Barack, Ed O'Reilly, Ralph

Friday!!!! :D Hope everyone had a great week. The weeks left in summer are vanishing so pack some fun in while you can.

Did you catch Rebecca's "nader, womencount pac and idiot at vibe" and Martha's "Martha tells VIBE to f**k the hell off" last night? If not, go read them now. Pretty good, huh?

This is from the Los Angeles Times:

Our colleague Steve Braun, traveling with Barack Obama's campaign, reports that Obama was just heckled during a town hall gathering in St. Petersburg, Fla., by six black protesters who unfurled a banner that read: "What about the black community, Obama?"
Obama, adopting what has become most political figures' response to such interruptions, turned at the podium inside the high school gym and bantered with the protesters for several seconds as the crowd booed. Finally, Obama said, "Just be courteous, that's all." The protesters quieted and turned their banner over to a an Obama staffer, but later in the speech again began to chant, only to be drowned out by the Obama crowd.

Since it's the Los Angeles Times, you know they make plenty of time to ridicule the protesters. Over at The Financial Times they do a little reporting and then haul out their crystal ball. From their reporting:

With unemployment yesterday jumping by 51,000 to take this year's job losses to almost half a million, Mr Obama is mining a potentially rich seam. But a number of Democrats, in-cluding advisers to the Obama campaign, are worried that the Democratic party's overall electoral advantage this year has not yet translated into comfort-able leads for Mr Obama. Yesterday Gallup showed Mr Obama just one point ahead of John McCain - a significant tightening in the past two weeks.
Mr McCain's improving fortunes have coincided with a strikingly negative turn in his campaign's tactics, with the launch last weekend of an advertisement criticising Mr Obama for failing to visit wounded soldiers when he was in Germany because the Pentagon refused to permit the media to accompany him. That allegation has since been debunked.

Now for local politics (local to me). This is "Ed O'Reilly Challenges John Kerry To Debate:"

Text of a letter delivered to the Kerry Campaign on July 23rd
Dear Senator Kerry:
With the September 16th Primary less than eight weeks away, I believe it is time for us to schedule debates and other forums so that the voters of Massachusetts will have the ability to participate in democracy to its fullest extent. With this in mind, I am proposing that we have the following three styles of debates:
1. You and I participate in town meeting style gatherings in each of the Commonwealth's 14 Counties. This would be a way of taking direct questions from local people in an informal setting. If we devote two to three hours to each county forum, this would take approximately three working days;
2. You and I appear in a somewhat more formal setting at each of the 5 UMass campuses, Springfield Technical Community College, North Shore Community College, Berkshire Community College and Cape Cod Community College. These could be more structured than the county forums with questions from the print media as well as from the audience. This would take approximately 10-16 hours;
3. We have been formally invited to appear on Springfield's Jim Madigan's (WGBY) program, with Emily Rooney on WGBH in Boston, on WBZ-TV's Jon Keller, and on NECN with Jim Braude. I have indicated to each of these hosts that I am willing to appear with you, but your confirmation is needed. Naturally, we should be fair to other television (and radio) hosts and I am willing to increase the number of appearances, accordingly.
Since the Senate is not in session the entire month of August, there is no reason why we should not bring more direct democracy into this campaign by implementing the first two above proposals within the next few weeks.
Many of the hosts in the third proposal have indicated that television appearances would be most beneficial to voters between Labor Day and the September 16th Primary. I agree.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Edward J. O'Reilly
Ed O'Reilly believes it is not too much to ask Senator Kerry to devote 5 days every 6 years to enter into dialogue with the people of Massachusetts.

John Kerry's been spending too much time doing everything but looking out for Big Mass. We only see him at election time when he shows up acting like he's our best friend. We went for Hillary Clinton in our primary. Once again, Big Mass wasn't good enough for John Kerry. We never are. Instead he had to support the candidate we rejected, Barack Obama. And instead of taking care of our interests, he was running to the media throughout the primaries defending his boyfriend. Big Mass deserves a senator who will stand up for us and look out for us. Ed O'Reilly is that candidate. The primary's next month. If you live in Big Mass, show your support for Ed by voting for him. My entire family plans to and I don't know anyone that's not planning to at this point. John Kerry has ignored us one time too many.

Back to presidential politics, Ralph Nader is the clear choice and has some of the upcoming events include:

Sat. August 2nd, 8:00pm Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez Davis, CAVarsity Theater616 Second St., Davis, CA 95616Contributions $10/ $5 student (530) 554-8250 or events@votenader.org Map it
Sun. August 3rd, 1:30pm Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez Sebastopol, CA Sebastopol Community Center 390 Morris St., Sebastopol, CA 95472 Contribution $10/$5 student (415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org Map it
Sun Aug. 3rd, 4:30pm Ralph Nader Book Signing and Speech w/ Matt Gonzalez Healdsburg, CA Copperfield's books 104 Matheson St., Healdsburg, CA 95448 (707) 235-1026 or events@votenader.org Map it
Sun Aug. 3rd, 7:30pm Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez Kentfield, CA (Marin) College of Marin- Olney Hall 835 College Ave., Kentfield, CA Contribution $10/$5 students (415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org Map it

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Friday, August 1, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Nouri al-Maliki makes like Pretty Woman on Rodeo Drive, Ralph Nader continues taking his campaign to the people, Kirkuk sees increased tension, and more.

Starting with war resistance, Jan Slakov (BCLocalNews) proposed ways to prepare for peace this week and the second step was: "Welcome war resisters: Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy once said: 'War will exist until that distant day when the CO [conscientious objector] enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.' A majority of Canadian MPs understand this, and voted on June 3 to allow U.S. soldiers who object to the 'war on terror' on conscientious grounds to stay in Canada. However, the Conservative government is ignoring the will of these deserters to be deported to face punishment in the U.S." The Conservative government and conservative shills like Rondi Adamson who offers a string of lies in the Christian Science Monitor. In fact, Rondi's piece should be titled "No Lie Left Untold." Rondi admits Canada took in "draft dodgers" during Vietnam but forgets to note they also took in deserters. Rondi forgets to note the popular (or Parliament) support in Canada for war resisters. From the July 1st snapshot: "The Angus Reid Poll finds: 'A majority of Canadians would agree with the decision to let American military deserters stay in Canada as permanent residents, a new Angus Reid Strategies survey reveals. . . In the online survey of a representative national sample, three-in-five Canadians (64%) say they would agree to give these U.S. soldiers the opportunity to remain in Canada as permanent residents. Quebec (70%) houses the highest proportion of respondents who agree with the motion, while Alberta (52%) has the fewest supporters. A gender breakdown reveals that while both males and females would agree to let U.S. military deserters remain in Canada, females are much more sympathetic (69% versus 57%)'." And Rondi is apparently confessing that Canadians spat on US soldiers during Vietnam. That LIE has long been disproven in the US but apparently, Rondi wants us to believe it happened in Canada.

War resisters in Canada need your help. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).


Turning to Iraq where puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki sits on a ton of money and spends it when he feels like on what he wants. Edmond Lococo and Gopal Ratnam (Bloomberg News) report, "Iraq is seeking to buy $10.9 billion in weapons and services from U.S. defense contractors including General Dynamics Corp,, Boeing Co., Textron Inc. and Raytheon Co. to 'establish security and stablity' throughout the country." It's been a busy week for the puppet -- a regular spending spree. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency started the week with the announcement that they "notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Armored Security Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $206 milliion." Wednesday included "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Light Armored Vehicles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $3 billion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of technical assistance for construction of facilities and infrastructure as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $1.6 billiion" and "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of Helicopters and related munitions as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.4 billion." Thursday brought this announcement, "The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of M1A1 and Upgrade to M1A1M Abrams Tanks as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $2.16 billion."

This spending spree takes place as Selcan Hacaoglu (AP) reports on sewage treatment plant in Bahgdad that ("nearly three years later") is still nothing but a shell: "Raw sewage is still flowing freely through giant pipes into the Tigris River, ending up in some of the capital's drinking water. And those pipes are hardly the only source of contamination. Many residents only have to sniff the tap water to know something is not right. . . . Two-thirds of the raw sewage produced in the capital flows untreated into rivers and waterways, Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said in his quarterly report released Wednesday."

Tensions continue to flare over Kirkuk. The October provincial elections are thought to be pushed back (at least) over the efforts in the Parliament to include aspects (force through) to do with Kirkuk. That led to a mass walk out of Kurdish Parliamentarians last month. A special session will be held Sunday to attempt to address the issue of provincial elections. Now Kurdish leaders in Kirkuk (an ethnically diverse, oil-rich city that the Kurdish region wants to absorb) are stating that it will become part of Kurdistan. DPA notes that the demand came on Friday as did an attempted assassination via bombing of Kirkuk's police chief Jamal Taher. KHalid al-Ansary (Reuters) notes that the puppet government is Baghdad is insisting on calm and order. Not only is that not working, neighbors are noticing. Alsumaria reports, "Kirkuk issue takes the upper hand in Iraq's politics while Turkey has showed interest in the issue after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki received a phone call from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who expressed his concern over Kurds demand to join Kirkuk to Kurdistan."

Meanwhile Sabrina Tavernise and Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) reported this morning, "The American military disclosed on Thursday that soldiers had killed three unarmed people during an operation northwest of Samarra on Wednesday, and injured a fourth. Ali Salih Jubarah, a spokesman for Salahuddin Province, the region where the killings occurred, said that Dahia Hussein and her two sons, Ali Jassim and Muhammad Jassim, all civilians, were killed during a raid on a house. He identified the injured person as Ms. Hussein's daughter, Sabeiha Jassim."

In some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad car bombing that claimed 1 life and left two people wounded and a Kirkuk roadside bombing that claimed the lives of 3 Iraqi soldiers and left a fourth wounded. AP reports, "Two suicide bombers detonated their explosive vests Friday wounding three Iraqi soldiers north of Baghdad during a raid".

Shootings?

Reuters notes an armed clash in Dhuluiya that claimed 4 lives.

Corpses?

Reuters notes 1 corpse discovered in Kut.

Turning to the US presidential race. "He's a lot more optimistic than me, I can tell you," Jurgen Vsych explains of Ralph Nader to Jan Baughman (Swans Commentary). "That's one thing that we used to fight about, because I'm, I wouldn't say pound-for-pound I'm a total pessimist, but I am pretty pessimistic about a lot of things in the economy and the political successes, he has lots of success stories to tell, although I don't know, I guess because a lot of his work has been undone, systematically undone by dergulation, so how he keeps his spirits up I don't know -- I really don't." Jurgen Vsych is a filmmaker (including Ralph Nader Crashes The Two Parties) and check out the website she's creating entitled Nader Tube & Ralph Nader Radio. Jugen Vsych has also written the book What Was Ralph Nader Thinking? which Baughman reviews here. Speaking at the Dominican University in February of last year, a man complained, "But we all know you don't have a snow ball's chance in hell of getting elected." Ralph replied, to the hearty approval of those present, "How about in heaven?"

"Are you a sports fan? Do you know any sports player who gives up?" Lisa Riley Roche (Desert News) quotes Ralph Nader saying at a news conference in Salt Lake City this morning. Nader was in Utah capitol on a campaign stop that began Thursday evening when he spoke at the University of Utah. Introducing him, former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson explained, "This whole nation needs to be turned around. We're not going to do it with the Democrats saying, 'We'll get around to it someday'." Speaking to the crowd of over 400, Ralph Nader wondered, "Do you realize there is no discernible breaking point for the American people? We're headed for a cliff . . . where's the breaking point?" He added, "If none of us have breaking points, none of us have a moral compass." Robert Gehrke (Salt Lake Tribune) reports that "Nader filed paperwork putting himself on the ballot in Utah" this morning and quotes Ralph stating, "This country is not owned by the two major parties. They don't own the voters. There is not even the word 'party' in the Constitution. There isn't even the word 'corporation' in the Constitution, and yet these two institutions have run our country into the ground and are tearing the heart and soul out of America." Salt Lake City's KSL reported on the press conference this morning (link has video as well as a text article written by Richard Piatt):

Tonya Papanikolas: Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is officially a candidate here in Utah.

Scott Haws: Yeah, he's trying to get the word out with a limited budget and minimal support but at a news conference this morning, he was not afraid to take on the big guys. Richard Piatt was there and joins us with more. Rich?

Richard Piatt: Well, as you know Scott, Ralph Nader has been taking on the big guys for forty years now, starting with General Motors in the 1960s, you'll recall he successfully got a car called the Corvair pulled off the market. These days, in his seventies, he is just as entergetic. And he's diligent about running for president this time again. Nader registered as an official presidential candidate in Utah at the lieutenant governor's office this morning. He called his rivials John McCain and Barack Obama "corporate candidates." He appeared with former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson at a news conference this morning. Nader says the average American tax payer is not being served by the status quo. Unfair tax policies, inadequate health care options and gridlock in Congress are among the problems he sees. He says voters need a more diverse campaign. But he points out that he is being excluded from most of the major presidential debates, furthering what he calls a "corporate candidate quagmire."

Ralph Nader: The two parties have spoiled our elections. They've spoiled our government. They've spoiled our political system. And they've turned our government over to big businness that's about the worst constitutional crime you can imagine.

Richard Piatt: Nader has been labeled a spoiler in the past, depriving other candidates, like John Kerry, of votes by defusing the support. But according to a Dan Jones poll in May here in Utah, Nader barely registers in Utah this year. The poll showed Nader with only 2 percent of the 604 statewide voters at that time in May. Even so, he refuses to see himself as a spoiler or even a bad candidate. Instead, he says he's the only candidate who . . . is a real alternative. Nader is scheduled to appear next in Davis, Calif., on Saturday for a rally with his running mate Matt Gonzalez. Back to you.



The Nader-Gonzalez '08 campaign (Matt Gonzalez is Ralph's running mate) has been keeping a very busy schedule and some of the upcoming events include:

Sat. August 2nd, 8:00pmNader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt GonzalezDavis, CAVarsity Theater616 Second St., Davis, CA 95616Contributions $10/ $5 student(530) 554-8250 or events@votenader.orgMap it
Sun. August 3rd, 1:30pm Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez Sebastopol, CA Sebastopol Community Center 390 Morris St., Sebastopol, CA 95472 Contribution $10/$5 student (415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org Map it
Sun Aug. 3rd, 4:30pm Ralph Nader Book Signing and Speech w/ Matt Gonzalez Healdsburg, CA Copperfield's books 104 Matheson St., Healdsburg, CA 95448 (707) 235-1026 or events@votenader.org Map it
Sun Aug. 3rd, 7:30pm Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez Kentfield, CA (Marin) College of Marin- Olney Hall 835 College Ave., Kentfield, CA Contribution $10/$5 students (415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org Map it

We'll return to the topic of Nader shortly but expanding the focus to other contenders includes noting a surprise failure to stick to the attack plan on John McCain by the Democratic Party. Last week David Brancaccio (NOW on PBS) interviewed former Democratic presidential hopeful (and 2004 Democratic vice-presidential candidate) John Edwards. From the exchange:

BRANCACCIO: Have you had occasion to talk to the candidates left standing about your poverty proposals?EDWARDS: Yes, yes I have. Well, before I got out of the race, I talked to Obama and Clinton at the time about some very specific things, which for now I'll keep private. But I got very specific commitments from them about making poverty central to their campaign, making it central to their presidency. And some very specific substantive ideas behind that. I've also spoken to McCain. It's a little harder with him.BRANCACCIO: But you've talked to McCain about these poverty issues.EDWARDS: I have I have. I know John McCain very well. Served with him. Traveled around the world with him. It's a little tough because I'm supporting his opponent in the presidential race and doing it vigorously. (some laughs) But having said that, while he doesn't agree with a lot of the policy issues that I'm behind, he's been receptive to the concept that this is something we have to do something about.


John McCain is the presumed GOP presidential nominee. McCain is currently in the news for his refusal to allow Barack to play the race card. Before we get to that, McCain spoke this week in Nevada and Susan (Random Thoughts) attended and has posted video of the event at her site. This week, Barack was speaking on his favorite topic . . . himself. As usual Vanity Sux couldn't shut up about how great he thinks he is. As usual he tried to link McCain to the current White House occupant because, when you have no record to run on, you use the same desperate tactics that the illegal war was sold on (false links). So Barack declared that McCain and Bully Boy were going to say of Barack (because Barack wants the WHOLE WORLD talking about him), "he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollars bills." First off, Barack IS NOT PRESIDENT. "HE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE ALL THOSE OTHER PRESIDENTS ON THE DOLLAR BILLS"? Barack, you ARE NOT president. Joseph (Cannonfire) explains, "McCain never said anything about Obama's patriotism or his name, and he certainly never said anything about race. Yet the Obots actually have defended this rhetoric. They applaud their candidate for running against a hallucinated line of attack." Marcia weighed in, "Barack has played the race card non-stop throughout his run. As an African-American, I know what the bi-racial blunder's doing, he's trying to egg up support from the African-American community. He's trying to turn us into his street team. His 'okey doke' and all of that other bull was an attempt back in the primaries. It is the only card he has left to play and it's not going to play in a general election." Silly Barack declared today, "There was nobody there who thought at all that I was trying to inject race in this" because, apparently, none of our presidents have had two ears, two eyes, one mouth and one nose. Is that what Barack's trying to say? Or was he trying to draw attention -- yet again -- to his 'divine' figure? is he running to become the bulimic president? Barack's Cult has trouble with facts so that probably sailed over them. Yesterday Martha and Rebecca both called out the factually challenged Barack groupie at VIBE.

Tonight (in most markets) on PBS, Bill Moyers Journal continues exploring Capitol Crime with an increased focus on the Abramoff Congressional-lobbyist scandals. NOW on PBS examines the case of Ted Stevens, US Senator from Alaska now under indictment. And on Washington Week, Gwen and the gas bags chews up this week's factoids and the scenery. Guest stars include: Time's Karen Tumulty and National Journal's James Barnes.


Finally Team Nader notes:

Good morning.
Here's something you can do right now.
Donate six dollars.
To Nader/Gonzalez.
Why?
Because we're celebrating.
For two reasons.
Number one reason to celebrate: CNN poll from two days ago---Ralph Nader at six percent.
After being totally blocked out from the mainstream media for months.
(This is the fourth major poll putting us at five percent and above. Remember, John Anderson and Ross Perot both got into Presidential debates because they met the then League of Women Voters' threshold of five percent in a number of polls.)
And that's quite remarkable.
Six percent.
With little to no national news coverage.
Number two reason to celebrate: In 2004, we were on only 34 state ballots.
Now, in 2008, thanks to your help, we're heading toward 45 states.
For example, in 2004, we were not on in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Arizona, and Massachusetts.
But we will be on these states in 2008.
Today, for example, we will turn in more than 53,000 signatures in Pennsylvania. (25,000 valid required.)
So, yes, we are moving on up.
We'll take the six percent in the polls.
And we'd gladly take six percent national coverage from the mainstream media -- to match our most recent poll number.
But no.
To the mainstream corporate media, we're untouchable.
Why?
Because we represent what the majority of Americans want?
Because we favor single payer health insurance?
And Obama and McCain oppose it?
Because we would quickly end the corporate and military occupation of Iraq?
And Obama and McCain wouldn't?
Because we stand for a shift of the power away from the corporations and back into the hands of the American people?
Because we would cut the bloated, wasteful military budget?
Yes, that's why.
Because the corporate media is just doing its job.
Protecting corporate power.
And we are doing ours.
Representing the majority of the American people.
So, they are doing what they must do.
And we are doing what we must do.
So, drop a six spot here now.
And support the campaign that represents the American people.
Against the corporate masters.
And help us reach our new fundraising goal -- $100,000 by August 10.
Thanks to your generous contributions so far, we're a third of the way home.
Let's keep moving on up.
Both to our goal of $100,000 by August 10.
And let's drive our numbers in the polls to seven, eight, nine and ten points and beyond.
So that even the corporate media will have to sit up and take notice.
Together, we are making a difference.
Onward

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Ralph Nader, Ed O'Reilly

Thursday! It's been the weekend all week! But can't wait for Friday. We're going to have a relaxed night -- or that's the plan. Speaking of the weekend . . .

Upcoming Nader events this weekend:



Sat. August 2nd, 8:00pm
Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez
Davis, CA
Varsity Theater
616 Second St., Davis, CA 95616
Contributions $10/ $5 student
(530) 554-8250 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Sun. August 3rd, 1:30pm
Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez
Sebastopol, CA
Sebastopol Community Center
390 Morris St., Sebastopol, CA 95472
Contribution $10/$5 student
(415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Sun Aug. 3rd, 4:30pm
Ralph Nader Book Signing and Speech w/ Matt Gonzalez
Healdsburg, CA
Copperfield's books
104 Matheson St., Healdsburg, CA 95448
(707) 235-1026 or events@votenader.org
Map it
Sun Aug. 3rd, 7:30pm
Nader for President 2008 Rally w/ Matt Gonzalez
Kentfield, CA (Marin)
College of Marin- Olney Hall
835 College Ave., Kentfield, CA
Contribution $10/$5 students
(415) 897-6989 or events@votenader.org
Map it

Let's drop back to last weekend. I'm Irish-American. That's not an uncommon thing in Big Mass. So with John Kerry facing a Democratic primary and a strong contender, you might think he'd show the Irish some love. He gave us the brush off. Instead, he partied down at a kegger. This is from the Boston Herald's "Nantucket girls gone wild descend on John Kerry:"

TMZ.com, the celebrity-gossip-paparazzi-news site best known for tracking Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse meltdowns, posted a Kerry photo gallery yesterday under the caption "John Kerry For Party President."

The shots show the former White House wannabe posing with a pack of young ladies who are wielding cups, beer cans and straws shaped like penises.

And it just gets better for Loser John Kerry. "John Kerry knows how to pick his 'friends'" (Boston Herald):

Sen. John Kerry, already under fire after an ill-fated photo op on Nantucket last weekend, was hanging out that same night with a man who is facing charges that he assaulted an island construction worker and the man’s 11-year-old daughter.
Kirby Jones, 47, an island boat captain, is scheduled for a court hearing after a melee in The Club Car where he allegedly punched out 41-year-old Sean Joslin. Joslin’s young daughter was injured in the row.
Jones was one of Kerry’s two companions Saturday night and was photographed with the senator and some booze-swilling coeds on the island’s Straight Wharf.

Senator 'Randy' is already in trouble in Big Mass because we went for Hillary and, of course, out-of-touch John went for Barack. He's never really felt he was part of our state and made sure we all got that message. Message received, Kerry.

Bad news for John-o, his oppenent is Irish-American. Since Irish-Americans are especially outraged by the crap Kerry pulled during the Democratic presidential primary, Kerry's got problems.

This is Ed O'Reilly's website.

John Kerry's a loser with lousy judgment. He refused to stand with the Democratic voters in Big Mass and there's no reason we should stand with him. Send John the message that we're sick of all the rumors about his flings and we're sick of his brief stop-overs that he manages whenever he's up for relection.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"



Thursday, July 31, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces two deaths, the White House fakes-out the press, Barack's support continues to be revealing, and more.

Starting with war resistance. Yovany Rivero ("Geo") is an Iraq War veteran who has been twice deployed to Iraq. While serving, his faith deepened and he applied for Conscientious Objector status -- please note, CO status does not depend on religious status (a fact noted in the US military's own written guidelines -- but one those 'determining' frequently ignore). June 14th, he received a peace prize from The Rheinland-Pfalz Peace Adovacty Group. Early this month, John Vandiver (Stars and Stripes) reported on Rivero "who enlisted in the Army in 2001 when he was 18" and notes:

Michael Sharp, who works closely with Rivero as an adviser with the Germany-based Military Counseling Network, said the soldier wants to keep a low profile and isn't looking to bring attention to his case. In particular, Rivero doesn't want his fellow soldiers, whom he respects, to misinterpret his position as a sign of disrespect, Sharp said.
Though Sharp also declined to discuss Rivero's case in detail, citing Rivero's desire to avoid publicity, MCN has been working closely with numerous soldiers since the start of the Iraq war.
Perhaps the best-known case connected with MCN was that of Agustin Aguayo, a combat medic who was found guilty in 2007 of deserting the Schweinfurt, Germany-based 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division as it prepared to deploy to Iraq in 2006. Aguayo returned to California last year after serving a brief prison sentence. Others, however, have found their conscientious objector claims supported: In 2006, seven soldiers who worked with MCN had their requests approved.

Last month Courage to Resist interviewed Iraq War veteran and war resister William Shearer. Shearer enlisted at 17-years in 2002 and ended up with a non-deployable unit ("teaching units what they needed to know before they went over to a combat area, we pretty much put them through a month long simulation of combat") but that changed in 2004. Asked about his time in Iraq, Sharer responded, "It was more of like -- There wasn't a lot of action. It was more of -- It's hard to explain down there. Action over there is like getting IED or maybe getting shot at a few times or a car bomb goes off. It's not exactly what you're expecting. It's more like hunting season, you're the deer."

While serving in Iraq, Shearer faced a number of problems, "In my case I had lost a lot while I was over there. And it just started -- The more you lose and the less they do for you the more you start to see how jacked up things really are." The problems included his new wife having a semi-public affair "with an MP on post" and he was hearing about it from his platoon sergeant who heard about it from his wife who lived across the street from Shearer's wife. "And the army did nothing," Shearer states. "And there's plenty they could do. And they just they did nothing. I lost a lot of money, I lost my family while I was there you know pretty much. And when I get back, I'd lost so much, it was like I needed to start over." He returned from Iraq "like two days later . . . I got served divorce papers".

William Shearer: And the more things that pile up, it would just start detiriorating me as a soldier. It would make me look worse and worse It would get harder and harder. They didn't care. That's what I'm trying to get across. They don't care. And if they don't care and nobody's helping you out, you start to not care. You start to -- you just look at everything as bad, you have no positive whatsoever coming in. And so me and the military is pretty much diminishing quick.

Courage to Resist: So you're saying that not only didn't you get support while you were in a combat zone, you didn't get any support when you were back home either?

William Shearer: No, not really. I was checked out for PTSD. I got -- when I got home -- They put you through all of these tests, talk to a bunch of doctors I was diagnosed with PTSD, depression and a couple like sleep disorders and other things. And pretty much all they did was just start throwing me pills. Kind of like to shut me up, put me in a I-don't-care vegetative state. Pretty much just to have me there.

His PTSD 'counseling' was completely lacking in targets, goals or medical supervision. It was pair him up with an over-sixty-years-old retired military person and 'rap.' Someone who had not served in Iraq.

William Shearer: They give you this idea they're going to take of you and things are just one big family you know So I was thinking to myself "Man, I got to have a reset. I got to find a way to get myself out of this and start over -- start my life over, you know. I have nothing to work with." So I pretty much started going through the things, asking around 'Hey, what happened to this guy for doing this?' when he -- you know -- did he get an article 15? I was mainly not so worried about the disciplinary actions but the discharge that's what I was really worried about. I was asking around and AWOL was one of the things, I heard a couple of things. But the one thing that came up for me was failing the urinalysis. I-I- I just couldn't fathom anybody you deploy with or anybody who says they care about you so much -- like your batallion commanders do -- would put you out with a bad discharge after you showing for four years all the honorable deeds you've done. So it seemed to me that that was the best route for me. I wasn't so sure about AWOL. So I knew -- I knew for a fact that if I failed the urinalysis, I would be able to get out and I was pretty confident that I wouldn't get anything less than a general discharge

Courage to Resist: And your concern about the type of discharge had to do with veterans' beneifts?

William Shearer: That and how am I going to live the rest of my life, you know, how am I going to have a career? I just -- I -- There was a lot of things going through my head. You know -- as a matter of fact -- the very reason I was worried is actually what I'm doing now. You know. I'm not -- There's nothing I have no options really. It's survival.

Courage to Resist: So you made a decision to fail a urinalysis test, is that right?

William Shearer: When I went home on leave I was just like "This is how I'm going to do it." Because as soon as you come back from leave you know that the very next day you're going to get a urinalysis test.

He no longer supports the war and his thoughts on it today are:

I feel like they're exploiting those healthy young bucks that are just getting out of high school or going to be getting out of high school, you know They're telling these guys all these things they want to hear about how glorious and how fun and how good the military is. Granted, there's something that are good about it but it's not going to last forever. It doesn't last forever. And when you do go in everything changes and one thing I can tell you, they tell you, you know you could end up in a war zone, okay? When you sign up, you know all this stuff. But what they don't tell you is that you're going to be driving around and you have rules on you that the people you're fighting don't use or go against -- They don't use any of those rules. They don't abide by any rules. So you're pretty much a pawn. You do what they need you to do regardless of how dangerous it is, you know? For instance, you're just driving up and down a road expecting to get blown up. We -- we covered a mile -- a good strip of highway -- it was the most used transport highway in Iraq. It linked the north and south together. And that's where all the supplies went up and down while we were there. And our job for about two weeks was to patrol that strip of highway and eliminate all threats of IEDs whether that be they be blow you up or you find them first . They just don't want IEDs there They don't tell you that you're going to be the person that they pick to walk up to a suspected IED and give it a little nudge to see if it's a bomb, you know? They don't tell you these things. And these aren't things that these kids are thinking about -- they don't know that this stuff's there, they don't know it's like this. They're thinking they're going to go into the army, they're going to get take care of, and they're going to get put into a huge combat situation when it's not. The only people that's getting to fire anything is the enemy.

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Yesterday in headlines on Democracy Now!, Juan Gonzalez explained, "In other Iraq news, the British government has announced there will be no prosecutions over the death of journalist Terry Lloyd, despite an investigation that blamed US troops. Terry Lloyd was shot dead in Iraq in March 2003 along with a French cameraman and an Iraqi interpreter. Two years ago, a British coroner ruled that US troops should be prosecuted for the unlawful killing of Lloyd, who was a well-known foreign correspondent for the British television network ITN. The coroner ruled that Lloyd was shot in the back by Iraqi soldiers. Then, as he was being driven to a hospital in a civilian minivan, Lloyd was shot in the head by US troops." Jenny Booth (Times of London) quotes ITN's spokesperson stating, "Coroner Andrew Walker concluded just under two years ago that Terry Lloyd was unlawfully killed by American troops and ITN has done everything it could to try and ensure Terry's killer is brought to justice. We are disappointed that the CPS has decided they cannot take this matter further, and that despite the coroner's call on the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions to demand that the Americans bring the perpretator of a possible war crime before a British court of law, the US authorities remain unco-operative." Meanwhile, AP reports that journalist Ali al-Mashhadani is being held by the US military at Camp Cropper. al-Mashhadani works for Reuters, BBC and NPR. Dean Yates (Reuters) reports that (as usual) no charges have been brought against Ali and quotes David Schlesinger (Reuters Editor-in-Chief) explaining, "Any accusations against a journalist should be aired publicly and dealt with fairly and swiftly, with the journalist having the right to counsel and present a defense." From Monday's snapshot, "Sabrina Tavernise (New York Times) reported . . . 'Also on Friday, the American military acknowledged that it unintentionally killed the son of an editor for an American-financed newspaper in the northern city of Kirkuk on Thursday. The military said soldiers had been fired at from a taxi and shot back, hitting Arkan al-Naiemi, 14, in the taxi'." Saturday, Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) wrote about Arkan at Baghdad Observer noting that he "often stayed late at his father's newsroom in Kirkuk. The editor-in-chief of the weekly Voice of Villages, Ali Taha, treated his son as a journalist in training. . . . The teen listened to pop music and was obsessed with computer games. He loved the weekly trips he took with his father to sites in the area. The most recent trip was to the Dokan Dam, the primary water source in Kirkuk. He loved to stay late into the night at the Voice of Villages newsroom, a U.S. supported weekly, and help in any way he could. Who knows what he would've been when he grew up. Who knows what life he would've lived. God had other plans, his father said."

"This has been a month of encouraging news from Iraq," declared the delusional Bully Boy in DC today. He gave his usual lies and spin. Progress -- blah, blah, blah. He was most transparent when declaring, " This week, the Iraqi government is launching a new offensive in parts of the Diyala province that contain some of al Qaeda's few remaining safe havens in the country. This operation is Iraqi-led; our forces are playing a supporting role." Yes, it is a for-show effort. But first, reporters were led to believe that today's speech from Bully Boy would include something major and that it would include news of the treaty the White House wants with their puppet, Nouri al-Maliki, in Baghdad. Alissa J. Rubin and Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) teased out whispers and gossip of a draft treaty about to be final so much in this morning's paper, it was practically a beehive. And they noted that the White House's "unofficial deadline for the deal has long been July 31. . . . Also, the White House announced late on Wednesday that President Bush would make a statement on Iraq on Thursday morning." The press got played. It was the first question in the US State Dept press briefing today (Dana Perino -- doing White House gaggles -- was peppered about a "staff wedding" -- way to work White House press corps). It was pointed out that the agreement was wanted by July 31st which is today and there is no agreement. State Dept spokesperson Sean McCormack immediately insisted he'd never said a deadline (no, he personally did not) and then had difficulty keeping a straight face. Still chuckling, he referred reporters to the morning speech and finally finishing with, "In terms of negotiations, those are ongoing and I won't go into detail on those." Asked again about this topic, he referred to the White House statements. From Iraq, Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) reports on Diyala Province. The for-show action goes on. Zavis goes with a number of 30,000 Iraqi troops in Diyala and yesterday, Jim Lehrer (PBS' NewsHour) worded it this way, "In Iraq today, a military offensive in Diyala province moved into a second day. Some 50,000 Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces went door-to-door, hunting al-Qaida fighters. An Iraqi regional leader said the operation was expected to last about two weeks." Hint, when the numbers being given out do not match, it's a hype action. In the real world, violence continued . . .

Bombings?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 Baghdad roadside bombings that left 2 Iraqi civilians wounded and 2 Iraqi soldiers wounded, a Mosul car bombing that killed the driver as well as 3 police officers with four others wounded, 2 other Mosul car bombings that left nine wounded.

Corpses?

Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad and three corpses (women) discovered in Mosul.

Today the US military announced: "A U.S. Soldier died in a non-combat related incident while conducting operations in Ninewah Province July 31. Additionally, two other U.S. Soldiers were injured in the incident." And they announced: "The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. James A. McHale, 31, of Fairfield, Mont., died July 30 at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds suffered July 22 in Taji, Iraq, when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 40th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany. "


Turning to the US race for president. January 16, 2007 Barack Obama declared his intention to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Interesting. Before Barack told the American people he was running, months before, he met with a rapper. Deanne Bellandi (Chicago Sun-Times) reported November 29, 2006 on Barack's meet up with "rapper Ludacris . . . Obama declined to comment after their meeting but walked with [Chris] Bridges [Ludacris' legal name] to the elevator as he left." Nearly two months before Barack would tell the American people that he had decided to run for president, he was sounding out Ludacris. By that time Ludacris was already gutter trash with a long history of misogny. It got him kicked from the Jackson County Fair in 2003 -- three years prior to Barack's first known 'counseling' with Ludacris. That wouldn't stop Barack from praising him to Rolling Stone and bragging that he had Ludacris on his iPod. Presumably the feminist manifesto "Move Bitch"? Ludacris is in the news and a complete reflection on the gutter trash campaign Barack has run. And Barack's praised him as among the "great talents and great businessmen." [See Cedric's "Gutter Trash you can smell" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! THE LEADER TRIES TO CONTROL THE CULT!"] The Guardian of London has long been in the tank for Barack. They're a laugh and not real journalism. It's only on this side of the ocean that they're taken seriously. In England they're seen as the party organ for the Labour Party. So let's see how they lie. Ewen MacAskill 'informs' that: "Obama, seeking to become the first African-American president, was not helped by a song by the Grammy award-winning rapper Ludacris endorsing him and abusing McCain, George Bush and Clinton." To be clear, Rev. Jesse Jackson is disrespected in the song. In a rap song, that's not surprising. In one attempting to help out Ludacris' lover-man Barack, it's appalling. Way to pimp that 'unity.' The remark about John McCain would have people screaming if anyone had said it about Barack. But what does Ewen Pig leave out? Hillary.
Laura Yao (Washington Post) explained it this way, "On YouTube yesterday, rapper Ludacris released a song called 'Politics,' in which he denigrates President Bush, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) -- all in the space of about two minutes. . . In the next line, the three-time Grammy Award winner calls Clinton an 'irreleveant [slur for female]'." It's a campaign song for Barack and it's recorded by the man Barack's not only praised but sought out for 'counsel' since November 2006. What was Barack's response? As usual NOT A DAMN WORD. His campaign flack was sent out. A detail Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) and many others fail to grasp. Barack's not condemned a thing. Feminist Wire Daily finally decides they can call out sexism. Of course, they fail to connect it to Bernie Mac's sexist routine at Barack's campaign event earlier this year which led to boos and heckling -- and to Barack finding it so delightful, he had to 'joke' too. WomenCount PAC (which FWD doesn't even think to link to) "is calling for an apology as well as a blanket condemnation by the Party leadership. . . . These lyrics are outrageous, offensive, and unacceptable. In an e-mail this afternoon to its membership, WomenCount states, 'It is another example of hateful, sexist language being used on the campaign trail, and now is our moment to make it clear: not on our watch! The leadership of both parties must step up to condemn such hateful speech and demand apologies. The Obama campaign has criticized the lyrics, but we call on the presumptive party nominee, who is the celebrated subject of the new song, to go even further: Publicly condemn the song. Demand an apology on behalf of the targets. Now." Now? And where our the little girls of NOW? The same useless 'leadership' that could insist The New Yorker DESTROY copies of their magazine bound for overseas (while ignoring the Bernie Mac event) can't seem to say a DAMN THING. Did Kim sleep in this morning? If you're missing it, check the news coverage and note how ha-ha and 'minor' this is being treated. CBS News online? Could Scott Conroy explain how calling Hillary a "bitch" doesn't strike him as "harsh"? Are our 'leaders' going to stay silent again? Are they going to betray women again? And when does CBS plan to public respond to what they allowed online? As Ava and I noted in "CBS 'cares' enough to promote sexism," the network's news site shut down comments on Barack stories when they felt racist comments were being left ("too many" was actually how it was worded -- apparently CBS will accept an undefined number of racist comments) but they didn't do a damn thing about the sexism and, in fact, their online policy does not even name sexism as being off limits. It does name comparisons to Hitler off limits (no surprise after CBS' problems with the mini-series earlier this decade) but they waived that rule repeatedly to allow Barack's gutter trash to post that Hillary was Hitler. Feminist leaders, if they're really leaders, will get off their asses and call this out because we don't need you as leaders if you don't. Women have been trashed -- this isn't just about Hillary -- non-stop for months now. Leaders either show they can lead or face the threats of boycotts that are already rumbling in the grassroots. (If a boycott is called, Ava and I will do our part to get the word out on it when we speak to women's groups.)

Ralph Nader is running for president. Doug G. Ware (KUTV) notes that Nader speaks tonight to a group at the University of Utah and that the former mayor of Salt Lake City (and Nation magazine cover boy) Rocky Anderson will introduce him.

Team Nader notes:

We're up against it here in Ralph's home state --- Connecticut.
I'm Ken Krayeske, the state coordinator, and I promised Ralph I would get him on the ballot here.
We have only 7,000 signatures in hand. And we need to get to 15,000 in five days.
We have 30 to 40 people on the ground collecting in Connecticut and we need to pay for their gas, transportation, copying costs.
You get the picture.
To do that, we need your donations now -- $10, $20, $50, $100 -- whatever you can afford.
Why are we busting it so hard every day to get Ralph on the ballot here?
Because it's not just about Ralph.
It's about you and me and a young man named Derek O'Kanos. (Check out Derek's short video here about why he likes Ralph --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfltpogno6c)
Last Friday, Derek phoned me.
"I want to help petition," he said.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"Sixteen," he said.
"Wow! That's fantastic, but you need an adult to help you out, because you have to be a registered voter," I said. "But before we get into logistics, I don't often get calls from 16-year-olds. Can you tell me how you know about Ralph?"
"Two years ago, Mr. Nader came to my high school," Derek said.
"What school is that?" I asked.
"Enrico Fermi in Enfield," Derek said.
"No way," I said. "I helped organize that. There was a standing room only crowd. What did you think of Ralph's speech?"
"I didn't see it," Derek said. "I was a freshman, and I was in World History class, and my class didn't go. I guess they thought that Ralph didn't fit with world history."
"Bummer," I said.
"Yeah, but I've been interested in Mr. Nader since then, reading about him, and I want to help him," Derek said.
So we discussed strategies for him to convince adults in his life to go out and petition with him.
Derek recruited his uncle's girlfriend to transport him and witness signatures at grocery stores.
Next, he corralled his grandfather to drive him around neighborhoods in suburban northern Connecticut. (Above is a photo of Derek and his grandfather)
Shortly after, I got this email from Derek:
"Today was truly amazing. No more than a few days ago I felt an overwhelming feeling of worthlessness. I felt that there was nothing that I could do due to my age and transportation issue. Then we talked and I went out and did something. I truly felt like I was a part of something, that I was making history. I could have volunteered for many other political campaigns, but it was the Nader/Gonzalez campaign that truly inspired me. I can openly support every policy of the campaign and sleep at night. This is a campaign that puts national interest before personal interest. We the people -- not for sale! Gives me chills. It is truly amazing to see an entire organization of everyday people working towards one beautiful common goal and putting power back into the hands of the people."
Let's not let Ralph, Derek and all our supporters down in Connecticut.
Donate now whatever you can afford.
Hit the contribute button.
Together, we are making a difference --- in Ralph's home state and beyond.
Onward

Other news. Republican US Senator Ted Stevens is in the news (due to his indictment). NOW on PBS earlier probed the story of that corruption. BIll Moyers Journal have been exploring Capitol Crimes and this Friday on the program will explore the continuation of thes Capitol Crimes:

Like the largesse he spread so bountifully to members of Congress and the White House staff -- countless fancy meals, skybox tickets to basketball games and U2 concerts, golfing sprees in Scotland -- Jack Abramoff is the gift that keeps on giving.The notorious lobbyist and his cohorts (including conservatives Tom Delay, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed) shook down Native American tribal councils and other clients for tens of millions of dollars, buying influence via a coalition of equally corrupt government officials and cronies dedicated to dismantling government by selling it off, making massive profits as they tore the principles of a representative democracy to shreds.



iraq
john vandiver
mcclatchy newspapersleila fadel
the new york times
sabrina tavernise
alexandra zavisthe los angeles timesthe new york timesalissa j. rubinsteve myers lee

Dee Knight, Ralph Nader

Hump day, hump day! But it feels like a Friday! That's the great thing about vacations. :D

It really feels like summer and that's kind of weird because my college days will be winding down soon. :( I guess I'll be an old man. My oldest brother says I will really miss it when it's over. He says it will be really hard to find people you can talk to. He says it's like 3 out of 20 people you talk to will pay attention to the news and 2 of them will just follow the local crime report. I hope that's not true. I'm not calling him a liar, I'm just saying I hope that's not the case. He has a degree and a professional job, though. So if that's what he encounters it may be the norm.

This is Dee Knight's "Military resister's father calls him 'a hero'" (Workers World):

When James Burmeister was court martialed last week, he was sentenced to six months in the stockade and a Bad Conduct Discharge. "I feel like the case was used as an example to other soldiers," his father told Workers World. "Not only will you get punished, but your loved ones will be too."

"They attacked James as more of a sociopath than a patriot," said Erich Burmeister. "They hammered on the point of his going AWOL and leaving his unit in great danger. They painted him as a coward."

"I think my son is a hero," Erich continued. "There are many Iraqis who were not killed because of what he did, and many GIs whose lives were saved because of it. He made a tremendous service to his country by standing up and bearing witness to the ‘bait-and-kill’ war crimes."

After James went AWOL he exposed this program, in which U.S. sniper teams leave "bait" to lure Iraqis and then kill them. When he denounced the program, it turned into a media scandal. (See "U.S. aims to lure insurgents with 'bait,'" Washington Post, Sept. 24, 2007.)

Being on a military base "unnerved me and my wife," Erich said. "In hindsight it was the perfect 'good cop-bad cop' thing, played to perfection."

Between the JAG lawyer the Army assigned, and the prosecution, Erich said, "They really had me convinced that the best strategy for [James] was to plead guilty. We took the bait and got our butts kicked." He said their JAG attorney "was rotten. Had we been able to afford good civilian legal defense, we could have pursued more options. I wish we had done it."

Speaking of James, Erich said, "The amazing thing is he is taking it better than those of us who love him so much. He's very strong. He told us, 'Understand this, anything the Army can do to me can't be as bad as being in Baghdad doing what they wanted me to do.' He's relieved not to have a gun in his hand anymore. That's what he cares about.

"Once he had achieved his goal, making the public aware of 'bait and kill,' he was prepared to turn himself back in. He's strong, and I'm sure he'll do okay. He didn't seem to be as troubled by it as we were. We're hoping he'll stay that way and will be with us soon."

Supporters can write to James Burmeister at Box A, Fort Knox, KY 40121.

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I wanted to highlight that because there has been so much going on with war resistance and I really liked that article. You should already know who James Burmeister is, but if you don't, the article pretty much covers it. I'm really glad that his parents (his mother is Helen) stood by him and stood up for him. Not every war resister gets that.

Things really started getting active at the end of June. I know Courage to Resist had two interviews (audio) with war resisters that C.I. had to put on hold in terms of highlighting because there was just so much going on. And then today, there was another interview. (C.I.'s not ignoring the other two and will grab them in a bit. The plan was for one today but then there was the new one so that other two got put on hold.) Courage to Resist has a lot of great stuff. And check out their store because they've got some cool stuff there too.

Okay, remember that Juan Gonzalez is hosting Democracy Now! all week solo. I'm grabbing three headlines from today's broadcast.

"Air Force Begins Using Reaper Hunter-Killer Drone in Iraq:"
In Iraq, the US Air Force has begun flying missions with a new unmanned fighter drone known as the Reaper that is designed to carry out so-called hunter-killer missions. The remote-controlled Reaper is a larger and more lethal version of the Predator drone. It carries a mix of 500-pound bombs and Hellfire missiles as well as high-tech video surveillance equipment. The US has reportedly more than doubled the number of unmanned hunter-killer drones operating in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past year.

I know what Elaine's writing on this and she really says it all so check her out. (We're all blogging together to knock out our post so we can head out.)

"Ex-Pentagon Adviser Richard Perle to Invest in Iraq Oil Deals:"

The Wall Street Journal reports one of the most prominent advocates of the invasion of Iraq is now exploring investing in Iraqi oil fields. Former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle is reportedly part of a team discussing a possible oil deal with officials of the Kurdistan regional government. Perle was chair of the Defense Policy Board in the lead-up to the Iraq war. He is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute think tank.

You really have to wonder about some people. How did Richard Pearle manage to get through life without any sense of shame? Most of us have it. Richard Pearle should have it and then some. But somehow he's convinced he's so wonderful and doesn't give a damn that the rest of the world sees him as a greedy, disgusting War Hawk. It wasn't enough that he helped start an illegal war that's killed over a million Iraqis and over 4,000 Americans, it wasn't enough that this illegal war has created non-stop debts here and reduced Iraq to rubble and Bremer walls. Now he's got this idea that he needs to really cash in big time. He really is disgusting.

"UK: No One Will Be Prosecuted for Killing of Journalist Terry Lloyd:"
In other Iraq news, the British government has announced there will be no prosecutions over the death of journalist Terry Lloyd, despite an investigation that blamed US troops. Terry Lloyd was shot dead in Iraq in March 2003 along with a French cameraman and an Iraqi interpreter. Two years ago, a British coroner ruled that US troops should be prosecuted for the unlawful killing of Lloyd, who was a well-known foreign correspondent for the British television network ITN. The coroner ruled that Lloyd was shot in the back by Iraqi soldiers. Then, as he was being driven to a hospital in a civilian minivan, Lloyd was shot in the head by US troops.

It's okay to kill reporters. That's one of the 'lessons' of this illegal war. You can kill them, you can wound them and you're never responsible. In fact, you'll be blamed. People will show up to say, "Well they shouldn't have been there." Reporters belong in a war, they're supposed to be the unbiased eyes for the world. Instead, they're the targets and it's become really obvious that the US command is not at all troubled when a journalist is killed.



Now for Team Nader:

Join an invite-only call with Ralph and Matt
Posted by Jason Kafoury on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 01:51:00 PM
ShareThisShareThis
Dear supporter,
We've just finished another hectic day here in the D.C. office and I wanted to dash off a quick udpate about the "Dinner with Ralph" e-mail contest. The whole team (including Ralph, who came up with the idea!) is blown away to see so many people sign-up as contestants, and even more as participants and supporters.
Over the last five days, over 200 of our supporters have reached out to more than 10,000 of their friends -- clearly there's nothing like a little of the good ol' competitive spirit!
So -- quickly -- I want to remind you that it's not to late to participate in the contest. The contest doesn't end until August 7th, so there's lots of time left to win dinner with Ralph, or Matt, or to win one of the many other prizes that are available.
And, we've just added two new prizes:
For anyone who enters and recruits at least five friends: take part in an invitation-only conference call with Ralph and Matt. That's right -- just recruit five friends to join our movement and you're in on the conference call, and a chance to ask your questions to Matt or Ralph.
And, if you recruit 20 friends to join our "people fighting back" campaign: your choice of a t-shirt from our Web store (and we have lots of new designs on the way). People who reach 25 friends will get a t-shirt and a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Reach out to friends. Win prizes. It's really that easy. And we make it even easier by providing a way for you to invite up to 30 friends at a time from your address book -- you can go back and invite more friends as often as you'd like.
The people who are currently in the lead -- Ramy Mousa of Baton Rouge, LA; Anna Chambers of Fort Payne, AL; Scott Keddy of Cambridge, MA -- all got there in just five days. Not only is there enough time to catch up, but with over 10 days left in the contest, there's time to be queen (of king) of the hill. (The contest leader board is one of the most popular pages on our site right now!)
We really need more people to get in on the competition. Why? Because this is our chance to reach out beyond "the choir" and to speak to the people you know who may not even be aware of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign. They may not realize that Nader/Gonzalez is ready to stand up for the issues that matter in this election; issues like single payer health care, reversal of U.S. policy in the Middle East, and military withdrawal from Iraq. These are issues that need to be on the table this year.
That's about it for today. Remember:
It's not too late to enter the contest
Anyone who recruits at least five friends wins
There's lots of time left (contest ends on August 7th -- that's 10 days away!)
The current contest leaders got there in JUST FIVE DAYS
We want more people to participate so our message can reach beyond the choir
Onward,
Jason.
-- Jason Kafoury, National Coordinator Nader for President 2008 P.O. Box 34103 Washington, D.C. 20043 http://www.votenader.org/
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So if you just sign up five people, you can participate in the conference call. If you can sign up more, you get more chances. I wonder when the conference call is? I also wonder if everybody I know is already signed up? There's a good reason to find out.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, Parliament takes their summer recess, a war resister tells his story, for-show actions continue in Iraq, a new report on waste in Iraq is released, and more.

Starting with war resistance. Alex Atamanenko is a Canadian MP from the New Democratic Party. He writes a letter to the editor of Arrow Lake News:

Tuesday, July 15th will go down as a black day in Canadian history. The first Iraqi War Resister from the American military was deported from Canada for refusing to fight in a war that Canada refused to get involved in, that the United Nations has called illegal, and that much of the world sees as an invasion of a sovereign country for oil resources. Robin Long, 25, was one of hundreds of U.S. men and women who have struggled with the decision to risk life-long separation from their families, friends and their country to stay in Canada. If they return to the U.S. they can face arrest, court martial, prison sentences, deployment to Iraq and being blacklisted from employment and education opportunities for the rest of their lives. Many of these youth have been targeted by an 'economic draft', a US recruitment effort that targets the poor with offers of employment, health care for family members, higher education and more if they sign up. These promises are not always kept. Our country has a history once known for peacekeeping, for the art of diplomatic negotiation, for refuge in times of war, for welcoming conscientious objectors like the Mennonites, the Quakers, the Doukhobors, and the Vietnam draft dodgers. These immigrants have made huge contributions to the life of their communities and to our country. Prime Minister Harper's Conservative government chose to direct the deportation of Mr. Long DESPITE the June 3rd House of Commons vote in favour of a resolution introduced by my colleague, Olivia Chow, Federal NDP Immigration Critic. This motion called on our Government to cease any removal or deportation actions against conscientious objectors who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the UN. It called for the government to immediately set up programs to allow their application for permanent residency status, so that they can remain in Canada. Further, on June 27th Angus Reid released a poll showing that 64% of Canadians believe that US War Resisters should be allowed to stay in Canada, re-enforcing the fact that the vote in Parliament was reflecting the will of the Canadian people.On July 4th the Federal Court of Canada acted, and ruled that war resister Joshua Key should have his denied refugee claim reviewed by the Refugee Board of Canada. The court found that someone who refuses to take part in military action which "systematically degrades, abuses or humiliates" combatants or non-combatants might qualify as a refugee. On July 9th, the Federal Court further ruled that war resister Corey Glass's order for deportation the next day should be stayed for an indefinite period of time.The Canadian people and the Parliament of Canada have spoken. I call upon Minister Day, Minister Finley and Prime Minister Harper to respect the will of Parliament and the Canadian people and to stand up to President Bush to ensure that American soldiers who oppose that war receive a welcome in Canada.Alex Atamanenko, MP BC Southern Interior

And, of course, "draft dodgers" and "deserters" were both welcomed into Canada during Vietnam. On Robin Long, the War Resisters Support Campaign states:

Against the wishes of Canadians and Canada's Parliament, the federal government deported U.S. Iraq war resister Robin Long to the United States, where he faces punishment for refusing to participate in the Iraq War. Robin is currently being held at Fort Carson, Colorado. People can send letters of support to Robin at the following address: Robin Long, CJC 2739 East Las Vegas Colorado Springs, Colorado USA 80906 Robin is allowed to receive hand or type-written letters. They must not include anything like drawings made with markers, lipstick, crayons, stickers etc. or print articles. There can be no enclosures, with the exception of standard size photographs (ie. up to 4x6 inches). These must be printed at a photo developing place (i.e. not photocopies, or from a home printer, or Polaroids), and there must be LESS than ten photos, otherwise they will get put in lockup with his personal belongings and he won't see them. The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do.

War resisters in Canada need your help. To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/mc/compose?to=pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."

Thank goodness for The Canadian Press. Were it not for their article, the CBC, the Welland Tribune, the Globe and Mail and the Buffalo News (among others) might have blank spaces. Instead, all work from the same TCP article to tell you that Deltona, Florida's 23-year-old Tyrone Pachauer was arrested by US Customs and Border officers as he attempted to enter the US following a self-checkout while on leave (December 19th through January 1st). He was reportedly living with relatives in Brampton, Ontario while AWOL. Precious Yutango (Toronto Star) is the only one filing a report and cites US Customs and Border Protection's Kevin Corsaro stating, "Supposedly, he had left boot camp in December for Christmas break. I guess he decided he didn't want to be in the army anymore so he fled to Brampton." Meanwhile AP reports Casey Anne Hardt (18-years-old, from Chiloquin, Oregon) was arrested in . . . Louisiana -- which may hold the record for the most arrests of AWOLs during the Iraq War. She was arrested at a traffic stop in Bossier City (right next to Shreveport). AP states she had a desertion warrant and was now awaiting "extradition to Fort Leonard Wood", MO.

Courage to Resist speaks with Michael Thurman (audio interview) about how he signed up, at seventeen-years-old, for the delayed entry program in 2005 while in high school, "I was really interested in aviation and having a career in aviation. . . . One day the air force recruiter came to school and I was talking to her about joining the military as an air force maintenance technician and eventually working to become a pilot." He described himself at that time as "indifferent," "young," "motivated by self-interests" and in "a conservative right-wing household."

In his senior year he "found some new friends" who provided him with "more of a liberal lean towards politics. So I started seeing it through those eyes and that's when I started becoming a little discontent with the war and the government. . . . But I was still ready to go."

Thurman was then sent to Lackland Air Force Base for basic training where, "I just questioned a lot of things I was being taught." In one class the training was videos of violence -- people being shot, people being blown up -- which led Thurman to questioning. As did "one of the chants was about killing people" which all indicated that "it just seemed like a really hateful, angry situation I didn't want to be in."

Michael Thurman: I didn't really want to be part of killing people but I was already in and I didn't really have a choice so I just advanced and kept telling myself it might get better. So I went through tech school with that . . . with that kind of -- I was a little bit angry about my situation and I got depressed about it a lot. And from there -- It was actually during tech school that I started studying a lot of Eastern philosophy and thought and Buddhism and Taoism and that kind of changed my perspective in a spiritual way towards humanity and towards existence. So . . . I guess I could say at that point I could say I was totally opposed to the situation I was in.

Eventually, he ended up at Beale Air Force Base:

Michael Thurman: I started working out on the flight lines. And every day I was out there I just thought of all the indirect killing I was contributing to and I just couldn't take it anymore. So one day I told my supervisor that I didn't agree with any of it and I didn't want to be in the military anymore. And I told him, if there was any way I could get out, I'd like to get out. They took me off of flight run. He's actually the one who told me about consientious objector. I actually didn't know about the term until I was introduced to it by him. So I looked into it and I read down the criteria and I thought, "Wow, yeah, this is what I am, this is what I'm going to apply for so I can get out of the military." So I applied for consientious. objector status and it took me a long time to it was a really arduous process. They put me in -- they put me in the office. They took me off of flight line and put me in an office. And I was just doing personnel work just pushing paper and filing. I was like a file clerk and that sort of stuff which I was still contributing to it. So every day that I was in, I was in constant turmoil about even the little, the little stuff -- like mopping or taking out the trash. It still contributed to this huge system that I was totally opposed to being.

Courage to Resist: So from the time you first asked to get out until you were discharged, how long was it?

Michael Thurman: It took a very long time, eight months for me to get discharged by the time I applied for conscientious objector status. What happened was, when I applied I had to write a huge paper about what I believe and how it came to be and why I couldn't contribute to war anymore. And at that point, I had to talk to a psychiatrist to make sure I was still sane. I guess they thought I might have been crazy . . . I talked to a lawyer at the legal office and she's actually the one that processed all my legal stuff and determined whether or not I was actually a cons obj and she recommended me to my base commander and it basically went up the chain of command so that's why it took a long time. Oh and I also had to talk to a chaplain and the chaplain gave me a report about my religious and spiritual beliefs. And, so yeah, from that, from those interviews it goes to legal office on base and then it just goes up the chain of command. And it went all the way up to the Secretary of the Air Force and it took eight months for that to happen.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

In the US today, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstuction issued a report. Stuart Bowen Jr. issued a note to the report [PDF format warning] explaining, "The United States has now appropriated more than $50 billion in taxpayer dollars for Iraq's reconstruction." The report notes its basis is "seven new audit products" between May 1st and June 30th of this year. The US has outsourced and done so badly if that's not redundant. As is well known, the US government has provided no oversight. Most recently, Dana Hedgpeth and Amit R. Paley (Washington Post) reported Monday on a finding from the Officie of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, "The U.S. government paid a California contractor $142 million to build prisons, fire stations and police facilities in Iraq that is has nver built or finished". The report released today notes these oversight problems on the part of the US government:

* Inappropriate payment of award fees.
* Insufficiently defined scope of work.
* Inadequate preparation of detailed and independent cost estimates.
* Not initiating timely action to close out task orders.

Of course a key problem was the awarding of no-bid contracts on what appears to be a crony system. Parsons is always in the news . . . when it comes to corruption. The report is not different and notes Parsons re: fire houses, "SIGIR reviewed the largest task order, Task Order 51, which called for Parsons to design and construct 21 fire stations in Anbar and Baghdad. Because of multiple delays and cost increases, the U.S. government reduced the number of stations to be constructed to 100. Later another fire station was eliminated before construction began because of land ownership issues, and a second was terminated for the convenience of the government after it was bombed twice during construction leaving nine. In 2006, Parsons completed the nine fire stations and transferred them to the GOI. The award fee paid to Parsons for wok on this tark order was $296,294 -- 23% of the total available award fee."

Parsons bills itself as "a leader in many diverse markets such as infrastructure, transportation, water, telecommunications, aviation, commerical, environmental, industrial manufacturing, education, healthcare, life scienes and homeland security." The company was formed in 1944 and moved to Pasadena in 1992 -- a move James F. McNulty instituted four years prior to be coming CEO and President of the company. McNulty is currently the Chair of the Board (and has been since 1998) and he joined Parsons upon retiring from the US army (Col.) in 1988. What a ride it's been for McNulty. Griff Witte (Washington Post) reported at the end of the 2006 that Parsons and McNulty felt under attack from Congress and McNulty was blaming others and that he "suggested the government needed to rethink its heavy dependence on the private sector for reconstruction, security and support in a combat environment. The comments are unusual for the leader of a firm that makes much of its money doing work for the government. Then again, few have been battered as badly as Parsons, an employee-owned, California-base compnay with a six-decade track record. Since the spring, when news of the stumbling health clinic program first broke, the company's preformance has been derided in the press and upt under the microscope at congressional hearings. At a hearing in September, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) spoke of a $75 million police academy that Parsons was responsible for but that wend badly awry: 'This is the lens through which Iraqis will now see America. Incompetence. Profiteering. Arrogance. And human waste oozing out of ceilings as a result'." On a June 23, 2004 broadcast of PBS' NewsHour, Waxman called it what it was: "It is looked at as profiteering. And we shouldn't have that go on a time when we've got brave. American men and women who are facing the possibility of giving their lives to help the U.S. effort." McNulty rejected that and insisted that there was no way "we are somehow taking advantage of either the Iraqi people or our government." In January of last year, KCET's Life & Times was returning to the difference of opinions between Waxman and McNulty with Waxman arguing, "I don't think anybody ought to get paid and be able to keep the money if they didn't do what they were supposed to do. Then they found that the Iraqi subcontractors didn't do the work, so why should the United States taxpayers pay for that? We should get our money back." To which McNulty responded, "There is nothing wrong with our firm having made a profit on that work that we did over there in Iraq. It was legitimately earned. It was honestly earned and none of our employees nor our firm should feel the least bit bad about that." That 'honest' work that McNulty's so proud of is best evaluated by Jackie Northam (NPR) reporting in May of 2007: "Getting a definitive answer on the number of clinics completed by Parsons is not easy. Of the original 151 promised, the construction company says it handed over 20 fully equipped, completed health-care centers. The Army Corps of Engineers disputes that number, saying it received only six completed clinics. Some of those needed additional work, the Corps says."

The SIGIR report notes that "Iraq's oil revenues will crest $70 billion by the end of the year." meanwhile approximately $40 million in US tax dollars was wasted on a prison outside Baquba (Kahn Bani Sa'ad) which was turned over to the central government in Baghdad (to finish).This prison was a Parson's 'effort'. The report notes, "About $142 million was spent on various Parsons projects that were ultimately canceled or not completed, including Kahn Bani Sa'ad. The report notes Iraq's deputy prime minister (Barham Salih) stating, "Iraq does not need financial assistance." BBC explains, "This . . . meant the government was capable of fundign reconstruction projects itself. The report also criticised the Iraqi authorities for failing to improve sewage and drainage facilities. . . . Roger Hardy, the BBC's Middle East analyst, said the report was the latest in a string of criticisms by the watchdog of the way in which American taxpayers' money is being spent in Iraq" Click here for HTML folder containing links to the -- PDF format warning -- sections of the report. Peter Spiegel (Los Angeles Times) points out, "Democratic leaders in Congress are pushing the administration to pressure the Iraqi government to fund its own infrastructure projects through rising oil revenue."

Meanwhile, the pagentry of puppety . . . Diyala Province. Campbell Robertson (New York Times) reports, "Military officers, both Iraqi and Americans, said the insurgents had probably fled the are after news media reports that the sweep was to begin soon, though officials had been saying publicly that it would be likely to begin in early August." Alexandra Zavis (Los Angeles Times) explained, "Iraqi soldiers and national police encountered no resistance as they knock in Baqubah and the town of Khan Bani Saad, about 15 miles south. But this is well-trod ground for the Iraqi forces and their U.S. counterparts, who have conducted repeated operations in the area since last year." It's a for-show effort that (a) props up the puppet Nouri al-Maliki and (b) makes the war seem 'winnable.' In the real world, Reuters reports that Moqtada al-Sadr has "called on Iraq's leaders not to sign a security deal with the United States, offering to throw his support behind the government if the talks were scrapped." Iraq's parliament is out of session now (for one month); however, Reuters reports that Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has called a special session for Sunday to address the electoral issues.

In some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left three more wounded as well as "3 policemen and 4 civilians" injured.

Shootings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 police officer shot dead in Mosul and 1 judge shot (wounded not killed) in Mosul (as well as the judge's bodyguard).

Corpses?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Dora.

Turning to the US presidential race, Jonathan Duckles of Team Nader notes:

Last Friday on Capitol Hill, the House Judiciary Committee weighed in on "executive power and its constitutional limits" in an inconsequential discussion of King George's imperial presidency.
There would be no vote on impeachment, no discussion of the dereliction of Congressional duty, and no Ralph Nader.
Ralph Nader, who has long championed the necessity of impeachment for W's repeated, defiant high crimes and misdemeanors, was not invited to testify at the Rayburn Building on Friday morning. Writer DC Larson summed the situation up, proclaiming that the "Democrat-led Congress are as unconcerned about political justice as is any neo-con in Rupert Murdoch's Rolodex."
The Nader campaign was there to observe, along with hundreds of other concerned citizens, but couldn't crack the guest-list, despite a run-in with Ms. Kucinich . Only 16 individuals were granted admission into the hall to observe testimony from the following witnesses:
Panel I:
Hon. Dennis KucinichU.S. House of Representatives10th District, OH
Hon. Maurice HincheyU.S. House of Representatives22nd District, NY
Hon. Walter JonesU.S. House of Representatives3rd District, NC
Hon. Brad MillerU.S. House of Representatives13th District, NC
Panel II:
Hon. Elizabeth HoltzmanFormer U.S. House of Representatives16th District, NYDepartment of Justice
Hon. Bob BarrFormer U.S. House of RepresentativesU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement7th District, GA
Hon. Ross C. "Rocky" AndersonFounder and PresidentHigh Roads for Human Rights
Stephen PresserRaoul Berer Professor of Legal HistoryNorthwestern University School of Law
Bruce FeinAssociate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82Chairman, American Freedom Agenda
Vincent BugliosiAuthor and Former Los Angeles County Prosecutor
Jeremy A. RabkinProfessor of LawGeorge Mason University School of Law
Elliott AdamsPresident of the BoardVeterans for Peace
Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr.Senior CounselBrennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
Said Chairman John Conyers with regard to his committee's inaction, "we are not done yet, and we do not intend to go away until we achieve the accountability that Congress is entitled to and the American people deserve."
Let's hold Congress to this.
Let's reclaim the Constitution.
Let's start now.
Onward.

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