Ablogination

There is a bill in the US Senate right now that deserves our support. Senate Bill 594, the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, currently has twenty-one sponsors in the Senate. This bill would ban the use of cluster bombs, which injure thousands of innocent people each year. Unfortunately the Pentagon and Department of Defense officials have fought the effort to outlaw these weapons. Their reasoning is difficult to understand given the sobering reality that almost thirty percent of the bomblets released in each bomb fail to explode initially, leaving a deadly legacy for future generations of children to discover. The Middle East is filled with children who have lost arms and legs to unexploded cluster bombs. This is not the legacy of freedom and democracy we wish to leave the people of Iraq.

As a candidate for federal office, I support passage of Senate Bill 594 and would make this a priority if elected to office. In the meantime, it is important to pressure the US Senate to pass this bill now, before one more innocent child is killed or maimed for life due to our reckless foreign policy. On the international level, some eighty-two nations have supported resolutions to ban the use of cluster bombs. The United States still insists on the effectiveness of these weapons and refuses to join the international movement to ban this weapon, in spite of the fact that cluster bombs are one of the most deadly weapons facing our own troops. Unexploded bomblets remain a real threat to US troops long after they have been dropped on their intended targets.

Although they are a threat to our soldiers serving overseas, the biggest threat that cluster bombs pose is to civilians who remain in the areas of conflict long after the fighting has subsided. Unexploded cluster bombs scatter across large tracts of land, turning the areas bombed into defacto land mine zones. According to the American Friends Service Committee, ninety eight percent of the casualties of cluster bombs have been civilians. The United States manufactures these weapons and private manufacturing companies profit from the use of these weapons, which are largely inaccurate and indiscriminate in whom they kill. The time has come for the United States to join the international community in banning these inhumane weapons.

Senate Bill 594 would prevent the US military from using cluster bombs on civilian populations and it would prevent the export of cluster bombs for use in residential areas. Finally the bill would restrict all use and export of cluster bombs by the government. This bill would go a long way toward preventing unintended deaths and injuries to children and adults. The reality of cluster bombs is that long after the war is over, non-combatants are still being killed because of our current policies. In Lebanon, for instance, US produced cluster bombs were used by Israel in 2006. These bombs killed 285 people during the conflict, which ended that same year. In the two years since that time an additional 250 people have been killed in Lebanon by unexploded cluster bombs, nearly as many as were killed during the conflict itself. Additionally, there remains an estimated one million unexploded US produced cluster bombs, which continue to pose a threat to civilians in Lebanon.

Now is the time for the United States to begin to work to restore the trust of the international community. We must withdraw our troops from areas of occupation, and we need to remove our military forces from Iraq. We should clean up the mess that we have made of that country, including clearing landmines and civilian neighborhoods, which have been contaminated with unexploded cluster bombs and depleted uranium. Passage of Senate Bill 594 will send a clear message to the people of Iraq and the surrounding region that we really do care about international human rights and the well being of their children.

to learn more about the campaign to stop cluster bombs visit:

http://www.fcnl.org/weapons/clusterlanding/clusters_landing9.htm
http://www.clusterprocess.org/

Thanx for being there, guys and gals. Thanx for the sense of duty, the selflessness, and the sacrifice.

It’s not your fault that the Commander In Chief is gutless windbag that cares no more for your lives than he does those of a bucket full of minnows.

Your our finest, most courageous citizens. You get killed, maimed, forgotten, spat on, accused, punished, and basically fucked in every possible way by an administration that cares more about Israel than it does it’s own people.
Understand this, you are every bit the victims the Iraqis are. You are the weapon, not the killer. No soldier ever went into battle without being ordered in. Policy kills, and you don’t make policy. We do.

Civilians are responsible for this travesty. Elected (actually, unelected) chickenhawk leaders and treasonous citizens who advise them are responsible for each and every one of you who died in that hell hole (yes, I have been there).
Marhabah.

You were used to fight a battle that the IDF was simply too chickenshit to fight for themselves. The Israel-First traitors in the PNAC/FDD, along with their sock puppets in the White House and DHS, sent you there to die in place of Israeli soldiers.
You have once again been shit on.

So while your guys get life in Leavenworth for trying to stay alive in a war, while those Blackwater bitches get away with cold blooded murder, remember that the only ones that give a flying fuck if you live or die, Liberals, are thinking about you and doing all we can to get you home where you belong.

Just remember that you are not to blame, and one day, those that are will pay the highest of prices for their zeal and their insatiable greed.

Thanx again for putting your boots on the ground.

-captainkona

In Memory of One Million Iraqi Dead

In 2006, the Lancet did a scientific study in which they estimated that the number of Iraqis who have died since the beginning of the US occupation in 2003 was greater than 600,000 people. This figure included the results of sectarian violence, revenge killings, suicide bombings and deaths at the hands of soldiers and occupying forces. That number alone is a staggering figure, but now, only two years later the estimate of dead has increased to almost one million. On this Memorial Day, as we gather to remember our loved ones who have died in war let us include the men, women and children who have died in Iraq.

In a recent survey conducted in Iraq by Opinion Research Business it was found that twenty percent of Iraqi households had at least one family member who had died in their family as a result of the conflict, rather than due to natural occurrences. In addition to the grief and loss caused by these deaths, many Iraqi households have also lost their primary source of support as men have been killed, recruited into militias, imprisoned or have fled Iraq. Now is the time to call for an international war crimes tribunal against the Bush administration for crimes against humanity.

The West does not receive much information about real conditions on the ground in Iraq. Ever since the beginning of the occupation, news and information has been heavily censored and as a result the actual conditions of the Iraqi people is difficult to gauge. The Pentagon has stopped counting the numbers of civilians killed in battle operations and does not keep track of individuals killed as a result of sectarian violence, suicide bombings, revenge killings or disappearances.

What we do know about Iraq is terrifying. Iraq is a country that is occupied by nearly three hundred thousands soldiers and private contractors. Two million Iraqis have fled the country, seeking asylum in neighboring countries since the war began. At least 42,000 Iraqi men have been detained in military prisons operated by the United States under suspicion of being insurgents. We do not know how many of those men have been release, how many have been tortured and how many have died. Normal law does not exist in Iraq. The military can enter any household at any time for any reason. Men can be detained on the street and held in custody without notice to extended family. Private security contractors are given a license to kill with immunity.

One million Iraqi civilians have died as a result of this occupation. On this Memorial Day, let us remember the dead. Regardless of whether they were killed in the line of duty or are victims of war, each one has a name, a mother, a history, and an identity. These men, women and children did not deserve what was done in the name of freedom and democracy. Only we have the power to stop this senseless violence. We must call on Congress to bring the troops home now, and in November we must sweep out the Bush administration and every member of the House and Senate who voted for war.

Saddam Hussein was brought before a court and tried for the massacres that he committed, yet there has been no such human rights tribunal to try President Bush for crimes against humanity. Bush continues to insist on the righteousness of his cause, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. The President be must called to account for his reckless decision which has destroyed an entire nation and resulted in so much death and suffering. On this Memorial Day, let us learn from the lessons of the past and make choices that will insure peace and justice for future generations.

to learn more about Iraqi civilian deaths please visit:

www.iraqbodycount.org
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/iraq

This wacky bitch has lost it completely. She now appears to be making veiled threats against Barack Obama. Either that or trying to plant it in the minds of some. At the very least the most blatant racist remark to come out of her camp yet.

This is disgraceful and Hillary “nut case” Clinton needs to be questioned by the Secret Service and perhaps placed under surveillance.

What a vile and disgusting person she is….

See the Video HERE

From News Room America:
Clinton Raises Assassination Issue
2008-05-23 12:12pm

In comments to a newspaper editorial board, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Hillary Clinton raised the issue of assassination as a backdrop argument for staying in the race against rival Sen. Barack Obama.

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing calls to drop out, the New York Post reported Friday.

Clinton was talking with members of the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader’s editorial board while campaigning in South Dakota.

There, she complained that, “People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa.”

Sen. Robert Kennedy, the brother of President John F. Kennedy, was gunned down in 1968 after winning the California primary. He was a hero of the left who promised to get U.S. troops out of Vietnam.

Maybe the Vince Foster rumors are not so outrageous after all.

We all know that Lamar Alexander is a fixture in Washington DC politics, but what has he done for you lately? In a recent interview with the Cookeville Herald Citizen, Senator Lamar Alexander said that we are not in a recession in Tennessee. He said that recession is “a technical word” and that technically we are not in a recession. Speaking to the graduating class of Tennessee Tech Alexander said that there are some big challenges ahead but that we are currently only in an “economic slowdown.” Alexander said that something needs to be done but I am wondering what the good Senator from Tennessee intends to do. If you examine his voting record, it is clear that the policy decisions that Alexander has favored are part of the reason we are in this recession in the first place.

For starters, let’s look at the Senator’s record on the war in Iraq. The war, which has cost us some $700 billion dollars and has cost the state of Tennessee directly some ten billion dollars in taxpayer expenditures for the war effort, means that there are less dollars available in the federal budget for education and alternative energy development and it means that there is more federal debt. Alexander voted for the original war and since then he has voted for every expenditure that has come before the Senate to extend funding for the war. He has voted against pulling troops out of Iraq when the opportunity has arisen.

Lamar has voted for the most destabilizing foreign policy expenditure in recent memory. Experts agree that the biggest reason for high oil prices in the global market is because of instability and uncertainty in the Middle East. Investor confidence has been greatly shaken by US activities in the Middle East and has driven down the value of the dollar in relation to other major international currencies. As a candidate for federal office, I support an immediate withdrawal of US armed forces from Iraq. I have spoken out clearly and directly on the issue of the war and my opposition to the current misadventure. If we had not invaded Iraq, the international marketplace would have greater confidence in the American economy and the global markets would not be reacting with so much fear and uncertainty to current market conditions.

Now let’s look at taxes. Senator Alexander supports a flat income tax. He supports reducing the tax rates that wealthy people pay to 15% while at the same time he supports expensive, taxpayer funded military ventures. A flat income tax means that rich people will pay less and poor people will pay more. Flat taxes are already inherently unequal in terms of revenue and the response of a flat tax by state and local municipalities will be to simply increase sales taxes and other income generating revenues which will disproportionately affect the poor. Lamar also voted to cut taxes on capital gains and dividends. Lamar has made it clear where his interests lay, and it isn’t with the working people of this country.

The record of Senator Alexander’s votes means we have a higher federal deficit because Lamar doesn’t believe that rich people should pay their fair share. It also means less opportunity for working class people to get ahead which only drives them further into poverty. As a candidate for federal office, I believe that we need to roll back the Bush tax cuts. Corporations and the wealthy need to pay their fair share. They are members of this country, the same as everyone else. It is time to restore progressive taxation as a national policy.

Now let’s look at Alexander’s record with regard to working people. I’ve already talked about how a flat tax will end up costing working people more money in the long run. Less federal revenue means more toll roads, privatization of public services and higher local, municipal and state taxes to pick up the extra needed revenue. These aspects alone will reduce the standard of living for the middle class, but if we continue to support the policies of Alexander, we will find that standard of living even further eroded.

Alexander has supported fundamental dismantling of one of the most important social safety nets our country has created, the Social Security System. Now why Alexander would be against a federal program that provides support and resources to our senior citizens is beyond me, but if it is any indication of where he stands, Lamar was given a big fat zero by the Alliance for Retired Americans for his anti-senior voting record. Social Security works, and in spite of the Republican scare tactics, the program isn’t going broke. If we were to privatize social security, then there is a guarantee that the poorest Americans will have nothing when they retire and the whole purpose of the program will have been rendered meaningless. As a candidate for federal office I fully support the Social Security program and commend it as one of the most successful government programs of the twentieth century for ensuring quality of life into old age.

There are so many other ways that we could look at Alexander’s record which show that he votes against the interests of working people and for the interests of the wealthy and corporations. Since Tennessee is mostly made up of working people, I wonder who Alexander’s decisions are going to work for. It is time for progressive leadership in Tennessee. Time to restore the minimum wage to a living wage with annual increases to adjust for cost of living. It is time to support universal single payer health care to ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and it is time to use the federal government as an agency for lifting up working people rather than letting the market drag them down.

We can make it out of this recession and make this country into a nation that works for everyone, but we have to follow sound federal policies in order to make this a reality. It is time to restore progressive taxation as a national policy and ask the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. It is time to strike down anti-union legislation that increases profits for investors by reducing labor costs, shipping jobs overseas and turning our manufacturing base into a Walmart service economy. It is time to make sure that education is funded as a priority and defense is secondary in terms of budget allocation to the health and well-being of children and families. As a candidate for the US Senate in Tennessee I believe that these are the policies that will insure a modest national prosperity for all.

Well, Oregon anyway.
Hey, I love the state. That’s one beautiful place and it’s full of beautiful people.
They gots good weed too.

They also have the brains to know who will be the better candidate to lead the Democratic party into the future.

Voting in a Presidential election finally means something again. We have to choose between two candidates, neither of them are named Bush or Clinton.
That, in and of it’s self, is a victory of epic proportions.

Now it’s time to win the final battle. The Republican Right must be driven back under the rocks and into the cracks and crevices they crawled and/or slithered out of.
Their accomplices in the Democratic party must likewise be removed.
In 2006, Howard Dean and the Democratic forces took the first step in accomplishing these goals. Since then, organizations like MoveOn, backed by bloggers on line and workers on the streets have chipped away at the foundation of lies and deceit that the Republican party stood upon.
Barack Obama ended up the result.

A new America is literally at our fingertips. John McCain must be vanquished. Not just defeated, but FUBARed. As mercilessly as he robbed the hard working, decent, family men and women who lost their life’s savings to him and his verminous accomplice Charles Keating.
John McCain is not worthy of one single drop of our respect. Not one.
You don’t get to return from war, victimize Americans while in a position of trust, and call yourself a “hero".
McCain may have been a “hero” then, but he’s nothing but shit now. A haphazard buffoon with no knowledge of any real issue and no plan other than BushCo 2.0

John McCain is the guy who would set his coffee cup down on the Red Button and wonder why everyone’s staring at him in horror.

We’ve had all the stupid we can take.

Boy, look at all those black folk

Oh goddamn! It’s a Lefty stampede! …

And the beat goes on…

This year, the United States government is scheduled to spend more than $622 billion dollars on the military budget, which includes an additional $171 billion dollars for the occupation of Iraq. In comparison, the US will only spend $56 billion dollars this year on education and only $3.4 billion on energy development. At the current rate of spending it will take 183 years of alternative energy development to match one year of spending on the war in Iraq, and eleven years of funding education for our children will still not match even one year of spending on this war. We have seriously misplaced our priorities, and it driving us further into debt, an estimated $9.357 trillion dollars this year.

The US Senate has an opportunity to begin to turn the clock backwards this week, in the name of our children and the future of our country. Last week the House passed a bill which would create a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, limit the ability of the CIA to torture prisoners and increase domestic spending on budgetary priorities that need our attention here at home such as universal health care, which would cost an estimated $169 billion dollars to provide coverage to the remaining 47 million Americans who currently lack health care coverage. For an additional $58 billion dollars we could provide access to universal higher education for all students who want to go to college.

The Senate is considering legislation that would add an additional $168 billion dollars to the US federal debt to fund an additional year of bombers, tanks, military bases, cluster bombs, hummers, and blackhawk helicopters for the military in Iraq. What we need to do in the US Senate is stop funding for the war in Iraq right now. As a candidate for federal office I would make it my first priority to stop all military funding for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Right now ever American in this country holds a liability of $30,777 which we owe to various banks, investment firms and foreign governments who have bought the promisory notes which our government has issued with the promise of payback at some future date. Over fifty percent of that debt is owed specifically on military spending for the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, the first war in Iraq, military expenditures in over 140 countries and even debt that is owed on the wars in Vietnam and Korea that have not yet been fully paid. Our debt load is enormous and it is the symbolic albatross around the neck of our children.

As long as we continue to vote for candidates who are bought and paid for by lobbyists, corporations and country clubs we will continue to get what they pay for which is more war, more military spending, higher gas prices and declining competitiveness in the global market place. I urge you to write to your Senator and tell them to vote no on more money for war and in November to vote for candidates who care more about education and health care than Halliburton and warfare. In Tennessee, the choice is clear. You can vote for the Republican, Senator Lamar Alexander who will spend another $168 billion dollars of your children’s future or you can vote for peace by supporting candidates who will stop funding the war and bring the troops home now.

When I was a senior in high school I participated in the model united nations program. As thousands of students do each year, I chose a country to represent as part of the student program. In my case I chose Norway, the home of my mother’s ancestors. I was very excited to receive mailings from the Norwegian embassy, which I diligently researched in order to accurately represent my country of choice. Sitting in our high school library we passed resolutions to abide by strategic arms control and non-proliferation issues.

It has been more than twenty years since I participated in that program as a high school student, and in that time a lot has changed in the world. The cold war ended with the fall of communism in eastern Europe, the economic engines of southeast Asia and China have changed the playing field in global politics, free trade agreements have devastated the American economy and global awareness has become focused on the dangers of greenhouse gas warming of the planet.

Some things stay the same though, from one decade to the next. Men and women still fall in love, the birds sing and the bees buzz, the rain falls and the wind blows, and the United States fails to pay its dues to the United Nations, year after year, to the tune of some $2.8 billion dollars. According to the United Nation Association of the USA, the U.S. owed $633 million in arrears to UN peacekeeping alone and this number is estimated to increase by between $250 million to $1 billion over the course of 2008.

The right wing yak machine loves to discuss the ineffectiveness of the United Nations on talk radio. Day after day, week after week, the public is bombarded by arguments against international cooperation and peacemaking. In the meantime, the Bush administration follows a unilateral approach with regards to foreign policy. As a result of these twin towers of ignorance and power, the United States is now perceived internationally as a rogue superpower, willing and able to ignore international agreements and national sovereignty in the name of fanatical patriotism and war profiteering.

The United States still has a role to play in the United Nations, but only if we elect representatives who will respect the historic role that the UN plays as an agency of first resort for all agreements international. Whether it is peacekeeping, refugee assistance, development, food aide, nutrition, global health, disarmament, weapons inspection, disease prevention, global education or family planning, there is a UN program available to deal with that situation. The United Nations is an integral element of global peacemaking and development.

As a candidate for federal office I support full funding of the United Nations and associated programs. I believe this is the right thing to do, not just for the international community, but also for the United States. I firmly believe that the way to restore US credibility in the international community is by fully paying our dues and supporting the UN in their role as an agency of international cooperation.

Oh, yeah. The clincher. Let’s hope for Obama-Edwards ‘08 and a newer, stronger America.

No better endorsement, no better choice for Veep.
‘Nuf said….

From the Washington Post:

By Peter Slevin and Anne E. Kornblut
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. –
Vanquished Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will endorse Sen. Barack Obama tonight, giving the Illinois senator a boost after a bad loss in West Virginia.

Edwards is scheduled to appear with Obama at a rally here in Grand Rapids due to begin at approximately 6:15 p.m., the Obama campaign announced.

Edwards, a former senator and former vice presidential candidate from North Carolina, had long been courted by Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but refused to choose.

But with Obama holding a nearly insurmountable lead in pledged delegates and the popular vote, Edwards decided to get off the fence.

The nation’s leading Pro Choice group has endorsed Barack Obama.

I guess that makes them “misogynists” too…

From the LA Times:

Barack Obama wins the nod from NARAL

Amid minor movement today among Democratic superdelegates – so far, Barack Obama has picked up 2 1/2 votes [UPDATE: make that 3 1/2] and Hillary Clinton, one – Obama scored a coup with an endorsement from the nation’s foremost abortion rights advocacy group.

In a news release, the political action committee for NARAL Pro-Choice America had kind words for Clinton but annoounded its backing for Obama, citing its reading of the status of the Democratic presidential race.

“Today, we are proud to put our organization’s grass-roots and political support behind the pro-choice candidate whom we believe will secure the Democratic nomination and advance to the general election,” NARAL’s president said in the release. “That candidate is Sen. Obama.

Clinton’s chief spokesman, Howard Wolfson, expressed “surprise” over the endorsement during a conference call with reporters (including The Times’ Noam N. Levey).

It’s no secret that the DLC types are as detached from our troops as most Republicans are. They voted to dump our guys in an illegal, immoral, bloodbath occupation in Iraq…and voted to fund it with countless billions of dollars.
But when it comes to taking care of our bravest citizens after the arms and legs are missing and the brains are scrambled, their concerns always seem to lie elsewhere.

Big thanx to SMF269 @ RRMB:

We’ve seen the little car magnets and other such self-indulgent “support or troops!” rhetoric. Lots of it here in Tennessee actually.
And though many of us surely do “support them", some of our elected representatives seemingly do not. At least, not in the long run.

In 1944, FDR signed the original GI Bill, which gave every veteran a chance to go to college. It paid for tuition, fees, books, and gave veterans a living stipend. The GI Bill helped the “Greatest Generation” readjust to civilian life. It helped pull us out of a post-war recession, and it helped build the middle class. Every dollar spent on educational benefits under the original GI Bill added at least seven dollars to the national economy.

Today, 1.7 million troops have come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, but the GI Bill no longer covers anything like the cost of college. So a bipartisan coalition of veterans now serving in the Senate introduced a new GI Bill, modeled on the World War II legislation. This bill recently got added to the war funding bill currently in Congress.

Now, the question…

Why is a small group of Blue Dogshit Tennessee Democrats trying to harpoon the GI Bill upgrade?
Damn good question!
Now I’ll leave it up to the Tennesseans in their districts to ask them.
300-plus Senators and Representatives from both parties and all the major veterans organizations in America have endorsed this legislation.
So, why are Reps. John Tanner (D-TN) (who is a veteran oddly enough) and Jim Cooper (D-TN) trying to derail this much needed action?

We wish we knew, and we’ll try and find out. But some of you in those districts should also ask what the problem is.
I mean, we all know that Cooper and Tanner are just Republican Lite goofballs, but surely they would agree that our soldiers are entitled to THE BEST FUCKING CARE WE CAN AFFORD THEM, YOU MISERABLE DLC IDIOTS!

Sorry, ahem…..

According to Mr. Tanner

“Some of us oppose creating a new entitlement program in an emergency spending bill, whether it’s butchers, bakers or candlestick makers.”

What?

Nursery rhymes? He references nursery rhymes when making major military veteran support issue decisions?
What’s next? Mother Goose next time we send someone to the moon?

From Heath Shuler (another clown) to the great Dennis Kucinich, everyone is behind this much needed, well earned, and duly owed legislation.
Except Cooper, Tanner and a few others.

Tanner, Cooper….
You put them there you fucking morons. Now let’s see some of that “support” you claim to have.
Our people need a GI Bill that covers all the bases. There’s no excuse for keeping it from them.

We use them all the time - our firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service personnel. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t come into contact either directly or indirectly with these hard working public servants. When we have traffic accidents or emergencies at home or at work these public servants are the first on the scene in our communities. Often risking their own safety in order to serve the public good, these employees of our cities, states and municipalities deserve to have collective bargaining rights.

The problem is that tens of thousands of these public safety officers do not have the right to negotiate with their employers, often leaving our firefighters, police officers and emergency medical personnel without a voice at work. There is a remedy to this situation - it is called the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, or Senate Bill 2123. This bill would go a long way toward remedying a situation that has become unacceptable. It would allow public safety officers the collective bargaining rights they deserve, including the right of public safety officers to bargain over wages, hours and working conditions.

The bill would also provide a dispute resolution mechanism for when there is not agreement between management and labor and it would provide the enforcement of contracts through state courts. The problem is that there are many states that do not offer our public safety personnel minimum bargaining rights. In these states it is very difficult for public servants to organize and ultimately we pay the price. A workforce that does not have the right to organize is less productive and has lower self-esteem on the job.

Our public safety is worth the investment. As a candidate for the US Senate I do not believe we should cut corners when it comes to the needs of our public servants. That is why I support Senate Bill 2123 and would work to pass it into law if elected to the US Senate. This bill already has broad bipartisan support and its companion bill was passed in the US House recently. We owe it to our public safety employees to ensure that they have collective bargaining rights. So let’s give them the voice that they deserve.

for more information please visit www.AmericanRightsatWork.org

America faces a housing crisis that it has not seen the likes of since the great depression. Hundreds of thousands of families have lost their homes due to the mortgage crisis in the past year and more are at risk if we don’t act now. That is why the US Senate must support some version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which passed this past week in the US House. This legislation, which is on its way to the Senate next week has been threatened with veto by President Bush.

As usual, the President is wrong. The President has said that he would veto the legislation if it comes to his desk because he doesn’t believe that certain types of people should be rewarded for their bad decisions. What the President means is that poor people shouldn’t be protected from predatory lenders and that the government shouldn’t have any regulatory responsibilities when it comes to mortgage lenders.

The fact is that this housing crisis could have been avoided. It is the result of twenty-five years of federal deregulation across the board combined with a speculative investment industry gone haywire. A rational person would conclude that after seeing so many foreclosures, maybe there is something wrong with the system. But when it comes to the role of the free market and the responsibilities of the government to legislate for the common good, the Republicans just don’t get it. Their belief is that the free market is always the best solution to every problem. Just this week, House Representative Marcia Blackburn of Tennessee said that the foreclosure legislation would “provide a safety net for irresponsibility.”

Tennessee’s Republican constituency wants to live in the good old days when the poor people knew their place and didn’t try to do anything irresponsible like own a home or expect a living wage. Their response to this legislation clearly shows the misdirection of the Bush administration and his Republican supporters. In contrast to that is the message of the progressive left in this country, which has real solutions to the housing crisis, some of which are contained in the legislation currently making its way to the US Senate and some of which is not included. As Americans on the verge of a grave financial crisis, it is important to get a grip on why we are in this situation. It is in large part due to the deregulatory nature of federal policy, which has been encouraged by twenty-five years of conservative and neoliberal administrations.

In a deregulated free market without proper government oversight, poor people are victimized by predatory lenders and cannot count on the government to provide regulatory oversight. This is at the root of the mortgage crisis and the federal government has an ethical responsibility to step in now and attempt to remedy the damage that it could have avoided by placing stricter limits on what lenders can and cannot do in order to get a poor person to sign on to a mortgage.

But in order to really address the root of the housing crisis, the federal government must take steps to address the root causes of poverty, unemployment, low wages and homeless in America. We must take steps now to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage, which is about $10.50 an hour plus benefits. We must invest in job training and invest in our education system to ensure that all Americans have a chance to attend college. We must invest in affordable housing for all Americans. Finally, we need to invest in quality, affordable, single payer health care.

I believe that we can build a community where all Americans can live with hope. If we stop investing hundreds of billions of dollars on war and violence and invest in our domestic infrastructure, we can begin to rebuild this country. We must begin by paying Americans a wage that a family can reasonably expect to live on. We must ask those who have received the most benefit from our system to give the most by rolling back the Bush tax cuts. We must use the government as an agency of good and regulate the more ruthless elements of a free market. If we fail then we must ensure that the government is there, as a safety net, to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.

Nashville, TN: The Green Party of Tennessee has nominated Chris Lugo as their candidate for US Senate in Tennessee this year at their state nominating convention in Nashville held Saturday. Lugo said that he was excited to be representing the most progressive political party in the state of Tennessee, “The Green Party is the most progressive party in the state, and I am glad to be representing them as a candidate for federal office. My views about the environment, the war, health care and education are highly compatible with the ten key values of the Green Party. I hope to represent them well as a candidate and to promote the cause of peace through my campaign.”

Lugo had originally been seeking the Democratic nomination in January and was the first to register with the state, but then dropped out of the Democratic nominating process in March, citing strong differences in basic values, “Originally I had considered running as a Democrat. There was no one running because the Governor had scared off all of the front-runners and I felt like this was a good opportunity to promote the peace issue, which I have been advocating for since the spring of 2002. But after actively campaigning as a Democrat for several months I got the sense that the Democrats and myself were not on the same page. I wish the Democrats well and I hope that they come up with a clear anti-war policy this year.”

The Green Party has had a long history as an advocate for peace and justice and has issued numerous releases opposing the war in Iraq as well as US intervention in Afghanistan and has condemned the detention of prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay and has spoken out clearly against torture, “The Green Party is really the conscience of this country. They have been working for peace and against war for a long time now. The Democrats voted for the war in Iraq and have voted for every funding appropriation that has come to the Senate since that day.”

The US Senate is currently considering extending funding for the war in Iraq with another appropriation of $178 billion dollars for the ongoing occupation of Iraq, “The democrats are dragging their feet on this one and they have been so disappointing since they came to power in 2006. I am glad that they are calling for a troop withdrawal as part of their proposal, but the fact is they are going to vote for spending for billions more for the war. This is the Democrats bait and switch and it isn’t the first time they have called for troop withdrawals sometime down the road while voting to spend billions more for war right now.”

The Green Party has also been the strong party on environmental issues for over twenty five years, having brought the issues of global warming, public transportation, alternative energy, the oil crisis, the food crisis, corporate agribusiness and species extinction to the public’s attention long before being Green was considered fashionable. “Nowadays we have Green Drinks and Green commerce and Carbon credits and people are taking global warming seriously. It looks like everyone is going Green and we have been doing it for over twenty-five years. We are the Green Party and the public is going to need the collective wisdom that this party has developed from its twenty five year commitment to environmental sustainability.”

Lugo favors weaning the public off of oil and moving toward a sustainable energy infrastructure. “If you look at my platform you will see that I have been talking about alternatives to oil since I began this campaign. It is clear that the current oil crisis is being driven by tensions in the Middle east and investment speculation in energy commodities. I support legislation to require that big oil begin to invest in sustainable energy. The billions of dollars that are currently being driven into the pockets of investors needs to go into research and development to find alternatives to oil and coal.”

The Green Party of Tennessee, which held its nominating convention in Nashville on Saturday, also endorsed John Miglietta, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tennessee State University, as their candidate for the Fifth Congressional District. Miglietta, who is an officer with the Green Party of Middle Tennessee, will be challenging Jim Cooper for the House Seat, which covers most of Davidson County and the surrounding area. “I am happy to have John as a running mate and will be actively campaigning with him when I am in the middle Tennessee area. I also hope to debate the candidates for US Senate who are running this year, including Libertarian candidate Daniel Lewis, Republican incumbent Lamar Alexander and other candidates on the ballot. I believe the voters deserve the opportunity to hear from all the voices in the US Senate race this year and hope the press and civic organizations will allow the opportunity for democracy to be practiced as it was intended.”

Chris Lugo will be on the ballot on November 4th, 2008 in the US Senate general election in Tennessee. For more information please visit www.chris4senate.us

It’s for real. Nobody’s making it up.
Bill and Hillary Clinton deliberately and sadistically manipulated and abused one Peter Paul. A California businessman and one time friend of the Clinton’s.

In doing so, the Clinton’s also caused a great deal of harm to the legendary comic artist, Stan Lee, creator of Spiderman, the X-Men and other historic comic books.

The case is in court and ongoing. The Clinton appointed judge is doing everything he can to keep Hillary out of court. The video below proves that Hillary Clinton is not only the liar we have seen, but a wholly dishonest and deceptive person by nature.

The abuses, including jail in a foreign land, that Mr. Paul was subjected to prove conclusively to us that indeed the Clinton’s are just the flip side of the Bush/Cheney coin.

Big Hat Tip to our good friend, Carole Borges.

Albert Hoffman,

Most people that read this will never have a clue what this great mind has done for mankind.
The tormented minds of many people suffering from schizophrenia and a variety of other vicious ailments have found relief in the caring nature of this wonderful man.
I know I will never forget what he’s done for me.

Rest in peace Dr. Hoffman

102 is a pretty good run, no?

Hat tip to our brother Ed at wonderwinds.com

From Enjoy France:

Swiss LSD-discovering chemist Albert Hoffman dies

The Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, who became world famous for discovering the mind-altering drug LSD, has died of a heart attack at his home in Basel and was 102 at the time of his death.

Hofmann first produced LSD in 1938 while he was doing research into the ergot fungus that infects cereal crops, and he experienced his first “trip” after he accidentally ingested a small quantity of the drug.

Swiss chemist Albert HofmannAlbert Hoffman thought that LSD, or “acid” as it became commonly known, could be used as a treatment for mental illness, however, it soon became a popular drug with rock musicians and many other people in the ‘60s counterculture explosion that took place.

Hoffman had been working with LSD in the Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratory a few years after he had first made it and some of the hallucinogenic substance entered his body through his fingers. After that he experienced some of its mind-bending affects.

Harvard professor Timothy Leary also became famous because of LSD when he started using the substance and going round advocating that people “turn on, tune in, drop out".

A backlash to Hoffman and Leary’s enthusiasm for LSD as a wonder drug was brought about with horror stories of what the substance did to some people who had taken it and it was made illegal in many countries from the late ‘60s onward.

Fate is fate. Though impossible to explain, shit happens and that’s all there is to it.

This brutal primary season will come to a close soon and Barack Obama will be the nominee. That’s the way it should be. The future of the democratic party, and the nation in general lies in the hands of America’s youth. That youth, backed up by some aging hippies and other visionaries , has made it’s case and staked it’s claim to it’s own future.
And Democrats, Super Delegates in particular, are ready to pass the torch to the next generation.

The time is now for the Democratic Party to evolve beyond the Republican Lite existence it’s maintained for so long and lead this nation, it’s people, and the world around us out of the darkness and into the light. It’s time for the Democratic Party to become a real opposition party.

New blood is what we need, and that’s what we’re going to have….

Change? And then some.

From Politico:

Obama backer predicts victory in Hill war

By AMIE PARNES & JOSEPHINE HEARN | 4/30/08 4:31 AM EST

Capitol Hill insiders say the battle for congressional superdelegates is over, and one Senate supporter of Barack Obama is hinting strongly that he has prevailed over Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate have yet to state their preferences in the race for the Democratic nomination, sources said Tuesday that most of them have already made up their minds and have told the campaigns where they stand.

“The majority of superdelegates I’ve talked to are committed, but it is a matter of timing,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “They’re just preferring to make their decision public after the primaries are over. … They would like someone else to act for them before they talk about it in the cold light of day.”

Obama currently holds an 18-13 lead among committed superdelegates in the Senate, while Clinton holds a 77-74 lead in the House. Asked which way the committed-but-unannounced superdelegates are leaning, McCaskill — who has endorsed Obama — said: “James Brown would say, ‘I Feel Good.’”

Not so fast, said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer.
“Considering the rough patch Sen. Obama is going through, it’s understandable that Sen. McCaskill would want to change the subject, but her observations don’t jibe with what automatic delegates are actually saying,” he said. “Most are concerned about Sen. Obama’s electability and are impressed by the fact that Sen. Clinton is winning the states that Democrats must carry if we are to be successful in November.”

Still, supporters of both Clinton and Obama say that the lobbying for congressional superdelegates seems to have decreased in recent weeks.

McCaskill said that the campaigns have all but given up on lobbying her Senate colleagues because they know their minds are made up.

Clinton backer Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) acknowledged that the lobbying is no longer as aggressive as it once was. “I think there’s a different touch now,” he said. “We’re staying engaged. Right now, it’s about making sure everyone still feels loved and wanted.”

Montana Sen. Jon Tester — one of the Democrats who has yet to commit publicly — said the campaigns “haven’t applied much pressure” of late. “I haven’t heard much, and it’s been a few weeks,” he said.

“All the low-hanging fruit has already been picked,” said one Democratic Senate aide. “The rest are waiting to see who the winner is or are doing what’s in their best interests. Most of the people that are remaining just don’t want to pick the wrong side.”

Probably just waiting on one of the usual jelly-spined Centrists in the house to find the guts to speak first.

This primary is over. John McCockroach is next.

Let the games begin!

Polls are an oddity, no doubt about it.


POLL
POLL

But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is this….

From the Associated Press:

DNC chairman under Bill Clinton: “Unite behind Obama”

By NEDRA PICKLER – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton switched his allegiance to Barack Obama on Thursday and urged fellow Democrats to end the bruising nomination fight.

“This has got to come to an end,” former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew told reporters in his hometown of Indianapolis just days before Tuesday’s crucial state primary. He said he planned to call all the other superdelegates he knows and encourage them to back Obama.

Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC in 1999, and he led the party through the disputed 2000 presidential race before stepping down in 2001. Andrew endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.

In a lengthy letter explaining his decision, Andrew said he is switching his support because “a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain.”

“The ship is taking on water right now,” Andrew said at the news conference. “We need to patch those holes, heal the rift and go forward to beat John McCain.”

Asked for a response to Andrew’s decision, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said, “We support that Democratic process and think that every American should be able to weigh in and support the candidate of his or her own choosing.”

Andrew said the Obama campaign never asked him to switch his support, but he decided to do so after watching Obama’s handling of two issues in recent days. He said Obama took the principled stand in opposing a summer gas tax holiday that both Clinton and McCain supported, even though it would have been easier politically to back it. And he said he was impressed with Obama’s handling of the controversy surrounding his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Wright’s outspoken criticisms of the United States have threatened Obama’s candidacy. Obama initially refused to denounce his former pastor, but he did so this week after Wright suggested that Obama secretly agrees with him.

“He has shown such mettle under fire,” Andrew said in the interview. “The Jeremiah Wright controversy just reconfirmed for me, just as the gas tax controversy confirmed for me, that he is the right candidate for our party.”

Joe Andrew’s been there and knows these situations well. The damage being done to the party is a direct result of Hillary Clinton’s inability to accept the fact that she has lost this primary…

REFRESHER COURSE:

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
On 2008-04-23 10:13:19,
HILLARY WINS PENNSYLVANIA 55-45%

CLINTON WON 80 DELEGATES

OBAMA WON 66 DELEGATES

DELEGATE COUNT

PLEDGED
- OBAMA: 1714
- CLINTON: 1584

SUPERS
- OBAMA: 230
- CLINTON: 254

TOTALS
- OBAMA: 1944
- CLINTON: 1838

NEEDED TO WIN NOMINATION: 2025

HILLARY HAS TO WIN 70% OF REMAINING DELEGATES

HILLARY IS STILL AT LEAST 500,000 VOTES BEHIND IN THE POPULAR VOTE

55-44% - Hillary won by 215,948 votes. But she’s still broke and way behind in pledged delegates.

Meanwhile, John McCockroach is smiling ear to ear.

What we have here is one out-fucking-standing job of investigative journalism from our beloved Facing South.

Seems the Clinton/Rove/Penn filth machine is running in high gear in North Carolina.
This kind of activity is exactly what we’re referring to when we say that Hillary is “more of the same".

From Facing South:

FACING SOUTH EXCLUSIVE: D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind deceptive N.C. robo-calls

By Chris Kromm
Facing South

Who’s behind the mysterious “robo-calls” that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?

Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women’s Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among “unmarried women voters.”

What’s more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women’s Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn’t the group’s first brush with controversy. Women’s Voices’ questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.

Much like the hacking of Obama’s web site by Clinton’s minions, and the burglarizing of his offices by whoever, the attempts to violate the sanctity of the American vote are typical of the morally void, scandalous nature of those who worship power and filthy lucre.

Ref:
http://www.ltsrlaw.com/holly_schadler.html

Now, dig this…..