The WAWG Blog

The following stories, which touch on things that can have a real impact on our future, cannot generally be found easily in the “popular” media. Not on CNN, CBS, ABC, and certainly not on Fox News. But we can get Rev. Wright, the bitter remark and flag lapel pins 24 hours a day on multiple channels.

McCain’s Promises Would Cost Billions But He’s Vague on How He’d Pay for Them – McCain is handing out a campaign grab bag of goodies. There are little treats like a summer gas-tax holiday and new mortgages for struggling homeowners, and there are big plums like tax breaks for corporations and families with children. McCain has pledged to balance the federal budget, although he has backed off an earlier promise to do so in his first term and now says he would do it within eight years. McCain has proposed two business tax breaks, a credit for research and first-year expensing of equipment; his campaign says they essentially would cost nothing, but the Treasury Department has estimated they could cost more than $140 billion annually. McCain’s tax cuts would be double the size of President Bush’s. (And we all know how well that’s worked for our country.)

McCain is Against Wasteful “Earmark” Spending, But Doesn’t Know Which Ones are Wasteful – McCain criticizes “earmarks,” pet projects tucked into spending bills. He said Wednesday that the bridge collapse in Minnesota last year would not have happened if Congress had not wasted so much money on pork-barrel spending, despite the suspicion of federal investigators that the problem may have been design-related, not spending-related.

He also won’t list which “earmarks” are wasteful because there are more than 9,000 of them. “How could I possibly?” he said Wednesday. “Are you crazy?” Even the earmarks he rails against include things he supports, such as aid to Israel. Last month, after McCain promised to eliminate all earmarks as part of his economic plan, his campaign said he remains committed to aid for Israel. Thus, the reality of cutting spending may be very different from rhetoric, as McCain has found time and again.

On a swing through Alabama’s rural Black Belt last week, McCain rode a ferry boat from tiny Gee’s Bend, a town once cut off from ferry service to keep black residents from crossing the Alabama River to push for civil rights. McCain rode across the river with several elderly black women, quilt makers from Gee’s Bend, who sang gospel hymns and held his hands. McCain even took a turn driving the ferry just before it docked. The ferry came into existence with $3 million in earmarks — the kind of spending McCain says he would stop.

McCain on Health Care (Or Lack of, for Us) – On May 1, John McCain sent out an e-mail about his health care plan that start out with the phrase, “My friends.” A good rule of thumb: When John McCain says “my friends,” start looking for a bomb shelter. Another good rule of thumb when McCain utters this trite phrase: Dishonesty is about to morph into full scale hypocrisy.

Here is a man who has been on government healthcare his entire life (daddy was an Admiral) — all seven decades — who dares deride it by saying, “Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation’s problems can be solved by turning control over to our government….”

No, only his own healthcare is worthy of that.

In case you missed McCain’s position: Government healthcare is good enough to pay his hospital bills — with your “taxes” to quote him — but it is not good enough for the rest of us — oh and by the way, he ends his e-mail by asking for “a contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,300.” That means a lot coming from a guy who enjoys lounging at 8 different houses on his wife’s inherited dime, and laughably calls other candidates “elitist.”

The McCain Health Plan: Millions Lose Coverage, Health Costs Worsen, and Insurance and Drug Industries Win – McCain wants voters to think he is going after health care cost inflation. In reality, he wants to dismantle the employer-provided system that now covers over 60 percent (or about 158 million) of non-elderly Americans, forcing millions of us who now get fairly decent health insurance on the job to instead buy whatever they can find on the individual market controlled by unregulated and predatory insurance companies. And he would drive health care costs upward, not downward.

McCain’s Temper, Just What We Don’t Need in Today’s World on Edge … – It is unclear precisely what issue set off McCain that day. But at some point, he mocked Grassley to his face and used a profanity to describe him. Grassley stood and, according to two participants at the meeting, told McCain, “I don’t have to take this. I think you should apologize.” McCain refused and stood to face Grassley. “There was some shouting and shoving between them, but no punches,” recalls a spectator, who said that Nebraska Democrat Bob Kerrey helped break up the altercation. Former senator Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican, expresses worries about McCain: “His temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, it should disqualify him.”

McCain Avoids Audience Question About Another Instance of His Temper – A member of the audience asked McCain during a candidate forum about a rumor that McCain had once used a profane word to describe his wife. Here’s a transcript of the remarks:

PARRISH: This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I’ve been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a (expletive)?

MCCAIN: Now, now. You don’t want to … Um, you know that’s the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don’t, there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language. So I’ll move on to the next questioner in the back.

“This is about character,” Parrish said, when reached by telephone afterward. “And in a moment of intemperance, he called his wife the most despicable name a person can call a woman. Parrish was escorted from the event and questioned by Secret Service, but not charged.

How John McCain Uses False Bipartisanship to Serve His Own Purpose – When the president of Common Cause, a non-partisan group devoted to open government, saw the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law had too many loopholes, McCain tried to have her removed from her office. One of the witnesses of this event, Mark Schmitt, says the following about it:

“This is where I lost my admiration for McCain. And as I’ve watched McCain’s modus operandi on other issues, such as the torture legislation, I’ve continued to see echoes of the Common Cause episode: Corner the market on bipartisanship. Move to claim the position of bipartisan intermediary, and then use that position ruthlessly to serve his own purposes or sell out his allies, because they are dependent on the reality or perception of bipartisanship. As a study in the art of exercising power, it’s quite impressive. Until people see through it.”

The Preacher Problem That Can Kill Us – If you’re following America’s electoral theater at all, you know that we have a candidate with a preacher problem. And that the candidate in question has been put in the uncomfortable position of having to repudiate some of said preacher’s remarks (while not alienating those voters in the flock who actually, you know, agree with what the Reverend was saying).

Of course, I’m talking about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama. Errr, wait … that’s not right. That’s not who I’m talking about at all. No, I’m talking about the Rev. John Hagee and His Maverickness, John Dubya McCain.

The relationship between McCain and Hagee only gets mentioned in the press only 8% as much as the relationship between Obama and Wright. But there’s two differences: Hagee is looking forward to the end of the world, and McCain welcomes his endorsement. Oh, great, hot-tempered McCain’s finger is on the red button and Hagee is on the other end of the phone at 3 am!

Another McCain Supporting Preacher Who Thinks We Should be Destroying Things – Most media outlets are yet to report on the comments of another McCain supporter, World Harvest Church senior pastor Rod Parsley, who has written of Islam: “The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed.”

The Media Ignores the Pentagon Propaganda Scandal – On April 20th, the New York Times published its expose of the Bush administration’s use of Pentagon-approved, prepped, and financially-enriched “military analysts” to appear on TV to help sell the invasion of Iraq, and then put a positive spin on the occupation — even as conditions on the ground deteriorated. It was a powerful illustration of the Bush administration’s commitment to propaganda and disinformation. But it was also a damning indictment of the mainstream media’s complicity in the wholesale deception of the American public on the single most important decision a country can make — the decision to go to war.

How big a story was it? John Stauber of the Center for Media and Democracy called it the Pentagon Papers of the Iraq war. So it only stands to reason that a story this explosive would quickly become the subject of extensive follow-ups by TV and print journalists, and endless debate on the political talk shows, right?

Wrong. Instead of opening their reportorial and analytical floodgates, the mainstream news media have all but ignored the story.

How the Media Gushed When the Mission Accomplished Banner was Hoisted Five Years Ago – On May 1, 2003, Richard Perle [a neocon] advised, in a USA Today Op-Ed, “Relax, Celebrate Victory.” The same day, exactly five years ago, President Bush, dressed in a flight suit, landed on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq — with the now-infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner arrayed behind him in the war’s greatest photo op.

Chris Matthews on MSNBC called Bush a “hero” and boomed, “He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics.” He added: “Women like a guy who’s president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It’s simple.” PBS’ Gwen Ifill said Bush was “part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan.” On NBC, Brian Williams gushed, “The pictures were beautiful. It was quite something to see the first-ever American president on a — on a carrier landing.”

Bob Schieffer on CBS said: “As far as I’m concerned, that was one of the great pictures of all time.” His guest, Joe Klein, responded: “Well, that was probably the coolest presidential image since Bill Pullman played the jet fighter pilot in the movie Independence Day. That was the first thing that came to mind for me.” Everyone agreed the Democrats and antiwar critics were now on the run.

One newspaper — it happens to be The New York Times — covered the Bush declaration and its immediate aftermath. One snippet: “The Bush administration is planning to withdraw most United States combat forces from Iraq over the next several months and wants to shrink the American military presence to less than two divisions by the fall, senior allied officials said today.”

What Happened in Iraq, According to General Ricardo Sanchez, the Commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq in 2003-2004 – The original operational concept that had been prepared by CENTCOM (led by Gen. Franks) before the invasion of Iraq was launched included Phase IV (after combat action) operation that would last twelve to eighteen months. The concept was briefed up to the highest levels of the U.S. government, including the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the President of the United States.

But then CENTCOM had completely walked away by simply stating that the war was over and Phase IV was not their job. Victory parades were planned. That decision set up the United States for a failed first year in Iraq. There is no question about it. And I was supposed to believe that neither the Secretary of Defense nor anybody above him knew anything about it? Impossible! Rumsfeld knew about it. Everybody on the NSC knew about it, including Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet, and Colin Powell. Vice President Cheney knew about it. And President Bush knew about it.

There’s not a doubt in my mind that they all embraced this decision to some degree. And if it had not been for the moral courage of Gen. John Abizaid to stand up to them all and reverse Franks’ troop drawdown order, there’s no telling how much more damage would have been done.

In the meantime, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty.

What the Media Covers About McCain, and What They Forget – The media gave widespread coverage that, yesterday, John McCain went out of his way to say that President Bush shouldn’t be criticized for posting the “Mission Accomplished” banner. But they did not make the comparison to the other story of the day where the Whitehouse disagreed with McCain and took responsibility for the banner. The media also forgot what McCain said on Fox News in 2003:

NEIL CAVUTO (host): “Senator — after a conflict means after the conflict, and many argue the conflict isn’t over.”
McCAIN: “Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier? Look, the — I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict — the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished, and it’s very appropriate.”

Chris Matthews’ Demeaning Comments – Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a “she devil” and compared her to a “strip-teaser.” He has called her “witchy” and likened her voice to “fingernails on a blackboard.” He has referred to men who support her as “castratos in the eunuch chorus.” He has suggested Clinton is not “a convincing mom” and said “modern women” like Clinton are unacceptable to “Midwest guys.” He has called her “Madame Defarge” and “Nurse Ratched.”

CNN: We Ignore a Lot, But We Make Sure to Have Ann Coulter On – Ann Coulter’s newest round of pundit appearances included going on CNN to call millions of Americans “traitors” and suggest that Sen. Barack Obama is a covert terrorist assassin. What did Ann Coulter do this week to earn this right to appear on the most trusted name in news? She published a weekly syndicated column laced with violent-rhetoric in which she suggested that an Obama Presidency would result in the destruction of the U.S. by terrorists and–she joked about lynching Africa-Americans.

Are you just a bit disgusted yet? Will the media treat McCain like they did Iraq? McCain (Iraq) is all so wonderful until we’re in a mess, but they’ll just ignore it until that happens. It won’t change until we tell the media and their sponsors that we want real news, not soap opera.

Regards,

Jim

U.S. Has Nelson Mandela on Terrorist List – Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation “embarrassing,” and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

Iraq’s Top Reconstruction Project Failing, Audit Says – Iraq’s Nassriya Water Treatment Plant, the country’s largest reconstruction project, is a failure so far because it isn’t delivering sufficient water to enough people, a new audit says. Inspectors in December and again in February found the U.S.-funded plant 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of Baghdad was operating at only 20 percent capacity, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said in a report released today. “Potable water is only reaching a fraction of the Iraqi people for which it was designed and intended,” Inspector General Stuart Bowen said. Two of the intended five cities, Ad Diwayah and Suq Al Shoyokh, weren’t receiving water, he wrote.

Pastor John Hagee wrote, “As a nation, America is under the curse of God, even now” And John McCain said of Hagee, “I’m glad to have his endorsement.”

Break-ins Plague Political Prosecution Targets of US Attorneys – In two states where US attorneys are already under fire for serious allegations of political prosecutions, seven people associated with three federal cases have experienced 10 suspicious incidents including break-ins and arson. These crimes raise serious questions about possible use of deliberate intimidation tactics not only because of who the victims are and the already wide criticism of the prosecutions to begin with, but also because of the suspicious nature of each incident individually as well as the pattern collectively. Typically burglars do not break-into an office or private residence only to rummage through documents, for example, as is the case with most of the burglaries in these two federal cases.

In Alabama, for instance, the home of former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman was burglarized twice during the period of his first indictment. Nothing of value was taken, however, and according to the Siegelman family, the only items of interest to the burglars were the files in Siegelman’s home office. Siegelman’s attorney experienced the same type of break-in at her office.

In neighboring Mississippi, a case brought against a trial lawyer and three judges raises even more disturbing questions. Of the four individuals in the same case, three of the US Attorney’s targets were the victims of crimes during their indictment or trial. This case, like that of Governor Siegelman, has been widely criticized as a politically motivated prosecution by a Bush US Attorney.

U.S. Military Kills Man Believed to be the Head of al-Qaida in Somalia – (Maybe this is not a bad deed, but a stupid one. JLV) The U.S. military killed a man believed to be the head of al-Qaida in Somalia and 10 others in an airstrike overnight, an Islamic insurgent group said Thursday. (Here comes the possibly stupid part.) The attack comes just before U.N.-sponsored peace talks are due to begin in Djibouti on May 10. Analysts say the strike is likely to harden extremists and make it more difficult to appeal to moderate elements in the Islamist movement, which contains many clan members, businessmen and members of the Somali Diaspora. Iise Ali Geedi, an analyst at the Somali University, says the attacks will increase anti-American sentiment. The attack may also weaken the position of the prime minister, who wishes to bring more militant elements into the talks against the wishes of the president.

Al-Qaida Regaining Strength (Heck’ev a job, Neocons!) – Al-Qaida has rebuilt some of its pre-Sept. 11 capabilities from remote hiding places in Pakistan, leading to a major spike in attacks last year in that country and neighboring Afghanistan, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Attacks in Pakistan more than doubled from 375 to 887 between 2006 and 2007, and the number of fatalities jumped by almost 300 percent from 335 to 1,335, the State Department said in its annual terrorism report. In Afghanistan, the number of attacks rose 16 percent, to 1,127 incidents last year, killing 1,966 people, 55 percent more than the 1,257 who died in 2006, it said.

White House Still Spinning “Mission Accomplished” Banner – White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Wednesday, “President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said ‘mission accomplished’ for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission. And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year.” (Maybe this year, the press will just play up what Dana said.)

John McCain Is Good at Being Vague – Yesterday when John McCain unveiled his healthcare proposal, he was asked about those who either can’t afford or can’t qualify for private insurance. McCain proposed that the federal government “work with” states to cover those who would get left behind. What does “work with” mean? No one has any idea.

McCain is a candidate who’s running on a powerful personal story, but whose understanding of policy details is almost Bush-like. Last year, for example, McCain explained his position on Iraqi reconciliation this way: “One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, ‘Stop the bullshit.’” This is what passes for “policy specifics” in John McCain World.

Jonathan Chait added, “McCain takes a strong interest in foreign policy, to be sure, but his main public appeal has been to endless remind voters of his history as a POW. On economics, he’s repeatedly admitted that he knows very little. And on social issues, he doesn’t even know what his own positions are.”

Republicans Block Ledbetter Fair Pay Act – A key bill that will restore the rights of average Americans to sue for pay discrimination was blocked from debate in the Senate. “Today’s cloture vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act is not fair. There is no excuse to let companies get away with purposely lightening paychecks because of a worker’s gender, race or age,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Regards,

Jim

North Carolina Robo Calls Target Black Households With Bogus Voting Registration Information – African-American households are receiving anonymous robo-calls from “Lamont Williams” with misleading information about voting. Those calls are very similar to tactics recently used in Virginia and Ohio, suggesting they may be linked to a national voter deception strategy. In one version of the North Carolina call, the caller falsely states that voters must send in a “voter registration packet” before voting. Voters in Virginia received calls with the same message before that state’s Feb. 12 primaries. And in Ohio, this “Lamont Williams” turned up in calls to voters there.

Brian Williams Says Do What I Say, Not as I Do – On April 28th, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams (in a post titled “What Times Is It?”) took The New York Times to task for publishing non-serious news rather than featuring the important issues. Then that very night, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams allotted only eighty seconds to that day’s momentous Supreme Court ruling that there’s nothing unconstitutional with Indiana’s law requiring a photo ID to vote. Meanwhile, during the same broadcast, it spent over two minutes on the concern caused by photos of teen star Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair.

San Diego Republican Party Chairman Co-founded International Piracy Ring – San Diego Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric is the co-founder of Fairlight, a band of software crackers which later evolved into an international video and software piracy group that law enforcement authorities say is among the world’s largest such crime rings. After co-founding Fairlight in Sweden, Krvaric established U.S. operations for the organization, including an arm headquartered in Southern California—a major center for the computer and video game industry.

US Troop Deaths Hit 7-Month High in Iraq – The American death toll in Iraq for April is up to 47, making it the deadliest month since September. But remember that Bush and McCain say that things are getting better.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo Suggests That Brownsville Can Be on the Mexican Side of the Border Fence – Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado dismissed residents’ concerns that the effort to build 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border by year’s end would damage the environment and destroy a centuries-old bond between residents on both sides of the Rio Grande. Late in the five-hour hearing, Tancredo returned to a comment made earlier by panelist Betty Perez, a rancher and local activist. Perez said, “It really isn’t a border to most of us who live down here.” Tancredo dismissed Perez’s remarks as a “multiculturalist attitude toward borders.” As jeers rose, Tancredo added, “I suggest that you build this fence around the northern part of your city.”

McCain Has No Straight-Talk on His Personal Finances – Aside from a Wachovia checking account, in which he keeps between $15,000 and $50,000, all of the couple’s assets are in Cindy’s name. John McCain’s tax return is so anemic, so marginal to the couple’s actual financial situation, that he doesn’t even take a deduction for interest on his home mortgage. Presumably Cindy does, since disclosure forms indicate that she has several mortgages. McCain released his tax return, but not his wife’s. WHAT THE CANDIDATE’S INVESTING STRATEGY REVEALS ABOUT HIS CHARACTER.

Regards,

Jim

John McCain’s Foreign Policy: Restart the Cold War – On March 26, McCain gave a speech on foreign policy in Los Angeles that was billed as his most comprehensive statement on the subject. It contained within it the most radical idea put forward by a major candidate for the presidency in 25 years. Yet almost no one noticed. In his speech McCain proposed that the United States expel Russia from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries. Moscow was included in this body in the 1990s to recognize and reward it for peacefully ending the cold war on Western terms, dismantling the Soviet empire and withdrawing from large chunks of the old Russian Empire as well. McCain also proposed that the United States should expand the G8 by taking in India and Brazil—but pointedly excluded China from the councils of power. … The neoconservative vision within the speech is essentially an affirmation of ideology. Not only does it declare war on Russia and China, it places the United States in active opposition to all nondemocracies.

John McCain Frequently Used Loophole to Fly Wife’s Jet for Little Cost – Given Senator John McCain’s signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. The law, which requires campaigns to pay charter rates when using such jets rather than cheaper first-class fares, was intended to reduce the influence of lobbyists and create a level financial playing field. But over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.

The senator was able to fly so inexpensively because the law specifically exempts aircraft owned by a candidate or his family or by a privately held company they control.

Last summer, just before starting to use his wife’s plane, Mr. McCain was quoted in a newspaper report as saying that he did not plan to tap her substantial wealth to keep his bid for the Republican presidential nomination going. “I have never thought about it,” Mr. McCain was quoted by The Arizona Republic as saying at a July appearance. “I would never do such a thing, so I wouldn’t know what the legalities are.”

Hundreds of U.S.-Funded Reconstruction Contracts in Iraq Terminated, but We Paid for Them – A report from the Inspector General in charge of overseeing Iraq reconstruction that details the scores of projects left unfinished and millions of dollars wasted. Hundreds of reconstruction contracts in Iraq have been terminated for the U.S. government convenience or due to the contractor’s default, said a U.S. audit report released on Monday. The report by the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction (SIGIR) said approximately 42.23 billion U.S. dollars has been appropriated for Iraq reconstruction activities since 2003, with 35.3 billion out of it obligated as of January 2008. “Rebuilding Iraq is a U.S. national security and foreign policy priority, and constitutes the largest U.S. assistance program since the Second World War,” it said.

However, among 47,321 projects accounted, nearly 855 reconstruction contracts or task orders under individual contracts have been terminated as of March 20, according to the report. It said 743 contracts were terminated for the U.S. government convenience, meaning “it has the right to cancel work under a contract whenever it determines that cancellation is in its best interest.”

The Bush Administration Redefines Solitary Confinement – From John McCain’s Faith of My Fathers, discussing his imprisonment by the North Vietnamese:

It’s an awful thing, solitary. It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than any other form of mistreatment…. There is little doubt that solitary confinement causes some mental deterioration in even the most resilient of personalities…. Through flashed hand signals when we were moved about, tap codes on the wall, notes hidden in washroom drains, and holding out enamel drinking cups up to the wall with our shirts wrapped around them and speaking through them, we were able to communicate with one another.

The government’s argument that Gitmo detainees imprisoned in isolation are not in solitary confinement, according to the New York Times: “The prosecutors argued that the way that Mr. Hamdan was being held did not constitute solitary confinement in part because “detainees can communicate through the walls.”

So. Either John McCain, who’s been campaigning on his mistreatment at the hands of the North Vietnamese for more than a quarter of a century, did not experience solitary confinement, or the government’s position is wrong.

What will McCain say about this?

John McCain is Very Mixed Up About Capital Gains Taxes (and the Economy in General) – On ABC TV’s This Week, McCain said, “Senator Obama says that he doesn’t want to raise taxes on anybody over — making over $200,000 a year, yet he wants to nearly double the capital gains tax. Nearly double it, which 100 million Americans have investments in — mutual funds, 401(k)s — policemen, firemen, nurses. He wants to increase their taxes.” is that is flatly false. It is in fact so fundamentally, embarrassingly wrong that if any other Presidential contender said it, that comment alone might be the end of their bid for the White House.

Investments contained in 401-K’s (Or in the case of ‘policemen, firemen’ usually a 403-B), pensions, IRAs, tax deferred variable annuities, and similar retirement vehicles aren’t subject to capital gains tax — they’re not taxed at all. Changing the capital gains tax rate will have zero effect on them. Withdrawals from tax deferred accounts by retirees are generally taxed at whatever the income tax rate is for that person at the time of withdrawal (Which, incidentally, is usually a hell of a lot more than the current long term capital gains tax rate, yet another way to rip off the middle class).

Ft. Bragg Barracks Has Deplorable Conditions
The YouTube video of a Ft. Bragg barracks below shows paint peeling and falling from exposed pipes, mildewed ceilings and showers, a toilet seat torn in half and a soldier standing on a sink trying to unplug a bathroom drain. Sewage appears to cover the bathroom floor.

The video was made by Edward Frawley, the father of a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division who returned from Afghanistan on April 13 and is among the soldiers now living in the barracks. “This is unbelievable,” Frawley says in the video. “It’s disgusting. It makes me mad as hell. If these buildings were in any city in America and were called apartments, dormitories, they would be condemned.”

Frawley said his son, Sgt. Jeff Frawley, a member of Charlie Company’s 2nd platoon, lived in the remote mountains of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border for most of his deployment. Frawley said his son went eight weeks without a shower and just as long without outside contact. “These solders spent 15 long, hard, difficult months in some of the most remote, dangerous areas of the mountains of Afghanistan,” Frawley says in the video. “They didn’t complain, they just did their job. Now you are going to see what we did for them when they returned home.”

Regards,

Jim

McCain Opposed Equal Pay for Women Senate Bill – Republican Sen. John McCain, campaigning through poverty-stricken cities and towns, said Wednesday he opposed a Senate bill that sought equal pay for women because it would lead to more lawsuits. The bill was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 56-42. The Senate had scheduled a late Wednesday vote on the measure, which would have made it easier for women to sue their employers for pay discrimination. Both Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, left the campaign trail and returned to Washington to vote for the bill.

Fox News Parent Company Hired Hacker to Pirate Rival’s Software According to Testimony – A computer hacker testified on Wednesday that a News Corp unit hired him to develop pirating software, but denied using it to penetrate the security system of a rival satellite television service. Christopher Tarnovsky — who said his first payment was $20,000 in cash hidden in electronic devices mailed from Canada — testified in a corporate-spying lawsuit brought against News Corp’s NDS Group by DISH Network Corp.

Just Two Months After Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Announced His Approval of the Mexican Border Fence, the Government Scraps It (Heck’ev a Job, Mikey) – The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted “virtual fence” on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said. The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson. Less than a week after Chertoff accepted Project 28 on Feb. 22, the Government Accountability Office told Congress it “did not fully meet user needs and the project’s design will not be used as the basis for future” developments.

Republican Candidate Tony Zirkle Wishes Adolf Hitler a Happy Birthday – On Sunday, Tony Zirkle, a Republican candidate for Indiana’s 2nd District, took time out from saving the economy by shredding vintage Playboys (of course!) so he could attend a 119th birthday celebration for Adolf Hitler. He claims he was only there to talk about his experience as a state’s attorney in Indiana, his wacky theories about pornography, and to preach the gospel, so of course his being there had absolutely nothing to do with his segregation plan that would allow blacks to “have six states, so instead of having one half-black senator, well they would have 12.”

Newsweek Hires Karl Rove. The New York Times Hires Bill Kristol. CNN Hires Tony Snow – Rove, Kristol, and Snow are the enemies of honesty, truth, facts, reality, and the public’s right to know. anything. By embracing these unabashed propagandists, the mainstream media are not serving the public interests. For contrast, click on the second link to read about the great journalist Edward R. Murrow, who’s birthday we celebrate today. Some quotes from Murrow:

• “To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.”
• “A nation of sheep begets a government of wolves.”
• “No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.”
• “We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are: The defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”

Ship Under Contract to U.S. Defense Department Fires Shots at Two Iranian Boats, Causing Oil Prices to Rise Further
Oil prices rose sharply Friday on news that a ship under contract to the U.S. Defense Department fired warning shots at two Iranian boats. Retail gas prices rose further into record territory, nearing $3.60 a gallon. That’s right, it wasn’t a U.S. Navy vessel, it was a ship under contract. What is this, the naval version of Blackwater?

CEO of Money-Losing Lending Company Gets Only $132 Million This Year – Countrywide Financial Corp. reported a yearly loss of $704 million in 2007 amid the nationwide mortgage market meltdown. So what does the CEO of such a company get? CEO Angelo Mozilo received about $10.8 million in total compensation and cashed out $121.5 million in stock options last year. The compensation disclosed in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Thursday represents a nearly 80 percent cut from the 70-year-old’s 2006 pay of about $51 million, back when things were beginning to turn sour.

The Sweet-Talk Express
Stephanopoulos: Even by your own accounting 300 billion dollars a year, that means your previous promise to balance your budget in the first year—that’s gone.

McCain: No, of course not. Look, I’ll find you a hundred billion tomorrow.

VA Mental Health Director Gives Low Numbers for Veterans Suicides When He Knew the Real Numbers Were 15 Times Higher – After telling the media that suicide rates among veterans were normal, the chief mental health official of the Veterans Affairs Department, Dr. Ira Katz, sent an internal memo with the real numbers that began with, “Shh…” and ended with, “Is this something we should carefully address…before someone stumbles on it?”

John McCain Doesn’t Answer Why You Should Not Get the Same Health Care That He Has Had for Seventy Years – On This Week this past Sunday, George Stephanopoulos asked “straight-talker” John McCain if government health care has been good enough for McCain to receive his entire life, it is not good enough for the rest of us That’s right, John McCain, the son of an Admiral, has had his healthcare taken care of by the government for the last seven decades at taxpayer expense. Yet, when asked this question, he was only able to muster a lame joke in response about the years he was being taken care of at the Hanoi Hilton–which McCain wields like Giuliani did 9/11). In fact, McCain doesn’t even feel compelled to explain why he voted against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), so that countless children would lose the government health care on which he has relied upon for so long.

Rush Limbaugh Calls for Riots During the Democratic Convention – During his April 23rd show, Rush Limbaugh said, “Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats.” He then went on to say that’s the best thing that could happen to the country. He said he is dreaming/hoping for riots after the Dems convention if they choose Hillary over Obama. He even sang his statement to the “I’m Dreaming of a “WHITE” Christmas” tune. It appears that he is hoping African-Americans will revolt if Obama doesn’t win and in his dreams we would riot and wipe each other out so that he can indeed have a “white” Christmas/country. What do you think about Rush Limbaugh’s wish for riots after the Democratic convention?

Supreme Court Justice Scalia Shows His Sensitive Side – Supreme Court Justice Scalia repeated his earlier statement that people should “get over” the court’s ruling in 2000 that halted Florida’s vote recount, giving the presidential election to Republican Bush over Democrat Al Gore. “I say nonsense,” Scalia said, when asked about critics who say the 5-4 ruling was based on politics and not justice. “Get over it. It’s so old by now.”

Hey Look, It’s the Three Johns!

Don’t they make a great-looking threesome? John McCain, Rev. John Hagee, and Texas Senator John Cornyn. Doesn’t Cornyn look proud to be standing next to Hagee?

– Los Angeles Investor Building Amusement Park in Bagdad Because “Mostly Everything Here is for Profit” – Llewellyn Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing a massive American-style amusement park. The 50-acre swath of land sits adjacent to the Green Zone. Mr. Werner will retain exclusive rights to housing and hotel developments. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t making money,” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit.” (Some electricity and clean water might be a better idea. – JLV)

Regards,

Jim

U.S. Incarceration Rate is Six Times the World Average – The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations. Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.

The United States comes in first, too, on a more meaningful list from the prison studies center, the one ranked in order of the incarceration rates. It has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population. (If you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up.) The only other major industrialized nation that even comes close is Russia, with 627 prisoners for every 100,000 people. The others have much lower rates. England’s rate is 151; Germany’s is 88; and Japan’s is 63. The median among all nations is about 125, roughly a sixth of the American rate.

Chris Matthews Can’t Read a Clock – During the Tuesday night primary coverage, Chris Matthews declared before his viewing audience that it was eight o’clock and the polls in Pennsylvania were closed. The only problem was it was only seven-thirty and there was a big ol’ clock right there on the ticker that clearly said that polls would be open for another half hour. (Does Chris Matthews know what time it is? Does he really care? If not, I can’t imagine why…We’ve all got time enough to keep watching him. – OK, it doesn’t rhyme. And my apologies to the band Chicago.- JLV)

We Don’t Have a National Health Care Plan for the Public but Congress Has One for Itself – Members of Congress are paid over $170,000 per year and they get free health care, free haircuts, and other perks. Congress needs to learn how to put their constituents’ interests above their own. The good news is there are five (so far) Democratic congressional candidates who have pledged, if elected, not to take congressional health care until the people get a plan that’s just as good.

Hundreds of EPA Scientists Pressured by Political Interference – Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists complain they have been victims of political interference and pressure from superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group.

Comcast Blocking of Internet Was More Widespread Than the Company Admitted – Comcast’s slowing of peer-to-peer traffic appeared to be more widespread than the company has disclosed, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, testifying before a Senate committee, said Comcast’s blocking of BitTorrent P-to-P (peer-to-peer) traffic appeared to happen when there wasn’t network congestion, in contrast to claims from the broadband provider. Comcast’s actions, first described by the Associated Press last October, appeared to “block uploads of a significant portion of subscribers” in that part of the network, even during times when the network wasn’t congested, Martin said.

Regards,

Jim

Colorado State Rep. Douglas Bruce Calls Mexican Migrant Workers Illiterate Peasants – State Rep. Douglas Bruce’s derogatory remarks Monday about Mexican migrant workers could leave him facing a second censure penalty or worse. “We don’t need 5,000 more illiterate peasants in the state of Colorado,” Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, said during debate on a bill to speed up a temporary seasonal worker program.

Comcast: Worst Company Ever. – It’s Hammer time.

Newt Gingrich says, “The left wing of the Democratic Party, frankly, kind of admires American terrorists.” – On 4/18/08, FOX News contributor Newt Gingrich said, “The left wing of the Democratic Party, frankly, kind of admires American terrorists.”

David Shuster and Chris Matthews Say Obama is Not a Regular Guy Because He Ordered Orange Juice Instead of Coffee at a Diner -On the April 10 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball, after reporting that Sen. Barack Obama “campaigned today in northern Indiana, shaking hands and chatting with people at a diner near South Bend,” MSNBC correspondent David Shuster stated to host Chris Matthews: “Well, here’s the other thing that we saw on the tape, Chris, is that, when Obama went in, he was offered coffee, and he said, ‘I’ll have orange juice.’ ” Matthews replied, “No,” to which Shuster responded: “He did.” Shuster continued: “And it’s just one of those sort of weird things. You know, when the owner of the diner says, ‘Here, have some coffee,’ you say, ‘Yes, thank you,’ and, ‘Oh, can I also please have some orange juice, in addition to this?’ You don’t just say, ‘No, I’ll take orange juice,’ and then turn away and start shaking hands.” Matthews added, “You don’t ask for a substitute on the menu,” and then said: “David, what a regular guy. You could do this. … I mean, go to the diners.” Matthews then began an interview with Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), an Obama supporter, by asking Casey: “Isn’t that interesting, Senator Casey, that Barack Obama, your candidate, can walk before 15,000 people with complete calm and assurance, but he seems a little out of place in A) a bowling alley and B) a diner? What is the problem with your guy?”

Pentagon Told Media Military Pundits What to Say About the War in Iraq – Yesterday, the New York Times exposed a secret Pentagon campaign to infiltrate the media with pro-war propaganda. The scheme reaches all the way to the Bush White House, where top officials recruited dozens of “military analysts” to spread favorable views of the war via every major news channel — without revealing they were working from Pentagon scripts and often lobbying for major military contractors. Spreading “covert propaganda” is illegal under federal law. Congress must investigate these military pundits and their ties to the Bush administration, defense contractors and our national news media. Watch the video:

Take Action: Send a letter to Congress and demand better media.

New State-of-the-Art Monitoring Equipment for the Department of Homeland Security 😉

Regards,

Jim

Anti-Evolution Movie Attempts to Link Belief in Evolution to Nazi Genocide – Comedian and former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein’s new documentary movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, will not open until this Friday, but it has already been widely blasted for its alleged dishonesty and looseness with the facts. The National Center for Science Education has performed an extensive investigation of the “martyrs” profiled in Stein’s file and has found a consistent pattern of misrepresentation. The makers of the movie were stole some of their cell animations from XVIVO, and other segments were ripped off from PBS.

Expelled has also come under fire for its attempt to link a belief in evolution to Nazi genocide. When its producers offered a private screening to Scientific American, hoping for some sort of positive — or at least newsworthy — reaction, editor-in-chief John Rennie was withering in his criticism. “We could simply ignore the movie,” Rennie wrote. “Unfortunately, Expelled is a movie not quite harmless enough to be ignored. Shrugging off most of the film’s attacks — all recycled from previous pro-ID works — would be easy, but its heavy-handed linkage of modern biology to the Holocaust demands a response for the sake of simple human decency.”

At Debate, ABC Ignores Real Issues – During Wednesday night’s Democratic debate, ABC completely ignored the issues that concern Americans and instead focused on minutia that is hurting the race and the American electoral process.

The ABC Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media

Bush Budget Chief Says US Needs More War Funds by June – Kind of sounds like a drug addict: “I could buy food or get health care with this money. These drugs are killing me… Na, I need more drugs!” Maybe it’s time to get rehabbed or just go cold turkey.

As Others Suffer Economically, Healthcare CEO’s Compensation Is Booming – Pay for almost all of the top 10 execs at the Blues’ Chicago-based parent, Health Care Service Corp., at least doubled in 2007 thanks to hefty bonuses, a recent state filing shows. Longtime CEO Raymond McCaskey’s $8.7-million bonus pushed his total pay to $10.3 million, up 78% from the previous year. The top 10 execs made a combined $35.8 million last year, up 131% from 2006. Executive pay at Health Care Service, which had $14.35 billion in revenue last year, dwarfs that of most other companies that own Blue Cross subsidiaries. Two large Blues plans in Pennsylvania, for example — each of which also ranks among the top 10 health insurers nationally, with about $9.5 billion in 2006 revenue apiece — paid their CEOs $3.7 million and $2.6 million last year. Cigna’s CEO received $22.7 million in 2007, up from $15.2 million in 2006.

Regards,

Jim

In April 2005, Media Transparency reported that the neocons bet wrong in the 2000 presidential election by “excitedly preferring John McCain to George W. Bush.” Now, eight years later, John McCain is the heir apparent to the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States and, according to an MSNBC article, there is again a struggle heating up between Republicans with a conscience, the “pragmatists” or “realists” like Henry Kissinger, and those without a conscience and experts in the use of “Noble Lies,” the neoconservatives. Some of these neocons, who are providing foreign policy guidance for Senator McCain, are discussed below.

In a Newsmax.com article, there is the following statement, “Kissinger was one of several people McCain said he calls seeking advice on foreign policy, including Brent Scowcroft, George P. Shultz, Lawrence Eagleburger, Robert Kagan and William Kristol.”

On March 26, 2008, McCain delivered a foreign policy speech in Los Angeles. Robert Kagan helped write much of this speech.

Robert Kagan, along with William Kristol, co-founded the neocon group Project for the New American Century (PNAC). “PNAC, working with a compliant news media, developed, sold, enacted, and justified a war with Iraq.” Kagan’s father and brother, Frederick, are neocon historians and have rationalized on why this country needs a more interventionist military. Frederick wrote the American Enterprise (AEI) report, Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, which was initially presented to President Bush on December 14, 2006, just prior to the surge they are now bringing to an end.

At the end of Kagan’s Washington Post April 2007 column, where Kagan accuses Barack Obama of being an “interventionist,” another Noble Lie, his short bio states, “He has been advising John McCain’s presidential campaign on an informal and unpaid basis.”

In a BBC profile, Kagan is credited for saying, “American power, even deployed under a double standard, may be the best means of advancing progress.”

According to the MSNBC article referenced at the beginning of this posting, Max Boot is another neocon advisor which John McCain relies on for foriegn policy advice. Like Robert Kagan, Boot is a contributor to William Kristol’s Weekly Standard, which, remember, is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Boot made the following statement on February 12, 2008, in the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times, “In my (admittedly biased) opinion, the leading candidate to scare the snot out of our enemies is a certain former aviator who has been noted for his pugnacity and his unwavering support of the American war effort in Iraq. Ironically, John McCain’s bellicose aura could allow us to achieve more of our objectives peacefully because other countries would be more afraid to mess with him than with most other potential occupants of the Oval Office — or the current one.” The bio at the end of this column states, “Max Boot is … an unpaid foreign policy advisor to the McCain campaign.”

While other neocons like Irving Kristol, father of William Kristol, have argued caution about the U.S. being the world’s sheriff, Boot has argued that the U.S should “embrace its imperial role.” He says, in the Weekly Standard, that “the solution is to be more expansive in our goals and more assertive in their implementation.”

In Jewish World Review and his discussion on Iran, Boot states, “Only if the Iranians fear the US are they likely to make major concessions.” Remember, fear mongering is the neocons favorite tool of manipulation, no matter who the enemy is – Iraq, Iran or our fellow citizens.

The MSNBC article also mentions John Bolton, Bush’s former ambassador to the UN.

In a recent address by Bolton to the Conservative Political Action Conference, he discussed how John McCain “was very active behind the scenes” in helping Bolton get the ambassadorship.

On February 9, 2008, the National Review Online reported John Bolton’s endorsement of John McCain and alludes to naming Bolton his Secretary of State.

On February 8, 2008, McClatchy Newspapers wrote that McCain’s “team is sprinkled with people, including Scheunemann, who were ardent backers of the 2003 Iraq invasion and who dismissed critics who warned of unintended consequences. They include former CIA Director James Woolsey … and William Kristol ….”

If GWB was not the first choice of the neocons in 2000 and they were still successful in gaining a significant foot hold in the Bush Administration, pushing for the Iraq invasion and the surge, then can you even imagine what they could accomplish with their number 1 choice, John McCain?

Merck Drugs Used Ghostwriting to Make it Appear That Research Done by its Employees or Contractors was the Work of Scientists – Merck was using what the JAMA authors call “guest authorship and ghostwriting” to make it appear that research done by its employees or contractors was the work of scientists at medical schools and universities. That presumably gave the findings more credibility when they were published, in medical journals, boosting Vioxx’s profile in the crowded painkiller market.

The Foreclosure Prevention Act Provides Big Tax Breaks for Businesses – The Senate proclaimed a fierce bipartisan resolve two weeks ago to help American homeowners in danger of foreclosure. But while a bill that senators approved last week would take modest steps toward that goal, it would also provide billions of dollars in tax breaks — for automakers, airlines, alternative energy producers and other struggling industries, as well as home builders. The tax provisions of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which consumer groups and labor leaders say amount to government handouts to big business, show how the credit crisis, while rattling the housing and financial markets, has created beneficiaries in the power corridors of Washington.

No Straight-Talk on Recipes From Cindy McCain – Recipes posted on the John McCain Web site — listed as “McCain Family Recipes” — are actually taken almost verbatim from the Food Networks’ site. McCain’s tuna recipe was actually developed and submitted to the Food Network by cookbook author and former “Cooking Thin” host Kathleen Daelemans. The recipe for farfalle pasta with turkey sausage, peas and mushrooms was a “quick pasta classic” from the TV show “Everyday Italian.” That old McCain standby — rosemary chicken — was a creation of TV chef Rachael Ray and was lifted, with a few changes, from the same Food Network site. All three were listed on a McCain Web page titled “Cindy’s Recipes.” Even if the recipes had been Cindy McCain’s own, it’s hard to see how the campaign thought it could win over Middle American voters with dishes such as crab scampi served over whole-wheat spaghetti.

Student Asks Whether Hillary Clinton Had Resorted to “Hitting the Sauce” – During the Hardball College Tour on Tuesday night, a Villanova student asked John McCain whether he thought Hillary Clinton “finally resorted to hitting the sauce because of unfavorable polling.” What kind of kid would ask such a question? The student is Peter Doocy, the son of Fox News anchor Steve Doocy. Like father, like son. Peter also works as an intern with the “FOX & Friends” staff. Fast learner there.

McCain Reveals Confusion Over Who Makes Global Military Decisions – Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona may not have been paying the closest of attention last week during hearings on the Bush administration’s Iraq policy. Speaking Monday at the annual meeting of the Associated Press, McCain was asked whether he, if elected, would shift combat troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to intensify the search for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

“I would not do that unless Gen. [David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,” McCain said, referring to the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Petraeus, however, made clear last week that he has nothing to do with the decision. Testifying last week before four congressional committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee on which McCain is the ranking Republican, Petraeus said the decision about whether troops could be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan was not his responsibility because his portfolio is limited to the multi-national force in Iraq. Decisions about Afghanistan would be made by others, he said. (Notice that this article is from The Army Times, not hardly the liberal media. – JLV)

McCain Might be Coming Under Increased Influence From the Neoconservatives – John McCain might be coming under increased influence from the neoconservatives, whose thinking dominated President Bush’s first term and played a pivotal role in building the case for war. The concerns have emerged in the weeks since Mr. McCain became his party’s presumptive nominee and began more formally assembling a list of foreign policy advisers. Among those on the list are several prominent neoconservatives, including Robert Kagan, an author who helped write much of the foreign policy speech that Mr. McCain delivered in Los Angeles on March 26, in which he described himself as “a realistic idealist.” Others include the security analyst Max Boot and a former United Nations ambassador, John R. Bolton. One of the chief concerns of the pragmatists is that Mr. McCain is susceptible to influence from the neoconservatives because he is not as fully formed on foreign policy as his campaign advisers say he is, and that while he speaks authoritatively, he operates too much off the cuff and has not done the deeper homework required of a presidential candidate.

Regards,

Jim