The Daily Show
Oct 29, 2008
They found Sarah Palin in the wild, taught her everything, and set her loose, but they forgot one thing: she couldn’t be contained.
Day: October 30, 2008
Obama: Change You Can Believe In–Not, Part 3: Israel and Iran
by Kellia Ramares
Speaking Truth to Power
Oct 28, 2008
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Israel and Iran: Which country comes foremost in US foreign policy, the United States or Israel? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. The Israeli-centric approach to US Middle East foreign policy, which is unfair to the Palestinians and dangerous to a United States dependent on foreign oil, will not change in an Obama Administration.
A Truth To Power Exclusive
To read Part One of this series CLICK HERE
To read Part Two of this series CLICK HERE
Visit Kellia’s “No Pitch” JOURNALISM BLOG
Which country comes foremost in US foreign policy, the United States or Israel? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. The Israeli-centric approach to US Middle East foreign policy, which is unfair to the Palestinians and dangerous to a United States dependent on foreign oil, will not change in an Obama Administration.
Which office is Obama running for?
On June 4, 2008, the day after Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, he spoke to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Here are some excerpts of that speech:
I want you to know that today I’ll be speaking from my heart and as a true friend of Israel. And I know that when I visit with AIPAC, I am among friends. Good Friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that they bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow, and forever.
… I was drawn to the belief that you could sustain a spiritual, emotional and cultural identity. And I deeply understood the Zionist idea – that there is always a homeland at the center of our story. … We know the establishment of Israel was just and necessary, rooted in centuries of struggle and decades of patient work. But 60 years later, we know that we cannot relent, we cannot yield, and as president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security….Those who threaten Israel threaten us. Israel has always faced these threats on the front lines. And I will bring to the White House an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security. … Let me be clear. Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper – but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.1
[…]
Understand that Zionism is a political philosophy and is not the same as Judaism, which is a religion. One does not have to be Jewish to be a Zionist. In fact, Christian Zionists are prominent as supporters of and elected officials from the Republican Party.3 Some Christian Zionists, particularly the Dispensationalists,–the late Rev. Jerry Falwell was one–want Israel to claim all of Palestine because they believe that this is a necessary precursor to the Second Coming of Christ.4 However, these Christian Zionists also believe that the Jews and all other non-Christians will be condemned on Judgment Day. So they don’t have any particular love for the Jewish people.
[…]
via Carolyn Baker – OBAMA: CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN–NOT!, Part 3, By Kellia Ramares
see
Obama: Change You Can Believe In–Not (Part 1: The Economy)
Obama: Change You Can Believe In–Not Part 2: Foreign Policy
Is Barack Obama a Socialist. or simply a centrist with integrity? By Paul A. Donovan
Twelve Reasons to Reject Obama and Support Nader/McKinney
Obama the Stalker by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Ralph Nader: I Accuse Barack Obama Of Antisemitism Against Arabs! + Defeating Corporate Control
Only Nader Has Pointed Out the Danger (AIPAC)
Obama’s speech at AIPAC (video; transcript) + Entire Speech (updated)
Stewart Speaks the Truth About Presidential Pandering to Israel!
Barack Obama’s Commercial
American Stories, American Solutions: 30 Minute Special
Vodpod videos no longer available.
more about “American Stories, American Solutions:…“, posted with vodpod
see
What’s wrong with redistributing the wealth? by Alan Maass
Neil Cavuto on why McCain is a loser
Obama the Stalker by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Is Barack Obama a Socialist. or simply a centrist with integrity? By Paul A. Donovan
The Post-Election Struggle to Come by Glen Ford
Countdown: Campaign Comment for “Joe the Plumber” + Matthews Responds to the Obamamercial
Presidential elections: planning for the worse By Roland Michel Tremblay
This Is The Lowest McCain Has Sunk Yet By Juan Cole + Campaign Comment (videos)
Updated: added Olbermann’s Campaign Comment; see below
By Juan Cole
ICH
October 30, 2008 “Juan Cole”
McCain Racism, Hypocrisy on Khalidi Issue
The increasingly sleazy John McCain, who once promised to run a clean campaign, has now attacked my friend Rashid Khalidi and attempted to use him against Barack Obama. Khalidi is an American scholar of Palestinian heritage, born in New York and educated at Yale and Oxford, who now teaches at Columbia University. He directed the Middle East Center at the University of Chicago for some time, and he and his family came to know the Obamas at that time. Knowing someone and agreeing with him on everything are not the same thing.
Scott Horton has a fine, informed and intelligent discussion of the issue.
I know it may seem a novel idea to people like McCain and Palin, but it would be worthwhile actually reading Khalidi’s book on the Palestinian struggle for statehood. (I urge bloggers interested in this issue to link to his book, which the American reading public should know).
At the least, read a whole essay Khalidi has written.
Far from being a knee-jerk nationalist, Khalidi has been critical of the decisions of the Palestinian leadership at key junctures in modern history.
Charlie Rose – Rashid Khalidi / Antonia Fraser
CharlieRose
August 26, 2007
Segment 1: Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi discusses his book “The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood”.
Segment 2: Antonia Fraser, author of “Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King”.
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What’s wrong with redistributing the wealth? by Alan Maass
by Alan Maass
SocialistWorker.org
October 28, 2008
John McCain says Americans should be worried that Barack Obama wants to “spread the wealth around.” And why is that a bad idea, asks Alan Maass?
A SPECTER is haunting America. Or at least haunting the fevered brains of John McCain and his fellow Republicans.
It’s the specter of “socialism,” in the form of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his alleged determination to “spread the wealth around.”
It comes as a little bit of a surprise to us here at SocialistWorker.org that Barack Obama is one of us, because we haven’t seen him at any of the meetings.
But Michelle Malkin is certain about it. “There’s no question,” the right-wing commentator declared, “that Barack Obama has been steeped in and marinated with the socialist ethos.” Talk radio host Glenn Beck fumed, “I believe there’s a socialist agenda there for America.”
Adds one-time contender for the Republican presidential nomination Mike Huckabee: “When you punish people for making more money, and you reward them for nothing, that is socialism. And that’s a terrible, terrible way for this country to move.”
So what is this national tragedy in the making? The McCain campaign (including its new national mascot, Joe the Plumber) is irate about Obama’s proposal to rescind tax cuts enacted under George Bush for households with an adjusted gross income of $250,000 and over–the richest 2.3 percent of U.S. taxpayers, according to Citizens for Tax Justice.
Neil Cavuto on why McCain is a loser
John McCain Is A Loser
Don’t take my word for it. Ask Neil Cavuto for his opinion:
Obama the Stalker, by Joel S. Hirschhorn
by Joel S. Hirschhorn
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
www.foavc.org
October 30, 2008
No presidential candidate has ever used massive amounts of money to so effectively stalk voters. You cannot escape the Obama sales pitch wherever you are, whatever you watch, whatever you read. His campaign will go down in American history as the most successful advertising and marketing effort to sell a product.
Mosaic News – 10/29/08: World News from the Middle East
Warning
.
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Mosaic needs your help! Donate here: http://linktv.org/contribute
“International Activists’ Boat Arrives in Gaza,” Al Jazeera TV, Qatar
“Jewish Extremists Can Demonstrate in Arab Villages,” IBA TV, Israel
“A Message to Nasrallah,” Syria TV, Syria
“Iraqis Divided Over Security Agreement,” Abu Dhabi TV, UAE
“160 Killed in Earthquake in Pakistan,” Dubai TV, UAE
“Talking to the Taliban,” Saudi TV, Saudi Arabia
“Kuwaiti Parliament in Crisis,” Al Arabiya TV, UAE
“Pakistan Faces Bankruptcy,” Dubai TV, UAE
“Women Taxi Drivers in Tehran,” Al-Alam TV, Iran
Produced for Link TV by Jamal Dajani.
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Dr. J.’s Short Takes: Negative Advertising v. Negative Advertising, On to ACORN, Kristol v. Kristol
by Steven Jonas, MD
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Buzzflash.com
October 30, 2008
Negative Advertising v. Negative Advertising
As we enter the last week of the presidential election campaign, much has been made and much continues to be made of “negative campaigning.” The mainstream media makes much of the issue, even though it has a long-standing tradition in American politics going back to the early 19th century. But I’m confused. The MSM’s usual take on what’s going on is “a plague on both your houses,” as if both campaigns were engaging in the same kind of campaigning that can described as “negative.” So the McCain campaign says Sen. Obama is a “socialist” while the Obama campaign says that Sen. McCain voted for Bush policies 90% of the time. Sarah Palin says that Sen. Obama has been “pallin’ around with terrorists,” while Sen. Obama points out that Sen. McCain’s proposed tax cuts benefit only the wealthy. A McCain Minnesota robo-call, which ends with the statement “this call as approved by the Republican National Committee and Sen. John McCain” says that Sen. Obama was a “close associate of the terrorist [Prof. William] Ayers,” (demonstrably untrue) while Sen. Obama points out that Sen. McCain is on record as proposing to appoint Supreme Court justices who would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Somehow I don’t see these two kinds of ads as comparable. McCain/Palin attack Obama with half-truths, fully un-truths and character assassination (while letting people at their rallies scream death threats with very infrequent comments from the podium). Obama attacks McCain on policy issues and yes, sometimes does use the word “erratic,” one that many Republicans have used to describe his behavior during the campaign. Since McCain has made “suitability for the office” a campaign issue (and with his choice of Palin it surely is), it would seem that “erratic” is a word hardly in the same category as “terrorist.” But I guess that I must have missed something. Because the MSM continue to tell us that this is a negative campaign and that both sides have contributed equally to the negativity.
On to ACORN
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (now that’s a scary name, isn’t it?), has become the whipping boy for the Republican Party and their media hacks as they maneuver to find a cover for their obvious attempts to suppress Democratic votes once again and once again steal the election (as they did in 2000 and 2004). Actually, if you listen to the Fox “News” Channel, otherwise known as the Voice of The Republican National Committee (and I do, along with listening to Limbaugh and Hannity in admittedly small doses — gotta know what the Republican Radical Right is really saying), you would think that their role in registering voters is one of the top ones in this campaign, if not THE top one.
First the Republican Scream Machine, as with the Fannie and Freddie fiction, led by Hannity and the self-same Fox “News” Channel. Then, again, McCain-as-echo-chamber himself in that last debate. “ACORN is fraudulently registering voters.” We are going to hear this right up to Election Day, and very likely well after it, for the Republicans seem to be gearing up, gearing way up, to try to steal yet another election. The problem with this one is that ACORN does not register voters. Only election boards do that. ACORN simply circulates forms and submits the filled-out ones to the local Boards of Elections, which then make their decision on the qualification of the applicant in each individual case.
Yes, some of their overzealous workers (overzealous for a variety of reasons, for they do get paid by the piece) have submitted or attempted to submitted fake forms. But: A) state laws require ACORN to submit every form they collect, B) ACORN itself flagged all of those forms they determined to be even possibly fake, and C) ACORN has fired workers caught doing the wrong thing.
Again, Obama chose not to bring this one up in that last debate, or since. The obvious strategy, which has been there since the beginning against HR Clinton and all her charges of “inexperienced” and “questionable character” (Wright and Ayers), has been to stick to the issues, and in the debates to “look Presidential” by doing so. So far it is working. Let’s hope that it continues to do so, through Election Day and with enough votes, both total and in the key states, to overcome the Republican Election Theft Machine, now obviously operating at full throttle.
Kristol v. Kristol
Bill Kristol has had a major influence on this presidential campaign. He was one of the Right-Wingers who discovered Palin on a political vacation in that neighbor of Russia – Alaska — in 2007. In his Sept. 29, 2008 column in The New York Times, Kristol laid out just how McCain could win. By doing things such as hustling back to Washington for the first meeting on the “bailout” (in which he apparently sat there and said nothing of significance — anyway how could he? He knows little about economics by his own admission); “liberate” his running mate; reintroduce the Rev. Wright to the conversation; and go on the all-out attack against Obama as an all-out “liberal.” This was all to be managed by McCain’s great campaign leaders, Rick Davis and Steve “Bullet Head” Schmidt.
Then comes Kristol on October 13, 2008, in The Times. “Fire the Campaign,” the headline read. McCain and Palin should go back to being their “cheerful” selves (not there is any public evidence that either is very cheerful, even though Palin smiles a lot. There is the real danger, heaven forefend, of a Democratic Presidency AND a Democratic Congress (which Republican operatives such as David Frum said over a week ago on the Rachel Maddow show, where he made a complete fool of himself). Seems to me that Republicans didn’t fuss about that issue for the first six years of this decade, but you know, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Boy I tell you, ol’ Bill makes powerful (sic) arguments on both sides of the question.
Like McCain/Palin telling us in one breath all of the things they are going to do when they have control over the government to fix “what has been wrong with the last eight years,” in the next telling us that “all that has to be done for the American people is to get government out of their way,” and in the next reading from the Obama Agenda of things that need fixin’, such as health care and education (especially for special needs children) and the environment, all apparently at no cost because they are going to continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy while continuing on with the $12 billion per month Iraq War, until “victory” is achieved.
And then on Monday of this week, after two weeks of McCain/Palin burrowing further into the muck and obviously not taking his second set of advice but continuing on with his first set, Kristol is still at it (The New York Times, Oct. 27, 2008). “Remember the Marne (referring to a famous battle at the beginning of the First World War): A Battle Plan for John McCain.” There is no sign that McCain/Palin are going to start anytime soon just “being themselves,” in Bill’s current terms. Following his original recommendations, the real ones do seem to have come out already. It couldn’t be that Kristol is just trying to cover his behind so as to have some hope of still maintaining a modicum of influence in a Republican Party that is increasingly going in the direction of slime-all-the-time. Could it? Hey Bill, that’s going to be tough. Maybe you had better go back to your first recommendation, real quick, before Coulter and Limbaugh and Hannity totally dominate the “it’s The Liberals” who are the cause of every single one of our country’s problems, and “Something will have to be done about Them” school of Republicanism.
Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY) and a www.TPJmagazine.us Contributing Author; a regular Columnist for BuzzFlash; a Special Contributing Editor for Cyrano’s Journal Online; a Contributing Columnist for the Project for the Old American Century, POAC; and a Featured Writer for Dandelion Salad https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/.
see
Jane Mayer on “The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin”
Is Barack Obama a Socialist. or simply a centrist with integrity? By Paul A. Donovan
Pre-election Thoughts, 2008 by Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
Dr. J.’s Short Takes: Palin; Campaign Racism; Guilt by Association; David Brooks
Dr. J.’s Short Takes: Powell Endorsement, Fannie and Freddie, The Ayers Thing, continued
McGhosts and Ogoblins by Rosemary and Walter Brasch
Jane Mayer on “The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin”
Democracy Now!
Oct 29, 2008
Jane Mayer on “The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin”
Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has cast herself as an antidote to the elitist culture inside the Beltway. But a new article from New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer says Palin’s sudden rise to prominence owes more to members of the Washington elite than her rhetoric has suggested. [includes rush transcript]
via Democracy Now! | Jane Mayer on “The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin”
***
Part 1
Part 2
see
The Insiders: How John McCain Came to Pick Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin Interview with Brian Williams Day 3
McCain – Palin Interview with Brian Williams Day 2
Hardball: Williams/Todd Discuss the McCain/Palin Interview + Interview link
Daily Show: Palin was born in a small town, but she doesn’t shop in one
Is Barack Obama a Socialist, or simply a centrist with integrity? By Paul A. Donovan
by Paul Donovan
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Oct. 30, 2008
“It’s kind of hard to figure how Warren Buffett endorsed me, Colin Powell endorsed me, and John McCain thinks I’m socialist.”- Barack Obama
The Post-Election Struggle to Come by Glen Ford
by Glen Ford
blackagendareport.com
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
“Whatever [President] Barack Obama spends on people’s needs will take a back seat to propping up the corporate sector, and feeding the all-devouring military industrial complex.”
“All of Obama’s economic advisors, the ones that count, are steeped in the corporate culture: organized theft.”
The election is now upon us. Barring massive theft – and only a fool thinks the Republicans will not steal as massively as they possibly can – it appears Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. There is something that is much more certain than Obama’s election, and that is, that the current economic crisis will deepen, punctuated with increasingly frequent upheavals as the capitalist system convulses in the throes of insurmountable contradictions. And there is another certainty: that Barack Obama will respond to these convulsions as his corporate friends and backers demand. He will try to do something about rebuilding U.S. infrastructure, but not necessarily in ways that benefit the inner cities, and certainly not in ways that clash with corporate plans for urban America – plans that reserve little space for populations that presently live there. And whatever Barack Obama spends on people’s needs will take a back seat to propping up the corporate sector, and feeding the all-devouring military industrial complex.
We know this is true, because Obama has already shown it to be so. The bailout of Wall Street, which he embraced instantaneously, is but the first of many demands that will be made on the national treasury. All of Obama’s economic advisors, the ones that count, are steeped in the corporate culture: organized theft. They serve government in order to serve their class. Obama picked them, so there is no reason to doubt he will follow their advice. Which means every economic measure they undertake will be geared to corporate health, not popular welfare. They will build barricades to preserve what is left of the corporate order, but it will never be enough to withstand the shocks that are in store. And the people will wind up with little to nothing.
[…]
via blackagendareport.com – The Post-Election Struggle to Come
h/t: Jodda
see
The Trail of Broken Promises By Matt Gonzalez
Twelve Reasons to Reject Obama and Support Nader/McKinney
Change Big Donors Can Believe In By Amy Goodman
BBC wakes up to Georgian `war crimes`
The BBC says it has obtained evidence that the Georgian army may have committed war crimes during Augusts military offensive in South Ossetia. Britains flagship broadcaster heard testimonies during the first unrestricted visit to South Ossetia by a foreign news organisation since the conflict ended.
Don’t tell my mother I work at the White House. She thinks I play the piano in a whore house. by William Blum
by William Blum
Featured Writer, Dandelion Salad
Oct. 30, 2008
The Anti-Empire Report
Read this or George W. Bush will be president the rest of your life
Don’t tell my mother I work at the White House. She thinks I play the piano in a whore house.
Countdown: Campaign Comment for “Joe the Plumber” + Matthews Responds to the Obamamercial
Countdown
Oct 29, 2008
Keith has a campaign comment for “Joe the Plumber” who certainly looks like he’s putting his interests first before “country first” and who Keith reminds us is no longer an “average Joe” who’s not named Joe.
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Chris Matthews Responds to the Obamamercial
Following Obama’s 30 minute ad buy, Chris Matthews weighs in on what he thought of it. He looked like he was visibly moved by it.
Worst Person
And the winner is…Dennis Prager. Runners up an un-named Fox News spokesperson and Elizabeth Dole.
see
Twelve Reasons to Reject Obama and Support Nader/McKinney
Dandelion Salad 