Condoleeza Rice believes he was a good friend of the Bush Regime. Though she gives him a pass on his corruption and his repressive regime and that he may have at least in part be responsible for Benazir Bhuto's murder. No surprise here America does love those dictators who do their bidding. So what if his trrops beat peacefully protesting lawyers and other citizens or had others imprisoned and tortured or just disappeared. These are the same tactics American governments have encourage over and over again in countries such Iran under the Shaw or Chile under Pinochet or under the Marcos family in the Phillipines or the regimes in El Salvador etc.

See transcript and video :

BushCo Open to Giving Musharraf Asylum in the U.S. by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress August 20, 2008.
Bush has a soft spot for Musharraf, and it shows.



Notes on Coulter & Michelle Malkin

Ann Coulter and Voter Fraud





On Ann Coulter's own act of voter fraud see: The Brad Blog Blogged by Brad Friedman on 6/6/2008
Ann Coulter's Felony Voter Fraud Crimes: The Complete Story
The Entire Brad Friedman Exposé, as Published, In-Full for the First Time, in Hustler Magazine...


and : AlterNet.org/ Son of Undocumented Immigrants Wins Gold
by David Neiwert August 19, 2008. A great victory for the U.S. comes from a citizen right-wingers would want to deport.


and on Michelle Malkin whose legal status as an American Citizen is up for debate if one accepts her own draconian and nativist racist views on immigrants and their progeny:
at Malkin(s) Watch June 4, 2006
Pulling Up the Ladder by Ryan : Everything Else, What Others Are Saying

and : Malkin(s) Watch May 31, 2006
Natural Born Criminals? by Ryan


David Neiwert:
At last weekend’s [Washington] state GOP Convention, the party adopted a platform including a resolution calling for a measure to deny citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants. It also endorsed a guest-worker program that would require all applicants to return to their home countries first.

Nearly three years ago Michelle wrote a nasty column that closed as such:
Clearly, the custom of granting automatic citizenship at birth to children of tourists and temporary workers such as Hamdi and to countless “anchor babies” delivered by illegal aliens on American soil, undermines the integrity of citizenship – not to mention national security. Originally intended to ensure the citizenship rights of newly freed slaves and their families after the Civil War, the citizenship clause has evolved into a magnet for alien lawbreakers and a shield for terrorist infiltrators and enemy combatants.

If the courts refuse to close the birthright citizenship loopholes, Congress must. Citizenship is too precious to squander on accidental Americans in Name Only.




and so it goes,
GORD.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

40 Year Anniversary of The Police Riots at the Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968 Will History Repeat Itself In Denver


POLICE BRUTALITY AT 1968 Convention: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AT WORK !!!



From the Film CHICAGO 10 Trial(2007)


40 years after the Police Riot in Chicago during the National Democratic Convention not much has changed. For the 2008 Democratic Convention the whole apparatus of the American Police State will be employed to arrest as many dissidents as possible to be placed in special prisons set up by the Bush Regime. Oh yes you can protest but only miles away from the convention so the delegates will not have to see the protests. The delegates of both parties will reassure themselves that by representing the Rich and Powerful they therefore represent the the most important Americans. All the rest are shit-disturbing ungrateful riff-Raff .Its all the same old shit: conform or shut the hell up!!!

In preparation of the Democratic Convention in Denver August 23-28

What is disturbing about the report on CNN about the use of secret weapons is how happy and cheerful the commentators are & even make fun of the ACLU and anyone else who criticizes the police or the government.So we can predict that if the police and other agencies beat up a few hundred or even thousands of protestors the American public will be cheering along with CNN & Fox News , The Finacial Times, The New York Times and the Washington Post who are more interested in law and order and silencing dissidens than they are in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly etc. These they believe like President Bush & Cheney think these are old fashioned & "quaint". Human Rights as it were are only for the Republicans and their supporters in the Democratic Party . If the Democratic party actually stood for something they would purge all those who are racist, sexist, fascist, or members of the KKK etc. But no instead they reach out to such extremists inorder to gain power . But what's the use of power if the party does not stand for anything.

CNN: 'Top secret' weapons to be used at political convention




Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Chicago



Chicago 10 trial trailer



1968 Chicago Police Riot



Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young Ohio

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's "Ohio" set to a devastating series of photos from the Kent State shootings, and other 1960-70's protests, compiled by Hard Rain Productions.




also see:
Democratic Convention - 1968!August 6, 2008


and: Chicago 1968 Democratic National Conention : An Introduction

and as for Denver for example:

Denver Police Brace for Democratic National Convention-NY Times .com By DAVID JOHNSTON and ERIC SCHMITT August 5, 2008

WASHINGTON — Federal and local authorities are girding for huge protests, mammoth traffic tie-ups and civil disturbances at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this month, fearing that the convention will become a magnet for militant protest groups.
...the Secret Service, the Pentagon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and scores of police departments are moving thousands of agents, analysts, officers and employees to Denver for the Aug. 25-28 convention. They will operate through a complex hierarchy of command centers, steering committees and protocols to respond to disruptions.

National political conventions are a chance for federal agencies to test their latest and most sophisticated technology, and this year is no different. There was a brief flare-up recently between the F.B.I. and the Secret Service, when each wanted to patrol the skies over the convention with their surveillance aircraft, packed with infrared cameras and other electronics. The issue was resolved in favor of the Secret Service, according to people briefed on the matter.


and:
Police Prepare for Thousands of Protesters at Denver Convention FOXNews.com
July 26, 2008


With just one month to go until the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the city and the Secret Service are preparing for activist crowds estimated to be between 20,000 and 50,000.

Authorities are taking every precaution to make sure those looking to disrupt what the Democratic Party expects to be a historic moment don’t go too far.
“I think we have to give the police the ability to act in certain circumstances where the intent … is clear. That is to act before something actually happens,” said Al Lacabe, safety manager in Denver.

Police will not comment on whether they will use stun prods and shields, or guns that fire pepper balls.

But at a recent City Council meeting, Denver police revealed some of the equipment they are acquiring to meet potential threats. On the list is something called “the bearcat,” a tactical vehicle used by SWAT teams.

They’ll also use mountain bikes to get around the convention scene more easily.

...Meanwhile, protest groups say the city is overreacting.

“They are doing their best to make people afraid of us, to make people afraid to be anywhere near us,” said Mark Cohen, of the group Recreate ‘68.
Though the group’s name suggests it is interested in recreating the riots outside the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, the Recreate ‘68 Web site promises “peaceful, nonviolent protests” against the two-party system and says the name merely refers to the “spirit of mass political participation of the ‘60s.”


and :

Denver stocks up on pepper weapon
City orders guns that fire special plastic balls
By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News Tuesday, June 17, 2008


Denver police are stocking up on guns that fire a pepper spray-like substance instead of bullets - a less-lethal weapon used to disperse crowds - in advance of the Democratic National Convention.

The department recently ordered 88 Mark IV launchers and projectiles at a cost "in the low six figures," the company that makes the weapons stated in a news release Monday.

The request was for delivery in advance of the DNC, according to Louisville- based Security With Advanced Technology Inc.

The convention, scheduled for Aug. 25 to 28 at the Pepsi Center, is expected to draw thousands of protesters to sites throughout Denver.

The city received a $50 million federal grant for security. A senior adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper has said the city plans to spend up to half that amount on equipment, with the rest going to pay officers.

But the city has refused to disclose how it is spending the money, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union last month to file a civil lawsuit.

The court filing alleges the city is violating the Colorado Open Records Act.
City officials say releasing the information is "contrary to the public interest" because it could disclose important tactical information, potentially jeopardizing security.


and so it goes,
GORD.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

FOX NEWS ATTACKS BARACK OBAMA & McCain Forgets America Invaded Iraq

Anyway the attacks on Barack Obama & Michelle Obama continue in various forms from the more extreme to the supposedly objective or mistakenly as good hearted humor which acts as a cover for racist attacks. Even the New Yorker seemed to cross the line in supposedly using certain stereotypes as a means of satirizing those whoare preconditioned to accept those stereotypes. But in the New Yorker's case most people just saw the cover and didn't read the article and so were left with the impression that even the self-proclaimed and self-congradulating elite who read the New Yorker were ,in fact , fearful of the Obamas.

But FOX News as representing the Mainstream conservative media given the size of their audience are in many ways the most dangerous as many of their viewers take whatever is said on FOX NEWS as Gospel. And so I refer you to the following website whose mission it is to question the so-called facts presented by the FOX NEWS NETWORK. Take note and sign the petition .

From FOX ATTACKS.com They Distort .We Reply :How to Stop the Smears Against Obama Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films August 14, 2008.

Only you can stop FOX's Obama smears and get out the truth. Here's how:

Email this video to everyone you know and encourage them to send it on.
Click the "digg it" button the right. Be sure you're logged in to digg so your vote counts.
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Fox is a Republican mouthpiece, not a legitimate news organization. Real news organizations must reject Fox's smears of Barack Obama and get the real facts out.




And here's an article about how the media is misrepresenting Michelle Obama :
from Huffington Post magazine Radar Asks, " What's So Scary About Michelle Obama?" On September Cover Danny Shea,August 23,08

Add Radar to the growing list of magazines featuring the Obamas on their September covers. The September issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands next Tuesday, features Michelle Obama on its cover (asking "What's So Scary About Michelle Obama?") and offers what it calls "an insider's guide to America's next First Lady."

The meticulously footnoted insider's guide, a semi-controversial FAQ penned by Ana Marie Cox, asks questions like, "Why does she hate whitey?" ("there is no public evidence of her ever using the word whitey"), "When was the precise moment she became proud of America?" ("Michelle Obama's pride in America is long-standing, diffuse, and organic"), and "Why is she so angry?" ("She's not angry; she is passionate").

There are more standard questions as well, ranging from her childhood to her salary to her domestic skills, but the highlight of the 10-page spread is a sidebar by Stephen Sherrill that compares Michelle Obama to Hillary Clinton on topics like "Style Icon" (Jackie Onassis for Michelle, Carol Burnett for Hillary), "Battle Experience" (Michelle dodged vicious sniping from talking heads, while Hillary dodged imaginary sniping in Bosnia), and "Retro Accessory" (fake pearls for Michelle, Bill Clinton for Hillary).


From
Sam Stein at the Huffington Post August 13,2008




also see at Huffington Post the article by Cesca who criticizes much of the media as it misrepresents Barack Obam as part of an effete elite : The Exotic Candidate is the One With Eight Houses/ august 13, 2008
"It is possible," Gore Vidal once wrote, "for any citizen with time to spare, and a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the many there is not time, and the network news is the only news even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions."

The barbecue media script for this election, a work of unabridged fiction and co-written by the modern Rove Republicans, has crow-barred Senator Obama into the incongruous frame of the exotic effete elitist, irrespective of the fact that, on all counts, he's absolutely none of those things. It's the same script that's been wheeled out during the last several presidential elections -- designed as a way of sculpting reality into a neatly packaged prime time dramatic narrative that both reinforces and exploits fear-based stereotypes..the truth is that Senator McCain is far and away the more elitist and exotic of the two candidates. Fact. No bias here.


And here's another gaffe by John McCain who seems to have forgotten that the United States invaded Iraq without just cause. But then again we should remember that most Americans still believe that Saddam was somehow an immediate threat to America and that he possibly engineered 9/11 or that the Iraqi people had pleaded for America to invade their country in order to overthrow Saddam or whatever. Or it was just a matter of ignorance since the majority of American citizens can't tell the difference between one Middle Eastern country or another other than Israel that is. Besides someone had to pay for 9/11 . So Russia is to be condemned for invading Georgia because the Ruskies are evil while America we are told is on the side of the angels.



McCain on Russia

Speaking to reporters about the situation in Georgia, Sen. John McCain denounced the aggressive posture of Russia by claiming that:"in the 21st century nations don't invade other nations."

It was the type of foreign policy rhetorical blunder that has regularly plagued the McCain campaign and could have diplomatic ripples as well. Certainly the comment was meant in innocence. But for those predisposed to the notion that the U.S. is an increasingly arrogant international actor, the suggestion by a presidential candidate that, in this day and age, countries don't invade one another -- when the U.S. is occupying two foreign nations -- does little to alleviate that negative perception.

There is another, less controversial undertone to McCain's remark. Since the Georgia-Russia hostilities have commenced, parallels have been drawn to U.S. intervention in Iraq. The two scenarios are highly different in all intents and purposes, both due to regional significance and the longstanding territorial disputes. But some still would dispute the idea, as McCain seemed to imply, that America's involvement in Iraq is any less an invasion than Russia's involvement in Georgia.


And more on the Bush Regime's human rights abuses in the name of National Security.

US Government Murders Another Man
Keith Olbermann Countdown August 13, 2008
(with the complicity of the American People all part of American Style Democracy in action!!!)



and so it goes,
GORD.