November 6, 2008
Commentary - Obama Wins: Why All Americans Have a Reason to Celebrate
By Arianna Huffington - Why All Americans Have a Reason to Celebrate
Huffington Post compilation of related stories
Continue reading "Commentary - Obama Wins: Why All Americans Have a Reason to Celebrate"
Posted by doctormatt at 6:04 AM
Obama names transition team
Barack Obama has named his entire transition team -- formally organized as the Obama-Biden Transition Project, a 501(c)(4) organization. The work of this entity will be overseen by three co-chairs: former White House chief of staff John Podesta, Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett, and Obama's current chief of staff Pete Rouse.
Continue reading "Obama names transition team"
Posted by doctormatt at 5:24 AM
October 30, 2008
Don't let your vote be stolen
The pollsters and pundits seem to agree: Barack Obama has a huge lead over John McCain in the race for president. But that doesn't mean McCain won't win.
Continue reading "Don't let your vote be stolen"
Posted by doctormatt at 5:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2008
Palin Pathology: What's Wrong with Sarah and Her Fans?
Continue reading "Palin Pathology: What's Wrong with Sarah and Her Fans?"
Posted by doctormatt at 9:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2008
Will the Repubs steal the 2008 election?
The Republicans have gone to extraordinary lengths to steal the last two elections. It is truly breathtaking just how badly compromised America's election process has become. What has been perhaps even more astounding has been the American and Canadian media's lack of willingness to engage this story. Is this election beyond the reach of theft?
Read the Theft Component - courtesy of Countercurrents.org
Continue reading "Will the Repubs steal the 2008 election?"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)
Palin falsified expense reports? How ethical is that?
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.
The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.
Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor's children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.
As governor, Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters -- Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7 -- by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor's schedule.
But some organizers of these events said they were surprised when the Palin children showed up uninvited, or said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend.
Several other organizers said the children merely accompanied their mother and did not participate. The trips enabled Palin, whose main state office is in the capital of Juneau, to spend more time with her children.
"She said any event she can take her kids to is an event she tries to attend," said Jennifer McCarthy, who helped organize the June 2007 Family Day Celebration picnic in Ketchikan that Piper attended with her parents.
State Finance Director Kim Garnero told The Associated Press she has not reviewed the Palins' travel expense forms, so she could not say whether the daughters' travel with their mother would meet the definition of official business.
On Aug. 6, three weeks before Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate, and after Alaska reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters' travel.
In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as "First Family attending" and "First Family invited" to explain the girls' attendance.
"The governor said, 'I want the purpose and the reason for this travel to be clear,'" said Linda Perez, state director of administrative services.
When Palin released her family's tax records as part of her vice presidential campaign, some tax experts questioned why she did not report the children's state travel reimbursements as income.
The Palins released a review by a Washington attorney who said state law allows the children's travel expenses to be reimbursed and not taxed when they conduct official state business.
Taylor Griffin, a McCain-Palin campaign spokesman, said Palin followed state policy allowing governors to charge for their children's travel. He said the governor's office has invitations requesting the family to attend some events, but he said he did not have them to provide.
In October 2007, Palin brought daughter Bristol along on a trip to New York for a women's leadership conference. Plane tickets from Anchorage to La Guardia Airport for $1,385.11 were billed to the state, records show, and mother and daughter shared a room for four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House hotel, which overlooks Central Park.
The event's organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter.
Alexis Gelber, who organized Newsweek's Third Annual Women & Leadership Conference, said she does not know how Bristol ended up attending. Gelber said invitees usually attend alone, but some ask if they can bring a relative or friend.
Griffin, the campaign spokesman, said he believes someone with the event personally sent an e-mail to Bristol inviting her, but he did not have it to provide. Records show Palin also met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs representatives and visited the New York Stock Exchange.
In January, the governor, Willow and Piper showed up at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood Buffet, an Anchorage gala to announce winners of an earlier seafood competition.
"She was just there," said James Browning, executive director of Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which runs the event. Griffin said the governor's office received an invitation that was not specifically addressed to anyone.
When Palin amended her children's expense reports, she listed a role for the two girls at the function -- "to draw two separate raffle tickets."
In the original travel form, Palin listed a number of events that her children attended and said they were there "in official capacity helping." She did not identify any specific roles for the girls.
In July, the governor charged the state $2,741.26 to take Bristol and Piper to Philadelphia for a meeting of the National Governors Association. The girls had their own room for five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for $215.46 a night, expense records show.
Expense forms describe the girls' official purpose as "NGA Governor's Youth Programs and family activities." But those programs were activities designed to keep children busy, a service provided by the NGA to accommodate governors and their families, NGA spokeswoman Jodi Omear said.
In addition to the commercial flights, the children have traveled dozens of times with Palin on a state plane. For these flights, the total cost of operating the plane, at $971 an hour, was about $55,000, according to state flight logs. The cost of operating the state plane does not increase when the children join their mother.
The organizer of an American Heart Association luncheon on Feb. 15 in Fairbanks said Palin asked to bring daughter Piper to the event, and the organizer said she was surprised when Palin showed up with daughters Willow and Bristol as well.
The three Palin daughters shared a room separate from their mother at the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks for two nights, at a cost to the state of $129 per night.
The luncheon took place before Palin's husband, Todd, finished fourth in the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race, also in Fairbanks. The family greeted him at the finish line.
When Palin showed up at the luncheon with not just Piper but also Willow and Bristol, organizers had to scramble to make room at the main table, said Janet Bartels, who set up the event.
"When it's the governor, you just make it happen," she said.
The state is already reviewing nearly $17,000 in per diem payments to Palin for more than 300 nights she slept at her own home, 40 miles from her satellite office in Anchorage.
Tony Knowles, a Democratic former governor of Alaska who lost to Palin in a 2006 bid to reclaim the job, said he never charged the state for his three children's commercial flights or claimed their travel as official state business.
Knowles, who was governor from 1994 to 2002, is the only other recent Alaska governor who had school-age children while in office.
"There was no valid reason for the children to be along on state business," said Knowles, a supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. "I cannot recall any instance during my eight years as governor where it would have been appropriate to claim they performed state business."
Knowles said he brought his children to one NGA event while in office but didn't charge the state for their trip.
In February 2007, the three girls flew from Juneau to Anchorage on Alaska Airlines. Palin charged the state for the $519.30 round-trip ticket for each girl, and noted on the expense form that the daughters accompanied her to "open the start of the Iron Dog race."
The children and their mother then watched as Todd Palin and other racers started the competition, which Todd won that year. Palin later had the relevant expense forms changed to describe the girls' business as "First Family official starter for the start of the Iron Dog race."
The Palins began charging the state for commercial flights after the governor kept a 2006 campaign promise to sell a jet bought by her predecessor.
Palin put the jet up for sale on eBay, a move she later trumpeted in her star-making speech at the Republican National Convention, and it was ultimately sold by the state at a loss.
That left only one high-performance aircraft deemed safe enough for her to use -- a 1980 twin-engine King Air assigned to the public safety agency but, according to flight logs, out of service for maintenance and repairs about a third of the time Palin has been governor.
Click here for the follow-up story, Palin's Defense:
Continue reading "Palin falsified expense reports? How ethical is that? "
Posted by doctormatt at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2008
Steal Back Your Vote - by Greg Palast and Bobby Kennedy, Jr.
Read the comic book or preview the movie here:
Steal Back Your Vote
Posted by doctormatt at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)
Third Party Presidential Debate to Take Place on Thursday, October 23rd
Free & Equal Elections Coalition
230 E. Ohio St., Ste. 212
Chicago, IL 60611
Attn: Politics Editors, Campaign 2008 Editors, National Editor
Contact: Christina Tobin, 312-320-4101
The Independent/Third Party Presidential Debate to have been held in New York at Columbia University on Sunday Oct. 19th has been rescheduled, and will occur on Thursday evening at 9pm EST, October 23 in Washington DC.
All six candidates who qualified for enough state ballot lines to be eligible to win the presidency on November 4th are invited.
Posted by doctormatt at 11:55 PM
Video - Murder, Spies and Voting Lies
About the film: Murder, Spies, and Voting Lies:
Clint Curtis was an everyday computer programmer in Florida until he was asked to create vote-rigging software for electronic voting machines. What happens to a guy at the wrong end of a smoking gun? In Murder, Spies, and Voting Lies, directed by Patty Sharaf, hear Curtis's story about being asked by Florida Republican Congressman Tom Feeney to manipulate voting machine software.
While Curtis made these charges in a sworn affidavit, and in sworn testimony to a congressional committee, mainstream media have given scant attention to his story. Join journalist/blogger Brad Friedman as he pokes at the seamy side of our democracy.
See a preview clip here - courtesy of LinkTV.org
Posted by doctormatt at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
3d party Presidential candidates comment on 3d debate
Comments from the Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney and independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader - courtesy of DemocracyNow.org
Third-Party Candidates Ralph Nader & Cynthia McKinney Respond to Final McCain-Obama Debate
Posted by doctormatt at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2008
Palin has checkered history on ethics issues
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose reformer image took a hit in a report concluding she abused her powers to settle a family score, has skirted state ethics rules before for personal benefit and used her office to help friends and supporters, according to an Associated Press review of records.
Continue reading "Palin has checkered history on ethics issues"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
Palin - McCain: Unethical conduct and lies
Excellent editorial from Chattanooga Times - 10/15/08
Given the deceitful distortions and inherent lies the McCain-Palin team, and particularly Mrs. Palin herself is telling about Senator Obama's record, it should be no surprise that Governor Sarah Palin was found last Friday to have acted unethically under Alaska law by abusing her power as governor.
Continue reading "Palin - McCain: Unethical conduct and lies"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2008
Want a president who lies about crashing planes?
McCain - American hero?
The GOP highlights his valor as staying alive after being captured in an immoral, and possibly illegal war. (Remember the Tonkin incident - President Johnson's fraudulent basis for escalating the war.)
Yet even McCain jokes about his status as graduating 5th from the bottom of his class at Annapolis, and during his career, he was involved in the destruction of at least 4 U.S. Navy aircraft.
Highly competent?
Continue reading "Want a president who lies about crashing planes?"
Posted by doctormatt at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)
October 8, 2008
Obama vs. McCain on health care plans
Posted by doctormatt at 10:46 AM
October 7, 2008
Video - Olbermann's Special Comment Scorches Palin for Slandering Obama
Posted by doctormatt at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
If John McCain were to win the presidency, he would be the oldest man elected to a first term.
Ready for President Palin?
Posted by doctormatt at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)
October 5, 2008
A few more commentaries on Palin
Creationism rapes the environment
Head of the coming police state?
Posted by doctormatt at 8:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 3, 2008
Video: Biden - Palin VP debate
A record US television audience tuned in for the one-off vice-presidential debate between Republican pick Sarah Palin and Democratic foe Joseph Biden, final figures showed Friday.
Nielsen Media Research said 69.9 million people watched Palin face off with Biden, eclipsing the previous best mark set in 1984 when 56.7 million tuned in for Geraldine Ferraro's tussle with George H.W. Bush.
The figure easily surpassed the 52.4 million people who had watched presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCain go head-to-head in their first debate of the campaign last Friday.
The audience also outscored the 2004 vice-presidential debate between Democratic hopeful John Edwards and Republican incumbent Dick Cheney, which drew only 43.6 million people.
Thursday's vice-presidential debate was one of the most eagerly awaited showdowns in years and came after a series of faltering performances in television interviews from Palin last week.
Videos are below.
For a "fact check" analysis, see
Think Progress
and
and
and
Topic: Deregulation and Taxes
Topic: Taxes and Health Care
Posted by doctormatt at 5:41 PM | Comments (0)
September 30, 2008
E-voting Machines are a National Security Threat
Plan in place to steal this next election: by 51.2% of the popular vote, and three electoral votes.
Posted by doctormatt at 4:02 PM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2008
Presidential candidates on science policy issues
Their answers to 14 questions.
For example:
Health. Americans are increasingly concerned with the cost, quality and availability of health care. How do you see science, research and technology contributing to improved health and quality of life?
Science policy questions and answers
Continue reading "Presidential candidates on science policy issues"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2008
Wanna-be President Palin on Middle East Foreign Policy
Palin interviewed by Katie Couric
Couric: What happens if the goal of democracy, Gov. Palin, doesn't produce the desired outcome? For example, in Gaza, the U.S. pushed hard for elections - and Hamas won."
Palin: Yeah, well, especially in that region though, we have got to protect those, and support those, who do seek democracy and do seek protections for the people who live there. And we're seeing today, in the last couple of days here in New York, a speaker, a president of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who would come over on our soil and express such disdain for one of our closest allies and friends, Israel, and we're hearing the evil that he speaks. And if hearing him doesn't allow Americans to commit more solidly to protect the friends and allies we need, especially there in the Middle East, then nothing will. If Americans are not waking up to what it is that he represents, then nothing is going to wake us up and we will be lulled into some false sense of security that perhaps Americans were part of before 9/11."
In an echo of Bush's plain-talking "Bring' em on" lines, Palin boils the Middle East down into black-and-white terms.
"It is obvious to me who the good guys are in this one and who the bad guys are," says Palin. "The bad guys are the ones who say Israel is a stinking corpse and should be wiped off the face of the earth. That's not a good guy who is saying that. Now, one who would seek to protect the good guys in this, the leaders of Israel and her friends, her allies, including the United States, in my world, those are the good guys."
Posted by doctormatt at 4:47 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2008
The politics of lying
"Politicians have never been known for telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but generally when caught exaggerating the truth they usually stop. This year things seem to be different," observes Andrew Tanenbaum of Electoral-Vote.com.
For example, Sarah Palin has said over and over that she never requested any earmarks as governor. That is patently false. She requested $450 million in earmarks and got most of it. Although Congress wouldn't finance the bridge to nowhere, Palin got to keep the money anyway and spend it on other projects.
When called on this, a McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers said "We're running a campaign to win."
More at
Fact Check
Continue reading "The politics of lying"
Posted by doctormatt at 5:23 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2008
How much of a religious Extremist Is Sarah Palin?
"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."
Continue reading "How much of a religious Extremist Is Sarah Palin?"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2008
Sarah Palin thinks there's one set of rules for stupid voters, and another life of privacy and privileges for the elite.
No one would give a whit about any of the Palin peccadilloes if Sarah hadn't made such a spectacle of herself campaigning as a pro-lifer, gay-hater, abstinence-monger, Creationist-dork. Where does she get off mandating public policy that tells anyone how to live their life?
Susie Bright comments on Palin
Posted by doctormatt at 8:19 PM | Comments (0)
George Bush with big hair
The hustling Evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder could be our first woman president.
Garrison Keiller comments on Palin
Posted by doctormatt at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)
What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick.
The most noxious belief that Palin shares with Muslim fundamentalists is her conviction that faith is not a private affair of individuals but rather a moral imperative that believers should import into statecraft wherever they have the opportunity to do so. That is the point of her pledge to shape the judiciary. Such a theocratic impulse is incompatible with the Founding Fathers' commitment to tolerance and democracy, which is why they forbade the government to "establish" or officially support any particular religion or denomination.
A theocrat is a theocrat, whether Muslim or Christian.
Posted by doctormatt at 7:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2008
Palin's views on end times
Palin's views on biblical "End Times"
In light of the possibility that she might someday soon be in charge of thousands of thermonuclear weapons:
Among other things, she declared that she was a young earth creationist, accepting both that the world was about 6,000-plus years old, and that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time.
I asked how she felt about the second coming and the end times. She responded that she fully believed that the signs of Jesus returning soon "during MY lifetime," were obvious. "I can see that, maybe you can't - but it guides me every day."
Posted by doctormatt at 4:20 PM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2008
Transcript of Obama and McCain at Saddleback church
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/17/se.01.html
Transcript of Obama and McCain at Saddleback church
Posted by doctormatt at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2008
Palin's acceptance speech at Republican convention
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee, on Wednesday night addressed the 2008 Republican National Convention. Here is the text of the speech:
Continue reading "Palin's acceptance speech at Republican convention"
Posted by doctormatt at 5:36 PM | Comments (0)
September 3, 2008
Palin is more experienced than Obama?
By Jonathan Alter
Faced with a shaggy, seat-of-the-pants convention, Republicans are determined to get back on message. So now their new, more disciplined line is about experience. That's right, after John McCain selected a vice presidential candidate who is clearly unprepared to be president, his aides--and any other Republicans who want a future in the party are singing from the same choir book. In speeches, interviews, a new ad, and even off-the-record sessions with reporters, the line is that Sarah Palin is more prepared than Barack Obama to be president.
Reference:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/156982
Continue reading "Palin is more experienced than Obama?"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
Sarah Palin
ThinkProgress has put together a document compiling what we know about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) vice presidential running mate. Here are the issues:
* Foreign Policy
* Earmarks
* Environment
* Energy
* Big Oil
* Science
* Women's Rights
* Ethics
* Troopergate
* Radical Right
* Civil Rights
* Health Care
* Economy
Continue reading "Sarah Palin "
Posted by doctormatt at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2008
McCain's economic polan favors the ultra-rich and largest corporations
Link:
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/02/wsj-all-americans/
Continue reading "McCain's economic polan favors the ultra-rich and largest corporations"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
Palin's Conservative Ideology Is An Obstacle To Real Health Care Reform
Despite Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) claim that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) "will help me reform Washington," Palin's adherence to a rigid conservative ideology that treats health care like any other commodity will only drive-up health care costs.
Link:
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/02/palin-con-laws/
Posted by doctormatt at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
Palin: Iraq is a task 'from God.'
Huffington Post reports that on June 8, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) addressed the graduating class of commission students at the Wasilla Assembly of God church. During that address, Palin portrayed the Iraq was as a quest decreed by God, and said that U.S. soldiers were carrying out "God's plan":
Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan.
During that speech, Palin also promoted a $30-billion natural gas pipeline project, stating, "God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built."
Posted by doctormatt at 11:31 PM | Comments (1)
Republican Party 2008 platform
http://www.gop.com/pdf/PlatformFINAL_WithCover.pdf
Continue reading "Republican Party 2008 platform"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
Democratic Party 2008 Platform
http://www.demconvention.com/assets/downloads/2008-Democratic-Platform-by-Cmte-08-13-08.pdf
Posted by doctormatt at 11:12 PM
The Palin Choice - The reality of the political mind
By George Lakoff
This election matters because of realities-the realities of global warming, the economy, the Middle East, nuclear proliferation, civil liberties, species extinction, poverty here and around the world, and on and on. Such realities are what make this election so very crucial, and how to deal with them is the substance of the Democratic platform.
Continue reading "The Palin Choice - The reality of the political mind"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)
Warning On Voting Machines Reveals Oversight Failure
WASHINGTON - Disclosure of an election computer glitch that could drop ballot totals for entire precincts is stirring new worries that an unofficial laboratory testing system failed for years to detect an array of flaws in $1.5 billion worth of voting equipment sold nationwide since 2003.
Texas-based Premier Elections Solutions last week alerted at least 1,750 jurisdictions across the country that special precautions are needed to address the problem in tabulation software affecting all 19 of its models dating back a decade.
Continue reading "Warning On Voting Machines Reveals Oversight Failure"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
McCain's record on veterans' issues is shocking and awful
At a town hall meeting in Denver in early July, a Vietnam veteran asked presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) why he had opposed increasing healthcare for veterans whenever Congress had taken up the issue over the past six years. McCain virtually ignored the man's question, dissembling his opposition to an updated GI Bill for veterans. After the questioner challenged McCain's response, the senator reacted as he usually does when queried beyond his comfort level: He got visibly angry.
Continue reading "McCain's record on veterans' issues is shocking and awful"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)
It's Palin's Party, Not McCain's
ST. PAUL - Sarah Palin says she is "proud" that her 17-year-old daughter, who is five months pregnant, has made a "decision to have her baby."
Foes of abortion rights are celebrating the decision.
Palin's anti-choice orthodoxy, like that expressed in the 2008 Republican platform, runs across the issue spectrum.
Continue reading "It's Palin's Party, Not McCain's"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
GOP steals elections with rigged voting machines
In the following video clips, GOP cyber sleuth and former McCain supporter Stephen Spoonamore testifies that the leadership of the GOP has been "lying, and stealing elections" with rigged voting machines etc., for quite some time.
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/prosecute_rove/images/Spoon_Full.wmv
and
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/Video/SpoonPC-2.wmv
Posted by doctormatt at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2008
Joe Biden - critical commentary
This would be the same Joe Biden who spent year after year relentlessly pushing the creation of what I once called "the nuclear bomb of class warfare": the Bankruptcy Bill, which put a stranglehold on millions of Americans -- the weakest, the poorest, the sickest, the unlucky, the ripped-off, the young couples just starting out, the old people trying to hang on. Biden poured filth on them, he joined his campaign paymasters -- the hoggish credit-card conglomerates -- and his ideological soul-mates on the Republican side to drop this bomb on the hard-pressed working folk he was now claiming to roll up his shirt sleeves and go to work for.
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2008/08/death-match-iii-follow-money-and-follow.html
Continue reading "Joe Biden - critical commentary"
Posted by doctormatt at 8:55 PM | Comments (0)
What's missing from the Democratic convention?
Commentary by Glenn Greenwald
As one would expect them to be, virtually all of the prime-time speeches at the Democratic Convention have been -- from a rhetorical perspective -- very well-crafted and well-delivered. Bill Clinton's speech, in particular, deserves all the plaudits it is receiving, both in terms of content and delivery. But as competent, well-executed and even dramatic as the Convention has been, at least as striking is what has been missing.
First, there is almost no mention of, let alone focus on, the sheer radicalism and extremism of the last eight years. During that time, our Government has systematically tortured people using sadistic techniques ordered by the White House; illegally and secretly spied on its own citizens; broken more laws than can be counted based on the twisted theory that the President has that power; asserted the authority to arrest and detain even U.S. citizens on U.S. soil and hold them for years without charges; abolished habeas corpus; created secret prisons in Eastern Europe and a black hole of lawlessness in Guantanamo; and explicitly abandoned and destroyed virtually every political value the U.S. has long claimed to embrace.
Other than a fleeting reference to such matters by John Kerry in a (surprisingly effective) speech which most networks did not broadcast, one would not know, listening to the Democratic Convention, that any of those things have happened. Even our unprovoked and indescribably destructive attack on Iraq, based on purely false pretenses, has received little attention. Those things simply don't exist, even as part of the itemized laundry list of Democratic grievances about the Bush administration. The overriding impression one has is that the only things really wrong during the last eight years in this country are that gas prices are high and not everyone has health insurance.
More:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/28/dnc/index.html
Posted by doctormatt at 7:16 PM | Comments (0)
Video - Kucinich tells Democratic convention: Wake Up America!
Posted by doctormatt at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2008
Cynthia McKinney clashes with Colorado Green Party
Open Letter from Cynthia McKinney
Continue reading "Cynthia McKinney clashes with Colorado Green Party"
Posted by doctormatt at 8:08 PM
August 2, 2008
A Tale of Three (Electronic Voting) Elections
Electronic voting has made great strides in reliability, but it has a long way to go. When reformers push for greater safeguards, they often argue that future elections could produce the wrong result because of a computer glitch or be stolen through malicious software. That's being too nice.
There have already been elections in which it is impossible to be certain that the right candidate was declared the winner. Here are three such races. It is not just remarkable that these elections were run so badly, but also that the flaws are still common - and could easily create havoc in this fall's voting.
1. The 2002 Georgia Senate and Governor Races - Senator Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, was defeated for re-election and Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, was unseated. Polls had suggested that both men would win.
The votes were cast on Diebold A.T.M.-style machines. A whistle-blower who helped prepare the machines reported that secret "patches" - software intended to fix glitches - were installed late in the process without being certified by the state, as the law required.
The unexpected outcomes were likely because of heavy turnout by rural whites, prompted by a Confederate flag dispute, not faulty voting machines. Still, skeptics wonder if the patches contained malicious software that changed votes. Because the Diebold machines did not produce paper records, there is no way to put those doubts to rest.
Lesson: Electronic voting makes large-scale vote theft easy. A patch slipped onto voting machines or centralized vote tabulators can change an election's outcome. Every piece of software must be scrutinized by neutral experts. If there is not enough time, election officials need a backup plan, such as conducting voting entirely on paper ballots.
2. The 2006 Congressional Race in Florida's 13th District - The machines said that Republican Vern Buchanan defeated Democrat Christine Jennings by 369 votes. But in Sarasota County, a Democratic area, up to 18,000 ballots, about 13 percent of the total cast, did not record a vote for Congress. That is extraordinarily high; in Republican Manatee County, only 2 percent of ballots didn't contain a vote for Congress.
Sarasota's low vote may have been because of a bad ballot design, which made the Buchanan-Jennings race hard to find. But the Jennings campaign said it received hundreds of complaints that the machines would not accept a vote for Ms. Jennings, or recorded a vote for her as a vote for Mr. Buchanan.
Did Ms. Jennings lose a seat in Congress because of a glitch? Could there have been sabotage? We'll never know, because there are no paper records.
Lesson: Electronic voting machines must produce a voter-verifiable paper trail for each vote so voters can see that their choices register properly. In a disputed election, the paper, not the machine tallies, should decide who wins.
More than half the states require votes to be recorded on paper, but many still don't. These include battleground states like Virginia.
3. Alabama's 2002 Race for Governor - Former Gov. Don Siegelman has been in the news because it appears that federal prosecutors may have put him in prison for political reasons. The controversy has brought attention to the odd way he lost the governorship.
Mr. Siegelman went to sleep on election night thinking he had won. But overnight, Republican Baldwin County reported that a glitch had given Mr. Siegelman, a Democrat, about 6,000 extra votes. When they were subtracted, Republican Rob Riley won by roughly 3,000 votes.
James Gundlach, a professor at Auburn University, crunched the numbers and concluded that Mr. Siegelman lost because of "electronic ballot stuffing," possibly by an operative who accessed the computers and "edited" the results, though others dispute his analysis.
Baldwin County used paper ballots that were then read by an optical scan machine. Mr. Siegelman says local officials gave him permission to count the paper ballots by hand, but the attorney general threatened to arrest anyone who did. No count was done.
Lesson: Paper ballots alone are not enough. There must be strong audit laws that mandate comprehensive hand recounts when an election is close.
After the 2000 election debacle, Americans demanded a better system of voting. What we have gotten is new technology with different flaws. If the presidential race is close, this year's "hanging chad" could be a questionable result on electronic voting machines that cannot be adequately investigated.
Posted by doctormatt at 10:04 PM
June 16, 2008
The biggest (uncovered) election story
For over half the days during any period of years you choose to select, the biggest story in U.S. news outlets is the impending most important election in your lifetime. The story, of course, takes an infinite variety of forms, ranging from candidates' friends and associates to their diets, wardrobes, religions, childhoods, and hobbies. There are variations that take us through polls and fundraising and commercials and donors and staffers and analysis of commentary on reporting on sound bytes. We learn the ins and outs of the process, the demographics of likely supporters, and the statistical likelihood that a candidate of a given race, religion, gender, and shoe size will get an RBI in the next inning. Occasionally we even get a glancing glimpse at what a candidate might do if elected.
But what if there were a story about the entire process that flipped the whole thing upside down, radically altering many of the assumptions never mentioned but always assumed in all of the endless "reporting"? And what if, on top of that, this story involved strong evidence of the commission of major crimes and abuses by the highest officials in the land? And what if, on top of that, you could toss in the historic reversal of some of the major gains won by the most dramatic populist movement of civil resistance during the course of the last century? The question, of course, would be: Can we find a way to connect this information to some kinky form of illicit sex so that members of the media can feel responsible about using our airwaves to discuss it?
That, my friends, is your assignment. The raw material you have to work with is contained in the following two articles of impeachment introduced in the House of Representatives last Monday night by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. The model you should seek to emulate is, of course, the classic report named for its author: Kenneth Starr.
Article XXVIII
TAMPERING WITH FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS, CORRUPTION OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed", has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, conspired to undermine and tamper with the conduct of free and fair elections, and to corrupt the administration of justice by United States Attorneys and other employees of the Department of Justice, through abuse of the appointment power.
Toward this end, the President and Vice President, both personally and through their agents, did:
Engage in a program of manufacturing false allegations of voting fraud in targeted jurisdictions where the Democratic Party enjoyed an advantage in electoral performance or otherwise was problematic for the President's Republican Party, in order that public confidence in election results favorable to the Democratic Party be undermined;
Direct United States Attorneys to launch and announce investigations of certain leaders, candidates and elected officials affiliated with the Democratic Party at times calculated to cause the most political damage and confusion, most often in the weeks immediately preceding an election, in order that public confidence in the suitability for office of Democratic Party leaders, candidates and elected officials be undermined;
Direct United States Attorneys to terminate or scale back existing investigations of certain Republican Party leaders, candidates and elected officials allied with the George W. Bush administration, and to refuse to pursue new or proposed investigations of certain Republican Party leaders, candidates and elected officials allied with the George W. Bush administration, in order that public confidence in the suitability of such Republican Party leaders, candidates and elected officials be bolstered or restored;
Threaten to terminate the employment of the following United States Attorneys who refused to comply with such directives and purposes;
1.David C. Iglesias as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico;
2.Kevin V. Ryan as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California;
3.John L. McKay as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington;
4.Paul K. Charlton as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;
5.Carol C. Lam as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California;
6.Daniel G. Bogden as U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada;
7.Margaret M. Chiara as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan;
8.Todd Graves as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri;
9.Harry E. "Bud" Cummins, III as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas;
10.Thomas M. DiBiagio as U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, and;
11.Kasey Warner as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Further, George W. Bush has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President conspired to obstruct the lawful Congressional investigation of these dismissals of United States Attorneys and the related scheme to undermine and tamper with the conduct of free and fair elections, and to corrupt the administration of justice.
Contrary to his oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, George W. Bush has without lawful cause or excuse directed not to appear before the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives certain witnesses summoned by duly authorized subpoenas issued by that Committee on June 13, 2007.
In refusing to permit the testimony of these witnesses George W. Bush, substituting his judgment as to what testimony was necessary for the inquiry, interposed the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, thereby assuming to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the checking and balancing power of oversight vested in the House of Representatives.
Further, the President has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, together with the Vice President directed the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia to decline to prosecute for contempt of Congress the aforementioned witnesses, Joshua B. Bolten and Harriet E. Miers, despite the obligation to do so as established by statute (2 USC § 194) and pursuant to the direction of the United States House of Representatives as embodied in its resolution (H. Res. 982) of February 14, 2008.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
Article XXIX
CONSPIRACY TO VIOLATE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965
In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed", has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, willfully corrupted and manipulated the electoral process of the United States for his personal gain and the personal gain of his co-conspirators and allies; violated the United States Constitution and law by failing to protect the civil rights of African-American voters and others in the 2004 Election, and impeded the right of the people to vote and have their vote properly and accurately counted, in that:
A. On November 5, 2002, and prior thereto, James Tobin, while serving as the regional director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and as the New England Chairman of Bush-Cheney '04 Inc., did, at the direction of the White House under the administration of George W. Bush, along with other agents both known and unknown, commit unlawful acts by aiding and abetting a scheme to use computerized hang-up calls to jam phone lines set up by the New Hampshire Democratic Party and the Manchester firefighters' union on Election Day;
B. An investigation by the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee into the voting procedures in Ohio during the 2004 election found "widespread instances of intimidation and misinformation in violation of the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, Equal Protection, Due Process and the Ohio right to vote;"
C. The 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause guarantees that no minority group will suffer disparate treatment in a federal, state, or local election in stating that: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." However, during and at various times of the year 2004, John Kenneth Blackwell, then serving as the Secretary of State for the State of Ohio and also serving simultaneously as Co-Chairman of the Committee to Re-Elect George W. Bush in the State of Ohio, did, at the direction of the White House under the administration of George W. Bush, along with other agents both known and unknown, commit unlawful acts in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution by failing to protect the voting rights of African-American citizens in Ohio and further, John Kenneth Blackwell did disenfranchise African-American voters under color of law, by
D. Willfully denying certain neighborhoods in the cities of Cleveland, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio, along with other urban areas in the State of Ohio, an adequate number of electronic voting machines and provisional paper ballots, thereby unlawfully impeding duly registered voters from the act of voting and thus violating the civil rights of an unknown number of United States citizens.
E. In Franklin County, George W. Bush and his agent, Ohio Secretary of State John Kenneth Blackwell, Co-Chair of the Bush-Cheney Re-election Campaign, failed to protect the rights of African-American voters by not properly investigating the withholding of 125 electronic voting machines assigned to the city of Columbus.
F. Forty-two African-American precincts in Columbus were each missing one voting machine that had been present in the 2004 primary.
G. African-American voters in the city of Columbus were forced to wait three to seven hours to vote in the 2004 presidential election.
H. Willfully issuing unclear and conflicting rules regarding the methods and manner of becoming a legally registered voter in the State of Ohio, and willfully issuing unclear and unnecessary edicts regarding the weight of paper registration forms legally acceptable to the State of Ohio, thereby creating confusion for both voters and voting officials and thus impeding the right of an unknown number of United States citizens to register and vote.
I. Ohio Secretary of State John Kenneth Blackwell directed through Advisory 2004-31 that voter registration forms, which were greatest in urban minority areas, should not be accepted and should be returned unless submitted on 80 bond paper weight. Blackwell's own office was found to be using 60 bond paper weight.
J. Willfully permitted and encouraged election officials in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo to conduct a massive partisan purge of registered voter rolls, eventually expunging more than 300,000 voters, many of whom were duly registered voters, and who were thus deprived of their constitutional right to vote;
K. Between the 2000 and 2004 Ohio presidential elections, 24.93% of the voters in the city of Cleveland, a city with a majority of African American citizens, were purged from the voting rolls.
L. In that same period, the Ohio county of Miami, with census data indicating a 98% Caucasian population, refused to purge any voters from its rolls. Miami County "merged" voters from other surrounding counties into its voting rolls and even allowed voters from other states to vote.
M. In Toledo, Ohio, an urban city with a high African-American concentration, 28,000 voters were purged from the voting rolls in August of 2004, just prior to the presidential election. This purge was conducted under the control and direction of George W. Bush's agent, Ohio Secretary of State John Kenneth Blackwell outside of the regularly established cycle of purging voters in odd-numbered years.
N. Willfully allowing Ohio Secretary of State John Kenneth Blackwell, acting under color of law and as an agent of George W. Bush, to issue a directive that no votes would be counted unless cast in the right precinct, reversing Ohio's long-standing practice of counting votes for president if cast in the right county
O. Willfully allowing his agent, Ohio Secretary of State John Kenneth Blackwell, the Co-Chair of the Bush-Cheney Re-election Campaign, to do nothing to assure the voting rights of 10,000 people in the city of Cleveland when a computer error by the private vendor Diebold Election Systems, Inc. incorrectly disenfranchised 10,000 voters
P. Willfully allowing his agent, Ohio Secretary of State John Kenneth Blackwell, the Co-Chair of the Bush-Cheney Re-election Campaign, to ensure that uncounted and provisional ballots in Ohio's 2004 presidential election would be disproportionately concentrated in urban African-American districts.
Q. In Ohio's Lucas County, which includes Toledo, 3,122 or 41.13% of the provisional ballots went uncounted under the direction of George W. Bush's agent, the Secretary of State of Ohio, John Kenneth Blackwell, Co-Chair of the Committee to Re-Elect Bush/Cheney in Ohio.
R. In Ohio's Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, 8,559 or 32.82% of the provisional ballots went uncounted.
S. In Ohio's Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, 3,529 or 24.23% of the provisional ballots went uncounted.
T. Statewide, the provisional ballot rejection rate was 9% as compared to the greater figures in the urban areas.
U. The Department of Justice, charged with enforcing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, and other voting rights laws in the United States of America, under the direction and Administration of George W. Bush did willfully and purposely obstruct and stonewall legitimate criminal investigations into myriad cases of reported electoral fraud and suppression in the state of Ohio. Such activities, carried out by the department on behalf of George W. Bush in counties such as Franklin and Knox by persons such as John K. Tanner and others, were meant to confound and whitewash legitimate legal criminal investigations into the suppression of massive numbers of legally registered voters and the removal of their right to cast a ballot fairly and freely in the state of Ohio, which was crucial to the certified electoral victory of George W. Bush in 2004.
V. On or about November 1, 2006, members of the United States Department of Justice, under the control and direction of the Administration of George W. Bush, brought indictments for voter registration fraud within days of an election, in order to directly effect the outcome of that election for partisan purposes, and in doing so, thereby violated the Justice Department's own rules against filing election-related indictments close to an election;
X. Emails have been obtained showing that the Republican National Committee and members of Bush-Cheney '04 Inc., did, at the direction of the White House under the administration of George W. Bush, engage in voter suppression in five states by a method know as "vote caging," an illegal voter suppression technique;
Y. Agents of George W. Bush, including Mark F. "Thor" Hearne, the national general counsel of Bush/Cheney '04, Inc., did, at the behest of George W. Bush, as members of a criminal front group, distribute known false information and propaganda in the hopes of forwarding legislation and other actions that would result in the disenfranchisement of Democratic voters for partisan purposes. The scheme, run under the auspices of an organization known as "The American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR), was funded by agents of George W. Bush in violation of laws governing tax exempt 501(c)3 organizations and in violation of federal laws forbidding the distribution of such propaganda by the federal government and agents working on its behalf.
Z. Members of the United States Department of Justice, under the control and direction of the Administration of George W. Bush, did, for partisan reasons, illegally and with malice aforethought block career attorneys and other officials in the Department of Justice from filing three lawsuits charging local and county governments with violating the voting rights of African-Americans and other minorities, according to seven former senior United States Justice Department employees.
AA. Members of the United States Department of Justice, under the control and direction of the Administration of George W. Bush, did illegally and with malice aforethought derail at least two investigations into possible voter discrimination, according to a letter sent to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and written by former employees of the United States Department of Justice, Voting Rights Section.
BB. Members of the United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC), under the control and direction of the Administration of George W. Bush, have purposefully and willfully misled the public, in violation of several laws, by;
CC. Withholding from the public and then altering a legally mandated report on the true measure and threat of Voter Fraud, as commissioned by the EAC and completed in June 2006, prior to the 2006 mid-term election, but withheld from release prior to that election when its information would have been useful in the administration of elections across the country, because the results of the statutorily required and tax-payer funded report did not conform with the illegal, partisan propaganda efforts and politicized agenda of the Bush Administration;
DD. Withholding from the public a legally mandated report on the disenfranchising effect of Photo Identification laws at the polling place, shown to disproportionately disenfranchise voters not of George W. Bush's political party. The report was commissioned by the EAC and completed in June 2006, prior to the 2006 mid-term election, but withheld from release prior to that election when its information would have been useful in the administration of elections across the country
EE. Withholding from the public a legally mandated report on the effectiveness of Provisional Voting as commissioned by the EAC and completed in June 2006, prior to the 2006 mid-term election, but withheld from release prior to that election when its information would have been useful in the administration of elections across the country, and keeping that report unreleased for more than a year until it was revealed by independent media outlets.
For directly harming the rights and manner of suffrage, for suffering to make them secret and unknowable, for overseeing and participating in the disenfranchisement of legal voters, for instituting debates and doubts about the true nature of elections, all against the will and consent of local voters affected, and forced through threats of litigation by agents and agencies overseen by George W. Bush, the actions of Mr. Bush to do the opposite of securing and guaranteeing the right of the people to alter or abolish their government via the electoral process, being a violation of an inalienable right, and an immediate threat to Liberty.
In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.
****
Further Reading on Election Tampering:
Dan Eggen, & Amy Goldstein, Voter-Fraud Complaints by GOP Drove Dismissals, The Washington Post, May 14, 2007.
Rebecca Carr, Former Justice Official: Fired U.S. Attorneys Among the Best, Cox Newspapers, May 8, 2007.
Marisa Taylor, Gonzales appoints political loyalists into vacant U.S. Attorneys slots, McClatchy Newspapers, January 26, 2007.
David Bowermaster, Charges may result from firings, say two former U.S. attorneys, Seattle Times, May 9, 2007.
Murray Waas, Secret Order By Gonzales Delegated Extraordinary Powers To Aides, National Journal, National Journal Group, Inc., April 30, 2007.
David Stout, Ex-Gonzales Aide Testifies, 'I Crossed the Line', New York Times, May 23, 2007.
Richard Roesler, No evidence of election crime, former U.S. attorney says, The Spokesman Review, May 20, 2007.
Jan Crawford Greenberg, E-Mails Show Rove's Role in U.S. Attorney Firings, ABC News, March 15, 2007.
Dan Eggen, Firings Had Genesis in White House Ex-Counsel Miers First Suggested Dismissing Prosecutors 2 Years Ago, Documents Show, Washington Post, March 13, 2007, p. Page A01.
Laura Jakes Jordan, Agency weighed prosecutors' politics, ABC News (AP), April 13, 2007
Kevin Johnson, Prosecutor fired so ex-Rove aide could get his job, USA Today, February 6, 2007.
David Johnston, White House Is Reported to Be Linked to a Dismissal, The New York Times, February 16
CNN, Subpoenas target Justice; White House could be next, March 15, 2007.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Bush Clashes With Congress on Prosecutors, The New York Times, March 20, 2007.
President Bush Addresses Resignations of U.S. Attorneys - The Diplomatic Reception Room.
Michael Roston, Bush blocks Miers from appearing before House Judiciary Committee, contempt charges possible, July 11, 2007.
The New York Times, Questions About a Governor's Fall, Editorial, June 30, 2007.
Adam Cohen, A Woman Wrongly Convicted and a U.S. Attorney Who Kept His Job, The New York Times, April, 16, 2007.
***
Posted by doctormatt at 12:30 PM
May 4, 2008
Bush - McCain challenge - Can you tell the difference between them?
http://www.bush-mccainchallenge.com
Posted by doctormatt at 1:05 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2008
Video - Diebold releases 2008 presidential victor prematurely
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
Posted by doctormatt at 8:39 PM
March 1, 2008
Obama - No real change
In the case of Barack Obama - by the choices he has made in picking advisers to help him shape his policies, he has given every indication that while his presidency might represent a better management and presentation of the current system, it will in no way overturn or even seriously challenge it on any essential point.
In other words he will keep doing what Bush has been doing, only more competently, less radically, with a greater care for the long-term viability of the power structure. And what is that structure that Obama seeks to refine and extend? It is an imperial system based on militarism and the exaltation of elitist profit and privilege above all other concerns.
Continue reading "Obama - No real change"
Posted by at 5:55 PM
February 10, 2008
Obama vs. Clinton - Domestic issues
Courtesy of Democracy Now -
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/8/examining_clinton_obamas_stances_on_the
Continue reading "Obama vs. Clinton - Domestic issues"
Posted by at 2:24 AM
February 8, 2008
No Debate - by Ralph Nader
It was billed as the great debate that, in the words of moderator Wolf Blitzer, “could change the course of this presidential race and the nation.”
Situated at the packed historic Kodak Theatre-site of the Hollywood Oscar awards, thousands of people, including anti-war protestors, were outside, where tickets were being scalped for $1,000.
Continue reading "No Debate - by Ralph Nader"
Posted by at 11:58 AM
February 5, 2008
Video - Interview with Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3804965125682932994
Video Interview with Cynthia McKinney and Ray McGovern:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3879081646629715887
Posted by at 5:02 PM
January 27, 2008
Will the GOP election theft machine do it again in 2008?
With record low approval ratings for the Bush/Cheney regime and the albatross of an unpopular war hanging from the GOP's neck, do you think that a Democratic presidential candidate will win the White House, get us out of Iraq, and end our long national nightmare?
Think again – the mighty election theft machine Karl Rove used to steal the US presidency in 2000 and 2004 may be under attack, but it is still in place for the upcoming 2008 election.
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2857
Continue reading "Will the GOP election theft machine do it again in 2008?"
Posted by at 7:15 AM
Will Bush Cancel The 2008 Election?
It is time to think about the “unthinkable.”
The Bush Administration has both the inclination and the power to cancel the 2008 election.
Let’s presume the unthinkable occurs. What would happen if there was a “terrorist attack” upon the United States, prompting the president to declare a state of “national emergency”, and taking control of the National Guards of the States, and activating the military detainment camps that have been prepared?
Would you fight, flee, or fester?
If you would fight against the imposition of totalitarian rule in this country, how would you do so?
If you would flee, where would you go?
If you would fester, how would you cope?
(Originally published September 2007, courtesy of Global Research)
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6477
Continue reading "Will Bush Cancel The 2008 Election?"
Posted by at 7:03 AM
January 26, 2008
The Foreign Policy Agenda of the Democratic Front-Runners: Comparisons on Some Key Issues
Voters on the progressive wing of the Democratic Party are rightly disappointed regarding the similarity in the foreign policy positions of the three remaining candidates - Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, and former Senator John Edwards - with a realistic shot at the Democratic Party presidential nomination. However, there are still some real discernable differences to be taken into account. Indeed, given the power the United States has in the world, even minimal differences in policies can have a major difference in the lives of millions of people.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/25/6613/print/
Posted by at 8:46 PM
January 21, 2008
Kucinich interviewed by Chris Hedges
This interview was recently conducted by Chris Hedges at Rep. Dennis Kucinich's Congressional office in Washington.
Chris Hedges: Why has the Democratic Party not done what it should do?
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Lack of commitment to Democratic principles. No understanding of the period of history we're in. Failure to appreciate the necessity of the coequality of Congress. Unwillingness to assert Congressional authority in key areas which makes the people's House paramount to protecting democracy. The institutionalized influence of corporate America through the Democratic leadership council. Those are just a few.
Continue reading "Kucinich interviewed by Chris Hedges"
Posted by at 8:03 PM
Satire: Huckabee Chooses a Running Mate
In a bold move that could dramatically alter the playing field of the 2008 GOP presidential race, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee today named Jesus Christ as his vice presidential running mate and personal savior.
While Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist preacher, has grown bolder in recent days touting his personal relationship with Jesus, most Republicans figured he was just blowing holier-than-thou smoke. Cult presidential candidates Mitt Romney, a Mormon and Rudy Giuliani, a Catholic, were said to be especially dismayed.
Their spokespersons referred all media inquiries to Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat who recently withdrew from the race. Dodd, a Catholic who is married to a Mormon, said: "Believe me, I feel their pain acutely as I am the head of a two cult family."
http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2008/1/15/17947/2854
Posted by at 12:27 AM
January 18, 2008
Kucinich on Democracy Now
Kucinich sues NBC / General Electric over NBC blocking him from Nevada Democratic candidate debate.
Video - Shows how he would have answered questions, had he been allowed to participate:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/16/breaking_the_sound_barrier_democracy_now
Posted by doctormatt at 10:00 PM
Congress Must Act Fast to Address Looming National Voting Emergency
WASHINGTON - January 17 - The introduction today of legislation by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) to address the fact that voters in 20 states (including the District of Columbia) must cast their ballots on machines that cannot be recounted or audited is a critical first step in addressing what could be nothing short of a national emergency around the presidential election.
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/newsprint.cgi?file=/news2008/0117-23.htm
Continue reading "Congress Must Act Fast to Address Looming National Voting Emergency"
Posted by at 6:47 PM
January 12, 2008
Video - Ron Paul on Bill Moyers
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01042008/watch2.html
Posted by doctormatt at 1:38 AM
Video - Kucinich on Bill Moyers
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01042008/watch3.html
Posted by doctormatt at 1:20 AM
Kucinich willing to pay for New Hampshire recount
http://www.eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=812&title=Kucinich_Paying_for_Statewide_Recount
Posted by doctormatt at 1:06 AM
January 11, 2008
The need for citizen vote audits
Posted by at 4:36 PM
New Hampshire recount follies
Courtesy of Bev Harris (Black Box Voting)
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/print_friendly.php?p=genera_bev_harr_080111_recount___is_dennis_.htm
Posted by at 4:32 PM
Clinton - Obama votes switched in NH?
Obama-Clinton: remarkable opscan v. handcount results.
Analysts at the Election Defense Alliance (EDA) have confirmed that based on the official results on the New Hampshire Secretary of state web site, there is a remarkable relationship between Obama and Clinton votes, when you look at votes tabulated by op-scan v. votes tabulated by hand:
Clinton Optical scan 91,717 52.95%
Obama Optical scan 81,495 47.05%
Clinton Hand-counted 20,889 47.05%
Obama Hand-counted 23,509 52.95%
The percentages appear to be swapped. That seems highly unusual, to say the least.
Obama-Clinton: remarkable opscan v. handcount results
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/print_friendly.php?p=opedne_bruce_o__080110_obama_clinton_3a_remar.htm
Posted by at 10:38 AM
November 8, 2007
Democracy for America presidential candidate preference poll
And the winner is.... Kucinich (#1 in US, #2 in TN after Gore).
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/pulsepoll/results?data[PpCache][state]=TN
Posted by doctormatt at 12:11 AM
November 6, 2007
Dennis Kucinich and the Pied Piper: Why the Kucinich Bid is Bad News for Progressives
Why Greens and Progressives should avoid the temptation to throw away 18 months on a doomed candidacy.
Posted by at 1:08 AM
November 1, 2007
NYC to investigate Giuliani, faulty 9/11 radios
Posted by doctormatt at 11:26 PM
Nader sues Democratic party
Says he wants to protect potential of 3d party candidates:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/20944.html
Posted by doctormatt at 10:57 PM
October 26, 2007
A Liberal endorses Ron Paul
Posted by doctormatt at 11:53 PM
October 24, 2007
Kucinich on the Colbert Report
Posted by doctormatt at 8:07 PM
October 23, 2007
Ron Paul introduces resolution to defend constitution
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=44169
Posted by doctormatt at 12:27 PM
Huckabee thinks the world may be ending soon
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackson-williams/huckabees-got-the-fever_b_69511.html
Posted by doctormatt at 12:26 PM
Fact checking the Republican debate in Orlando
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/print_florida_fandango.html
Posted by doctormatt at 12:12 PM
October 21, 2007
Ron Paul interview on Hardball
Posted by doctormatt at 3:11 AM
Ron Paul's interview on Free Mind TV
Posted by doctormatt at 2:56 AM
Why Ron Paul wants to abolish the Income Tax
Posted by doctormatt at 2:42 AM
Ron Paul on the Federal Reserve
Why Ron Paul wants to abolish the Federal Reserve:
Posted by doctormatt at 2:40 AM
October 20, 2007
Kucinich interviewed on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/kucinich_10-04.html
Posted by doctormatt at 11:37 PM
Ron Paul interviewed on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec07/paul_10-12.html
Posted by doctormatt at 11:27 PM
October 14, 2007
The gay voter's guide to the GOP
How should a right-wing homosexual vote in the upcoming primaries and caucuses?
Imagine this: You are a gay man or a lesbian woman who just can't stand Democrats. Maybe you are rich and you don't want anyone to raise your taxes. Perhaps you are just determined to stay the course in Iraq, privatize Social Security, and drop oil wells into the Alaskan wilderness. Jack Abramoff might even be an old drinking buddy.
It doesn't really matter. Whatever the cause, you are in a quandary. Your only viable choice in the coming presidential election is to vote for a Republican, and that means voting for a party that has spent much of the last decade casting you and your way of life as an assault on the wholesome goodness of the American family. "Homosexuality is incompatible with military service," declared the 2004 GOP platform. "Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country."
What is a right-leaning homosexual to do in this presidential election? Start by taking a closer look at the candidates in the Republican field. There is substantial variation, and not just in their positions on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Call it the Giuliani-Keyes Spectrum of Gay Friendliness. On one end, there is Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor who has lived with gay friends, favors gay domestic partnerships, and sometimes dresses in drag. At the other end, there is Alan Keyes, who calls lesbians "selfish hedonists," even though his only daughter is a lesbian. There exists, shall we say, a veritable rainbow of variation in between.
More:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/09/21/gay_gop/print.html
Posted by doctormatt at 12:36 PM
Values voters rake the GOP over the coals
Monday night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the religious wing of the Republican Party hosted a Values Voter Debate, but none of the top-tier Republicans came. Why did Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain dodge a chance to speak to the GOP base?
The answers can be given in the form of questions, which were posed by the debate organizers to the empty lecterns of the candidates who did not show. As Joseph Farah, the editor of WorldNetDaily, explained at the beginning of the three-hour program, "When you run for president, you can run but you can't hide."
Question for Giuliani, asked by a teenage girl with an apparent speech impediment:
"Eighteen years ago, an abortionist was hired to kill me, but he failed. Nuns came and rescued me and took me to the hospital, where I stayed for two months. My heroic parents then adopted me. Mayor Giuliani, your position on abortion would have left me dead. Now that you see me, Mayor Giuliani, do you honestly believe that an abortionist had a right to kill me?"
More:
Posted by doctormatt at 12:32 PM
Salon watches the latest Republican debate (economy special) so you don't have to.
Salon watches the latest Republican debate (economy special) so you don't have to.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/10/dearborn_debate/
Posted by doctormatt at 12:08 PM
Professor Steve Freeman Presentation On Stolen US Elections
Here's a video crash course on election fraud for those of you who are waking up to the fact of election fraud but can't find anything in the mainstream press. (
Professor Steven Freeman of the University of Pennsylvania, author of Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?, spoke before the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles last week and laid it all out quite clearly and succinctly.
A few highlights of his talk:
"You and we are in the process of losing the right to vote, and along with it, all our other rights."
"Elections can be stolen, have been stolen, and will continue to be stolen."
Programmers can now change literally millions of votes by simply changing two lines (out of millions of lines of code). They can instruct the program to delete those two lines afterwards without leaving a trace.
When you vote on a computerized election machine, your vote enters the machine and no one knows where it goes or what happens to it. The software is proprietary, meaning it is secret. The voting process cannot be independently observed by citizens nor can it be meaningfully monitored by anyone.
http://www.hotpotatomash.com/2007/10/video-exclusi-1.html
Continue reading "Professor Steve Freeman Presentation On Stolen US Elections"
Posted by at 10:44 AM
Ron Paul Campaign Commercial - Video
Approx 9 minutes.
Posted by doctormatt at 8:23 AM
October 9, 2007
Dennis Kucinich Talks on Trade, War, and Health Care
Dennis Kucinich told upbeat audiences that the United States will not be able to resolve its economic and immigration issues until it resolves its trade policies.
He also renewed his promise that his first act once he is in the Oval Office will be to cancel the United States' participation in NAFTA and the WTO.
Continue reading "Dennis Kucinich Talks on Trade, War, and Health Care"
Posted by at 4:19 PM