Wizbang Blue

Right Wing Broadcasters Fear Any Return To The Fairness Doctrine

2008-07-05T16:29:18Z

Right wing broadcasters including those of the Religious Right have been campaigning against any possible return to the Fairness Doctrine which once allowed equal time for opposing views on controversial subjects. Many right wing broadcasters fear that many TV or radio stations will simply choose to drop their programs if the stations are forced to provide free equal time for opposing viewpoints at the expense of the station. Currently religious broadcaster, Evangelist Rod Parsley is airing a 30 minute special broadcast of his BREAKTHROUGH program attacking any return to the Fairness Doctrine. However, the only problem is that no one in the 110th Congress has even bothered to introduce any legislation to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine. Like many right wing issues, they create a huge hysteric uproar over some dead issue and invoke fear and raise a lot of donations. Parsley is currently asking for gifts of up to $1,000 from his listeners to fight this piece of legislation which no one has even introduced. And Parsley even claims that the next president could simply order a return to the Fairness Doctrine with a stroke of his pen, yet in all truth and honesty, Parsley has to know that this is not how law making in Washington works. A president is not some king would can issue unlimited executive orders on any issue they favor or support. The role of executive orders is of course very limited. Parsley is unfortunately much like many right wing broadcasters who have abused the public airwaves by making outrageous attacks on persons in the Gay community, played fast and loose with facts, used the airwaves to raise obscene amounts of money by using outrageous fear tactics, or blatantly misrepresented some controversial issues. It is just this sort of ethics that did influence Congressman Maurice Hinchey in the previous 109th Congress to attempt to revive the Fairness Doctrine, however the legislation went nowhere, largely because of negative Supreme Court decisions regarding the Fairness Doctrine since 1984, and the FCC officially ending any return to the Fairness Doctrine 1n 1987. With the major decisions against the Fairness Doctrine by both the Supreme Court and FCC, it is highly unlikely that it will ever become law ever again. Yet this doesn't prevent some like Parsley trading in fear about the Fairness Doctrine, especially when it makes another good reason to ask donors to send in $1,000. The right wing is often expert at creating some phony hysteria and then raising a lot of money with some absurd campaign against some phony bogeyman issue. However, it certainly looks like the Fairness Doctrine has actually been dead for quite some long time, and any attempt to revive it doomed to fail. Yet in the right wing world of creating fear and profiting from those fears, campaigning against some long dead issue seems good enough to ask for donations and to rule the airwaves by fear. Sometimes it seems like outside of ignorance and fear, many right wing broadcasters have very little to offer. But that's hardly any good reason to censor them. In a free society even the very worst of free speech should be able to exist without government controls. Most intelligent persons can see bad speech for the absurd self-parody mess it really is, and in the marketplace of ideas the worst some speech is, the worst it usually sells. This indeed proves that the marketplace seems to work better than government. Yet, you only have to scratch your head when some overweight prescription drug abuser like a Rush Limbaugh is handed a new $400 million dollar radio contract. The wisdom of the marketplace is good at discriminating between the good and the awful, but certainly not perfect at it. Some of what right wing broadcasters promote is ignorance, and some is just simply lies. And sometimes it would seem very good for some outrageous right wing broadcasters to allow for some equal time responses to some of their nonsense they peddle. Yet it doesn't seem like the American way for government to mandate it. Government's role regulating free speech needs to be as limited as possible. The freedom allowed under the 1st Amendment isn't always attractive, yet to limit free expression is always the worst possible option.

Stupid Bigot, Jesse Helms Dead At 86

2008-07-04T23:34:25Z

Certainly all right thinking persons regret the death of anyone. And best wishes to anyone in the Helms family need to be extended at this sorrowful time for them. However as a lawmaker, Helms was one of the very worst of any legislator ever. No bigger tool for the tobacco industry probably ever lived. And it didn't take much effort to pull some racist reaction out of this guy. If any legislation was socially backward and regressive, then you could trust that Helms was behind it. Helms shouldn't really be labeled as a conservative. There are a great many respectable conservatives. Helms was just a cheap bigot and a social regressive self-parody. Even fellow Republican Robert Dole called Helms "Senator No", because he was so difficult to deal with. Yet he was elected and re-elected to the Senate for many years for some unknown reason. Helms was even responsible for adding obscenity offenses onto the list of federal racketeering offenses which was both draconian and made no legal sense at all. How someone like a Helms can equate some comic like George Carlin, who was once arrested on obscenity charges for doing his "Seven Dirty Words" routine, with organized crime figures who traffic in drugs, murder for hire or loan sharking makes no sense at all. Under the draconian Helms bill, a person arrested for just two obscenity offenses can be charged under racketeering, which allows for a 20 year sentence as well as the government seizure of any property or proceeds connected with the supposed obscenity "crime". For example, if a record store sells just two copies of some controversial rap albums with explicit lyrics in some conservative community, then the record store owner can be sentenced to 20 years in prison as a racketeer, and his record store, home, car and any bank accounts can be seized by the government as proceeds of racketeer activity. If the Helms notion was to control free speech out of intimidation and fear, then it has only been a partial success. But still for anyone actually charged for such a free speech crime, it is only a tragic life destroying event and a total abuse of the criminal justice system. It has also been said that Helms once was caught whistling "Dixie' while in a Senate building elevator while he well knew that African American Senator Carol Moseley-Braun was in the car, which was an outrageous racist incident by a very ignorant man. Helms successfully fought off an African American senate challenger, Harvey Gantt, for a senate election with a clearly racist ad where it looked like Blacks were taking away White jobs. It was never below the dignity of Helms to stoop to the lowest possible standards. The man was simply a first class bastard. Helms was almost reason enough for many to become completely angry at all politics and throw away their voting card. I'd like to be able to say at least one good thing about Helms at this time. But I just can't think of anything good to say about him. He was the absolute worst. The voters of North Carolina were complete fools to ever elect him to any public office. In most U.S. states a guy like this wouldn't be elected dog catcher. Helms was ever so lucky to live in a state where his very limited intellectual and reasoning skills were deemed good enough to help him get elected U.S. senator in the first place.

Waterboarding: It was Done in Your Name

2008-07-03T22:10:28Z

Christopher Hitchens, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine, underwent waterboarding to experience it for himself firsthand.

What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist--not inflict--it.

Believe Me, It's Torture Here is the most chilling way I can find of stating the matter. Until recently, "waterboarding" was something that Americans did to other Americans. It was inflicted, and endured, by those members of the Special Forces who underwent the advanced form of training known as sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape). In these harsh exercises, brave men and women were introduced to the sorts of barbarism that they might expect to meet at the hands of a lawless foe who disregarded the Geneva Conventions. But it was something that Americans were being trained to resist, not to inflict. More here.

It was done in your name. Should the United States employ waterboarding as an aid in the interrogation of suspects?

We're Paying the Price for Republican Stupidity at the Pump

2008-07-03T15:16:34Z

Every day we Americans are paying more and more for gasoline, and in large part the price spikes we're seeing today are because of Republican stupidity. The price of oil continues to rise, not so much on supply and demand, but on the threat of a reduced supply as a result of instability in the Middle East... instability that we've created through the Republican bonehead move of invading and occupying Iraq. The Whack-A-Mole policy of Bush and McCain is not working, and the threat in Saudi Arabia underscores that completely (emphasis mine)

An attack -- or even an attempted attack -- by Islamic extremists on Saudi Arabia's oil sector would have disastrous consequences on the world market and the price per barrel, analysts warn. Of more than 700 people arrested in the course of the last six months in Saudi Arabia, dozens had been part of cells charged with preparing attacks against oil sites, according to authorities in Riyadh. With the price per barrel rising constantly and the capacity to increase global production almost non-existent, apart from in Saudi Arabia, the world market has never been so vulnerable to an offensive by Jihadists in the kingdom, they said.

McCain wants to Whack the Moles in Iraq for another 100 years, but they just pop up elsewhere -- threats such as those evident today in Saudi Arabia, spurred on by the instability and wrong-headed approach our nation took by invading and occupying Iraq, is driving up the price of oil and gasoline. An attack on Saudi oil facilities -- even if unsuccessful -- will have a catastrophic effect on the price we pay for oil. A successful attack that actually effects oil output will have an even greater effect. We're paying the price for Republican stupidity at the pump every day -- it's time for a change.

Swiftboating of Obama Grows Closer

2008-07-03T13:53:00Z

Speak of the devil and who should appear. Why it's the Republicans bearing lies, and hiding behind their smearing 527s:

A newly formed Arizona political group is challenging Barack Obama's presidential bid. Swift Boat Obama, based in Gilbert, [Arizona] is raising money to oppose the Illinois Democrat's White House bid. The Arizona group's name is similar to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which criticized 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's Vietnam War record. The local group contends Obama, a first-term U.S. senator who previously was a law professor and Illinois state senator, lacks the experience to be president. The Gilbert group is a 527 tax-exempt group formed to engage in political activities. Records show a Gilbert man, Eric Hurley, as its head. A slew of such groups -- including some representing labor unions, business interests and ideological interests -- are being established as the presidential battle between Obama and U.S. Sen. John McCain heats up.

From the Swift Boat Obama website:

The mission of Swift Boat Obama is simple, we believe the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth successfully presented factual information on Sen. John Kerry in 2004 to help show the American public how he was unfit to be President. That is why we have decided to use the name Swift Boat Obama, we believe that there is enough information on Senator Obama to prove that he is unfit to be President of the United States. We will make sure that we check the validity of all our claims, we want to wage a campaign against Senator Obama based on true and factual information rather than hollow claims. We want to make sure that in the end nobody can say that we smeared the Senator or played dirty political tricks, ultimately we want to make sure the public has the facts they need to make their decision on election day.

It should come as no surprise that their first order of business, the creation of a mission statement, finds the Swift Boat Obama folks already spreading lies.

"...we believe the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth successfully presented factual information on Sen. John Kerry in 2004 to help show the American public how he was unfit to be President."

In fact, the claims made by the Kerry Swift Boaters were found to be largely fabricated and misleading at best, and far from 'factual'. Many will correctly call them outright lies. This August 6, 2004 article from the independent, non-partisan website factcheck.org exposed the lies promulgated by Republican swift boaters in the 2004 election:

A group funded by the biggest Republican campaign donor in Texas began running an attack ad Aug. 5 in which former Swift Boat veterans claim Kerry lied to get one of his two decorations for bravery and two of his three purple hearts. But the veterans who accuse Kerry are contradicted by Kerry's former crewmen, and by Navy records. One of the accusers says he was on another boat "a few yards" away during the incident which won Kerry the Bronze Star, but the former Army lieutenant whom Kerry plucked from the water that day backs Kerry's account. In an Aug. 10 opinion piece in the conservative Wall Street Journal, Rassmann (a Republican himself) wrote that the ad was "launched by people without decency" who are "lying" and "should hang their heads in shame." And on Aug. 19, Navy records came to light also contradicting the accusers. One of the veterans who says Kerry wasn't under fire was himself awarded a Bronze Star for aiding others "in the face of enemy fire" during the same incident.

Republicans firmly believe that a lie, if repeated enough, becomes 'fact' - we only need to review George Bush's term of office as President for tons of proof in that regard, so it comes as no surprise that the liars on the right should adopt the same old strategy they've employed against Kerry in their attempts to stop Obama. In fact, they've already been busily lying for months now, using stealth email campaigns in an attempt to smear Obama. But the Obama campaign is ready to deal with the lying right wingers, unlike John Kerry - who waited weeks before responding to the attacks back in 2004. Not surprisingly, in the case of the 2004 attacks against Kerry ties were found that linked the 527s directly back to the Bush campaign:

Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family -- one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election. The strategy the veterans devised would ultimately paint John Kerry the war hero as John Kerry the ''baby killer'' and the fabricator of the events that resulted in his war medals. But on close examination, the accounts of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' prove to be riddled with inconsistencies. In many cases, material offered as proof by these veterans is undercut by official Navy records and the men's own statements.

Obama is prepared:

The Obama campaign launched a website to fight back against the right wing smear machine, aptly titled "Fight the Smears". At the top of their list today is the right wing meme, pushed hard on our sister site "Wizbang" (see here, here and here), which claims Michelle Obama used the term "Whitey" repeatedly in a videotape that was just minutes away from being released on the internet...

This rumor, which was picked up and spread like wildfire by the boogie men and women on the right (lol), turned out to a total fabrication. At this point, the only way John McCain will get elected is if the Republicans can lie and smear their way into the White House. Since that's their only option, we can expect them to fully exercise that option between now and November.

Bush/McCain Iraq Whack-A-Mole Continues

2008-07-03T00:02:34Z

Many of us on the left predicted this would happen, that once you whack the terrorist moles in Iraq, terrorism and insurgency will just pop up and/or increase someplace else. Sure enough, it's come true:

Grappling with a record death toll in an overshadowed war, President Bush promised Wednesday to send more U.S. troops into Afghanistan by year's end. He conceded that June was a "tough month," in fact, the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the war began. "One reason why there have been more deaths is because our troops are taking the fight to a tough enemy, an enemy who doesn't like our presence there because they don't like the idea of America denying safe haven (to terrorists)," Bush told reporters. "Of course there's going to be resistance." Bush said it was a tough month too for the Taliban. But the once-toppled Islamist regime in Afghanistan has now rebounded with deadly force. More U.S. and NATO troops have died in the past two months in Afghanistan than in Iraq, a place with triple the number of U.S. and coalition forces. In June, 28 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan. That was the highest monthly total of the entire war, which began in October 2001. For the full U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan the death toll was 46, also the highest of the war.

John McCain whole-heartedly embraces the same failed policies and approaches of the Bush administration, and is offering nothing new in the way of a thoughtful, reasoned approach to dealing with terrorism in general, and the Mid-East in particular. Update: I was asked in the comment thread what I thought was an alternative approach. Here's what I wrote... My suggestion is to put the hammer away -- it was a wrong-headed approach to deal with terrorism by invading and occupying Iraq in the first place. We then need to isolate the various terrorist groups, seek them out, and destroy them. By invading and occupying Iraq we've given the entire Muslim nation reasons to rise against us, all because Republicans crapped their pants after 9/11 and decided to fabricate lies about Hussein's ties to al-Qaeda in order to justify installing a military presence in the middle east to protect the interests of the oil companies. The perceived threat of economic ruin after 9/11was real, but the military response was 'over-the-top' stupid. The Saudis are currently fighting off terrorist efforts to attack their oil infrastructure -- so what have we accomplished? We've wasted Americans lives, spent billions -- and the threat to our oil-dependent economy is greater than ever. And staying in Iraq another 100 years won't change that. McCain is an idiot for suggesting this is like Korea -- in Korea we're protecting a border against military attack and invasion. Staying in Iraq and fighting the terrorist threat to disrupt the flow of oil from Iraq does nothing to protect our economic interests. The moles just pop up someplace else -- this week it's Saudi Arabia - next week it'll be someplace else. And there is no threat to American life and limb that is mitigated by our presence in the Middle East. That's just more Republican boogie men stupidity. We need to identify the bad actors and target them... seek them out and destroy them. Georgie and Johnny still don't get that, Obama does.

The U.S. Economic Meltdown While McCain Campaigns For Free Trade Abroad

2008-07-02T20:05:18Z

Yesterday's bad news of the huge decline in automobile sales was yet another heartbreaking reminder of how impotent and out of step the Bush White Administration has become with management of the American economy, yet John McCain only seems to want to continue this mismanagement and boasts that "no one is a bigger free trader" than himself. The domestic American economy is in a real tailspin right now with many serious problems only snowballing downhill. This snowball effect of slower sales for business will only translate into increased unemployment for working people. When Wall Street suffers big losses, problems on Main Street always follow. The huge decline in automobile sales, with Chrysler exceeding a 30% decline could even spell a final economic disaster for this company if this slump is protracted. And even worse would be if the slump would continue for long enough that no American automobile manufacturer would survive. That would be a real disaster for the working people of Detroit and other U.S. states involved in automobile assembly. Yet just like a "Wrongway Feldman", John McCain was incomprehensibly campaigning in Colombia, South America, yesterday to business leaders there for "free trade" legislation. Last week, McCain campaigned in Canada before some Canadian business leaders who stand to profit from "free trade" with the U.S. It is simply unbelievable that as American job losses mount during the Bush recession that John McCain campaigns outside of this nation to foreign business interests who seek to take more American jobs. McCain lacks the backbone to offer American unemployed workers some good explanation for this or some hope for boosting employment in this country. Last week, Boeing stock lost 10% of it's value in just one day. Yet what would a John McCain do, go to Europe and encourage Airbus to take American jobs? John McCain is supposed to be running for President of this country. Yet with all of his absurd pandering to foreign business interests when American business and American workers are equally suffering, you have to really question his basic economic patriotism and nationalistic spirit. With so many Americans hurting, and the economic news only growing much worse by the day, especially due to high oil prices, John McCain's foreign "free trade" campaigning only leaves some longtime political observers such as David Gergen puzzled. Gergen has volunteered his services to both Republican as well as Democratic administrations in a bipartisan manner, and certainly has no axe to grind about McCain. But Gergen doesn't understand McCain's foreign exploits. Oil is trading at over $142.00 a barrel today, and some economists expect it to reach $170 or higher within two years and for a gallon of gas to increase to an average of $7 a gallon by then, you only have to wonder why anyone in their right mind would vote for a John McCain who claims to be no expert on the economy and supports every piece of anti-American unfair "free trade" legislation. Where's any silver lining of hope in that? Barack Obama has at least proven himself very good at both delegating responsibility to the right persons and being able to get the job done with his successful campaign to capture the Democratic nomination. And Barack Obama has voiced real concerns at the unfairness of many pieces of "free trade" legislation. Fair trade, not "free trade" would be his priority. And Barack Obama has promised to help American workers and to get the economy back on track with a $1,000 middle class tax cut that the public could spend to boost local business and get Americans back to work. In every economic area, this is so much more in step with what is in the best interests for this country. Meanwhile, you only have to wonder in which foreign country John McCain will be campaigning next, and what he'll promise a handful of special interests there while American business and workers are suffering. It makes no sense at all.

From Bush the Chimp to McCain the Wimp

2008-07-02T13:44:36Z

This last week of campaigning is one in which considerable time was spent on the issues, for a change -- at least up until the point John McBush started whining about Wes Clarks' remarks and the bobbleheaded media latched onto the story. But it's easy to see why McCain would shift focus away from the issues and back to the mudslinging -- focusing on the issues has cost him some voters.

National voter preferences are holding steady, with 47% of registered voters favoring Barack Obama and 42% backing John McCain in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from June 28-30.

There are lots of polls, with results that are all over the map, but a daily, tracking poll like Gallup's is a really good way to measure the short-term effects of events and changes, and in a week where the economy and energy were at the forefront, McCain lost ground. The candidates were tied in this poll a week ago. Note also that the 47%-42% has held steady while McCain whined and played victim to Clark. McCain's slide stopped while the media dutifully ignored the issues and focused on the faux controversy instead. Like a soccer forward feigning an injury to stop the opposing teams' momentum, big brave John McCain has figuratively fallen down in order to stop play. Wow, now that's a leader. We have Bush the chimp followed close on the heels by John McCain the political wimp. Update: The McCain campaign is reorganizing amidst criticism from Republicans.

John McCain's campaign announced a shakeup at the top Wednesday, in the wake of growing Republican concern about its ability to compete against Barack Obama. Campaign Manager Rick Davis said Tuesday morning that senior adviser Steve Schmidt would take over day-to-day operations of the campaign. The Bush campaign veteran will report to Davis, but the rest of the campaign will report to Schmidt, who will be in charge of everything from message and communications, to the political structure and organization to scheduling. Davis will shift into what is being described as a more "natural role" for him -- the kind of duties he handled before last summer's mass firings. Schmidt's top priority, according to a senior aide, will be to stop "unforced errors in the campaign." He is also expected to shore up what some believe is a misguided political operation put in place by Davis - a decentralized system of regional campaign managers who are not given clear instructions from the central campaign.

Obama Beats McCain in BBQ Poll

2008-07-02T13:30:37Z

Some political pundits say the public's comfort with a candidate is important, and one of the ways that "comfort" factor is measured in election year polls is by polling voters with the question "Is candidate A someone you'd feel comfortable having a beer with?" In a recent version of one of these polls, Obama comes out ahead:

People would rather barbecue burgers with Barack Obama than with John McCain. While many are still deciding who should be president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Obama than McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Wednesday. Men are about evenly divided between the two while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with younger voters while McCain does best with the oldest.

If they asked which candidate is so senile he might catch his necktie on fire while barbecuing I'm sure McCain would win that poll, so don't lose hope, Republicans. Your candidate is bound to be the first choice to some questions.

The Illogical Bush-McCain Policy Towards Iran

2008-07-01T16:26:04Z

It's certainly disturbing news that Congress approved a $400 million dollar budget for the U.S. to pay for more covert action within Iran. And it's certainly disturbing news that the absurd shared foreign policy of Bush and McCain is built on conflict rather than diplomacy with Tehran. Just last week, the destruction of the nuclear plant silo by North Korea was ample evidence that diplomacy even with one of the world's worst regimes can yield some real results. Yet the shared Bush-McCain foreign policy towards Tehran continues to support stepped-up covert action against Iran, largely at the hands of extremely unreliable MEK (Mujahedin-e-Khalq) terrorists. Both Congress and the shared foreign policy vision of Bush-McCain somehow continues to hold faith that the extremist Marxist cult of terrorist leader Maryam Rajavi has the power to destabilize the revolutionary Shiite religious government of Iran. However, this is very unlikely for many good reasons. The extremist Marxist cult terrorists associated with Maryam Rajavi were actually part of the revolutionaries who helped to overthrow the government of the Shah of Iran with the Islamic student revolution of 1979 and held Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy for 444 days. It was only over time that these radical Marxists politically broke with the revolutionary religious government of Iran, and began a terrorist campaign to install a revolutionary Marxist government in Iran. Why Congress and the shared Bush-McCain foreign policy supports Marxist terrorists who are hell-bent on establishing a radical Communist government in Iran is a good question. But it simply proves how directionless the shared Bush-McCain foreign policy towards Iran really is. The fact of the matter is that both the Marxist cult of the MEK as well the Islamic religious government of Iran are probably so far out of step with most persons in Iran, that neither really has all that much deep public support. With the surging oil economy in Iran, a whole new class of wealthy Iranian oil economy billionaires are rising up. In fact a huge new Donald Trump condominium project that is being built in Dubai has already taken most reservations from either Russian or Iranian oil billionaires. This new class of wealthy Iranians are probably one of the strongest and most powerful forces to eventually establish some sort of political opposition party or force to challenge the religious government of Iran with some sort of self-serving capitalist political party similar in nature to the same sort party that represents Putin in Russia and holds a monopoly on power there. Putin's party stays in power because wealthy Russian business interests are behind it. A future Iranian political party built on the same economic power is more than likely at some point. If anything this only marks a return to old oligarchy system under the Shah of Iran, where the powerful hold the ultimate power in Iranian society. The rise of Iranian oil capitalists are certainly the most powerful force within Iran, and almost certainly where true opposition to the current revolutionary Islamic government in Iran will come from. Iranian business with Iraq for example already tops $2 billion a year, and could climb to $10 billion a year within 10 years. Iran not only exports everything from food all the way to appliances into Iraq, but Iranian oil interests have already begun some work to develop more oil in Iraq from undiscovered oil fields of which Iraq holds up to 228 billion barrels of suspected undiscovered oil, perhaps the most of any nation in the world. Iranian business related visits into Iraq may already top over 100,000 cross border visits per year. Iran is Iraq's most important trade partner, not the U.S. Instead of the the Bush-McCain foreign policy accepting the reality that the rise of oil capitalists and a powerful merchant class within Iran are beginning to wield some real economic power, the shared Bush-McCain policy towards Iran continues to support small bands of Marxist terrorists who have not proven any real political support among most persons in Iran. Other than providing some claimed "intelligence" information to the U.S. government about the Iranian nuclear program, the MEK terrorists haven't really had any real constructive contributions of any sort. Terrorism like bombings or assassinations of public officials within Iran certainly haven't helped to garner MEK more public support or sympathy within Iran. And no doubt the rising class of Iranian billionaires would crush MEK once they have any real political power to do so as well. The Barack Obama approach to deal with the current government in Iran with diplomacy is far more realistic. And the American public also needs to understand that with a huge population of younger persons in Iran as well as the rising capitalist class, that there is a real desire for political and social change among many in Iran. Just like China, where capitalism is changing the system slowly but surely there, capitalism is changing Iran as long as the deeply misguided Bush-McCain war-mongering approach to Iran doesn't get in the way of internal change there. The U.S. can't really do anything constructive to change the government of Iran. Change will come from within.

DCCC Slaps the Grand Oil Party

2008-07-01T02:23:56Z

Transcript: "Phone Call" - 60 seconds (Sound of phone ringing. After rings, ANSWERING MACHINE picks up): "Hi. You've reached the office of Congressman Robin Hayes. Please leave a message at the sound of the beep and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. ("PRESIDENT BUSH" leaves message): "Haysie... W" here. "Wanted to thank you for your support of the Big Oil Energy Agenda. "'Preciate you voting to keep giving billions in tax breaks to the big oil companies. "Sure, gasoline is over four bucks a gallon and the oil companies are making record profits, but what's good for Big Oil is good for America, right? "I guess that's why they call us the Grand OIL Party. Heh, heh, heh. "Seriously, Robin, I know I can always count on you. "Gotta go. Bye now. (Sound of the phone hanging up. A new announcer speaks.) ANNOUNCER: "Call Robin Hayes at 704-786-1612 and tell him to stop rewarding the oil companies and start standing up for hard working Americans. "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. Paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, DCCC.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

Chairman Chris Van Hollen announced today that the DCCC is launching the "Independence from Big Oil" campaign and will run radio ads against 13 House Republicans who stand with George Bush and Big Oil while America's middle class families are being squeezed by the highest gas prices in history. The radio ads were recorded by a comedian impersonating President Bush. "We will be going district-by-district to hold House Republicans accountable for helping President Bush give tax breaks to profitable Big Oil companies and doing nothing to help hardworking middle class Americans who are paying more than $4.00 per gallon at the pump," said Chairman Chris Van Hollen. "This Independence Day, the American people deserve to be liberated from the Big Oil policies of President Bush and the rubber stamp House Republicans." Van Hollen highlighted that the radio ads were recorded by a Bush impersonator, "President Bush's Big Oil energy policies delivered high gas prices to the American people, so who better to deliver our message than someone who sounds just like him? In addition to the "Independence from Big Oil" radio ads, the DCCC will be doing web videos and e-mails in targeted districts. The radio ads will begin airing during drive time the week of June 30th. The initial ad buy is for one week. The ads will run in the following 13 districts: * Brian Bilbray (CA-50) * Charlie Dent (PA-15) * Thelma Drake (VA-02) * Shelley Moore Capito (WV-02) * Steve Chabot (OH-01) * Phil English (PA-03) * Scott Garrett (NJ-05) * Jim Gerlach (PA-06) * Virgil Goode (VA-05) * Robin Hayes (NC-08) * Patrick McHenry (NC-10) * Peter Roskam (IL-06) * Jean Schmidt (OH-02)

McCain Campaign Avoids the Issues, Plays Victim Instead

2008-07-01T00:22:00Z

John McCain is rolling over and playing victim over Wes Clark's comments regarding McCain's lack of executive experience. Rather than addressing that issue McCain is falling over like a soccer forward, faking an injury. Awww, poor baby! After being pounded over the last few weeks on the real issues -- most notably energy and the economy -- John McCain has to fake an injury in order to get sympathy as he limps off the field, down miserably as he takes a big hit in the Gallup daily tracking poll in a very short time. Time to quit talking about the issues -- John McCain falls to the field feigning injuries instead. How pathetic. And this is the guy who wants us to believe that he's the best qualified candidate to keep the nation safe? Someone who falls down and cries, playing the victim?

Republican 527s Waiting to Pounce?

2008-06-30T15:00:00Z

It was this week four years ago that the Republican lie machine launched the "Swift Boating" attacks against Democratic nominee John Kerry. The expected onslaught of Republican nastiness (in the form of the typical right wing smear attacks) has yet to rear its ugly head in the 2008 contest. The Obama campaign has loudly signaled in the last two weeks that they are expecting and prepared for the usual RNC crap, and perhaps that's one reason why the 527slime mchine has not reared its ugly head just yet. Another theory behind the delayed launch of the Republican slime machine is a lack of money:

Democrats and the media have used the term so much that it's almost an article of faith. But the so-called "Republican attack machine" waiting with piles of unregulated cash to chew up Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is anything but. Obama cited the threat of unregulated attack groups -- called "527s" because they're authorized to raise unlimited cash under that section of the Internal Revenue Service code -- to justify dropping his pledge to take public financing -- along with its spending limits -- for the general election campaign. Yet there's no 2008 equivalent to the 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which spent $22 million attacking Democrat John Kerry. Prominent groups and donors that played key roles in independent conservative 527 groups four years ago say they're sitting out this election. And while they've raised more than they did at this point four years ago, the independent pro-Republican groups still lag more than $50 million behind pro-Democratic groups.

My theory is that with reduced funding they are just holding their fire until we get closer to the election and diligence needs to be maintained. The McClatchy piece linked above offers additional theories:

Contributors are nervous about increased federal regulation.

Those who operate such groups fear a backlash, including from their better-paying corporate clients, who may not want to be associated with such attacks.

Few are eager to take such risks to help John McCain, who's bashed such efforts in the past and could again.
Of course, they still could jump in at any time, thanks to their ability to raise cash fast with a few huge checks. "These groups can pop up overnight because they can take unlimited contributions from almost anybody," said Massie Ritsch, the communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that analyzes money in politics. "Just because they're not doing anything now doesn't mean they won't jump out of the shadows." At this stage four years ago, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had been up and running for more than a month, ripping Kerry's Vietnam record. It started airing its big ads that August. Another pro-Republican group, Progress for America, aired its first ad criticizing Kerry's national-security record and credentials four years ago this week, the first $1 million salvo of what would be a $35 million barrage in key states.

We know the lying slimers will surface, it's only a question of "when"...

An effort to corral money for an independent group to be run by former White House political guru Karl Rove hasn't materialized so far. "There have been a lot of conversations trying to get this off the ground," said one Republican strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk about Rove. Another Republican said the deal fell through when Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens, who helped bankroll the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, refused to write a seven-figure check to get the group going. He, too, refused to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak about Pickens or Rove. "Mr. Pickens has decided that he will not support any 527s involved in the presidential race this cycle and instead will focus his energies and his funding on a major, bipartisan, energy-focused public policy initiative that will be announced soon," said Pickens' spokesman, Jay Rosser.

Obama Strategy Going Forward

2008-06-28T00:38:10Z

David Plouffe, Campaign Manager of Obama for America, outlines campaign strategy in terms of battleground states, fund raising, and turning the success of the primary race into success in November for Democrats.

Full Transcript - link

This campaign's been built on the backs of millions of Americans who believe in change and want to take their country back.

It's up to us to carry the financial burden going forward, and we're fighting a political party that has operated for the last eight years not in the interest of the American people, but to the benefit of big oil and America's corporate and political 'actors' in the Middle East. They've got the deep pockets behind them, but we've got them outnumbered. There may be hundreds of corporate partners lining up behind the candidacy of John McBush, but there are millions of Americans lining up behind Barack Obama, and we the people can win the fight to take back our great nation. Standing shoulder to shoulder are a million American volunteers working at the grassroots level, and there are plenty of opportunities to support the campaign with your donation, but your assistance can be as simple as asking a co-worker if they've decided who they're going to vote for this November. Listen to their answer, without running through your own script and thinking about how they'll respond as you do so... just listen to them and do your best to understand their point of view. Then explain why you feel it's time to change the way Washington works, and set this great nation back onto the course that made this nation great to begin with. It's time for us to stop favoring the richest Americans and the corporations, and to put the government to work for the rest of us. All of us. Black, White, Red, Yellow, Brown and Rainbow. Men, Women, college students, factory workers -- folks from every walk of life -- and the generations of Americans following in our footsteps.

The GOP Politics Of Fear

2008-06-27T14:42:26Z

With John McCain trailing in every recent political poll, sometimes by as many as 12 to 15 points, and McCain gaining little traction on any important issue dealing with the economic mess or other important issues, about all the GOP can do is to ramp up an artificial terrorism fear campaign to distract voters from $4 gas or other issues that favor change in Washington. It is only on the issue of national security in which John McCain and the Republican Party seem to hold some sway with voters. It is also very unfortunate that even the FBI, which should be an independent police agency, seems to be sometimes almost loaning some partisan support to this new GOP fear campaign, even if it comes inadvertently. The FBI has issued a new bulletin to 18,000 law enforcement agencies claiming that Al Qaeda may be planning to use weapons of mass destruction against U.S. targets. And for some reason, federal officials leaked information to ABC News ahead of time claiming that Al Qaeda will release a new video on Friday encouraging radical Jihadists to use weapons of mass destruction such as chemical, biological or nuclear weapons to attack the West. All of the absurdity of this should be quite apparent here. Al Qaeda is only a small organization worldwide, and it's main followers such as Osama Bin Laden are in hiding in caves or small villages, most likely in remote mountainous regions of Pakistan. Bin Laden lives under constant threat of death from remote controlled American drone Predator aircraft or other threats of death, and is hardly a free man by any means. At some point, this international criminal will be captured or most likely killed. It's only a matter of time. Other than some small conventional explosives attacks in Iraq with car bombs, etc., Al Qaeda has never proven that it has the technology for a widescale WMD biological, chemical or nuclear attack. Never. It's merely bluster for Al Qaeda to even claim such weapons technology nonsense. Even states such as North Korea have proven just how difficult it is for an awful country to develop nuclear weapons, and that's even with having a number of active nuclear reactors. In fact, it is highly likely that the single claimed North Korean nuclear underground test was faked by the awful government of dictator Kim Jong Il by using a large conventional explosion of TNT because of very small seismic readings and a lack of nuclear tell-tale signs by western spy satellites. For Al Qaeda with no known nuclear reactors, etc. to even claim to threaten the West with some sort of nuclear menace is just pure and complete nonsense. Biological weapons also involve a high level of technology, and it is mainly only states such as the U.S. and Russia that have the technology to experiment in such evil devices. The small bands of extremists who support Al Qaeda have never proven any technological means to be able to develop such weapons. Yet federal officials will chime in and seek to heighten American public fears about such a hollow nonsense threat because John McCain is way down in the polls. And perhaps the most absurd of the three threats is that of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons can actually be no more technologically advanced than simple pesticides. That's right, ant or roach sprays. In fact, many of the WMDs that Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein might have once had were just large 55 gallon metal drums of pesticides. Chemical weapons are so low tech and such a poor weapons that they are usually only fatal to a handful of persons standing within just a few feet of the ground zero where the pesticide is released into the area. That's hardly a fearful weapon. Even the more advanced mustard gas that Saddam had used to kill Kurdish villagers is simply a low budget WWI type weapon that is bulky and very difficult to deliver in lethal doses. It is simply silly to fear that Al Qaeda would be able to launch some sort of a chemical attack in the U.S. because of the size and bulk of such an attack and the fact that it would only kill a handful of persons at it's very worst. Certainly Al Qaeda has suffered huge losses and setbacks at the hands of American forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It is probably a sure sign that Al Qaeda has been substantially weakened that they make such nonsensical threats involving weapons technology that they have no means whatsoever to develop or possess. With the American July 4, coming up in a few days, you can almost expect Al Qaeda to spend a $1.59 to buy a VHS videotape to record some silly threats that they have no means whatsoever to carry out to hope to inspire some fear and wreck the picnics and fireworks celebrations of some Americans who actually might believe that Al Qaeda is going to target them eating hot dogs or drinking a beer with their relatives in some backyard fireworks celebration somewhere. With the McCain campaign headed on near certain trainwreck path to defeat in November, the best hope of some in the GOP is to inspire some absurd Al Qaeda fear campaign, no matter how silly the claims of a WMD threat to Americans actually are. In fact, Al Qaeda never warns before it actually really attacks. It's always been a surprise attack such as 9/11 or in Iraqi towns and villages with a car bomb or suicide bomber. Whenever Al Qaeda makes a threat, then you know it isn't going to happen. It's just nonsense meant to scare a few folks and for Al Qaeda to act like they're still some deadly force to be feared. It's a sure sign of their weakness when they make threats and have no means whatsoever to make good on those threats. Certainly every American needs to recognize that tighter security measures at airports and other areas is not only good enough to prevent most actions by any possible terrorists, but also most likely by most criminals as well who deal in drugs or illegal firearms, etc. Whatever serves to prevent crimes at airports or other public places is probably good enough to stop most likely terrorists as well. That part of national security is good and rational. But the fear of nonsensical WMD threats is not.