Alan Greenspan, stand by the phone

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   SENATOR SWEETIE BARACK OBAMA CONTINUES TO ATTEMPT TO PAINT HIS OPPONENTS SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN AS A COPY OF THE CURRENT WHITE HOUSE OCCUPANT DESPITE SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN INFORMING HIM IN LAST WEEK'S DEBATE: "SENATOR OBAMA, I AM NOT PRESIDENT BUSH.  IF YOU WANT TO RUN AGAINST PRESIDENT BUSH, YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE IT FOUR YEARS AGO."   THIS MORNING BARACK ANNOUNCED THAT FAILED U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE AND PROFESSIONAL LIAR COLIN POWELL WOULD BE A PART OF A BARACK ADMINISTRATION: "HERE IS WHAT I CAN SAY FOR CERTAIN: HE WILL HAVE A ROLE AS ONE OF MY ADVISERS. WHETHER HE WANTS TO TAKE A FORMAL ROLE -- WHETHER THERE'S SOMETHING THAT'S A GOOD FIT FOR HIM -- I THINK IS SOMETHING THAT HE AND I WOULD HAVE TO DISCUSS."   IN JUNE, BARACK TOLD THE TIMES OF LONDON, "MY PERSONAL POSITION IS GATES IS A VERY GOOD SECRETARY OF DEFENCE AND WOULD BE AN EVEN BETTER ONE IN AN OBAMA ADMINISTRATION."   BUSH'S SECRETARY OF STATE?  BUSH'S SECRETARY OF DEFENSE?  WHO'S BUSH THE THIRD?  SOUNDS LIKE IT'S OBAMA!  ALAN GREENSPAN, DON'T GET COMFY IN THAT LAZY-BOY, BARACK'S PROBABLY GOT A JOB FOR YOU TOO!   AS THE  McCain-Palin campaign NOTED: Posted at 5:34 PM on 10/17/2008 by matt_lira Sign the Petition Today, we launched a new petition to tell Barack Obama that if he wanted to run against George Bush, he should have run four years ago. Click here to add your name to the petition and to share your comments.           FROM THE TCI WIRE:     Turning to the US race for president. Barck Obama is the Democratic presidential candidate.  Sarah Palin is the Republican presidential candidate.  Mark Mooney (ABC News) belongs to the Eternal Clueless (he's not lying, he just doesn't know better): "The ABC News/Washington Post poll found that the constant barrage of attacks is hurting McCain, particularly when he targeted Obama's relationship with William Ayers, a founder of the 1960s radical anti-war group the Weather Underground."  No, that's not what the poll is showing.   The William Ayers issue?  Mooney doesn't even grasp it.  "Anti-war"?   Thai Jones, A Radical Line: From the Labor Movement to the Weather Underground, One Family's Century of Conscience, pp. 215:   He had an explicit political goal, and a congressional report described it accurately when it referred to Weatherman's "intention to build a small, tough, paramilitary organization designed to carry out urban guerilla warfare to bring about the revolution."   Thai Jones (who wrote an amazing book) is not attacking Weather (he is not anti-Weather), he's noting reality -- in the book he's telling his family story -- his parents are Weather members Eleanor Stein and Jeff Jones.  In 2005, he told Shaina Fineberg (The Brooklyn Rail), "But the Weather Underground are despised by the right and the liberal left.  They were seen as a slap in the face to the mainstream left.  They were the far left group on the spectrum.  They were openly dismissive of people whose commitment level was not the same as theirs.  They felt that if you're not going to die for the cause, you're just wasiting your time.  They were very combative: Going to peace marches and pulling anti-war signs from grandmother's hands.  But it is important to remember that the Weather Underground is just one of thousands of groups.  Their PR maching was better -- so people remember them still."  But their goal was not ending the illegal war.  That had been a goal in SDS and in the early days of Weatherman.  Weather Underground saw itself as bringing about and leading an armed class struggle in the United States which would result in many deaths and this is where Bernardine Dorhn (leader of Weather) first begins referring to herself with the phrase "oven Jew."  The 'left' today is so eager to elect to Barack (enshrine?) that they allow Weather to be distorted yet again.  Sadly, we have no left historians -- despite various pretenders to the role -- who will step up and correct the falsehoods.   Michael Falcone (New York Times) notes the Christian Broadcasting Network's interview with Palin to air on the 700 Club tomorrow.  We'll note this section (CBN link has text and video) which is Palin responding to David Brody's question of whether she'd hesitate to use "palling around with terrorists" again to describe Barack and Bill Ayers: "No I would say it again, I would say it again because again it, it, according to the information that we have, the association that he's had with Bill Ayers wasn't just one or two time sitting on a board together where, No, there's been quite a few associations and events and meetings and discussion and emails and calls and to not disavow that too, I think is troubling."  As for McCain being 'hurt' by any of this -- what is this load of crap?  Every other day Barack's King, God and Lord Supreme.  If McCain's hurting himself as badly as the press keeps insisting, why is the race still a dead-heat?  Why can't the Christ-child pull it out in this alleged year for any Democrat?  Whether it's Ayers or Palin, it hasn't hurt McCain in the least and has provided very real excitement for his campaign.  And it's why Catty Barack can't stop sniping at Sarah Palin such as here: "And you know, you really have to work hard to violate Governor Palin's standards on negative campaigning. You gotta work hard."  Palin does know about working hard.  Barack?  It's hard work to keep those nails so spiffy.  Say Anything Barack is caught by Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller (ABC News Political Punch) in Tampa telling the Rays he's backing them ("I was going to cut my hair in a Mohawk in solidarity, but my political advisors said they weren't sure how that was going to play with swing voters.") while "earlier this month in Philadelphia -- in another battleground state, Pennsylvania -- he said that since 'my White Sox are gone . . . I'll go ahead and root for the Phillies now'."   While Barack roots for anyone who will vote for him, Colin "The Blot" Powell always sets his own end up so be very scared when the man who lied to sell the illegal war endorses Barack Obama's run for the presidency. No word on whether or not other War Criminals, past or present, will come forward to make endorsements.  But Powell made his endorsement on NBC's Meet The Press yesterday -- link has video. For transcript of the segment, you have to go to CNN ("Reporter" in the CNN transcript is Tom Brokaw).  Collie Powell declared of his Iraq War Crimes, "I'm well aware of the role I played. My role has been very, very straightforward. I wanted to avoid a war. The president agreed with me. We tried to do that. We couldn't get it through the U.N. and when the president made the decision, I supported that decision. And I've never blinked from that. I've never said I didn't support a decision to go to war."  Huh?  Let's go back to 20/20 on ABC Sept. 9, 2005 where Barbara Walters reminded Collie, "However, you gave the world false, groundless reasons for going to war.  You've said, and I quote, 'I will forever be known as the one who made the case for war.'  Do you think this blot on your record will stay with you for the rest of your life?"   Powell: Well it's a, it's a, of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United Nations, uh, United States, to the world. And it will always be uh, part of my, uh, my record.  Walters: How painful is it?   Powell: (shrugs) It was -- it was painful. (shifts, shrugs) It's painful now.     Apparently it was a temporary pain because he's all over it and back to lying again.  He claimed  on NBC yesterday that his rol in the Iraq War was "very, very straightforward. I wanted to avoid a war."  LIAR.  Damn and damnable LIAR.  Collie wanted to get a little sympathy three years ago and try to save his image so he pretended he was haunted by his lies to the UN (if nothing else).  Yesterday, he's back to singing his own praises and 'goodness.'  It was a sort of 24-hour-viral, mini-mea-culpa.  Joe Mowrey (Dissident Voice) provides more 'great' moments in Collie Powell history:   Powell is the guy who, as a bright young 31 year old Army Major, did his level best to keep information about the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam from becoming public. Specifically, he was charged with investigating a letter from a whistle-blowing soldier giving detailed accounts of many of the atrocities committed by U.S. military personnel in Vietnam under the auspices of the Phoenix Program. That program was a lovely little package of war crimes intended to "identify and neutralize (via infiltration, capture, or murder) the civilian infrastructure supporting the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (the Viet Cong)." In other words, it was a U.S. and South Vietnamese death squad operation which rampaged through the country side slaughtering civilians and burning down entire villages. You know, capturing the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. Powell summed up his investigation of the whistle-blower's accusations by saying, "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent."    Well that's enough for me. If Powell endorsed the rousing success of the Phoenix Program, what more do we need to know? Queried about his participation in the attempted white wash of My Lai, some 40 years later Powell said, "I mean, I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again..." Personally, I think he sounds really sorry. And he's seems to be bashing Republicans these days, so I like him a lot. [. . .] And while we're at it, let's catalog of few of Barack Obama's progressive qualifications to be next President of the United States of Imperialism. Well first, there's his adamant condemnation of the war in Iraq. Why, he was against it from the very start. Of course, that hasn't prevented him from voting continually to fund the Occupation. But hey, he has to get elected before he can implement all his wonderful changey policies, right? You know, like maintaining a presence of 50,000 to 80,000 troops in Iraq, along with a dozen or so permanent military bases and the world's largest foreign embassy. Then there is his pledge to escalate the "good war" in Afghanistan. We've only killed about 10,000 or so innocent civilians there in the last few years. I won't feel safe until we can push those numbers much higher. And Pakistan? Sending robot drones out to drop bombs on people is my kind of progressive war. Obama has assured us he'll continue that policy and actually increase the number of illegal violations of that country's sovereignty. Right on.   Scott Conroy (CBS News) reports Governor Palin is currently the most accessible to the traveling press, "In the past two days alone, Palin has answered questions from her national press corps on three separate occasions. On Saturday, she held another plane availability, and on Sunday, she offered an impromptu press conference on the tarmac upon landing in Colorado Springs. A few minutes later, she answered even more questions from reporters during an off-the-record stop at a local ice cream shop. By contrast, Biden hasn't held a press conference in more than a month, and Obama hasn't taken questions from his full traveling press corps since the end of September. John McCain--who spent most of the primary season holding what seemed like one, never-ending media availability--hasn't done one since Sept. 23."  Meanwhile Ruben Navarrette Jr. (Pajamas Media) observes of the current climate between the two major parties, "It seems like just yesterday that the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy was talking about income equality and civil rights and worker protections and going to bat for the little guy, the blue collar laborer, the everyday Joe the Plumber.  Now, the well-to-do elites who run the Democratic Party -- and their surrogates -- greet these people with brickbats. They insult them, talk down to them, and even try to destroy them. Isn't that the sort of war on the working class that Democrats are always accusing those greedy and heartless Republicans of waging?"  Navarette is now with the San Diego Union Tribune and has been with many other papers (including the Dallas Morning News).  A friend asked for that link and reminds that Ava and I were supposed to cover a documentary that Navarette appeared in.  We haven't forgotten and we'll attempt to do so on Sunday.   Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney will appear Wednesday October 22nd on NPR's Talk of the Nation and Saturday October 25 on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday.  The Indigenist Intelligence Review explains of Cynthia:     She sees tribal sovereignty, treaty obligations, and religious and cultural preservation as intertwined. The U.S. government has "selective amnesia" and never intended to honor the treaties, but it is obligated to do so without question, McKinney said, and also to adequately fund programs for the betterment of American Indians and affirm their religious rights.  "How can a people survive, let alone thrive, absent their religion, spirituality, culture, language and sense of place? I support and strongly encourage religious and cultural preservation in Indian country and urge protection of sacred sites, whichever side of the map boundary they fall upon."  On IHS funding, McKinney said that the Green Party's call for universal single-payer health care would provide medical, mental and dental benefits to everyone within the United States, including Native women and veterans. She also embraces traditional indigenous medicine and healing.  "Health care needs to be treated as a human right and removed from the economic gaming field. Until such time as indigenous peoples are covered under such a policy, we Greens support generous IHS funding, including recognition of both Western and non-Western methods of healing. Western medicine deals quite well with trauma, but has much to learn from 'energetic/spiritual' traditional methods recognizing the implicit agreement between seen and unseen aspects of reality."  McKinney said that the rampant substance abuse on reservations is part and parcel of a legacy of oppression and dispossession.  "It offers the hollow promise of filling the void left by cultural obliteration. The sacred has been replaced by the profane. 'Treaty' dictates have enforced a substantial and abrupt end to traditional lifeways. For all of these reasons, it is incumbent upon the U.S. government to support IHS."    Ralph Nader is in the independent presidential candidate.  His running mate is Matt Gonzalez.  Team Nader's Toby Heaps explains how much easier it is to book Ralph on British television than on American airwaves:   Nightline vs BBC: No wonder Ted Koppel voted with his feet   Ralph is going to be on BBC's version of Nightline, which now employs Ted Koppel. Ralph said the international media were showing up the US media. So I tried booking him on Nightline again and a senior producer at the show said 'no thanks.'   I asked him if he had covered the main two candidates. He said 'yes.'   I asked why he didn't cover the guy polling in third place. He smugly said: 'We tend to profile the people who have the greatest chance of winning.'   I asked him if he felt there might be a catch-22. He said with a chuckle, 'You think he would win if we put him on the program.'   I can see why Ted Koppel moved over to BBC.     But Ralph will be on NBC Nightly News this evening:   Ralph Nader is at 5 percent in The Show Me State -- Missouri. And he's moving on up. That's according to the most recent CNN/Time Missouri poll. The poll shows Nader at 5 percent last week, up from 3 percent at the end of September. We believe that this shows that with just a little bit of visibility -- we have an active Nader/Gonzalez group in Missouri -- Ralph will move up in the polls. That's why we're encouraging all of our supporters in Missouri and around the country to buy and wear -- during the last days of the campaign -- our hot selling heavy duty 100 percent cotton Nader '08 Buffalo T-Shirts (men's or women's). (Pictured here -- Nader/Gonzalez road warrior Matt Zawisky and the Obama Girl, both wearing Nader 08 Buffalo T-Shirts in front of our favorite mascot in downtown DC last month.) We sold out of our first stash of 600 in less than 24 hours this weekend. So we ordered another 1,000. And in less than 12 hours, we've sold over 250. There are only 750 left. At our current sale rate, we'll be sold out by Thursday night. So if you don't have one yet, buy one now (men's or women's), before it's too late. And wear it with pride. At $30 a shirt (men's or women's), it's a deal. If you have one already, buy one for a friend, relative or colleague (man or woman). In case you haven't heard yet, Ralph will be profiled on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams tonight. Hope you get a chance to watch. And just for fun, check out our spooky Nader/Gonzalez Halloween video. We're firing on all cylinders. Mainstream media. On the ground get out the vote drive. Nader/Gonzalez videos. And Nader Buffalo T-Shirt drive. It's a sprint to the finish line. Onward to November.       RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Other Items" "The treaty" Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barack's Wipings" "And the war drags on . . ." "Baghdad protest" "NYT: Thommy and Stevie take it to the Boom-Boom Room" Truest statement of the week Truest statement of the week II Truest statement of the week III A note to our readers The Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-whore movement (Ava & C.I... TV: The fakes Urban Guerilla warfare Movie quotes Remember New Hampshire! We chose our side and we're sticking CBS try something different Highlights "Barack is the new blonde" "THIS JUST IN! BARACK CONFUSED! BARACK CONFESS!" "The Common Ills"

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BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   TODAY SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN ACCUSED SENATOR "SWEETIE" BARACK OBAMA OF PUSHING SOCIALISM.   WHEN REACHED FOR COMMENT, BARACK INSISTED, "I DID NOT PUSH IT.  FRANK WAS JUST AS INTERESTED IN IT AS I WAS.  IT STARTED OUT NORMALLY ENOUGH WITH THE USUAL, 'YOU SHOW ME YOURS, I'LL SHOW YOU MINE' TALK.  AFTER THAT, IT GOT A LITTLE HEATED.  BUT FRANK WANTED IT AS MUCH AS I DID.  SOMETIMES CRIES OF 'NO!' ARE JUST PART OF THE FOREPLAY, YOU KNOW?  I DID NOT PUSH IT."   AFTER THESE REPORTERS PICKED THEIR JAWS UP FROM THE FLOOR, WE ASKED SENATOR SWEETIE WHAT HE THOUGHT SOCIALISM WAS?   "HUH?  HEY SMART DUDES, YOU ALWAYS KNOW SO MUCH, WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME!" HE SNAPPED.   THESE REPORTERS EXPLAINED SOCIALISM TO BARACK WHO SCRUNCHED UP HIS BROW, ABSORBED IT AND NODDED, "OKAY, YEAH, I CAN GET ON BOARD THAT.  FORGET WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT BEFORE, OKAY?  LET'S JUST LEAVE THAT OUT OF IT."     FROM THE TCI WIRE:     Turning to the US presidential race.  Yesterday's snapshot mentions a debate at Columbia. Maria Recio's "Third-party debate's only confirmed participant: the moderator" (McClatchy Newspapers) informs that it's iffy with Cynthia McKinney saying she's doing another debate, Ralph Nader hedging and apparently no real desire for it. Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate, Matt Gonzalez is his running mate.  Today Nader writes "In the Public Interest: Closing the Courthouse Door:"   "Real change comes from the bottom up, not the top down. The genius of the American system has been to let that change flow upward, from neighborhoods to cities to states and then to the federal government." George W. Bush February 26, 2001.  Unfortunately, the difference between words and deeds in Washington is often shocking even to those who think they have seen it all. Alicia Mundy in the October 15, 2008 edition of the Wall Street Journal reports: "Bush administration officials, in their last weeks in office, are pushing to rewrite a wide array of federal rules with changes or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states."  What President George W. Bush should have said is that he believes in states rights when they are in the interest of Big Business and their lobbyists in Washington. Mr. Bush and his cronies would like to forget about those harmed by dangerous products or reckless conduct. Indeed, Bush & Company seem to regard the civil justice system as a nuisance that threatens to destroy our economy and way of life. In reality, America's civil justice system plays an indispensable role in our democracy. When the rights of injured consumers are vindicated in court, our society benefits in countless ways: compensating victims and their families for shattering losses (with the cost borne by the wrongdoers rather than taxpayers); preventing future injuries by deterring dangerous products and practices and spurring safety innovation; stimulating enforceable safety standards; educating the public to risks associated with certain products and services; and providing society with its moral and ethical fiber by defining appropriate norms of conduct. The Center for Progressive Reform has in painstaking detail chronicled the attack on the civil Justice system by the Bush Administration. In "The Truth about Torts: Using Agency Preemption to Undercut Consumer Health and Safety" legal scholars William Funk, Sidney Shapiro, David Vladeck and Karen Sokol write: "In recent years, the Bush administration has launched an unprecedented aggressive campaign to persuade the courts to preempt state tort actions…. Widespread preemption of state tort law would significantly undermine, if not eliminate, the rights of individuals to seek redress for injuries caused by irresponsible and dangerous business practices and to hold manufacturers and others accountable for such socially unreasonable conduct."  (See: http://www.progressiveregulation.org)   And, Les Weisbrod, the President of the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) hit the nail on the head when he said: "In effect the Bush administration made the safety of Americans secondary to corporate profits." Mr. Weisbrod added: "Big business lobbyists have been on a crusade to destroy state consumer protection laws, and further stack the deck against American consumers." The American Association for Justice has just published a report titled: "Get Out of Jail Free: A Historical Perspective of How the Bush Administration Helps Corporations Escape Accountability" – this report is available at: www.justice.org/getoutofjailfree.   Tort deform comes in many shapes and sizes – but the common theme is that tort deform severely damages Americans' cherished constitutional right to trial by jury. It ties the hands of jurors, preventing them from doing justice as the case before them requires. Only the judges and juries see, hear, and evaluate the evidence in these cases. But it is the politicians, absent from the courtrooms, who push bills greased by campaign cash that send a perverse message to judge and jury.   Tort law has produced decades of slow but steady progress in state after state respecting the physical integrity of human beings against harm and recognition that even the weak and defenseless deserve justice. Instead of seeing this evolution as a source of national and global pride, a coalition of insurance companies, corporate defendants' lobbies, and craven politicians, led by George W. Bush, want to destroy our civil justice system. When Georgetown Law School Professor David Vladeck testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 12, 2007, he noted that the Bush Administration has "seized on regulatory preemption as a way to cut back dramatically on State law remedies for those injured by products and services Americans depend on every day for their health and well-being: medicines, medical devices, motor vehicles, the mattress on which we and our children sleep, and the commuter trains millions of us take to work every day."  Let us hope that Congress and the Supreme Court stop Mr. Bush from once again trampling the Constitutional rights of citizens throughout the land and preventing victims of corporate violence from obtaining justice in a court of law.   Cynthia McKinney is the Green Party presidential candidate and Rosa Clemente is her running mate.   Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney will participate in a webcast forum for presidential candidates on Sunday, October 19, to be aired 7 to 9 pm on BreakTheMatrix.com. Cynthia McKinney will join other candidates who've been invited to the online forum, which has been organized by ThirdPartyTicket.com's Trevor Lyman. Ms. McKinney will not appear at a candidates' forum at Columbia University on the evening of October 19. The news of Ms. McKinney's participation in the Columbia event was released to the media in error by persons who are unassociated with the McKinney campaign, and who had not confirmed such an appearance with Ms. McKinney or her staff. "We invite everyone to go online, tune in to BreakTheMatrix.com, and listen to Cynthia McKinney and the other candidates debate real issues. We'll hear Ms. McKinney offer ideas that have been censored from the McCain-Obama debates -- ideas that most Americans support, like bringing our troops home now, health care for everyone, and help for working Americans facing financial difficulty instead of a $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street," said John Judge, media secretary for the McKinney/Clemente Power to the People Committee. Cynthia McKinney and running mate Rosa Clemente were nominated by the Green Party at the Green National Convention in Chicago this past July. "A vote for Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente is an investment in a growing progressive antiwar party that accepts no corporate contributions. No other candidate in the 2008 election offers the hope of a permanent alternative to the Democrats and Republicans and the corporate interests that the two established parties serve. The Green Party isn't an alternative, it's an imperative," said Ms. Clemente.  Greens and other Americans have objected to the format of the McCain-Obama debates, which were sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), and which excluded all candidates except the Democratic and Republican nominee.  The CPD, which sets rules for candidate participation, is owned and run by the Democratic and Republican parties, which have an interest in excluding all candidates except their own. Greens noted that the CPD is funded through contributions from corporations, which have their own interests in limiting the candidates who participate in the debates.   Democracy Now! -- no link to trash -- had Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney on yesterday. Cynthia is the Green Party presidential candidate and wisely refused to take part in defending a White man who instigated more serious acts of violence than have the still persecuted Black Panthers (much to Goody's regret, Cynthia refused to rush to defend Bill Ayers). Ignoring Goody's need to for White privilege, McKinney responded: CYNTHIA McKINNEY: First of all, I think I should say that I believe that the people in this country need a political party and a movement that places our values on the political agenda. Obviously, with that exchange, that's not the case.  There's something else that's a bit more troubling. I've also been talking about election integrity as I've gone across this country. But, you know, I really don't like the idea that the face of election fraud, given the past two presidential elections, is now a face of color and one of poor people.  In 2000, when people went to the polls, when the voters went to the polls, they were met with confusing ballots, manipulation of the voter lists, electronic voting machines that didn't work, inappropriately or ineffectively or poorly trained officials who weren't familiar with the workings of those machines, and we know what the problems with those machines have been and are. We still have those problems that have been with us since 2000.  In 2004, they added to these problems with the electronic poll books, the sleepovers that were discovered, where the machines weren't even secured, even intensifying the failures of the machines with the vote flipping, and usually in only one direction. The battery freezes in the midst of voters actually trying to cast their votes.  And now we've got voter ID laws across the country, and we've got voter caging, which is a fancy way of purging people from the voter files.  So, now, what kind of election is it when neither of the political parties is addressing the issue, the fundamental issue, of whether or not our votes are even going to be counted?  McKinney's running mate is Rosa Clemente. Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate. Ralph took the bait so we won't note his exchange on that issue. Instead, we'll note this from him:  RALPH NADER: There's no such thing as free trade with dictators and oligarchs in these countries, because the market doesn't determine the costs. There's no free collective bargaining for workers. That's a crime, de facto, in many countries, to try to form an independent trade union. There's no rule of law, bribery. These companies can go there and pollute at will. There's no judicial independence to make these companies accountable, and they abuse workers and consumers and communities, as the oil companies and the timber companies have on many occasions.  Second, these-NAFTA and WTO have to be scrapped. Under those treaties, we can withdraw in six months and give notice of withdrawal and renegotiate these agreements for the following purpose: no more trade agreements that subordinate consumer, union, worker and environmental rights. These are pull-down trade agreements that are allowing fascist and corporate dictators to pull down our standards of living, because they know how to keep their workers in their place at fifty cents an hour. So, any new trade agreements should stick to trade. Any other treaty should be labor, environment and consumer on a level playing field. These trade agreements also have to be open, democratic. They cannot undermine our courts, our regulatory agencies and our legislature.  That's what we've got to do. And our website, votenader.org, has ample information on this process.  If you're in the mood to wade through garbage, you know where to go find the audio and video. Cynthia McKinney has the transcript posted at her campaign website. Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate, Matt Gonzalez is his running mate. In terms of the 'questions' Goody came up with, Ava and I will address that garbage on Sunday at Third. Meghan McCain (McCainBlogette.com) offers her evaluation today on the debate Wednesday between her father, GOP presidential candidate John McCain, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: "My father nothing short of ROCKED Wednesday night's debate and I have never been more proud.  He got up and showed this country why he is the right person to lead it into the future, and open the door to reinvention of the Republican Party.  I am always proud of my Dad but even more so when he lets his maverick tendencies show so clearly.  Eighteen more days to go and this election is nowhere near over!!!"  McCain's running mate is Governor Sarah Palin.  The McCain-Palin campaign has issued a press release that there's not room for in full.  We'll quote from the top and include as much as possible (ues the link to read in full):   OBAMA MEDICARE MALPRACTICE #1: The Very Same Reforms That Barack Obama Calls "Cuts" Under John McCain, He Says Will "Strengthen" Medicare Under His Program  THE MALPRACTICE: While Saying Today That John McCain's Reforms Will "Cut" Medicare Spending, Barack Obama Says He Will "Strengthen" Medicare With His Reforms. OBAMA: "So what would Senator McCain's cuts mean for Medicare at a time when more and more Americans are relying on it? It would mean a cut of more than 20 percent in Medicare benefits next year. ... I think every single American has a right to affordable accessible health care. We can strengthen Medicare by eliminating wasteful subsidies to big HMOs in Medicare, and making sure seniors can access home-based care, and letting Medicare negotiate with drug companies for better prices. That's the kind of change we need." (Barack Obama, Remarks As Prepared For Delivery, Roanoke, VA, 10/17/08) THE TRUTH: Just Two Days Ago, Barack Obama Highlighted His Own "Cut" To Medicare Spending. OBAMA: "And some of the cuts, just to give you an example, we spend $15 billion a year on subsidies to insurance companies. It doesn't -- under the Medicare plan -- it doesn't help seniors get any better. It's not improving our health care system. It's just a giveaway." (CNN, Presidential Candidate Debate, Hempstead, NY, 10/15/08) THE TRUTH: One Such "Cut" That John McCain Must Support Under Barack Obama's Logic Is A Reform That Today, Barack Obama Said Would "Strengthen" Medicare. MCCAIN: "Government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid should lead the way in health care reforms that improve quality and lower costs. Medicare reimbursement now rewards institutions and clinicians who provide more and more complex services. We need to change the way providers are paid to focus their attention more on chronic disease and managing their treatment. This is the most important care for an aging population. There have been a variety of state-based experiments such as Cash and Counseling or The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, called PACE, that are different from the inflexible approaches for delivering care to people in the home setting. Seniors are given a monthly allowance that they can use to hire workers and purchase care- related services and goods. They can get help managing their care by designating representatives, such as relatives or friends, to help make decisions. It also offers counseling and bookkeeping services to assist consumers in handling their programmatic responsibilities. In these approaches, participants were much more likely to have their needs met and be satisfied with their care. Moreover, any concerns about consumers' safety appeared to be misplaced. For every age group in every state, participants were no more likely to suffer care-related health problems." (John McCain, Remarks, Tampa, FL, 4/29/08)    RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Iraqi Christians" "The treaty" "I Hate The War" "The Party From Hell" "Mushroom Green Beans in the Kitchen" "around the web" "nader, joe cannon" " The campaigns" "Nader's influence" "Blah and music" "One more truth teller: P. Jerome" "Good Friday!" "ACORN" "Barack cultist beats up woman" "Interview with C.I." "Censorship at Dissident Voice" "Now he's concerned? Now?" "THIS JUST IN! BARACK WARNS AGAINST . . . HIMSELF!" "The Common Ills"

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Now he's concerned? Now?

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   TODAY SENATOR 'SWEETIE' BARACK OBAMA WARNED AGAINST "OVER CONFIDENCE" THEREBY PRODUCING HOWLS OF LAUGHTER FROM MANY.   IF IT WEREN'T FOR OVER CONFIDENCE, THE STILL-IN-THE-MIDDLE-OF-HIS-FIRST-SENATE-TERM BARACK WOULDN'T BE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, NOW WOULD HE?     IN OTHER NEWS THE WASHINGTON POST ENDORSED BARACK OBAMA.  THAT WOULD BE THE SAME PAPER THAT ENDORSED THE IRAQ WAR IN 2003 ("The Post, which mistakenly supported an invasion of Iraq as a means to protect U.S. national security . . .").      FROM THE TCI WIRE:     Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Corps - Iraq Soldier died of non-battle related causes at approximately 10 p.m. Oct. 15 in Baghdad." And they announced, "A Coalition force Soldier was killed in an indirect fire attack Oct. 16 in Diyala."  The announcements bring to 4185 the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war.   Yesterday the Republican and the Democratic presidential candidate were invited to a debate that barred all other presidential candidates.  Barack Obama, Democratic candidate, and John McCain took part in a debate hosted by CBS News' Bob Schieffer -- here for transcript (and video), here for Katherine Q. Seelye's live blogging at the New York Times.  Among the issues Schieffer probed was abortion.  For those who've forgotten, Barack always knew he could use sexism throughout the primary because he had the club of "What will happen to Roe!"  He knew -- or thought he did -- that women would have to flock to him -- like a battered wife to an abuser? -- because they had no where else to go.  Mike caught the moment, "Mainly we got to see Barack was even more right-wing than we knew as he talked about 'partial-birth abortions' and said he wanted to end late-term abortions (except for health!). Except for health? He's already made clear what he thinks about that. So he's going to chip away at abortion rights the same way the Supreme Court has. Barack's apparently pro-life on the installment plan. He'll do away with Roe bit by bit if elected. There's no Democrat in the presidential race, sadly."  Madamab (The Confluence) also points to Barack's embarrassing answer, "Didja catch that, ladies? First the veiled threat about Roe v. Wade, which events in the past eight years have proven to be fearmongering of the most despicable type. Then, Obama assumes that before making a decision about our own bodies and our own babies, we naturally "consult with" an entire committee of people. Does he actually know anyone who's had to deal with this choice? (At least he has finally realized that some women are not Christian! Mr. Sensitivity has substituted the words 'religious advisers' for the more exclusive word 'pastors.') It never occurs to Senator Obama that women can make these decisions without "consulting with" anyone. It never occurs to Senator Obama that some women would not dream of going to any religious figures to ask whether or not to get an abortion, because some women are atheists or agnostic, or know that their 'religious advisors' would not support them in their decision. (DUUUUHHHH.) And it never occurs to Senator Obama that some women are pregnant BY members of their families, and that going to their families would be the LAST thing they would do in that case. Anyone who is at all familiar with the attempts by the religious right to try to force women to get the consent of their parents before getting an abortion, would be aware of that fact. (Double DUUUUUHHHHHH.)"  Heidi Li (Heidi Li's Potpourri) wonders why Barack refuses to make support for Roe v. Wade a litmus test when appointing Supreme Court justices if he's elected: "What does matter is that Senator Obama, whose party is committed to upholding Roe, refused to commit to treating that as a make or break issue when it would come to his judicial appointments.  And another thing: why does Senator Obama think that women need to consult with doctors, families, and religious advisers when deciding what to do with their own bodies?  I have no objection to anybody consulting with anybody about any decision, but Senator Obama's committee of consultants approach suggests that once again he misses the point when it comes to women's empowerment."  Lambert (Corrente) explains, "Either the woman is in the 'best position,' or a sort of committee, composed of the woman (indeed, we've come a long way), her family, and various religious and medical experts is in the 'best position.'  Why would Obama believe that a committee is in the 'best position' instead of the woman herself?"   Another exchange was focused on by Cedric and Wally (joint-post) and by Kat.  This was when Barack refused to call out his supporters wearing t-shirts proclaiming Governor Sarah Palin was a c**nt or yelling to "stone her, old style."  Instead Barack elected to lie.  In fact, it was the Tawana Brawley campaign tactic.  Play Barack as the victim and drive up the sympathy factor.  Barack yammered on in that annoying uh way of uh his and at some point declared "all the Republican reports indicated were shouting, when my name came up, things like 'terrorist' and 'kill him' . . ."  As Ava and I noted Sunday, " Based on one report (in The Washington Post), Goody tried to tease out a story of Governor Sarah Palin speaking to a crowd that yelled 'Kill him!' about Barack Obama. That didn't happen and your first clue is that only one outlet covering the speech mentioned it. Your second clue came when the Secret Service investigated the paper's allegation and found no evidence to support it."  Eileen Sullivan's "Secret Service looking into Obama threat at rally" (Associated Press) reported yesterday, "Last week, The Washington Post reported a similar incident during a Palin rally in Clearwater, Fla. The Secret service investigated that allegation and found no indication that 'kill him' was ever said, or if it was said, that the remark was directed at Obama.  Listening to tapes of that rally, the Secret Service heard 'tell him' or 'tell them,' but agents never heard 'kill him,' Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren told The Associated Press on Wednesday."  Sullivan also noted a media claim that it had taken place in Scranton and that the Secret Service was now investigating.  Gqmartinez (Corrente) wonders, "Are we going to trivialize death threats the same way we trivialized racism? If Obama does win and we disagree with his policies, are we going to be called racists or, worse, be implicated in plots against him? Death threats are real and, in my view, very serious. Throwing out unfounded allegations to tarnish the opposition is not only a disgusting tactics, but it takes away focus from the real threats that may be out there."  And Gqmartinez highlights Andrew M. Seder's "Secret Service says 'Kill him' allegation unfounded" (Scranton Times-Leader).  Seder advises that the Scranton Times-Tribune reported that 'kill him' was cried "while congressional candidate Chris Hackett was addressing the crowd"; however, "[t]he agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled 'kill him' when presidential hopeful Barack Obama's name was mentioned during Tuesday's Sarah Palin rally are unfounded."  Seder goes not to note the way various outlets began 'reporting' it after the Times-Tribune's error. (Language Warning) Joseph (Cannonfire) also notes the Times-Leader article and compiles the threats against Hillary Clinton before wondering, "The disgusting behavior of the Obama culstists should have been an issue of national discussion -- and would have been, had the media deigned to cover the story. Why didn't they?"  So let's review.  Two published reports of one person yelling "kill him" and two investigations that found no proof of the claim.  But it sure was a nice talking point for Barack last night.  Ruth pointed out the best moment in the debate, when John McCain declared, "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush.  If you want to run against President Bush, you should have done it four years ago." Elaine focused on Barack's refusal to answer the question regarding mandates (a mandate does mean those not in compliance will be penalized and that's generally a fine but maybe it's jail time as well?  Barack was happy to insist to Tim Russert that Hillary would fine because she had a mandate but he never wants anyone pointing out that his health care for children is mandated as well).  Rebecca called the debate for McCain and noted how the forum was not to Barack's benefit.  (For the perfect example of that, watch or read The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric's "Candidates Discuss Why Politicians Cheat" -- and those dependent upon the transcript should know it is very kind to Barack, leaving out all his uh-uh-uhs.)   Still on the topic of the debates, Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate and his campaign issued the following which provides perspective on Barack's claims during last night's debate:   Donate $3 to Nader/Gonzalez now. Why? Well, on three key issues last night -- energy, health insurance, corporate crime -- Obama stood with the corporations against the interests of the American people.  Compare Nader to Obama.  Last night, McCain challenged Obama.  Tell me one time you have stood up to the leaders of your party, McCain said.  Obama couldn't name one time when he stood up to the corporations that control his party.  So, instead he named a couple of times when he stood with the corporations.  And against the interests of the American people.  I voted for tort reform, Obama said.   Wow!  Brave of you Barack.   You stood with the National Association of Manufacturers against injured people.  I support clean coal technology, Obama said.  Wow Barack, you stood with the polluting coal industry against people who suffer the consequences.  When McCain accused Obama of supporting a single payer, Canadian style national health insurance system, Obama said he didn't.   And he doesn't.  Despite the fact that a majority of doctors, nurses and the American people want it. On national health insurance, Obama stands with the insurance industry and against the American people who are demanding single payer.   Over 5,000 U.S. physicians have signed an open letter calling on the candidates for president and Congress "to stand up for the health of the American people and implement a nonprofit, single-payer national health insurance system." (Here's the ad that ran in the New Yorker magazine.)  Obama says no.  McCain says no.  Nader/Gonzalez says yes.  Yes to single payer.  Yes to solar and no to coal.  Yes to protecting the American people from corporate recklessness and crime, no to tort deform.  So, donate $3 to the candidacy that is not on the debate stage.  But that is right on the issues.  Nader/Gonzalez.  Today, while Obama fronts for his corporate donors, Ralph Nader, Matt Gonzalez and the Nader Team will be on Wall Street protesting corporate America's sustained orgy of excess and reckless behavior.  Nader/Gonzalez continues to stand with the people.  Against the corporate criminals and their candidates in the two major parties. Onward to November.    Shorter version, via Mike, "There's no Democrat in the presidential race, sadly."  . . .  Commenting on the exclusion of Cynthia McKinney (the only female presidential candidate this year), Kimberly Wilder (On The Wilder Side) noted, "This year, one of the pre-debate educational events at Hofstra University in Long Island will include a historical re-enactment presentation entitled 'Women's Rights: Conflicts and Schisms', which will include the character of Victoria Woodhull.  Though, would Victoria Victoria Woodhull, a third party presidential candidate, have been allowed to participate in the Presidential Debates at Hofstra?  If Victoria Woodhull was excluded -- as modern, woman presidnetial candidate Cynthia McKinney is slated to be -- what would Victoria Woodhull have done?"  And, of course, Cynthia was excluded last night.  File it under hypocrisy and see Marcia's post on hypocrisy in the 2008 election.   McCain-Palin Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker weighs in on last night's debate:   "John McCain won tonight's debate with strong, clear straight talk about setting a new direction for our country and fighting for working families. He outlined a specific, bold plan for creating jobs, helping those near retirement, keeping people in their homes, curbing spending, lowering health care costs and achieving energy independence. He vowed to fight for 'Joe the Plumber' every day he is President and he affirmed his belief that we shouldn't raise taxes just to 'spread the wealth.' While Barack Obama is measuring the drapes and campaigning against a man not even on the ballot, John McCain demonstrated that he has the experience, judgment, independence and courage to fight for every American."     RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Abeer and other items" "Security pact and no security still for Iraqi Christians" "debate (mccain won)" "John McCain had the best line in the debate" "Barack ignores the infamous t-shirt" ""Highlights" (Third)" "The hypocrites" "The mandate?" "The debate" "Barack doesn't call out t-shirt" "THIS JUST IN! BARACK'S 'ISSUES'!" "The Common Ills"

Barack doesn't call out t-shirt

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   EXCLUSION 2008 CONTINUED TONIGHT AS JOHN MCCAIN AND BARACK OBAMA MADE IT ON STAGE FOR THE THIRD TIME AS ALL OTHER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WERE SHUT OUT.   IN ONE EXCHANGE, BARACK REFUSED TO APOLOGIZE FOR ANY OF HIS CULT MEMBERS.   McCain: Let me just say categorically I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies. Whenever you get a large rally of 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people, you're going to have some fringe peoples. You know that. And I've -- and we've always said that that's not appropriate. But to somehow say that group of young women who said "Military wives for McCain" are somehow saying anything derogatory about you, but anything -- and those veterans that wear those hats that say "World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq," I'm not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they're great citizens. And I'm not going to stand for somebody saying that because someone yelled something at a rally -- there's a lot of things that have been yelled at your rallies, Sen. Obama, that I'm not happy about either. In fact, some T-shirts that are very... Obama: John, I... McCain: ... unacceptable. So the point is -- the point is that I have repudiated every time someone's been out of line, whether they've been part of my campaign or not, and I will continue to do that. But the fact is that we need to absolutely not stand for the kind of things that have been going on. I haven't. Obama: Well, look, Bob, as I said... Schieffer: I mean, do you take issue with that? Obama: You know, here's what I would say. I mean, we can have a debate back and forth about the merits of each other's campaigns. I suspect we won't agree here tonight.   THE INFAMOUS "SARAH PALIN IS A C**T" T-SHIRT WHICH SPELLS THE WORD OUT AND BARACK COULDN'T APOLOGIZE.   HE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT ISSUES, HE INSISTED.  WHAT ISSUE COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN CHILDREN?  EVEN BARACK AGREED WITH THAT DURING THE DEBATE BUT APPARENTLY GIRLS DON'T MATTER FOR OUR MYTHICAL PETER PAN.  OFFERED THE CHANCE TO REPUDIATE THE T-SHIRTS HIS SUPPORTERS HAVE BEEN WEARING, BARACK CHOSE TO IGNORE IT AND THEN RUB SALT IN THE WOUND BY DECLARING IT WASN'T A REAL ISSUE.   REACHED FOR COMMENT, SENATOR SWEETIE SAID, "I LOVE THOSE T-SHIRTS.  I WEAR ONE MYSELF."  THAT DID EXPLAIN HIS NON-STOP USE OF SEXISM AGAINST HILLARY.   FROM THE TCI WIRE:     As noted already Ralph Nader was on The NewsHour yesterday.  Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate. Today, Ralph Nader will speak at Cooper Union (NYC) at six p.m. and the following day the independent presidential candidate at noon "Ralph will take to the street in front of the NYSE to protest the bailout at Federal Hall, 26 Wall St. NYC."  Ray Suarez asked Ralph about the bail-out last night.   RAY SUAREZ: Well, we've just come through these remarkable weeks, where the Treasury, the Fed, and Congress have been working to cobble together a plan. The presidential candidates, the Republican and Democrat in the race, say they reluctantly went along with these bailout packages because of the urgency of the situation. What did you make of the bailout plans? RALPH NADER: The right word is "cobble." It's the wrong kind of plan, and they have to readjust now with injections into the banks. But what they should have done, because Washington had Wall Street over the barrel, Wall Street wanted a $700 billion bailout. And what Congress should have done is add to Bush's blank check with comprehensive regulation to prevent this; criminal prosecution resources for the culprits on Wall Street; more power to the shareholders to control their company and restrain their bosses' excesses, real taxpayer equity, with good conditions and, finally, making them pay for it. If you make the speculators pay for their own bailout, then there's a relief throughout America that there's some fairness coming out of Washington. A 0.1 percent tax on security derivative transactions in one year -- it's going to be $500 trillion of transactions in one year -- is $500 billion. So that alone would make a sense of equity. And you wouldn't put it on the backs of the taxpayer. England has that kind of tax, by the way, for years. FDR had it. We helped finance the Civil War with it. But after World War II, it was scrapped. So people go into a store in all your areas where your show shows, and they buy necessities of life, and they pay 6 percent or 7 percent sales tax. Tomorrow, someone in Wall Street can buy a billion dollars of Exxon derivatives, pay no sales tax. That's where the fairness has to go.   John McCain is the Republican presidential candidate and Sarah Palin is his running mate.  McCain-Palin '08 announces:   ARLINGTON, VA -- Tuesday in the Oval Office, U.S. Senator John Warner was privileged to join with other members of Congress, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the president signed the annual $542 billion dollar defense bill into law. The National Defense Authorization Bill annually fulfills the constitutional responsibility to provide for our nation's armed forces. This was the 30th consecutive defense bill Senator Warner has worked on with other senators. Subsequently, in response to press inquiries, Senator Warner praised John McCain's leadership on defense issues and stressed the importance of his contributions, as the committee's ranking member, in structuring this bill. "Having worked with John McCain for more than 20 years on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I know that, as President of the United States and commander in chief, he will continue working with Congress to ensure that the annual defense bills will adequately provide for our men and women in uniform the best equipment and training in order to protect America's freedom around the world." Senator Warner also pointed out the importance of this bill to Virginia's overall economy. Virginia is home to 31 military installations, approximately 130,000 active-duty personnel and some 80,000 Department of Defense civilian employees. (Source: Department of Defense) The Department of Defense Authorization Bill signed today invests more than $50 billion in direct defense spending in Virginia, which translates into jobs, added research and development, procurement and acquisition of new equipment, and maintenance and upgrading of military installations. Of particular interest is the continuation of a strong naval shipbuilding and repair program. (Source: Department of Defense) Senator Warner continued, "As a former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I know how critical defense spending is for Virginia's economy. "Virginia is proud to be home to 814,000 veterans, whose past service helped build the foundation for today's U.S. military serving in Virginia and worldwide. There are provisions in this bill which continue to recognize military retirees' service to country, particularly in the field of health care. "As I retire after 30 years in the Senate, I am absolutely confident that John McCain, as our next president, will continue his leadership and dedication to the needs of today's men and women in uniform, and to those of future generations."   And they note that the New Hampshire Union Leader has just endorsed John McCain for president with an editorial which opens, "In this time of great uncertainty, America needs an experienced, decisive leader with clear vision and a steady hand to guide us through.  That man is Sen. John McCain."   Tonight, McCain debates Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.  No other presidential candidates will be allowed on the stage because democracy is just too gosh darn important to actually practice it.  It's like good china.  You hide it away for very special occasions. Otherwise, someone might break it!   (You can, however, watch The New Adventures of Old Christine every Wednesday night on CBS' first half-hour of prime time.)  Team Nader notes:     Donate $10 to Nader/Gonzalez now.   Why?  Well, Ralph Nader appeared on the PBS NewsHour last night for ten minutes.         Which was better than nothing.      Nothing is what Ralph got from PBS this year up until now.  No Jim Lehrer.  No Diane Rehm.  No Terry Gross.    But thanks to thousands of your phone calls and e-mails, the NewsHour relented.  And Ralph was given a chance last night.  To make the argument -- Jail Time for Corporate Crime.  Of course, when Americans think of crime, they think first of street crime.  Gangsters.  The mob.  But that's a bit unfair, don't you think? Given the wave of corporate crime that has swamped Wall Street and tanked the economy?  So, today we launch a new fundraising widget. And to open up the fundraising drive, we're making this offer to you -- our loyal supporters. If you donate $100 now to Nader/Gonazalez, we will ship to you our corporate crime package -- two great books on how big business is robbing you blind -- plus a DVD featuring tomorrow's Nader/Gonzalez Rally on Wall Street.   First we have the 260 page book -- Gangster Capitalism by Michael Woodiwiss.  Woodiwiss makes the argument that the lethal tenets of organized crime have worked their way into the operating models of corporations and governments.  And that the politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats are actually beating the wise guys at their own game -- shifting the rules to broaden and legitimize criminal behavior in a far more dangerous and sinister manner.  The other book is the 302-page hardcover classic The Cheating of America by Charles Lewis, Bill Allison and the Center for Public Integrity. This book is about how corporations and the super-rich don't pay their fair share of taxes.  So, donate $100 now, and we'll ship you these two eye-opening books -- Gangster Capitalism and The Cheating of America -- plus the Wall Street Rally DVD.  (This offer ends October 24, 2008 at 11:59 p.m.)  Understand Gangster Capitalism.  Then organize to control it. By the way, in the event you missed Ralph's appearance on the PBS NewsHour last night, check it out here.  Onward to November     RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Nouri al-Maliki declares Kirkuk "belongs to the federal government"" "Ralph Nader explains the basics of peace" "The Mosul assault continues" "women don't work (he said it)" "Why the 'one' will not get my vote" "The failure of 'feminist' 'leadership'" "New Adventures of Old Christine and politics" "Brief" "Tuesday and before I type another word . . . ..." "Barack's imitation-rock concert" "THIS JUST IN! BARACK'S SHLOCK ROCK!"

Barack's imitation-rock concert

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE   THE 'GRATEFUL DEAD' PERFOMRED A BENEFIT FOR SENATOR 'SWEETIE' BARACK OBAMA.   IT WAS A 'SUCCESS' IF YOU DON'T EXPECT JERRY GARCIA.  THE GRATEFUL DEAD WITHOUT GARCIA IS LIKE HANDING SOMEONE A PINT OF CREAM AND A FEW CHERRIES AND TELLING THEM IT IS CHERRY GARCIA.   NEXT UP, BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY (MINUS JANIS) 'STORMS' THE STAGE FOLLOWED BY THE SEX PISTOLS MINUS SYD.   IF ELEVATOR MUSIC IS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, BARACK PROMISES TO DELIVER.   FROM THE TCI WIRE:   Turning to the US presidential race.  The first three links are dealing with a topic that is offenisve.  You've been warned.  Members of the Cult of Barack have a new uniform they sported over the weekend.  A t-shirt proclaiming Governor Sarah Palin is a c**t.  With a photo of the t-shirt, Joseph (Cannonfire) explains, "The left has turned into an emetic morass of human sewage. When you go into the voting booth, picture the faces of the smug, haughty young creeps pictured in the photo above.  They represent the new Democratic party.  They are the reason why this lifelong Dem left the party.  If you reward the Obots with your vote, you are saying: 'I want the Democratic party to keep acting like that'." Jake Tapper (ABC News -- in the safest version) covers the story and asks, "Why would these four think this is acceptable discourse?"  BIG WARNING on Ben Smith because an innocent looking link in his piece will take you to nudity. He quotes Barack Cultist Rhiannon Volpe who declares, "I personally am a register Liberatrian, supporting Obama this year."  She thinks those shirts are acceptable (and she designed and sold them) because, hey, in Cult of Barack, anything goes.  The ones wearing those shirts in Philadelphia?  That crowd included a man calling for Palin to be stoned.  That never worried Amy Goodman or the beyond-pathetic Robert Parry.  Mari A. Schaefer and Amy S. Rosenberg (Philadelphia Inquirer) report the threat was, "Let's stone her, old style."  Meanwhile social worker and pro-life feminist Angela Kays-Burden (Christian Science Monitor) expresses her opinion, "The White House Project, a nonprofit organization, states that support from other women is critical to increasing the number of women in politics.  But, in general, feminists have led attacks on one of their own who is close to shattering the ceiling.  To them, Palin's pro-life position alone is proof that she is not fit to lead."  At The Confluence, Riverdaughter addresses where she stands regarding the bullying from the Cult of Barack:     Many of us PUMAs are perfectly comfortable in our own skin with our own decisions.  We don't want others pestering us about Obama anymore.  We aren't interested in poll results.  Obama supporters who come here to try to depress turnout or convert us are wasting their time.  We simply do not care what you think of us.  We have been called stupid, old, uneducated, ridiculous females, a shrieking horde of paranoid holdouts, racists, traitors and Republicans.  Oddly enough, this has not made us want to vote for Obama.  The world will go on, no matter what we're called.  And if Obama loses on Nov. 4, I will be the first to say, "Good!"  You can blame me, scream at me, jump up and down throw a fit, ostracize me, I really don't give a flying fig.  I will live through it and so will the others on the many dozens of blogs like this one.  It is regrettable that we have grown apart but I'm sure we will both survive.  And the next time the party tries to pull this $#%^, I hope they will think twice as to whether it was worth it.  Now, masslib and people who gave in to peer pressure can say that Obama is going to win but I have enough emails from the party that suggest that plans to launch a full out attack to pressure us into voting for Obama.  If he were doing that well, the upcoming psychological warfare would be unneccesary.  So, please stop the annoying pro-Obama blather.  We aren't buying it and we don't care.    Klownhaus adds, "We Conflucians may indeed be the last paranoid band of shrieking hold-outs, but we damn sure ain't gonna quit now."  On the polling, Jake Tapper (ABC News) observed yesterday, "That's not what lots of smart folks in the Obama campaign think. They believe Obama's poll numbers are artificially high, McCain's are artificially low, this race will come down to two or three points, and anything could happen." As Ava and I explained Sunday: Polling is not an exact science and the only poll that matters is the election vote. Polling works as an indicator (when it works) and not for who's going to win the election but for where campaigns should and should not invest time.   But it does not work when an egg head class has repeatedly told the American people that those who will not vote for Barack are racists. We've tried to figure out why idiots push that nonsense? Maybe they think it will intimidate on election day? Most likely, it won't. Most likely, people will say, "I voted for Barack" and won't vote for him. How many? No one knows. But when so many idiots have pushed to make a vote for anyone other than Barack a vote for racism, you can't expect to get honest answers in the polling.   Someone should have called them out on it a long time ago. We're told (by friends with the Barack campaign) that they're aware of the problem and it's created a huge issue for the campaign. They're trying to figure out what's the magic number to lead by. They have no clue -- not because they're idiots but because Idiot Rothschild, Idiot Herbert and so many others have made it impossible to get an honest answer from the most basic polling question of whom are you going to vote for?   Smart observers have already grasped that even exit polls on election day will now be in question due to idiots turning "who are you going to vote for?" into a loaded question. If Barack loses (we have no idea who will win), some of the harsh words should be aimed at the people who repeatedly attempted to make it vote-for-Barack-or-be-a-racist. It was stupid. And it never should be allowed to happen again. If Barack loses (and he may win, we're not saying he's going to lose), a large part of the blame will have to go to those who so poisoned the well that his campaign was denied accurate polling numbers. (That's not arguing that the problems in the primaries don't matter. In this, we're speaking of the general election phase and how the polling is damaged -- a fact that became very clear as the primary process wrapped up.)    Today the McCain-Palin campaign announced the endorsement of Latino business leaders:   ARLINGTON, VA -- McCain-Palin 2008 today announced the support of more than 50 influential Hispanic business leaders from across the country. They will work to communicate John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin's economic plan which will create jobs, ensure energy security, reform government spending and bring relief to American consumers.   "I am supporting John McCain because he has always done what is right for all Americans," said Mary Jean Duran of California, "He will continue to give Hispanic-American-owned small businesses the opportunity to compete in the global markets, while Barack Obama proposes billions in higher taxes, more spending and isolationism from global economy."  Jerry Natividad from Colorado added, "John McCain will fight to ensure the American dream is still achievable for us and for our children. He has a plan to get our economy back on track, create jobs, and keep people in their homes. He understands that small businesses are the job engine of America. Our economy simply cannot afford Barack Obama's plans for trade, health care, taxes, and energy."   HISPANIC BUSINESS LEADERS FOR MCCAIN  Frank C. Rivera, Arizona Ruben Alvarez, Arizona Claudia Bermudez, California Donald C. Garcia, California Fred Armendariz, California Issac Barcelona, California  Jarryd Rudolph, California Josh Valdez, California  Mario Rodriguez, California Mary Jean Duran, California Matthew Venegas, California  Pablo Wong, California Solomon D. Trujillo, California  Tom Garcia, California  William Jerry Silva, California Willie Wulff, California  Jerry Natividad, Colorado Eric Rojo, Washington, D.C.  Jose A. Fuentes, Washington, D.C.  Juan Carlos Benitez, Washington, D.C. Roberto Jose Coquis, Washington, D.C.  Al Cardenas, Florida Roberto Espin, Florida  David Hernandez, Florida  Eric Carson, Hawaii Gloria M. Campos, Illinois  Vinicio E. Madrigal, Louisiana Jose Nino, Maryland  David Olivencia, Michigan Richard Aguilar, Minnesota  Jeannette Hernandez Prenger, Missouri Fernando Romero, Nevada Tibi Ellis, Nevada  Dr. Horatio Villareal, New Mexico  Ramon Tallaj, New York  Dr. Cynthia Lama, New York Dr. Carlos Aviles, New York  Alfredo Gutierrez, New Jersey  John Regis, Puerto Rico Ignacio Veloz, Puerto Rico Maria Taxman, Missouri   Jeannette Hernandez Pranger, Missouri F.H. Guzman, Tennessee Raul Lopez, Tennessee Sylvia Marcela Gomez, Tennessee Adryana Boyne, Texas  Jacob Monty, Texas  Jenny De La Rosa, Texas Jose Cuevas, Texas Rick Jaramillo, Texas  Rolando Pablos, Texas  Massey Villareal, Texas Nina Vaca, Texas  Ted Cruz, Texas  Tom Covino, Texas Sylvia Haro, Utah  Jacqueline Krick, Virginia  Jo- Ann Chase, Virginia Luis Quinonez, Virginia   Ralph Nader is the independent presidential candidate and Matt Gonzalez is his running mate. Wednesday October 15, Ralph Nader will speak at Cooper Union (NYC) at six p.m. and the following day the independent presidential candidate at noon "Ralph will take to the street in front of the NYSE to protest the bailout at Federal Hall, 26 Wall St. NYC."  Team Nader notes the blackout on the campaign by some outlets (blackout and distortions):     While local AP bureaus have done an excellent job in many states covering the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, we have noticed what can only be described as a 'lights out' policy from AP's Washington, DC national political desk. After waiting six months for a national AP news story, we get a third party story that is really about Barr ("Bailout angst provides a push for Libertarian Barr.") You couldn't even dedicate resources inside AP to research our campaign and write up the story, though given the present state of repair, Mr Runyan was probably less biased than what you would have offered from in house. We are running third place, polling 100% higher than Barr according to Ipsos, have been warning on the financial crisis for two decades, and have a thoughtful alternative proposal to the bailout that would work for Americans. Nader is also polling 4-8 per cent in six swing states and has raised almost $4 million dollars--about four times as much as Barr. And for that, we get a squib marginalized by a headline. The AP's treatment of this campaign to date will go down in history as a blight on your professionalism--allowing personal animosity to black out your role of informing people of the important things that are happening. Your sports writers did a considerably better job in Beijing than your politics desk is doing this election in Washington, DC. There were ample reports about Americans who won bronze medals, coming in third place, exactly where Nader is sitting right now. To add insult to injury, the Olympics is only 2.5 weeks, and we have been in this contest for over six months. When did it become the role of the press to only write about winning candidates, winning corporations, and winning sports teams, completely blacking out everything else no matter how thoughtful, interesting, or relevant to the discourse and development of the nation? It is simply unbelievable that you have done nothing on Nader's bailout plan. As the most relied upon news organization for print media in the world, one would expect a shred of professionalism for the third-highest ranked Presidential candidate. Every day, we hear from people that say they did not even know Nader was running. When he pulls in more than a million votes on November 4th, and many more people see his name on the ballot for the first time in print (as his name will be before roughly twice as many voters this time), they will wonder what in the heck the news media was doing for them to have not yet heard he was running. One national story all campaign does not a newswire make. I hope you take the opportunity to return to your proud traditions which are quickly turning into receding laurels. As the government continues to do a new multi-billion dollar bailout each week, the least you could do is a story on Nader's alternative plan to the bailouts. See below a release detailing it. http://www.votenader.org/media/2008/09/16/meltdown/ Not a happy camper, Toby Heaps National Media Coordinator 202 471 5833 Feel free to reach out to Donna, and ask why she hasn't done one national story on us since launch, a story on the bailout, and Nader's alternative plan, dcassata@ap.org, 202-641-9421  If Donna is not responsive, try the Washington Bureau chief, Ron Fournier, rfournier@ap.org, 202-641-9402    In addition, Team Nader is launching a "What's your breaking point?" series where you are invited to share your stories with the campaign (via Communications Director Loralynne Krobetzky -- loralynne@votenader.org).     RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" "Treaty?" "Kurds, Yazidis, Christians" "ms. magazine gets punked by donna brazile" "This and that" "Isaiah, Nader, more" "Election thoughts" "Monday's feminist post" "Chuck, Nader, Isaiah, Third" "The Common Ills" "Tossing words around doesn't make them true" "THIS JUST IN! THEY'RE NUTS!"