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.

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary
Tags: Communications Business, Fairness Doctrine, Right Wing Broadcasters

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.

Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary
Tags: Bad Legislators, Bigots, Tobacco Industry Tools

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?

Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: News
Tags: Hitchens, Torture, Vanity Fair, Waterboarding

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.

Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: News

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.

Continue reading "Swiftboating of Obama Grows Closer" »

Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: News

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.

Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: News

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.

Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary
Tags: 2008 Campaign, Barack Obama, Economy, Free Trade, John McCain

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.

Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary

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.

Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Entertainment

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.

Continue reading "The Illogical Bush-McCain Policy Towards Iran" »

Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary
Tags: Foreign Policy, Iran, MEK, Terrorism, War

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)

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: News

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?

Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary

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.

Permalink | Comments (28) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary
Tags: 527, Barack Obama, John Kerry, Lies, Republican, RNC, slime

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.

Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: News
Tags: Barack Obama, Fund raising, Michell Obama, Republicans, Strategy

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.

Continue reading "The GOP Politics Of Fear" »

Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary
Tags: Fear, Paranoia, Politics, Terrorism

Originally posted January 10, 2008.... but worth a repeat.

h/t Michael:

Permalink | Comments (2) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Entertainment
Tags: George Bush, Haliburton, Petrol Coins

Republican Senator Gordon Smith from Oregon is involved in a tough battle for re-election in 2008. And after looking at the big win by Obama in the Oregon primary by nearly 20 points over Hillary Clinton, as well as polls that put Obama well ahead of McCain to carry the state in November, Smith has decided to run TV ads that link him to a bipartisan relationship with Barack Obama on energy policy in an effort to win re-election. Smith must be expecting John McCain to tank in November, especially in blue state Oregon, and is hoping to remain as the only Republican Senator from any West Coast state after the November election.

Smith is an interesting sort of Republican senator. While some organizations rate Smith as a moderate, he is actually a religious conservative who has some compassionate leanings such as opposition to food stamp cuts, some questioning of the Iraq War, and other views more inspired by his sturdy Mormon faith as a church elder, rather than being a true moderate Republican. Yet his votes seem to reflect a voting record that is unlike other more orthodox conservatives because of the faith factor by Senator Smith.

Smith also remains one of the best Senators to take the time to respond to every individual letter with a thoughtful response, even if he disagrees with the position of the writer. Indeed, his seeming moderation as well as his excellent attempts to stay in touch with Oregon voters may just allow Smith to survive the November election with a narrow win over his Democratic opponent Jeff Merkley.

Strange stuff when a GOP senator hopes to ride the coattails of a Democratic candidate for president, but being one of the only GOP candidates to win a statewide election in a blue state like Oregon is a very lonely business.

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: Commentary
Tags: 2008 Election, Gordon Smith, Senate

The Bush administration's policy and approach to dealing with the economy is being driven by election year politics, which in turn is driving the cost of oil even higher, and increasing the chances of a recession in 2009 (after the election).

I suspect that tanking the economy and throwing the country into a recession is a Rovian-style strategy -- Republicans know they will lose the election this November, so they are making sure America enters a deep recession, that could well turn into a depression, knowing that the next President will have a tough time during their four year term.

But what is clear is the political impetus by Republicans in this move to throw Americans out of work and tank the US dollar further.

The declining dollar makes our goods cheaper overseas, but the rising cost of oil will drive inflation. The answer is to stop the dollar's decline and reverse the price trend on oil, but the Bush administration has absolutely no intention of doing either.

It's an election year, and although they haven't much of a chance at the White House, they will do all they can to hold onto their seats in the House and Senate, as well as give John McBush a better chance at the Presidency.

Oil futures shot up to nearly $139 a barrel Thursday after OPEC's president said oil prices could rise well above $150 a barrel this year and Libya said it may cut oil production.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose as high as $138.95 a barrel shortly after the New York Mercantile Exchange opened before retreating some to trade up $4 at 138.55.

Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said he believes oil prices could rise to between $150 and $170 a barrel this summer before declining later in the year. Khelil said he doesn't think prices will reach $200 a barrel.

The head of Libya's national oil company said the country may cut crude production because the oil market is well supplied, according to news reports.

"Shokri Ghanem, the nation's top oil official, declined to say when a decision would be made on whether to lower production, or give any indication of the size of the cut under consideration," said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn., in a research note.

Driving prices higher will cost Americans their jobs. GM is teetering on the brink of bankcruptcy, and if Citibank fails the dollar is going to go through the floor.

And all the Republicans are concerned about is locking and boosting oil company profits.

Oil futures were also rising as investors reassessed comments the Federal Reserve made Wednesday when it held a key interest rate unchanged. Many investors who had expected the Fed to raise interest rates in August now think a rate hike is unlikely until after the November election or next year, said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.

Republican economic policy in Washington is being driven by election-year politics. Inaction now means the dollar will fall further, and the cost of oil will rise.

Interest rates affect the dollar; many analysts believe the Fed's rate cutting campaign, which began last September, had much to do with weakening the dollar against the euro and sending oil prices skyrocketing. Investors buy commodities such as oil when the greenback is falling. Also, a weaker dollar makes oil less expensive to investors dealing in other currencies.

The dollar slid against the euro after the Fed's comments Wednesday, and was down again on Thursday.

"Breaking through $140 now ... seems hard to avoid," Cordier said.

We've seen this time and time again. Republicans do not care about average Americans.

The sooner we all rise up and denounce the Republicans the sooner we can put this nation back on track. Americans need to speak up and speak out against the factions in our government that are causing these problems - the Republicans, and their Rovian approach to manipulating our lives for their benefit and the benefit of their oil and defense industry benefactors.

Money is being driven out of the equity market and into commodities like gold, and like oil and food - which are highly inflationary. There will be cutbacks, there will be a loss of jobs, and the Republicans just don't care - it's an election year, which means it's time for the Grand Oil Party to screw America again.

Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0) | Linking Blogs
Filed under: WB-Blue: News
Tags: Bush, Dollar, oil, Republican

Now that Senator Lindsey Graham is the national co-chairman for the John McCain presidential organization, he has taken a flip-flop on the issue of oil drilling. Lindsey Graham previously had spoken out against oil drilling off the coast of South Carolina which could result in possible environment damage to some scenic beaches, many owned by resort hotels or other private interests who maintain their beauty and livability. But since he joined up with McCain, his positions are falling in line with both McCain and Bush on the oil drilling issue.

On Sunday's MEET THE PRESS program, temporary host, Brian Williams asked Graham about what changed that he now reverses himself and supports oil drilling off the South Carolina coast, and Graham responded, "$4.00 gas". And again today, Graham again voiced more support for oil drilling off the South Carolina coastline on CNN to Wolf Blitzer.

Graham was given just a 17% voting record on issues dealing with support for energy independence by CAF, but now is part of the McCain team pushing for the McCain campaign energy independence proposals that McCain is now promoting as a campaign issue, however it was CNN's Dana Bash that also questioned McCain on some serious incoherence on energy policy. McCain has previously opposed legislation supporting biofuels and solar power, but now talks like some sort of a born again environmentalist because he's running for president.

It might sound real good to many voters to open more oil drilling, since a full 67% of the public support more oil drilling right now in a late Rasmussen poll. However, very few of these persons really realize that it may take up to 10-20 years to actually see any real oil from any of this drilling. In reality, there are few short term fixes to the oil price or supply crisis. And in 10-20 years, it may be possible that enough technology breakthroughs in hydrogen fuel cell or electric vehicles might make a need for expanded oil resources unnecessary. But for the short-term political consumption, it certainly sounds real good to some voters for John McCain and his campaign co-chairman to sound like they're actually talking about some serious proposals.

One of the best hopes for more oil supplies in the short-term is a new oil refinery that is being completed in India. Despite rising demand for oil in India as well as China, India only uses one barrel of oil per person per year, while China uses two barrels per person per year. The American average is the world's highest at 25 barrels a day.

Another huge problem related to the 42% price increase in oil since January is oil speculation. Obama favors a crackdown on some of these abuses of commodity trading that have made gasoline so expensive since just the beginning of the year. So far, McCain hasn't really addressed this important issue that has added so much to the price of oil and hurt the American consumer, and instead offered his own energy independence proposals that seem to often run inconsistently with his previous record in congress or the senate.

Permalink | Comments (9) |