Saturday, May 03, 2008

Barack tries to look pretty

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE.
 
"I REALLY THINK I'VE PUT THE JEREMIAH WRIGHT ISSUE BEHIND ME," SENATOR BARACK OBAMA TOLD THESE REPORTERS WHILE PUTTING ON HIS LIPSTICK.
 
JEREMIAH WRIGHT, THE FREAKISH HATE MONGER, IS BEHIND HIM?
 
"YES, HE IS," BARACK SAID BLOTTING HIS LIPS ON A TISSUE.  "THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I INTEND TO TELL TIM RUSSERT SUNDAY ON 'MEET THE PRESS'."
 
THE CANDIDATE IN DENIAL.
 
HE'S BEEN SAYING THE WRIGHT ISSUE WAS OVER SINCE MARCH.  BUT IT'S NEVER GONE AWAY.  THIS WEEK ALONE, HE CAN'T SHUT UP ABOUT WRIGHT WHILE REPEATEDLY INSISTING THE ISSUE IS OVER.
 
THESE REPORTERS INTENDED TO ASK HIM ABOUT THAT BUT, HEARING MICHELLE HOLLER, "WHERE IS MY LIPSTICK!", HAD US DECIDING TO CALL AN END TO THE INTERVIEW AND GET THE HELL OUT BEFORE THE FIREWORKS REALLY STARTED.
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance.  Courage to Resist notes war resister Ryan Jackson is currently at Fort Sill having turned himself at the start of the month after being "absent without leave since December when a local commander vetoed his pending discharge from the 35th Signal Brigade at Fort Gordon, Georgia."  They note that there is a defense fund here, that he can be e-mailed via ryanjackson@couragetoresist.org and that you can find an audio interview they did with him here.
 
US war resisters in Canada who are hoping to be granted safe harbor status.  What's the status on the motion?
 
Community member Dallas passed on the following.  "Citizenship and immigration" issues have taken the forefront and the war resister motion, "it's kind of taken the wayside."  (All quotes from Canada's NDP's spokesperson.) For now, the best thing to do would be continuing utilizing the following e-mails to show your support: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration.  In addition Jack Layton, NDP leader, has a contact form and they would like to hear from people as well. A few more addresses can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use.         

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
 
[. . .]
 
In US presidential political news. Senator Barack Obama wants to be president . . . of some of the people.  Apparently not of the people hurting economically over rising gas prices.  He's shot down both Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain's plans for a gas tax holiday.  But Delilah Boyd (A Scriverner's Lament) points out that "Obama voted for it multiple times in Illinois in 2000 ...  The Obama-based moral of this and all other Obama stories: If it doesn't help Obama, it's not a good thing. Period."  Meanwhile Ralph Nader and his running mate Matt Gonzalez are gearing up for a West Coast Tour next week where they will be working on ballot access in California, Oregon and Washington.
 
Returning to the topic of Barack, he received another endorsement from another loser today.  Paul G. Kirk Jr. who has long been Ted Kennedy's biggest suck-up came out for Barack today.  Kirk Jr.'s 'expertise' and 'wisdom' were probably on 'best' display when he was the head on DNC during . . . Michael Dukakis failed presidential campaign.  We're sure Junior will bring all the 'help' to Barack that he did to Dukakis.  Dan Baltz (Washington Post) points out that Junior actually came out for Barack in February.  Well, when your life means so little, you probably have to grab all the headlines you can. Ask the Loud family.  But whatever you do, don't ask Barack basic geographic questions.  Pagan Power (No Quarter) explains that Barack has a 'plan' for Oregon and it includes "the Great Lakes" which, pay attention, are in the MidWest, not the North West.  Hillary's plan is entitled "Oregon Compact."  Barack apparently rushed his last-minute homework.  Which explains both his errors as well as other portions appearing to be lifted from Hillary's plan.  Maybe he can claim she's his best friend just like Deval and that makes it okay?
 
Barack keeps claiming Jeremiah Wright is preventing a discussion of the issues.  Apparently, Wright prevented Barack from discussing issues for 20 years?  Reid J. Epstein (Newsday) reports that academics watching polls in North Carolina see the Wright friendship as hurting Barack at the polls.  People do wonder why it took him 20-years and how stupid he thinks Americans are that we're all supposed to believe that Jeremiah Wright transformed/shape-shifted over the weekend into someone Barack had enver seen before?  In the real world, Eloise Harper (ABC News) reports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared in Indiani yesterday, ""Part of our family is divided and our Party is divided and the reason we are divided is because we have two extraordinary candidates both running for president both who will make unbelievable presidents of this country. . . . but let me tell you why they're wrong and I'm right, because I know Hillary Clinton better than they know Barack Obama."
Meanwhile, Hillary picked up an important endorsement today.  From The Indianapolis Star's editorial entitled  "Experience makes Clinton better choice in primary:"

As impressive as Obama appears, he is still in his first term in the U.S. Senate, and only four years ago was serving as an Illinois state senator. His inexperience in high office is a liability.       
Clinton, in contrast, is well prepared for the rigors of the White House. She is tough, experienced and realistic about what can and cannot be accomplished on the world stage.           
 
 
Independent journalist, photo-journalist and artist David Bacon examines and explores the issues of immigrant rights frequently.  Last week, Bacon  (Political Affairs Magazine) sounded the alarms over Hayley Barbour, governor of Mississippi, having "signed into law the fartherest-reaching employer sanctions law of any on the books in the U.S.  Employer sanctions is a shorthand name for laws that prohibit employers from hiring immigrants who don't have legal immigration status in the U.S. That provision was part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, passed by Congress in 1986, which for the first time in U.S. history required employers to verify the immigration status of employees.  The Mississippi bill, SB 2988, requires employers to use an electronic system to verify immigration status, called E-Verify.  That system has only recently been developed by the Department of Homeland Security, and by the department's own admission, is not a complete record."  This week, he writes (Political Affairs Magazine):
 
In the big immigrant marches that swept the country on May Day in 2006 and 2007, one sign said it all: "We are Workers, not Criminals!"  Often it was held in the calloused hands of men and women who looked as though they'd just come from work in a factory, cleaning an office building, or picking grapes.       
The sign stated an obvious truth.  Millions of people have come to this country to work, not to break its laws.  Some have come with visas, and others without them.  But they are all contributors to the society they've found here, not people who mean it harm.  Again this May Day, immigrant workers are filling the streets, making the same point.      
Yet today the Federal government is taking actions that make holding a job a criminal act.  Some states and local communities, seeing a green light from the Department of Homeland Security, are passing measures that go even further.  These actions need a reality check.
 
Tonight (in most markets) NOW on PBS explores the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns with guests Willie Brown and Dan Schnur.  The campaign will also be part of the topics addressed on PBS' Washington Week (check local listings) and Gwen's guests will include AP's Charles Babington, Wall St. Journal's David Wessel, NBC's Pete Williams and the New York Times' John Harwood.  From TV to radio, Sunday on WBAI (11:00 a.m. EST), The Next Hour is hosted by Reno and, on Monday, Cat Radio Cafe (2:00 p.m. EST):
 
A celebration of the life and art of Michael Goldberg, American painter (1924-2007) who gained first acclaim as a Second Generation Abstract Expressionist of the New York School.  With art critici Jeremy Gilbert-Rolf, curator Klaus Kertess, painter Ellen Phelan, Bomb Magazine editor Betsy Sussler, Goldberg's stepson Luke Matheissen, and his wife sculptor Lynn Umlauf.  Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozier.
 
And we'll close with Chelsea Clinton:
One of the most fun things about meeting people who support my mom's campaign is seeing all the creative ways they show their support. I've seen a lot of homemade signs, buttons, and shirts on the campaign trail, and I think we need to harness that great creative energy for our campaign.      
I know you agree with me that my mom is the strongest, most progressive, and most prepared candidate, and that she would be the best president! This is a great way for you to show exactly what her historic campaign means to you.      
Maybe you've got a slogan that you've been dying to share. Or maybe you want to share your design talents. Whatever your ideas are, I can't wait to see them -- and we'll offer the best shirt for sale in the official campaign store, raising money to help my mom win! I'll also make sure to get a picture of me AND my mom wearing the shirt, which we will post on the website.    
So please put on your thinking caps, get those creative juices flowing, and visit our Project T-Shirt website to learn more and submit your design.    
I'm so excited to see all the great ideas you have. Thank you so much for all you're doing to help my mom win!     
Go Hillary!
 
 


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