The WAWG Blog

Medical Exams Reveal Abuse and Torture of Detainees – Former terrorist suspects detained by the United States were tortured, according to medical examinations detailed in a report released Wednesday by a human rights group. The Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights reached that conclusion after two-day clinical evaluations of 11 former detainees, who had been held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan. The detainees were never charged with crimes.

We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering,” said Dr. Allen Keller, a medical evaluator for the study. In a 121-page report, the doctors’ group said that it uncovered medical evidence of torture, including beatings, electric shock, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, sodomy and scores of other abuses.

The report is prefaced by retired U.S. Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who led the Army’s investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in 2003. There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes,” Taguba says. “The only question is whether those who ordered torture will be held to account.

Rumsfeld Overruled Military Lawyers Who Warned Against Torture
A Senate investigation has found that senior Pentagon officials began planning to use abusive tactics at Guantánamo Bay earlier than they previously acknowledged, borrowing from a program that trained US troops to resist cruel interrogations. The new documents show that lawyers in the army, navy and marines objected vigorously to the use of violent methods against detainees but were overruled by aides to the former US defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.

Republican Congressman Uses Tribute to Tim Russert as an Excuse to Push for More Oil Drilling – House Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) perhaps mistook a resolution honoring recently deceased journalist Tim Russert for one involving oil and natural gas drilling. “We’re going to miss Tim Russert when it comes to the people on both sides of the issue of why we have…$5 gasoline and $135 oil,” Issa said during his condolence speech. “I think Tim Russert would have been just the right guy to hold people accountable who would talk about the 68 million acres that are, quote, ‘inactive,’ while in fact, 41 million are under current lease and use, and are producing millions of barrels of oil and natural gas a day.”

Sean Hannity Falsely Claims China is Drilling for Oil 60 Miles Off Shores of Florida – To bolster support for offshore oil drilling, Fox News’ Sean Hannity falsely claimed on his radio show, “[W]e’ve got China, you know, joining with Cuba, they’re drilling 60 miles off our shores of Florida.” But even Vice President Dick Cheney has reportedly issued a correction for making the same claim, as has George Will, whom Cheney cited as the source of his claim.

Bush and McCain Both Want More Offshore Oil Drilling – President Bush plans to make a renewed push Wednesday to get Congress to end a long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, echoing a call by GOP presidential candidate John McCain. On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. But experts say additional drilling would only boost production by about 2 million barrels a day. That’s only about 2% of total worldwide demand, so its impact on prices would likely be marginal.

Civilian Pentagon Official Fired After Refusing to Pay Unjustified Expenses of One Billion Dollars to KBR – A civilian Pentagon official in charge of the largest US military contract in Iraq was removed from his job in 2004 after refusing to pay one billion dollars to KBR Inc. because the company was unable to credibly justify its expenses. KBR is an engineering, construction and services company that until April 2007 was a subsidiary of the Houston-based energy firm Halliburton, which was formerly led by Vice President Dick Cheney.

“They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn’t justify,” the official, Charles Smith, told The New York Times. “Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn’t going to do that.” According to a recent report by the Pentagon’s inspector general, nearly eight billion dollars in US military contracts to subcontractors in Iraq did not respect federal guidelines aimed at preventing fraud

Wounded Soldiers Become Homeless Waiting for Benefits – Thousands of wounded soldiers discharged from the Army risk financial ruin as they wait six to nine months for their disability benefits. Nearly 20,000 disabled soldiers were discharged in the past two fiscal years, and lawmakers, veterans’ advocates and others say thousands could be facing financial ruin while they wait for their claims to be processed and their benefits to come through.

McCain Contradicts Himself Over Similarities With Bush -The latest video to come to fruition on YouTube shows John McCain contradicting himself on his support of President Bush. McCain makes the mistake of standing in front of a green screen, and ends up pointing out his own flip-flopping on his similarity to President Bush on policy views.

Political Hiring in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division – Karen Stevens, Tovah Calderon and Teresa Kwong had a lot in common. They had good performance ratings as career lawyers in the Justice Department’s civil rights division. And they were minority women transferred out of their jobs two years ago — over the objections of their immediate supervisors — by Bradley Schlozman, then the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights.

Schlozman ordered supervisors to tell the women that they had performance problems or that the office was overstaffed. But one lawyer, Conor Dugan, told colleagues that the recent Bush appointee had confided that his real motive was to “make room for some good Americans” in that high-impact office, according to four lawyers who said they heard the account from Dugan.

Regards,

Jim

The Republicans blame Democrats for the high cost of gasoline, saying that if we only drilled in ANWAR we’d have enough oil to bring prices down. There are only a few problems with that.

One: For 20 years Democrats have tried to change the demand side of the energy problem by increasing conservation through rebates for more efficient appliances, voluntary conservation and increased CAFÉ mileage standards for our autos only to be rebuffed by big business oriented Republicans.

Two: Estimates of oil reserves in ANWAR range from a low of ten month’s supply to a high of two years (for the US, not the world). For this we’re willing to destroy one of the few remaining pristine wilderness areas and spoil a unique habitat irrevocably?

Three: If we began exploiting ANWAR today it would be ten years before any of the oil actually hit the market and then virtually none of it would remain inside the United States, rather it would go on the open market and, like the rest of the North Slope, 70% of it would fuel China and Japan.

And here’s the kicker, folks!

Four: The major oil companies already have 68 million acres of federal land leased for oil production AND THEY AREN’T EXPLORING ANY OF IT! The House Committee on Natural Resources estimates that the oil and gas reserves under those 68 million acres would DOUBLE the US oil and gas production. So what makes any of us think that Big Petro Inc. would produce if we gave them ANWAR too? They like a tight demand market; it increases their profits so they can set more records for hoarding money. Did you know that EXXON earned $1,260 a second in 2007? That’s 24/7 seconds, not business day seconds.

Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) has introduced legislation that says, effectively, use it or lose it. Either produce on the existing leases or forfeit them. That’s quite the reverse of Senator John McCain’s strategy of giving Big Petro another $12 billion in subsidies out of our taxes. Now let’s see what excuse the Republicans in Congress give for voting against H.R. 6251. Maybe you should give them a call and ask what they think about it? I’m sure Joe Barton (R TX, 817-543-1000 ) would be interested in sharing his thoughts. He only got a $ Million or two from the energy sector for the last election.

Use it or lose it.

Fox News Promotes “Carbon Belch Day”: Waste as Much Energy as You Can – Fox News aired a story about driving Hummers around for no particular reason, cranking the air conditioning with the windows open, mowing your lawn twice, and other wasteful acts to counter those of us concerned about global warming and to defy “carbon-footprint guilt” imposed by Al Gore. The Fox News anchor says he thinks this is a “humorous way” to make a point.

McCain Does Not Understand That the Cap in “Cap and Trade” is Mandatory – At McCain’s press conference on June 16th, when asked if he would set mandatory targets on renewable energy, he answered he “would not … impose a mandatory cap at this time.” McCain new position is “completely out of line with his own proposal for a cap-and-trade scheme, both the plan he proposed with Joe Lieberman last year and his own presidential plan, released last month. They both would, by nature, be mandatory — hence the ‘cap’ in the name.”

He also appeared confused about the definition of cap-and-trade in an interview with Greenwire

It’s not quote mandatory caps. It’s cap-and-trade, OK. It’s not mandatory caps to start with. It’s cap-and-trade. That’s very different. OK, because that’s a gradual reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions. So please portray it as cap-and-trade. That’s the way I call it.

Pin at the Republican State Convention in Texas: “If Obama is President… will we still call it the White House?” – At the Republican state convention, a booth hosted by Republicanmarket was selling a pin Saturday that says: “If Obama is President… will we still call it the White House?”

The Texas Attorney General’s Wild Goose Chase – Read editorials from two prominent Texas newspapers about how the Texas Attorney General wasted our money going after non-existent voter fraud.

Tucker Carlson Doesn’t Know Presidential History (But Talks About It Anyway) – Tucker Carlson said, “Barack Obama has the thinnest resume of any modern presidential candidate with a shot of actually winning.” Carlson is apparently not aware of the career of Ronald Reagan, who served as the President of the United States from 1981-1989, despite having only eight years of government experience – three fewer than Obama – on his “resume.” Similarly, 20th century Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson had thinner resumes than Obama (Wilson, for example, served a single two-year term as the Governor of New Jersey prior to becoming President).

Regards,

Jim

Republicans Block Consideration of Medicare Bill – Republican senators blocked legislation Thursday that would trim payments to private health insurers serving people in Medicare and use the savings to raise reimbursement rates for doctors. The advocacy group AARP had lobbied in support of Baucus’ bill and reminded them they would report the results to their members. “The bill blocked today would have improved the program’s low-income, preventive and mental health benefits without drastic increases in Medicare premiums,” said the group’s chief executive, Bill Novelli.

Bush Met with Jack Abramoff At Least Six Times, Contrary to White House Claims – The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee disclosed in a report this week that President Bush met with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff on at least six occasions. The White House previously stated that Bush only met Abramoff twice, at White House Hanukkah receptions. But documents and photos obtained by the committee prove that Bush and Abramoff had stronger ties than previously known, although the extent of Abramoff’s reach within the Administration still remains a mystery. The committee’s investigation met resistance from at least three former Administration officials who invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid answering some or all of the investigators’ questions.

McCain Denies What He Said About Social Security – In 2004, McCain, in response to an audience question, explicitly backed Social Security privatization by name.

QUESTION: “Will privatizing Social Security be a priority for you going forward?”
McCAIN: “Without privatization, I don’t see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits.”

But, on June 12, 2008, at a Nashua town hall, McCain himself lied about his position, saying: “I’m not for, quote, privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be.”

McCain Stacks Fox News ‘Town Hall’ With Supporters – The town hall forum was “billed by the McCain campaign as a town hall with independent and Democratic voters,” but Fox News noted at the end that the audience was actually “made up of invited guests and supporters.” In response, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said, ““Copying the Bush campaign model of stacking events with his prescreened supporters is not the transparency Americans are looking for. If that is Senator McCain’s idea of straight talk, the American people are in for a long and disappointing campaign season.”

“That was like a Fox infomercial for McCain,” said CNN’s Howard Kurtz. “Don’t you usually have to buy TV time to get that exposure?”

“It was a sweetheart deal for the McCain campaign,” said TIME Magazine’s Karen Tumulty. “There’s just no way around it.”

Rove Talks “Fairly Regularly” With McCain Camp; Getting Six Figures From Freedom’s Watch – Rove is back. In fact, he probably never left. The campaign that is trying to prove it’s not a second coming of George W. Bush is using the President’s former chief strategist on a regular basis. Don’t be fooled by Rove’s hesitance to be identified with John McCain publicly.

…away from the spotlight, Rove has been busy pitching in by giving informal advice to McCain’s team and spending a considerable amount of time as an outside adviser to Freedom’s Watch, the conservative political group that is expected to spend tens of millions of dollars to help elect House GOP candidates. William Weidner, a Freedom’s Watch board member, recently told National Journal that Rove has offered strategic advice to both the group and its major financial backer, Las Vegas casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson. Weidner, president of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which Adelson chairs, called Rove “an invaluable asset” to the group….

While the top of McCain’s campaign won’t admit to extensive conversations with Rove, fearing that Rove is too closely associated with the Bush Administration and its worst scandals, some folks are willing to spill the beans off the record.

Generally speaking, Rove’s advice is action-oriented and useful,” said another senior consultant to the McCain camp. “It’s always well received.” This McCain adviser noted that Rove talks periodically to Black and a few other top campaign aides on several key matters. “It can be policy ideas, messaging ideas, fundraising prospects, or people who need calls from someone in the campaign.” Rove is “part of the information network that the campaign has,” this adviser said, adding that Rove talks fairly regularly to such key people as Wayne Berman, a major fundraiser for McCain; Nicolle Wallace, a communications adviser; and Steve Schmidt, a senior aide.

CO2 Emissions Set to Double by 2050 Unless Governments Act – The International Energy Agency released a report this week predicting that carbon dioxide emissions could double by 2050 unless governments around the world engage in a “global energy technology revolution” to curb global warming emissions.

Southern Baptists Launch Skeptic Campaign to Derail Climate Legislation – Right-wing evangelicals launched a new campaign to attack urgently needed legislation to tackle climate change, calling for “a more biblical, fact-based approach” and urging lawmakers to remain “cautious of claims that our planet is in peril from speculative dangers like man-made global warming.” The campaign, spearheaded by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and endorsed by Focus on the Family’s James Dobson and Republican Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe, is another attempt to sully the legitimate concern among signatories of The Evangelical Climate Initiative, which calls for urgent federal action on climate change.

Extremists Pressure Catholic Bishops to Use Communion as Political Weapon – A radical arm of the pro-life movement attacked the Catholic Church this week. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered in Orlando for its bi-annual meeting, a group called the “Society for Truth and Justice” launched an ad campaign encouraging the bishops to deny Communion to “pro-abortion politicians,” and even to condemn Catholics who vote for those same politicians. Others planned a protest outside the bishops’ meeting on Friday.

Pentagon Instructed Guantanamo Interrogators to Destroy Evidence – A military defense lawyer says the Pentagon distributed a manual urging interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify. According to the attorney, the manual emphasized the importance of “keeping the number of documents with interrogation information to a minimum” in order to “minimize certain legal issues” in the event that interrogators were called to testify in trials regarding the treatment of Gitmo detainees.

Bush Administration is Holding Hostage $50 Billion of Iraq’s Money to Keep Iraq Under U.S. Control – The Bush Administration has a secret plan to keep the U.S. military in Iraq “indefinitely” after the U.N. security mandate authorizing the U.S. military presence in Iraq expires in December. The U.S. is “holding hostage some $50 billion of Iraq’s money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing” the plan, under which U.S. troops “would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law” for years to come.

Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors

America’s Prison for Terrorists Often Held the Wrong Men – An eight-month McClatchy investigation in 11 countries on three continents has found that — and, according to several officials, perhaps hundreds — whom the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments. Because the Bush administration set up Guantanamo under special rules that allowed indefinite detention without charges or federal court challenge, it’s impossible to know how many of the 770 men who’ve been held there were really terrorists. ( I suggest you read the entire article at the link above. – JLV)

Congressional Democrats in Dereliction of Duty – Congressional Democrats, in an act of dereliction of duty, chose to bury the 35 articles of impeachment introduced last week. It would be one thing if these Democrats thought the charges against Bush weren’t justified. Most of them believe that the president did indeed break the law, violated the Constitution and probably deserves to be impeached.

But they will not debate the issue because it doesn’t help their cause politically. They like the fact that Bush is president, that his blunders have killed his credibility and that of his party. But how do Democrats make the case that they stand for change and accountability when they fail so spectacularly to even discuss holding Bush accountable for anything?

Evangelicals Impersonate Army Officers – A church group called United States Operational Support Command (USOSC) is actually a private organization with a deceptively official sounding name. What’s different about the USOSC, and formerly the USSC, is that their members wear military uniforms and rank. This is not only deceptive. IT’S ILLEGAL! Title 10 of the U.S. Code strictly prohibits any person who isn’t a member of the armed forces from wearing “the uniform, or a distinctive part of the uniform, of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps” or “a uniform any part of which is similar to a distinctive part of the uniform of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps.” Apparently, the organization impersonates military chaplains in “A Worldwide Quest for the Souls of Men and Women in Uniform and their families.”

Conservative Radio Talk-Show Host Calls for Execution of Anti-War Activist – Michael Reagan, radio talk show host and son of late president Ronald Reagan, could be investigated by the FBI after he called for the execution of Mark Dice, anti-war activist and founder of media watchdog group The Resistance, on the air. We ought to find the people who are doing this,” Reagan said, “take ‘em out, and shoot ‘em. Really. Just find the people who are sending those letters…to demoralize our troops…they are traitors to this country…and shoot them. You have a problem with that? Deal with it. But anybody who would do that doesn’t deserve to live. You call them traitors–that’s what they are–and you shoot ‘em dead. I’ll pay for the bullet.”

Regards,

Jim

Here is what Obama said at noon on October 2, 2002, the same day and hour that President Bush and Congress announced their agreement on the joint resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq, but over a week before it was passed by either body of Congress.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world and strengthen the recruitment arm of al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.

Read the whole speech. Not only was Obama inexperienced, but he had not made a single trip to Iraq at the time.

Want experience? Pick Cheney or Rumsfeld. I’ll take good judgment, logic, and real morality.

Regards,

Jim

Republican Claim About Chinese Oil Drilling off Cuba is Untrue – As Congress has debated energy policy over the past several days, an unusual argument keeps surfacing in support of drilling off the U.S. coastline and in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Why, ask some Republicans, should the United States be thwarted from drilling in its own territory when just 50 miles off the Florida coastline the Chinese government is drilling for oil under Cuban leases? Yet no one can prove that the Chinese are drilling anywhere off Cuba’s shoreline. “China is not drilling in Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico waters, period,” said Jorge Pinon, an energy fellow with the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami and an expert in oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.

More Lies Target Obama – Obama told his top aides it was time for a more aggressive solution to the rumors that have been popping up on the Internet about him and his family for months. For more than a year, Obama relied on conventional means to confront the blogosphere’s superheated rumor mill—to little effect. The “fact-check” feature on his website, for instance, only seemed to spawn more, and wilder, rumors. A mention there of Obama’s birth certificate spurred National Review Online to demand that he produce it to dispel groundless reports that Obama was actually born in Kenya and therefore would be constitutionally ineligible to be President; that his middle name is not Hussein but Muhammad; and that his mother actually named him Barry. That National Review article in turn became fodder for cable television.

And so the Obama campaign has built what might best be described as a Web-based rumor clearinghouse, located at fightthesmears.com , in which it hopes all the shady stories about Obama’s faith, his family and his rumored connections with controversial figures can go to die. fightthesmears.com is designed to be a guided tour of other sensational rumors circulating on the Web about Obama and his family. Click on the claim that Obama attended a “radical madrasah,” for instance, and it takes you to a CNN feature on the very ordinary-looking elementary school he actually went to as a child in Indonesia. The rumor that Obama was sworn in to the U.S. Senate with the Koran yields a photo of him with his hand on a family Bible. Also featured are videos of Obama saying the Pledge of Allegiance, to combat claims that he refuses to. And, yes, the campaign has posted a .pdf of Obama’s birth certificate .

McCain Wrongly Claims That Low-Income People Drive More – McCain used this anecdote to explain why the gas tax is regressive:

The people that drive the furthest in America are the lowest income people. You spent enough time in Washington, D.C. to know that the wealthiest live in Georgetown and can almost walk to work. The least wealthy live the furthest away and drive many, many miles.

McCain is wrong when he claims repeatedly that low-income people drive more. McCain has been repeating this mistake for months, repeating the claim at various appearances. The truth is, affluent families drive twice as many miles as lower-income families. They own more vehicles and drive each of them farther on average. And they spend more than twice as much on gasoline. The source for these facts is the most recent survey data released the Energy Information Administration.

More Lies About Illegal Immigrants – Various rumors are making the rounds that use misleading statements to give the impression that illegal immigrants are receiving perks from taxpayers, when, in fact, they are not. One example is a letter from an anonymous teacher about illegal immigrants getting school grants: programs available to LEGAL immigrants who entered the country by legal means or have legal permanent resident status. But none of the programs are available to illegal immigrants.

McCain Would Welcome Dick Cheney Into His Administration – Asked whether he’d be interested in Cheney had the vice president not already have served under Bush for two terms, McCain said: “I don’t know if I would want him as vice president. He and I have the same strengths. But to serve in other capacities? Hell, yeah.”

McCain Misrepresents Obama’s Stand on Naming Revolutionary Guard as Terrorists – John McCain is attacking Barack Obama’s opposition to the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which (among other things) called for labeling Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. McCain claims that Obama’s opposition means that he also opposed calling the IRGC terrorists. But that is not true.

Obama cosponsored an earlier bill that also called for designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

The Kyl-Lieberman amendment did more than just label the IRGC terrorists. Obama stated at the time that he opposed the bill on the grounds that it constituted “saber-rattling.”

McCain claims that Obama must oppose calling the IRGC a terrorist group because Obama’s Web site doesn’t say anything about the IRGC. McCain’s argument is a glaring example of the logical fallacy of argumentum ad ignorantiam.

McCain’s Economic Theory is Full of Holes and It’s Not Even His Actual Plan -McCain’s big promise is that he can balance the budget while extending Bush’s tax cuts and adding a few of his own. He likes to leave the impression that this can be done painlessly, for example, by eliminating “wasteful” spending in the form of “earmarks” that lawmakers like to tuck into spending bills to finance home-state projects. Not only is this theory full of holes, it’s not even McCain’s actual plan.

McCain’s pronouncements on cutting spending, and even on the growth in the size of the federal government, are dubious at best:

McCain seems to say that he can save $100 billion by cutting out earmarks. But budget experts say that cutting earmarks would actually save very little. earmarks often simply tell agencies how to spend money that they are already getting. And questioned more closely, McCain’s campaign now says that his planned savings have nothing to do with eliminating earmarks. (But more recently, he’s talking about vetoing earmarks again. – JLV)

With earmarks out as a potential source of savings, McCain hasn’t said what he’d cut out of the discretionary budget to get to $100 billion. He’s even indicated that defense spending might increase. If defense spending is off the table, saving $100 billion would require 18.5 percent across-the-board cuts in every other discretionary program, including things like elementary and secondary education, veterans’ health benefits and highway construction. The alternative would be severe cuts in a few programs, as yet unnamed.

McCain says that “just in the last few years” the government has puffed up “by 40 percent, by trillions.” Actually, it has taken federal spending a decade to grow 40 percent, and even longer to grow by “trillions.” In inflation-adjusted dollars, federal spending is projected to come to $2.45 trillion in fiscal 2009, including $1.4 trillion for Social Security, Medicare, military spending and veterans programs. The last time the budget was “trillions” smaller was 1951.

McCain Wrong on Tax Cuts – McCain’s exaggerations and distortions on tax cuts include:

McCain says that eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax will save “more than 25 million middle-class families more than $2,000 every year.” But McCain’s “middle class” includes families making up to $200,000 per year, and the $2,000 figure is an average. Those earning more money will see the lion’s share of the savings. McCain also leaves out the fact that the proposal could cost as much as $1.6 trillion over 10 years.

By the measure most economists prefer, McCain is wrong in his claim that Sens. Clinton and Obama want to implement “the single largest tax increase since the Second World War;” it would be the fifth largest. At a more basic level, it’s misleading to tag Clinton and Obama for something that was scheduled during the Bush administration – the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, which by law will occur at the end of 2010.

McCain also repeats the mantra that cutting the capital gains tax rate will increase government receipts. In fact, rate cuts produce a spike in revenue, but it’s only temporary. McCain also falsely claims that higher capital gains tax rates will affect 401(k) plans.

McCain was the first to announce the now widely discredited proposal to suspend federal gas taxes. The proposal would not lower prices at the pump and would result in (effectively) an $8.5 billion windfall to oil companies.

Thousands With Incomes of Over $200,000 Pay No Income Tax – What are the effects of the tax law changes of the past several years? New IRS statistics show 7,389 federal tax returns with $200,000 or more in adjusted gross income reported no federal income taxes in 2005. That’s a 161% jump from the 2,833 comparable returns filed in 2004.

Additionally, 4,224 of the over-$200,000 earners reported no worldwide income tax liability on their 2005 returns, the IRS data show. That represents a 75% increase from the 2,420 comparable returns filed in 2004.

“My sense of it is that the people who introduce these provisions know exactly who is going to benefit,” said Howard Gleckman, a senior research associate at The Tax Policy Center.

McCain Admitted He Agrees with Bush on Issues – McCain has worked hard to dispel the perception that he would be an extension of the George Bush presidency. But McCain’s case is complicated by his own words from just three years ago. In a June 2005 appearance on Meet The Press:

TIM RUSSERT: “The fact is you are different than George Bush.”
SEN. McCAIN: “No. No. I-the fact is that I’m different but the fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I’ve been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.”

McCain Is Not Too Sharp on His Foreign Policy Expertise – McCain tells a crowd that he’s super qualified to be President due to his extensive foreign policy experience dealing with Vladimir Putin…the President of Germany. Missed it by just that much! Germany … Russia, they’re not that far apart … on a small map.

Strike on Iran Nuclear Sites Under Discussion Again – Six months ago, after American intelligence agencies declared that Iran had shelved its nuclear-weapons program, the chances of a U.S. or Israeli military strike on Iran before President Bush left office seemed remote. Now, thanks to persistent pressure from Israeli hawks and newly stated concerns by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the idea of a targeted strike meant to cripple Iran’s nuclear program is getting a new hearing.

As Bush travels across Europe to gain support for possible new sanctions against Iran, Israeli leaders have been working to lay the psychological foundation for a possible military strike if diplomacy falters. Possible repercussions could include missile strikes on Israel, an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, renewed attacks on Israel from Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, a resurgence of Shiite Muslim resistance to U.S. forces in Iraq or an attack on oil shipping in the Persian Gulf, which could send crude oil prices well above $200 a barrel.

Neocon Plan for the Middle East – “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” is the Neocon approach to solving Israel’s security problems in the Middle East with an emphasis on “Western values”. It has been criticized for advocating an aggressive new policy and advancing right-wing Zionism. The report proposes “a mini-cold war in the Middle East, advocating the use of proxy armies for regime changes, destabilization and containment. Among the recommendations made in the introduction are:

• A repudiation of the concept of “Land for Peace”
• Armed incursions into Palestinian areas under the rubric of the “right of hot pursuit”
• Armed incursions into Lebanon, and possible strikes against Syria and Iran

Fox News Calls Michelle Obama “Obama’s Baby Mama” – During a segment discussing conservative attacks against Michelle Obama, the wife of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, the network described the her as “Obama’s baby mama.” “Baby mama” is a slang term used to describe a mother who is not married to her child’s father.

Bill O’Reilly Calls Respected Journalist Bill Moyers a Fraud -On June 11th, O’Reilly said he is the journalist and Bill Moyers is a fraud. Look at their careers, and their journalism awards, then you be the judge. Bill Moyers has 46 national journalism awards, including 10 Peabodys, more than 30 Emmys, and 3 Polk awards. O’Reilly has 2 local Emmys from 28 years ago. [Tell Bill O’Reilly: Stop Pretending to be a Journalist]

Bill O’Reilly Compares The Left To Oklahoma Federal Building Bomber Timothy McVeigh – On the June 9th Radio Factor, Bill O’Reilly called the Far Left the greatest danger to the country, and once again claimed to be an Independent who didn’t have to excoriate the far right because “after Tim McVeigh and the Oklahoma bombing, the government put an end to militias.” In the past he has equated the Far Left with Nazis – “The Far Left in this country, the zealots, are Nazis.”

Here’s a list of O’Reilly’s sponsors you can contact:

Regards,

Jim

McCain’s Tax Plan: Super Big Tax Cuts For the Super-Rich; Poor People Get $19 – According to the Tax Policy Center’s findings, under McCain tax proposal, the average taxpayer in every income group would see a lower tax bill, but high-income taxpayers would benefit more (make that much, much more) than everyone else. Under McCain’s plan, a person with an income of $603,000 would see a decrease in taxes equal to 7.5% of their income, whereas a person making $19,000 would only see a decrease equal to 0.1% of their income (only $19). That’s small change the poor can’t believe in.

Compare that to Obama’s plan where people making below $66,000 get a much larger decrease in their taxes. For middle income people, both plans provide about the same tax decrease. Obama’s plan only increases taxes for those with incomes over $227,000, and then it’s only by $12 a year, until you make well over a half-million per year.

Obama would also introduce new tax breaks for lower and middle-income groups. Such breaks include expanding the earned income tax credit, giving those making less than $150,000 a $500 tax credit per person on the first $8,100 in income, giving those making under $75,000 a 50% federal match on the first $1,000 of savings, and exempting seniors making less than $50,000 from having to pay income tax. Hey, that’s dollars I can believe in.

McCain Says Bringing Troops Home From Iraq Not Too Important – Sen. John McCain appeared on the Today Show this morning and continued to promote his idea of a long occupation in Iraq. But whatever merits there may be for his message, his delivery is once again promising to get him into trouble. When asked if he knew when American troops could start to return home, McCain responded, “No, but that’s not too important. What’s important is the casualties in Iraq.”

McCain Admits He Doesn’t Know How to Use a Computer – McCain doesn’t know Sunni from Shia, doesn’t know what group in Iraq the Iranians are helping, admits he doesn’t know much about economics, and now tells us he can’t use a computer. Is this the guy for the 21st century? But I bet he’s great with a mule team!

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Supports Reopening Polluting Copper Smelting Operation – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recently voted to overrule a 2005 finding by two administrative law judges who, after lengthy hearings, recommended denying a permit by mining company Asarco to reopen a copper smelting operation in El Paso that has been mothballed since 1992. The judges ruled the smelter would pollute the air. El Paso city government is against it, as is the environmental agency of neighboring New Mexico.

$23 Billion in War Profiteering in Iraq – For the first time, the extent to which some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding has been researched by the BBC’s Panorama using US and Iraqi government sources. A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations. The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies. While George Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.

To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq. Henry Waxman who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said: “The money that’s gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, its egregious. It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history.”

More Right-Wing Talkers on Fox News – Struggling to hold on to viewers in an early-evening time slot, Fox News has decided to give controversial right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham a trial run hosting a new show. Ingraham has had her fair share of foot-in-mouth fiascoes. Press watchdog Media Matters for America has called out Ingraham more than two dozen times. In one of her most famous incidents, on Election Day 2006, Ingraham encouraged listeners to jam the phone line of a toll-free Democratic Party service for reporting voting problems.

Bill O’Reilly Claims Media Reform Proponents Are Fascists, Loons, and a Danger to the Country – Black is white. Up is down. And it’s those calling for media reform who are “fascists” and “pose a danger” to this country according to Fox “News” entertainer clown Bill O’Reilly. Yes, that’s what he claimed during the coverage of last weekend’s National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis. O’Reilly was able to find two “Fair and Balanced” guests, rightwing pawn Mary Katherine Hamm and Fox’s own “non-Rightwinger” Juan Williams (who has, clearly, enjoyed his fill of delicious Republicanist-flavored Fox “News” kool-aid over the years) to agree with him.

And what do these dangerous media reformers want? “Diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications.” They are asking for journalism — a craft the founders saw fit to put in the Constitution. That aspiration stands squarely in the best tradition of American freedom.

As Expected, O’Reilly Only Shows Heavily Edited Footage of O’Reilly’s Ambush of Bill Moyers – Remember Bill Moyers’ deft handling of Bill O’Reilly ambush producer Porter Barry? I couldn’t wait to see how Billo would use the footage, knowing full well that he’d never allow the unedited version on his show to prove how superior Bill Moyers is–professionally, morally, graciousness, and in all other ways–to the whole of the FOXNews empire. In fact, for fun, look at the comparison of coverage of this tête-à-tête between Billo and Olbermann:

Fox News’ John Gibson Tells Black Caller, “You just like [Obama] because he’s like you” – On his Fox News Radio show Friday, John Gibson told a caller — who had not identified himself as an African American — that he only liked Barack Obama “because he’s like you and you want to see one of you up there.” This is just another in a long-series of inflammatory remarks by Gibson, who lost his Fox News TV show earlier this year. Last month, he mocked Rachel Maddow’s sexuality on air and in January mocked the death of actor Heath Ledger.

FEMA Gave Away $85 Million of Supplies Meant for Katrina Victims – FEMA gave away about $85 million in household goods meant for Hurricane Katrina victims. The material, from basic kitchen goods to sleeping necessities, sat in warehouses for two years before the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s giveaway to federal and state agencies this year. Photos from one of the facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, show pallet after pallet of cots, cleansers, first-aid kits, coffee makers, camp stoves and other items stacked to the ceiling. Martha Kegel, the head of a New Orleans nonprofit agency that helps find homes for those still displaced by the storm, said she was shocked to learn about the existence of the goods and the government giveaway. “These are exactly the items that we are desperately seeking donations of right now: basic kitchen household supplies,” said Kegel, executive director of Unity of Greater New Orleans.

James McIntyre, FEMA’s acting press secretary, said that FEMA was spending more than $1 million a year to store the material and that another agency wanted the warehouses torn down, so “we needed to vacate them.” He declined a request for an on-camera interview, telling CNN the giveaway was “not news.” (How much of those supplies could be needed this hurricane season? – JLV)

Member of Obama’s Campaign Team Got a Good Deal on His Mortgage Because of Friendship with Lender CEO – A key member of Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential search team, Jim Johnson, is stepping down after criticism over a mortgage he received, the Obama campaign said Wednesday. Johnson received a good deal on a mortgage from Countrywide because of his friendship with Angelo Mozilo, the company’s CEO. Obama has criticized Countrywide in connection with the subprime mortgage crisis.

97-Year-Old Woman Becomes Casualty in the Voter ID Battle – In 2004, Arizona passed one of the nation’s strictest voter ID laws, requiring proof of citizenship to vote. Now a 97 year old woman who recently moved to the Phoenix area finds she is no longer eligible to cast a ballot. “It’s my constitutional right to be able to vote,” insists Shirley Preiss. Decked out in a US flag hat and shirt, Preiss told News 5, “I’m a legal American. I’m born here.”

She was born at home in Clinton, Kentucky in 1910, before women had the right to vote, and never had a birth certificate. Shirley has voted in every presidential election since FDR first ran in 1932, and proudly describes herself as a ‘died-in-the-wool Democrat.’ After living in Arizona for two years, she was eagerly looking forward to casting her ballot in the February primary for the first major woman candidate for President, Hillary Clinton. But lacking a birth certificate or even elementary school records to prove she’s a native-born American citizen, the state of Arizona’s bureaucrats determined that this former school-teacher who taught generations of Americans shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

After Indiana Voter ID Ruling, Missouri Rushes to Pass Worst Voting Law – Missouri’s Republican-controlled legislature is rushing to pass one of the country’s most draconian voter ID requirements less than two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s similarly restrictive photo ID law — a law that’s best known for serving as a vital bulwark against nuns voting. There’s a good reason that the Republicans are moving so quickly to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that could thwart at least 240,000 Missouri citizens from voting in November. The state is a presidential battleground state where recent gubernatorial and Senate races have been decided by margins as little as 21,000 votes.

There hasn’t been a single proven case of voter impersonation at the polls in the state’s history. And based on the experience of Arizona, between seven and 30 percent of citizens lack the citizenship documentation needed to register to vote.

Dick Cheney in Transition for New Job – Look under “Services” section.

Regards,

Jim

Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.

Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent, Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.

Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.

Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.

Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.

Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.

Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.

Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources

Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries

Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Imprisoning Children

Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Creating Secret Laws

Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

Sound like grounds for impeachment? It is!
Read the very detailed details of each bad deed.

A Three Part Summary

Regards,

Jim

Justice Department Gives Grant Money to Programs Having Political, Social or Religious Connections to the Bush White House – The Justice Department gave a $500,000 federal grant to the World Golf Foundation’s First Tee program, even though Justice Department staffers had rated the program 47th on a list of 104 applicants. The honorary chairman of the First Tee program is former President George Bush. Many top-rated programs were denied federal grants. Current and former Justice Department employees allege that the staff rankings were ignored in favor of programs that had political, social or religious connections to the Bush White House. A Washington, D.C. program, Best Friends, that promotes sexual abstinence was awarded $1.1 million even though it ranked 53rd on a list of 104 applicants. Best Friends is run by Elayne Bennett, the wife of Bill Bennett, a former Republican cabinet member and now political commentator.

Conservative Adman Sets Up Attack Web Site Aimed at Obama – Conservative activist Floyd G. Brown, who had a hand in the 1988 “Willie Horton” attack ad, produced a TV ad accusing Barack Obama of being “weak” on Chicago gang killers in 2001 and suggesting he’d be weak on terrorism, too. Brown bases the claim on Obama’s vote against a bill to make gang killers automatically eligible for the death penalty.

The author of that very bill says the ad is a “tasteless and reprehensible misrepresentation” of Obama’s stand. She further says, “The ad completely mischaracterizes Senator Obama’s position against ruthless criminals and attempts to paint him as weak on crime, when I know that to be the furthest thing from the truth.”

This same Republican operative has now set up a web site for the purpose of creating vivid multimedia content, including cartoons, animations, stories, jokes, illustrations and movies, all for the purpose of smearing Obama’s religious and political leanings. The backers of the site have bragged that that this underground peer-to-peer advertising campaign falls outside of the boundaries of the law, and so won’t have to abide by the rules that prohibit political action committees from certain kinds of activities.

“Reprehensible Misrepresentation”

McCain Pledges to Send Unlimited Troops to Iraq – On NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams asks John Bush McCain about Iraq. “Will your support be there for however many U.S. troops are required?” McCain answers emphatically: “Yes.” In other words, John McCain isn’t going to change a single thing on Iraq — it’s just going to be four more years of George W. Bush.

At Fundraiser Attended by Lobbyists, McCain Mocks Anti-Lobbyist Sentiment – John McCain, surrounded by lobbyists at a fundraiser on June 9, said, “I’m gonna thank some corrupt unscrupulous lobbyists that are destroying America as we speak, everything we stand for and believe in,” McCain said, which got the crowd laughing. “You can’t even eat a piece of apple pie any more without being corrupted.”

Videotape Shows McCain Doesn’t Know What He Said – John McCain told Newsweek that he did not deliver a portion from the prepared text of his speech last Tuesday chiding the media for not giving Hillary Clinton her due. Asked about this statement in an interview last week with Newsweek’s Holly Bailey and Jon Meacham, McCain interjected, “I did not [say that] — that was in prepared remarks, and I did not [say it] — I’m not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage.”

But video from McCain’s address shows him giving the line as written. “The media often overlooked how compassionately she spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans,” McCain said in a nationally broadcast speech in Kenner, La. “And she deserves a lot more appreciation than she sometime received.”

Fox News Ambushes Bill Moyers– At the National Conference for Media Reform 2008, a producer for FOX’s The O’Reilly Factor, Porter Barry, ambushes PBS’s Bill Moyers and peppers him with questions regarding his political affiliations and his “refusal” to appear on O’Reilly’s show. Moyers disputes FOX’s “facts” for the record and asks to interview someone at The O’Reilly Factor about Rupert Murdoch and the show’s coverage during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. The journalist crowd then reacts, chasing down Barry and intentionally giving him a dose of FOX-style bullying reportage. I recommend that you watch the entire video.

Fox News Calls Obama Fist Bump a “Terrorist Jab” – Fox News Calls the fist bump that Barack Obama and his wife Michelle exchanged at his speech claiming the Democratic presidential nomination a “terrorist jab.”

The Swift-Boaters Are Back – Regnery Publishing, which in 2004 released “Unfit for Command,” the attack book against Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, just announced two books for August: David Freddoso’s “The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate,” and Thomas Blood’s “The Clinton Collapse: How Bill Clinton Lost Hillary Her ‘Sure Thing’ Nomination (And Might Even Make Obama Lose Too).”

Republicans Block Tax on Unreasonable Windfall Profits – Senate Republicans blocked a proposal Tuesday to tax the windfall profits of the largest oil companies, despite pleas by Democratic leaders to use the measure to address America’s anger over $4 a gallon gasoline. The Democratic energy package would have imposed a tax on any “unreasonable” profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies and given the federal government more power to address oil market speculation that the bill’s supporters argue has added to the crude oil price surge. The oil companies could have avoided the tax if they invested the money in alternative energy projects or refinery expansion.

The legislation also would have:

• Required traders to put up more collateral in the energy futures markets and open the way for federal regulation of traders who are based in the United States but use foreign trading platforms. The measures are designed to reduce market speculation.
• Made oil and gas price gouging a federal crime, with stiff penalties of up to $5 million during a presidentially declared energy emergency.
• Authorized the Justice Department to bring charges of price fixing against countries that belong to the OPEC oil cartel.

McCain Panders to Small Business Owners on Estate Tax – On Tuesday, John McCain spoke to small business owners where he described the estate tax as “one of the most unfair” in the entire tax code. But in a June 8, 2006 speech from the Senate floor, McCain said he has “consistently voted against repealing this tax.” During that debate, McCain argued that the cap for triggering the estate tax should be raised to $5 million. And on a June 12, 2002 Senate floor speech, McCain was already suspicious of the idea, floated by some estate tax opponents, that the tax was bedeviling small business owners — precisely the crowd targeted in his remarks on Tuesday.

McCain often suggests that voters should look to his record in order to reach a judgment about his fitness to lead. A close look at his record on the estate tax — a record of statements that affirms its underlying morality and debunks any danger it poses to modest family businesses — brings to mind pandering more than it does the maverick persona McCain would prefer to promote.

Regards,

Jim

Why John McCain Got a New Wife – McCain likes [to] demonstrate his commitment to family values by paying warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy.

But there is another Mrs. McCain who was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.

But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife, Carol. had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter. Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self. Today, she stands at just 5ft-4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

When McCain – his hair turned prematurely white and his body reduced to little more than a skeleton – was released in March 1973, he told reporters he was overjoyed to see Carol again. But friends say privately he was ‘appalled’ by the change in her appearance. At first, though, he was kind, assuring her: ‘I don’t look so good myself. It’s fine.’

McCains’ marriage had begun to fray. ‘John started carousing and running around with women,’ said Robert Timberg. McCain has acknowledged that he had girlfriends during this time, without going into details. Some friends blame his dissatisfaction with Carol, but others give some credence to Carol’s theory of a mid-life crisis.

In 1979 – while still married to Carol – he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit. When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better. This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’

McCain is Getting $58,000 per Year in Government Disability Income – John McCain, who is refusing to vote for the GI Bill for our troops because “it’s too generous,” is himself getting $58,000 a year, tax-free, from the US government for his military service. McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said Monday night that McCain was technically disabled. “Tortured for his country — that is how he acquired his disability,” Salter said.

Technically? What does that mean? After returning to the U. S. from Vietnam, McCain recuperated to the point where he passed his flight physical and had his flight status reinstated.

Republican Senator Agrees That John McCain’s Policies Are Similar to Bush’s – On ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos asked Republican Senator Lindsey Graham if McCain’s tax and healthcare policies are essentially “an extension or maybe an enhancement of the Bush policies.” Senator Graham answered, “Yeah, absolutely.”

Regards,

Jim