McCain's Career In Politics Ends On A Bitter-Sweet Note
If John McCain on the campaign trail had only waxed this eloquent and been as noble as he was in his concession speech late last night, he might have won the Presidency. He hit all the right notes. It was a beautiful piece of rhetoric. The old John McCain, whom many of us used to admire, appeared briefly, and then was drowned out by the yahoos "energized" by the new John McCain and sicko Sarah Palin, who helped defeat him.
I couldn't understand the screams of the Republican rabble, but they were coarse and animalistic, violent and uncouth-sounding. As a background, and sometime foreground for McCain's final aria, it was genuinely painful. He brought it upon himself; it was ironic: In the end, the haters couldn't let McCain be McCain. They had to continue to superimpose their fascist vision on him, as he had been encouraging them to do all throughout his campaign. He bears full responsibility for their behavior.
Last night, McCain and Obama both called for healing and cooperation, putting country first in reality, not just in rhetoric. Based on the election results, most people are ready to do that. A new era may have dawned in many ways, including race relations. But the howling horde surrounding McCain at the end will not ever put country first. Sarah Palin and even worse elements in the extreme right wing of what is left of the Republican Party will head off for the backwoods, with their Bibles and their guns, and start evil-doing straightaway. We can only hope they don't graduate to actual armed conflict. But they are that crazy. Mark my words: You will be hearing from them, and you won't like it.
McCain tried to put that genie back in the bottle. But it wouldn't go. Now he only has himself to blame if a new strain of fanaticism has been developed and set in motion by his campaign. Rather than retire to his desert Mount Vernon, McCain should dedicate himself to reigning these nut-jobs in, before they do serious damage. He owes it to the nation, if he really wants to put "Country First." . .
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. WHAT'S MILITARY ABOUT IT? SOUNDS GODDAMNED UNMILITARY TO ME
IS THE DOD INSTITUTIONALIZING RAPE, MOLESTATION, AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT AS "COLLATERAL DAMAGE"?
Conduct Unf*cking-Becoming Is Becoming A Pretty F*cking Big Statistic
Over 15% of all women serving in the US armed forces in the Middle East have been subject to military sexual trauma, which, presumably, means sex-crimes perpetrated by fellow servicemen and/ or women. More than one seventh, or a company out of every battalion, have been victimised because of their gender.
THIS SUCKS!!! THIS IS UNAC-F*CKING-CEPTABLE PEOPLE!!! YOU'D BETTER JUST STAND THE F*CK BY!!!
Sorry, troopers & marines, that's my impression of a righteous, righteously pissed-off Gunny/ Master Sergeant/ or CO or XO, reaming out the formation. If there is any so righteous. There had f*cking well better be. Because our goddam sisters in arms are our goddam BROTHERS-IN-ARMS YOU F*CKING ASSHOLES!!!
' According to preliminary research results from the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 15 percent of recently returned female veterans utilizing the VA health care system report experiencing sexual trauma during military service. The cross-sectional study, presented at the American Public Health Association’s 136th Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Diego, examined health care screening data of over 100,000 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) who utilized medical care at any Veterans Health Administration facility during a six-year period. Along with the more than one in seven women, 0.7 percent of males also reported having experienced military sexual trauma (MST). Both males and females reporting MST were more likely to be diagnosed with a mental health condition than patients who did not report MST. '
' "There is concern about the number of sexual assaults, and we're working very hard to prevent them," says Kaye Whitley, who heads an office created by the Pentagon in 2005 to prevent and respond to the incidents. All service branches are expanding their prevention programs, and her office will launch a prevention effort next year focused on educating 18- to 24-year-old men, she says. A General Accounting Office report in July said training to prevent military sexual assaults isn't consistently effective, some commanders don't support the programs and more than half of victims don't report the incidents. Many women are afraid to report the assaults, says Anita Sanchez of the Miles Foundation, a non-profit that provides services to victims of military-related trauma. Fewer than a third of women who come to Miles for help after sexual assaults say they've told the military, she says. "A typical scenario is it's either a supervisor or someone at her level, in the same military unit. If you come forward, you're tattle-telling on a comrade. Women have told me about the sneers, the sarcastic comments. They can find themselves ostracized," says Sanchez, and when other women see this, the lesson isn't lost on them. '
' Rep. Lane Evans (D-IL), the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, today decried the Bush Administration for attempting to hide a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) study and report on military sexual trauma among National Guard and Reserve forces. Despite the Bush Administration’s refusal to release it, Evans obtained the long overdue report that was originally due by March 2001. Evans has repeatedly requested the report and had been told it is under review at the Office of Management and Budget. The VA report indicates that across National Guard and Reserve components the estimated prevalence of any military sexual trauma (MST) among females is 60% and among males is 27%. MST includes sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape. The report also states the estimated prevalence for rape among females is 11% and among males is 1.2%. '
' Roughly one in seven of America's active duty military soldiers is a woman, but a NOW investigation found that sexual assault and rape is widespread. One study of National Guard and Reserve forces found that almost one in four women had been assaulted or raped. Last year alone, almost 3,000 soldiers reported sexual assault and rape by other soldiers. In one of the only national television broadcasts of the issue, NOW features women who speak out for the first time about what happened. One woman recounts her ordeal of rape by her superior officer. Many more don't report the incidents for fear of how it will affect their careers. The shocking phenomenon has a label: military sexual trauma, or MST. NOW meets women courageously battling to overcome their MST, bringing light to an issue that's putting the Army in shame. '
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THEY MAY BE INSECTS, THEY MAY BE COMPLETELY BUGGED-OUT, BUT THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS?
Closet-Nazi McBushco Makes Sure Their Followers Have Guns; And It Ain't For Hunting Moose
In case the grand design of the radical reactionary racist Republicans was not apparent before, take another look. After months of overt race-baiting and coded Jew-baiting (in case you were wondering why they're always on about "Hollywood," Warshenden," "New York City," "San Francisco," and all those other black, gay, Jewish, immigrant "unAmerican" cities) the 'Pukes have their answer: A call to arms from their "base," angry white males. And not just a shout-out; a full-on terrorist conspiracy.
This is not some fantasy of the dim past, irrelevant and immaterial today. This is actual heat-packing here-and-now real live punks gunning for the next President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, who happens to be half black. By historical American standards which measured race by the thirty-seconds Obama is totally unforgiveably African even today to a certain sort of sicko.
While most Americans, honest to Gawd, World, no longer view life through such racist goggles, the worst among us still do. If you wondered why McSame was so demonstrative in his rudeness, disrespect and outright visible contempt of Obama, this is why. McBush's last stand is based on a raw, racist appeal to the last of the pure whites who populate Republican strongholds from the Aryan Nation to the Trilateral Commission, from Bogaloosa to the boardrooms of corporate America.
They see themselves as an endangered species, slowly being overwhelmed by "mud people" everywhere. They are determined to fight the full final integration of the whole human race by any means necessary. That's why they cling to their guns. And now they're starting to use them for this, their real purpose.
With a compliant, perhaps co-conspiratorial White House, the nuts on the Right have a clear field. This is not the first attempted assassination of Barack Obama, not the first assault on innocents in schools and churches, nor will it be the last. They have one week to stop the change that is coming. This change will forever sweep away their sick way of life, and they know it. They have the means, the motive and the opportunity to cause complete chaos and destruction of the emerging American nation, so long suppressed. The only question that remains is who will stop them?
' Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said Monday. In all, the two men whom officials described as neo-Nazi skinheads planned to kill 88 people — 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community. The spree, which initially targeted an unidentified predominantly African-American school, was to end with the two men driving toward Obama, "shooting at him from the windows," the documents show. The two were charged by federal authorities Monday with possessing an unregistered firearm, conspiring to steal firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer, and threatening a candidate for president. Cowart and Schlesselman were being held without bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from the men when they were arrested. Authorities alleged the two men were preparing to break into a gun shop to steal more. '
' Barack Obama is refusing to alter his schedule of high-profile appearances despite increasing fears about his safety. Security has been stepped up around the Democratic presidential candidate after federal agents foiled a plot by two racists to kill him. Tomorrow he will appear alongside Bill Clinton in Florida where a crowd of more than 100,000 is expected. Florida is known to be home to a large number of white supremacists with the group Stormfront based in the Palm Beach area. As details of the latest plot emerged it was revealed that secret service agents guarding the senator were unaware of it. According to CBS TV, the Obama campaign only found out about it when his plane landed in Pittsburgh yesterday afternoon. The agency is supposed to share information with the secret service - but the 12 agents assigned to Mr Obama had not been told about the threat. The plot was similar to one uncovered during the Democratic Party convention in Denver in August. Then, three white supremacists-were arrested after being found with a sniper rifle and being high on drugs. Later, FBI agents and the Secret Service decided not to charge them after coming to the conclusion they did not pose a real threat. '
' Personal internet pages and web postings provide a disturbing glimpse into the racist minds of the two self-described 'skinheads' who were allegedly plotting to carry out a mass killing spree which included beheading African-Americans and assassinating presidential candidate Barack Obama. While the alleged plot may never have been carried out, both men have their own Myspace pages where they make a series of racist assertions and proudly tote their guns. On his MySpace page, Schlesselman lists his occupation as “being racist” and writes “I’m white. I’m proud. I get angry. I like guns. I like weapons. I need money wiggers…be afraid.” ‘Wiggers’ is a derogatory slang term used to describe a white person who emulates stereotypical mannerisms of African-Americans. He also posted a homemade video on MySpace in which he appears to be mocking 'wiggers' and African-Americans. On Cowart’s MySpace page, there are a series of photos showing guns displayed in different positions titled “my guns.” In one photo, Cowart is holding a large rifle while wearing a sleeveless shirt. A swastika tattoo, typically associated with white supremacists, can be seen on his right arm. In another picture, he displays what appears to be an iron-cross symbol, often associated with racist skinheads, tattooed on his left chest. A message on his MySpace pages says: "Better to die quick fighting on your feet then to live forever begging on your knees." '
' To be clear: No one technically "palled around" with these neo-Nazis. Sarah Palin did not go moose hunting with Cowart and Schlesselman, nor her allies in the press, from Sean Hannity to Mark Stricherz, go bar hopping with the duo. There was no "palling around" because there was no casual relationship. There was something actually far worse: a causal relationship. For, surely, one of the mitigating factors Cowart's and Sclesselman's attorneys will point to is the fact that for several weeks a Governor of one of the fifty states, who had secured her party's nomination for the vice-presidency of the nation, and a variety of serious media outlets had broadcast as newsworthy and significant the "fact" that Barack Obama "palled around" with terrorists. We all know that terrorists are enemies of the United States so someone who "pals around" with them must at the very least be aiding and abetting the terrorists. Isn't that what Palin meant to suggest? Young men and women wearing the uniform of the United States are engaged currently in two wars fighting terrorists who threaten our nation. Why should we stand idly by while one of the terrorists' allies stealthily wins political support when our brothers and sisters are fighting against the same terrorists abroad? You can hear the objection: We never told anyone to kill! We never told anyone to purchase a short-barreled shotgun, or two handguns, or a rifle and ammunition (all of which were found in Cowart's and Schlesselman's possession)! True enough. But, it requires a willful ignorance not to know that questioning the patriotism of the first black candidate for president might capture the attention of racist haters, that suggesting a casual connection between Obama and terrorism was a variety of hate-mongering, and that, long after it had been demonstrated that there was no meaningful relationship between Obama and Ayers, continuing to raise the issue amounted to shouting "fire" in a crowded arena. You can drive one hour from our nation's capital (to the north or south, I might add) and find KKK and other racist memorabilia. The arena of racism is a crowded one and shouting "fire" is literally incendiary. '
' TWO neo-Nazi skinheads planned to assassinate Barack Obama to cap a murderous rampage against African-Americans, court files have revealed. Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman 18, are in jail after being charged with firearms offences and threatening a presidential candidate. They planned to kill 102 African-Americans before donning white tuxedos and top hats and driving a car "as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows". "Both individuals further stated they knew they would, and were willing to, die during this attempt," the court papers say. Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested in Tennessee last week after being seen drawing a swastika and racial slurs on a car. The pair allegedly planned to kill Senator Obama as a "final act of violence" after embarking on a national "killing spree". They also wanted to attack an unnamed predominantly African-American school. They planned to kill 88 people and decapitate 14 African-Americans. The numbers apparently have special significance for white supremacists. '
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How can he "guarantee" victory, being so far behind? Exactly what does he base that "guarantee on? Why do these idiot corporate media lapdog reporters never ask the OBVIOUS questions in response to sh*t like this??? Oh, right, they wanna hang on to their cushy part-time jobs and their seven-figure salaries. I get it. "Country Last," eh boys?
' “I guarantee you that two weeks from now, you will see this has been a very close race, and I believe that I'm going to win it,” McCain told interim "Meet" moderator Tom Brokaw. “We're going to do well in this campaign, my friend. We're going to win it, and it's going to be tight, and we're going to be up late.” '
He's being very specific, like he knows something we don't know, in advance, something he couldn't know unless the fix was already in. Did he spill the beans today, or are we being prepped for another 2000/ 2004 election result?
The pollsters are suddenly providing back-story in advance, too:
' Reuters reported that Obama's lead has dropped over the last three days after hitting a high of 12 points on Thursday. Pollster John Zogby said: "Things are trending back for McCain. His numbers are rising and Obama's are dropping on a daily basis. There seems to be a direct correlation between this and McCain talking about the economy." '
McBush was talking about the economy? When was that? Was that the day the markets dropped record points? It's not exactly his strong suit. And who was listening? "Likely voters"? Like, straight white Christian evangelical Republican conservative retired miltary males over eighty with really bad hemorrhoids?
Better get ready for another October Surprise, or major election-theft, backed up by the Supremes. Time to start organizing a general strike? . .
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. MANAHAWKIN, NJ'S FINEST, 20-YEAR OLD GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY
KAREEM KHAN, AMERICAN MUSLIM, DIED FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM IN IRAQ
This Is Just One Of The Millions Of Muslims And Arab-Americans Dishonored, Disrespected And Discriminated Against By The Republican Hate-Machine Today
John Sidney McCain III and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have now entered the home stretch of a losing race for President and Vice President of the United States of America. Though their tactics are hurting them in the polls, they will desperately cling to their hateful base by attacking anyone and anything smaller, weaker, different.
This includes those human beings among our friends and neighbors, schoolmates and co-workers, families and comrades in arms who worship the same God we do, in a different language. Allah, as they call Him, is God, or Jehovah, as the Jews call him. They are one and the same, just different names for the one true God we all believe in, we three billion "People of the Book." Yes, we all three read and revere the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. And we all try to follow its' tenets and strictures.
Our common beliefs have led us to stand up for what we believe is right, to fight when required, and to die for our causes. Kareem Khan died for our cause. He died believing in the ideals and freedoms intrinsic to the United States. Chief among them is the freedom of conscience. Unlike his ancestral home, America is dedicated to protecting the religious rights of all citizens of all creeds. At least, most of us are dedicated to that.
Today our dedication to that particular freedom is being sorely tested. Our "Christian" nation, founded by Deists, is under attack from within by forces that would have us demonize and deny full rights to American citizens based solely on their religion. The mere suggestion that a person is a Muslim can make him a target for hatred and violence in this country today. The oft-repeated lie that Presidential candidate Barack Obama is a Muslim is enough to send some people into paroxyms of hatred, fear and anger.
This is what the low-life racist, sectarian Republicans are counting on, in their last desperate attempt to claw their way back into power. That choice of tactics alone should forever disqualify them. It dishonors our fallen warriors, like Kareem Khan, and all those of other faiths who died believing that their sacrifice would lead to freedom for Muslims in Iraq and all over the Middle East. Every life we lose over there is lost for Iraqi Freedom, or so we are told. We must not sacrifice our own freedom in the process. Today, in this crisis, in this election, we are all Muslim, in honor of Kareem Khan. God bless Muslim America.
And shame on McCain and Palin for attacking our troops.
' On “Meet the Press” today, Colin L. Powell concluded his endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama by referring to the death of a Muslim soldier, Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan of Manahawkin, N.J., who was killed in Iraq on Aug. 6, 2007, and whose remains were buried in Arlington. He and three other soldiers, including a corporal from Washington Heights, were killed in Baquba after a bomb detonated while they were checking abandoned houses for explosives. They served in the Stryker Brigade combat team of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, based in Ft. Lewis, Washington. '
' The family used to send two large bags of Starbursts in his care packages, because Kareem would pick out all the orange ones and leave the rest for his Army buddies. He was also a big fan of Disneyworld, as was the entire family. The family would take at least one trip to Disneyworld every year, and the living room and dining room of the family's split-level home is filled with souvenirs from those trips, like a wall hanging of Cinderella, figurines of Mickey Mouse and Disney-themed snow globes. Kareem was so crazy about Disneyworld that when he had a two-day leave following his graduation from Fort Benning, Ga., he had a backpack full of clothes stashed in the bush, so the family could immediately drive to Florida. '
' Nazar stared at nothing in the middle of the room late Wednesday night. The news was five hours old. "He always wanted to lead his people," Nazar said. "He wanted to sacrifice for his country." His country was the United States, no matter how many drill sergeants pronounced his Arabic name and asked: "Are you sure you're in the right army?" No matter how many times commanding officers wanted to chat about loyalties. "We're a Muslim family, OK?" his sister, Tasneem, said. She wants people to know her brother was an American patriot and a Muslim, and those two things don't conflict. It burns her to even feel compelled to say this. But she says news media have skewed the image of Muslims since Sept. 11, 2001. "I think he's proven himself," she said. "He has proven he is not the type of Muslim the media says we are." Mohsin graduated from Newburgh Free Academy. He planned to join the Army right then, but Nazar persuaded him to go to college first. He had finished about two years of schooling by the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. He enlisted four days later. Mohsin was part of the invasion of Iraq as an Army reservist. When he came home in 2003, he finished his bachelor's and earned a master's in computer science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Then he re-enlisted for active duty. Tasneem says her brother knew some would be suspicious of his religion and Pakistani heritage, but he was determined to serve anyway. He planned to make a career in the Army. He spoke Urdu and was rising fast through the ranks, working as an interpreter in Afghanistan. He told Tasneem: "The only way I'm going to leave the Army is if I retire or if they make me, which I won't let them." '
' Mohsin Naqvi, a Muslim who joined the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and then died in an Afghanistan roadside bombing last week, was mourned by more than 100 people at a Central Avenue mosque today. Male mourners left the prayer room at the al-Fatima Islamic Center about 20 minutes before the start of the 1 p.m. ceremony so that the female members of the mosque could pay respects to Naqvi, who was 26 years old. The men gathered in the hall and bowed their heads in silence as wailing could be heard through the closed doors of the prayer room. Some of the women chanted Naqvi's first name. Naqvi joined the Army shortly after the terror attacks and hoped to bridge the divide between America and the Muslim world, friends and relatives say "Our message is we have chosen this country. We are going to live here. We are going to die here. We are going to contribute in every respect," said Haider Khwaja, the mosque's vice president. "He has sacrificed his life for the country." '
' He was born in the United Arab Emirates, and moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, at age 2. He graduated from Kennedy High School in 1996 and the University of Virginia in 2000. He lived in Bristow, Virginia, and was an ordnance officer with the Germany-based 201st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division. He died in a suicide car bombing at the main gates of his base. His unit was charged with the day-to-day security and maintenance of the camp. When an orange-colored taxi drove toward them, he ordered his soldiers to "hit the dirt." He walked toward the car, motioning for it to stop. A makeshift bomb inside it exploded, killing him and two Iraqi civilians in addition to the two suicide bombers. Ten soldiers and six Iraqi citizens were also wounded. During his three months in Iraq, he helped put Iraqi civilians to work for $5 an hour patrolling the streets of Baquba under the U.S. Army. The program, dubbed the United States-Iraq Sponsorship Program, was intended to help combat high unemployment and provide the local population with security and peace. He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. '
' The family says Khan was originally scheduled to be home by now, but his stay in Iraq was extended by the military's stop loss program. He last spoke with his mother on May 10, Mother's Day. "I told him, 'Be safe, please be safe for me.' He said, 'Mother, I am safe. I just have a responsibility for my soldiers,'" said Gazala Khan, Humayun's mother. Born in the United Arab Emirates, Khan grew up in Silver Spring, Md., and graduated from Kennedy High School in 1996. His family says he joined the ROTC to pay for law school. His youngest brother describes Khan as a gregarious man who loved basketball. Being both American and Muslim, his family says Humayun was well liked in Iraq, where he was seen as a bridge between two cultures at war. '
' Jamal Baadani is a gunnery sergeant currently stationed at Quantico Marine Corp Base in Washington DC. He served in Yemen for Operation Enduring Freedom, and won three awards for his services. He is also the founder of Apaam, the Association of Patriotic Arab-Americans in the Military - prompted by the backlash of racism he and his family were subjected to after the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington in 2001. "I was out with a couple of my marines, and a woman came up to say 'I want to thank you for serving our country, especially at this time.' Then she asked me where I was from. When I said, 'Egypt', she had this look on her face and she said, 'you're a terrorist.' And that was in a Marine Corp uniform." '
' We wanted to share with you the heroic life story of Michael A. Monsoor, Petty Officer, US Navy Seal. Michael lost his life in 2006 as part of combat operations. His heroic action earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor Posthumously. SEAL Team Three was sent to Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 and assigned to train and mentor Iraqi army troops. As a communicator and machine-gunner on patrols, Monsoor carried 100 pounds of gear in temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees. He took a lead position to protect the platoon from frontal assault. The team was involved in frequent engagements with insurgent fighters. Over the first five months of the deployment, the team reportedly killed 84 insurgents.[2] During an engagement on May 9, 2006, Monsoor ran into a street while under continuous insurgent gunfire to rescue an injured comrade. Monsoor was awarded the Silver Star for this action.[2][4] He was also awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq.[5] Death in action: On September 29, 2006, the platoon engaged four insurgents in a firefight, killing one and injuring another. Anticipating further attacks, Monsoor and three SEAL snipers and three Iraqi soldiers took up a rooftop position. Civilians aiding the insurgents blocked off the streets, and a nearby mosque broadcast a message for people to fight against the Americans and the Iraqi soldiers. Monsoor was protecting his SEAL comrades, two of whom were 15 feet away. His position made him the only SEAL on the rooftop with quick access to an escape route.[2][6] A grenade was thrown onto the rooftop by an insurgent in the street below. The grenade hit Monsoor in the chest and fell onto the floor. Immediately, Monsoor fell onto and covered the grenade with his body, saving the lives of his three comrades. Monsoor was critically wounded and, although evacuated immediately, died 30 minutes later. Two SEALs next to him were injured by the blast but lived '
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WHEN HE SAID "RULE OF LAW," HE DIDN'T MEAN RULE HIM
Now The Rules May Apply To All, Including The Bush Crime Family
Consigliere Cheney better get a few hits out before he leaves office. It seems the Tattaglia's, er, Iraqi's are gunning for him. This breaks all the rules established by the Five Families, er, Bush Administration and the Chalabi Mob, er, government. Bush and Company were to have complete immunity from all prosecutions and lawsuits for all the many, many, many crimes and torts they committed. The puppet government was supposed to maintain their guarantee of that. Now, all of a sudden, they act like they think they are an independent sovereign nation, possibly saddled with an unwelcome and overlong occupation that has had many ill effects. Next, they'll be wanting their country back, and their oil, those mooks! Vito, Gianni, Petraeus, take 'em out!
' Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has criticized the draft of a pact that would allow U.S. troops to stay in the country for three years, a senior member of Maliki's ruling Shi'ite alliance said Tuesday. The remarks are the latest sign the draft, agreed last week after months of painstaking talks between Washington and Baghdad, may not survive Iraq's political process intact. "The prime minister said: what (the Americans) have given with the right hand they have taken away with the left hand," said Humam Hamoudi, a senior parliamentarian from the Shi'ite alliance which includes Maliki's Dawa Party. "For example, they said the U.S. forces will withdraw from towns by June 2009 if the security situation permits that. But who will decide that?" Hamoudi told a news conference. "They put terms and conditions into these articles. Those terms will be subjected to veto. This means it is as if they gave nothing. We will try to lift those conditions." '
' DR. KULL: Thank you for inviting me to speak. Today I will be addressing the question of how the Iraqi people view the presence of US troops in Iraq and, more importantly, what they want to see happen in the future. As I will demonstrate, the Iraqi people are showing signs of impatience with the pace of US withdrawal. Now one may ask why this matters. Obviously the Iraqi people will not be negotiating the agreements about US forces in Iraq. As long as the government wants US troops there, one may believe that it does not matter what the Iraqi public thinks. However, it does appear that the Iraqi government is paying attention to the Iraqi public. As you probably know, 144 of the 275 members of Parliament signed a letter calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops, citing as a key reason the attitudes of the Iraqi people. This call for a timetable was then reiterated in the June 3rd letter presented to the US Congress from representatives of the Iraqi Parliament. Just in the last few days Prime Minister Maliki has been increasingly aligning himself with this public pressure. This may well be influenced by the prospect of upcoming elections. Thus, if the US government wishes to play a constructive role in the future of Iraq it behooves us to understand better the dynamics of public opinion and thus the forces of the political universe within which Iraqi leaders are operating. Furthermore, Iraqis' attitudes about US forces are likely to affect their readiness to cooperate with coalition efforts to fight the insurgency, or even their readiness to support the insurgency. There is evidence that many Iraqis do support attacks on US troops and that this attitude is related to perceptions of US long-term intentions in Iraq. Thus dealing with these perceptions is critical to the success of the mission. '
' It would not have surprised Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, that tens of thousands of supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the populist Shi'ite cleric and militia leader, took to the streets on Saturday to protest a provisional security accord between Iraq and the U.S. Al-Sadr, after all, is an anti-American firebrand, and the Status of Forces agreement under negotiation between Washington and Baghdad would legitimize the continued presence in Iraq of U.S. troops, who have been deployed against al-Sadr's militia. And in March, al-Maliki had ordered Iraqi government forces to drive al-Sadr's Mahdi Army out of Basra. But if Sadr could be expected to have a beef with the proposed agreement, what should be more troubling to al-Maliki is that members of his own coalition are washing their hands of the deal. Until Sunday, the American and Iraqi governments had been inching toward a deal that would create a legal basis for the U.S. military to remain in Iraq once its U.N. mandate expires on Dec. 31. The draft version of the agreement — leaked earlier this month by the American side — also lays out a time line for U.S. withdrawal: American forces would leave Iraqi cities and towns by the end of June 2009 and be stationed on large bases until they're withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011. Washington made further concessions as well, allowing American soldiers to be subject to Iraqi legal jurisdiction for crimes committed while off duty and off base. But that wasn't enough to satisfy members of al-Maliki's United Iraq Alliance coalition, who have asked that negotiations be reopened. The problem may be less any one particular provision than it is the agreement itself. Despite the security gains achieved over the past year, most Iraqis want the foreign soldiers to leave — and with provincial elections scheduled for January of 2009, Iraqi politicians don't want their fingerprints on the document. Tellingly, the only politicians at Saturday's meeting of Iraq's security council who did voice full support for the proposed agreement were from the placid Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq — where, unlike in the rest of the country, the U.S. army is much loved but little seen. '
' Not too long ago, private security contractors in Iraq had a get-out-of-jail-free card; they could run around the country, without a chance in the world that they could be prosecuted for anything they did. A draft of the U.S.-Iraq security deal, now making the rounds in Washington and Baghdad, could change all that. Guns-for-hire in Iraq could suddenly find themselves facing time in an Iraqi prison, if they broke the local laws. The agreement has not been finalized, but it seems to point the way to an eventual drawdown of U.S. combat forces -- perhaps as early as 2012. One of the major sticking points for the status of forces agreement (SOFA) has been the legal status of U.S. troops -- and the contractors they bring in tow. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he would reserve judgment on the deal until he could more closely review the legal safeguards for service members. "It's critical that our dedicated men and women in uniform serving in Iraq have full legal protections and are not subject to criminal prosecution in an Iraqi judicial system that does not meet due process standards," he said. '
' The return of international oil companies to Iraq continues to instigate an old debate in this country. Politicians had objected to the presence of foreign firms and the rights they demand through the numerous accusations they had directed at previous governments on this matter. With time, the issue became worse and more complicated, subjecting the country's entire oil policy to accusations which have obstructed the development of this sector in comparison to what neighboring nations have accomplished. Although the issue is still limited to general principles, new developments can be cited, including the role of oil in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the possibility of adopting an independent oil policy that takes into consideration the interests of Iraq while it remains under occupation, and the issue of transparency during negotiations at a time when corruption prevails on the national level. It was remarkable that the first contract for the development of an Iraqi field since 2003 was signed with a Chinese company followed by another signed with a European party. Ultimately, American contracts with American companies are likely to follow soon, especially when the offers are made for huge fields. It is possible that the ministry of oil has not granted any contracts to American firms by successfully resisting pressures, but the truth is that the country has been under occupation since 2003. Regardless of the occupation, the fact remains that American firms are the largest and the most prominent in the global oil industry such that they are impossible to ignore. Hence, they will eventually play a role in Iraq's oil industry since Iraq has decided to open up to international firms. Once again, what matters here is the nature and conditions of contracts. '
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DESPERATE RACIST DEMAGOGUE WILL TRY ANYTHING TONIGHT
Here's A Preview, And Some Questions
1. SENATOR, MCCAIN, HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT THIS? mccain: "oh please, please, please'
2. WHY SHOULD AMERICANS VOTE FOR YOU?
mccain: "i... i... i... just need it so BAD..."
3. WHAT WILL YOU DO FIRST, IF ELECTED?
mccain: "anything, my god i'll do ANYTHING, just tell me what you WANT???!!! WHAT THE F*CK DO YOU WANT YOU F*CKING C*NTS???!!!"
4. WHY SHOULD THE VOTERS TRUST YOU, GIVEN THE WAY YOU'VE RUN YOUR CAMPAIGN
mccain: "my friends, i was a p.o.w. i was was a p.o.w., my friends. a p.o.w. . . . my friends."
5. BUT YOUR CAMPAIGN IS IN A CONTINUAL STATE OF DISARRAY: NOBODY SEEMS TO BE IN CHARGE, FROM WEEK TO WEEK, NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT.
mccain: "i know what to do. if you'll just give me another chance. i know what to do."
6. THE POINT IS, IF YOU CAN'T EVEN MANAGE A CAMPAIGN, HOW WILL YOU RUN A GOVERNMENT, A COUNTRY, A PLANET?
mccain: "this planet? are we talking about this planet? is that what this is about?"
7. SENATOR, YOU SEEM LOST, DISORIENTED AT TIMES. IN ALL HONESTY, ARE YOU YOURSELF SURE YOU'RE NOT TOO OLD FOR SUCH A CRITICAL, STRESSFUL JOB? CAN YOU ASSURE US THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY HANDLE THE JOB?
mccain: "is that what you want? i can do that. sure. i'll say that. yes, yes, i can handle it. now can i have the job?"
8. SENATOR, MANY WOULD SAY THAT YOU'VE SHOWN VERY POOR JUDGEMENT IN THIS CAMPAIGN. GIVEN YOUR AGE AND HEALTH RECORD, WAS AN UNTESTED UNKNOWN THE VERY BEST CHOICE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT?
mccain: "who? sarah? gosh we love sarah. so pretty. my precious. yessss my preciousssss.'
9. THERE HAVE EVEN BEEN ALLEGATIONS OF A LACK OF CHARACTER BEING SHOWN BY YOU IN SOME OF YOUR ACTIONS IN THIS CAMPAIGN. HOW DO EXPLAIN THE VIOLENT, RACIST TURN YOUR CAMPAIGN HAS TAKEN?
mccain: "i am from missippi. i don't much like the coloreds. my family owned slaves. we were in the klan. i 'd like to kill that one. should i admit all this? no. i'll just say such allegations are unfair. such allegations are unfair. there i've said it. now i'll smirk. f*ck you. f*ck the media. heh-heh."
10. MR. MCCAIN, DID YOU REALIZE YOU WERE SPEAKING OUT LOUD JUST THEN?
mccain: "i'll try to speak more softly, then, tom, uh, sarah, i mean, dick. your name is dick, bob?" . .
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Gawd Bless The Global Military-Industrial Complex! They're Everywhere, On Every Side!! Except The Citizens' Side!!!
The Crimean War, you may recall, was a complicated affair involving various "Great Powers" of the time in confrontations which ranged from the Arctic to the Middle East, by diplomatic, economic, and the (then) new modern military means, in the 1850's.
The self-installed French Emperor, Napoleon III, the nephew of the little guy ("The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."), took it into his Imperial Napoleonic head to rearrange things in the Holy Land. He was a sort of Gallic Dubya. Or maybe Dubya is an American Napoleon?
Most of the Middle East was then under Ottoman Turkish control, including Palestine, or, as many refer to it today, Israel. By treaty, the Turks had placed the Russian Empire in charge of all Eastern Orthodox Christians within the Ottoman Empire (whose influence had stretched from Spain to Austria the long southern way, and from Finland to Somalia, Morocco to Mongolia, at one time or another). With the Sultan's permission, the Russians had a copy of the keys to Jerusalem for eighty years.
The Catholic westerner Napoleon III chose to impose himself upon the ailing, unmodernized Turks, and secured a treaty with the Sultan giving the French responsibility for the protection of Christians in the Middle East. Unhappy about this, the Russians invaded Ottoman Moldova and Wallachia, Orthodox Christian enclaves in present-day Romania, wresting them from the Turks. (This was the beginning of the end of the Ottomans, who brought relative peace and stability to the Middle East for centuries. The modern era was about to begin there; and now look where we are today.)
The Russian incursion into Europe caused concern among the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Prussians, the British and the French. British and French warships attacked Russian commercial ports and naval bases at Archangel on the White Sea in the Arctic, Helsinki on the Baltic Sea in Scandinavia, and Sebastopol on the Crimean peninsula, on the Black Sea, today part of the Ukraine. World War Ø had begun.
The Russians had headquartered their warm-water Southern Fleet in Sebastopol for over a hundred years at that point. They were not about to give it up without a fight, as it was their best access to the world's oceans in the icy Winter. The Brit's and the French fought several famous battles with the Rooskies on the Crimean Peninsula, and in the adjacent waters: The French still honor the memory of their brave Algerian Zouaves in that war with the statues on the Pont d'Alma in Paris. The English can still be roused with a few stanzas from Kipling's "The Charge Of The Light Brigade," which took place in Crimea. This despite the fact that the West basically lost the Crimean War to the Russians and their fierce Cossack (now "Kazakh": see "Borat") warriors.
Which brings us to the current complications. The Crimean Peninsula, which looks more like a large island jammed in between the Black Sea (above Turkey) and the Sea of Azov (above Iran), is today an autonomous region of the independent sovereign nation of Ukraine. Soviet Premier Krushchev returned the region to Ukrainian control, nominally, in the 1950's. The Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union after it collapsed. But the Crimean population remain largely ethnic Russian or pro-Russian (like the majority in Abkhazia & S. Ossetia, Georgia). They govern themselves and view themselves as more a part of Russia. The "Red Fleet" is still in Sebastopol, and the Russians control access to the port by land, sea and air. It is still their main warm-water military and civilian seaport, their lifeline to the world.
The Crimea is vital to the exploitation of the Russian and Central Asian oil and gas fields today. At least, it will be until pipelines can be completed to transport the oil and gas across Afghanistan to some Pakistani port on the Arabian Sea far to the South. In case you were wondering why anyone, ourselves included, would ever be interested in the remote wastes of the high Afghan plains and rugged mountains, these pipelines are why.
The whole oil & gas thing (over which we fought WWI & WWII, at least in part), might also explain why the West, the EU, NATO, and the USA are suddenly so interested in the former Soviet Republics of Georgia and Ukrainia: It's the Energy, stupid; and the old "bottle-up the Rooskies" thing, previously seen in the whole Crimean War thing, and in other little things like the Napoleonic Wars.
The lesson of history in all this is that you don't mess with the Russians on what they regard as their home turf unless you are prepared to go all the way to Moscow. Ask Napoleon or Hitler about that, before starting. Unfortunately, they are currently serving time in Hell for the destruction of much of their nations' armies, the slaughter of millions, and other bad stupid crazy Bushlike stuff. You'd have to do similar things in order to meet them in Hell, at which point, their advice would be moot.
The intelligent move on this would be to get Georgia and Ukraine into the European (economic) Union first; then, after a few years of not f*cking with the Russians which might result in a less belligerent government in Russia, try the NATO thing again. If at all. Give the Ukrainians and Georgians a chance to sample Western living, and to decide if they might ever want to die for it. Then maybe NATO, shto?
Unless we plan to invade Russia some day, why encircle it? Isn't this XVII & XVIII Century policy? Aren't we in the XXI Century, when missiles can go from anywhere to anyplace, and all of our economies are tied together anyway? This is why you should always choose a President who paid attention in class, read the assignments, did well on the tests, and maybe did a little extra-curricular activity like reading newspapers and magazines on a regular basis, and familiarizing himself or herself with such things as dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias, gazetteers, and maybe a few non-fiction books. Perhaps a work of actual History or two? Not just the Bible, or some John Birch Society pamphlets. Because, GOSH, the President of the United States there, he or she has to do an awful lot of reading, there, to sift through all the Warsheden insider BS there, and make intelligent, rational, informed, well-reasoned decisions about this stuff there that effects everybody in the whole wide world there, by golly. There.
Otherwise, "Half a league, half a league, half a league onward; Into the valley of death rode the six hundred." Again? Really? Hm? And for what? Life is not a game of Stratego. It's more like chess, with real bodies. And the Russians are really good at chess, da? So, let's get the cowboys off the chessboard, and bring in our current diplomatic and strategic Bobby Fischer or maybe the Big Blue States champ, Barack Obama. John McCain? Sarah Palin? Nyet. They're only pawns in the Game.
' The Crimean War, also known in Russia as the Eastern War (Russian: Восточная война, Vostochnaya Vojna) (March 1854–February 1856) was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of France, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia (which would be absorbed into Italy in 1861), and the Ottoman Empire on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, with additional actions occurring in western Turkey and the Baltic Sea region. The Crimean War is sometimes considered to be the first "modern" conflict and "introduced technical changes which affected the future course of warfare."[12]. '
' Ukraine's coalition government collapsed yesterday after its two ruling parties fell out over Russia's invasion of Georgia. President Viktor Yushchenko accused the prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, of attempting a coup and then threatened to dissolve parliament and call early elections. The pro-democratic coalition of the pair has only a two-seat majority. On Tuesday Tymoshenko's bloc voted with the opposition to strip the president of some powers and boost her own. Yesterday Yushchenko's bloc quit the coalition in protest, with the president denouncing the vote in Ukraine's lower house and urging the formation of a new coalition. The ostensible trigger for the government's collapse after less than a year is the conflict in Georgia. Speculation has grown that Ukraine and its Russian-speaking Crimea region could be the Kremlin's next "target". Yushchenko has outspokenly condemned the invasion of Georgia but Tymoshenko has not criticised Russia directly. On Tuesday her party failed to support a toughly worded statement blaming Moscow. '
' Ancient ethnic strife, fanned by East-West rivalry and Moscow's growing regional ambitions, lie behind the war over Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where Russian troops opened a second front Monday. For dozens of young Ossetian men lined up at a Russian Army recruitment center in the North Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz, the conflict is a replay of endless clashes with their traditional foe: Georgia. For Georgians, whose forces are retrenching after failing to retake the separatist province of South Ossetia, the war appears just the latest futile effort to unite their country against what they see as Moscow's neocolonial designs. US and Russian diplomats, who sparred angrily over the crisis at a United Nations session Sunday, were falling back into the language and passions of their long, bitter cold-war standoff. '
' The US vice-president, Dick Cheney, yesterday issued a direct challenge to Moscow's sway over Georgia, pledging Washington's support for its eventual membership of Nato, while denouncing Russia's "illegitimate" invasion. "Georgia will be in our alliance," Cheney said after talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili. Cheney used his one-day visit to Georgia to reinforce battle lines in the increasingly direct struggle between Washington and Moscow for the upper hand along Russia's southern border. His visit to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine was aimed at stressing America's "deep, abiding interest" in the region, in response to the claim by Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, that Moscow had "privileged interests" in former Soviet states. The US challenge was undermined by the collapse of Ukraine's pro-western coalition on the eve of Cheney's arrival in Kiev at the end of his three-country trip yesterday. The crisis threatened to derail President Viktor Yushchenko's efforts to win Ukraine Nato and EU membership. '
' US Vice President Dick Cheney was set Friday to meet with Ukraine's squabbling leaders as he continues his tour to bolster US allies in the region following the conflict between Georgia and Russia. Cheney was to meet with President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose political feuding has intensified over ties with Russia during Moscow's confrontation with Georgia and the West. Ukraine has applied to join NATO and the European Union, angering Moscow which sees the country as part of its sphere of influence, but its political leaders are deeply divided. European officials have suggested Ukraine could be the next flashpoint for tensions between Russia and the West after the war in Georgia last month that has left Russian troops occupying positions deep inside Georgian territory. '
' As the Kremlin seeks to reassert its sphere of influence around its borders and beyond, this home port for Russia's Black Sea fleet — marooned in the south of Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union — has moved to the center of tensions between Russia and U.S. allies in the region. Some Ukrainian politicians worry that Russia will stoke anti-Western sentiments in Sevastopol and cities around it on the Crimean peninsula to create an opportunity to annex the area, the same way Moscow did with two breakaway provinces in Georgia last month, or at least use its considerable influence here to push the central government in Kiev to drop plans to join the European Union and NATO . Either move would heighten the rising tensions between Russia and the United States , which have returned to Cold War levels over the past year. Georgia and Ukraine , with American backing, angered the Russian leadership with their NATO aspirations. If they were to join, Russia's Black Sea coastline would be surrounded by members of the military organization. '
' The Bush White House has been pressing its European allies to accept Ukraine into NATO — over Russia's bitter opposition — but the continuing political crisis in Kiev raises serious questions about whether this country is ready to join. Viktor Yushchenko, the U.S.-backed president, was in New York this week, ringing the bell on the New York Stock Exchange and exhorting the U.N. General Assembly to contain Russia. Back home, his ruling coalition remains fractured, raising the prospect of a third parliamentary election in as many years. Approval ratings for the one-time hero of the 2004 Orange Revolution are consistently below 10 percent. Despite Yushchenko's strong condemnation of Russia's invasion of Georgia last month and his enthusiastic support for NATO, polls show that only some 22 percent of Ukrainians favor joining the alliance. In the parliament, opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions, considered by many to be close to Russia, has more than twice as many seats as Yushchenko's bloc, which is anchored by the Our Ukraine party. The political bickering has significant implications for U.S. interests in the area, including the drive to admit Ukraine into NATO. If Russia can capitalize on the instability and help shape Kiev's foreign policy, it could reassert some of the control it lost on Europe's edge after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That would be a major step forward for the Kremlin in what Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has referred to as "regions where (Russia) has privileged interests." '
' Sergei Zayats, the administrator of Sevastopol's largest district, said he thought the Russians would be willing to resort to force to keep their ships docked in Crimea, where their fleet has operated since the 1780s. "The events in Georgia show that this may happen at any time," said Zayats, who was appointed by Kiev. Russia has said it has no plans along those lines. "This is a myth brought to you from other countries that Crimea will be next," Vsevolod Loskutov, the number two man in the Russian Embassy to Ukraine, told journalists last week. "Both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have repeated many times that we highlight our respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." The tension over Crimea is complicated by the intertwined histories of Ukraine and Russia. The region belonged to Russia until 1954, when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev handed it over to Ukraine. At the time, the difference was largely semantic, but when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many in Crimea would have rather not become part of an independent Ukraine. In interviews on the streets of Sevastopol, college students, engineers and housewives alike said they sympathized with Russia far more than with Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-Western president. Any move to join NATO, they said, almost certainly would lead to a backlash. '
' Internationally-backed peace talks between Georgia and Russia broke down on the first day Wednesday with the rivals, who fought a war in August, blaming each other for the failure to even enter the same room. "There were two separate meetings, the Russians and the Abkhazians (in one) and the Georgians in another," Sergei Shamba, foreign minister of the pro-Russian separatist region of Abkhazia, told journalists. The talks would have been the first time representatives of the two sides have held direct negotiations since the five-day war after Russia thwarted a Georgian assault to retake its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia has kept troops in South Ossetia and another rebel region, Abkhazia, and recognises both as independent states. Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Moscow of adopting "Soviet" tactics during the talks. '
' Speaking in the White House Rose Garden with visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Bush reaffirmed U.S. support for Georgia's territorial integrity following its August war with Moscow and expressed support for other countries concerned about Russian aggression. Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian forces erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake pro-Russian South Ossetia, which broke away from Tbilisi in 1991-92. Russia's counterstrike drove the Georgian army out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed farther into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks. The West accused Russia of a "disproportionate response" to Georgia's actions. "We firmly support Georgia's democracy and sovereignty and territorial integrity," Bush said. "The United States and the EU agree that the territory of Georgia includes the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "To earn the respect of the international community, Russia must show respect for the sovereignty and territory of its neighbors. Russia must accept the responsibilities and obligations of international leadership," he said. '
' John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser and his business partner lobbied the senator or his staff on 49 occasions in a 3 1/2-year span while being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The payments raise ethical questions about the intersection of Randy Scheunemann's personal financial interests and his advice to the Republican presidential candidate who is seizing on Russian aggression in Georgia as a campaign issue. McCain warned Russian leaders Tuesday that their assault in Georgia risks "the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world." On April 17, a month and a half after Scheunemann stopped working for Georgia, his partner signed a $200,000 agreement with the Georgian government. The deal added to an arrangement that brought in more than $800,000 to the two-man firm from 2004 to mid-2007. For the duration of the campaign, Scheunemann is taking a leave of absence from the firm. "Scheunemann's work as a lobbyist poses valid questions about McCain's judgment in choosing someone who _ and whose firm _ are paid to promote the interests of other nations," said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers. "So one must ask whether McCain is getting disinterested advice, at least when the issues concern those nations." "If McCain wants advice from someone whose private interests as a once and future lobbyist may affect the objectivity of the advice, that's his choice to make." McCain has been to Georgia three times since 1997 and "this is an issue that he has been involved with for well over a decade," said McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers. McCain's strong condemnation in recent days of Russia's military action against Georgia as "totally, absolutely unacceptable" reflects long-standing ties between McCain and hardline conservatives such as Scheunemann, an aide in the 1990s to then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Four months ago, on the same day that Scheunemann's partner signed the latest $200,000 agreement with Georgia, McCain spoke with Saakashvili by phone. The senator then issued a strong statement saying that "we must not allow Russia to believe it has a free hand to engage in policies that undermine Georgian sovereignty." On Tuesday, McCain told Fox News that "as you know, through the NATO membership, ... if a member nation is attacked, it is viewed as an attack on all." '
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MCCAIN ENJOYS STRANGE FRUIT OF HIS DESPERATE "ATTACK-ATTACK-ATTACK" NON-STRATEGY
McSame-Palin Mobs Call For "N*gger" Blood
Is this any way to run a campaign? Or a country? Ask George Wallace, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove or Steve Schmidt. Better yet, ask John Sidney McCain III, of the Mississippi McCain's, himself. He sho' ain't gonna be "out-niggered" this time! Anybody got a rope?
And why is anybody "surprised" by racial politics in America? It's a five-hundred-year-old tradition, brought into the electronic age by the unholy alliance of corporate Republicans and racist Dixiecrats, from 1968 to the present. Will the Obama campaign put an end to it? Not if the McCain Campaign can he'p it.
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HE GETS HIS BLOOD REFILTERED, HIS CHEMO, AND WE GO FOR ICE CREAM
He Insists On Driving, But I Won't Let Him Drive My Car
ME: "OK, Pa-Pa John, are you ready to go to the Mall?"
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "What? The what?"
ME: "The Mall, you want to go?"
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "Go where?"
ME: "Uh, downtown to the soda shop."
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "Mmm. Sounds pretty good to me, heh-heh."
ME: "OK, then. Sit up front here."
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "I'll drive."
ME: "Nnnnooo . . . Gramps, remember what the doctors said. And the State Police."
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "I know how to do this. I know where it is. My friends, if you'll just give me another chance..."
ME: "Maybe next time, Grampa John. I kinda need this car, now that the other one is wrecked."
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "It was the GOOKS!"
ME: "Calm down, Poppy, remember your blood pressure. Your cheeks are gettin' extra puffy. You don't want to have to go back in the secret hospital, do you?"
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "I'm not goin' back to Hanoi!!! You can't make me!!! I already told 'em everything I know!!!"
ME: "Nobody's making you go anywhere's, Pop-Pop. Oh, Jeez, what's that smell?"
ME: "I think somebody maybe has a full diaper. Let's get Nanny Sarah to change you."
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "Mmm. She has soft hands."
ME: "Unh-hunh."
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "Sonny. Don't let them socialist n*gger terrorists get me."
ME: "I won't, Gram. Let's just get you cleaned up here. Governor? Governor? Now where's she gone? Hope he she isn't trying to light that big cross she carries around, again. She scares me, Grandfather. Sometimes she really scares me."
GRAMPA MCCAIN: "Don't worry. She can drive. We'll let her drive. She's an excellent driver."
ME: "Not in my car. It already pulls to the right."
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To Say Nothing Of The Damage He's Already Done To Race Relations
TO JOHN MCCAIN:
1. Have you ever killed a child?
2. How do you know?
3. When you were a bomber-pilot in Vietnam, were your bombs built to avoid children?
4. Was it a primary part of all your missions to always avoid bombing children?
5. Given the fact that the US Navy & Air Force dropped more bombs on Vietnam than they dropped on Germany & Japan in WWII, and that we still lost the Vietnam War, was that strategic bombing, or just terror-bombing; and doesn't that make you a terrorist, yourself?
6. If Al Qaida crashed a plane in the US after bombing civilians here, would the captured pilot deserve special treatment, or immediate execution?
7. Why did you make propaganda for the Communist North Vietnamese?
8. Do you think it shows good character and judgment to leave a faithful wife after she waited for you for the whole five years you were in prison?
9. Who got luckier in the criminal courts: Cindy McCain after she got caught stealing drugs from children, or you, John McCain, after you got caught peddling influence during the last major banking crisis?
10. Do you think either one of you belongs in the White House? Then why did you call your wife a "c*nt" in front of reporters?
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It's Very Unpleasant, The Republican Aroma Of Abject Failure. It Smells Like . . . Bush.
As John Sidney "POW" McCain III slowly sinks into the political abyss, his overweaningly ambitious running mate makes one last frenzied attempt to claw her way to the top. Promised a virtual or actual Presidency if she can just salvage the wreck of McSame's campaign, airhead Sarah Palin is now resorting to outright smears based on bald-faced lies.
Still, McBush has already conceded Michigan, and Pennsylvania may be next: Poor old broke-down John "My Wife's A 'Cunt' " McCain has pulled out of the Republican-depressed Automobile State. The poor old guy went to hide in Iowa rather than show his cancerous face in the anxious blue-collar Steel State. He's trailing even in GOP-subverted Florida. McSame may lose formerly reliable-racist Republican Virginia. Can Indiana and Ohio be far behind?
The Repukelickin Party, terrified of losing its' death-grip on power, is going straight to its' last resort: The Party of Greed and Anger, is switching gears to its' old fallbacks, Hatred and Fear. "Obama is not like us" (he's black!), "Obama hates America" (HE'S BLACK!!), "Obama pals around with bad men from the Big City" (HE'S BLAAAAACK!!!). Did they mention that Barack is black? Not yet, not explicitly. They're cowardly little racist, race-baiting assholes; always have been. But their message has always been the same: "Law & order," "Welfare queens," "Willie Horton," et cetera, ad nauseum, always meant "We'll keep the niggers down for ya, Bubba!" and absolutely nothing more. It's code that even right-wing morons can understand.
This year, not without trepidation, the Democrats have shown the courage and strength of character to confront racism head on, and nominate a man of African ancestry to be our next President. The Republicans, meanwhile, have shown their true colors by nominating two extremely white people, both known for their anti-African-American sentiments. McCain played the "maverick" by opposing the institution of the Federal Holiday honoring martyred moderate black leader Dr. Martin Luthor King Jr. Sarah Palin was deliberately chosen, it is now obvious, for being the living embodiment of redneck ignorance, and white-State prejudice. (Oh, and the "c*nt vote." Since McCain thinks all women are "c*nts," he must figure having a real "c*nt" on the ticket will get their votes.)
The Repukelickin' candidates are cowardly and without a shred of real character. McCain betrayed his country by collaborating with the enemy in North Vietnamese communist propaganda during the Vietnam War. When he came home from Nam, McSame dumped the crippled wife who had waited faithfully for him for five long lonely years, and flitted off with a rich drug-addicted beer queen. McCain's new wife Cindy was then busted for stealing drugs from poor, sick children. McCain himself narrowly escaped indictment during the Savings & Loan scandal. What character!
Palin flies her whole family around the country at taxpayer expense, and collects thousands in per diem for sleeping in her own bed. She fired a respected Alaska State Police commander when he refused to fire her sister's ex-husband, a decorated State Trooper. Now she doesn't dare show her face in Alaska, and the national Republican Party organisation of John McBush is running Alaska in her absence, trying to supress the investigation of "Troopergate." Let's not even talk about her under-aged, unmarried, unsafe-sexually-active daughter, or the infant Governor Palin starved in her own womb, trying to hide her own recent pregnancy. The child was born retarded, and now she uses him to gain sympathy at every campaign stop. Doesn't she worry about his health at all? Or his dignity? Or ours?
As to hating America, and terrorism: Palin wants Alaska to secede from the Union, and break up our great nation. She keeps talking about the Russians, her "neighbors": Maybe she wants to join them? Unlike most Americans she's wallowing in oil money, overjoyed at the high prices. Maybe the Rooskies will offer her a better deal. Traitor? You be the judge.
McCain has voted against going after Osama Bin Laden, and has done nothing to protect us from 9/11's past, present or future. He's so rich and out of touch, he doesn't even know how many houses he owns. And, of course, he could be a "Manchurian Candidate," programmed by the Communists to destroy America from inside the Oval Office. And none dare call it treason?
I guess McPalin fears that all this will come out in the next few weeks. After all, that's how they play the game. So far, Obama has chosen to take the high road. But it's time for the rest of us to give the Repuke's a taste of their own foul medicine. In their case, the truth about them will suffice. . .
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I'll Be Standing In The Back Of The Hall, Holding Up Giant Placards. In My Mind.
1. Have you ever used your high political office to exact personal revenge?
2. Do you believe in witches?
3. Have you or any member of your family ever taken any money from anyone connected to the oil industry?
4. Do you think that victory in Iraq is worth the life of your own son? How 'bout somebody else's son?
5. How old is the world?
6. Who is Sarkozy? Friend or foe?
7. Who is Bernanke? Friend or foe?
8. Has God ever spoken directly to you, or through you?
9. Do you now or have you or your spouse ever advocated the secession of any State from out of the Union of these here United States of America? If so, why?
10. Are you lying now? Have you ever lied to the press or the public? Are you lying NOW???
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Finally, after seven whole years, United States faux President George Walker Bush has admitted responsibility for the attacks of 11.9.2001, which took place on his watch.
Throwing out all his previous denials, excuses, buck-passing, and attempts to blame political opponents, Bush II said that he and he alone was completely, finally and inexcusably responsible for the worst attacks in American history, which killed 2,998 people. He apologized to the victims and their families, offering no excuses.
"At last," said one victim's widow, "Closure!"
(NOT! If only this had really happened. But, it's an election year, and Bush has no conscience, no honor, no sense of responsibility. He'll never admit to any errors or culpability of any kind.)
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