Joe Biden as Vice President? It works For Me

  By now all of you who keep up with politics have heard many different views on Obama's selection as Vice President, so I am not going there myself. I will note however, after Googling for info on Biden, that Obama's choice could not have been better.

  Joe Biden speaks his mind and he doesn't pull punches, which the Democratic Party needs near the top of its leadership list. It would also seem that Senator Biden does not like Republicans, which is a great thing!

   Maybe now Senator Biden and the Democrats can educate Mr. POW and the rest of the country on why McCain and the Republicans should no longer be allowed into the White House.

 Joe Biden in action!

Let the games begin.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden,Barack Obama,Vice President,2008 election

Telecom Lobbyist Working For McCain's Campaign? 60

Sacramento Bee

Watchdog groups charge that McCain has been too cozy with the phone giants. Executives of the consolidated Bells, the head of their trade group and their present and former lobbyists have raised as much as $4.25 million for McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, data from the nonprofit groups Public Citizen and Campaign Money Watch show.

More than 60 present and former telecom lobbyists work for McCain's campaign as staffers and volunteers, some in high-echelon posts while on leave from their firms.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,telecoms,ATT,2008 election

Obama Chooses Joe Biden As Vice President

  This is what has been reported all over the Net, MSNBC, and others.

   This is a great choice for Obama.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,Joe Biden,Vice President,2008 election

New Chapter In McCain's " HouseGate " Saga

  It is still bringing forth more fruit for the bloggers and media everywhere.

   Here is a different story about the " straight talker " and a different house that his wife had bought for him.

   East Valley Tribune

How McCain came to live at 921 E. Lamplighter Lane and how he left are both interesting footnotes in his political career.

According to biographer Robert Timberg, in early 1982 McCain needed an East Valley residence, and quickly. Republican Rep. John Rhodes was stepping down from a long career in Washington, and McCain wanted that seat.

But McCain lived in Phoenix, outside the boundaries of what was then the 1st Congressional District. So wife Cindy went to work.

As Timberg states in his book, "John McCain: An American Odyssey," on the very day of Rhodes' news conference announcing his retirement, Cindy bought the Lamplighter house.

And in late 1986, before McCain was voted into his first term in the Senate, a report from The Associated Press revealed he planned to move after the election and wanted that news kept quiet.

A reporter had found permits filed with the city for the remodeling of Cindy's childhood home in north-central Phoenix. Oddly, the permits were submitted under the name "Smith" - the maiden name of Cindy's mother - rather than McCain.

  Kudos to DailyKos for finding this story.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Cindy McCain,2008 election,real estate

New McCain Ad On Obama-Rezko Real Estate Deal Gets Smacked Down

  If this is the best that McCain and the rest of the Repugnicans can do, then we certainly do not want McCain as our President.

Devilstower/DailyKos

McCain's Misfire

by Devilstower

Fri Aug 22, 2008 at 05:10:11 PM PDT

Hoping to appeal to the middle-class voters who make $4.9 million a year and have only a single beach front vacation home in their collection, McCain rushed out an ad trying to reanimate the corpse of the long discredited Obama-Rezko real estate connection.  Newsweek teamed up with Factcheck.org to slice and dice McCain's ad, and they detected the fine odor of pure BS laced with the rancid stench of desperation.

But his TV spot gives an oversimplified and misleading account of how Obama bought his own $1.6 million house in Chicago. ... It says Rezko "purchased part of the property [Obama] couldn't afford." Rezko's wife did buy an adjoining tract but later sold the land at a profit. Obama paid market price for his home.

...

We find McCain's ad is careless with the facts and could easily leave a false impression.

Oversimplified, misleading, careless, and false. Hmm, that sounds like the McCain (and Bush) we know.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Barack Obama,2008 election

John McCain Doesn't Know What He Drives

   John McCain just seems to be the gift that keeps on giving! First off, he doesn't know how many homes that he and his wife own, and now, when asked what kind of car he drives he didn't know that either! Come on now! this man wants to be the President and he can't even tell a questioner what he drives?

  DKos

In our news interview, he was asked what kind of car he drove, he could simply not answer.  As with Politico’s question about home ownership, he didn’t know and had to ask a nearby aide.  "A Cadillac CTS," she told him.

  This man wants to be our leader and yet he knows nothing about his own lifestyle. do we really want McCain in the White House with the ability to start a war at will over nothing just because he has memory lapses and is short tempered? I don't and if you are smart, then neither do you!

Technorati Tags: John McCain,2008 election,wealth

John McCain's Housing Slump

  When you make the claim that you do not know how many homes you own, then you are most certainly out of touch with the average American. When you do not know when the last time that you pumped gas into your car was, then you are out of touch with the American people.

  In that vein, we have another video which sums up John McCains lifestyle of the rich and famous.

  This is our average American? Mr. Outoftouch?

Technorati Tags: John McCain,2008 election

Former POW With John McCain Speaks Out

  The story that I am about to post here has been out on the Internet for some five months or so but you would never know that it existed if not for the Net as the MSM certainly didn't pay any attention to it.

   I  got this from AlterNet and I'm only posting a few paragraphs, so if you are interested in the rest then click here after browsing this page.

John's treatment as a POW:

1) Was he tortured for 5 years? No. He was subjected to torture and maltreatment during his first 2 years, from September of 1967 to September of 1969. After September of 1969 the Vietnamese stopped the torture and gave us increased food and rudimentary health care. Several hundred of us were captured much earlier. I got there April 20, 1965 so my bad treatment period lasted 4 1/2 years. President Ho Chi Minh died on September 9, 1969, and the new regime that replaced him and his policies was more pragmatic. They realized we were worth a lot as bargaining chips if we were alive. And they were right because eventually Americans gave up on the war and agreed to trade our POW's for their country. A damn good trade in my opinion! But my point here is that John allows the media to make him out to be THE hero POW, which he knows is absolutely not true, to further his political goals.

3) John was offered, and refused, "early release." Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to "admit" that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was "lenient and humane." So I, like numerous others, refused the offer. This was obviously something none of us could accept. Besides, we were bound by our service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties to refuse early release until all the POW's were released, with the sick and wounded going first.

  You know where this is leading. The media, as well as McCain's campaign, have made a big deal out of McCain refusing to come home when offered the chance by the North Vietnamese, and they have played it off as him being heroic in doing so. That crap is now laid to rest! Go read the rest Here!

Technorati Tags: John McCain,POW,2008 election,Phillip Butler

John McCain Reveals How To Turn 5 Years In Prison Into A Real Estate Fortune

  Everyone and their mother has been talking about John McCain and how he hasn't been able to tell reporters, or anyone else, how many homes he owns without asking his staff members what the correct answer is. So, in fairness to John?

DailyKos

HOW I TURNED 5 YEARS IN PRISON INTO A FORTUNE IN REAL ESTATE!!

by occams hatchet Thu Aug 21, 2008

 

 

 

 

Hi, I’m John McCain, and I’m here to show you how you, too, can become wealthy beyond your wildest recollection!

Many of you might be thinking, John, how can I, a normal, middle-class guy, turn my $4.9 million annual salary into a fortune in real estate?

It’s simple – and you won’t even need a private jet to do it (although frankly, I don’t see how else you could get around to all seven, er, eight – I mean, how many houses do I own now?)! Just follow these easy steps and before you know it you, too, will be walking around in $500 Italian shoes – or better yet, saving the leather soles of those very same shoes by getting a golf-cart ride from another self-made Republican millionaire.

So, how do you do it? Let me tell you:

First – see to it that your daddy and grampy become admirals. Then, make sure to spend your entire life – even after you’ve become A REAL ESTATE TYCOON - on the dole of the U.S. government, from your health care to your disability checks. And be sure to take advantage of a taxpayer-funded college education by graduating in the bottom one-half percent of your class.

Next – and this is the tricky part – you need to arrange to get shot down in the fifth jet you’ve trashed at taxpayer expense, and then taken into custody by an enemy regime. Stay there for a few years – five would be ideal. It might be a good idea to make, oh, say, a few propaganda films for your captors while you’re in there. Before you leave, be sure to get your I SPENT 5 YEARS IN PRISON card stamped. That card is your ticket to wealth and power beyond your wildest dreams - every POW who has spent 5 YEARS IN PRISON is qualified to own many houses and to be president of the United States. Never, ever forget that.

(Oh, and while we’re on the subject, I should mention that it would probably be prudent at about this point to do your best to bury your 636-page military record so it will never see the light of day.)

Okay – once you’re released from your five years in prison – I mean, 5 YEARS IN PRISON - the hard part’s over. Start reminding people about your 5 YEARS IN PRISON. Never let an opportunity to mention your 5 YEARS IN PRISON pass. You don’t have to remember anything else, just 5 YEARS IN PRISON. You might not realize it, but you are now well on your way to becoming A REAL ESTATE TYCOON.

At this point, you may come to realize that you might have made the mistake – like a lot of people have – of marrying someone who at one time you might have thought of as your "wife," whom you since have come to realize was really just the mother of some of your children.

So before you start to build your new fortune, you’ll need to spend a couple years shopping around for a newer, better looking, and – most important – much, much richer model. Beer heiresses work well for this. But don’t be tempted to take the easy way out and just go for the first hottie you see – take your time: kick the tires, take ‘em for a test ride, rev up the engine and see how she handles the curves.

If you're starting to see how this all comes together, congratulations! You’re almost there!

Next step: dump your wife. If you can get a marriage license for the new c**t before your divorce to the old bag is final, by all means do so.

Marry a rich heiress. (If no rich heiresses are available, your task will be much harder but not impossible. Start selling your stuff on eBay, skip a vacation and get a second job, and you shouldn’t have any problem.)

Now, run for Congress. Use your wife’s money. Be sure to mention that you spent 5 YEARS IN PRISON. Sweep to victory on your platform of 5 YEARS IN PRISON.

Start buying houses using your wife’s money. Don’t keep track of them – there’s no need for someone who spent 5 YEARS IN PRISON to know how many houses he owns.

Make friends with someone who owns a lot of real estate, or at least who holds the notes on a lot of real estate. Do some favors for him. If he plays his cards right, he, too, might be able to spend 5 YEARS IN PRISON – or maybe just 50 months. After that, forget you ever knew him.

Once you’ve acquired enough houses to lose track of, be sure to arrange to fly around to them on your new wife’s private jet. (Don’t let her fly it, though – she’s probably addicted to stolen painkillers.)

Who knows? Following my easy, step-by-step method, you, too, could become A REAL ESTATE TYCOON who has so many houses he can’t even keep track of them!

Or – you could just run for president! You’re entitled, right? I mean, you spent 5 YEARS IN PRISON, right?

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Cindy McCain,real estate,elitist

John McCain Doesn't Know How Many Houses He Owns. Bet You Know How Many You Own Mr. Average American

  Tell you something Mr. McCain. If you have to ask your staff how many homes you own, then you are not an average American! Of course, the Obama people, as are many others, are having a field day with this.

 

Then there is another ad from Brave New Films which is worth looking at.

But then there was another interview – this is yesterday, same day – where somebody asked John McCain, how many houses do you have?  And he said, I'm not sure. I'll have to check with my staff. [Audience laughs.]

True quote. I'm not sure. I'll have to check with my staff. So they asked his staff, and he said, at least four. At least four. Now, think about that.

And by the way, the answer is John McCain has seven homes. Source

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Barack Obama,Brave New Films,2008 election

New Barack Obama Ad For Targeted States

  Yes it is! Another Barack Obama ad talking about John McCain and his tax plan. You know the one which gives big oil an additional $4 billion in tax breaks on top of the breaks that they already receive.

  This particular ad targets the voters in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia and it hit the waves today. ( source )

  Just the facts ma'am, just the facts!

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,big oil,taxes

Bush Administration Says That John McCain Was Not Tortured

    This little article caught my eye while browsing around the Daily Kos site.

    The point of this article is that under the Bush laws regarding torture, John McCain was not tortured when he was in Vietnam.

The Bush Administration: McCain Was NOT Tortured (Per Andrew Sullivan)

by jpadgett Tue Aug 19, 2008

Andrew Sullivan reminds us today of something that is missing in all this talk of crosses in the dirt.

Dead on from Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish:

In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.

Cheney denies that McCain was tortured; as does Bush. So do John Yoo and David Addington and George Tenet. In the one indisputably authentic version of the story of a Vietnamese guard showing compassion, McCain talks of the agony of long-time standing. A quarter century later, Don Rumsfeld was putting his signature to memos lengthening the agony of "long-time standing" that victims of Bush's torture regime would have to endure. These torture techniques are, according to the president of the United States, merely "enhanced interrogation."

By all means, read the whole thing...  

Sullivan's coup de grace:

...in the Military Commissions Act, McCain acquiesced to the use of these techniques against terror suspects by the CIA. And so the tortured became the enabler of torture. Someone somewhere cried out in pain for the same reasons McCain once did. And McCain let it continue.

Spread Sullivan's argument far and wide, folks.  It's an ideal response to McSame's all-purpose POW stories.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,torture,George Bush,Military Commissions Act

Pravda Newspaper Comments On Bush's Rhetoric About Georgia

    I found this article from Pravda and thought it interesting even though things have somewhat calmed down over Russia defending Ossetia from Georgia.

    the article was written and posted on August 14 and the writer squarely takes President Bush to task for some of the things which he has done to other countries, our included.

  Pravda.ru

So you have the colossal audacity, Mr. Bush, to “warn” Russia to pull back? As the wanton, perverse war criminal under whose watch the world saw the crime known as “shock and awe” committed, I’d say you were well out of your mind to suggest that Russia should pull back.

What’s a little shock and awe among inferior people we want to rob and destroy, eh?

What do human beings need an infrastructure for?

Why do they need clean water? Why do they need electricity?

What’s a little torture?

What’s a little regime change? Don’t recall when that was a goal of yours?

What’s a little deviant, perverted sexual experimentation and humiliation?

What’s a few secret detention camps?

What’s wrong with destroying an environment for 4 billion years and generations after generations of people? After all, they’re just rag heads, aren’t they Mr. Bush?

Perhaps when Russia even begins to match your tremendous feats of glory can you speak about pulling back you fool of the worst kind.

You can also tell your number two man to shut up. Cheney said "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States."

So how do you plan to answer this erroneously termed “aggression”? He says this will “worsen” relations with the United States? Buddy, relations with the United States could hardly be any worse than they are now.

The United States shows no respect for Russia. The United States shows no respect for any other country weaker than itself, much less a rival as you perceive Russia to be. How about your NATO? Today the west, tomorrow the world, eh? America uber alles!

How about your missile shield breathing down the neck of the Russian nation? There to protect Europe from Iran? The most totally absurd thing that only a moron would believe.

How about your deliberate breaking of your agreements regarding Serbian Kosovo? UN Resolution 1244 which your country agreed to, is the ink dry…you deliberately went against it and recognized Kosovo in total disregard and in violation of that agreement.

And you expect your words to be heeded or even listened to? You are joking! It is said when Caligula went mad he heard laughing.

Do you hear people laughing at you Mr. Bush?

Listening to you, your Vice President, Condi Rice and US and western officials complain about "regime change," "invasion," "bloodshed" and "suffering civilians" (in the light of their crimes across the world) have become nothing but laughable at best and highly infuriating and enraging at worst.

You are an idiot!

We seem to recall that when your Israeli friends were absolutely devastating the people of Lebanon, wantonly killing civilians, destroying their country’s infrastructure and destroying their environment also….the flapping jaw of your representative, Condoleezza Rice and your entire administration were saying no ceasefire, no nothing, just keep on going, keep on committing acts of state terrorism on innocent people, keep on committing your war crimes, you have them covered.

Well, Mr. Bush, this is it. Moscow better get this one right: No limited engagement nonsense. Moscow has the moral and legal right to carry out full scale military operations within Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia to ensure the safety of its citizens, to ensure the protection of Abkhazians and Ossetians and to finally destroy NATO plans for the Caucasus region.

No sane, informed, honest, rational person can blame Russia for reacting to a genocide against their own citizens in Georgia. But then you are NONE of those things.

The problem is not what Russia is doing, but how the US is reacting to it. If you were sane, if you were informed, if you were honest, if you were rational, if you were even marginally fair, you should be happy to see Russian forces put an end to the killing of Russian citizens by the Georgian military. But no, your government is advised by lunatics who belong in psychiatric wards instead of the Pentagon and White House. And you, Mr. Bush, belong in an international criminal court to be judged for your crimes against peace and your crimes against humanity.

Lisa KARPOVA

  This is what our newspapers should be saying to Bush and the rest of the warmongers.  Not that I totally support the Russians, mind you, but Bush has no moral authority to be telling anyone else how to conduct their business. The other country is now going by the example which the Bush Crime Syndicate has set.

Technorati Tags: Russia,George Bush,Georgia

One Man Who Disagree's With The John McCain " war hero " Status

  Back in 2005, Col. David H. Hackworth  wrote a piece about all of the claims made by the McCain handlers concerning McCains " hero " status and his medals.

  Col. Hackworth has since died, but I felt that maybe some of you would actually like to read what many veterans have thought of John McCain and his " hero " image.

             Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain

John McCain is being hailed by the press as a "genuine war hero." But is he a war hero in the conventional sense like Audie Murphy and John Glenn?

Or is his "war hero" status the creation of a very slick publicity campaign that plays on flag, duty, honor and country?

For sure, McCain has the fruitsalad a Silver Star, a Legion of Merit for Valor, a Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars , two Commendation medals plus two Purple Hearts and a dozen service gongs.

On a purely medal count basis, he outweighs Murphy and Glenn, who both for years repeatedly performed extraordinary deeds on the ground or in the air against an armed enemy.

McCain's valor awards are based on what happened in 1967, when during his 23d mission over Vietnam, he was shot down, seriously injured, captured and then spent 5 1/2 brutal years as a POW.

In an attempt to find out exactly what the man did to earn these many hero awards, I asked his Senate office three times to provide copies of the narratives for each medal. I'm still waiting.

I next went to the Pentagon. Within a week, I received a recap of his medals and many of the narratives that give the details of what he did.

None of the awards, less the DFC, were for heroism over the battlefield where he spent no more than 20 hours. Two Naval officers described the awards as "boilerplate" and "part of an SOP medal package given to repatriated (Vietnamera) POWs."

McCain's Silver Star narrative for the period 27 October 1967 the day after he was shot down to 8 December 1968 reads: "His captors… subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly towards the eventual abandonment…" of such harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese.

Yet in McCain's own words just four days after being captured, he admits he violated the U.S. Code of Conduct by telling his captors "O.K, I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital."

A Vietnam vet detractor says, "He received the nation's third highest award, the Silver Star, for treason. He provided aid and comfort to the enemy!"

The rest of his valor awards issued automatically every year while he was a POW read much like the Silver Star. More boilerplate often repeating the exact same words. An example: "By his heroic endeavors, exceptional skill, and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces."

Yet McCain's conduct while a POW negates these glowing comments. The facts are that he signed a confession and declared himself a "black criminal who performed deeds of an air pirate." This statement and other interviews he gave to the Communist press press were used as propaganda to fan the flames of the antiwar movement.

Accounts by McCain and other writers tell of the horror he endured: relentlessly beatings, torture, broken limbs. All inflicted during savage interrogations. Yet no other POW was a witness to these accounts.
A former POW says "No man witnessed another man during interrogations… We relied on each other to tell the truth when a man was returned to his cell."

The U.S. Navy says two eyewitnesses are required for any award of heroism. But for the valor awards McCain received, there are no eyewitnesses, less himself and his captors. And they're not talking.

Our POWs in Vietnam were treated appallingly. The Viets would either break a POW or kill him. POWs provided info beyond name, rank and serial number or they didn't come back.

Based on these stalwart men's horrific experiences, the Code of Conduct has been changed. A POW says, "Now the training is to give them something… don't risk permanent damage to health, mind or body."
McCain refused an early release. An act of valor? Three former POWs told me he was ordered to turn it down by his U.S. POW commander and he "just followed orders."

McCain certainly doesn't appear to be a war hero by conventional standards, but rather a tough survivor whose handlers are overplaying the war hero card.

David H. Hackworth died in June 2005, he was a much-decorated and highly unconventional former career Army officer who became a combat legend in Vietnam. Col. Hackworth received 78 combat awards — including a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and eight Purple Hearts — during his 25-year military career which spanned the Korean and Vietnam wars..

    I'll have more of these later on in the coming days.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Vietnam war,David Hackworth,2008 election