Extreme DNC Makeover!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   TODAY, BARACK OBAMA GIGGLED ABOUT PUTTING ANOTHER ONE OVER ON THE VOTERS WHEN HE BROKE ANOTHER PROMISE -- THIS ONE TO ACCEPT PUBLIC FINANCING IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.  SAID BARACK, "I WILL TAKE THIS PARTY SO FAR TO THE RIGHT, NO ONE WILL KNOW WHAT HIT THEM."   THE RESPONSE TO THE BROKEN PROMISE AND TO THE DECISION TO ALLOW BIG MONEY TO BUY ELECTIONS WAS LARGELY POSITIVE.   "WE ARE THE REPUBLICANS WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!" EXCLAIMED HOWARD DEAN, CHAIR OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE.   "I ALWAYS KNEW I WAS A REPUBLICAN!" EXCLAIMED THE NATION MAGAZINE'S EDITOR AND PUBLISHER KATTY-VAN-VAN.   FROM THE TCI WIRE:     Starting with war resistance. Matthis Chiroux announced May 15th that he would not deploy to Iraq. Chiroux had served in the army and been honorably discharged.  Then came the 'recall.' The day he was due to report was June 15th and he did not deploy and explained why in a public statement.  Ben Evans (AP) covers Chiroux story today and gives the backstory of being raised in Auburn, Alabama, getting his diploma from Auburn High School, signing up with the army.  Evans reports that the military has not yet contacted Chiroux for refusing to deploy and he quotes Chiroux explaining, "I have just come to the point where I have the strength to stand for what I know is right.  I feel like it's my responsibility as a soldier and keeping with the higher values of this nation to oppose this . . . I'm not going anywhere.  They know where to find me."   There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, 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. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).   [. . .]   Wall Street: $19,103,119; Big Energy $1,102,918; Pharmaceutical Co.'s $696,063.  That's Barack Obama's "donation" totals and can be found in this Ralph Nader video. Those numbers explain why Barack broke his pledge regarding public financing.  Sam Youngman (The Hill) reports that Barack declared today "that he will not accept public financing for the general election".  As Brian Edwards-Tiekert worded it on the seven a.m. news break on KPFA (first segment of The Morning Show), Barack is "abandoning an earlier committment to use public financing if his Republican rival did as well" and "Today's announcement marks the first time that a presidential candidate has opted out of the public financing system for a general election since that system was created in 1974."  Back in February, Jeff Zeleny and Steven Greenhouse (New York Times) quoted Barack declaring, "If I am the nominee, I will make sure our people talk to John McCain's people to find out if we are willing to abide by the same rules and regulations with respect to the general election going forward. It would be presumptuous of me to start saying now that I am locking into something when I don't even know if the other side will agree to it."  At the LA Times' political blog, trash Amina Khan is an embarrassment -- but that was clear when we said "LA Times' political blog," wasn't it?  And they wonder why so many are about to lose jobs?  At the grown ups table, Perry Bacon Jr. (Washington Post) quotes John McCain (presumptive GOP presidential nominee) declaring, "Senator Obama's reversal on public financing is one of a number of reversals that he has taken.  He said he would stick to the agreement.  He didn't.  This is a big, big deal.  He has completely reversed himself and gone back, not on his word to me, but the commitment he made to the American people."  Jonathan D. Salant (Bloomberg News) quotes Barack explaining, "The public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who have become masters at gaming this broken system."  How interesting, go back to the February New York Times link and you won't find any of those 'concerns.'  They appear to have sprouted overnight.  No talk of 527s.  This is appalling and you need to see how Panhandle Media plays it because early indication appears to be that our 'left' media outlets are rushing to justify it and, in fact, celebrate the decision.  One more belief tossed on the bonfire for the Cult of Saint Bambi.  Public financing came about for a reason and, while it does need fixing, Barack's not proposed fixing it.  (Like his Iraq War 'plan,' "Details to come later!") He's never voiced concerns for the system.  Now he wants to pretend that anything other than greed is at play here.  And what's Panhandle Media going to do?  Go ga-ga again at the dollar signs?  Do they have even an ounce of integrity left at this point or have they sold it all off as an in-kind-contribution to St. Bambi?   Democracy 21's Fred Wertheimer issued the following on Barack's decision:   Democracy 21 is very disappointed that Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has decided not to accept public financing for his presidential general election campaign.          We had hoped and expected that Senator Obama would stick with the public pledge he made to accept public financing and spending limits for the presidential general election, if he was nominated, and if his Republican opponent also agreed to accept public financing and spending limits for the general election. These conditions have been met.   We do not agree with Senator Obama's rationale for opting out of the system. Senator Obama knew the circumstances surrounding the presidential general election when he made his public pledge to use the system.        With his decision, Senator Obama will become the first major party presidential nominee to reject public financing for his general election campaign, since the public financing system was established in 1974.           Senator Obama's decision to opt out of the general election public financing system makes it all the more important for Senator Obama to personally make clear to the public in no uncertain terms that if he is elected, one of the early priorities for his Administration will be enacting legislation to repair the presidential public financing system. In the current Congress, Senator Obama is one of the three lead Senate sponsors of the Presidential Funding Act of 2007 (S.2412), legislation to fix the presidential public financing system, particularly the system for presidential primaries. The other lead Senate sponsors of this bipartisan legislation are Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME).            Revitalizing the presidential public financing system is essential to protecting the integrity and credibility of the presidency and the interests of citizens in fair government decisions.   It needs to be called out.  But watch everyone hope and pray that their past words on the buying of elections is forgotten.  Which is why the really embarrassing trot out an American Enterprise Institute type to praise Barack's decision.  AEI?  That's who the left takes its cues from?  They also made time to slam and slime Ralph Nader.  How very 'left' of them.  Ralph Nader is running for president.  Ballot Access notes Indiana's restrictive laws and that "Indiana is one of only five states in which Ralph Nader has never appeared on the ballot."  They noted yesterday that Nader will be on Arizona's ballot.  Bitchier Than Thou is asking North Carolina residents to sign the petition so that Nader can make the state's ballot.  And Team Nader issued this press release earlier this week from Ralph Nader:   "During his Nobel Laureate acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway, Al Gore laid out in stark terms the single most important act the next President of the US can do to avoid dangerous climate change: 'And most important of all, we need to put a price on carbon – with a CO2 tax that is then rebated back to the people, progressively, according to the laws of each nation, in ways that shift the burden of taxation from employment to pollution. This is by far the most effective and simplest way to accelerate solutions to this crisis.' http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/gore-lecture_en.html Senators Obama and McCain both oppose a CO2 tax and instead favor the more politically expedient, manipulatable, evasive cap-and-trade approach. In the last eight years, Al Gore has invested too much in trying to protect our climate to just a write a blank check of endorsement to a candidate on one of the most important perils of our time. I challenge Al Gore, as one of the leading figures in the war on global warming, to uphold the courage of his convictions and demand that Senator Obama support a carbon pollution tax. The people want the next President to take action to reign in global warming. The litmus test for whether a Presidential candidate is serious about global warming is if he or she has the courage to support a CO2 tax. Unlike a cap-and-trade program, which can be easily gamed, a straight-out carbon tax on hydrocarbon production at the production source forces better choices of technology from the get-go.       RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Other Items" "Dems break the piggy banks open for the White House again" "the 2008 vote" "The busy day and Cyd Charisse" "Lee Hamilton back from the dead" "Pride: Tammy Baldwin" "Ralph and the race for president" "War and War Hawks" "A new bully in town" "THIS JUST IN! IT TAKES A BULLY!"