Larry Flynt - Free Speech Activist

SENATOR CHRIS MATTHEWS?

April 16, 2008

The "Hardball" host on a possible 2010 run at senate to fulfill his childhood dream:

PRESIDENT OBAMA TO INVESTIGATE BUSH'S CRIMES

April 15, 2008

From Will Bunch's Attytood blog at Philly.com:

Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race -- and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.

Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law."

The question was inspired by a recent report by ABC News, confirmed by the Associated Press, that high-level officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and former Cabinet secretaries Colin Powell, John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld, among others, met in the White House and discussed the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques on terrorism suspects.

I mentioned the report in my question, and said "I know you've talked about reconciliation and moving on, but there's also the issue of justice, and a lot of people -- certainly around the world and certainly within this country -- feel that crimes were possibly committed" regarding torture, rendition, and illegal wiretapping. I wanted to know how whether his Justice Department "would aggressively go after and investigate whether crimes have been committed."

Here's his answer, in its entirety:

What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve.

So this is an area where I would want to exercise judgment -- I would want to find out directly from my Attorney General -- having pursued, having looked at what's out there right now -- are there possibilities of genuine crimes as opposed to really bad policies. And I think it's important-- one of the things we've got to figure out in our political culture generally is distinguishing betyween really dumb policies and policies that rise to the level of criminal activity. You know, I often get questions about impeachment at town hall meetings and I've said that is not something I think would be fruitful to pursue because I think that impeachment is something that should be reserved for exceptional circumstances. Now, if I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in coverups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the law -- and I think that's roughly how I would look at it. Read More

FAUX NEWS

April 14, 2008

The Daily Show sends up the Fox News Network in two parts:

Part One:

Part Two:

"ENDLESS WAR ON AN INSTALLMENT PLAN"

April 11, 2008

MoveOn.org's new ad about McCain and his Iraq strategy:

HOW WORTHLESS IS A PENNY?

April 11, 2008

Stephen Colbert speaking with anti-penny crusader Jeff Gore:

For more information about the penny debate; check out this 60 minutes clip:

"WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR"

April 10, 2008

Representative Dennis Kucinich on the floor this morning taking on the president's Iraq sell job. H/T M.J.:

WHO'S HILLARY REALLY FIGHTING FOR?

April 10, 2008

The Center for Public Integrity has uncovered new videos of Hillary Clinton's 6 year work at Wal-Mart; a life experience that she does not list on her official biography.
You can read the whole story and see the videos here. Also an ABC investigative report from earlier this year exposing her ties to the anti-union company.

From the CPI:

Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton has studiously avoided discussing her five-and-a-half-year tenure as a director of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer.

Clinton, who served on the Wal-Mart board from November 1986 to May 1992, while she was First Lady of Arkansas, makes no mention of the experience in speeches, nor is it listed in her official biography or referenced anywhere on her campaign’s website. Indeed, as The New York Times put it last year, her stint as a director of Wal-Mart “remains a little known chapter in her closely scrutinized career.”

But a mammoth archive of Wal-Mart video footage that has gone all but unnoticed in the 2008 presidential campaign may shed new light into Clinton’s relationship with the company. In this segment from 1991, for example, made public here for the first time by the Center for Public Integrity, Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, introduces Clinton at the grand re-opening of the company’s original store in Rogers, Arkansas. “Without any question,” he says, “you’ve added more to our board than any person we’ve ever had on that board.”

ABC News investigative video:

"FRIGHTENINGLY DISAPPOINTING"

April 9, 2008

CNN's "Situation Room" Iraq reporter Micheal Ware is very unhappy with the senate committee hearings of Gen. David Petraeus, including saying that there is "lot's of oxygen being wasted":

Wareish-m
by luvnews

TROUBLE WITH DIEBOLD MACHINES IN OHIO, COULD IT FORESHADOW GENERAL ELECTION?

April 9, 2008

From Bradblog:

A failure in Diebold touch-screen voting systems in Butler County, OH resulted in votes not being included properly in Election Night results, even though the system had reported that all votes were uploaded and recorded correctly. Once the error was discovered, a subsequent upload of all of the county's 1599 touch-screen memory cards to the Diebold central election tabulator after the election, also resulted in the failure to record the results of one of the memory cards, despite the system having reported that all results were "uploaded properly.

The failure of Diebold's widely-used AccuVote TSx machines during the state's March 4th primary election resulted in the initial loss of at least 150 votes, and has prompted a letter of concern to the company (posted in full at the end of this article) from Butler County's Election Director, Betty L. McGary and Deputy Director, Lynn Edward Kinkaid.

In the letter to David Byrd, President of Diebold's recently-renamed election division, "Premier Election Solutions," the officials point out that two different memory cards failed to upload vote tallies to the central tabulator.

"It may appear that every vote has been counted when cards indicate they are being properly uploaded, when in fact votes cast on a memory card(s) are not tabulated in the results," the officials wrote after having discovered the matter. "It is unimaginable how serious this situation could have been should the problem be undetected, or ignored," they concluded.

The letter also details yet another previously-unknown problem with Diebold's central tabulator --- one that could well-effect this November's general election --- as revealed to the officials by a company employee during the initial trouble-shooting of the problem.

Read On

LEWIS BLACK TAKES ON CELEBRITY POLITICAL ENDORSEMENTS

April 9, 2008

From The Largest Minority:

Lewis Black rails against the current slew of beautiful idiots who are busy making political endorsements between their trips to Darfur and rehab.

Watch Video Here

ROVE'S DIRTY TRICKS

April 8, 2008

The former governor of Alabama Don Siegelman on the MSNBC show Verdict with Dan Abrams about Karl Rove's culpability regarding his troubles in the state. For more on the case you can read the article by Larisa Alexandrovna; Alabama Fascists in the current HUSTLER magazine. H/T BradBlog, in two parts:

Part One:

Part Two:

BAD SUPERDELEGATE MATH FOR CLINTON

April 7, 2008

From New York Times:

The hill that Hillary Rodham Clinton must climb to beat Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination will grow a little steeper on Monday, as it has most days lately.

Margaret Campbell, a Montana state legislator, plans to declare her support for Senator Obama, of Illinois. She becomes the 69th superdelegate he has picked up since the Feb. 5 coast-to-coast string of primary elections and caucus votes.

In the same period, Senator Clinton, of New York, has seen a net loss of two superdelegates, according to figures from the Obama campaign that Clinton aides do not dispute. That erosion may dim Mrs. Clinton’s remaining hopes even more than internal campaign turmoil, which led to the ouster on Sunday of the campaign’s chief strategist, Mark Penn.

Trailing by more than 160 pledged delegates — those chosen in state primaries or caucuses — Mrs. Clinton has counted on superdelegates to help her overtake Mr. Obama with a late surge before the party’s convention in August. The party’s rules for proportional allocation make it highly difficult for her to erase Mr. Obama’s pledged delegate lead, even if she sweeps the final 10 contests.

So her aides have lobbied to persuade those still uncommitted superdelegates to back her — or to continue holding out so her campaign has the chance to demonstrate momentum and superior electability in primaries from Pennsylvania’s on April 22 through Montana’s on June 3.

Read Whole Story

THE "BRAINS" BEHIND THE IRAQ WAR?

April 7, 2008

From last night's 60 mintues an unapologetic Doug Feith defends his role in the Iraq war, and gives us some insights of why we went to Iraq:

DOES AIR AMERICA NOT BELIEVE IN FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

April 4, 2008

Here is 5 minutes of the Randi Rhodes stand-up routine that got her suspended from Air America for two weeks:

Jeff Norman of the HuffPo:

At an appearance in San Francisco sponsored by Air America's local affiliate, Rhodes referred to Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro as "fucking whores." It's widely understood that this epithet, delivered in the context of a well-received comedic rant, is what prompted the suspension. But Air America's terse statement on the matter offers no explanation beyond declaring it "does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our Hosts."

It's not detectable at this point if Air America honchos believe Rhodes was somehow supposed to have known what she said is punishable. Also unknown is the duration of her suspension. According to New York Daily News reporter David Hinckley, the network is remaining silent for now "to gauge public reaction." How principled.

Ferraro has wasted no time calling for Rhodes to be fired. The former VP candidate told Fox News earlier today, "What did they do with Don Imus when he went after the young black team who was playing basketball with kind of the same language? Treat them both the same...She's coming at me and Hillary in a ... sexist way... To incite people with language like this young woman just did on radio is very, very dangerous because ... some people take this stuff so seriously that it can affect your security."

Understandably, Rhodes is stunned and angry. About her employers she told me: "They are in breach of my contract and have damaged my hard won excellent reputation in the broadcast industry..." Rhodes added she received thank you letters from representatives of Air America, the San Francisco affiliate and sponsors praising her for the performance that now has her in hot water. Read On

Blog Critics Magazine's Robert K. Blechman takes on the first amendment question:

In the 1919 case Schenk v. The United States, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech doesn't permit someone to falsely yell "fire" in a crowded theater. That interpretation of our Constitutional rights was brought up to date today when the management of Air America Radio suspended talk show host Randi Rhodes for calling Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton "whores."…
    Surely the owners of liberal talk radio network Air America were thinking of this Constitutional omission when they suspended Ms. Rhodes. But let's be clear about the intent here. No one would argue that these prominent politicos, Ferraro and Clinton, are literally whores in the Eliot Spitzer sense of the term. If you go to YouTube and watch the video (14,907 views as of 2:40 on Thursday) it is clear that Ms. Rhodes was using the term to mean that these women will "sell" themselves to the highest bidder for political advantages. How else to explain Ms. Clinton's recent decision to appear before Richard Scaife's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial board? I would argue that that appearance makes Ms. Clinton less of a whore and more of a hooker, but let's not quibble over technicalities….
    It is okay to call Ms. Clinton a murderer, a fraud, and other foul names if you are writing for the Tribune-Review (see their coverage of the Vince Foster suicide). It is unacceptable for a radio talk show host to use pejorative language against Ms. Clinton before a small group of appreciative listeners if it is captured on tape and ends up on YouTube. So we have to assume that in this case the medium is truly the message.
    Every society has its taboos. Our culture distinguishes "polite" language from "foul" language. The management of Air America Radio would have us believe that this modern taboo trumps any Constitutional rights or privileges we may think we have.

Read Whole Article

TED TURNER AND AL GORE: WE NEED ACTION NOW TO PREVENT GLOBAL CATASTROPHE

April 3, 2008

Ted Turner on Charlie Rose about what the future looks like if nothing is done about global climate change, including the possibility of humans needing to eat humans for sustenance:

Al Gore and his group Alliance for Climate Protection have just launched a new 300 million dollar ad campaign to get people to start doing something about global warming. Here is the first ad:

FOX NEWS ATTACKS OBAMA AGAIN

April 2, 2008

Brave New Films "FOX Attacks! Obama- Part 2:"

Brave New Films part one from last year:

IS JOHN MCCAIN A LIAR OR FOOL ON SOCIAL SECURITY POLICY?

April 2, 2008

John McCain has some discrepancies on what to do about social security:

From the Wall Street Journal:

The all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee cast himself as a defender of the Bush tax cuts he voted against, but added caveats to a "no new taxes" vow he made on a Sunday television talk show two weeks ago.
On Social Security, the Arizona senator says he still backs a system of private retirement accounts that President Bush pushed unsuccessfully, and disowned details of a Social Security proposal on his campaign Web site. More

The Conscientious Objector blog highlighted the difference between his website and the Journal comment:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) created a stir today when he said in a published interview with the Wall Street Journal that he favored personal savings accounts in the Social Security System like those supported by President Bush.

This was a departure from the stand he takes on the issue on his Web site, which favors personal savings accounts as a “supplement” to the existing Social Security System. By contrast, the Bush plan called for using a portion of Social Security taxes to set up these private accounts for workers. It went down the tubes.

Liberal groups immediately pounced on McCain’s statement. Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United for Change, an organization that campaigned against the Bush plan, said that the interview “showed how far McCain is willing to go to appease the far right wing which has had their knives out for Social Security since its inception.” read on

And then Joe Lieberman on this Sunday’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” explained that McCain would not privatize social security:

JEB BUSH BACK-DOORS FUNDING FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS?

April 1, 2008

From South Florida Sun-Senteinal, News Columnist Micheal Mayo:

Call it the Revenge of Jeb. Or a solution in search of a problem. Or just a bad idea.

Fresh off its proposal to reduce property taxes with added sales tax, the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission now wants voters to decide whether to take an ax to Florida's wall separating church and state.

Last week the commission proposed an amendment that would let religious institutions get state funding, overturning a ban that has been in place for over a century. The proposal, which got the minimum 17 votes required to send it to the statewide ballot in November, needs 60 percent voter approval to pass.

"What the heck is a taxation council doing wading into a constitutional wedge issue like this?" said House Democratic leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, who sits on the commission but doesn't get to vote.

Maybe it's time the commission, which meets every 20 years, goes back into hibernation.

This latest proposed amendment veered off the tax path into the hot-button realm of conservative ideology.

Call it the Revenge of Jeb, because the amendment was proposed by a close associate of former Gov. Jeb Bush, Patricia Levesque, and could mean the revival of a private school voucher program Bush championed. The Florida Supreme Court struck down the vouchers that could be used at religious-based schools. Read on Revenge of Jeb

From News-Press Florida:

TALLAHASSEE -- Voters in November will have a chance to erase a ban on government aide to religious institutions that has been embedded in the Florida Constitution for 140 years.The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission voted 17-7 today to approve the measure, which needed 17 votes to pass. It still faces one more, largely procedural vote. Critics say the measure, sponsored by a former education policy adviser to Gov. Jeb Bush, is a back-door attempt to overturn a 2004 Supreme Court decision that struck down Bush’s “Opportunity Scholarship” school voucher program. “I think it clearly tries to reverse Bush v. Holmes,” said Commissioner Martha Barnett, who voted against it. “I think that we would be jeopardizing issues of great importance to many people far beyond the vouchers.” More

DOES JOHN MCCAIN FLUBS SPEECHS BECAUSE OF TELEPROMPTER, OR IS IT SOMETHING ELSE?

April 1, 2008

From PoliticsTV:

80 YEAR OLD DEACON ARRESTED AT MALL BECASUE OF A T-SHIRT

April 1, 2008

The man and his shirt from Newsday:

Photo by James A. Escher / March 31, 2008)

From Newsday:

An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall yesterday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.

Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as "graphic anti-war images." Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of American military personnel and Iraqis - 4,000 and 1 million - and the words "Dead" and "Enough." The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters.

Police said in a release last night that Zirkel was handing out anti-war pamphlets to mallgoers and that mall security told him to stop and turn his shirt inside out. Zirkel refused to turn his shirt inside out and wouldn't leave, police said. Security placed him on "civilian arrest" and called police. When police arrived, Zirkel passively resisted attempts to bring him to a police car, the release said.

But Zirkel said he was sitting in the food court drinking coffee with his wife Marie, 77, and several others when police and mall security officers approached and demanded they remove their anti-war T-shirts.

The others complied, but Zirkel said he refused, and when he wouldn't stand up to be removed and arrested, authorities brought over a wheelchair. "They forcibly picked me up and put me in the wheelchair," said Zirkel, a deacon at one of the poorest Catholic parishes on Long Island, where a devastating fire recently destroyed the rectory and storage areas. More

Another Newsday stroy about the deacon:

Among the many milestones in Don Zirkel's life -- serving in the Army Army, editing The Tablet, the Diocese of Brooklyn's newspaper, and working in the state Division of Human Rights under Gov. Mario Cuomo -- perhaps the most famous will now be his arrest at the food court in Smith Haven Mall.

"Eighty years, and I have never been arrested before for fighting injustice," Zirkel, of Bethpage, said yesterday.

On Saturday, Zirkel, 80, was at an anti-war rally outside the mall in Lake Grove, wearing a white T-shirt splotched with red and emblazoned with a simple message about the fatalities of the Iraq war: "4,000 troops, 1 million Iraqis dead. Enough."

Zirkel said he was at the rally to support the anti-war protesters. "I was an encourager. I was an affirmer," he said. Read On

IS CLINTON A DEADBEAT?

March 31, 2008

From Politico:

    Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.
    A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.
    Their cautionary tales, combined with published reports about similar difficulties faced by a New Hampshire landlord, an Iowa office cleaner and a New York caterer, highlight a less-obvious impact of Clinton’s inability to keep up with the staggering fundraising pace set by her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Read Whole Article

BUSH DOES NOT GET A HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE

March 31, 2008

The president was booed last night as he threw out the first pitch on opening day for the Washington Nationals.

CAN BIG PENNSYLVANIA ENDORSEMENT TURN THE TIDE FOR OBAMA IN STATE?

March 28, 2008

Senator Bob Casey Jr to endorse Barack Obama today

New York Times:
Senator Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, one of the state’s last undecided superdelegates, plans to endorse Barack Obama during a rally at the Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial in Pittsburgh this morning.
    After the announcement Senator Casey will join Senator Obama on his six-day bus trip across Pennsylvania, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. Senator Casey’s support for Mr. Obama goes against the wave of support for Hillary Rodham Clinton among many of the state’s top Democrats, like Governor Ed Rendell, Rep. John P. Murtha and Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia.
    The endorsement also comes at a crucial time for Obama, who has been trailing Clinton in Pennsylvania polls by double-digit margins but who also has bought at least $1.6 million worth of television advertising statewide in the last week, more than double Clinton’s expenditure.
    Obama strategists hope that Casey can help their candidate make inroads with the white working-class men who are often referred to as "Casey Democrats." This group identifies with the brand of politics Casey and his late father, a former governor, practiced - liberal on economic issues but supportive of gun rights and opposed to abortion. (Obama favors some gun-control measures and backs abortion rights.)
    Katharine Q. Seelye of The New York Times says it’s "do or die" for Mrs. Clinton in Pennsylvania. And despite her early lead in the polls, Mr. Obama’s bus trip proves he’s not conceding the state. Read On

One of Obama's keystone state ads:

SUPERDELEGATES TURNED OFF BY CLINTON?

March 27, 2008

NBC NEWS:

At a time when Sen. Hillary Clinton is increasingly relying on superdelegates to vault her to the Democratic Party's nomination, a handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates are coming forward to say her campaign's tactics in recent weeks are doing more harm than good.

The Democratic Party insiders say they believe Clinton's direct attacks against Sen. Barack Obama in recent days are hurting the party and its chances in November, and also say it is showing a calculated, desperate-to-win side of Clinton that they dislike.

"In looking at the manner in which the candidates are campaigning, I think it would be best they focused their attention on the presumptive nominee and showed our party which one is better in campaigning against McCain," said Garry Shay, a California superdelegate, who announced his support for Clinton.

Unlike some in the party, these superdelegates said they do not believe Clinton should drop out of the race. They said they are committed to the democratic process, and want to allow the states still remaining to cast their ballots. But they acknowledged Obama is the likely nominee and suggested the personal attacks were only hurting the party and its viability.

The Clinton campaign has been actively wooing these delegates, believing a plurality represents the strongest, and increasingly the only, way for her to win the nomination. But one undeclared delegate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the recent tactics are turning her and other superdelegates off. Read whole story

BARACK SHOWS HIS ECONOMIC SIDE

March 27, 2008

Obama's speech today on the history and the state of our economy:

VOTER DISSATISFACTION LEADS TO MCCAIN VICTORY?

March 26, 2008
From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- New polls show many Democratic voters could swing their support to Sen. John McCain in the general election if their candidate isn't nominated.
According to a new poll, Sen. John McCain could do well with Democrats if Sen. Barack Obama gets the nomination.
The most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, taken March 14-16, shows the percentage of Sen. Barack Obama supporters who said they'd be dissatisfied or upset if Sen. Hillary Clinton wins the nomination has gone up -- from 26 percent in January, just after Clinton won the New Hampshire primary, to 41 percent now.
The poll suggests if Obama wins, a majority of Clinton supporters -- 51 percent -- would be dissatisfied or upset. The number was 35 percent in January. Read On

WHAT CRIME IS RUSH UP TO NOW?

March 26, 2008

Dan Abrams of the MSNBC show Verdict, claims the slimly tricks used by Rush Limbaugh in the Ohio and Texas primaries might be crimes. Watch:

The Nation Magazine revels the effectiveness of Rush's election manipulations:

"Operation Chaos," Rush Limbaugh's campaign urging Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in Democratic primaries, has been very effective. It doubled Republican turnout in Ohio and Texas, boosting Clinton and prolonging the Democratic race. But in Ohio, it was also almost certainly illegal.
Ohio law requires that citizens genuinely support a political party in order to vote in its primary. To change parties for a primary, a citizen must pledge, under the penalty of election falsification, that she is affiliated with the party and "supports" its principles. Lying on the pledge is a felony, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The law also stipulates that poll workers have a "duty" to challenge voters who are "not a member of the political party whose ballot the person desires to vote."
In Cuyahoga, Ohio's largest county, 16,000 Republicans switched parties for the primary last month. Several did so in bad faith, without truly changing parties, according to newspaper interviews and Internet postings. The Cuyahoga Board of Elections recently voted to investigate the matter; a report is expected on March 31. Despite the massive crossover voting, however, prosecutions are considered unlikely. A spokesperson for Ohio's Attorney General told Alternet that it is "very hard to prosecute" crossover voting cases, since the crime depends on proving a voter's motive on Election Day.

Read whole article

BUSH/CHENEY WAR WITH IRAN

March 25, 2008

Are we headed to war with Iran, and what about the war in Iraq? The Arab press has recently warned of an Iran/US conflict. The reason: the upcoming presidential election.

From PRESS TV:

The Arab media has raised US-Iran confrontation alarms, saying the US has a proxy war with Iran going at the tail end of the Bush administration...The source asserted that the recurring visits by the US Vice President Dick Cheney and John McCain to Iraq and occupied Palestine are surely not 'coincidences' but a means to ensure Israel remains fully in the picture for any "plans the US could have against Iran"....The weekly also added the disaster the Bush administration has created in Iraq is clearly not going well. As a result, the administration may feel that engaging the US militarily in Iran is their only option to for seeing a Republican president elected and a staunch military advocate like John McCain fits that bill...On Wednesday, an aide to Cheney said that, the United States will need the cooperation of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey to mount a military attack on Iran.
Whole stroy at PRESS TV

The Arab press is not alone in its concerns regarding an upcoming war with Iran. Marjorie Cohn writes that all the signs of a war with Iran are present.

From Monthly Review Magazine:

Is the Bush administration ramping up for an attack on Iran? The signs seem to point in that direction. On March 11, Navy Adm. William Fallon, commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East, retired early because of differences with Washington on Iran policy. And now, Dick Cheney's current Middle East tour may be designed to prepare our Arab allies for an imminent "preemptive" war against Iran. Bush and Cheney have long been rattling the sabers in Iran's direction. The disaster they created in Iraq isn't going well, no matter how they spin it. They may feel that engaging the United States militarily in Iran would make it harder to elect anyone other than the seasoned military man, John McCain. The Republican presidential candidate just happens to be touring Iraq with Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of the strongest advocates of a U.S. military strike on Iran. Lieberman is likely on McCain's short list for a vice-presidential running mate. Read: Iran

Jonathan Steele looks at the power of the word "defeat" in terms of the Iraq war. He says the democrats need to have hearings on why we have been defeated in Iraq. The intent is to put the republicans on the defensive.

From HuffPo:

Imagine the scenario 18 months from now. A newly-elected Democratic president has announced a short timetable for U.S. combat troops to leave Iraq and the first brigades have already made the journey home. Iraq remains unstable, bomb attacks continue to kill civilians and, backed by a chorus of right-wing talk shows, the Republicans mount a furious campaign accusing the Democrats of cutting and running.
Just when the U.S. army had scented victory, the lily-livered White House pulled the rug out. "The Democrats are defeatists," "They're quitting under fire," "They're stabbing our brave men and women in the back."... Others doubt it. But the best way to forge party unity is to hold hearings on the recent past. Otherwise Bush may get away with his absurd claims of looming victory. Holding such hearings would also help to focus the presidential campaign on Iraq as an issue. After five years of war it seems absurd to think the Republicans can mount a better case than those who want to end it. Can a candidate who suggests keeping US troops in Iraq for another hundred years (with 4,000 dead in the last five years, that means condeming another 80,000 to death over a century) and who thinks Iran is training al Qaeda really convince Americans he understands security issues? Iraq is the Republicans' weakest link. Are the Democrats really unable to exploit it? Read whole story

The Lou Reed song "there is no time:"

FOX AND FRIENDS NOT SO FRIENDLY?

March 24, 2008

Chirs Wallace of Fox News Sunday "taking to task" the hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade of Fox's morning show over excssive bashing of Barack Obama's "typical white person" remark.

Host Brian Kilmeade of Fox and Friends storming off in frustration of the ongoing Obama bashing. According to them, the blogs got it wrong and it was really a joke: "The argument was real. The walk-off was fun. We are a fun show." watch it and you decide:

DETROIT SEX SCANDAL

March 24, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct today. We wonder what his mother thinks about this. She is the powerful US Congressperson Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan’s 13th district; she is also chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus.

REUTERS: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct on Monday stemming from a sex scandal and the prominent Democrat's handling of an $8.4 million settlement of a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city. The controversy surrounding the black politician once seen as a rising star in his party has deadlocked city government and could spill over to presidential politics and the issue of how the Democratic Party handles Michigan delegates still being contested by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The eight-count criminal indictment announced by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy included two counts of obstruction of justice and four counts of perjury. The perjury charges each carry a prison term of more than 15 years. Read on

This all started because of inappropriate texting; when the story broke this January a parody video was made to explain the behavior and that we all need "textual healing:"

This clip is of the content of the texts.

From January's New York Times about the scandal: ..."The messages, transmitted to and from Ms. Beatty’s city-owned pager in 2002 and 2003, appear to show that the two had an intimate relationship and suggest that they committed perjury by denying the affair during testimony in one of two whistleblower lawsuits that have cost taxpayers in the beleaguered city more than $9 million." More

SAD EASTER: 4,000 US TROOP KILLED IN THE IRAQ WAR

March 24, 2008

Joshua Holland from Alternet:
I’m in rare agreement with former Bush spokesman Tony Snow, who said of the 2,500th U.S. fatality in Iraq, "It’s a number." For those who have lost a loved one to this disastrous conflict, the important number is 1 — and he or she has a name. For the rest of us, the 4,000th U.S. military death is a data point that obscures the reality of the Iraq conflict as much as it illuminates it…The number is insignificant because it only scratches the surface of the damage done to the (very) young men and women we’ve sent into the meatgrinder, most of whom were filled with idealism and a real sense of purpose before being deployed to Iraq.

Read more: 4,000

A BBC TV recap of the dead and the war:

SEAN PENN TAKES ON FOX NEWS WHILE FILMING NEW MOVIE

March 21, 2008

Sean Penn from the film set of his latest movie:

"I almost wish Jerry Falwell were alive to see this. Almost," Penn shouted to the crowd. After dropping some names of conservatives who are still with us - "Bill O'Reilly, who is too stupid to talk about," and "Sean Hannity, the butt boy of Rupert Murdoch," Penn said, "We know something more. We know their end is near."

To read more go to the San Francisco Gate website.

A behind the scenes clip shot on location

HILLARY'S NASTY PASTORATE?

March 21, 2008

There’s a reason why Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she’s a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that "through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the "Fellowship," aka The Family. But it won’t be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet’s shocking exposé, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.

Continue reading at ehrenreich.blogs.com...

IS McCAIN AS DUMB AS BUSH?

March 21, 2008

From Truthdig.com:

"Presidential contender John McCain took a trip to the Middle East to showcase his foreign policy chops, so the opposition was particularly delighted that it was during such a demonstration that he committed this gaffe."

"While attempting to explain Iran's influence in neighboring Iraq, the would-be commander in chief repeatedly refers to Tehran's support for al-Qaida. Iran is a Shiite country that has been accused of arming Shiite militants, and not the militantly Sunni al-Qaida."

Watch McCain's speach here at Yahoo Video.

Join in the conversation about this here at Truthdig.com.

OBAMA'S MINISTER COMMITED "TREASON" but When My Father Said the Same Thing He Was a Republican Hero

March 18, 2008

By Frank Schaeffer for the Huffington Post

When Senator Obama's preacher thundered about racism and injustice Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father -- Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer -- denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the US government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr.

Every Sunday thousands of right wing white preachers (following in my father's footsteps) rail against America's sins from tens of thousands of pulpits. They tell us that America is complicit in the "murder of the unborn," has become "Sodom" by coddling gays, and that our public schools are sinful places full of evolutionists and sex educators hell-bent on corrupting children. They say, as my dad often did, that we are, "under the judgment of God." They call America evil and warn of immanent destruction. By comparison Obama's minister's shouted "controversial" comments were mild. All he said was that God should damn America for our racism and violence and that no one had ever used the N-word about Hillary Clinton.

Dad and I were amongst the founders of the Religious right. In the 1970s and 1980s, while Dad and I crisscrossed America denouncing our nation's sins instead of getting in trouble we became darlings of the Republican Party. (This was while I was my father's sidekick before I dropped out of the evangelical movement altogether.) We were rewarded for our "stand" by people such as Congressman Jack Kemp, the Fords, Reagan and the Bush family. The top Republican leadership depended on preachers and agitators like us to energize their rank and file. No one called us un-American.

MORE: HuffingtonPost.com

THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SONG

March 18, 2008

THE INTELLIGENCE COVER-UP - Editorial From the New York Times

March 18, 2008

For more than two years now, Congress, the news media, current and former national security officials, think tanks and academic institutions have been engaged in a profound debate over how to modernize the law governing electronic spying to keep pace with technology. We keep hoping President Bush will join in.

Instead, the president offers propaganda intended to scare Americans, expand his powers, and erode civil liberties — and to ensure that no one is held to account for the illegal wiretapping he ordered after 9/11.

Continue reading at The New York Times

WINTER SOLDIERS: Iraq & Afganistan
Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations

March 18, 2008

For both conservatives and liberals the gathering of US veterans in Maryland this past weekend to testify at Winter Soldier was fully heart wrenching. Soldiers spoke of free-fire zones, the shootings and beatings of innocent civilians, racism at the highest levels of the military, sexual harassment and assault within the military, and the torturing of prisoners.

Why did corporate media ignore this story? It was just a few months ago that the war was the #1 issue of concern of the American people according to surveys. Maybe they don't want to stir things up knowing a Republican presidential candidate has definitively stated that they war will go on under his command?

If you support the troops and want to hear their stories visit WarComesHome.org where Los Angeles radio station KPFA offers podcasts and archives of the event.

DemocracyNow.org also offers coverage which includes Video Stream, Audio Stream, MP3 Downloads, and full transcript.

- C. McCarthy
Guest Contributor for LarryFlynt.com

LARRY FLYNT TO OFFER $1,000,000 TO ASHLEY ALEXANDER DUPRE

March 13, 2008

In his recent interview with CNN Larry Flynt expressed interest in hiring Ashley Alexander Dupre for a photoshoot. "We've been looking at that very closely. She's young. She's pretty. She's a model," said Larry Flynt. "We would love to do business with her, and we will approach her."

It is now official: Larry Flynt is offering Ashley Alexander Dupre $1 million to pose nude for Hustler Magazine. "We think this is an item that is going to stay in the news for some time," Flynt said. "We think it's not bad for a 22-year-old to make $1 million for a few hours work. It beats what she was making at the escort service."

TOP U.S. COMMANDER IN MIDDLE EAST RESIGNS

March 13, 2008

Adm. William J. Fallon has left his position at CENTCOM. Fallon was recently interviewed by Esquire Magazine where he expressed dissent towards the Bush White House military policy and a belief that we should not attack Iran. This is not the first (nor probably the last) time that a commander has left or been forced out by his masters on Pennsylvania Ave, even though Bush has claimed many times to listen to his commanders.

The admiral's decision to leave has sparked a debate. Does the Bush White House's overbearing tactics make the military stronger or weaker. Is our next stop as a nation a cruise missile into Tehran?

Read the Esquire interview that started the ball rolling: The Man Between War and Peace

Read about the first reaction to his resignation at abcnews.go.com: Top U.S. Commander in Middle East Resigns

Are we headed to Iran?? Read at WashingtonPost.com: Are We Closer to War?

White House denies quashing his voice from the AP: White House Denies Friction With Fallon

Real issue is not policy, but a micromanagement of the milatry by the White House. Read at blog.WashingtonPost.com: Early Warning

- A. Green
Guest Contributor for LarryFlynt.com

I'M NOT A HILLARY SUPPORTER, I JUST PLAY ONE ON TV

March 12, 2008

Yet another reason why you shouldn't encourage your kids to go into show business: they may end up in an Ad for a presidential candidate whom they don't support.

"I'M NOT ANTI, I'M NOT GAY BASHING"

March 11, 2008

Oklahoma: insane anti-gay tirade by state representative

Comment from MikeEss on Pandagon.Blogsome.com:

March 8, 2008 at 6:00 pm

"Research suggests that early childhood contact with christianity often correlates with a tendency toward bigotry in later life, which suggests that there is no genetic component to bigotry, but rather environmental, and especially religious, components shared in families.

Fortunately, research has shown that these tendencies toward intolerance can be overcome with sufficient exposure to logic, reason, and facts, provided the subject is willing to let go of preconceived, and unsupported, notions of absolute certainty in understanding 'god's truth'..."

IMPEACHMENT UPDATE: VIDEO OF WEXLER'S RESPONSE TO BUSH ATTORNEY GENERAL

March 11, 2008

SNL PARODY AD

March 11, 2008

DOES McCAIN = BUSH??

March 10, 2008

The Money Behind the Anti-McCain Ad - from TruthDig.com

This story was reported by Will Evans of the Center for Investigative Reporting and Peter Overby of National Public Radio.

With Sen. John McCain having clinched the Republican presidential nomination, a new Democrat-funded group has already begun an ad campaign labeling him the "McSame" as President Bush.

Continue Reading at TruthDig.com

FROM CNN: JOB LOSSES- WORST IN 5 YEARS

March 10, 2008

Payrolls sink in February, fueling recession anxiety. Unemployment rate declines, but that's
because there are fewer people in the workforce.

By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: March 7, 2008: 3:14 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers made their deepest cut in staffing in almost five years in February, the Labor Department reported Friday.

There was a net loss of 63,000 jobs, which is the biggest decline since March 2003 and weaker than the revised 22,000 jobs lost in January. Economists had forecast a gain of 25,000 jobs.

The weak report fueled already mounting recession fears and is likely to keep the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates further when it meets later this month.

"Based on today's Employment Report, if we are not in a recession, it is a darned good imitation of one," said Kevin Giddis, managing director of fixed income at Morgan Keegan. "We are in an unprecedented real estate and credit crisis that is whipping its way through the U.S. economy like a Midwestern tornado."

Job losses were widespread, reaching beyond the battered construction sector, which lost 39,000, and manufacturing, where job losses hit 52,000.

Continue Reading at Money.CNN.com

DENVER AIRPORT WI-FI BLOCKS WEBSITES

March 7, 2008

"God bless America! Land of the free home of the b.... wait a minute, why can't I get to this website?"

If you're sitting in Denver's airport and wondering why you can't get onto VanityFair.com or boingboing.com or SportIllustrated.com swimsuit pictures, well it's because the Denver Airport has decided what is appropriate for you to view. It thinks those sites are naughty-naughty and it was much cheaper to block them rather than hiring nuns to come around and slap you on the hand with a ruler if caught on a bad site. Are they afraid you're going to hook-up your laptop to a projector so that unassuming kids might see the beautiful Daniella Sarahyba in...gasp...her BIKINI??? Um, excuse me, but every kid has been to the beach. Nothing new to see there. Maybe they are getting their ideas from the repressive regimes of the Sudan and Kuwait? Next thing you know some airline won't let a woman fly because she is dressed too sexy...wait a minute....that sounds familiar.

On a positive and somewhat confusing note, you can still buy HUSTLER MAGAZINE at the newsstands in the Denver airport.

And by the way, if you ARE sitting in the Denver airport right now you probably can't read this story.

Read a full story and insight about this at the SeattleTimes.com.

- C. McCarthy
Guest Contributor for LarryFlynt.com

NOT JUST YOUR DADDY'S MAG

SENATOR CHRIS MATTHEWS?

PRESIDENT OBAMA TO INVESTIGATE BUSH'S CRIMES

FAUX NEWS

"ENDLESS WAR ON AN INSTALLMENT PLAN"

HOW WORTHLESS IS A PENNY?

"WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR"

WHO'S HILLARY REALLY FIGHTING FOR?

"FRIGHTENINGLY DISAPPOINTING"

TROUBLE WITH DIEBOLD MACHINES IN OHIO, COULD IT FORESHADOW GENERAL ELECTION?

LEWIS BLACK TAKES ON CELEBRITY POLITICAL ENDORSEMENTS

ROVE'S DIRTY TRICKS

BAD SUPERDELEGATE MATH FOR CLINTON

THE "BRAINS" BEHIND THE IRAQ WAR?

DOES AIR AMERICA NOT BELIEVE IN FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

TED TURNER AND AL GORE: WE NEED ACTION NOW TO PREVENT GLOBAL CATASTROPHE

FOX NEWS ATTACKS OBAMA AGAIN

IS JOHN MCCAIN A LIAR OR FOOL ON SOCIAL SECURITY POLICY?

JEB BUSH BACK-DOORS FUNDING FOR RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS?

DOES JOHN MCCAIN FLUBS SPEECHS BECAUSE OF TELEPROMPTER, OR IS IT SOMETHING ELSE?

80 YEAR OLD DEACON ARRESTED AT MALL BECASUE OF A T-SHIRT

IS CLINTON A DEADBEAT?

BUSH DOES NOT GET A HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE

CAN BIG PENNSYLVANIA ENDORSEMENT TURN THE TIDE FOR OBAMA IN STATE?

SUPERDELEGATES TURNED OFF BY CLINTON?

BARACK SHOWS HIS ECONOMIC SIDE

VOTER DISSATISFACTION LEADS TO MCCAIN VICTORY?

WHAT CRIME IS RUSH UP TO NOW?

BUSH/CHENEY WAR WITH IRAN

FOX AND FRIENDS NOT SO FRIENDLY?

DETROIT SEX SCANDAL

SAD EASTER: 4,000 US TROOP KILLED IN THE IRAQ WAR

SEAN PENN TAKES ON FOX NEWS WHILE FILMING NEW MOVIE

HILLARY'S NASTY PASTORATE?

IS McCAIN AS DUMB AS BUSH?

OBAMA'S MINISTER COMMITED "TREASON" but When My Father Said the Same Thing He Was a Republican Hero

THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SONG

THE INTELLIGENCE COVER-UP - Editorial From the New York Times

WINTER SOLDIERS: Iraq & Afganistan Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations

LARRY FLYNT TO OFFER $1,000,000 TO ASHLEY ALEXANDER DUPRE

TOP U.S. COMMANDER IN MIDDLE EAST RESIGNS

I'M NOT A HILLARY SUPPORTER, I JUST PLAY ONE ON TV

"I'M NOT ANTI, I'M NOT GAY BASHING"

IMPEACHMENT UPDATE: VIDEO OF WEXLER'S RESPONSE TO BUSH ATTORNEY GENERAL

SNL PARODY AD

DOES McCAIN = BUSH??

FROM CNN: JOB LOSSES- WORST IN 5 YEARS

DENVER AIRPORT WI-FI BLOCKS WEBSITES

WINTER SOLDIERS: Iraq & Afganistan
Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations