Next up, Greek tragedies!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   TO PROVE WHAT A JOKE THE DEBATES ARE, THE THREE 'MODERATORS' FOR THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE WERE ANNOUNCED TODAY.  FROM THE WAX MUSEUM, BOB SCHIEFFER, TOM BROKAW AND JIM LEHRER WILL BE CARTED ONTO STAGE TO ASK THE USUAL CRAP THEY BECAME NATIONAL BORES BY ASKING -- IN OTHER WORDS NOTHING THAT WILL CHANGE THINGS UP TOO MUCH.   THE FRENCH KEEP THEIR FARCES ON STAGE, WE CALL OUR FARCES "ELECTIONS."   FROM THE TCI WIRE:     Starting with war resistance.  US war resister Robin Long's civilian attorney James Branum has a YouTube video where he explains some of the basics of Long's case.  Branum is a member of the National Lawyers Guild (and co-chair -- with Kathleen Gilberd -- of their Military Law Task Force).   James Branum: What's happening in Robin's case, Robin Long was an American soldier.  And when he was recruited to join the US military, his recruiter and him were talking and Robin told the recruiter, said, "I'm okay with being in the army but I don't want to go to Iraq. I don't believe in it."  Recruiter said, "Don't worry about it. You won't have to go to Iraq.  I can make sure you won't.  In fact, you'll be stationed at Fort Knox here in Kentucky.  So Robin thought, "Okay, I can live with that."  So he did that, he joined.  Turned out the recruiter was honest about one point.   Yes, he was stationed at Fort Knox [. . .] however he was told very quickly, "Yes, you're going to Iraq and you're going to be sent to Fort Carson, trained to go to Iraq and then, after that, you're going to be sent there."  So Robin, what he ended up doing was, he ended up going to Canada and there's a lot there that I can't go into about his story but to make a real long story short it was an issue of conscience at the end of the day.  He had to do what he felt was right.  He couldn't do something that he felt wasn't right.  And he couldn't go.  That's what it comes down to.  So when he got to Canada, he was living his life.  He applied for aslyum status so he could stay there.  And he was working.  And as an asylum seeker, he was able to get a work permit and what-not.  He also had a son while he was there who's now about two-years-old.  And he had his life very well established.  He did a lot of different jobs.  All kinds of different stuff.  For awhile, he was a fruit picker.  He worked in different orchards.  In fact, that's kind of what got him into trouble cause when he was working as a fruit picker, he was a seasonal migrant worker, you know?  And so he was, for awhile, out in British Columbia.  And he was previously in Ontario and there was a misunderstanding [. . .] from Canadian immigration about where he was supposed to check in to.  And Robin thought he had checked in like he was supposed to.  The immigration authorities say he didn't.  There's a misunderstanding there.  But to make a really long story short, even though Robin was fighting this in the Canadian courts, the Canadian officials pulled a sneaky manuever -- basically, they were able to fast-track him through deportation within four days so that he or his lawyer did not have time to respond appropriately in the Canadian system.  And so he was trapped and he was sent to the US.  And what happened was he was held in jail for a few days in Canada and then he was handed over to US officials at the border.  And actually, the Canadian officials even told the US officials, "Here's your deserter."  Handed him off.  And so from there, the immigration officials transferred him to a local jail and he was held in two different local jails for awhile before the military came and picked him up and transferred him to Fort Carson, Colorado.  And at that point, at 11:30 at night, they had a hearing to decide whether he would remain in what is called pre-trial confinement.  Because in the military, you don't get bail.    Basically, you either are released before your trial or you wait in pre-trial confinement.  So they had a hearing late at night.  Robin was put into jail. And since that point, he has been held here in Colarado Springs in the Criminal Justice Center in El Paso County -- basically just a regular old county jail with all kinds of people, dangerous criminals many of them, and it's a difficult place to be.  But Robin's in good spirits and we're now dealing with the consequences of his action in the military courts here.   Robin Long was extradited.  He was not deported.  If that wasn't obvious before, it should be from the description above.  Judge Anne Mctavish needs to be held accountable for her actions.  The extradition process in Canada would have immediately opened up other avenues of appeal for Robin.  That's why she didn't want to call it "extradition."  Calling it "deportation" allowed her to act with NO OVERSIGHT.  It wasn't deportation and -- repeating again -- as the father of a young Canadian child, the immigration laws in Canada are very clear about Robin's rights to stay in the country.  It would be politically beneficial to the New Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and Bloc Quebecois to call for Parliament to hold an investigation into how Haper's government and Mctavish allowed Long to be extradited while telling the people of Canada he was being deported.   Steve Clarke, Federal Liberal candidate for Simcoe North and, last month, he wrote "Gov't can't keep ignoring motion concerning war objectors: Clarke" -- a letter to the editor (Orilla Packet & Times) which resulted in Ralph Moore's letter.  Saturday, the paper ran his is "Re: Ralph Moore letter to the editor, 'Candidate's letter challenged by reader':"   I would like to thank Mr. Moore for his letter of July 18 in response to my earlier letter on conscientious objectors. Although I disagree with Moore's opinion on the legality of the Iraq war, I truly welcome honest public debate on important matters such as this one.  The unsanctioned invasion of Iraq occurred March 18, 2003, a full seven months before the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1511 to ensure the "restoration of stability and security" in response to the chaos caused by the invasion. The resolution does not and could not provide retroactive exoneration. The fact remains, Stephen Harper would have committed Canada to this illegal war if he were Prime Minister at the time.   As for Afghanistan, I would much prefer that Canada was there with our original intention of peace-keeping and reconstruction. However, our troops deserve our full support in this new, combative role, which is sanctioned by the UN.  The point of my letter was that the Conservative government must respect the motion on conscientious objectors passed by Parliament. Harper himself said the government has a moral responsibility to respect such motions. This motion is based on an issue of fundamental human rights, and it is downright callous to ignore it.   According to an Angus Reid poll conducted June 6 and 7, 2008, after Parliament passed the motion calling on the government to make a provision to allow war resisters to stay in Canada and to cease all deportation and removal proceedings, two-thirds of Canadians want Canada to grant permanent residence status to U. S. Iraq war resisters.   The Harper Conservatives are afraid of raising the ire of their ideological cousins in the Republican administration but, ignoring the democratic will of Parliament and the views of the large majority of Canadians will only raise the fury of Canadian voters who want a more progressive government that reflects Canadian values.   Steve Clarke, Federal Liberal candidate for Simcoe North   War resisters in Canada need your help. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."   There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, 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).   [. . .]   Turning to the Undead -- it's got to be the only reason he's still around.  Aging  boy-toy Hank Kissinger shows up in the Khaleej Times to dish -- and with nary a starlet around.  Kissinger who sold and re-sold an earlier illegal war sometimes makes sense -- sometimes that's insane sense, sometimes . . .  Today he declares of withdrawals from Iraq, "Under the fixed withdrawal scheme, combat troops are to be withdrawn, but sufficient forces are to remain to protect the American Embassy, fight a resumption of Al Qaeda and contribute to the defence against outside intervention. But such tasks require combat, not support forces, and the foreseeable controversy about the elusive distinction will distract from the overall diplomatic goal."  Yes, he has noted the problem.  Those are combat troops whether you call them "combat" or something else.  Where he's wrong is when he claims that there's no need for a fixed withdrawal.  (Mass killings are and have always been Viagra for Hank.)  But that's the reality of Barack's plan that supposed 'peace' 'leaders' don't want to face.  It's not withdrawal.  It was never withdrawal.  Maybe with Kissinger pointing it out, it will finally register.  In other news of presumed Democratic presidential nominee and presumed narcissist Barack Obama, US News & World Reports offers an exhuastive round-up of the reaction to his latest cave    A widely-distributed AP story also says Obama's proposal "includes two significant reversals of positions he has taken in the past," noting that "as recently as last month" he "argued against tapping into the petroleum reserve," while USA Today reports Obama's proposals include "two reversals of positions he has taken in the past." A widely-syndicated McClatchy pieces is titled, "In Another Switch, Obama Calls For Tapping U.S. Oil Reserve," and says "Obama's revised position on a key energy issue was his second shift in three days." Likewise, the New York Times titles its piece, "Obama, In Shift, Urges Tapping Oil From U.S. Reserve." However, the Wall Street Journal reports that Obama aides defended the move, saying Obama "had met with economic advisers and business leaders in Washington last week, and they had advised him to call for tapping the government reserve." The New York Daily News adds, "Team Obama cast the proposal as a 'refinement,' rather than a flip-flop, on Obama's previous opposition to tapping the 770-million barrel reserve." In an editorial, the San Francisco Chronicle says that Sen. Obama's "energy policy is offering more flip flops than a Lake Tahoe souvenir stand." The New York Post editorializes, "One more week, one more Barack Obama reversal on a key issue. Actually, make that two reversals. ... So much for principles."   Turning to independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader.  As Ruth pointed out yesterday, "AP reports today that Mr. Nader's campaign will turn in signatures tomorrow to qualify for South Dakota's ballot. Lebanon Daily News reports that Mr. Nader should be on Pennsylvania's ballot because the campaign has collected 24,666 signatures (the deadline is Friday). Jesse A. Hamilton (Hartford Courant) reports that the Nader-Gonzalez ticket picked up the nomination of California's Peace and Freedom Party ('carrying with it an automatic slot on the California election ballot') and contains this statement from the Nader campaign, 'There can no longer be any justification -- if there ever was -- for Ralph Nader not being included in every national poll'."  Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) noted the Nader campaign's plans for the week includes garnering "the November ballots of seven states".  Tim Carpenter (Capitol-Journal) reports that "Kansas is the 22nd state in which Nader's forces filed papers since his campaign began in February."  Richard Winger (Ballot Access News) reports Nader is now on the ballot in Michigan. AP notes the campaign plans to file for the ballot today in South Dakota. Meanwhile John Geluardi (San Francisco Weekly) covers the College of Marin campaign stop Sunday by Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez with Gonzalez asking the large crowd assembled, "How is he [Barack] going to 'change' the culture of Washington if he can't stand up to those corporations?"  Nader's remarks included, "We now grow up corporate.  When you start looking at ads when you're two, three, four years old, pretty soon the world is Madison Avenue.  Then in college it's computer skills, computer skill, computer skills.  What about civic skills?  Young people think they live in a Democracy because they can vote for American Idol."   Finally, from Team Nader:   Only two days left in our Win Dinner with Ralph E-mail Contest. Many thousands of you have signed on. And a select few of you are competing for the grand prize of a dinner with Ralph. This morning, Ramy Mousa from Baton Rouge, Louisiana tops the leader board with 263 friends that have joined our network. But many more thousands of you haven't even played. So, we'd like you to try it. You bring us the e-mails of your friends, neighbors and countrymen. We feed them up-to-the minute breaking news about the two corporate candidates - Obama and McCain - and the growing challenge by Nader and Gonzalez. Nader/Gonzalez is an unconventional campaign, in many ways. One, there is no national convention. We're running as independents. Two, we have a broad range of support. Take Iggy Pup here, for example. We asked Iggy. Iggy, who ya going vote for? Iggy, being on our e-mail list, knew that Nader/Gonzalez would shift the power from the corporations back into the hands of the people. Check out Iggy's answer in this just released Nader/Gonzalez video. But it's not enough for Iggy to be plugged in. Or for you to be plugged in. We have to spread the word far and wide. And one way to do it is to build our network of supporters. Just bring us five new e-mails, and you can be part of a special invite-only conference phone call with Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez. But you have to get going. The contest ends the day after tomorrow - Thursday August 7 - at 11:59 PM on the West coast. There are other great prizes. But most importantly, you'll be helping us spread the word. About the candidacy that will stand up to the two corporate parties in November. So, help us out - find five people right now that will join our network of supporters. Click here to get started. If you are already in the game, thank you. You can track your ranking on our leader board. Find more friends and family and colleagues, and watch yourself move on up. We'll be announcing the winners in a week or so. Thank you for joining. Together, we are making a difference. Onward.   RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Other Items" "Iraq" "talking post" "Ralph Nader and how Joan Baez lost me as a fan" "Liz Phair" "Nader, Ron Jacobs" "Isaiah, Liz Phair" "Isaiah, Nader, Third" "Party hats and party favors for the little prince" "THIS JUST IN! PARTY HATS!"