Simply greatest political speech I have ever heard. It was a full throated support of Liberalism and what government role is. He took on McCain tonight and held back no punches. The Republicans are freaking out right now noticing the Obama campaign and Democrats have been pulling their punches but no more. The campaign has officially started and it is time to bring about the change the country needs.
The text of the speech is in the following link...
Everyone needs to see these three reports from Baghdad reporters. It is an eye opening report that shows why the "surge worked" and it is not what the Republicans are telling you.
Aug. 15th, 2008 @ 11:15 pm
The three videos posted from Baghdad Reporters are something you will never see on the American Corporate Media. They don't want you to know the truth of what happened in Iraq. They don't want to tell you that our mission totally failed and the only way to have peace was to divide the country and cities up between the different ethnic factions in the country. They don't want to show you the terrible cost of life to Americans let alone Iraqis. They don't want Americans seeing children who will be the future of the country blaming Americans for the deaths of their families and communities.
5 years of war and occupation has totally destroyed a once secular society and brought it to a divided country that will take much longer to heal. The incompetence and criminal actions in this war and occupation will have us paying for this for many many years to come. And for all of this none of the architects of these horrendous actions have been held accountable. I can only hope that changes will come next year and we can start some of the healing.
Aug. 5th, 2008 @ 03:15 pm
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 43-minute tragicomicmusical produced exclusively for Internet distribution. It tells the story of Dr. Horrible (Billy), an aspiring supervillain, Captain Hammer, his nemesis, and Penny, their mutual love interest. The movie was written by writer/director Joss Whedon, his brothers Zack Whedon (a television writer) and Jed Whedon (a composer), and Jed's fiancée, actress Maurissa Tancharoen. The writing team penned the musical during the WGA writers' strike. The idea was to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike.
GRANADA HILLS -- The dog left on the doorstep of the southern California pet clinic was sick. The letter left with him was heartbreaking.
"Dear Drs., please forgive me for this horrible transgression. I have no where else to turn so I ask you to mercifully, gently and lovingly please help him sleep. His name is Kaiser and he's 16-and-a half years old. He's been my friend, my teacher, my pupil, my lifelong loving and loyal companion," the letter said.
On the envelope, the author of the letter said that he thought Kaiser had two strokes the night before.
"Be good to him as you would your own child, for he's been mine for a loving lifetime," the envelope read.
Inside, the writer continued to pour his heart out.
"We've been together 24-7 365 days a year since he was 8 months old. He's gentle, smart, and I'll miss him more than I could admit. Saturday evening, without warning or any outside influence, he began rolling on his back on the floor, all four legs extended, rigid and thrusting wildly in all directions. I saw fear and panic in his otherwise unrecognizable eyes. His head was pulled down to his right, and he seemed unable to do otherwise. If I had to render a guess I would say it appeared as though he had a stroke. He can stand, but 85 percent unsteady. He's fearfully reacting to attempts to get him to drink water. He refuses food as though he's totally lost knowledge of what to do with food."
"I'm a homeless disabled vet, and I know when it's time to say goodbye to a friend, and it's time now. He's such a part of my being, I'll once again be alone in my life. I love you Kaiser, thank you for caring, sincerely, Kaiser's Soul Mate."
Debbie Herot, a manager at Pet Medical Center Chatoak in Granada Hills, found the letter and the dog on the clinic doorstep as she came in to work last week.
Though she tries to keep an emotional distance from the pets she sees, in this case, she couldn't do it.
"After you're in this business for so long you learn to look the other way, because we have to euthanize animals. This one i couldn't euthanize," Herot said.
Instead, Herot tried to turn another loss into a gain. Last year, 23-year-old clinic employee Eric Flesher died in a car crash. Herot said he used to hate seeing animals come in that couldn't get treatment because their owners couldn't afford the cost of the care. So after his death, his family set up a fund to help animals like Kaiser. It's likely Flesher would be happy with how it was used in this case.
Herot said it turned out that Kaiser hadn't had a stroke, but a much less serious illness that he is now almost fully recovered from.
With Kaiser doing better and the words of the letter still ringing in their heads, clinic employees set out to find Kaiser's owner.
The story of the homeless vet's letter eventually made it into the ear of Daily News columnist Dennis McCarthy. He ran titled: "Dear Veteran: Your best pal's waiting to go home." It ran on the front page - above the fold.
The story got KTLA's attention, and we went out to the clinic to film a segment about the search for Kaiser's owner. We didn't have to wait long for the happy ending everybody was hoping for. While we were there filming, Bob Mikolasko showed up at the clinic. He had seen the story in the Daily News.
After correctly answering some questions about Kaiser that only he would know, Herot became convinced they found Kaiser's "Soul Mate."
More evidence came when they were reunited, with Kaiser's tail wagging so vigorously it looked as though it was going to knock our camera off balance.
Before he left, Mikolasko thanked the stafff profusely and - summing up his feelings - proved to be just as poignant with the spoken word, as he had been with the written.
"When you leave your house in the morning and go to work and you don't see them until you come back, well, that's one lifestyle. You develop a rapport. I spent 11 years in a motor home living on the streets here, 24-7 with him. There was no baby sitter. There's no break. There's no summer vacation. There's no going to work - when i go to work he goes with me," Mikolasko said.
With that type of relationship, Mikolasko said you become more than just owner and pet.
"You end up with a lot different understanding and relationship with your pet... and he was never looked at as a pet, he was always a part of, me."
Thanks to everyone who helped, he still is.
Jul. 31st, 2008 @ 05:43 pm
The following is an interview with John McCain by George Stephanopolous.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What is your position on gay adoption? You told the "New York Times" you were against it, even in cases where the children couldn't find another home. But then your staff backtracked a bit.
What is your position?
MCCAIN: My position is, it's not the reason why I'm running for president of the United States. And I think that two parent families are best for America.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, what do you mean by that, it's not the reason you're running for president of the United States?
MCCAIN: Because I think -- well, I think that it's -- it is important for us to emphasize family values. But I think it's very important that we understand that we have other challenges, too.
I'm running for president of the United States, because I want to help with family values. And I think that family values are important, when we have two parent -- families that are of parents that are the traditional family.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But there are several hundred thousand children in the country who don't have a home. And if a gay couple wants to adopt them, what's wrong with that?
MCCAIN: I am for the values that two parent families, the traditional family represents.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you're against gay adoption.
MCCAIN: I am for the values and principles that two parent families represent. And I also do point out that many of these decisions are made by the states, as we all know.
And I will do everything I can to encourage adoption, to encourage all of the things that keeps families together, including educational opportunities, including a better economy, job creation.
And I'm running for president, because I want to help families in America. And one of my positions is that I believe that family values and family traditions are preserved.
I tell you he can't make up his mind. First he was against it on July 11th then on July 15th he said he was for it if no "straight" couples were available and now 12 days later he is against it for the family values.
I wish everyone would listen to this podcast from the Thom Hartmann show. It is from Monday, July 7th and the first hour is a perfect critique at how supply side economics has destroyed this countries infrastructure, economics, and middle class. Thom is very passionate about this and you can get into more depth by reading his book Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It
Reading the article below fascinated me about Mark Twain or as he was born Samuel Clemens. I do not doubt he would fit in perfectly in our 2nd gilded age as we are going through right now. It really is a fascinating read and interesting to find out he disliked religion especially Christianity.
I'm emailing this to everyone I know. If you use the BCC line to put everyone's address in, the people you send it to will only be able to see their own email address. They won't know who else you sent it to so you can protect everyone's privacy.
If anyone sends you one of the email smears against Obama, you can reply with this. You can also SEND THIS TO EVERYBODY YOU KNOW so they'll have an easy response as well. We need to get this in front of as many eyes as possible and get people to foward it on if we're going to counter the smear campaign. More than 200 people are involved so far.
Anyway, here's the email:
Subject: End the smears
I hope you will take the time to read this. It’s not an attempt to sway you towards a particular candidate, it’s an attempt to end the reckless smear campaigns that plague this nation.
When Sen. John McCain ran for president eight years ago, the far right ran a smear campaign against him in South Carolina, accusing him of fathering an illegitimate black child. Such tactics were an outrage then and they’re an outrage now.
Their new target is Sen. Barack Obama. They claim he’s secretly a Muslim, went to an extremist school as a child and doesn't say the pledge of allegiance (among other things). Yet not ONE word of this is true.
The bottom line? Obama is a Christian, he attended a secular (non-religious) school in Indonesia and he has led the pledge of allegiance on the Senate floor numerous times.
Whichever candidate you support isn’t the point here, the point is this: are we going to tolerate such negative and baseless attacks that have nothing to do with the real issues?
Unfortunately, some people might take such emails at face value and believe them to be true. There are also those who forward such emails simply because it fits their agenda.
This is made especially worse by the fact that Fox “news” ran some of these rumors without bothering to even try to verify them. So much for being “fair and balanced” or even responsible, for that matter.
Real news organizations, such as CNN, have debunked these rumors and they’ve done so without the “unnamed sources” and innuendo used by the smear campaign.
Again, this email isn’t an attempt to sway you to towards a particular candidate. I feel as strongly about this as I did when the far right went after McCain eight years ago. It’s about negative, baseless attacks and trying to put an end to them.
If anyone forwards any such emails to you, PLEASE send them this email or at least send them these links. Look at it this way, if they’re going to send you a pack of lies that they haven’t bothered to verify, they certainly can’t take issue with you responding with the truth.
These first few are video, so they don’t even have to read a thing.
The “Wake Up America!” Email-- This one is a whopper. Among other things, it claims Obama wants to replace he National Anthem with the song “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” It has a long quote, allegedly from Obama, that says some pretty unkind things about America.
The reality: the "article" is a work of fiction by a conservative columnist who meant it as a joke. Someone took this column, added to it, and is sending it out as an email smear. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/blackwell.asp
The Anti-Christ email-- The claim: Obama is a Muslim and fits the description of the anti-Christ in the Book of Revelation. The email claims that Revelation describes the anti-Christ as being “a man, in his 40s, of Muslim descent.”
The reality: This passage is not in the Book of Revelation, nor any other part of the Bible for that matter. It's pure fiction. As mentioned above, Obama isn't a Muslim either. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/antichrist.asp
Michelle Obama’s thesis— The claim: her thesis is unavailable to the public because it refers to black solidarity and white oppression.
The reality: The University did not originally release the thesis, but changed its mind after the Obama campaign gave a copy to Politico. In her thesis, Michelle Obama writes that black solidarity in the 1970s was likely caused by feelings of oppression—she is clearly referring to students of the past and not herself. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/thesis.asp
Political ties to Kenya— The claim: Obama is a Muslim infiltrator who gave a million dollars to his “cousin” Raila Odinga, a Kenyan political leader and the two speak daily. This is being spread by an email allegedly sent from a missionary in Kenya, yet it is wrong on all counts. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/kenya.asp
Alleged racist statements in Obama’s books— The quotes in the email making this claim are altered, taken out of context and in some cases completely made up. http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp
Obama’s real name and birthplace-- The claim: He was born in Kenya and named Barry Muhammad Obama
The Leon Weinstein letter/email: Weinstein writes an “open letter” to Obama, in which Weinstein pretends to be a neutral party with concerns about Obama. In reality, Weinstein is a far-right Republican and his “letter” is chock full of lies.
Book lie No. 1— The claim: In “Dreams of My Father” Obama wrote: “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race".
Book lie No. 2— The claim: Obama wrote "I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."
The reality: Weinstein intentionally edits this quote to change its meaning. Here’s the actual paragraph: "When people who don't know me well, black or white, discover my background (and it is usually a discovery, for I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites) I see the split-second adjustments they have to make, the searching of my eyes for some telltale sign."
Voting “present”— The email takes issue with the fact that Obama sometimes voted “present” in the Illinois Senate.
Also: Abner J. Mikva, a former Illinois state legislator, congressman, federal judge and White House Counsel from 1994 to 1995 backs Obama on the use of “present” votes. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/mikva-021608/index.html
The march on Selma— The claim: Obama lied in a speech that his parents met during the historic march to Selma Alabama.
Michelle Obama's thesis (claim No. 2)— The claim: Michelle Obama claims in her thesis that she feels obligated to serve the black community “first and foremost.”
Obama’s position on Iraq— The claim: Obama told the Chicago Tribune in 2004 that he agreed with President Bush about the Iraq war.
The reality: Obama was talking about how to stabilizing Iraq—he was NOT claiming agreement with Bush on the war itself. The Tribune article notes that Obama “opposed the Iraq invasion before the war. But he now believes U.S. forces must remain to stabilize the war-ravaged nation -- a policy not dissimilar to the current approach of the Bush administration." http://mediamatters.org/items/200801140002
NAFTA— The claim: the email repeats the lie about what an Obama aide allegedly told Canadian officials about NAFTA.
The truth: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported the story turned out to be false. Obama advisor Austin “responded to Canadian questions by clarifying that Obama wasn't pushing to scrap NAFTA entirely, but that the agreement needed labor and environmental safeguards, basically what Obama had been saying in public. The memo was simply inaccurate, as even the Harper government now acknowledges.”
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the leak "blatantly unfair," pledged to get to the bottom of it, and said "there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA."
Some of the rumors about Barack Obama just baffle me and how people believe them is just as baffling. Here is my favorite "Barack Obama, born in Africa, is a possibly gay Muslim racist who refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance." I know many of them are older people who seem to believe whatever people say or any email they receive is true. The following is a story from Findlay, Ohio about a few of these people who believe the false rumors spread around the internet.
The following is eight month investigation the McClatchy Newspapers did on Guantanamo, torture, and other conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a great series that shows how far this administration has gone to as they say "protect Americans." It is a disturbing report and shows that this administration all the way up to President Bush has committed war crimes and should be prosecuted.
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