In this video from the USA
Kevin Sanders calls for a World Court investigation after the US refuses to prosecute soldiers involved in killing civilians in Afghanistan.
There is a new animation by Mark Fiore on the Internet.
It is called Sarah Palin’s Afghanistan.
It is about US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and the war in Afghanistan.
It is here. [2014 update: unfortunately, I can’t find it on the Internet any more].
Talking about the US elections: US Republicans target ACORN: the great “voter fraud” fraud.
US election glossary: here.
Talking about Afghanistan; from British daily The Guardian:
Chinook helicopter set off mine that killed Afghanistan soldier, coroner rules
Ministry of Defence shamed in verdict that lack of equipment left soldiers vulnerable
See also here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Posted by: “Zoltan Abraham” zsazle@yahoo.com zsazle
Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:22 am (PDT)
Video Roundup – Wednesday, October 15
Going, Going, Gone…
(For the online version of my daily video roundup, please visit my website at http://www.zoltanic.com.)
With less than three weeks to go, Obama enjoys a strong lead in the national polls, as well as a substantial lead in enough states to cross the 270 electoral vote threshold. McCain had one last chance to change the momentum of the campaign.
But instead, he made a lot of weird facial expressions:
Or check this out:
Or look at the anger compilation:
Notice how much McCain blinks. Does Sarah know about this?
Seriously, McCain needs to work on how he smiles, because he ends up grimacing – and it looks scary. My wife said that she was reminded of the guy from Poltergeist II:
After running a vicious, hate-filled, smear-based, thoroughly negative campaign, McCain claimed that it’s all Obama’s fault, because he wouldn’t do town hall meetings with McCain. That kind of thinking is the logic of a typical abusive personality – to blame the victim for the abuse. But Obama struck back masterfully:
McCain probably knows that he is losing. The Republicans seem to understand that they are losing. As I said before, the remainder of the campaign is not so much about winning anymore. It is the beginning of a concerted effort to destroy the character of Barack Obama and to sabotage his presidency. McCain pushed that agenda Wednesday night by suggesting that if Obama wins, he will do so only through massive voter fraud:
Note how McCain talks about ACORN destroying the fabric of our democracy. In other words, if McCain doesn’t win, it’s because Obama cheated, and Obama has destroyed democracy.
McCain was also pushing the voter fraud allegations on Tuesday:
Get ready for 4 to 8 years of Republican scandal manufacturing to try to derail President Obama.
McCain also proved himself to be an unrepentant hate-monger. By now, we all know what kind of hate-fest the McCain/Palin rallies have become. But here is what the wonderful John McCain had to say about them:
During the debate, Obama had the chance to explain the false charge that he refused to provide support for babies that were born alive after a failed abortion:
So who won the bloody thing? Let’s ask our friends at Fox:
Those marvelous things, the post-debate instapolls bear out (for once) Frank Luntz’s snap analysis:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/15/224622/17/749/631843
As Kos of Daily Kos has pointed out, the instapolls have helped to disarm those talking head inhabitants of Pundit Life (their alternative universe). The pundits can no longer decide for us who won and who lost. They have to pay attention to the reality – with all its liberal bias.
In winning Wednesday’s debate, Barack Obama overcame yet another impediment – Bob Scheiffer:
Even as McCain tries to blame Obama for negative campaigning, the hate-fest continues among his supporters:
I can’t let a day go by without paying a little attention to Sarah. Homemade Sarah Palin videos have become something of a pop genre. Not all of them are very good. Here are a few. You be the judge of their quality:
The REAL Sarah Palin
Own Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin – Brain to Nowhere
Do you think this one goes too far? I think it does, even though the music is catchy. What’s your opinion?
McCain – Palin
Unstable – Unable
Unfit to lead!
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Posted by: “razldazl” razldazl@iinet.net.au
Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:23 am (PDT)
“What you won’t hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon — that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize.” — Barack Obama, June 3, 2008
http://fightthesmears.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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2b.
Re: http://fightthesmears.com/
Posted by: “luke weyland” lukeweyland@gmail.com lukeweyland
Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:40 am (PDT)
If I were to believe the lies I have read from McCain supporters, I would see Obama as a dangerous Muslim, Marxist, terrorist, eco-terrorist, anti- war madman, foreigner on the pay of those great Satans Castro and Chavez.
Strangely few actually complain about his “race”. ( its all BS anyway)
All lies lies lies – Pity though, as a revolutionary socialist have the greatest of respect for the the Castros , Che, Correa and Chavez. I would have loved Barak to be one too.
—
For humanity, ecology, & socialism,
Luke Weyland
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2c.
Re: http://fightthesmears.com/
Posted by: “rebecca Voss” rebeccavoss13@yahoo.com hoopcentraal
Thu Oct 16, 2008 11:36 am (PDT)
I think its Ironic that to those GOP PIGs, its socialism to help Americans but its freedom fighting to waste $10 Billion a month on Iraq….
—– Original Message —-
From: luke weyland
Subject: Re: http://fightthesmears.com/
If I were to believe the lies I have read from McCain supporters, I would see Obama as a dangerous Muslim, Marxist, terrorist, eco-terrorist, anti- war madman, foreigner on the pay of those great Satans Castro and Chavez.
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Posted by: “bigraccoon” bigraccoon@earthlink.net redwoodsaurus
Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:39 pm (PDT)
New York Times October 16, 2008
‘Joe the Plumber’ Says He Has No Plumbing License
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOLLAND, Ohio (AP) — Joe the Plumber said Thursday he doesn’t have a license and doesn’t need one.
Joe Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, the nickname Republican John McCain bestowed on him during Wednesday’s presidential debate, said he works for a small plumbing company that does residential work. Because he works for someone else, he doesn’t need a license, he said.
Wurzelbacher, who voted in the Republican primary and indicated he backed McCain, was cited by the GOP presidential candidate as an example of someone who wants to buy a plumbing business but would be hurt by Democrat Barack Obama’s tax plans. Wurzelbacher said he was surprised that his name was mentioned so many other times.
”That bothered me. I wished that they had talked more about issues that are important to Americans,” he told reporters gathered outside his home.
Wurzelbacher, 34, said he doesn’t have a good plan put together on how he would buy Newell Plumbing and Heating in nearby Toledo.
He said the business consists of owner Al Newell and him. Wurzelbacher said he’s worked there for six years and that the two have talked about his taking it over at some point.
”There’s a lot I’ve got to learn,” he said.
Wurzelbacher said he started his day with an early morning workout and came back to his suburban Toledo home to do live interviews with TV networks.
Reporters camped out by his house overnight and by midmorning there were 21 people on his driveway surrounding him, holding cameras and notebooks.
Wurzelbacher said he’s feeling overwhelmed.
”I’m kind of like Britney Spears having a headache. Everybody wants to know about it,” he joked.
In Toledo on Sunday, Wurzelbacher told Obama that he was preparing to buy the plumbing company, which earns more than $250,000 a year, and said: ”Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”
Obama said that under his proposal taxes on any revenue from $250,000 on down would stay the same, but that amounts above that level would be subject to a 39 percent tax, instead of the current 36 percent rate.
Wurzelbacher said Obama’s tax plan wouldn’t affect him right now, because he doesn’t make $250,000. ”But I hope someday I’ll make that,” he said.
”If you believed (Obama), I’d be receiving his tax cuts,” Wurzelbacher said. ”But I don’t look at it that way. He’d still be hurting others.”
As he leaned against the Dodge Durango SUV parked in his driveway Thursday morning, Wurzelbacher indicated to reporters who crowded around that he was a conservative, a fan of the military and McCain. He said meeting McCain would be an honor but said he hadn’t been contacted by the Republican campaign.
Still, the plumber wouldn’t say who he was voting for and brushed off a question about whether he could influence the election or other voters.
”I don’t have a lot of pull. It’s not like I’m Matt Damon,” Wurzelbacher said.
”I just hope I’m not making too much of a fool of myself,” he added.
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Posted by: “Carl Davidson” carld717@yahoo.com carld717
Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:42 pm (PDT)
Who Needs Watergate? We’ve Got Joe the Plumber!
Looking good, Joe.
Latest on Joe: Things just ain’t what they seem.
By sweatpantsmom / October 16, 2008
If you watched the third and final presidential debate last night you know that there were many mentions of “Joe the Plumber.” Joe is actually Joe Wurzelbacher, an ‘everyman’ who appeared out of a crowd at an Obama campaign appearance and asked the senator about his economic plan. Joe says his American Dream is being able to provide for his family and send his son to college. But some are saying that Joe isn’t who he appears to be.
Here’s the buzz from the internet:
* Wurzelbacher, who says he was playing football outside with his son when he came upon the crowd gathered around Obama, was planted by the Republican party.
This would explain how conservative sites got stories posted about him in advance of the debate and how easily everyone else found him for interviews.
* Wurzelbacher is not a registered voter.
* Wurzelbacher may not be licensed in his home state of Ohio.
* Wurzelbacher may be related to Robert Wurzelbacher of Cincinnati, Ohio, who happens to be Charles Keating’s son-in-law. Keating was implicated in the Keating 5 scandal.
* Wurzelbacher already owns a few companies, which would contradict his claims of being a plumber looking to buy a small business. (One thing that is on the record: Wurzelbacher compared Obama to Sammy Davis Jr. in an interview with Katie Couric. Ouch.)
So is any of this true? I’m not sure, but some things are suspicious. For instance, how was it that a newspaper was present when Joe was watching the debates (they took the picture above) if Joe didn’t know his name would be mentioned?
I’m sure the National Enquirer is already hot on Wurzelbacher’s trail, so expect to hear more on Joe the Plumber soon. In the meantime, I’d like to get Joe’s number – my bathroom faucet is leaking.
UPDATE: MSNBC has confirmed that Wurzelbacher has no plumbing license.
Source / Babble
Also see Joe in the Spotlight / by Larry Rohter and Liz Robbings / The Caucus / New York Times / Oct. 16, 2008
Thanks to Carl Davidson / The Rag Blog
—
Keep On Keepin’ On
Stop McCain, Stop the War, Vote Obama 2008!
Carl Davidson
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Posted by: “razldazl” razldazl@iinet.net.au
Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:03 am (PDT)
Smear-master Corsi peddles more lies about Barack and Raila Odinga
Apparently publishing the slimiest attack book of the year against Barack Obama wasn’t enough for the man behind the Swift Boating of John Kerry, Jerome Corsi (see our full entry on Corsi
and his despicable book).
He recently took a trip to Kenya to publicize some of the more bizarre and easily disproven lies in his book, but he got himself in some trouble with the local authorities and was deported. As soon as he got back, he was out peddling a completely fake, manufactured email allegedly from Barack to Raila Odinga. The email is so obviously made up, it’s been openly mocked.
There’s more to the smears behind Corsi’s latest stunt. He apparently started with an email attack that earned a “pants on fire” rating from PolitiFact for truthfulness. The email claimed familial, financial, and political ties between Barack Obama and Kenyan politician, Raila Odinga , so all Corsi had to do when he “wrote” his book was commit it to paper. Everything in the email was debunked months before the book came out, but Corsi went with his illegitimate smears anyway.
The truth is Raila Odinga claimed to be related to Barack during a
politically dangerous moment for himself, and no Kenya experts believe his claim. Having made that unsupported boast, even Odinga himself says he never received money from Obama, as the original smear email and Corsi’s pathetic rehash would have us believe.
This latest ridiculous Corsi smear is turning up in email boxes all
across the country. Fight back with the truth: make sure anyone who has seen this smear, also sees this page.
*Learn more about Jerome Corsi and his long history of smear peddling: Corsi: Unfit for Publication .
http://fightthesmears.com/articles/23/odingasmear
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Posted by: “Zoltan Abraham” zsazle@yahoo.com zsazle
Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:05 am (PDT)
Video Roundup – Thursday, October 16
I was sent from Krypton to save the Earth
(For the online version of my daily video roundup, please visit my website at http://www.zoltanic.com.)
The following ad for New Mexico Senate candidate Tom Udall is incredibly powerful:
It’s hard to follow this ad with any kind of levity. So let’s just take a breath before we go on.
Let us also remember that John McCain has consistently voted against funding for veterans.
There is a lot of fun stuff tonight. I saved the last for the best. You must absolutely watch the closing video. If you watch nothing else, you have to see that one.
So. Yesterday, I linked to the 3rd Presidential Debate John McCain Anger Compilation. Apparently, the CNN panelists also think that Mr. POW looked just a bit ticked last night:
But looking angry and making creepy facial expressions were not the sum total of McCain’s brilliant strategy at the debate. He also unveiled his ultimate October Surprise – Joe the Plumber!
You might be wondering, like I was, who in heckfire this Joe the Plumber guy is? Apparently, he is a registered Republican. He is also a tax evader (which makes you wonder why he is so interested in the question of taxation – just a theoretical exercise, maybe?). Nor is he licensed as a plumber. Read more here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/111449/53
(Not a video.)
And here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/123539/11/77/632515
(Not a video.)
Even the AP chimes in with some investigative reporting (not their usual line, but they do it once in a while):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081017/ap_on_el_pr/joe_the_plumber
(Not a video.)
But as the following Daily Kos articles states, the real story is that Obama spent long minutes talking with Joe the Plumber in a crowd. Joe clearly didn’t agree with him, and yet Obama took the time to discuss his plans. A far cry from how Bush, Cheney, McCain, and Palin are deliberately shielded from people who could offer the slightest disagreement:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/16/1459/1693/950/632643
(Not a video.)
Here is Obama talking with Mr. Joe the Plumber:
During the debate, McCain said “I am not President Bush.”
Oh yeah?
By the morning after the debate, Obama had this ad out:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1859660952
Red State, a heavy hitter Republican website, is waving the white flag of surrender:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/16/10188/778/245/632331
(Not a video.)
But…
Obama was in New Hampshire, delivering a fiery speech. Let me link to the last few minutes, in which Obama exhorts all of us not to get cocky, but to keep working hard for victory:
Obama chose the location well for this speech. During the primaries, New Hampshire was the only contest in which Obama was clearly ahead before the voting started, and ended up losing.
We must take Obama’s exhortation very seriously. Even though Obama continues to lead, the campaign is far from over. Despite McCain’s repeated claim of respect for Obama, the Republicans are ratcheting up their attacks. Ads, robocalls, mailers, and campaign speeches – all of them full of lies and smears – are being used to destroy Obama’s character in the eyes of millions of voters. Obama’s lead can still erode in the next two and a half weeks.
But also we are not fighting just to win this election. We are fighting to defeat the Republican Party once and for all. Obama is likely to win – but we need to work for a landslide, so that he has a broad popular and geographical mandate to bring about the necessary changes in this country. We need to help him gain a larger majority in the House, and a filibuster-proof Senate. We need to deal the conservative movement an overpowering blow.
So now is not the time to rest. Donate. Volunteer. Canvass. Make phone calls. Write letters to newspapers. Talk to your family and friends. Get off your butt, and do something! Please…
The jilted date is still reeling. But the elusive Mr. McCain has at last visited David Letterman. Watch the following clips for most of the show. Letterman skewers McCain in the intro. Then he lets McCain get in a lot of his bogus talking points unchallenged. However, in the end, Letterman starts to take him to task, even bringing up McCain’s association with the criminal Gordon Liddy.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
(Thanks to hishighness from the Daily Kos for compiling the clips:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/17/0014/0080/596/632997)
But the true comedy on Thursday came from Obama himself, at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner, where politicians are expected to deliver humorous speeches. Obama rocks the house. He is better than Colbert and Stewart – though perhaps their writers wrote this speech too. Check it out:
McCain – Palin
Unstable – Unable
Unfit to lead!
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Posted by: “bigraccoon” bigraccoon@earthlink.net redwoodsaurus
Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:08 pm (PDT)
AARP rates Obama & McCain (McCain gets 0)
http://www.aarp.org/makeadifference/politics/voters-guide/voters_guide_channel.response.362.512/
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4.
Obama v McCain (The Choice)
Posted by: “lilgeorgiehas2go” lilgeorgiehas2go@yahoo.com lilgeorgiehas2go
Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:09 pm (PDT)
One party will defend the Constitution, the other will defend marriage. One party will fight terrorism abroad and fascism at home, the other will fuel terrorism abroad and fascism at home:
http://www.airfarceone.net/frontvsback.html
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Posted by: “Carl Davidson” carld717@yahoo.com carld717
Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:40 pm (PDT)
OP-ED Sarah the Plumber has some questions?
October 16, 2008
Contact: Lauren Sugerman:
312-942-1444 ext. 214
For Immediate Release
773-704-3627
Joe the Plumber got to ask his question,
Now it’s Sarah the Plumber’s turn
Chicago Women in Trades
Sweet Sixteen Questions
Sarah the Plumber, Teresa the Tinknocker, Elsie the Electrician, Barb the Bricklayer, Mei the Machinist, and Carmen the Carpenter have yet to hear much about the issues that matter most to them. Times are tough for all construction workers, but these tradeswomen want to know what will it take to crack through the concrete floor to gain and maintain secure high-wage, high skill jobs. Here’s their top sixteen list of questions for the candidates:
1. How can women who left TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families- also known as welfare) to take personal responsibility for themselves and their families, (and found themselves in jobs that paid minimum wage with no benefits), gain access to training and job opportunities that provide them with the wages and security to achieve the American dream?
1. What will be done about providing working mothers (and fathers) with affordable, quality, accessible childcare during our nontraditional work hours?
1. What are your plans for ensuring that working women (or any person) who has/adopts/ or cares for children, the sick and the elderly can get paid family and medical leave like almost all of the other major industrial nations?
1. When will women not have to work four extra months to have an annual salary equal to men’s wages?
1. If we get into the “old boys network” will there be a safety net to ensure national health care? Can this cover our spouses/domestic partners and children as well?
1. When exactly does the statute of limitations run out on pay equity? Is pay equity a trial lawyer’s dream, or a simple woman’s hope for (spare) change to pay the babysitter?
2. How much energy do women have to expend before we get (financial) independence (or at least a 23% discount on our bills to reflect the wage disparity)?
1. Do we have to kill a moose to demonstrate we can handle tools or provide leadership on the job?
1. How many bridges (or highways and high-rises) do tradeswomen have to build to stop being seen as ‘just’ homemakers and breakground into male-dominated jobs?
1. When can we anticipate that the free market and voluntary corporate efforts will level the playing field for women and people of color? When can we expect reparations for the disparity created by race and gender discrimination? Is this covered in the bailout bill (TARP) under executive compensation?
1. Can we expect the government to actually enforce safety regulations on the jobsite and ensure that personal protective equipment like hardhats, safety belts, gloves actually fit a woman’s physique?
1. Is the bailout (rescue-recovery plan?) a bridge to economic equity for working women, (and people of color and men), and exactly where does it go?
1. Is a pink hardhat safer than a bonnet to protect us from the falling dollar and crashing stock markets?
1. How much straight talk will it take before gays and lesbians can move from being just “tolerated” to full equality in our work, civic, military, family, and love lives?
1. If we change “business as usual in the beltway”, how many documents will a worker need to be treated fairly and equally for day’s labor and to share the wealth they help to create?
1. How many “hands across the aisle” will it take to create a bi-partisan bill to rescue women from second-class citizenship, low wages, and discrimination on the job? Can poor women be appointed to fill all the positions on the oversight board to assure compliance? Can full childcare be provided at all meetings?
Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) is a nonprofit organization committed to improving women’s economic equity by increasing the number of women working in well-paid, skilled trade jobs traditionally held by men. For more information, visit http://www.chicagowomenintrades.org. or call us at 312-942-1444.
In the interests of full disclosure, CWIT is a community organization that formerly received funding from the Woods Charitable Fund and has associated with ACORN in the past and supports their campaigns for living wages and poverty reduction. All the women named above are pseudonyms to protect the identities and jobs of real tradeswomen who go to work everyday and come to CWIT with the above concerns.
Hope you can publish or forward this on behalf of working women. See attached and below.
Lauren Sugerman
Executive Director
Chicago
Women in Trades
1455 South Michigan, Suite 210
Chicago, IL
60605
312-942-1444 x214
lsugerman@cwit2.org
http://www.chicagowomenintrades.org
—
Keep On Keepin’ On
Stop McCain, Stop the War, Vote Obama 2008!
Carl Davidson
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Posted by: “Zoltan Abraham” zsazle@yahoo.com zsazle
Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:57 am (PDT)
Video Roundup – Friday, October 17
I can see tax cuts from my house!
(For the online version of my daily video roundup, please visit my website at http://www.zoltanic.com.)
Masterful Obama ad on McCain’s health care plan:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1858953394
Here is Obama speaking on McCain’s health care. Good speech:
Are you better off than you were eight years ago? McCain thinks you are:
At the third presidential debate, John McCain unveiled his unstoppable, undefeatable, unconquerable October Surprise – Joe the Plumber. He is not just your average Joe. He can kill Godzilla with a plunger. He eats kryptonite cereal. He can demolish six Obama tax plan plans before breakfast! Is it a bird? Is it a plain? No, it’s Joe the Plumber!!
The trouble is that, after all the sound and fury of the post-debatehype, Mr. Plumber Guy has actually come to see the light. He agrees, albeit reluctantly, that Obama’s tax plan will be better for him.
Oops…
But the right-wing is not done with Joe the Plumber yet. Now they are claiming that Obama mocked McCain for trying to help him. If you saw only this footage below, you might agree:
But if you watch the full context of Obama’s words, you will see that he was really mocking McCain for claiming to be helping people like plumbers, while he is really just trying to help the super-wealthy:
The first clip has made the rounds in conservative circles as evidence of how out of touch and elitist Obama is. But of course, the clip is a nasty, malicious hit job.
The right-wing engaged in similar deception when Campbell Brown of CNN called McCain’s campaign sexist, and they pretended that she had leveled that charged at Obama.
By now, you have probably seen some footage of Mr. Monkey Man, who brought a stuffed monkey wrapped in an Obama sticker to a McCain/Palin rally. However, the clips out there have not shown the extent of the hate-fest going on at the rally. Here is some even more chilling footage:
So what exactly is the difference between a McCain rally and a KKK gathering? Lipstick? I don’t know. But McCain and Palin are fanning more and more hate. Take a look at this Obama effigy hanging on a tree in Ohio:
More footage:
The guy says that this is a white Christian nation… Excuse me? As a white Christian, I am completely disgusted with this guy’s idea of Christianity.
Let’s also try this thought experiment. What would Jesus do? Oh yeah, let’s hang people in effigy! Somehow, I don’t think so.
I am a heterosexual, white, married, Christian male, and I am proudly voting for Obama. Oh, and my white Christian wife also cannot wait to cast her vote for Obama.
So how long before McCain explicitly condemns Mr. Monkey Man and his friends?
How long before McCain holds a press conference categorically and unequivocally condemning the Obama effigy?
If McCain does not issue a condemnation of the actions of these hate-filled supporters, he becomes responsible for their heinous acts, and shares in their guilt.
But I won’t hold my breath. After all, McCain, the unrepentant hate-monger, proclaimed at the last debate that he is very proud of the people who come to his rallies:
McCain is flooding swing states with malicious robocalls, having hired the same firm for this new phase of his sickeningly negative campaign that had caused his defeat during the 2000 Republican primaries.
So let’s see what John McCain himself has to say on negative ads:
In other news:
Morons!
Sorry about the name calling, but some people are just really stupid. Read about the conservative commentator who gets his knickers in a knot because Obama stands in front of a flag that kind of looks like the American flag but has a big “O” in it.
Some people might call that arrogance on Obama’s party. I would call it the flag of Ohio…
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/224647/43
Moron…
Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann is scary. Introducing the new face of fascism:
Katrina vanden Heuvel hits the nail on the head:
Here is a great ad against Bachmann:
There is a chance to kick Bachmann out of Congress. You wanna help?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/17297/266/761/633857
Do you live in a pro-America part of America? Can you see one from your house? Can you see it without blinking? Surreal Sarah puts her foot in it again:
Here is a better video of Biden’s response:
Let’s end with Tina Fey as she discusses playing Sarah Palin on David Letterman:
Remember, when Palin saw the first Tina Fey skit, she exclaimed, archly:
“I dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween.”
Hey, I might just dress up like Tina Fey for Halloween…
McCain – Palin
Unstable – Unable
Unfit to lead!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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3.
McCain Push Poll
Posted by: “Yosem Companys” ycompanys@gmail.com yosemcompanys
Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:09 pm (PDT)
I just received one. Details can be found on my blog:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/162844/74/938/634697
Anyone know whether there is an organization to which I should report it?
Thanks,
Yosem
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Posted by: “Zoltan Abraham” zsazle@yahoo.com zsazle
Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:11 am (PDT)
Video Roundup – Saturday, October 18:
I Heart the Fake Virginia!
Obama speaks in front of more than 100,000 people in St. Louis, Missouri:
In his speech, Obama warns against overconfidence, against taking this election for granted:
Obama is right. We can see the finish line, but we have not yet reached it. We must sprint now. We must give it all we have.
McCain is ratcheting up the malicious attacks. The polls are tightening, especially on the national scene. McCain can still win – so let’s not let that happen.
Donate. Volunteer. Canvass. Phone bank. Write letters. Talk to people. Do what you can!
The devil doesn’t sleep. Neither must we! (That’s why I always do these updates in the wee hours of the night…)
Get involved!
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
Message from Jill Biden:
She says, “Get involved!”
The website Talking Points Memo (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) is keeping track of the avalanche of hate-filled, lying robocalls directed at voters in swing states by the McCain campaign. Even the corporate media is beginning to cover the story:
Read more:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/big_news_orgs_picking_up_on_ma.php
(Not a video.)
The *Real* Virginia is for lovers:
So, Obama, the black candidate, is poised to win Virginia only because Democrats are moving in from the North? Civil War resonances anyone? These guys take dog whistles to a new art form…
Let’s cue Eminem:
“I’m Virginia, yes, I’m the real Virginia
all you other Virginias are just imitating
so won’t the real Virginia please stand up, please stand up, please stand up!”
Now for serious stuff. Joe Biden has worked hard for legislation to protect women from domestic violence. John McCain has voted against such legislation. The following video, which deals with this subject, is perhaps the most powerful anti-McCain ad I have seen.
Warning: This video contains some extremely graphic images of injuries. If you are easily triggered, DO NOT WATCH this clip.
Check out Saturday Morning Maher:
Part I:
(Note: This is on HBO, and the language gets a little rough.)
Part 2:
Part 3:
CBS reports on voter purging.
Make sure you are registered to vote, if it’s not too late!
A sobering testimony regarding the vulnerability of electronic voting machines:
Voters in West Virginia are already running into problems with electronic voting machines:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/1070/1027
Report voting problems to the Obama campaign. They are very smart, and have a lot of legal resources. Do not give up on your right to vote!
Sarah Palin Lovefest (well not really):
After being pummeled by Tina Fey & Co. for several weeks, Sarah Palin has appearances on Saturday Night Live.
As it was pointed out in the discussion thread of the Daily Kos article below, the Palin SNL appearance might have been arranged by the campaign because of the success of Richard Nixon’s appearance on Laugh-In during the 1968 race:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/19/05748/728?detail=f
Here is Nixon delivering a famous line:
Here is Nixon discussing his TV appearance:
But how did Spiteful Sarah do? She cam across as angry and out of place. She seemed stiff and uncomfortable. At least, so I thought. But you be the judge!
Intro skit:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/
The Rap:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-palin-rap/773781/
I’m definitely dressing up as Tina Fey for Halloween!
McCain – Palin
Unstable – Unable
Unfit to lead!
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Posted by: “bigraccoon” bigraccoon@earthlink.net redwoodsaurus
Sun Oct 19, 2008 3:22 pm (PDT)
GOP Paid Signature Gathers YPM Duped
Voters into Registering Republican
YPM, a group hired by the GOP, allegedly deceived Californians who thought they were signing a petition. YPM denies any wrongdoing. Similar accusations have been leveled against the company elsewhere.
By Evan Halper and Michael Rothfeld,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 18, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-fraud18-2008oct18,0,3505611.story
SACRAMENTO — Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.
Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.
“I am not a Republican,” insisted Karen Ashcraft, 47, a pet-clinic manager and former Democrat from Ventura who said she was duped by a signature gatherer into joining the GOP. “I certainly . . . won’t sign anything in front of a grocery store ever again.”
It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party — a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states — has been accused of using the tactic across the country.
Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.
The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.
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Sat, October 18, 2008
Peace activists demand Canada leave Afghanistan
By Jim Bronskill, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Rallies to end the Afghan war
OTTAWA — Precious lives and scarce dollars are being wasted on the futile war in Afghanistan, peace activists cried out during marches and rallies across the country on Saturday.
Dozens of anti-war activists paraded onto Parliament Hill to demand an end to Canada’s Afghan mission, part of a national day of action organized by peace groups that object to the human and financial costs of the bloody conflict.
Khalid Nasery was born in strife-torn Afghanistan and now calls Canada home.
The 28-year-old Ottawa student said it’s time for Canadian soldiers to leave his native country, painting the troops as pawns of U.S. foreign policy.
“They should pull out of Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s not the soldiers’ fault. I’m not against the soldiers, because they just follow orders. It’s the politicians who want to please the Bush administration.”
Among Canadian ranks, the effort has claimed the lives of 97 soldiers, a diplomat and two aid workers.
Nasery said that for every soldier who dies, many more civilians perish. “So on both sides, it’s a lose-lose situation.”
A report on the cost of the Afghan mission released earlier this month said that taxpayers will shell out between $14 billion and $18 billion — and possibly more — by the time troops are withdrawn in 2011.
“What we’ve seen is billions provided to the military and only a small amount to the local needs of Afghanistan,” said Dylan Penner, an organizer with the Ottawa Peace Alliance. “And the reality is that what little does go beyond the military is going to a select few.”
Sophie Harkat, whose husband Mohamed faces deportation on a national security certificate, was emcee of the Parliament Hill rally.
Demonstrations are being held this weekend in about 15 cities.
A few dozen protesters held signs with slogans like Aid not Arms for Afghanistan and Afghanistan is Bleeding in Edmonton’s Churchill Square as they listened to speakers from the Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism, the Council of Canadians and the Alberta Federation of Labour.
Click here to find out more!
“We feel that the Canadian people have been lied to by the government as to the purpose and goals over there,” said protester Paula Kirman.
“Taxpayers’ money is being wasted and there’s not a lot of progress going on over there.”
Edda Loomes, 67, a member of the Raging Grannies protest group, said she doesn’t think Canada is helping the average Afghan. “I think what they need in Afghanistan is schools and support. Many, many private citizens are getting killed and Canadians are getting killed.”
She said Canada is only interested in preserving oil interests in the region and that’s why it has sent soldiers.
Protester Greg Farrants called the war in Afghanistan a “never-ending venture” and said peace rallies are a way for average Canadians to support the troops.
“I feel the support-the-troops campaign has been co-opted by warmongers,” he said.
Protesters in St. John’s, N.L., met in Bannerman Park and marched through the downtown area.
Demonstrator Samantha Mills-Wiseman said the war has been a failure, resulting in greater support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In Montreal, hundreds turned out to demand Canadian troops come home and shine a light on the dollars-and-cents costs of a growing defence establishment.
“The majority of the population does not support any increases in military spending,” said Raymond Legault, a spokesman from Quebec anti-war organization Echec a la guerre.
“This message is addressed to all political parties in Canada,” Legault said. “We want the silence around military spending to end.”
Legault said the protesters were not just a small group of people against the war. “We’re the majority.”
“Who are our governments serving?” he asked. “Is it NATO, the military industrial complex? Or are they there to answer to the Canadian people?”
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Chains or drugs: treatment for Afghanistan’s mentally ill
Saturday October 18, 2008 (1054 PST)
JALALABAD: With shaggy hair and beard, and mumbling incoherently, Sher Mohammed, 40, lies curled up under the shade of a tree to which he has been chained for a month. This is the standard “treatment” for mentally ill people who have been coming to the Mia Ali sanctuary in eastern Afghanistan for 300 years.
“Here, we don’t give medication or advice, there is no other treatment than belief in God,” says Mia Mohammad Naeem, one of the guardians of the shrine in Samar Khel village, 10-km from the city of Jalalabad.
“It’s a spiritual treatment with the Qura’an and diet,” he says. In a country destroyed by three decades of conflict, about two million people suffer mental illness, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). But in 2005 there were only 160 beds in the nation’s psychiatric facilities, it says. At the Mia Ali sanctuary the patients, presumed to be possessed by jinns (demons), are chained by the wrist to a tree or in a concrete room, under shelter or in the open, for 40 days.
They are fed only bread and water and get no change of clothing. In a shack close by, Ghulam Haider, 45, crouches on the ground, tirelessly writing in Arabic the different names of God and verses of the Koran on pieces of paper.
“Some of these taweez (amulets) will be poured in a glass of water and then drunk. Others will be burned or used as a necklace. Every single word of the holy Qura’an is healing,” he says.
The taweez are used to treat mental sickness and are also sought after by the pilgrims who come to visit and pray at the tomb of Mia Ali Sayed, a Sufi sage from the 17th Century. Among one family that has arrived is a woman in a Burqa who holds a baby in her arms: everyone has come to pray for the child to not cry the whole night. Other visitors ask for headaches or stomach pains to stop. “We don’t ask Mia Ali for a cure, we ask God. Mia Ali is only the way to God,” says Mia Mohammad Naeem.
As his name suggests, he is a descendant of the Sufi as are the roughly 50 people who maintain this sanctuary, each taking turns for a few days a month. In normal life, Mohammad Naeem is a driver. Only Asadullah, a old man of 85 whose fingers play with the keys to the locks on the chains of the current eight patients, works full-time at the site.
“My responsibility is to tie up the patients. During the night, I go to see how they are, I clean them. Some can be violent but they respect my white beard,” he says. Behind him a rake-thin young man is tied up inside a concrete room. Bare chested and emitting a strong smell, Wali arrived here from Kabul, 150-km away, about 20 days ago.
“I drank whisky, I smoked hash… so my family brought me here,” he says with a dark look. The keepers of the sanctuary have no doubt about the success of this method of treatment developed by Mia Ali himself. “Most of the people get well after 40 days,” says Mohammad Naeem. He gestures to an electricity generator. “This was built for us by a patient who came here in a bad condition and, as a miracle, was cured,” he says, adding that patients come from all over Afghanistan and even neighbouring Pakistan.
“Families pay 5,000 afs (100 dollars) for food and cleaning. We stay in contact with them by phone,” he says. The sanctuary has no links with the psychiatric section of the public hospital in the city of Jalalabad, even though it is close by.
“Family members bring the people here after treatment in the hospital has failed,” says Jan Baz, a 22-year-old soldier who is also a member of the Mia family. The hospital has had a psychiatric section for 30 years but can no longer admit permanent patients, allowing people to stay for only three weeks even though many return. “We have 20 beds but only 12 patients right now,” says the head of the mental ward, Ahmad Zahir Allahyar. “Our treatment uses both medication and psychotherapy. The doctors counsel the patients, they talk to them as friends. There are music programmes, they can watch TV, play board games, study… to free them from depression.”
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AFGHANISTAN
Occupation at highest level to date —
An unprecedented number of U.S. troops — about 32,000 — are in Afghanistan today, and the Pentagon plans to send several thousand more forces in the coming months. At least 131 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan this year, as have 100 troops from other NATO nations.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan8-2008oct08,0,6044407.story
— And U.S. aims to double it
The Pentagon chief also emphasized the need to build up the Afghanistan army, which the United States would like to see double in size to more than 130,000 troops.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/09/AR2008100901145.html
Petraeus predicts years of occupation
The effort in Afghanistan is going to be the longest campaign of the long war.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503685.html
British ambassador predicts U.S. failure
The American strategy, he is quoted as saying, “is destined to fail.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/world/asia/04afghan.html?hp
Joint chiefs chairman gloomy
“The trends across the board are not going in the right direction.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/world/asia/10military.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
After denials, U.S. now admits killing civilians
While American commanders in Afghanistan have contended that 30 to 35 militants were killed in the raid, the new report concludes that many among that group were in fact civilians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/washington/08inquiry.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
And yet another airstrike kills civilians
[A]t least 18 bodies, all women and children — including one 6-month-old — were pulled from the rubble and taken to the provincial governor’s compound in protest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Airstrikes’ rising 2008 death toll
The number of civilians killed by U.S.- and NATO-led airstrikes has risen by 21 percent this year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503572.html
Occupation has generated rising violence
“Seven years ago most of the population felt safe. Now they don’t.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/13/afghanistan
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Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters,
Things have gotten extremely nasty in recent weeks, as the Republican attack machine has been stuck in overdrive. John McCain and his supporters are traveling the country at a rapid pace, inciting hateful rhetoric at campaign events, and grossly misrepresenting McCain’s own policies in a desperate attempt to make him more palatable. The McCain campaign is even attacking ACORN, a widely respected voter registration organization, claiming ACORN knowingly participated in “voter fraud.” In reality, this is just another calculated attempt by the McCain campaign and the RNC to suppress new and marginalized voters.
Like I discussed with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report last week, our videos travel faster than the Hate Talk Express. Below are 15 videos for the next 15 days. They present the REAL McCain — the one he doesn’t want the public to see — as well as information on issues affecting all of us at this critical juncture. Issues like the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care, the environment, and the fundamental right to vote.
Make sure all of your friends (especially those who don’t agree with you politically or are still on the fence) see each and every one of these videos. Post them on blogs and networking sites like Digg — our best means of reaching those outside the choir. Get your friends to sign up for a free Brave New Films video subscription. Get them to enter our REAL McCain contest: What would you ask McCain? (The 50 best answers win a free, limited edition, REAL McCain t-shirt!) And support Brave New Films by donating $15 so that we can continue creating hard-hitting videos like the 15 seen here.
Watch the video
1. McCain Care Leaves Seniors Behind:
Watch the video
3. John McCain: Economic Disaster:
Watch the video
5. McCain’s Mansions:
Watch the video
7. McCain’s Health Records Must Be Released:
Watch the video
9. Big Oil Fuels the Straight Talk Express:
Watch the video
11. Why Won’t John McCain Sign the GI Bill?
Watch the video
13. John McCain is Dr. Strangelove:
Watch the video
15. ACORN and the Fight Against Voter Suppression:
Watch the video
2. John McCain’s YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare:
Watch the video
4. John McCain vs John McCain:
Watch the video
6. McCain’s Spiritual Guide Wants America To Destroy Islam:
Watch the video
8. McCain’s Green Economy: Drill Baby Drill:
Watch the video
10. Less Jobs. More Wars:
Watch the video
13. John McCain’s Lobbyist Friends:
Watch the video
14. McCain’s Chart Topping Single “Bomb Iran”:
And you can help spread the truth about ACORN by hosting a house party. Have your friends over and make new friends while watching ACORN’s video along with the others listed above to keep the dialogue going about these issues.
Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New team
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Posted by: “Zoltan Abraham” zsazle@yahoo.com zsazle
Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:26 am (PDT)
Video Roundup – Sunday, October 19:
The Fundamentals of This Endorsement Are Strong
(For the online version of my daily video roundup, please visit my website at http://www.zoltanic.com.)
Obama fights back. He’s on a roll:
A Republican for Obama in Ohio:
Joe the Senator on Joe the Plumber:
CNN (forgetting for a few moments that it is owned by the GOP), does some real investigative reporting on ACORN. And they are beginning to see the light!
Here is the long and short of the “scandal.” ACORN hired third parties to register voters. Instead of registering voters, some of the third parties filled out fake voter registrations, and then charged ACORN for them. The fraud was committed *against* ACORN, not by ACORN.
ACORN, again, is an organization dedicated to helping underprivileged communities (which alone is enough to earn the eternal enmity of the Republican Party). You can find their website here:
http://www.acorn.org/
Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama:
Powell continues:
Here is a good compilation of clips from Jed L:
Read Jed’s analysis here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/20/002/23428/722/635914
Powell did much more than endorse Obama. He systematically, point-by-point, took apart McCain’s campaign.
The timing of the endorsement was brilliant. In the post-debate, final stretch of the campaign, game-changing moments are few and far between. Obama has a lead, which he needs to hold until election day. McCain can chip away at Obama’s numbers by winning successive media cycles, as he did with the whole sorry Joe the Plumber business. The Powell endorsement is likely to dominate the discussion for a few days, which decreases McCain’s chances to halt Obama’s momentum. At this point, Obama needs to run the clock out on McCain. McCain on the other hand would need to make a stunning comeback to win, for which he has less and less time.
Even if the endorsement doesn’t secure more than a few new votes for Obama, the timing could not be more disastrous for McCain.
At the same time, the Powell endorsement is also likely to play well in military circles, and among as yet undecided Republicans, who might still be wondering if Obama would make a good Commander-in-Chief. Powell’s resounding endorsement will not fall on deaf ears.
BTW, I forgot just how eloquent and erudite Powell sounds. Cool!
Powell sent multitudes of right-wing Internet activists looking for their blankies to cry into. Back on the television machines, Pat Buchanan was having a hissy fit. It wasn’t long before some right-wing, racist hack like him said it – he claims that Colin Powell endorsed Obama only because he is black:
Using his own logic, Buchanan is supporting McCain only because he is white. Not because any of McCain’s positions on the issues. Merely because he is white.
So, if, let’s say, Clarance Thomas ran for President, Buchanan would not support him, because he is not white.
Wait. That’s probably actually true. Buchanan would probably NOT support even Clarance Thomas for President – because he is not white.
Back in 2000, during the Republican primaries, George W. Bush used malicious robocalls to sink John McCain’s quest for the Republican nomination. Fast forward to 2008. John McCain has now hired the same firm that derailed his campaign in 2000 to attack Obama with a barrage of hatefilled, lying robocalls in swing states. Even some Republicans are disgusted by the venomous nature of these calls. Things are getting pretty bad for McCain, when he gets challenged regarding this new smear strategy on Fox News Sunday:
And let’s remember, once again, what McCain himself said about negative ads, back in the days when he wasn’t quite so desperate:
Joshua Marshal of Talking Points Memo (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) has a good analysis of McCain’s end game:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238245.php
(Not a video.)
I would just add to Josh’s analysis what I’ve been saying for a while, that the smear campaign isn’t just a desperate ploy to win – it’s the beginning of a concerted effort to destroy Obama’s character, and thereby sabotage his presidency, if he gets elected.
Obama goes on the offense against GOP election fraud:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/20/15211/263/580/636064
(Not a video.)
Jed L posted this clip on the Daily Kos, showing the similarity between the McCarthy Communist scare, and the tactics of the GOP today:
What is Wolfbane Sarah’s foreign policy experience. Watch some Republicans try to spin it:
Note: A bit of rough language.
Note 2: Kudos to Campbell Brown!
Note 3: Does Cindy look like she has red eyes??
This is just bizarre:
Another sampling of homemade Sarah Palin videos:
Dangerous:
Moose Shootin’ Blues:
Jeopardy Parody:
Shane Dawson as Sarah Palin:
Note: Ends on an off-color note.
Note 2: Does this one go too far in its parody of Sarah Palin’s hate speech? What do you think?
PS: Where can I find a Tina Fey costume for Halloween? Actually, I want to be Bernie Sanders! He’s cool!
McCain – Palin
Unstable – Unable
Unfit to lead!
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Posted by: “Zoltan Abraham” zsazle@yahoo.com zsazle
Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:45 am (PDT)
Video Roundup – Monday, October 20:
Do you hear what I hear?
(For the online version of my daily video roundup, please visit my website at http://www.zoltanic.com.)
Joe Biden rocks Tacoma:
Ironically, he was in the Cheney Stadium there…
Interesting website encouraging people to write to Obama:
http://www.voicesofobama.com/
(Not a video, but…)
They have a place on YouTube too:
http://www.youtube.com/voicesofobama
John McCain doesn’t know how many houses he owns. And perhaps he forgets that some of them are made of glass. Because it is he who has been palling around with a terrorist:
CNN reports that McCain is pulling out of Colorado. His great plan? To take Pennsylvania. The trouble, for McCain, is that Obama enjoys a double digit lead in PA. Good luck turning that around in two weeks, John. (Actually, no I am not really wishing you good luck. :-))
Over the weekend, Palin broke ranks with the McCain campaign and spoke negatively on robocalls:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/19/palin-admits-voters-irrit_n_136045.html
(Not a video. If you have a video, please send me the link.)
Obama talks about Palin’s break with McCain on robocalls:
Rachel Maddow points out the hypocrisy of the McCain/Palin campaign with regard to negative attacks, such as robocalls:
Guess what? The McCain campaign has a new robocall out, featuring Ms. Pinocchio Palin herself:
(Video with sound only.)
Read the transcript here:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_mccain_robocall_stars_sara.php
Note: Tomorrow we will interview religious leaders from different faith traditions to get ideas on how best to perform an exorcism on your answering machine after it receives a Sarah Palin robocall…
BTW, do you ever wonder about whether it’s good to entrust the country to a “maverick”?
I mean, if you had car trouble, how would you feel if the mechanic said: “Let me take a looksie under the hood here. I’m a maverick.”
If you went to the dentist, would you want her to say, “Open wide. Now let me find the right instrument. I’m a maverick.”
Or if you had to have foot surgery: “Let me take a look at that there leg now. I’m a maverick.”
Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski on the Powell endorsement:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27277773#27277773
(Of course, he endorsed Obama only because both he and Steve have weird names.)
Texas starts early voting – and people are flocking to the polls:
Early voting is going on in many places throughout the country. If you can vote early, do so. By going to the polls early, you have more time to deal with any problems, such malfunctioning machines, changed location for polling place, ID requirement you were not familiar with, etc. Also, by voting early, you are free to help volunteer on election day. You can phone-bank, canvass, drive people to the polls, serve as a poll watcher.
Get active! Do something!
We are now in the final phase of the campaign. GOTV (get out the vote) is crucial at this stage. Obama is leading in the national polls, and in key state polls – but we have to turn that polling lead into a real lead among the votes cast. Every vote counts – even in “safe” states, because we need not just 270 electoral votes, we also need a big win in the national popular vote, for a mandate. Also, many “safe” states have downticket races that are close and need our mobilization.
So get active!
And now a look at the other side:
Is this *their* ground game? Yelling at people going to the polls? Let’s hope that’s all they do…
For the second time in the last few days, Palin took a position at odds with McCain’s. In a CBN interview with David Brody, she expressed support for a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage, which McCain does not support:
Here are more clips from the CBN interview.
Note: I cannot link to these directly, so I have to link to the CBN website. I profoundly apologize for that!
Palin talks about her support for the federal marriage amendment, as well as her sense that “faith in God in general” has been mocked during this campaign:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/466923.aspx
Palin shows herself to be an unrepentant hate-monger:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/467170.aspx
Palin discusses her prayer life:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/467139.aspx
Note: Palin is entitled to her religious beliefs (after all, I have religious beliefs of my own – though they are fundamentally different from hers). The question is, to what extent, if any, would she want to force her beliefs on others? Note that at the end of the segment she says that there is hope for struggling countries if they seek God’s guidance. Just imagine a President Palin saying to a Muslim or Buddhist nation: “You can solve your problems if you seek God’s guidance.” (Meaning of course, the guidance of the God of Christianity, from her particular perspective.) What would this do for international diplomacy?
Palin on the hateful tone of their rallies (or should I say white robe only events??):
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/467141.aspx
Two things here:
1) There is video evidence of hate speech being shouted at McCain and Palin rallies. Even if the candidates did not hear those words being shouted, they should have prefaced future campaign events by instructing the crowds on what is and is not acceptable.
2) There is no evidence of hate speech being shouted at Obama/Biden rallies. (Trust me, if there were any evidence it would be playing 24/7 on CNN and all the other idiot box networks).
Palin says that “faith in God in general” has been mocked during this campaign:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/467138.aspx
Note: It is true that there are those who just mock religious faith as a whole. But that’s a minority. What has been an issue in this campaign is not Palin’s Christianity, but her specific brand of Christianity. Palin has been a member of Assemblies of God, which is a growing, wealthy, powerful organization that openly advocates for the establishment of a theocratic form of government. Our country was founded on the concept of the separation of Church and state. We must, therefore, determine whether a candidate for the vice presidency, who would be likely to assume the presidency within the first term of a McCain administration, is committed to the concept of the separation of Church and state, or is in favor of a creating an American theocracy.
Palin talks about Obama’s abortion stance:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/467136.aspx
Note: Palin repeats the malicious lie that Obama was opposed to providing medical treatment for babies born alive after failed abortions. Here are the facts: It is true that Obama voted against a bill in Illinois that would have provided such treatment. However, treatment for babies born alive after failed abortions was already mandated under Illinois state law. The bill was not introducing new treatment. Obama supported the treatment offered in the bill, but he opposed certain other portions of the bill. He decided to vote against the bill in order to defeat those other portions, knowing that treatment for babies born alive would not be in jeopardy.
In the clip, Palin says that her statement is not negative campaigning. That’s another lie. She is willfully and maliciously distorting Obama’s record on the subject.
Palin talks about the clobbering she gets when she tries to talk with the media. (Yeah, like being asked what newspaper she reads…)
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/467137.aspx
Palin reflects on her baptism. She describes it as a “neat thing to be able to do.” Given Palin’s background, I would have thought that baptism would be much more important than that for her. But perhaps she really just talks that folksy all the time.
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/467140.aspx
Palin keeps up the False Talk Express about Obama’s record on troop funding:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/467178.aspx
Note: Obama did not vote against funding for the troops. The truth is pretty simple. The Senate was considering two funding bills. One had a timeline attached. The other one did not have a timeline. Obama voted against the one without the timeline and voted for the one with the timeline. McCain, on the other hand, voted for the bill without the timeline, and against the one that contained it. If Obama is guilty of voting against the troops, so is McCain. I have no doubt that Palin knows better, and is just lying through her teeth.
Palin, the Poor Victim, didn’t answer Katie Couric’s newspaper question, because there are so many more important questions. Besides, it was a trap!
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/467173.aspx
Palin is thinking of job security for at least one person – Tina Fey:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/467172.aspx
Palin waxes eloquent as she discusses how she could face down Obama at sports:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/467171.aspx
Okay, I’ve watched and commented on far more Sarah Palin clips than is good for my health. I feel nauseous. If you also watched all of these clips, I profoundly apologize. I had no right to inflict them on you.
Palin really comes to life in an environment where she is not challenged, but is allowed to spew her lies without any pushback. And lie she does. In fact, Palin is a pathological liar, who seems to relish the act of lying.
She really makes me sick to my stomach.
Note: Tomorrow, I will tell you how I really feel about her. Tonight, I need something to drink…
After the horror of watching Palin lie with just about every breath she takes, let’s end with a bit of levity:
http://www.palinaspresident.us/
(Not a video.)
Make sure you have sound, and then click on different parts of the picture. Surreal Sarah will give you a tour of the Oval Office.
McCain – Palin
Unstable – Unable
Unfit to lead!
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Financial crisis may worsen Afghan poverty: UN official
Food price hikes, climate change also cited as concerns
Last Updated: Monday, October 20, 2008 | 5:41 PM ET
CBC News
The plight of millions of already poverty-stricken Afghans could worsen if donor nations fail to keep up with their aid commitments during crises including the global economic downturn, a UN official said Monday.
“A combination of food price hikes, a downturn in the global economy, the effects of climate change, weak governance, and the intensification of the armed conflict threaten to push even more Afghans into the ranks of the desperately poor,” Manoj Basnyat, a director with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said in a news release.
‘We must focus at the grassroots level and that means in every district across the country.’ — Manoj Basnyat, UN official
Basnyat made his comments while speaking to reporters in Kabul following Friday’s UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
During the event, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said hundreds of millions of people around the world are deprived of basic rights such as food, housing, education and good working conditions.
“Those forced to live in poverty often face social exclusion, discrimination and disempowerment,” Ban said in a news release.
Poverty is a global concern: UN
The UN says 1.4 billion people around the world live in poverty, while Afghanistan ranks as the fourth poorest country.
Forty-two out of every 100 Afghans live below the poverty line, and another 20 per cent are just above the poverty standard, according to the UNDP, which also says:
* Seventy per cent of Afghans don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
* Twenty per cent of rural households face chronic food shortages.
* Eighteen per cent face seasonal food shortages.
The agency said poverty in Afghanistan is driven by many factors, including:
* Low literacy.
* Poor health care.
* Mismanagement of natural resources.
* Social structures that disadvantage particular groups and communities.
Basnyat suggested that today’s world economic woes may interfere with donor countries helping out Afghanistan, but he urged them to “work together” in helping the country break out of its cycle of poverty.
Basnyat noted that the UN is assisting in the development of several initiatives across Afghanistan such as the National Area Based Development Programme.
The five-year program focuses on poverty reduction, and economic and social development strategies across the country.
“We must focus at the grassroots level and that means in every district across the country,” Basnyat added.
Since its launch in 2006, the program has helped 2.5 million people and worked on 520 rural infrastructure projects.
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Ventura Film Festival
The Ventura Film Festival, which was started in 2004 by Jordan Older and his father, has recently concluded its
first event of 2009 at the Majestic Ventura Theater in Ventura, California with the Ventura Film Festival “Fun Day”
on February 16, 2009 at 2pm.
The Ventura Film Festival is a combination online and traditional film festival requiring all submissions to be
uploaded online and submitted via traditional means. The Ventura Film Festival has maintained that one of it’s main
goals is to give a large part of any proceeds to forest and ocean preservation efforts. The Ventura Film Festival
features independent films from around the world and from local film makers focusing on environmental issues such as
forest and ocean preservation, humanitarian issues, surf, skate, extreme/action sports, sports, martial arts, and
music films.
The Ventura Film Festival opened it’s 2009 events on Monday February 16, 2009 at the Majestic Ventura Theater in
Ventura, California with a “fun day”. The event marked the 6th anniversary of the Ventura Film Festival which was
started by Jordan Older and his father in 2004. The Ventura Film Festival board of directors were present to show
their selection of currently received entries for the 2009 Ventura Film Festival. The festival board includes
Hollywood film makers Dustin Dean and U.S. Olympian John Godina who is the most decorated shot putter in U.S.
athletics history. Ventura Film Festival is a green organization and accepts entries and submissions online at the
festival’s official web site, http://venturafilmfestival.org. Part of the profits from the Ventura Film Festival
will go directly towards environmental issues such as forest and ocean preservation. The “fun day” served as a warm
up for the main event of the 2009 Ventura Film Festival which takes place on July 5th.
The Ventura Film Festival gives out no awards. We prefer not to have competition and to simply celibrate great
films as works of art and enjoy a fun event that provides support for environmental issues such as forest and ocean
preservation. From time to time we may give notice of special recognition to certain films.
The Ventura Film Festival has become a partner with the world’s biggest film festival marketing organization
Withoutabox. The partnership was on request of Withoutabox executive Sara Nixon-Kershner on Feburary 18, 2008.
Withoutabox provides submission and marketing service to over 200,000 filmmakers in 200 countries as well as manage
submission receiving, judging, and notification, schedule publishing, and the ability to sell tickets using targeted
ads on well known film site IMDB.
Submitting to the Ventura Film Festival is a two step process. BOTH STEPS ARE REQUIRED!!!
1) upload your submission to http://venturafilmfestival.net (REQUIRED)
2) Submit via Withoutabox using this link: http://www.withoutabox.com/login/7761 (REQUIRED)
withoutabox-logo
Submissions that are not uploaded to http://venturafilmfestival.net will not be considered.
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